The Dark Wielder Chapters 4 & 5

This is my original novel, The Dark Wielder, and these are chapters 4 & 5! Chapters 1, 2, and 3 can be found in the links below!

https://medium.com/@duggalshivraj/i-wrote-a-book-and-i-have-nowhere-to-put-it-f19ce4c2161f (Chapter 1)

https://medium.com/@duggalshivraj/still-cant-believe-i-m-putting-this-out-4f0281b2bb (Chapter 2 and 3)

The Dark Wielder is a high fantasy-fiction novel currently in the works! For the last few days, I’ve been pushing out the unedited, early chapters of the book to build a readership for it. Here’re chapters 4 & 5! Enjoy :)

Chapter 4; Biv

/Dream-Earth

Adi was in a gloomy state of mind as he walked through the mist. Again, there were three odd glowing ash spots, and the rest just flaked animal, or human, spots

As he always did, he arrived at the stony platform, and Olivia was already waiting there. The dark haired, fair, and little girl sat opposite to him.

‘I want you to meet my friend Biv!’ She said, and for the first time he saw another man walk into one of his dreams. Since Adi had no trouble speaking in the dream realm, he got up, and greeted the man.

Why did she bring this man. He had an overt look of happiness, this Biv.

The man had a keen look on his face, large wide dimples, and lush hair falling down on his forehead in an almost straight line. He had wrinkles on the sides of his eyelids and a few small scars across his cheeks, but in all just seemed like a happy, innocent man. He had short hair on his forehead, but it fell till his shoulder from the back.

‘Hi!’ He said, in a very odd fashion, pronouncing it as ‘he’, and so Adi said, ‘Who?’

He was confused, and in the same process, Biv got perplexed as to why he said ‘who’.

Biv was a new learner of English but he did not say anything back to Adi afterwords; he just sat down.

‘Where are you from?’ Adi said, after hearing the way Biv said hi.

‘Not from anywhere near, Adi. I come from a distant land,’ his expression darkened, ‘but to discuss all of this is not why I have come here, to meet you.’

Adi grimaced faintly, he felt slightly envious. Olivia stared at this man, ‘Olivia, why have you brought this man here?’ Biv had no reaction to this.

‘Because he carries important information for you, Adi. We’re not having a lesson today,’ she said, ‘Biv tell him.’

It felt like they both were revealing a secret together to Adi.

‘Meet me at a sixth from now — 2 hours, that is, outside your door. It’ll be noon.’

The mood had darkened. A sense of seriousness developed.

The mist disappeared, yet the stony platform remained. Olivia looked at Adi.

‘Leave at once.’ She said. It was odd, like the last time he met her. Something was different.

Something’s been different for a while now.

He didn’t move. He stayed right there, for he wanted to be with Olivia, by her side.

‘Leave NOW!’ She sternly said. He got up and starting walking away as the mist faded. Giant black beams came out of the sky, erupting in a crazy fashion.

She turned. Not in the same sense as last night, but into an elder woman, with dark skin and dark hair. She had light blue eyes.

She was tall and wrinkled. She frowned and pointed her gaze towards the sky.

Now only three.

Three glowing ash spots, the rest gone, along with the mist.

Biv was already walking out. A giant black beam was headed his way, but he shut his eyes. Biv placed his left leg in front and bent his knee, taking his right leg back and keeping it straight.

He straightened his left hand holding it out slightly lower than the right, which was bent at the elbow. This stance was a basic Wielding stance called ‘Ora’. He was in Ora, and he slowly opened his eyes. He was in a calm state of mind, as his lush hair blew backwards by the wind created by this giant beam. He held Ora and straightened his right hand, and a glowing white, thin wisp of light emitted out of his right, and the left simply acting as a support. The edges of the light looked oddly unfamiliar, as if the light energy had a medium themselves, the edge of the light visible, and other sharp rays of light bouncing off of it. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

Adi headed the same way. The three glowing ash spots had familiar faces on their centres, all with their eyes closed. This clearly frightened Adi who was teary eyed. He started desperately screaming.

Biv continued in his Ora stance as he cleared the path for Adi.

He stared at the spots, the three faces; he knew them, and they all had their eyes shut. Two men and one woman. He knew them, and he knew they would die. He screamed in terror continuously, with tears in his eyes.

He woke up.

