The Thieving knight (Book 3)

The silver night (2/12)

Galahad flew down. "Is this..." he looked at gorgeous clothes. "... a ball dress?" He stepped closer, putting down his gloves, feeling the fabric with his skin. "It's so soft!" He couldn't help it, but his heart skipped a beat. The yellow and orange gown had deep V-necktie, hanging sleeves with inner fitted sleeves, the front rich trim had full orange color and was decorated with white embroidered leaves and vines. "Why is such dress here?" He walked behind it, seeing its back is open. He glanced a movement, abruptly lifting his head.

In front of him was a big mirror, reflecting him, making an illusion he is wearing the dress. He looked at his image, before jerking with his whole body. He felt a blood rushing to his head. "I have... a mission," he repeated to himself, flying away. He tried not to glance back.

With certain difficulties he concentrated on the thickest black stream, following it even deeper. He soon found stairs and he followed them down, noticing the walls were actually slightly warm. He expected more coldness. At the end, he was greeted by an even more astonishing view.

All he could see was greenery, trees, buzzing insect, and even birds were in the air. "A garden...?" he was puzzled. How could such place exist... underground? The ceiling was bright like there was sun but the light didn't hurt his eyes. He knelt, smelling the grass. There was nothing wrong.

He carefully inspected few bushes full of colorful blossoms, noticed an ant hill or even spider webs. He lifted his visor, feeling a gentle breeze on his face. His ears twitched, picking up a sound of running water and soon he found a small river. He went against the flow, intending to find the source of it.

As he walked, he found his target. The dark crystalline hedgehog was laying under a tree, seemingly sleeping. A small bird landed on his quills, but one Galahad approached him, it flew away. There was no doubt this is the person he was pursuing for the past days. 'The devilish knight... but why... he looks so lonely?'

[** Eclipse's home **]

"Aunt Moriana!" shouted one child over the other.

"Hi, sweethearts! Were you good children?"

"Yeah! I caught my first fish yesterday!" shouted Magnus.

"I have recited one poem!" slightly boasted Amyce.

Moriana petted their heads. "Such good children."

"Moriana, welcome," Eclipse hugged her.

"It's nice to see you too. How's your husband? Still grumpy?"

Eclipse giggled. Moriana was always making small fun of him. "He is fine, let's go inside. There is so much we want to tell you."

Once they exchanged the last greetings and had a small meal, Eclipse and Lancelot told her how they met Mephiles. Moriana was scared at first but relieved knowing no one was harmed. Eclipse shared with her information about his return and their conversation. He already told it to his family, he didn't wish to have any secret from them.

Moriana pondered. "So he was... docile, right?" Eclipse nodded. "That could mean one thing." she took out few papers from her handbag. "You know, I and Merlina have been digging information on this knight for the past years. It sure wasn't easy, but we finally got some records."

"That's good to hear," said Lancelot and he hoped there is a way how to permanently kill him.

"You will be surprised... Let's see... ah, here it starts." She showed them her notes. "According to our research, this knight is a descendant or even one of the first Crystallians."

"Crystallian? I have never heard of anyone like that, tho he mentioned he is one," pondered a bit the herm.

"The legends say they were born from special crystals that were absorbing raw magic for hundreds of years. I don't know how many of them were at the beginning, but they were herms."

"Herms?" asked Amyce.

"Yes, a herm is a word used to describe a man with a woman's reproductive system." The child was confused.

Aalis explained: "It means he is like our mom."

"I see. So he can have babies too?"

"That's where it gets interesting," she took out another paper. This one was written in an old language and it was written by another person. "We have found few pages written by some wizard who lived with one Crystallian. If it's correct, these creatures should have very short pregnancy cycles of  about one month."

"So they can have numerous children," pondered Eclipse.

"Yes and no, there is a catch, I'll get to it in a moment. Because their body is so special, they can use black magic and live for even thousands of years and still not be beyond puberty. Not to mention their physical bodies are strong and durable. They can recover from almost any wound." She turned the page.

"They are as well dominant and they stop at nothing to conquer the land or anything they decide to. But despite all of it, there is a catch. They can't have a baby unless it's given by their special person."

"A special person?" asked Eclipse and he felt Lancelot hugged him over the shoulder, shielding him from danger.

"Yes, it doesn't matter how many men they will have, only one can give them an heir."

Lancelot thought a bit. "Doesn't it mean they can live and never meet such person?" That was the most surprising new. "So with a time, their race will simply die out."

"Exactly. They aren't immortal after all. And since he acted so docile it must mean his time is almost up."

"Thank you, Moriana, for all of this," said Eclipse.

"No problem, sweety, you helped me, I'll help you," she smiled back.

After this serious chat, they talked about other things to cheer up.