Knight Fire

by Brad Clark

  The large form of Lord Kirwal was evident from the moment he stepped from the forest. Even if there weren’t twenty armed knights around him, Sir Gossmire knew that proper leadership was finally on its way.

  “It is a chilly morning,” Lord Martin said.

  Sir Gossmire glanced down at the plump form of Lord Martin and let out a long sigh in place of the angry words that he wanted to say. While Lord Martin was comfortably sleeping inside a warm house, belly full of fresh meat, Sir Gossmire had been up most of the night trying to make sure as many people as possible were fed.

  “It will get colder,” Sir Gossmire finally said, breaking an icy silence that lingered for several long moments.

  “Where are all these people going to stay? They just keep coming and coming. Is that Lord Kirwal?” A sense of relief came with his words.

  “Yes.”

  “He will know what to do.”

  Sir Gossmire glanced down at Lord Martin and wondered how he had survived this far. The man had no skills that he could offer and was as much a danger to himself as he was to other people. He could not fight or defend himself. He was lazy and ate too much. He was supposed to be a leader, but he could not lead. Sir Gossmire could only shake his head at the irony of the situation. So many good men had died over the past few weeks, men who could have helped to defend the kingdom and try and win it back. Lord Martin offered nothing.

  Ignoring his tired and sore feet, he started walking out towards the edge of the village. It would only be proper protocol for him to meet Lord Kirwal and escort him. Lord Martin grumbled at having to walk through the muddy street, but he followed.

  Lord Kirwal smiled at Sir Gossmire as he approached.

  “Sir Gossmire! Well met.” Lord Kirwal’s eyes glanced over the village. “It seems as if the village of Neffenmark Castle has grown some.”

  “The castle is closed to us,” Sir Gossmire said, not wanting to waste time with pleasantries. “It seems as if we were not the only ones to know of the castle’s strategic location.” He turned his head to the north.

  “Thell? Thellians have taken our castle?”

  “It seems that way.”

  Lord Kirwal looked to the north as well, but the tall peaks of the White Mountain were all that he saw. His mind pondered the sudden revelation, but his facial expression never changed. “There are wagons half-a-day behind us. They are making slow time through the forest. The majority of the knights are back there protecting them. Later today, we will have both more supplies and more soldiers.”

  “Taking the castle will not be possible,” Sir Gossmire said. “We all know the strength of the walls. Trying to breach them would be a massacre. They have crossbowmen that patrol day and night.”

  “Do we know their numbers?”

  Sir Gossmire shook his head. “Not a hint. They could have twenty men or two-thousand. There would be no way for us to know until we tried to attack them. How many men would we need to sacrifice before we had our answer?”

  “Too many, of course. And we will need as many fighting men as possible for the goblins that nip at our heels.”

  “Goblins? They are coming?”

  “We killed many of them at Tyre, but not enough. We were lucky once, but a second assault by them might have broken through our defenses. Neffenmark Castle is our only hope, now. If we can get behind its walls, we can hold it through winter and then start to take our kingdom back in the spring.”

  “We have tried everything!” Lord Martin said, stepping forward with as powerful of a voice as he could muster.

  “Of course you have,” Lord Kirwal replied dryly. “Have you spoken with King Toknon?”

  “Only with their soldiers on the wall,” Lord Martin said. “We do not know if he is there.”

  “Of course he is. I bet he marched his soldiers here to take the castle the moment the Tarans left Thell. He knew what was happening. Now he holds the only castle that can save our kingdom. We will try diplomacy once more time.”

  “You must be famished,” Lord Martin said. “We can have a meal prepared for you.”

  Lord Kirwal let out a grunt. “You can have a meal prepared for all my people. They are hungry. I am not. Sir Gossmire, if you will escort me to the castle gate, we will give this one last chance. I do not even want to think about other options.”

  “Of course.” Sir Gossmire turned and started walking towards the castle gate with both lords next to him. Lord Kirwal’s escort of knights fell into step behind them.

  “Lord Martin,” Lord Kirwal said as they walked. “See to it that food is being properly and equitably distributed. We will not have one person starve. Can you manage that?”

  “Of course, Lord Kirwal. But I thought I would accompany you.”

  “Sir Gossmire is my escort. See to the food, Lord Martin.”

  Dejected, Lord Martin fell out of step and turned to walk into the village.

  When they were some distance away, Sir Gossmire said, “I think he means well.”

  Lord Kirwal let out a grunt. “His kind is meant for a soft life on a comfortable estate. He almost became king, you know.”

  “Yes, I know. What a disaster that would have been.”

  Lord Kirwal let out a grunt. Then he said, “We must discuss our options.”

  “Taking it by force is not an option. We do not have any siege engines, and it would take too long for us to construct any.”

  “We need the castle’s walls intact if they are to be any good to defend against those goblins.”

  “Of course. Just discussing the options.”

  Lord Kirwal replied grimly, “Of course. And an assault over the walls would be bloody.”

  “Given enough time and men, we could breach the walls. The one thing we do have is men.”

  “Good men who deserve to live and not be slaughtered on the battlefield by our northern neighbors. There will be enough deaths when the goblins arrive.”

