Terry W. Ervin (54 page)

I lifted Lilly over my shoulder and ran, too ashamed to look back. It was my mission, and I was allowing Roos to bear my responsibility, even as I bore Lilly away. Goblins screamed and jeered while the souled zombies cried out in pain and fury. I nearly stumbled when his revolver sounded.

I carried Lilly past the watch platform where two ogres, dead from bullet wounds, and five goblins slain by saber and bullets, lay scattered nearby. I stopped at the stream near the thicket camp where our supplies were hidden to check on Lilly, drink and rest a moment.

The pocket watch showed twenty minutes had passed since the bomb detonated. It seemed like a nightmare stretched into years. Even if I had the strength to heal, I could only heal bleeding in others. It didn’t matter. The stream’s foul oils covered the powdered white oak bark.

Distant movement on the road caught my eye—the shambling gait of zombies. Souled ones could mimic the living, but these must’ve lost what little humanity remained while standing dormant for centuries. If I could see them move, they could spot me, so I laid next to Lilly, flat on my stomach among scattered clumps of weeds. Groaning, she started to come to.

I placed my hand over her mouth, and whispered, “Quiet. Enemy’s near.” Her jaw clenched under my hand. I could only imagine the pain from her crushed arm.

Three goblins with two leashed guard dogs were ahead of the zombies, tracking us by scent. It wouldn’t take a mudhound to find us.

I looked down at Lilly. “Stay here. I’ll be back,” I lied, and crawled across the stream. I turned to see her huddled in pain, watching me, so I signaled silence with a finger before continuing.

Then I stood and ran. The dogs spotted me and barked.

Lilly sat up and yelled, “Flank Hawk, NO!”

Damn her, I thought, now we’re both going to die. Roos sacrificed himself for nothing.

I stopped in the road and faced the confused enemy. Looking between Lilly and I, the biggest goblin signaled the zombies to attack me while they and the dogs turned on Lilly. Instinctively I ducked as a dark shadow shot from behind overhead. A column of fire raked through the goblins and zombie horde alike. Dying screams and yelps ended after several tortured seconds.

The dragon banked and swooped back around, but instead of making another pass it brought its wings up and flapped, landing with a recognizable thump I’d somehow forgotten.

“Flank Hawk!” called a familiar voice. “You appear in need of a ride.”

“Road Toad! What are you doing here?”

He laughed. “Never doubt Imperial Seer Lochelle.”

“Best hurry,” warned the aft-guard. It was Corporal Drux, the Sun-Fox guardsman who’d come to our aid that rainy night after visiting the One-Eyed Pelican. “Being caught on the ground with ogres and other creatures about shouldn’t happen to any serpent cavalryman worth his salt.”

“Can you carry two?” I asked.

“The seer told of three,” Road Toad said, giving me a sinking feeling that Roos need not have sacrificed himself.

Corporal Drux corrected, “The seer said two travel with Flank Hawk, making it three. But only two would emerge from the fire. Or none at all.”

I tried to not think about Roos for the moment and ran to get Lilly. She insisted on walking despite the pain. Drux lifted her up to the center saddle and strapped her in. He reached into a saddlebag and unwrapped flattened paper holding leaves covered in powder.

“Here,” Drux said. “This’ll help with the pain.”

Lilly opened her mouth and he slipped in two leaves. “Thanks,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Are you okay?” I asked Lilly.

She nodded, wide-eyed, realizing she was lashed to a dragon’s saddle, about to take flight.

“Come sit in front of me for now,” Road Toad said to me, looping a leather strap through several saddle rings. “Once we’re clear we can make arrangements for claw-bound travel.” He laughed again as I climbed aboard. “I am sure you have quite a tale to tell.”

“As do you,” I said. “Is the prince safe?”

“He is,” said Road Toad, snapping the reins. “Up, Flame Lance. We’ll want to cover many miles before sunrise.”

Road Toad and Corporal Drux were in the ravine tending to Flame Lance when Lilly came to. She sat up, wincing at the pain from her crushed hand, despite the pain-numbing leaves she swallowed. I put my arm around Lilly and helped her to a sitting position. “Hurts?” I said, unable to think of anything else.

She nodded with clenched teeth and looked around the camp.

I reached for Road Toad’s canteen. “No fire. Are you thirsty?” I held the canteen to her lips while she sipped. Lilly was enduring the pain of her crushed hand far better than I could have. “Corporal Drux thought you’d sleep until nightfall,” I said. “Must not have given you as much medicine as he thought.”

Lilly examined her wrapped hand held in a sling before glancing down at Roos’ wool jacket I’d balled up for her pillow. She then observed Road Toad and Drux in the ravine below, rubbing an oily salve over a half-healed wound along Flame Lance’s scaly tail. She met my gaze before frantically turning her head, searching the camp again. Tears welled in her eyes and her bottom lip quivered. “Where’s the Crusader?” she asked. “Roos, where is he?”

