DAWN OF THE PHOENIX

by A. J. STRICKLER

  Endra’s little brood was quite trying. They were at their worst at bath time. They had not bathed regularly when they had been on the run from the Church and now it was a task to clean them, but Rhys refused to allow them to be unsanitary. He was dead set on keeping them healthy, even though he had not so much as seen one of them with a runny nose. The healer insisted on cleanliness. It was a trial, but he was managing to get it done. The little girl had been the worst. He didn’t even want to think about Tressa and her menagerie of dead pets. They had a terrible time getting the carcasses away from her and the odor of the filthy things still lingered in the children’s room.

  He was ready for their mother to return. He also knew his two bodyguards had been expecting their friends to have returned by now. Rhys could tell they were starting to worry. Rhys had told Rufio and Vandarus that there was no set time on how long it took to rescue a friend from an evil wizard so they should just be patient. They had seemed content with that evaluation.

  He was about to get ready for bed when a knock came at the door. Rhys didn’t get the door all the way open before the small princess burst in and threw herself into his arms. “Thank God you’re here, Rhys, I need you. Isabella is gone and I have no one I can turn to.”

  He held her close, and could feel her shapely form under her thin cloak. He liked the sensation. The healer held her just a little longer than he should, but finally he gently pushed her back. “Your Highness, uh… I heard you were married. I don’t think you should be here, it’s unseemly. Besides, it could cause us both a great deal of trouble.”

  “I sorry I couldn’t tell you about the wedding. I didn’t really know about it myself, the whole thing was orchestrated by my brother and not with my consent. My God, Rhys, what happened to your hair?”

  Rhys looked at her, embarrassed. “It’s a long story.” The princess touched it with her hand but said no more about the odd color.

  “It was no longer safe for me at the palace and I had nowhere else to go. I waited until nightfall and cloaked myself. I asked through the streets until I found someone that knew where you lived. I had to get out of there, Rhys. I was so scared. You might be the only man I trust in this whole city.”

  Rufio and Vandarus came in from the back room, swords in hand. Rhys could see it startled the princess and she instinctively clung to him for protection. “It’s alright, Highness, they are friends.”

  Vandarus slowly lowered his sword and knelt on the wooden floor. “Your Highnesses, forgive my rudeness for having a bare blade in your presence.”

  She shook her head. “If you’re a friend of Rhys’s, then there is nothing to forgive. Do I know you?”

  “No, Highness, but I saw you once when you were young in a parade with your father. Your beauty has only grown since then, Highness.”

  “Well, that’s a lovely compliment. I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.” The princess looked at her healer.

  Rhys cleared his throat. “Let me introduce Vandarus and Rufio, Highness, they are here as… Well, my bodyguards, so to speak.”

  Raygan motioned with her hand for Vandarus to rise, which he quickly did. “I am very pleased to meet you both. I hope you can forgive me, but I must speak with Rhys privately.”

  Vandarus nodded and started for the back room. Rufio didn’t move. “Your Highness, last time Rhys went to the palace and asked about your handmaiden, he was almost killed by the Royal Guard. Are you sure you’re not going to bring the weight of the crown down on us just by being here? What I mean, Highness, is if what I overheard is true, they know you have a connection to Rhys. They may come here looking for you. Were you followed?”

  Raygan dropped her eyes to the floor. “I hadn’t thought about that. I don’t know if I was followed or not. It’s possible my brother’s servants spy on me constantly. How could I be so foolish?”

  “This will be one of the first places they will look, Highness. We need to leave. Vandarus, wake Nick Nock and the children and let’s get out of here,” Rufio ordered.

  Rhys took the small woman by the shoulders. “I know a place we can go where they wouldn’t look for us. It’s not the palace, but it should be safe. Highness, I'm sorry, I know you came here to hide, but we’re going to need to take you elsewhere.”

  “Whatever you think is best, I trust your judgment. I’m sorry for coming and causing you trouble, that was the last thing I meant to do.”

