Steel and Shadow: An Epic Fantasy

by Klein, LaJonn O.

  “You must be mad,” he railed at the demon before him.

  “Ah. You favor death,” Koa asked quietly, his eyes slowly darkening again, giving him a truly hellish appearance when that happened.

  “N-Nay! I….I will….accept your….”

  “You,” he turned to Robbie without hesitation. “Carry out his sentence. Here, and now.”

  “Do it,” Lord Andrus told his loyal man solemnly.

  No one was surprised when Freddie began to whine and plead, his gibbering cut off only by the quick slice of a heated dagger.

  It did not keep his howl from echoing over the bloody sand that marked the slave’s court behind the manor. That the sand was so dark suggested there were a lot of abuses carried out here. He howled all the more when his hand was severed just as neatly as his tongue.

  Even as the ashen lordling knelt there, clutching his right wrist where blood still flowed, the young blonde healer stepped forward, and gently touched his arm. Almost at once the wound healed, leaving a smooth stump. She then brushed her fingers over his lips, and Koa just nodded at her.

  “As I guessed,” he said quietly. “Your healing touch comes with a compulsion,” he commented.

  “Aye, sir,” she nodded. “I cannot stand by, and let any suffer when I can ease that pain.”

  He nodded. “’Tis a shame, but some people deserve their pain. Still,” he said, lifting the portly noble to his feet now as the man stared in horror at the two of them though his pain was gone, his maiming remained. “Let your lost hand, and fool’s tongue remind you henceforth to pause, and consider your actions. For the next blade might seek your heart, rather than an appendage.”

  He then shoved the man away, and turned to the pale, brutish freeman.

  “As for you. You took far too much relish in an innocent’s pain. Commander, I would have you ride out now, and take the healer with you. I do not wish her to suffer, but I certainly don’t wish this one to be….soothed too easily.”

  “I understand, lad,’ he said. “Sgt. Winters, bring Lia. Get her cleaned up, and then put her in a cart. The other women can ride with her. Sling that lackwitted prince back over a horse. Move, you curs. We’ve already wasted time we don’t have. And, you, lass. So long as you behave, we’ll not tie and gag you again.”

  “You have my word, sir,” the healer nodded to him, giving a sympathetic look at the man that Koa still faced as his friend ordered, “Post this dog. After you strip him.”

  It was some twenty minutes later before Koa seemed to materialize atop his horse out of nowhere just as they left the forest to start for the grasslands that lined the borderlands where only Franks, rogues, and invaders road.

  “What did you do,” Lt. Barques asked when no one else spoke.

  “I had him well lashed, gelded, and branded. Then they collared him as one of their own slaves. Let him live the life of one he so disdains, and we’ll see if he learns his own lessons in due time,” he growled.

  “I’d have done worse,” Jengus admitted.

  “I was ready to, ere that lass calmed my fury. Never have I felt such…..peace. She is more than she seems,” he told them needlessly.

  “Aye. I’ve known those with healing touches, but never one that could calm a furious shadow with but a touch. She’d make a fine healer for our own lads,” Jengus added at the last.

  “I’ve little doubt that pampered shrew would punish her for daring to aid us,” Koa remarked after a time as he considered the Hastings’ princess. "For a pretty lass, that one has ice in her eyes, and likely her heart.”

  “She is a Hastings.”

  “I did not sense the same taint in the queen,” Koa told him pointedly with a faint smile his way.

  They had been together long enough for both of them to know the other. Jengus blushed slightly in spite of himself, knowing that Koa likely guessed he was attracted to the woman who was not quite as old as her husband. They knew she being a second wife taken when the first died under curious circumstances when she never bore the king any children in the ten years they were wed.

  “She is a handsome woman.”

  “Hiding them among the camp followers would make it all the harder for any to find them,” Koa drawled suggestively.

  “Even the princes?”

  “The younger ones, at the least, could earn their bread learning a few honest labors for a change. I’d not trust the older prince to carry water, though. Let alone aught else.”

