Bloodless Knights (24 page)

I
fell to one knee in respect, “Aye, your majesty. I am honored to be in thy
presence, but afraid I bring bad tides.”

“What
be the bad tides though brings?” Members of the king’s army stood taller,
cocking their heads toward me to hear what I would spill.

“Your
majesty, I’m sorrowful when I tell thee that many members of thy army have been
slaughtered in Mistrust Forest. I met a mortally injured member of thy army,
Michael; he told me that the Faceless army defeated them. After he passed on, a
bold and intimidating army attacked my men. I assume they were the Faceless
that your knight spoke of.” My knee dug into the stone floor. As I shifted, men
jumped toward me. I politely smiled, showing I meant no foul.

The
king gazed at me with complete sadness. The room was silent for some time,
while his eyes bore holes through me. He leaned against his arm and scratched
his head, then sighed.

The
king addressed the guards, “Take all the prisoners to the dungeon. I must think
about what to do about this ridiculous situation we have here. On one hand, I
have word these men have done wrong. On the other hand, I have a dragon flying
overhead that needs to be slain and now an army of Faceless fighters. In times
like these, it seems tomfoolery to dispose of great and useful warriors. This
decision shall go before my council, and these men shall wait without harm to
them! Understand me, guards; the men shall not have a hair on their head
severed.”

“Sir
Tristen and Sir Trave, I shall allow thee to keep thy belongings. I will expect
that as I have respected thee, ye shall respect me.” The king slouched back on
his throne. The man’s curly brown hair billowed around his tall, bejeweled
crown. King Ventor was an older man, but had aged well. He appeared to be
thirty or so, but I knew he was older than that. The skin on his face was taut;
he didn’t spend much time outdoors. A long fur cape lined his throne and rested
in a puddle at his large feet. Many gold rings adorned his thin fingers.

It
was apparent the king was done speaking. The guards grabbed at Sir Trave and I,
gentler than previously, then directed us out of the castle. We passed the
tiger again. I noticed this time that it was awake, patiently looking around at
the townsfolk. It didn’t growl, or even move; seemed like the tamest cat
around!

A
short, fat guard walking near Sir Trave, yelled at another - equally height and
weight challenged guard - to take the tiger to the dungeon. We continued along,
as apparently, the dungeon was not located in the vicinity of the castle.

I
looked back at Trave, only to be met with a scowl. I hoped the look wasn’t
because he didn’t know where Vivian was either. Soon enough, we would have a
chat in the cozy dungeon.

We
marched along a snow-covered path, and went to the back of the tavern. The
guard prodding me used a large iron key to open a massive wooden door. Trave
and I were gruffly pushed through the large opening into a musty room that
smelled of old straw and manure. Small windows near the ceiling, allowed some
light in - enough to see we were in a little room with stone walls. There were
a few wooden benches mortared to the wall, other than that the place was bare.

“Be
happy ye can stay in our
nice
dungeon. Feel lucky the king likes thee!”
The guard laughed at his own wit and slammed the door behind us.

Trave
and I remained silent while we listened for the guards to leave. The scowl
never left his face, as he continued to keep his eyes locked on me.

I
couldn’t take his glares anymore, “Well Sir Trave, how have ye been? How
is…remind me where it is thou art from?”

Silence
followed my questions. The staring continued for a long time, and then Trave
cleared his throat. “Sir Tristen, methinks thou knowest where I’m from.”

“Aya,
I presume I do. I was making chit-chat, Sir. Ye seem upset with me.” The
shackles on my arms were bothering me, and I rubbed my wrists on Vivian’s
cloak.

“Ye
wear her cloak? How disrespectful.” Trave glared at the cloak, then averted his
eyes to the rocky ground.

I
jumped toward him. “Her? As in Vivian…if that’s really her name. Tell me what
thou knowest of her! Have ye seen her?”

Trave
seemed irritated. He stopped - as if listening to something. I heard the noise
too, also stopping to listen. It sounded like dragging, and then the door
opened. A large, tiger-containing cage came through the door. It was carried by
four small and terrified guards. The tiger calmly sat on the board-bottomed
cage and stared into the dungeon.

