John Marco - The Forever Knight

“Is that why you were there?”

Marilius picked up his dagger. “It doesn’t matter why I was there. Just lucky for you that I was.” He began twirling the dagger, threading it through his fingers without thinking. “Wrestler’s like a lot of us these days. You take a job where you can find it. Guess he figured he’d put his talents to better use, breaking necks for a king. He still puts on those sideshows, though. And he ain’t never been beat.” Marilius studied my sword. “You should have kept that instead of giving it off to the girl. You might have had a chance against him.”

“I won’t make that mistake again. Next time, Wrestler’s head’s going home with me in a sack. You saw the fight?”

“Oh yeah,” grinned Marilius. “Heard your neck snap and everything. Made a sound like popping corn. You should be dead. You nearly were. I tossed you over your horse and rode you out of there, and that didn’t kill you either. I wondered about that. Then you started mumbling to yourself, like you were talking to someone. And then I figured everything out.”

He smiled like a card player with an unbeatable hand.

“What did Cricket tell you?”

“Nothing. She didn’t have to. Maybe you think we don’t hear news all the way out in the Bitter Kingdoms, but I’m from Norvor. I heard all about you. Heard how you went across the desert and got that sword of yours, heard how you got a ghost that makes you a hard man. I figure there’s only one person in the world you could be. Only person who could have his neck broken and be talking about it two days later.” Marilius stopped twirling his dagger. “Tell me I’m wrong. . Lukien.”

Maybe he was challenging me, but I didn’t see challenge in his eyes, just curiosity. I was about to ask him what he wanted when Cricket returned. She broke through the trees with our canteens strapped around her waist like cowbells. When she saw me talking to Marilius she stopped.

“Everything all right?” she asked.

“Everything’s fine,” chirped Marilius like a bird. “Lukien and me are just getting to know each other.”

Cricket’s face fell. “Lukien, I didn’t tell him anything about you.”

“That’s right, she didn’t,” nodded Marilius. “See? You don’t have to kill either of us.” He waved Cricket closer. “Sit yourself down, little girl.”

Cricket came over but sat down on my other side, away from Marilius. She wore the rass skin cape, using part of it to cover my chilled body. I lifted my hand, brushing the back of it against her leg, a way of showing her I could move better now.

“Untie the sword now, Cricket,” I told her, sure I could hold it by myself. When she was done I managed to prop myself up onto an elbow. Cricket and Marilius both grinned like it was some great feat. “I’ve got questions for you,” I told Marilius. “How long have you been gone from Norvor?”

“Less than a year,” said Marilius.

“Who you working for? Diriel?”

“Diriel?” Marilius laughed then spit on the ground. “Never. Diriel’s turned Akyre into a pit. Not that it was anything to brag about before, mind you.”

Cricket bristled, “Akyre’s my home.”

“Oh?” Marilius shrugged. “Sorry to hear that. You already know what’s happened to it, then.”

“We don’t,” I confessed. “We came here to find out.” The more I talked the more my head cleared. My instincts were getting sharper, too, telling me Marilius was hiding something. “You didn’t answer my question-who’d make a kid like you a captain?”

Just as if I’d squeezed a trigger, Marilius started getting nervous again. The dagger flipped quickly between his fingers. “His name’s Anton Fallon. Heard of him?”

Now it was my turn to smile. “That explains a lot. Anton Fallon’s got just about all the money in this part of the world. Probably has nothing better to spend it on than a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears mercs. So why’d you come to Arad? Why are you alone?”

“Well, that’s my business now, isn’t it? I didn’t expect to have to rescue you two. Now I’m heading back there. I want you to come with me.”

“Why?” asked Cricket.

“Cause it’s safe there,” said Marilius. “Akyre’s no place for you, girl. If you come with me south to Fallon’s palace, your champion here can mend a bit.”

“Uh-huh. That’s a real nice offer,” I said. “And Anton Fallon just happens to have a desperate need for more mercenaries, I bet.”

“You’ve got special talents,” said Marilius. “He’ll pay you well, better than any other swording job you’ll find around here.”

“I’m not a mercenary,” I said. “Not anymore.”

“He’s a knight-errant,” declared Cricket.

“Ah, so you’re a principled man,” said Marilius. “What if I told you that Fallon really needs you. People are dying and you can help stop it. Would that interest you?”

“Not unless you tell me the whole story.”

“Can’t,” said Marilius. His lips tightened behind his beard. “That’s for Fallon to say. Anyway, where else you gonna go? There’s nothing worth your time in Akyre, and if you head up there, Wrestler will just snap your neck again. At least if you come with me you’ll get a chance to do some good.”

I thought about it, then shook my head. “No reason for us to go all the way to some palace to rest. Seems pretty quiet here. By tomorrow I’ll be able to ride. So thanks for the offer, but no.”

Marilius stood up. “I thought knight-errants were supposed to have honor.” He sniffed and put his dagger into his belt. “Guess you don’t think much of paying your debts. Seems to me you’d still be laid out in Arad if I hadn’t come along. And Cricket? Who knows. Wrestler might have come back for her.”

I wished he hadn’t said that. I still wish it. Before I was a mercenary I was a real knight. A Royal Charger. The word ‘honor’ didn’t seem to mean much in the Bitter Kingdoms, but it did to me.

“Lukien, I don’t want to go with him. We got our own mission, you and me.”

“We do,” I sighed, but I hadn’t told Cricket of the monster I’d seen. That thing was death itself coming at us. Coming, I supposed, for Cricket. That was the truth Malator wouldn’t tell me. Suddenly, a detour from our mission seemed like a fine precaution.

“How far is it to Fallon’s palace?” I asked.

“Just a couple of days, on the southern coast,” said Marilius. “I’m telling you, you’ve never seen anything like it.”

“So Lukien, tell me what it’s like to be immortal.”

The question came at me like an arrow, too fast to duck. I glared at Marilius. “Why would you ask a question like that?”

“Look at you-you’re already riding like nothing happened.” Marilius studied me as if I was faking. “Does it hurt?”

“No,” I told him, a fact that surprised me. I turned my head from side to side. After just four days, I felt completely healed.

“Lukien doesn’t like talking about his powers,” said Cricket. She rode up closer, wedging her pony between our horses.

“They’re not powers,” I said. “But she’s right-I don’t talk about it.”

“Oh, come on. I’ve heard you talking to Cricket, mumbling behind my back. And I saw the way you went after Wrestler. You’re not afraid of anything, huh?”

“Some things,” I said. “But they’re none of your business.”

Marilius shrugged. “We still have a full day ahead of us. Nothing to do but talk. Fallon’s going to ask you about your powers anyway.”

“Because you can’t keep a secret, right?”

“He needs a man like you, Lukien. But he’ll be curious. Can’t blame him for that. Hell, I’m curious. You’ve got the one thing money can’t buy, and I’m not talking about love.”