Before Molly could respond, Ka-Ron cried out in pain once more.
"I feel he wants of me that which your friend is performing as we speak."
"But&" Dorian stared uneasily. "It has been told in the tales that vampires are incapable of having children. They are beings with dead seed."
"I can only guess, my dear dwarf."
The mindless vampires continued their trek up the Argo's hull. There was no chance of their hurting or causing damage to the sides of the ship - they had not the power or force needed. As Rohan and Dorian peeked over the railings, several vampires soon noticed their stares, stopping only long enough to snarl and show rotting teeth. Saliva dripped from the invading vampire's mouths, giving all on board the impression that Count Voslow cared not for his people's feeding. They were all going insane with hunger.
That small fact raised the danger.
"When attacking them, my friends, aim for the left side of their chest. That is where their hearts are. Then, after your attack, you must cut off their heads." Molly joined both the dwarf and elf in filling up buckets of hot tar. Rohan started lighting the tips of several arrows.
They were as ready as they could be.
"Dorian!" Rohan yelled, "You go to starboard."
"Right you are, sir!"
"Molly, you take the stern."
The female vampire held four buckets of tar, running off towards the rear of the vessel. Rohan placed an arrow in his bow, closing one eye.
"May the gods be with us," Rohan prayed, letting the first arrow fly.
"Aye, elf. Aye!" Dorian agreed, pouring a bucket of tar.
Keeth momentarily looked up from Ka-Ron, ignoring one battle while studying another. He had overheard Molly state that, besides the army of vampires climbing up the Argo; several more were coming from the dark streets of Cibola.
"Keep breathing, my dear, while I try to even the odds here."
The wizard closed his eyes. He whispered ancient words taught to him by elders, of light bending light, irresistible forces coming in contact with immovable objects, of time and space, and forces in motion. Projecting his will, the wizard cast his spell.
"Let it be, now!" Keeth shouted.
Around the Argo there instantly appeared a bright blue orb. The entire ship was imprisoned inside. There was no way in the Nown world that anyone, other than another wizard, could enter or leave the ship.
The air started to take on a metallic taste.
"I have stopped the swarm of vampires," Keeth informed all on board. "I shall stay with Ka-Ron. You will have to destroy only those inside the orb."
The wizard turned his eyes back to Ka-Ron.
Ka-Ron's face was drenched in sweat. Her face reddened with each painful push.
"Ka-Ron, I can see the child's crown."
"When will it all end?" Ka-Ron huffed. The knight was almost on the verge of collapsing.
"Soon, my dear. Soon." The wizard held both the knight's hands, instructing her to place each foot on his shoulders. As the knight pushed, he focused, pulling. "Keep breathing in the manner in which I have instructed you, my child."
Keeth closed his eyes, trying his best to ignore the sounds of war going on around him.
The knight's body quivered once more. A spray of water, fluid, and blood. A subtle weight filled Keeth's hands, increasing the Argo's crew by one.
The wizard found it impossible not to shout for joy.
"You have a fine son, Ka-Ron," the wizard proclaimed.
Ka-Ron collapsed, finding to her amazement that she had not the power to stop herself from crying. Several times she tried, echoing the slightest of smiles and laughs.
"A son." she whispered.
Taking a dagger from his cloak, Keeth cut the baby's cord, thereby separating him from his mother.
"A few more things to do," Keeth said as he wiped foam off the baby's body and noticed that the child had bright purple eyes - a rarity! "What shall be his name?"
"En-Don," Ka-Ron stated, smiling. "After Jatel's father. A true and faithful servant to my house. A name worthy, I should think."
"En-Don it shall be." Keeth held the child up towards the stars. "Behold! En-Don, son of Jatel and Ka-Ron. Know the universe and all shall be yours!"
En-Don performed his first cry.
It was a noble effort.
Rohan and Dorian were too busy to share in the wonderful moment. The dwarf, having cut off the head of his twentieth vampire, was soaked head to toe in undead blood. The elf was running himself ragged, shooting arrows in all directions, hitting each of his victims in their hearts.
