The Dragon's Champion (11 page)

“There is little
chance that Erik is still alive,” Lepkin said, colder than he meant to.

“If he dies,
then there is little chance that any of us will live.” Janik sighed heavily.

“Alright, I’ll
go. You keep an eye on your brother, but don’t do anything until I return. I
will deal with him later.”

“May the gods
grant you strength,” Janik said. “I will tell Lady Dimwater that you regretted
not being able to say good-bye to her.” The two clasped wrists and then Lepkin
grabbed the saddle bag and bolted for the door.

Janik cleared
the rest of the papers and books from the table and put them back in their
rightful places on the bookshelves. He had just put the last book back when
three men, dressed in plain, dirty clothes came through the doorway. One of
them had a split bottom lip.

“Gentlemen, I’m
afraid Kuldiga Academy is closed for the weekend. You’ll have to come back in a
couple days.”

“Do you think he
knows anything?” one of the men asked. Janik noted that the man’s hand lowered
to the hilt of a sword hanging from his belt.

“There is one
way to find out,” one of the others said.

*****

Erik stumbled
right through the spikes and then the door and fell flat on his stomach. Braun
ran right over him and stopped at a rack of swords. He grabbed a short sword
and quickly belted it to his waist. “Get up, Master Erik,” Braun said dryly.

Erik looked back
at the door, but it was gone. All he could see was the hallway they had been
running in. “Where is the door? I swear I saw a door with spikes, and you
pushed me right at them.”

Braun looked
back and regarded Erik for a moment before smirking. “Warlocks aren’t the only
ones with magic. It’s an ancient spell meant to slow down any intruders that
may have found the tunnel.”

“You mean the
door wasn’t real?” Erik asked incredulously.

“That’s exactly
right.” Braun reached to a rack on the wall and grabbed a pair of battle-axes.
“C’mon, boy, we need to move. Get up here and choose a sword.”

Erik pushed up
to his feet and went to the sword rack. He grabbed the nearest long sword and
held it up, testing its balance. Deciding it would do just fine he took the
sword and went to a nearby wardrobe to find a belt. Braun marched over and
pushed Erik back from the wardrobe. He eyed him quick, measuring him, and then
grabbed a leather hauberk, leather leggings, and a leather helmet.

“Put these on as
fast as you can,” Braun ordered. “Right over the top of your clothes,” he
added. Erik did as he was told. By the time he was finished Braun had chosen a
chainmail shirt and steel helmet to complete the ensemble. “Here, arms up boy,”
Braun said. Erik lifted his arms and Braun pulled the heavy mail over Erik’s
torso. Then Braun placed the helmet on his head and tightened the chin strap.
“It ain’t the best armor, but it will do till we get to some place where we can
buy you a proper suit.”

Braun helped
Erik belt the sword onto his waist and then looked at the boy for a moment.
Braun turned around and pulled a bow from a rack near the wardrobe. He slid the
bow over one of Erik’s shoulders and then he grabbed a quiver with a dozen
arrows and strapped it to Erik’s back.

“I’ve never shot
a bow before,” Erik said.

“We’ll worry
about that later,” Braun replied. “Let’s go.” Braun grabbed the back of Erik’s
neck and pushed him onward again.

Erik had to
focus hard not to topple over on his face this time. The chainmail made him off
balance, the padded leather armor slowed him down, and the helmet was much
heavier than he had expected. All Braun needed to do was add just a little more
effort to his pushing and Erik would be stuck on the ground like an over-turned
beetle. Luckily, the three times Erik did start to fall, Braun’s hand yanked
him back upright and kept him going straight.

When the tunnel
finally ended in a ladder, Erik wasn’t sure he could climb. He was tired from
running and unable to move half as well as he was used to. Braun didn’t wait.
He grabbed Erik and pushed him up the ladder until Erik was finally able to
scramble up himself. When the hatch popped open, Erik saw four guards standing
there, protecting his escape. A fifth guard rushed over and reached down to
pull Erik out of the hole.

“Come on, Master
Erik, let’s go,” the man said as he hoisted Erik up and onto the ground.

