The Knight's Eyes

12: SCALES

For a while he stared at the wall opposite of him, daylight turned the shadows white. Birds chirped outside of the archway and a calm breeze entered promising Alsin another nice day, though he would not trust it. He tried to recall his week so far and a shiver slid up his spine.

The hungry trees that wept blood coming alive to dine on flesh and bones and the swamp that turned sane men mad. The bones of the lost thrown carelessly into a dried up riverbed. Scavenging cravers that took his only loyal horse. Poor Sir Nileon caught in the Mad Mist. He shivered again.

His mind retraced the passing days and realized this would be the fifth day of his deadly quest. It felt longer than that. So many men had died- honorable men who had families back in Terra. Soon two days from now, on the first of next week, the sky would break over his kingdom and the dark mountains would release its terrors for a month.

He clapped his teeth together allowing his rage to conquer him. He growled and groaned for a few minutes, closing his eyes, and banging a fist on his left thigh. This witch has done too much and taken too many people these past years.

I have to kill her.

Maybe Lord Demetri could help if he... Alsin looked at the knight beside him and stopped breathing.

Lord Demetri's eyes sat open staring across the space. Black strings of veins had entered the whites of his eyes growing thicker as they ran from his head and into his undershirt.

Alsin inhaled then exhaled nice and slow to control the wave of emotions pestering him. Now he was surely alone. Maybe alone is better. He could walk through the forest and enter the witch's castle undetected. Hopefully, he wouldn't run into any other dangers, but if he did he would fight to his death like a knight should.

This was war. A war the witch started a hundred years ago and he will be the one to end it. He will slice off her head for his mother, his father, Walta, the 37 men of his convoy, and the Kingdom of Terra.

He sheathed his sword and prepared another small bowl of tasteless stew. Once his strength was renewed, he took Ronald's shoulder bag and lightened the load. He only needed a blanket, the leftover rations of food, water, and beer. He didn't want to leave Sir Demetri Mautte unburied, but at the same time he didn't want to touch him.

So with great caution he removed his knight's breastplate, the sword, and the dagger he had in his own boot and slid him out under the sun. He found a great place to put him, in a bed of tulips, where he could rest peacefully.

"Hmm," he said, eyeing the pretty flowers and the others in the area. "Such pretty flowers in a mountain so dark."

His right leg still forced him to limp, but the pain in his abdomen had numbed. He prayed nothing was wrong in that spot. He returned under the archway and unraveled the map he found on Demetri's possession.

The ancient parchment was still in tack. He traced a finger towards what would be east and tapped on the image of a castle. He didn't know what would meet him after he left the archway, but his courage had renewed.

Alsin now packed for the rest of his journey, sought onward and came across a long stick. He bent to pick it up and decided to use it as a staff for balance. He kept his eyes and senses alert and even fell into humming a song. Upon each step he let go a bit of fear lingering within him and took on more courage.

The trail he followed started to grow steeper, tensing the muscles in his ankles. He stopped to take a breather and took a gulp of water. He shook it and groaned. It was almost empty and the last thing he wanted was to drink the beer. The knight scanned the area around him for any indications of water.