Chael's Luck (A Knights of Dorathan Novel) (22 page)

I gave him a slap on the back. “Ah, come now.
Don’t you remember when we ran into that small patrol of trolls
when we were fifteen?”

“I do. I also remember being hauled home on a
stretcher.”

“Well, that’s what you get for trying to help
me.”

He grinned. “You won’t have to worry about it
this time. You’re on your own.”

Our horses were brought out to us and I was
surprised to see that Klora was following behind Nate quite
calmly.

“I think we’ve struck some sort of a bargain.
I talk nicely to him and he doesn’t try to kill me.”

I laughed. “I’m glad. Nate, I’m putting you
in charge of the king.”

“Sir? Um... ma’am?”

I gave him and the rest of the stable lads a
quick run through of what was happening. “If the spell is said, the
Knights will die. It will up to you and the rest of the lads here
to protect the king.”

He nodded. “Yes, sir.”

I swung onto Klora. “Oh, and keep an eye on
Whisk for me, alright? The poor boy’s done enough keeping up with
the horses for the next little while.”

“Yes, sir. You can count on me sir.”

I smiled. “I know I can.”

The General met us at the gates. “Good luck,
Chaela!” He saluted and the rest of us returned the honor.

“To the end!”

I pulled Klora around and we galloped off
into the dark. I looked up into the sky. We had two days until the
new moon. I concentrated on my chain, and steered Klora in a large
arc until I felt it start to warm.

“This way!”

A few of the Knights hollered their
acknowledgment. Here was hoping we were going to get there soon
enough.

*****

Ian gave a long look at his father’s back.
What in the world had he been thinking? Why hadn’t he just gone
with Chaela? Now that she was gone, it left him on his own against
the six goblins and his father.

“Chael’s luck,” He grumbled to himself.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. I’m just a bit upset that I
couldn’t convince Chaela to come along, that’s all.”

His father grunted. “Flush her from your
mind, son. Women do nothing but get in the way.”

Ian frowned. “I didn’t know you thought this
way.”

He was answered by another grunt. “I’m not
talking about your mother. She was an angel. She always did as she
was told and bore me three sons. That is what a woman is supposed
to do. Obey.”

Ian couldn’t help the grin as he thought of
trying to tell Chaela what to do. She’d probably break his nose.
The thought of her brought on the empty feeling he’d realized he
always felt when she was gone. Had she made back to Gleama? She’d
been quite hurt when he’d left her. What if she was more hurt than
she’d let on?

“Are you listening to me?”

Ian pushed all thoughts of Chaela from his
mind. “What was that, father?”

“I said, I’m glad you came to your senses. I
would have hated to have to kill you.”

Ian frowned. “If you were going to kill me if
I didn’t come, then why did you let Chaela go?”

Gavin shrugged. “You seem fond of her and
there’s not much she can do to stop us now. As for you, well, I was
going to do it to teach you a lesson.”

“I imagine it’s hard to learn something when
you’re dead.”

His father looked back at him and grinned.
“Yes, I imagine it is.”

Ian shook his head. “You’re confusing
me.”

“Am I?”

Good gods, what had gotten into his father?
Five years ago, the man had been brilliant. Now, to talk to the
man, he’d obviously lost his mind. Absolutely nothing he said made
sense.

“I was wondering, father… what happened to
make you decide this was the best course of action?”

Gavin shrugged and took a minute to think
about it. “Do you know, I think it was when you left? For my son
not to want to be a part of the Knighthood there was obviously
something wrong with it. You should have been top Shadow, Ian, and
instead, you walked away.”

“There are some things that are not right no
matter who you are.”

“I tend to agree.” Gavin nodded his approval.
“For this reason, we will make things how they should be.”

Ian sighed. Talking sense into the man was
obviously out of the question. “How did you come about recruiting
Caleb?”

His father snorted. “I picked out the weakest
of that crew. He was a good soldier. Willing to do anything his
superior told him. His hatred of Chael was an added bonus. It
wasn’t hard to convince him that the rest of the lads were against
him and with the runt.”

“So Caleb was guilty of nothing else than of
believing your lies.”

