The Staff of Sakatha (17 page)

Jon simply looked down on the man with his jaw stuck forward and his gaze steady and certain. “I’m here to help. You can take it or not.”

“An unlikely offer,” said Thorius and pushed past Jon and Sorus. “Thadeus, arrest both of these boys on suspicion of murder.” He looked around the small open courtyard for a moment, “I suppose you killed Sir Germanius as well,” he said with a shake of the head. “I can see now you came for the express purpose of distracting us while your reptile allies prepared for invasion.”

“This is madness,” said Jon turning to Sorus. “Come on, let’s go somewhere where real men need our help.”

“You’re under arrest Jon Gray, if that is your name,” said Thadeus, and another man, this one also reeking of alcohol but standing taller and broader than Thadeus with orc blood in his veins, suddenly appeared from where the mayor had recently emerged.

“Jon, he’s the mayor, he’s the extension of the law of the First Rider,” said Sorus. “If he says we’re arrested then there is nowhere to go. They will post arrest notices for us everywhere in Elekargul, we’ll be fugitives if we run.”

“Listen to the brewer boy,” said Mayor Thorius with a smile. “If you are innocent, as you proclaim, then a jury will find as such and you can go then.”

Jon looked at Sorus and then at the two hired thugs and finally to the mayor himself, “Sorus might be subject to your laws, but I am not. I answer to no one except the Gray Lord and if you try to arrest me I’ll pummel the men you send.”

The taller, broader orc blooded knight smiled and cracked his fingers. He stood well over six feet with shoulders near as wide as Jon’s and the thick body of a man in the prime of life. “I’d like to see that,” he said and nodded his head. “We haven’t met yet, Jon Gray,” he said. “I’m Decilus Valerus Brokenshield. I served with the First Rider and rode down the champion of Adas Jdar after we broke their invasion. He was taller than you and fully a man but my lance cut him down quick enough. Do not think you frighten me.”

Jon stared the man in the eyes for a long moment and neither showed any signs of retreat. “Sorus, you can stay in town, but the trial is rigged, you’ll be found guilty of associating with me, and I’ll be found guilty of planning an invasion or some such nonsense. We have to find the men of Black Dale or the First Rider to prevent something terrible from happening,” he said and turned his gaze to Sorus who stood with his mouth agape. “Now, Sorus, take a knightly name because you know that Sir Germanius granted it to you. Take your name and come with me or stay here and die.”

“Don’t listen to him, son,” said Mayor Thorius sidling up to the boy and putting his hand on his shoulder. “He’s a spy for the reptile men and hopes to clear the way for their invasion. He tricked you, but we won’t hold that against you in a trial. He fooled everyone in town except me and my son. I don’t think you killed Mikus, I’m sure it looked like an ambush but how did they know you were coming, how did Jon escape without any wounds, ask yourself that Sorus. You won’t be blamed; testify against him and I guarantee your safety and the safety of your family.”

Sorus stood for a long moment as his eye darted back and forth between Jon and the mayor and then to the hulking Decilus and his sidekick Thadeus. His hand clenched and unclenched at his side and then he felt the weight of Sir Germanius’s sword on his side, he remembered Jon carrying the old knight up all those stairs and how they buried him together, he remembered how the dragon creature knew Jon’s name. He turned to the mayor, “My name is Sorus Nightwalk because I slew my enemies underground in the darkling realm. I do honor to Agrium Nightwalk who led the midnight attack on the orc fortress we now call Agrium’s Keep. I pledge to honor his memory and hold his name to the highest standards of Elekargul. Today I go with my friend Jon Gray and any man who tries to stop me will feel my wrath!”

“Fool,” spat Thorius and looked to Decilus, “Kill them both.”

Decilus smiled and drew his sword, a long blade of black iron with strange yellow sigils carved up and down its side. Next to him Thadeus looked back and forth between the mayor and Jon Gray and appeared almost ready to run but then found his courage and drew his own blade, a slim steel weapon curved towards the end in the style of the humans of Doria. “I’ll take the boy,” he said and moved to face Sorus.

A number of passersby heard the exchange of words and saw the swords glint in the sunlight. Some of them stayed to watch the battle while others ran off to spread the news.

