Apparition

by Tom Liberman

  “That’s her,” said the boy with a little nod of his head toward the red-head.

  “Who is she?” said Rhia wrinkling her nose. The girl looked utterly washed out. No color. No life. No energy.

  The young boy said, “Her name is Marianna. Her father died. Her mother took up with Pillswar. We’re to gather evidence she is being abused and then rescue her.”

  “That’s going to make me a Gray Knight?” said Rhia looking down at the boy. She was tall for a woman, a shade over six feet and the boy looked to be almost a foot shorter than she.

  “It’s doing work for Lofo,” said the boy firmly his jaw jutting forward. “He is a captain; he can make us Gray Knights if we do enough work for him.”

  Rhia curled her lower lip under and nodded her head, “That makes sense. Why not just talk to her? She’ll tell you if someone is hitting her. Who is this Pillswar guy? Why do we care?”

  Mike looked toward a little table nearby where a heavy-set man with a wide moustache and a thick forehead sat at a table with an attractive woman. Around them were a few other people, all drinking and eating various fare.

  “It doesn’t work that way. That’s Pillswar, the guy with the moustache. Now, wait here,” said Mike quietly while looking back and forth and all around the area. “I want to hear what he’s saying. He’s as bad as they get.”

  Rhia looked closely at the man but didn’t see anything particularly evil about him. He was clearly somewhat overweight with a heavy jowl and probably, like her, had orc blood in his heritage. The woman with him was quite attractive and seemed to be having a nice enough time although this wasn’t unusual in the hours before a swearing in ceremony.

  Rhia turned her eyes to Mike and watched the boy casually stride over to a little serving area and start talking with the man behind the counter. He sidled to the end of counter to more easily eavesdrop on the conversation and Rhia admired his daring and nonchalance. He was graceful and seemed to blend in easily.

  Rhia started looking around the area to see who else might be watching. Her eyes immediately gravitated to a massively muscled orc with strange little white scars all across his face and exposed arms. He was sitting alone at the table behind the Pillswar fellow, wore a heavy chain shirt, and had a thick sword at his side. He spoke with no one and was gazing directly at Mike with a look that made Rhia nervous. She started to sidle over in that direction when the orc stood quickly and moved with grace that belied his enormous frame. He was well over six feet in height with a barrel chest and arms that bulged with untold power.

  He took three big but silent strides and suddenly stood next to Mike. He towered over the boy in both height and breadth. It looked more like a father standing over his toddler son than two men. Rhia moved more quickly now and she was next to them in a second, her own hand on the blade at her side.

  “Move along,” said the orc to Mike his voice a low grumble although he stretched out the syllables of the words.

  “Why?” said Mike looking up and feigning surprise at the request.

  “I said so,” said the orc quietly.

  “I’m not doing anything wrong!” said Mike spreading his hands and smiling brightly. “I’m just getting something to drink; you have no right to tell me what to do.”

  The orc spat a blob of brown juice on the ground and his face spoke of pain and death. He spoke slowly and clearly, enunciating his words carefully. “Do you think I am merchant?” he paused. “To be bargained with for better price?”

  Mike’s eyes opened wide and he took a step backward, “No,” he whispered quietly and fear appeared on his face.

  “Perhaps you think I am diplomat,” said the orc with a shake of head, still speaking slowly and carefully. “To be negotiated with for favorable treatise?” said the orc leaning in close. Rhia could see his brown stained teeth and could almost smell his breath from yards away.

  “No,” said Mike again and this time his voice quavered.

  “I am lion,” said the orc and leaned even closer yet. Only inches separated their faces. “And although my roar is most fearsome, it is merely warning as to my bite. Go.”

  Mike seemed ready to flee for a moment but then suddenly regained his courage and stood up tall leaning in even closer, “I have every right to be here as much as you! You can’t tell me what to do! You can’t make me leave. I am a man of Tanelorn! I am a free man.”

