Tersen tried to decide if they were telling the truth or moving to mental torture now. They can’t kill me so they are going to try to destroy my mind. Nobody is coming to rescue me. They made that up to have their fun with me. I am nothing more than a disposable jester to them. What has become of me? I am nothing short of pitiful now.
Tersen bawled for the next hour and starved in the dungeon level of the castle. He felt the tightness attack his chest and a heavy layer of sweat immediately coated his body. He started to see streaks of light and swirling colors until he passed out. A cold bucket of urine woke the former king up. He faded in and out of consciousness as three men took him down from the stretcher. Tersen didn’t know if he was dreaming when the torturers sat him down at a table with a plate of food in front of him. The plate contained large chunks of roasted meats. The usual feed was rotten carrot peels and brown lettuce that once was green. The torturers had made him eat an uncooked rat one day and seemed to take great pleasure in watching the starving albino struggle to eat the animal. The sweet taste of charred swine pleased the former king’s palate.
After the hearty meal, two roundsmen who looked more like boys scrubbed Tersen with wet rags, then toweled him clean. The two boys helped the weakened prisoner get into a tunic and hooded red cloak, made with thick material and sweeping to the ground. He started to feel like a king again as a serving man handed him a glass of red wine. He took a small sip and couldn’t remember a wine tasting so good before. Who is coming to my rescue? Who could it be? That’s a great shame about Neron, but I warned the boy about those disgusting activities. I guess not everyone is as understanding as I am. It’s time to recapture my lost crowns. Harolg and Kryen will be the first to die.
Harolg entered the room and said, “My, my, you look like a different man, or as much of a man that remains of you.”
Tersen asked, “Where is the person who is paying my way?”
Harolg smiled and responded, “I am so glad you asked. Said person waits outside the castle and can’t wait for you to be released.”
The young lord led Tersen to the main entrance of Castle Cuthbart. Tersen could hear the front gate starting to open. The sounds of straining ropes brought a slight smile to the former king’s face.
Tersen didn’t see anyone except armored guards on either side of the narrow path that led out of the castle. He expected someone to jump out from behind the ivy-covered columns but nobody surprised him. He approached the seven-foot-high gargoyles made of gray stone, which signified the end of the bridge. He slowly walked away from the castle and toward the dirt road surrounded by a dull fall forest. The chilly air bothered Tersen, but not as much as the mystery family member not being present.
It has to be Ali-Pari and she couldn’t make it up to the castle. As he neared the woods, the sounds of animals disturbed his ears and wreaked havoc on his nerves. He heard an arrow sizzle by his head and stick into a small birch tree nearby. The albino became terrified and ran into the woods for cover. He dove to the ground and crawled into a thick shrub that he hoped would mask his bright red cloak. His heart pounded with terror. Another arrow flew by and buried itself into the thick trunk of an oak tree. Tersen looked at the arrow and saw a scroll hanging from the arrow shaft.
A voice echoed through the woods, “Go retrieve the letter. I promise not to kill you while you do it.”
Tersen wanted to go get the scroll but his fear-gripped body wouldn’t budge. Another arrow landed in the dirt, only inches from Tersen. The voice rang out again, “I could kill you right now if I wished it to be. Go read the letter.”
Tersen rose slowly to his shaking feet and hurried over to the arrow. He snapped the shaft and pulled the letter away. He ran back to his bush and unrolled the letter and read:
You are somewhat free, this much is true,
Beware you must of what you do,
The arrow flies, its flight so right,
Hard and true, now feel the might,
And so begins a great new hunt,
You cast away your little runt,
For he’s returned, with hate and gold,
To be sure you’ll never grow old,
Now run around until I choose,
When your life, you shall lose,
The hunt is on, now find some rocks,
I’ll have my fun with the albino fox.
Who could this be? This couldn’t be any family member of mine, that much I know. Nobody from my family would want to hunt me, would they? No. It couldn’t be him. He said he left. It can’t be Ali-Ster, the voice sounded so different. I don’t recognize the voice. Wait, my little runt I cast away. It couldn’t be Daerus. He went straight into slavery and is probably dead by now. Could it be?
