Knights of the Wizard (of Knights and Wizards Book 2) (12 page)

THE FUNERAL FOR THE SLAIN KNIGHTS was under a rainy sky on rolling green hills near the monastery, with just about the entire kingdom there to show their respect, including Abbey as a donkey. The ivory inlaid caskets were slowly marched under many swords that held together over their heads as the coffins passed, somber respect for the valorous men, of what had happened and what could have been, of all those lives taken much too soon. Several red dragons watched the affair from the air, impressed by the send-off.

Later that afternoon King Darius examined the severed head, their strange appearance and almond eyes not at all familiar. Stone was puzzled by the new infidels, informing his king that unfortunately there had been no sign of Berhtram. Darius was now certain that the bird was dead and there was nothing to be done about it but he was going to miss him, besides it was not time to think about a bird having lost so many of his men. But Berhtram had been a distraction from the harshness of life, even if it had only been in small pockets of time.

Stone ran down the hall chasing the donkey; he could get her to change back, at least for a little while by telling her that he missed his baby girl. And now just before she settled down to sleep at night she automatically transformed into human form and perhaps that was the beginning of the spell wearing off. He wasn’t sure what the appeal was of being a donkey but she obviously loved it, and Stone couldn’t help but laugh when the baby had changed into the donkey while in her mother’s arms, falling over with her.

King Darius sent knights to other kingdoms to warn them of the new aggressors and for them to take precautions accordingly, having no intention of letting Leeander fall to anyone, aiming to have Stone and Alexa on the throne one day. He had hoped that his first grandchild would have been a boy but it was of no consequence as he imagined there would be others and now wouldn’t trade her for anything.

It was nice having Marcus back for a few days although many weren’t happy to see him, some being shocked at the sight of him. There wasn’t a single person around now that didn’t know how dangerous he was and most everyone kept a good distance. Darius especially liked hearing about how Berhtram had brought him branches, trying to tell the boy he was a wizard of the wand, but who even knew there was such a thing. The king had commissioned a new painting of Berhtram on the king’s shoulder that would hang in his chamber.

Marcus and Darius were together in the throne room with Abbey who was eating carrots from the boy, just another reminder of his failure as a wizard so far. “Father, why are those warriors willing to kill and die for no reason?”

The king finished his wine. “They want what we have, including our very lives. A desire to kill and become triumphant is very strong in some peoples. I have often wondered what drives ruthless men, the terrible things they accomplish and are proud of. The act of taking things that don’t belong to you and being so proud of it is puzzling. If everyone would just treat one another like they want to be treated. You know Marcus, Adorok told me long ago that you would not become a knight, that you would become a wizard. I didn’t believe him but here we are.”

“How did he know?”

Darius stared at the golden knight standing next to Marcus. “Well he told me that he gets small glimpses of the future, guess I should say got small glances of the future, and he saw you casting some sort of spell.”

Marcus watched as Brother went over to the king. “I miss Adorok. It’s not the same seeing him as a ghost once in a blue moon.”

“As do I.”

The knight bent over and whispered something into king Darius’s ear and then returned to his position beside the boy. “Father, what did Brother say?”

He looked at his son and smiled. “That’s between him and me.”

“But I made him!”

“Nonetheless.”

There was a screech from outside, Ryxa was calling Marcus. It was time to jump on her back and see if they could locate the soldiers that had killed the king’s knights and would have taken or killed Marcus as well. Darius had so hoped that the rest of his life would have been without having to go to war yet again but obviously that wasn’t going to be the case. He had already given the order to forge more weapons.

“We’ll see if I can find them.” The boy commenced to run out when his father called after him.

“Marcus, do not approach these people, just because you are on the back of a dragon doesn’t mean that you are safe. Dragons are not indestructible as some believe and they may have a wizard, one that
can
cast a proper spell. You’re not a young child anymore, best to put your childish thoughts behind you lest you not make it into manhood. Do not underestimate them and make sure the dragon understands that as well.”

“Yes father.”

Darius sent more than a hundred knights and several carpenters to Marcus’s castle, with orders to build a watch tower to enable them to keep a better lookout for what was apparently the new enemy, perhaps some sort of terms could have been reached with these new invaders. But killing a king’s knights was a declaration of war and Darius would now have them killed them on sight. What kind of idiots attacked at will without knowing one’s enemy? Of course with a wizard in their midst maybe they did know, seemingly not as rare as they used to be, even though most kingdoms didn’t have their very own wizard but everyone wanted one.