  Vandarus roused the cook and the sleepy children and brought them out into the front room. Rhys had just grabbed his bag of instruments and herbs when a knock came at the door.

  “Open up in the name of the king.”

  “Take the princess and the children out the back, Rhys. Vandarus and I will hold off the guard,” Rufio quietly commanded.

  “I can’t leave you here,” Rhys said. He picked up an iron poker from the fire place, ready to stand his ground.

  Rufio grabbed his arm. “Take them and go. Go now.”

  Rhys shook his head. “No, Rufio, I can’t let you and Vandarus die for me.”

  “K’xarr told me if I let anything happen to you, he would have my hide. Now go, this is our duty. Besides, I think the princess would like you to save her. Unless you want to stay here and see her dragged back the palace and explain to the guard why the princess was here in the first place.”

  Rhys nodded and clutched Rufio’s shoulder, then he and Nick herded the princess and the children to the back.

  The two men drew their swords as the door crashed in. The first two members of the guard went down, not expecting to find fighting men in the house of a healer. Rufio pulled his bloody Dragitan shortsword out of the city guardsman and turned to take on the next. “Here they come, Vandarus. Hold the line, death or glory.”

  Rhys gave one look back and followed Raygan, Nick Nock, and the children out a window in the back of the house. He hated to leave Rufio and Vandarus behind, he had grown close to both men over the last couple of months, but there was just nothing else he could do. The city watch had men coming around the back of the house, but they didn’t see the little group. Rhys picked Payton up, Nick Knock grabbed Vinsant, and he instructed Raygan to carry Tressa. They ran as fast as they could with Rhys leading the way. As they turned down an alley, they heard the first crash of thunder.

  It had been lucky for them that the doorway to the healer’s home was narrow, and that it was the city watch and not the Royal Guard that came looking for the princess, but Rufio knew that they had just about run out of luck. The wooden floor was slick with blood and five of the city watch lay in the doorway dead or dying. It didn’t matter, there were more to take their place outside. Sooner or later, it would be the watchmen who got lucky.

  “Well, my friend, I bet you didn’t ever think you would die defending your princess, did you?” Vandarus parried a spear thrust from one of the city watch trying to get inside.

  Vandarus grinned at his friend. “No, I didn’t, it’s not such bad way—good cause and all.”

  Rufio sighed. “I would have preferred a battlefield myself, but this will do.” A spear thrust came through the door at Vandarus’s head and he blocked it, but he did not see the one that came in low and pierced his calf.

  “Bastard.” Rufio drove his shortsword into the man’s groin, slicing through the big tendon there. As he pulled his sword back, a crossbow bolt streaked through the doorway and struck him high in the chest, spinning him to the floor. Vandarus limped back and helped his friend to his feet. It only took that long for the enemy to get through the doorway.

  Together, they stood facing the watchmen. Both were wounded and ready to die with their bloody swords in hand. There was no way out now. Three of them were in the room and they could see more of the watchmen out on the porch.

  The rain grew heavy and lighting flashed when they heard the first scream. The head of a guardsman standing in the doorway exploded in a shower of gore. Rufio and Vandarus hobbled back as two heads rolled into the room from the front porch. The three alre
ady inside turned in time to see death come into the room.

  Rufio’s mouth dropped open, unprepared for what he saw. The man who came in was shirtless and wet from the rain; long black hair clung to his face. That was all the Dragitan could tell before the man moved.

  Rufio could not help but doubt what he witnessed. He looked on as the watchmen died before his eyes. Two went down without their heads and the other with only one leg and one hand. Rhys’s front room, as well as the man that stood before them, was splattered with blood. The newcomer raised his head. “Kian?” Rufio started towards him, but abruptly stopped. A low growl came from deep in the half-elf’s chest, and his eyes were dilated so much, they looked like black marbles.

  Vandarus pulled his friend back and they both raised their swords. Kian took a battle stance, both his bloody hands gripping the hilt of the most menacing sword the two men had ever seen.

