Knight Fall (The Champion Chronicles Book 1) (39 page)

“Leaving the city for good?” Laura asked.  “I know I’m not supposed to talk to you guys, but I’ve never done this before.  Dane’s pa always did it.  He had told us about it, and swore us to secrecy.  But it’s hard not to ask, you know?  The bells been ringing and the trumpets blaring.  You have anything to do with that?”

Conner just smiled and shook his head.

Laura shrugged her shoulders and pushed open the door to their shop.  It was cold and dark inside.  The furnace had not been going for some time, but the smell of coal and fire still hung in the air.  She lit a couple lamps to give them enough light to see by.  She made her way to the back of the shop and began looking through stacks of finished knives.  “What kind of knife do you need?”

“Hunting,” Conner said.  “Skinning, cutting, that sort of thing.”

Laura found one and grabbed a matching sheath hanging from a nearby peg.  She handed both to Conner.  “Thank you.”

“Need a bow?”

“Of course,” Conner said with a smile.

Laura disappeared into another room before coming back with an unstrung bow in hand.  It was taller than the bows that he had used and it was a bit heavier, too.  Conner took it and studied the bow from tip to tip, holding it by its grip.  Since it was unstrung, he quickly strung it.  He pulled the string back to his ear, testing the tension.

“It’s very stiff,” Conner said.  “I could shoot an arrow very, very far with this one.”

“It was Dane’s,” Laura said.  “He made it himself.  For hunting.  No please, keep it.”

Conner had tried to give it back.  He could not take another man’s hunting bow.

“He cannot…” her voice cracked.  “He will want you to take it.”

“Thank you.  The knife, the bow.  They are more than what I could expect.”

“You said you were there,” Laura said.  “North.  With the Thellians.”

Conner nodded.  “Yes, I was there.”

“He isn’t the same, since he came back.  When they left, he was marching behind the king.  It was all pomp and circumstance!  They were marching together.  He and the king were only a few feet apart.  Knights in their armor were right next to him.  They were waving, and everyone was waving back.  I was never so proud of him.  He worked hard, really hard.  Sometimes all night long to get his work done.  He was such a good man.”  Her voice trailed off.  “They started coming back in small groups.  Some on foot.  Some on wagons.  The king came first.  On the wagon.  So stiff and cold he looked.  They rode right by us, since we are on the road leading to the main gate.  I sat in the window of the barn and looked down and could see the king.  I knew he was dead before everyone else.”  She buried her face in her hands until she could stop sobbing.

“And Dane had not come home, yet,” she continued after composing herself.  “I knew he was dead.  I just knew it.  But more kept coming down the road.  Ones and twos and sometimes ten or fifteen in a group.  I held out hope that he would come.  Every moment of every day I watched from the barn.  Until I saw him.  He was alive.  He was hurt, but he was alive.”  She took in a deep breath and continued.  “But like I said.  He’s not the same.  He can hardly work.  He can do some things, and he’s trying to do more.  But not like he was before.”

“It changed us all,” Conner said.  “In many ways.”

“You kill a man before that?” she asked.

Conner nodded.  “I did.  But I had to.  It was like war.  I didn’t like it.  But if I didn’t, someone would have died.  Might have been me.  That’s like war.  Someone always dies.  It’s either me or them.”

“You’re too young to talk like that.  It changed you, too, huh?”

Conner looked at the bow to distract himself from his own thoughts.  He had grown up.  He was no longer the innocent boy in the woods who lived off the land.  He had killed.  He had murdered.  He could not shake the face of Neffenmark from his vision.  Or the first one.  He even remembered his name.  They had called him Jon.  And he had held Brace Hawkden in his arms when he died.  Their eyes had all lost their life as he watched.  He had seen it leave them.  He had seen the instant they had died.  And he knew a little of himself had died each time as well.

