Among Heroes [Owen/Closed]

[Sir Hadrian Ecclesius]

Hadrian watched intently with fierce, gray eyes, his arms crossed over his chest. Stray winds played with his loose hair but his gaze nor attention shifted. His face was straight, showing almost no emotion.

Heavy wood clashed and sang between two young, sparring Knights. They were intense but they lacked grace and skill. Swords were being swung as if they were two children fighting with sticks. A slight grimace slithered onto Hadrian's face. He couldn't get too mad, they were still initiates with almost no sword fighting under their belt. On the otherhand, Hade had been trying to guide them for the past few hours, telling them how to hold the weapon, swing it, block, and whatnot. Once the sparring actually began, it all just went out the window. His methods were tough and painful, but they'd teach you to not get killed in the battlefield.

"Stop!" he shouted sternly. He marched into the sparring ring, in between the two fighters. "You do not swing your weapon as if it were a toy. Your movements need to be swift and exact unless you want to die."

He grabbed the wooden training sword from one of the boys. "Stand back and pay attention," he turned to the remaining fighter. "Come at me," now gaining a combative stance. The boy charged recklessly, his sword at his side and swinging with an upward motion. Hadrian's training sword quickly met his opponent's and easily tossed the oncoming attack away. The boy stumbled and Hadrian landed a solid kick to his chest, sending him to the ground. "You need to know what you're doing. Don't rush into conflict. Learn your opponent and counteract their moves. And most of all, keep your guard up. Now get up and try again."

The old man stepped back, his metal armor rattling lightly. The boy eased towards Hadrian, not wanting to get kicked again. Men may guide other men, but pain is the true teacher. "Come now, Zeke," Hadrian said in a taunting voice.

The boy stood his ground, only stepping forward once to bring across a horizontal swing. Hadrian swatted it away. Another swing to Hadrian's leg but the old man pinned the sword to the grown with his and body checked the boy, ripping the sword from the boy's hand. "It's your weapon, don't give its control to your enemy." he kicked the wooden sword back to Zeke.

"Alright, Jakob, get back in here." The boy who had been watching hurried back into the ring. Hadrian tossed his sword to the boy and stepped back to see if they learned anything. "You slip up and I'll beat you too." the old man assured him.

"A-aye, sir!" Jakob said nervously as he readied the sword.

[Owen Enders]

[OOC: I’m gonna use this thread to RP in a new ability that I’m about to add, seems pretty fitting for it, it’ll be added to Owen’s CS after this thread.]

Leant casually against one of the thick stone walls of the Castle, Owen watched onwards as the youngsters were lectured by Sir Hadrian with a solemn expression. The veteran’s methods were strict and considered overly harsh by some people, but the hydromancer understood his reasoning. Disappointing was the first word that Owen could think of to judge their performance so far, these were supposed to be the Knights that would form the next generation of the Hylian Army; a respected military force that was renowned for possessing incredibly talented warriors. Unable to show a basic ability to even grip their weapon properly, it was slightly embarrassing for Owen to consider these youths as his future replacement.

His eyes followed Zeke’s sword as he moved forward, seeming to be somewhat more calculated and careful with his attack this time as he struck, although the difference in ability and experience was quite clear from Hadrian’s effortless block. The quick switch to strike at the senior’s legs showed some initiative at least, but the initiate’s attempt needed far more conviction if it was to be successful. As Zeke hit the floor, Owen’s head dropped sharply. Unimpressive… to say the least.

Looking back up and brushing the hair from out of his eyes, Owen debated whether he actually wanted to watch the outcome of Jakob’s efforts. He seemed too worried about being struck down by Hadrian to focus on actually wielding his sword properly. The outcome was obvious; it was just a question of whether the youth was still holding his weapon or not when he hit the ground. Perhaps he should offer some advice.

Walking through the crowd of onlookers who were obviously interested in seeing how these new knights were performing, Owen clicked his fingers in Jakob’s direction in order to grab his attention before then suggesting that he re-evaluated his approach.