LEIMUR
Leimur Leluc couldn’t shake her anxious feelings because the correspondence from her reserve army had come to a sudden halt. She had finally persuaded most of the men to stay but the line of communication had broken down in the past few days. The remaining troops were growing more restless by the moment and threatened to leave at any time. Her stomach writhed in pain as she thought about her lover and brothers. She paced back and forth in full armor, waiting for some piece of good news to arrive. The sunrays shot down and made the ruby eyes sparkle on the golden tiger face carved into her cuirass.
She had been receiving regular messages from the oncoming force and then, suddenly, everything had just stopped. She worried that her backup men had been surrounded and captured. She had instructed them to take the same route that she had taken, but perhaps the circumstances were different. Leimur wondered if King Colbert had restored order in Burkeville and lured her men into a trap. That proposition scared her the most. She would have little to no chance of survival if the King had them surrounded.
They waited at the bottom of a slight hill, if it could even be called that. The King’s forces were straight ahead, assembled just outside the second retaining wall surrounding the Capitol. The new construction didn’t worry her because the goal was to capture the King of Donegal. Her scouts counted almost twice as many men on the Donegal side, so all the Queen could do was wait and hope. She continued to pace around the camp and listen to the grumblings of the unhappy warriors. She didn’t even interrupt the arguments about whether to leave or stay. She just walked right by and thought about other matters. Little by little, some men started to trickle away to the west, off to return to their homeland. She thought about what to do if the supplemental army didn’t show up. She wouldn’t return as a Warrior Queen and she might not be able to return at all. Leimur tried to figure out how she could get out of Donegal if she needed to use that option.
A few snowflakes slipped lazily from the sky and disintegrated as they landed on the torn-up yellow grass. The Queen’s belly ran cold again and pulled at the rest of her midsection. The sharp pains had persisted for about the past week. She hardly ate anymore as all food made her want to vomit. Her goal to conquer the Kingdom of Donegal was extremely important so she could use the influence to find her loved ones. She had already deployed all the resources within her power to find the missing group, but ruling the kingdom would open all doors of possibility.
Yet another problem still lingered. Her reports had indicated that Jon Colbert had gone east to the other end of Falconhurst. She couldn’t capture a King if he wasn’t going to be on the battlefield. The confused Queen went to sleep that night debating why she should stay and fight. Another plan leapt into her head about going back to Goldenfield and returning with an enormous army for a full-fledged invasion.
She woke up the next day and went back and forth on the decision to stay or go. She finally ate some sugar-cured boar belly with runny-yolk eggs and dipping bread. Because of the large number of departing soldiers, supplies weren’t a problem anymore and the remaining few were fed rather well. Everyone ate like officers even though they had been thrown around enemy territory. Leimur instructed Tolaya to call a meeting with the remaining council members. She planned to tell them it
was time to go home. She finished her meal and stood up feeling great. Without realizing it, Leimur had finally eaten a full breakfast without feeling nauseous. Across the campground, she watched Tolaya speak to Captain Salina. A loud, uniform thumping from behind scared the Queen and she jerked around to see a very young man approaching rapidly on horseback.
The messenger raced up to Leimur, yanked back on the reins, and announced, “We’ve arrived, your highness.”
The teenager pointed to the bottom of the incline across an open muddy field of chewed up grass and scattered golden leaves. Appearing along the horizon were countless cavalry members, with huge flags and banners leading the way. Her favorite sight, a purple tiger’s face on a black background emerged through the snowfall to wave in the wind. As the cavalry neared, an endless mass of infantry followed close behind the mounted men.
Another messenger ran up to the Queen and shouted, “Your grace, for you.”
He handed her a rolled parchment and she hastily opened the seal and unrolled the crusty paper. The letter stated that King Colbert and his golden bull helm had been spotted among the enemy. Leimur excitedly ran around and ordered everyone to get ready for the upcoming battle. A sense of elation surged around the camp and the excitement became contagious as the men started screaming and smacking each other to prepare for the fight. She knew she had to act quickly because she would only outnumber the enemy for so long.
