Forever Knight (The Champion Chronicles Book 3) (21 page)

“We are soldiers,” Peter said.  “We can handle ourselves.”

“Very well.  Listen carefully.”

Chapter Fourteen

Captain Janari had the sails pulled down to keep the stiff winter wind from pushing the boat into the rocks at the base of the cliff.  Ten of his crew manned the oars below the main deck to help keep it on course.  Typically, they called out their cadence in tune with one of their old folk songs, but they were too close to the castle and their voices would easily be heard from someone standing atop the cliffs.  Instead, they simply hummed the beat, pushing the oars into and out of the water in synchronous rhythm.

Conner stood at the bow, his eyes searching the shadows at the base of the cliff where the water crashed into it.  The castle was directly above them, lit up with more torches than he had ever seen before.  Somewhere in that shadow was the cave entrance that he had been forced to use on one occasion.  But that had been in the middle of summer when the water was not icy cold.

“The castle,” Hargon said from behind him.  “It is a pretty sight.”

The sun was on the verge of falling below the horizon, allowing just enough light to see, but nighttime was clearly right around the corner.  There were candles in each of the windows as well as torches mounted across the top of the castle walls.  Conner had never seen the castle lit up in such a way and wondered what the special occasion was.

His heart was aflutter with excitement at being back in his home kingdom.  Although it had only been a few months that he was gone, it seemed like it was so much longer.  So many things had happened to him, and to others.  Goshin’s death hurt a lot.  He had been such a good friend along with being a father-like figure who knew how to push him to his limits.  He missed Marik as well.  The knight ranger had been one of the few people that had befriended him and always had treated him as an equal.

But of course, he missed Elissa the most.  Although he was no longer that innocent, smitten boy, he still thought of her often and would like to see her once again.  Maybe once the Ark was safe and hidden, he would return to Karmon and see her.  He would like that, to see her again.  But until then, he would have to keep his thoughts focused on his mission and not on her.

“This is where we part ways,” Glaerion said, breaking the silence that had hung over them for some time.

“You’re not coming with?” Conner asked.

“We are.  You and me.  Hargon will stay with Captain Janari.  He will take the boat up river and wait for us there.  The crew will do their best to hide their appearance, but we are not familiar with the culture and customs of these people.  Someone will need to stay back and interact with your people.”

“Me?” Hargon asked.  “If you recall, I was the emperor of the greatest nation on earth until just recently.  I would not call myself an expert on Karmon customs.”

“Elves and men haven’t interacted in five thousand years,” Glaerion countered sharply.  “You think one of them could do it?  Conner needs to be with me as he knows that castle.  That makes you the odd man out.”

Captain Janari joined the group.  “My men are holding position, but they are wearing out.  Whatever you are going to do, it must be done now.”

Conner glanced over the deck railing and into the deep blue water.  “The water is very cold, and we are still far away from land.”

“You thought we were going to swim?” Glaerion said with a shake of his head.  “We will have to use the small rowboat.”

“What about that trick you did back at Iseron?” Conner asked.

“First, it was not a trick,” Glaerion said.  “It is magic.  Secondly, magic is a tool of last resort, not of convenience.  That is the one difference between men and elves.  Men are always looking for the easy way out.  Casually casting magic about might also let anyone else nearby know that there is a spellcaster around.  If this man-wizard is around, and he senses the casting of a spell, he will be on alert.  I want to catch him completely by surprise.”

Captain Janari watched as waves crashed against the rocks.  They were not the big crushing waves that would be seen after a storm, but there was still great force to the waves as they hit upon the rocks.  “There are many rocks and not much of a place to land.”

“I don’t really anticipate landing the boat,” Glaerion said.  “We’ll row it as far as we can and then we’ll have to swim the rest of the way in.”

“Are you serious?” Hargon asked.  “One strong wave will crack your head open on one of those rocks, and then this whole thing is for naught!”

“Is there any other choice?” Glaerion asked.  “We’ve spent the last day debating it to no end.  We can’t risk Conner being recognized coming in through the main gate.  Even if we docked, we can’t risk him being seen.  This whole plan relies on us getting into and out of the castle in secret.”

“This is the one place where there are no guards,” Conner said.  “Even those that walk the wall never look down here.  No one remembers that there is a cave here.  Plus, who would be crazy enough to try and do what we are doing?”

“Exactly,” Hargon said.  “Crazy.  I’m just glad it’s not me.”

“If we fail, it will be up to you,” Glaerion said.

“Not me!” Hargon exclaimed.  “If something happens to you, I’m heading out of here.  I’ll take my chances with the northern barbarians.”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” the elf said.  “Captain Janari, if anything does happen, you must sail immediately for the homeland.  We must be prepared if the Ark falls into the hands of Tarcious or the Deceiver.”

Janari nodded his head.  “Yes, of course.  We will do whatever is necessary.”

Using ropes tied to the front of the rowboat, two sailors on the top deck pulled it through the water from the rear of the boat to the bow.  They held firmly onto the ropes while Conner and Glaerion said their farewells.  Then, without another word, Glaerion jumped gracefully over the deck railing and landed directly in the center of the boat.  It rocked a little bit, but he held his balance.  A rope ladder was tied to the railing and dropped into the boat for Conner to use to climb down.

Conner held out his hand to Hargon.  “Thank you,” he said.

The former emperor took it and shook firmly.  “Okay, for what?”

“You did save my life.”

“Oh, yeah.  Now go save the world.”

Conner gave Hargon a quick smile before he descended the rope ladder.  Glaerion handed him an oar as soon as he dropped into the boat.  He used his own to push their small rowboat away from the larger vessel.  As soon as they did, Captain Janari had his sailors quickly raise the sails.  Within moment, they bloomed out full from the wind, taking the ship away quickly.

