Death Or Fortune (7 page)

    
The four of us climbed out together. While not for the last time, it would be
for a while. Hetaron did something with that new staff of his to seal the door
on the way out. We rode hard back to the city, Hans and Pare were headed to
Turk with the list so he could arrest the traitors before it was too late.
Hetaron and I were headed to see the king with the rest of the papers. Once we
separated Hetaron asked me,
'do you really think that you can walk right
into the throne room and address the king?'
He made a very valid point and
one in my haste I had not thought of.  I would need someone to help me get
inside.  Someone that was trusted, honored and without question loyal to
Arcadia.  Arturo was more than happy to help.  Granted, I had to show
him the proof before he would think of it.
     As he rode with Hetaron and I Arturo asked me if I
knew any of the names on the list and just who they were. I could only shake my
head no. He pointed to my bundle and told me that in the papers I had were the
names of three Arcadian lords mentioned as being disloyal to Roderick. There
were three of them who were listed as giving aid to SOMA; three of them who
would have died to by my hand if I had been given the chance. Arturo did as we
asked him, got us as far as the king. No one dared stand in his way. He may
have been past his prime but he was still intimidating when he wanted to be.
Once we were in front of the king however he turned to me and said,
'Go
ahead lad, tell him what you know.'
     At first I was stunned.  I had it all played
out in my mind but at that moment I felt as if my feet had melted into the
floor.  Taking that first step was the hardest thing I had done since I
left Eystlund.  The next came a bit easier until I was close enough to see
his face.  I could tell he was not amused at the moment.  I placed my
fist over my heart, bent down to one knee and with my free hand held out the
papers.  I began to tell him of where we had been and what we had found.
The longer I spoke, the worse his mood became.  By the time Turk arrived
with Hans and Pare in tow he was in a rage.  He did not let it show on his
face but Roderick could not hide the fire in his eyes.  While I was still
down on one knee he came down and took the papers from me.  I dared not
stand.  I felt as if I was down there for days, waiting for him to tell me
something.  I looked at Turk, he was in a near panic.  I also made
eye contact with Hetaron who could only roll his eyes at me.
   
"Captain, is any of this true? Have you checked on
any of this?"
   
"Yes Sire, all the men mentioned on this list are
gone. Nikle being the first I went to find, he left nothing. His quarters are
empty and all his loyal men followed him. Of the three Lords named, one was
found dead by his own hand. The others are gone."
    
"And you will vouch for this man here? You are
sure he can be trusted?"
I was almost insulted but he was King after
all.
    
"Yes Sire, Darmot is a good man, as are
his companions. For the work they have done in the name of Arcadia, I trust
them."  
     He looked at the four of us. At some point Pare had
joined me there on the floor on one knee. I could feel the king’s eyes on me as
if he were looking through my soul. "
Very well Captain Turk, first
thing tomorrow put Kromwell to work under your service. For now take them
outside so we may begin to plan for what is to come.
" While I knew it
was time for us to go, I had to grab Pare to get him on his feet and headed
out.  Last thing I heard Roderick say was telling Arturo to remain behind.
 Before I knew it we were back outside of the king’s castle. We gathered
up our horses and mounted up. When the first explosion came, I was knocked from
my horse.
     The riots had started and a large portion of the city
guards were nowhere to be found.  Soon a second explosion came, not close
but in the merchant’s district.  When I saw the third pillar of smoke my
heart stopped.  Jasmin was the only word I could form with my lips.
 I felt Hans grab me as I started to move, asking me where I was going.
 I just pointed at the pillar of smoke reaching up towards the sky.
 I knew there was trouble at the inn.  I knew I had to get there and
I had no time to waste.  Hetaron rode past me before I was mounted again,
he said something about a carpet. Then it dawned on me.  Everything I
owned was at that inn.  Everything I desired was there as well.
     The ride to the inn was like riding though a battle
field.  Every time I slowed down someone tried to pull me from my horse.
 Above the roar of the mob I heard a woman's scream.  Between two
buildings I saw her, held against the wall by hooded men.  These hooded
men could be seen everywhere.  I tried making my way to help her but Hans
was faster.  I watched in awe as he jumped from his horse.  He
landed, rolled forward and was on his feet again charging forward, his weapon
in hand.  The first one never stood a chance, the blow he took to the head
would have shattered an oak plank.  The second hooded man turned and ran
before Hans had a chance to catch him.  I saw him turn to the woman with
great compassion, placed a hand on her face and then she ran off.  Once he
was back on his horse, we were off again.