Then he thought of Elissa, Queen Elissa.  He unstrung the bow and gripped it tightly.  “Maybe we all needed to grow up a little bit.  There are things in the world that I could never have imagined before I marched off to war.  I could have lived my life as a simple woodsman, never leaving the forest.  I could have lived my life pretending the rest of the world didn’t exist.  But it does.  I have seen death.  I have seen treachery.  I have seen the ships of the Taran Empire.  They are not here to trade with us.  They are here to conquer us.  We all have our jobs to do.  Sometimes it’s to live, and sometimes it’s to die.  We have to live our lives with what was given to us.  We can’t dream about what’s not there.  If we do, then we become victims of history.”

He turned and walked quickly out of the shop.

Laura did not follow.  She could not follow.  She felt sorry for Conner and cried for him.  And she hoped that he was wrong.  She touched her stomach where the baby was growing.  She could not imagine such a life as Conner described.  What a sad and pitiful life would be if that was all that there was.

Chapter Thirty-One

Conner kept the fire low to keep spying eyes from seeing him.  He had dug a deep pit so that the flames could not be seen from a distance, but the light of the fire still lit up the trees and bushes around him.  He had a rabbit spitted across the fire.  It’s skinny body sizzling in the heat of the fire.  Darkness had fallen some time ago and he had waited to stoke up the fire until darkness hit.  He debated whether to light the fire in daylight or nighttime.  The fire at night was easier to see, but also easier to hide.  It was tough to hide smoke during the daytime as it rose above the tree tops, which made it easy to see from a distance.  Regardless, if someone got close enough, they would smell the smoke of the fire or the scent of the cooked rabbit.

He pulled off a chunk of steaming hot rabbit meat, checking to see if it was fully cooked.  It was still slightly pink, so he rotated the rabbit on the spit.  It would not be long.  His stomach grumbled its hunger, especially since the smell of rabbit meat filled the forest.

At the sound of a stick snapping, Conner leaped up, holding his knife in front of him.  His eyes had been on the fire, so his vision was very much impaired.  He grumbled at his own stupidity.  This was another reason to have the fire during the day.  It would not destroy his night vision.

The shadowing figure of a man appeared from darkness of the trees.

“I hope I did not startle you.”

Conner relaxed and lowered his knife.  “Sir Marik!  No, of course not.”

Marik walked up to the fire and lowered his hands to the flame to warm them.  “Fall will soon be upon us.  The days grow shorter and the nights grow colder.”

“It has been a long summer,” Conner said, sitting back down on the ground.

“That it has,” Marik said.  “Is the rabbit almost done?  I am famished.”

“Almost,” Conner replied.  Then he asked, “How did you find me?”

Marik gave Conner a sly look.  “Really?  I am a master ranger.  The best in the land.  You did a fine job, though, hiding your tracks.  It took all my best effort to follow you.”

“Have you come to arrest me?” Conner asked.

Marik took a long stick and prodded the fire.  “There is no reason to.”

“I can think of one pretty good reason,” Conner said.

“Things have changed a bit since you left.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“Some good.  Some bad.  Queen Elissa will be sitting upon the throne and will rule the kingdom.  All the lords have sworn fealty to her, so at least for now, she is safe.”

“That’s great news!” Conner said.

“Yes.  Now comes the bad news.  Neffenmark had a treaty with the Tarans.  The Queen will not support the treaty and has kicked the Tarans out of the city.  The ships left for Taran this morning.  I do not know how that will go over with the emperor.  He may choose to ignore us, or if he happens to be in a bad mood, he may decide to invade us.”

“Let him come!” Conner said.  “The knights will repel them!”

Marik shook his head.  “There are no more knights.”

“What?”

“In a rash moment, the queen’s first order of business was to stop the feuding between the Royal Guard and the knights.  So she essentially disbanded both of them.  At first we all thought it was just something she said in the heat of the moment, but she has followed through.  The knights are no more.  The Royal Guard are no more.”

“How can that be?”

“Oddly,” Marik said with a raised eyebrow.  “It may just work out.  She has not stopped the squire’s training.  In fact, she has expanded it.  She removed the restriction of noble blood.  Anyone can join, now.  I think if this were to have happened a year ago, there would have been a revolution.  The knights would have revolted and it would have been messy.  But everyone saw you.  They saw that someone without noble blood could still fight like a knight and have the honor and courage of a knight.  Maybe the separation of the noble and the common people was not such a good thing.  Maybe mixing us together can actually make us a better kingdom.  The battle with Thell hurt us bad. Emotionally, physically.  In all ways possible.  Maybe this is a way for us to start up anew.”

