Children of Avalon

by Meredith Bond

  “Why not? How can you sit there when there are people in need of help?” Dylan asked, showing more raw anger than I had seen from him in a while.

  “There are knights. They warned us that if we helped the grocer, we’d be taken away, too.”

  “We’ll risk it,” Sir Dagonet said, spurring his horse on once again.

  We all followed suit. I was amazed at the cowardice of these people, that they could just let some knights come in, kidnap their neighbors, and do nothing about it.

  As we approached the last building in the street, Scai jumped off our horse before I had even pulled it to a full stop. I followed her as she ran to grab the bridles of the horses of all three men. Dylan and Sir Dagonet drew their swords as they dismounted. Aron approached barehanded, but ready for a fight.

  Three knights were struggling with two people, trying to pull them from the shop. The people, a man and a woman, were not only not cooperating, they were also putting up a good fight. While two of the knights each attempted to hold on to one person, the third knight was busy knocking down objects that flew at him and the other knights.

  Clouds sped in, coating the sky with gray. A heavy rain began to fall, turning the dirt road into a muddy mess.

  “Dylan!” I swore under my breath.

  “That’s not helping, Dylan,” Sir Dagonet said, pausing before he strode purposefully toward the knights.

  “It’s not me!” Dylan protested.

  Sir Dagonet turned and looked back. “Not me either,” Scai said quickly.

  “You know not to look at me,” I said, before he could even look my way.

  He nodded and turned back to the couple attempting to fight off the knights.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Believe they might not want to go with you,” Sir Dagonet said, approaching the knights.

  They paused for only the briefest moment when they caught sight of the men coming toward them.

  “We have been charged with removing all witches to Saerdbury. You were told to stay away,” the knight who was batting off the flying objects said with a clear threat in his voice.

  “Don’t listen very well, don’t you know?” Sir Dagonet answered, his face perfectly serious.

  “Well, you’d better. These people are witches, old man. Can’t you see what they’re doing?” the other knight said, while trying to control the woman.

  “I do see, wot, wot? Ma’am, the rain’s not going to make this any easier, if you don’t mind?”

  “Not me,” she ground out.

  She lost her grip on the door jam and got pulled out of the shop. Behind her was a man whose arms were being held behind him. His eyes were on the sky, as was all of his attention, even as he struggled to get himself free of the knight’s hold.

  “Let him go,” Dylan commanded the knight.

  “You would do better to mind your own business, unless you want to go with them?” the knight said, hardly sparing a glance for Dylan.

  Aron, who’d been hanging back from the other two, sprinted into a run, barreling into the knight who’d been fighting off the flying objects. He caught the man off guard and the two went smashing to the ground. At such close quarters, the knight couldn’t get to his sword. Aron took advantage of this and started pummeling the knight with his fists. What he lacked in magical power, Aron certainly made up for in sheer physical strength and nerve.

  The knight holding on to the man did some quick movements behind the fellow and then shoved him back into the shop before pulling out his own sword. I could hear an “oomph” as the fellow hit something and then fell to the ground. The rain stopped.

  As the knight turned to face Dylan, he paused his attack. “Dylan!”

  Dylan also stopped and took a good look at the knight. “Patric?”

  “It would be you to come to the aid of these stupid Vallen.” The knight sneered. “Always standing up for the weak and pitiful. Do you feel their pain?” he said, in a mocking, nasty tone.

  “No. Thanks to you giving me a beating every time I felt the pain of others, I can block that out now. You want to feel it?” Dylan ended with a snarl.

  “You just try to make me feel anything,” Patric answered, even as he attacked.

  Dylan parried and began returning blow for blow.

  I didn’t know who this Patric fellow was, but I needed Dylan to bring his fight off to the side a little so that I could get to the man who been thrown backward.

  Sir Dagonet was still engaged in his light banter with the knight who was holding on to the woman with one hand and drawing his sword with his other. I knew that fight wouldn’t last long. Sir Dagonet would have his opponent on the ground or dead within minutes—unless the old knight played it careful so as to not hurt the woman. That was a possibility, but there didn’t seem to be any way to get the knight to let her go.

  Scai came to the woman’s rescue just as Dylan and Patric moved far enough away from the shop door to let me dart through. I paused to watch for a moment as Scai approached the woman from the other side. She must have said something to her mentally, for the woman focused on Scai. She gave a short nod and then seemed to take a big breath before dropping to the ground. The knight couldn’t both hold her up and fight Sir Dagonet. He let go of the woman. She immediate scrambled to her feet and got out of the way of the flying swords.

  “Oh! Well done,” I couldn’t help but comment.

  I slipped inside the shop and found the man lying on his side, his arms tied behind his back. His head was bleeding from where he had hit a table.

  I squatted next to him, gently brushing his hair out of his face. His eyes blinked open, but they were hazy as if he couldn’t quite focus correctly. “Madeline?”

  “No. My name is Bridget. I’m going to heal you, is that all right?”

  The man groaned, “My hands.”

  “Oh, yes, of course.” His hands were freed within a minute. Luckily the knight hadn’t had time to make the knot very tight and the rope came lose easily.

