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Youseff was round

"Onehis feet on the last solid lier knew, and map out the rest of the climb, for he was in an open area that afforded no ready branches

As soon as Youseff was in place, Roger Lockless took his rope firmly in hand and leaped out He plu a few nasty scratches in the process Then, some feet out from the trunk, he hit another branch, as he had planned, and kicked out, launching himself on a circuitous route about the tree He crashed and bounced repeatedly but held fast to his cir-cular, descending course, passing the startled Youseff barely an arer breathed easier as he continued around, for Brother Youseff had been too surprised to leap out at hiht that Roger was using the rope to get ahead of hihtened about hi around and below, he understood

On the last turn, Roger, holding the rope in only one hand now, took up the other rope and launched the grapnel at a cluster of white birch Then, hoping it would catch, Roger braced his feet as he cath of rope playing out to the end He dug in then, pulling with all his strength to keep the rope taut about Youseff

He knew he didn&039;t have long, for with the ht enough to hold the agile and strong er pulled on the rope in the birch trees with one hand, using the other to crank the coroaned aloud as he felt the grapnel slipping through tangle Finally, though, it caught fast

Up above, Youseff was laughing and trying to extricate himself He had the rope up above his elbo and would soon slip under it

Roger gave one final tug, and then, seeing that the slack was nearly gone, he dove for the co hard and fast with both hands

Youseff had just started to lift the rope over his head when it snapped taut, slaainst the tree trunk "What?" he asked, for he knew that the skinny little h below to know that no horse had coainst the rope

He heard the crack of a branch below, breaking under the strain, and was loose for just an instant before the rope pulled hard again, squeezing hiainst the trunk Youseff&039;s left ar crossed diagonally down his shoulder, right under his other arht as the rope tightened evenon the coth The rope was no longer even vibrating, was out straight and tight, and so Roger finally stopped, fearing he would pull one of the birch trees right out of the ground

He stepped out fro, helplessly pinned monk Now he did smile, with absolute relief "I will return," he promised "With friends It seems that you now have two murders to answer for!" And he turned and ran off

Youseff paid the words little heed, just continued struggling against the iht to try and slip out under the rope

He realized that to be a foolish move almost immediately - but too late - as the rope slipped up an inch, creasing the side of his neck

Belli&039; ahead of El-bryan, Pony, and Roger The sun was low in the sky now, its bottoroup had hurried back to the spot as soon as Roger had coerous htfall

Elbryan and the others waited outside the cluster of trees, the ranger watching Pony closely She had been silent all the way back to this place; the news of Connor&039;s death had hit her hard

Strangely, her s within Elbryan, only an empathy for her He understood, truly understood, the relationship between Pony and the nobleman, and he kne that with Connor&039;s death, the wo in her life So Elbryan vowed silently to keep his own negative feelings private, to focus on Pony&039;s needs

She sat straight and tall on Sy light She would get through this, as she had coh the first h the bitter war and all the losses, particularly the death of Avelyn Once again the ranger found hie

He loved her all the rass, Juraviel return-ing to the group The elf cast a glance at Roger, one that perceptive Elbryan didn&039;t miss, and explained, "He was just about free when I came upon him, stuck in the tree just as you described I had to cut him down - it took several arrows"

"You are sure he is dead?" Roger asked nervously, not wanting anything more to do with that one

"He is dead," Juraviel assured him "And I believe that your horse, Connor&039;s horse, is just over there," the elf added, pointing across the road

"He threw a shoe," Roger reminded

"Which can be easily repaired," Juraviel replied "Go and get hier nodded and started away, and Pony, on Elbryan&039;s signal, kicked Symphony into a trot after hier noted when he and the elf were alone

"I retrieved my arrows," Juraviel replied

"Elves do not retrieve arrows that have hit the er replied "Not unless the situation is desperate, which ours, now that the monks are both dead, is not"

"Your point?" Juraviel asked dryly

"The man was dead when you went into the copse," Elbryan reasoned

Juraviel agreed with a nod "He apparently tried to get out of the bindings, choking hi the bonds, and was quite clever in capturing the man in the first place Too clever, perhaps"