  The orc smiled, examined Mike closely, leaned in close to the boy, and inhaled deeply, “Man? I think not. But I see now what has transpired, little girl. Your mommy and daddy coddled you. They protected you from the realities of this world. They failed you. Now I am going to rectify that oversight but I wish you to know that I take no pleasure in what is about to happen. I do it merely to educate.”

  “Whatever,” started Mike and stood on his, her, tiptoes to get a little closer to the orc’s height. Her hand went to the blade at her side and she started to pull it out.

  The orc moved with almost casual speed and perfect certainty. He took her wrist in his hand and smashed it on the counter causing her to drop her sword. With his other hand he grabbed her around the throat and lifted her off the ground as a bird takes flight, easily and without effort.

  Rhia pulled out her own sword and charged over, “Now hold on there!” she shouted.

  The orc instead of backing away strode toward her, with Mike dangling in his massive paw, and slammed his forehead into Rhia’s face. Blood spurted from her nose and she found herself on the ground dizzily aware of what was happening all around her.

  The orc spun Mike in the air and brought her down face first on a nearby table with a tremendous bang. The boy, girl, managed to turn her head at the last moment to save her nose from destruction. “Let me go!” she shrieked in a high-pitched voice and began to flail her free arm.

  The orc brought his other hand up and pulled that arm back and twisted. Mike screamed again. He put his weight on her, which allowed him to free a hand, and with a swift motion pulled down her pants causing her belt buckle to burst.

  “No,” she said as his weight drove the breath from her body. Her eyes bulged and she hissed in air as best she could.

  “That’s enough, Adusko,” said a calm voice. “You’ve made your point.”

  Rhia looked up from the floor and saw a tall man with a head full of brown hair to match a thick beard and moustache.

  Adusko looked up and paused as he saw the man. He craned his head as if looking for someone standing behind him, but no one was there.

  “You think you tell me when point is made, Nightwalk?” said Adusko in that slow, steady voice, and the orc grinned.

  “Sir Sorus is correct,” said yet another voice and Rhia rose to a knee and saw it was the hefty man Mike originally intended to spy upon. “Sir Sorus is a representative of the current powers of Tanelorn,” said the man stressing the word current. “He has asked you to cease. You will do so and you will apologize to the girl.”

  Adusko immediately took his weight off the girl and stood her up effortless by grabbing her collar and pulling her forward. He brushed off her shoulders and tilted his head slightly, “I am … sorry.”

  “Now, young lady,” said the hefty man at the table. “You say you are a free man of Tanelorn but you must remember an important point. Freedom isn’t free. Someone else paid for your freedom.”

  Those around them murmured in agreement. “Sir Sorus, you can go, I’ll keep my lion leashed.”

  Sorus nodded his head, turned, and walked back into the crowd.

  Mike bent down and gathered her pants, pulling them up and holding them with one hand while shakily following Sorus. Rhia managed to get to her own feet, only now began to feel the burning pain in her nose, realized she was having trouble breathing, and joined Mike.

  Chapter 2

  Rhia sat with her back against a tree as sunlight began to filter over the horizon as a harbinger of the coming dawn which would signal the beginning the ceremony. Mike pressed a cloth to the girl’s sma
shed nose.

  “I don’t think it’s bleeding anymore,” she said pulling the cloth away and looking at it through those brilliant green eyes.

  Rhia nodded her head with a slow and painful movement, “Who was that guy?”

  “His name is Adusko,” said Mike, her body shuddering at the memory. “He’s Pillswar’s bodyguard. He’s nothing to worry about though, just a big idiot who knows how to use a sword. It’s Pillswar that’s dangerous.”

  “To you maybe he’s not important,” said Rhia reaching up and touching her nose which throbbed with pain. “I’ll kill that big bastard someday, you wait and see.”

  “He’s not worth it. Just a hired bully. It’s Pillswar that’s the key to all this. Besides,” the girl shuddered again, “Adusko is tough. He might end up killing you. He may be stupid and a bully but he knows how to use a sword.”