"Rohan!" Molly shouted as she threw several vampires off the stern of the ship. "I need your help."
Rohan stopped just long enough to spot Molly.
The female vampire had held her own, but after running out of boiling tar, she found herself outnumbered and surrounded. In each of her hands, she held an unfortunate invader, and snapped their necks like twigs. At the bottom of the hill, just below the Argo, Molly had created an impressive vampire graveyard.
Still, there was only so much that a female vampire could do. Molly was surrounded by at least twenty of her fellow undead. At her best, she could only kill half of them. She had also been wounded. A daring vampire zombie had managed to pierce a hole in her side that would have killed any other woman.
"Molly!" Rohan shouted, grabbing a handful of arrows. "Hold tight! I'm on my way."
Dorian looked up from his pile of dead vampires, only to give Rohan a shocked look.
"What about me, elf?"
"You are holding your own." Rohan explained, running down the deck. "Molly is not."
"To hell you say, sir!"
Dorian huffed, cutting off the heads of two more unfortunate vampires. As the severed heads bounced on the deck, he kicked them off the Argo as if they were unofficial game balls. The dwarf had no time to gloat - three more undead creatures climbed up the walls of the ship.
Keeth, although a peace-loving being, had seen enough.
The wizard went to his cabin to retrieve a "weapon" he had created during his many seasons entrapped inside Tork. The "weapon" was a sight to behold. A huge canister rested upon the old man's back, as he ventured back on deck. He saw a group of vampires holding their own at the bow of the ship. Dorian was doing what he could, but there was only so much responsibility a dwarf could endure.
"Dorian!" Keeth yelled as he pointed what appeared to be an iron stick in the dwarf's direction.
"Yes, wizard?" The dwarf spit blood from his mouth after cutting off another vampire head. He found that he had to duck and take care, for the heads were starting to drop at an alarming rate. It wasn't so much that he was good at his job; it was just that the vampires were not.
"I would suggest that you get out of the way." the wizard warned.
"Huh?" Dorian asked.
Keeth lit a small candle, lighting the tip of his "weapon's" iron stick. Like a lamp in the darkest cave, a tiny fire flickered at the end of his device. Keeth adjusted his shoulders, trying his best to conform to the weight of the thing.
"Dorian! Move!" Keeth shouted.
Without thinking, the dwarf heeded the wizard's advice. Dorian dove under a capstan, hoping it would provide enough protection from whatever it was that had so concerned the wizard.
"I revoke all invitations, you undead bastards!" Keeth closed his eyes, almost praying. "Here we go!"
Keeth aimed his "weapon" at the advancing horde of vampires heading towards him. After Dorian had retreated, the vampires backtracked in confusion for a moment, suddenly noticing, and suddenly realizing that Keeth seemed a more attractive target. They knew that an old man could not achieve the results of both the elf and dwarf. So, slowly but surely, they all aimed their undead plans at the wizard.
However, Keeth had other intentions.
Squeezing a small trigger from underneath his "weapon's" iron stick, the flammable liquid he had devised sprayed out from the tank hanging upon his back, ventured t
hrough the hollow cavity of the iron stick in both his hands, ignited via the small flame at the end of the stick, and spat the furious fire of a dragon out upon the unfortunate vampires.
"Take that, you uncouth ruffians!" Keeth shouted, swinging his "weapon" from port to starboard.
The invading vampires at the bow of the ship turned into a screaming wall of both fire and agony. From the corner of the wizard's eye, he kept his attention on a pressure gage, which if unsupervised, could cause his "weapon" to explode upon his back. As things developed, however, all went as planned. As several of the burning vampires fell overboard, the wizard tried to come up with a name for his new device.
"Ahh! Take that!" Dorian shouted, jumping from under the ship's capstan. Several times, the dwarf discovered he had to continue his retreats. Keeth's device almost caught him a few times. Dorian found to his horror that some of his beard had been scorched!
Molly and Rohan found themselves alone on deck. After witnessing the fate of their fellow undead, most of the remaining vampires retreated from the decks of the Argo.