     We arrived
at the inn in time to see Hetaron and Pare rushing in.  It wasn't long
after that I was on his trail.  There was smoke filling the inn but it
wasn't all in flames. Folks were running down the stairs as I was trying to
make my way up.  I found Hetaron in the room, stuffing things in a bag.
 A bag that shouldn't have been able to hold the things he was putting in
there.  I grabbed the chest of coins we secured from the ruins and
anything else I felt was needed.  I started to turn from the door when
Hetaron held the bag open for me,
'drop it all in here, I will keep it safe.
'
I didn't want to take the time to argue and did as he said.  I had never
seen anything quite like it. The smoke was getting worse, I could hear wood
breaking inside the building, and I knew it wouldn't be long.
     There was a fire line leading back to the kitchen
area.  I saw Jasmin and her mother, along with other inn patrons passing
back buckets of water. I knew with all the smoke coming from upstairs they were
fighting a lost cause. I was pushing people out the door when the oil vats in
the kitchen exploded.  It was as if a dragon stuck his head in the window
and let out his breath. When I picked myself up off the floor most of the main
room was in flames. I could see Jasmin’s mother screaming, I rushed to her side.
 Jasmin was alive but out cold, I picked her up and dragged her mother
with me out the door.  The entire time she was screaming for her husband,
I knew then that he was at the head of the line in the kitchen.  I found
Hans outside and set Jasmin down with him.  I looked to Hetaron and asked
if he could do anything.  He looked at me and only said, '
perhaps
'.
 I wanted to throttle him.

      I
rushed back in the door.  I found Stephan, badly burned, missing a leg and
crawling on the floor near the bar.  It was all I could do to pick up the
larger man and get him out the door.  That was when Hetaron went inside
with that blue orb in his hand.  I still don't know what he did but he
managed to put out most of the fire with it.  Even still the inn was near
a total loss.  As I rushed towards Hans with Stephan I saw guardsmen
sweeping the streets along with Arcadian military troops.  Jasmin was
awake when I got to them and the sight of her father sent her into near
hysteria.  Her mother on the other hand was near catatonic.  Still
dead eyes only watched as Hans did his best.  His prayers to Solarth
healed some of the burns and stopped most of the bleeding but his leg was lost
from the knee down.

     Stephan
died six months later, in his sleep.  Had Hans not been there he would not
have had that long.  His wife lasted only a week after her husband.
 I am just glad to say that before he died, he saw his child marry an
Arcadian lord.

     For most
of the day and night the riots swept through the city.  Nikle and his men
were nowhere to be found.  The four of us helped where we could.
 Hans was incredible during this time. I had never seen him work so hard
before.  I knew at one time Hans was just a warrior like I am.  At
one point he was inspired by something or someone.  He had now come into
his own.  Spreading the faith out to those who would accept it.  He
made me question myself, made me question if I had been doing enough.
 When the riots were finished and things began to settle, we were given a
place to stay by the king himself.  The four of us with Jasmin’s family.
     When Stephan was awake I spoke to him about the inn.
 It was as if someone had crushed his soul right in front of me.
 After some convincing I was able to talk the others into helping them. We
offered Stephan the money to start the repairs, to start to rebuild.  At
first he refused but after some talk, he agreed.  We would become part
owners yet his family would still run the place. Hetaron only asked for a room
of his own in the cellar.  A place he could work on his magic without
being disturbed.  That room is still there today at the bottom of the Red
Dragon Inn.  It is empty and unused but still there.  To my knowledge
no one ever set foot in there other than Hetaron.
     For more than a week I worked side by side with Turk
and his men.  Helping to get things right in the city.  It was two
weeks before things started to return to normal.  Well as normal as things
could be.  The scouts had been reporting in for days, all reporting the same
thing.  A large army, a hundred and fifty thousand strong was marching on
Arcadia.  They would be within the kingdom in three weeks.  Roderick
had a plan; troops from the farthest corners of the kingdom were being recalled
to the city.  A call also went out to the people of Arcadia looking for
men who would fight.  Men who loved their home and who would die to defend
it.  They were all put together in one unit.  Farmers, lumberjacks,
anyone strong enough to hold a weapon.  Thirty thousand men in all.
 War was coming and it would find Arcadia strong and ready.
     Sometime during the repairs to the city and recalling
the army Turk, with King Roderick's blessing, gave me the rank of Captain.
 Not that I had time to think about it.  I still followed the orders
given to me by Turk.  I did the bidding of the men above me, without
question.  I often found myself looking to Arturo for advice, who I also
believe had a hand in me being given the rank.  My nights were spent in
study and I would steal moments for myself to spend with Jasmin. It was during
this time that our love became real, solid.  The passion I had for her
fueled my desire to fight for this country.  I gave her every moment I had
to spare and each night I would walk her to the room her parents were in.
 I would give her a lasting kiss and tell her goodbye.

