The king once again turned his gaze upon Bridgette and asked, “Did that satisfy your question, my dear? You are bonded to this young man to keep your aggressive nature in check so you can escape the life you've found yourself in,” the king's smile vanished. “However,” he said, menace in his tone, “should you ever be caught within this kingdom committing murder or any other criminal act you will both be sentenced to death. Consider that not just your own life relies on your actions, but also the life of this man who was so selflessly willing to make any sacrifice to save your life and let you be free. Bonding was the only price high enough that would not require you to serve prison time or face the hangman's noose.”
Bridgette's gaze had turned fierce and angry, but at those last words from the king, the anger began to fade and she averted her eyes from the king. After a few moments, she spoke. “Yes, you have answered my question. Are we free to go?”
“Wait,” Jason said, “Is this bond permanent? Is there any way for it to be removed?” Perhaps if he asked the bald man - if he could find him again…
“So quick to give up on her, are we?” the king asked and chuckled when Jason blushed and shook his head, opening his mouth to explain. The king forestalled him with a raised hand. “Calm yourself, I jest. The bond is permanent until death. In this way it shares a bond with marriage where those being married swear to be faithful to and stand by each other’s side until death takes them. However, unlike the bonds of marriage that are recognized by the kingdom, this bond of minds cannot be shattered. Only when one of you dies will the bond cease to exist.
“When one of the two individuals in such a link perishes the survivor experiences agonizing pain. They feel as though a part of themselves has been lost and they begin to lose the will to live. The longer the bond existed the more painful the loss is felt. There have been cases of a partner falling over dead when they felt the bond shatter.”
The king stood. “And in answer to your question, young Bridgette, the two of you are free to go whenever you would like. You may feel light-headed and thirsty for the next several hours as your bodies adjust, but the symptoms should pass.”
Jason and Bridgette both stood up to leave. The king must have given some sign to one of his guards, for the door was opening just as they stood. The king's daughter, Coryn, walked into the antechamber, dressed exactly as she had been before, only her hair was neater, making it clear that she had been woken earlier upon hearing the news of an intruder and had since then had a chance to ready herself for the day. She bowed to her father and kissed him on the cheek before composing herself and beckoning for Jason and Bridgette to follow her.
As they were about to vacate the antechamber, the king said one last thing. “One thing, young adventurers. Should you ever require the aid of my person or my crown, you need simply announce your persons at the gates and you will be admitted to see me, be it day or night. What aid I can provide, I will. You two are the only people in a thousand years on whom the Binding Rod has ever been used that were not royalty.”
Jason nodded, understanding the honor that had been bestowed upon them. “Thank you, my king. I am honored at having been allowed to experience the bonding of my mind to another, something so few have. Your hospitality and mercy have both been greatly appreciated.” And, bowing one last time, he followed Bridgette and the king's daughter out the door into the same hallway they had traversed before.
The journey through the halls this time was equally as silent as their journey to the throne room. They lacked the guards who had followed closely behind the last time, as it was only the three of them that walked down the halls toward the main entrance of the palace. There were many twists and turns, but at last they came within sight of the massive doors which led into the courtyard of the palace ground and traversed the paving stoned path to the door that led through the outer wall and onto the street.
Once outside, Coryn bid them farewell and reiterated that should they ever need protection or assistance they could return to the palace and they would be admitted on basis of their name alone. As they walked away from the gates, Coryn raised her hand one last time in a gesture of parting as the captain general of the king's bodyguard turned and began the walk back to the palace.
Jason turned to Bridgette after the king's daughter had passed out of sight. She was looking at him, a look of disgust on her face. “What?” he asked.
Bridgette sniffed, “You are pining after a woman you can never have,” her eyes snapped to the entrance to the palace they had just exited, indicating the princess. “No, instead you only have me, a vicious wild dog instead of a fine swan.” Turning, she angled toward a street off toward their right, “Come on, you said you would lead me to my brother and I plan to hold you to that oath.”
