Etras and Betram stood between the three men, their hands raised away from their own weapons. One of the men already had the tip of his saber pressed against the deposed emperor’s throat.
The man on the other end of the saber smiled. “We have been following you for some time. I’m surprised you’ve been able to evade us this long.”
Betram continued to keep his hands up, but he refused to give any outward signs of fear. He knew by their dress they were nothing more than Quitam bounty hunters, the absolute lowest of Sadori society. “Three professional mercenaries outrun by an old man for days!”
“We’ve known you were here. We simply needed permission from Emperor Danier before arresting you in Tordania,” he replied.
“Emperor Danier!” Betram let out a defiant laugh. “He is no emperor!”
Jerris kept to the higher ruts in the dirt road, trying to avoid splashing in the growing puddles. Though there was little cover between him and the others, they were all focused on their two captives. He managed to get relatively close to the man holding the saber to Betram’s throat before he was noticed.
The three bounty hunters turned their heads toward the approaching guard. Betram and Etras both took the opportunity to draw the short swords they’d brought with them.
The man with the saber reined his horse around and charged at the Tordanian.
Jerris anticipated his move, and as the rider slashed out with his sword attempting to behead him, he ducked down and spun. He slapped the man’s horse in the rear hard with the broad face of his sword.
The animal gave a single buck from the sudden sting to its hide, causing it to lose its footing in the mud and stumble on its recovery. The rider nearly lost his seating, though he managed to regain control before turning around to again charge at the redhead.
Jerris smiled to himself, scooping up a handful of mud from the street and slinging it toward his attacker on the rebound. Perhaps it wasn’t the most honorable thing to do, but he didn’t have too much concern for the feelings of these foreign invaders. When it came to fighting, he’d been trained to win, honor be damned.
The man was struck in the face with the mud, losing his vision. He still attempted to slash out at Jerris, but his blade sailed harmlessly over the Tordanian’s head.
Jerris swung up with his sword, taking off the man’s right arm, and it fell to the ground along with the saber it still held. He turned around, seeing that Etras and Betram were engaging the other two men, though at a great disadvantage.
The Sadori, now missing his arm screamed out as Jerris reached up and grabbed the edge of his rain cloak, easily jerking him from his horse. He stabbed down into the center of the man’s chest when he hit the ground to kill him. Jerris then scrambled up into the saddle of the Sadori’s horse. He charged toward the other two bounty hunters, thinking that Etras and Betram wouldn’t be able to hold their ground for long.
However, both Etras and Betram were doing surprisingly well. Betram had an extensive military background from his youth, and though he was short of stature and out of shape, he’d managed to get a lethal slash to the neck of the horse one of the bounty hunters was on. The animal lurched to the side, the rider hastily dismounting to avoid being pinned by the dying animal.
Etras had taken a small injury to his left shoulder, but he fought on. The man he faced was still on his horse, his longer saber having superior range to Etras’ short sword.
Jerris neared them, seeing Etras in the greater immediate danger. He raced up onto the other side of the bounty hunter’s horse, using the momentum behind his charge to drive the end of his broadsword into the man’s back.
The bounty hunter tried to rein his horse away from Jerris’ blade, but it gave Etras an opening to slash across the man’s side. Jerris twisted his blade before withdrawing it, leaving behind a sizable hole.
The man kicked his horse to try and flee, knowing he’d sustained massive injuries and wouldn’t be able to fight on. However, he didn’t get far before falling from the saddle.
Jerris jerked the reins of the horse he’d taken and charged toward the last of the men, now actively engaging Betram on foot.
While Betram was putting up a good fight, the fact he was badly out of shape was catching up to him. An octogenarian, he simply didn’t have the endurance to keep on going. The sword he held out before him was shaking badly, and when the bounty hunter slashed at him again, the old man dropped down to one knee, unable to stay up any longer.
