Knights End

by Brad Clark

Olofar spun on her and got right into her face. She could feel and smell his acrid breath. “Thousands of my warriors were killed in this fashion. The Tarans thought they could intimidate us by putting my warriors up on stakes, letting them die in sight of their wives and children. It did not work. It only made us more resilient and motivated.”

  Olofar swung the ax so that it rested on his shoulder and he walked up to the base of Aeneas’ cross. “This Taran is a soldier, and he will spend the rest of his life thinking about his actions. He will die slowly, but his mind will be clear for much of that time. He will speak to Ravishaw, and if Ravishaw listens, Ravishaw may grant him his peace. It is not for me to determine his place in the afterlife. That is for Ravishaw. If his heart remains that of an enemy, the pain he experiences now will only be a light tickle to what he experiences for eternity. If his heart changes, Ravishaw may just give him mercy.”

  Olofar looked up at Aeneas, who looked down with defiance but did not speak.

  “I can see his heart is hard and unchanging. Maybe as soon as Ravishaw’s grip closes around his soul, he will have a change of heart, but I do not think he will change.”

  “He was only following orders,” Nikki said. “You cannot hold him responsible for that, can you? Give him mercy and end his suffering!”

  Barr, sensing that Olofar was about to erupt again at Nikki talking spoke up. “It is Ravishaw’s role to grant mercy or to invoke justice upon those who are dying. We must let him decide the fate of this soldier’s soul. We can no longer interfere.”

  Nikki looked up at Aeneas, whose eyes fell on her. Through parched lips, Aeneas croaked out, “I have served my purpose, and I know where my soul will be when I die. Do not worry about me. You have a bigger battle to fight, and you must win that battle, for the sake of all of us believers and those who refuse to believe.”

  Nikki’s heart broke at the pain that Aeneas was going through. She looked at the ax that Olofar held and wondered how many strokes it would take to cut down down the tree trunks that held him aloft. They were buried several feet into the ground, so they could not just be pushed over or pulled out. He would have to be cut down.

  Olofar chuckled. “He speaks jibberish. Ravishaw comes quickly to him. The end will not be long, and your Taran friend will soon know his eternal fate.”

  Kile had been looking up and down the line of crucified Taran soldiers. Many more crosses were ready to go up as well. “Are you crucifying all your prisoners? Would it not be easier to just kill them?”

  “Bargoroth does not do what is easiest,” Olofar replied. “Bargoroth do what is right for the Bargoroth. For nearly two generations the Tarans have been harassing our people, slaughtering our men, women, and children to gain land that is not there’s. These crosses will mark the place of our victory and tell any Taran that dares come this way what their fate will be.”

  “This war is not over!”

  The shout came from several crosses away. They all turned to see who had shouted the words. Nikki clearly recognized the white hair of General Lucius. His head thrust forward as far as he could make it stretch, and his eyes blazed with anger. Spittle flew out of his mouth as he continued screaming his words as loud as he could.

  “They will come!” Lucius cried out. “Not just ten thousand that came here today. A hundred thousand soldiers. Five hundred thousand! They will march across your land and cut the throats of all your men, women, and children. They will defile your women and your girls! There will be nothing left of your kind after we have finished with you.”

  Olofar gripped his ax tightly and stepped over to the base of Lucius’ cross. He looked up at the Taran General and the moment he did, whatever saliva was left in his mouth was spat down upon the Bargoroth tribal leader.

  Olofar did not flinch. “I will not give Ravishaw the choice of where your soul will go. You will die now, a painful death. You may think it is merciful of me to kill you like this but know your soul will forever burn in the fire of eternity.”

  With a graceful motion, Olofar took a step back and lifted his ax from his shoulder. Gripping it with two hands, he swung with all his might, burying the ax deep into the freshly cut tree trunk, easily separating Lucius’s left leg above the ankle. The Taran General let out a scream of pain as his body dropped, pulling hard on his hands and arms, which were bound by ropes to the tree trunks, as well as nailed in place. While Lucius continued to scream, Olofar casually walked over to the other leg, and with one swift swing, separated the right leg into two pieces. Lucius dropped again, screaming even louder, spitting out curses of unimaginable pain.

