Fire and Ice II
Chapter II - A Thorn Amongst The Roses
© Cederwyn Whitefurr
July 2003.
All Rights Reserved.

Sir Kathis stood beside his trembling mount, and then stroked its neck soothingly as he sighed.

"Now you big oaf, what's gone and gotten you so upset?" He admonished his loyal mount of many years.

With a whiffling snort, the horse nudged him and flicked its head back towards the now dark forest path. He looked down the path, and seen only the shadows from the large oak trees and heard the wind sighing through the branches. With a soft whinny, the horse pulled at the reigns.

"Hey - now stop that!" Sir Kathis grunted, as he restrained his impatient mount, slapping it sharply on the neck. "You head the lady, its too dangerous to go through the forest at night, and I'm inclined to believe her. After all, we've sought that Dragon for what.twenty years now?”

He stroked the trembling Stallion neck.

“For twenty years, it's always managed to stay one step ahead of us, but I suspect my friend, our journey will soon be at an end. It can run, but it cannot hide forever. You may be able to see in the dark, but I can't. Besides, I think a night before a warm fire in the shelter of her cottage sounds like a dream of heaven, compared to spending it cuddled up beside you in a dark grove!"

With a pitiful whinny, his horse nudged him again and tried to pull away.

"I do not know what's gotten into you, but this foolishness will stop this instant, do you understand me? We're staying here tonight, and you'll do as your told. I'm sure a big, strapping stallion like you isn't afraid of a little Doe? Or are you?" Sir Kathis unbuckled the straps that bound the stallion's heavy plate armour on.

With a grunt, he lifted it off and set it near the cottage wall, then continued to remove the horses heavy armour and almost as heavy combat saddle. Grateful to be rid of the burdensome weight, the horse whiffled and shook itself, and Sir Kathis noted the large dark sweat-marks on the horse's body. Now normally, he wouldn't pay much attention to it, but these markings were not caused by the armour or saddle.and as he ran his hand across the stallion's flanks, he felt it shudder and without warning, the stallion reared, his foreleg's pawing wildly at the air as his reins snapped and he bolted off into the dark forest.

"Hey - get back here you useless...ah the hell's with you. Idiot!" SirKathis shouted after the Stallion.

Returning inside, he removed his own heavy full plate armour, piling it neatly in a corner then he stretched, feeling his aching muscles flex and ripple beneath the sweaty padded armour he had worn beneath the heavy plate. Giving the stew a stir, he walked quietly across to Jessica's bedchambers, and then he paused.

Even through the solid door, he heard the young Whitetail's anguished sobs, and he hesitated, before he knocked politely. Only her sob's answered him and he frowned in concern, then opened the door and walked in. Jessica lay in the foetal position in her small, narrow cot, clutching her knees tightly to her chest as the tears streaked down her cheeks. He moved to her side, then knelt and tenderly touched her shoulder, feeling her flinch at his touch.

"Go away - " Jessica wept.

"Milady, I fear I can not do that. If I have said or done something to offend you, I am terribly sorry. I.my manners were not befitting my station, and I should have had more courtesy for you."

"Just...go away and leave me." Jessica sniffled. "What do you care? You're on some....some grand quest for your King. What need have you to concern yourself with the likes of a lowly peasant, who wishes only to be left alone in her woodland home?"

Sir Kathis recoiled at the bitterness in her voice, but he fought down his own anger and gently rolled the Doe onto her back and took her shaking hoof-paw in his.

"Milady, please - I am on a quest, that is true, but my quest is noble and will ensure peace and happiness throughout the lands. I.I know the King seems far removed from the sufferance of the common-folk, I see it every day. How the Nobility gets fat and rich at the expense of the peasants they oppress.."

Jessica whimpered and dabbed at her eyes with her dress hem, then blew her nose and stared at him.

"I do not know your pain," Sir Kathis admitted. "Yet, I do not wish too, unless you yourself are free to speak of it. If you are, then I give you my word, as a Knight of the Realm, what you say to me will be for our ears alone. Think not of me as a Knight of the King, but as...as a..."

"A what?" Jessica sniffled. "As something I can never be? Are you so blind by loyalty and honour that you cannot see beyond the mere shell that I am? I once believed - yes, I once believed in good, justice and honour. I too, was once of the high-born, just like yourself.but it was all taken from me in a single night, my mate put to the sword and murdered by some Knight...a Knight....much like yourself."