”The sword’s an extension of your arm, it should move with your arm, not loosely like you’ve been holding it.”

Stopping in between Sir Hadrian and Jakob, Owen continued to study the youngster’s body language. Naturally, he was nervous, which was to be expected from the fact that his opponent had quite dealt with both him and the other trainee with considerate ease. A smile formed across the hydromancer’s face as he attempted to reassure Jakob with a more cheerful tone to his comments.

”No point standing there all nervous either, if you’ve got it in your head that you’re not gonna come out on top… then you’ve already lost the fight before you’ve already stepped forward. May as well calm down for a sec and regain your composure before you go… whilst you’re against an opponent who’s gonna let you.”

[Sir Hadrian Ecclesius]

Hadrian's brow perked up with the sound of clicking from behind him. His head turned and from the corner of his eye he spotted Owen walking up on the three. Adding in some words of advice were appreciated by Hadrian. These boys needed all the help they could get. "Listen to Owen, he didn't make Lieutenant out of shear luck," he called to Jakob. "He does actually know a thing or two, believe it or not." the old man teased his fellow knight, retorting his own compliment to Owen.

"But just as he said. If you're not first, you last. And last is dead. Remember that." Hadrian turned back to Zeke. "Alright, while Owen is helping Jakob, you and I will continue." The color in Zeke's face faded and Hadrian halted, almost disappointed. "Did you not hear what Owen just said? Nothing going to get you killed faster that your own self-doubt. Face me like a man with some goddamn pride and courage. Because without it, you might as well give me your sword and walk back to whatever little hole you crawled out of." Hade could see redness and anger rise in Zeke's face and the old man smirked. "Use the anger to fuel your fire, but don't let it blind your mind."

Just as Hadrian finished, Zeke charged at the old man. The boy's wooden sword came down with fervor but Hade parried with his own weapon. Right after, another swing came at Hadrian's side but he swatted it away, the sword bouncing off his metal bracer. "Good. Keep your opponent on the defense so they can't attack back! Now you just need to break their defense to get to them."

The spar between the young and old went on for another few minutes, Hadrian guiding him the entire way. For an old man, Hadrian kept up without fault, if not better than Zeke. Rapid breathing grabbed Zeke, Hadrian on the other hand...didn't even break a sweat. "You're making progress. Keep up your training and discipline your body to do what it needs to do in these techniques and you'll be a fine Knight one of these days." Hadrian's words were a lot kinder after the sparring.

Hadrian turned to Jakob, "Once Owen is done with you, you and Zeke go washed up and be back here tomorrow. We're doing endurance and strength building training with the rest of the company."

The sun had started to set and the sky was strawberry-orange. Best time of the day in Hade's opinion. The old man waited off to the side of the ring for Owen. He stood against one of the pedestals that marked the ring's outer limits. "I have a few things I need to discuss with you, Owen. If you have the time." Hadrian called out to Owen.

[Owen Enders]

As Hadrian engaged with Zeke once again, Owen looked back towards Jakob and nodded suggestively for him to raise his weapon, whilst picking up another nearby training sword with his left hand. Standing and then turning so that he was side on to the trainee, with his head turned towards him, he then lifted his arm with the sword pointed directly at Jakob’s head. Nodding once more to inform him to begin, the young lieutenant then awaited the first motion of attack from his sparring partner.

What Owen had hoped Jakob wouldn’t do was attack him straight on and ignore the obvious response that would come from the hydromancer if he did so. Unfortunately, that was precisely what happened. Stepping forward quickly, Jakob went for a downwards chop with his sword in attempt to drive straight through to Owen’s head, which was seemingly unprotected with his sword held out. What Jakob had ignored was what Owen then did, which was simply side-step and watch as Jakob’s strike fell harmlessly to his left-hand side along with the trainee who stumbled, obviously not having anticipated his momentum not meeting resistance. Quickly, Owen gave him a gentle tap on the back of the head with his weapon as he turned, just to establish to his opponent that his failure then would probably have killed him on the field, before then taking a couple of steps backwards after he did so to wait for the next attack.

