by Chuck Black
I turned to the two knights that had been held captive in the temporary prison, hoping they may have seen something to help explain what had happened.
“Gentlemen, can you shed some light on what has happened?” I asked.
“Yes, Sir Cedric …” one said, then paused as if unwilling to reveal what he knew. “They came from the northeast. Shadow Warriors … thousands of them!”
His words hit me like a hammer. “Lucius? Did you see … Lucius?”
The knights lowered their eyes and nodded affirmation.
So the pits of the Wasteland gave up their evil host, I thought. Simply because the wicked heart of man wanted it.
“And the rebels?” Gunther asked.
“They joined the Shadow Warriors and left Norwex over seven days ago. We don’t know where they were going,” replied one of the guards.
“I know!” I turned to face Gunther. “The tenth feast is less than two weeks away. It is a gathering of all the Knights of the Prince and all people sealed to the King. Lucius’s escape, this rebellion, and the tenth feast are no coincidence. All cities will be vulnerable if the Knights of the Prince are all at Chessington. The Shadow Warriors are probably leading rebellions throughout the kingdom.”
The realization that the entire kingdom was in jeopardy slowly dawned on us all.
Talea broke in. “A gathering of all of the King’s people in one valley, completely unaware that Lucius is leading a kingdomwide rebellion to destroy them …”
How quickly paradise could be lost again because of the pride and greed of evil men! I knew that Lucius’s vengeance would be satisfied by nothing less than the death of the Prince and of all His people.
“Gunther, you must gather all people sealed to the King and get them to Chessington,” I said. “Avoid all cities. Use the Knights of the Prince for protection. It will become more dangerous the closer you get to Chessington, so be extremely careful. Talea and I must ride ahead and try to get to the Prince before the feast and warn Him. It may be too late already—Chessington is a distant ride from here.”
Gunther nodded. “I understand, Sir Cedric. The King reigns …”
“And His Son!” I replied.
Talea and I quickly gathered provisions, rounded up fresh horses, and rode south to the Beloved City of the King. How we would make it through the forces of Lucius and the rebels was something I dared not contemplate. I just knew we had to do it, for we were the only ones aware of the impending destruction!
FROM THE CAVERNS OF SEDAH
Talea and I rode as hard as our horses would allow.
I was thankful for a half moon, which enabled us to ride even at night. We slept three to four hours a day and traveled the rest. By the fifth day, we and our steeds were spent, so we camped in a wooded area just north of Salisburg for an entire night to recover and build our strength. From Salisburg on, we knew it would be difficult to avoid Shadow Warriors and rebels. All of the Knights of the Prince and those sealed to the King would have already left their cities many days ago to make the tenth feast. Talea and I would find no help from anyone … We were alone in enemy territory.
We built a fire for warmth that night but kept it small. Although I was exhausted, my apprehension kept me from any sleep that was refreshing. I wanted to go on but could not. It was like trying to run in the knee-high waters of a sandy shore. I rolled over on my blanket and saw the peaceful face of Talea sleeping next to me. The chirping of the crickets and the cool night air were familiar and soothing but not as comforting as seeing Talea near me. My thoughts turned to her. Only when I thought I might lose her had I realized just how much she meant to me.
“The one thing I have desired to win the most I have failed in, my sweet Talea … your heart,” I whispered softly.
Talea slowly opened her eyes, and I became embarrassed. I hadn’t realized she was still awake. She looked at me and did not hide her heart from her eyes this time. The flames of the fire radiated a soft glow that reflected from her cheeks. I fumbled for an excuse, but she put her fingers to my lips.
“You won my heart the day we met, Cedric, but I was incapable of letting you know. These years away from you helped me overcome that.”
For a moment I thought I was hearing the wishful words of my own dream, but the touch of her fingers on my lips was too real to be the wisps of a dreamscape. I reached for her hand to affirm what she said, and she took my hand in hers. The warmth of my cheeks subsided, and I gently kissed her hand.
