WTFBT Anthology: Rodrick Wayward | 482 SM

Sugar Moon, 482 SM

Maryere, the Mountain Realm

Rodrick tapped his foot against the stone wall. What should I do? He watched his foot as he kicked, ignoring the dull pain that quickly rose. Father said that Gloriana isn’t safe. What can I do to protect her? He groaned, annoyed with himself. I can’t let that little girl get hurt. He pictured her soft blue eyes constantly shining with tears. She’s already suffered enough. 

“Why do you torture your foot?” Eucalypita asked, looking at him curiously as her long, pointed ears wiggled.

Rodrick stopped, meeting the Ranger’s bright green eyes. She can protect Gloriana better than I can. Frustration reddened his cheeks, and he held in a groan. “I was thinking.”

Eucalypita leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “About what?”

He matched the Ranger’s stance. “When did you start asking so many questions?”

“Thinking about what?” 

He sighed and looked at the door on the other side of the hallway where the person he protected slept the night away. “Gloriana.”

“Of course you are,” Eucalypita replied, buzzing her lips as she pushed herself off the wall. “Do your thoughts about her ever end?”

Rodrick frowned. “Gloriana’s in danger, and I must protect her. It’s not like I’m in love with the girl.”

“She’s in love with you, though.” There was a pause. “Fine, I know, but still, you can’t think of anything or anyone else?” 

“Not until I know that she is safe. I swore to protect her until the day I die, and that’s what I plan to do.” The Ranger nodded, looking away, which made Rodrick frown harder. I hate seeing her look so sad. Eucalypita had done so much for him, and he had done nothing but make her miserable. “Euca,” he started, taking a step forward. He cupped her cheek when she didn’t react, forcing her eyes to his. “Smile. I hate to see you sad. Why does it make you so sad that I think about Lady Gloriana?” 

The Ranger pulled her face away. “It doesn’t,” she relented. “Why were you thinking about her anyway? Is there something the matter?”

He examined the young woman. What can I do to understand her better? What does she want? What am I not giving her? Eucalypita was the only person in Maryere he fully trusted, yet he wasn’t sure if she trusted him. I wish she understood how much she means to me. Why can I not please any woman in my life? “My father believes that she isn’t safe,” he finally replied, not looking at anything.

“The Lord Protector still thinks there is a threat to her life?” Eucalypita questioned, and Rodrick nodded. “But it’s been a year since her family was massacred.” 

“Lord Morvan Osmont isn’t the only one who wants her dead.”

The Ranger made a confused face. “Who else? Has there been new intel that I don’t know about?”

He opened his mouth, but a scream stopped him. The two looked at each other for a moment, registering the cry. “Gloriana,” they said in unison. 

“I’ll go in first,” Ser Rodrick Wayward commanded, stepping toward the door. “Watch my back. There might be a trap.”

“Of course, be careful,” Eucalypita replied, nocking her arrow. 

Rodrick nodded and kicked down the door, barging into the bedroom. Inside, Gloriana Thoren withered in her bed, grasping her stomach. His face twitched as he took in the sight of a pool of blood growing around the girl. “What’s going on? Why are you screaming?” 

Gloriana struggled lifting her hand to point to the darkness. “Shadow.”

Ser Rodrick rushed to the girl’s side, slowly picking up her head. “Sh, don’t speak. It’s okay. You’ll be okay,” he tried to reassure, but Gloriana had already begun to pale, frightening the young knight. She’s going to die. 

“Shadow,” she said again, still pointing. 

Rodrick turned and noticed something moving in the shadows. Something attacked her. He slowly placed Gloriana’s head back on the pillow. “EUCA!” He shouted, and the Ranger immediately entered the room. “Heal Ana,” he directed, unsheathing his sword and turning to the darkness. 

Eucalypita rushed past him, and he took a deep breath. Euca will take care of her. I know she will. He tried to clear his mind, preparing for the unknown. Gloriana’s assailant is in the shadows; they cannot escape. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and took a deep breath. One, two, he jumped into the shadows and only saw darkness. What’s going on? Am I in another room? 

“Following me into the shadows. What a fool! Do you crave death?” A voice asked. 

Rodrick saw a glimmer of steel and evaded the strike. I need to keep them talking so I can locate them. “Why did you attack Lady Thoren?”

“Stupid boy! Do you wish to die?” 

The sword swung again, and Rodrick clashed his weapon against it. They are close. He smiled at that. I am the best in the Mountain Realm at close-range battles. “I’m not dying today!” He declared, stabbing into the air and missing.“Who paid you to attack Lady Thoren?”

