The Dragon's Test (Book 3) (2 page)

“We’ll get there in time,” Erik said.

Braun nodded and reached a hand up to the ring. “I hope so,” he said softly as he tucked the jewel back under his tunic.

The afternoon sun
was just starting its descent as the three of them exited the dirt streets and found themselves only a few blocks away from the gate. The high, thick walls towered above the shops and houses in this district. As in the other part of the city they saw more people out in the streets, but these people were formed into various groups. Some of them were shouting about the murder of various senators, while others chanted their loyalty to King Mathias.

“Which side are you on?” someone shouted at Lester. Lester waved the man off hurriedly and tried not to answer. The man didn’t give up. He ran up to them and stopped directly in front of Lester, placing a hand on his chest. “Do you support the king?”
the man demanded.

“Move,” Lester growled. He reached up in one swift move and grabbed the man’s hand, turned it around and bent the wrist back. The man hunched over and hollered out in pain as Lester pushed him away.

“Hey!” the man protested as he stumbled to the ground.

“Today is not a good day to be out
late,” Lester commented dryly. The others who had been talking with the first man now stared at the three of them. “I am too busy feeding my family to cry over dead nobles,” Lester said to the others.

The first man scrambled to his feet and walked away, grumbling and rubbing his wrist.

“That was subtle,” Braun commented wryly.

Lester shook his head and kept walking.

A group of guards came around the corner of the street on horseback just then. One of them stood in his saddle and blew his trumpet three times. Then, the guard at the front of the group halted his horse and addressed the groups on the street.

“By order of his majesty, King Mathias, all citizens are to return to their homes immediately.”

The group of men shouted back at the guards, cursing them and throwing stones. “Go back to your castle!” someone said.

“The king sends us home when he should be arresting Lepkin for destroying the senate!” someone else bellowed.

The guard was unamused. “Go back to your homes now, or we will be forced to take action.”

Several more groups of people poured into the wide street from nearby houses and alleys, all shouting and yelling angrily.

“This does not bode well,” Braun said.

“Lester,” Erik started. “Thank you for everything you have done, but now would be a good time to leave.”

“No, I am with you until we get to the gate,” Lester said.

Erik reached out and turned the man around. “You need to go, now.” Erik looked into Lester’s eyes. “Your debt is paid. Go home.”

Lester nodded slowly and ducked into the nearest alley.

“What is it?” Braun asked

“None of these groups are friendly to the king,” Erik said.

“How can you tell?” Braun asked.

Erik surveyed the growing crowd. “It is one of my gifts that I have been developing at Valtuu Temple. Just trust me.”

“What is the plan?”

“There are only twenty guards, and well over a hundred people here,” Erik said.

“You can’t be thinking of stopping them ourselves,” Braun commented. “That would be suicide. Besides, the whole point to going with Lester was to
avoid
being discovered by the people who want to cash in on our heads.”

“
Return to your homes!” the guard commanded again.

A man jumped up onto a nearby wagon and pointed to the guards. “They would rather force us into a curfew than bring the murderer to justice! The king is no longer in charge of the throne, he is Lepkin’s puppet, afraid of the Keeper and his sword!”

“I can’t let them fight each other over me,” Erik said.

“It
isn’t
about
you
,” Braun said. You know this as much as I do.”

Erik scanned the crowd with his power, searching the men and looking into their hearts. “There are only a few that would fight me,” Erik said. “The rest, though they are angry with the king, will not fight me if I reveal myself.”

“And then what?” Braun asked. “We still have to make it to the gate.”

Erik nodded. “If I can disperse the crowd, perhaps the guards can dissuade the rest and escort us to the gate.”

“What if the guard would rather cash in on your head?” Braun pointed out. “These are men in the regular guard, not the king’s personal guard. Their loyalty may not be as pure as you would hope.”

Erik nodded and looked to the guards, quickly scanning them as well. “You are right,” Erik said. There are two who would take the chance to attack.”

“Let’s just slip into the alley and be gone.”

A large, middle-aged man emerged from the crowd holding a rolling pin in one hand and a fire poker in the other. “You go back to your homes!” he shouted at the guards. “You can’t protect us, so we will protect ourselves.”

The guards drew their swords and the captain leveled his blade at the man. “I will not ask again,” the captain promised.

“No,” Erik said. “I can’t let this happen without trying to stop it.” He
stepped forward and drew back the hood of his cloak and pulled his sword from the scabbard. He let his power surge through him and the blade reacted instantly with hot flames that roared into life. “I am here,” Erik shouted as loud as he could. “I am no murderer. The senate broke the law and would have put an innocent man to death in order to sate their own lust for power.” Erik pointed his flaming sword at the man with the rolling pin. “The king is in control of this kingdom, and you would do well to mind your tongue.”

The man
glanced nervously from the mounted guards to Erik. “Then he stabbed his fire poker into the ground in front of him. “You would draw sword against common citizens?” the man asked. The previous confidence with which he had berated the guards was now shaky, and unsure.

Erik stepped forward, glancing around him and watching the men back away from him. “Return to your homes, and trouble the streets no more with your anger.”
He scanned the crowd with his power, identifying a few men that intended to attack him. “I hold my sword out only in the hopes of saving you from disaster. I will strike none who do not attack me first.”

“Why should we listen to him?” the man atop the wagon shouted. “He is the one who killed the senators!”