“This doesn’t have to be this …,” started Sorus, but Thadeus wasted no time and lunged at the boy before he even pulled out his weapon. Sorus jumped aside as the blade scraped over his left ribs and a sharp sensation of pain quickly followed. He took two quick steps backwards, pulled out his sword, and felt a momentary slickness as his hand brushed his left side.

Jon and Decilus circled one another for a moment before the orc blooded knight raised his sword and brought it around with a long low sweep designed to take advantage of Jon’s exposed legs. The gray knight didn’t even bother to draw his own sword but simply raised his boot and brought it crashing down on the wrist of his opponent which shattered like an old tree limb with too much ice in a heavy windstorm.

Decilus screamed in pain and spun to the ground, pinned there by the weight of Jon’s foot as the gray knight reached forward with his right hand and put it fully around the neck of his foe. Jon’s wrist flexed and Decilus’s neck pressed backwards to an unnatural angle. The Brokenshield punched at Jon’s face with his other hand, connected with a solid blow, but the boy ignored it completely and continued to push the neck backwards. A second snap followed a moment later and then the big warrior lay glassy eyed on the ground, his eyes bulging hideously and his neck muscles frozen in clenched rigor.

Jon turned to the mayor and saw that the man had a knife in his hand and circled behind Sorus, “Don’t do it,” said Jon his voice low but filled with menace. “Let them finish it.”

Mayor Thorius looked up at the huge boy and then his eyes came to rest on the dead Decilus and his courage fled. He tossed the knife at Jon but the blade spun badly and only the hilt struck him in the midsection. The mayor then fled back into the building as he shouted, “murderers, murderers, save me!”

The crowd didn’t seem inclined to heed his call and stood silently as Sorus and Thadeus circled one another; their blades leapt out to strike now and again but neither man gained any advantage. “You fight well for a brewer,” spat Thadeus to Sorus and flicked his blade towards the boy’s head but came up well short as Sorus thrust forward with his own blade. Sorus tried to remember the things he watched when the other squires worked with their masters but nothing seemed to be real in this fight as the steel blade of his foe flicked out and back. Whenever he circled to his left there was a strange pain in his side that he couldn’t quite pinpoint but that bothered him nonetheless.

He feinted at Thadeus but the experienced knight simply parried and moved again to his right and forced the painful turn. “You’ll bleed out soon enough,” said the newly restored Brokenshield and moved away from Sorus with a broad smile on his face. At that moment his path took him across the corpse of his ally and his foot hit it with a thump. Thadeus stumbled and his eyes opened in horror as he saw the frozen death mask of his friend.

“Now, strike,” whispered Jon to himself but so quietly that only he heard it.

Sorus noted the distraction but did not attack and instead circled to gain a better position and Thadeus snarled, “You bastard,” and regained his balance as quickly as he lost it. “I’ll kill you,” he said and moved forward, his sword a blur of motion. Sorus managed to block the first few blows but was driven quickly backwards and suddenly felt a stinging on the side of his face and then another on his shield arm.

“Now you die!” shrieked Thadeus lunging towards the former brewer with the tip of blade aimed directly at the center of Sorus’ chest.

Sorus suddenly remembered how Jon had stepped forward when the dragon child attacked him and did the same while also turning his body slightly sideways; this caused the thrust to slide inches past him. His own blade, the heavy sword of Sir Germanius, came down on the area between Thadeus’s shoulder and neck and bit ten inches into the flesh.

Thadeus’s momentum took him into Sorus and the two collided with a thud that sent them both backward a step. Thadeus snarled, and then the shower of blood that coated the left side of his face and body seemed to catch his attention as he reached up and touched the wound. The expression on his face went from anger to puzzlement, and then his legs collapsed out from under him, the blood gushing from the deep wound. He stayed on his knees for a second, his gaze still fixed at Sorus as his mouth opened and closed silently. Finally he managed to gasp, “A brewer boy?” and fell face first to the ground.

“Well fought, Sorus Nightwalk,” said Jon as he came up behind Sorus. “You should have taken him when he stumbled, but you hesitated.”

“I know,” said Sorus with a look down at his fallen foe. The blood geyser slowly abated although the pool of reddish brown ichor continued to grow. “I’ll need lessons.”

Jon nodded his head, “You did well though. The only badly fought duel is the one you lose. Now, I suspect the people in town will support us against the mayor, but I think it best if we don’t put them in that position. Shall we try to find the First Rider or look for Sir Odellius and the other townsmen?”

