The Misadventures of Ka-Ron the Knight (37 page)

"Oh, Jatel, I do love you so." Ka-Ron whispered, falling asleep.

Again, the room was aware.

If Ka-Ron had been awake, she would have seen a rather odd wisp of air entering her room, via the only widow. The fog-like substance seemed to have a will of its own. Traveling the course of the floor like a snake, it floated up to the bed. Climbing the bed, it got under the covers.

The fog stopped and hovered above Ka-Ron.

Ka-Ron, feeling a weight upon her body, meekly smiled, for she was starting to feel the strong hands of a man.

Jatel must have changed his mind.

"Jatel," Ka-Ron whispered.

"I think not, madam."

Ka-Ron's eyes blinked to life.

Her body turned tense.

The knight, seeing Count Voslow upon her naked body, fondling her and kissing the sides of her neck, started to scream.

Voslow took it all in stride.

"I love a woman with spirit," the vampire said, laughing.

Voslow placed his knees between Ka-Ron's legs, spreading hers apart.

Ka-Ron, overcome, fainted.

Dorian rubbed his troubled stomach while his two companions silently laughed at him. Walking back and forth in front of Ka-Ron and Jatel's door had taken its toll upon the little dwarf.

"I did not eat too much!" Dorian insisted, challenging the laughter.

Rohan, not wishing to spend all night fighting, raised his hands in surrender.

"The lamb was quite good," the wizard admitted, chuckling.

"Oh, shut up!" the dwarf belched.

Rohan made a face. "Yes, wizard. Quite good."

"Shut up, will you!"

Keeth and Rohan exploded into laughter.

They could not guess it, but, under his own grumbling, yelling, and apparent discomfort, Dorian was laughing - as much as a dwarf's own honor would allow one to laugh, that is.

The castle began to creak and moan, allowing the shadow of seriousness to replace the sounds of mirth. The three companions sobered up returning in course to their duties.

"Keeth, may I ask&"

Before the elf could finish his question, all three were stopped by a woman's scream.

"That was Ka-Ron!" Dorian shouted.

The wizard turned to the door and reached for the knob.

Upon rushing in all three saw a terrible sight.

"Upon my nose," Dorian prayed, his voice shaky and that of a whisper, "what is going on here?"

"I&I&" was all Keeth could bring himself to stutter.

Rohan reached for his bow, pulled, and aimed. The elf closed one eye for targeting.

Upon Ka-Ron's bed, the knight had her legs open, with toes pointing toward the cobweb-infested air. She was moaning, but not with delight. Her hands buried themselves into the moldy sheets of her mattress, hoping above hope to find a weapon of some kind.

"Help me!" she screamed. "To the Gods! Do something, please!"

On top of Ka-Ron, as naked as she appeared to be, was Count Voslow. It was clear to all that the vampire was having his way with the knight.

Jatel, next to the both of them, appeared to be asleep.

"He could not be sleeping through all of this!" Dorian insisted, turning to the wizard for some answers.

"He must be under a spell," Keeth surmised. The wizard rubbed his chin, trying to think of a solution. "I know of a spell used by counseling wizards in Amadodd."

"Then use it!" Rohan and Dorian shouted in unison.

The vampire began to moan in enjoyment, continuing his attack upon the knight. Ka-Ron tried her best to break free, but found that the more she glared into the vampire's eyes, the more futile and weak she became. With a blink of his eye, Voslow made her desire him. Try as she might, her loins would not stop their functions. Try as she might, her body was no longer under her control.

Ka-Ron closed her eyes in shame as she felt another delightful explosion of her sex envelop her body. She quivered uncontrollably.

Keeth had managed to come up with a solution.

He cast his spell.

Nothing happened to Ka-Ron.

The violation continued.

"Ah, stupid wizard!" Dorian huffed, "He's still raping her. Your spell did nothing!"

"Nothing, you say." Keeth smiled, directing all their attentions back toward the bed. "Observe."

Jatel started to stir.

His eyes opened.

The squire was now aware.

"Young woman, you are good for me." Voslow laughed, moving faster upon the knight. If a vampire could moan and enjoy the warm feeling of a woman, the Count was soon getting the most of his measure.

Rohan saw Jatel stirring.

"Jatel!" the elf yelled, aiming his bow at the squire. "Catch!"

With a flick of his wrist, Rohan let loose his bow.