Erik flourished his sword before him, letting the flames crackle and roar before he extinguished the flames and returned the sword to the scabbard. “I attacked only those who sought to take an innocent man’s life.” He stepped forward, hands out in front of him. “Please, if you want peace, then return to your homes.” He looked to the man with the rolling pin and stared into the man’s eyes before continuing. “The guards are only trying to maintain the peace.”

“Because you threw the city into chaos!” the man on the wagon shouted.

“Let’s go,” the man with the rolling pin said finally. “Let the nobles figure it out.” He then turned and pushed his way through the crowd, leaving his fire poker in the dirt. Several others turned and followed him.

“Cowards!” the man on the wagon shouted. “You have the chance to bring the murderer to justice!”

Erik folded his arms and shouted over the man. “Is it justice you seek, or is it blood money offered by those who truly seek to undermine the law?”

The man bristled and his hand slid down to an axe hanging from his belt.

“If you want to cash in on my head, then come and try to take it from my shoulders,” Erik challenged. “But I promise you will not succeed.”

The captain of the guard pranced his horse toward the man on the wagon. “Choose now!” he commanded. “You may rest in your bed tonight, or in the dirt.”

The man blanched and jumped down from the wagon to disappear into the receding crowd. A few of the others that Erik had identified as potential enemies lingered while the crowd quickly dispersed, but as the numbers around them dwindled, so did their courage and they all eventually left.

When only the guards remained Erik walked up to the two guards that wished him ill and looked them both in the eye. The captain of the guard trotted his horse up next to Erik to greet him, but Erik held a hand up and addressed the two.

“What say you?” Erik asked. “Is a bit of coin worth the blood of your own countrymen?” The captain glanced from Erik to the two guards and they nervously looked to each other before finally shaking their heads.

“We live only to serve our king,” one of them said. The other nodded, albeit unconvincingly as he watched Erik with
green, hungry eyes.

“Is something wrong, Master Lepkin?” the captain asked.

“I would not trust these two, if I were you,” Erik replied bluntly.

“What have we done?” the guard with the hungry eyes asked.

“I will tell you exactly what you have done,” Braun interrupted as he stepped up next to Erik. He pointed at the guard with the hungry eyes. “When I first came into town, you tried to buy my loyalty. You said you were forming a brotherhood that would ensure the proper heir would take control of the throne upon the king’s demise.”

“Preposterous!” the man shouted. “I have never seen you before in my life!”

“Desmon, we both know that isn’t true,” Braun said.

“Captain, he is making this up!” Desmon said.

“Then how does he know your name?” the captain asked sternly.

Braun then pointed to the other guard. “And what was your name?” he asked. “You were there too, playing cards.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” the man said.

“Then you wouldn’t remember me slapping the back of your head, would you?” Braun said coldly. The man clenched his jaw and his hand almost went toward a dagger at his belt. Braun smiled wryly. “Thought so,” he said.

“Is this true?” the captain demanded.

“I have
never known Braun to lie,” Erik said.

Braun snapped his fingers and pointed to the other guard. “Miles,” he said emphatically. “Desmon said your name was Miles!”

The captain gestured to his men and they instantly fanned out around the pair of guards. “Let’s go,” the captain said.

“They have no proof!” Desmon protested.

“Master Lepkin’s word is good enough for me,” the captain said grimly. “Even if it wasn’t, the fact that this man knows both of you is also quite intriguing.”

“There were others present,” Braun said. “One they called Sweets, and another named Craver. Desmon here was sent to br
ibe me by another guard at the south gate named Jep.”

The captain nodded and smiled to Erik. “Master Lepkin, you have done us a great service. You have prevented bloodshed, and helped us sniff out the rotten apples. You have my thanks.”

“You can’t do this!” Miles shouted. He pulled his dagger and lashed out at the captain, but the captain was quick to dodge. Then he followed in with a deft slice to Miles’ shoulder, forcing the man’s hand to jerk open and drop the dagger.

“Take them in!” the captain bellowed.

The other guards swarmed over Desmon and Miles faster than the other two could blink and stripped them of their swords before binding their hands behind their backs. Then the group of guards rode off. The captain remained behind just long enough to thank Erik again.

“The west gate has good men,” the captain said. “If anyone gives you trouble, ask for Berven, he is my cousin, and as honest as they come.”

Erik nodded. “Thank you,” he said.

“Thank you,” the captain said with a quick salute. Then he spurred his horse into a trot and followed after his men.

“That went a lot better than I thought it would,” Braun commented.

“When did you recognize the two guards?” Erik asked.

“About the time you went to speak with them, but I wasn’t going to say anything until I knew what you were going to do.”

Erik nodded and looked past Braun to the horsemen, watching them speed down the road. “I would not want to be those two,” Erik commented.

“We should move,” Braun said.

The two of them passed though the last couple of city blocks before they arrived at the gate. By that time they had both drawn their hoods back over their faces, though it probably didn’t do any good by that point. A throng of people pressed the guards at the gate, forced into a bottleneck as a pair of city guards consulted with large books and lists before letting anyone pass through the gate and leave the city.

Luckily, Berven was one of the men with the lists and he let Erik and Braun through without much more than a cursory glance at Erik’s face and a hasty note scribbled into the book. Then the two went to the stables and asked the stable boy where Lester’s horse was. The boy took some convincing, but after a few minutes of negotiating they were able to procure both Lester’s horse, and an additional mount so they could be on their way.

*****

Erik dropped his saddle bag onto the ground and slid his back down the chunky bark of the large pine tree behind him as he descended to sit next to his bag. He looked up to see Braun toss some deadwood into the center of the dirt clearing between the trees. The limbs and sticks bounced and kicked up a bit of dust.