19
Like guests at a dinner party, they separated to their own conversations for the remainder of the afternoon. Anxious to make Oakhaven before nightfall, Ivan rode ahead of the others, attempting to set pace. Tarness and Hector followed closely behind. Rose and Dallow trailed far enough to be seen without being heard, and it was obvious to all they preferred it that way. Hector had suggested Angst stay downwind until they could find a creek, as he was still covered in monster and the smell was not improving.
Hector patted Tarness' arm and nodded at Ivan. The knight was rubbing the back of his neck. It caused an annoying racket in his full plate as he attempted to massage a spot just under the armor.
“Injure yourself in the battle, Ivan?” Hector asked.
“I’m just not used to sleeping on the ground,” Ivan replied sullenly. He stopped reaching and stretched out his arms before finally cricking his neck to one side, making an audible pop. “I typically make Oakhaven in a day.” Ivan’s tone was almost polite, and his typical sneer had been replaced by, perhaps, a more professional demeanor.
Hector glared at him until Ivan let loose a sigh.
“You’re right. I should’ve fought alongside everyone as commanded by Her Majesty. I’m not completely sure I would’ve done much good though.”
In spite of Ivan’s surprising candor, Hector was skeptical of anything the man said. “I’m not sure I follow you, Ivan.”
“There are only a few knights and soldiers who’ve lived through attacks from unnatural creatures. I’ve heard stories, not of that monster, but of others just as horrific. Clements, a friend of mine at one of the border outposts, lost an arm to such an attack. He was...is a fierce fighter with little fear. Clements told me he couldn’t even scratch the monster he fought. The beast ate his arm then threw him aside to eat his horse.” Ivan shuddered then looked back toward Angst. “It must be the magics.”
Hector nodded thoughtfully. “That’s an interesting theory. In all honesty, I felt that the thing died pretty easily, considering how large it was.” He smiled at Tarness’s surprised look. “Well, it was a bit messy, and we all have a lot to learn about fighting together. But I’ve heard about other battles like ours and these things don’t die.”
“So Clements’s monster was different than our monster?” Tarness asked.
“You all were able to kill this one, which is a difference,” replied Ivan. “He didn’t like discussing the details, but it sounds like it was about the same size, and just as grotesque. I seem to recall something about his monster having human ears and horns.”
“Huh,” Tarness replied, while making eye contact with Hector.
In this brief moment of apparent frankness, Hector really wanted to ask the knight why he was such an ass. It was as though they were all meeting a different Ivan for the first time.
Ivan gave up on his scratch and stopped fidgeting. “This whole situation is damned frustrating. Monsters I can’t fight, surrounded by people who can do, well, you know...” He waved his hand around in a motion that apparently included every reference to magic in all existence. “Nothing I can do but tag along and hope the queen forgets what happened at the banquet.” He looked back at Rose.
Hector leaned toward him. “You should hope we all forget about what happened at the banquet.”
Ivan snorted and rolled his eyes at Hector before speeding ahead to lead again, distancing himself from the others.
“You really don’t give him much of a chance,” Tarness said, shaking his head at Hector.
“Angst gave him a chance, now I’ll just help keep him in line.” Hector peered at Ivan as the man rode ahead. “Maybe as a scout, he could be useful. You know, yell a warning as the next monster takes a bite.”
Tarness chuckled. “I’m sure we’ll know we’ve caught up to poor Ivan when we start seeing parts on the trail. ‘Oh, look, a hand. Everyone get out their weapons.’”
“See? Even if he can’t do ‘the magics,’ he’s plenty useful.” Hector smiled mischievously. “I’m going to go check on the hero.”
Hector slowed his horse to a trot, letting Dallow and Rose pass him. They looked up and nodded, but said nothing more. When Angst caught up, Hector flashed his friend a broad grin that wasn't returned. He positioned himself close enough to talk quietly, but a breath ahead of smelling distance.
“You okay back here, stinky?” Hector asked.
