The Misadventures of Ka-Ron the Knight (29 page)

"Now, there's something you rarely see in this universe." Keeth said with wonder.

"What is that?" asked the elf.

"Honest and sincere forgiveness."

"Ahhh," the elf softly responded.

The moment was fleeting.

Ka-Ron's body shook violently. Letting go of the vampire, she pulled herself away with great horror flashing upon her face. Instinctively, the knight grabbed at her stomach. Her stomach, showing signs of violent movements, swelled to that of a woman at full term - eleven lunas.

"To the gods! What is happening to me?" Ka-Ron asked.

Molly turned a questioning gaze to that of the wizard. Keeth darted forward, almost knocking Rohan to the deck. Both the elf and dwarf looked on in awe.

"What manner of magic is this woman under?" Dorian asked, looking up at the elf for an answer.

Rohan had none. Still, from the corner of his eye, again, he saw Dorian staring at him in a manner he found quite uncomfortable. Rohan swallowed hard, but dared not glance in the dwarf's direction. He found the stare frightening and wanted to preserve the knowledge that he did notice it and wanted to play the ignorant victim.

"Ka-Ron, I believe that it is the time."

Ka-Ron glanced at Keeth with wide eyes. "So soon?"

Before the wizard could say or do anything, Ka-Ron's body quivered again, causing the knight to scream out in agony. On the deck, between the knight's legs, there now existed a puddle of water and blood.

The baby was coming whether Ka-Ron was ready or not.

"Yes," the wizard stated, trying his best to control his panic. "I think it's time."

"This isn't supposed to happen to me," Ka-Ron huffed, fighting back the pain. "I was a man once."

Keeth shrugged his shoulders, not really knowing what to say.

"Well, we learn by doing."

The wizard noticed a spot on the deck where Ka-Ron could lay down. He guided the woman over, having her prop herself against a barrel, which he tipped over onto its side. The knight started to sweat.

"Keeth," Ka-Ron said, screaming once more as another wave of pain hit her. "I have been trained to fight in combat, I have been train to be brave, but&"

"But what?"

Ka-Ron's eyes projected true and honest panic.

"I don't think that I can be a mother."

The wizard gazed down upon the knight's stomach. Her dress was ripped up to her pelvis, and as more water and blood came from her, he shook his head with utter helplessness.

"I don't think we have much room here for second thoughts, my dear."

Ka-Ron screamed again.

Molly had been left alone by the fire while the elf and dwarf were doing their best to see to their new friends. Rohan, at the bow, had been gathering up some loose sails, hoping that the wizard could use them as bedding, when he noticed the
Argo's
immediate surroundings.

Deep in the surrounding fog, there moved a mindless horde. With desperate hands reaching up towards the ship, and hollow eyes focusing on each member of the
Argo's
crew, twenty wraiths licked dried lips. They appeared to have once been members of the village. Of that, the elf was certain. The clothes on each undead body were native to Cibola.

"We appear to have company," the elf warned.

All took notice.

All except Ka-Ron and Keeth.

They were busy.

Dorian and Molly soon joined Rohan in his observation of the approaching group of men. The vampire shook with disgust.

"These are Count Voslow's men."

"Vampires?" the dwarf inquired.

"Yes," Molly agreed. Quite nervous, the woman started to rub her neck. "They are nothing but the mindless undead. Puppets. Voslow wishes to know our intentions."

"That's easy." Rohan said. "We wish to leave him alone."

"Sadly, elf, he will not leave you alone."

"Then, what are our options?" Dorian asked.

Molly looked down at the tiny dwarf. She softly smiled, admiring Dorian's attempt to peer over the ship's railing to gain a better view of what was happening. She prayed a silent prayer hoping the best for him.

"Options? We have none."

"Then it is a fight Voslow is seeking?" Rohan's eyes filled with concern.

"Yes."

Ka-Ron was heard screaming once more.

Ka-Ron's world had exploded into an everlasting war with pain - more pain than the knight had thought possible for a man to endure. Her whole world shrank to the next attack of pain.

"Remember to push gently, my dear."

"I am pushing! I am!"