The arrow, picked personally by the elf, was a sleek silver piece of artwork created by his people and village. It had always served him true. It had never missed its mark.

Jatel heard Rohan's words and remembered his training.

The squire sprang up so fast, without any warning, that even Voslow's actions were slowed by Jatel's speed.

As the arrow flew through the air, it approached Jatel at a blinding flight. Jatel soon flung his hands outward, stopping the silver blur that was the arrow in mid-air. The squire winced in pain. He stopped the arrow, without the luxury of gloves, causing some of the skin upon his hands to burn. Shrugging the pain aside, Jatel recoiled from the force of the arrow's flight, taking upon him full control. As fast as he recovered, he turned, plunging the highly polished tip of the weapon deep into Voslow's back.

The vampire screamed in agony.

"A fair and good hit, my boy," Keeth proclaimed.

"Get&off&my&woman!" Jatel screamed. Pulling the arrow out, the squire stabbed the vampire several more times. With each squirm and scream, he found the strength to continue.

Ka-Ron, upon hearing the words shouted by her man, beamed. Although Voslow continued on with his violations, not missing a stroke, the knight's eyes stayed focused on Jatel.

"She is mine," Voslow insisted. The vampire let out a contemptible giggle, responding towards Jatel's several stabs into his back. "And, you, sir, are missing your mark."

Before Jatel could respond, Voslow reached up with his right hand and slapped the squire off the bed, across the room, and forcing him to bounce off the opposite wall.

"Oh, he'll feel that one when he wakes, I wager," Dorian said, rubbing his beard with frustration.

Both Rohan and Keeth gave the dwarf a hard glance.

"What?" Dorian replied his hands up in honest argument.

Ka-Ron let out another plea for help, as the vampire took hold of one of her breasts and sucked on it with an unlimited amount of desire. Voslow laughed. He was enjoying his conquest.

"Wizard," Rohan yelled, his frustration clear. "Do something!"

Keeth added up what he was seeing. Jatel was only now starting to rise from his wounds. He and his friends were too far away. Voslow continued to violate Ka-Ron upon the ancient bed.

His options were few.

Then, the wizard saw the answer!

"Something is about to happen, my friends." Keeth suggested, weaving his hands together in magical combat. "Be assured, our dear knight will be saved."

"About time!" Dorian huffed.

"Oh, shut up!"

Voslow let go of Ka-Ron's breast, feeling the electricity forming in the air. Looking over his shoulder, he noticed that the wizard was working up a spell. Ka-Ron let out another moan as she released passionate energy, making the moment that more enjoyable to Voslow.

"Work on this, wizard," the vampire said.

With a flick of his wrist, and little more from his will, the vampire conjured up a swarm of insects. Their aim, to buzz around the wizard, elf, and dwarf, making their life more complicated.

All three covered their faces. The insects attacked with a great fury. Dorian, at one point, almost passed out. The bugs had gathered so thickly upon his face that the little dwarf found it almost impossible to breathe.

"Is this all a part of your plan, wizard?" Rohan asked, pulling several slimy bugs from entering his ears.

"As a matter of fact, yes! Yes, it is, my dear elfin friend."

"Ahhhhh!" was all Dorian could bring himself to say, spitting a bug out of his mouth.

It had been a great many seasons since Count Voslow had felt so alive. Quite enjoying himself, the vampire buried his concentration into the soft and moist universe of his current prey. Ka-Ron's wonderful body was a source of great delight. Such wonders had become quite alien to the vampire&so lost in the back of his mind that he almost found the lovely feelings of enjoyment and intimacy to be quite painful. Voslow was surprised to find himself crying, remembering, if only for one solid instant, what it had been like to be a man.

A wave of crippling pain flashed through Count Voslow's body. He found himself screaming in agony. In abstract terror, the vampire looked down upon Ka-Ron the knight.

The woman's eyes were both open and focused. In her hands, she was holding onto the silver arrow used by her squire to gain the vampire's attention.

"You&cannot&" Voslow tried to state, his voice barely that of a wisp of bad air.

The vampire could feel the blood leaving his hearts. Voslow noticed that the knight had hit him with a fatal blow. In her hands she held the arrow, but the point rested deep within his ribcage, between the hearts.

"Get off of me," Ka-Ron softly demanded.

