Knight of Swords: The Swords Trilogy

by Curran-Ross, Sara

  Jason knelt down next to the magnificent beast’s head and gestured to its throat. It had been torn out. ‘Juliet did this,’ he told me. He shook his head. ‘We can’t drink the blood of an animal. It poisons us. There are only two ways we may be killed; by the removal of our heads or taking blood from an animal. Even a small amount makes us ill. Consuming more brings death.’

  I looked at him quickly, filled with alarm.

  ‘The corpse is still fresh, she can’t be far away from us. It explains why she has slowed down. We have to get to her, Nathan. The blood from one animal will not satisfy her, she will crave more. If she drinks from another, we will lose our Queen.’

  My anxiety was acute. I was not the only one to feel such angst. It pervaded the thoughts of my men, stirring their hearts so much that I felt the pressure of our combined distress in my mind. Each of my knights was desperate to find their new Queen.

  The other men crowded around the fallen animal. They debated what should be done next to find Juliet, but I already knew what to do. I closed my eyes to undertake a concentrated effort to make contact with Juliet’s consciousness. Perhaps she was weak enough for me to pass through her barriers.

  At last, I found myself inside her mind, but she did not seem to have detected my presence. I saw the world through her eyes, becoming fearful at what the vision revealed.

  She stood alone at the edge of the forest in which we travelled. She was studying a path which led over a small bridge across a river, into a village beyond. She was waiting for something. Her sight was disturbed, as though she was under the spell of an opium stupor. Undoubtedly it was an effect of having consumed the animal blood. Juliet sank to her knees in the snow, exhausted. I felt her nausea tinged with fear, but her thoughts were unclear, jumbled with images. One scene played over and over in her mind with the tempo of a fever. It was a vision that Sebastian had forced her to endure.

  Juliet had sensed Sebastian in her mind as she travelled in search of the women. It was he who had directed her sensitivity to the cries of the imprisoned women within her dreamscape. When she challenged him as to the reason, he had beckoned with a long bony finger for her to follow him into a vision. Here, he promised, would be answers. He would also reveal a way for her to ease the torment of her subjects and set the women free. It was too much of a temptation for Juliet to resist.

  In the vision, Sebastian appeared to Juliet in his full form. For the first time, I clearly saw the face of my tormentor. Sebastian was a tall, thin man with little flesh on his bones. I already knew those details, but I was not braced for the gruesome nature of his facial features. Dressed from head to foot in the black garb of a clergyman, his face was long and pointed. His complexion was a sickly yellow, revealing his bad health. His cheekbones and eyes were hollow as though he had been starved. He wore his hair long. It was withered black and grey. He suffered from hairless patches that bared his greasy scalp. What was left of its lustre stuck flat to the sides of his face, crowding his features. His gray eyes, pained and scarred, were full of lively lust as he gazed upon Juliet.

  I saw how she had recoiled when he reached for her hands with his dirty fingers. His lips were swollen, sore, and blistered. He continually ran his lithe tongue over their surface to infuse them with moisture. I shuddered as he bent his stooping form to kiss Juliet’s hands, holding them tight when she struggled to free them. Her nausea and fear grew in unified strength when his lips made contact with her skin. He truly was a monstrous figure of a man who would have been better suited to the realm of dark fairytales.

  I felt bile rise in my throat. I could not bear any man’s touch upon my Queen, least of all Sebastian’s. I was hot with rage, vainly attempting to content myself with the knowledge that he did not physically have her. He had merely appeared to her in a vision. But I could not rest.

  Again, Juliet had tried to pull her hands free, fearful of the sudden hold he had upon her in their shared vision. But, just as I had done in her dreamscape, he kept tight hold of one hand. Juliet’s surroundings spun and blurred around her as he began to lead her from where she stood. Suddenly, she found herself in a room within a small castle home. In the middle of the room sat a long rectangular table with chairs. I had the distinct impression that men would sit around it in conference, discussing business at hand. Sebastian swept up a dimly lit gas lamp from a small trestle table at the side and led Juliet to a wooden door at the end of the room. Reaching into his pocket, he took out a long metal key and unlocked the door. It opened outwards to reveal an enclosed stone spiral staircase. Far below, the distant heartbreaking sound of weeping women could be heard.

