by Brad Clark
Hargon dropped to a knee and took several deep breaths to regain his balance. It had been a long time since he had walked so much. It would take time for his legs to come back, but he did not have time. They had to keep moving.
“Are you sick?” Conner asked, helping Hargon to his feet.
“No,” Hargon replied. “Just tired and weak.”
He leaned upon Conner and they started down the crowed street once again. Conner was glad that Hargon was leading, otherwise he would surely have been lost. The streets were not straight as they were in South Karmon, so the twists and turns were throwing his sense of direction off.
“Poison,” Hargon said after a few minutes of reflection. For whatever reason, he had saved this boy’s life and he himself might need saving soon. Telling the whole truth seemed the right thing to do. “My brother was slowly poisoning me. I tried to fend off the affects, but they were too strong. Plus, when I didn’t take it, it gave me these headaches that made me think my head was going to explode. But each time I drank it, I took less and less. The effects became less powerful, both when I took it and when I did not. However, I am still a bit weak from being bedridden for so long.”
They walked as swiftly through the streets as Hargon’s weak legs would allow. The smell that emanated from Hargon caused those around them to move to the other side of the street, but Conner was taking no chances. He kept his head down and covered it as well as he could, but they really needed cloaks to cover their appearance. Plus, he continued to shiver in the cold air.
Along a back alleyway, they passed several clotheslines where various articles of clothing were drying. They found a hooded cloak that would fit the emperor and a long wool tunic for Conner. It wouldn’t hide his face, but it would keep him warm. He would just have to keep his head down and hope that he was not recognized.
As they were about to leave, Conner glanced at the doorway to the house. “Should we not pay them?”
Hargon paused, mid step. “Pay them? Really? I am the emperor. All that is theirs is mine. I am only claiming my own property. Now hush and let’s move on before they hear us.”
Hargon stumbled on quickly and Conner had to jog a bit to catch up. He gave the doorway one last glance. “I feel bad taking their stuff. Will they not miss it?”
“I need it more,” Hargon snapped back.
Conner dropped the idea of paying for the clothes, mostly because he did not have any coins to pay with anyway. But he did not care for Hargon’s words. He had expected him to be just like Queen Elissa and King Thorndale. They would not have simply taken someone’s cloak. They would have either asked or given something back to them in return. The fact that he had somehow saved his life made Hargon likable, but Conner was not so sure that he was really going to be a likable person.
The emperor’s cloak covered up the body order enough that Conner was no longer repulsed helping him walk. With one arm around the emperor’s shoulders, they continued on their way towards the eastern gate.
“How did you do it?” Conner asked. The silence between them had grown uncomfortable, and he felt he not only needed to talk, but to have questions answered.
“Do what?”
“Save me.”
“Do Karmons always talk so much?” the emperor growled.
“We have hardly talked at all.”
“Some is too much,” Hargon snapped back.
“I need to know what happened,” Conner said. “I do not understand.”
“What’s to understand,” the emperor continued with a short tone. “It’s just something I’ve been able to do since I was young. At first it was flowers in the middle of winter. And then it was a little bird that I accidentally crushed. Then small animals. Rabbits and mice. I once broke a dog’s neck just to see if I could heal it. I did. It never liked me much after that, though.”
“You broke its neck on purpose?”
Hargon shrugged his shoulders. “I needed to see if I could do it. And I did.”
“Had you ever tried it on …”
“People?” Hargon finished for Conner. “No. You were the first. After the bit with the dog, I felt so weak afterwards that I thought I was going to die. It also scared me somewhat, so I didn’t do it that much after that. Mostly it was flowers to bring some color to the palace in the middle of winter.”
“So I really was dead?”
“Yes, I think you were dead. But not very long because your body was still warm. What was it like?”
“A bright white light,” Conner replied. “It was also foggy most of the time. That was all.”
“Not very exciting. I would have expected more from heaven.”
“I don’t think that was heaven. I was there just to talk to Michael so he could tell me about the Ark of Life. So why did you do it? Why did you try and heal me?”
“I do not know for sure. Things were still a bit fuzzy then. I had escaped from the palace, and then I ended up on the streets by the arena. I just felt compelled to help. Which is odd, I guess.”
“Odd?”
Hargon let out a soft laugh. “I had never been compelled to help anyone else before. I was the emperor. I was there for others to serve me. But I came across some man that said his friend had died and I guess it made me feel sad, so I thought I would try and help.”
“Wait,” Conner said, pulling Hargon to a stop. “You said you met a man who saw his friend die? What did he look like?”
“Foreigner, I presume, Karmon maybe,” Hargon said. “Darkish hair. Tall. Older than you. Younger than me. Walked straight and tall. Maybe he was a noble of some sort, but he walked like a soldier.”
“We have to go back,” Conner said excitedly. “We have to find him. It must be Marik looking for me.”
Hargon shook his head. The gates were in sight a couple hundred yards ahead of them. “No, we cannot go back. We must get out of the city. My brother will be looking for me and he will tear the city apart until he can find me.”