Voslow's face contorted in both surprise and agony. He tried to respond, but found he no longer had the power. The Count suddenly remembered an old folk tale, about one seeing his life pass before his eyes at the moment of death. Voslow saw nothing. All that was there was blackness and dust. This, above all else, terrified him.

"No!" Voslow shouted. He started to pull himself away from Ka-Ron.

Naked, violated, and filled with rage, the knight followed her attacker. With each retreat Voslow made, the woman forced the silver arrow deeper and deeper into his body. Ka-Ron's eyes met his, matching revenge with his terror. It was a sick and twisted sort of dance.

"I have lost much in my life," Ka-Ron said, her face now starting to drip with Voslow's blood. "But you, sir, are about to lose everything. I damn you, sir. Damn you to the darkest point of the nether regions!"

Ka-Ron made one last thrust.

The arrow came out the other end. A part of Voslow's spine poked out with it.

The vampire feebly made it to his feet.

"You cannot kill me." Voslow laughed.

The vampire turned his attentions towards Keeth and his friends.

"He still lives!" Dorian said, wielding his ax before him. The dwarf was ready for combat.

"I thought you stated that silver would kill this one?" Rohan reached for another arrow, pulling back on his bow.

"Silver is supposed to kill him," Keeth proclaimed, taken aback. "At least, that is what it had stated in the ancient texts."

"Ancient texts?" Dorian and Rohan shouted.

Voslow pulled out the arrow.

"Well, that's what they said," Keeth defended.

The vampire let out a triumphant scream, baring his fangs at the three. He gave the impression to all that he wished to walk toward the wizard and his comrades, for what they all knew would be uncertain tidings of discomfort. He put a foot forward.

Voslow's advancing foot, before it hit the ground, collapsed in upon itself, turning to dust. The vampire froze.

"There's something you don't see everyday," Dorian giggled.

Voslow fell to the floor. His body lost all substance. He became nothing more than a harmless pile of mildew and dust.

He was, for lack of a better definition, quite dead.

"Did we just win?" Dorian asked in a whisper.

"Don't hex it, dwarf," Rohan said.

As the wind blew what was left of the vampire away, sunlight exploded into the halls, rooms, and dungeons of Mull Garden. The castle seemed to come alive with a vibrant life force. Deep inside the castle walls, bells were heard. The chapel came to life, and birds returned to the surrounding trees.

"What has just happened?" Rohan asked, his hands outstretched, taking in the bright rays of the suns.

"I thought that would be obvious," Keeth proclaimed, quite satisfied with himself. "The castle is celebrating the release of Voslow's soul. Evil as he might have been, he loved this place. And anyplace worth its mortar and brick would not deny happiness and peaceful rest to a loving master."

"Is he at rest?" Dorian asked, somewhat doubtful.

"If he's not, dear dwarf, then I fear for his current condition."

The wind stopped, leaving nothing of the vampire.

Jatel fell to the floor.

"Jatel!" Ka-Ron shouted, only now getting the strength to leave her bed. The knight ran to her squire's aid, silently ordering her team to stay back a respectful distance.

"I feel a fire inside of me, sire."

Ka-Ron turned a worried eye towards the wizard, while at the same time comforting Jatel.

"He is becoming normal once more, child," Keeth explained. "Nothing more."

The squire shook as if suffering from a high fever. Every muscle and fiber of his soul began to rebel against the ways of the normal world. His vampiric nature was slowly dying. His eyes, once bright red with undead blood, turned a cold black, and then slowly faded back to their normal colors. The fangs that were growing in his mouth dulled and retreated back into the confines of his jaw. With sweat dripping from his brow, Jatel looked into the careworn eyes of his master and lover, seeing only love and concern.

Jatel reached up with his hands still shaking and aching from change, and kissed his lover with the passion and longing of a normal man.

"Ah," Dorian huffed, "Don't those two ever stop?"

The danger, as it was, had passed.

En-Don slowly stepped back as the body of the vampire screamed and raged in a fiery pain, only to land upon the deck of the
Argo
as a pile of ash and bone. Molly quivered behind the young man as he guarded her from the undead beast's futile attack. In Farrow's last charge, the young warrior had remembered something his father had asked him&something about plunging his mother's sword between his hearts, should the wizard's attempts to save him fail. If such a manner of attack could bring down En-Don's father, would not the same tactic work upon another?