  “Well, I do know our Simon favors lads,” Captain Caleb drawled, naming a half-blood Frankish-Valdoran who was one of their scouts. “We could let him tend the prince,” he chortled.

  They all knew that the dark-skinned Franks who roamed the southern plains cared neither way about men that favored men. To them, pleasure was simply pleasure, wherever you found it. If wenches weren’t around, they were not adverse to poking a boy’s gate. Simon, having found few lasses that would even accept him since he was so obviously of Frankish blood, simply developed the habit of favoring lads.

  “Wouldn’t that make a fine pleasure show,” Sgt. Winters chortled, the burly Xantian with a silvery beard chortled. “A half-Frank plowing a golden prince? You might earn more from hiring them out than riding to battle,” he laughed openly.

  “Speaking of riding out,” Jengus asked only then. “Where did you send your messenger,” he asked abruptly as he turned to Captain Tode.

  The K’Zir frowned, and looked around. “A messenger rode out?”

  “Aye. Two of them, in truth. The same two that you brought with you,” Samuel Winters nodded. “One left just after the commander last night, and the next rode out just before we left the duke’s walls.’

  “I…..”

  “Don’t bother lying,” Koa told him. “We left both dangling from a tree ere I left the estate. They had much to say when I questioned them ere they were….left behind.”

  “Ah, so they didn’t get far,” Jengus asked innocently.

  “Not far at all,” Samuel said, he and four other men suddenly closed in around the K’Ziri captain. “You know how cautious I am, commander. I try to keep my eye on everyone. After once being betrayed by a foppish K’Ziri ere I joined you, I learned never to trust one of those greedy, self-serving little prigs.”

  “Do stay calm, sergeant,” Jengus smiled as one of the men reached, and pulled out the officer’s sword before he could even think to reach for it. “This vermin isn't going anywhere.”

  The captain swallowed hard as he found himself easily disarmed, and completely surrounded.

  “I was….only following orders.”

  “I do believe that whipmaster back there told me the same thing,” Koa remarked coldly. “I didn’t believe him either.”

  Albert Tode felt more than afraid now. He cursed the men that hired him to follow and undermine the Wolf’s campaign. He never would have hired on anyway had he known the shadow was real, and not just a rumor of war. Such exaggerations were common among some circles. Unfortunately, he had found out too late that this rumor was all too true.

  “Koa,” a man rode up just then. “The lass is waking. You said you wished to……know,” he trailed off as Koa instantly turned his horse, and simply rode back down the column.

  “I think our lad is in love,” Samuel chortled.

  “I wouldn’t laugh too loudly, my friend,” Jengus told him. “I’ve never seen him react as he did back there even in the heat of battle. God help anyone that trifles with that lass.”

  “In truth,” the lieutenant nodded.

  “Oh, and Caleb,” he told Barques. “You’re now my new captain. You have Tode’s command, so be wary until we’re certain we’ve weeded out all his agents.”

  “’Twere just the two,” Samuel drawled. “The first fellow we caught was more than cooperative. Apparently, he wasn’t much for loyalty either. ’Tis how we knew to watch for the second messenger.”

  Jengus nodded, and then glanced around. “All the same, best we pick up the pace. We don�
�t stop, or camp until we’re well into the grasslands beyond the border this evening.”

  X

  “I told you I’d be back,” he said as he rode up to the cart where Lia had sat up, looking genuinely confused as she found herself untouched despite the memory of her beating, and the lashing that followed.

  “Koa? Was I dreaming? I thought I was dying…..”

  “I fear ’twas no dream,” he admitted sadly as he rode alongside the cart where she sat with the female captives. “But this lass is a healer, and saved you. Still, you need not fear those dogs again. I punished them so that they shall never forget you. Not that you need fear them. You shall never see them again, likely.”