"They have no stomach for fire," Molly explained. She found herself smiling up at the wizard in pure admiration. "I get the impression that this is not the first time our wizard has fought the powers of evil."
"He would not be a wizard, if that were the case," Rohan suggested.
Keeth, after realizing he had no more targets, released the trigger, causing the flame to stop. He breathed heavily as he looked at his invention with both pride and wonder.
"Worked rather well, if I do say so myself." Keeth laughed nervously.
"What the devil is that thing?" Dorian asked, almost afraid to approach the wizard.
"Oh, just a little something I invented to pass the time," Keeth said, taking the heavy tank from his back. "I am having a terrible time trying to concoct a name for it."
"How about projectile fire destroyer?" Rohan suggested.
The wizard rattled the name around a little. "Sounds catchy."
"You could almost posses the power of a dragon." Molly said, catching her breath. She, like Dorian, was covered from head to toe with blood. Rohan, being his elfish self, was spotless.
"That was the idea, my dear."
Several confused moans rose up to all their attentions, as Keeth placed the heavy tank upon his back once more. He sighed, regretfully, suddenly remembering something that seemed to pass the logic of his peers.
"What's all that?" Dorian asked. The dwarf pulled out a dagger almost as tall as he was.
"That is what's left of our undead guests." The wizard explained. He pointed up towards the bright blue bubble still surrounding his vessel. "They are all trapped in here until I release the anti-enforcement wall."
"Oh, is that what you call it," Molly said, wiping blood from her hands with her tongue. The female vampire smacked her lips, appreciating the liquid.
Keeth spent the rest of the night, using his "weapon" as a means to free all the remaining vampires from their own personal hells. By the time he was finished, the air smelled of rot and sweet burning meat.
It was not surprising to discover that the remaining undead army outside the bubble were ordered to retreat. Most had done so without an order, relying on what was left of their mortal fears of fire to aid them.
Molly, Rohan, and Dorian had a chance to notice Ka-Ron and her newly arrived son, En-Don.
"May he grow to be remembered," Rohan said, gently patting the newborn's soft head.
Ka-Ron, exhausted, bloodied, and soaked with sweat gently held her newborn son, crying uncontrollably. Her hearts, if they could, would have exploded with the overwhelming feelings she experienced. She had brought a new life into the world - a living soul that was partly her and partly Jatel. She tried to express what she was feeling in words, for she wanted all around her to know and share in her happiness, but she could not. So, in honor of the moment, all she could do was hold En-Don close to her bosom, wiping what was left of his birthday residue off his innocent face. The wizard provided the new mother with a cotton cloth of the purest white, to help her preserve the moment. Ka-Ron, like her mother, would save this cloth, giving it to En-Don as a token and wonderment of the day.
"I think that there is one here who should know that he is now a father," Keeth suggested, pointing towards the door leading to Ka-Ron and Jatel's cabin.
Ka-Ron closed her eyes, doing her best to help control the pain. After just having a baby, the knight discovered, painfully, that walking was not her best skill. Both Rohan and Dorian helped her up, and took her towards the cabins.
En-Don, it appeared, took all the excitement in stride. Rather grumpily, the newborn smirked and wiped chubby fingers across his nose and mouth, wanting, it seemed, nothing more than a few cycles of uninterrupted sleep.
The knight of Idoshia sweetly kissed her son goodnight.
Ka-Ron stopped when she found herself standing in front of Molly.
Everyone held his breath.
"Vampire&" Ka-Ron stopped herself, changing her use of words. "Woman, you have done me and mine harm. Pray hard, that come the dawn, there is still hope for my Jatel."
Molly said nothing. She only bowed respectfully.
The knight continued her trek towards her cabin doors. Both Rohan and Dorian gave each other deep and concerned looks. This animosity between the knight and the vampire were far from a respectable closing.
"Take heart, child," Keeth whispered to Molly. "You have only heard the woman's pain. Once she gets to know and understand, you will have the chance of winning her respect."
"I highly doubt that, wizard." Molly stated, controlling her urge to weep.
***
Jatel found that his hands trembled.
