In the dark he sits alone, waiting. His mind wandering he remembers things long past. His days of youth, His family and his friends who have long since passed away. His one true love now lost to the ages. He pictures her in his mind and it all comes flooding back into his memory. She was beautiful and lithe with a pleasant, quiet laugh. She was the daughter of the long line of the kings of men, proud and lovely with grace and poise beyond her years. He had loved her, and she him, so long ago in the woods near their home. Next to the woods was a meadow which overlooked a valley which filled with color during the spring. He had picked her a small sprig of blossoms for her hair and tucked it in behind her ear. She looked at him with her deep blue eyes and said "I will always love you, no matter what comes between us." They walked hand in hand towards the top of the hill and admired the panorama which spread out before them. Rolling hills as far as the eye could see. He had put his arm around her as he whispered in her ear " Were it mine to give, I would give you all that you can see from here." She rested her head on his shoulder and they stood there as the sun began to set. He had never been happier, before or since. She was the one beautiful thing in his life and he would have given it for her gladly. Slowly he bowed his head and began to weep silent tears. "Had it been so long? I can hardly remember the sound of her voice." He thought to himself, and the night seemed to go on endlessly without sleep.

       His parents weren't his own true parents, he had been raised by good and simple folk who plied the sea with small boats and nets for their living. They were poor, but honorable people who had brought him up from an infant and taught him their simple ways. In his youth he had learned the difference between right and wrong, evil and good. He had learned to fish and hunt in the ways of their people and could be seen on any given day working with his father from dawn until dusk, going out in the boats and returning with their catch for market. As he grew older it became obvious that his ancestry was different from his parents. With dark skin and a stern look on his brow, he was fully a foot taller than the tallest of the other men in the small fishing village. On his broad chest he wore a talisman that had been with him when he was found by his parents under a tree near their home. The design was unfamiliar, a curved sybol with
a set of hash marks in the circle near the bottom. His parents when asked had told him that they did not know from whence he had come and bade him ask no more about it.

       One day while walking in the woods he came upon the meadow near the castle keep and found a golden haired girl near his age picking flowers from a small clump at the edge of the hill. Being a friendly sort he left the path and walked over to her and bid her good morning. "What are you doing on this beautiful day?" he asked. "I am picking flowers for a vase that I will put on the windowsill in my bedroom." she said. "You can just see it over there in the wall of the keep, See how the morning sun shines into the room?" He nodded, and was about to continue his walk when she put her hand on his shoulder to stop him. He turned and looked at her eyes which seemed to be deep blue pools. "would you help me carry these back to the keep?" she said. He needed no prodding as he was caught in her
spell. "Certainly, I will!" He said and picked up the small bundle of flowers she had harvested. As they walked he tried vainly to think of something to say when she asked him: "what is your name?" He had told her that he was called Corin and asked what she was called. "Lisbeth" she said with a smile and and gave him a look that melted his heart.

       As they approached the keep they were met by the guards who promptly stepped in between them and challenged him. "What business have you with her majesty?" The tall one thundered and lowered his pike in Corin's direction. Lisbeth spoke up: "He is helping me bring flowers home, leave him be!" The gaurd returned his pike to the upright position and said to her quietly "Your majesty should be careful when you are not on palace grounds. there are highwaymen and marauders outside the walls." After thinking for a second he added: "I would be interested to know how her majesty left the safety of the palace without being seen. "Humph!" said Lisbeth. "wouldn't you like to know" as she went through the door and passed Corin an all knowing wink and a smile. The tall guard addressed Corin again "Now be off with you, fortunate favorite of the princess!" Not wanting any trouble, Corin left to resume his walk. As he walked off he began to whistle an old sea chanty and he continued all the way home.

       When he returned home he filled his parents in over lunch on the events of the day. His father bowed his head and his mother warned him to stay away from that place but he knew that he would return day after day to see this perfect angel of his heart. He knew that being of common stock he had absolutely no chance of courting this girl, but in matters of the heart his head was uncertain. So it was that they met day after day, week after week and year after year until he had become a fully grown man and she had blossomed into the makings of a beautiful queen to be. Her parents had forbade her from seeing him and yet still she came, as she loved him with all of her heart.