He breathed heavily and then took a moment. He then remembered the faces, but couldn’t recall who all they were. He had… forgotten.

He was glad that he forgot, but was scared too.

I know those people… Oh for Christ’s sake Adi, stop it! They’re just dreams!

***

Almost an hour had passed, since he woke up. He sat on his couch, in the living room to the right of his bedroom. He lived in an apartment, a bachelor pad, with whatever money he had been given from his family for support. They never came to meet him though, after what happened.

He was watching an informative channel, about knives, a bald man was advertising his knife collection, and his weaponry. He had a small LED television, grey in colour and it was extremely thick. There was a table in front of him on which he kept his feet, watching with wide eyes and arms folded. He wore a generic dollar store t-shirt and a knee-length pair of black shorts, and slippers on his feet, which were on the table. He had a slight look of anxiety, but was concentrated on the television.

A few minutes later a knock came on his door.

He frowned and looked at his watch, it was precisely noon.

In my dream the man said he’d be here by now… no don’t be stupid.

He got up and walked straight ahead to a door which was to the left of the television. He opened the door and walked across a narrow hallway illuminated by a table lamp on the side. He walked to the main door and opened it. A man stood there.

He had a keen look on his face, large wide dimples and lush hair falling down on his forehead in an almost straight line. He had wrinkles on the sides of his eyelids and a few small scars across his cheeks, but in all seemed like a happy man. He had short hair, just falling till his shoulder from the back. He was wearing a long over-shirt with a baggy pear of trousers. The shirt was embroidered with odd asymmetrical patterns, but it looked more like a gown. He seemed very familiar to Adi, as if he’d just met him somewhere…

Wait…

‘Hi!’ He said, in a very odd fashion, pronouncing it as ‘he’, and so Adi said, ‘Wh — wh-wha?’ He was confused, and in the same process, Biv got perplexed as to why he said ‘who’, but he did not ask why. He stood there, in a moment, smiling again.

‘Whe-where a-are you fr-fr-from?’ Adi said, after hearing the way Biv said hi.

‘Not from anywhere near Adi. I come from a distant land,’ his expression darkened, ‘but to discuss all of this is not why I come here, to meet you’

This conversation… I’ve had it before. He thought.

‘This conversation… I’ve — ’

‘ — had it before.’ Biv said, keeping his grim expression.

‘You walked in midst of a white mist,’ He said, also maintaining his terrible grammar. Adi was frightened at what he said.

‘And soon, the mist gone.’ He started to remember. This is what had happened in his dream, what Biv was talking about, ‘The mist gone, and Olivia…’

‘You!’ Adi screamed, slightly emotional. He was emotionally weak. Not gullible or stupid, but weak.

‘Y-you are B-Biv!’ He said, stuttering.

‘Yes Adi. I come in now?’

‘Y-y-yes, but where do you c-c-come from?’

‘Erhin. Look Adi, I tell you everything, but first, I come in?’

And so he walked in. He had no idea what to think of. In the moment he did not feel shocked, but this man was in his dream, and now he is here, in real life! Like he promised.

How is this possible? It was all just a dream. How could he be here?

‘Y-you were in m-my dream!’

‘I know, Adi.’

‘H-h-how?’

‘I can not disclose. Not now.’ Biv said. The odd man would not tell him why. They were in the small, narrow hallway, and Adi was leading the way. Biv looked amazed at all of this, and Adi was wondering where ‘Erhin’ was. They went through the hallway and opened the second door, straight into the living room.

‘H-h-here, sit h-here.’ Adi closed his eyes shut with force a couple of times while stuttering, out of embarrassment. Biv, oblivious to the situation, asked, ‘Why you say letters of the words so many times?’ Adi understood what he meant to say. He didn’t take it to heart but he didn’t take it lightly, it made him slightly sad, but he said, ‘B-b-because I h-have a-a speech disorder.’

‘What is that?’ He sat, looking at Adi.

‘I-I can’t talk properly.’

Biv felt slightly awkward, realising he probably should not have said that. Adi sat there with his lips pursed, feeling kind of awkward because of Biv’s straightforwardness.

‘So London, it’s beautiful, no?’ Biv said, trying to break the ice. Adi closed his eyes in a kind of confusion and discomfort, ‘Wh-why have you come here?’ Adi asked.

Biv took a deep breath in moving his head back. His silky smooth hair bouncing back.

