The Knight Marshal (The Silk & Steel Saga) (38 page)

Epilogue

Wagons trundled across the snow-patched greensward bearing
their bitter burden. Horns blared from the outriders, giving the ‘all clear’
signal. A trumpeter stationed upon the gatehouse barbican answered, welcoming
the wounded home with a single mournful note. The silvery sound shivered across
Castlegard, piercing the early morning mist.

Quintus rushed to the gatehouse,
his dun-colored cloak pulled close against the gray drizzle. Out of breath, the
pudgy healer scrambled atop a mounting block, the better to take the grim
tally.

The great drawbridge descended,
thudding across the castle’s slate-gray moat. Soldiers moved to the second set
of winches. Metal clanked as the great portcullis slowly rose. Sharp-toothed
with fierce spikes, the metal grate clattered opened like a hungry mouth. Fully
raised, the sharp incisors disappeared into the barbican’s mitered stone; proof
the castle hid half its menace. 

The first wagon drew near the
drawbridge. Steam rose from the drays’ broad backs, their muscled flanks
streaked with sweat, their feathered hooves drumming a steady rhythm on the
sturdy planking. The massive drays plodded across the drawbridge, gentle giants
drawing their burden beneath the portcullis and through the tunneled
passageway.

From the vantage of the mounting
block, Quintus peered into each wagon as it passed, making a quick assessment
of the wounded. His heart sank. Too many were in dire need of his help.

As the last wagon rolled past, he
leaped from the mounting block to catch the wagon’s tailboard, struggling to
pull himself over the rim. Hands hauled him into the wagon bed. The wounded
made space for him. Some muttered greetings, looking at him with hope-filled
eyes, while others had the glazed look of the nearly dead. He moved among them,
tightening bandages and sniffing wounds for signs of rot.

The wagons threaded their way
through the castle’s labyrinth of defenses, plodding between the outer walls
raised by the sweat of ordinary stonemasons and the soaring inner walls of
mage-stone raised by the wizards of a distant age. Shadows fell across the
wagons, everything dwarfed by the majesty of the inner walls.

The wagoner clucked to his drays,
urging them to a faster pace. Nearly home, the massive horses surged to an
eager trot. They reached the second portcullis, the entrance to the inner
castle, but the wagoner took too sharp a turn. The rear axle caught on the
mage-stone gateway. Metal scraped against stone, both refusing to give. Heads
bowed, the mighty drays surged forward like horses yoked to the plow. Wedged
against mage-stone, the wagon tilted at a precarious angle. Quintus feared the
wagon would tip…but then something gave way. Abruptly dropping to level, the
wagon trundled through the gate.

A cold dread shivered down the
healer’s back. Needing to know, he leaped from the wagon and scurried back
beneath the portcullis. Low on the mage-stone wall, he found something
impossible. He gaped to see it. The wagon’s metal axle had clipped the
mage-stone…and left a scar.

APPENDIX

CASTLEGARD

Three hundred years after the War
of Wizards decimated the kingdoms of Erdhe, a group of knights banded together
to protect the southern kingdoms from the ravages of the north. They claimed
Castlegard, the great mage-stone castle left empty after the War of Wizards, as
the seat of their power. Adopting the shape of the great castle as their
symbol, they became known as the Octagon Knights.

To bolster their cause, the
knights were ceded land running along the length of the Dragon Spine Mountains. Stretching from Castlegard all the way to the Western Ocean, this land became
known as the Domain. A series of castles, keeps, and walls were built along the
Dragon Spines, allowing the knights to control the mountain passes and deny
access to the southern kingdoms. The Domain also includes the only iron ore
mine in all of Erdhe to yield blue ore, the rare ore required to forge the
knights’ fabled blue steel swords.

As a sworn brotherhood of elite knights,
the candidates forsake their lineage and their past when they win their maroon
cloaks. Their symbol is a maroon octagon emblazoned on a silver shield.

KING URSUS ANVRIL
, King of Castlegard and the Knights
of the Octagon, Lord of the Domain, bearer of a great blue sword named
Honor’s
Edge.