  ‘Come, my Queen, I have much to show you. Then I will advise you what you must do,’ he told her. Juliet did not react at the title he gave her. I inferred she was now aware of her identity. Perhaps she had learnt it from Sebastian, or listened in to my conversation with Gabriel.

  His limp hampered their descent, slowing their pace down the winding stairs. I could feel the tightness of fear inside Juliet as she listened to the weeping grow louder, but her will was firm, regal. She was Queen of her people. She must remain strong, even when they were in distress and calling for her help. It was her royal obligation to answer their call. She would do all in her power to save her subjects, including sacrificing herself. It was admirable. I applauded her fortitude but I would not tolerate her sacrifice. I would not allow it.

  At the bottom of the steps Sebastian unlocked another thick oak door. They stepped through into the dungeons. The atmosphere was warm and suffocating. The cries had grown louder still. They had entered a wide room that housed the untidy living quarters of a jailer. He sat at a small table, drinking. It was a strange unexpected sight to behold. Sebastian led Juliet under an archway and down a narrow, worn brick corridor. Candles and fire torches lit their way, flickering dark, foreboding shadows across their path. Juliet did her best to peer into the barred windows of the dungeon cells as they passed, but she could not see the faces of the weeping women behind the locked wooden doors. Sebastian tugged sharply on her arm pulling her to a door at the end of the corridor.

  They passed through into a large room brightly lit by gas lamps. The room bore wood panelling on the walls and a wooden floor. It gave the impression of being inside a fashionable house. Juliet felt a moment of comfort from the light surroundings, but it was short lived. The atmosphere was spoiled by a sharply pungent, clinical smell. In the centre of the room there was an operating table with a helpless naked female victim lying upon it. Juliet’s fear for the woman was high. I tensed, believing I was to witness yet another murder.

  Juliet’s hand flew to her mouth in terror as she flinched from Sebastian. He put a finger to his lips to hush her before pulling her against himself. He held her from behind, restraining her arms by her sides. ‘Watch, your majesty.’

  Tears of anger and frustration spilt from Juliet’s eyes as she watched the woman begin to squirm with fear. The woman appeared drowsy, subdued. Her struggles were weak and her eyes rolled. She had no chance of escape, for iron bonds were clasped around her arms and ankles.

  There was a man preparing operating instruments at the side of the table. His shirt sleeves were rolled up. Despite his ordinary garb, the mask he wore over his face marked him as a surgeon. Across the room, a frail middle aged man and his daughter sat on two dining chairs. They were well dressed in expensive clothes, giving the impression of wealth. By his white pallor the gentleman appeared on the verge of death. In front of them, a small table was elegantly set with silver tableware and small candelabra, as though for dinner. They sat calmly, each patiently sipping tea from a china cup and saucer, watching the proceedings without emotion. The civilised scene of taking tea only made the horror of what was to come starker in its contrast.

  The surgeon moved towards the woman on the table. She whimpered and cried helplessly, watching the surgeon’s approach with terror. Juliet began to furiously struggle in Sebastian’s grip, tearfully begging him to make th
e surgeon stop. But Sebastian pulled her tight against him. He cruelly laughed at her pleading, revelling at the hold he had on her luscious body.

  Without any hesitation, the surgeon raised his scalpel and cut deeply into the woman’s side. She screamed in agony with a piercing pitch. Had there been any windows, they would surely have shattered. The surgeon callously ignored her screams as he made a second cut. He folded back the section of flesh, and inserted his hand into the bloody mess that protruded from it to run in a pool on the table. Juliet sobbed and cried, clutching at Sebastian’s hands in a frantic effort to break free, desperate to go to the woman’s aid. I could feel her attempting to inflict injury upon the surgeon with the power of her mind, trying to stop the whole barbaric process. Yet her power was mute. Sebastian laughed again.

  ‘My beautiful Queen, you cannot help her. Calm yourself. None of your gifts will work in this room. It is lined with iron. This metal is detrimental to our kind. It renders our gifts powerless, makes us weak and vulnerable. Do not tax yourself with effort. Now hush, my Queen, the best is yet to come.’

