Knights of Alcea

by Richard S. Tuttle

  A half hour later, the six men returned outside and shouted orders to the ring of men. The group dispersed. A few minutes later, Bantam returned.

  "They are searching for Garth Shado," Bantam informed the warrior. "They searched every room in the inn two times. They say he is wanted for murder."

  "They must have found the bodies in the alley," sighed Garth. "This mission is getting too sloppy for my liking."

  "You had not counted on it being a mission," sympathized Bantam. "We were only supposed to observe the temple, not attack it."

  "We should always be prepared for anything," countered Garth. "There is little that we can do about it now. I need to find a safe place to catch some sleep."

  "Why not on a roof?" suggested the fairy. "I could keep watch for you."

  "An excellent suggestion," smiled the warrior. "Find me a suitable roof."

  * * *

  Garth Shado slid through the darkness towards the docks. When he reached the docks, he paused in the darkness to observe the area before showing himself. There were a few sailors on the docks near their ships and a couple of soldiers standing and talking to each other. There was no sign of Kalina or Balamor. As the Knight of Alcea waited, he became more curious about the soldiers. The sailor had mentioned that they had abandoned the docks, but the two soldiers in view appeared to be quite relaxed. They certainly did not appear to be in fear of their lives. The warrior roused the fairy in his pocket.

  "At your service," Bantam chirped cheerily.

  "I want you to spy on those soldiers," instructed Garth. "Listen closely to what they are saying, but be very careful."

  "Soldiers will never detect me," boasted the fairy.

  "Be careful," Garth repeated sternly. "Things are not always as they appear."

  The fairy nodded dutifully and darted into the darkness. As Bantam approached the two soldiers, they stopped talking. Frustrated by the lack of conversation, Bantam flew closer.

  "Alex has arrived," declared one of the soldiers.

  "Do not call him that in this city," warned the other soldier. "Such a revelation would surely start the revolution. You must call him Garth."

  "Garth has arrived then," sighed the first soldier.

  "How do you know?" asked the second soldier.

  "His fairy is spying on us," chuckled the first soldier. "Where is he, Bantam?"

  Bantam's small eyes opened wide in horror at being discovered. She shot straight upward, trying to lose herself in the night sky.

  With a hearty laugh, the soldiers strolled away from the docks. When they entered the darkness of the alley, Balamor dropped his illusion. Garth Shado stepped out of a small alcove and returned two Lanoirian stars to his pouch.

  "I thought that might be you," Garth said with disappointment. "You are obviously not aware that soldiers no longer frequent the docks even in daylight, and certainly not at night."

  "Oops," blushed Balamor. "I hope I didn't scare Bantam too much."

  "She will get over it," remarked Kalina. "Balamor and I observed the temple earlier this evening. The front door appears to be closed for the night, and two large men guard the rear door. They have no means to open the door from the outside. They use a series of knocks to have the door opened from the inside. This might present an unforeseen obstacle to our plan."

  "I do not think we should attempt to enter through either of the doors," offered Garth. "I was thinking of a more unconventional approach. I can scale the side of the temple and enter through an upper window. The two of you can transform and fly up."

  "The outside guards might hear the turmoil inside the temple," warned Balamor. "Will you kill them before we enter?"

  "No," Garth shook his head. "Bantam will put them to sleep. They will hear nothing and yet their bodies will alert no one. In the morning they will just think that they fell asleep on the job."

  "I like that," agreed Kalina. "No one outside the temple must suspect that we have been inside. We will begin our assault as soon as Bantam returns."

  "I am here," the fairy responded from the darkness with a touch of anger. "I guess the great mages cannot always detect me."

  "I apologize, Bantam," offered Balamor. "I did not mean to embarrass you. I sometimes hear things clearly that others do not."

  "Put the guards to sleep, Bantam," ordered Garth. "We cannot waste any more time this night."

  The fairy departed, and Garth moved through the alley towards the temple. When he reached the temple, he checked the street for pedestrians before moving to the side of the building. As he inspected the wall for handholds, Bantam landed on his shoulder.