Jason sighed and followed. It was going to be a long day.
Chapter 23 - A Howl in the Night
Dawyn stood facing one of the largest men he had ever seen. Golivar towered above him, a thick oaken shield held in one hand and heavy iron sword held in the other. In his own hands, Dawyn held a sword and shield. All around the makeshift arena, men shouted insults and screamed for blood, sounding like a pack of wild animals. The arena consisted of a wooden fence encircling a depression. There was only one way out of the arena, a now-closed door at the other end, and it was through the giant man.
Without waiting for approval from Ferdinand to begin, Golivar charged forward, issuing a guttural roar that reminded Dawyn of a dragon of legend. He swung his iron sword overhanded toward Dawyn.
Dawyn raised his shield, using it to the brunt of the blow. His arms strained under the force of the blow, his legs threatening to buckle. Mustering his strength, he thrust the sword backward and leapt aside, swinging his own blade in an arc toward Golivar, which he caught on his shield with ease.
The big man pursued him relentlessly, never ceasing his strikes. Dawyn continued evading, but felt his shield arm growing tired. What strikes he was able to direct toward the giant man were deflected, with the exception of a stray strike against his ankle, which drew blood and caused the large man to grow enraged.
Dawyn’s time-bending ability lay in the back of his mind, waiting like a coiled snake, ready to strike. As the blows became more fervent and his defense grew weaker, he considered drawing on his ability. It would take only a heartbeat. With time slowed, Dawyn knew he would have a significant advantage. No blows would strike him, and he would be able to run circles around the larger man. But to do such a thing would be to draw the attention of the gathered crowd, which he was not prepared to fight in their entirety. He wanted to defeat the man fair and square, in the hope that Ferdinand would do the honorable thing and submit to his will.
All thoughts of honor fled, however, when the brute’s blade connected with Dawyn’s shoulder, causing him to drop his shield from the pain. He gritted his teeth and raised his sword in anticipation of a follow-up strike. Golivar’s oak shield began moving toward him, seeking to knock him down, spelling near-certain doom, when Dawyn unlocked the part of his mind that held his ability in check. In the space of a heartbeat, the forward movement of the shield had been slowed to the point where movement was barely discernible.
A burst of energy surged through Dawyn as he moved forward. Slipping around the almost-stationary shield, Dawyn bit into the thick tendons at the back of Golivar’s legs. His blade sliced through the muscle with ease. He repeated the motion with the other leg, before releasing the dilation field and turning to witness the results.
Golivar, the tendons in his legs severed, could not support his weight and fell to his knees. As Dawyn circled around to see him, he saw bewilderment evident on his face. “How?” he rumbled.
Dawyn pointed his sword toward Golivar and looked to where Ferdinand had bolted up from his throne and stood, astonished. “Do you surrender?” Dawyn asked, his voice raised to shout above the tumult of the crowd. Even shouting, he was not sure Ferdinand had heard his words.
He must have, for he
raised his hands for quiet. It took several moments, but the crowd quieted and looked toward Ferdinand. “You ask for my surrender, yet you cheated in fighting my champion?” He spit onto the sand of the arena. “Magical coward. You could not defeat him with strength of arms, so you turn to your foul magic to defeat him. You will receive no surrender from me, wizard. No, you will face mob justice.” He pointed at Dawyn. “Take him, my followers, and…” he was interrupted by a noise next to him.
Beside Ferdinand, Anwyn transformed into a panther and leapt onto him, carrying both of them to the ground. He shouted in surprise and tried to fend off her razor sharp teeth, but she ignored the blows as her mouth closed around his throat. With a crunch, she bit into his neck. Blood gushed from the wound. A tug followed, ripping his throat out. Ferdinand jerked a few times, before falling still, his head nearly detached after the brutal assault. Before any of those around Ferdinand could react, Anwyn transformed into a large hawk and flew into the center of the arena, where she became a gray wolf next to Dawyn.