  With his arms untied, the man was able to roll onto his back. I tore off a bit of my shift to wipe away the blood that was pouring from a gash on his head. I then placed my hand over the wound. “This is going to get a little hot, but then you’ll be all right.”

  The man just closed his eyes.

  I concentrated, reaching out with my magic to make sure his skull wasn’t cracked. I then used my fire to close the wound. He gave a brief cry of pain as I healed him, but when I quickly cooled the wound, he calmed again.

  “Better?” I asked, as he took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly.

  He opened his eyes again. This time they were much clearer and looked at me with intelligence. “Yes. Thank you.”

  I smiled. I stood up and then helped the man to his feet.

  “That’s powerful magic you have,” he said, awe lacing through his words.

  With a shrug, I said, “I do what I can.”

  “You could get into serious trouble with a skill like that.”

  “Or do a lot of good,” I countered.

  He nodded. “As long as you’re not caught.” His comment must have reminded him of their situation for he suddenly shouted, “Madeline!” and started for the door.

  I grabbed his arm before he bolted out into the middle of the fights going on just outside. “She’s all right. She’s with my sister.”

  The man Aron had been fighting was on the ground. Aron was a few steps beyond him, watching Dylan fighting with this fellow he apparently knew. I, too, turned to watch the fight, but out of the corner of my eye a gray shape suddenly loomed large. My arm was grabbed and I was yanked out of the shop.

  “You, don’t touch her,” Aron snarled.

  Aron sent the knight flying into the building, his head bouncing off the brick wall with a crack.

  “Are you all right?” Aron asked, sliding a hand feathering down my arm, the same hand that was just used to nearly deadly purposes.

  Goose bumps sprang up all over my body and
chills of pleasure zipped through my blood.

  I glanced back at the knight. He was out cold.

  “Yes, thank you,” I said, looking up into Aron’s concerned eyes.

  He gave me a little smile and then turned back to watch Dylan once again as if nothing had happened. I couldn’t take my eyes from him. He had amazing strength and reflexes. There was no doubt in my mind that if I was with Aron, I would be well protected.

  The man Sir Dagonet had been fighting crumpled into a heap on the ground.

  I moved over to him, careful to not get in the way of Dylan’s fight. “Is he dead?” I asked, looking down at the knight next to Sir Dagonet.

  “Will be unless you want to do something, don’t you know?” Sir Dagonet said grimly.

  “Should I?”

  “Suppose you should. Tie him up first, though,” the old knight suggested.

  I nodded and went back toward the shop to get the rope that had been used to tie the grocer. He’d already picked it up off the floor and handed it out to me. “Thank you,” I said, taking it from him.

  I gave it to Sir Dagonet to do the honors. Tying up a man didn’t appeal to me. I’d much rather see to his wounds.

  Sir Dagonet had done a good job of slicing the man open. His belly was split and organs were spilling out. I wasn’t sure I could do anything to help him. If I had more light and more time, perhaps I could put everything back, stop the bleeding inside of him and then knit his skin closed again, but as it was, I didn’t think I could save him.

  I looked up at Sir Dagonet. “It would take time and a lot of work,” I told him.

  “Not worth it then, wot?” the old knight asked.

  “I don’t know. He’ll die if I don’t do anything, but he may even if I do. You did a good job on him, sir.”

  “He deserves to die,” the man from the shop spat. “He tried to capture my wife and me—haul us off to wherever they’re taking witches. Or kill us.”

  I stood up again. I hated seeing anyone die; I didn’t care if they were bad or good. No one deserved that. The thought made me go to the man’s head. I knelt down next to him. He looked up at me, a pleading looking in his eyes.

  “You’re just going to let me die,” he said. His voice was deep and rough and filled with intense pain.

  “I don’t have a choice. You’ve been injured too badly,” I told him. “But you don’t have to be in pain. Shall I make it go away?”

  “With what?” the man asked, suddenly afraid.

  “Magic.”

  He tried to move away from me, but only caused more of his intestines to spill out from his wound. He cried out.

  “I can make you more comfortable. Do you want me to?” I asked again.

  Tears were now streaming down the man’s face. “No. I don’t want you to touch me, you filthy witch,” he said, his voice little more than a growl.

  I sighed. I wasn’t hurt or angry. Just sad. I hated seeing people in pain. This man was clearly not only in pain from his wound, but his thoughts were cutting into him as well.

  “Very well,” I said, standing up again.

  “You’re just going to leave me?” he asked.

  “That’s what you said you wanted. I offered you help and you spurned it.”

  “I… I…” the man didn’t complete the thought before his last breath escaped from his lips and he went still.

  I closed my eyes against the burning tears there. When I opened them again, they were gone. I reached down and closed the man’s eyes to stop him from staring at me so accusingly.

  “Nothing you could do,” Sir Dagonet said, patting my shoulder.

  “No,” I agreed. It didn’t make it any easier though.

  Even the man from the shop was silent before we all turned back to watch Dylan who was still fighting. The knight was clearly good, but he also seemed to be trying to cheat. Every now and then he would reach out with his foot to try and trip Dylan or he would come in close and try to knock him back. Dylan, however, always seemed to be one step ahead, ready for anything.

