Symphonic Odyssey
: Vol. Two: Beneath the Hawthorn Tree: Verse Ninety-Nine

Ulric and Cypher moved quickly through the forest as they headed toward the City. Only a few kilometers remained between them and ideally, the rest of their party. Ulric had been impressed at how quickly Cypher could move at his current level.

It wasn’t anywhere near as fast as Ulric’s top speed, but the leader of Silent Night had never seen such a young Conductor with as much potential as this boy had. Cypher only held a stern look as he passed through the foliage around them. It had been an intense day and with night darkening his line of sight, he didn’t feel safe at all, even with Ulric at his side.

To be honest, he still didn’t trust Ulric. Obviously, the man hadn’t attacked him or tried to capture him, but that didn’t mean he was in the clear just yet. This could all be part of some elaborate scheme to get him to lower his guard and they might even be running into another trap that could snap shut at any moment.

As such, Cypher kept his guard up and was flooding his senses with Mental energy in the hopes of perhaps spotting an attack or hidden enemies before it was too late. He couldn’t just run away from Ulric, or even attempt to fight him off. It was clear that Ulric had the upper hand and any attempt to fight him off would end very poorly for Cypher.

‘The third rank is too impressive. At my level, there’s nothing I can do against a power like that. I managed to heavily injure that guy back there, but it didn’t kill him and if Ulric hadn’t shown up when he did, I’m sure I would have been either killed or captured in the next few moments.

‘I have to get stronger and to do that I need to get to my inheritance. Answers aside, there’s bound to be something there that will help me in my journey to the higher ranks! Mother and Father wouldn’t have been so foolish to leave me nothing like that would they? In any event, for now, I have to trust Ulric, he might be my only hope of surviving long enough to replace out,’

These thoughts ran through Cypher’s mind as he ran, and occasionally he would catch Ulric keeping pace out of the corner of his eye. Ulric on the other hand didn’t fail to take notice of Cypher’s constant vigilance and was pleased to see he was learning quite well.

‘You’re training this boy properly Glenda, but that doesn’t surprise me in the slightest knowing you,’ Ulric thought, a smile creeping across his face as he continued to follow Cypher.

The two traveled in silence for another few minutes, but Ulric suddenly grabbed Cypher’s waist and pulled him to a stop. He then dove into a nearby cluster of bushes and against Cypher’s protests, he put his hand over the boy’s mouth and raised a single finger to his own lips.

Cypher’s eyes widened and he understood and stopped struggling. “Stay here and stay quiet no matter what happens,” Ulric said as he stepped from the bushes and in a low crouch, slowly moved closer.

“Who’s there?! Show yourself!” came a voice from a few meters away and Ulric rose to his full height and held up a hand with his ring finger and thumb pressed together, the other two held straight out.

The person who had shouted moved into view where Cypher could see and Ulric smiled at this newcomer. “Ah! I didn’t realize it was you Captain Ulric, my apologies, one can’t be too careful in a situation like this,” said the man who was moving closer.

“Don’t worry about it Harold, I understand, this has been a dangerous night for all of us. Where are Jason and Ashley?” Ulric replied and tilted his head as Harold moved closer.

Harold frowned then and let out an exhausted sigh, “We were scouting ahead like you ordered when we were ambushed by a few Order members.

“Ashley was caught completely off guard and they killed her almost instantly right in front of me and Jason. He was a rank-three Conductor in the upper tier, probably close to advancing to the fourth rank and it took both of us to finish him off. Jason, however, sustained a mortal wound and died just a few moments ago over there,” Harold pointed toward where he had been and Ulric looked understandably upset.

“Why didn’t you respond to my calls or report this sooner?” Ulric asked, moving closer to the area Harold had pointed out and the man moved to follow him.

“It wasn’t that simple Captain, they had some kind of ward around the ambush site and it was impossible to send or receive any mental messages through it. Not to mention we were quite a long way from Elthanor’s Breach and I doubt that a message would have traveled that far.”

Ulric froze then and raised an eyebrow as he turned to face Harold, his fist curling into a tight ball, “You said that this Order member caught Ashley off guard right? I don’t understand how that’s possible, she was the second most talented sensory expert on our team. Surely she sensed something was amiss?”

Now it was Harold’s turn to freeze and he gulped hard before replying, “W-well I think she might have! She seemed like she was about to say something before that bastard Conductor from the Order burst out and killed her.”

Ulric sighed and turned to face Harold, his hand moving to his claymore, “You know Harold, I never did like you. There was always something about you that put me off but I could never quite pin down what that was.”

Harold sighed as well and looked up at Ulric smiling, “What gave me away?” he asked.

“It was when you mentioned Elthanor’s Breach. We only suspected that it could be a potential location for an Order ambush we never outright stated as much. If you were telling the truth about a mental message block there’s no way you could have known that Alvin’s group was ambushed there at all.”

Harold chuckled and clapped slowly for a moment, “Fair enough. I thought I might let something slip, you’re quite sharp after all. You know I never cared for you either, always hogging all the glory for yourself, never letting anyone else get the chance to shine.”

