by Karen Cossey
Crimson and I looked at each other. I could see an idea forming in her mind and I nodded, hoping she didn’t want me to tame a river monster then ride on its head to meet the Pegasus.
“The good thing is the Pegasus cannot be on all sides at once.” Crimson said, as indomitable as ever. “If Kinsey and I could approach him without being seen, we would have a good chance of defeating him. Now that she has the Pendant of Peace, she can use its power to knock the Pegasus out of the sky, so your archer’s arrows can reach him.”
That sounded almost doable to me. Best of all, there was no river monster involved. I felt some hope inside of me kicking back at the cloud of gloom hovering in the air.
“How can this be?” my father asked.
“Yes, Father,” I said. “On the way here the Pendant knocked back the ravens chasing us. And we’d be invisible to the Pegasus, so we could get really close!”
“I know Crimson says you’re ready, but it sounds too dangerous, Kinsey. I don’t want to lose you when I’ve just found you again,” my father said, his eyes full of concern.
Garroway was considering me. “My Lord, if we don’t defeat this magical Pegasus, he will kill your daughter with disease the same as the rest of us. I think it is the best plan we have. We must fight magic with magic.”
My father stood up and walked down to the shore. It seemed an age before he came back to give his answer.
“Are you certain she can do this, Crimson?” he asked.
“Yes, I am,” Crimson said without hesitation.
I couldn’t look at her, as sudden, looming memories of my failures threw doubts down on top of my hope, trying to squash it.
“Well, we need to move quickly. Let’s go,” my father commanded.
Chapter 14. The Pegasus of Peril
I don’t know what had made me think this would be a good idea. All that talk of my being ready to be a Guardian must have gone to my head. As we stood in front of the combined forces of my father’s men, Lord Lincoln’s men, Japserfield and his Elves, I felt far from ready for any challenge, let alone the task Crimson was proposing. My father and Kolby were on their horses nearby, ready to ride out behind us. Although we were invisible, it did not stop the fear creeping into my heart as we looked out at a sea of mungas and tworns, gathered against us on the other side of the river.
I’d never seen a tworn before, and now their giant size and their savage dragon-like faces on each of their two heads sent cold shivers up and down my back. Far in the sky, I could see the dark shadow of the Pegasus. I felt powerless, and clung tighter to Crimson.
“Try to stay calm, Kinsey. This is going to turn into a battle any minute. We must act now. Get out your bow and arrows,” Crimson said.
As soon as I was ready, Crimson ran out down the battle line, giving me no time to think. At first I was almost panicking, so strong was my fear, but that same sense of peace and power came upon me as Crimson yelled above the raucous din.
“Look at our men and women. They are all good, fine people. Without us, they die today because of the Snake. He is evil and only wants to destroy us.”
I glanced at our people before my attention was recaptured by the sea of mungas and tworns. I examined them one at a time—they were the ugliest things I had ever seen. They started to run at us through the river. The deep water churned and splashed, pushing the tworns to the rear, but the nimble mungas were swimming now, making their way closer and closer, each with a person loyal to Snake riding on their back. These men and women were clutching bows and letting off arrows when they could. Somehow Crimson managed to dodge the arrows. In only a few minutes though we would be engulfed by the fast-moving mungas and they would surely knock us to the ground.
“They will kill your father and Kolby as soon as they can unless we defeat the Snake,” I heard Crimson say, and I saw the hatred in the eyes of the enemies who were almost upon us. It inspired a surge of fierce emotion within me. I touched the Pendant of Peace and yelled out in a strange language I’d never heard before. A bright light flew out of the Pendant into the sky and all around us. The mungas, people and tworns were physically pushed back a furlong.
I looked up and saw the Pegasus nearly overhead. We would all die if he made it across the river! I reacted without thinking, and called out again. This time I could name the emotion surging through me: pure fury. The pendant flashed a solid beam, pouring its power straight at the Pegasus, who roared then plummeted into the river and thrashed around in the water a hundred yards to our left.