He wondered, whether anyone has noticed until now that his right arm had been firmly pressed against his chest on the inside of his jacket rather than in its sleeve, almost as if it was in a sling on the inside; only the left arm was actually in its sleeve wielding the training sword. Regardless, it had no effect on Owen’s balance nor his ability to wield the weapon, as the next flurry of strikes against him were blocked effortlessly, the hydromancer barely moving from his position as he manoeuvred and pivoted to act against each angled attack. It was apparent that Jakob seemed unaware that Owen was making him do all the work, all of the moving and striking, which was tiring him out. Spotting that Sir Hadrian had brought his demonstration to a close out of the corner of his eye, he then decided to do the same.

In the few minutes that had passed where Owen had mainly just been blocking and making a few ripostes from the odd parry just to keep Jakob on his guard, he had yet to really work the trainee; so the sudden change of pace that would occur would certainly catch him by surprise.

As Jakob would attempt to lunge with a stab, Owen wouldn’t simply dodge sideways as he had done previously, instead moving forward and twisting his torso to evade the stabbing motion, trapping Jakob’s right arm with his own left arm so he could no longer attack, before continuing forward to body-check him off-balance, then swinging his left leg to wrap around Jakob’s left and bringing it out from underneath him, tripping him and sending him to the floor as Owen then release the trapped arm. A very quick, fluid and effective move from the lieutenant, which seemed to somewhat bemuse Jakob as he looked upwards from the ground. Owen simply smiled.

”Always expect the unexpected. Also, don’t let your opponent dictate what you do, it was pretty easy for me to just stand and block throughout that. You gotta keep them moving to get them off-guard, don’t get too close unless you know they’re open and you’ll definitely land the hit.”

Dropping the training weapon and then pulling the trainee up from the floor, Owen offered one last piece of advice before he would turn to respond to Sir Hadrian’s request for a conversation.

”Never assume anything in a fight, it just makes an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’… and your ass was on the floor right now, which wouldn’t reflect well on me in a fight as one of your tutors!”

With the same pleasant smile and cheerfulness to his tone, Owen then dismissed Jakob to leave with Zeke before then turning to Sir Hadrian with an accepting nod. Pulling his jacket over the right arm whilst brushing some dirt and dust from the attire, he briskly made his way over to the veteran.

”Of course Sir Hadrian, what’s on your mind?”

[Sir Hadrian Ecclesius]

"There've been some troubles that have risen. I was the first to catch wind of it and I don't want it getting any higher than the Lieutenants. It's going to be just you and I on this," Hadrian started as he walked through the courtyard of the Hylian castle. The atmosphere was heavy but Hadrian remained silent, pacing up the stairs into the castle. He didn't say a word but he had a heartbroken grimace on his face that not even the warm, smiling face of a beautiful maiden could wipe off.

The old man didn't say a word until the two reached the Hylian Library within the Castle. He got to a secluded edge of the Library and sat on the edge of a large, red cushioned chair. "There was an attack on a squad of knights, our Knights. Brutally tortured and killed in horrendous ways that I don't want to even explain. Initially, I was told that it was a complete off chance event that led to their deaths but upon further investigation I came to realize that they had been compensated by someone within our ranks. One of our Knights has defected from the order. Which would also explain the caravans, that were transporting our supplies to one of our outposts, that were ambushed by that group of raiders while we were in a land where those raiders were not common in. There was also a small village to the south, under our protection, that had been attacked and met with almost no resistance. This also led me to believe that there may be more than just one defector.

I know the name of the main defector but I needed to speak with another officer before I carried out any actions. We need to investigate this further to be absolutely sure. Something like this getting out could crumble the entire order of knights from the inside. The trust we've earned around these lands would be gone in the blink of an eye. The only way this should get any higher that you and I is if absolutely necessary. If too much word gets out, it will be bad."

