The Rose Princess (9 page)

“My work is done,” was all he said as he wheeled his horse around.

“Wait! Wait just a second!” Elena shouted, and at just that moment an idea sparked
in her brain, as if by a miracle.

Leaving Miksin behind, the girl dashed out through the gates.

“I’m outside the village now. I’m not safely inside. You haven’t fulfilled your duty
yet.”

“Enough of your childish games,” the Black Knight said as he continued to ride away.

“I’m gonna stay out here until you do something. In another minute or so, the beasties
will catch my scent and come after me. And if I were to die outside the village, that’d
mean you disregarded your princess’s commands, wouldn’t it?”

Elena had ample confidence in that last comment.

Sure enough, it hit the mark. Certainly this must’ve been the first time anyone had
ever made the Black Knight turn his mount around not once, but twice.

As he rode over to Elena, he remarked, “A crude but effective ploy.” He said the words
without any modulation, but his delivery alone spoke volumes about Elena’s victory.
“However, I’m not about to do anything,” he added. “What has happened to the village
is in accordance with the will of the princess.”

“Which would you choose?” Elena asked, desperately trying to retain the upper hand.
“To be punished for killing me, or to be scolded for preventing some evil work of
the princess that you had no part in? If I were you, I’d see to it that I did my job.”

“I’m not going to move from this spot,” said the Black Knight. “But I shall be here
all night to cut down anything that tries to attack you. Stay right there, if you
wish.”

Elena realized he’d turned the situation around. With despair and rage blasting through
every inch of her, the biker stomped her feet and shouted, “If you walk around in
the daylight, you can’t be a Noble! What are you, a synthetic human? Well, no matter
what you are, if you’re even remotely human, there’s no way you could just leave the
village to its fate. If you believe in following orders, you must be capable of
respecting others. In that case, you’ve also gotta be able to understand their suffering!”

Elena’s reasoning was a bit forced, but it was all she could think of at the moment.
To be honest, she didn’t believe it would have any effect at all.

As expected, the Black Knight didn’t budge an inch. He had become a statue, sitting
there on his horse, devoid not only of emotion but of life itself.

“You heartless monster! Fine. I won’t ask any more of you. Take off already.” The
girl turned and was about to walk back in through the gates.

“Wait,” a voice called out behind her.

Another reversal—but Elena couldn’t focus on her own joy at this turn of events as
she’d noticed a number of figures heading toward her from the village.

—

III

—

It wasn’t Miksin, but she was only sure of that after she noticed the five or six
villagers who had also drawn the Black Knight’s attention.

“Look over there . . . That’s Elena, isn’t it?” an old woman thin as a withered tree
branch said with obvious joy.

“That’s right. It’s Elena,” said another. “You’re unharmed, I see.”

“We can share this with you. Join us.”

Beslik, dressed in his butcher’s apron, and the old man who ran the general store
clawed at the air like they were swimming as they approached her.

Elena swore she could hear all the blood draining from her body like a tide. She was
looking at
things
that wore faces all too familiar to her.

She got them
, the girl thought with horror.
But something’s wrong. It’s so . . . indiscriminate. Up until now, she’s only preyed
on young people.

“Stand back,” someone bellowed, but Elena found it difficult to believe it was the
Black Knight. Weren’t the creatures before her eyes the very same thing as the princess?
Elena backed away three steps, while the Black Knight rode forward three.

Instinctively curious about the man’s weapon, Elena looked at his back and saw an
iron sheath roughly two feet long. Or rather, there were two scabbards for two broadswords
there, and it looked like one was laid on top of the other. Rough in size and shape,
the weapons didn’t seem at all suitable for this giant.

It came as little surprise that the trio of villagers were taken aback when they came
out through the gates, but they must’ve viewed the knight as an ally, as they quickly
spread their arms and started walking toward Elena.

A horizontal flash of light mowed through the napes of their necks.

