The King's Folly

by Robin Simmons

  Sauron nodded. “Why has Prince Raven done this?” Sauron asked with panic in his eyes.

  “Because,” Master Fields said proudly, “he is the kind of man we all should follow, and he is doing what he would not ask your son or anyone else to do. I have to go.”

  With that, Master Fields took off in a flash. He joined up with Mostell, Jerddin, and four other men. They quickly headed over the knoll out of sight of the rest of the war camp toward where Raven had pointed earlier.

  Raven reached the small canyon in the cliff face where the secret tunnel was hidden. Before he went into the rock, he stopped and looked back toward the battle. To his astonishment he saw Master Fields and six other men coming after him, so he waited. When they reached him, they were breathless from running so fast.

  “You must stay behind,” Raven pleaded, “or this will be for nothing.”

  Master Fields told Raven that he had spoken with Sauron and had left instructions for the counter attack with him.

  And now Raven smiled, knowing that if anyone would lead a mad charge through the Wickshields to reach them, it would be the Crestlaws.

  “It is the best we can do,” Raven said and then looked at the others. Mostell was there, and Jerddin, and some of the other faithful palace guards.

  “We are with you,” Mostell said.

  “We will all most likely die,” Raven said slowly. “If you are going with me, you must all do exactly as I say, is that understood?”

  They all nodded, and Raven said, “Follow me.”

  They entered the secret tunnel, lit some torches and started the climb up toward the pass. When they got to the telltale right and left hand zig zags that hid and blocked light coming in and going out of the tunnel, there Raven stopped. He handed his torch to Master Fields and bent down and opened his sack, took out the crossbow and leather arrow holder Master Fields had given him. Master Fields smiled when he saw the crossbow and especially when he saw the ancient bolts.

  Then Raven spoke to them, “There will be guards at the pass gate. We need to eliminate them without sounding an alarm, then go down and close the gate and guard it. One of you will go ahead and find out how far away the bulk of the Wickshield army is and report back to the gate. Master Fields and I will go down to the Wickshield army that is in Glenfair and attack them from behind, hoping to cause enough confusion to weaken them for a counter attack from our forces on the plain.”

  “We want to come with you,” spoke Mostell, concern in his eyes, since only two of them would be attacking the rear of the Wickshields from behind.

  “No,” Raven said sternly, “you must keep the pass gate closed. We do not know how close the rest of the Wickshield army is and you may give us enough time to save the kingdom. And if we fail, little will matter anyway, but we need the time to try.”

  Mostell nodded and said to his men, “You heard him. The gate is ours, and we will keep it.”

  Raven cocked the crossbow, loaded one of the special bolts, and crept toward the entrance. He sure liked the locking mechanism on the visor of his helmet so he did not have to worry about it falling down accidentally and ruining his shot with a crossbow. Raven looked down upon the gate and as fate would have it, it was guarded by only three men, two on the high wall and one below by the entrance.

  Better take the longest shot first, Raven thought and calculated the distance and drop of the arrow.

  At the far end of the gate wall sat one guard with his back against a stone. Raven took aim and squeezed off the shot. The man did not move, save for his head which slumped forward. Raven again cocked the crossbow, loaded another bolt and aimed at the closer man on the wall. He also slumped down silently. The third man was looking up to the high gate wall calling to his companions when he suddenly stopped talking and toppled over. Raven left the crossbow in the tunnel and their group headed down to the gate. When Raven reached the closest man he had shot, he turned him over and the sight almost made him ill. The ancient crossbow bolt, either when it was fired or on the impact of the point, spread the blades outward causing a hole the size of a grapefruit to be cut through the man. The bolt laying a few paces away told the story.

  Raven picked up the bolt and was looking at it when Master Fields said, “Raven, we have to go.”