“Quickly, use your lanarkite arrow,” Crimson told me.
Tanglegreen had told me the lanarkite arrow was magic when she gave it to me. It had the power to fly direct to heart of any evil being, but would it work on the Pegasus?
I aimed straight for his heart, but as I let the arrow fly, Crimson stumbled as an arrow hit her in her shoulder. My arrow flew too low, and I was sure it would hit the ground.
But no, it seemed to correct itself and headed straight for the Pegasus.
A munga jumped in front of the Pegasus. Now the arrow would hit the munga instead!
I gasped—there was only one lanarkite arrow, and it would be wasted on a munga! I watched in horror as the arrow pierced the munga, then disbelief grabbed hold of me as I heard the Pegasus let out a scream. It toppled back down into the water besides the dead munga. The arrow had gone straight through the munga and into the Pegasus!
He convulsed in the river and then lay still.
“Look out for the Snake,” Crimson shouted. The Snake, who had been riding the Pegasus of Peril, had moved aside and was gathering a group of snarling mungas around him, ready to launch an attack. He aimed his arrows in my direction, though he still couldn’t see either me or Crimson.
I reached for the Pendant and a broad shaft of light knocked the Snake to the ground, and once again, all the mungas, even those besides the Snake, as well as the people and tworns were pushed back.
The Snake must have seen where the light had come from, because he focused his attention in our direction. He was a tall man with a scarred face, who wore a snakeskin vest and a hissing snake wrapped around his waist. Something about him reminded me of the dragon I had fought and I felt for my dragon knife with one hand while holding the Pendant in the other. The Snake hissed out a command, his voice drenched in anger.
A blaze of dark green, foul-smelling smoke enveloped me, but the Pendant gave off its own white light to protect me. I already had my arms through my balancing loops in my cloak, so I ducked and rolled out of the smoke. The Snake was trying to work out where I was, using his mungas to find my scent.
I darted this way and that, getting closer and closer to him, then came around behind him. There were only seconds before the mungas would be upon me.
I shut my eyes and prepared to plunge my knife into his back, but I couldn’t do it!
Killing a man was a lot different to killing a dragon. The Snake turned on me and spoke a magical spell; I knew it was meant to kill me. The Pendant let out a huge blast of light even as the Snake’s fog fell on me. There was a loud boom and I thought I would die from the power of it vibrating through me. I staggered back, falling to the ground, my hood coming off. I knew if I didn’t die from the shockwave, the mungas would be close enough to tear me to shreds, the same way as the eagles had killed the ravens. I could see three mungas about to jump, saliva drooling, and my familiar enemy, terror, attacked me again.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain to shoot through me as they tore at me, but it never came. When I opened my eyes I saw the mungas lying with Kolby’s arrows embedded in their shaking bodies.
A loud cheer erupted from my father’s men. The Snake was dead! Weakened by the shockwave, he had been unable to use his magic to keep Kolby’s and the other men’s arrows piercing his body. He lay in the water, blood flowing from at least a dozen arrow wounds all over his body. He looked more like a hedgehog than a snake.
I saw my father and scrambled towards him. He
pulled me onto his horse and took me safely out of harm’s way.
Chapter 15. The Wait
Once my father was sure I wasn’t injured, he wanted to get back into the battle. I wanted to go and fight too, but Crimson was wounded from the arrow in her shoulder and was weak from all the blood she’d lost. There was no way I could ride her.
As my father turned to leave a shout of joy escaped his lips—Liliana was approaching us with a group of Elves! They must have gone to collect her. We held onto each other for a long while, before father pulled himself away to rejoin the battle.
Liliana and I watched from a distance. Everywhere we looked we saw people, elves, and dwarves attacking mungas and tworns, forcing them back to the sea. Soon there would be no escape for them—we were going to win!
