As if nothing at all had happened, the young man gave a kick to his mount’s flanks. He advanced without a glance at the headless corpses still locked in an embrace or the mayor that stood beside them—but the Blue Knight was waiting up ahead.
.
II
.
As they watched the distance dwindle between the two figures, the mayor and the others wore strangely calm expressions. Finally, normalcy had returned to the world. Finally, the Blue Knight would fight. That was what they honestly believed. That’s how unnatural it had been for the Red Knight to let the young man in black pass.
The Blue Knight adjusted his grip on his lance.
There was fifteen feet between them.
The green grass twisted plaintively, singing a song.
Halt, I say, halt,
Or one of you shall die!
Ten feet.
The Blue Knight’s horse whinnied loudly, as if trying to repress its urge to bolt.
There were dark clouds in the sky.
Five feet—now.
The Red Knight suddenly looked over his shoulder—out at the grassy plains. “Hold,” he cried. “His honor the Black Knight is on the way.”
Another figure on horseback was galloping toward them from the farthest reaches of the emerald expanse. As his name implied, the knight on the horse’s back was encased in black armor. Even if the Red Knight hadn’t referred to him as “his honor,” the sight of him streaking through the sea of grass with thundering hoofbeats and bounding onto the road certainly would’ve had all the impact of an iron spike of immeasurable weight.
The young man had halted his horse, too.
Tilting his onyx helm to survey the carnage, the knight spat, “How callous. Are you idiots responsible for this?” His voice was also as heavy as iron.
“I resent that remark, sir,” the Blue Knight declared.
“Silence!” the Black Knight roared like the crashing of the distant sea, and with that single word the other two fell silent. “I have no objection to you killing those who flee,” he went on to say. “Such is in keeping with the wishes of our princess. But you’ve gone and taken the lives of even the youngest of children. We are not soulless demons! Mr. Mayor, our princess is sure to make reparations for the children at a later date. See to it that no one else discards their life in such a manner again.”
The old man bowed his head without saying a word.
Then the sound of hoofbeats reached the ears of all present. Incredibly enough, the young man in black had continued riding on. Bold, perhaps even impudent, the move was so far from expected norms, the Blue Knight and Red Knight could only watch mutely as he went.
“Wait,” the Black Knight called out.
But the traveler in black just kept going.
Perhaps expecting as much, the knight in the jet-black armor didn’t have a mote of wrath in his voice as he said, “I would have your name.”
“D.”
At that point, a single ray of sunlight poked through the clouds to illuminate the young man’s face. His fairly bloodless complexion was given a rosy hue—that was how beautiful he seemed.
Gasps arose from those on the road, and a murmur rumbled through them like the tide. Elena was the first to make a sound, with her compatriots following suit after.
“I’ll remember that name,” the Black Knight called out.
The young man who’d given his name as D rode off calmly. As if he hadn’t been witness to this tragedy in broad daylight.
At some point, the knights had disappeared, too.
“We’ll bring the bodies back,” said Torsk. “Give me a hand with them.”
Seemingly oblivious to the way the other bikers scrambled forward at the mayor’s request, Elena alone kept a dumbfounded gaze turned toward town—the direction the gorgeous young man had gone. “You see that?” she asked.
Another biker who was about to walk by her stopped in his tracks and replied, “See what?”
“They didn’t make a move against that guy,” Elena said as if she were still dreaming. Perhaps she was. “Three of the Diane Rose knights—and they were practically cowering, and couldn’t even draw on him. He might be the guy to do it. He could save us all,” the girl muttered, her tightly clenched fist making her resolve abundantly clear.
Beside her, the grass whispered,
What’s that you say?
The young man’s visit couldn’t help but cause a great sensation in the tiny village. People stopped in their tracks and stared as D rode down the street. Dazed, they continued to stare off in the same direction for a long time after he’d gone. And every single person with a scarf around their neck pressed down on it with terrible embarrassment, then hung their head.
“I wonder which inn he’ll be staying at?” women muttered, irrespective of age.
“Did you see that sword, or the look in his eye? There’s nothing ordinary about him,” the men said to each other.
Contrary to the women’s expectations, D didn’t end up registering at any of the village inns. Halting in front of a house on the outskirts of town, he got off his horse and rapped on the door with a knocker fashioned from animal bones. The sign next to the door had the words Mama Kipsch—Witch Doctor burnt into it.
After a moment, an elderly woman’s voice from behind the door asked, “Who is it?”
“A traveler,” D replied. “Are you Mama Kipsch?”
“Just ask anyone.”
“I have a message from your grandson.”
In the middle of her heavily wrinkled face, her eyes opened as wide as they’d go. Then she said, “That good-for-nothing brat—I don’t see how he could do this. Where is he at, anyway?”
“He passed away.”
“What?!” the old woman exclaimed, her body growing stiff as a mannequin. Her blue eyes said the young man before her was some beautiful grim reaper. “Now wait just one second,” she stammered. “What do you mean by that? Tell me more.”
“He was hung up on the riverbank about six miles south of your village. He told me his name as well as your own and where you lived, then asked me to tell you, ‘Take care,’ before he passed away. And now I’ve done that.”
