Destiney of the Sword God

Chapter 9 - A Perilous Quest

Cadmon's shrewd gaze narrowed, following gentle fingers enlaced amid flagons' foam-slicked tails regaling patrons through each eve's waxing. For many a year he'd tracked subtleties painting portraits where guilelessness saw but surface bravadoes.

Now it was intimacy he spied, kindling tinder beneath ash of nonchalance so meticulously spread. Yet embers glowed fiercely where youths inclined, spilling souls one into the other across warped wooden plains bearing legions of bygone confidants. Their eyes spoke volumes beyond bards' art, limning souls' capes hidden to coarser perceptions.

Cadmon smiled mirthlessly, recalling tones between the twain whenever paths diverged, if only briefly. Worry, care, commitment - emotions writ palpably yet seldom articulated this boldly without cords ardent as any binding flesh to spirit transcending mere camaraderie. Nay, here was love in full efflorescence nourished within solitude and trials overcoming all together as one.

A suspicion took seed, foliage rustling darkly within mind's wildernesses. Now their rapport was unveiled, once private sanctum despoiled by eyes which pierced illusion like shafts of dawn dispelling shadows. What depths lay beneath benign surfaces, through years concealing passion's full-blossomed fruit? Several evenings' stalking would suffice unveiling all, he mused, lips curving a predatory smile beneath amber's warm glow. Cadmon watched and smiled, secrets unfurling beneath the keen hunter's gaze where innocence perceived but paltry game. Soon, all masks would fall, every intimacy bared for judgment of one who grinned knowing such power. The woods darkened swiftly as gloaming's shroud enveloped gnarled boles creaking mournfully upon wind's anthem. Rowan and Cadmon's heavy footfalls crackled amid carpeted needles and loam bearing tales of eons collating beneath bare branches swaying skittish silhouettes.

Upon this errand tracking foul stirrings emanating from gloom's shrouded fastnesses, Cadmon finally spied opportunity. His assault began casually yet probing, flint-eyed gaze noting telling's sneaking past levied guards containing truth's magnates. "You and that maid grow close over years, hmm? Shared joys, sorrows...dreams, perchance?"

Rowan stiffened imperceptibly, mantling answers giving nothing. Cadmon sneered knowingly. "Come now, youth! Among veterans, there's no blushing. Love is life's richest sustenance, is it not?" A noncommittal shrug met his jeers. Undeterred, Cadmon pressed his advantage.

"The way she watches you, cares...protects. Why, 'tis tantamount devotion! Does she sigh your name upon downy pillow, clinging as waves fade?" Silence, yet within eyes' shadowed groves writhed fury barely contained. Cadmon grinned wolfishly into gathering gloom.

At last, footsteps halted upon barren plain where flickers betrayed camp ahead. Cadmon's whisper rasped like knives scraping bone. "You love her. Admit it!" Rowan whirled, stared at flaying voids where once mirth danced. "And if I do? Her heart is not your plaything!" With that, righteous wrath propelled strides towards firelight and comrades, secrets revealed at hunter's whim. Cadmon watched Rowan storm ahead, uttering a low chuckle resonating amid rustling gloam. "Ah, to stir such passions with but whispers! Love was a pliant tool, wielding immense destruction in the wrong palms."

And destruction was his arts' fruit, sown where innocence yet thrived beyond corrosive experience coloring his soul black as any void. Here was candid trust emboldening defiance, begging sabotage by hands well-versed in men's frailties and women's fickleness.

The game had only begun. Within refrain's rhythm he schemed his opening gambits, fingering gnarled oak boughs rising like gallows against darkening firmament. Discord would be sown to fullest, tender hopes trampled beneath merciless games consuming each pawn but those overseeing chaos unleashed.

Elia's beauty marked her prime target, virtue assailable through subtle barbs piercing trust's shields. And Rowan - why, fury and jealousy were demons he knew well harnessing for ruin. His smile grew feral envisioning cracks appearing within once unbreakable unity, splintering their souls long after parting inevitably as sunset.