Their small rowboat rocked in the waves, sending Conner falling onto his knees.

“Take the bow, I’ll stay aft,” Glaerion said.

“What?”

“You go to the front.  I’ll stay back here.  We won’t be able to do much rowing as the waves will take us right to the cliff.  We just need to steer away from the large rocks and get as close as we can.”

Conner glanced quickly up, remembering the last time that he was in the water going into the cave.  Royal Guards were shooting arrows at him.  Not only was he lucky to not have been shot, he had been lucky to not hit his head on a rock when he jumped in from the top of the cliff.  Today, there were no guards in view.  However, that didn’t mean they weren’t there.  It just meant that he couldn’t see them.  But then again, if they were there, and they had been seen, arrows would already have been raining down upon them.

The waves knocked the rowboat around pretty good, but elves had constructed the boat as well as a boat could be built and it held up much longer than Conner would have expected.  They did an admirable job of guiding the rowboat away from the largest of the rocks, but in the end, the waves were too strong and their oars just couldn’t steer them away fast enough.  As they neared the base of the cliff, the boat rose and dipped with the waves.  They were bearing down upon a large rock and the boat was not moving away from it; it was heading right for it.  Conner tried to anticipate when the boat would come down, so he could try and use his oar to steer them away from the rock.  But he wasn’t strong enough.  The strongest man in the world wouldn’t have been strong enough to steer the boat away.

The front center of the boat crashed right down upon the rock, splintering the bottom of the boat.  Instantly water exploded through and the boat was lost.  Conner leapt forward towards the cliff, hoping he could get close enough to touch the rocky bottom.  But he landed in water deep enough that he couldn’t touch his feet on the bottom.

The cold water shocked him and he let out a shout, which surprised him.  He kicked his legs and paddled his arms furiously as the water rose and lifted him towards the rocky beach.  He rode the waves between two large rocks, but he was close enough to touch one.  He put his feet on the rock as he passed and kicked as hard as he could.  He propelled himself far enough away that when the water pulled him under, his feet were on rocky ground.  With another kick, he pushed off the bottom and propelled himself farther through the water.  As soon as he reached waist-high water, he let out the air he had held in and started to breathe again.

***

“It is them,” Sergeant Farrus declared.  “I am sure of it.”

The captain of the merchant trader ship let out a grunt of uncertainty.  “I don’t know.  That boat is small and rides low in the water.  It looks more like a fishing boat that would stay close to shore, hardly the type to be out in the seas in winter.”

“I was there,” Farrus said.  “That is the same boat I saw leaving Iseron.”

The captain turned and looked at the centurion who had commandeered his vessel, wondering if he was truly as crazy as he seemed.  He was a grizzled navy man, having served in the Taran Navy for many years before settling down to the docile life of a merchant trader.  In his time in the navy, he had met and dealt with many centurions, and he did not have a favorable view of them.  Soldiers always acted first, usually with the sharp tip of their sword.  This centurion, who wore the mark of a sergeant on his surcoat, did nothing to change his mind.

Farrus squinted, trying to force his eyes to focus on the figures moving about the deck of the boat.  “I cannot see any of them.  They are still too far off.”

“A mile, at least,” the captain said.  He handed an expanding looking glass to the centurion.

Farrus took it and looked at it as if it were the strangest thing he had ever held.

“It is a looking glass,” the captain said with a laugh.  “You pull it apart like this.  And then look through the small end.”

Farrus lifted it up to eyes, but instantly pulled it away.  He had pointed it at the castle that sat atop the cliff and was startled when the entirety of the stone structure filled his vision.  “What is this magic?”

“Magic!” the captain laughed.  “There is no magic.  The glass is a special glass that makes things far away easier to see.”

Farrus put the looking glass back up to eye.  Now knowing what to expect, the sight that he saw through the looking glass no longer startled him.  He moved it around until he found the boat, but the movement of their own ship made it difficult to see anything for more than a brief second.  He handed it back to the captain.

“I cannot hold it still enough to see anyone.  I cannot see them onboard.”

The captain held it up to his eyes, and expertly moved the looking glass up and down with the rock of the boat.  “There are at least ten sailors.  All tall and thin.  There is an odd one, though, who is just standing at the deck.  Long, gray hair.  Big bushy beard.”

“That would be one of them,” Farrus said.  “Any others.”

The captain pulled the looking glass back down and said, “They are raising their sails and heading out.  Whatever they were doing, they are now done.”

He put the looking glass back up to his eyes and instead of following the boat, he kept it on the cliff face where the boat had just been.  Movement caught his eye, but as soon as was able to focus his eyes on where the movement came from, he could no longer see anything.

“I think they dropped off someone.  I am sure I saw movement along the cliff face.”

“A secret back entrance into the castle.  I am sure of it!  Surely then, they are spies from Karmon, returning in secret to their castle.  They committed an act of war against the empire.  Karmon will pay for this.”

The captain said nothing, hoping to stay out of any such conflict.  He had spent most of his life on the sea in one conflict after another.  He was happy to not have to ever get into another battle again.  Plus, much of his trading was with Karmon merchants.  The last thing he wanted to do was to cut off the hand that was feeding him.

“We must follow whoever they dropped off!” Farrus said, pointing at the cliffs ahead of them.

“It would be some time before we would even get to the cliffs.  Maybe half an hour with this wind.”  The captain lifted the looking glass back up to his eyes and continued.  “There are many rocks at the base of the cliff.  I could never get close enough to drop you off.”

“They did,” Farrus argued.

The captain shook his head.  “I will not risk my ship.”

“Karmon spies slaughtered seventeen of my men!” Farrus replied, trying to hold back his anger.  “We will chase them down and I will have my vengeance.”