Trave
ran to the cage as the door slammed shut again. “Oh my dear! How art thou?” He
spoke to the tiger as if it was a person. He stuck his hand in the cage. I
winced, waiting for his hand to be removed with violent teeth, however, the
tiger’s long, orange nose - tipped with pink - moved toward his hand. A long
pink tongue left the black and white dotted mouth to lick Trave’s meaty
fingers.

The
tiger suddenly seemed to sense someone else was in the room. Its yellow eyes
were lined with black that seemed to form flowing tears. White outlined the
black and an orange, white, and black striped face harshly sized me up. I felt
like food.

A
ferocious growl escaped the beast’s throat. The roar hurt my ears, and
thankfully, it was short. Apparently the animal was hurt, as it tried to stand,
then sank back down. It was at this point I noticed the tiger wore a small
barrel-type container around its neck. I wondered if magic potion was in it.

“Oh,
Lugina, it will be alright.” Trave sat next to the cage and stroked the side of
the tiger that looked absolutely capable of having him as a snack, yet she was
tame toward him.

The
name struck a chord in me. I wanted to throw a fit; so I did. “Lugina?! As in
‘Sir Lugina from Luttginna’? So the name came from this predator?”

Trave
chortled and shook his head, “Thou art totally daft. In answer to thy question,
aya, I have seen Vivian. And ye will probably see her too – but I can assure
thee: ye hope ye don’t.”

Trave’s
words confused me. I dumbly stared at him wondering what to say. The tiger
growled at me. All I could think was, “Grammarcy, God, that Vivian returned
home safely.” I simply stood speechless hoping she hadn’t spoke poorly of me
but guessing that she had.

“What
happened to Lugina? Is she hurt?” I asked, not thinking of what else I could
ask without getting a lashing.

Trave
continued petting the giant cat as they both stared at me with great disdain.
“Aye, she’s hurt. Got her paw caught in a trap and that’s what got us in this
mess. She’s too weak to be herself, that’s for sure.”

“What
doest thou mean, ‘be herself’? That doesn’t make sense. She’s a tiger for blaze
sake.” I was tired of standing, and sat on a bench directly in front of my
cellmates.

The
tiger sniffed the air, just as we heard footsteps and yelling outside. The door
opened again and a man was pushed into the room. He was dressed in a cloak. The
hood fell over his face as he hit the dirt floor. The door slammed shut as the
guard shouted, “Have fun lovebirds!”

The
man lay still for a moment. I was about to ask about him when he slowly sat up.
The hood fell back and I saw my best mate, turned enemy.

“Well,
well…that’s an odd twist of fate isn’t it, Ash?” I turned my head away from
him. Trave and the tiger watched with great interest.

“Tristen!
I’m so sorry.” Ash spoke softly and held his head in shame. “I went to tell
Felicia I was leaving with thee. Oddly, she had heard about the bounty money.
She reminded me that we need money for our baby. Told me if I didn’t turn ye
over that she would turn us both over. Tristen, I trusted her.”

“Save
it Funder. We’re no longer mates. Ye told me thou dost not throw away people,
yet ye did. Ye left me waiting for thee, then betrayed me! I will never trust
thee again.” I paused, “But wait…why are ye here?”

Ash
pushed himself from the dirt and sat next to me. I didn’t move away since I had
purposely placed myself where I could watch Trave and his ‘magic beast’, that
wasn’t so great after all.

Asher
had a hurt look on his face that I had only seen him wear when Felicia was on
his mind. “She wanted all the money, so she turned me over too.”

Silence
coated the air in the tiny jail cell. Trave seemed sympathetic to Ash, but
still glowered at me. The tiger rolled to its side and howled. Trave jumped and
immediately tried consoling her, but the wailing continued. I had never heard a
tiger in pain - I assumed this was it – and it was bloody awful.

“What’s
wrong with it?” Ash asked nobody in particular.

Trave
seemed to like Asher and answered him directly, “Her paw is injured. She needs
nourishment of some sort; she hasn’t eaten for a while.”