“Why ask for a name when you should be asking for your life?” 

Ser Rodrick Wayward frowned. This isn’t getting anywhere. “You wounded a little girl,” he informed the assailant, his lip trembling at the thought of Gloriana dying. Euca will give her aid. She will be okay. Focus on the fight. 

“Aw, and did that hurt your feelings?” the figure in the shadows laughed. “Rodrick Wayward, the Young Knight, you shouldn’t be so dense. That Summeran outcast is no little girl. You know that.” They said my name! They know me. Do I know them? “How will you feel, I wonder, when the girl you love dies?”

He was seething now. “I don’t love Gloriana!” he shouted back. Calm down, calm down. But he couldn’t. “I just want to see her happy! If you knew her story, if you knew the life she’s lived. You’d understand.” 

“Ha! I’m not talking about the Summeran highborn.”

Rodrick’s body grew cold. The figure in the shadows was targeting Eucalypita now. No, she can’t die! I won’t allow it! “EUCA!” he screamed in the shadows. “Lend me your strength!” They had only done it once before, but he knew it was the only way. I must use the Arts and save us all. 

“That Ranger cannot hear you, stupid boy!”

Rodrick’s body pulsed in reaction. No, Euca heard me. This feeling is the same as before. He smiled in the darkness as his body pulsated again, and Rodrick saw a faint light beating rhythmically. Their heart; Euca put a light in their heart! “I will defeat you, shadow!”

“Oh, you claim not to love Gloriana, but I can see through you, Young Knight,” the voice teased, ignoring Rodrick’s declaration.

Ignore them. They are trying to rattle you. Ignore them. Rodrick closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and repositioned his feet. His body pulsed again, and he felt the warmth of the figure before him. Take them out in a single slash. “Nothing will be able to save you now,” he warned the figure, swinging his sword toward the faint light. 

“Not if I kill you first,” the voice replied before Rodrick connected, and there was a pause. “Oh, oh no. I’ve failed. How?” 

And the light reappeared. 

Rodrick’s hands shook violently as he clutched the hilt of his sword. The end of the blade was soaked with blood, and it still plunged into the assailant’s abdomen. A woman. I just stabbed a woman. 

The assailant clasped her hands around the blade and inhaled sharply. She coughed in reaction to the deep inhale, and blood spittle dotted her chapped lips. “You hit me,” she told Rodrick, tears streaking her cheeks. “How? You are but a Young Knight. You don’t have that kind of power.” 

Rodrick could only stare at the woman’s deep blue eyes. I stabbed a woman. His vision blurred as his attention resettled on the stab wound. She’s going to die. I killed a woman. His head snapped up, and tears streamed down his face, matching the woman’s expression. “I’m sorry.”

The assailant looked past Rodrick. “Arcan girl, is the outcast going to live?”

Arcan? Rodrick turned to Eucalypita as she nodded. 

The woman sighed. “Good. When I die, absorb my allure. You look more like an Arc than a human with those ears.”

“I will,” Eucalypita replied, her voice low. 

Rodrick’s sword slid from the woman as she fell, and Rodrick grabbed the woman to soften her fall. “Can you believe it? I saw an Arc,” the assailant said as the life faded from her eyes. She gave a slight chuckle. “I thought they were all dead. I guess the Establishments are constantly lying about everything.”

His lip trembled as emotions swirled in his insides. “Who paid you to attack Gloriana?”

“Oh, Young Knight,” the woman exhaled, blinking slowly. “Take care of the Arc. Keep her close. Don’t let them get her, too.”

Tears fell from Rodrick’s eyes. “Who?” No answer. “Well, who sent you to kill Gloriana?” he questioned instead, and still, the woman did not answer. “Give me a name, please.”

“Rodrick,” Eucalypita said from behind. 

He gripped the woman’s arms, shaking. “Give me a name!”

“Rod, she’s dead,” Euca informed, lightly touching his shoulder. 

Ser Rodrick Wayward sobbed, dropping the woman’s body. Eucalypita wrapped her arms around him in comfort. “I’ve never killed anyone before,” he confessed, crying into the young woman’s shoulder. “I don’t like how it feels.”

“You did what you were supposed to do. You should be proud of yourself.”

He pulled away from Eucalypita, his head feeling foggy. How could I be proud that I stole a life away? He wiped his tears and stood, pushing away the intense emotions. “How’s Gloriana?”

The Ranger frowned. “I healed the wound as best I could, but she will remember what happened. She will need some mental help again, as she did after Lord Osmont murdered her family.” 

“Clear her mind,” he decided, crossing his arms and staring into the darkness.

“What?”

