A mild snort of irritation escaped Solon Jhee's lungs. He stood alone, save for his pitch-black destrier, by the southern gates of the city in full armor. The remainder of his troops were scattered at even points throughout the silent town, keeping watch just as he was himself. If it weren't for the scouts' report and the fact that the skirmishes were encroaching closer to his location...

What's the point of all this? Solon asked himself mentally, his rugged face creasing with a tight frown as he scratched at a persistent itch at the back of his black-haired head with an armored hand. The duel between Cunningham and Genkaku was over twenty years ago. Aren't either side satisfied with the outcome?

Stray thoughts began to collect within Solon's mind as he stared blankly at the path beyond the gate, its dirt length illuminated by the occasional flash of lightning that swatted at the distant black horizon. Elaine had been so adamant about following him to Kyaro from L'Renouille, so much that not even a forceful tone caused her decision to sway. His stony features softened considerably at the thought of the young woman of whom he shared his heart with; Elaine was a woman of compassion tempered with responsibility, elegant yet with a streak of fire in her methods and bearing. His own father had objected his interest in the engagement with what he considered "a common-born girl"...true, Elaine wasn't born into a knight's family, but what did it matter to him? He loved her as much as his father had loved his mother, after all, and isn't that what counted? Old traditions like arranged marriages had to place in the common era...even if his father only wanted the best for him. He had to make his own path in life or he'd never forgive himself.

Now, Elaine was peacefully sleeping within the town's inn...or so Solon hoped. When he had left her, she seemed unusually restless, constantly asking him to allow her to accompany him on his watch. "The air has a strange energy to it," she had said, her tone urgent. "I want to be with you, if only to feel secure." But he replied by stating that it was for the best, that if there truly were State soldiers awaiting to ambush Kyaro, the inn would be a much safer place than the city streets. "You needn't worry, he had told her reassuringly. "After all, I AM a Highland knight...no mere Jowston dog shall get the better of me!"

Solon remembered how Elaine had laughed and warned him not to let his confidence cloud his judgement. A knight had to be vigilant, after all...

The first few drops of evening rain finally fell from the burdened skies above, pelting against his face and armor with almost unnatural coldness. Wonderful, just wonderful, he sighed, his gauntlet-sheathed hands tightening around his reins when his ebony war-horse stirred somewhat nervously. "There, there, Veillantif," he crooned to the anxious creature, patting its lightly-armored neck to calm its prancing. "'Tis just the rain. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"You should give that poor beast an apple or two every now and then!"

Sitting bolt upright within his saddle, Solon's head whirled around to the source of the all-too-familiar feminine voice, facing the young woman who was walking his way with a warm smile on her porcelain face and a deep red apple within her slim fingers. Her eyes were a vivid emerald green, her hair as black and smooth as raven feathers, her slim, seemingly delicate form immersed within a simple, yet stately, silken dress of pearly whites and cerulean blues. Even as she hurried towards the armored knight at the black iron-wrought gates, her steps nimble and airy as if she were gliding an inch off the speckled street, there was no show of fear within her eyes or her composure.

"Elaine, I thought I told you to stay in the inn!" Solon scolded as he briskly dismounted from his saddle, obviously startled that his fiancée had directly disobeyed by following him to the lonely southern town gates. His voice, try as he might to make it sound strict and imposing, ended up resembling a weak plea. "It's dangerous out here with State soldiers crawling around! Why did you follow me...?"

Elaine paused briefly to cautiously feed the single apple she brought to the massive war-horse that loomed a good foot over her head before she turned to Solon, her pale face haunted. "I couldn't sleep," she said. "This storm has me worried...as if it were trying to swallow up tomorrow..."

Solon Jhee sighed, his face wrapped in a sympathetic shroud as he pulled Elaine's fragile form close, pulling his heavy olive-colored cloak over her to shield her from the sudden icy wind that whipped the incessant drizzle into a frenzied flurry of irate water droplets. "You shouldn't have come," he persisted, although his voice had dropped to nothing more than a gentle murmur that seemed to contradict the stony composure of his face. "But...I'm glad to have someone keep me company. The watch has been such a dismal one."

Elaine tried to smile as she nuzzled closer into Solon's delicate hold, but the chains of anxiety were bolted to her thin lips and produced nothing more than a grimace. Wordlessly, she brought up her right hand, the glint of a thin, platinum band upon her ring finger muted within the darkness of the dreary evening. Solon watched with strange curiosity as she pulled the ring off. "Take this and keep it close," she whispered, taking hold of the knight's armored hand and folding the delicate ornament within his palm. "I can't explain why...but...I feel as if I won't awaken if I decide to sleep..."

"Don't say such things," Solon murmured as he eased away the stray strands of black hair that clung to Elaine's face, nonetheless clutching the precious ring protectively. "Once we return to the capital, away from these pointless skirmishes...we can finally marry like we planned."

