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The Guilded Cage

Prologue 4 An Unofficial Investigation

Almost all regular spectators of the arena fights within St. Almar knew the name Ciral of the Flame, one of the greatest champions of the seasonal tournaments. They knew that he was a powerful battle mage, as competent with sword as with spells and they knew that he could easily be pitted against a half dozen foes and still come out on top. His most ardent fans cheered every time he snuffed the life of the Fodder tossed to him-- 'throw away' gladiators from among the most desperate of the slums who would sacrifice themselves so that they could leave their family a handful of gold. Fodder were almost always Beast-kin and, according to the fight organizers, it was just good sense seeing as they were savages, and bred far faster than most other races.

What most spectators didn't know was that Ciral of the Flame hated the organizers. They also didn't know that his birth name was Ciral Fairview, only he refraned from using that name because his family would quite literally be out for blood if someone who didn't exhibit the proper features of a Fairview were ever to claim to be part of the family. No-- his fans knew of him as Ciral of the Flame, and that would ever be his name until his dying day. Few knew the truth-- of his name, or of his efforts. The truth of his efforts were simple: he supposedly had over 200 kills on record when it came to Fodder while, in fact, it was scarcely a tenth of that. The entirety of the truth was that Ciral detested killing the helpless; the opposite, in fact, was the full picture.

It was a trait he'd gained during his time at The Arcane Order. As a member of the Fairview bloodline, despite not exhibiting the traits, the young, black haired Human (he couldn't even claim to be a Bannsidhe) was still incredibly adept with the ways of magic, and so, in order to maintain some degree of standing (as opposed to being thrown to the gutter), he entered the Order at 10 alongside a cousin. His cousin, who most had come to know as Archmagus Sisa, excelled far faster than he, but always saw to it that he was given fair treatment and a chance to succeed. It was one he desperately needed since it took far longer for him to pick up the education required to wield magic as effectively as required by the Order, but that talent came to him in an unexpected manner.

Arcane magic was well known to be capable of a wondrous number of effects but one specific result it could not accomplish was the restoration of a body. While it could undo the effects of a curse or restore a degree of capacity to a grievously wounded individual, Arcane Magic was not capable of healing wounds, dispelling poison, or removing disease; those powers, identified time and time again by those in charge, were reserved solely for the realm of the Divine. It was during the third "final month" of training that Ciral was to receive before being expelled from the Order that something strange happened which would change Ciral's life forever.

A young worshiper from one of Amiel's Alms had come to the campus to visit on temple business and the acolyte brought along a young Beast-kin, no older than Ciral himself who was, at the time, 12. As one of the lowest ranked students, Ciral was tasked with looking after the Cub while one of the Magi attended to the acolyte's request. It was the first time Ciral had seen a Beast-kin up close and, in his mind, the stories about their kind were far different than what he saw. They spent most of the day together and, during that time, Ciral discovered that the young Bear had spent several years under the care of the Alms and, despite not having the kind of upbringing the Human had, was still close enough alike that they became fast friends.

As the day waned, Ciral received a magical missive from the Magus who was tending to the Acolyte, informing him that he was to return to the main courtyard with the Cub in tow. Not usually one to horse around or easily excite, Ciral nevertheless challenged his new friend to a race down the spiraling staircase of the tower he was presenting; the Cub agreed and in a moment they were off like a shot. Their speed was comparable but, in his haste to play, Ciral neglected to let his new friend know that the fourteenth step from the bottom was of a different height than the rest and at such speed the Beast-kin was unable to recover-- and fell the rest of the way to the ground floor.

Shaking the memories from his mind, Ciral sat down at his writing desk, composing an important missive; it made little sense to focus on the past when there was such 'interesting' events happening in the present. Uncorking the ink well, he dipped his quill in and began composing the important letter, only to be interrupted when two enormous, furred arms wrapped around him from behind and a gruff-but-good-natured voice chided him, hot breath puffing against his ear. "Don't tell me you're copying scrolls at THIS hour, Champ."

Unable to keep from smiling just a little, Ciral let go of the quill and rotated around in his seat; the massive arms loosened just enough to let him. The Human looked up at the smiling face of an enormous Beast-kin, ursine features pulled back in a smirk. "Champ. Right... and yet you STILL beat me in the ring."

His lover, and childhood friend just laughed, pressing the index finger of his right paw against the Human's nose. "Only cuz you let me... still haven't figured out how much money you cost all those gambling nobles over that."

Ciral's reserved smirk turned into an all out smile, and then a laugh. He barely managed to wheeze out "It's a shame you didn't put a wager on yourself... we would probably have been rich, Samuel."

The Bear pulled him to his feet and snuffled through the Human's hair. "Mmm... don't be too long, yeah? I'm heading to bed soon, Love, and bed is always better with a warm body next to me."

Nodding affirmatively, Ciral eased his head back so he could share a kiss with his lover. "It's just a quick letter, Samuel. I'll be along soon."

Lingering just a moment longer, the Beast-kin offered warm smile. "I thank Holus every day Polly introduced us."

Sitting down with a sigh as the Bear departed, Ciral glanced back to the quill where it sat in the ink well. The lingering feel of the slight deformation in the Beast-kin's elbow was a stark reminder of what had happened that day so many years prior. It was the day that Ciral had met Samuel, and, according to the acolyte who came in response to the cries for help, saved his life. None of the Magi at the Order knew healing magic and, in truth, Ciral himself didn't know how he'd done it, but the wounded cub would likely have expired if not for whatever it was had happened. It was on that day that Ciral realized that he was not a Wizard... not like what the Arcane Order expected him to be. He was something else.

Shaking the memories from his head for the second time that night, he began composing his important missive. He hadn't known at that moment that he and Samuel would one day become Lovers but, according to the acolyte who had kept his secret, Ciral and Samuel were two souls entwined by the Divine. Unknown to the rest of the Alms, that acolyte also wasn't referring to Amiel. Years later, once he had graduated the classes taught by the Order by managing to 'fake' the study of magic, Ciral was reintroduced to that Acolyte who, by that point, was a fully ascended member of the priesthood of Amiel, despite having given body and soul to Holus. It was through his new mentor, Polly that he also learned of Holus' love and, ultimately, Samuel's.

Like Ciral, Samuel was not as well known by his fans except in the ways he presented himself, and, if the Human had to admit, his lover was a very good actor. Smiling to himself, he continued composing his letter to the Captain of the Watch of the Slums. Ciral had heard that a certain item had been taken from the Nilo household and, although one of the criminals had been apprehended, another had escaped with the item in question. Unlike most of the population of St. Almar, the Human actually knew what had been taken and, thanks to some information obtained through Rooty, one of his spies in the Fodder stables, and his own first-hand observations of a little coyote pup turning out to be a brass dragon disguised by magic, the Champion was confident he discovered what had become of the dragon's egg.

With his lover waiting for him, Ciral kept the letter short and concluded it succinctly:

"And so, Captain Blackpaw, I encourage you to keep an eye out for a pair of Beast-kin Coyotes accompanied by a 'pet' coyote. I believe they are affiliated with the thief in question and I'm certain you know how to best handle the situation. Your's faithfully--"

Smiling to himself, Ciral penned his signature using his family name. While it would be a death sentence if anyone discovered how he was identifying himself he realized that Majh Blackpaw knew the meaning of the word discretion.