“Fine,” Angst replied, practically biting out the word. He was pulling at bits of creature that had gotten lodged in the chainmail around his midsection.
“You aren’t upset about being ditched back here by yourself, are you?” Hector asked.
Angst sighed. “I have to admit, I feel like I’m being punished for doing a lot of the work.”
“Nobody wanted you to smell like carcass, but it doesn’t hurt for you to think about what happened.”
“Oh, really?” Angst said darkly. His words then exploded as if the top came off a kettle boiling with frustration. “So, if you could take a moment to be constructive instead of offensive, how exactly could I have done better in that battle? What did you do the last time you fought a giant one-eyed monster?”
Hector looked around for help. Maybe he should have brought Tarness, these sorts of confrontations weren't his favorite. His goal was to cheer Angst with banter, not get into a fight. He stroked the long scar along his right jaw with his thumb as he thought of a way to broach the subject gently. “You attacked the giant like you were fighting a normal person. It looked to me like you were trying to fight instead of letting the sword do its thing.”
“That’s it? All of the insults and insinuations, and that’s the great advice you have for me?” Angst’s jaw jutted forward in anger. “What about your participation in the fight? You couldn’t share some of your great wisdom and tactical knowledge before going monkey-feline and jumping into a tree?”
“I thought you were taking lead, Angst?” Hector retorted, unable to stop himself.
“I thought you were here to help? Do I actually need to order you to provide tactical advice for us?”
Hector shifted in his saddle uncomfortably. They rode in silence for several minutes when he finally said, “Well, we should be at Oakhaven in about twenty minutes.”
“That doesn’t exactly answer my question,” Angst said to him with a raised an eyebrow.
“Eh,” he said with a small shrug, looking around hopefully for another monster.
While Angst had never been to Oakhaven, he imagined it to be like other small towns he’d visited. A busy center of commerce and community during the day, and peacefully quiet at night. Oakhaven’s very name sounded like ‘nice little place you’d like to visit.’ Because of this, and the prospect of a bath, he was very much looking forward to their first major stop.
Anticipation was slowly replaced with concern as they approached the first farm on the outskirts of town. Dusk had fallen, and it was going to be one of those nights that seemed darker than usual. Even from a distance, candles and torches shone weakly through the early evening haze.
“From here, it looks completely abandoned,” Hector observed, sounding worried. “I could take a quick look, but I’d recommend we scoot to town. It’s getting late.”
Angst was surprised that Hector was giving advice instead of orders. Maybe his friend had gotten his point. It shouldn't have been hard; Angst had said it loud enough. “Hopefully nothing’s wrong, and the outskirts are just abandoned. I agree that we should keep moving.”
They rode past another farm, and then a third, each as dark and quiet as the first. After twenty minutes of riding warily in the thickening dark, they approached Oakhaven. The houses surrounding the town were lifeless, but before they reached the center, they found it protected by a makeshift barricade. Wagons, carts, doors, chairs, and small trees were bound together between houses and shops. The sight wasn’t intimidating; it was desperate. Flickers of torchlight peeked out through gaps in the blockade, and a baby began crying
when they stopped their horses.
Angst looked at his friends for suggestions and found they were waiting for his cue. “Hello?” he called out.
There was no response, so he tried again, “Is anyone here? My name is Angst. I’m from Unsel.”
Without warning, a torch flew over the barricade to fall in the middle of the group. The horses shuffled nervously.
“They don’t look like monsters,” a voice whispered loudly through one of the gaps.
Hector removed a foot from his stirrup, no doubt preparing to run off into the shadows for a bit of reconnaissance.
"Not yet," Angst whispered.
Hector's expression twisted into a scowl but he said nothing.
“We mean you no harm,” Angst shouted. “We’re on a mission for Her Majesty and seek food and lodging.”
There was a brief murmur of discussion then more torches were lit.
“Are you a knight? I’ve never heard of Sir Angst,” a young man answered, his voice quavering.
“Not exactly...” Angst replied, unsure how to respond.