Jerris didn’t slow the horse as he rode toward the last man. Thanks to Betram’s short stature and dropped pose, Jerris was able to swing out over the old man’s head, cleanly decapitating the last of the assailants.
The redhead didn’t turn back right away, giving the headless body a moment to collapse before he dared to look. While he’d killed a few men during the Sadori invasion, his constitution still wasn’t going to allow him to watch certain things. He stopped the horse he was upon and let out a long breath, scanning the area around them for any other threats.
Despite the rain, people in the town had taken notice of the action, the street around them now lined with spectators. They all wore expressions of shock at how efficiently Jerris had dispatched the bounty hunters.
Jerris reined the horse around, looking at Betram and Etras. “Are the two of you all right?”
Betram gave a small nod, Etras doing the same though the left shoulder of his shirt was stained with his own blood.
Satisfied, Jerris moved the horse away from them, walking it slowly toward the spectators. Though he might have otherwise had reservations about speaking to such a large crowd, he was still high on adrenaline.
“To avoid any confusion, I am the King’s Knight,” Jerris said, “and head of King Keiran Sipesh’s Royal Guard. This man is Emperor Betram of the Sador Empire, and he is under my protection.”
There were a few slow nods in response. Stories of Jerris’ identity and past had already spread through the town after his arrival, and no one was going to question him after witnessing what he’d just done.
Seeing he wasn’t going to be challenged, he turned back toward Etras and Betram, bringing the horse to a stop beside them. “You two will stay with me tonight. We can’t take any more risks.”
“So…you will now help?” Betram asked, still gasping for breath.
Jerris frowned and knit his brows. It wasn’t what he wanted to do, but the option to choose had been taken away. “I’ve been groomed my entire life to be the King’s Knight. I suppose I’m qualified to watch over an emperor for a short while.”
* * *
Thana stood with a basket hanging from her silver hand. All of the vegetable scraps from the previous meal had been in it, but she’d passed them out to the horses in the stable. She stood before the stall closest to the entryway, Father Beezle’s old mule within, contentedly finishing up the treat she’d brought.
She heard horses entering the courtyard and her jaw tensed. Without looking yet, Thana already knew it was Keiran and his guards finally returning from his unannounced trip up into the mountains. While Sygian had talked her down from her anger about it before, she was still far from pleased with the king’s activities.
Thana set the basket down and straightened up before striding out into the courtyard. As expected, she quickly spotted Keiran with a few others. Despite the oddly warm weather, he was wearing his cloak, and he didn’t look well.
Keiran looked down at her, sweat rolling down his face from his exertion and pain. He gave up the most uncomfortable smile possible, seeing the anger stirring in his wife.
She crossed her arms over her chest, not pleased. “Well, how bad did you reinjure yourself on this little mission?”
He offered a small shrug, averting his eyes. “I’ll be fine. Before you get too angry with me, however, I did bring you back something that we wouldn’t have found otherwise, and it would have died.”
Her arms fell to her sides and she tipped her head to the side. “Di
ed? What are you on about?”
“Just as you were found as an infant, the lone survivor in a burned out town, so was she.” Keiran moved his left arm out from beneath his cloak, offering the kitten they’d found down toward her.
Thana looked at the kitten, immediately reaching for it and taking it away from him. Like it had with Keiran initially, the small animal climbed up toward her neck, nuzzled in and started purring with a vengeance. Her cheeks quickly took on color, her lips curling into a wide grin. “You poor sweet baby!”
Keiran turned his eyes up toward the sky for a second with a quick thanks to God before struggling down off of his horse.
Thana had her eyes closed, swaying slowly. “If you think this will stop me from being upset with you, it won’t, but it may give you enough of a reprieve to go inside and get cleaned up before I need to put you in your place, Keiran Valis Lee Sipesh.”
Deciding not to push his luck, he passed Porter’s reins off to a stable hand and headed inside.
Fortunately for him, the kitten had worked.
