This is a chapter from a story I won't be able to post here. It was a chance to see how Poser 13 handles crowd scenes and try out the post effects bloom. Karn took them off the road through the woods. It was a more direct route though also more dangerous. Wraiths lurked in the woods. The trees here got dark enough that the wraiths showed in the daytime. There was a chance the disembodied spirits of the imprisoned Rubies Knights may show also. That could get interesting. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Gatlin asked. “If the light doesn’t keep them away, I should be able to. I just need a bit of minor magic to show them who I am.” Time was of the essence. The faster they got to Rose Valley, the sooner they could find out what was wrong. Gatling raised an eyebrow, skeptical. Karn shrugged. “It worked on an incubus.” “You went after an incubus?” “I was walking a woman home from work one night. The incubus attacked her. I wasn’t going to stand by and let him tear her to shreds.” As the woods got thicker and darker, Karn imagined he heard whispers. Karn made the ruby embedded in his chest glow. He whistled a lively drinking song to counter the whispers. That earned him a look of surprise from Gatlin. “I served as your second in command for two hundred years. Now, I’m beginning to think I don’t know you at all.” “You know more about me than anyone. I’ve played a traveling storyteller for twenty years. You hear all sorts of stuff then.” “A storyteller?” “I can’t sing.” “But a storyteller?” Gatlin pressed. “Who better to tell of the past than someone who lived it?” He continued whistling. The wraiths were gathering just outside the circle of light. Their whispers became louder. He was starting to understand some of what they said. They whispered of his failures, of misdeeds. They reminded him of how he failed to protect his men when the Soldiers of Heart attacked, how he failed to keep so many from dying, and others from being captured. He failed to find a way to free those. He’d grown lax and allowed the kings to become drunk with power so they needed to be replaced. He failed to replace them, letting the Hearts take over instead. He failed in his apprenticeship. He failed in turning his back on it. How many times had he cast since abandoning becoming a wizard? How many people did he hurt during his apprenticeship? How many more did he allow to get hurt by his not fighting against the wizards sooner? He could make excuses, even justify his actions, but it didn’t change the outcomes. Karn knew the wraiths were trying to distract him so the light failed. It didn’t work. Karn had long ago accepted his mistakes. He would never like them. He would strive to never repeat them. But he had made them. Part of the code of conduct he had created to help himself combat the evil being entrenched in him by his apprenticeship demanded acceptance of responsibility. His light grew stronger rather than weaker. It caused the wraith’s whispering to falter. Gatlin glanced at him in surprise. Had he heard of his own failures and started to succumb? Karn moved close to take his reigns. “I’m okay.” Gatlin assured him, “It’s just…” “I know.” Difficult to be reminded of it all would be an understatement. The whispers changed. Instead of reminding him of the past, they spoke of future fears. What would happen to the women he loved if they were found? Would they suffer the same fate as the men in his command or worse since they couldn’t flee their bodies? And what of his men? Would they eventually die? Or would they spend eternity as disembodied spirits? Or would they eventually be freed only to find to return to their bodies only find them unusable? What if the new kings and the Hearts turned out to be as bad as the Wizards of the Black Rose? What if he hadn’t destroyed all the knowledge of dark magic? What if the new kings brought it back? How far did his failure go? “Sir.” Gatlin took hold of his arm and brought him back to the present. “Thanks.” The light had started to shrink. Had he not increased its size already, the wraiths would have been within grasping range. Their grasp was a deadly cold that drained the life from a man until he was nothing left but a wraith himself. Karn restored the light. “Nothing, you’ve done is that bad. You have your code,” Gatlin reminded him. “I do. It’s not the past but future possibilities.” And now they knew what would affect him, they would continue to eat at him. He used magic to enhance his voice, “Be gone!” He commanded. The wraiths skittered away for a few moments. It didn’t last. Karn hadn’t expected it to. But every moment was a step closer to being clear of these trees and away from the wraiths. “Are you sure this was a good idea?” Gatlin asked. “No, wasn’t a good idea. It was a terrible idea, but we’re pressed for time.” “Light a fire, maybe Aidric will come. The others would follow.” “No, I’m not subjecting them to this. We’ll get through.” The whispers started again, trying to make him doubt himself. Trying to make him despair. “I said be gone,” Karn continued to amplify his voice. “You know what I am. You know what I can do.” He pulled out his knife and held it poised above his hand ready to cut it. “I will send you back to the hell you came escaped from.” Gatlin looked fearful. Blood magic was dark magic. It was what he had sworn not to practice. It would send them away, but there was a good chance something worse would come through. If there were wizards left, or if the Hearts had a way to detect magic, this would be a big enough working that they would detect it and they wouldn’t mistake it for a mystic. But he would do it if needed. The edge of the blade rested against his skin. The wraiths waited. Slowly, he sliced into his hand. As the first drops of blood seeped through, the wraiths edged away. He let a single drop of blood fall. The plant it touched turned black and the wraiths fled. Gatlin eyed him warily. The Wizards of the Black Rose were called that because the magic they performed was so foul, so evil, all plants in the area turned black and died. Rosebushes had once been in abundance in the capital and almost overnight, they had all turned black. For Karn’s blood to do the same implied that evil had settled inside him. He shook his head and indicated silence as he wrapped a handkerchief around his hand. He cleaned his knife and put it away. They rode in silence for a time before. The wraiths were starting to gather again, slowly. They kept their distance, watching him for any sign of weakness. He refused to show any. Finally, the wraiths started to vanish. The land around them grew brighter as the forest thinned. Karn breathed a sigh of relief and Gatlin did too. Karn chuckled nervously at the look Gatlin gave him. “I said it was a bad idea.” Gatlin nodded. He glanced over his shoulder. “Did…” He started to ask but his voice trailed off. Karn knew exactly what the man wanted to know. “It was a spell. My blood will not turn plants black.” It had been a concern. The use of any magic affected the wizards physically. Their children were born with innate magic. They were the mystics. Few Black Roses reproduced. Karn was an exception. Both his parents had been Black Roses. His abilities were stronger than the mystics and they varied. He had been forced to endure many tests to find the extent of these changes. Gatlin was one of only a few who knew any of this. Most thought he was a mystic, the son of a wizard of another order. Gatlin nodded. “Good to know. Not that it changes anything. We would still follow you.” That scared Karn more than anything did.