Knight Quest (The Champion Chronicles Book 5)

by Brad Clark

  Conner bent down and looked under the hedge once again. “Not here.”

  Glaerion opened his mouth to reply, but his ears caught something. He cocked his head to listen more carefully. Suddenly, he shouted out “Quick! Follow me!”

  Glaerion spun on his heels and sprinted down the path. He didn’t run quite at full speed, else the others would not be able to catch up to him. There were several turns, and if they weren’t able to keep up, they might get split up forever.

  As he made a sharp left turn, his suspicions were validated. Someone was ducking under the hedge to pluck a rock from where they had hidden it. It was a short, skinny Dwarf with gray skin and a scraggly beard. He let out a squeal as soon as Glaerion came into view. He stumbled as he stood, but he would not have gotten very far anyway. The Elf was too fast.

  Glaerion jumped onto the Dwarf’s back and held him down.

  “Who are you?” Glaerion screamed.

  The man started to grunt and groan as he tried to squirm out of Glaerion’s grasp, but Glaerion was too strong.

  Conner and the others ran up on them a moment later.

  Glaerion took a hand and slapped the man across the face both to try and silence him and get his attention. The man started screaming. Glaerion had to put a hand over the man’s mouth.

  Hemli stepped over and looked down. With surprise clearly in his voice, Hemli said, “Marley?”

  “You recognize him?” Glaerion asked.

  “Yes. He’s one of us. He was sent to be sacrificed last year.”

  Marley looked at Hemli with red eyes that were watering. The skin on his face with thick and weathered, as if he had been out in the sun for too many days. His screaming fell to a whimpering, and Glaerion cautiously released his hand. Marley tried to twist himself free, but Glaerion was sitting on him, and his weight was enough to hold the Dwarf down.

  “Marley,” Hemli said. “Do you recognize me?”

  Marley’s eyes were wide and full of fear. He did not acknowledge Hemli and continued to try and squirm is way free.

  “There is something wrong with him,” Conner said.

  Hemli kneeled down and put his face near Marley’s. He spoke slowly and clearly. “Marley! It is Hemli. We are cousins. Your mother is Lockley, and my mother is Lori. They are sisters. We grew up together.”

  Glaerion looked over at Hemli and said, “You sacrificed your cousin? Your mother must be very proud.”

  Hemli did not look at the Elf as he replied, “My mother was sacrificed many years ago. It is all done for the survival of our race.”

  Marley finally looked at Hemli and stared at his face. His mouth tried to form words, but it took a moment before sound came out. It was a guttural sound that they could not understand. It was repeated several times.

  “Yes!” Hemli finally said. He let out a sigh. “He is saying my name in our native tongue. Hemli is just my name in Commoner. I think he recognizes me. Let him up, and maybe he’ll remember more.”

  Glaerion slowly moved off of Marley. They all tensed up and were ready to tackle Marley if he tried to run. He did not. He laid on the ground and muttered more words in the Dwarven language.

  “Water,” Hemli said. “He is asking for water.”

  Nikki offered her waterskin. Marley drank deeply. Then he dropped the waterskin and started to cry. More words came out between the tears.

  Hemli translated as Marley continued talking. “He has been serving as the creature’s slave since we left him to be sacrificed. It is his job to follow those that come in and make sure they get lost and never find their way to the end. Once the victims are weakened from hunger and thirst, or nighttime comes, the creature will come out and either feed on the victim or enslave them. He wished he was chosen to die. He is asking us to kill him.”

  “Does he know the maze? Can he get us through it?” Glaerion said. “Ask him!”

  Hemli hesitated for a moment. He knew what Marley’s response would be, but he asked anyway.

  Marley let out a screech and dropped to his knees, shaking his head, sputtering out more words in Dwarvish.

  “He is afraid to help us. If he is caught, he will be tortured. He has seen those that disobey, and they do not die quickly.”

  “Tell him that we will allow him to choose his end once we reach the end of the maze. Assure him it will be quick.”

  Hemli looked at Glaerion with a blank look.