  The surgeon rummaged in the woman’s innards. Eventually he reached for his knife, inserting it into the wound to make another cut. Amidst the agonised cries of the woman, he pulled a kidney free from her body and held it high over her stomach. The surgeon viewed it critically as a male youth came to stand beside him, holding out a silver plate. The surgeon placed the organ upon it. The boy took it to the table where the young woman sat with her ailing father. He set it down in front of her and she cordially thanked him with a smile. I could not believe what I was witnessing.

  Swiftly, the young woman took up a knife and fork and began to cut the kidney into small pieces. Blood oozed from the glistening organ as she did so, covering the plate. She held a piece up to her father’s lips. He eagerly allowed her to place it in his mouth, chewing with relish before opening his mouth for another piece. She continued to feed him like a babe.

  Juliet was close to fainting.

  ‘What is this, Sebastian?’ she whispered, exhausted by her emotion.

  ‘This, my Queen,’ he gestured at the room with his hand, ‘. . . is where I save the lives of my flock and anyone who cares to offer the right price. The organs and blood of Taleians and hybrids, especially the females, can bring about the remission of serious disease in humans. Sometimes they can even be cured. The humans of this village gave me a place to live and bestowed their love upon me as their religious leader when my own people cast me out. But they were stricken with illness, a plague of leprosy. I found ways to help them combat their disease to repay them for their kindness. Now my fame is spreading.’

  ‘You are a vile, disgusting creature . . .’

  ‘Hush, do not try my patience, your majesty. I need more hybrid and Taleian women, but they are in so short a supply now. My brothers who wish to live amongst humans are competing with me in the business of healing. They seek to take advantage of human weakness to obtain power in their society, but I have something they don’t. I have you. A hybrid Queen’s healing is unique. She can cure any disease. Your wealth of powerful gifts will bring me many financial rewards. So, my beautiful Queen, I propose a trade that I wish you to consider. Come with me, I have something else to show you. Do not worry about the girl; she will be removed from here and allowed to heal so she may be used again.’

  Juliet was trembling when she followed Sebastian back out of the door. He turned left down a passageway. At the end of it she saw another cell. As they approached it, the sound of children happily playing could be heard. It seemed horribly out of place in the underground maze. Juliet’s body tightened with anxiety wondering what new terror she was about to face as Sebastian opened the door.

  They entered a large cobbled room full of ragged female children, barely lit by candlelight.

  The girls ran to hide in the shadows, whispering and giggling excitedly. There was no comfort in the room, not even beds of straw for them to sleep on, only the hard unforgiving floor. Yet they did not seem distressed by it. Sebastian called to them.

  ‘Come here my children and meet your Queen.’

  Slowly, obediently, the children came out of the shadows to gather around him. There must have been thirty of them. Although the people in the operating room had been unaware of Sebastian and Juliet’s presence, the children were party to Sebastian’s vision. He spoke to them kindly, as a father might do to his children. To my disgust, their pitiful dirt-stained faces looked upon him with love and respect.

  ‘This is your Queen, children. She has come to visit you.’ Once more they whispered and giggled. One small child of five protectively clutched a battered china doll. She eyed Juliet with wonder, but did not dare to move. Juliet was speechless.

  ‘Juliet, these are the daughters of Taleian and hybrid women who have mated with human males. They are yet to make the change, but when they do I will have new stock. I have had to take organs from a few already because of the shortage of hybrid women. Unfortunately, they were not yet able to survive. Until they complete their metamorphosis, they are not able to heal.’ He smiled, sweeping his arm around one of the children to hug her to his side.

  ‘You disgust me beyond all reason,’ Juliet told him with contempt. ‘I suspect their mothers were forced to bear these unfortunate children?’

  ‘Yes, many of them were, and continue to be. I must breed more. But, if you give yourself to me as my mate, and offer your body to cure those who come to me in need, I will set your little subjects free. I will also spare any others that are born. You must grant me rule of your power. If you refuse, the children will be forced to bear the same fate as their mothers. They will never see the light or know the joy of love.’ He paused allowing the terrible thought to sink deep into Juliet’s mind. Then he grinned widely, ‘Oh, and as a bonus, I will also kill your beloved Knight of Swords.’