Hargon started to move forward, but Conner still had a firm grip on his cloak. Hargon glared at Conner and said, “You can go back, but I must leave. If I am found, I will be killed. And I really don’t want that to happen.”
Reluctantly, Conner let go of Hargon’s cloak and they continued on towards the gate.
“It is a large city and you would likely not find him anyway. And if he had any smarts, then he would already be far away. Now we need to move faster.”
Hargon set the pace. With each step that they got closer to the gate, Hargon’s gait become longer and quicker. Conner could feel the tension and his heart began to pump hard. They gate was just ahead of them and he feared that at any moment the great doors that opened to the outside would be closed.
There was a steady stream of traffic coming into the city as it was going to be dark soon. They were not the only ones leaving the city, but many more were coming in than going out. Centurions were standing around the entrance with their short swords at their sides and long spears on their hands. They did not act like anything was amiss and in fact, many of them were laughing and talking with people as they walked past. A number of crossbowmen were atop the wall, looking down upon the people that were coming and going, but they were walking casually and not acting as if something was wrong.
Conner held his breath as they walked through the gate. He expected that trumpets would blare and a hundred centurions would surround them and take them prisoner, but none of that happened. The road outside the gate was wider than the street inside, so the traffic seemed much lighter. They continued walking, breathing just a bit easier with each step.
Hargon could feel the tension, so he said, “Relax. We are out of the city.”
Conner risked a glance back and saw that they were not being chased. He could still see the tops of the crossbowmen as they walked the walls, but they were acting no different than they had been. Around them, the traffic began to disperse. Some stayed to the road, which led towards the eastern city of Iseron. But most left the
road to head towards one of the many farms or houses that were just outside the city gates.
Then a trumpet blew and Conner’s heart burst out of his chest. He watched as the crossbowmen gathered up their weapons and pointed them into the city. The gates creaked as they closed until there was a final crash as a crossbar was dropped down in place, locking the gate shut.
“There will be patrols,” Hargon said. “And soon. Come, we must get out of the middle of the street and into the woods. We will have to walk through night if we are to avoid getting caught.”
Chapter Three
The winter wind howled harshly across the open steppes of Thell, blowing snow directly into their faces. They had already spent two nights sleeping outside, and no one wanted to spend a third night camped under the stars, especially with it being much colder on the north side of the mountains. The horses were tired of the cold and the men were tired of being in their saddles or atop the carriage. Getting to the city of Thellia was foremost on everyone’s mind, so they kept pushing on, skipping the rest breaks that they had taken while they were still in Karmon.
Elissa closed her eyes, but the howling wind rocked the carriage making it impossible to sleep. They had enough furs around them to keep them warm, but it had become an uncomfortable ride. Melanie had stopped complaining, but it took much effort for Elissa to keep her mouth closed and not mention how miserable she was.
Seemingly a moment after she had finally dozed off, Kern’s loud voice startled her awake.
“Your Majesty!” he called out.
“Yes?”
“We have arrived at Thellia. It will not be long before we reach the castle.”
“Very well!” Fully awake, she braved the cold air and opened the window again. This time, she stuck her head all the way out to see ahead of them.
Thellia grew out from the Jorgan River, which flowed from the Great Northern Mountains, a mountain range that was in perpetual winter. Across the steppes of the kingdom of Thell, there were pockets of trees and small wooded areas, but mostly the land was open and flat. Homes were scattered about, but were clumped in twos or threes. These clumps were generally families of several generations that worked their land together. A larger congregation of these clumps could be considered a village of sorts, but the only governing body that ruled over them was the king. They passed through several larger groupings of buildings. Some were homes, but there were also inns, blacksmiths and other shops. Thellia, Elissa realized, was not one large city, but really a collection of villages. And all of these villages were centered by the castle.
Unlike both South Karmon and Tyre, the two cities of Karmon, Thellia did not have any walls. The castle, however, was heavily fortified. It was built some ways away from the river on a high mound so that it was higher than the rest of the city. It had walls that were much higher than South Karmon’s city walls, and certainly higher than her castle’s. Towering some seventy feet above the ground, they caused to Elissa to stare in awe. Around the entire castle was a deep moat. The water in it was frozen, but sharp pikes stuck up from the ice and would keep anyone from trying to cross.
They had wandered through the city seemingly unnoticed, or no one cared to pay them any attention. Her carriage was not ornate. It was a simple wooden structure that any wealthy merchant would own. There was no indication that it held the queen, other than the inordinate number of armed guards. As they approached the castle, her driver guided the carriage to a stone gatehouse at the base of the ramp where the drawbridge, when lowered, would land.
Kern opened the door to the carriage and then stepped back to allow the three ladies to exit. Two Thellians dressed in thick wool cloaks stood in front of the gatehouse. They wore fur-lined caps that covered their ears to help them stay warn.
Kern and Hollin approached the gatehouse with the three ladies behind.
“May I present Queen Elissa Thorndale of Karmon,” Kern announced.
The two Thellian guards glanced at one another.
“Queen?” one of them said with a stammer. “The drawbridge is down for the night. It will not be raised until the morrow.”