  She looked over at the young blonde in a simple freeman’s dress now, as were the two other women. Two young boys sat looking miserable in only worn breeches, and all of them were bound hand and foot other than the one young lass. Jengus had decided their finery was simply too out of place, and might draw unwanted attention as they made their way to the borderlands.

  “Thank you,” she told the one girl who did have kind eyes, though the others around her looked less than happy, or friendly. “And, of course, you,” she told Koa.

  “I told you I would come back,” he told her. “Now, as promised, we are on our way to Valdor,” he told her, making the queen gasp, and her daughter pale as that sullen arrogance faded only then to be overwhelmed by true fear. “I vow, you will be safe there among your own.”

  “I think I would never be as safe as I am at your side,” she smiled up at him.

  He smiled back, and the healer was stunned to see that face, earlier so twisted in pure, raw primal rage, could look so warm and handsome just then.

  “Sir,” she asked, looking up at him just then as Koa focused only on his….friend.

  “Aye, lass?”

  “Your commander’s captives are getting hungry, and thirsty, and their need pulls at me. Mayhap I could see them given provision? I swear, I shall not trouble you beyond the asking.”

  Koa nodded. “I shall have bread and water sent to you. You may remove their gags to feed them, but they are not to be untied. Nor,” he added, looking pointedly at the princess, “Do I expect to hear a single complaint. I have already taken one tongue this day. A few more ’twould not trouble me,” he told them pointedly.

  “I am certain they will not complain as you are kindly offering us food and water,” the lass said with a true diplomat’s skill.

  He nodded, and smiled down at Lia again. “I’m guessing you are hungry, too,” he asked more tenderly.

  “Starving,” she agreed. I could help…..”

  “Just tend yourself, lass. They are not guests, but captives the commander holds for the time being. I won’t be a moment,” he said, and rode forward again.

  A few moments later, he brought back a heavy waterskin, a single tin cup, and a chunk of bread he handed to the blonde.

  Lia, however, was handed a thick slice of cheese, and a strip of seasoned jerky, too. “I’m sorry ’tis not hot food, but for now, we must make do,” he told her.

  “’Tis a right wondrous feast,” she assured him, and surprised him by splitting the cheese with the blonde, thanking her again for healing her. The princess, and the young princes eyed that simple fare enviously as the girl in turn fed them from the stale bread. The queen, he noted, simply accepted what was given with a practical air. She was, it seemed, a surprisingly pragmatic woman.

  “I’ll check on you later,” he told Lia. “And you lot, best recall what I said about those tongues,” he turned to glare at them. The younger princes cringed, and whimpered, but the elder prince, and the princess only glared.

  Young as she was, he briefly imagined the little lass under a warrior with legs spread wide, and forced to labor, or rut for her next meal. There was a bitter part of him that relished the idea of breaking that haughty wench.

  The queen, he already suspected, was going to end up in his commander’s bed ere it was said and done. Not that he cared overly much. He simply suspected the woman would be more accepting of what was demanded of her than the shrewish princess. She might even be canny enough to try to use her still admittedly obvious charms to sway the commander.

  Try, because he knew that while Jengus was a man of appetites, he was unyielding when it came to duty. He’d poke a whore, a slave, or a queen if he were randy and able, but he would never turn his back on his duty. And to that canny mercenary, once a job was taken, it was done. Only death would keep him from fulfilling his charge.

  The queen might accept a bit of poking, but he knew she would never sway his commander. His friend was too honorable to be so easily bought. Still, as to the older prince….

  Chapter 5

  William howled and the men cheered and jeered as the bound and now naked prince was forced to accept Simon’s hard sex into his boy’s gate as his mother sat at Jengus’ side watching the ‘show,’ and serving the commander.

  It was closer to midnight than not that first night when they finally stopped, and they had set watch, then rested. Three more days they traveled hard and fast, ever due south before turning east toward the Spine, as the high mountains that ran north to south cutting off Kanlys from Valdor were called. Certain passes were hidden this far south, though, that allowed free passage, and smugglers and rogues had been using them for years. On the second night, Simon had accepted the ‘gift’ Jengus gave him. Since then, he led the proud prince around on a leash, naked as any slave to both break, and embarrass the proud Galdynian.

