,

******

So began the tedious task of wading through Lord Himmel's memories and altering each and every single one of them. Actually, it was more of blurring the memories, instead of giving a clear, sharp image in place of the real one. Each time, each memory alteration took something out of Elise, and by the time we were approaching the moment where Lord Himmel first took up residence in Heidelberg, she was so gaunt and pale that she only looked slightly better than the husks that had their magic drained out of them.

We were following Lord Himmel through the streets of Heidelberg. Elise strained her eyes into the distance, and she was leaning on Heidi and me as much as both of us were leaning on her. The good thing was that nothing could stand in our way. Literally. We didn't need to move aside; just keep heading in a straight line, and let everything pass through us.

"Are you all right?" Heidi asked for the umpteenth time, the question directed towards Elise.

And for the umpteenth time, Elise answered, "I'm quite all right. Let's keep moving."

I wanted to make her stop and rest. There was the wound that Heidi had no time to tend to either. I eyed her waist; it seemed fine. I knew that she wouldn't listen to me anyway if I told her to take a break. So I clamped down on my concerns and did what she told us to do: keep moving.

Lord Himmel led us towards one of the main streets in the city, and there was quite a crowd gathered there. We moved right in the midst of the jostling and the shouting and the merry-making, arching our necks to get a better look at what was going on.

Or rather, who.

A carriage was coming down the road, a silver gryphon emblazoned on a red shield painted on its side. Its windows had been rolled down, and the occupants were waving their hands at the people. The common folk seemed pleased enough at the Himmel family's presence, and I gathered that they were rather well-like.

"You traitorous bastards!" shouted a woman, stepping right into the middle of the street. Her dress was in tatters, but it looked like it had seen better days.

Well, perhaps not all liked the Himmels.

The carriage door swung open, and a man in a fine leather jerkin and silken hose leaped down. He had a fatherly, kindly face, the sort that you wouldn't hesitate to tell your deepest, darkest secrets to. He walked towards the woman. "How may I be of assistance, ma'am?" he said, voice calm.

"You sick bastards! Daring to question what wrong had been done to me?" The woman had an untamed quality to the way she spoke. "My Sigurd, of course! My poor, poor Sigurd, taken away by your men only to have himself killed!"

The name seemed to ring a familiar tone in the man's head. His expression darkened. "There was nothing we could do," he said quietly.

"Of course there was! You just didn't bother trying!" Spittle flew from the woman's mouth in her rage. "My only son—and you took him away from me."

She broke down at the last sentence, wailing and screaming and refusing to remove herself from the road. Everyone was watching the scene with interest, Lord Himmel especially. The Pied Piper. He didn't look out of place in his workman's tunic and breeches, but he looked odd to me. I supposed that I just wasn't used to seeing him in peasant's clothing.

The original Lord Himmel took another step towards the woman. "I'm sorry, but there was nothing we could do. However, if I can make it up to you in any way..."

The woman hiccupped, swallowed her sobs. She then glared at the lord with pure hatred radiating from every inch of her body. "There is one way you can make it up to me."

In a flash, a dagger that had been hidden up her sleeve whipped free, and she lunged towards her lord. "Die!" she screamed.

The guards were too far away to do anything, and Lord Himmel had been caught off guard, unable to react. I observed as the point of the blade swept down in an arc, and would undeniably find its target in the end.

Then a hand amongst the crowd was flung out, and the knife was knocked out of the woman's hand.

The guards didn't waste another moment, moving towards the woman and grabbing her arms. She kicked and struggled, but it was futile. Lord Himmel waved a hand at her and said, "Take her for interrogation, but under no accounts are you to hurt her. See that she will be properly compensated."

"Yes, milord," said one of the guards in reply, bowing and leading a few of the sorcerers off, in the direction of the castle sitting atop the hill.

Then Lord Himmel looked at a certain young blond man, clothed in a simple leather jerkin, brows furrowed as though he hadn't quite absorbed what he had just done. "I must thank you, lad," said the older man. "If not for you, I would have had my throat slit by now."

"No need for thanks, milord," replied Lord Himmel—the Pied Piper. "I was just doing my duty."

"Duty proved you to be a remarkable sorcerer then." Lord Himmel—the original one, stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Hmm, you don't seem to be from around these parts. What brings you here?"

"I came here to seek my fortune, milord."

"And fortune you shall receive. I could always use a talented sorcerer like you. What's say you train and serve as one of my guard?"

The Pied Piper straightened himself enthusiastically. "Do you mean it, milord?"

"Naturally, young lad." Lord Himmel smiled at the younger man. "So, what's your decision?"

"I—I'd love to accept the offer!"

"Excellent. I'll be a bit busy for the next few hours, but be sure to go to my castle and ask for my name." Lord Himmel slipped a ring off one of his fingers, proffering it to the Pied Piper. "Take this. Should grant you easier access through my guards. They're an honourable lot, but a bit stubborn sometimes. Would take a lot of convincing to let them grant you passage into the castle. This can save you a lot of time."

"But milord, I can't—"

"You can, and you will," said Lord Himmel. He put on a serious mask, and at once I saw the lord behind the joviality and the carefree attitude. "Take it. It's an order."

The Pied Piper submitted, bowing his head and taking the ring as though it were white-hot and just out of the forges. "Thank you, milord."

"Like you said, no need for thanks. By the way, may I know your name, lad?"

The Pied Piper paused for a while. "Hans," he decided at last. "My name is Hans."

"Good, sensible name. I'm sure your mother is a lovely woman, to give you a name like that." Lord Himmel flung the serious mask aside, adopting the cheery one instead.

"She was."

A pregnant silence followed after. Then, recovering his senses, Lord Himmel covered up the slip by saying, "My apologies and my deepest condolences."