  The relish of killing me was strong in his voice.

  She glared at him. ‘You will leave Nathan alone. I will give you everything you want if you keep to your word.’

  I fought to contain my anger as I viewed the final scenes of the vision.

  Sebastian’s cold, grey eyes deepened in colour. They betrayed his insatiable lust for Juliet, excited by her surrender. He kissed her hand once more.

  ‘Thank you, my Queen. I yearn for our mating. We will rule the world.’ He started to laugh.

  Juliet shuddered, pulling her hand away. This time he let her go, licking his lips as he watched her with desire. He could barely wait to have her beneath him.

  ‘You must leave to prepare yourself. I will meet you at the entrance to my village.’

  She nodded disconsolately and stepped back into the shadows to leave the vision.

  I called loudly to her as she sat in the snow waiting for Sebastian to appear at the gates to the village. ‘Juliet, you must not do this. I will help you to free them. I won’t give you up. I command you, listen to me. Stay where you are. I am not far from you.’ My voice was frantic, desperate to stop her.

  She sounded so weary and defeated in her response. Her pain for the children’s welfare was overwhelming. ‘I have no choice, Nathan. I must go. I am their Queen. Only I alone can help them. I must also keep you safe. Sebastian wishes to kill you.’

  It took all of my power to keep my temper. ‘My darling, he will not harm me. You are so weak. You must not drink the blood of animals; it is poison to our kind.’

  ‘Yes, I understand that now. How foolish I was, but I could not ignore the hunger. Sebastian will help me. Nathan, you must let me go.’

  I raised my voice, filling it with as much command as my station as Knight of Swords permitted. She would obey me. It was her duty to relent. ‘No. You will wait until I come for you. I won’t, I can’t, lose you to him or any other.’

  But her stubborn independence ensured she did not heed my words. ‘He is here, Nathan. I must go. I love you, always and forever. Never forget that. Promise you will look after the children.’

>   ‘Juliet, do not go. I command you.’ Again, she was to ignore me.

  ‘Look after my children, Nathan. Keep them safe.’

  She stood as the monster appeared at the edge of the village, accompanied by the brood of children. As he let them go, she advanced towards him, willingly taking his hand. The moment she touched him, my heart felt as though a knife had been run through it.

  Every man and animal present in the forest heard my roar of enraged, inconsolable grief.

  Chapter Ten

  The silence that settled over the forest bore an echo of defeat around my knights. I could not bear its weight or the intensity of my rage. Juliet would not escape me so easily. I would not allow that monster to defile her so she could keep me or any other safe. Yet, I feared we had little time before Sebastian joined them both as mates. I narrated all that had passed in the vision to my knights. It caused much consternation and debate as to what should be done. I voiced my intention that we should urgently continue our pursuit without further delay, but Gabriel spoke up, a note of caution in his tone.

  ‘Nathan, Juliet will be safe. We have more time than you think. She has been poisoned by animal blood. Sebastian will not perform the ritual until the poison has left her body. If he did, it would weaken his ailing health further. He won’t take the risk. The poison will take a few days, maybe longer, to clear from Juliet.’

  He paused to rest his hand on my shoulder as I shook my head, ‘I will not wait. I cannot.’

  ‘I understand Nathan, but Juliet is not just your mate, she is our Queen. We have all been waiting for her for a long time, some of us since the last Queen was murdered in sixteen fifty-one. We all feel the same as you, but she wants you to take care of the children. Our Queen has given us an order. We must obey it. The children must come first and she second.’

  I stared at him with distaste, but logic assured me his words were wise, his sense sound. His tense features visibly relaxed when I slowly nodded. I looked around at the branches of the trees heavily laden with snow, feeling the chill of a winter’s breeze on the air. ‘We must hurry and find them before they become lost in the forest. They are still human, and will die of the cold if we do not. Let us leave the horses here. We will make better haste running.’