  The queen still wore her common dress, but she was often in Jengus’ company, and none doubted that he was enjoying her often.

  The blonde healer he now knew named Talia was often in Lia’s company now, and she was treated by extension with the same kindness, and compassion extended the former slave girl. None, of course, dallied with either of them.

  The young princes, still wearing only breeches, and now hobbles, were forced to work with the camp followers at whatever chore demanded of them, or face a whipping like any true slave, though they were not collared or marked as yet

  Ironically, Princess Miranda was often in Lia’s company, too, but she was both collared and branded now. She had a rather abrasive manner at best, and Jengus, in a fit of fury of his own after one insult too many just that morning, had branded her himself, and then gifted her to Koa on impulse.

  Koa was actually as horrified as Lia. He was, to be honest, still getting used to Lia and Talia’s company, and the idea he was now in possession of a slave, even one so well blooded, annoyed more than it pleased him. At first, he considered just hiring her out to the men as he had first considered suggesting, but she had begged quite earnestly after that brand was literally burned into her flesh with hot steel rather than the now usual means of a branding rod which used ink-tipped needles to ‘humanely’ mark human stock. Talia had, of course, instantly healed the raw burn, but it only left her looking like a true slave branded years past.

  He had her rubbed in tanys root for her fair, pink skin was too likely to burn, and soon enough, he knew, she’d be as bronzed as any slave that labored long under the sun. After he cut off most of her long hair, annoyed at how dirty and tangled it was on her, he was left with a blonde imp that looked as if she were a trueborn slave.

  Especially as her clumsiness left her in a torn, and dirty dress that was fast becoming more skirt than dress. He didn’t bother finding her another. Let her learn to care for herself, he decided. Besides, a bit of humility might finally curb that willful tongue he was still considering cutting out did she not relent soon. For even collared and branded, her hope of returning to her own home well lost now thanks to her own sire’s laws, she still seemed to lack any sense.

  In the end, he told her to serve Lia and Talia, thinking serving her former companion would be a nice bit of irony. He added that if he heard any complaints from them, he would punish her himself. So far, bitter as her tongue remained at times, she was surprisingly d
utiful in her new chores.

  The boys, from the look of their backsides, apparently required a bit more attention.

  He barely noticed the elder prince being ridden not for the first time, the show now being part of an amusement for the men at night. He simply ignored it, accepting it as fact the prince was held captive and forced to cooperate so. Simon told him plainly the first night, he knew, that William Hastings could willingly accept his favors, and return them, or he could be gelded, and sold as a toy to men that favored such toys. Once Simon was finished with him anyway.

  Did Prince William wish to survive whole to be ransomed, he had to behave, and for the moment accept his new status as Simon’s ‘pet.’ So far, he played a willing sodomite’s pet, though he still burned with fury that Koa could sense in him every time he looked his way.

  This was one lesson the prince was never going to forget. It likely didn’t help to know his sister had gained her own true collar while his mother was a mercenary’s apparently willing mistress. This, even as his brothers were being worked like drudges.

  Koa could care less. He had few fond memories of anything Galdynian. In truth, he had none.

  They met King Eric three days later at the pass, and everything changed yet again.

  X

  “Commander Sanz," the red-haired, and quite stocky, bearded man greeted him as Jengus saluted him rather than bowing.

  Eric Ericson nodded at the mercenary warrior, accepting the mercenary salute of right fist to the chest, and then glanced at the blondes among the mercenary warriors. Talia remained with the column, but Lia stood close to Koa as they approached the king who had ridden out to meet them, and he turned toward Jengus after glancing at the Hastings, starting to congratulate him on a job well done when he locked his gaze on Lia.

  “Merciful God. Bella?”