Knight Fall (The Champion Chronicles Book 1) (34 page)

“You should not have come,” Marik said.

“The princess needs me,” Conner said.

“She is to be married.  Once married, there will be no use for a champion.  The reason that you were around was to serve as her protector when she needed.  To stand in for her when attacked.  But with a husband, you won’t be needed.”

The realization stunned Conner.  “What will I do?”

Marik put a hand on his shoulder and the friendly smile came back.  “I can get you assigned to the Royal Guard.  Or you can return to your home.”

Conner shook his head.  “I don’t want to go back home.”  He looked at the closed doors that lead to her chamber.  “There is nothing for me there.  Only here.”

“Conner,” Marik said with a sigh.  “I know how you feel about her, but you need to understand that she must move on.  The kingdom needs this.  Without it, the alliance with Taran will fall apart.”

“Alliance?”

“It seems that among the things that Neffenmark did, he brokered an alliance with Taran.  And it is only in place if Neffenmark has the crown.”

“What are we going to do?” Conner asked.

“We are going to do nothing,” Marik said.  “There isn’t anything we can do.  Until Sir Brace can return to bring the knights together…”  Conner’s eyes dropped and Marik picked up the meaning and simply nodded his head.  “He won’t be coming back.”

“No.”

“Okay,” Marik said.  “But we will figure something out.  But not today.  Not tomorrow.  Soon.  We need to gather our strength before we can figure out how to get Neffenmark off the throne.”

“Can I see her?” Conner asked.

Marik looked at the doors and let a long sigh out.  “If anyone finds out, it could be my head.  You were supposed to be detained on sight.  If Neffenmark gets word…I could be in serious trouble.”

Conner smiled.  “I’ll be quiet.”

Marik nodded to the doors.  “Her chamber.  Her attendants are there.  They won’t tell anyone.  Just be quick about it.”

Conner sprinted through the doors and took the stairs three at a time.  It was farther up than he thought imaginable.  By the time he reached the top landing, he was out of breath.  Without thinking, he burst into the room.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him in shock and fear.  Princess Elissa, surrounded by a number of attendants, was in the process of having her dress fastened.  Her face, framed by her golden hair was all he could see.  To him, there was nothing else in the room.  Her eyes, frozen open, went from surprise, to fear, to joy, to tears.  The attendants, used to surprises happening around the royal family, quickly went back to work trying to finish getting the princess’ dress on.  Instead, she shooed them away.  She stepped forward in her dress, only partially fastened.

Conner was speechless.  In all the time that he had running up the stairs, he did not think about this moment.  He did not think about what he might say.  He was only focused on seeing the princess.  And now that he was here, he did not know what to do.

The princess took another step forward, tears forming in the corner of her eyes.  “Conner.  You are alive.  I feared…” Her voice cracked and she could say no more.

“I don’t know what to say,” Conner said.

She took a deep breath and said, “You do not need to say anything.  I am to be queen.  The kingdom will be safe.”  She said the words as if she were trying to convince herself of their truth.

“I am sorry,” Conner said, trying to stifle his emotions.

“For what?” she asked.

“I could not save your father,” He answered.  “I am sorry.”

The tears began to flow, but her voice did not waver this time.  “I know.  I heard.  Sir Marik told me all about it.  You are my hero, Conner.  I don’t know how to thank you.  But it is me that is sorry.  I am sorry because I cannot be there for you.  You have always been there for me, but I cannot be there for you.  I have a duty to this kingdom.  To my people.  I have to make sure they not only survive this, but thrive.  My father started a legacy of peace and prosperity.  I have to continue to do that.  And it can’t be done if Lord Neffenmark is alone in charge.  Or if the Tarans invade us.  I have to be ready to do anything for this kingdom, and this … this wedding is it.”

Conner shook his head.  “I cannot let this happen.  Neffenmark is evil.  He is a traitor.”

“I know,” Elissa said, her eyes dropping to the floor.  “Sir Marik has told me everything.  About Sir Brace.  About my father.  About you.”

“I will kill him,” Conner said, anger starting to boil inside of him.

“No!” she replied sharply.  “You cannot!  We must play this out.  We must keep peace with Taran.  Whatever arrangement he has, it will be bad for us if he is killed.  They will attack us.  Not just attack us, invade us.  We will no longer be Karmon.  We will just be a part of Taran.”

She moved closer until they were inches apart.  She rested a hand on his chest and looked directly into his eyes.  She took his right hand and set it right over her heart.  Her skin was incredibly soft and warm.  Tingling rocketed through his entire body.  “I want you to understand very clearly what I have to say.”  She took a deep breath.  “I love you.  I love you with everything that I have.  You and you alone have my heart.  I will never, ever give it to anyone else.  No matter what happens.  No matter what you see, what you hear.” 