  “Look, Hemli, we could be wandering this maze for days or maybe weeks. We have food and water for a few days, but eventually, we will run out. Maybe by accident, we can find the end of the maze, but if your friend knows the way out, then we can save ourselves a lot of time.”

  Hemli relayed the message. Marley put his head into his hands, and the tears continued to flow.

  To Glaerion, he said, “He really doesn’t want to die. He wants to go back to his old life.”

  “Well, then tell him we’ll take him back! Whatever it takes, tell him what he wants to hear!”

  Hemli leaned down and spoke into Marley’s ear for several minutes. Finally, Marley gave a sharp nod and rubbed tears out of his eyes.

  “He will show us as long as we promise to take him back home.”

  “Of course,” Glaerion said.

  Marley stood, opened his mouth, and pointed to it.

  “He wants some food,” Hemli said.

  “I can see that,” Glaerion said dryly.

  Once fed, Marley led them through the maze. Glaerion walked next to him, dagger out and ready to plunge into his back. He hoped the threat of being stabbed would be enough to make sure he didn’t change his mind. Hemli walked on the other side of him while Conner and Nikki trailed behind. Marley had made enough noise to attract danger, so Conner kept glancing back to make sure they weren’t being followed. Eventually, he came to a stop right before the path made a sharp right turn. He turned to Hemli and spoke. Patiently, Hemli listened, nodding his head.

  To the others, Hemli relayed, “The end of the maze is around the corner. He is not allowed to go any further without penalty of death. He has been in the maze for almost a year and knows the whole thing by heart, but that is all he knows. What’s beyond the maze is a mystery to him, but he knows there are traps everywhere. Some of the sacrifices actually make it this far, but most end up being killed in one of the creature’s traps.”

  “Is he not going to come with us to show us these traps?” Nikki asked.

  “He will only slow us down,” Glaerion said. “Look at him. He is weak.”

  “We’re going to leave him to die?” Hemli exclaimed.

  “Hemli,” Conner said. “Tell him to stay here, and when we return, we’ll need him to help us find our way out of the maze. Then we’ll take him back home.”

  After being relayed the message, Marley crawled into the shadows of the hedge and curled up into a ball. He closed his eyes, and a moment later, he was snoring.

  “We don’t need him,” Glaerion said. “I can find our way back out without him.”

  “That might be so,” Conner replied. “But that doesn’t mean we need to simply abandon him and let him die.”

  “Fine,” Glaerion said, irritation clearly in the tone of his voice. “We’ll grab him on the way out, but if he slows us down, we leave him.”

  “I’ll make sure he keeps up,” Hemli added.

  They all turned and started walking towards the last corner that would take them to their destination.

  “What kind of traps do you think he means?” Conner asked.

  “I don’t know, but we’ll need to keep our eyes open for anything. We shouldn’t rush anymore.”

  “Do you think Ryshak made it?” Nikki asked. She thought she was asking because she was curious, but as the words came out, she knew there was something deeper. She missed his angry banter and realized that she missed his presence among them. He was a warrior through and through, and that seemed to be something that she could connect to. She felt some sense of sorrow that it took him being gone for her
to realize that she actually didn’t hate the Elf. A sense of relief passed over her knowing that she might not have to kill him to keep him from stealing the Spear.

  Glaerion looked at her for a moment and realized that she was showing real concern. “If anyone could have made it, he would have. We can hope for the best, but don’t let hope cloud your judgment.”

  “No, of course not,” she replied quickly with a voice and tone that she tried to make sound indifferent. Her eyes lingered on Glaerion for a moment longer, and she hoped that her father was wrong about the Elves.

  Conner led the way, and when he reached the corner, he peaked around it. He quickly pulled his head back.

  “It’s the end, all right,” he said. “The hedge continues for about twenty yards, and then there is a stone path that leads towards a stone wall a couple hundred yards away. There is something beyond that wall, but I didn’t get a good look at it. Maybe more of the maze.”

  Glaerion cautiously stepped around the corner. Conner and Nikki followed. Hemli brought up the rear. Nothing attacked them immediately, so they moved forward.