We watched Kolby and Father, who were right at the front of the fight, with Kolby firing arrows and Father swinging his ax at the retreating mungas and tworns
Liliana studied my face. All I wanted was to be fighting too, like Father and Kolby.
“Don’t be upset about not being able to join the battle. There are plenty of lives we can save here instead. Come on,” she said.
We went around bandaging wounds and trying to make the injured more comfortable. We had worked for several hours when I looked up from a man’s torn leg and saw Father and Kolby approaching.
“We’ve defeated them!” Father shouted. “The last tworn has fallen.”
“That’s wonderful news!” I cheered.
“It is fabulous news indeed,” Liliana paused only long enough to give a brief smile before her concern for the wounded took over again. “But we still have work to do. Look at all these suffering people.”
Kolby stared at her and seemed unable to look away. She turned her face up, regarding him for a long moment too. She reddened for no reason at all, and went back to what she was doing.
Kolby jolted into action and jumped down to help me with the leg of the man I was trying to bandage. The man was writhing in pain and I appreciated Kolby’s firm hand holding him still.
When he was bandaged, Crimson told me to get on her back.
“No, you’re injured,” I said.
“We need some more of that Sleeping Star bush to help the wounded. And we need Tanglegreen. I know where to find both. It won’t hurt me much to take you—you’re so light. Liliana will be safe with Kolby.”
I glanced over. Liliana was blushing again. Must have been all the excitement of the battle.
It didn’t take me long to gather enough Sleeping Star petals while Crimson fetched Tanglegreen. She came back with us and set to work giving the wounded medicine she made using herbs from the forest that she carried in a large bag. Liliana went with her, and Tanglegreen talked to Liliana the whole time, explaining what she was doing. Kolby was there to help with anything gruesome. I walked about, putting sleeping star paste on the men who were in agony, giving them some relief in sleep. Soon many others joined us in helping the wounded, and when I looked up I saw my father busy bandaging a bleeding arm.
Finally, we rested. It was midnight, and all was quiet. Liliana had fallen asleep with her head on Kolby’s shoulder; I was sitting by my father, his arm around me. Crimson was lying near us. I couldn’t sleep: there were too many questions racing through my mind. The most important was what would happen now. Of course, I wanted to stay with my father and my sister, but what would happen to Crimson? Would she come with us? I didn’t want to leave her, or Kolby. Looking at the smile on Liliana’s face as she slept on Kolby’s shoulder I had a feeling she wouldn’t want to leave him either.
“Lord Monteith sided with the Snake. He and his only sons were killed today in battle.” My father was talking to Crimson and Garroway. “I think my men and I should claim his castle for the King and stay there until we are sure we have removed all Snake’s allies from Milonderland. His right- hand men, Foulbait and the one they call the Torturer, weren’t in the battle today. We need to deal with them and then perhaps we can transform Milonderland into a peaceful shire, rather than a hideout for thieves and murderers.”
“That will take a while, my Lord,” Crimson said. “There are many places to hide in Milonderland and many who do not want to be found. If you would allow Kinsey and me to help, perhaps we can bring in your plans for peace more quickly.”
“She has proven beyond a doubt that she is worthy to be called Guardian,” my father said. “But I want her to rest and watch over Liliana while I find out how much trouble we will have in Milonderland. I will know better what has to be done in a few weeks, and where I will most need her help. I will take Garroway and my men to help.”
I tried to protest, but my father told me to be quiet and held me tighter. “Liliana needs to rest too, and like you, Kinsey, get use to her new position as a lady. If she is going to live in Milonderland, she also needs to learn how to defend herself.”
He looked over at Kolby and Liliana and was quiet for a minute, as if he was considering something. “I am most grateful to you, Kolby. You saved Kinsey from the mungas today by risking your own life. I commend you for being willing to take your duty to the point of death.”
“It was not duty my Lord, but brotherly love. I could not bear to see her killed—I would rather the mungas had torn me to shreds.”
