The Misadventures of Ka-Ron the Knight (47 page)

Rohan found his eyes filling with tears. How could any god allow such a thing?

One particular specter caught Rohan's eye.

She appeared to be a female dwarf. Unlike Dorian, in her true form, this female had short red hair and was dressed quite beautifully. At one far-distant time, she must have been quite the woman.

She seemed to plead to the elf. Her hands rose, floating with the others. In her misery, she thought it best to bribe. In her hands she held a brick of pure copper. To take the bar, the elf could know comfort and a trouble-free life. For one brief moment, Rohan connected with her mind. She wanted death.

"How can I offer that over which I have no control?" Rohan stated.

With the deepest respect, the elf closed his eyes, prayed, and then bowed his goodbyes.

It was the most difficult thing he had ever done.

The lost souls in the bowl closed their eyes, waiting.

ANOTHER WILL COME! IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME.

Rohan wept, openly.

"Dorian!" he shouted. "I have the water."

The demon pulled off of Ka-Ron with a satisfying grunt. As he grabbed a rag to wipe himself off with, he glanced at the knight with a curious nod. Ka-Ron only paid attention because the beast laughed.

"What's so damn funny?" Ka-Ron asked, wrapping her arms around her breasts.

"You were once a male," Baphomet said, laughing. It was quite odd to watch her male self standing over her, cleaning himself dry. The man's keen eyes once more scanned the body he so enjoyed conquering.

"Yes, I was," Ka-Ron confessed. "The way you have chosen to appear before me, now."

"No, knight," Baphomet corrected. "You chose this form for me. It was not I."

"Why would I want you to look like me?"

"Who am I to know the mind of mortals?" He started strapping some of his armor on again. He looked so much the way Ka-Ron remembered leaving Kym that fateful day.

Ka-Ron felt so cheap.

"Perhaps I did slight Kym, just a little."

Baphomet turned, only half-hearing what his prey had said.

"What was that you said, woman?"

"Nothing."

Looking over her shoulder, the knight noticed Rohan darting back toward the main hall, leading back towards the
Argo.
Molly, En-Don, and Dorian pulled back as well. Ka-Ron saw the dwarf giving her an "all-clear" signal.

"Then, we are done?" Ka-Ron asked.

Baphomet returned to his throne. He appeared to be asleep.

Ka-Ron thought it best to leave.

"Not so fast," the demon whispered.

The knight's body began to shake uncontrollably. She turned, facing Baphomet.

"There's just one more thing we need to speak about."

Try as she might, Ka-Ron could not call after her friends. She felt like a puppet being controlled by its master. There was nothing she could do but climb the stairs, join Baphomet, and sit upon his lap like a good little girl.

"You will stay here," Baphomet ordered, slightly tapping Ka-Ron upon her ass. "I have need of a creature such as yourself."

"But, my son&"

"Will die. Of that I am sure."

Baphomet started picking at his teeth. He did not care one bit for the pain or torment Ka-Ron and her friends had just gone through. All he cared about were his own pleasures.

"I will fight you."

Baphomet rolled his eyes, giving the woman a tired laugh. "And how do you plan on doing that?"

Ka-Ron's features turned green.

Before the knight knew what she was doing, she puked all over the demon.

"Well," Baphomet said, vomit dripping off his brow, "I'll give you points for originality."

Ka-Ron fell from Baphomet's lap and landed upon the marble floor. She had no control of her body, as before, but this time, the knight knew what was happening to her. And, as before, she was just as terrified.

"Oh, no!" Ka-Ron cried, grabbing her breasts.

The knights breasts started to grow in size. Then, subtly, milk dripped from each nipple. Again, the woman vomited upon the floor.

"This is just delicious!" Baphomet started to laugh, understanding what was happening. "Superb entertainment."

"Help me, please!" Ka-Ron screamed, her stomach started to swell outward, becoming incredibly huge in size.

Ka-Ron was pregnant.

Again.

Rohan gave Keeth the cup of water.

"What do we do now?" Molly asked.