  "They are asleep," reported the fairy. "I will check them every hour to make sure that they stay asleep. Can I levitate you upward? It will shorten the mission."

  "Please do," smiled Garth. "The handholds on this wall are rather narrow."

  Bantam shot upward and applied her spell. Garth felt his feet lift off the ground, and he smiled again. Much quicker than he could have climbed the wall, Garth rose to the roof. Seeing a window to a dark room, he signaled the fairy to move him to it. Bantam complied, and Garth grabbed onto the sill and pulled himself into the dark room. As his eyes adjusted to the blackness, he recognized the room as a library. Temple libraries usually had a guard outside the door, so he waved the fairy inside.

  "There will be a guard outside the door of this room," Garth whispered. "Put him to sleep and return."

  The fairy disappeared and two birds flew through the window. The seagull transformed into Balamor, and the eagle became Kalina.

  "The mages can communicate without talking," warned Kalina. "They did so at the service earlier today."

  "Could you hear them?" asked Garth.

  "No," Kalina replied. "I could sense their communications, but I could not hear the words. They could probably recognize our spells if we did likewise tonight."

  "Then we will use hand signals," nodded Garth. "You concentrate on the black-cloaks. I will attack the others. Balamor, I have thought of a task that you can perform. Make sure that no one leaves the temple once we start the attack. No one outside must learn of what is going on in here."

  "I can do that," agreed Balamor. "No one will find the exits."

  Bantam returned and reported that the sentry was asleep. Garth moved silently to the door and eased it open. He saw the sentry slumped in his chair. With a quick slice of his knife, Garth killed the man.

  "Take the body out to sea, Bantam," ordered the warrior. "All of the bodies must be disposed of."

  The fairy levitated the body and headed through the library to the window. Garth led the two mages down the stairs to the main floor of the temple. When they left the stairs, the group split up. Balamor headed for the front door of the temple to weave an illusion. Kalina headed towards the rear door to make sure no one escaped before Balamor had cast another illusion, and Garth headed for the sleeping quarters.

  As Garth entered the first of the sleeping rooms, he extracted quills from a small sheath that hung from his belt. The myric quills had been taken from a swamp animal, and they were potently poisonous. One prick of a quill brought instant death, as Alex Tork's mother discovered so long ago. It was a myric quill that had claimed her life and left Alex in charge of an entire village.

  The small room held four bunks, and each of the bunks was occupied. Although the myric quills were meant to be propelled through a thin reed, Garth merely plunged a quill into each of the bodies and left the room. He moved on to the next room.

  Kalina reached the rear door without finding anyone awake. She waited impatiently for Balamor to arrive so that she could begin her search for the black-cloaks. Unexpectedly, she heard footsteps approaching. She listened carefully to determine if the footsteps belonged to the tall mage from Pog, and concluded that they did not. She prepared to cast a freeze spell on the approaching follower. She had chosen the spell because it would incapacitate the intruder and make almost no magical noise. As the intruder turned the corner, Kalina
quickly tossed the frozen projectile at him. Unfortunately, the intruder was a black-cloak, and he was shielded. The frozen projectile splattered against the invisible shield without effect.

  "Intruder!" the black-cloak shouted.

  The alarm was immediately repeated numerous times as the followers of Balmak picked up the call and spread it. The entire temple immediately sprang to life. The black-cloak sprung into action even as his call of alarm was being spread. His arm came up, and a ball of flame shot towards Kalina. The fiery orb bounced off Kalina's shields, and it looked like the magical duel could go on forever. Kalina knew that she did not have time to test her magic against a single black-cloak. She pulled a knife from her belt and threw it at the black-cloak. The man's eyes widened in disbelief as the knife sank into his throat. As Kalina retrieved her knife from the black-cloak's body, Balamor appeared. He looked at the body and nodded to Kalina.

  "Go," he urged. "There are at least two more of them in the temple, not to mention K'san. I will make sure no one gets out this door."