‘This because we will go someplace with me and you.’ Biv’s speech was truly terribly spoken but Adi understood what the foreigner wanted to say.

‘Please mind me not. My people speak better English than I do.’

They sent someone who can’t speak to pick up someone who can’t speak. Huh.

‘You have to understand, we will need help yours, soon!’

Adi stayed silent. It was odd. He’d never contacted anyone about anything at all in the past few months, so why is contact coming to him? What is this Erhin this man comes from? It all looked too odd for Adi. He wanted to just continue living his life but he could not, for he saw this man in a dream and now he is real! It is too big an opportunity to turn down.

‘F-f-f-for what?’ Adi asked.

‘Your dreams.’

Adi did not know this man’s intentions, and he was not making them any clearer.

‘You know everything, but you must know everything first. you trust me eh?’

Adi did not know how to respond but based plainly on the nature of his dreams, he contained his shock, and said, ‘A-alright.’ In his rough British accent.

Biv did not understand.

‘I t-trust.’ He said.

A smile crept unto Biv’s face,

‘Good. You trust eh?’

‘Y-yes.’ Adi said, confirming it.

‘Oh, one more thing! You will have to know to control yourself.’ Biv stated. Adi stayed quiet.

‘Know to control what you speak.’ Adi’s heart skipped a bit. Even the thought of speaking normally was overwhelming, but learning to control it? That aspect seemed far from possible. He ignored this comment and a moment later said, ‘Where do you want to take me?’ He was able to blurt out one sentence without stuttering, at least.

‘North Cornwall, at shore of Watergate Bay, in Newquay.’

‘Watergate Bay.. b-b-but that’s hours from here, we’re in London!’ Adi laughed, ‘I d-d-don’t even have a car!’

‘Car? What do you speak of?’

What? This twit doesn’t know what a car is?

Adi couldn’t find the right words to say, to describe the car, he just ended up stuttering like an idiot.

‘I will fast reach us both! Don’t worry.’ Biv said, with an enthusiastic smile worn across his face, dimples of his white skin arching upwards.

‘I am a Wielder, remember?’

Adi remembered another piece of his dream.

’T-t-t-the light you… shot out of your hand.’

‘Yes.’

Adi was starting to get startled. This man randomly appears in his dream, asserts the fact that he will show up at Adi’s doorstep at noon, does that, claims he is from some unheard land, and now says he can create light from his hands! Biv had thrown mountains of thoughts of unimaginable possibilities on Adi; so much of new occurrences, things people had never seen, never heard of. Erhin? what’s Erhin? And now he claims he can create that kind of light energy in real life! Fekhin madness. He thought.

Without saying anything further, he walked out of the living room, and into Adi’s bedroom. Adi watched, frowning in oddity and discomfort. Why did Biv just walk into his bedroom?

He quickly walked out. He noticed Adi’s expression of disapproval and so he said, ‘Not enough space,’ as an excuse, smiling with his cheeks held high, as if sarcastically being apologetic about something. He then walked out of the living room and to a door to his left, the kitchen. He repeated the same thing, said the same thing and had the same expression.

‘J-just go to the guest b-bedroom.’ Adi said, showing him the way. There was no furniture, he had not done this room up. It was next to the kitchen, which was a door on the right of the living room. His living room was sort of a central hub, around which all rooms rotated. It was quite neatly fashioned. Adi and Biv walked into the empty room on their odd quest. It had a carpeted floor, like all the rooms in his apartment except his kitchen, and had plain white walls and a white ceiling. There was a small door straight ahead which was a private bathroom to this room. His apartment was rather big for a bachelor pad.

‘Good.’ Biv said, in a faintly slurred fashion. He walked to the centre and flitted into a stance. His legs parallel to one another, and his left arm down with his hand facing right, and right arm at a ninety degree angle, bent straight upwards of his head. These stances absolutely wowed Adi.

Beautiful.

They were expertly executed. His eyes shut, mouth lipping inaudible words, hair still as day, a look of concentration on his face, and in a moment’s notice, a small light sprang out of his right hand; as soon as it did, he raised his left to guide a pathway for the light. It again looked like a medium, not like a form of energy. The edges were sleek and sharp, and the bright yet small, white light eventually grew in a straight line. It was decently wide, about an arm’s length, guided on by his left, emitted by the right; it was beautiful co-ordination. He held the stance and guidance for a few seconds, as the light reached the wall straight ahead of him, and a moment later, lowered his hands slowly.