  “And his head. What do you mean about Pillswar being the key to all of this? All of what?” said Rhia looking around. The crowd was slowly gravitating toward the podium and among them she spotted a young soldier dressed in a glittering set of chain armor with a sword at his side, clearly one of the new inductees.

  “He’s plotting to overthrow the Gray Lord, to rule Tanelorn.”

  “I thought we were just supposed to rescue that girl, whatever her name was,” said Rhia turning sharply to face the girl. “You haven’t told me everything.”

  “Of course not,” said Mike shaking her head and scratching it with her left hand. “I didn’t know if I could trust you. But you seem all right. We do want to get Marianna out of her situation but if we can get the goods on Pillswar then we’re on our way to being Gray Knights. Everyone knows what he’s up to. Everyone who’s anyone at least.”

  A barking laugh suddenly interrupted them and Rhia spotted a tall, young dwarf standing about twenty feet away and laughing while clutching his side. He wore a golden tunic with apple symbols all over it although a long mud stain along one side made it clear he had taken a fall recently. His hair was bald along the sides and stood tall on top and he had a tattoo of a lizard on his neck the tail of which trailed down into his tunic.

  Mike looked up and spotted the dwarf and rolled her eyes, “Crap,” she said.

  “Wait until mom sees what you’ve done to your hair!” the dwarf boy shrieked and he began laughing again while slapping his knee.

  Another boy, this one quite handsome and tall ambled over to the laughing boy and started to speak but when he spotted Mike his mouth suddenly opened wide as did his eyes. He blushed and looked at the ground, “Hi, Sunny,” he said while scuffling his toes back and forth in the dirt. “I like your hair.”

  Mike stood up and pulled out a dirk, her green eyes blazing and a snarl on her face, “If you call me that again I’ll run you through.”

  “I’m sorry,” said the boy and smiled while raising his gaze to Mike, his eyes wide and unblinking. He simply stared with a goofy grin on his face.

  “Stop looking at me, you freak,” she said and turned back to Rhia. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here before the rest of them show up.”

  “Is that little Goldy?” said a woman’s voice and Rhia saw a plump dwarf woman, on the arm of a tall human warrior, move next to the laughing dwarf boy and his friend.

  Mike spun around again her eyes blazing, if possible, with even more fury, “Don’t call me that!”

  “Look who’s here, it’s our little runaway, Delicious!” said the man. He had a strange purple tattoo on his face that covered its right side although it looked nothing like anything except a strange blotchy pattern. He wore a heavy sword at his side. He smiled broadly and started toward her. “I told everyone you’d be fine.”

  “Don’t call me that!” said Mike her eyes threatening to explode from her head and her teeth grinding together loudly enough that Rhia could hear them.

  The dwarf boy continued to laugh, a mischievous grin appeared on his face and he said, “How is little Apple?”

  Mike gave out a little shriek and started forward with her knife, “I told you I’d slice out your eyeball if you called me that!” she growled and only when the big man with the tattoo interposed himself between the young dwarf boy and the girl did she pull up.

  “Don’t tease your sister,” he said to the boy although he was clearly enjoying the interaction as his grin remained broad.

  “I don’t need your help, Uncle Otur!”

  “I know you don’t, Delicious,” said the man with a smile and reached forward with a hand as if to tussle her non-existent hair.

  “I’ll cut you if you call me that again,” she said waving the knife back and forth under his nose.

  The man laughed, “You love me too much. I’m your favorite uncle, right, Delicious?”

  “How many names do you have?” said Rhia watching the entire episode with a puzzled expression on her face, although she couldn’t help but grin. The man seemed so good natured and even the dwarf boy seemed like a sporting sort of fellow, rather handsome too.

  “One, it’s Mike,” said Mike through clenched teeth.

