“Let my father go, take me instead” Jason said angrily.
“I’ll let him go but you have to ask nicer than that” Patrick replied. “I want you on your knees, face pressed to the floor.”
“If that is all you want I’ll do it” Jason said as he got down in position. “Please spare my Da.”
“You see the position you are in?” Patrick asked as Jason looked up at him. “Did I tell you to look at me? That is better, you can answer questions with your face on the floor. Do you know what is special about that position?”
“No Milord” Jason replied.
“The special thing about that position is that is where all commoners belong” Patrick said triumphantly. “Years from now I want you to know you were begging like a dog and I had your father killed anyway. I wish the girls who go crazy over you could see you now, all beat up and cowed.”
Jason lunged at Patrick through the bars who backed away laughing. Patrick was laughing loudly as the priest came into view with a disgusted look. The man was older, Jason thought around seventy summers and had white hair which was kept long and neatly combed. The man looked into the cell then had a look of shock on his face.
“I was told there were some followers of the Light Bringer” the priest said as he grabbed ahold of his chest. “I can feel her in this place.”
“I was once in training to become a paladin” Jason Sr. said as he stood up.
“You feel like a full paladin would feel to me” the priest replied. “Although there is a block or something on your potential.”
“All I had to do was accomplish one final mission” Jason Sr. replied. “I had a son and would not be able to undergo the ritual needed after the mission was complete.”
“Then that explains the block” the priest replied before looking oddly at Jason Sr. “What was this mission?”
“We were cutting down minions of the Sorrow Bringer” Jason Sr. replied. “Many of our people died, even the Life Bringer’s Champion fell on that day. I can still see his blood saturating their dark altar.”
“This is the child?” the priest asked. “I know of the mission, is this the child that was taken.”
“Yes” Jason Sr. replied. “That was the first time I saw my son.”
“I can feel the Light Bringer herself through you young man” the priest replied. “I can feel her power stronger in you than anyone I have ever met other than the High Priestess.”
“That is impossible” Jason Sr. said straightening his posture. “What about the Champion?”
“There hasn’t been a Champion since the last one fell” the priest replied. “That was more than a decade ago during your battle.”
“Well then I hope the Light Bringer will embrace him” Jason Sr. replied. “I have a boon to ask you Sir Priest.”
“What do you need?” the priest replied.
“I need you to heal my son, especially his hands” Jason Sr. replied. “He is to be made a Knight of Death, it is dangerous enough without being maimed.”
“I can do better than that” the priest replied. “The blessing works faster in those that already have a connection with our blessed goddess. I can heal his hands but I don’t think I should heal everything just yet. That insolent boy will be beyond angry when I spoil his plan.”
“His plan?” Jason Sr. asked.
“You are not going to be hanged paladin” the priest replied. “You are to be tortured for a period of an hour then mercifully killed. I can make your passing a lot smoother, it is only a small gift, but no one deserves to suffer at the hands of fools.”
“Do it” Jason Sr. replied. “I know it is my time, I don’t want my son to have my death haunt his dreams.”
“It will not” the priest replied. “First I will need the boy to grab ahold of my hands, I can fix all of the internal injuries he has.”
Jason stuck his hands through the bar as the priest took it. The priest only held his hands for a moment, Jason could feel warmth spreading through his body as the priest abruptly broke contact.
“He is already healing” the priest replied. “And not by the hand of the Light Bringer. He is healing at a much faster pace than should be normal.”
“What does that mean?” Jason Sr. asked.
“It means that perhaps the Sorrow Bringer had done something to him” the priest replied.
“We think he may be a mage” Jason Sr. replied. “Going to get tested was the reason we were in town before we came across that fat idiot.”
“Hand me your hands again boy” the priest said as he took Jason’s hands. Jason wanted to cry out as he could feel his bones in his hand rearranging themselves followed by his ribs and other things inside his chest. Jason held his tongue for what had to be the most painful moments of his life, when it was done Jason almost fell out on the floor but a weight had been lifted off of him. Once Jason heard his eye had been damaged, he had tried to move it and couldn’t feel anything. Now though he could feel something in the socket although his eye was still swollen shut.
“Did it work?” Jason Sr. asked.
“It worked” the priest replied looking noticeably healthier. “I think our bond let some of his power flow to me, I now have more power than I started out with. That is needed for the next part. If you have good byes say them now. When I walk out of this room they will come for you.”
“What are you going to do?” Jason asked.
“I am going to take away his life force” the priest replied. “I can do this to anyone attuned to our goddess. The participant has to be willing or it won't work, if I tried to use this power for evil my gift would be stripped away and I would join in the fate of anyone I tried to harm. At least that is what I have come to believe.”
“Why would you have such magic?” Jason asked.
“Because I cannot heal everyone” the priest replied. “Some people cannot be healed, if they are a follower of the Light Bringer I can make their passing painless and give them a few clear moments with their loved ones, are you ready?”