The squire fought the urge to vomit. His last attack by Molly had taken a lot out of him. He felt weak, sick, and remarkably happy.
"Jatel," Ka-Ron whispered, her eyes filled with tears. "Meet En-Don, your son."
Jatel had been too weak to rise from the bed, so Ka-Ron lowered herself and their child so that father and son could formally meet. Jatel gawked at Ka-Ron with both horror and fascination. He wanted to reach out and take hold of the little babe in front of him, but he could not. There was a fear inherent with most new fathers, which led Jatel to believe he may hurt the child.
"My son?" the young man said as his eyes widened.
"Yes," Ka-Ron confirmed. "En-Don is his name."
Jatel gave his sire a long and loving kiss. "It is a good name."
"Indeed."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Ka-Ron's sword never left her sheath. When Jatel woke in the morning, he appeared as good as new - more, in fact! He was excited about his new son, he was full of energy, and he was alert. If it were not for the unseemly scar Molly had caused upon the squire's neck, one would never know that he had come quite close to death.
"Thank the gods," Ka-Ron whispered, cupping her hands up to her forehead in prayer.
"Do not be thanking the heavens just yet, my child."
Ka-Ron turned to face Keeth, who had just put away all his crafting tools. The wizard had spent the latter part of the night repairing his vessel. The Argo was once more ready for the voyage ahead.
"What worries you, wizard?"
"The question should be, Ka-Ron, what should be worrying you."
"Explain."
Keeth let out a dry laugh. "Your squire was attacked by a creature of the night. He is in great danger of becoming&"
Everyone on deck paused. No one seemed to fully grasp what Keeth was trying to say.
Jatel walked out on deck. He blinked his eyes, shading them from the strong rays of the morning suns. He had tried to eat some of the morning meal placed before him by the wizard, but found to his surprise that he was not hungry. For the first time in his known service to Ka-Ron, he refused a meal.
"Good morrow," Jatel stated. He walked up to Ka-Ron, kissing her on the base of her neck.
This last caused Keeth some concern.
> The fear did not pass from Ka-Ron's awareness.
Molly was below decks, and quite asleep. Several moments before the rising of the suns, she begged her hosts for a dark and forgotten part of the ship to retire until sundown. At first, all were hesitant - it was considered bad luck to formally invite a creature of the night into one's habitat. But Molly had served well in the last battle. Where all were concerned with their safety, they realized it was also a great taboo not to help a fellow warrior.
It was decided by all that Molly should find her rest and sanctuary in the oil room, a small but extremely dark area, near the engines, gears, and fantastic machines hidden deep within the Argo's hull. The vampire was both touched and appreciative that the wizard was able to produce an oblong toolbox, which she could rest in until the approach of night.
With their vampire friend taken care of, all thoughts and worries focused on Jatel.
As mentioned before, Jatel's attack held no evidence upon his current appearance. He appeared alert, healthy, and happy to be a new father. The squire spent several moments of the morn gazing into the angelic face of his son. While Ka-Ron rested, healing from her ordeal, he amazed himself with the simple miracle he and his master were able to produce.
And, as mentioned before, the squire lacked any appetite.
This last worried the wizard.
Ka-Ron turned giving her returning squire a kiss. Her hands trembled with deep concern. As the knight broke the kiss, she studied Keeth's concerning glance.
"Speak your mind, wizard," the knight ordered.
"We have, at most, five suns before the hunger starts to take over our young squire. Then, he will become quite as our unfortunate friend sleeping down below. Jatel will cross over to that of a vampire&unless&"
"Unless?" both Rohan and Dorian asked.
"Unless we can find a way to destroy Count Voslow."
There was a long and uncomfortable silence on deck, during which only the wind seemed to have the courage to speak.
"I'm all new to this kind of thing," Dorian blurted out, uneasy. "How does one kill a vampire?"
Keeth shook his head. "My teachers would revoke my title, knowing that at this cycle of my life, I would be chasing ghosts and ghouls. I am a wizard of science; my knowledge in folklore is limited at best."
The Misadventures of Ka-Ron the Knight Page 23