Draconis' Bane (11 page)

Henry spat on the
floor in front in reply.

“Guards! Seize him
and lock him in irons!” shouted Kevin.

No one moved as Henry
slowly got to his feet, dusting himself off arrogantly as he walked
back to stand next to Patrician Samuel.

“I think not.” Henry
answered. “You are not in command here…”

“The hell I’m not.”
Kevin shouted. “Samuel! What’s the meaning of this?” Kevin directed
at his uncle.

“Well lad, it’s quite
simple really. When you entered the city, you walked into Terum
held lands. You don’t have any authority here…” Explained Samuel as
the guards in the hall leapt into action. The large General and his
younger brother were quickly subdued.

“Now escort them to
the dungeons while I decide the punishment for assaulting a member
of my court.” Samuel waved them away dismissively.

The guards muttered
agreement as they frog-marched the two brothers out of the audience
hall, their arms painfully bent behind their backs. They were
forcefully escorted through the large hall doors they had entered
through and once in the courtyard Tristan could see that his horse
was being dragged away to the stables. Her frantic neighing caused
Tristan’s anger to rise like a burning pit in his throat. With the
two men holding his wrists made it impossible to do anything about
her ill treatment. Tristan willed himself to calm his mind and his
captors grips loosened slightly. Quickly he formulated a plan, the
young Prince forced himself to completely relax and allow himself
to be marched to what appeared to be the armory and dungeons.

Glancing over at the
baggage train, Tristan noticed a tarp covering one of the wagons
open slightly and a man stick his head out. His face was oddly
familiar to Tristan, but he couldn’t put a name to man. It occurred
to him that once they entered the dungeons, they would have no hope
of escape. In that moment he had made his decision.

On his right step he
planted his foot and swung his arms together. The guards holding
his wrists were distracted by Kevin’s struggling and they tripped
over each other at his unexpected movement. Tristan drew his sword
and dagger in a flash, killing one man before he regained his feet.
Behind him Henry screamed for more guards who came rushing out of
the main hall. Tristan dispatched the second guard as one of the
guards holding his brother released his hold and turned to face
him. The guard drew his sword quickly and rushed forward with his
sword held high. Allowing his instincts to take over as they had
when practicing with his brother, Tristan forced himself to relax
as the guard advanced on him.

The guard swung an
overhead slash wildly at Tristan, hoping to back him up. Instead,
Tristan parried the swing with his sword and drove his dagger deep
into the guards’ chest, piercing his heart and lung. The guard
gurgled helplessly as he dropped to his knees; a trail of blood
came out of the corner of his mouth as he swayed in place and then
collapsed forward.

Another guard
released his older brother and came running towards Tristan,
drawing his sword as he ran. The young Prince blocked the slash
aimed at his left side with his dagger, spun around the man;
putting himself back to back with the guard. Tristan flipped his
grip on his sword and drove it deep into the guards back and
through his stomach.

Without the two extra
guards holding him, Kevin yanked a hand free. An animalistic roar
escaped his brother and he grabbed the nearest guard and drove his
head into the guards’ nose. Blood showered everyone as the now dead
guard collapsed uselessly on the ground. Kevin grabbed another
guard by the tunic and launched him over Tristans’ head and into
the oncoming force of guards who had come from the audience hall.
The foremost guard was knocked back into the others, causing them
all to go down in a heap of tangled bodies. Kevin then grasped the
two remaining guards by their helmets and mercilessly smashed their
heads together, shattering both of their skulls with his incredible
strength.

Tristan was so
transfixed by his brothers amazing strength that he failed to see
one of the guards free himself from the tangle of bodies on the
ground and rush at him, sword unsheathed. The guard leapt into the
air with a primal scream. Tristan turned and brought his sword up
defensively. A throwing axe took the man in the side of the head,
instantly killing him.

It did little to stop
the guards’ momentum though and his body crashed into Tristan. The
guards’ corpse pinned the young man to the ground and his full
metal plate armor made it impossible for Tristan to budge no matter
how he tried to wiggle free. A strange sense of unease grasped
Tristan as he heard footfalls coming his way. He began to struggle
harder to get free and defend himself.

