by Brad Clark
"But not like this," Conner observed.
"I did not say that," Percy replied defensively.
"But you thought it," Conner said.
“I have devoted my life to serving the king. The knights protect the realm, but it is the guard who protect the king within these walls. It is my men who stand guard outside the royal apartments day and night. We walk the halls, man the gates. And then when it is time to defend the realm, we are left here to sit idly by while the knights lead the army into battle.”
“Many will not return, though," Conner said.
“It is better to die upon the field of battle, than of old age," Percy said.
“I would agree with you, if you have nothing else to live for.”
Percy turned to look over Conner closely. “You really don’t talk like a farm boy.”
Conner grinned and replied, “Master Goshin taught me more than just how to swing a sword.”
“So where is the old man? I heard he left a while back with a fully packed mule in tow.”
Conner scanned the sky, looking for the star, but the clouds were too thick to see it. He ended up pointing in the general direction. “Out there is a star. It grows brighter by the day.”
“I have seen it," Percy said. "On some nights, it seems brighter than the moon.”
“Master Goshin believes it foretells some great event. He had a bunch of scrolls from some far away land that spoke of this event. He left to try and figure it out.”
“What does it mean for Karmon?” Percy asked.
“I do not know," Conner replied. "Master Goshin did not know. But I think the king is worried about it.”
“The king has more things to be worried about now. The threat from Thell is real. This shining star, how much of a threat can it really be?”
They stood in silence for some time. They watched the darkness, the dance of the lights of the city. Conner realized that maybe Percy wasn’t so bad after all. At least now he understood where he was coming from. And in some ways, the guardsman was no different than himself – an outcast from the aristocracy establishment. They weren’t better men than him, or even Percy. They weren’t necessarily better fighters. He had seen Percy train, and he was equal to just about every knight he had gone up against. But he felt inferior. Sometimes it was because of what others did to him, but in reality, it was more than that. He felt inferior because in the eyes of most, he was. Because of his bloodline. He didn’t have a mother or a father of noble blood. He was born and raised on a farm, a peasant in servitude to his liege, the king. He was on the lowest rung of the ladder. The most important rung, because without the farms and the peasants to work the land, there would be no food to feed the residents of the city. But no one ever seemed to recognize that fact.
He had heard that Percy's father was a merchant. And that would make Percy one rung up from him. Far from being a noble, but still far above the lowly peasant that Conner was. He thought it ironic that Percy would treat him with disdain because of who he was, and yet, hated the way the knights treated him, because of his blood. It confused Conner. Even after long nights of talking with Master Goshin about it, it still confused him. He lived among them and he could not see them any differently than him. At first, many of those he came across could read and write, while he could not. But Master Goshin had taught him well, and although he couldn’t read as fast as others, or write as well as others, he could read from nearly any one of the books that filled the king’s library. Many times others talked differently than him. Used words that he had never heard of, but words that were just more fancy versions of words that he used. When he was cleaned up and dressed in his fancy silk tunic, he looked no different than they did. And yet, they treated him differently because of his blood. He had seen his blood, and he had seen the blood of knights. Both were red.
Percy stiffened. The sudden movement caught Conner’s eye and broke him from his thoughts. “The gates have opened.”
Conner squinted into the darkness, searching for the gates, much less the city wall. “I do not see…”
“There are lights outside the gates to light the way up to the wall. We have doubled the fires to ensure that no one could sneak upon the walls without being seen.” He pointed towards where the gate was. “There is a large light there now, one that was not there a moment ago. I believe it is because the gates were opened.”
Conner looked harder, but he could still not see what Percy was talking about. A moment later, a trumpet blared twice.
"Someone of importance has arrived at the gate," Percy declared. "It is very unusual that the gates would be allowed to be open at this time of night. It better be someone important, or I will be looking for new gate guards. Come. We will meet them at the castle gate. I want to personally see who it is before we open the castle to them."
"Me?" Conner was surprised at the offer.
Percy gave the young man a long look. "You are not a knight. You are not a guardsman. I can say you are a soldier, though. You handle a sword better than I’ve seen in my lifetime. At worst, you can take the first charge." With a flash of a smile, Percy turned and strode quickly towards the door that led to the stairs.
They heard the thunder of the horses long before they saw them. There were four of them. Two were clearly guards, their surcoats billowing in the wind as they drove their horses to the gate. The identity of the two others were hidden in the darkness. Conner stood, a single sword strapped to his side, but his hand resting on the end of the handle. Percy had called other guards; he stood in front of three others. His sword was drawn, but tip pointed down into the ground in as unthreatening manner as he could muster. If it were someone of political importance, he didn’t want to insult them. But he also wanted to be prudent.
Three of the riders dismounted. Sensing no danger, Percy gave the signal to raise the portcullis. With the castle now open, the three who were walking led their horses through the gate, while one remained atop his horse.
"Captain," one of Percy’s gate guards said in greeting.
"Varen," Percy replied with a nod. He wished others would address him with his title rather than his name, like his men did. It was minor in the scheme of things, but he always felt that the knights slighted him and the concept of the Royal Guard by not addressing him and lieutenants by rank.