“Yup,” the old woman said with a nod, and by the time she’d returned to her senses, the man in the black coat was back on his horse.
“Wait just one minute. Hey!” she wheezed as she raced out the front door and grabbed hold of one of his saddlebags. “Aren’t you the inhospitable one. My, but you are a looker, though.” Feeling the pulse in her right hand, she added, “Look, you’ve gone and got me up over a hundred fifty beats per minute. I’ve gone through two artificial hearts already, you know. Putting in a third would probably be the death of me. If I die, it’ll all be your fault,” she told the traveler. “I’ll haunt you till the end of your days!”
“I’m used to it.”
At D’s reply, Mama Kipsch looked up at him as if just coming back to reality. It seemed that while she’d been gazing at him so intently, she’d even forgotten how short of breath she was. Nodding, she said, “Is that a fact? I suppose you would be, at that. You’ve got an unbelievable aura. I didn’t think I should’ve been that winded after running just a tad. But now I see you scare the hell out of me. How many people have you killed with that sword, anyway?”
“If you have no business with me, I’ll be going.”
“I said wait, blast it! If you’re always that cold to folks, you won’t meet a pretty end.” Mama Kipsch then added, “Though I suppose even if you aren’t cold, you still won’t have a peaceful death. Wait, already! Whatever became of my grandson’s remains?”
“I let them float down the river,” D replied. “Those were his instructions.”
“That’s a lie,” the old woman said, stomping her foot angrily. “Who in the world would ask someone to chuck their body in a river? For starters, if it was only six miles from here, that wouldn’t have been very far to bring him back. I think you’re trying to hide so
mething.”
“He said he didn’t want you to see the body. By the look of it, he’d hit quite a few rocks on his way down the river. Do you want to hear all the gory details?”
“No, spare me.”
“I’ll be on the edge of town,” D told her. “Come find me if there’s anything else you want to know.”
As the horse began to move, Mama Kipsch let go of it.
Once the rider had gone so far he wouldn’t have seen her if he’d turned and looked, a hoarse voice said, “That’s one hell of an old girl!” The amused tone issued from D’s left hand, which was wrapped around the reins. “Of course, if she wasn’t such a tough old bird, there’s no way her grandson would’ve been able to do what he did, either.” Chuckling, it added, “Floated him down the river, did you?”
The voice was then choked out in an anguished cry.
Although D had clenched his left hand tightly, not the least bit of that strength was conveyed to the reins.
.
Heading straight for the edge of the village, D arrived at some mysterious ruins after twisting and turning down several narrow paths.
Rising from the center of a clearing covered by a wild green carpet of grass, the walls of stone and metal looked like they’d been melted by extreme heat in places or had crumbled in others. Although the structures no longer retained their original shapes, a concerted gaze would reveal the remains of stonework foundations, paved corridors, and the partitions that had delineated each individual room. Amid grass and white flowers that swayed in the breeze, the remains were more than six hundred feet in diameter, spreading in a way that perfectly illustrated the vain nature of mortal existence and the callousness of the winds of time.
Passing through what little remained of the bronze gates and stone pillars, D entered the ruins. The wind snarled above him. Perhaps due to the legacy of some ancient architectural technique, when the wind blew through the gate it took on a strangely morose whistle before it blustered against the traveler in black.
Tethering his cyborg horse to a wooden pole that looked to have been part of a fence and taking the saddle and bags from it, D gazed off to the west.
Green hills rolled on and on like something out of a picture. At the summit of the one farthest back there towered a solemn castle. This region could almost be considered mountainous, and while the Nobility’s manors in such places had mostly doubled as fortresses, this was an exception. It had been constructed with a grace and refinement befitting the character of those who lived by night. Surely it had to be the castle of the princess the murderous knights had mentioned.
However, D returned his eyes to the ruins without any particular emotion, then began to walk around the barely extant roof and ramparts with a measured gait that made it seem like he was performing some sort of inspection. When he’d gone halfway around the perimeter, the ostentatious roar of engines could be heard growing closer from the same path that had brought him there.
Elena and her friends had stopped their motorcycles out in front of the ruins. The air carried the heavy scent of gasoline. Just as the bikers were about to enter the ruins, they froze in place as if they’d just taken a jolt of electricity, and then backed away as D appeared.
Even the sirens who lured captains to their doom with their lovely countenances and sweet songs would’ve undoubtedly fallen victim to his beauty in exactly the same way with just one glance. But far surpassing his good looks was the ghastly aura that knifed into the flesh of all who beheld him—something that gave Elena the feeling they were dealing with a fiend even more powerful than the four knights.
“I’ve come out here because I’ve got something talk over with you,” the girl finally managed to say. The words seemed to catch in her throat, and her voice was terribly hoarse.
“What kind of talk would that be?”
As the young man spoke, his unearthly aura seemed to wane, and Elena let out an easy breath. A slight spell of dizziness came over her, but she was able to stand her ground. Her friends were watching. She couldn’t make a fool of herself.
Coughing once, she said, “You impressed the hell out of us. So we were thinking we’d let you hook up with our outfit.”