“Clear her mind,” Rodrick repeated. I will not allow her to suffer anymore. “Erase her memories from tonight. You have the Body Art. I know you can do it.” He studied the Ranger’s angry face and sighed. “I don’t want to argue. Just do it. I don’t want her to know that she was targeted. I want her to feel safe here.” 

“What about when she awakens and is sick because she lost so much blood?”

“Get a Savant and pay him some coin to say she has a seasonal fever,” Rodrick answered, still looking at nothing. “I want Gloriana to feel safe here,” he added with a mumble. “If she knows we couldn’t protect her, she will never feel safe.” 

Eucalypita rolled her eyes, relenting. “Fine, but we should call for someone to tend to her immediately. I don’t know how she will react.”

“Can you hide the body?”

“Aye, Traveling Coffin,” the Ranger enchanted as she extended her hand. The dead woman’s body glowed in reaction before shrinking into a small cube and floating into Eucalypita’s hand. “Done, now go,” she directed before turning her attention to the sleeping Summeran girl. “I will start now because I don’t want her to wake up before we erase her memories. Please hurry.”

Rodrick nodded and marched to the door. He swung it open as a small group of knights rushed up the steps. 

“Ser Rodrick!” one of the knights said breathlessly. “We heard shouting. What’s wrong?”

He placed his hands on his hips, further pushing away the emotions that choked his words. “Gloriana has a fever,” he answered, clearing his throat. “Bring Savant Clovis, quickly.” 

“Of course,” and the knight ran to find the Savant.

Eucalypita walked up beside Rodrick and lightly touched his arm. “Finished.”

“Gloriana won’t remember what happened?”

The Ranger shook her head. “The last thing the girl will remember is going to sleep just as you wanted. Now she will feel safe and not know the realities around her.”

Rodrick exhaled heavily, ignoring the bite in the Ranger’s tone. “Thank you,” he told the young woman, but Eucalypita stayed quiet. She’s mad at me. I’ll have to make it up to her, but not right now. Ser Rodrick Wayward grabbed the woman’s hand and led her out of Gloriana’s bedchamber. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

He looked back at the Ranger he had grown so fond of. “To see my father."

The pair walked to Lord Robart Wayward’s bedchamber, determined but silent. Rodrick paused before knocking, and the door opened slowly. 

“Good morning, my son,” Lord Robart greeted kindly, already dressed for the day and sitting at his desk. “Good morning, Eucalypita. What are you two doing here so early? I am still going through my first cup of morning tea.”

“Show him, please.” 

Eucalypita dropped the small flesh cube. “Release Traveling Coffin,” she said, and the corpse reappeared on the bedchamber floor. 

The Lord Protector of the Mountain Realm jumped from his seat. “What is that?” Lord Robart asked nervously. 

“Gloriana’s assailant.”

“Assailant,” Lord Robart’s eyes grew wide at the realization. “Is Gloriana okay? Where is she? What happened?”

Eucalypita crossed her arms. “I gave her first aid, and a knight was sent to grab Savant Clovis so he could tend to her further.”

“Thank you,” Robart sighed, sitting back down.

Rodrick stepped forward nervously. “Someone broke into Gloriana’s room and stabbed her, but I was able to take down the assailant.”

The old Lord Protector sighed again. “Alright, I will talk to the girl when she awakens.”

“I had Euca erase her memories of what happened,” Ser Rodrick confessed. “I didn’t want her to think Maryere is unsafe, too.”

Rodrick’s father looked deeply into his eyes. “Excuse me?”

“She was stabbed, just like her family. I can’t let her know she was on the verge of meeting the same end.”

“I’m sorry, but Gloriana must know that Lord Morvan Osmont sent assassins.”

Eucalypita shook her head. “I don’t think Lord Morvan sent the assailant,” she pointed at the dead body. “When Ser Rodrick asked who sent her, she wouldn’t tell him. Lord Morvan is egotistical. He would’ve demanded that the assailant tell anyone who could hear who sent her.”

“You think someone else wants Gloriana dead?” Lord Robart asked. 

“Aye, she had mentioned that the Establishments are always lying,” the Ranger confirmed. 

Robart Wayward groaned and pushed his hands through his short, grey hair. “A few moons back, I received a letter from the Citadel claiming that Gloriana should become a Savant because they could protect her more. Maybe they are creating fake assassination attempts to scare me into sending her to Shadow’s Peak.”

Rodrick thought for a moment before gasping. “Does that mean we can’t trust Savant Clovis? He should be treating Gloriana now.”

“My son,” Lord Robart said lightly. “We cannot trust anyone in this world. You must always remember that.”