“I am ready” Jason Sr. replied then looked at Jason. “I love you boy, if you remember anything about your father, remember that I love you. I don’t want you thinking anything is your fault, I don’t even want you to hate that silly girl, she is living her own nightmare. I just want you to survive, don't let this moment take your light away.”
“After I finish you will have a few moments” the priest replied. “I want you to sit down, your passing will begin and I don’t want you to fall down and reinjure yourself.”
Jason watched as his father took the priests hands, Jason gasped as all of his father's injuries went away in a matter of seconds. The priest broke contact just as heavy footsteps could be heard.
“That is enough priest” Patrick said as he came into view along with Baron Dawson, five guards and Gail and Agatha Halfin who looked worse than Jason had ever seen either woman. They walked slowly as if they were in great pain as Patrick looked at Jason Sr. shocked.
“What did you do to him?” Patrick said angrily. “And you wont fix my fucking face?” Patrick finished gesturing to the stitch work which ran down his face.
“Why did you not go see an experienced healer instead of hanging around here?” the priest replied. “I am in no way obligated to serve you like one of your subjects. I come from noble blood as well.”
“Holiness there has to be something you can do for my son” the Baron asked. “Perhaps we can come to some sort of arrangement.
“There is no arrangement Milord” the priest replied. “Especially not after what your son pulled not even a few hours ago. Just look at these two women, I am sure they were defiled. It is rape, is does not matter if they consented. They did so out of duress and I am guessing Lord Dawson brought them here to witness the execution. He can keep those wounds.”
“You better heal me the way you did this murderer or you will regret it” Patrick said snatching the priests robes.
“Not as much as you would” the Priest
replied. “If you kill me you will never have another peaceful night. All who follow the church would consider you in league with the Sorrow Bringer and they will bring you down.”
“I don’t care about your stupid little religion” Patrick snapped. “Sapina is who we worship here, she gives real power.”
“So you say” the priest replied. “I am not going to stay here to watch this, I came only to see to it that the Light Bringer receives her son.”
“Well then leave fool” Patrick said as he let the man go. “You are worthless anyway without your healing.”
Jason looked as his father sat on the floor. They hugged each other and Jason could feel his eyes start to water.
“Don’t let them see it son” Jason Sr. replied. “This dying thing is odd, I feel better than I have in years. My hand even feels strong again, yet I can feel myself slipping away. Can you make sure to catch me?”
“Catch you?” Jason asked as his father broke the embrace and rose unsteadily to his feet.
“You can kiss my ass you fat disfigured bastard” Jason Sr. said as he spat on Patrick.
Jason watched Patrick snatch the keys away from his guard and fumble with them at the door. By the time the men got inside, Jason’s father fell backwards into Jason’s arms. Two guards grabbed him as Jason could feel his father’s body go limp. As they were taking his father away Jason could see the last emotion the man had on his face was a smile.
“I love you Da” Jason said loudly. “I thank the Light Bringer for putting you in my life.”
CHAPTER 5
Jason looked around at the men on the wagon with him. They were a rough looking lot and Jason could only guess what they had done to be on a wagon with him. Jason himself was branded an accomplice in the murder of two mages, all of the Baron's guards who had died and for striking Patrick Dawson, all things he did not do. The men around him were probably murderers and rapists, they looked the sort but Jason was positive at least one of them probably just got caught up with the wrong people. There were two women in their group, they were in one of the other wagons that traveled with the wagon Jason was in. One did nothing but cry while the other just seemed resigned to her fate. Jason thought he could read it in body language of the people he was riding with that they were guilty.
The man in front of him that was missing a tooth had been trying to cow most of the others. When they were given food Jason had seen the man take a couple of the hard rolls they were given from others. Jason wanted the man to try something like that with him, Jason was bigger and made sure he met the man's eyes whenever he could. Other than missing tooth, there was an older man who looked about fifty, had an average build and just rubbed Jason the wrong way. The man had constantly kept his attention on the two women, one of them had told him to fuck off but he persisted. Jason knew the slimy man hated him, twice he was in position to be alone with one of the women but Jason had appeared every time. Once during a call of nature and once when they were bedding down to go to sleep. Their overseers were not worried about anyone escaping, at night they were chained together and when they weren't expert archers were all around. Jason had seen two men so far die trying to escape, their arrow ridden corpses was brought back and paraded around.
"What is your story?" A man around Jason's father age asked. The man looked well-kept compared to the rest and did not look like he did any physical labor in whatever his job had been.
"A stupid girl got me here" Jason replied. "But most of the blame goes to a damn noble. Only thing I am guilty of is being a gentleman when I should have been an ass. I will never make that mistake again."
"What you do, fuck some noble's girl?" The man asked.
"No" Jason replied. "A stupid girl was trying to pit us against each other, I wanted no part of it but the noble did. He attacked me along with his men and tried to kill me. Me Da saw what was happening and killed a bunch of those cowards. Two mages and six of Baron Dawson's guards, not to mention he slashed Baron Dawson's idiot son, the reason behind the entire incident right down the center of his face. My Da was executed and they brought me here, to do whatever it is we are supposed to be doing."