“I … I don’t know,” said Sorus. “Let’s just get the horses and get out of here for now. Is that all right Jon?”

The big gray knight nodded his head, “That sounds just about perfect to me, Sir Sorus, after you?” he said with a motion of his hand towards the stables. “They probably haven’t even finished brushing down the horses yet.”

Sorus started to lead the way but then looked back at the two bodies in the dirt, two men who, moments before, stood vibrant and alive, and thanks to a stupid disagreement now lay dead on the ground. Sorus knew that Thadeus had a daughter and maybe a son as well from a marriage that ended sometime in the past, and he now remembered the party just two months ago at the Smooth Strider where Decilus celebrated the birth of his first son. He looked at the two lifeless bodies and felt not just an overwhelming sadness at their death, for dying happened to everyone, but that he caused the death and not indirectly at that. His hand found Sir Germanius’s sword sheathed at his side and he bit his upper lip as he stared at the bodies for a long moment.

Jon watched the boy for a moment and remembered a similar moment in his own life, when he fought against the orcs of the Five Nations and left behind him a trail of corpses. His father stood next to him that day and told him someday he’d have to encourage young knights in the same position. “I knew someday I’d be the one leading others, telling them how to behave, I just didn’t think so soon,” he thought to himself and turned to Sorus. He let the boy look at the bodies for a moment longer and then stepped up behind him and spoke, “They’re dead and only dark magic can bring them back. You killed Thadeus because that is the way the world spun today. Tomorrow someone might stand over your corpse and wonder why. I don’t think there are any answers,” he went on and put his hand on Sorus’s shoulder. “My father says the only reason for anything is that which we give it. There is no grand scheme, no power to guider our destiny, we make our own way in the world, and if that’s not enough then too bad.”

Sorus looked up from the bodies. “Your father is a hard man,” he said to his friend. “I’d like to think there is meaning behind all of this whether it be the Black Horse, the White Mare, or some other god of the orcs or the dragon children, or the Dorians, maybe. I don’t know.”

“Give it meaning,” said Jon. “That’s what my father always says. Nothing happens for a reason but we go on living anyway.” The young man suddenly got a faraway look in his eyes and stood up straight:

“Because my life is my own to lead
Because my destiny is my own to forge
No one else can guide my hand
No one else can govern my mind”

“What’s that,” said Sorus as Jon began to walk off towards the stables.

“It’s part of the gray oath,” said Jon. “When a gray knight invites you to join the order you stand in front of the gray wall, plant a flag of your old allegiance on it, and say the oath.”

“Oh,” said Sorus. “So if I were to come back with you to Tanelorn and become a  gray knight I’d have to give up my loyalty to Elekargul?”

Jon looked at him as they walked and nodded his head, “That’s right, Sir Sorus. When you become a gray knight you foreswear all other oaths and promise to lead your own life.”

“But isn’t that swearing an oath to the Gray Lord then?” said Sorus as they approached the stables. Their horses still stood out front as a young groomsman carefully brushed them down.

“No,” said Jon. “That oath is really to you, not the Gray Lord, not Tanelorn. You swear to be true to yourself no matter what. It’s a surprisingly difficult oath to say and to keep.”

“I suppose your father is the one who made it up?” said Sorus with a smile. “Ho there, Junius,” he shouted to the boy who brushed down the horses. “Saddle up mine and Sir Jon’s again, we’re heading back out.”

“Hey Sorus,” started the dark haired boy with a smile but then caught himself, “I mean Sir Sorus.”

“Word’s getting around then, is it?” he said with a smile and walked over to his friend. “There was trouble at the mayor’s,” he said. “You’re probably going to hear some bad things about me and about Jon but I’m on your side in all this. Jon and I are going to get to the bottom of this trouble, don’t you worry.”

“I was mostly worried that Sir Arturious was going to tan my backside for not brushing down the horses fast enough, so two less is a good thing!” said Junius and broke into a large smile. “I can’t wait until his twelve month is done, the First Rider has to put someone better in charge next time.”

“It’s good to worry about the things that affect you most,” said Jon as he meandered over and patted his trotter on the flank. “A good tanning of the backside is of more immediate importance than an invading reptile army. Let that be a lesson to you, Sir Sorus.”