  The stone path was wider than the paths of the maze so they could walk side-by-side with plenty of room to swing their swords or daggers as necessary. The stone wall that Conner had seen appeared to be a circular building or maybe a wall that curved away from them. They were still too far away to tell exactly what it was. Around the building, or the wall, was a cobble-stoned courtyard. The stone path ended at the courtyard. On either side of the path were two stone blocks that seemed to mark the entrance to the maze.

  With each step down the path, their heart rates rose. Each expected some huge creature to jump out of the hedge and attack them, yet nothing appeared. It was quiet. No birds chirped, and no insects buzzed. Even the air was still.

  Conner, swords out, kept his eyes moving ahead of him and then around behind them. The attack could come from any direction. Halfway down the stone path, his foot stepped onto a soft spot in the path. His foot went down just a little bit. The surprise caused him to jump back and let out a sharp yell. A thumping sound hit his ears, and then a split second later long arrows struck an invisible wall in front of them.

  Conner held his breath as he looked at a dozen thick arrows were in shattered pieces on the ground directly in front of them.

  Glaerion lowered his hands and looked back at Conner and then at the path. “Hopefully this creature does not know magic, else he now knows that there is a mage among us. That could make him more dangerous.”

  “What just happened?” Hemli asked from behind them. “The arrows just stopped in the air.”

  “I guess that was one of the traps,” Conner said, his heart pounding so hard he could hear it in his ears. He mentally kicked himself for letting his body fall into a false sense of security. Even though he knew that there were traps ahead, he was not careful enough.

  “If we survive this, I’ll tell you all about it,” Conner said. “Until then, just expect Glaerion to do some pretty amazing stuff.”

  Glaerion looked closely at the stone that Conner had stepped on. “The stone has an opening around it, which allows it to sink into the ground. Keep your eyes out for others like it. Somehow they trigger arrows to be shot from those stone blocks at the end of the path.”

  “Magic?” Conner asked.

  Glaerion shook his head. “No. Not magic. I don’t feel any magic in this place. I only feel evil.”

  With one eye on the stones, they walked forward carefully. After Glaerion pointed out the trigger stones, they were able to easily avoid the others along the path.

  They reached the end of the hedge-lined path and looked around. The courtyard was circular and had five other hedge-lined entrances.

  “Like the spokes of a wagon wheel,” Conner observed.

  The center hub was a tall circular stone building. There were not any entrances that they could see. Cautiously, they stepped into the courtyard.

  “All roads lead to the center,” Glaerion said.

  “Door around the back?” Conner asked.

  “Most likely.”

  Nikki tilted her head and asked, “You hear that?”

  “Yes,” Glaerion replied. “Something or someone is running across the stones. And lots of them.”

  A moment later skinny, short men appeared from either side of the central circular wall. They were running right towards them.

  “Dwarves,” Hemli said. “Dozens.”

  Some had weapons. Others had just their bare hands. They were silent as they ran. The only thing that could be heard was their bare feet slapping stone.

  “They’re coming at us!” Conner said, moving into an offensive stance.

  “What do we do?” Nikki asked.

  “Subdue them!” Hemli shouted out from behind. “They do not know what they are doing!”

  “There are too many,” Conner said. “We have to defend ourselves.”

  “Spread wide in a line,” Glaerion ordered. “Do not let them flank us.”

  “I know them!” Hemli cried out. “They are my friends! My brothers!”

  “This is on you,” Glaerion shouted back. “You were the one that sent them to their deaths to be sacrificed, now your penance is to finish the job!”

  “It is them or us!” Conner added.

  Glaerion glanced at Conner and noticed he moved farther away from him. “Close the gap! You cannot let them get through!”

  Conner spun his swords in his hands. “I’ll need the room. Stay clear.”