  Blood poured out of the leg stumps while Olofar took a step back, hefted the ax back onto his shoulder, and watched the man die.

  When the last breath escaped Lucius’ lungs, and his head dropped to hang down to his chest, Olofar turned to Kile and said, “His soul could not repent, and now it burns forever in extreme judgment.”

  Kile was stunned by Olofar’s act and stared at the dead body and pool of blood that formed on the ground beneath Lucius’ legs.

  Nikki, though, was not stunned. She stepped around Kile and said, “General Lucius, the Taran you just killed, he was wrong. And right. There will not be hundreds of thousands of Taran soldiers coming for your tribes. It will be millions from an army of the Deceiver.”

  “The Deceiver?”

  “Gorigard,” Kile corrected, stepping forward to stand next to Nikki. “In our land, we call him the Deceiver. You call him Gorigard. He is one and the same. Evil coming to conquer the world. He is here, with an army, ready to take over the world.”

  Olofar laughed. “You talk of magic, Elves, and now Gorigard walking the earth? Gorigard was banished to the realm of the underworld an infinite number of moons ago, and he cannot break out of his realm. The other gods would not permit it.”

  “He is here, and he will come to destroy your villages. It is why we have come to you. There is a great battle that will soon happen between the remains of our armies and Gorigard’s army. We could use all the help we can get. The bigger the army, the better chance we have of saving the world.”

  Olofar gave Kile a long look. “Tell me, what does Gorigard’s army look like?”

  Kile shook his head. “We have not seen it.”

  “We were heading there,” Nikki said. “We were caught in your battle with the Tarans. Our horses were slaughtered by you, so now we must walk all the way there, and we might be too late!”

  “If you have not seen it, how do you know it exists, and how do you know it’s Gorigard? How do I know it is not a trick that the Tarans are playing on me? Maybe they have another army waiting just to the east ready to ambush mine.”

  “It is no trick,” Nikki said. “My father, the King of the Hurai, has seen visions, and it was he who sent me east with the Karmons and the Elf to join in the fight.”

  Olofar shook his head and let out a long sigh. “Your patience tests me, woman. You continue to interrupt the conversation of men, and you talk of visions, Elves, and gods walking the earth. I will not send my army to fight another war just on the word of a woman. If Gorigard is truly walking the earth already, why have I not seen the skies on fire or some other sign that he has come.”

  Just as the words left his mouth, a stream of fire exploded from high up in the sky and descended onto the open field between the encampment and the raging river that ringed it.

  Chapter Eleven

  Myllia dove for the ground, making sure the sun was behind her so she couldn’t easily be seen. It was standard battle tactics that were second nature to her, but her intent was not to start a fight or kill anyone, at least not yet. There were two Humans in the middle of the vast mass of bodies that stood out. She knew that they were of a race of Humans known as the Hurai only because of the vision that the One God had shown her in her dreams. The vision had told her little other than the Hurai were a crucial piece in the final showdown with the Deceiver, which meant she needed to protect them and keep them alive. The Hura
i were surrounded entirely, but they did not seem to be in imminent danger. However, that could change in a matter of seconds. If the Hurai were as crucial as her vision told her, she would have to act quickly to make sure they remained safe.

  Her first breath of Dragonfire fell from the sky in a single, small burst so that she would have plenty more to use as a show of force or to wreak havoc among the Humans. It was targeted in an empty area near the river, far enough away, so the fire didn’t harm anyone, but close enough for many of them to feel the heat. The fireball did as she expected. The moment the fireball exploded on the ground, the mass of Humans began running in a panic away from the fire. She kept her dive going to generate as much speed as possible, further adding to the alarm. Just before she was about to strike the ground, she spread her wings wide and her flight path bottomed out just as she passed over a line of crosses that had been erected in an open field. She passed over the two Hurai and a handful of Humans who had not panicked but watched her fly overhead.