Keeth discovered that his hands shook. His battles with Jatel as he tried his best to keep the squire's concerns from messing up their goals had formed a challenging and exhausting task. Jatel had managed to keep his cool, and was now quietly waiting near the
Argo.
The wizard hoped that he would never again have to match wills with him.

"We let the man drink." Keeth handed the cup over to Molly.

Molly, taking the cup, gave it to her love.

Upon drinking the substance, En-Don's countenance began to revert. Over a period of perhaps ten heartbeats, his old and tired exterior faded. No longer was he an old man in his nineties. Again, the brave young man was a handsome lad in his mid-thirties. He would never know the joys of childhood, so much the tragedy, but he would not be rushed to the grave either.

"Wizard, we have done it!" Dorian laughed.

"Yes, we have. Now, let's go rescue our dear friend."

All eyes turned back to the chamber room.

Upon entering the hall, everyone was quite surprised to spot Ka-Ron on the floor, and Baphomet laughing at the woman from his chair. All except Molly, who still saw nothing.

En-Don withdrew his sword.

"Hey! That's my mother you're laughing at."

Baphomet, the giant spider in En-Don's mind, turned. Its bulky hairy body dominated most of the room. Toxic saliva dripped from its mouth. An unholy hiss came forth as it challenged the lad.

"Do not stop what I am doing here." the spider said.

Baphomet took its front legs, shiny and as sharp as a sword, and started to attack. Blow by blow, En-Don matched the demon's skill. Watching the evil spirit in the shapes projected to them in their minds, all were nothing if not amazed at the young man's skill.

Ka-Ron, between waves of pain, and trying her best to keep above all that was happening to her, watched her son with pride. Her male self struck him with his sword, and En-Don matched him at each attack.

"That's my boy," the knight stated, wrapping her arms around her stomach.

Ka-Ron couldn't get up. Her stomach had grown too big. So big, in fact, that it was hard to believe that she was carrying a normal-size baby. Then, slowly, the knight started to realize that she did not have sex with a man. Baphomet had made himself known to one and all in different forms. Who knew what was growing inside of her? All the knight could be thankful for was that Jatel was nowhere nearby to see all of this.

Absently, the woman started to rub her stomach.

"Keeth!"

The wizard soon joined his unfortunate friend.

"I am here, my dear."

"Wizard, is there a way we can reverse all of this?"

Keeth shook his head. "One cannot stop the acts of the gods, my dear lady. I am afraid you have to see this through."

Ka-Ron's water broke.

"I thought you'd say something like that."

"Sorry, love."

Ka-Ron was about to give birth.

Upon hearing Ka-Ron cry out in pain once more, Dorian and Rohan rushed to the knight's aid. Keeth silently instructed all of them to help with the task. Molly ripped a rag from her clothing and decided to wipe cool water upon the birthing woman's head.

This last did not pass Ka-Ron's attention.

Ka-Ron screamed.

Blood and water gushed from her body as her stomach continued to grow.

"Why is she having such difficulty, wizard?" Dorian asked.

"I have no idea." Keeth shook his head, disbelieving what he was seeing.

The knight's stomach swelled huge enough to hold a fully-grown man. And still it continued.

"What's happening?" Ka-Ron demanded.

No one knew what the hell to do.

En-Don continued with his battle.

"You do quite well, boy," Baphomet snarled.

The spider continued its attack against the knight's brave son. He had never had to use so much of his strength. He could feel the sweat pouring down into his armor, and knew that if fatigue had not overcome Baphomet soon, he would know the sting of failure.

"You will have nothing more to do with her," En-Don barked, picking up a spare pike nearby and stabbing it deep into Baphomet's spider image.

A scream filled the whole chamber.

The demon was bleeding.

"A good hit, son!" Dorian shouted, clapping his hands.

En-Don turned back to the wizard, giving the old man a hearty hand salute.

Ka-Ron screamed one last time.

Then, nothing.

No pain.

Just nothing.

"Are you all right, my child?" Keeth asked, checking the knight's condition.

"I think so."

"Look!" Molly said, pointing beyond Ka-Ron's legs.

No one knew what to say.

"It looks like an&"

"EGG!" everyone else said in unison.

"That's different," Dorian added.

Everyone gave the dwarf an angry eye.