"You didn’t have to share that?" the man replied. "That is quite depressing if it is the truth."
"He is lying" the man missing a tooth said. "He is a criminal just like the rest of us, except someone caught him and beat the piss out him."
"Think what you want" Jason replied. "You aint no one I gotta prove myself to. And I shared my story so I won't have to do so again. No one has to guess what I am in here for, I am sure it will get around and I don’t have to think of nothing except what is to come, whatever that is."
"You have never heard about the Knights friend?" The well-kept man asked.
"No" Jason replied. "And you can call me Jason."
"Well it's not a death sentence" the well-kept man replied. "And you can call me Maze."
"This aint a fucking meeting of the priests and priestesses" the man missing one tooth replied. "I don’t want to hear your babbling."
"Then close your ears" Jason replied. "What do you mean the Knights aren't a death sentence?"
"I don’t want to start any trouble" Maze replied. "Perhaps I will tell you the story another time."
"Then you are smarter than this fool" the man with the missing tooth said staring at Jason.
"We are gonna have our time together" Jason replied looking at the man missing a tooth. "We will have our time."
"Is that supposed to scared me?" The man with the missing tooth said and laughed. "You already look like you got your ass beat real good once, you may have the size but you don’t know how to use it."
"I want you to keep thinking that" Jason replied. "Hold tight to it, in the end I want you to tell me was it worth it."
"Was what worth it?" The man with the missing tooth replied. "You aint no one to be scared of. When the fighting starts you come find me, I'll gut you like a fish fresh out the water."
"Like I said, we will have our time together real soon" Jason replied.
"Hey Boris, it looks like we have our first grudge match" the guard Jason knew as Wesley said as he looked inside the wagon from the driver's bench. "I say we let them at each other right now."
"Nah, the big one looks like shit" the guard next to Wesley, a man named Boris replied. "Let's at least give them until we reach the proving grounds to heal up a bit. Besides, isn't he supposed to fight someone from the other wagon."
"Damn man, I want to see a fight" Wesley said. "You two, I am going to separate you both until we get to where we are going. You can all go back at it when we get there, for now though I want you to go into the other wagon."
Jason saw they were talking to him as they stopped the wagon and took off his bonds. Jason was placed into the wagon with the two women and something sinister hit him. The people in the wagon were either small or slight in stature. When one of the guards said the man with a missing tooth was supposed to fight someone in this wagon Jason's blood chilled. All of the people in the wagon with him were being led to a slaughter, the men in the other wagon looked much more capable than the people he had around him.
"Which one of you knows about where we are going or what is to happen?" Jason asked looking over at his new wagon mates who shrank from his gaze, all except the woman who stood up to the man Jason was sure was a rapist.
"We are all going to die" the woman replied. "We are going to be executed."
"That is not what people in the other wagon think" Jason replied.
"They would think that" said a thin boy who was missing his right hand. "They aren’t in our position."
"What position is that?" Jason asked. "Everyone keeps speaking in damn riddles, just tell me exactly what to expect."
"You mean you don’t know?" The brave woman asked.
"Do I look like I fucking know?" Jason practically screamed then took a breath. "Listen if you know what is going to happen then please tell me exactly what is going to happen. No double
speak, no fluff, just exactly what you know."
"I can’t believe you don’t know" the one hand boy replied.
"I don’t know you" Jason said looking at the one handed boy. "But if you ever need something from me don’t ever ask. I am going to turn my back on you like you are doing me right now." Jason then turned to the woman, "I know I have saved you from being attacked by that idiot in the other wagon who rubs me the wrong way. We both know it, no more though, if he catches you alone it is your problem."
"Wait, are you angry?" The boy replied.
"Shut up talking to me before you go from annoyance to enemy" Jason replied. "Can anyone tell me what to expect once we get where we are going?"
"I can tell you what you want" the brave woman replied.
"I don’t want to hear anything from you" Jason replied. "I don’t like your games, especially not when my life is involved."
"Don’t be so hard on them" the oldest of the condemned replied. The man looked old enough to be the Da of Jason's Da. What he did to be a Knight, Jason could only wonder. "They are not used to dealing with people who want short clear answers. To them you are impatient, to you they have committed a grave insult that you are not likely to forget. Men like you see them as fools who deserve nothing you could give them."
"They are fools who tried to piss me off when I asked a simple question" Jason replied. "I asked four times in different words and didn’t get one answer. I won't lift a finger to help either of them at all. Eventually we will get to where we are going and I will find out anyway."
"We are going to fight" the one-handed boy blurted out. "We are going to fight each other and die. This wagon is going to fight the people in the other, no way we can beat them. If you are over here then that means they have lost faith in your ability and you are going to be fed to whatever warrior they have over there."
"Was that so fucking hard to say?" Jason asked. "Did that kill you in some way?"
"Was what hard?" The one handed boy asked.
The Warrior of Sapin Page 4