  “It won’t work, Patric. I know all of your tricks,” Dylan said, a little smile on his face.

  “I taught you too well,” the other knight acknowledged.

  “You didn’t teach me anything, except to be wary of people like you,” Dylan answered.

  “Can’t say I like this fellow,” Sir Dagonet said quietly to me. “Doesn’t fight fair, don’t you know?”

  “No, I can see that. Isn’t there anything we can do?” I asked.

  “Is that allowed?” Aron asked, coming up to join us.

  “No,” Sir Dagonet answered definitively. “Don’t like it, wot, wot?”

  “I don’t either,” Aron said. He strode over to where the two were fighting. He dodged Dylan’s blade and then the other guy’s. And then, without warning, grabbed the other man’s shoulder swung him around and smashed his fist into his face sending the man flying into the ground.

  “What? You can’t do that!” Dylan panted, clearly shocked at what Aron had just done.

  “Just did. I don’t like this fellow. He cheats,” Aron answered.

  Dylan started to laugh. Out of breath from his fight and laughing, he was forced to bend over and support his upper body with his hands on his knees.

  “Well, good,” Aron said, giving Dylan a smile and a pat on his back. “Let’s get him tied up with the other one.” He didn’t need to wait for Dylan, who gave a cough and then a few last chuckles as he put away his sword and moved to help.

  Scai ran up with a rope and then stood back while Dylan and Aron tied the man up.

  “Who is he, Dylan?” I asked, unable to control my curiosity any longer.

  Dylan tied off the knot and looked up at me. “My foster brother, Patric.”

  “Your brother?” I said, horror burning through me. “You fought your own brother?”

  “Calm yourself, Bridget,” Dylan said, standing up. “He’s not related by blood. We grew up together. He helped train me, taught me how to be a knight.”

  “Taught you how to cheat and told you to suppress your emotions,” Sir Dagonet huffed angrily.

  “Yes, but he also taught me how to fight properly and sometimes a knight should be able to control his emotions and be able to block out those of others, especially when one is as susceptible as I am.”

  “Harrumph,” the old knight said, clearly not agreeing.

  “Sir Dagonet, if I had allowed myself to be open to emotions when I’d gone onto the battlefield at Holme, I would have been overcome and completely useless. You know that.”

  The knight pursed his lips. “Controlling and blocking emotions for a specific purpose is one thing, suppressing them and not using your natural abilities is another. If you had been trained properly…”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt,” the man whom we’d rescued said, stepping into the conversation gingerly, “but my wife and I are very grateful for what you’ve done. We’d like to thank you by offering you food and shelter for the night.”

  We all turned to him as he stood there with his arm around his wife’s shoulders. She was clearly happy to be in his embrace and nodded with enthusiasm. “Please, say you will.”

  “Thank you…” Dylan started to say. He then paused to look at the rest of us, clearly asking if we should take advantage of the hospitality being offered to us.

  “You are so kind. We would be happy to accept, only…” I jumped in.

  “We need to decide what to do with these two,” Scai finished, indicating Dylan’s foster brother and the other knight who was just beginning to regain consciousness.

  “We can put them in the stable, I suppose, and then decide what to do with them in the morning,” the man offered. “I don’t know who we should turn them over to. No one knows…” his voice trailed off.

  “That you’re Vallen?” Scai finished with a gentleness to her voice.

  The couple turned to her in surprise, their eyes immediately shifting to see if there was anyone nearby
who might have heard her. “Yes. You are, too, aren’t you?” the woman, Madeline, asked in a whisper.

  “Yes. We are, wot, wot?” Sir Dagonet laughed.

  “But no one in this town knew that you were?” I asked.

  “Well, someone had to have known to send these witch-hunters down here after you,” Aron pointed out.

  Both the man and his wife looked very worried at this.

  “No one knew,” the man objected.

  “At least we didn’t think so,” his wife said, turning toward him.

  “We do what we can to help the people, as is our way. Maybe someone…”

  “When they heard that the knights were looking for witches, they pointed them in your direction, wot, wot?” Sir Dagonet said, shaking his head.

  “Why would anyone have done such a thing?” the woman asked. Her eyes became glassy with tears.

  “They were probably frightened of the knights,” Scai said, trying to console her.

  “They were told to stay away while the knights took you,” Dylan added. “They threatened anyone who would help you.”

  The woman’s hand moved to cover her mouth. The man just shook his head sadly. “So now everyone knows.”

  “Or they know that you were suspected of being witches,” I said.

  The man shrugged. “It’s the same thing.”

  “What will we do?” Madeline asked, turning to her husband for an answer.

  “Well, nothing tonight,” Sir Dagonet said with finality.

  “We’ll just put these two into your stable for the night,” Dylan said.

  “There must be others,” Scai said, looking at the men.

  “Why do you say that, Scai?” Aron asked.

  “Because the townspeople were threatened to stay away. There must have been another knight left behind to maintain the threat,” she answered. She paused, looking at the couple, and then said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know your names.”

  “Oh! I’m Jonathan and this is my wife, Madeline,” the man answered, giving them a small bow.

  The woman curtsied and we all responded in kind.