* * *
Garhan stood with Mari before the gates of the compound that had imprisoned him for half his life. He reached up to press his hands against his temples, trying to quiet the roiling protests of the voices within his head.
She looked up at him and placed her hand against his back. “Remember, Theryn isn’t Adira. We grew up with her, we know her. She will hear us out.”
“I know,” he whispered back, letting his hands fall to his sides. “All of this has just proven harder than I thought it would have, and we haven’t even gotten to the difficult part yet of convincing her. I remember her to be a practical one. She will require all the proof we can bring to the table. She never believed in the tales of our nation’s past, you know. She chalked Adira’s paranoia up to nothing more than madness. Having to face the facts regarding vampires in the world… We’re about to ruin her perception of reality.”
Mari let her hand slide down to give him a smack on the seat before the sentries started to open the gates for them. “And yet, here you are.”
“I may have to do something to give a show of what I really am, Mari. Please trust me,” he said.
She rolled her eyes and snorted. “Gary, I’ve come to grips with it, I assure you.”
They were taken to the throne room. Mari took note of the heightened security around them. Theryn wasn’t taking any chances. Much like when Keiran had been in the Alerian palace, the entire perimeter of the room was circled with guards.
Theryn stood before her throne, her long auburn hair braided over her shoulder, hanging nearly to her knees. Her bright green eyes fixed on her two visitors as they approached, brows raised in curiosity.
“Mari, you have returned as promised,” she said, breaking into a smile, though she didn’t approach them. “But…who…”
Garhan met her gaze and offered a small bow. “It has been a long time, cousin.”
Theryn blinked slowly and bent forward. She’d not seen Garhan since he’d been an awkward and sickly teenage boy. Still, there was something very familiar in him, and recognition kicked in. “Garhan! Dear God, it is you!”
He grinned as the Alerian queen raced away from the throne and threw herself into his arms. “And I was afraid I wouldn’t be recognized.”
The guards closed in around them upon seeing their queen put herself into the arms of their visitor. She quickly stepped back, however, waving them all away as she continued to inspect her cousin.
“Mari told me you were alive!” She shook her head, her cheeks burning red. “If I had known what my mother did with you, I swear it, Garhan, I would have done something! For her to lock you away because she believed you to be a vampire of all things…”
He placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. “That was Adira’s doing, not yours. I place none of the blame on you.”
Theryn looked over at Mari, tears in her eyes. “Thank you for bringing him. I cannot tell you how much weight this takes from my shoulders to see the both of you so well after being with the Tordanians for the winter. We’ve heard reports of how badly they were hit.”
“Aleria fared better?” Mari asked, though they’d already seen evidence for themselves since their arrival there.
Theryn stepped back from Garhan and looked at the floor. “It was brutal, but we were better prepared to endure. Aleria enjoys a more comfortable standing in the world than Tordania.”
Though Alerian themselves, Mari and Garhan had both come to appreciate the Tordanian will to survive despite having less than their homeland.
“Tordania will recover. She has a good king willing to do what he must,” Garhan said. “It is good to know you’ve done well, however.”
Theryn’s smile faded as her concerns over Tordania’s king pressed back in on her. “And about this king… All this madness about him being a vampire! Such a thing is hard to believe in this day.”
Mari looked at Garhan and made a small motion with her hand toward him.
He took the hint. “Indeed he is, Theryn, as am I.”
She shook her head and knit her brows, taking a step back, hands clenching at her sides. “Garhan? You? Are…are you trying to tell me mother was correct?”
He kept his tone soft. “Yes, Theryn. I have always been this, I was from birth. Lord Athan Vercilla is my father.”
Her eyes went wide and she blinked before looking over at Mari. “What is this?”
The courier sighed and shrugged. “There were some things better told to you by the parties involved. Would you have believed me?”
“If he is truly a vampire, then you’ve brought a vampire into Aleria, Mari!” Theryn said, sweeping an arm out to her side. “Our laws!”