Varen turned to the cloaked walker to allow him to address Percy himself. With a quick flash, he pulled his hood off.
"Marik!" Conner shouted, stepping forward.
Marik gave Conner a quick smile in greeting, but he addressed Percy. "Sir Brace is injured and will need to be attended to."
"Nonsense!" Brace called out, sliding out of his saddle. He limped towards the rest of the group. "I am fine." He turned to his escorts and growled, "Be gone!"
Varen and his companion took their leave to return to the gate. Percy dismissed the rest of his men with a wave and sheathed his sword.
"Your men said the king and the army left days ago," Brace snapped. "We will take fresh horses in pursuit. And supplies. And as quick as you can!"
Despite his shouting, no one moved.
"You are hurt?" Percy asked. "Should you not rest and recover, so that you are able to fight?"
Brace stepped forward, right into Percy’s face. "I am ready to fight. I could split you in two before you could blink. Now. Get out of my way. Get my horses. And get my supplies!"
Percy winced. He was nearly Brace’s rank in the eyes of the kingdom, but he was still not a knight. The anger burned, but he knew now was not the time to let it loose. With as much calm as he could manage, he said, "Although you would offer much to the battle, the army that the king has raised is strong, and will easily defeat the Thellians."
Marik put a hand on his captain’s shoulder before another outburst exploded. "The king marches toward an ambush," the ranger said. "The Thellians are waiting for us. They know our every move."
"Neffenmark," Brace added, his face red from anger.
Percy opened h
is mouth to say something, but no words came. No thoughts came. He was utterly stunned.
"But the knights are there to fight," Conner said.
"It will be a messy, bloody fight," Marik said. "But there are many Thellian soldiers, and they know that we are coming, they know the path that the army is taking. It would not take a very smart general to figure out how to attack such an army in surprise. I do not doubt that our army will come out victorious, but there will be loss of life like no one has seen for a very long time."
"Lord Martin should be awoken," Percy said softly.
"As long as you do it after you have gotten my horses and supplies," Brace said, his tone still full of anger.
"I will get your horses," Conner said. He started walking towards the stables before anyone decided to try and change his mind. The sound of footsteps caused him to turn. Marik had trotted to catch up to him.
"The fireworks between Brace and Percy will go on for some time, I fear," Marik said with a smile. "I will help you with the horses."
"Percy is not so bad," Conner said.
"No. No, he’s not," Marik agreed. "But what makes Brace a great knight sometimes makes him difficult to deal with. Percy can be territorial sometimes, too. Makes him difficult to work with as well."
"He’s just doing his job, protecting the king," Conner countered.
They passed through the doors of the stable and Marik gave Conner a slight push. "Just get the horses. Those two over there. The smaller riding horses."
"And the white mare," Conner said. "I’ll take her."
"No," Marik said while gathering saddles.
"You can’t stop me," Conner said. "I need to do this. I need to help. I am tired of sitting around this castle doing nothing." He let out a grunt and continued, "Princess’ champion. What does that mean? No really, what does that mean? Does it mean that I get a better seat at the dinner table? That I get a comfortable bed at night? Based on what’s happened recently, that’s about all that there seems to be to this champion thing."
"You do have a duty to the princess," Marik said while tossing the saddles from the tack room to the center of the stables.
"Duty? To protect her? Isn’t that why there are three Royal Guard always hanging around her, following her where ever she goes? I’m not around to protect her. I’m doing nothing. So now, I’m coming with you, to fight like everyone else."
"I don’t disagree," Marik said.
"Then why did you say no?"
"Because the white mare is Lilly. It is the princess’ horse. You should choose another."
Ignoring the ranger, Conner continued putting her bridle on and pulled her out of the stable and came to a dead stop.
Marik smiled and said, "I told you that you should pick another."
Princess Elissa stood in the doorway of the stables. She had a blanket pulled around herself, keeping her warm. "What are you doing?" she asked.
“What are you doing awake, Princess?” Marik asked.
“Your bellowing awoke the whole castle,” she replied. And then she asked again when they continued walking the horses out of the stables. “What are you doing?”
"We need horses,” Conner said, stopping in front of here. “There are few to choose from, and yours is the best of them."
"No, I mean, where are you going?" She asked.
"To fight," Conner replied.
"Conner..."
"I am not going to argue. I can fight," Conner said.
"Conner," Marik interrupted. "Don’t do this to prove yourself to anyone, including yourself."
"But you said I could come with you," Conner said.
"Well, not in so many words, but yes, you are welcome to ride with us," Marik said.
"Sir Marik!" The princess exclaimed. "You are not helping me!"
Marik turned and gave a slight bow to the princess. "Your highness, Conner is a fine warrior. I have seen him train with Master Goshin. The army will need good swordsmen."
"He is my champion. He has promised to protect me." All could see the tears that were filling her eyes. "You promised."
Conner looked from the princess to Marik, and then back again. He spoke while walking towards her. "I promised to protect and serve you as your champion. And I will."
"You cannot be my champion if you are dead!" Elissa shouted back, trying to hold back the tears.
