The King of Freedom looked at the young maiden who faced him. She had an angelic smile, somehow seductive in its innocence.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"I am Firewand, the King of Freedom. You summoned me, so here I am."
"I summoned you? But I don't even know how to summon someone! I'm not a magician nor a sorceress."
"You don't need to know how. You just did."
"I don't understand."
"Someone, probably the Magician, summoned some of my companions. From this moment, there was no way to go back. So, we are all popping up here and there, near someone like you."
"Someone like me? I have nothing special. My name is Llyr and I'm just..."
"You're the Star."
"Stop speaking so enigmatically! I don't understand a single word of what you're saying!"
"You'll understand when the time will come. For the moment, just trust me when I say you are the Star. Do you have a mount?"
"No, I don't. Why would I need one?"
"Because you'll come with me," said gently the King of Freedom, "and I don't want your reputation ruined nor people saying that I bribed one of my Major Arcana."
"Please, speak clearly! Why are you speaking about Major Arcana? Even if I know nothing of tarot, I know this term and I don't understand why you're using it."
"If you don't have a mount," murmured the King, "I suppose that the Supplies Department can help us. Mm, let's see..."
Llyr had the impression that this strange man concentrated; as in answer to this concentration, a young woman, all dressed in black, appeared suddenly before them, on a black mare, coming from nowhere as the King of Freedom did some time ago. The King looked at her with awe.
"Raven! But I didn't... I mean, I asked the Supplies Department for a mount, not for you!"
The stern face of the young woman didn't even smile.
"I am your travelling companion, Firewand," she said.
"Oh no!" whispered Firewand. "It means that I will have to fight Sorrow..."
At this moment, Llyr could have sworn that the newcomer had a look of pride on her face. No doubt that this Sorrow, whoever he was, was quite dear to this woman and that the fear he inspired was somehow gratifying.
The woman Firewand called Raven turned to Llyr and the maiden only saw the deep sadness in her eyes.
"I am Raven, Queen of Sorrow," she said, "and I suppose you are the Star. You seem quite worthy of this name."
"My lady, I don't understand a single word!" complained Llyr. "Your companion here already told me that I was the Star, but I don't know what it means!"
"Don't worry, child. I will explain it to you."
Strangely, in spite of her sadness, the Queen of Sorrow seemed to be a gentle woman, compassionate and thoughtful, when the King of Freedom, despite his cheerfulness, seemed to be quite irresponsible.
"So, you said, Firewand, a mount for our young friend here..."
Raven retained her sorrow but a mare of a shining white appeared before them.
"Child, you can come with us, now. I'll explain you everything."
Trusting this strange woman, Llyr obeyed. Nobody with such a sorrow could be dangerous! She wondered what was the reason of her grief, for she was so gentle that it was almost impossible to imagine someone hurting her, and the grief should be very deep to explain this odd nickname of "Queen of Sorrow"! Of course, it couldn't be something else than a nickname! One never sees kings or queens popping up here and there without a single reason, without their knights or, at least, some courtiers.
"In a world you know nothing of," began the Queen of Sorrow, "four orders exist. They are respectively the orders of Freedom, Hope, Pride and Sorrow. Each order is represented by its figures, King, Queen, Knight and Squire, and its soldiers, named from ace to ten."
"It sounds like a tarot game," interrupted Llyr.
"This is a tarot game, child," continued Raven imperturbably. "Every century, there's a contest between these four orders. We come back to the living world, summoned by the Major Arcana, that is, you and some others, naturally. We have nine days to find the others and to reach the place where the final judgement will take place."
"Which final judgement?"
"We are four orders, child. And only one of us will win this contest. That's the role of the final judgement to decide which one of us is the winner. And the winner will dominate the world for the next century."
She heard Llyr gasp next to her. She turned her head toward the young maiden and smiled slightly, a sad smile.