King Darius watched as Ryxa bowed to him as a sign of respect, watched as Marcus climbed up on her back and took to the air, mighty wings pumping as they climbed higher and higher and the king thought that it must be a frightening sight from way up there. Seeing his son on the back of a dragon was a sight that he would never get used to and he wouldn’t mind going for a flight on her back if he wasn’t scared of heights. He was worried that he would never see Marcus ever again. War took many lives including wizards.

KING CHROMOS FLEW OVER watching the goings on, deliriously happy to see that Berhtram was going to get his fool head cut off, this would certainly be entertaining to watch. How dare he mess with a king, even if he was now a crow. How many times had he been pursued by that stupid raven? Chromos’s only hope was that one day the spell would wear off before he died because the life of a bird was an unpleasant situation for a human, one just couldn’t get accustomed to it, even after all the time that had passed the act of flying remained somewhat awkward. The crow touched down on the top of a nearby yew tree, its twisted and entwined branches the perfect spot to watch the execution, cawing twice and nodding to show his appreciation. He hoped his head wouldn’t come off too easily.

Ackley was less than a second from cutting Berhtram’s head off when the raven jumped because the sound of Chromos’s caw was so infuriating; he managed to walk several feet before halting. He looked up at the tree and sure enough there was that irritating crow. “Mother if he can move like that he’s not ready for the boneyard yet.”

Millicent had also observed the burst of life the raven had shown. “Try him with the bread again. He has to eat.”

Just kill the bastard
Chromos cawed.
Kill, kill, kill.
Caw, caw, caw. He definitely didn’t like the look of what was going on down there. He should have no head by now and instead he was still breathing. He hopped down the branch continuing to caw encouragement for the kill.

Ackley placed the bread in front of Berhtram and the bird stared at it, the crow had stirred something within, the instinct of revenge. Having been animated by a wizard he was no ordinary raven, Berhtram didn’t have all the normal instincts of a simple raven, his comprehension of the king’s language was quite good. The boy watched as the raven took one bite, and then another. “He’s eating!” He dipped his hand into the water bucket and offered him a drink; the bird drank several times, and each time glanced up at the crow, as if to say
I’m not dead yet you bastard.

Chromos attacked the boy, not once but twice. Ackley ran for his sling and grabbed a rock as the crow flew away he launched it, a bird in flight was an impossible shot yet he managed it, sideswiping Chromos and knocking one of his black feathers out, which slowly spiraled down to the ground. The impact had made him squawk but unfortunately the crow continued on unscathed.

IT WAS A HUMID SUNDAY MORNING as the king walked with Stone in the courtyard, stopping at an apple tree to talk. Nearby three precocious boys chased one another with sticks, one cried out as he received a crack on the head from the other; the good knight had just vanquished the evil one. Several women were tending to a large garden of cucumbers, lettuce and corn; Darius was known to eat a whole cucumber for lunch whenever they were available.

“Stone, how goes the training? Do we have some exceptional knights in the offing?”

Stone paused and then nodded as he considered his response. “A few are promising your majesty but most are hopeless. Many have the desire to be a knight but not nearly as many have the skill. Desire alone can get one many things but not a knighthood.”

The king nodded. “That’s too bad because you can never have enough knights.”

“What if we had as many knights as there are stars in the sky?” Stone smiled.

“I suppose if we had that many we wouldn’t be able to feed them all but you know what I mean.” The king placed his hand on Stone’s shoulder. “Is Alexa again with child?”

The knight’s eyebrows tightened. “No I don’t believe so your majesty.”

Darius crossed his arms as his eyes met Stone’s. “Why not?”

The question had taken Stone aback. “I beg your pardon?”

Darius sighed. “Stone, I’d like to see her slow down a bit and another child might do it. Every time I send knights out on my behalf she wants to go with them and I don’t want Abbey to be a motherless child.”

Stone smiled. “So you want us to fill the castle with kids?”

The king laughed. “Perhaps not all the way up to the top but a few more wouldn’t hurt.” Darius suddenly looked skyward, as if he was inexplicably drawn to something up there. He gazed at a speck that started to grow larger, whatever it was it was quite high, barely within viewing distance.

Stone also looked up but couldn’t see anything. “What do you see?”

“I’m not sure but there’s something up there. A dragon or a bird.” The king had the most awful feeling and a sense that he had lived this before, and soon he could see that it was a dragon, a few seconds after that he could tell it was in fact a grey dragon. “Oh my good lord! It’s a dragon! A grey!”