  “How long until that happens?”

  “We hurt them pretty good at Tyre, and they do not seem to be in any hurry to chase after us. We may have as long as a week before they arrive. Maybe less. Probably less. What horses we have were given to knights who are protecting our rear. Once the goblin horde starts advancing towards us, we will know. By then, we either need to be in the castle or have some pretty good defenses set up.”

  The castle gate was only a hundred yards away. A dozen crossbows from guards atop the wall were aimed at them.

  “Do you think diplomacy will work?” Sir Gossmire asked, his eyes warily watching the crossbowmen.

  “No, but we have to give it at least one more shot.”

  They continued towards the castle gate in silence.

  They were allowed to reach the gate before one of the crossbowmen called out, “That’s close enough!”

  Lord Kirwal cleared his throat. “My name is Lord Kirwal. I am the governor of the Karmon city of Tyre.”

  “You are far from home!”

  “I wish to have dialogue with King Toknon.”

  “I am sure he does not wish to talk to you!”

  “Is that not for him to decide? You can see that there are hundreds of my people that are crowded into the village and many more on the way. Soon there will be thousands. And behind them is an army of goblins. Inside the castle walls, we can survive. Outside, we will not.”

  “That is why we are inside!” The crossbowman started laughing. “We are prepared to fight off any attack or any attempt by you to storm the castle. Do not think that you can survive an assault. There are many hundreds of us, and we all have crossbows and plenty of crossbow bolts.”

  “There is one more thing you must know, and you will tell this to King Toknon. We have the ability to knock down your gate. We will set up our defenses to funnel the goblin horde right to the castle wall and right through the open gate. You might be able to get a few hundred Karmon Knights from breaching your walls, but with the gate wide open, you will have no chance to stop thousands of goblins.�
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  A crossbow was fired, and its bolt struck the ground at Lord Kirwal’s feet. The crossbowman closest to them held up his empty weapon and laughed. “Do not threaten us!”

  Unflinching, Lord Kirwal looked back at his knights and gave a slight nod of his head.

  One of them stepped forward, but he was only clad in a worn wool clock. Hargon pulled back the hood of his cloak to reveal a stern and angry look. Then he lifted a hand, and a small ball of fire appeared in his palm. With a quick flick of his wrist, he tossed the ball at the crossbowman who had fired at them. It struck him square in the chest, and he let out a screech as he stumbled backward and fell to the ground with a solid thud.

  “We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way,” Lord Kirwal called out. “Bring King Toknon out, or we will tear down your gate and the goblin horde have their way with you!”

  ***

  Gregarious found his way to parts of the castle that were dark and dusty. Even the previous occupants had not ventured down the halls and corridors in many years. He didn’t like that he left footprints in the dust, but there was really no choice. Besides, the current occupants would soon be busy with thousands of goblins clawing at their walls and wouldn’t have time to investigate footprints through rarely used corridors.

  The corridors of the castle soon gave way to tunnels through the mountain. Many of those tunnels opened up into natural caverns. The coolness of the caverns would have allowed food to be stored for many weeks or even months. Given time to prepare, the castle could withstand a very long siege. There were even small mountain springs that cut through the some of the chambers that would give the occupants fresh water.

  As Gregarious wandered through the empty chambers using an old torch as a light source, he was encouraged that he would find the amulet. What better place to hide than in the bowels of a castle? But he didn’t even get a tickle of the presence of the amulet. Even if it was buried under several feet of rock, he would have felt it. Distance was the only way to prevent the amulet from being felt.

  With each passing minute, his frustration grew until he was practically running through the tunnels trying to find new branches that might hold the amulet. After several hours, he knew that the amulet was not in the castle. His perfect sense of direction allowed him to find his way back through the maze of tunnels and he quickly returned to the corridors of the castle.

  His frustration almost caused him to be discovered. The sound of voices startled him, and he came to a quick stop. He was still in a dark corridor with the torch on its last leg. Some distance ahead a cross-corridor intersected his and spread light towards him. He dropped the torch and snuffed it out with his foot. Cautiously, he walked forward, his ears perked at the voices, but they weren’t coming down the corridor towards him. They were still some distance away.

  As slowly as he could, he glanced around the corner. A group of men, including the one who had been called King Toknon, stood in the corridor arguing. Too many of them were talking at once so he couldn’t pick out what they were arguing about. There was no way around them, and they didn’t seem like they were too interested in moving on. He would either have to wait them out or risk walking by and hopefully none of them would care about a single soldier walking halls deep in the bowels of the castle.

  He stretched his fingers as they itched to rip into more Human flesh. What did he care anyway? If they didn’t let him pass, or question him, he would simply rip their throats out. Even though there were eight of them, if he were able to get the jump on them, he should be able to kill them all without himself being harmed. He licked his lips as he thought about the taste of Human flesh.

  “Enough!” King Toknon called out. “I will hear no more of this! We will keep the castle gates locked. Now leave me be!”

  Gregarious had been about to jump out from behind the corner, but the loud shouting of the king caused him to hesitate. The king opened a door, stepped through, and then slammed it shut. The men who had been arguing with him stood outside the door in dumbfounded silence. They began to talk among themselves, but they were too far away and speaking too quietly for Gregarious to hear. After a couple minutes, the group of men shuffled their way down the corridor in the other direction.