Conner dropped his chin and closed his eyes, pressing the tears away.

She grabbed his chin and pushed it up and looked into his eyes.  “Hear me.  No matter what I say.  No matter the words that come out of my mouth, you and you alone have my heart.  I need you to understand that.  Forever and always, my heart is yours.  No one else’s.”  And then the tears flowed and the sobs started.

He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, letting her cry and sob as long as she wanted.

Chapter Twenty Seven

Goshin rubbed his eyes.  It took all his concentration and a tremendous amount of effort to read the language of his ancestors.  Not only were the words different, but the letters were different as well.  He had to translate each word individually, and then reread each phrase and sentence to understand its meaning. Many times he was only guessing at the translation, so the meaning that he derived did not make sense.  That would then force him to spend as much as another whole day to retranslate the text.  It was a frustratingly slow process, but one that held so much importance, he did not care how long it took.

There was a knock on the door just before it swung open.  He had expected the scholar Rardus, but instead, it was a younger man.

“Are you Goshin?” the man asked softly, but with a shaky voice.

“Yes,” Goshin replied.  The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.  The sense of danger that had always kept him alive was screaming at him.  He looked around at the scrolls and ancient papers scattered about on the table in front of him.  He wished he could cover it all up, to hide what he was researching, but there would be no time.

The man pulled his head back from the doorway and a moment later, someone else stood there.  He was a tall man in a black cloak pulled tightly around his body.

“Yes?” Goshin asked after waiting for the man to say something.

The man’s eyes narrowed.  “Is that how you address one such as me?”

“I do not know who you are,” Goshin said.  His eyes now glanced around the room for something to use as a weapon.

“Of course,” the man said with a chuckle.  “You are a foreigner.  How would you know that I am the second most powerful man in the world?”

“You are the son of God?” Goshin asked.  Prince Tarcious’ lips turned into a sneer.  “You mock me when you should be bowing to your knees?”

“I am Hurai.  I do not mock.  I speak only truth.”

“The truth may get you killed.”

“Then it shall.  I am not afraid of death.”

“You may not be afraid of death, but you should be afraid of how you die.”

“I fear only my God,” Goshin said.  “Not you, Prince Tarcious.”

“Then you know who I am.”

“Yes, I do now.”

“And yet, you do not bow.  I could have you flogged.  Or even executed.”

“Like I said, I am unafraid of death.”

“Of course not,” Prince Tarcious said.  “Why would anyone such as you fear death?  For what comes after death is so much better than what you have here on earth.  I just wonder why you don’t take your own life to experience the afterlife.”

Goshin raised an eyebrow.  “My God has provided a plan for me.  When the plan has reached its course, then I shall see him in heaven.  Until then, it is for me to live my life in a way that serves him.”

Prince Tarcious stepped into the room and closed the door.  “Of course.  I would not expect any different answer.”

“Why are you here?” Goshin asked sharply.

Prince Tarcious replied, “You are direct.  No fear.  Direct.  I like that in a man.”

“I am old,” Goshin said.  “I do not have time to wait for chit-chat.”

“You are busy here.  Researching, I presume.  Manuscripts and documents from the past, I see.  They are old and frail.  From a time long since passed.”  Prince Tarcious walked forward to look more closely at the documents scattered about the table.  “I had no idea our library contained such blasphemous works.”

“They are historical,” Goshin retorted.  “You cannot hide from history.”

“Yes I can,” Prince Tarcious said.  “The documents that you are researching are from an age that no longer exists.  The documents should no longer exist.  If I had known, they would have been destroyed a long time ago.”

“They hold something that you are afraid of?” Goshin asked.

Prince Tarcious slammed his fists on the table and leaned towards Goshin.  His eyes grew wide and the pupils appeared to flash a bright orange.  “It is you who will be afraid before this conversation is done.”

“As I said, I am not afraid of you,” Goshin said.  “You are here to find out what I am doing and to stop me.  You can stop me.  That is fine.  But what you cannot stop is what God has planned.  And that is why you are here, because you do not know what God has planned.  And you expect me to tell you.”

“Of course,” Prince Tarcious said.

“And I will,” Goshin said.  “My research is not fully complete, but I have a pretty good understanding of what the plans of God are.  He had placed clues throughout the ages.  Prophets who carried his message kept those clues alive.  Just the fact that you did not know about this room, about these documents, proves that God is certainly more powerful than your little empire.  He hid all this from you.  He left it for me to find.”