Erik looked
around and his mouth fell open. Some of the sheds and guard houses were ablaze,
overrun by yellow and orange flames that reached upward, licking at the night
sky. Men were shouting everywhere. Erik saw men running with buckets of water,
while the guards dismissed the fires and chased other things through the
darkness. Screams and shouts of pain were accompanied by ringing sounds, and
the occasional howl. Erik had no idea what was happening.

A hand dropped
on his shoulder. “Move, your horse is over there,” Braun shouted. Erik hurried
over to Goliath. His mammoth horse was not only fitted with a proper saddle,
but also had saddle bags in place. Erik realized that he would not be coming
back home any time soon. With help of several guards Erik finally got onto his
saddle. Braun wasted no time. He mounted his own horse and then grabbed
Goliath’s reins as he charged off, taking Erik into the night and away from
danger.

Erik held on
tight, keeping his eyes focused on the trail ahead and trying to force the
sounds out of his ears. They rushed over the fields of his father’s land,
toward the forest. As they neared the tree line Erik heard shouting from one of
the nearby cottages. Something inside crashed, it sounded like a table and
dishes falling to the floor. Erik looked to the cottage and realized that it
was Louis’ home. He knew the old man lived with his wife, and neither of them would
be able to protect themselves against an intruder. Erik felt a strange emotion
come over him. He reached forward and, with strength previously unknown to him,
yanked the reins out of Braun’s hand. Erik turned Goliath toward the cottage
and drew his sword.

“Erik, no,”
Braun shouted. Erik ignored the warning.

The young man
leapt from atop the horse and crashed through the doorway. He quickly gained
his footing and assessed the situation. For an instant everyone inside was
completely motionless, as if his presence had frozen them in place. Erik saw
two men, wearing dirty, old tunics and leather breeches. One man held a knife
to Louis’ throat and the other held Louis’ wife on the bed. Their beady, yellow
eyes stared back at him for what seemed like an hour.

Rage boiled up
inside Erik.

He dashed over
and cut down the man that held the knife to Louis’ throat before anyone in the
room could blink. Then, he turned to face the other man, with the rage burning
in his eyes. The man released Louis’ wife and ran for the doorway, but Braun
was already there with his axe. Braun ended the man’s life and let the body
slump to the floor.

“Erik, we must
go, now,” Braun ordered.

Erik looked
around him for a moment. “We must protect the people,” he replied. He looked
down to the man he had killed and the color drained from his face. The man’s
agony was forever etched into the expression that looked back up to Erik.
Suddenly the boy felt weak in the knees. Louis caught him before he fell and
Braun was there in an instant.

“Come on, Master
Erik,” Braun said coolly. “We must go.” Erik nodded slowly as Braun helped him
regain his footing.

“Thank you,
Master Erik,” Louis offered with a bow of the head.

Louis’ words
helped remind Erik of the urgency of the situation, and helped to lessen the
feelings of guilt and horror in Erik’s gut. The young man looked up to Louis
and offered a smile before Braun pulled him out of the cottage and flung him
back atop his horse.

“That was a
brave thing,” Braun commented.
“Stupid, but brave.”
Braun took Goliath’s reins again and the two sped off for the forest. They had
to slow down once they were inside the trees, but Braun seemed to be much more
at ease now despite the slower pace.

He led them to a
huge, thick wall of briar bushes. Braun dismounted and slowly, gently, pushed
the thick briar bushes apart so they could pass through. Erik noticed that the
ground sloped down steeply into a sort of earthen bowl. The briar bushes
stretched over the top of the bowl like a thorny, wooden roof. Erik was surprised
that there was enough room in the bowl for him to sit atop Goliath without even
worrying about the thorns above.

“This will keep
us safe for a while,” Braun said. “We will pass the night here.”

Erik looked back
over the way they had entered the bowl. The bushes had moved back into place
behind them, completely blocking the view of the forest. “We are still quite
close to the fighting,” Erik said.

“True, but any
pursuers will try to go around this area. The briars are treacherous to pass
through. The thorns can rip through chainmail if you hit them right. Even if
someone managed to get through the briars, they will have to answer to my axe.”

“What of all the
people?” Erik asked. “Shouldn’t we help them?”

“We are helping
them, Master Erik. We are helping them by protecting you.”