I slid closer to Lilly. Her eyes stared off for a second, at first wide in horror, then softened to sadness as tears began to flow. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”

I nodded, not trusting my voice to answer. Up until that moment I almost expected Roos to march into camp complaining with a wry smile that Lilly’d shirked her responsibility to gather firewood. I held her close. “He saved us.”

Lilly didn’t recall anything after the ogre stomped her hand and she insisted I recount everything. After I did, she said, “I was so mad at him that night he risked the sword to free those slaves. I didn’t care if he got killed, and told him so.”

“That was a long time ago,” I reassured her. “It had nothing to do with what happened.”

“He said, ‘Much as ye desire to be rid of me, friend Lilly, ’tis not my time.’” She wiped her tears on her sleeve. “I thought he was mocking me, and I told him the sooner his time came, the better. Then he said, ‘I shan’t disappoint ye, but not tonight.’” Lilly pounded her good fist into her lap. “He knew.” Her voice trailed off as she muttered, “He named me a friend, accepted me for what I am and still I hated him.”

“You didn’t hate Roos. I know it and he knew it.”

“I never told him.”

I wiped a tear from Lilly’s cheek. “Remember on the truck with Colonel Ibrahim? Roos said, ‘The best witness to faith or friend is through example and sacrifice.’ Who dove over the side of the Sunset Siren after him?”

She sniffed. “But he’s gone and I miss him.”

Lilly wept for an hour, clinging to Roos’ jacket before chewing another leaf from Corporal Drux and finally falling asleep.

I sat against a nearby tree, unable to nap as, stirred by Lilly’s grief, haunting images of Guzzy, Pops Weasel, Short Two Blades, Shaws and Roos dying, sacrificing their lives in the struggle against the Necromancer King, all surfaced. The hundreds of soldiers, many were only faces without names, played across my vision even when I closed my eyes. Then there was Piyetten.

After a while Road Toad walked up and kicked my foot. “Flank Hawk, supper is ready.” He stared at me a second and then glanced at Lilly. “I think it’s time you told me what happened.”

“What?” I asked. “The sun will be down soon.”

“We’re safe. The enemy is in disarray, for now.” He placed a hand on my shoulder. “If you don’t let it out, it’ll gnaw at your insides until it ruins you.”

“What will?”

“I’ve seen that gaze before, Flank Hawk. Wake your friend. She’s got a decision to make too.”

Road Toad and Corporal Drux listened with interest as I told of the mission. Lilly supplied details when she was able. Then Road Toad told of his trek back to Keesee with Prince Reveron. Their ordeal was shorter but no less harrowing. With grim satisfaction he also described Colonel Brizich’s fiery execution for treason.

Before readying for the night’s flight, Corporal Drux and Road Toad examined Lilly’s crushed hand. We were days from a healer powerful enough to repair it and Road Toad explained they should amputate it before rot set in and spread up her arm. Lilly refused and later that night at the rise of the moon her transformation reformed the crushed bones.

Road Toad would keep Lilly’s secret just as he’d hidden the knowledge that I was a rogue healer. Drux, a member of the Sun-Fox brotherhood, would too.

While Lilly dressed and Corporal Drux led Flame Lance up from the nearby stream, Road Toad and I exchanged thoughts. He predicted that the bomb would break the Necromancer King’s momentum and, with dwindling support of panzers and Stukas, the Crusaders would land and march as they had twelve years ago. This time with the support of Keesee.

As to why Prince Reveron might one day retrieve the Blood-Sword, Road Toad had thought on it, but wasn’t able to piece together a reason. He said, “Flank Hawk, you can discuss it with the prince when you deliver the pocket watch and return his signet ring.”

Corporal Drux chuckled as he walked with Lilly, leading Flame Lance back to us. “If Flank Hawk is certain to meet the prince, hadn’t you best carry out his royal orders?”

Road Toad scowled before grinning. “It was a request, not an order, Corporal.” He looked from me and back to Drux. “You’d ruin this one surprise an aging soldier might grant?”

Other than the purple and gold armband, the colors of Keesee, I didn’t see any sign of official rank. Still, I asked, “You’ve been granted recommission as a serpent cavalryman?”

Road Toad frowned, but quickly replaced it with a toothy grin. “When you speak with Prince Reveron, ask him if you might visit the royal stables.”

My mind raced, trying to guess why I should ask the prince about the royal stables. As I scratched my head Road Toad gave me news that unraveled a long held concern.

“If you don’t,” he said, “it’ll delay reuniting with the newest stable hand, your father.” He slapped me on the shoulder. “Well, the old boy had to find some way to support his family while awaiting his mercenary son’s return.”

The End

About the Author

Terry W. Ervin II is an English teacher who enjoys writing Fantasy and Science Fiction. He is an editor for MindFlights, a guest columnist for Fiction Factor and is the author of over two dozen short stories and articles. Flank Hawk is his debut novel.

When Terry isn’t writing or enjoying time with his wife and daughters, he can be found in his basement raising turtles. To contact Terry, or to learn more about his writing endeavors, visit his website at
www.ervin-author.com
.