Page 19 of The Robber Knight
“And the rest?”
Again, the soldier swallowed. Now came thehardest part. “Dead, Sir.”
The eyebrow came down again. “You don'tsay.”
A shiver ran down the soldier’s back. He hadexpected anger, screams, even a beating. He had forgotten who hewas talking to. Anger he could have accepted, but this... It wasobvious that the man didn’t care how many of his men died, as longas there were still enough left over to accomplish the task athand. And that, to a soldier, was much more frightening thananger.
“Conrad would like to speak to you, Sir. Togive his report.”
“That can wait.” The commander waved hissoldier off. “I am planning our approach. Tell him to come to me atsundown.”
“Yes, Sir. Conrad also said to give youthis.” The soldier gave a sign, and two others who had apparentlybeen waiting right outside the tent came in, carrying a heavyburden in flaming red. “A gift for you. They procured it whilstscouting ahead.”
“My, my.”
Now the commander put his map aside. For thefirst time, he looked interested. “What a fine piece of armor. Andan interesting coloring.”
“Yes, Sir.”
A long finger stroked a bloodstain on themetal. “Procured with difficulty, I see?”
“You will have to ask Conrad that, Sir.”
“Yes, of course. It really is of noimportance.”
“A horse comes with the armor, Sir.”
“Of similar quality?”
“Better, I'd say, Sir, if that'spossible.”
“Excellent! Have the armor brought to thesmith for a thorough check and repairs, will you? And then have itpacked on my new horse.”
“Yessir!”
The LivingNightmare
Reuben woke up in a bed that wasn't his, in a stoneroom he didn't recognize. That in itself wouldn't have been toostrange: he often woke up in unfamiliar rooms, when he had gottendrunk the night before and the proprietor of the inn had had tocarry him up the stairs. The fact that Reuben was missing hissword, tunic, and pants however, and that there seemed to be threearrows sticking out of his back, was slightly more disturbing.
Quickly, Reuben reached behind and checkedwhere exactly the arrows had pierced his skin—on the right side,far away from his spine, his lungs, and his heart, so the injurywas not life threatening. He wondered why he had passed out in thefirst place. He must have been thrown forward by the arrows andknocked his head on something. Of course, he couldn't rememberfeeling any pain in his head, but that was the only logicalconclusion.
How embarrassing!
Because of this stupidity he now was here,probably the prisoner of the very men who earlier this day had hadthe audacity to demand his surrender. He, a prisoner? Bah! His facecontorted in a grim smile.We'll see aboutthat.
Nimbly, he jumped to his feet. The arrows inhis back twisted a bit from the motion. It was a curiousfeeling.
In a flash, he examined his surroundings. Hewas in a friendly, warm-looking room with a carpet on the floor anddrapes displaying a cheery pattern of flowers in front of thenarrow windows. Quickly, he took a few steps along the wall tomeasure the space. The room was about fifteen feet wide andtwenty-three feet long. Its furniture looked well-made, andconsisted of a comfortable bed, a chest, a wardrobe built into thewall, two chairs, and a table with a chess board on top. Beside thechess board stood a little vase, in which he could see a fewdaisies. Reuben frowned. This didn't look much like a prisoncell.
He went to the door and pushed. It swungopen, easily. A further indication that his original theory had notbeen correct. Reuben knew from long experience that prisons tendednot to have unlocked doors.
He pulled the door shut again so that nobodypassing outside would notice he had awoken and went to the window.The movement twisted the arrows in his back again, and he felttrickles of blood streaming from his wounds, but he paid them noheed. There were more important things to think about rightnow.
Having reached the window, he measured thenarrow gap in the stone wall with a practiced eye. Too narrow forhim to climb through—damn! Well, at least he could have a lookwhere he was. Maybe that would give him a hint as to who washolding him and why they had brought him here.
Reuben had a very bad feeling about hiscurrent situation. If people took good care of you, that usuallymeant they wanted you to live so that they could have the pleasureof torturing or enslaving you later. Personally, he wasn't up foreither of those options.
His plan was simple: to get out of this placeand far away as quickly as possible. He had no clue where hewas—the last thing he remembered was fighting the men in theclearing, and after that, there were only the strange andterrifying visions of unconsciousness. The dungeons... Yes, heremembered dreaming of the dungeons while he was unconscious, andof the aghast faces of his interrogators, and the darkness, and thegirl...