     It was one
of those nights, somewhere between her closing the door and me returning to my
room that it hit me.  As clear as a lightning bolt in the middle of the
night, it all became clear. Arcadia was my home.  This is where I should
have been all along.  These were my people and I was here to serve them,
help them and protect them.  It was on this night that I first said it out
loud.  I wanted to serve more than myself but the kingdom of Arcadia.
 I felt the world tremble about me, as if the gods were sending me a
message. Once my head cleared I was calm, for the first time everything became
clear.  I now had a goal, one that I could attain if fortune favored me
and if death did not take me.  Hetaron was the only thing that distracted
me that night.  When I returned to the room he had half the furniture in
the room in the air on his flying carpet.

     He
wouldn't shut up about it.  He could lift several hundred pounds with it.
 Turn it hard as steel to protect himself.  It really was quite the
sight and when it was time, he and his carpet would cut himself a path along
side of mine, to glory.  As I laid my head down that night he also told me
of finding scrolls in the ruins, scrolls that would polymorph people into
creatures.  He said something about using them on Pare but sleep took me
before I could make sense of it.  As I look back on that time I remember
him well.  I really believe Hetaron and I were friends.  We trusted
each other, fought for each other.  I remember sharing laughs and sharing
in each other’s pain.  We would go far together.  Right up to the
bitter end, I believed in him.

     To this
day I still have trouble remembering the days prior to the battle.  Every time
we turned around some new fact was being presented to us.  Plans were made
and thrown away.  After a while I was resigned to only deal with what I
could control.  If not for my nights with Jasmin I believe I would have
lost my mind.  She was my shelter from the storm, my reason to keep
fighting against the madness.
     When the order came down that I was to be given
command of a unit I needed her.  I was given command of fifteen thousand
men, all farmers, lumber jacks and anyone else old enough to pick up a weapon.
 Turk expressed his thoughts to me which I shall never commit to paper
other than to say, he wished me luck.  After meeting my second in command,
I figured I would need all the luck I could get.  We would be fighting at
the Kings northern flank.  Roderick himself would be in command of the
main army.  A field commander who I never got the chance to meet would be
to the south.  We were given a standard to carry into battle, told our
orders and given time to prepare the unit.  There wasn't enough time but
we did the best with what we had.

     All of my
friends would be with me.  We were together the first time we met
Michaels.  At the time he was a junior officer in the Arcadian royal
guard.  My mother once told me that first impressions are something that
are hard to overcome.  Michaels has done this a hundred times over since
that first meeting.  His life has changed for the better but not because
of anything I did, no all credit for this change falls at the feet of Hans.
 I do not believe I have ever given anyone a desire to serve a higher
power.

    
"Oh
so you are the poor bastard they sent to mind the zoo."
 I could
smell the ale on his breath even before he spoke.  Yet he wasn't drunk, I
believe his fear was keeping the drink from taking hold.  
"Welcome
to our staging area captain. Tomorrow all of our troops will be here.  I
saw fit to make sure they were given time to go visit their families before we
march them into the meat grinder."
 My first thought was to
dismiss him on the spot, yet I could not bring myself to do it. I would need
him.  I would need every trained man I could get.  We were told that
we would be out numbered when we took to the field. Almost two to one if the
scouting reports were correct.  I just told him to make sure they were
ready for inspection by noon of the next day. I had to see what we were working
with. I had a few ideas on how we were going to even the odds a bit in our
favor.  I had less than a week to get these men ready to fight.

     That night
I sent Pare and Hans on a mission to find some things we would need.  I
discussed everything with Hetaron as he was very much a key in my plans.
 I could see it all happening as we talked.  It was something I doubt
anyone would have expected from a bunch of farmers.  I just prayed it
worked.  I seemed to do that a lot during that time.  Praying for a
sign or some form of help from above.  When Pare and Hans drove off in the
wagon I was sure I had been answered. If only they could find what we needed.