"I have battled with one called Brother Justice before," Elbryan said "And you saw the fanaticism at our ambush Did you doubt that it must end like this, with the death of the er&039;s hands," Juraviel replied "I do not believe that he is ready for that"

Elbryan glanced to the road, to see Pony and Roger walking to-gether, leading Sy horse

"He er decided, and he looked to Juraviel, expecting an argument

"He&039;ll not take it well" was all the elf warned, but Juraviel did not disagree with the ranger The road ahead for all of theet this unpleasant-ness over with here and now

When the pair arrived with the horses, Juraviel took Greystone and, after exa for Pony to take Symphony and follow

"Juraviel did not kill the one

Roger&039;s eyes widened in panic and he glanced all around, as if ex-pecting Brother Justice to leap out at hier more than any other foe, even Kos-kosio, ever had

"You did," Elbryan explained

"You er cor-rected "And that the kill by Juraviel was no large er said firhtened the rope and it so the life froain "But Juraviel said - " he started to protest

"Juraviel feared for your sensibilities," Elbryan bluntly replied "He was not certain how you would accept such grier&039;s ht of the truth was hitting hi

"I had to tell you," Elbryan said, softly now "You deserve to know the truth, and et beyond it if you are to handle the re-sponsibilities that have now been put on your young shoulders"

Roger was hardly listening, aying ht simply topple over

"We will speak later," Elbryan said to hi hand on his shoulder Then the ranger continued past, going to join Juraviel and Pony, leaving Roger alone with his thoughts

And with his pain, for truly Roger Billingsbury - and suddenly he craved for that title again and not the foolishly pretentious Roger Lockless - had never been hit by anything like this He had known grieflife, but that pain was different That pain allowed him to keep himself up on a pedestal, to continue to view himself as the center of the universe, as somehow better than everyone else In all the pain and all the er had ever known, he had been able to hold on to his soer-centric view of the world

Now, suddenly, that pedestal had been kicked out from under him He had killed a er was sitting in the grass Des-perately, his rational side battled against his conscience True, he had killed a iven him? The monk was a killer, pure and siht before his own eyes, brutally, evilly The monk had murdered Abbot Dobrinion!

But even those truths did little to assuage Roger&039;s sudden sense of guilt Whatever the justifications, and in spite of the fact that he had not intentionally killed Brother Justice, the man was dead, and the blood was on his hands

He put his head down, laboring hard for breath He craved all those things that had been torn froe: fa words of adults he could look up to With that thought, he looked over his shoulder to his three friends, to the ranger who had so bluntly told hier hated Elbryan for that But it could not hold; soon enough he understood that the ranger had told him out of respect for him, out of confidence in him, and had then left him alone because an adult - and he was an adult now - had to work through such pain, at least in part, alone

Pony ca of the ather up the fallen o south to retrieve Connor&039;s body

Silently, Roger fell into line, purposefully averting his eyes fro over Greystone&039;s back The horse alking better now, for Juraviel had shaved its hoof to level, but still the pace was slow Night fell in full, and still they walked, deteret to Connor&039;s body before he was torn apart by soht was quite dark, they at last found the ently closed his eyes Then she walked away, far away

"Go to her," Juraviel said to Elbryan

"You knohat to do with hier, Elbryan added, "Be strong and be sure Your role is perhaps theRoger staring at Juraviel for an explanation

"You are to take Connor, the ht out to Pallanced at the dead e that so shook his self-perception

"Go to the Baron, not the abbey," the elf explained "Tell him what has happened Tell him of Connor&039;s belief that these monks, and not any powrie, murdered Abbot Dobrinion, and that they chased Connor out of Pally be-come an enemy of the wicked Church leaders"

"And then what forif this was the last tilanced around "We could use another horse - another two," he added, "if you plan to ride with us"

"Does he wanttoward the distant Elbryan

"Would he have told you the truth if he did not?" Juraviel replied

"And what of you, then?" Roger quickly asked "Why did you lie toboy, unable to take responsibility?"