“He was here for forty years, Theryn, and a vampire the entire time,” Mari replied. “Lord Vercilla has come and gone from here at will, too. Our laws and our walls have never stopped it.”
Theryn brought her hands up to her mouth, unsure what to do. “Is this real? All this talk of vampires, but what have I ever seen of it? You look normal enough. Not some monster as the rumors of Lord Vercilla would indicate.”
“This is real, Theryn. I am a vampire,” Garhan replied honestly. “But not all vampires are like my father, though he looks outwardly quite normal. You know me, Theryn. I haven’t changed since we were children. I can assure you, Keiran is a good man, too. He wishes to bring an end to Lord Vercilla, and I intend to help him.”
Something in the young queen was utterly defeated and her hands dropped to her sides again, shoulders rounding. “They said my mother was killed by a vampire. King Sipesh was here…I have my concerns, though I never believed in such things. All of this is insanity!”
Garhan locked gazes with her. “Keiran didn’t kill your mother. We had already fled the country before her death, and he didn’t turn back. I was with him the entire time. It was Lord Vercilla.”
“Lord of Talaus,” Theryn whispered, turning away and taking a step forward. “The dagger found with my mother’s body, it was the only evidence we had.”
“A dagger in the shape of a raven,” Garhan replied. “Lord Vercilla’s symbol.”
She turned to look at them again. “Despite what you say, I have a hard time believing Lord Vercilla managed to infiltrate this palace unseen to kill my mother. Such magic is the thing of fairy tales.”
“I’m going to draw the sword I carry, Theryn. I need to show you something. Tell your guards to stand down.” Garhan made no move to reach for the weapon yet.
Theryn was in conflict. Her love and trust for the Garhan she had known and grown up with was battling against her disbelief in what he now claimed to be. She glanced around at her guards and gave a small nod. “Leave us.”
There was a brief protest from some of the guards, but she quickly put an end to it with a snap of her fingers.
Garhan offered a quick smile and slowly drew the sword he’d brought as the guards filed out of the room. He gripped it by the blade, of
fering the hilt toward his cousin.
Theryn was intrigued and inspected the weapon. “It…it matches the dagger…”
“This sword was taken from another of Lord Vercilla’s sons when he infiltrated the castle in Tordania before winter.” The vampire slid his fingertips along the blade, stopping near the words engraved into it, above the Talausian royal crest. “Here is your evidence.”
Versed in heraldry, she recognized the crest for what it was, even if she wasn’t able to make out the Talausian writing above it. She gave a shake of her head. While she’d been fed tales of Lord Vercilla’s evil and involvement with her nation’s past, she’d never experienced anything along the lines of the powers he’d been said to possess. It was impossible to her, just mythology.
“So… are you telling me all of it is true?” she asked, her voice weak. “The magic, the abilities to travel unseen? It isn’t mere folklore? All royal families have impossible past histories to justify their uniqueness. Leaders born of dragons or brought from mountaintops by unicorns. That is all the vampire wars and our not-so-distant ancestor’s alleged eradication of them was supposed to be. Stories, tales… Great lies fabricated by royalty to keep their populations in awe and in submission!”
“Vampires are real, Theryn. Look at me.”
Theryn brought her gaze back up to Garhan, seeing the fangs now showing between his parted lips. She took a step back, shaking her head again as a wave of genuine fear washed over her. “How can this be?”
Mari, too, was fixated on Garhan. Despite the fact he fed from her, seeing his fangs was a rare occurrence.
Garhan straightened up, allowing Theryn to hold the sword unassisted. “Aleria’s past isn’t part of some great mythos. You lost your belief in magic a long time ago, but that doesn’t mean it stopped being real. Athan isn’t a myth, either. It isn’t some identity being passed down amongst generations of Talausian leaders. He is the same man who faced down our forefather, the same man that turned King Keiran into what he is, and the same man that sired me against my mother’s will, and the very same man who killed your mother.”
The King's Knight (Royal Blood Book 5) Page 17
