Panic seized Gwaynn. Apparently, the Temple Knights completely ignored the report of the Massi infantry abandoning the safety of Manse, and instead had somehow deduced Gwaynn’s plan and now laid in wait for the Massi cavalry. Even as he watched, the Knights began to jockey for position and were moments away from swooping down on Captain Gaston and the rest.
Without a thought Gwaynn streaked downward searching for na Gall, but on his first pass failed to find her, instead he came across the Speaker Sarbeth who was riding near the end of the column.
“Sarbeth!” Gwaynn said but in his present form he could not make himself heard, he’d never learned to create a Speaker bubble, nor did he know that it was not possible during astral projection. Again and again he tried to make himself heard but failed. He only stopped when the Temple Knights attacked and the warning he was to give was no longer needed. He briefly considered creating a bridge and Traveling but knew he would arrive in the midst of the battle on foot and in a severely weakened state. So he stayed, watching in horror as the Knights exploded out of the hills and down amongst his unsuspecting cavalry. It was not long before holding his position became impossible to maintain. With a great deal of sadness and apprehension Gwaynn felt his projected self being yanked back toward his body as if on a spring. When his two halves joined he staggered, his face white. He glanced first at Tar Kostek, and then at Lonogan Bock. Zarina Monde handed him a large slice of dried apple but he did not take a bite.
“They’re not coming,” he said in anguish. “They’re moving on the cavalry. Gaston is riding into a trap! We need to warn them,” he shouted turning to Monde, but it was N’dori who acted, in moments a bridge popped open and the Solitary rushed through and disappeared.
ǂ
“It would be a great risk M’lady,” Captain Benton advised quietly. They were in her private rooms and the captain was clearly uncomfortable with the situation. His eyes darted about nervously before landing on the large, luxurious bed that dominated the room. He coughed once and then his eyes started their restless wanderings once more. It didn’t help matters that the queen greeted him in little more than a nightshift and a shawl, her large, milk heavy breasts straining against the thin fabric.
“Greater than leaving the decision up to Captain Hothgaard?” She asked. “He could choose either way…will probably choose Prince Nigel, after all he is a man now whatever his passions.”
Benton glanced around nervously once more, keeping his eyes anywhere but on the breasts of his young beautiful charge. He was in fact in love with Audra, and had been for several years now despite the fact that she was ten years his junior. But he knew his place and would air none of his feelings or act in any way that was inappropriate.
“Without your help I will lose everything,” Audra pleaded and walked over to her Captain. She placed a small hand on his arm and gazed up at him with helplessness, keeping close and accentuating her small size. She knew that men were still taken by her beauty despite her pregnancy, and were often moved to protect and guard her because of her delicate nature.
“But to kill the Prince and his sister, M’lady,” Benton argued, not reticent about the killing, he just wanted to avoid any danger to his young Queen. Killing royalty was always a messy business.
“I know but it can’t be helped,” Audra insisted, pouting slightly. “If we don’t act quickly, I’m sure Nigel and the Knights will move against me. If you will not help me I will have to turn to Sinis.”
Benton’s eyes went wide and Audra knew instantly she had him. She had no intention of turning to the Executioners; they were far too dangerous and unpredictable. They were just as likely to kill her as her targets, especially once they got wind of Caiman’s death.
“No M’lady, you need not go to Sinis,” Benton replied, resigned now to the course of action. “I will see to it.”
Audra beamed up at the man and then stood on the very tips of her toes and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. Her touch burned his skin with pleasure.
“I knew I could count on you,” Audra said happily, “but it must be quick, before word of Caiman’s death spreads.
“Yes, M’lady,” Benton agreed and at that moment he would have done anything the young girl asked. “It will be quick.”
And it was. That very night, Prince Nigel fell drunkenly to his death from his fifth floor balcony. Three days after his funeral a distraught Princess Anya was found drowned, floating face down in the harbor, her body partially eaten by the salt water fish she so loved.
XVII
Captain Gaston and Traveler na Gall pulled off the path and into the tree line so that they would be out of the way of the passing column as she worked. They were nearing the location where they would spring their ambush once the Knights engaged the Massi army on the open fields below.
But na Gall barely entered her trance when suddenly she was out again and looking at Captain Gaston with wild eyes.
“They’re here…now!” She screamed. “We must get out…go back!”
Gaston sat stunned for only the briefest moment. “Back!” He yelled. “Back now,” he repeated and horses and men around him stopped. Cries also came from the rear though at this distance they were unintelligible, but if there was shouting the reason could not be good. The men around him were slowly turning, but the road was narrow and lined thickly with trees making reversing direction a challenge for a large body of horses and men. They managed to get the majority of the horses in their immediate area turned about and heading south before more warning cries echoed through the trees, and then the Knights were storming down the hills toward them. Luckily, the same thick tree line that impeded their turning also obstructed the charge of the Temple Knights, slowing their attack and allowing the Massi cavalry to set themselves.
“On the left!” Gaston yelled and the three hundred or so men around him began to line up along the road, presenting a solid front to the approaching enemy. The Captain turned to na Gall, “ride south…now. Try to get out of the woods…if you can Travel do it!” He added and then turned away and didn’t give her another thought.
na Gall spurred her horse to a fast trot along the right side of the road but only made it a hundred yards or so before the two forces smashed into one another and all was chaos. Directly in front of her, a group of Knights crashed through the wall of Massi, their lances dripping with fresh blood and gore. She pulled to a stop as several Temple Knights turned her way, but thankfully they ignored her and charged after soldiers who were bearing weapons. As the seconds past, more and more Knights burst through the lines of the Massi and na Gall feared the worst. Even so, throughout the opening minutes of the fighting, Knights continued to pass her by, almost as if she were a projection. na Gall slowly, painfully made her way through the carnage, riding to the south, but then in a relatively quiet spot a couple of Knights turned and charged directly for her, their kali drawn. They were only twenty yards away and already moving quickly at her before she became aware of the danger. Her heart jumped in her chest, as she struggled to turn her horse off the road. Without looking back she rode out slowly into the thick woods. The hillside was steep and the trunks of the trees were so close together that she could do little more than coax her horse into a fast walk. She spurred hard and the horse bucked a little but then galloped forward a few paces just as a kali flew past. The weapon missed her head by inches and then slammed into a tree before falling to the ground.