  Kalina nodded and dashed towards the sleeping quarters. Now that the whole temple was awake, she could not leave Garth to handle it alone.

  Garth had eliminated a dozen followers before the shouts of alarm rippled through the temple. The warrior started backing away from the sleeping quarters as doors started to fly open. K'san's thugs began to pile into the corridor and once they did, they shouted when they saw the intruder dressed in black. Garth dropped the quills from his hands and ripped open the pouches holding his Lanoirian stars. He started tossing stars with both hands as he backed away from the growing crowd.

  The stars had a devastating effect on the thugs as the narrow corridor began to fill with bodies, but Garth only carried so many stars. When he got down to his last two stars, he decided to save them and drew his sword. The corridor was too narrow to effectively use such a long sword, but neither could the enemy approach him. It was pretty much a stalemate as Garth backed towards the wider corridor running between the front and rear doors. At least it was a stalemate until one of the thugs produced a bow. Even a poor archer could score a hit in such a narrow corridor. Garth turned and ran as fast as he could, even though he knew that he could not outrun an arrow.

  "Down!" shouted Kalina.

  Garth saw his mate at the end of the narrow corridor, and he dove to the floor. Dozens of fiery projectiles flew from Kalina's fingertips, and screams roared through the corridor. Garth stared in amazement at the arrow that fell in front of him. He looked up and saw Kalina unhurt. Fire still flew from her fingertips in a display of power he had not seen since the death of Sarac.

  "You will burn yourself out," Garth warned as he rose and dashed for the intersection of corridors where Kalina was standing.

  "Better than you dying," Kalina replied sharply as she ducked around the corner for protection. "How many warriors does he have in here?"

  "Far more than we imagined," replied Garth. "They certainly weren't at the service this morning. They would have filled the altar room. What about the black-cloaks?"

  "Only one so far," Kalina replied with disappointment. "There are two more to go."

  "Plus K'san and whatever troops are left," added Garth as he peeked around the corner. "There aren't any more coming from that direction. Can't say as I blame them."

  "Where to next?" asked Kalina.

  "We need to start at one end of the temple and work our way to the other," answered Garth. "Let's start at the front door."

  Kalina nodded and followed Garth towards the front of the temple. They encountered no opposition until they reached the altar room. A dozen thugs stood waiting in the center of the room, but the main threat stood behind the altar. K'san was flanked by two black-cloaks, and they all looked at Garth and Kalina with curiosity.

  "Who are you that dares to threaten K'san?" boomed the large black priest. "I want to know who Garth Shado is before you die."

  None of the enemy made a move to attack, and Garth was puzzled by their attitude of invincibility. Surely the thugs at least should be trembling for their lives, but none were.

  "Is this all you have left?" asked Garth as his arm waved over the dozen men in the center of the room. "Surely, you will need more than that?"

  "You have spirit," laughed K'san, "but you are not very bright. You pride yourself on the number already killed, but my people are anxious to die for Balmak. Observe."

  The huge priest pointed to one of the men in the center of the room and ordered him to kill Garth. The chosen man drew his sword and screamed as he charged the Knight of Alcea. Garth shook his head in disbelief as he swung his two-handed sword and dissected the thug.

  "A god has too many followers when he can afford to waste them," scowled Garth.

  "Their lives are not wasted," smiled K'san. "To die battling an infidel is to gain paradise at the moment of death. These are lessons that you must learn. Offer up your sword to Balmak, and I will teach you personally. I will make you a leader of men."

  "I thought all were equal in the eyes of Balmak," retorted Garth. "I heard those words from your very lips this morning."

  "Some are more equal than others," smirked the priest. "No revolution can succeed without organization. When the King of Alcea is deposed, then we shall all live without class or structure. Then we will all work together to bring about the promised return of Balmak."

  Garth sheathed his sword and walked away from Kalina. He avoided the center of the room and moved closer to the altar where K'san stood between the two black-cloaks. His fingers moved swiftly alongside his leg as he moved across the room.