“This is Sir Ivan,” Ivan interjected. “What’s going on here?”
A head popped through a hole between a wagon wheel and a wood desk. Even in the dim light, he appeared gaunt, and scared, and boyish. He was a dark-haired twenty-something with a wide nose. Young stubble covered his dirty face.
“Sir Ivan?” the young man asked. “This is Manst, I was the stable boy during your last visit?” Almost everything he said came in the form of a question. “Who’s with you?”
Ivan looked at Angst, who nodded, encouraging him to continue. “These are friends. We’ve been sent by the queen to investigate concerning stories. We've been ordered to help, if we can. What happened here?”
“For weeks, we were attacked by small creatures until a one-eyed monster appeared and killed them,” Manst replied. “Every night since, the one-eyed monster has attacked? We keep feeding it livestock, but we’re running out?”
“We killed a one-eyed monster on the way here,” Angst replied.
The people shuffled noisily behind the makeshift wall until Manst shushed them. “How do we know this is true?”
“If you let us in, you’ll be able to see that Angst is still covered in monster,” Hector said, jerking his thumb at Angst.
More heads rose from behind the barricade.
“I can’t promise we killed your monster, but we killed one, and we’re here to help if there’s another,” Angst promised.
Manst argued with someone behind him before turning to face them again. “This is the first good news we’ve heard in a month. Please come on in?”
The townsfolk removed enough makeshift protection to clear a small path, though it surely wouldn’t have taken much effort to push through the entire wall. They dismounted to squeeze single file through the barricade opening. There appeared to be thirty townspeople, ranging from young children to old men. These survivors were tired, and ragged, with a cloud of desperation hovering about their weary bodies.
“Does this stuff actually protect you?” Ivan pointed at the wall of junk that supposedly kept the town safe.
A middle-aged woman turned away to hide her tears. Ivan’s trademark flavors of rude and tactless had once again failed to impress his audience.
“We did what we could, Sir Knight, but we lost so many?” Manst replied, patting the woman on the shoulder.
“What you could? How about a ditch around the barricade? How about—” Before Ivan could continue, Angst laid a heavy hand on the knight’s shoulder. Ivan faced him, surprised at being interrupted. “I’m just saying, Angst.”
“You need to stop making words again. Now,” Angst whispered very firmly to Ivan.
Ivan’s dark eyes widened and then narrowed to glower at Angst, but he remained quiet. With a grunt, he pulled his horse toward the nearby inn.
“Pardon me, Manst. Sir Ivan hasn’t been feeling well since we left,” Angst offered in an attempt at an excuse, though he knew it was a poor one.
Manst looked concerned. “Sir Ivan has been through here many times. That was ruder than he usually is.”
Hector leaned over to Dallow and whispered, “Maybe he’s fallen off his horse too many times?”
Angst shot Hector a sly look. “These are hard times, Manst, and we’re trying to find out why. Is there somewhere we can rest?” He glanced down at his armor. “And maybe get cleaned up a bit?”
The old woman who’d been crying blurted out, “Rest? What if that thing, that monster, comes back? Every day it comes and takes something, or someone. What are you going to do about that?”
“If there is another, we’ll have to kill it. If we don’t kill it, maybe it’ll eat one of us instead of one of you.” His reply was deadpan, and honest, and seemed to appease her.
A young woman stepped forward. “We have room for you at my inn, and some food, but not much,” she said. “We can scrounge up some water for your, uh, mess.” She regarded Angst’s armor with distaste. “Manst can take your horses to the stables, as they’re empty now.”
Angst could only barely see, but she appeared very pretty in the light of the torches, and he couldn’t help but smile. “That would be wonderful, thank you.”
“Sir, did you actually say your name was Angst?” Manst asked.
Manst asking a real question caught Angst off guard. As he turned away, the young woman walked off. “Yes, well, it’s a long story.”
“You seem...no offense, but...aren’t you kind of old for a knight?”