-his wife,
QUEEN PHYLA
, died
giving birth to their only daughter

-their children:

PRINCE ULRICH
, First-born
son of the king, a sworn knight of the maroon, former commander of the wall at Raven Pass, bearer of a great blue sword named
Mordbane

PRINCE GRIFFIN
, Second-born
son of the king, a sworn knight of the maroon, former commander of Dymtower

PRINCE GODFREY
, Third-born
son of the king, a sworn knight of the maroon, former commander of Shieldhold

PRINCE TRISTAN
, Fourth-born
son of the king, a sworn knight of the maroon, slain while leading a patrol
into the steppes

PRINCE LIONEL
, Fifth-born
son of the king, a sworn knight of the maroon, former commander of Cragnoth
Keep

PRINCESS KATHERINE
, Sixth
child of the king, also known as the Imp or Little Sister or Kath. As a female,
the Octagon symbol of Castlegard is forbidden to her. Instead she uses the
Anvril’s ancient heraldic symbol of a red hawk attacking with talons
outstretched on a field of white. The wielder of the crystal dagger, Kath
travels into the far north with a small band of companions, seeking to slay the
Mordant. After being tested in a trial by combat, Kath is hailed as the
Svala,
the war leader of the Painted People.

KATH’S
COMPANIONS

DUNCAN TRELOCH -
a master
archer

SIR BLAINE -
a knight of the
Octagon who wields a blue steel great sword named
Stonecutter
by the
Painted People

SIR TYRONE-
a veteran knight
of the Octagon with skin the color of ebony, often referred to as the ‘black
knight’, a hero slain at the battle of Cragnoth Keep

ZITH -
a master monk of the
Kiralynn Order, father of Bryce

DANYA -
a young woman who
sought sanctuary in the Kiralynn Monastery with her mountain wolf,
BRYX,
she
is called a ‘Beastmaster’ by the monks and a ‘Beastspeaker’ by the Painted
People. She is locked in a healing coma after expending her magic to help take
the Dark Citadel. 

ARMY OF THE
OCTAGON KNIGHTS

SIR OSBOURNE
,
The Knight
Marshal
of the Octagon, right hand of the King, a one-eyed man with a
scar-crossed face, he wields a saber as his weapon of first choice, but then
takes up Sir Tyrone’s great sword from the signal tower of Cragnoth Keep.

SIR LOTHAR
, knight-captain
of the Salt Tower, wields a battleaxe, close friend to the knight marshal

SIR ABRAX
, knight of the
maroon, champion of the sword, guard to King Ursus, he wields a blue steel
sword named
Protector

SIR RANNOCK
, knight of the
maroon, champion of the morning star

SIR BLAZE
, knight of the
maroon, champion of the mace

SIR BORIS
, knight-captain of
Holdfast Keep

SIR VARLIN
, knight-captain
of Dymntower

SIR KRISMIR,
knight-captain
of Shieldhold

SIR KILGAR,
knight-captain
of Cragnoth Keep

SIR DALT
, knight-captain of Ice Tower

SIR GRAVIS
, knight-captain
of Sword Keep

SIR ODIS
, knight of the
maroon, champion of the lance

SIR ADLEMAR
, knight of the
maroon, champion of the claymore, wields a blue steel claymore named
Stalwart

SIR TRASK
, knight of the
maroon, champion of the battleaxe, assigned to Cragnoth Keep as a punishment
posting, slain at the battle of Cragnoth Keep

SIR TYRONE
, knight of the
maroon with skin the color of ebony, often referred to as the ‘black knight’, a
companion to Princess Katherine, he was slain at the battle of Cragnoth Keep

SIR RAYMOND
, branded as an
unmade-knight of the Octagon, exiled from the Domain of Castlegard on penalty
of death, sworn to serve the Mordant

SIR BROCK,
wounded knight

SIR KEIFER,
wounded knight

SIR ZAKERY,
maroon knight

SIR TRADON,
maroon knight

SIR MALVOY
, a fresh-sworn
knight of the maroon

SIR DEVLAN,
a fresh-sworn
knight of the maroon, died of battle wounds

SIR SPARLIN,
maroon knight
died of battle wounds

SIR CORBIN,
a slain knight
of the maroon

SIR TANCIL,
a slain knight
of the maroon

SIR MARIN
, a knight of the
maroon

SIR AMBROSE
, a knight of the
maroon

SIR WINTON,
a knight of the
maroon

SIR VARDINE
, a knight of the
maroon

SIR MELLOT,
a knight of the
maroon

SIR TOWLIN,
a slain knight
of the maroon

HADRIAN
, master archer of
the maroon, slain at Raven Pass

BENFORD,
master archer of
the maroon

BALDWIN
, senior squire of
the maroon, squire to King Ursus

MARTYN,
squire to the knight
marshal

TARGIN,
a scout of the
maroon

BARTLET,
a scout of the
maroon

BRANNOCK,
master scout of
the maroon

ORRIN SUREHAMMER,
legendary
Master Swordsmith of the maroon, first forger of blue steel blades, some
believe he forged magical abilities into his blue steel blades making them
destine for the hands of heroes