“A queen on the throne and no more Karmon Knights,” Conner said thoughtfully.

“It’s a strange new world.  That is for sure.”  Marik took a chunk of meat with his knife and blew on it until it was cool enough to eat.  “Good rabbit.  Juicy and tender.”

“If you didn’t come to take me back,” Conner asked.  “Then why are you here?”

Marik smiled.  “You asked me if I came to arrest you.  I did not say I didn’t want to take you back.”

Conner shook his head.  “I cannot go back.”

“You are needed.  We need good soldiers right now.  Once word gets out that the Karmon Knights have been disbanded, it will be a sign of weakness.  I could see Thell trying to take advantage of this and send their army south.  Even Taran could march upon us.  And with the way we kicked them out, I would not be surprised if they did!”

Marik took another chuck of rabbit meat and added.  “And I think she will need you, too.”

“Elissa?” Conner asked.  Then he shook his head.  “No.  It’s time for me to move on.  She is queen, now.  I would just get in her way.”

“Not at all,” Marik said with a strong shake of his head.  “We can use someone like you.  She can use someone like you.”

Conner shook his head.  “No, I am going to Taran to find Master Goshin.  He left so abruptly.”  He looked up in the sky where the star lit up the sky.  “He was so strange and mysterious about the star.  He believed it meant something.  I need to find him.”

“Do not run from us, from Queen Elissa.  Master Goshin can figure out this star thing on his own.”

“I am not running from anything.  I never fit in the castle.  I was always the odd one.  Between the fancy courtiers and silk shirts and dancing.  It’s not me.  I was born and raised in the woods.  That is who I am.”

“You should come back, just to say good bye.”

“No.  I need to just go.  I don’t want to make this any harder than it needs to be.”

“It doesn’t need to be hard at all!  Just come back.  She will not like it that you left without saying good bye.”

“She is the queen.  She is ruler of the kingdom.  I am sure she has more to worry about than just me.”

Resigned to defeat, Marik let out a long sigh.  “Okay.  But do you have enough supplies?  A bow?  How about a horse.”

Conner shook his head at the mention of a horse.

“It’s a long ways to Taran on foot,” Marik observed.

“I’ll be okay.”

Marik stood up and walked back out into the darkness.  A few moments later, he came back, leading a white horse.

“Lilly?” Conner asked.  “Won’t Elissa miss her?”

Marik shook his head with a smile.  “No.  Not all.  In fact it was her idea.”

“She knew I wasn’t coming back,” Conner said.

“She wanted you to,” Marik replied.  “But yes, she knew you wouldn’t come back.”

Marik handed the reins of Lilly to Conner.  “Take care, Conner.”

“Leaving already?  I have more than enough rabbit for the both of us.”

Marik pointed to the northeast.  “I’m on my way to Thell.  To finish the job that King Thorndale started.  Not the war, but the peace treaty.  Our kingdoms have no reason to be at war.  So hopefully I can convince them that.”

“A lot of blood was spilled,” Conner said.

“On both sides,” Marik replied.  “With Neffenmark gone, hopefully we can start the peace process fresh without outside influence.”

“Speaking of Neffenmark, how much did Sir Brace tell you about what was going on?”

“Not many details.  Pretty much what you know is what he told me.  Neffenmark was the catalyst to it all. And the Tarans were involved, but I have no idea to what extent.  It is not coincidence that Neffenmark had a treaty established before he took the throne.  That was his endgame.  I just don’t know what the Taran’s endgame is.”

“Invasion?”

Marik shrugged his shoulders. “There is no reason for them to.  We are no threat to them militarily or otherwise.  We do regular trade with them and they with us.”

“I’ll keep my eyes open in Taran.”

“And watch your back, too.”

Marik stepped forward and gave Conner a big hug.  “Take care, Conner.  And safe journeys.”