He spoke with such a passion that Liliana woke and sat up. I got up from my father, knelt in front of Kolby and hugged him. He joked, “I’m glad you are alive, Little Warrior, but don’t think because I care for you I’ll be any softer on you when we are training.”
I laughed and returned to my Father’s side, wondering how I could ever have disliked Kolby.
“It is training that is most in my mind,” Father said. “Kolby, as much as I could do with your help in Milonderland, I ask instead that you would guard and protect Kinsey and Liliana while I travel to Lord Monteith’s castle. I would like you to train them in self-defence, and I will have someone else teach the girls what is expected of them as ladies.”
Despite my protests, it was agreed. Crimson and Kolby stayed with Liliana and I in the Elven forest. Merrivale, Jasperfield’s sister, tried to teach us how to act like ladies. She made some progress with Liliana, but I hated the thought of wearing dresses and being stuck inside, so I avoided my lessons as often as I could. Kolby wasn’t much of an ally—he would march me straight back to Merrivale and stay to watch for a while, though I noticed he spent most of his time looking at Liliana.
Often Crimson would help me escape. She understood my need to be outside, telling me I was the Guardian of the Land, not some Lady of a Stuffy Castle full of dust and rules. I foresaw a few battles between her and Father, and wondered whose side I’d take. If only Merrivale would teach me diplomacy—that might come in handy.
In the meantime, Crimson and I explored the forest when we could. Liliana, Kolby and Tanglegreen would join us in the afternoon and we would have the kind of lessons I enjoyed. Tanglegreen would coach us on the uses of plants and trees, Kolby would teach us archery and climbing skills, and Crimson would keep a watchful eye over us all.
Father had said he would send for us after two weeks, so I was becoming more and more anxious by the third week with no word from him. I had terrible clawing nightmares about him being in trouble three nights in a row. I usually slept outside with Crimson and she heard my moaning and would try and soothe me, though I could tell she was starting to worry about father too.
One afternoon, as I was high in a tree and Kolby had his arm around Liliana again, trying to steady her bow and help her shoot straight, Crimson called out an urgent warning. Tanglegreen pulled the hood of her cloak over her head and disappeared. Kolby told Liliana to hide but she refused and stood beside Crimson, joining with Kolby in pointing her arrows at the sound of approaching footsteps. From my vantage point I could see who was coming first.
“It’s Juxston,” I shouted and everyone relaxed. Everyone except Juxston, that is. He saw us and ran towards us, stopping in front of Kolby.<
br />
“Sir Eric is captured. It was a trap, and he walked straight into it.”
Chapter 16. Saving Sir Eric
Milonderland. Here we were again, standing at the border. This time there was no discussions about entering. I was impatient to rescue my father.
Crimson stopped without warning.
“Let’s get going. I must get to my father!” I was almost shouting.
Kolby reached over and put his hand on my shoulder.
“You may be the Guardian of the Land, but you’re still a child. You need to be fearful of the evil hiding here, not foolhardy. Do you want us all to be captured like your father?”
He lowered his voice so only I could hear. “If you don’t care about your own safety, at least think about Liliana. Do you want anything to happen to her? You need to keep her safe. If you lose your father, she’s the only family you have.”
“He’s right,” Crimson said.
They both believed my father could die!
Their expressions told me I needed to calm down and listen—I had been nothing but loud and fast since Juxston had told us the news. Now, here at the border, it was time to think. And listen.
“We do need to get to the castle as quickly as we can,” Juxston said. “There’s been talk of a public hanging of Sir Eric. I only hope we’re not too late.”
My throat went dry.
“Let’s travel together, but Crimson and Kinsey need to travel unseen. People will be on the lookout for them. You both need to put on your cloaks to go invisible, then follow behind us,” Kolby said.
Liliana gasped as I pulled the cloak over my head and disappeared. I helped Crimson put on her cloak and she vanished as well.
Liliana gasped again.
“You’ll get used to it,” Kolby said.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “Let’s get going, shall we?”
*****
We were almost at the castle when it happened.