"I think you a rown much in the last weeks," the elf replied honestly "I did not tell you because I was not sure of what Nightbird - and do not doubt that he is the leader of this group - had planned for you If we meant to leave you in Palmaris, in safety with Tomas and Belster, if we had deterood would it have done you to let you know that you had the blood of a dead er asked "Do you play God, elf?"

"If the truth is not in any way constructive, then it can wait for a better time," Juraviel replied "But since your course is yours to de-termine, then you needed to kno Our road will be dark,friend, and I do not doubt that ill find other Brother Jus-tices in our path, perhaps for years to coer asked sarcastically

"Pray that is not the case," Juraviel replied in a severe tone, eyeing Roger unblinkingly

That deht that you were eh to know the truth," the elf added "Take it as a compliment"

Juraviel started to walk away

"I do not know if he was right," Roger ader, head down, shoulders bob-bing in sobs He went to stand beside hier&039;s back "The other htbird ever killed," he said "He did not cry this ti the first, the first Brother Justice"

The notion that this stoic and powerful ranger had been equally shaken hit Roger profoundly He wiped his eyes and stood straight, looked to Juraviel and nodded griitated to sit and wait out the reht He had to move quite slowly, for the injured Greystone carried both bodies, but he was deterh before the midday meal

PART FOUR

DOWN THE ROAD OF SHADOWS

As I learned more about the Church that Avelyn served - the Church of my parents and of every fellow human I have ever known - and as I nize just how subtle the nature of evilthis before, but is the evil man inherently evil? Is he even aware that his actions are evil? Does he believe them to be, or has he tainted his perspective so that he believes hiht?

In these times, when the dactyl awoke and the world knew chaos, many, it seems, have come to question the very essence of evil Who aht be considered evil and which good? When I ask, is the evilan absolute distinction that e Their concept of morality is relative, and while I&039;ll adht be dependent upon a certain situation, the overall moral distinction is not

For within that truth, I know a larger one I know that there is indeed an absolute difference between good and evil, with individual perspective and justification notwithstanding To the Touel&039;alfar, the coood of the elven folk first, but considering the good of all others, as well Though the elves desire little contact with hue and trained theh Inninness,for that place is beyond the influence of the rangers, but for the betterressors, never that They fight when they oblins not coht theiants, and indeed consider the three races to be a scourge upon the very world, the elves would suffer theo to the mountains and attack these monsters, by elven standards, would reduce the Touel&039;alfar to the level of that which they despise above all else

Conversely, the powries and the goblins have shown the and wicked creatures They attack whenever they find advantage, and it is little wonder that the deht out these races for its iants a bit differently, and wonder if they are, by nature, evil, or if they siiantcat, see its next oblins, I feel no re the five races of Corona, then, I consider the humans most shrouded in mystery Some of the very best people in all the world - Brother Avelyn, as a prime example - were human, as were, and possibly are, sooodly one, but not as predictable and disciplined as the Touel&039;alfar, certainly! Still, in teeneral beliefs, we are much closer to the elves than to the other three races

But those shades of gray

Perhaps nowhere is the confusing concept of evil more evident than in the ranks of the Abellican Church, the accepted moral leader of the majority of humankind Likely it is because this body has been entrusted with so high a standard, no less than to serve as the vanguard of hu the Church leaders is a disastrous thing indeed, as Avelyn proved To theh in truth, I doubt there has ever been ato sacrifice everything for the coood

Perhaps the Father Abbot, who sent Brother Justice after Avelyn, can justify his actions - to hi them to be for the betterment of all A master was killed in Avelyn&039;s escape, after all, and Avelyn had no legal clai, I say, for though Avelyn ht be technically labeled a thief, the stones were his on purelywatched his work, even before he sacrificed himself to rid the world of the demon dactyl, I have no doubt of this

The capacity of any individual to justify his or her actions will forever amaze me, I fear