Knights Without Kings

by J. M. Topp

  Elymiah was surprised at the speed of the carriage. She tried to control it as it sped through the debris of the exploded tree. Elymiah looked to her sides for the skeleton riding the wolf, but she didn’t see where it had gone. It didn’t matter.

  Suddenly, the road before her disappeared. What had been dirt and stone turned into waters—red and viscous fluid. Blood flowed like a river they were riding on as the skies and trees around them disappeared into perfect black. Only the road beneath her glowed red. Elymiah couldn’t see where the path led but she urged her horse onwards regardless. The metallic smell of blood surged through her nostrils, and she couldn’t contain her stomach any longer. She leaned over the side of the horse and threw up. But as she saw her vomit land on the river of blood, small, finger-like creatures emerged from the crimson waters. They had small eyes in the center of their bodies, and they stared up at Elymiah. Terrified, Elymiah beat the reigns of the horse as hard as she could. She closed her eyes.

  This can’t be happening.

  This can’t be happening.

  Oredmere save us.

  A snowy breath of air hit her like a mace, and Elymiah’s eyes shot up. The river of blood disappeared, leaving the dirt and stone road before them. She looked behind her, but nothing could be seen except a dark layer of fog. Elymiah glanced into the carriage to see the queen asleep or unconscious with William staring intently at her.

  Suddenly, the carriage exploded behind her. Bits of wood and canvas struck Elymiah, knocking her off the horse. She fell to the ground hard, and her horse fell on top of her, screaming and covering her in darkness.

  ELYMIAH’S EYES FLUTTERED open as she felt a great weight lift from her body. She turned to see her horse struggling to get up. Dazed, Elymiah shook her head and tried to get a bearing from her surroundings. The horse was finally able to get up. It neighed as it walked to a clump of dried grass. Elymiah stood up carefully. All was quiet. All was still. Her arms and legs protested in agony, and Elymiah struggled to stand straight with the weight of her armour.

  Elymiah glanced at the fallen carriage, and her memory rushed back to her. She let her sword fall to the ground in shock and rushed to the carriage. The roof had been caved in, and the white canvas covering was torn. Pieces of it waved back and forth in the soft winds like small banners. Elymiah leapt through the wreckage, but William and Gwendylyyn were gone. Elymiah lifted pieces of broken wood and punctured cushion.

  Nothing.

  Panic began to set in as she threw baggage from the carriage. Elymiah heard a whimper and stood still, straining her hearing. All she could hear was the whispering of the wind in her ear. She wandered from the destroyed carriage, searching for the whimpering sound.

  ‘Queen Gwendylyyn?’ Elymiah called softly. She scanned the tree line, but she couldn’t see anything. A soft voice jumped from the snows.

  ‘Is that you?’

  Elymiah turned to the sound of the voice to see a face, half buried in snow and mud. The queen had landed next to a lifeless tree, and her left side was nearly swallowed by mud. Elymiah raced to her side and knelt beside her.

  ‘My Queen…you’re…’ Elymiah glanced at Gwendylynn’s broken body. Blood stains covered the entirety of her body. She was bleeding from her head as well. A pool of blood amassed in-between her legs. The bulge that she had worn for the last six months was gone.

  ‘My son,’ Gwendylyyn whispered to Elymiah. ‘Where is he?’

  ‘I don’t know. I…’

  ‘Ayland, is that you?’

  Elymiah gasped. ‘Ayland?’ The dead Weserithian king?

  ‘Don’t play with me, Ayl. My sister might see us.’ Gwendylyyn giggled, eyes gleefully searching for a time and place long gone. Elymiah realized that she was no longer in her right mind. The queen smiled widely. Elymiah turned to look for William, but she couldn’t find him. Suddenly, Elymiah heard the whimpering sound again. She took her cloak off and put it over Gwendylyyn.

  ‘I need to find William,’ said Elymiah. Gwendylyyn giggled again and shuddered in the cloak. Elymiah began to scan the tree line when she noticed the horse begin to whinny and buck, furiously shaking its mane. There was nothing atop its back, yet it bucked all the same. Elymiah eyed the horse with caution.

  Then, the horse turned its head to Elymiah and laughed, making Elymiah freeze in place. Elymiah gasped as the horse’s eyes glowed bright red, and its once animal-like face changed. It smiled like a human, and its long mane collected in its neck with black strands of hair falling from it. Saliva fell from its open mouth onto the bloody snow.