  "I will admit," Garth said to K'san, "that I am curious about your religion. That is why I attended your service this morning."

  "And why is it that you came back this evening?" asked K'san with a disbelieving smile upon his lips. "Private lessons perhaps?"

  "No," Garth replied seriously. "You sent out men to kill me. I take offense at such gestures and thought that you needed to be taught a lesson."

  The smile slid from K'san's face. "They were instructed to bring you here," he said without humor. "They were not sent to kill you. Perhaps this has all been a misunderstanding after all. Lay down your sword, and we shall discuss this peacefully."

  Garth was intrigued by the fact that everyone was ignoring Kalina. It was as if she didn't exist. K'san was totally focused on Garth and therefore everyone else was as well.

  "I am inclined to agree to your offer," Garth smiled thinly, "but I feel that you are toying with me. Can I trust you?"

  "Such audacity," scowled one of the black-cloaks. "Let me have the honor, Master."

  "Quiet," K'san snapped at the mage before returning his attention to Garth. "You can trust me," he smiled at Garth. "I am a priest after all."

  A priest who will murder and cause a revolution, Garth thought to himself as he smiled and nodded at the black priest. Garth removed his sword from his sheath and bent over to place it on the floor. As he bent over, he snared the two remaining stars from his pouch. As he rose up, Garth kicked the sword towards the altar. Everyone's eyes followed its movement. No one saw Garth toss the two stars through the air. Each of the stars impacted one of the black-cloaks in the chest. At the same time, balls of fire spread from Kalina's fingertips towards the center of the room. As the two Balmak mages fell to the floor, the dozen thugs in the center of the room burst into flames.

  Garth dove to the floor and slid towards the altar. He snared his sword and jumped to his feet. As the screams of the dying faded, K'san extended his arm towards Garth. Lightning flashed from each fingertip, but the bolts had no effect other than illuminating the magical shield encompassing the warrior. K'san's jaw dropped in surprise as he suddenly glanced at the woman who had entered the room with the warrior. He prepared to send a burst of lightning towards Kalina, but Garth swung his sword at the priest. The sword shook in Garth's grip, and a loud ring pierced the air as if the sword had struck a brick wall. Still, the blow was hard enough t
o cause the black giant to stumble backwards.

  Garth attacked again before K'san could recover his balance. The blow nearly knocked the sword from Garth's grip, but its only effect on K'san appeared to be a minor laceration as the priest tumbled to the floor. Garth stared at the small cut in K'san's side with disbelief. He knew that he would never succeed in mortally wounding the priest with his sword. He raised the sword for another blow, but K'san's leg rose and kicked Garth. The warrior flew through the air and smashed to the floor, his sword spinning away from him.

  K'san rose and roared like a beast as he stomped across the floor towards Garth. Garth fumbled at his belt and found the small quiver at his waist. He hurriedly extracted a myric quill and the thin reed. He shoved the quill into the reed and brought it to his lips. As the black giant reached down to snare the warrior, Garth blew the quill into the wound in the priest's side. The priest froze as his body instantly shut down. Garth rolled furiously across the floor to avoid the falling body. K'san hit the floor with a resounding crash. Garth rose from the floor and looked towards Kalina. She was prone on the floor, and Balamor was bending over her.

  "Is she alright?" Garth asked anxiously.

  "She is exhausted," Balamor nodded. "K'san was magically attacking you the whole time. She used her energy protecting you."

  "I did not see him use any spells after the lightning," replied Garth.

  "They were mind spells," Kalina said weakly. "Even as you battled, he was trying to turn your mind to his cause. What manner of creatures are they?"

  "We can discuss that later," Garth replied as he retrieved his sword. "Balamor, take care of her. I am going to check the rest of the temple."

  "There is no need," replied Balamor. "I have already checked it. The one problem we have now is that Bantam will never be able to dispose of all the bodies before sunrise. There are just too many of them for one fairy to take care of."