“The queen is here to visit with Prince Toknon. She is expected.”
The two guards glanced at one another again. Then one of them turned to face the castle and cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Open the drawbridge!”
A few moments later, a voice replied, “What gives, Horis?”
Horis shouted back, “The queen of Karmon is here to see the prince!”
Everyone in earshot suddenly stirred. Windows were opened and doors were set ajar. Since his voice carried a long way, a large portion of the city heard the announcement.
Elissa let out a sigh. “I guess it is a secret no more.”
“Was is supposed to be, my lady?” Kern asked.
Elissa shook heard. “No, not really. Not a secret, but not … so open.”
The tall drawbridge suddenly creaked and groaned and the large chains that supported it suddenly moved. With agonizing slowness, the drawbridge came down until it thumped on the small wooden ramp next to the guard house. Once down, the portcullis on the other side opened and a figure appeared in the archway. He gave a wave and turned his back and returned to the castle.
The two guards stepped aside. “You may pass,” one said. Then he pointed to a large building that was some distance away and said to the carriage’s driver, “The stables are over yonder. The carriage can go there. And leave the weapons, if you will.”
Kern glanced at Elissa who gave a nod. He and Hollin unbuckled their swords and placed them inside the carriage. Elissa’s other escorts took the carriage to the stables.
The two men and three ladies crossed the drawbridge in silence. On the other side, standing in the archway, was Prince Toknon.
“Welcome,” the prince said. “It is late and you must be cold. The fire is warm inside and there is much food. Not the feast you deserve, Queen Elissa, but some good fare, nonetheless.”
“We are honored at your hospitality,” the queen said with a smile.
The prince stepped aside to allow the visitors to enter the castle. Three young pages bowed at the visitors and motioned for them to follow. Elissa took the lead and started after them. As she passed Toknon, he fell into step with her.
Elissa glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, wondering what to think of him. His demeanor was pleasant enough, although he was still a bit rough around the edges. Not rough like Conner, just different. Conner was rough in the sense that he was a commoner, someone who didn’t know how to act in certain circumstances. Of course he could not be blamed for being that way, as he had not grown up with attendants who taught him how to act and behave. Prince Toknon simply had a gruff mannerism. He was polite when he needed be, but he hardly ever smiled. His eyes were dark and always looking around, as if he were scanning for enemies hiding around the next corner.
He turned his head and caught her looking at him. He smiled, and his faced completely changed. The grim face was instantly replaced by a warming look. Caught looking at him, she could only smile back at him.
“I am pleased that you answered my invitation,” the prince said, the dark eyes suddenly lightening up. “The ice festival is in full swing. I am sure you will enjoy it.”
“Of course I will,” she replied.
***
The evening feast was held in an open hall with a cathedral ceiling and a blazing fire in a central fireplace. The flames of the fire were constantly fed with fresh, dry logs that kept the fire large and hot. Unlike any fireplace that she had seen back in her castle, there was no chimney directly above the fire to collect the smoke. Instead, a hole was in the roof where all the smoke rose and exited. But not all the smoke left the room. There was a bit of a haze around the ceiling and the harsh scent of smoke filled the chamber. There were tall, vertical iron bars on either side of the pit that would hold a spit for a very large animal, but the day’s meat had already been cooked. The food was spre
ad out on long tables at one end of the room. Another table was placed nearby with chairs behind. Many other tables filled the room, but they had benches for seating.
Toknon directed Elissa to her seat, which he held out for her while she took it. As she thanked him, she glanced up and caught his eye once again. He looked away quickly, as if he were embarrassed for having been looking at her. She sensed a bit of nervousness about him, as if he were uncomfortable. She dismissed the thought as he certainly would not be uncomfortable in his own castle.
Elissa’s seat was in the center of the long table with Kimmie on one side of her and Melanie on another. Toknon took his place at the end of the table, only three seats down from her. As soon as the prince sat, others took their seats at the table. Each was introduced by the prince, but Elissa did not pay attention. Her mind was wandering and taking in all that was happening around her. All eyes were upon her, the queen of the enemy from the south. But although they were all looking up at her, she never got the sense that they were glaring at her or even thinking that she was the enemy. There was much laughter and merrymaking, which was just like the feasts that they had back at South Karmon. It almost felt like home.
Kern and Hollin sat a nearby table along with other Thellian men who had a grim and gruff look about them. They did not carry weapons, but they were all clearly soldiers. Quickly, more guests filled the great room, merrily chatting to one another as they took their seats.
A large tray of meats, cheese, breads, and fruit was placed directly in front of Elissa.
“Take what you will,” the prince said. “Although we have servants to prepare the food, it is our custom that each takes their own portion, with the guests being served first. As you are our guest, please, begin.”
A wooded plate was set in front of her, which Elissa promptly filled with the steaming meat and some chunks of cheese. She ripped off the end of a loaf of freshly baked bread and took a large bite from it. She suddenly realized how hungry she was and could not wait any longer to eat. The prince broke into a chuckle at seeing her rip into the bread.