He reached her and took both of her hands. "I do not want to be your champion." He continued through her sobs. "I want to be your friend. I love being with you, talking with you. I love walking the gardens with you. I want to..." He took a deep breath and plunged into the depths of his heart. "I want to be someone to you that I know I cannot be. So, to be close to you, to be friends with you, I will settle for being your champion. But I can’t just sit around this castle, wearing these silk clothes, pretending that I don’t have any feelings for you."
He gripped her hand firmly and continued. "I promise I will be here for you when you need me. When you really need me to be your champion and not just some trophy that you can pull down off the shelf when you have no other toys to play with."
"I do not...!"
Conner cut her short by placing a finger on her lips. "I know you don’t mean to. But you are a princess, and you will marry someone of your station. This kingdom has lots of great men who would do well to be your husband. But I can’t be Conner the Princess’ Champion any more. I can never be Sir Conner. I need to be Conner, whoever that is. And that person right now needs to serve the kingdom. I may not be a knight, or a guardsman, or of noble blood, but I can still serve this kingdom. And right now, that means to help Sir Marik and Sir Brace find your father and warn him about the Thellian army."
Tears were fully streaming down her cheeks. "I don’t want to be a princess anymore." She fell into Conner’s arms, sobbing.
"I don’t want you to be either," Conner said softly. "But you are. We just need to be who we are."
He leaned over and touched his lips to her forehead. He wanted to tell her that he loved her, but the words would not come out. The words would have to wait for another time, another place. Movement caught his eye and he looked up to see Brace standing in the doorway.
"I must go," Conner said. "Sir Brace is waiting for us. We cannot lose any more time if we are to catch the king."
Conner tried to pull away, but instead, Elissa pulled him to her. She kissed him firmly on the cheek and embraced him tightly. After what seemed but an instant to Conner, but was an uncomfortably long time to the two knights watching, Elissa pulled away. The tears were gone. "Please do not ever stop being my best friend."
With regret, Conner stepped away and took the reins of Lilly. As he walked through the stable doors, he turned and gave Princess Elissa one last look. She smiled through fresh tears at him. Conner wanted to rush back and hold her one more time, but he knew that it was time to move on.
Marik led the other two horses through the stable doors and gave the young man a shoulder squeeze as he passed by. Outside the stable, Marik handed the reins of one of the horses to Brace.
"Ready to ride?" Brace asked Conner.
Conner nodded, unwilling to say anything for fear of breaking down into tears. The feelings that he was having for Elissa were so overwhelming and so confusing, they were nearly incapacitating.
"And you’re wrong, by the way," Brace added. "The kingdom does have a lot of great men, but none more worthy to be her husband. I envy your love. It is a rare thing."
***
Hibold, the thin Taran emissary picked up his robes as he walked from his covered and enclosed wagon through the mud. A handful of torches were set around the camp, casting enough light to see by, but leaving enough shadows to make Hibold think about what could be lurking just outside of his sight. An armed sentry manned the tent flap and pulled it open as he approached.
Inside was nothing less than what he expected. Lord Neffenmark moved around in comfort and ease, something Hibold appreciated, even though the barbarian was almos
t too much to stomach. The floor was covered with carpets, keeping the mud from spoiling the mountain of pillows that Neffenmark lay upon. Hibold gave a slight bow, giving the enormously fat man the respect he did not deserve.
"I am returning to Taran," Hibold said.
"Oh?" Neffenmark said, mouth overflowing with food. He quickly washed it down with several gulps of wine. "You are not staying to see the result of our work?"
"Battles are quite...messy."
Neffenmark smiled. "That is the best part. Heads and limbs slicing. Insides spewing out of bodies." He grabbed a slab of meat with his hands and pulled out a chunk and stuffed it in his mouth. "Blood everywhere. It is really a sight to see."
The Taran emissary closed his eyes to not only help himself from thinking about what Neffenmark was talking about, but also to keep from seeing meat juice flowing down the fat chins. "That is for generals and others. Not civilized men," Hibold said.
Neffenmark let out a full belly laugh. "Have you ever stayed to watch one?"
"Once my part is done, the generals and kings take over," Hibold said.
"And you run away, hiding from a little blood and gore," Neffenmark said with a leer.
"Lord Neffenmark, we all have our place in this world. You have yours. I have mine. I am not here to be insulted by you. I am here to complete our deal."
"Very well," Neffenmark said. He held up a goblet. "Care for some wine?"
"No thank you."
"Oh?" Neffenmark asked. "Now you insult me by refusing my hospitality?"
Hibold rubbed his feet on the carpet, trying to get as much mud off as he could. "You insult me by trying to offer me a poisoned cup of wine. Do not be surprised. I know you too well. You may not know it, but most of the barbarians that I deal with try and think that they can kill me at the conclusion of the deal."
Neffenmark took another bite of meat and chewed it angrily. "We are not barbarians," he said with his mouth stuffed with food.
"In your eyes, no you are not," Hibold said. "But you have to remember who and what I serve. I serve an empire that is the greatest that this world has ever known. Our history predates yours by thousands of years. Our culture is refined and civilized."