       During the year of her coming of age a celebration was planned and all of the community were to come pay their respects. Corin knew that he would have to see her from afar as they loved in total secrecy. No matter, he would see her later in the week and then they could be alone. During the festivities many foriegn kings, queens and their families were invited to attend. Although he could play no role in the feasting he knew that he had to see her. As the processions were led through the main gate he wondered at the finery of the knights and their horses. He let himself dream that he could be one of these dashing men and then her father would have to recognize him as a great man after his many victories in battle. After the procession there was nothing else to see and he started the walk home. He had walked nearly a mile when he heard an awful din coming from the direction of the keep. It sounded to him that lightning and thunder were crashing down, although the sun was high in the sky and there were no clouds in sight. He turned around and began trotting back to the keep to see what was to be seen. As he rounded the corner he saw to his utter amazement forty men in dingy blue
garb with the symbol of the lidless eye emblazoned on their tunics. They had no swords or spears, but rather they brandished short weapons that appeared to throw lightning from their very ends. The walls of the keep near the door were in ruins and the guards thatkept the peace lay dead at the door. These strange and obviously evil warriors forced their way into the keep and began to slay all within their scope.

       Corin having more courage than intelligence picked up the nearest pike and ran to protect his lady. Slashing through three of the invaders he made it to the steps of the palace and ran in and up the stairs. as he entered he saw nothing but carnage, he found the royal families dead and rent by what appeared to be an attack of dragons. The walls were singed and the flag torn from the great hall. His heart sank at the sight. He called out for Lisbeth but got no answer. He ran from room to room like a wildman and finally came to a spiral staircase that led to a tower. As he climbed the stairs he could hear distant screaming and the sounds of swordplay. He ran as fast as he could to the tower room and to his dismay he saw Lisbeth under the arm of one of the invaders as he stepped onto a pad elevated from the floor and disappeared with her in a blinding flash of light. "What magic is this?!" he said as he approached the device that had taken his lady from him. As he prepared to step on the pad he was struck on the side of the head and all went black.

       His dreams were of blackness and sorrow as he lay unconcious on the floor of the tower room. He felt a shaking and awoke to see two men dressed in red with similar weapons kneeling over him. Startled he grabbed for the pike and was held down by the strangely dressed men. "We mean you no harm."said one as he released his grip on Corin to prove it. "What has happened here?" said the other and Corin began to recount his tale of the men of the lidless eye and his lost love. After a time they told him that he had better come with them. "Where?" he asked. Neither one of the men answered him but whispered in each others ears for a moment. "This slipgate has been damaged beyond repair." said the first one. "Skek, can you tell what it's destination was?" The other man fiddled with the remains from the gate and after a time said: "Nope, the display is beyond repair" "We'll have to take him with us and use our gate." said the other. Corin stood up and wiped the blood from his right eye and said: "I am going nowhere until I find Lisbeth!" "Well, your only chance to find her is with us." said Skek. So off the three went out of the keep and through the densest part of the woods to a cave in a hillside. Into the cave they went and in the back was a dimly lit sipgate ready for use. "Carnod, how much longer do we have before it dematerializes?" said Skek. "Another couple of minutes." said Carnod as he prepared himself for interdimensional travel. Skek looked to Corin and said: "I know it may seem strange but we are taking you home, close your eyes when you step on the anvil. We will see you on the other side and do our best to explain what we think has happened when we arrive." So Corin stepped towards
the gate hopped on and closed his eyes. He was not prepared for the bone jarring crunch as the blinding light tried to sneak under his eyelids. As he lurched forward off the destination gate he opened his eyes to find himself in a room filled with men dressed in red preparing for battle. Into the room Skek and Carnod soon appeared and a man taller than Corin walked over them and said "You two are Just here in the nick of time, we are under Seige. "Yes, Sir!" said Skek and both he and Carnod saluted. "Who is this?" said the tall man who appeared to be in command. Carnod reached over and pulled Corin's amulet from under his tunic. "Well done, you two!" said the tall man as he looked Corin over from head to toe. "He has the look of his ancestors. Welcome Saxon, son of Alton. Long have we been searching for you." At this time another man rushed in and Saluted the tall man. "They're on the bridge now, Cisco" said the
new man. He was differently dressed from the others and had what appeared to be a glass over his left eye with a red cross in the center. "Man the battlements, Sheep." said Cisco as he picked up his weapons. "Skek, Carnod! Guard the son of Alton with your very lives" Cisco left to join the battle and Corin rode a lift with his two companions to the bowels of the fortress.