  He dropped it and they quickly walked down the road to where their destiny awaited. Raven, before today, had never thought about all the killing that war required. He was repulsed by it but also knew it was necessary or else more of Glenfair’s people would die. What also kept Raven focused on his task were the women he loved waiting for him back home. If they were to fall into the hands of the Wickshields, he shuddered. He had heard stories of women taken captive, and he would do all he could to prevent that, even if it meant killing. He also thought about his brother Edward and his last request of Raven to save the kingdom and do what was honorable. People depended on Raven now and he knew he must somehow prevail.

  As they rounded a bend in the road, there they were, the backs of the Wickshield army.

  Raven and Master Fields looked at each other and Master Fields said, “Here we go!”

  Raven pushed the button to his helmet visor and it came down and locked in place as they walked toward the Wickshields. When they were thirty paces away, someone turned around and was startled to see two Glenfair soldiers approaching. Talk spread quickly and soon most of the army had turned around to face the approaching soldiers. There was cursing and mocking laughter as two of the Wickshield soldiers started out to meet them in combat. Master Fields stopped and let Raven approach on his own. Now there were catcalls and booing as they began to call Master Fields a coward.

  He just smiled and whispered to himself, “Go, Raven, this is what you were born to do.”

  Raven engaged the two in battle, blocking the first strikes of their swords, cutting the first man down and then dispatching the other. Mumbling arose from the ranks of the Wickshields, this was no ordinary warrior. It seemed he did not even break stride or expend any effort in slaying the two men. Now four more arose from the ranks and rushed Raven. He stepped to the right and swung the ancient sword with strength and accuracy through the sides of the first two soldiers and then waded in and killed the other two just as easily. Raven was a fine-tuned machine, his senses more alert now than any time in his life. It seemed that the strokes and moves of his opponents were all in slow motion and he could see what they were going to do. He simply moved to his advantage and cut them down. It did not look the same for the Wickshields, though. Those who had fought many battles never saw someone so quick or powerful with a sword.

  Then the ranks began to divide to let a man pass, one of their most fearful warriors. When he stepped forward, Raven swallowed hard. This was the biggest man Raven had ever seen. Studded with spikes all over his armor, a huge spiked mace in his hand that must have weighed twenty pounds, he advanced on Raven slowly showing no fear. Now the Wickshields were cheering their champion along. Surely he would crush the life out of this smaller warrior. Master Fields was in awe. Raven’s earlier victories were very impressive, enough to worry the Wickshields, who in the beginning looked at this as sport for them, something to toy with and then kill at their pleasure. But this, this was not a man. He was a monster, and for the first time since they had engaged the back of the Wickshield forces, he was afraid for Raven.

  The noise of cheering caught the attention of the battle camp of the Glenfair army. Almost all eyes were turned in the direction of the Wickshields, first in fear of an attack, then in puzzlement at what was going on. Sauron went from duke to duke, telling them to get their troops ready, that something was going on. He did not tell them what, just that they should be battle ready. It did not take much pushing to get the army of Glenfair ready, for all were nervous and apprehensive at the noise coming from the so far quiet Wickshields. Every man had grabbed his armor and now stood staring in the direction of the Wickshields. The king as well had now come out from the isolation of
the pavilion and was looking to see what was going on.

  Raven faced the mountain of a man who approached him and remembered the lesson of Mason who was stronger and bigger than himself.

  Do not let him use his strengths against you, Raven told himself. He decided that he would have to deal with the mace, for that was the strength of this man’s attack. He knew the shield could not be penetrated by the mace, but that made no difference. If the mace struck the shield with full force, it would likely break Raven’s arm or send him to the ground to be pounded to pieces. So he turned to Master Fields and threw the shield on the ground at his feet. Master Fields bent down and picked up the shield. It was incredibly light and he knew this would aid him in the battle that would follow. He also knew that Raven had done the right thing in getting rid of the shield. Speed and agility would win this battle, not strength.

  The Wickshield army was now laughing and mocking Raven for throwing down the shield. They thought it arrogant and silly. Raven thought again of the mace. He knew that it would not be a fast weapon.