Ulric laughed this time and said, “If you had even an ounce of talent for the sensory field then maybe I would have given you more credit on our missions, but you always fell back and kept your own safety a priority. It’s no surprise that you would pull something like this.”

“You never gave me a chance!” Harold screamed. “In all the years we’ve been working together you never once let me take the lead, never once showed me any kind of praise or approval! It was always Burke or Mells, or Ashley! Especially Ashley! You two had a thing going on, didn’t you? Ugh, you sicken me, Ulric!

“Not only did you have to take all the glory but you had to take her as well didn’t you?!” Harold was no longer smiling and only a cold rage seemed to seep from his every word, Ulric however, only stood with a cold glare in his eyes.

“This. This right here Harold. This is exactly why I never praised you. You always had your hand out expecting something you didn’t earn. You never once tried to achieve more than you thought you could handle. When did they get to you hmm? How did they do it? Did they promise you glory and power? Recognition? Women?”

Ulric spoke with a smooth even tone, rage clearly ready to burst out from just beneath the surface of his calm demeanor. Harold was shaking at this point and his face was twisted up in a look of hatred and malice.

“Does it really matter at this point, Ulric? I certainly don’t think so. But you know, if you wanted to just tell me where the boy is, I’m sure the Order of Eternal Night would welcome you into their ranks just as easily as they welcomed me.”

Ulric spat on the ground and dropped into a ready stance, the point of his sword aimed right at Harold, “I would never betray my brothers and sisters of Silent Night. Unlike you I have a shred of honor and so does everyone else you once called a friend.”

Harold sighed and shrugged. “Look Ulric, I know you’re a bit steamed right now and you should be! But think about what I’m offering you here! It’s a lucrative chance to join the Order with no strings attached! All they want is the kid. In fact, they were quite adamant about that. Even if we fuck up they aren’t going to stop trying you know.

“Why not save yourself some trouble eh? If we don’t nab him tonight they’re just going to come after him at the Academy. You were always the caring type. These Order guys… They don’t fuck around. You know that right? If they come at the Academy they’re going to do it in droves and slaughter everyone in their path just to get their hands on that kid.”

Cypher gritted his teeth as he listened to Harold. He had never imagined that something like this might happen. Was it really possible? Would the Order go so far as to attack the Academy itself? They had already taken down the entire Galvan estate, but only Galex, Tyrina, and Jelroy had been there. Certainly, with a roster of powerful Conductors like the headmaster, the Elders, Alvin, and every other professor, the Order wouldn’t stand a chance. Right?

“And just why is that Harold?” Ulric asked, disgust dripping from every word. “Or were you too low on the ladder to replace out? What’s so special about Cypher that they’d risk launching an attack on a place filled to the brim with powerful Conductors?”

“Fuck you Ulric! Don’t give me that high and mighty attitude. Do you really think the Order would even consider an attack of that magnitude if they hadn’t accounted for that? Those old fools at the Academy would be far too focused on keeping those shitty noble brats alive to fight all out. Hell, they couldn’t even unleash their full might without shattering the mental spaces of every one of those entitled little fucks. The Order though, they don’t care either way. We’ve got numbers on our side, you dumbass.”

Cypher lowered his head as their conversation continued. If the Order really was willing to attack the Academy Harold was right. The teachers wouldn’t be able to unleash their full might without killing every single student in their path. Cypher had only felt a small portion of the pressure that just the Elders alone could radiate and he shuddered to think of what might happen if so many powerful Conductors cut loose and fought for real.

It was hard to imagine that anyone aside from maybe the senior class would survive if that happened. Cypher felt sick as the ramifications of that clicked in his mind. Everyone would die and it would be all his fault. An entire generation of students would die because this Order of Eternal Night was after him. But what could he do about it? Would it perhaps be best to just turn himself over to them? No. That idea sickened him. They had been the ones who killed his beloved Molly and separated him from his parents to begin with.

But wouldn’t it be the most moral choice he could make? It was a hard pill to swallow but couldn’t he avoid all of that senseless slaughter if he just surrendered to them without a fight? Besides, he still didn’t know what they even wanted with him. His thoughts carried on like that for a moment or two but were interrupted as Ulric spoke up.

“Numbers eh?” replied Ulric with disdain. “Do you really think that quantity counts against quality? How many of them could there possibly be?”

“Oh don’t do that. I might be weak but I’m not stupid. You and I both know that you’re only fishing for information. Ashley tried that same thing when she figured me out. Too bad for her she caught on too late,” Harold said with a mirthless chuckle.

“How could you do this? Hmm? No, really, how did you manage to kill both Ashley AND Jason? They were your teammates! You fought with them through thick and thin. Have you no honor? Ashley and Jason certainly did!” Ulric gripped his sword tightly in his hands as he spoke and Harold spat before glaring back at him.

“Enough! You’re always spouting that fucking honor bullshit. Quite frankly I’m tired of it Ulric. You’re wrong by the way about the honor thing, aye I killed Ashley, she deserved it for never once looking my way with kindness. But Jason, well…”

In an instant, a blur shot through the clearing, followed by a roar of pain from Ulric.