       While the Battle raged on Skek told Corin of his lineage and how he had been lost as his father placed him on a slipgate during the heat of the battle in which his family had been killed. "It is a good thing that those of the lidless eye didn't see this!" Carnod said while pointing at Corin's amulet. "Right you are, their sole purpose in that world had been to find and kill you before we could bring you back.
"You are needed, and the time is ripe for victory." said Skek. "But what about Lisbeth?!!" Shouted Corin. Carnod looked at the ground as Skek said: "You might as well put her out of your mind, it is unlikely that she is alive if what you told us is true. Corin's heart sank as the two men related the horrors of the lidless eye and dashed all of his hopes of seeing Lisbeth again. He sank into a dark
dreamless world of carnage and revenge. His only friends being these men and his new weapons that he took to like a duck in water. He became known as Saxon and his new friends closest to him, Sheep and Cisco, never mentioned the name Lisbeth in his presence. He became a defender like the rest and steeled his heart against all weaknesses including love. He lived his double life in complete solitude and lived only for battle. Not all of the defenders were alone, many left warm hearths and families when the calls came. Not so with Saxon, he made sure that he would never let anything cause him the pain of loss again. In his interdimensional travels he met many, but none could tell him of the location of the lidless eye as few returned from a chance meeting with them.

      Saxon wiped the moist tears from his eyes and prepared for the mundane life that hid from the world his true profession. For almost a half a century had he been a defender and he had let the past go....... almost. Then he felt it....Pain. The throbbing in the forehead that meant that battle was about to ensue. He rushed to his private slipgate and with his foot he kicked over the lever that started the low hum of the slipgate engine preparing it for interdimensional travel. He had fought so many foes that battle caused him no fear at all. It was all that he had left. He checked the destination as he donned his gear. As he stepped onto the anvil he felt a strange feeling come over him. Something was different about this trip he thought as he threw the switch and was momentarily in two places at one time. He arrived at
the destination and ran to the sounds of battle with a fury. As he flew out into the open he saw the enemy and they were clad in the garb of the lidless eye! He was forced to duck for cover as the volleys came in from all around him. He was too late.....They were leaving! Bodies in red were strewn about the battlefield like just so many rag dolls. He ran for the fortress and ducked inside. He followed the sounds as his heart beat ever faster and faster. He had a weakness, and he didn't like to admit it even to himself. All he really wanted to do was to find one of the lidless eye and question him......ever so gently.

       As he dropped off the lower platform of the lift he saw the last of them dart into the slipgate. Whoosh!....  He was blinded by the flash and only saw the detpack near the gate in the nick of time. He dove for cover and survived to fight again another day. As he collected his senses he ran over to the slipgate and searched through the debris. He looked far and wide for the display panel and finally found it
by the wall........ It had a location stamp on it! His heart leapt as he wiped the debris from the remains of the screen. It was partly legibleand he recognized the domain of the unholy kingdom "Now which one could it be?" He said aloud. As he spoke he heard a noise coming from the far corner, a kind of gurgling stuttered breathing. He pulled out his two handed mattock. If this is one of the lidless eyeI will be taking my time about his death. He walked over to the dark corner with his notched battle axe ready to remove a foot...... just one of them, he thought. That would get his attention. Then the prone figure spoke: "No need to kill me now.........  nothing can stop my death. As Saxon looked closer he could see the tint of red in the burnt remains of the garment. He dropped his axe and with thecompassion of a new mother he cradled this poor fellow in his arms. He removed the man's helm and recognized him as a friend. "Stormbringer, what happened?" said Saxon. "We were......... outmatched....." he said. "They are very powerful" Said Saxon. "Sa.....xon, she lives......" said the dying man. "Who lives? Who! Stormbringer."  "Lisbeth......... I have seen her............" " WHERE!" Said the son of Alton. "Tell me where, Stormbringer." "She said to tell....... you..... She waits......She waits" "Where is she!??, Stormbringer!" said Saxon. It was too late, his friend had died in his arms. He didn't know what to think, he picked up his friend and carried him to their own slipgate. As the slipgate disassembled him he found fear again and began to hope.
 

                                                                            To Be Continued.......