by Chuck Black
A FRIEND AND A FOE
In the morning, Carliss set their course for Salisburg. Though it was in the opposite direction from Moorue, it still was the closest haven. Besides this, she knew that her parents and her brother Koen would never forgive her if she embarked on a mission like this without their knowledge.
“My parents’ farm isn’t far off our route,” Salina said. “We need food, and I would like to gather a few things before moving on.”
“As long as we don’t delay too long. I want to make Salisburg by tomorrow night.”
Carliss tried to engage Salina in conversation as they rode, but her friend seemed too oppressed by the thoughts of her family’s captivity. Thus they rode in near silence. Without the task of tracking, their return trip was much faster, but they couldn’t make Salina’s farm by nightfall. They were forced to camp a half-day’s ride shy of their destination.
They rose early and began their final leg home. By late morning, Carliss began to sense that they were being followed. At one point she stopped the horses and listened.
“What’s wrong, Carliss?” Salina asked.
Carliss held her finger to her lips and scanned left, right, behind, and in front of them. Her sharp eyes just could not pick up what her instincts told her was a stalker. After a moment of silence that was interrupted only by the natural sounds of the forest, Carliss sighed.
“Nothing, I guess. I just can’t help feeling like we are being watched.” Carliss looked at Salina. “Keep a sharp eye with me, will you?”
Salina nodded, and they continued on their way. By early afternoon they arrived at Salina’s farm.
“I’m going to grab a few things from the house,” Salina said as she dismounted. “Would you check the barn to see if there’s grain for the horses?”
Carliss dismounted and walked Rindy to the barn. As they neared, Rindy seemed agitated.
“Whoa, girl,” Carliss said soothingly. “You feel it too, don’t you?”
Carliss stopped and looked all around them again. She focused her eyes as if she were hunting deer, but once again, nothing caught her eye. She was eager to be on their way back to Salisburg and wondered if the encounter with marauders had unnerved her more than she realized.
Carliss tied Rindy to a post outside the barn, opened the doors, and went in, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the dark interior. All the stalls were empty—the marauders would have made sure of that. She spotted a large pile of hay in the far corner and walked over. A small creature in the shadows scurried for cover.
“Carliss!”
A deep male voice boomed through the barn. Carliss jumped, then whipped around to see who had entered the barn after her.
“Dalton?” Carliss was shocked to see the man who had caused her no small amount of inner turmoil standing before her at the entrance of the barn. His handsome face bore a look of alert concern, and his sword was drawn as if he were ready to face some vicious enemy.
He was a hero to many already, and this dauntless picture of him did nothing to assuage her thoughts of him. Carliss’s heart stumbled as his familiar blue eyes met hers, somehow causing both joy and despair. “What are you doing here?”
Sir Dalton smiled and breathed a deep sigh of relief. “All the region is looking for you, Carliss. Where have you been?”
He began to walk toward her. Carliss put her hands on her hips, not sure how to respond to Dalton’s mild scolding. She opened her mouth to speak as he came to stand before her.
“I—”
Dalton held up his hand to shush her and then froze. His eyes darted to and fro as if trying to spot something above her. Carliss began to turn and look for herself, but Dalton grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him as he swiped at the air above her head with his sword. A hideous shriek filled the air, and Carliss shuddered at the sound. Dalton used his body to shield Carliss from whatever evil creature had come to attack them. Carliss saw a blur of blue and orange out of the corner of her eye and then heard Dalton scream.
Carliss freed herself from Dalton’s protective grip and spun around just in time to catch a brief glimpse of the creature that had latched itself onto Dalton’s back. It seemed to be a kind of lizard, nearly three feet in length. Dalton fell to the ground and rolled about, trying to free himself from the thing, but it had sunk its teeth deep into his shoulder.