Elena was reminded of champagne corks shooting off from the internal pressure. But
instead of fermented fruit juice and gas, the three necks were sending geysers of
blackish blood into the air. Beyond brutal, beyond gruesome, the scene could’ve even
been termed striking by some, but it left Elena so totally unnerved that even when
she heard the blades being sheathed, she didn’t turn toward the swordsman.

Undoubtedly the Black Knight had utilized the weapons from his back. But how? He’d
sat on his horse without lifting a finger, and even if he’d extended his arm, his
weapon never would’ve reached the closest villager, let alone all three of them.

Apparently the stroke had been so masterful the trio didn’t even realize they’d been
cut, and they took two or three more sure-footed steps before collapsing limply.

The sight of the falling bodies finally brought Elena back to her senses.

“What the hell are you doing?!” the biker shouted, glaring at the Black Knight.

“They were going after you,” he replied. There was laughter in his voice, but the
flustered Elena didn’t notice it.

“You didn’t have to kill them. I—I mean, there’s gotta be some way to save them.”

“Once they’re like that, there’s but one way to ‘save them,’ as you put it.”

Elena’s chest grew tight at the Black Knight’s reply. It was exactly as he said. The
only “salvation” for a human who’d been made a servant of the Nobility was the kind
the Black Knight had dispensed.

“But why? They were your mistress’s . . .”

“Never.”

“What?” Elena said, her eyes going wide.

“The princess would never do such a thing. The very thought of her elevating you humans
to the same state as herself, even as her servants—there must be some mistake.”

“Oh, it’s no mistake, mark my—”

The rest of Elena’s words were crushed by the black figure’s advance. Feeling the
same pressure as if a mountain was moving by, Elena stepped to one side.

“I must rectify this error,” the Black Knight said before he passed through the gates.

“Wait!” Elena cried, bounding out in front of his horse.

“Out of my way. You’re in the village now. It’s no longer my responsibility whether
you live or die.”

“Are you planning on killing everyone here? I can’t let you do that.”

“And you intend to stop me?” the Black Knight asked, his voice dropping lower.

“I sure do,” Elena replied from a spot ten feet away.

The wind snarled. The skill the girl displayed in pulling her chain free and swinging
it around as she leapt out of the way was truly impressive, but how much good her
weapon would do against the heavily armored Black Knight was the real question. And
her motorcycle wasn’t nearby.

There was a sharp rap as sparks flew from the Black Knight’s helm. The weight on the
chain had scored a direct hit, and more hits came in rapid succession. This rustic
lass had taken that single length of chain and made it seem more like a dozen weapons,
simply with the skilled manipulations of one hand. And when the knight’s upper body
swayed, Elena brought her left hand into play, too. As the second chain swept the
front legs out from under it, the horse toppled forward.

The knight’s massive form rose. The laws of physics should’ve launched his body forward,
or perhaps it would’ve been even more appropriate for him to touch down feet-first,
as light as a feather, behind Elena. But the skill of the woman warrior had seen to
it that chains were wound about both his wrists. Moreover, when Elena raised her hands,
the weights at the other end of the chains angled up into the air, wrapping around
the heavy branches of the colossal trees that towered to either side of the knight
and robbing him of his freedom.

“Just stay there and behave yourself,” Elena said as she dashed toward her bike.

From behind her, a low voice called out, “What will you do now?”

Ignoring the query, she hopped onto her bike and started the engine. The only thing
that kept her level-headed was the fact that the Black Knight’s voice hinted at mocking
laughter when he’d called out to her. Although she wasn’t sure whether the laser generator
set inside her headlight would prove effective or not, Elena didn’t have any other
options.

“Watch this, missy!” the Black Knight exclaimed.

Elena saw him tug on his fully extended arms. The branches snapped, and the crimson
beam split the darkness as it blazed at the Black Knight. Tree branches rained down
from either side to block the laser.

A wind and a rumbling of the earth sent Elena and her bike flying, but it wasn’t from
branches. Rather, she was sent into the air by the thud from the trunks of the gargantuan
trees that’d fallen over. The Black Knight had torn them up, roots and all, with consummate
ease. The trees rested against the rows of houses to either side, their trunks forming
double fences while a composed voice called from behind them, “Well then, here I go.
Off to correct all the mistakes. You should be thankful these trees have saved your
life.”

