Edge of Extinction war story/Chapter 21

Diviara and Amilara landed outside Granemor and pulled up short when they realized that Dewlok was not alone.

"Is that Coeuraservi?" Amilara asked with a frown. "Why would he be with Dewlok?"

Coeuraservi turned around, hearing his name, and frowned.

"Diviara and Amilara Celegra, greetings to you in the name of the Lady."

"You evoke that name quite easily, paladin" Diviara said; his words were harsh, but his tone was sympathetic rather than judgmental.

"I am a paladin no longer; I am not qualified for the office..."

Amilara frowned.

"From what I have heard, Coeuraservi, you are more entitled to that title than many within your order."

"Maybe, but though I had concerns about the war, I did not stop it. That alone may make my claim of the title suspect. However, I fear in this instance I am being literal and not figurative."

Coeuraservi went through a rapid transformation from his normal form to that of a golden-colored dracopyre.

"Donovan's bite got you in the end after all," Amilara stated neutrally.

"So it seems. I had hoped that Dewlok could help me, but he cannot."

"I can heal both positive and negative life force, I can stabilize beings whose nature is in transition, even, but I cannot fundamentally change the direction of anima. I am a healer, and that involves more than healing, it involves necromancy itself."

"I see. I am so sorry, Coeuraservi," Amilara answered.

"I am not to be pitied. I do not know what my pathway will hold now, but whatever it is, I am now the dracopyre ScarScale. That is not to be lamented, but accepted. It is a fact. I am only sorry that I cannot continue my work for the Lady."

"Do not be so certain on that count, friend paladin."

"Still you call me by that term, Diviara; you seem most insistent."

"Perhaps you will choose a differing path entirely, but your order is in disarray; it has been changed. You may not fit within that order anymore, even in whatever new form it ultimately takes, but the Lady has proven very forgiving to those who face her with honest hearts. I learned that lesson from my brother."

As if on cue, another Brilhado landed at the camp, and Diviara and Amilara were taken aback to discover that it was the very same brother Diviara was just mentioning.

"Gil!" Diviara said with surprise. "What are you doing on Lore, you are dead, how...?"

"I am always doing our Lady's will, Diviara, be it here or on Aloria. I was sent to aid in efforts at the undead encampment. I was initially forbidden from seeing you, but that was lifted as the conflict has reached its conclusion.

"Greetings, Coeuraservi, I am Giliara Celegra, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Or do you prefer I call you ScarScale when you are in that form?"

"That you would speak to me at all is my honor, Giliara Celegra; call me what you will."

"Pragmatic and desultory all at once, I like him," Giliara answered. "And you have reason to like him even more. He is the reason I am on Lore."

"What?" Coeuraservi asked, startled.

"You sent a request for aid for the innocent. That request was heard by Falerin and by the Lady. They acted."

"He sent a request for aid?" Amilara asked, somewhat surprised.

"Many, including Cagliari, aided me in my struggle against Donovan. I wanted to be sure that at least some measure of protection was granted those who had no fault in this struggle..."

"The protection worked largely," Giliara said. "Things may have been much worse."

"Most were protected," Amilara said bitterly. "Cagliari was less fortunate."

"Cagliari is well, nephew. You can rest easy. It is on that account that I came here. Dewlok, your aid will be much needed by these people in the future, but not in this instance."

"I was not yet even asked," Dewlok responded. "What has occurred?"

"The damage to the ley lines is extensive," Diviara answered. "My son and I could not aid his friend, whom the Paladin Order had disassembled in their struggle."

"By friend, you mean Cagliari Lux?" Dewlok asked. "I am acquainted; he is a good man. I would aid him gladly if I could. But reversing such total disassembly is likely more than my skills as a healer, no matter how gifted, could accomplish."

"The Lady realized that, as did the Lord. Lux has served long and well, and he has been rewarded. In fact, he has been placed in charge of aiding an instructing a new undead who is struggling with his transition quite strongly. As to you, Coeuraservi..."

"As to him," a female voice spoke, "he must find his own way, but would that way lead back to my door, he would find the door open to him and a welcome set out. Dracopyre, paladin, servant, you have acted rashly but you have been true to your call."

"My Lady," ScarScale said, surprised, and then ashamedly took human form.

"Do you cower from what you have become, my servant?"

"I am an undead, Lady. I failed at my station, and now my very nature shows that failure. I mean no offense to the undead, but..."

"But how can you possibly be both? Who knows. Not even I at this moment know what the future will bring for any of the groups of which you are counted. But there is one I would have you meet. You will come with my servant to the encampment, and there you will speak again with the man for whom your order is named. He cannot tell you how to act, but perhaps he can give you guidance. If there is any who can speak of what it is to be an undead servitor of the light, it is he. After which you will need to find your way, but I would that that way did bring you back to my arms, beloved."

"Commander Paladin is here?"

"For the moment, he is, yes."

"Then lead and I will follow, Giliara."

"As to your friend and my beloved servant Cagliari, my husband and I could hardly allow one so dedicated to be simply disassembled and left for dead. We had even offered him a return to biotic life. He rejected it. He still does. So we set him at an even harder task, for the newest undead in our service is very conflicted. Cagliari, however, did not hesitate. Not for a moment. Such is his nature. Though it may be a bit of a pun since the origin language is not Lorian. Cagliari is truly deserving of his surname."

"Lux, Latin, the light," Diviara explained. "It is an old Terran dialect. I am not so sure it is such an accident he was named that way. I understand he was an orphan..."

"Yes, and Paladin himself named him. That is true enough, but how would the commander know Terran dialects?"

"How would I, Lady?" Diviara asked.

"You have been there," she answered simply, and Diviara merely nodded demurely. "And you, my servants, the two of you, it grieves me that we have wronged you so."

"Lady," Amilara said, "you have done us no wrong. You could not answer in the current conflict, we understood that."

"Quite so," the Lady responded. "You wonder how the Lady of Light can have an Undead Paladin in her service, Coeuraservi. One might wonder equally how she can have necromancers who use darkness. But nothing is one-sided. People are complex. It is part of their beauty. I must return to the council of the pantheon, but know this: I still watch you. Whatever path you ultimately take, I have watched you and I love you. Such is true of your Order as well, though I have now cast them from my church; I have cast them not to castigate but because they need to find their way and I cannot be a crutch for the difficult journey ahead."

"I see. I am honored to be so esteemed, Lady."

"My Lady," Amilara asked, "a final question. My uncle says that Cagliari has been charged with aiding a new undead. You intimated as much as well. Who is he?"

"One of my former paladins, who fell in the conflict some time before the end. He was a victim both of his own fears and his hubris and the necromancers used this to their advantage in resurrecting him, but he was freed by the burning of the ley lines, and I was not about to leave that particular one unguided. His name in life was Brother Xander; did you know him, Coueraservi?"

"I knew of him. He was not from this region; he came to the front in response to the summons. He must have been well outside his element."

"Which is why I have forgiven him."

"My Lady?"

"It was he that disassembled Cagliari Lux."