  Gregarious waited until they were out of sight before he rushed forward to the door that the king went through. He might as well not waste this opportunity to ask the king some questions before he moved on. Maybe the king would have a clue that would help him find the location of the amulet. Probably not, but at least he might have some fun trying to pry information out of him.

  The door was locked, but that wouldn’t stop him. He squeezed the door handle, crushing it in his hands, then he gave a shove that broke the door from the frame.

  “What!” King Toknon shouted. The sound of the door being broken down caused the king to draw his sword and point it at the incoming threat.

  “Put that thing away,” Gregarious growled.

  “Another step and I’ll cut you in two.” King Toknon’s eyes narrowed. “I know you. You were up in the main hall. What are you doing down here?”

  “I am the one that is going to rip your arms off and beat you with them,” Gregarious growled.

  King Toknon laughed. “You don’t even have a weapon! Are you drunk? I should kill you just for interrupting me. And for breaking my door.”

  Gregarious held up his hands, which were still human hands. “I have these.”

  “I will teach you a lesson that you will soon not forget!”

  King Toknon leaped forward, his sword arcing towards Gregarious’ body, but Gregarious did not move or even flinch. At the last moment, he released control of his hands, and the pink flesh was instantly transformed into his scaly translucent skin. He reached out and caught the razor-sharp sword in the palm of his hand. It did not cut or even mark his hand. He squeezed it tight to hold it still, preventing King Toknon from pulling it away and striking again.

  The king’s eyes went wide as he realized what the man in front of him did, and then he released his grip on the sword as he saw Gregarious’ translucent hand. He took two steps back, his hands shaking and his lip quivering. “What are you?”

  Gregarious released all control that was keeping his skin in the shape of the dead Human soldier. In almost an instant, his true form was exposed to King Toknon.

  The king lost control of his muscles and his knees buckled. Somehow he stayed up in a kneeling position. “What are you?” he repeated.

  “I am your nightmare,” Gregarious growled in a low voice. “You will answer questions that I have.”

  King Toknon shook his head, and his voice quivered almost to the point of crying. “I don’t know anything.”

  Gregarious laughed. “I don’t doubt that, but I must ask the questions anyway. Maybe you know more than you think.”

  “What do you want.”

  “What do you know of the Ark of Life?”

  “The Ark of Life?” King Toknon repeated. “I do not know what it is.”

  “But you have heard of it? Of course, you have. It is an artifact of great power and my master the Deceiver has it. And he will use it destroy this world as you know it. He will remake it in his image, so that his followers will have a place to live in peace, far from the Creator. But to complete his mission, he needs all the pieces, and there is one piece that is missing. It is a necklace that holds an amulet. And that amulet holds the black gem that the Deceiver possesses.”

  King Toknon shook his head, wondering what answer he could give that would allow him to spare his life. For the moment, all he could give was the truth. “I have never seen it.”

  “Are you sure?”

  King Toknon glared at the creature that stood in front of him. With a strengthening tone, he said, “Neffenmark took all his jewelry with him when he left for South Karmon. If he had it, it would be back there. But as we both know, the city has been burned to the ground. So you can go back there and start digging.”

 
; “Well, I see there is some fight left in you.”

  “Give me my sword back, and I will show you.”

  Gregarious laughed. “In the face of death, you don’t beg or grovel for your life? I find that refreshing.”

  “Would it help?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then give me my sword so that we can fight this like men.”

  “Well, that is the problem, because I am not a Human. I fight like the beast that I am.”

  Gregarious stretched out his hand exposing the long talons. With his smile still on his face, he stepped forward and drove his hand into King Toknon’s midsection. King Toknon didn’t go down without a fight. With Gregarious close, King Toknon reached for Gregarious’ eyes and tried to drive his thumbs into them, but Gregarious was too quick and easily fended off King Toknon’s attempt with his free hand. It didn’t take long for King Toknon to lose all strength and finally give up. He slumped over onto the floor.

  Gregarious felt a wave of thrill sweep over him as he smelled the blood on his hands. But he knew that he didn’t have time to satisfy his hunger. If he stopped to devour each Human he came across, he would be in the castle for days. Instead, he kneeled down and touched King Toknon’s face and felt his own skin mold itself into the form of the dead king. After quickly switching clothes, he tossed the dead body into the far corner of the room.

  A moment after he did so, he heard loud footfalls racing down the corridor. Just before they reached the door, a high-pitched voice called out, “King Toknon! Your Majesty!”

  A young boy’s face peeked through the open doorway.

  “What is it?” Gregarious asked sharply, as he thought a king would address a young boy.

  “The Witch of the Mountain! She is here!”

  “The what?” Gregarious asked.

  “Come, quick! They sent me to fetch you. The Witch of the Mountain is at the gate and is going to smash it down if you don’t come.”

  Gregarious glanced at the still form of the king’s body that was out of sight from the boy. He thought for a moment about just killing the boy and continuing on his search, but he was intrigued by him.