Elaine went silent, her head resting gently against the knight's armored chest as the fine misty drizzle continued to flutter around them. "...if I were to die," she finally spoke, her voice strangely ominous, "...would you draw your sword and shed blood to avenge me...?"

Solon glanced down sharply, confused, only to find that Elaine was now staring intently into his steely eyes with her own emerald ones. "...o-of course," he stammered.

A tide of sorrow washed over the young woman's face. "Solon...you mustn't.... If I die, let it happen. To fight for vengeance will only prolong the tragedy." She looped her arms around Solon's armored waist, holding him tightly. "Promise me...promise me you won't draw your sword for revenge, ever..."

"... ...I promise."

Taking delicate hold of her chin, Solon eased Elaine's face closer to his, their lips brushing together faintly before they kissed. For a fleeting moment, the cold of the steady drizzle surrounding them seemed to wane to the rising warmth that cradled him. She was smiling for him, and for him alone...

...and then...the arrows flew, flashing like fireflies against the lightning-bathed sky.

Elaine's fragile form went limp.

* * * * *

Within moments, Kyaro Town became a rain-obscured bloodletting. The Jowston State's guerillas had done a superb job of taking advantage of the night darkness and the cover of the storm; before any of the Highlanders within the village even took notice, the enemy had surrounded them, letting loose a deadly volley of barbed arrows, felling half of the Highland troops before anyone even knew what was happening. Shock soon gave way to enraged battle cries as swords were drawn and the horrendous melee began.

And...down at the lonely southern gate, amidst the center of a circle of slain State soldiers, Solon Jhee wept for the first time since his childhood, cradling the broken body of the woman he would have married once they returned to the sanctuary of L'Renouille. Neither had seen the first arrow fired that night, not until it protruded from between Elaine's fragile shoulder blades. She died with her lover's name upon her now-lifeless lips, an expression of supreme peace upon her alabaster face...throwing Solon into such an anguished rage that the City-State soldiers that had surrounded him were felled with one vengeful swing of his sword, their expressions frozen in eternal death masks of utter disbelief. Those that had fled would forever recall the horrible cry of anguish the Highlander had unleashed that night.

Within his blood-splattered, armored hand, Solon clutched a slim engagement band, the final gift from the only woman who he had ever come to love. He understood exactly why she had given it to him...for Elaine knew that she would die.

But...the pain was nevertheless consuming, clawing vengefully within his gut...

Now...he was alone.

Within the border town, the fires of battle raged as one-by-one, the State guerillas were either slain where they stood or driven back out to their nation's border. Bodies of felled soldiers from both sides littered the cobblestone streets, blood seeping through the cracks like miniature rivers within miniature canyons. Those who survived, even the citizens holed up within their homes and businesses, rushed out to combat the fire. Even the skies, which had flashed with sparks and conflagrations of their own, seemed to aid the struggle with a deluge of rain. Some said the sky wept with a Highland knight that evening...

Kyaro had kept its alliance...but not without a price.

For Solon Jhee...the price was immense, too immense and too agonizing for words.

The gentle glint of a thin platinum ring was soon swallowed up by the glare of the all-consuming flame.

* * * * *

Solon bolted upwards, his bare hands clawing at empty air as a loud gasp tore from his trembling lungs, silken bed sheets tumbling to his waist.

He had dreamed a dream that he hadn't viewed in years, a distant memory of his past that haunted him to no end. He had seen his younger self once again, a mirror from a time long past, when what little innocence he had left was stripped from his naked soul. Elaine...if she hadn't died, because of him, he may have married and escaped from becoming a Highland general, to live a peaceful life and perhaps raise a family of his own...

No, that could come no longer. Elaine was gone, just another innocent taken down by a State arrow...and no matter how much he wanted to keep her promise, his darker side refused to listen to her echoing pleas.

The rustling of the heavy silk curtains of his opened ornate window caught Solon's attention, his steel gray eyes faltering against the strangely harsh moonlight that filtered through in thin, spidery strands. He remembered the pleasant times...when he had proposed to Elaine, acting very much unlike his usual self in the process, their first kiss, their confessions...but they were times long gone, never to return save for in dreams. Solon could no longer lead that life.

He could have sworn he could see her face, hovering like a moonlight mirage beside the drawn curtains of the open window...

...her expression of sorrow...

...her milky-white eyes weeping tears of blood...

...her ghostly lips trying to speak his name...but uttering nothing...nothing but silence.

He reached out to her, only to grasp air.

With a sigh of wind, the wispy image was gone.

Solon felt himself choke in anguish as his face tumbled into an unspeakable form of grief, his hands clutching his wracked features as if to conceal them. "Elaine," he shuddered, voice cracking, "forgive me... I can't keep my promise..."