“Tomorrow the kingdom may fall, but tonight I have found contentment in the welcome of your words,” I said quietly.
She smiled and closed her eyes once again. “That is why I could never read you, Cedric,” she whispered. “My feelings for you clouded my discernment.”
The mystery of the fair maiden is solved, I thought to myself, delighted. “Sleep well, Lady Talea.”
“And you, Sir Cedric.”
Maybe my sleep would be peaceful after all.
I awoke in the early morning to the nervous neighing of our horses a short distance away. I opened my eyes but did not move, for I was immediately aware of a dark presence. I could hear an occasional flutter of wings that sent chills down my back. Talea was asleep, and her hand was still in mine. I scanned as much of the area as possible, moving only my eyes, but I could not see anything. Tremendous fear began to well up within me. I slowly raised myself on my left arm to look over Talea and saw the monsters of a nightmare surrounding us—scynths! One large scynth was just an arm’s length away from Talea’s back. I could see two more in the trees behind it.
While keeping a close eye on the scynth behind Talea, I slowly squeezed her hand, hoping she would not move too abruptly. I did not dare look over my own back. Talea moaned slightly, and the scynth behind her spread its wings and raised its deadly tail high into the air. I could see the finger-long stinger protruding from its tail. It looked as sharp as a viper’s fang, and a drop of poison glistened on its tip. Talea opened her eyes and immediately registered the fear on my face.
“Shh,” I said quietly.
The scynth opened its mouth to reveal dozens of razor-sharp teeth. Black eyes glared at me, dark as the depths of the caverns of Sedah. It began to hiss and looked as though it was ready to strike at any moment. It was a hideous creature that seemed to live for the sole purpose of striking fear into the hearts of men.
Talea searched my eyes for help, but I was at a loss for what to do. I released her hand, and she carefully placed her knife in mine. Just as my hand encircled the grip of the knife, the scynth jumped into the air. Its wings flapped, and the tail whipped from its high position to beneath its body toward the exposed back of Talea. I lunged across her and plunged the knife down onto the striking tail, hoping I would not miss. The knife found its mark as it penetrated clear through the tail and embedded into the ground. The fanglike stinger stopped just short of Talea’s back. The scynth screeched in pain and flapped its wings violently, trying to free its tail. Talea reached for her sword, but she was momentarily trapped beneath me as I held the knife firmly to the ground. The scynth dropped to the ground and lashed at my hand with its wicked teeth. I released the knife and withdrew my hand just before its jaws clamped down on the handle of the knife.
I grabbed Talea’s shoulder, and we rolled away from the enraged creature. I became aware of the screeches and flutters of other scynths and wondered how long before they, too, attacked. With swords drawn, we rose to our feet just in time to see another scynth screaming toward me with its tail striking forward beneath it. I ducked and felt the whoosh of air on my neck as the poisonous stinger whipped past my head. Talea executed a powerful slice above me and nearly cut the creature in two. I recovered, and we guarded each other’s back. The other scynths remained in the trees—staring and hissing. My heart was pounding, and my legs hurt from the sudden exertion of the encounter. The creature on the ground flailed and screeched violently as it tried to free itself from the knife through its tail. We slowly moved t
oward our horses a short distance away. Once clear of the camp and the scynths, we quickly mounted our steeds and hastily left the area. A few moments later we stopped and looked back to the trees.
Talea looked shaken. “Are you all right?” I asked.
“I will be,” she replied. She shook her head. “That was absolutely horrible. It can only mean one thing, Cedric.”
I turned and looked to the south. “Yes … I know.”
Talea reached for my hand. “Thank you!”
“You’re welcome and thank you!” We both took a deep breath. “If you’d like, we can go back for your knife,” I said with a smile.
She laughed. “I think I’d rather leave it with the scynth.”