"What?" was his reaction.

Ka-Ron's body turned back to normal. The woman vomited one last time before her body shrank. As happened before, the spell cast upon her by Kai made it appear as if she had never given birth.

Keeth helped the woman to her feet.

The egg was golden in color and flaked with little brown spots here and there. It was about the size of a horse, and just as bulky.

"What do we do with this?" Keeth asked.

It did not take long for an answer to arrive.

The egg started to shake, move, and crack.

"Whatever it is, my friend, it's hatching." Keeth stated, pulling everyone away from the thing.

Baphomet started to look at the egg with curiosity. In all the forms each were seeing him in, he appeared nervous. It was quite obvious that he did not expect this to happen. Since when did a warm-blooded creature lay an egg?

"What is this?" Baphomet asked, poking the thing with his hands.

Once the shell cracked, it exploded into several different pieces.

"Good heavens!" Keeth shouted.

Rising from the shell, there appeared a dragon-like creature - more snake than beast. Curiously enough, the snake was covered with purple feathers, and had under its diamond-shaped head a set of leather wings. Dragon or no, it appeared quite powerful, and it was pissed off.

"It's time for us to leave," the wizard suggested, panic clearly expressed in his actions.

"But, wizard," Rohan said, looking as if he wished to watch the birthing.

"We leave&now!" Keeth barked.

All headed back down the dark halls, heading toward the
Argo.

Alone with the new dragon creature, Baphomet dropped his powers of illusion, allowing his foe to gaze upon his true form. In his true form, the demon was huge - over ten sticks in height. Half man, half goat, his horns took up most of his free room. Long and quite sharp, the demon's horns looked as if they had tasted blood many times in the past. He adjusted his head to make up for their height.

The dragon hissed. Huge fangs flashed. The new creature that Ka-Ron had given birth to continued to grow, becoming over thirty sticks in length. Flapping its wings the creature took flight.

There was no possible way that the new visitor could ever leave the room.

Baphomet's world became more complicated.

The demon roared in agony, knowing that through some quirk of fate, he had gained an ungrateful child. Both stood opposite against the other. Only one would rule in the end.

The creatures clashed in combat. Tooth tearing flesh. Horn impaling muscle. Hate fighting hate.

Destined to forever make war upon the other.

The watchers at the bottom of the fountain looked on, and in their tormented hearts, they all cheered. Season upon season, trapped, not being allowed to do anything but wait. Their hearts rejoiced in the idea of finally seeing their captor suffer&to recapture again the hope and promise of the fountain's gifts.

That was until the dragon's tail destroyed The Fountain of Cures.

Jatel paced the steps of the ancient throne room, waiting. He had heard Ka-Ron scream, and he had heard the roar of the two beasts. It took all that he had within him not to leave his post. Someone had to stay and watch their vessel, just in case there had been some hidden danger none of them knew about. The ship was safe, but the squire questioned the status of his friends.

"Jatel!" Rohan shouted, running out the dark corridor towards him. "Prepare to get underway!"

The elf did not have to order him twice.

Jatel ran up on deck, and prepared all that he could, making sure that all the lines were set, and that the wheel and levers were ready.

Everyone thumped up the gangplank.

"Father!"

Jatel noticed En-Don's recovered state. Forgetting for a moment that he was just a squire, the man bolted away from his post, and understandably embraced his son. The two were immersed in the moment.

"My son!" Jatel shouted. "You are well."

"Quite, my father."

Although there had been a breach of protocol, no one on board the
Argo
seemed to care.

As Keeth and Ka-Ron slowly walked up the gangplank, the latter being handled with kid gloves, the entire ancient edifice seemed to shake with incredible violence and energy.

"What's going on?" Jatel asked.

"Father, we need to leave with utmost haste."

The squire gave each member of the crew a curious glance. He stopped when he noticed the discomfort and self-healing pain coming from his master. Her clothing was only half on her person. And, by Keeth's remarks, something incredible had just occurred to which he was not privy.

"Sire, are you all right?"

"Well," the knight stated, taking a seat upon a pile of barrels. "Other than feeling as if I just pooped out a whale, sure&fine! I'm in the pink."