A scared and weather
beaten hand grabbed a hold of the dead guard and yanked him
unceremoniously off of Tristan. The young Prince looked up as a
stocky old warrior grabbed Tristan by the front of his black
leather armor and pulled him to his feet.

“No time to rest now
lad!” He rasped as he clapped him on the back.

Tristan had no time
to reply or offer thanks as another guard rushed towards him, his
sword swinging down wildly. Tristan rolled off to the left to give
himself some room as he parried another blind slash. He came inside
the guards’ blade and severed his sword arm between the elbow and
wrist with his dagger. As the guards’ sword dropped to the ground,
along with his severed hand, Tristan spun his dagger in his hand
and drove it point up through the guards’ chin into his brain.
Instantly the guards’ eyes rolled up inside his head. Tristan
pulled his dagger free as he spun around. His sword seemed to
almost have a mind of its own as he parried another slash and drove
his dagger through his new opponents’ stomach.

An impossibly large
axe crashed down beside him easily slicing another guard’s head
down the middle. Tristan looked over to find his brother, in full
battle rage, yank the blade of his battle axe from the dead man’s’
head and booted the corpse into another enemy as he prepared
himself to face the next foe. Four more guards fell to their three
blades until all that was left was Henry and his two aides,
standing shocked and shaken. Kevin advanced on them sheathing his
axe into its metal and leather holster on his back. He grabbed
Henry by the front of his robes and hoisted him up to his eye
level.

“Where are my men!?”
Kevin shouted.

Henry whimpered as
his eyes cast nervously towards the dungeon. Kevin turned his head
an addressed the man who had saved Tristans life.

“Gerald, if you
wouldn’t mind.” He said through clenched teeth.

The old warrior
nodded once and turned to leave as Tristan noticed one of Henry’s
aides pull a blade from a leather bracer on his arm and move
towards Kevin. With his left hand Tristan threw his dagger at the
aide. It flew, spinning, through the air whistling as the wind
passed between the split blades and pierced the aides’ throat. His
eyes went wide as he dropped his dagger and put his hands up to
staunch the flow of blood pouring from his neck.

Tristan stalked over
to the second aide and kicked him in the back of the knee. The
young Prince grabbed a hand full of his hair, jerked his head back
and held his sword to the aides’ throat. He looked up at his
brother, who nodded his head once, Tristan spun on the spot
bringing his sword singing through the air as he decapitated the
screaming aide with a backhanded stroke.

All of the remaining
color drained from Henry’s face as he realized he was alone. A
puddle of urine formed at his feet, dripping from his cross
gartered leather sandals. He stammered apologies and invoked the
names of God’s to protect him. Gerald returned with some of Kevin’s
men, each supporting one of a ragged band of guards who looked
malnourished, a few of them showing signs of infections and
illness. Apparently, these malnourished Vallious soldiers had
refused to go along with the new administration of Irudin and had
been locked up and tortured as a result.

“Take them to the
barracks and see to it that the sick get help and find them some
food Gerald.” Kevin instructed.

“Right you are my
Lord.” He replied smiling, offering a slightly mocking salute
before winking at Tristan.

“Now,” Kevin turned
his angry gaze on Henry. “How about we go and find your Lord and
Master, shall we?” Henry whimpered affirmative as Kevin dragged him
effortlessly back into the main audience chamber by the front of
his robes.

In the flurry of
action Kevin must have sent his men into the keep to arrest the
Patrician. As they entered Samuel had four sword points leveled at
him by soldiers bearing the blue tabard of the raven over a black
rock. Tristan walked at his brothers right side again as they made
their way to the front of the room. Kevin threw Henry into the
waiting two soldiers arms where one clapped his hands in irons
behind his back and the other drew his sword and trained it on the
little mans chest.

“Alright,
My
Lord
,” Kevin said snidely. “Shall we start with the why?”

“Why what, you
impudent dog?!” Samuel’s voice cracked, betraying his actual fear
as he continued the façade of strength.