Talea and I rode a bit farther and then stopped briefly for a quick breakfast before continuing our journey south. Three days later, on the morning of the second day of the tenth feast, we approached the Chessington Valley. On any normal day, we could’ve made Chessington by noon, but this was not a normal day. We crested a ridge of the rolling green plains north of the valley and nearly froze at what we saw. A massive army of destruction larger than any force I had ever seen blanketed the area. We quickly retreated and found better cover in a grove of trees, which also afforded a higher and clearer vantage point to spy on the force. We moved to the edge of the trees, and as we watched, smaller armies continued to join from all directions except the south, where Chessington was ironically celebrating the tenth year of peace and prosperity of the kingdom.
“Talea, even if all of the King’s Silent Warriors were here, we still could not overcome an evil army of this size. Look, even more are still coming!” I exclaimed. “What could Lucius have promised the cities of the kingdom to raise such an army as this?”
Talea shook her head in disbelief. “How can we possibly get through this mass of warriors to the valley?” she asked.
“You can’t!” The voice came from the trees behind us. Talea and I quickly turned about, drawing our swords as we did. We were so preoccupied with the evil before us that we hadn’t sensed a presence behind us—five massive Shadow Warriors. The appearance of a Shadow Warrior is daunting indeed, but these wore a look of consuming hate and revenge for their years condemned to the prison pits of the Wasteland.
As they glared at us, they immediately recognized the mark of the Prince upon our breastplates and swords. Two of them cursed and charged upon us. The other three followed close behind. Though tired from the long journey, my heart quickened, and the rush of the fight immediately empowered my arms and legs to battle-ready strength. I did not dare consider our odds of surviving. I did, however, momentarily consider the cost of our failure—the kingdom. I tried to formulate some plan that would allow Talea to escape to warn the Prince of the evil army that would soon encompass Chessington. Whatever that plan, it would surely cost me my life.
Talea and I readied ourselves as the first two brutes stormed at us without hesitation. We separated slightly, for this fight would require more from us in the way of speed, power, agility, and strategy than any other fight before.
Talea feigned the look of a frightened, inept knight—at least I hoped it was a ploy. The other Shadow Warrior bore down on me aggressively. We needed to overcome these first two adversaries quickly if there was any chance of surviving.
Talea’s foe initially made a massive vertical cut upon her. She used both hands on her sword to stop the blow of his wicked sword, but it appeared to be too much for her to stop. She gave with the blow and dropped to the ground on one knee. The warrior smiled evilly and recoiled for another vertical strike. As he did, Talea spun her body with the speed of a panther and brought her screaming sword around in an arc with such power that her blade brought a quick and immediate end to her shocked opponent. He fell to the ground with a thud.
My adversary recklessly brought blow after blow as I countered and retreated slightly. He thrust at my chest, which I quickly parried left and followed with a thrust of my own. He could not recover quickly enough, and my blade penetrated deep into his torso. He fell to the ground, unable to utter his final curse.
The remaining three warriors appeared momentarily shocked at the sight of their two fallen companions. Two of them engaged me while the other faced Talea. We would have to rely upon all the training of the Prince if we hoped to survive these wicked adversaries. The two I faced immediately separated to divide my attention. I had trained for such situations in the past but never against Shadow Warriors. I quickened the speed of my sword to counter their cuts and tried to maneuver toward a large tree to protect at least one side of me. Talea was heavily engaged with her opponent but was holding her own.
One of my challengers executed a quick combination, which I countered, but the other saw my distraction and lunged with a thrust aimed at my torso. I turned sideways and moved just enough to miss the thrust from behind me. His sword passed close to my chest as the other warrior brought a mid-high cut at me. I jumped toward the warrior with the extended thrust to miss the other’s cut, and I heard him grunt as I impacted his chest with the full force of my body, which sent him reeling backward far enough for me to recover and advance on the other warrior. My time was short, so I abandoned caution and attacked so quickly that he did not expect the final vertical cut that nearly caused him to lose his sword. He fumbled for just a moment—a moment too long—and my sword found its mark as he dropped to the ground dead.