"It's all right. She's been gone for a long time now."

"Ah, I see. All right, best I be off." Lord Himmel clapped a hand on the Pied Piper's shoulder heartily. "See you later, Hans."

Without another word, Lord Himmel leaped back into his carriage, apparently oblivious to the crowd that was privy to the entire conversation. They now watched the Pied Piper with unrestrained interest, studying him as if he just started sprouting onions out of his ears. The carriage rolled away, and the crowd eventually dispersed, getting on with their daily activities. Meanwhile, the Pied Piper fingered the ring Lord Himmel had given him. It was a fine specimen, a ruby as fat as a pigeon's egg set into a band of gold.

The smile of the Lord Himmel I knew so well tinged the Pied Piper's lips.

"Another significant memory," said Elise abruptly, snapping my attention from the scene and onto her. With a grimace, she got into playing position. "This will take quite a while."

She drew the bow across the strings.

******

The next significant memory took place in Heidelberg's Fountain. The sun was nigh, and people dressed in plain brown uniforms stood in a ring around the area. Their builds were muscular—even the women—and their hands had nicks and scars all over them. The product of years of slaving in the workshops. Tinkers. This was a binding ceremony.

And sure enough, kneeling by the Fountain was the Pied Piper, weighed down by the ritual robes he wore. Lord Himmel stood behind him, garbed in similar robes, chanting in an ancient language. It was an eerie reflection of the binding ceremony I had been through.

Then Lord Himmel began to circle the young man, chanting faster and faster. Although this was just a memory, I felt the power thrumming in the air. I soaked in the moment, savouring it. For all the danger of binding oneself to a Fountain, it was a beautiful ritual. I'd never realised that until now, when I was an outside witness to everything going on.

Lord Himmel stopped chanting; magic continued to sing. He lay a hand upon the Pied Piper's golden head. "Drink now," he said, "and forever bind yourself to Bromilde's power."

The Pied Piper took the cue and dipped his hands into the Fountain, cupping the glowing liquid in his hands and gulping it down.

Then whiteness fell over the scene.

I started in shock. "What's happening?" I said.

"We're in his memories," Elise replied slowly. "But this doesn't happen in a binding ritual..."

As though in answer to our questions, the white began to take shape. It felt like I was swimming in the Fountain, the way I had during the Affinity ritual. The Pied Piper was right before us, looking like he was floating in mid-air, like us. Unlike us, he seemed completely at ease, as though he had expected this.

Then I saw Saint Bromilde.

She was the same, albeit bathed in a glowing yellow light this time, unlike the dark silver I'd seen her in. But her features were still the same: the full lips, the long lashes, the pits of nothingness that served as her eyes. I frowned to myself. This was strange. Her domain was the night. To have her suddenly appear in the day was akin to seeing the stars alongside the sun.

"I sense vengeance in you, my boy," she said. "Those who drink from the Fountain and seek vengeance at the same time, I will avenge. For I am Saint Bromilde, and let all who bind themselves to me harbour no regrets." Oh, so that explained why she appeared.

A smirk played on the Pied Piper's lips. "I do seek vengeance, and I am willing to offer something in return to get it."

"Ah, you're no fool, I see. Very well, what can you offer?"

"Magic. Drawn from the most powerful Fountains across Aschein," said the Pied Piper.

For once, Saint Bromilde was shocked into silence. "So you're the Pied Piper who has been stealing magic from my brethren, eh? Well well, here to steal my power too?" she said, full of false bluster.

The smirk grew wider. "If I wanted to do that, I would have done it a long time ago," he said simply.

"True," Saint Bromilde admitted. "So, you offer me magic. Are you suggesting that I tear the land apart for the sake of my own gain?"

"Don't lie to me. You're no real saint. I know you from the legends. You were a maiden oft drawn into dangerous deals and the prospect of power. Your so-called brethren don't matter much to you, do they? What are their lives worth in exchange for so much magic?"

Saint Bromilde considered his words for a while. "You aren't like any Magi I know," she said.

"I'm not any normal Magi," the Pied Piper replied.

"I can see that. Very well, I shall accept your offer, but you haven't named what form of vengeance you seek yet." Saint Bromilde's voice was a purr; evidently she hadn't made such an exciting deal in years—perhaps centuries.

"It's very simple: I want to gain access to your power."

Incredulity slapped the saint's features. "Impossible! I would sooner perish than give up my power."

"Let me rephrase this: I mean, I want the power that comes along with being lord of Heidelberg."

"Why?"

"Because this could satisfy me in a way nothing else can," said the Pied Piper. "This is the only way I can show my identity to the world, proclaim who I truly am—once I've conquered Starkfurt, of course. And in order to that, I need Heidelberg's power."

Saint Bromilde gave a cunning smile. "Your request is not unreasonable, boy. Unfortunately, I am bound to the current lord. But if you could somehow dispose him...I might even provide you with the means to do so."

"Then it is settled?"

"Then it is settled."

With Saint Bromilde's words, whiteness fell over the scene again, and eventually we were whisked back into the courtyard, at the surface of the Fountain.

"What was that?" gasped Heidi. Her pale face looked like it had been leeched of all life, and Elise's eyes were wide with shock. I supposed that I didn't look much better.

"Saint Bromilde...I always knew she was a dangerous saint, but this—" Elise's expression grew grim. "Lord Himmel had made a dangerous deal with her, and now he is reaping the rewards. And so is she. She's manipulated him to this stage of madness. She's the one who kept encouraging him to walk down this path of hatred. And now we're paying the price for it."

"Is there anything we can do about it?" The sudden introduction of a saint—of all beings—as the driving force behind Lord Himmel's actions was a little overwhelming.

"Yes there is. Stop Lord Himmel," said Elise, and she took up her bow and started to alter the memory.

******