  Suddenly, the whimper turned into soft wail. Elymiah saw a small, bloodied hand in the ditch beside her move. It was so very small. The horse must have noticed the same thing too. It licked its lips with its long tongue.

  ‘Too long since I have feasted on the flesh of babes.’ Its voice seeped from the horse’s mouth as it neared the body in the ditch.

  ‘No. You stay away from him.’ Elymiah ran to stand in-between the daemon and the baby.

  ‘What are you going to do, knight? You have no weapon, and are all alone. You are no match for me,’ whinnied the horse, throwing its head in the air.

  ‘I…I will not let you,’ said Elymiah as she gritted her teeth.

  ‘No, I can see that you will not. ‘Tis a shame. I would have let you live—a little longer at least.’

  Elymiah clenched her fists. The daemon was right. She could never defeat such an opponent without a weapon. The horse neared the tired knight, tail swinging back and forth.

  ‘You realize it, don’t you?’ The horse laughed. ‘How useless it is to defy me?’

  A wave of exhaustion hit Elymiah, and her muscles ached and cried for rest. She dropped to her knees. Her armour weighed so much, Elymiah couldn’t even stand anymore.

  ‘Give in, knight. What pleasure is there in life other than death?’

  Elymiah’s mind raced to Robyn. If only she had shown him her true feelings. It was too late now. The horse stood over Elymiah, smile shining in the dark. She closed her eyes. Suddenly, the horse hit her with its face, making her land on her back. The horse jumped on top of her.

  ‘You thought I would just kill you without savouring your body first? Foolish knight.’

  Elymiah struggled and tried to wrestle herself from under the horse, but it was too strong. The daemon horse stepped on both her arms with its hooves, pushing Elymiah into the ground and crushing her wrists. Elymiah screamed in pain.

  ‘Get off me!’

  The horse licked her cheek, leaving a trail of saliva on her face. The breath of the daemon almost made Elymiah pass out and vomit at once. Elymiah spat and tried to wrench herself free.

  ‘Stop struggling, you bitch. I know your thoughts. I know you want it.’

  Elymiah glanced down as two jet-black hands shot from the horse’s torso and began to rip Elymiah’s armour from her body. The hands sliced at the leather clasps of her chestplate with their long and sharp fingernails. The daemon threw the chestplate to the ground beside them. The horse leaned in close to Elymiah’s face. ‘Would it help if I told you I am extremely pleasurable?’ said the horse, sneering at her with an evil grin. ‘You may, indeed, enjoy this.’

  A long, thick cock spilled from in-between the horse’s hind legs. The horse smiled cruelly as it leaned in and licked her cheeks. Elymiah then head-butted the face of the daemon, making it scream as pieces of teeth spewed from its mouth. The horse reared back, stepping off of Elymiah. Blood trickled from Elymiah’s forehead, but she still found her feet.

  She had found her strength once more.

  The horse reared its elongated head and spat out bits of teeth. It lowered its head and began to paw the ground as if to charge at Elymiah.

  Elymiah could hear the pounding of her heart in her head.

  Suddenly, an armoured figure crashed through the underbrush, screaming. Elymiah looked up to see a woman with spear in hand charge at the horse. She wore the Holy Silver Angels Platoon armour.

>   Joan.

  The soldier screamed as the spear point pierced the horse’s ribs. The daemon screamed, but it was drowned out by Joan’s screams. She pulled the spear from the horse and plunged it into its body once more. The horse fell to the ground in a heap of torn flesh and blood. Over and over again, she punctured the horse’s flesh. Its guts spilled onto the dirt road. The daemon’s smile faded from its face, and the horse’s head returned to normal. It didn’t matter that the horse was dead; Joan continued to plunge her spear into the horse.

  Elymiah realized she had been holding her breath, and she let it out quite suddenly. She wiped slobber from the edge of her mouth and stood up. She made sure to pick up her sword and sheath it. She might not be so lucky if they were attacked once more. Elymiah walked over to Joan, who was still tearing through the dead horse.

  ‘Joan,’ Elymiah said, but Joan was not listening. Finally, Elymiah put a hand on her shoulder, and Joan whipped her head around, as if surprised to see Elymiah.