“It will do you no good, however,” Prince Tarcious said.  “What you learned, what you have read.  These documents will not last the day.  They will be burned out of existence.  And so will you.  You will not survive the day.  How does that sound?”

“I have served my God faithfully,” Goshin said.  “I will happily return to his kingdom and serve him in the afterlife.”

Prince Tarcious looked over the old man carefully.  After a few silent moments, he said, “So you come here, learn what you learn, and you do not care that it was all in vain?  That no one will ever hear of what you have learned.”

“If it is God’s will,” Goshin.  “Or do you not believe in God?”

The smile crept back onto Prince Tarcious face.  “Of course I believe in God.  How could I not.  Oh, does that surprise you?  That I believe in God?  In your God and not the gods of my people?  The gods of my people are stories to tell little boys and girls to frighten them into behaving.  It keeps them believing in something, gives them a false hope that I can easily pull away from them when it no longer suits me.  Even my brother, great Emperor Hargon believes in all those gods. But like you, I know the truth.”

“Your truth and my truth do not seem to be the same.”

Prince Tarcious pointed a finger at Goshin.  “They are.  Well, they are almost the same.” 

“You believe in God, but you do not serve Him.  You serve the Deceiver.”

Laughter burst from the prince.  “Deceiver!  That is what I could call your God, for he deceives you into thinking that he is the ultimate being, the creator of all the universe, the savior of humanity.  I serve the Adversary.  The one who opposes your God.  Your God, who treats his people as slaves and commands that you do his bidding.  The Adversary demands fealty, as a king or emperor demands it of his people, but the Adversary does not command his people to be slaves.”

“I willingly serve my God,” Goshin said.  “He does not ask me to be his slave.  The Deceiver has tricked you into following him.  The only truth is from God.  And only he can save your soul.”

“And that is where you are so wrong, and that is why I am here.  For the Adversary has put it upon me to bring his message to the people of earth.  He will come here to serve as lord and master to the people of earth, and I will be there to administer his justice.”

“He will only bring death and destruction,” Goshin said.  He looked at the documents on the table and on the dusty shelves.  With a wave of his hand, he continued, “As it is written throughout history and in the documents here, the Deceiver has only one desire, and that is the death of anything good and just.  He wishes to conquer and destroy.  Despite what you say, it is the Deceiver who desires slaves.  He will not have any followers, for no one would ever follow him.  Humanity will reject him and defeat him.  It would only be through the destruction of earth and the enslavement of humanity that he will reign.  But that will not happen. As the prophecies clearly state, he will oppose two forces that will join to defeat him.  The sign has already been given and it is only time before the prophesy is carried out.”

“The star in the sky is the sign.”

“Of course it is,” Goshin said.  “You did not know?”

“Just confirming.”

“Your Deceiver did not reveal this to you?” Goshin asked dryly.

“The Adversary,” Prince Tarcious said sharply.  “Only reveals that which he wishes for me to know.  Just like your God.  He does not tell you everything, does he?  Or why would you be spending day upon day here in the library reading texts that are thousands of years old?  And like your God, who uses different people for different things, has used you to reveal to me their plans.”

“I have told you nothing, other than to confirm that the star in the sky, the one that never moves, and burns brightly through the night, is a sign from God.”

“You have told me about the two forces that will attempt to oppose the Adversary,” Prince Tarcious said.  “Now you will tell me details about them.”

“I know no details,” Goshin replied.  “Only that there will be two forces.”

“Then you will die a horrible death,” Prince Tarcious said.

“Like I said before, I am prepared for death.”

“You are not prepared for the death that I will give you.  It will not be quick or painless.  It will last for days.  Maybe weeks.  You will be begging me to end it quickly.  And I will only do so when you have provided me the information I desire.”

Prince Tarcious backed away from the table and opened the door to the small chamber.  “Centurions.  Come.  Escort this old man to the dungeons.”

Goshin stood, allowing himself to be shackled with heavy irons.  He closed his eyes and reminded himself that God indeed had a plan for him and that he would have to trust Him.  With a slight tug, the centurions escorted him from the room.  As he passed by Prince Tarcious, Goshin picked up the slight scent of burnt skin.  The prince flashed Goshin a quick smile before his hands lit up in a ball of fire.  With a thrust of his hands, the prince cast the fireballs into the small room where all the paper lit up instantly.  The fireball exploded out of the room, sucking air from the corridor.  Prince Tarcious was in the center of the ball of fire, but he was not singed or felt any heat. 

Prince Tarcious locked eyes with Goshin and said, “The Adversary protects me.  Will your God protect you?”