  It was a bloodbath. Conner did not need more than one slice per Dwarf. Some of the blows were headshots, with the heads rolling and bouncing on the stone ground. Many others were fatal wounds that caused the Dwarves to fall and die a slow death. Blood flew, and he soon found himself covered in the blood of the innocent. His mind was blank, as he knew it had to be. He could not think about what he was doing, or he might hesitate, and hesitation might mean death for him. It had been too long since he had danced with his swords and he reveled in the feeling. His swords were a part of him, and they moved as quickly as his mind asked them to move. Nothing could stop him. Nothing could defeat him. The poor Dwarves were almost too easy.

  When the last of them fell, he finally let himself take in a deep breath. He was a little more winded than he expected. That simply meant he had not been able to train as much as he should have. With the war in full swing, he would not get much training in, he would only get in real fighting. He was okay with that.

  He looked around him at the bodies and body parts. A few Dwarves still squirmed as they took their last breaths. Out of mercy, he ended their lives.

  Nikki wiped blood from her blade on the dirty robes of one of her victims. She looked at Conner and gave him a nod of approval. She had held her flank, Glaerion held his, and Conner had decimated the middle.

  Behind them, Hemli was wailing.

  “We had no choice,” Conner said, trying to console Hemli. He had not liked doing it, but they were being attacked by Dwarves that were out of their minds. Not one stopped or hesitated, even after many dead bodies and body parts were strewn about the cobblestones.

  Through tears, Hemli looked up at Conner and said, “You slaughtered them. Like sheep. They had no chance. You offered them no chance to surrender.”

  Glaerion stepped over, his face showing his anger. “This was you! You sent them to die, and we simply finished your job for you. What do you think they were doing? They were coming at us to kill us. Stand up and be a man! Look at the deaths that you caused. These were your sacrifices. They did not die at the hands of the creature. They died by our hands because you sent them to him.”

  “Glaerion,” Conner said with a surprisingly calm voice.

  “What?” Glaerion spun around, his eyes filled with anger.

  Conner turned his head to point towards a figure that was slowly walking towards them.

  “No,” Glaerion said. There was no anger in his voice, only sadness, and frustration.

&nb
sp; It was Ryshak who was walking towards them, daggers in his hands. They could see that his eyes were blank and lifeless. His tunic was stained with blood, but they could not tell if he was injured. He stopped ten feet away from them and stood still, staring somewhere off into the distance.

  “Ryshak!” Conner called out. “You are alive!”

  He started to walk forward, but Glaerion stepped in front of her.

  “I think something is wrong with him,” Glaerion said softly.

  “He’s hurt,” Conner said. “I think he needs our help.”

  Ryshak took a step forward, but it was a hesitant step. There were dark rings around his eyes, and they had a hint of red around the pupils.

  “He’s more than hurt,” Glaerion said. “Something is afflicting him. Fight it Ryshak!”

  A flash of life seemed to cross his face, but it was fleeting. With a sudden blood-curdling scream, Ryshak sprinted towards Glaerion, daggers out and poised to attack.

  At the last possible instance, Glaerion drew his own daggers and parried Ryshak’s furious attack.

  Conner, his swords already drawn, took a step towards them, but he hesitated. Although Ryshak was attacking Glaerion, he did not know what to do. Ryshak was their friend and companion, but clearly, he was out of his mind as he was trying to kill Glaerion. Although Glaerion was a fine warrior, Ryshak was far better. Unless he or Nikki stepped in, the fight would not last long.

  Glaerion did his best to fend off Ryshak’s attacks. He was able to parry and dodge, but he had no opportunities to turn the attack on his fellow Elf. Ryshak was just too fast and too skilled. He knew moves and countermoves that were beyond Glaerion’s skill. It didn’t take long before the sharp blades of Ryshak’s long daggers got through Glaerion’s defenses. With each slice that caught skin, Glaerion could feel the fight slipping away from him. He thought for sure he would be able to stand up to Ryshak, as he didn’t look like he was in good shape. Once the daggers started flying, Ryshak showed that he might look sick, but his skill with daggers was not diminished. Glaerion even tried to disengage from the fight so that either Conner or Nikki could join in. But Rysak kept pushing forward.

  “We must do something!” Conner cried out to Nikki.