At first, Carliss could hardly believe her eyes, for the lizard’s skin color was fluctuating wildly, at times even taking on the colors of Dalton’s tunic. The creature had six legs and two antennalike structures on its head. Before she could react, sharp barbs at the tips of the antennae whipped forward and struck deep into Dalton’s neck. He screamed in pain.
Carliss quickly drew her long knife and made a swipe at the creature, but its speed was beyond anything she had ever seen before. It released its bite, hissed loudly, and streaked across the barn floor to the wall. Though it was large, it moved so fast she had to work hard to track it. She reached for her bow as the creature scurried straight up the barn wall and vanished.
“What in the…”
Carliss hardly dared take her eyes off the wall, but Dalton moaned as he struggled to lift himself to his knees. She knelt before him, trying to scan the rafters at the same time.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
Dalton lifted his head and brought his hand from his neck. It was covered in blood. He looked at Carliss, and she nearly gasped. His face was white and his eyes were glazed over. He looked as though he might faint at any moment. She laid her bow down, grabbed his arm, and lifted him to his feet.
“Let’s get out of here.” She lifted his arm over her shoulder, and helped him stagger out of the barn. She kept a constant watch all around them until they were clear of the barn, where Dalton fell to his knees and then crumpled to the ground, his eyes rolling back in his head.
“Dalton… Dalton!” She shook him, but he seemed delirious. Carliss glanced back into the barn and saw a wisp of movement near the door. She reached for her bow but realized it was still lying on the floor in the barn. She sheathed her knife and drew her sword, ready for another attack.
“Salina!” she called toward the house without taking her eyes from the barn.
There it was again! Carliss blinked to convince herself she had indeed seen the creature. This side of the doorway was shaded from the direct sunlight, but the wood at the top of the barn door on the right side seemed to turn liquid for an instant. A wave of dark-grained wood flowed down to the ground and stopped. Carliss slowly moved her head from side to side and could just see a swell on the bottom plank of the door.
Is this possible? she asked herself. Carliss had seen animals blend in with the surrounding forest so perfectly that only a trained and experienced eye could spot them. She had even heard that some animals had the ability to change color to match their surroundings, but this creature’s abilities far exceeded anything she had heard of or experienced.
Carliss was ten paces away. She slowly advanced with her sword before her in a hanging guard stance. With each step she took, she began to convince herself that her mind was playing tricks on her, for even a normally colored lizard would surely bulge out much farther from the plank than this bowed piece of wood.
Two more steps, and still there was no movement. She was not close enough to see whether the bulge on the wood was indeed unnatural. She pulled back her sword to strike just as two yellow eyes opened wide. The lizard shrieked, and Carliss sliced at the wood where it sat. The lizard had flattened its body to less than a third of its normal thickness but now swelled to its normal shape in an instant. With unbelievable speed the creature leapt for Carliss, and she instantly threw herself backward out of the shade of the door and into the sunlit yard. Her arm flew up to stop the creature from landing on her face, and she readied herself for the same ugly fate that had befallen Dalton.
The lizard landed on her chest, shrieked, then launched itself back toward the shade of the barn. Carliss dropped her sword, drew h
er long knife, and waited for another attack. Her heart was pounding hard, and the rush within her muscles almost hurt. Amazed that the lizard had fled from her, she searched the shaded outside wall of the barn and finally spotted the same subtle movement along the base that she had seen on the barn door. It was traveling rapidly away from her toward the forested area behind the barn.
Carliss quickly sheathed her knife, drew an arrow from her quiver, and ran into the barn to retrieve her bow. She was already setting the nock of the arrow into the bowstring as she turned to exit the barn. She took three paces and then froze. Her mind and eyes had already adapted to hunting this unusual creature, and now she easily spotted another subtle bulge in the wood just above the barn door. She pulled back the bow just as Salina appeared in the doorway.
“Carliss, what’s going on!”
Another lizard swelled and shrieked.
“Watch out, Salina!” Carliss released her arrow. The creature whipped its tail and bolted from its vantage point. The arrow sank deep into the wood where it had just been.
