LEGENDS: Fifteen Tales of Sword and Sorcery

by Colt, K. J.

  But as her father, he could not. Duncan wanted what was best for her and deep down, he felt she was going down a dangerous road, a road of violence in a man’s world. She would be the only woman in a field of dangerous men, men with carnal desires, men who, when their blood was up, would fight to the death. She did not realize what true battle meant, what bloodshed, pain, death was like, up close. It was not the life he wanted for her—even if it were allowed. He wanted her safe and secure here in the fort, living a domestic life of peace and comfort. But he did not know how to make her want that for herself.

  It had all left him feeling confused. By refusing to praise her, he figured, he could dissuade her. Yet deep down, he had a sinking feeling he could not—and that his withdrawal of praise would only alienate her further. He hated how he had to act tonight, and he hated how he felt right now. But he had no idea what else to do.

  What upset him even more than all this, was what echoed in the back of his head: the prophecy proclaimed about her the day she was born. He had always disregarded it as nonsense, a witch’s words; but today, watching her, seeing her prowess, made him realize how special she was, made him wonder if it could really be true. And that thought terrified him more than anything. Her destiny was fast approaching, and he had no way to stop it. How long would it be until everyone knew the truth about her?

  Duncan closed his eyes and shook his head, taking a long swig from his sack of wine and trying to push it all from his mind. This was supposed to be a night of celebration, after all. The Winter solstice had arrived, and as he opened his eyes he saw the snow raging through the window, now a full-fledged blizzard, snow piled high against the stone, as if arriving on cue for the holiday. While the wind howled outside, they were all secure here in this fort, warm from the fires raging in the fireplaces, from the body heat, from the roasting food and from the wine.

  Indeed, as he looked around, everyone looked happy—jugglers, bards and musicians made their rounds as men laughed and rejoiced, sharing battle stories. Duncan looked with appreciation at the awesome bounty before him, the banquet table covered with every sort of food and delicacy. He felt pride as he saw all the shields hanging high along the wall, each one hand-hammered with a different crest, each insignia representing a different house of his people, a different warrior who had come to fight with him. He saw all the trophies of war hanging, too, memories of a lifetime fighting for Escalon. He was a lucky man, he knew.

  And yet as much as he liked to pretend otherwise, he had to face that his was a Kingdom under occupation. The old king, King Tarnis, had surrendered his people to all of their shame, had laid down arms without even a fight, allowing Pandesia to invade. It had spared casualties and cities—but it had also robbed their spirit. Tarnis had always argued that Escalon was indefensible anyway, that even if they held the Southern Gate, the Bridge of Sorrows, Pandesia could surround them and attack by sea. But they all knew that was a weak argument. Escalon was blessed with shores made of cliffs a hundred feet high, crashing waves and jagged rocks at their base. No ship could get close, and no army could breach them without a heavy price. Pandesia could attack by sea, but the price would be far too great, even for such a great empire. Land was the only way—and that left only the bottleneck of the Southern Gate, which all of Escalon knew was defensible. Surrendering had been a choice of pure weakness and nothing else.

  Now he and all the other great warriors were king-less, each left to his own devices, his own province, his own stronghold, and each forced to bend the knee and answer to the Lord Governor installed by the Pandesian Empire. Duncan could still recall the day he had been forced to swear a new oath of fealty, the feeling he’d had when he was made to bend the knee—it made him sick to think of it.

  Duncan tried to think back to the early days, when he had been stationed in Andros, when all the knights of all the houses had been together, rallied under one cause, one king, one capital, one banner, with a force ten times as great as the men he had here. Now they were scattered to the far corners of the Kingdom, these men here all that remained of a unified force.

  King Tarnis had always been a weak king; Duncan had known that from the start. As his chief commander, he’d had the task of defending him, even if it was unmerited. A part of Duncan was not surprised the King had surrendered—but he was surprised at how quickly it had all fallen apart. All the great knights scattered to the wind, all returning to their own houses, with no king left to rule and all the power ceded to Pandesia. It had stripped lawfulness and had turned their Kingdom, once so peaceful, into a breeding ground for crime and discontent. It was no longer safe to even travel the roads, once so safe, outside of strongholds.

  Hours passed, and as the meal wound down, food was taken away and mugs of ale refreshed. Duncan grabbed several chocolates and ate them, relishing them, as trays of Winter Moon delicacies were brought to the table. Mugs of royal chocolate were passed around, covered in the fresh cream of goats, and Duncan, head spinning from drink and needing to focus, took one in his hands and savored its warmth. He drank it all at once, the warmth spreading through his belly. The snow raged outside, stronger with each moment, and jesters played games, bards told stories, musicians offered interludes, and the night went on and on, all oblivious to the weather. It was a tradition on Winter Moon to feast past midnight, to welcome the winter as one would a friend. Keeping the tradition properly, as legend went, meant the winter would not last as long.

  Duncan, despite himself, finally looked over and saw Kyra; she sat there, disconsolate, looking down, as if alone. She had not changed from her warrior’s clothes, as he had commanded; for a moment, his anger flared up, but then he decided to let it go. He could see she was upset, too; she, like he, felt things too deeply.

