Destroying A Legacy

Chapter Four: Lafew

One day Mouldy took the class to see the famous King Arthur statue near the school, where the Hortensia line passed.

"By the next year, all of you will have to be able to be cross on your own without causing mayhem on the lines," he said roughly. "But for now, I'm afraid it ain't the case. Especially considering some of you might not have what it takes to be here at all."

After this sentence, his eyes shifted to Lafew.

"Still, I have to make all of you train, so I will divide you in two groups. Remember, the line has to be energized."

Lafew still had a very fresh memory of when Professor Vertés would always pair him up with Fair. However, he was surprised to hear Mouldy asked him to work with Celia De Polignac.

Tall, gorgeous with an important nose that suited her features nicely, Celia was artsy and not one of Lafew's best friends. Still, it was a good choice, and one he hadn't expected from the Professor. He liked her, or at the very least could stand her, which wasn't true for every student.

Celia insisted to do things the way she'd learnt them the year before, and used the pendulum and the battery to find the ley line. As for energizing the lines, not only Seers could do it, but it was better when there was one able to perform the act. Lafew had never walked a line that hadn't been energized from Tranio, except the time where they'd walked the Hortensia line as already wakened from Professor Vertés. And walking an alive and raw line had been an exciting but terrible experience.

One could walk through lines that hadn't been awakened yet, as Lafew had accidentally done on the Dorcas line, but it wasn't what the Professor expected of them.

But a line had to be awakened and then put back to sleep only once, and so Tranio energized it for the whole class. Lafew noticed he'd been paired up with Viola Damask and found he felt a pang of jealousy, probably due to the fact that he would have rathered work with Viola.

"So," Celia took Lafew's hand. "Should we step in?"

Lafew was more rough than his current partner. He simply nodded curtly. The last time he'd walked on a line, he thought he'd step out of it King, with Tranio Fair as his Seer. Instead, stepping out from the line changed his life. In the meantime, the prophecy that said that he wasn't Arthur's second coming had been translated. In the meantime, Driscoll's own Seer had messed with his mind.

"I'm not afraid, you know," Celia said, as if she could read his mind. "To go in with you."

Lafew took it as a sign of encouragement, and put a step forward, trailing Celia after him. Celia yelped a little.

They found themselves facing one of the impossible views of the lines. The statue of King Arthur was there, too, but his eyes looked different. Almost alive.

Lafew couldn't help but feel a certain admiration for the man who'd gone from poor squire to founder of the Noblesse, for the man who'd wielded the True King sword for the first time and had a true friendship with his Seer, being able to accept Merlin's fault and collaborate in a way Lafew might have never learnt to do with Tranio.

So, he knelt in front of King Arthur and he said, "Show me the truth."

What Lafew meant was the truth about himself. Was he the True King or not? And why Arthur's second coming and the True King weren't the same thing?

The statue knelt down in a very suggestive way, and put three fingers of his right hand on Lafew's forehead. Behind him, Lafew could hear Celia freaking out, but it didn't matter.

He had to know the truth.

Too bad that he didn't specify which truth he needed to be shown.

In fact, the vision Lafew was seeing now featured a familiar profile with dark curls talking to someone else.