Douglas Niles - Lord of the Rose

Watching the barbarian army’s movements, the warrior deduced there would be no battle in the morning-or at least, no battle along the lines Caergoth had planned-but that was not his concern. Jaymes had one more appointment with a duke at nightfall.

He made his way silently down through the pine forest layering the foothills, thinking about his confrontations with Thelgaard and Solanthus. In each case he had been reasonably certain he was going after the man who had ordered the death of Lorimar. But when each man had faced the swordsman’s vengeance, they had pleaded their innocence convincingly enough.

That left Duke Crawford of Caergoth, the least likely suspect. Jaymes tried to figure out his motives: a Rose lord ordering the removal of another of his order. The duke was secure in the greatest city-state in the plains, the key link between Palanthas and Sanction. Perhaps he couldn’t tolerate the presence of an independent-minded lord on the periphery of his domain… that might be why he hired assassins to kill a noble, and a beautiful young woman.

Of course, Duke Crawford, too, had wanted to marry Dara Lorimar, Jaymes recalled.

Possibly it was a mere matter of money. Jealous of du Chagne’s and Rathskell’s massive fortunes, the Duke of Caergoth simply might have coveted a treasure of his own.

The periphery of the duke’s camp was well-marked, with pickets and bright campfires posted every fifty feet. Along the north edge was the deep ditch and hastily constructed breastwork, so the warrior elected to approach from the south. There were pickets posted everywhere, and entering the camp on foot was foolhardy. In fact, his feet were tired, and he had another idea.

He picked out a spot where three men stood around a blazing fire, a single horse tethered nearby. Jaymes walked up to them, waving his hand as he came into the glow from the fire.

“Ho, knights,” he said calmly, as the three men saw him and reflexively reached for their swords.

“Who goes?” asked one, a sergeant.

“A friend,” Jaymes said, still approaching at an easy pace. “I come from yonder Garnet, where those bastards up there burned me out. Looking to join up and fight,” he added.

The guards relaxed a bit. “Reckon we can use another man. Let me send for Captain Reynaud,” the sergeant said.

“Sure. Or you can tell me where to find him,” the swordsman replied.

Something in the suggestion must have aroused suspicion. “Wait right here, stranger,” the knight declared. He gestured at the great hilt of Giantsmiter, jutting into view over Jaymes’ shoulder. “While you’re at it, let me have a look at your blade there.”

The other two pickets had sensed the leader’s sudden wariness and once again placed their hands on the hilts of their swords. The warrior nodded, starting to reach for his sword.

Instead, he delivered a sharp kick to the gut of the suspicious sergeant, crumpling the fellow to the ground. With two sharp punches he bloodied the noses of the other two guards, before they could draw their weapons. Then he raced over to the horse, pulled the reins, and vaulted into the saddle.

By then the three guards were shouting, lunging after him, calling for help. Jaymes kicked his heels, and the animal took off like a shot, streaking into the darkness. The warrior lay low across the animal’s neck and heard the pffft sounds of arrows slicing past his ear. In a few seconds he was out of range but allowed the steed to race south until the night had swallowed them.

A backward glance confirmed that the knights weren’t mounting any pursuit of a lone horse thief, not when they were near ten thousand warriors of Ankhar’s horde. Jaymes circled back to the ruins of Garnet at a trot, and made a solitary camp in the hollow stone frame of a house that had lost its roof to fire.

Coryn joined him there, emerging from the darkness in a twinkling of sparkles. Placing her hands on his chest, she looked at him with her eyebrows raised questioningly.

“It looks hopeless,” he said bitterly. “They have the camp and the duke guarded like a sacred vault. I can’t reach him inside there, but he’s the one we seek. I’m certain of it now.”

She sat down beside him, took one of his strong hands in both of hers. “Crawford has murdered his own wife, you know.”

His eyes narrowed. “When?”

“A fortnight ago, perhaps. Claimed it was you, of course.”

He spat into the darkness. “Do you have a potion… or something that would let me reach him? Invisibility, or something?”

Coryn shook her head. “If I did, I’m not sure I would give it to you. Even if you found out the truth, you’d never get away alive.”

“Well, the duke might die tomorrow anyway-along with a lot of other folks.”

The white wizard shook her head, black hair cascading across her face, tears welling in her eyes. “There is so much good in the knights,” she said softly. “They’re the hope of the future for Solamnia-perhaps for all the world. Why does their order attract such fools?”

“I was one of those fools, once,” Jaymes said. “Listen, if you have anything that will help me, you’ve got to give it to me!”

“I told you-even if you made it to the duke, you’d never get out of there alive!”

He shrugged. “I don’t much care.”

“I believe you-I known you don’t care. But I do,” she whispered, pulling his head down, bringing his lips to hers. She was shaking as he held her close. They found solace, as so often before, in each other’s arms. Their embrace lasted much longer than their passion, which carried them intertwined to restful sleep, so that they lay together in the roofless house as the stars paled and dawn slowly brightened the sky.

“My lord-we must pursue! We cannot let Ankhar get away.”

The urgent speaker was Captain Marckus. Like everyone else in the camp, he had awakened to see the enemy army had almost completely withdrawn from the battlefield. By now there was only a screen of wolf-riding goblins out there, a half mile away, and a few large regiments still marching northward beyond.

Duke Crawford shook his head, trying to be patient with the exasperating Marckus. He still trembled from the terrifying dream he had been having-his army routed, destroyed, himself spitted upon a huge, green-glowing spear. That vivid image stuck in his mind. Though his eyes were wide open, it was seared into his consciousness. Still Captain Marckus droned on.

He couldn’t tell Marckus he was staying put because of a dream. He knew that the veteran Knight of the Rose would expect a more logical military explanation.

“Captain, the evil ones are fleeing before us, fearful even of our shadows. If we can break his army thus, without even the shedding of blood then is not our victory all the more sweet?”

“This is no victory, lord! It is an opportunity squandered! Who knows where they will go, what mischief they will wreak?”

“Well, they will wreak no mischief on my army today!” replied the duke smugly. He found himself wishing for a consultation, a soothing prayer from Patriarch Issel, and he regretted his decision to allow the priest to remain behind in Caergoth.

Marckus snorted, biting his tongue.

Crawford shrugged. “We offered battle here, and they declined. Captain Reynaud has scouted the nearby hills and assures me there is no danger from that direction. What more proof of our supremacy do you need? Now, I will thank you to obey your lord in this matter. Perhaps there is some area of training or discipline requiring your attention? Captain Reynaud is busy inspecting the catapults. Maybe you can see the horses are fed.”

“Aye, Lord,” Marckus agreed. “I am sure they are hungry.”

The bored sentry climbed toward his lonely perch on top of the rocky ridge, one of the lowest and westernmost of Garnet’s foothills. He didn’t like being stationed so far from his fellows-and their cookfires-but his captain had posted him on this ridge in the unlikely event that the enemy tried to make a flanking maneuver through the rough terrain.