A-RUXIN
“Oh great, another letter from my father,” said Ruxin as he rolled his eyes.
Torvald wondered, “What could it be now?”
Ruxin moved his lips as he read and reported, “Same as the last. He’s telling us to stay behind the wall that we are already behind.” The Prince winked at everyone surrounding him as he continued, “We aren’t going to hide with the common guards. Nothing is going to happen anyhow. We occupy the highland, not by much, but we do.”
The King’s men lingered outside the newly built double wall and tried to stay warm. Ruxin and the soldiers from Bottomfoot stood around a fire, close to the wall. They remained at the very back of the pack in the rare event that action should break out. Reports had been arriving about more Goldenfield men leaving every day. He knew they had the enemy overmatched and they held the better ground. Suddenly, he heard a loud rumble from the bottom of the slope, which he assumed to be thunder.
Ruxin looked at the cooks getting dinner ready. They worked with stacks of meat on the portable tables. A young novice rubbed the primal cuts with salt while the butcher stood by making sure he wasn’t missing any spots. The Prince thought about taking off his armor because they had been there over a week and a battle seemed extremely unlikely. He didn’t have any trouble staying warm with his ermine cloak absorbing the falling snow and bone chilling wind bursts. However, his armor always made his upper body sore.
He noticed that Chopkins was finally starting to loosen up and talk again. The young man had been scared out of his wits when they had first arrived. The other men seemed both confident and angry that they had been ordered to stay away from the action. Ruxin liked that attitude and everyone had quickly agreed that they weren’t going to stay behind the wall.
Another crash of thunder sent a chill up the Prince’s spine and wouldn’t go away as it was tickling his entire back now. A loud roar of the earth followed and a horde of oncoming cavalry galloped up the slight incline. The surprised men quickly sprang into action and found their respective horses. Ruxin vaulted up on his black destrier and raced for the front. He heeled his horse and as he got closer to the front, he found that they were greatly outnumbered. He kept flying ahead and pulled back on the reins so he could grab a fourteen-foot lance from one of the squires up front. He turned around and saw the Bottomfoot men following suit. They all charged ahead, along with the gathered cavalry, and sped down the small hill to meet the enemy. Ruxin didn’t have much jousting experience and he tucked the lance under his elbow to steady the bouncing piece of pointed wood. He crouched on his mount and peered straight ahead at the thundering herd of mounted horses with chunks of earth scattering from their hooves and a wall of steamy breath shooting from their snarling noses. His attention was diverted to the task of avoiding the tip of an enemy lance.
The enemy closed in rapidly and Ruxin rode alongside the first line of men as the earth-jostling crash of two huge masses of horses and humans rocked his balance. Most of the collision was glancing as ravenous screaming horsemen invaded the infantry line of the enemy. Ruxin saw the line of pikemen and moved his lance point even lower. He smashed into the front of the enemy and his lance penetrated past the pikes and exploded after striking his opponent in the chest. He threw down the useless weapon and drew his long sword. He ran down a whole row of pikemen from behind. He circled around a small area and ended the lives of more than a dozen men. He fought for a few more minutes on his mount until the fighting became more intense. He knew if someone cut down his horse, he would soon follow, so he jumped down to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Ruxin shook his head and couldn’t believe that on a white destrier, only a short distance from where he stood, was the Queen of Goldenfield in her suit of golden tiger themed armor. He ran over and sliced into the front calf of her horse.
Leimur Leluc tucked her head and did a front somersault as she was thrown from her ride. She jumped up grabbing her left shoulder but managed to get both war axes out before a man jumped in front of Ruxin to engage her in battle. Ruxin spun around and used a quick high-low attack to kill an approaching soldier and looked to his right to see J. Everson and the Queen locked in a furious battle. Ruxin expected J. Everson to be slow and methodical like his general demeanor, but the young man impressed him. The Queen ducked and spun in the same motion and used her whirling axes to cut straight across J. Everson’s knees. He fell down and she swiftly kicked off his unsecured helm. The thud as her unforgiving axe buried itself in his new friend’s head made Ruxin want to throw up right there. He had always liked J. Everson, a man of very few words.