Ka-Ron's focus became her feet. Straight up in the air, bobbing to and fro, with Keeth's smiling face between them. Occasionally, after the pain subdued, he gently rubbed her stomach. His hand seemed to probe her progress, and the knight thought she felt a subtle warmth coming from the aged hands.

"Remember the breathing method I instructed you to use," the wizard coached.

"Wizard, the pain is just so much."

"It is meant to be, my child. This is life being made. That never comes easy."

The knight gave out one final scream.

"Jatel!" Ka-Ron yelled, her face turning a healthy shade of frustrated red.

"Push!" the wizard ordered.

With incredible strength, Molly picked up a huge iron pot and placed it upon the fire. Rohan started adding more logs to the flames, hoping to quickly make the fire hotter and stronger.

"Hot tar?" Molly asked.

"Hot tar."

Dorian started pulling out a number of long arrows and adding cotton and wool to their tips.

"And lighted arrows, my dear." Dorian started to hum a simple tune. "We will have a grand time welcoming our new friends, hey, lass!"

Rohan shook his head.

The elf could not help but control himself from laughing.

On the ground, the danger got much closer. About half of the advancing undead started grabbing hold of the
Argo's
landing gear. The men snarled, howled, and slowly started to climb their way up the ship's hull.

"Rohan! We have company."

The undead invaders crawled up the hull of the ship, getting closer and closer to their goal. In the distance all on board could hear the advancement of dozens more. Count Voslow was going to do all he could to gain hold of his newest visitors.

"It's me." Molly suddenly realized. "Voslow is after me."

"Why would he worry so about you?" the elf asked. Rohan poured hot tar into buckets, placing them near the side of the ship.

"I escaped," Molly pointed out. "I have control of my mind. Most who turn into a vampire are mindless zombies, such as these attacking us. Intelligent vampires are quite rare."

"Then what are Voslow's intentions with you?" Rohan asked.

Before Molly could respond, Ka-Ron cried out in pain once more.

"I feel he wants of me that which your friend is performing as we speak."

"But&" Dorian stared uneasily. "It has been told in the tales that vampires are incapable of having children. They are beings with dead seed."

"I can only guess, my dear dwarf."

The mindless vampires continued their trek up the
Argo's
hull. There was no chance of their hurting or causing damage to the sides of the ship - they had not the power or force needed. As Rohan and Dorian peeked over the railings, several vampires soon noticed their stares, stopping only long enough to snarl and show rotting teeth. Saliva dripped from the invading vampire's mouths, giving all on board the impression that Count Voslow cared not for his people's feeding. They were all going insane with hunger.

That small fact raised the danger.

"When attacking them, my friends, aim for the left side of their chest. That is where their hearts are. Then, after your attack, you must cut off their heads." Molly joined both the dwarf and elf in filling up buckets of hot tar. Rohan started lighting the tips of several arrows.

They were as ready as they could be.

"Dorian!" Rohan yelled, "You go to starboard."

"Right you are, sir!"

"Molly, you take the stern."

The female vampire held four buckets of tar, running off towards the rear of the vessel. Rohan placed an arrow in his bow, closing one eye.

"May the gods be with us," Rohan prayed, letting the first arrow fly.

"Aye, elf. Aye!" Dorian agreed, pouring a bucket of tar.

Keeth momentarily looked up from Ka-Ron, ignoring one battle while studying another. He had overheard Molly state that, besides the army of vampires climbing up the
Argo
; several more were coming from the dark streets of Cibola.

"Keep breathing, my dear, while I try to even the odds here."

The wizard closed his eyes. He whispered ancient words taught to him by elders, of light bending light, irresistible forces coming in contact with immovable objects, of time and space, and forces in motion. Projecting his will, the wizard cast his spell.

"Let it be, now!" Keeth shouted.

Around the
Argo
there instantly appeared a bright blue orb. The entire ship was imprisoned inside. There was no way in the Nown world that anyone, other than another wizard, could enter or leave the ship.

The air started to take on a metallic taste.

"I have stopped the swarm of vampires," Keeth informed all on board. "I shall stay with Ka-Ron. You will have to destroy only those inside the orb."

The wizard turned his eyes back to Ka-Ron.