Salina screamed and ducked as the second lizard raced down the door post, following the first out of the barn. Carliss quickly drew another arrow and ran out of the barn after the creature. As before, she spotted the movement along the base of the barn, toward the trees. The lizard moved in punctuated bursts of speed, pausing every ten paces or so. Each time it paused, it took on the color and texture of its background.
Salina yelled and drew her sword. She followed Carliss as she ran down the length of the barn.
Carliss reached the end of the barn just as the lizard scurried up the height of the barn to the roof and then leapt fifteen feet to the nearest tree branch.
No! Carliss thought, realizing that the animal would be virtually undetectable in an endless sea of potential natural camouflage.
Carliss stood perfectly still, watching the branch of the tree jostle as the lizard ran down its length to the trunk. Slowly she lifted her bow and fitted another arrow, then drew back the string, and waited.
“What is it?” Salina asked again, arriving near Carliss’s right arm.
Carliss ignored her. She focused on the last subtle movement she saw and then pinpointed that spot for a target. She let the bowstring escape from her fingers, and the arrow flew straight to its unseen target.
Thud! The arrow hit the tree trunk. For an instant, Carliss thought she had missed again, but then the shriek of the dying lizard pierced the air.
Carliss ran to the base of the tree. Just above her head, the three-foot lizard flailed on the shank of Carliss’s arrow, shrieking in protest. It was a hideous sound that hurt Carliss’s ears, but it only lasted a moment. Soon the lifeless form of a blue and orange lizard hung skewered to the tree.
Salina joined her, eyes wide in amazement.
“I don’t know what it is, but it’s not from here, that’s for sure,” Carliss jabbed the lizard with her knife to make sure it was dead. Satisfied, she worked her arrow out of the trunk and carried it and the creature back to the barn. She laid it on the ground near Dalton and knelt beside him. Salina knelt on the opposite side.
“Isn’t this Sir Dalton? From the—”
“It’s him,” Carliss answered quickly as she gently lifted his head. “Dalton!”
Slowly he opened his eyes. “My lady,” he said with a smile, “why did you leave me?” But his speech was slurred, and his eyes began to roll back in his head again. The two places where the creature’s antennae had pierced his neck were swollen and red.
Carliss looked at Salina. “He’s already reacting to the bite—or the sting, or whatever it is. I’ve never seen poison work so quickly… It must be strong. We’ve got to find help for him fast.”
She retrieved a cloth from her pack on Rindy and bandaged Dalton’s neck.
“But we need to—my fam—” Salina began. Then she looked at Dalton, swallowed, and said only, “Salisburg is too far away. Pembrook is a small village, but it is just northwest of here. Perhaps someone there can help.”
Carliss considered the suggestion. She wanted to get Dalton home, but Salina was right. They were still nearly a day’s ride away from Salisburg. And by the way Dalton was reacting to the lizard’s poison, he might not have that much time.
“All right. Help me get him on his horse.”
Carliss and Salina worked hard to get Dalton mounted, but he could not keep himself upright.
“Hold him there for a moment.” Carliss ran to find a gunnysack. Wrestling the dead lizard into the sack, she secured it to her pack on Rindy. Then she mounted up behind Dalton and held his chest while Salina handed the reins to her. Salina grabbed Rindy’s reins to lead him, and they set off toward Pembrook.
Carliss’s mind raced as she struggled to keep Dalton balanced. She found it difficult to keep from thinking the worst. And even though she knew that Dalton belonged to Lady Brynn, she could not cut the strings of her heart that seemed to draw her to him. Watching him slip away was nearly unbearable.
Please help us, my Prince, she whispered as they continued their maddeningly slow pace northwest to Pembrook.
THE OAF
Carliss, Salina, and Dalton arrived in Pembrook within an hour. It was indeed a small village. Carliss estimated there were only a few hundred people. She knew the odds were slim that they would find someone here who could help Dalton. She nearly turned about to ride straight for Salisburg, but Salina insisted they try.