Charox swooped down and was so large that he blocked the sun; his huge wings cutting through the air producing its own wind, creating a large dust devil in the courtyard. The monster circled as it took in the sights of the kingdom, appreciating all the frightened faces. The beast headed directly for a collision with the castle, the king was sure that it was going to destroy part of it but luckily for all concerned their shield was working and the dragon smashed into it hard and then slid down. Charox reappeared furious as he hovered, launching a huge ball of fire and was disappointed when it didn’t penetrate the shield, instead deflecting harmlessly. He flew up to the top of the shield and stared at it, then set down upon it, watching the humans gather below. Charox continued to enjoy all the scared faces pointing up at him, but still they should be nothing but ashes by now. He tapped his claws onto the shield which sounded like he was tapping on glass, considering his next course of action. Prior to his nap he had never seen such powerful enchantments. The dragon lay down on the barrier and pretended to go to sleep, but what he was doing was going through spells that might be able to take care of that damn shield.

Stone stared up at the beast with his hand on the hilt of his sword. “Your majesty, should the shield disappear that monster will fall upon us.”

Darius couldn’t take his eyes off the dragon. “Indeed. Best you assemble the knights and bring the catapult. We could sure use Adorok right about now. I’d wager that thing would destroy the entire kingdom and everyone in it.”

Charox went through more than a hundred spells in his head but none of them appeared in green which would indicate that they would succeed against the shield. It seemed that he didn’t have a spell that would actually penetrate it. The dragon snorted and took to the air and headed east, now more than a little discouraged.

THE SUN WAS A THUMB WIDTH over the horizon if the thumb was held at arm’s length, puffy white clouds filled the sky and the morn was already warm, a black dragon was spotted in the far distance launching a burst of flame at something, or perhaps simply amusing itself. Dragon fire after sundown could be quite entertaining. A breeze blew out of the west with the slightest smell of smoke from a campfire.

General Dochacra was on his horse looking down at the kingdom of Bywood in the distance, its conical spire being visible over the forest, the castle was soon to be his headquarters of that he had no doubt, an area as good as any to branch out from he thought. He had a scar across where his left eye used to be but now an empty eye socket. This was the land of a 101 kingdoms and some of them were relatively small and distant from one another; Bywood only had about a thousand citizens, an army of a little less than half the population, but had been ten times its size before joining the war against the Yurrosy. It would take decades to fully recover.

The lanky King Emerson of Bywood had no idea that his kingdom would soon be under siege as he made his way up the spiral staircase where a guard was waiting to point out what he had observed, between the trees of the thick forest one could just partially make out the army that had gathered in the distance. Of course the king immediately realized that it wasn’t good news, usually wasn’t when one received word of unknown warriors in the area.

“Do you see them your majesty?” the guard asked.

“I do not see anything except trees.” It wasn’t that the king didn’t see them but he certainly wished he didn’t.

“Follow the large oak and then up to the left. Do you see them now your majesty?”

A bit of red caught his eye. “Yes alright I see them. One thing is for certain we are incapable of withstanding much of a siege.” The king thought about it, the nearest kingdom that might help was more than five days distant, and that would be riding as fast as the horses could manage, never mind that that kingdom was in no shape to come to their aid.

“What are your orders your majesty?”

The king was silent for a time as he thought. He envisioned his head on a pike. “I would suggest that we all run around and panic.”

“Your majesty?”

King Emerson had a faraway look in his eyes. He continued to have nightmares, hearing the screams and cries from the last war. “I want you and you alone to check out their numbers; don’t get too close or you won’t be coming back, and tell no one of what I have asked of you.”

Alphonse knew they probably had scouts out there as well and so did the king but he couldn’t refuse. If he died right now it would be over and done with, perhaps the best he could hope for was a quick death; he had always looked upon the darker side of things. Thus far life had not been kind.

When Alphonse returned that afternoon with the bad news, that they were far outnumbered by the new enemy, the king sent out two emissaries on white horses carrying white flags to see what the terms of surrender would be.

General Dochacra watched as the emissaries approached and he wasn’t at all impressed. Did they want to surrender without even a single battle? What kind of cowards were these?

Emissary Henry. “I bring a message directly from king Emerson. What are your terms for the surrender of Bywood?”

General Dochacra turned his head slightly to examine what he considered to be an inferior warrior. “There are no terms for surrender and we take no prisoners. Best you enjoy the next few days before we arrive to take your heads.”

They looked at one another and then trotted off back towards Bywood, with one fellow receiving three arrows in his back and falling dead off his horse, the other permitted to continue on his way.