The Black Tower

Terron Togita swung his sword to meet the hissing blade of the fade, Easily the man flowed from form to form, the heron on his blade a mere blur as it repelled the eyeless strikes, never making a mistake as he struck the fade across its upper torso, allowing the lurks head to fall to the ground. The man turned to see Kcacee come into the square his sword raised to attack any other shadowspawn in his way. Kcacee seeing his father walked toward the man, noticing the fade still thrashing behind him. Abruptly three trollocs entered behind the boy, bearing their wickedly curved blades.

Not noticing, Kcacee continued toward his father, wishing to tell him of the eminent retreat of the Shadowspawn. Terron turned to see the beasts hunting the boy, he needed no other motivation. The man barreled toward his son pushing the boy out of the way as the trolloc blade fell nearly missing the the young noble, but catching the man in the shoulder.

The strain of the blow along with the impact with the floor caused the heron blade to fall from his hand, as another curved blade stabbed the man’s side. Kcacee could only watch as his father’s breathing slowed then his chest slowly cam'e to a halt. Within seconds the town guard rounded the corner of the blacksmiths building, the trollocs lasted little time against the men wielding pikes and swords, but the damage was done the Lord of Fal Sion had fallen.
It had been three years since the raid on the city and though Kcacee was but 20 winters old he had been Lord of Fal Dara since that night. The days went by slowly and the time for grieving was long past. Since that day he had made many decisions. Among them was his decision to lead the guard of Fal Sion, on their nightly patrols.

With each trolloc that fell to his blade, Kcacee gained back a piece of his father. Sometimes they met no foes and some days there were half a fist of trollocs ready to face the band of 60 guards lead by Kcacee Togita Lord of Fal Sion. They each fell one by one to sword, or pike. The blight patrol continued for half a year, before the ambush.

The group broke over the crest of the first high rise within the blight. To Kcacee's delight a small band of 25 trollocs were at the base of the hill. The guard came down on the beasts in a blind rage, unable to hear the horn sounding from behind them, the Shienarian force continued their onslaught. Braking through the forces as two entire fists topped the southern hill.

Seeing the trap setup by the shadowspawn the troop turned to encounter more horns sounding to the south, another fist no doubt. The band was now smothered between the coming onslaughts. The group split in two and curved around the young lord in hopes to protect him. The battle raged on for what seemed like hours, many casualties were had on both sides, and rage began to build within the Kcacee and his soldiers, each man fought more intense to revenge his fallen brothers. Kcacee tore his blade free from the wolf-faced trolloc as it fell. Kcacee wiped the crimson stained blade on the corpse now at his feet. As he turned his horrors were revealed, two dark shapes flowed into sight, their black cloaks not so much as twitching in the wind. The fades advanced together and struck down another six members of the royal guard.

Infuriated by the sight, the young lord reached out for something anything that could assist his allies. An unseen force pressed against his consciousness, and that was all the man needed. Immediately Kcacee felt a surge of power, the like of which he had never felt before but along with the power came an ominous vial presence, which cut seemed to turn the man’s stomach. Ignoring the vileness, the man hurled all the power he could muster at the enemies beneath him, in the valley. The very ground began to shake under the shadowspawn feet. Kcacee could feel his body being depleted of its strength, yet he continued to empty himself of all energy, at the cost of his foes, and himself. The ground began to break, dividing into a chasm and swallowing the beasts, as flames shot from the crevices. Kcacee's strength gave out along with the last quake. All went black.
The Lord of Fal Sion awoke with the sun two days from the battle in the blight. Upon his awakening Kcacee found that there were only eight survivors, five of which said saw the entire event. One soldier, Haliate was able to explain to Kcacee how the survivors were able to walk away. It was because the lord had channeled saidin, the male half of the one power.

The two men kept the secret and within a week Kcacee was off on his journey. He had to find a way to outlive the taint, and that chance did not lie in Fal Sion.