OTTO
, the current Master
Swordsmith of Castlegard’s forge, responsible for the forging of all blue steel
weapons

QUINTUS
, the master healer
of Castlegard

THE DARK CITADEL

The Dark Citadel is a forbidding
fortress-city in the far north. Perched atop three hundred foot cliffs that
overlook the Western Ocean, it is built upon a huge monolithic boulder. The
tiered city has nine layers spiraling upward around the central stone monolith.
Each layer holds a distinct class of people, with the poorest at the bottom and
the palace of the Mordant at the summit. The stone monolith contains steps
leading to a cave, the ancient source of Dark power.

The Mordant’s domain also
includes the steppes, a vast sea of grass that serves as a desolate greensward
for the Dark Citadel, a barren killing field that becomes the anvil of winter.
The northern steppes are divided from the south by a dark wall studded with ten
Gargoyle Gates.

The domain also includes the Pit,
a massive crater with near vertical glass-sheer walls. Slaves live within the
Pit, toiling within the Mordant’s iron mines. Female slaves are forced to serve
as whores for the Mordant’s army. Residual magic in the Pit results in the
massive abnormalities of newborns. Two new sub-races have been born and bred in
the Pit; the Taals, an ogre-like sub-race with massive strength and limited
intellect, and the Duegar, also called the Hounds of the Mordant, dwarves with
the ability to scent magic.

The symbol of the Dark Citadel is
a gold pentacle emblazoned on a field of black. The Darkflamme is the Mordant’s
personal battle banner, twelve feet of black silk ending in two silken tails of
bright red flecked with gold, creating the illusion of darkness on fire

THE MORDANT
- With over a
thousand years of life, he is the oldest of the harlequins, the god-king of the
north, the ruler of the Dark Citadel. He wields the Staff of Pain, an iron
scepter with a red crystal focus inset at the top.

-his officers and priests:

HIGH
PRIEST GAVIS
- High Priest of the Pentacle, Keeper of the Trials of Return,
the ruler of the Dark Citadel in the absence of the Mordant

DERMIT,
an
orphan lad of the middle tiers, his brother is taken as an acolyte to the
priests

MARA
-
a serving girl assigned to the upper mines of the Pit, the niece of Honorable
Elswin, later assigned as a seller of dung patties

BRUCE
TRAGGER,
a prisoner of the iron mine in the Pit, turned traitor to the rebellion

THE MORDANT’S COMPANIONS

DOLF,
a master assassin of the Ninth Rank, posing as a
manservant to the Mordant

BISHOP BORGAN,
a bishop of the Pentacle serving as the
seneschal to the Mordant

HOLDOR,
a master assassin of the Ninth Rank

CAPTAIN GARVER,
a guard captain from the Dark Citadel
sent south to serve the Mordant

MAJOR
TARQ,
commander of the Eighth Fist, a cadre of elite guards from the Dark
Citadel, sent south to serve the Mordant

CORLIN,
a
master assassin of the Ninth Rank

CRIMSON,
a concubine from the Dark Citadel

AMBER,
a
concubine from the Dark Citadel

SABLE,
a
concubine from the Dark Citadel

ARMY OF THE PENTACLE

GENERAL
HAITH
- High General of the Army of the Pentacle, witness to the beheading
of the Mordant in his prior life

GENERAL
MARRIS
- General of the Army of the Pentacle

TRANTOR,
a snargon of the duegars, serves General Haith as his personal snargon
(magic-sniffing duegar)

MAJOR
RUGGAR,
military aide to General Haith

VOLTRAN,
chief handler of the gorehounds

CAPTAIN
LYNDON,
captain of the pentacle

CAPTAIN
CROWLEY
, captain of the pentacle

BRUTHUS,
Master Torturer

CENTURIAN
KIRKBEE,
a centurion of the pentacle

CENTURIAN
ERLINT,
a centurion of the pentacle