Chapter 11

“Out of the way, boy, if you please!” Jeed commanded with irritation.

“I beg your pardon, Sire,” the boy said meekly, crushing a frayed cap between his hands, “But there’s something I’ve got to tell you.”

“I have no time for idle talk, my son. We’re on the verge of a battle.” Jeed pushed past the boy and continued his hurried stride. “You know the order – to the Armory with you.”

Undaunted, the boy trotted after Jeed, “Yes Sire, of course Sire. I will go, but first I’ve got to tell you. Because if there’s a traitor, well then, you’ve got to know.”

Jeed stopped abruptly, turning to face the boy with interest. “What was that again?”

***

Archen took the sword and shield the unit commander held out to him. They were weak, ill-made instruments, but Archen didn’t notice it. His heart was tightened like a coil about to spring, every muscle and nerve on high alert. It was an odd, familiar feeling, this rushing of blood through his head, this single consuming focus: Find the enemy and destroy it.

“You there!” Something slipped and clicked out of place. Archen looked up, displaced. For half a lightening moment, he did not know who, or where, he was. “Yes, you there!” The commander motioned to him, “You are wanted in the palace. Go with the doctor here, he’ll escort you.”

***

The terrible ranks of Ty’Goth grew steadily nearer. Five hundred yards. Four hundred yards. The glint of steel flashed as every beast drew his sword and every yellow eye gleamed with the hunger to kill. Three hundred yards. The archers on the wall drew back their bows and held their breaths. Two hundred yards from the Royal city, the creatures broke into a run.

***

“Yes, Sire, and that’s what I wondered, too,” the stableboy flushed under the governor’s stare and looked at his feet. “I know it isn’t a crime, strictly speaking, to be outside the city walls. I was myself, you know. We all were, but it wasn’t just then. It was after that, when I went back to get the King’s standard. Didn’t seem right to leave it on the ground, but they’d all forgotten it with the excitement of—“

“What are you talking about, son?”

The stableboy was flustered. “Behind the tree, he was hiding behind the tree. You know the big old oak out there? He was hiding on the other side of it, but when I went back for the flag he slipped around the side and I saw him, not a stone’s throw away.”

Jeed bent down and grabbed the boy’s shoulders with both hands. “Saw who?”