  ‘You…you left me in the tunnel,’ she whispered, staring at Elymiah as if she were seeing a ghost.

  ‘I thought you…’

  ‘Were dead? No, Knight-Captain, I am far from dead.’ Joan’s expression soured, and she looked at the broken carriage. ‘Where is William?’

  At once, they darted to the ditch where part of the carriage had gone down and found William. He had been badly beaten. A gash above his eyebrow showed bone, and he was bleeding profusely from it. His legs were also twisting in wrong directions, broken in several places. But what made Elymiah and Joan gasp was the baby that he was holding in his hands. William coughed blood as he struggled to speak.

  ‘King William?’ Elymiah asked, not believing it was really him.

  He held the child to Elymiah. ‘I think I broke my leg. Help me take care of him. He is the reason for the destruction of the nations. If he dies, all has been in vain.’

  The baby seemed to be asleep. He was soaked in blood. His umbilical cord hung loosely in-between his legs, yet he seemed not to notice the darkness surrounding him as his chest rose and fell peacefully. Elymiah and Joan both looked up as a scream permeated the dark forest.

  ‘We can’t stay here,’ Joan grunted, leaning on her spear. ‘I was being followed by a few of those beasts.’

  Joan’s eyes closed for a moment, and she almost lost her balance. She shook her head and looked at her knight-captain. Elymiah glanced at the dark path. She saw the red eyes dotting the dark forest.

  ‘Take the king on your shoulders.’

  Elymiah held the baby close to her chest. Its after-birthing blood dripped over her torn armour. She realized that her breasts were exposed to the elements. They wagged as she moved up and down. The daemon must have cut through her shirt with its long fingernails. Elymiah glanced at the corpse of the horse, just to make sure that it was still dead. She walked over to where the queen was lying. Her eyes were fixed on the darkened skies. Her lips didn’t tremble anymore. She lay still in the soft winds.

  ‘My Queen, Gwendylyyn.’ Joan fell on her knees before her monarch. She pawed at the ground beneath her as tears welled in her eyes. ‘My Queen.’

  Elymiah stared in silence. She could not summon a single tear for her. Queen Gwendylyyn, the one who was supposed to bring Aivaterra into a new age, was dead. She felt something strange on her chest. The child, who had been born but mere moments ago, was sucking on her breast. Elymiah didn’t know if she had milk in them, but it would keep the child from crying for now. Though weirdly enough, it didn’t scream or cry like a normal child.

  ‘Knight-Captain, we must leave,’ Joan said, standing up and collecting herself. ‘I’ll take the king on my back. We must go.’

  Joan walked over to William and lifted the crippled king over her back. Bone stood out from his legs, and it seemed like he wanted to scream, but instead, he clenched his teeth in silence. Joan glanced back to Elymiah.

  ‘We have to make it to Rokiev Bridge before sunrise,’ Elymiah said solemnly. ‘Or else we will never see the sun rise again.’

  THE SUN WAS beginning to rise just as they reached Rokiev Bridge. They had walked for miles, but Elymiah knew not how many exactly. When she looked back to Weserith, all she saw was a black cloud over the city. It looked like a mountain of fog from far away. Elymiah’s arms were exhausted from carrying the baby in her arms. Elymiah had wrapped her long blue cloak over the child and her exposed breasts. Her legs burned beneath her as she also carried the weight of her armour. Without her chestplate, however, she wasn’t as exhausted as she could have been. Joan huffed behind her, carrying the crippled king. William had passed out at some point in the rough trek. His legs swung from his body like a rag-doll’s.

  The forest around them had fallen away and turned into hills and open fields. Rokiev Bridge was nothing more than an old and broken-down plank bridge across a small creek. All they had to do was follow the small creek south to the Kingsoul River where the rendezvous was. Joan dropped to her knees and let William slip from her back. She fell onto the banks of the creek and let her body go limp. Elymiah sat down beside her and unclasped her cloak. She wrapped the baby in her bear cloak and set the newborn beside Joan. The baby was fast asleep in the fur of Elymiah’s cloak.