Erik shook his
head. He didn’t understand that. “Wouldn’t it be better if the enemy got me?”
Erik asked. “If they came for me, then all of this will stop if I give myself
up.”

Braun came over
and grabbed the boy from his saddle, throwing him roughly to the dirt below.
“Listen to me, boy,” Braun growled. “My job is to protect you from all dangers,
including yourself. If you gave yourself to the enemy do you really think they
would call off the attack?” Braun tightened his grip on Erik’s chainmail. “Your
father would never allow them to get away with you in their grasp. He would
come for you. The fighting would continue down to the last man, do you hear me
boy?”

“Yes, Braun, I
hear you,” Erik replied.

“Even if the fighting
did stop, some of my men have already died. I can not think that they died for
nothing. Some will suffer, that is the way of war, but if we hold to our
course, we can save many more from suffering. Do you understand?”

Erik nodded with
a tear in his eye. He didn’t like the thought of people suffering to protect
him. “Is this about the omen, Braun?”

Braun was silent
for a long time. He released his grip on Erik and walked away. Something
rustled the briar branches from the side of the bowl. Braun looked to Erik and
held a finger to his lips. Erik nodded and rolled over to his knees. Both of
them silently prepared their weapons and waited.

All at once a
trio of men burst into the bowl. They howled savagely and had crazed looks in
their eyes. Two of the men went for Braun and one went for Erik. Braun sliced
at the men, but caught only air. A knife flashed across Braun’s chest, but he
was protected by his armor. Braun struck out with the pommel of his axe and
caught one of the savage men square in the face, splatting the man’s nose.

Erik jumped to
his feet and held out his sword, but his attacker came straight at him,
unafraid. Erik couldn’t see well enough in the dark to calculate how many steps
it would take the man to reach him so he took a wild swing at the man as he
drew close. The man rolled on the ground and shoved a knife up into Erik’s
abdomen with one hand while he swung a hatchet into Erik’s side with the other
hand. Erik’s eyes went wide. The force of both blows was astonishing. Erik
crumpled to the side, but he held the grip on his sword tight. His attacker
howled with delight and rose over Erik’s head to deliver the killing blow.

Erik swung his
sword back, clumsily, but his attacker grabbed him at the wrist and came down
with his hatchet. Just before the blade connected with Erik’s cheek, a flash of
fur and metal and hoof caught the attacker in the ribs. Erik felt the force of
the impact as though it were thunder. The attacker’s ribs cracked like dry
sticks and then he went sprawling to the side of the bowl.

Goliath trotted
around Erik and stood defiantly between the attacker and his master. Erik gave
silent thanks to his horse and promised to reward the animal later. He then
looked up to see how Braun was faring. Braun had his back against the side of
the bowl. Something dark and shiny ran down his left arm and over some other
parts of his armor. Both of the other attackers were working ferociously on the
guard. Erik rose to his feet. He had to help his friend. The crazed man with
the broken ribs also rose to his feet, but Goliath kicked and stomped. The man
jumped this way and that, trying to evade the horse and get to Erik, but
Goliath held his ground and pushed the man back.

Erik nodded to
Goliath and then charged the pair hacking at Braun. He stabbed his sword at the
back of the closest attacker, but the man somehow knew what was coming and
jumped away at the last second. Erik had to scramble to keep from stumbling
forward and running his blade through his friend. The attacker he had tried to
kill jumped back at him with the speed of a forest cat. Erik was on his back,
looking up into the wild man’s eyes. Erik reached up and grabbed the man’s
wrist just before a dagger could be driven into his neck. Erik tried to move
his sword hand, but the man was kneeling on his other arm and Erik couldn’t
muster the strength to free himself. The two were at a stalemate for the
briefest of moments, and then the dagger started inching forward. Erik pushed
against the man’s arm with all of his might but the attacker leaned forward and
let his bodyweight overpower Erik.

Erik glanced
over to Braun with his eyes, hoping that his friend could help and save him,
but his hopes were dashed apart when he saw Braun was still locked in combat
with the third attacker, and there was no way for him to reach Erik before the
knife point would plunge into him. Erik yelled in anger and frustration,
pouring all of his strength into the fight. Still the dagger came down toward
his throat. Erik called out for Goliath and then the man on top of him was
snatched off and Erik heard growling and cries of agony.