  Its gray and black blade seemed to swirl like angry storm clouds when flashes from the storm’s lighting struck its blade. The sword filled the two men with dread. Both would rather have been facing an army of the city’s watchmen than the thing that stood before them now.

  A female voice cut through the rain and thunder. “Kian. No, stop, it’s Rufio and Vandarus. They are your friends. Ease yourself, my love.” He lowered his blade as Endra walked into the room.

  “I have never been so glad to see anyone in my life,” Vandarus said.

  “What in the hell happened to him?” Rufio asked as he put his sword away.

  Endra looked around the small house “It’s a long story. K’xarr can tell you when he gets in here. First we need to get Rhys to look at your wounds. Where is he, and where are my children?”

  Rufio eased himself into a chair. “He went out the back when the watch came. He took the princess, our cook, and the children with him. I don’t know if the watch had men out back or not.”

  “Kian, see if you can find the children and Rhys, I will be right behind you."

  The two wounded men watched as Kian went out the back window with inhuman speed. “By all the gods above and below, Endra, what was that?”

  She looked at Rufio and he could see in her eyes he had angered her.

  “It’s Kian,” she said, hotter than she intended. “I told you something happened to him. Now rest and bind your wounds as best as you can. We will be back for you after we find the children and Rhys.” She started to leave, then turned back. “Did you say he had a princess and a cook with him?”

  The rain was pouring down when she walked out. K’xarr and Cromwell stood waiting. “Where is Ansel?”

  “Around back. Where’s Kian?”

  “I sent him after Rhys and the children. Rufio said he has the Princess of Bandara with him and some cook as well.” Thunder crashed as the storm grew worse.

  K’xarr rubbed the back of his neck. “You think that was a good idea? He’s crazy, Endra, you should keep him close. We are in a city now.”

  “He’s not crazy, damn it, he is just confused and scared.”

  K’xarr started walking to the rear of the house. Cromwell and Endra fell in step behind him. “I’m not going to argue with you right now, Endra. You think he’s scared? He looked at me the other night with those damn cat eyes and I almost shat myself. His mind is gone and after what that wizard did to him, he is the most dangerous man I have ever seen.”

  Endra put her head down and said no more. K’xarr was right in a way. Kian had been very menacing on the trip back from the Adorn Forest, but he had not hurt any of them. Rhys was her only hope. The healer might be the only one who could help him now. “K’xarr, you’re right. I shouldn’t have let Kian go alone, we should find him quickly.”

  They found Kian standing in the doorway of an old stable. Nine of the city watch lay in a circle at his feet, killed by his deadly blade. K’xarr motioned to Endra and she walked towards him slowly. “Did you find them?” Kian looked up to the ceiling of the stable. There was a hay loft.

  “Children, it’s me. Rhys, it’s Endra.”

  The healer’s head poked out of the hole where a wooden ladder disappeared into the loft. “Is it safe to come down now? The watchmen had us trapped in here. Then some kind of devil came in and killed them all.”

  Endra put her arm around Kian and laid her head on his shoulder. “Yes, come down, everything’s fine.” Kian turn his head slightly and looked at her, then tilted his head so it touched hers ever so slightly. Endra was glad for the rain. No one could see the tears that ran down her face.

  They had gone back to retrieve Rufio and Vandarus from Rhys’s house. The rain had washed most of the blood off the two wounded men as they made their way to the abandoned stable.

  K’xarr and Cromwell stacked the bodies of the watchmen Kian had killed in one of the empty horse stalls. Rhys assured them the stable was safe. He had used it before when he had hidden from the Royal Guard.

  K’xarr decided everyone should wait out the storm in the stable. The rain was coming down so hard that no one had argued with his decision. The thunder and lightning was so fierce, it sounded as if the Gods of War were doing battle right above the city.