The enemy mercenaries, though slow to realize what was happening, were rallied by the cry of rage emitted from Bertram. He and several of the mercenaries who had burst into Dawyn’s room earlier that night began rushing toward them, swords drawn. Two of the men fired their crossbows, the bolts of which Dawyn blocked as his newly-emitted dilation field slowed them.
Anwyn tipped back her head and let out a series of three howls that reverberated from the arena and pierced the night air. Moments later, the howls were answered by the deep drone of horns in the distance. She reverted back into the form of a black panther before racing toward her foes.
The sound of the distant horns was drowned out by the clash of steel on steel as Dawyn met Bertram and his mercenaries in battle. He blocked one blow while slashing out with his blade. His first strike stabbed a man in the stomach, blood squirting out. A parry then, followed by another block and riposte. As his opponents began to encircle him, he drew again on the power of his time-slowing ability, causing the strikes to come at an almost leisurely pace. He dodged and struck, dodged and struck. One by one his opponents fell from his strikes, until at last only Bertram was still standing.
Bertram turned to flee, but was stopped short by Anwyn as she approached, a guttural growl emitting from her throat, bared teeth coated with blood.
“Not so fast, Bertram,” Dawyn said as he approached the man. “We have some business to attend to.”
Among the crowd, a group of mercenaries had broken off from the mass and begun moving toward Dawyn and Anwyn’s position. Before they could reach the gates of the arena, however, something in the distance drew their attention, causing them to turn. The men began to drop from attacks by an unknown enemy. A stray object flew into the arena - an arrow.
Dawyn smiled - the cavalry, or in this case, the rangers, had arrived. On their journey to Stoneridge, he and Anwyn had stopped at several ranger outposts near the border between Valnaria and Tar Ebon and recruited many squads of rangers. The slavers under the command of Ferdinand had long plagued the eastern highlands along the White Mountains, and the rangers were more than happy to assist. They had traveled in small groups, agreeing to meet at a predesignated location outside of Stoneridge. There, the rangers sent forth their scouts to monitor all roads in and out of the city, watching for Dawyn and Anwyn to exit the city. They also sent several scouts into the city to monitor the tavern itself, which Dawyn assumed was how they had known they were in the carriage. Their orders were to follow Dawyn and Anwyn and prepare to strike when they heard three consecutive wolf howls.
Satisfied that the remaining mercenaries would not be bothering him and Anwyn, Dawyn returned his attention to Bertram. “Why?” It was a simple question, but one with no simple answer.
“Why what?” Bertram asked.
“Why did you and Ferdinand capture innocent people to make them slaves?”
Bertram averted his gaze. “There’s good money in slaves. The Empire pays large sums for useful slaves. Besides, the people we took didn’t have families to go back to.”
Anwyn reverted to human form and strode to stand in front of the man. She was bare naked after the transformation. “How dare you say that?” she asked. “I had a family. Though I was not near them, I still had a family. I imagine many slaves you took had families. How can you live with yourself?”
Bertram shrugged. “It was just business. It was nothing personal.”
Dawyn closed his eyes. He could leave the man for the rangers, let him be dragged before a magistrate and put in prison. That would be the right thing to do. But sometimes what was right in the eyes of the law wasn’t what was morally right. “In that case, this is nothing personal either.” Clasping his sword tight, Dawyn swung his sword two-handed, separating Bertram’s head from his body. Both head and body toppled to the ground, blood mixing with the sand of the arena.
Dawyn looked at Anwyn. “Let’s go, we’ve done what we came to do.”
Anwyn nodded and wiped blood from her mouth. “Justice felt good.”
“Or in your case, tasted good.”
“Shut up.”
Together, they left the makeshift arena and surveyed their surroundings. The mercenaries were in disarray. Clusters of fighters were scattered about. Dawyn recognized the dark clothing of the rangers - clothing designed to camouflage them in the woods and cloak their movements in the dark - as they fought the mercenaries. Looking at the bodies, it appeared the rangers had led with several salvos of arrows, to help even the odds, then charged in to capitalize on their moment of surprise.