The comment struck Angst right in the ego, but he knew that courtesy and fear didn't typically coexist, so he winced it off. “Like I said, I’m not really a knight. It’s the new thing in the kingdom, give old guys big swords and strange armor then throw them headfirst into a pot of boiling danger. Crazy times we’re in,” Angst replied rather nonchalantly.
Manst chuckled warily, as though unsure it was actually a joke. For the first time, he noticed Chryslaenor looming over Angst’s shoulder and stopped chuckling abruptly. He took the reins of their horses and pointed everyone in the direction of the inn, never taking his wide eyes from the blade.
The interior of the inn was a welcome change from the depressing and dreary surroundings of a town that had seemed to be slowly imploding. The first floor appeared to be a tavern with polished wooden floors and walls. Most of the light came from a fire in a beautiful stone fireplace in the center of the room. The smell of sweet spices and freshly cooked meat wafted past the entrance and into his nose then pooled as a bit of drool under his tongue. This wasn’t an inn; it was an oasis. Angst swallowed hard, and Tarness’s stomach growled loudly.
Angst had stepped inside the doorway then immediately stepped out for fear of dirtying the room with the crusty monster bits stuck to his armor.
The young woman who’d spoken earlier came through a pair of doors that obviously led to the kitchen. In spite of what the town had dealt with, she seemed to embody a confident and almost cheerful bearing that was contagious. Long, curly blond hair draped loosely across the shoulders of her low-cut peasant blouse. Underneath the blouse and her long skirt, she was quite curvy. He looked at her pretty green eyes as she approached, and smiled in spite of himself.
Her full lips quickly widened into a broad smile at everyone’s reactions to the food. “Now you know why most travelers heading to Rohjek make this their first stop.”
“Do you have enough to feed us? If not, we have some food we travel with,” Dallow offered.
“We can still hunt during the day,” she replied. “We typically see the monster at night.” She was obviously upset and kept talking to cover the faint quiver in her voice. “We’re short on dry goods, like wheat and flour, but we’ve got plenty of meat.”
“We should be able to spare something,” said Angst, anxious to win another smile. He wasn't disappointed.
“What time does your visitor show up?” asked Tarness from the doorway.
“We have a
couple hours, assuming it’s coming.” She looked Angst up and down. “The stables out back have some buckets of rainwater for washing that armor. We have baths too.”
Manst returned to the room. “Anything you need help with, Marissa?”
“Could you see everyone to the rooms at the end of the hall upstairs?” she requested. “I’ll show Angst to the rainwater and bath.” She flashed a grin at Angst as she walked past the group.
Rose gave Angst a gentle push from behind, combined with a knowing look.
“What?” he asked innocently then followed Marissa out the door.
“So, did you really destroy one of those things?” Marissa asked Angst as she led him to the stables.
“It was a bit messy, as you can see, but it was dead and gone when we were done,” Angst said proudly.
Marissa spun around so abruptly that Angst almost ran into her before stopping. “How? How did you do it? In spite of your strange armor, you don’t look like a knight. Was it that thing?” she pointed at Chryslaenor.
He needed to be careful. Everyone’s reaction to magic was different. Marissa could get upset, or scared, or hateful, and he really didn’t want her to stop smiling.
“So, are you going to tell me or just stand there staring at me?”
Taken by surprise at her abrupt nature, he laughed out loud. “All right. Well, the truth is, we used magic. I can wield magic, almost everyone I’m with wields magic...and the sword helps quite a bit.”
She blinked several times then glanced up at the sword and back at his face.
“Now you’re the one staring,” he teased. She laughed loudly, and Angst continued. “The ‘magic thing’ we do is the reason I was hesitant to share. Most people don’t take that news very well.”
Marissa shrugged. “Probably because it’s illegal, right? As long as it works, I don’t think anyone here will care. That’s not true for all towns, but there are a few here who can do a bit of magic and nobody seems to mind.” She turned away and beckoned him to follow. “So why did you tell me the truth?”
Angst Box Set 1 Page 14
