An Exiled Knight's Tale
With a final thrust, Devion�s sword plunged deep into the heart of the dragon. It let out a final mighty roar, then fell heavily to the rocky ground, tearing the sword form the knight�s grip. A thin plume of smoke curled up from the dragon�s nostril.
Devion sat on the nearest rock, panting roughly. He pulled off his helmet and let it clatter to the ground. He glanced down at his ruined armor. An hour ago, it had been gleaming silver. Now it had a gash down the chest and was rather scorched. It had been all that had saved him from the dragon�s fury.
Devion reached back and undid the fasteners on the shoulders. He pulled his armor and shirt off and dropped them, reveling in the coolness of the spring breeze. It gently lifted his dark hair from his face and caressed his now bare shoulders. He winced as sweat trickled down his bare skin and stung the gash on his chest. He studied the wound that reached from his left shoulder across his chest and down his belly. It was slowly oozing blood, which ran down his stomach and stained the band of his pants.
Sighing, he looked back to the great beast he had felled. His sword was still sunk up to its hilt in the dragon�s chest. He made his way back to the dragon and climbed atop the huge corpse. He braced his feet and grasped the hilt of his long sword, and pulled. It came out with a sickening sucking noise, and sent Devion toppling. He rolled down the dragon�s sloped chest and landed on the ground on his hands and knees. His sword slid down after him. Its hilt landed on his hand.
Devion yelped, jumping to his feet and holding his hand to his chest. But as soon as his hand touched his chest, he yelped again in pain and had to fight back a string of curses. He clenched his teeth together and sheathed his sword, then went off to gather his armor and find his horse.
�Red!� Devion called affectionately to his horse. �Red, you coward! Where are you?�
The beautiful roan trotted around a large rock and into view. His ears were cocked forward and his large eyes inquisitive. Devion shook his head and went to his horse. He took a sack from his saddlebag and stuffed his mangled armor in it. Then he slung the bag over Red�s haunches and pulled shirt back on, then mounted.
The two rode off in search of a stream and a place to set up camp for several nights. Devion found what he was looking for several hours later. A large stream tumbled from a cliff high above his head, and plummeted into a pool nearly a hundred feet below at the base of the cliff. The two stopped at a clearing not far from the pool.
Devion unsaddled Red, the again shucked his shirt and accompanied his horse down to the stream. There, they both waded in up to their stomachs. Devion gently washed his wound, then struck out swimming. The stream�s water was clear and cool, refreshing after a hard day of dragon slaying and long hours of riding.
Half an hour later, Devion laid out on the sandy bank. The warm sun sent him drifting off to sleep quickly, in spite of his painful chest wound.
It was nearing dusk when Devion awoke. His horse was standing over him, snuffing curiously at his face. Devion laughed as Red�s whiskers tickled his forehead and nose. He pushed Red�s face away and stood.
�You just had to wake me up, didn�t you.�
Red neighed and began grazing contentedly.
�But of course you knew I needed to get up. I still have work to do.�
Devion hurriedly set about making camp. He gathered dry wood from the forest nearby and started a fire, then laid out his bedroll. Afterwards, he waded into the stream again and stood absolutely still, hands immersed in the water, several inches apart. He waited like that for nearly twenty minutes. Finally, a fish swam between his hands. He quickly closed his hands and flung the fish onto the shore. Laughing to himself, he waded back to the shore and began cooking the fish over his fire. While it was cooking, he filled several canteens with water from the stream. Then he ate, finishing the fish in several minutes, and wishing he had more. But he still had his wound to take care of. He washed his ruined shirt in the stream, the tore it into long strips, which he wrapped tightly around his torso.
When he was finally done tending his wounds, he laid down exhaustedly on his worn bed roll and dropped off into a troubled sleep.
Devion ran down the palace steps, parrying sword thrusts but not stopping to return them. He whistled, but Red didn�t come. In fact, Red was nowhere in sight. Desperately, Devion fought his way through the fray towards the outer edges of the courtyard. He had to find a horse fast. His message could not wait.
He spotted the horse he wanted and sprinted towards it, only to fall heavily to the ground when a sword sliced across his right thigh. A pair of booted feet appeared in front of his face, and his heart sank. The man in front of him squatted and grabbed Devion�s hair, wrenching his head back.
�Where is it?� Sir Zachary Hawthorne pulled out a dagger and put it to Devion�s throat. �Tell me now.�
Devion�s fear filled eyes flicked from Zachary�s face to the horse. There was no way he could reach the horse without getting himself killed. But if he must, he would gladly die for his king and queen.
�I�ll never give you what you want. You�ll have to kill me first.�
Sir Zachary smiled coldly. �That can be arranged. But, my dear brother, I would much rather disgrace you as you disgraced me so many years ago.�
He released Devion and called out into the mass of fighting bodies. �William, Richard!� Two burly men appeared almost instantly. �Take him to the hideout.� Then Zachary put a boot to the side of Devion�s head. Stars exploded behind his eyelids, and he plunged into unconsciousness.
