CHAPTER 20: "Losing Allies"

SIR GALEN

The night chilled the castle. The onset of autumn was upon Nightingshire. Sir Galen felt it as he walked across the bailey to the Great Hall where his services had been requested. The Lord needed counsel.

A Sister stood by the door conversing with the guard. Sir Galen knew seduction when he saw it though, and was not as fooled as the guard when the Sister shot him a glance.

"I am here to see the Lord," Sir Galen said dryly.

"Of course, Sir Galen," the guard at the door said. He tucked his spear to his chest and moved aside from the door.

Sir Galen, grip tight on the hilt of his longsword, brushed past the Sister who seemed to be putting in a little more shoulder than she might accidentally. She stared him deep in the eyes. He gave her a most distasteful scowl. Sir Galen did not know this Sister, but the one who spied for him had much of the same scorn.

"Beware, Sister," he warned her, jerking his nose towards his blade. "For swords are dangerous."

"Aye, Sir Galen," she teased with a wink. "You as well, for 'your enemies are the kind who find you in the dark and slit your throat.'"

Using Sir Galen's own words to the Prince against him, the Woman In Blue departed down the hall and out to the bailey. The knight tried to ignore the chill that she gave him. Just how far do their tentacles reach? he wondered.

He entered the Great Hall and slammed the door behind him. When he entered, Lord Gerard wore an inquisitive face.

"What is this slamming of doors now?" he asked from the throne. He held his crown in his hands, as if it were too heavy for him. Sir Galen wondered if this might be the moment that the weakling finally relinquished it.

The knight did not care to answer the question. "You summoned me, my Lord?"

Gerard eyed him a moment, then nodded. "This duty. I would not wish upon my enemies, Sir Galen."

Then I'll take your crown, you worthless oaf, Sir Galen thought to himself. Relinquish it to a man worthy. But he asked the Lord, "What weighs heavy on you?"

"Sir Oliver's boy," Gerard said. "Jason. He crippled a farmer's boy."

Sir Galen's spy had already informed him of this. "Such awful news," he told the Lord. "Are you going to punish the squire?"

Lord Gerard shook his head. "I cannot. Not even if I would like to. The boy is, by law, to be judged by the Order alone."

"Forgive me for correcting you, my Lord," Sir Galen said, "but the law only abides for knights of the Order. Jason is merely a squire, and therefore, our responsibility to execute."

"Execute?" the Lord gasped, and he let it ring through his mind a moment.

Yes, execute. Sir Galen thought. One less friend with a sword to guard the Prince. If it was true that Jason did indeed cripple the farmer's boy by hurdling him into a tree, then the girl in disguise would be a more formidable guardian to the Prince than Sir Galen had previously thought.

"We cannot let our people suffer," Sir Galen warned the Lord. "No more than they have. No more than they are."

Lord Gerard did not like this answer, but had an air of "you are right" about him. He addressed Sir Galen, "The boy can be punished, but not now. They will be returning soon. And we need Sir Oliver and Jason on task if the dragon is to die."

"We may ask the Order for another knight to slay the dragon," Sir Galen suggested. "Sir Oliver has failed thus far. We--"

"Enough," the Lord cut him off.

"My lord," Sir Galen beckoned.

"Enough!" Lord Gerard exclaimed. Sir Galen could not be sure, but thought this might be the Lord of Nightingshire with a spine. "I will not condemn the boy to die. But he shall be disciplined. When he returns, you will train the boy, like you've trained my son. Hard. Strong. But moral. Sir Oliver has clearly failed at this."

"Failed at many things, my Lord," Sir Galen reiterated. "You have heard my counsel and ignored it. If that is all, my Lord."

Lord Gerard sighed as the knight walked out the door. "Forgive me, Sir Galen. Your wisdom is ever valued."

Sir Galen silently closed the door behind him.

///

Sir Galen came into the crypt to rendezvous with his spy. Though normally Sir Galen arrived before the spy, a short figure in a hooded cloak stood in the moonlit hall near the south end of the crypt, waiting for him.

"I did not expect to receive a message from you," Galen told the spy. "Nor did I expect to see you. You've talked only in shadow. What has changed?"

"Everything," the spy responded. "No more."

"No more?" Sir Galen asked. "No more? I did not expect a report. The girl is away--"

"No more," the spy repeated. "I will speak to you no more. I will no longer report for you. You can find yourself another fly on the wall."

The short, hooded man began to walk away from the crypt.

"The legs of a child," Sir Galen began, "but the voice of a man. The Prince did tell me that the girl was spending a lot of time with a dwarf. An actor, yes?"

The short man stopped in his tracks, paralyzed by Sir Galen's words. He turned to Sir Galen and corrected him. "A thespian."

"Bard, is it?" Sir Galen asked.

Bard did not respond.

"Yes, the Prince did mention a 'Bard,' unless that's the orc. Tell me, dwarf, how much coin do the patrons of Nightingshire pay to see your account of the dragon's desolation? Does it house you? Does it give you bread? Does it give you coin, as I do?"

Sir Galen tried to hide his frustration with confidence, but it was failing him. He asked Bard, "Is the girl worth it? Is she worth poverty?"

Bard walked slowly towards Sir Galen, so close that his big eyes glimmered in the torchlight. The dwarf told him, "She is. No more." As he turned, he informed Sir Galen, "And I am no dwarf."

And like that, Bard was gone, leaving Sir Galen down a man and seething.

He choked the hilt of his blade in his hand. Fumed, he released his grip on the sword, remembering that it was his only ally left.