A deep sigh escaped Hadrian's maw as he wiped his hair from his face. "Motives are unknown. Money, security, safe passage into certain territory, I don't know yet. In all my years as a Hylian Knight, I've never had the thought that I may have to take out one of my own men..."

[Owen Enders]

The initial comment from Sir Hadrian was enough to cause Owen a fair amount of concern. Anything that was required to be kept from the Commander’s knowledge was a serious issue and the veteran knight’s tone in addition suggested that this was a matter which he would not enjoy having to solve, regardless of the fact that he had yet to hear any of the real specifics. Following Sir Hadrian into the security of the castle, Owen only became more and more curious as to what exactly could have happened that was so serious that the knights had only just found out about it.

Moving quickly into the library and standing opposite Sir Hadrian as he took a seat, Owen glanced around quickly to ensure there was definitely no-one attempting to eavesdrop on the conversation before turning back to hear exactly what the issue at hand was, leaning against a nearby pillar as he took in the speech that was presented to him by his fellow lieutenant, remaining absolutely silent throughout the entire debriefing, his expression in a constant state of disbelief as to exactly what he was hearing. As Hadrian would conclude with a statement of regret as to the possible actions that he may have to take as a result, Owen could only stare back blankly as he considered everything.

This was beyond serious; this was a disastrous situation to be in. Rubbing his chin carefully in thought, he also let out a deep sigh as he then attempted to respond, his voice still showing some signs of inability to accept what he had just heard.

”This…”

Owen paused only for a moment, mainly to ensure that there was still no-one else around as well as lower his voice, his tone now matching a harsh whisper.

”How sure are you? I mean… who’s the person in question? How the hell could this have slipped by us?”

Still leaning against the pillar, although slightly more forward towards Sir Hadrian, Owen looked through a nearby window in thought again for a split-second before then turning back to finish his response in a more composed manner.

”Yeah, we need to keep this from the Commander for now and we’re going to need to resolve this quickly to prevent him getting suspicious about what we’re doing. We need to find this defector.”

[Sir Hadrian Ecclesius]

"Lieutenant Adrian Hale. His transgressions have gone behind everyone's back, not just ours. I first caught wind when I went to his chambers and overheard some of their conversation. They spoke of a hidden temple that was once a shrine of the Goddesses which held powerful artifacts. The temple is somewhere within hostile territory but only someone with extensive knowledge of the Goddesses and their relics can open it. Someone like Hale would have access to that kind of knowledge.

I can only guess that they were getting ready to discuss negotiations before their suspicion rose to my presence. Conversation ceased as I walked through the door. The concealed man was quick to make his exit, all I saw of his face was red hair, a green eye and a scar that stretched from his lower lip to the tip of his chin. He wore raggedy clothing and didn't seem the type for castles and class. Something was particularly off during my conversation with the Lieutenant. He refused to make eye contact while I spoke to him. Later in the week, I see him with the man again, down in the town making some sort of exchange. And this was two days before the first ambush occurred. We need to find out more about the Lieutenant and this man he was talking to.

I don't know if any of the other Knights are in on his plan but we need to do something, but like I said. This is just you an I. Until we find out the truth and we're sure that he has defected, we can't bring anyone else in on this.

The Lieutenant has been away for a week or so, scheduled for a meeting with some foreign officials. So the first place we need to look is his chambers, see if there's anything that will lead us in the right direction.

This is why I came to you. I know I can trust you and you only have the best intentions for the Knights in mind." Hadrian stood, giving Owen a moment for it to sink in and ask any questions he had before they departed for the Lieutenant's chambers.

[Owen Enders]

Rubbing his chin in thought as Sir Hadrian continued his briefing of the matter, to say this situation was serious was an understatement. To even consider that such meetings between those of the Hylian army and outside forces were conducted within the castle was ridiculous, but the veteran knight was one whose word was never false. Looking again out of the window and to the town outside the castle in particular, Owen could only wonder exactly what else occurred within the vicinity of the army barracks, right under the noses of the Hylian Knights without arousing any suspicion whatsoever. The exchange that Sir Hadrian mentioned was almost certainly a monetary transaction, perhaps one that linked directly to the ambush the following day.