Gavin nodded. “Like I said. Weak. A strong
Knight would have stood up for his fellow Knights-in-training;
would have stood up for himself.”

“You got him killed.”

The elder Murphy shrugged. “It was
necessary.” He turned to look at his son. “Of course, he’d still be
alive if he’d left his hatred of your woman alone.”

Ian grunted, his anger flaring as he
remembered the sight of Caleb groping Chaela as he’d ridden up on
Klora. “It didn’t look to me like he hateful towards her when I got
there.”

Gavin grinned. “Yes, well, I think it was
your woman that convinced him this was a better way to go.”

“What?”

“Oh, you didn’t see that part, then. The part
when she told him she was his; that she wouldn’t fight him?”

“You’re lying. Chaela would never put herself
in that situation.”

“And I’m telling you I saw it with my own
eyes.”

Ian took a deep breath. There was no way
she’d do that. No way at all. Chaela had honor. Of course, she
might do it to save those she loved, he told himself. Of course.
Right? He thought back to the tender look in her eyes as he’d taken
her the first time. The way she’d trusted him with her body. She
loved him, damn it. He inhaled deeply. Of course she loved him.

“What are you thinking of, boy?” Gavin looked
back to him.

“Not much. We’ve two nights until the new
moon. Where are we going?”

“The Hallonadain Cliffs.”

“There’s nothing there.”

His father grinned. “Precisely. That means no
one around to bother us, no one to alert anyone else as to our
whereabouts.”

“It’s perfect,” agreed Ian. “Do you have all
the ingredients for the spell?”

Gavin’s grin widened. “I do. Ian, my son, two
nights from now, legend will be made.”

Ian patted Klard on the neck. “Don’t worry,
boy. They’ll be there on time.” He looked up to make sure no one
else had heard.

Here’s hoping you’re right, he thought to
himself.

*****

I gave Klora his head as the warming around
my arm turned more intense. “I think we’re catching up!”

Mac nodded to acknowledge that he’d heard.
“We should make camp at the tree line!”

I nodded, though I wasn’t happy with stopping
for the night. The horses, however, were lathered and in need of a
drink and their riders were in need of food and sleep. Mac seemed
to read my thoughts.

“They’ll have to stop too, Chaela!”

“I know! I just don’t like it.”

Harry pulled up beside me. “I’m
starving!”

I smiled. “I know. I’m stopping this whole
thing just so you can eat!”

He grinned. “Thank the gods!”

Some of the older Knights smiled and shook
their heads at our antics. We slowed the horses as the trees got
closer. By the time we were at the tree line, we were walking and
the horses were breathing a bit easier. I gave Klora a pat on the
neck.

The horses tethered where they could eat and
the fires going, I pulled my blankets out of my pack.

I traced my fingers over the chain around my
arm.

“Is it still warm?” Harry came to sit beside
me.

I nodded.

“Well, that’s a good sign at least.”

Hal brought me a cup of coffee. “What’s the
plan for tomorrow?”

I shrugged. “I guess we just get on the
horses and ride.”

Caleb’s father came to sit with us. “I just
wanted to say, I’m proud of the bunch of you.”

“Sir?”

“We started telling you at an early age that
to be a Knight you need courage, honor, and loyalty. Your group
here, you’re what it means to be Knights.”

A few of the older Knights nodded.

“You’ve stuck together, defended each other,
and are willing to brave what the rest of us will think to make
sure one of your own won’t be thrown out.”

Mac shrugged. “Sir, it really wasn’t that big
of a surprise when Chaela appeared and told us the truth.”

“I find that hard to believe,” laughed one of
the others.

“No, really. We always knew there was
something off about Chael, yeah? Caleb took that point to the
extreme,” he nodded an apology to the man’s father, “When she
showed up in the middle of the night wearing a dress and asking for
help, it was more like the final piece of the puzzle falling into
place. The fact of the matter is, sirs, whether she’s Chael or
Chaela, she’s still the same person. She’s still saved our behinds
more than once, she’s still beat us in challenges, and she’s still
the first one to step up when one of us needs help.” He shrugged.
“Now, she just looks like she’s supposed to.” He grinned. “That and
we’re scared of her.”