Conner watched Marik disappear into the trees.  He felt a big hole open up in his heart.  He would miss Marik.  And Elissa.  But he knew leaving was the right thing to do.  He just wish he knew why.

***

Prince Tarcious stood at an open window in the tallest spire of the emperor’s palace.  The late summer breeze was blowing in his face, bringing the slight scent of salt from the Gulf of Taran.  The entire city was below him, spread out for miles.  But his focus was not on the city, it was on the naval vessels that were moored just off the coast.  He took deep breaths to control the anger that was burning deep inside of him.  He could feel the edges of the power as it sat deep in his gut.  It wanted to come out, to explode out, but he knew it couldn’t.  He knew he couldn’t let it.  It was all a part of the discipline.  To have the power, one had to control it.  In order to control it, one had to have the power of discipline.  It was a vicious cycle that he was just beginning to master.

He closed his eyes and searched out behind him for the presence of his visitors.  This was practice for when he really needed it.  Once he honed the skill, all of the skills, there would be nothing that could stop him.  But that would take time.  And patience.

After the second deep breath, he could feel them.   He could feel their heartbeats and their breathing.  He could sense their minds, even though he couldn’t peek into them.  Someday, maybe he could.  But that would take more time and more patience.  There were two of them.  One had a heartbeat and breathing that was normal.  The other was huffing as if he had been running all day.  And his heart was pounding.  Once the prince focused on the heart, the pounding became so loud that he could not hear anything else.

“Admiral Hester,” Prince Tarcious said.  The stale, musky scent of sweat reached the prince’s nose.  “You are afraid.”

“I come as ordered,” the Admiral said.  He was a career naval officer, having risen up through the ranks of deck hand to ship’s captain.  Now he was in charge of a large portion of the fleet.  He had pushed and shoved and stepped on others in order to get to his position.  He was afraid, but he was doing his best to not show it.

“Explain why you are here,” Prince Tarcious demanded.

“The Karmon’s broke their treaty,” the Admiral said as steadily as he could.  “They forced us to leave.”

Prince Tarcious spun around and screamed, “Forced!  No kingdom forces you to do anything!”

“We had not yet established the garrison, your highness.  Most of my men were still on the ships, awaiting orders.  They were not allowed to disembark.”  The admiral waited for a response from the prince.  When he got none, he added, “They had us outnumbered. We had no choice.  If it came to fighting, they would have slaughtered us.”

The prince let out a low growl.  “Neffenmark.  He will not enjoy what I have in store for him.”

“It wasn’t him,” Admiral Hester said.  “It was Queen Elissa Thorndale.  It was by her orders that we were sent home.”

“The queen?  You are listening to the queen?”

“She is in charge.  She has the throne.  Neffenmark is dead.”

The prince was about to explode in anger, but those last words of the admiral froze him.  That was not expected.  “What happened?” he asked as calmly as he could.

“Murdered,” the admiral replied.  “In his chambers.  By a boy.”

“A boy?  Did the fat oaf not have guards?”

“It seems that he was one of his guards,” the Admiral said.  “It seems that Neffenmark has a penchant for beating up women and this particular guard did not like it.  It is actually oddly coincidental.”

“Oh?” the prince asked with a raised eyebrow.  “I believe in many things.  Coincidence is not one of them.  Tell more about this boy.”

“I know little about him, only what I could gather from talking to the castle’s servants.  His name is Conner and he trained with the Knights for some time, even though he could never be knighted as he is not a noble.  But the servants talked quite a lot about a time when he bested their best squires in a tournament.  No one knows where he came from.  Some small village I supposed.  He just appeared the day the princess returned from being kidnapped.  It seems he had a hand in her rescue.  After that, he was given the title of being her Champion.  It is some honor that Karmons can bestow upon one of their own.”

The prince lifted a hand and the Admiral stopped speaking.  “Yes, yes.  I am familiar with their silly honors.  So this boy saves his princess not once, but twice.  Both times interfering with well laid out plans.  I do not find that coincidental.  I find it maddening.”

A confused look crossed the Admiral’s face.  “They say that the kidnappers were Thellian.  It is what caused the king to march his army north.”