Page 27 of Chained Knight

“Equines?” At least her mouth didn’t taste like morning. No hunger cramped Ari’s middle, and she wasn’t crusty from sleep. Yet the ghost of last night’s storm-terror lingered in her arms and legs, echoes of thunder caught in flesh.

The Golden robots were bad enough, but the lack of needing a bathroom was far more disturbing once she really thought about it. She could almost believe she was in a catheterized coma, all this a vivid dream while her body shriveled on a hospital bed.

“Far better than walking to Gesthel.” Alzarien rose, scooping up his canteen; it was the first time one of her new companions seemed, well, downright chatty. “The Grey Lady will be overjoyed, and her Fox hardly less pleased. Here.”

The water still tasted good, and faint thirst retreated under its coolness. Ari was past wondering what the hell was in it—at a certain point, some shit was just too academic to worry about. There were far bigger questions, and it looked like this was her chance to ask a few. Ari studied the slope outside the cave-mouth. “So… everything’s all right now?”

“Of a certainty.Heis freed, you are returned. All that remains is the Bright King’s fall.”

So they really were a resistance movement, the chained man their leader. There was, however, a new, troubling wrinkle. “Returned?”

Alzarien’s cheerfulness faltered a bit. “Ah. Well, you see… that is,hesays not to trouble you, since the manner of your leaving was…” A helpless gesture, hands spread, and the crimson-haired man accepted his canteen back with an anxious smile. “But there is no doubt. Your face is altered and your cloth passing odd, yet your silence is the same. Like speech itself.”

Never been told that before. “Oh. Thank you.” So they were mistaking her for someone else, or they had been waiting for someone from another world to show up? “Can you… can you tell me how I left?” Whoever they thought she was, it would be a valid question.

Or so she hoped. Ari eyed the hillside afresh. Two of the guys were outside, probably well camouflaged. That was good if there were more robots, very bad if she wanted to get away.

Was there anywhere safe to run to, though? She’d had a foggy plan for escaping the house on Hardison Hill just as soon as she could scrape together enough cash, but heading out into this wilderness was an entirely different proposition.

For the first time since she’d landed here, Ari was thinking clearly. Or at least, shefeltclear, like the pondwater itself.

Alzarien’s smile faded. “’Tis not a pleasant subject,” he began, carefully. “Our lord prince said?—”

Come on, dude. “Please?” She tried a smile of her own, hoping she wouldn’t have to bat her eyelashes. If she could make even a single ally, maybe this entire nutso situation could be rendered at least workable.

As it was, the funny slipsliding sensation in her middle was uncomfortably akin to not knowing what the hell Mike was going to be mad about next, a sense that the eggshells she was walking on could turn to rattlesnakes at any moment.

“I should not.” All the good cheer was gone. Alzarien looked wary now, dark eyes shuttered. His lashes were tipped with bright red, the detail too bizarre and well-executed for either painting or photo. “Enough that you have returned and our lord prince is saved, is it not?”

Saved? Well, that puts a different complexion on things. Plus, the chained man was the prince. She was getting more usable information, and that was great.

Sort of.

“I just got here,” Ari persisted, in that soft, reasonable tone that sometimes worked. There was nothing to lose by trying. “And I’m confused. If I knew what happened, it would help me.”Please help me. She held eye contact, earnest and nonthreatening, her very best social judo.

Alzarien’s gaze darted to the cave mouth. “The faithless accursed killed our queen.” The softly rolling language held inexpressible sadness, or maybe it was his tone, each word slow and pained.

Oh. Is that all?“The faithless accursed?” That sounded pretty awful.

“Ternek.” The crimson-haired man’s voice dropped to a mutter, as if the word was an obscenity. He regarded her steadily, the canteen dangling from one hand. “He strangled her on the shores of the Mere during the last Conjunction, and declared himself the Bright King. Our shock was great, our mourning even greater as his Blight spread. But now you are returned.” His knuckles whitened; leather made a small creaking sound. “Do not ask me to describe it, my lady Ari. And please, in your mercy, do not tell anyone what I have said.”

Well, she could keep a secret. God knew she’d had practice. “Thank you.” Ari almost flinched, realizing she sounded prim instead of shocked. “I won’t.”

Strangled. Conjunction. Queen. Her entire list of new foreign words needed rearranging, and that would take some thought. Ari retreated from the red-sun morning, the forest, and the small campfire, which crackled merrily, without a care in the world.

Jesus Christ, what kind of fucked-up fairytale am I in?

The ‘equines’ turned out to be big horselike creatures with sharp hooves and mild dark eyes, though their teeth weren’t even close to herbivore. Chestnut, dark grey, and deep brown, half a dozen of the critters grouped behind a slightly larger pure-black one; the only thing weirder than their fangs and tassel-tufted ears was the fact that they had saddles.

And bridles, too. Where hadthosecome from?

Not-quite-horses, just like the not-possum. Ari hung back, sticking to the cave’s mouth as the guys broke camp and moved among the mounts on the hillside, clearly pleased with this turn of events. Of course the huge black horse-thing washis, and it regarded her sidelong, ears perked and silken tail switching. Daylight flowed along the creature’s curves, glistened on its hide, and showed every single link on the chains wrapping its rider.

The chained man still wore a layer of dull black iron links, crisscrossing his armored torso, sheathing his legs over cuisses and greaves, spiraling his metal-clad arms. A few hung free, swaying as he moved, and their faint chiming was a reminder that he could be silent when he chose to. The huge broadsword rode his back; everything about the guy was a little larger than life.

How did he walk with all that metal clinging to his limbs? He should have been clattering like a cartoon, but the chains seemed almost alive, testing the air and swaying independently. Last night was a confused jumble, but she remembered them shooting out like tentacles, shearing through huge gilded robots.

Ari had to admit magic was the best explanation for all this, which opened up a whole new world of questions she didn’t feel nearly equipped to handle at the moment. Not after the morning’s revelations, still turning round and round inside her head like a dog stamping down its bedding, refusing to settle quite yet.

---