Richard Parker: The Black Horseman

“Hush lad. Karl get him some water and find him something to wear,” Sath ordered and then turned around as sounds were heard on the stairs outside the barricaded door. Karl brought the water and Gwaynn drank it greedily from the dipper. He had forgotten just how thirsty he was, and it revived him greatly.

Sath moved over closer to the door. “Hurry man,” he barked at the Traveler, who showed little sign of increased speed. The man seemed oblivious to his surroundings as Karl brought Gwaynn one of his father’s shirts and a blue cape to wrap up in.

Gwaynn dressed himself slowly, most his attention on the Traveler, whose hands were still busy, carving intricate patterns into the air before him. Gwaynn could now make out a blue-green sheen in the air as it slowly expanding directly before the Traveler.

“Hurry” Sath yelled again as several loud bangs rattled the door. The Traveler paid the distractions no mind, but he began to weave his arms about faster. If there was a pattern to the movement of the Traveler’s hands, Gwaynn was unable to recognize it. The blue-green color in the air grew brighter and a shimmer began to appear, but everything was out of focus. The air in the room seemed to move and crackle, as the banging at the door became harder and more insistent. Everyone in the room remained quiet. Karl was holding a large wardrobe in place before the door, pushing all of his considerable weight against it. Master Sath helped him, but half his attention was on Traveler.

The shimmer suddenly became round and Gwaynn could make out a landscape in the center of the room, a landscape with green grass in the foreground, then what appeared to be a small town in the distance and finally the sea beyond. The Traveler’s arms continued to weave a tapestry in the air, and the scene in the bubble grew more focused. The sun was just setting in the bubble as the scene finally cleared.

The latch at the door finally gave way to the continuous barrage place upon it, and with a lurch the door moved inward a few inches.

“Travel,” shouted the Traveler and Karl looked quickly over to Master Sath, who nodded. Karl immediately released the wardrobe moved across the room and scooped up Gwaynn into his arms. Without a word, or a look back, he moved to and through the bubble. Gwaynn had never traveled in such a way before and he was surprised when all the hair on his arms stood on end; he could even feel the hair at the nape of his neck do likewise. He felt a slight resistance, for just a moment, like the two of them were walking through a film of warm water, then his ears popped, and they were through to the other side. Karl ran nearly twenty paces in the grass and then stopped and turned. He set Gwaynn on the ground, who was surprised to see that the bubble existed here in the meadow before the town just as it had back at the keep. In the bubble, Gwaynn saw his father’s favorite room, and off to one side the Traveler, who was still concentrating, and Master Sath.

The old Weapons Master raised one hand, as if in greeting and then drew his kali, and with the same grace he always displayed, he struck the Traveler across the neck. The bubble instantly disappeared with a loud pop.

“Master!” Gwaynn yelled and tried to rise.

“Was his idea,” Karl said softly. “Couldn’t be havin’ the Zani follow us that closely. As it is, we’ll be lucky to get away.”

Gwaynn tried to rise to his feet, but failed. “Master!” he yelled again, unable to listen to what was being said, unable to comprehend another loss.

“Master,” he said again, this time just above a whisper.

“My Prince,” Karl said kneeling before the young man. He leaned down so their heads were nearly the same height. Gwaynn did not listen; his eyes were still focused on the spot where the bubble used to be. Karl took him by the shoulders and shook him just a bit.

“My Prince, it was necessary. Master Sath knows the back passages of the keep better than anyone. If it is possible to elude the Zani and find us, he will. He knows we go to the Toranado, and he will follow if it is safe. The Traveler had to die, or we would have been pursued and they would have us before we could escape this land.”

It was not a long speech, unless you knew Karl, but it served its purpose. At that moment something died within Gwaynn, but also something was born, the need to strike back, the need for revenge, the need to kill Zani.

“You are not to call me ‘My Prince’ anymore,” he told Karl. “Now I am just Gwaynn to you,” he said, clenching his fists.

“Yes,” Karl agreed, then stood and gingerly helped Gwaynn to his feet.

Gwaynn turned carefully around and studied the small village. “Where are we?”

“Heron,” Karl answered. “Can you walk?”

Gwaynn thought about it a moment then nodded. “Yes. Why here?”

“Your father’s plan, just in case everything went wrong,” Karl said as they began to walk slowly toward the town. “We have a house set up with everything we will need, and a trireme is waiting to take us to the Toranado, the only family your father ever trusted.”

“My father’s plan,” Gwaynn said with enough venom that Karl looked up at him. “What of the plan to protect Solarii and the Massi?” he asked simply. “How could the Zani have defeated us so easily?”

Karl shook his head. “No boy, do not think badly of your father. Was not his fault and was not only the doing of the Zani. The High King’s Temple Knights had a hand in it.”

“The Temple Knights?” Gwaynn asked, shocked.

“Yes, at least three cohorts of them,” Karl answered with a look of disgust on his face.

“But why?”

Karl shrugged. “You’ll have to put that question to the High King.”

Gwaynn thought about his father, his brothers, his sister and mother and a great wave of sadness threatened to overwhelm him, but another feeling crept around the edges of his consciousness, a feeling of relief, relief that he had survived. He shuddered and then looked up at Karl. “Come, let us go,” he said shaking his head in an attempt to drive away unwanted thoughts. They moved off, Karl in the lead. He took them directly into the town, which was open to any and all travelers. The sun was below the horizon now, and it was quickly growing dark, which was advantageous, especially since Gwaynn was wearing nothing more than a shirt and a cape. Attention was one thing they did not want.

Karl soon moved off the main track and they circled around to the east before heading back northwest where they entered the grounds of a wealthy merchant’s house situated close to the wharves. Karl knocked three times, waited then knocked four times, waited then knocked once. A large, severe looking, middle-aged woman opened the door. She studied them both for an instant then ushered them quickly in.

“Ooooh….ooooh. It is true then, Solarii has fallen,” she stated as she led them to the back of the house toward the kitchens. A tall, thin man met them on the way. There were two more men waiting in the kitchen, obviously soldiers. All of them looked very serious, very sad.

“It’s true then?” the thin man asked. Karl nodded.

“We need something to eat,” he added and sat at the large wooden table that dominated the center of the room. He motioned for Gwaynn to do likewise. Gwaynn hesitated for a moment then sat.

“Sire…” the woman said and moved off to fetch stew for the two of them.

“There will be no more of that,” Karl said. “For his safety his name is Gwaynn, nothing more.”

The woman sobbed, but shook her head.

“The King then…and the others?” one of the soldiers asked. Gwaynn looked down at the table and then began to pick at his fingernails.

Karl again nodded. “Contact Captain Tul. We leave at first light,” he added and the soldier stood and left without a word.