  “Oh,” came a startled little gasp but the voice was almost like music and Rhia looked up to see the most beautiful woman in the world. She was not short but not tall. She had a comfortable looking dress that somehow managed to show off her full, but not heavy, figure perfectly while still seemingly being demure. Her hair was bright green like grass on the field and her sparkling blue eyes reminded Rhia of the ocean on a perfect day. She was clearly an elf.

  “Mother,” said Mike coldly, a frown on her face, and she looked at the woman with venom dripping from her blazing eyes.

  “What have you done with your hair?” said the woman putting her delicate hand to her mouth.

  “Cut it, stupid, can’t you tell?”

  The woman took a step back and winced at the harsh words.

  “What are you all looking at?” said Mike waving the dagger and stomping her foot on the ground. “Go watch the swearing in. That’s what you’re here for, right?”

  “Don’t be so mean to your mother, Flower,” said yet another voice and a powerful dwarf warrior with a straight jaw and a handsome face framed by a perfect and tidy beard. He came up and put his arm around the waist of the woman. He was a foot shorter than she but somehow they seemed to fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

  “How many names do you have?” repeated Rhia looking rather dazedly around at all the strangers who were gathering.

  “My name …,” said Mike and paused while glaring at the beautiful woman. “My name …,” she paused again and her face screwed up into a mask of hate and rage. “Is Golden Red Sunset Delicious Apple Tree Flowering in the Garden Fivefist.”

  “Oh,” said Rhia.

  “It sounds better in my native tongue,” said the woman trying to keep from smiling.

  “It sounds horrible in any language!” screamed Mike literally jumping up and down as her eyes threatened to simply explode from her head yet again.

  “Do you always have to be the center of attention,” said the woman noticing a crowd gathering around them and watching with amused grins.

  “Me? Me! Me!? The center of attention? You accuse me of that! Look at you! Look … at … you!!!!”

  The clarion blast of horns burst into the air and everyone forgot the little family drama and turned back toward the podium. Rhia felt her hand grabbed and Mike dragged her away taking advantage of the momentary distraction.

  “Come on now, hurry, before they notice us,” whispered the girl moving with great speed and utter stealth.

  Rhia followed along, away from the little clearing, and back behind a group of tents. It was a long minute before they stopped well away from the main ceremony. Then Mike came to a halt and put her hands on her hips and glared at Rhia.

  “This is important if we’re going to work together,” she said and her green eyes, while not raging with fury, were dark and serious. “What’s my name?”

  Rhia looked down into the fierce
eyes of the girl, “Mike,” she replied with a nod of her head.

  “Good,” said Mike with a little nod back. “Now we need to circle around to the back of the ceremony. I’m pretty sure Pillswar has something planned, something bad. One of his little minion boys is being inducted. They’re up to something.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Rhia as Mike led her back and around the tents toward the opposite side of the grounds where the podium was set up. They slowly made their way back and around behind where the crowd was by now growing quite large.

  “He has boys, friends I suppose, they work for him. They’ve been infiltrating the Gray Knights, pretending to help but they really want to take over from the Gray Lord. They think he’s weak. They want power for themselves and now that Jon is back they have to move faster.”

  “How do you know all this?” said Rhia pulling up and narrowing her gaze upon Mike.

  “Because I work for Lofo,” said Mike and pulled Rhia forward again. Soon they arrived at the wall of Tanelorn but to the north of the main ceremony. Thousands of people gathered around the podium and three young people, two men and a woman, stood in front of it in their fineries. Each carried a long pole with a banner of the nation to whom they swore allegiance. On the podium was a distracted looking man who limped back and forth as he paced across its length while reading a book and muttering to himself. Nearby was a tall woman with straggly blonde hair and broad shoulders.

  “That’s Jane and Valery Gray, right?” asked Rhia looking to the stage.

  “Yes,” said Mike with a smile. “She’s all right, a good fighter. Tough and smart. He’s supposedly the most powerful wizard in the world but you wouldn’t know it to look at him.”

  “Where’s the Gray Lord?” asked Rhia her eyes looking for someone impressive on or around the podium. “I thought he was the one who presided over these things.”