Tristan could feel
the rage coming off of Kevin like steam from a hot bath. Tristan
had long ago accustomed himself to disrespectful treatment, though
Kevin seemed to find it more amusing than anything else. Kevin
stepped forward and delivered a painful looking backhand to his
uncle with his metal plated glove. Spitting blood, Samuel made eye
contact again. Looking defeated and finally a little scared for his
life.

“Let’s try this
again, shall we?” Kevin demanded.

Gerald walked into
the hall at that moment giving Samuel the chance to formulate his
words. He walked over and stood next to Tristan, placing a hand on
the young Princes shoulder and looking over to Kevin.

“The men are fed and
the sick are being attended to General. Three of them died in the
dungeons and two won’t recover from their illnesses. With the
guards we killed outside that leaves less than twenty household
guards.” Gerald explained.

Kevin turned to the
old warrior; “I’m going to leave that up to you old friend.”

“My hearing must be
going in my old age,” Gerald replied lightly. “It sounds like you
think you’re leaving me here.”

“I’m sorry old man,
but I can’t trust anyone here. I need you to assume command of the
keep and town below. Get some of the local merchants to help you,
form a committee or something…”

“Bah! Woman’s work my
liege!” Gerald complained. “I’m coming with you to watch over the
lad.”

“Gerald, I’m sorry. I
need you here. Send word to father and he’ll appoint a new leader
here in no time. Besides, you saw him fight, he doesn’t need a
nanny. You know my plans for him as well as father does. Just stay
here for a few weeks until father can find someone else.” Kevin
requested.

“I knew I was going
to regret coming along. Hanna will never let me live it down. You
know how she gets my Lord.” Gerald continued to complain.

“Which I’m sure is
why you married my sisters’ Danai, old friend. Now, please go see
to your new men…Tristan and I have some work to do.” Kevin
finished.

Gerald briefly
squeezed Tristans shoulder and cast Kevin a dark look before he
turned and walked out of the hall, grumbling good naturedly as he
went to Kevin’s amusement. The large General motioned for one of
his soldiers near and whispered instructions to him. The soldier
nodded grimly and motioned for the others to bring along the
former
patrician and his chief aide. After they had left
Kevin asked one of the servants to bring some food for the brothers
as they sat down at a nearby table. They sat in silence until after
the servant had brought food and wine and left, Kevin then turned
and regarded his brother.

“What?” Tristan
asked, draining a mug of ale.

“That was
impressive.” Kevin replied evenly.

“What was
impressive?” The younger Prince asked.

“Don’t play coy with
me little brother. I’ve never seen you move that fast.” Kevin
chuckled.

“I’m sorry; would you
rather be starving in the dungeons instead?” Tristan laughed.

The brothers laughed
as Kevin watched his brother for a moment before wolfing down
another mug of ale and some food. Gerald came storming back into
the hall making Kevin laugh as he swallowed another mouthful of
ale. Some of the jailed guards followed him and took up posts
around the hall as Gerald came over to the table and sat down.

“Well, I put one of
your better sergeants in charge of Samuels….confession,” Gerald
chuckled. “Although, just from the look of the city I’m inclined to
think the worm has been falsifying reports to your father and short
changing the taxes.”

“It’s probably too
much to ask that the gold is still in Irudin I assume.” Kevin asked
between mouthfuls.

“Oh he’s too smart
for that. He’ll have most likely sent it south through Golshy
Pass.” Replied Gerald. “You did well lad.” He directed at
Tristan.

“Thank you Dana.” The
young man replied without thought.

“So, you remember
some things do you?” Gerald asked.

“More or less, seems
my instincts and training are there…just not who I am.” Tristan
replied shamefully.

“No need to fret lad.
Leave that to the women.” Gerald chuckled. “You did very well and
the rest will come in time.”

The rest of the
evening passed reasonably well, Samuels screams cut through the
night on several occasions as he was
persuaded
to give up
his accomplices and plans. By morning Gerald had a firm grasp on
what he needed to be done to bring the region under control once
again. Kevin, Tristan and their wagons rolled out of the western
gate the next morning to find the old Dana had a small squad on
horseback heading back north to report on the situation.