  Just avoid it, he told himself, and strike when you can.

  The giant came on now, confident that mace against sword would be no contest. He was confident that a few crushing strokes would elevate him higher in the eyes of his comrades as he finished off both of these Glenfair warriors. Behind the big warrior, there was whispered talk about Raven, because he was completely covered in the ancient mail. Not one bit of skin showed, and with the visor down, some began to spread the rumor that perhaps a demon inhabited that armor to protect the kingdom of Glenfair. How else could he just appear behind them with no warning. Now the big man came closer to Raven.

  Eyeing him he said for all to hear, “You are no demon. I shall crush you and your blood will flow like any other man.”

  With that, he swung the mace faster than Raven expected, almost catching him on the shoulder. This caused him to dive and roll out of the way to keep from getting pulverized. But this also turned out to be a blessing in disguise, for in the instant Raven rolled up to his feet, the outside leg of the champion was exposed. Raven swung swiftly and cut the man’s leg off just above the knee so smoothly that the champion actually tried to take a step closer to Raven with that leg before he realized it was missing. At this he began to fall but before he could comprehend what was happening, Raven took his head off at his shoulders with a second swing. The large man hit the dust hard and did not move, save for the head that rolled a little ways toward the Wickshield company. All eyes stared in disbelief at the corpse as Raven stared back at the company. This is exactly what he wanted, an arrogance from the Wickshields that would cause them to send a few warriors at a time to battle him. If they had all rushed him at the beginning there would have been no hope. Only now there was no more arrogance or confidence left in them.

  Some were already shrieking, “Demon!”

  Then a bowman drew his bow in fear and fired right toward Raven’s heart. Raven saw it coming and knew it posed no threat to the mail he wore, but instead of letting it bounce off of the mail, he reached out and caught it in the air with his left hand. He held the arrow up high for all to see and then snapped it in half between his fingers.

  At that instant, he let out an ungodly howl and charged toward the company with his sword raised in the air. The Wickshields screamed and scattered, having already had the idea planted in their subconscious that perhaps there was a demon inhabiting that armor. Now Master Fields sprang into action along side of Raven and they began to carve up the Wickshield army as if they were straw. Fear is a powerful weapon, and because the Wickshields were trying to get away from Raven and Master Fields, they became easy prey.

  As the army of Glenfair watched the strange proceedings, they heard screams and yelling, not of victory but of pure terror. Then the Wickshield army began to run and scatter everywhere.

  Sauron’s mouth dropped open, “By the Tor’s third horn, what have they done over there to create such panic?”

  The king came running up and since he was not stupid, yelled for the people to number their company and see who was missing. The report came back quickly that Raven and Master Fields were missing with some others.

  At that moment, Andrew yelled in anguish, “The pass! Oh no, Raven has gone through the tunnel to the pass.”

  Those around him were scarcely able to restrain him from running off into the battle when Sauron yelled loudly, “We have lost one Kallestor today. Shall we loose another? Form up ranks behind me and we shall follow Raven’s plan to victory and save his life.”

  The king, who was in a state of shock thought, I cannot lose Raven, too. So he yelled as well, “To the battle, everyone, to the battle!”

  Off the Crestlaws ran to engage the Wickshields once again. Only this time, the Wickshields were in a panic fleeing the demon that destroyed their ranks from the rear. So they were not prepared for the crushing collision that took place when the Crestlaws smashed into what was left of their army. The Crestlaws sliced deep into the ranks of the Wickshields and then fanned out like a wedge to let the forces behind them come forward to engage the enemy. The first few Wickshields were obliterated in the rush and their military precision at that moment fell completely apart. They could not retreat to the pass because the demon with his helper were there slaughtering all in their path. Nor could the Wickshields resist the pressure of the bulk of Glenfair’s army bearing down on them.