  Rhys had tended to both of the wounded men. Their wounds were bad, but not life-threatening. Now they were resting comfortably in a stall filled with fresh hay. The stable had been built well. There were very few leaks in its roof, so the dusty floor stayed generally dry. It was a good place to hold up for now.

  K’xarr had told Kian to stand guard at the door. He was still mindful of the half-elf. Kian’s intentions were still unknown to them, and K’xarr was not sure if he even wanted to know what was in the half-breed’s mind.

  The rest of the group, besides the wounded men, stood in a circle talking and trying to dry off as best they could, everyone that was but Ansel. He stood apart from the others in the back of the building, lurking like a redheaded assassin.

  “Is there anything you can do for him, Rhys?” K’xarr asked. “He hasn’t even spoken since we found him. A kind of madness has taken hold of him. Sometimes it’s as if he doesn’t even know us. I hate to think what might be going through his head.”

  Rhys scratched his head. “From what you told me, this Dark One used some kind of magic on him. I would have to know what was done before I could even start to treat him. I have never even heard of anything like this before. I don’t know anything about magic, so whatever I try, I would just be guessing. I might do more harm than good. I’m not a wizard, K’xarr, just a simple healer.”

  As he spoke, he saw Raygan wander away from the group towards the back of the stable. She seemed to have no interest in what the others were discussing.

  “There is one thing I can try, but it’s dangerous.”

  “He has been through a lot, Rhys. I don’t know how much more he could handle,” Endra said.

  “It’s not a danger to him, it’s dangerous for me. I will have to reach into his mind and see what happened to him. His memories will tell me what I need to know.”

  “Can you do that?” Endra asked, skeptical.

  “I have no idea. I have never actually tried it before, but I was instructed in the process by the old woman who trained me. I warn you, Kian must cooperate with me or it won’t work at all. I can’t invade a mind, only join with a willing one. You may be the only one able to get him to consent to the procedure, Endra. If he does, I will take him into the loft and see what I can find out. ”

  “Of course, I will help any way I can,” Endra said.

  “Good. I have only one question. Do you think it’s safe for me to be alone with him?”

  “Rhys.”

  “I don’t want to be eaten during the process.”

  Endra scowled at the healer. “I don’t think he would try to eat you, Rhys.”

  The physician raised his eyebrows. “That’s my problem, Endra; you don’t “think” he would do it.”

  Endra just shook her head.

  “He might try and eat you, Rhys,” Cromwell blurted out
. “I saw him run a deer down and kill it on the way back from the forest, and I know you’re not that fast.”

  Endra slapped the Toran’s chest with the back of her hand. “I told you not to say anything about that.”

  K’xarr nodded, ignoring his two companions. “It’s up to you, Rhys. Do you feel up to it?”

  “I promised to help anyone I could when I became a healer and I like Kian. I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t at least make an attempt. So, yes, let’s do it.”

  Endra went and got Kian from the front of the stable. She led him by the hand over to Rhys. “You need to go with him, Kian. Rhys is going to try and help you. He is a very good healer, remember? Don’t harm him, nothing he’s going to do will hurt you.”

  Kian looked at the healer as if he was straining to remember. Rhys started up the ladder into the loft. Kian followed, looking back over his shoulder at Endra. The two disappeared into the top of the stable.

  “I hope he can do something,” Endra whispered as she stepped onto the ladder.

  K’xarr stepped close to the woman. “If he can’t, I don’t know what we are going to do with him.”

  It was obvious the man was trying to avoid her. Raygan knew who he was when he walked in with the others. Did he really think she wouldn’t recognize him, even with those silly clothes and that awful beard?

  He stood stock still as she approached. She tried to remember how long it had been since she had seen him. “Are you trying to hide from me, Ansellus?”

  “I was hoping you wouldn’t recognize me, Highness. I wanted to clean up a little before I revealed my presence to you, and frankly, I didn’t know if you would even remember me.”

  “How could I not remember the man who helped me pick out my first pony and taught me to ride?” She hugged the big man around his waist and he stroked her hair. A tear ran down into his thick red beard.