I frowned. “Scared of me?”

“Well, if we say we don’t want you around,
you’ll give us all a good shot and damn it, Chaela, you hit
hard!”

Everyone started to laugh.

“I think Cole would agree with that today,”
someone laughed from by the fire.

I grinned. “What can I say? I had good
sparring partners.”

We all passed around the bread and cheese and
a flask of water. “Alright, everyone. Let’s try to get some rest.
Four men on watch at all time, three hour watches.” I climbed up
into a tree and watched as Harry, Hal, and Mac followed suit. I
watched as the others settled into their blankets.

“Here’s hoping for a quiet night,” I mumble
to myself. I looked up at the stars and pressed the chain to my
lips. “Ian, hang on. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

A wolf howled, a horse snorted, and a night
bird took to the sky. Here was hoping we’d get there soon
enough.

*****

We left our site before day broke over the
horizon. I followed the heat the chain emitted.

“I wish this thing would just show me the
way. I don’t realize we’ve veered off course until the warming
lessens and by then we’ve lost time that we have to make up by
finding the right direction once again. If we don’t reach them by
tonight, we’ll be too late!”

Mac smiled. “It’s better than having no idea
where were going.”

“I know, I know… I just have a very bad
feeling about this.”

“What, the fact that we might all die?”

“Of course, but it’s something Blarenagin
said to us; something about the ingredients Gavin would need to
activate the spell.”

“Well, let’s go over it again. What did he
say Gavin would need?”

Everyone within earshot was listening. I
thought back to my time in the great forest.

“Alright. He said the caster of the spell
would need to say a charm… that whoever was blessed by this
particular charm wouldn’t need to worry about the second spell’s
effects. He said that for the second spell, the caster would need a
goblin’s tear, a bat’s foot, a pinch of horse hair, the trunk of an
elf tree, the new moon and the sun’s blood.”

John frowned. “The first three are simple
enough to get your hands on… but if he needs an elf tree, he’s
heading in the wrong direction.”

“What’s this about an elf tree?” Sir Francis,
one of the oldest Knights in our group rode up beside me.

“Gavin needs an elf tree to set the spell in
motion.”

Francis swore. “Then we’d better speed it up
a bit.”

“What? Why?”

He looked around to all of us. “You’ve never
heard of the lone elf tree of Dorathan?”

“That’s just a legend,” commented Hal.

Francis shook his head. “Just because you
haven’t seen it, doesn’t mean it’s not real.”

I nodded. “You know exactly where it is?”

He smiled and spurred his horse forward.

“I guess that’s what we get for being young
and laughing at all the old men’s legends,” remarked Harry.

The older Knights close enough to hear
grinned.

“Alright, then, if you think you’re so smart,
what did the old elf mean by the sun’s blood?” Hal challenged
them.

Everyone looked at each other and it seemed
like we all had the same answer. No one had a clue.

“Is there an eclipse happening the night of
the new moon? Maybe it’s the red color he was talking about.” John
shrugged.

We shook our heads.

“I need everyone to think of anything and
everything they’ve ever heard of that might include the sun. We
need to figure this out.”

We rode in silence for what seemed like
hours. We alternated between walking and running the horses.

Sir Francis’ horse fell into step with
Klora.

“We’re about a half away.”

I nodded.

Harry moved up to my other side. “Umm…
Chaela?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I was just thinking…”

I frowned at the look on his face. He was so
pale his freckles stood out like blood spots on his skin.

“It’s just, well, what if he, Blarenagin,
didn’t mean the sun’s blood?”

“What do you mean?”

“We assumed it was the sun’s blood because
he’d mentioned the moon. It’s been bothering me how Gavin simply
let you go when Ian agreed to go with him.”

“Harry, spit it out!”

“What if it wasn’t sun spelled s u n. What if
it was son spelled s o n.”

My stomach sank and the blood drained from my
face so that I matched Harry.

“Now! We have to get there now!”

We all kicked our horses and shot forward. I
looked at the sinking sun, trying to will my heart to slow.