They came for him at dawn.
Or what passed for dawn in the mine. A gong sounded, and the sergeant returned with four guards.
"Commander wants you," he said.
Kael was marched through the camp. The mood had shifted. The soldiers were alert, weapons drawn. They crowded around the central cavern where a command tent made of stitched-together banners stood.
Sitting behind a map table was a man Kael hadn't seen in five years.
Commander Valerius.
He looked older. The grey hair was gone, replaced by a bald, scarred scalp. He had lost an eye, covered by a black patch. But the jaw was the same. The way he sat—like he was made of granite—was the same.
"Kael of the Ash," Valerius said, not looking up from a map. "Reported K.I.A. two years ago. Void-fall."
"I survived," Kael said.
Valerius looked up. His single eye was cold.
"nobody survives the Void," Valerius said. "They just come back wrong."
He pointed at Kael's left arm, hidden under the cloak.
"Show me."
Kael hesitated, then pulled the cloak back.
The room gasped. The Obsidian arm was blacker than the mine shadows. It hummed with a low, menacing vibration.
"I knew it," Valerius spat. "Spire corruption. They scooped you out and filled you with the dark. What are you? A sleeper agent? A bomb?"
"I am a Knight," Kael said.
"You are a monster!" Valerius slammed his fist on the table. "I taught you, boy. I taught you to hold the line against the dark. And now you wear it?"
"I wear it because it's the only weapon that works," Kael shot back. "The iron didn't work, Valerius.
The Oath didn't work. The Spire lied to us."
"We know they lied!" Valerius shouted. "That's why we're here! Eating rats and dying of rot! But we don't use the Enemy's weapons!"
He signaled the sergeant.
"Take him to the edge. Put a bolt in his head. Burn the body."
"No!" Elric shouted, but a guard backhanded him.
The sergeant grabbed Kael's arm.
"I invoke the Rite," Kael said. His voice cut through the noise.
Valerius froze. The room went silent.
"The Rite of Steel," Kael said. "Old Law. A knight accused of corruption can prove his soul by the blade."
Valerius stared at him. "You want to fight? With that... thing on your arm?"
"No," Kael said. "I'll fight with steel. If I use the Arm, you kill me. If I win... you listen."
Valerius narrowed his eye. He stood up, towering over the table.
"Fine," Valerius said. "Sergeant Horg. Kill him."