It was absolutely jaw-dropping, Adi’s mouth was literally agape.

The wall began to open slightly, creaking sounds of the inside of the wall audible as the wall began to break, and the light began to diminish. A hole in the wall came tumbling down, brick after brick breaking and falling, and wooden insides creaking and snapping. When Adi looked through the wall, he did not see the inside part of a wall, but instead he saw Watergate Bay, in North Cornwall.

Chapter 5; The War of Hothras

/Unith

The night had passed, and dawn approached.

’Well I’ll be damned. He’s heavier than he looks.’ Pires said.

‘Are you heavier than you look?’ Isolde said, in attempts to crack a joke. Isolde, Shen, Muriel, Pires and Izaak were in Isolde’s chamber, the rest of the spies working on another minor detail they’d found out and were ordered to research on.A green-lit candle illuminated the whole room.

Izaak was standing forcefully with his hands tied to a little hook on the wall meant to hang paintings. They took the binding rope and tied a part of it to the hard hook unto both his hands.

‘Sir Muriel, how much longer did you say Lady Theren will arrive?’

‘A forty-eighth.’ A forty-eighth meant fifteen minutes. ‘Must you get ever so impatient?’ That posh manner of his way of talking. He always was subjected to odium, the least respected cover-lord. A cover-lord was anyone who commanded a team that carries forth actions which affect the kingdom as a whole. Muriel worked with Theren’s father, Keran, however ran inside operations with Rean, Theren’s spy group.

Isolde rolled his eyes, long hair falling over his shoulder.

‘Oh forbear on that, pretty boy,’ Shen said; He was the only one who could tolerate Muriel, ‘he’s done a lot for us, do not be so crude.’ Shen said. Shen was one of the only men from the middle of Erhin who was living in Loazer. Nithronians didn’t really like it out in the West of Erhin. The middle had an entirely different culture than what they followed out here. A completely different sense of talking and dressing. Of course, Shen followed the Loazian way; he was born and raised up here — he was just of Nithronian descent.

‘As a cover-lord, I need not do what I do, and I need not deserve what I get.’

Pires stood, a little bent, for his head was almost touching the ceiling, scratching his hair trying to fathom what Muriel just said. He eventually understood.

Roughly fifteen minutes went by in talk when they heard a slight knock on the door. Isolde raced to the door, but Muriel did so too. Muriel was closer and so reached it first. He greeted Theren as she condescendingly looked down upon him.

‘My Lady Theren,’

‘Sir Muriel,’ She said, regarding him. Isolde stood facing her, directly in front of Izaak, who was tied to the hook. Her eyes fell not on Isolde, but on Izaak. She was not shocked to see the sheer size of the man because she was around Pires so often, and she’d seen vicers before. Pires and Shen all bowed down and regarded her with, ‘My Lady’. She briefly acknowledged the both of them, but soon she was just staring at Izaak.

‘Wake him.’ She said. Pires walked towards him. He stood for a moment and then slapped him hard across the face. Nothing happened. Pires was slightly confused.

‘My Lady, he’s been given Sap, straight from the Poppy.’ Isolde commented.

‘Ah… I see,’ She said, eyeing him, and then the green candle, ‘well when he wakes, alleviate his suffering by conveying to him that he’s not in Shen’s chambers.’ She said. All of them giggled slightly.

‘Do whatever you can, to find the rest of them. Whatever you can.’ She hated to say that, to imply that need for torture; however, it was required. This man had already suffered so much, and she was going to make him suffer further. But she did not act upon it.

‘Yes, my Lady.’ Isolde responded. He bowed. As she was about to leave, she turned around. Frowning, she said, ‘Where is the other one?’ She asked. ‘I was told one “Yuron” was brought here too.’ Muriel had informed her, and so he stepped up. ‘You see, my Lady, he was, er, disposed of.’

‘Did he not make the night?’

‘All dues to Pires; he did not.’ Muriel grimaced at Pires as if he were to suffer punishment from Theren for accidentally killing Yuron.
‘He squeezed his throat. At the time we did not know, but he had stopped breathing.’ Isolde said, coming to his rescue, ‘And I caused the death of the third, but that was an instantaneous reaction.’ He added, shamefully so.