Sinister, certainly.

Turning back from the window, Owen nodded in response to the speech, before then considering their course of action. Searching the Lieutenants’s quarters whilst he was absent was certainly a wise tactic; it would be the opportune moment to investigate exactly what he was up to; providing of course that any evidence had not been taken along with him as he left. It would very much depend on how much Hale suspected the Knights being aware of his doings, and whether he considered the possibility of them searching his belongings in his absence. Needless to say, the sooner the investigation started, the sooner they could draw a conclusion to be taken to the senior Knights.

Clearing his throat, Owen confirmed his agreement with Sir Hadrian’s intentions.

”My alliance will always be with the Hylian Knights and the Princess.”

The conviction in his tone was unmistakable, certifying Hadrian’s comments about his loyalties. Pushing himself off from the leant position against the pillar to join his fellow lieutenant, Owen sighed once more.

”Whilst I don’t doubt your findings whatsoever, I really hope we’ve got the wrong end of the stick here…”

[Sir Hadrian Ecclesius]

"As do I," was Hadrian's only statement before he made his way back out through the library with Owen. "We can only discuss this situation within secured confines and we need to eliminate the chance of any eavesdropping. Around everyone else, we need to act ignorant of these events and what we come to find.

The halls were practically empty, with the exception of a few castle occupants and the two Knights. Lieutenant Hale's chamber doors were closed and locked but Hadrian already thought ahead and brought lockpicks for this very situation. The old man knelt down to the keyhole's level, tinkering with the tumblers inside and fairly quickly, the lock popped open. This wasn't the first time Hadrian had to pick a lock, he was actually quite familiar with it. With no one else but Owen in the vicinity, Hadrian hurried inside the room.

The room was lush and furnished with pleasantries. Exceptionally high class, everything from the door nob to the large four poster bed. Hadrian went to the bookshelf first, if Hale was planning something, he would have been doing research and books were a great source of knowledge. Most were novels about ancient warriors of myth and legend but there were two ones that were laying out. One described artifacts of yore and the legends behind them. The other one, less helpful, but the first could be something. Hadrian opened the book, and started sifting through the pages.

[Other possible leads]
-Strange coins not from this region on night stand.
-Books specifically detailing a legend behind a location known as Templum Mortis
-Flawless black gemstone with inscription 'Immortales Sumus'
-Make something up if you want.

[Owen Enders]

Closing the door quietly behind the two of them, Owen looked quickly around the room as he familiarised himself with the layout. To call the quarters luxurious would be an understatement, the decoration and furnishing of the room was far beyond of the hydromancer’s own quarters and Owen was almost awe-struck by the various treasures that could be seen within the room. Certainly, Lieutenant Hale had some additional income from somewhere aside from that he received as part of the Hylian Knights, which was more than suspicious.

With that in mind, Owen cast his eye across all the various ceramics and paintings that littered the walls and corners of the room, walking off in the opposite direction to Sir Hadrian as his attention was grabbed by a glint of light coming from the nightstand beside Hale’s bed. At first glance, it was no more than a reflection from a small pile of money that Owen would normally blank, until further inspection showed that the currency was one of which the young lieutenant had never seen before in his life. Walking up to the nightstand and lifting up a coin to examine it, Owen pondered momentarily as he held it under the light. Anyone could see that it differed completely from the rupees that Hylians were familiar with, what Owen was unable to determine is exactly where it came from. Getting a feel of its weight and still reaching no conclusions, he then referred his findings to the veteran knight.

”Sir Hadrian, you may want to have a look at this.”

Every race Owen knew used rupees as a currency; it made travelling around the Kingdom so easy without having to worry about exchanging otherwise. Picking up the pile and bringing it to the table in the centre of the room, he gently lay them down for Hadrian to pass his verdict.

”I’ve never seen anything like them in my life. They’re completely different from rupees. I’ve yet to find or hear of any race in Hyrule that doesn’t use rupees… so what are these?