  In a very short time, there was only a handful of Wickshield soldiers left who then threw down their arms and screamed for mercy, surrendering. Sauron and the rest of the dukes yelled for the fighting to stop for they had almost encircled what was left of the Wickshields. When things quieted down, Raven was seen walking slowly toward them, approaching the rear of what was left of the Wickshield army. They screamed in terror as he and Master Fields got closer to them, and some of them even fell to the ground, bowing to what they thought was a demon and began begging for mercy. Raven was covered with blood and so was Master Fields. Behind them lay bodies littered everywhere. As the dukes and the Glenfair army began to comprehend the slaughter Raven and Master Fields had accomplished, seeing all that was behind them, they were speechless. So Raven reached up and began to raise his visor, at which some of the Wickshields screamed in terror not wishing to see a demon. When his visor was up all the way, they saw that it was only the visage of a man. But they were still not convinced he was only human.

  Then his eyes met those of Mason Zandel, who yelled out proudly, “Victory to Prince Raven, victory to Prince Raven.”

  Soon all joined in following Mason in the victory call.

  At last the king came forward, and when the company was quiet, he spoke, “Kill all the Wickshields, every last one for setting their feet on our soil for the purpose of war.”

  Men drew their swords and began to move upon the Wickshields when Raven yelled for them to stop, holding up his sword!

  That stopped everyone in their tracks and Raven spoke again, “It is better to send them back through the pass unarmed to meet their coming army.” And now he turned to the surviving Wickshields, “You tell your king that if the Wickshields ever come against Glenfair again, I will come into your kingdom and kill every last one of you.”

  “Yes,” they howled in fear as Raven turned and walked away, back toward the king’s pavilion.

  The king, riding upon his horse, soon caught up to Raven, “How dare you contradict my command in front of all the people?”

  Raven did not answer but just kept walking.

  “I am speaking to you,” he demanded.

  Raven whirled around with fire in his eyes, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, the look he gave the king made him recoil in fear as he half drew the ancient sword. “How dare you bring this upon us all!” he said as he once again turned and walked away. This time the king did not try and stop him.

  Once the pass was again secure, people began burying the dead so they could cleanse the land and
remove the battle scars from the kingdom of Glenfair. Early the next day, the king and his company began the procession back toward his castle, the dukes and their sons following for the purpose of honoring Edward at his burial. The honor guard carried the body of Edward on a bier as they all marched on in silence. Although a great victory had been won against the Wickshields, the people of Glenfair had learned what freedom and victory sometimes cost. The blood of the dead would forever be a reminder of that payment. The kingdom had lost one of its royal house, a great man, well liked and loved by all, lost, never to return to them again. Raven and the king were not speaking to each other which compounded the silence on the journey home.

  In the rear, the dukes discussed the battle and the incredible turn of events. Terry Rollins confessed that Raven had killed the rogue Tor by cutting his whole head off. He explained that Raven did not want the people to know, and since he had put an arrow in the Tor he asked Terry to take the credit for the kill, which he had agreed to do. The other dukes nodded in understanding now, having seen what was laying on the battle field behind Raven.

  “Did you see,” one of them remarked, “how the Wickshields cried out in terror as he approached and spoke to them?”

  As they journeyed along, little by little the legend of Raven grew as each told of what they knew and what they had seen in the battle. The Crestlaws were also considered heroes for their valiant effort in trying to save Edward and their leadership in the final battle. All agreed that without the Crestlaws, there would have been no counter attack at the time of the Wickshields’ confusion caused by Raven. Soon the castle was in sight and they were almost home.

  A breathless servant came rushing into the great hall and found Lorriel and Rebekka, announcing, “They are returning. The king is returning.”

  Lorriel sprang to her feet with Rebekka right behind her as they hurried down to the main gate of the castle. Standing in the gate, they watched the procession slowly moving toward them. They could hear the drums beating the cadence that always accompanied military honors at a funeral. Lorriel’s heart caught in her throat as she listened. She wanted to run to them but her feet were rooted to the ground. They were too far off for her to make out the individual riders so all she could do was wait painfully as they approached.