Theren took a deep breath of irritation but decided not to be too upset. They did, after all, manage to bring one.

‘Make sure the limbless one doesn’t die.’ She said, pointing at Izaak. ] All of them bowed, and she exited the room without any acknowledgement. None minded her rudeness. She’d done enough for them all.

***

About thirty minutes past a sixth went by since Theren went away, and Pires, Shen and Isolde anxiously waited, and waited, and waited, but the Sap was very strong. Izaak was not waking. Since coming to Isolde’s home, he had been properly treated, and the loss of blood revoked. Isolde sat on the ground with his hands together, fingers joint, as if he were praying, but he was just hitting his forehead constantly, in anticipation. Muriel had already left. He was a part of Rean, but as a knight he did have other duties. On the other hand, the rest dedicated their entire time to work for Theren.

‘What of the Triad?’ Isolde said. It was a very random question but broke the pin drop silence of the room.

‘Why do you ask?’ Shen said. He had a very narrow face, no hair of course, typical of a Nithronian. He kind of swallowed in a nervous way.

‘Well the War of Hothras is going on in Layonas, and the Triad have left. They have a second commanding position in the council, yet they choose to tread in the business of poor slaves on entirely different planet!’ The Triad were a dangerous trio of men; all three have a seat on the Council of Kaandor. These three are the only battle trained men on the whole council.

‘Hothras must be a really large river for a war to be going on in it for the last six years. And that too between such large kingdoms! Clearly The Triad did not tread from Hothras to come to Loazer. So if not from there, where did they take a gem-boat from?’ Shen asked, ‘To arrive here?’

‘Ah, that’s trivial, M’ro!’ Pires said, ‘Probably a river up North of Kaandor. More importantly, I reckon Sir Eswan is outta his Fekhin mind!’ Isolde looked at Pires with disgust.

‘And what of Koralisar?’ Koralisar was the descendent of the founder of the kingdom of Kaandor.

‘He does not rule in even a quarter of the stead of his forefathers. I mean his grip on the Hothras war between his newly weakened kingdom and Linteres’ Kingdom is far less sturdy than Eswan’s.’ Isolde argued with a patronising look towards Pires.

‘You seem to have a point! But it was that mad dairy farmer Sorman Lintere that rebelled and attacked Layon’s functional kingdom in the first place! His descendant Eswan is equally crazy. And trust me, M’ro, Koralisar will soon strengthen himself and strategically advance his plans in the war. He’s building new ships already, M’ro!’ Pires said. Sorman Lintere was the ancestor of Eswan Lintere, and founder of the rebelling Linteres’ Kingdom. Eswan Lintere was the current leader of the Linteres’ Kingdom.

‘He is just following the strategies of his fathers. After all, Sir Sorman Lintere created it to revolt against Kaandor’s overlordship rule in Layonas, is it not? For what his forefathers wanted, he carries well in their stead, can you argue otherwise?’ Isolde challenged.

‘Rewa!’ Pires said. Nonsense! ‘Sorman was the first mad dairy-farmer filled with greed! Layon was a great ruler. The best of the best. He never held any evil intentions t’ward anyone! His legacy should be honoured.’

Shen was observing the two converse until he stepped in,

‘Say what you may in your own presence, Pires, but Loazer has a peace pact and a coordinative effort with the Linteres to defeat Kaandor, whether you mean otherwise or not. You cannot deem our allies evil, M’ro.’

‘Precisely,’ Isolde said, ‘Layon only displayed kindness; overtly so, but hidden behind all the layers of his displays he was the Snake-Bearer. The cover-lord of the snakes. Koralisar may not be as wise, but he still is by right entitled to be the Snake-Bearer.’ Isolde said. The Snakes were the army of Kaandor, who were notorious for the use of weapons and armour with symbolisations of snakes. The ruler of Kaandor carried a staff symbolised by the Snake’s head, and had powers of Wielding.

A different kind of Wielding.

‘What of it? Being the Snake-Bearer need not make him an evil man… boy.’ Pires said. Koralisar was just a boy of eighteen.

‘That need not. Indeed, Pires, on that front you are right M’ro! But forget that front! One must not be deemed evil based on the possessions they inherit, fair enough,’ Isolde said, while Shen continued to observe, ‘but the basis of the cause as to why all believe that he bears ill wills to all others is because — ’ he got cut off. He had sharp ears, and so he heard a soft, odd groan from afar. Frowning, he took only a moment or two to realise it was Izaak.