“How
about we feed Asher to it.” I laughed; nobody else did, but the tiger stopped
and sent a calculated glance my direction. I looked back at it, and it kept its
gaze locked on me.

“Seems
she wants to eat
thee
, Sir.” Trave’s voice was laced with bitterness.

Suddenly,
I remembered back to my boat trip earlier today. “Hey, Asher, remember how ye
said I smell like fish?”

“Ye
still do, sir,” was Asher’s matter-of-fact reply.

I
shook my head at him then grabbed the leather pouch at my waist and pulled out
a trout I had saved from the bay.

“Now
Tristen! That’s just disgusting.” Asher shouted and scooted away from me.

I
held the fish by its tail and smiled, “When thou hurries all over, like I have
for the past few days, it helps to carry something since I know not when my
next meal will come.”

I
walked with jingling chains toward the tiger; its lips came up over its teeth
and long pointed fangs wanted to tear me apart. I dangled the fish over the
cage and watched the tiger snap at me trying to get it. I dropped the slimy
fish into the cage and watched the tiger sniff at it. Again, Lugina put out her
long pink tongue and licked it; then started nibbling.

Trave
smirked at me while Lugina enjoyed the fish. “Now we’ll get somewhere.”

“What
are ye talking about, Sir? We’re in jail in case ye hadn’t noticed.” I sat back
on the bench.

Trave
scratched his head, his chains rattled loudly. He smiled wickedly and watched
Lugina eat the fish. She devoured the entire thing, even licking the bottom of
the cage. When she finished that, she licked her paws and used the wet paw to
wipe her face.
What a proud kitty
, I thought, as I stared it down. She
stared back. As her yellow eyes drew me in, and I felt like floating away in
them, an odd thing happened. The yellow and black cat-eyes turned an emerald
green, the nose became a tiny thing and cheek bones appeared to replace the
cat’s face. Ruby lips parted slightly exposing a set of teeth I had peered at
endlessly.

The
black, orange, and white-striped body, turned into smooth, pale skin. Long
black hair floated around a face I had fallen in love with. The tiger faded
away. Shock took over my entire being as the beautifully stunning Vivian, laid
across the bottom of a dingy and unbefitting iron cage. Vivian wore her lovely
scarf at her throat; an ornate green silk dress covered most of her body,
except her neck and shoulders. The sleeves were short, and her tiny delicate
hands were at her side where the tiger’s paws had been. Although her beauty
shone through, it was clear Vivian had been through something. Her face was gaunt;
sadness puffed her eyes.

I
could not believe what I saw; seeing the tiger body disappear, only to be
replaced by the woman I had longed for and searched for. Asher couldn’t believe
his eyes either. He shouted, throwing himself to his knees and clasping his
hands together, “Witchcraft! I’m sorry! Please don’t hurt us.”

Trave
looked at Ash with amusement, “Sir Asher, get up. There is no such sorcery
here.”

Vivian
immediately pulled out her little leather-bound journal from a pocket hidden in
her dress, she had a writing point with ink inside it; I had never seen one.
She scribbled intensely inside the journal. The room was silent as she did so.
Trave sprawled on the ground and stared at the ceiling. Asher and I watched
intensely as the woman scrawled through a few pages of the book. I wondered why
that book was so important to her, and then she looked at me.

Vivian’s
slightly slanted almond-shaped eyes held me in a trance. Any observations I had
made of other women had been dispelled; Vivian was in-fact the fairest, most
lovely woman I had ever gazed upon. I wanted to be lost in her eyes forever,
but sadly, she had other plans in mind.

“Speaking
of traitors, sir, perchance I shall fetch thee a mirror.” The exquisite voice
of my lost beauty covered the upset in her words. I only heard the sweetest
sounds, then I realized she was still cutting me apart with her eyes.

She
continued, “Thou shant be so tough on thy friend, Tristen! Ye deceived me, as
well, and even now, cannot apologize.”

After
she spoke, she rested her head on her hands that covered her journal and looked
at Trave. He turned to her and they shared a silent gaze. My blood boiled. I
had fallen for a woman who clearly had other intentions. She had tricked me,
but for what?