  Duncan decided it was time to make peace with her, to at least console her if he could not agree with her, and he was about to rise in his chair and go to her—when suddenly, the great doors of the banquet hall burst open.

  A visitor hurried into the room, a small man in luxurious furs heralding another land, his hair and cloak covered in snow, and he was escorted by attendants to the banquet table. Duncan was surprised to receive a visitor this late in the night, especially in this storm, and as the man removed his cloak, Duncan noted he wore the purple and yellow of Andros. He had come, Duncan realized, all the way from the capital, a good three-day ride.

  Visitors had been arriving throughout the night, but none this late, and none from Andros. Seeing those colors made Duncan think of the old king, of better days.

  The room quieted as the visitor stood before his seat and bowed his head graciously to Duncan, waiting to be invited to sit.

  “Forgive me, my lord,” he said. “I meant to arrive sooner. The snow prevented that, I’m afraid. I mean you no disrespect.”

  Duncan nodded.

  “I am no lord,” Duncan corrected, “but a mere commander. And we are all equals here, high and low-born, men and women. All visitors are welcome, whatever hour they arrive.”

  The visitor nodded graciously and was about to sit, when Duncan raised a palm.

  “Our tradition holds for visitors from far away be given an honored seat. Come, sit near me.”

  The visitor, surprised, nodded graciously and the attendants led him, a thin, short man with gaunt cheeks and eyes, perhaps in his forties but appearing much older, to a seat near Duncan. Duncan examined him and detected anxiety in his eyes; the man appeared to be too on-edge for a visitor in holiday cheer. Something, he knew, was wrong.

  The visitor sat, head down, eyes averted, and as the room slowly fell back into cheer, the man gulped down the bowl of soup and chocolate put before him, slurping it down with a big piece of bread, clearly famished.

  “Tell me,” Duncan said as soon as the man finished, anxious to know more, “what news do you bring from the capital?”

  The visitor slowly pushed away his bowl and looked down, unwilling to meet Duncan’s eyes. The table quieted, seeing the grim look on his fac
e. They all waited for him to respond.

  Finally, he turned and looked at Duncan, his eyes bloodshot, watering.

  “No news that any man should have to bear,” he said.

  Duncan braced himself, sensing as much.

  “Out with it, then,” Duncan said. “Bad news grows only more stale with time.”

  The man looked back down at the table, rubbing his fingers against it nervously.

  “As of the Winter Moon, a new Pandesian law is being enacted upon our land: puellae nuptias.”

  Duncan felt his blood curdle at the words, as a gasp of outrage emitted from up and down the table, an outrage he shared himself. Puellae Nuptias. It was incomprehensible.

  “Are you certain?” Duncan demanded.

  The visitor nodded.

  “As of today, the first unwed daughter of every man, lord, and warrior in our Kingdom who has reached her fifteenth year can be claimed for marriage by the local Lord Governor—for himself, or for whomever he chooses.”

  Duncan immediately looked at Kyra, and he saw the look of surprise and indignation in her eyes. All the other men in the room, all the warriors, also turned and looked to Kyra, all understanding the gravity of the news. Any other girl’s face would have been filled with terror, but she appeared to wear a look of vengeance.

  “They shall not take her!” Anvin called out, indignant, his voice rising in the silence. “They shall not take any of our girls!”

  Arthfael drew his dagger and stabbed the table with it.

  “They can take our boar, but we shall fight to the death before they take our girls!”

  The warriors let out a shout of approval, their anger fueled, too, by their drink. Immediately, the mood in the room had turned rotten.

  Slowly Duncan stood, his meal spoiled, and the room quieted as he rose from the table. All the other warriors stood as he did, a sign of respect.

  “This feast is over,” he announced, his voice heavy. Even as he said the words, he noted it was not yet midnight—a terrible omen for the Winter Moon.

  Duncan walked over to Kyra in the thick silence, passing rows of soldiers and dignitaries. He stood over her chair, and looked her in the eye, and she stared back, strength and defiance in her eyes, a look which filled him with pride. Leo, beside her, looked up at him, too.

  “Come, my daughter,” he said. “You and I have much to discuss.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  KYRA SAT IN HER FATHER’S chamber, a small stone room on the upper floors of their fort with high, tapered ceilings and a massive marble fireplace, blackened from years of use, and they each stared in the gloomy silence. They sat on opposite sides of the fire, each on a pile of furs, staring at the crumbling logs as they crackled and hissed.

  Kyra’s mind spun from the news as she stroked Leo’s fur, curled up at her feet, and it was still hard to believe it was true. Change had finally come to Escalon, and it felt as if this were the day her life had ended. She stared into the flames, wondering what was left to live for if Pandesia would snatch her away from her family, her fort, from all she knew and loved and wed her to some grotesque Lord Governor. She would rather die.