  She had plenty of speed to rise into the air and bank to see what was happening behind on the ground. Although her hatred of Humans had dissipated since she had first been awakened by the Deceiver, it was still fun to watch an entire army of them try and run away from her. She certainly didn’t have enough fire in her belly to kill them all, but they were massed so close, she could kill many of them with what she had left.

  She banked to the right, circling back towards the two Hurai. She spotted the female and asked, “Does he believe you now?”

  ***

  Nikki jumped, looking for the woman who just spoke to her. The arrival of the Dragon had surprised her, but because she knew from Conner that they existed, she was not panicked or afraid. She watched with curiosity as the Dragon dove at them, but she flinched just like everyone else when fire erupted from its mouth. The strange voice caused a hot panic to sweep over her, but she did her best to remain outwardly calm.

  “Believe what?” Nikki called out, spinning around, looking for the woman who was speaking to her. It sounded like she was standing right next to her, but there was only Kile, Olofar, Barr, and a handful of Bargoroth who were more fearful of leaving Olofar’s side than of the Dragon.

  “What?” Kile asked, thinking that Nikki was talking to him.

  Nikki heard the voice again. It was calm and smooth. “My name is Myllia. I am the Dragon who is flying above you.”

  “Myllia?” Nikki said out loud. She looked up at the Dragon, who was now several hundred feet over their heads, circling back towards them.

  “You must think your words in your head while you’re thinking of me,” Myllia said. “You do not need to speak them. You do not hear my voice as much as you hear my thoughts, just as I do not need to hear your voice to hear your words.”

  “Is this magic?” Nikki asked.

  “It is not. It is a gift from the One God that he gave to Dragons and none other.”

  “What do you want? Are you going to attack us?”

  “I am here for you. The others are preparing to fight a war that they cannot win without help, and I am here to bring you to them.”

  Nikki craned her neck, watching Myllia circle above them. Her mind spun trying to understand how a creature such as the Dragon could communicate with her, much less know who she is.

  “What is a Myllia?” Kile asked, his eyes also watching the Dragon as it completed its circle and was about to fly over their heads.

  Nikki heard him, but she focused on trying to talk to the Dragon. “You came for me? Did Conner send you?”

  “I was sent by the One God to find you. He let me know that you play an important role in this war, and I cannot let you be captured or killed by these Humans.”

  “They are not a threat to me.” She looked down to see that many of the barbarians were still running away. There was a dozen of Olofar’s warriors who had not run away, but their eyes told her that had no fight left in them.

  She continued, “But, they could be a threat to the Deceiver. If I can convince them to join us.”

  “I heard your conversation with their leader. He does not seem to like you. How will you convince him?”

  Her gaze drifted from Olofar to Barr. There was one option where she wouldn’t have to convince him.

  Nikki continued to watch the Dragon while she talked to Myllia, but to Kile, she appeared to be in a stupefied trance. “Nikki!” Kile said forcefully to try and get her out of her apparent trance. “We are exposed out here. Should we not get out of the open? Find someplace to hide?”

  “There is no place to hide,” Nikki replied. She turned her head away from the Dragon and looked back at Kile. “Also, she will not harm us.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Her name is Myllia, and she has come to help us.” She saw the questioning look on Kile’s face, so she added, “She spoke to me. In my head.”

  “It tried to kill us!” Olofar growled. He, too, had been watching Myllia circle above their heads. With a quickness that belied his size, he pulled the ax off his shoulders and shifted into an offensive stance, as if he were prepared to defend against the Dragon’s attack.

  “If it were trying to kill us, we would already be dead,” Nikki said.

  “Is that what it told you?” Olofar said, using anger and defiance to hide the fear that was encompassing him. “Well, tell it to come to the ground, and we’ll see how it can fight.”

  Myllia quickly descended and landed with a thud nearby. She folded her wings tight against her body and started walking forward, her head bobbing slowly up and down, its long teeth exposed.