Seeing D turn his back on them, the members of the group looked at each other. There was neither turmoil nor anger on their faces. All of them had seen with their own eyes the true power of the traveler in black.
A young man straddling a bike a bit larger than the rest rose from the seat. In keeping with the size of his vehicle, he was about six and a half feet tall. “I told you he wouldn’t go for it, Elena,” he said. “Seriously, why would he ever join us? Any way you look at it, he’s a lot tougher than we are. All we can do is try and get on his good side.”
“I’m not about to bow and scrape to some drifter I don’t know from a hole in the ground!” the girl exclaimed, vermilion rising in her cheeks. Pressing her lips into a hard, straight line, she continued, “Everyone, head on over to Grau’s bar. I’m gonna stay here and hash this out.”
“Hey now,” the giant shot back.
“Just who’s the leader here, Stahl?”
“You are. And I don’t think anyone here questions that. It’s just, this time—”
“This time I’m in over my head, so you thought you’d shoot your mouth off? So, I suppose you’ve just been watching out for me all this time, have you?”
The girl’s eyes blazed with a fierce light that silenced the giant—Stahl.
“Okay,” Stahl said after closing his eyes and persuading himself. Gripping the handlebars once more, he shouted, “You heard what she said, people. We’re going to Grau’s!”
.
Once she was sure the roar of their exhaust and all other signs of them had vanished, Elena glared at the ruins.
There was no sign of the traveler.
Putting one hand to the left side of her chest, the girl tried to get her breathing back under control. The weapon she had wound about her waist felt awfully unreliable. Still, Elena sent herself into the ruins with a gait that firmly planted one step after another on the paving stones.
Although she soon found the horse, D was nowhere to be seen. The ruins covered quite a large area, and there were plenty of places to hide. Having played here since childhood, Elena knew the area like her own backyard, but finding the traveler on the first try would be difficult.
“Just you wait and see. I’ll show you what you get for ignoring me!”
And as she said that, the right hand that’d rested on her hip came up, a streak of black shot out and wrapped around one of the ruin’s stone beams. A second later, Elena was swinging easily into the air.
From the top of the highest beam—some thirty feet up—she commanded a view of the whole ruins. But as much as she strained her eyes, all she could find was scant spots of green between the ruins and the ground below. Although she was supposed to be searching for D, Elena then turned her gaze to the west. Even before her eyes had focused on the manor, her lips twisted and her teeth ground together.
Just as her anger was approaching its peak, a voice called out behind her, “Don’t even think about it.”
The fact that it took Elena a full second to turn in amazement showed just how angry she was.
A metallic clatter resounded from her right hand, and out of her fist spilled a long, thin chain. With a weight the size of a small stone at one end, it was this same chain that had allowed her to swing up there.
The young man of unearthly beauty who stood behind her was met by a razor-sharp gaze.
“These ruins haven’t done you any harm,” said D.
“Well, I’ll take it out on you, then,” Elena replied as she toyed with the chain in her hand. She must’ve had nearly fifty feet of it wrapped around her trim waist. That wasn’t the sort of thing they taught girls at finishing school.
If D hadn’t come out when he did, she probably would’ve broken some of the beams or knocked a hole in the ceiling.
“You’ve b
een a real jerk,” the girl continued. “And just to clear something up—if you think we’re afraid of those lousy knights, you couldn’t be more wrong.”
“What do you want?” asked D.
The wind fluttered the hem of his black coat. Some of its threads were loose, and the lining was visible. The edge of the garment was badly frayed.
“To do this!” the girl cried.
A whirring flash of black ripped through the wind to coil around D’s arm and torso.
“Ah!” Elena gasped, but the wind devoured her cry. Stunned, she stared at the tree branch her weapon was wrapped around. D must’ve had it ready all along. No doubt he’d figured out earlier what kind of weapon she carried. He still stood in exactly the same spot as before.
“You’re good,” Elena remarked.
Her second shot made a beeline for D’s chest.
D turned one shoulder toward her and avoided the endlessly stretching links.
Behind him, the chain whipped around without slowing down at all, headed back in the opposite direction, and wrapped around D’s neck.
“Sucker! That’s like the first trick you learn to do with a weighted chain. Where are all your tricks now?” she asked. “Or were you just lucky last time?”
“Not really.”
Elena looked all around despite herself. Because she didn’t think the hoarse voice she’d just heard belonged to D.
A second later, the inky black form leapt into the air. The move was so unexpected that Elena was left without any options.
Light shot out above her head.
With a shriek, the girl extended both arms. Even given the outstanding reflexes with which she’d been blessed, the girl still found her own reaction miraculous.
Her chain stopped the steel with a cha-chink!
But Elena couldn’t move. D held his sword with one hand. Elena, however, was using both hands. Even taking the strength difference of their respective sexes into consideration, she should’ve at least been able to jump out of the way. Yet she couldn’t move at all, as if her body had been turned to lead.
But that wasn’t entirely true, either—her hands alone continued to sink, slowly but surely.
Mysterious Journey to the North Sea, Part 2 Page 26