“Wait!” Elena shouted as she was about to start her bike, but then she received a
shock.

The two tree trunks seemed to have been purposely placed in an arrangement calculated
to keep her bike from ever getting between them.

“Damn it all!” Elena snarled, slamming her fist into the palm of her other hand. But
she quickly decided on her course of action.

Freeing the chain from a branch of the nearer tree, she then wrapped it firmly around
the trunk, pulled it taut, and looped it around an iron stake driven deep into the
ground. The stake was one she’d had in the storage compartment on her bike.

Having backed up as far as the gates, Elena hunkered down over the handlebars wearing
an expression that brimmed with impatience and self-confidence. The exhaust pipes
spat flames. Steered with miraculous skill, the bike barreled up the thin line she’d
strung from the tree to the ground, flying high into the air to effortlessly clear
the two trunks and land on the darkened street beyond.

Taking a hard bounce as they came back to earth, Elena and her bike knifed through
the wind now that the last obstacle had been cleared, and a few seconds later they
sped into the square.

An unexpected sight greeted the warrior woman. A well was situated at the center of
the square, and by it stood the Black Knight with a tiny, frail figure.

“Mama Kipsch!” Elena cried, her voice carrying an added weight. While she realized
the village was in great peril, the name she’d said was the only reason even a hint
of reassurance lingered in her heart.

“Welcome back,” the silver-maned crone replied without ever looking at Elena. An earthen
pot was cradled under her left arm. Her right hand was sunk into its wide mouth up
to the elbow.

Turning her eyes in the same direction both of the others faced, Elena had her breath
taken away. In the moonlight, it looked like the villagers lay on the ground, piled
one on top of the other. None of them were moving at all. Worse yet, the sight of
a number of others crawling into the open holes that riddled the ground gave Elena
goose bumps. Was this what Miksin had been talking about?

Looking up at the Black Knight, Mama Kipsch said, “So, how about it?”

“Very well. As promised, I shall wait three days. And during that time—you know what
you’re to do, don’t you?”

“Not a problem. I’ll keep my end of the deal, too.”

Elena suddenly felt like her own deadly battle with the knight was something that’d
happened a whole world away.

Silently climbing onto his jet black mount, the Black Knight then said, “Well, I’m
off—but the humans truly don’t deserve such a great witch doctor.” With those words,
he wheeled his horse around.

As the knight and his mount passed right by the end of her nose, Elena could only
stand and watch like a demented soul.

The horse halted. Up on its back, the Black Knight merely turned his head a bit to
gaze at Elena. White moonlight gleamed off his helm and pauldrons, making him look
like a sculpture from another dimension.

“We shall meet again—soldier!” he told her.

And then his horse’s hooves tore into the dirt as he galloped off down the street.

When a hand came to rest on Elena’s shoulder, the biker returned to her senses. Mama
Kipsch’s mournful countenance greeted her. Before Elena could say a word, the elderly
witch doctor who’d just sent a killer packing said, “You threw down with him, did
you?”

“Yeah.”

“Must’ve been a good fight.”

“How do you know that?” asked the girl.

“You heard what he said, ‘soldier.’ It would seem he’s taken a shine to you.”

“Spare me, Mama Kipsch. Anyway, what the hell was all this . . . ,” Elena began to
say, but when she’d surveyed the whole square, she then let out a little whoop of
joy. People had appeared from some of the neighboring houses.

“There are some folks the flowers didn’t get, though that’s less than a tenth of the
populace, I warrant.”

“And all the rest have joined the Nobility?”

Mama Kipsch nodded, and for a moment Elena’s head began to swim. The only thing that
kept her from fainting was the old woman’s next remark.

“But that’s not to say they’ve gone over
completely
. After all, they haven’t been bitten. We should be able to do something for them.”