  “I think you made her angry,” Nikki said.

  Olofar nervously gripped his ax but did not know what else to do. The creature was many times his size, with teeth as long as his hands, and it could breathe fire. With forced bravado to hide a growing terror that he could never reveal, he snapped, “You can call off your pet any time. What price did you pay for this beast? Your whole soul?”

  “She is no pet,” Nikki said. “She is an ally. All the Dragons are our allies, and you should join us, too. You call this evil Gorigard. I call him the Deceiver. It does not matter the name, for he is pure evil that must be stopped.”

  Olofar straightened to his full height and puffed out his chest. “I will not be intimidated by the likes of you or your pets,” he said. “You march into the midst of my army, begging for help, and now you threaten me?”

  Myllia answered in all their heads, “I do not make threats.” She bared her razor-sharp teeth and continued, “The threat is from the Deceiver. You must follow the Hurai east to join with the rest of Humanity. A large army is ready to fight, but with your people, this army would be even more powerful. This will be your one and only chance to join us, for if you do not, then you will be forever isolated from the rest of the world. Even more so than you are now.”

  Olofar, unwilling to let himself be intimidated by even the largest and most ancient of creatures, took a big step forward, spun the ax his hands, letting the worn, oak handle smack loudly against his palm. He then hefted the ax with one hand and pointed it at the line of Tarans that were being crucified behind him. “There is nothing I must do, other than watch these Tarans die and return to my home and enjoy peace for the first time in my lifetime.”

  Nikki knew it would be a tall order to convince the Bargoroth to join in their fight, but she didn’t expect complete resistance. The tale that Conner had first spun to her so many weeks ago had been hard for her to believe, even after her father had claimed his belief in him. She had accepted the truth, but it was really not until they had come across the Dwarves and the ancient Elf creature that she really understood what they were fighting against. Her small world was really much more massive than she could ever have imagined, and if they didn’t all band together to fight the Deceiver, there would be nothing left of the world for them to live in.

  She was a Sak’Hurai, trained not only in the art of swordsmanship but also in the ability to rema
in disciplined in the face of insurmountable odds. Not everything in life was a battle, but the skills learned to fight those battles could be used in all aspects of daily living. She took a deep breath and let a calmness fall around her. She could not allow herself to get angry, else she would lose this battle. Emotion should never come into play on the battlefield, as it only bred mistakes.

  “You do not have to come,” Nikki said. “Let your people decide.” She turned to Barr. “There are many tribes of your people. We will talk to them, and they can all decide for themselves if they want to help us.”

  “I am the leader of the tribe of Bargoroth!” Olofar shouted, spittle flying from his lips. “All will follow the lead of our tribe.”

  She was looking at Barr and saw a chink in the armor of the barbarians. Barr’s expression that flashed across his face showed that he did not agree at all with what Olofar was shouting about.

  “I get that you are afraid to face your Gorigard,” Nikki said calmly and getting the expected reaction from Olofar. “That does not mean that all your people will be afraid to fight.”

  Olofar’s face turned red, and his eyes narrowed. Through clenched teeth, Olofar growled, “I do not have to explain myself to a woman. I have listened to enough of your prattle. Leave, now, else I will cleave you in two.”

  Kile had been standing behind them, letting Nikki lead the conversation. As he sensed Olofar’s anger, he tried to step forward and intervene, but Nikki blocked him. This was her battle to fight, and she was not going to let Kile into it. If it went poorly, he would have to try and escape and reconnect with the rest of the Sak’Hurai.

  “Did you stand at the back of the battlefield?” Nikki said. “Many of your people fell to the Tarans. Many, many more are wounded. Sak’Hurai always fight at the front of the battlefield, for we are not afraid to die. You do not look like you even swung your ax once.”

  Olofar slid his left hand down the shaft of the ax so that he was gripping it tightly with both hands, and then with the grace and ease of a man half his size, he swung it at Nikki’s midsection.