  Kyra usually took comfort in being here, this room, where she had spent countless hours reading, getting lost in tales of valor and sometimes of legends, tales which she never quite knew were fact or fantasy. Her father liked to comb his ancient books and read them aloud, sometimes into the early hours of the morning, chronicles of a different time, a different place. Most of all, Kyra loved the stories of the warriors, of the great battles. Leo was always at her feet and Aidan often joined them; on more than one sunrise, Kyra would return bleary-eyed to her chamber, drunk on the stories. She loved to read even more than she loved weapons, and as she looked at the walls of her father’s chamber, lined with bookcases, filled with scrolls and leather-bound volumes passed down for generations, she wished she could get lost in them now.

  But as she glanced at her father, his grim face, it brought back their awful reality. This was no night for reading. She had never seen her father look so disturbed, so conflicted, as if for the first time he was unsure what action to take. Her father, she knew, was a proud man—all of his men were proud—and in the days when Escalon had a king, a capital, a court to rally around, all would have given up their lives for their freedom. It was not her father’s way to surrender, to barter. But the old King had sold them out, had surrendered on their behalf, had left them all in this terrible position. As a fragmented, dispersed army, they could not fight an enemy already lodged in their midst.

  “It would have been better to have been defeated that day in battle,” her father said, his voice heavy, “to have faced Pandesia nobly and lost. The old King’s surrender was a defeat anyway—just a long, slow, cruel one. Day after day, year after year, one freedom after the next is taken from us, each one making us slightly less of a man.”

  Kyra knew he was right; yet she could also understand King Tarnis’s decision: Pandesia covered half the world. With their vast army of slaves they could have laid waste to Escalon until there was nothing left. They never would have backed down, however many millions of men it took. At least now Escalon was intact, its people alive—if one could call this life.

  “For them, this is not about taking our girls,” her father continued, his speech punctuated by the crackling fire. “This is about power. About subjugation. About crushing what is left of our souls.”

  Her father stared into the flames and she could see he was staring into his past and his future all at once. Kyra prayed that he would turn and tell her that the time had come to fight, to stand up for what they all believed in, to make a stand. That he would never let her be taken away.

  But instead, to her increasing disappointment and anger, he sat there silently, staring, brooding, not offering her the assurances she needed. She had no idea what he was thinking, especially after their earlier argument.

  “I remember a time when I served the King,” he said slowly, his deep, strong voice setting her at ease, as it always had, “when all the land was one. Escalon was invincible. We had only to man The Flames to hold back the trolls and the Southern Gate to hold back Pandesia. We were a free people for centuries, and that was always how it was supposed to be.”

  He fell silent for a long time, the fire crackling, and Kyra waited impatiently for him to finish, stroking Leo’s head.

  “If Tarnis had commanded us to defend the gate,” he continued, “we would have defended it to the last man. All of us would have gladly died for our freedom. But one morning we all woke to find out lands already filled with men,” he said, his eyes widening with agony as if reliving it again before his eyes.

  “I know all of this,” Kyra reminded, impatient, tiring of hearing the same story.

  He turned to her, his eyes filled with defeat.

  “When your own king has given up,” he asked, “when the enemy is already amongst you, what is there left to fight for?”

  Kyra fumed.

  “Maybe kings do not always merit the title,” she said, no longer having patience. “Kings are just men, after all. And men make mistakes. Perhaps, sometimes, the most honorable route is to defy your king.”

  Her father sighed, staring into the fire, not really hearing her.

  “We here, of Volis, have lived well compared to the rest of Escalon. They allow us to keep weapons—real weapons—unlike the others, who are stripped of all steel under penalty of death. They let us train, they give us the illusion of freedom—just enough to keep us complacent. Do you know why they have?” he asked, turning to her.

  “Because you were the King’s greatest knight,” she replied. “Because they want to afford you honors befitting your rank.”

  He shook his head.

  “No,” he replied. “It is only because they need us. They need Volis to man The Flames. We are all that stands between Marda and them. Pandesia fears Marda more than we. It is only because we are the Keepers. They patrol The Flames with their
own men, their own draftees, but none are as vigilant as we.”

  Kyra thought about that.

  “I always thought we were above it all, above the reach of Pandesia. But tonight,” he said gravely, turning to her, “I realize that is not true. This news…I have been waiting for something of the sort for years. I did not realize how long. And despite all those years of preparation, now that it has arrived…there is nothing I can do.”

  He hung his head and she stared back at him, appalled, feeling indignation welling within her.

  “Are you saying you will let them take me?” she asked. “Are you saying you would not fight for me?”

  His face darkened.

  “You are young,” he said, angry, “naïve. You don’t understand the way of the world. You look at this one fight—not the greater kingdom. If I fight for you, if my men fight for you, we might win one battle. But they will come back, not with a hundred men, or a thousand, or ten thousand—but a sea of men. If I fight for you, I commit all of my people to death.”

  His words cut into her like a knife, left her shaking inside, not only his words, but the despair behind them. A part of her wanted to storm out of here, sickened, so disappointed in this man she had once idolized. She felt like crying inside at such betrayal.

  She stood, trembling, and scowled down at him.

  “You,” she seethed, “you, the greatest fighter of our land—yet afraid to protect the honor of his own daughter?”

  She watched his face redden, humiliated.

  “Watch yourself,” he warned darkly.

  But Kyra would not back down.

  “I hate you!” she shouted.