They rode to the only tavern in the town and dismounted. Carliss was grateful to rest her arms. Salina helped her get Dalton off his horse and position him sitting against the wall. She then went into the tavern. Dalton slumped to the side, and Carliss steadied him so he wouldn’t fall. She knelt in front of him, then lifted his chin and peered into his face.
“Don’t give up, Dalton,” she whispered.
Dalton moaned, and his head rolled to the left and right. His eyes opened halfway.
“My love,” he murmured, “I’ve come for you. Let’s ride off togeth…”
Carliss stared at him, stunned. He was clearly not himself, but hearing him say such things still rattled her.
“No one here can help.” Salina had appeared in the doorway. “How is he?”
“Ah… not very well. He’s quite delirious and babbling nonsense.”
Carliss looked up and down the main thoroughfare. The usual activity of a town filled the lane. A few small shops were open, and people were moving about their business.
Across the lane and up a few buildings, Carliss saw four children taunting some poor animal cowering in the corner. They all had sticks and took turns poking it.
“We need to find someone to help him now.” Carliss looked up at Salina. She was worried.
“I’ll check with a couple of the shops to see if they know of anyone.” Salina hurried off.
“Please stop,” Carliss heard a deep voice plead. She looked more closely at the children and was amazed to see that the animal they had been poking was actually a full-grown man hunkered down into a protective ball. The children just laughed and began striking the man with their sticks.
“Oafy, Oafy, Oafy,” the children called.
Carliss hated to leave Dalton even for a moment, but malice toward the lowly was something she could not stand by and watch. She stood and began walking toward the scene. She saw the man cover his head with his hands, trying to keep the sticks from hitting him. The children renewed their torment and taunting.
“Stop it!” Carliss quickened her pace.
The children stopped and gazed at her, seemingly perplexed. The oldest imp, a lad of about eleven, lifted his stick to strike once again. Carliss glared hard at the boy.
“Do it again,” she said sternly, “and I’ll use that stick to paddle you!”
The tormented man looked up just as the imp smacked him hard in the head with his stick. Carliss sprinted toward them, and the four children threw down their sticks and ran, laughing all the way, shouting, “Oafy, Oafy, Oafy.�
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The man covered his head again as Carliss reached him. His brown rags barely covered his body, and his hair was a wild mess. A worn-out broom lay beside him.
“Are you all right?” Carliss asked gently, kneeling beside him.
The man slowly opened his eyes. He lifted his hand from the place where the last stick had hit him, and blood dripped down his forehead.
“Please stop,” the man pleaded.
Carliss leaned closer. “They are gone. They won’t hurt you anymore.”
The man carefully looked up. His face was filthy, and his eyes seemed to tilt low to the outside, giving him the appearance of a beaten puppy. He looked about for the children. Carliss smiled and touched his arm. The man was large, and she had a hard time imagining him being frightened by the meanspirited children.
The man looked into Carliss’s eyes. He smiled, but she could tell his mind was not fully there. He didn’t even seem to notice the blood trickling down his forehead.
“Oafy sweeps,” he said, then looked about for his broom.
Carliss reached for it and handed it to him. He smiled and nodded. When he stood up, Carliss rose up with him. His back did not seem to straighten fully, but even so he towered over Carliss. He began to sweep the walkway where he had been crouching as if he had just returned from a break.
“Will you be all right now?” Carliss asked.
The man smiled and nodded while making a goofy, gleeful sound with his throat.
Carliss returned the smile, then turned to go back to Dalton. She could see that he had fallen over and was now lying along the wall of the tavern. A man and a woman walked by, shaking their heads in disgust. Carliss hurried over to them.
“Excuse me,” she said, interrupting their walk, “this man is injured and—”
The man and woman snorted and then hurried on their way. Carliss was becoming agitated by this town and by their lack of success in finding help. Salina returned and shook her head.