I turned to face my remaining foe, only to see his blade racing toward my throat. I pulled my sword up just in time to meet his powerful blow, but it was too much force for me, and my sword was thrown from my grip. I screamed as his blade ripped through my left shoulder. I fell to the ground to retrieve my sword, but the Shadow Warrior swung his deadly weapon high in the air to deal his final deathblow. He did not finish, however, for just as he was about to strike, Talea’s blade sliced through his chest from behind. She had been victorious over her enemy and had come to my aid at the last moment.
It was all over very quickly. I leaned up against a tree, and Talea came to attend to my wound. She retrieved a bandage from her horse and wrapped my shoulder speedily since we were not sure if others might come. As she did, I studied the region and realized that we had to travel farther east to skirt the army before resuming our route to the valley. It would cost us time, but we had no choice. I hoped we would reach the valley before Lucius had positioned his forces and begun his attack. Our task seemed futile, for I felt like we were attempting to outrun a Banteen dust storm with no place to hide. At least the Shadow Warriors on the ground about us would not foil our warning to the Prince.
THE TENTH FEAST
By midafternoon Talea and I crested the east ridge of the Chessington Valley just north of the city. The valley pulsed with celebration and ceremony. With the exception of the people from Norwex, all the King’s people and all the Knights of the Prince appeared to be present. It was the largest gathering in the history of Arrethtrae—many, many thousands. The sky was bright blue, and the sun radiated its warmth on the King’s tenth celebration feast.
We paused for just a moment to look northward toward the looming disaster. Even now I could see the faint lines of Lucius’s forces coalescing on the valley. Talea and I pressed our steeds into their final full gallop and reached the edge of the courtyard of the feast. We forced our way through the throng of people to the main platform, where I hoped to find the Prince. A ceremony to honor the Knights of the Prince was in process as we ran to the front of the platform to capture the Prince’s attention.
The knights all applauded, perhaps assuming we had been delayed due to some inconvenience. I saw my fellow knights smiling in their ignorance, full of glee. But some saw my bandaged shoulder, and their faces turned serious in an instant.
The Prince held up His hands to hush the knights and the people. His countenance was unexpectedly stern, almost as though He knew my news was of ill report. The throng fell to silence for the Prince.
“Sir Cedric of Chessingt
on, what is so urgent?” He asked.
I shouted loud enough for the knights to hear as well. “My Prince, we have just returned from Norwex. Lucius and the Shadow Warriors have escaped from the Wasteland! All of the cities of the kingdom have rebelled and have joined forces with him. They approach the valley as we speak!”
Exclamations and murmurings rumbled through the mass of people as my words were passed from mouth to mouth. The Knights of the Prince looked shocked and alarmed. Some drew their swords. Leinad, Tess, Gavinaugh, Keanna, Weston, William, Rob, Barrett, and Cullen stepped forward, nearer to the Prince.
In a moment, fear swept through the assembly as everyone began to scan the horizons for this massive force of destruction of which I had just spoken.
The Prince looked to the horizon as well, but I saw no fear upon His noble brow. His eyes could always see what we could not. I studied His face, for in His countenance rested my assurance and my faith in the future. Somehow, the powerful confidence of His kingly form did not falter for even an instant.
How … how, my King, can there be any salvation for Your people now? I thought in wonder as I beheld the glory of His face.
He dropped His gaze to Talea and me. “You have risked your lives to bring Me this warning. Well done, Cedric. Well done, Talea.”
The Prince turned to face His knights. “Knights of the Prince, surround My people with your swords drawn and ready for battle. Do not engage the enemy until you hear My command to do so. Go!”
All the knights drew their swords and began to disperse to the perimeter of the people. The Prince called Leinad, Tess, Gavinaugh, Keanna, Weston, William, Rob, Barrett, Cullen, Talea, and me to His side.
“Follow Me,” He commanded and marched us through the mass of people to the northern edge of the temporary courtyard.