"Why are you surprised, child? Does humanity not want to dominate the world? Why should we be different? We behave like you, we have the same feelings, the same pains, the same joys, the same ambitions..."
"I... I'm sure of it, that's not what surprised me. I mean... the world's domination is a really big stake, I was just wondering if it was really serious to decide of its future in only nine days. And those orders... why only four? And why those four? We feel other things too, not only sorrow or hope... Why not love?"
The Queen of Sorrow had a sad light laugh.
"People find it hard to love someone else for a lifetime. What if they had to love someone for a whole century? They couldn't bear it."
"The four orders are the ones people need more," intervened the Kind of Freedom. "Human kind has always fought for its freedom, has only survived by its pride, has only continued on by hope and only sorrow can make them feel alive."
Raven nodded.
"You're perfectly right, Firewand."
"I live only to serve you, my Queen," he answered with a quite cynical tone.
She emitted a rather strange noise for a so ladylike person.
"I wouldn't believe it, even if you were on your knees, swearing it upon your life. I know what you fear, or rather, who you fear."
"Naturally. Everybody fears him. Even his own King."
Raven shrugged.
"Whinger fears even his shadow."
"Who is able to create such fear from everyone?" asked Llyr.
"Sorrow," said bitterly Firewand. "Her Knight."
Once again, Raven smiled with pride.
"What annoys you really, Firewand, is not that he's my Knight or that he's the best. What annoys you is that he's the youngest knight."
"Just a question, Raven: where did you find such a monster?"
"Sorrow is not a monster!" protested Raven, hurt by this insult to her Knight.
"You know what I mean, Raven. He doesn't seem to be human. I'm sure he's worse than Vanyar himself!"
Vanyar was the god of the destruction and every good fighter was often compared to Vanyar.
"I'm not sure Sorrow would appreciate such a compliment," grinned Raven. "He doesn't like destruction, even if he often spoke to the contrary."
"Whatever, he's... well, can you imagine he even doesn't know what it is to be afraid?" asked Firewand to the void. "When you speak of such a feeling, he merely looks at you with wide eyes, as if you were speaking a foreign language!"
Raven smiled discreetly and Llyr remained speechless.
"But everybody knows what's the fear! If not be experience, at least, by hearing!"
"Not Sorrow," confirmed Raven. "Each time someone mentions the name in front of him, it's as if he hears it for the first time and each time, he remains perplexed, because he can't understand why people feels such feeling. He says it's totally useless."
"Tell him it's useful to feel alive," suggested Llyr.
Raven shook the head, her face once again sad.
"He doesn't need the fear to feel alive. He has already enough sorrow..."
"What do you mean?" asked Llyr, surprised by the tone full of pain used by the Queen.
"Our title does mean something, dear child. And Sorrow, as the knight of our order, is like our banner. He's the one who suffers the most."
"That's not fair!" protested Llyr, feeling somehow moved by the unknown man so mysterious. "The King should be the one suffering the most, not the Knight!"
"The knight is stronger," intervened Firewand. "He's the fighter, the real soul of the order. The king is just here for the parade."
"But you are the king," objected Llyr, stunned by the remark.
"I know, but I'm not blind. We are all parade, excepted the knight."
"Hope wouldn't be really happy to hear you," said Raven not sounding vexed at all.
"Isn't Hope the knight of the Hope order?" asked Llyr, surprised.
"Oh, no! Hope is the Squire. It's not his real name, but he deserves this nickname much more than his Knight. In fact, the only problem with Hope is that he adores Sorrow so much that it's somehow quite disturbing. His Knight is entirely disturbed by this declared adoration and a bit destabilised. I think he embodies hope much better than his Knight, but he doubts himself. I'm sure you'll like him. Everybody likes him."
"Even you?" asked Llyr without thinking.
Firewand answered in place of Raven, laughing:
"Raven can only like people adoring Sorrow!"
It seemed to Llyr that the Queen of Sorrow was blushing slightly.