Devion awoke with a start. He tried to shake his dream of the past from his head, but it would not leave him. The young knight looked up into the star filled sky. There was probably still four or five hours of darkness left before dawn. He propped himself up on his elbows, surveying the moonlit landscape. Several yards distant, Red was laid out in sound sleep. Every now and then, his ears would flick forward, toward Devion. Devion was flattered at his horse�s concern.
Shaking his head, he lowered himself and tried to forget his dream, but it would not leave him. Finally he again dropped off to an uneasy sleep.
A sharp slap in the face brought Devion to wakefulness. He tried to raise a hand to his face, but it was restrained. He glanced down at his hands. They were tied in front of his belly. His feet were tied and he was lying out on a long, wooden bench in a drafty cell. Standing over him was his brother. His wretched, traitorous brother.
A sudden thought struck him and he looked up frantically into his brother�s face. Zachary smiled and nodded, holding up a small package. �I have it, dear brother. And you don�t.� He pulled out his dagger and cut Devion�s bonds. He tucked the packet into his jacket and roughly pulled his brother to his feet.
�William,� the former knight said. �Will you please escort our guest to the door?�
The large man easily tossed Devion out of the small building and slammed the door shut behind him. Devion stumbled out into a small courtyard. It was walled on all four sides with archers windows in abundance.
And now those windows were filled. The twang of bows being released filled the air. As arrows began raining down, Devion bolted for the slightly ajar wooden door at the far end of the courtyard. He made it out with only several close shaves. But Devion knew that the purpose of the arrows had been a warning. �Leave and you�ll live. Try to get the package back, and we won�t hesitate to kill you.�
Devion snarled, then began a long hike back to the king�s castle that would take him the better of five days. Several times during those many days, he had to stop and change direction when he found that he was headed the wrong way. Once, he had to travel several miles down river to avoid a long stretch of rapids.
Finally, he reached one of the many villages surrounding the castle. It had not been more than twenty minutes before a royal guard came for him. But it was not the greeting he had expected. Instead, his hands were bound and he was put on a horse. The rope was secured to the saddle and the horse led by the guard.
�What is the meaning of this?� Devion asked with offense.
The guard looked at him and raised an eyebrow. �If I were you, I would not ask questions now. You are in more trouble than you can imagine.�
Dismay colored Devion�s face. �What have I done?�
Suddenly angry, the guard spurred his horse into motion. �I can see denial from a peasant, but not from one of the king�s knights. I advise you not to play innocent when you are brought before the king.�
Devion was too confused to retort. Instead he sat back and mulled over what the guard had just said. If he was correct in his understanding, they must think he had purposefully turned over the package to his brother. He couldn�t fathom why, though.
As they trotted towards the castle, a wind picked up. It fanned Devion�s tattered cape and the slit sleeve of his blue and gold blouse.
Slit sleeve? When had that happened? Devion looked down at his shoulder and was shocked by what he saw. On his shoulder was a complex marking. A blackened cross with an arrow had been burned onto his upper shoulder.
It was the mark of his brother�s band of cut-throats. No wonder he had been arrested. Zachary�s band had all once been in the service of the king, either as knights or guards. And they had all been somehow involved in a plot to overthrow the king. But they had been exposed by the loyal knights, Devion included. The conspirators had been exiled, but had never given up their quest to oust the king.
And it was during one of their raids that Devion had been captured.
�If I might ask,� Devion began carefully, �How long has it been since the last raid?�
The guard glanced back at the knight. �Ten days. You should have known that, traitor.�
Ten days! That meant Devion had been kept unconscious for nearly five days! He must have been drugged, for he didn�t remember waking during that time even once.
Devion looked up as they approached the castle gates. The guard called out to the sentry in the tower, and the gates were opened. The two rode through and were greeted by more guards on foot. They escorted the two into the palace courtyard, where Devion was freed from the saddle and shoved from his horse. His hands were still tied, so he could not break his fall. He landed hard on his shoulder, and knew it would ache for days�if he lived that long.
Again it was Red that wakened Devion. His impatient neighing finally roused the exiled knight. Devion ignored the horse for a moment, thinking back to what had happened that day. After he had been arrested and brought to the palace, he had been tried for treason. They had all the evidence they needed in the missing package he was supposed to have delivered to the king�s brother and in the marking burned onto his shoulder.
He had been condemned of treason and exiled for the rest of his life.
And now he was here, roaming from land to land, fighting dragons for amusement, and for money. A dragon�s claw or horn was worth a month�s food. But he was growing weary of the constant travel, and his body was beginning to ache more with every dragon he took down. He had a harder time recovering from the wounds inflicted by the great beasts.
Again Red�s neighing grabbed his attention. Devion glanced over at his horse. Red was standing at the foot of Devion�s bed roll, pawing the ground nervously. Devion followed his horse�s gaze to the base of the waterfall. At first, he saw nothing unusual. Then the flow of the water was interrupted as something began emerging. In a matter of seconds, the huge from of a dragon was standing in the duskiness of the early spring morning.