Ka-Ron's face was drenched in sweat. Her face reddened with each painful push.

"Ka-Ron, I can see the child's crown."

"When will it all end?" Ka-Ron huffed. The knight was almost on the verge of collapsing.

"Soon, my dear. Soon." The wizard held both the knight's hands, instructing her to place each foot on his shoulders. As the knight pushed, he focused, pulling. "Keep breathing in the manner in which I have instructed you, my child."

Keeth closed his eyes, trying his best to ignore the sounds of war going on around him.

The knight's body quivered once more. A spray of water, fluid, and blood. A subtle weight filled Keeth's hands, increasing the
Argo's
crew by one.

The wizard found it impossible not to shout for joy.

"You have a fine son, Ka-Ron," the wizard proclaimed.

Ka-Ron collapsed, finding to her amazement that she had not the power to stop herself from crying. Several times she tried, echoing the slightest of smiles and laughs.

"A son." she whispered.

Taking a dagger from his cloak, Keeth cut the baby's cord, thereby separating him from his mother.

"A few more things to do," Keeth said as he wiped foam off the baby's body and noticed that the child had bright purple eyes - a rarity! "What shall be his name?"

"En-Don," Ka-Ron stated, smiling. "After Jatel's father. A true and faithful servant to my house. A name worthy, I should think."

"En-Don it shall be." Keeth held the child up towards the stars. "Behold! En-Don, son of Jatel and Ka-Ron. Know the universe and all shall be yours!"

En-Don performed his first cry.

It was a noble effort.

Rohan and Dorian were too busy to share in the wonderful moment. The dwarf, having cut off the head of his twentieth vampire, was soaked head to toe in undead blood. The elf was running himself ragged, shooting arrows in all directions, hitting each of his victims in their hearts.

"Rohan!" Molly shouted as she threw several vampires off the stern of the ship. "I need your help."

Rohan stopped just long enough to spot Molly.

The female vampire had held her own, but after running out of boiling tar, she found herself outnumbered and surrounded. In each of her hands, she held an unfortunate invader, and snapped their necks like twigs. At the bottom of the hill, just below the
Argo
, Molly had created an impressive vampire graveyard.

Still, there was only so much that a female vampire could do. Molly was surrounded by at least twenty of her fellow undead. At her best, she could only kill half of them. She had also been wounded. A daring vampire zombie had managed to pierce a hole in her side that would have killed any other woman.

"Molly!" Rohan shouted, grabbing a handful of arrows. "Hold tight! I'm on my way."

Dorian looked up from his pile of dead vampires, only to give Rohan a shocked look.

"What about me, elf?"

"You are holding your own." Rohan explained, running down the deck. "Molly is not."

"To hell you say, sir!"

Dorian huffed, cutting off the heads of two more unfortunate vampires. As the severed heads bounced on the deck, he kicked them off the
Argo
as if they were unofficial game balls. The dwarf had no time to gloat - three more undead creatures climbed up the walls of the ship.

Keeth, although a peace-loving being, had seen enough.

The wizard went to his cabin to retrieve a "weapon" he had created during his many seasons entrapped inside Tork. The "weapon" was a sight to behold. A huge canister rested upon the old man's back, as he ventured back on deck. He saw a group of vampires holding their own at the bow of the ship. Dorian was doing what he could, but there was only so much responsibility a dwarf could endure.

"Dorian!" Keeth yelled as he pointed what appeared to be an iron stick in the dwarf's direction.

"Yes, wizard?" The dwarf spit blood from his mouth after cutting off another vampire head. He found that he had to duck and take care, for the heads were starting to drop at an alarming rate. It wasn't so much that he was good at his job; it was just that the vampires were not.

"I would suggest that you get out of the way." the wizard warned.

"Huh?" Dorian asked.

Keeth lit a small candle, lighting the tip of his "weapon's" iron stick. Like a lamp in the darkest cave, a tiny fire flickered at the end of his device. Keeth adjusted his shoulders, trying his best to conform to the weight of the thing.

"Dorian! Move!" Keeth shouted.

Without thinking, the dwarf heeded the wizard's advice. Dorian dove under a capstan, hoping it would provide enough protection from whatever it was that had so concerned the wizard.