  Elymiah’s arms and legs ached, begging for respite. She let herself fall onto the sandy banks of the creek. They couldn’t stay for very long. If Robyn and the remaining fighters of Weserith made it out, Elymiah didn’t want to miss them. They would have been on horses and made better time. She couldn’t stay lying down for so long. She tried to get up, but her body wouldn’t let her.

  We might miss them. What if they left us?

  She glanced at Joan, who was motionless beside the king’s son. Elymiah’s world blurred as the sun beat down upon the weary travelers. Her eyes closed…

  ‘Hunter. Sleep no longer.’

  Elymiah sat up immediately. Her heart beat ceaselessly in her chest. She panted as she drew her sword, but there was no one around. The moon was sparkling in the night sky, and clouds circled high overhead. Crickets chirped in the forest, but all else was still.

  I slept too long. Elymiah took her shoulder plates off and set them beside her. Her shirt was entirely ruined, but she was able to tear a portion of her cloak to cover and hold her breasts. Joan was still beside her, face down and asleep. Her chestplate rose up and down. She glanced at William, who had propped himself next to a stump of a fallen tree. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be asleep. Suddenly, a sparkle of light caught Elymiah’s eye. It was a firefly. It zipped around the edges of the creek, its abdomen flashing on and off.

  Elymiah sat and watched the display in wonder, forgetting the situation at hand. How the world had turned upside down so fast, she would never know. Why has Oredmere allowed this? The bug danced up and down the creek, picking up speed and stopping just before the wooden bridge.

  ‘Elymiah, is it?’

  Elymiah whipped her head to see that William was staring at her. She blushed and covered her chest with her hands.

  ‘Your Grace, I’m sorry.’

  ‘I spoke rudely to you at the prison cells. I hope you forgive me.’

  ‘No need, Your Grace…I—’

  ‘William. For now, you can call me William. I am not a king of much at the moment. All my plans have failed me.’

  Elymiah turned to see William unlace his riding cloak and slip his shirt off. He handed it to Elymiah.

  ‘I won’t need this for much longer. That’s the thing I like most about Aivaterra; it is warm,’ he said. Elymiah slipped William’s brown shirt on. There was a spot of blood on it, but Elymiah ignored it. She saw that William was a lot worse than he looked. His legs were both clearly broken, but there was a gash on his side. She got up and knelt beside him. A few of his ribs had been broken as well. Elymiah was no healer, and she didn’t know how to mend bone and skin.

  ‘Where’s my son?’

  ‘He’s asleep, William.’ Elymiah glanced, just to make sure t
he baby was still there. ‘He is a silent one.’

  ‘And my wife?’

  Elymiah stared at the crippled king and shook her head. William stared at the firefly zipping past them.

  ‘Those bastards…’ William looked away as he fought back tears. He looked at the broken bones of his feet and bit his lower lip. ‘You know what needs to happen to my legs, Knight-Captain.’

  Elymiah looked down at his broken legs. Bone was protruding from his knees. Bits of bone had stuck to his skin. But the worst part was below the knee. The bones of his lower legs looked as if they had gotten stuck in a mill and been crushed to pieces within his boots. If William was in intense pain, as he very well should be, he didn’t show it. In fact, he seemed like mere pebbles were lodged in his boots. Elymiah noticed bits of rotted flesh already collected around his wounds. They had to be amputated before any infection spread. There was no other choice.

  ‘Don’t worry. I won’t scream.’ William winced as he moved his right leg out of the way. ‘Do it now.’

  Elymiah drew her sword. Suddenly, the firefly stopped at the edge of the creek, alerted by the sound of steel leaving its sheath. The small bug wandered over to Elymiah and William and landed on the broken bone. Elymiah realized that it was not a bug at all. It was a faerie. It stood atop the William’s boot and studied it cautiously. It was no more than a foot tall, and its transparent wings stretched out behind him, as long as his body. Its antennae twitched as it picked up a piece of bone and studied it. Elymiah stared in awe. When she was a child, she had heard about faeries, but never did she imagine she would see one. They were the fuel of legends, weren’t they? Yet one stood before her, wings glowing. Elymiah held her breath, as she did not know what to do. She clutched her sword hilt but didn’t move. She could only stare at it. The faerie turned its tiny head and spoke something to Elymiah in a language that she did not understand. Then it flew away carrying the piece of bone away with it. ‘Wonder what that was all about,’ said Elymiah as she released her grip on the sword and relaxed.