Sir Bastion jumped in to avenge the death of his friend and Ruxin kept peeking over as he fought away and killed more men. He kept getting pressed backward and more Goldenfield soldiers kept appearing out of nowhere. Leimur used an attack unlike any Ruxin had ever seen before to overpower the stout knight of Bottomfoot. She effortlessly cut his throat after magically dancing behind him and confusing the skilled warrior. For the first time, Ruxin was scared on the battlefield.
However, his youthful exuberance kicked in to squash the fear and his arrogance got the better of him. He rushed the Queen of Goldenfield and used one of his better attack sequences. The female warrior used both axes to meet Ruxin’s green-tinted blade every time. Bluish-purple sparks flew from the curved silver blades of Leimur’s weapons but Ruxin couldn’t break through her defense. He had never been opposed by someone with two smaller war axes. He had brief experience against a longer, two handed axe, but when the Queen went on the offensive, he struggled to keep up with the constant flashes of cold silver steel coming at him. The attacks came so fast that Ruxin could only defend himself with his right hand and even that was becoming hard as he fought to keep his wrist high enough for proper defense. Leimur used different combinations of high and low attacks, the likes of which Ruxin had never seen before. He noticed someone behind the Queen moving in quickly with a pike and jabbing her in the small of the back. It was Chopkins Haddock, who stood still with a look of intense fear on to his red face. The Queen cried out in pain and turned around. Ruxin could have ended her life at this moment, but it wouldn’t be clean. He needed to kill his enemy face-to-face. She swatted Chopkins across the mouth with the flat of her axe. The joker fell down and quickly scrambled away crying in agony as the Queen focused back on Ruxin.
He would have never dreamed that a female fighter could be so strong. She seemed angry and determined as she took rapid strides forward toward Ruxin. He tried to backpedal but slipped in a patch of mud. He had to put both hands down to brace his falling
momentum and the Queen landed her axe into the Prince’s helm. The world disappeared and Ruxin Colbert fell flat on his face with the axe still sticking out of the helm. Miraculously, the blade stopped only the width of a rabbit’s hair from the Prince of Donegal’s skull. It took Leimur several moments to pull the weapon loose and this seemed to anger her even more. The Queen used the back end and flat sides of the weapon to strike Ruxin repeatedly in the head. She kept going with both axes and showed no mercy. Twenty, thirty, forty times.
She jumped up and yelled, “Now, where’s that little pork chop. I want his blood.” She took off after Chopkins.
Ruxin’s body started to be trampled as the King’s men started getting pressed back into the wall. People were being crushed to death against each other’s bodies as the enemy strategically pinned them in. Torvald reached down and tried to pick Ruxin up, but the heavy teenager weighed too much.
Torvald screamed with passion, “Save your Prince. Help me save your Prince.”
Several bloody hands reached down and picked up the still body of Ruxin Colbert. Torvald helped push the Prince on top of the dying men and they started to move him along. Suddenly, Torvald was thrown up on top of the pile of dead and dying men. He followed Ruxin as a wave of hands and heads helped push the men to the outside of the danger area. Torvald seemingly wept tears of joy at the dedication of the men below to carry out their duty to the realm even in their dying moments. They were guided to a zone near the outside of the fighting and Ruxin was plopped down on the earth. Torvald started to drag Ruxin to safety but a small group of enemy fighters surrounded them.
One man screamed through the chaos, “Hurry up. We need to take these prisoners away, fast.”
B-JON
King Jon entered his castle. He was supposed to be on the west end of the Capitol but he needed to talk to his wife. He had a huge argument with her just before leaving and couldn’t stand to leave unresolved matters behind. The castellan, Omar Regent, greeted the King with a confused look on his face.
Six Heads One Crown (The Pearl of Wisdom Saga Book 3) Page 27