They wandered around the camp, Dawyn assisting the rangers where necessary, working to drive the mercenaries out of the camp. Some mercenaries surrendered, other tried to flee, but most fought and died. The battle was over in a short time.
The rangers assembled in a central location, after burying their dead, where Dawyn shook hands with the leader of the task force of rangers, Justin Neville. “Thank you for your assistance, Justin. It was just in time. Did you lose many rangers?”
Justin smiled. “It was our pleasure, Dawyn. Anything to help a former ranger. Besides, we decimated the slave bands. We lost several good men, but oftentimes the result justifies the price - they died protecting the realm. We found their leader dead - was that your doing?”
Dawyn glanced at Anwyn and back at Justin. “Yes, we had something to do with it. I’m glad this ordeal is finally over.” He looked around. “You and your men had better be going. If the Valnarians learn that such a large force of rangers was in their lands, their ambassador would start blustering in Tar Ebon, wasting the king’s time.”
Justin chuckled. “That is true, my friend, it is likely they would be offended. Rangers,” he raised his voice, “move out!” With one last farewell, the rangers drifted into the woods like a troop of ghosts, fading like smoke in the wind.
Dawyn sighed. “It’s been a long night. I sure could use a warm bath and a clean bed.”
“As could I,” Anwyn remarked. “But I don’t think Stoneridge is safe right now.”
“Not for us, it’s not. Let’s go gather our belongings, rest for the night and head back to Tar Ebon. We can bathe along the way.”
Chapter 24 - Introductions
The early morning sunlight reflected off pools of water in the cobblestone streets as Jason and Bridgette walked toward The Dancing Mare. A large storm had moved through the area the night before, bringing with it much needed rain. It was the seventh day of the week, recognized internationally as the second day of rest. Thus the streets were mostly empty, with most people home with their families, or at taverns like The Dancing Mare.
They stopped outside of the door to the tavern. “Alright,” Jason said to Bridgette, “they’re probably going to freak out. Well, my sister will definitely freak out. Please be on your best behavior. I want to make a good impression.”
Bridgette glared at Jason. “Be on my best behavior? You act like we’re dating and you’re taking me home
to your parents. Let’s just get this over with.” Without waiting for a reply, she pulled open the door and stepped inside. With a sigh, Jason followed.
Inside, Elizabeth was cleaning tables. The early morning rush had just ended, for there were many vacant tables still in need of cleaning, so she was taking her time. The entrance of Jason and Bridgette caught her eye. She waved at Jason. “Hello there, Jason. Were you out all night?”
Jason blushed. “Hello there, Elizabeth. Ummm, yes, I was out most of the night. I’ll explain later. Right now, I’m looking for John and Ashley. Have you seen them?”
Elizabeth looked Bridgette up and down, taking in her dark, suspicious attire, before tipping her head backward and to the right. “They’re in their usual spot. You be careful, young man. I wouldn’t want to see you getting into any trouble while Dawyn is away.”
“Thank you for your concern,” Jason said. “I’ve got things under control.” He winced as Bridgette snorted, but pressed on toward the hallway and the private dining chamber which Dawyn had secured for their use during their stay in Tar Ebon. The chamber afforded them peace and quiet, away from the prying eyes of those who might notice how inexperienced they were and start asking questions.
After knocking on the door, Jason entered the dining chamber. Inside, John was eating breakfast, while Ashley paced near the back of the room. The moment Ashley’s eyes alighted on Jason, she stopped pacing, her eyes growing wide. “Jason! Where have you been? I was worried sick!” She rushed forward to give him a hug.
Jason returned her embrace. “Sorry, sis, I was sort of detained last night. It’s a long story, a very long story,” he said in response to her quizzical gaze.
“Who’s your friend, man?” John asked in between taking bites of his eggs. Not surprisingly, John had noticed Bridgette standing in the doorway behind Jason before he had a chance to introduce her. John always had an eye for pretty women.
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