‘That Sap was strong,’ Shen said, ‘not strong enough.’

Shen began to walk toward him, but Isolde gestured to him to stop. Instead, he approached the vicer, with slow and steady footsteps; his long hair bouncing with every step, and his pale white skin gleaming white, as dawn just broke, and the wiola passing through a small window on the ceiling, illuminating all the men in the room brighter than the other objects lying around. Isolde’s chamber was on the top floor of the house.

The vicer groaned slightly as his eyelids began to open. He had a coarse cry and a rough voice. He was sweating. His skin was not brown or dark brown like some people in Loazer, who were just commoners, but vicers were the darkest kind, they were so tall, all of them, that they were not considered human at all! Their skin was a pure black colour; no human was even a shade as dark.

Well, it is not in our tread what Krilin decided to create and what he didn’t. Pires thought.

The man’s eyes were open. He started wriggling his arms around as Isolde watched until the man’s eyes fell upon him. He began to speak in Krian, ‘Y-you helped me…’ The man rather whimpered his words out. He had a couple of major blue bruises on his eyes and face. He was wearing baggy sack-like clothes, with a loose top-shirt.

‘Why have you come to Loazer? What business must you and your kind heed in?’ Isolde asked. Shen was in the other corner of the room, with folded arms, standing against the wall, eyeful of the situation. He had an eyebrow raised. Pires stood behind Isolde with a blank expression on his face.

‘I cannot tell you.’ What he said was disheartening. He did not want to further hurt him.

Do anything you can. Theren had said. She did so much for them all, they deserved to do as she wished.

‘Why… are you here, tell me, and I will make you pass with ease.’

‘Make it as you please, death will be death, no matter how it is carried forth.’ Izaak responded. Isolde had been outsmarted. He didn’t like to be outsmarted.

He raised his hand, making a fist with his arm bent, and thrust it forward right into Izaak’s gut.

‘AHH!’ He shouted.

‘M’ro, I will not kill you, if you tell me!’

‘You will not kill me? Nonsense! I know how you and your giant friend hate my kind. That is why you chase after us.’ Izaak was trying to make them feel bad for discriminating against him and his fellow vicers.

‘That is why you killed Sajh! That is why you killed Yuron! The others will know!’ He said, ‘And the others, they bigger than you!’ He looked at Pires and said.

‘So you have come here to plan an attack.’ Isolde said.

Shen began to frown, ‘With a strength of two hundred only? No, these are scouts! They will plan a bigger attack, do you not think?’ Shen said. Isolde saw the bigger picture, he began to open his mouth, but got interrupted, ‘We are not going to bring anyone! We will kill all of the Rolans! Nothing is left in Loazer but death.’ Izaak said. Isolde widened his eyes.

‘False threats,’ Pires remarked, ‘A load of fekhin shit! He’s a senseless, loathsome Kaandorian vicer! Inept of carrying out the job he’s given. I derive that he is naught but a sack o’shit!’

He has quite a mouth at times… Isolde thought. He always spoke like a commander. He knew when to speak and when not to, and what to say and what not to; something Pires lacked.

Isolde said, ‘We must not make it our prioritised concern, this threat Izaak proposes, yet we can not take a stand to dispose of it. It will be kept as a secondary consideration. If what he says is true, Lord Rolan and his Crocodiles are going to have to deal with this.’ Shen and Pires were wowed at what he said, whereas Izaak stood looking humiliated.

‘Therefore we must extract the truth out of this vicer. Do what you may Pires, I have business about the Triad to attend to, with the rest of Rean, I leave this responsibility to you and Shen.Find out the location of the rest of them. Do not disappoint me. I must part with you.’

‘M’ro.’ Pires said. Isolde nodded in acknowledgement.

‘M’ro.’ Shen repeated. He nodded again.

‘I will be back at the break of dusk. Have Connor clean this up, keep him in the empty storage room a floor below. I need a clean sleeping space.’ Isolde spoke, strictly formally. When the matter was in the sense of friendship, they all joked and laughed together, but Isolde was respected among Rean when he took up a precise commanding position and spoke in a similar sense.

Isolde left the room.