As her anger began to rise within her, Sir Kathis gasped and turned away, his face paling as her words seared through his mind.

"You - you were high-born?" He breathed, as he glanced back at her, a new visible respect for her, as he turned and knelt on one knee, his head bowed in obeisance and humility. "Milady, forgive my brashness, I had no idea, and beg your pardon for the slur on your honour."

Jessica sniffled and turned away from him, a choking sob escaping her. "Yes - I was High-born. Both my beloved and myself were. We had it all, honour, glory, riches beyond count, yet we never once gave ourselves to the opulence of the human way's, their grand; opulent lifestyle, how they trod those beneath their high and mighty station, so that they could get ahead in the Lord's and Noble's court..”

Jessica drew great heaving sobs.

“No. We wanted none of their filth, their baseless and decadent lifestyle. It was because of this, that my beloved set out to find us a new home. Somewhere far from the crass human's and their immature, apathetic lifestyle. We found that home - woodland far from here, and it was there, that we made our new home. We turned our backs on the King's, Queens, Noble's and Knights - we left that world behind us, and became honest, hard working peasants, stripped of our titles, ranks and riches."

Sir Kathis knelt speechless, letting the openly crying Doe unburden her heart.

"You can not begin to imagine my pain, nor would I expect you too." Jessica growled. "You are probably so enamoured of your precious King.."

"Milady - please, speak with respect for our Lord.." Sir Kathis grated, his anger rising.

"He is not my Lord, not now - not since it was by his hand, his human hand, that signed the death warrant for my beloved." Jessica shot back scathingly, turning back to stare into the stunned Knight's eyes. "Yes - it was by your precious and untouchable King's hand, that signed away the life of my beloved, as if we were but pawns in some chess game he played with those pathetic, fawning Nobles, who bowed and scraped, grovelling like dog's at his feet."

"I will not listen to such slander against our King!" Sir Kathis roared, as he leapt to his feet.

"Sit down!" Jessica whispered.

Before he knew what was happening, Sir Kathis sat, his body responding before his brain realised what was happening to him.

"You've had a glimpse of the fist within this furred glove, Sir Knight." Jessica sniffled. "Pray not to glimpse my full powers."

"You.how did you - " He began.

"Be silent and listen." Jessica spoke softly, wiping away her tears with her paws. "I know this will not be easy for you to hear, but you must. It was by your King's hand, that he signed away the life of my mate. Why did he do it? Simply because my mate and myself refused to bow before him, to cower like dog's at his feet, to hang on every word and whim of his desire. We turned out backs on him and his decadent court, we left everything behind, and made a new life for ourselves."

Jessica sniffled and a convulsive sob shook her.

"I thought, with all my heart and soul, that at last, we had found the one thing that we craved for ourselves. Our freedom. For once in our lives, we were free - free to pursue our lives how we saw fit. It was because of our defiance, your King ordered the assassin to hunt down and murder my mate in cold blood."

"I - I can not see how his Majesty would - " Sir Kathis gasped, his face pale, voice barely a whisper.

"You can not see, because you have had the wool pulled over your eyes. You and dozens of others like you, all blindly tied up with honour, goodness and virtue. Let me ask this of you - what good is such if it costs you not only the life of the one you love, but your very soul? All the riches in the Kingdom mean nothing, when you do not have the other half of your soul to share in it. Oh, do not get me wrong, I am not adverse to wealth, indeed - I once had more wealth than I knew what to do with, but when I lost my mate, I left it all behind me. It meant nothing to me, it still means nothing to me, as without him, the one love of my life, the other half of my shattered soul, it is nothing. Tell me Sir Knight, have you ever loved? I mean - truly loved some one? Been willing to die to protect them from harm?"

Sir Kathis remained silent, his head bowed. Jessica sighed and rolled away again.

"No - I can sense from your reaction and scent you have not. Then truly, you cannot encompass my grief, my words mean nothing to you. No. I would not wish the pain I bear to be inflicted upon anyone, it is my penance for my crimes, and I must suffer it alone."

Dismissed, Sir Kathis stared at the back of the sobbing doe for a few moments, then his head bowed, brow furrowed as thoughts and feelings surged through his mind, he quietly walked back out into the main room and slumped down into a chair, where he stared vacantly into the fire, thinking on that which Jessica had told him, weighing his own beliefs against all that she had said.

He did not notice as the Doe's bedchamber door opened silently, and Jessica stood in the doorway, facing the back of the troubled Knight. Her hoof-paws raised and from them fell pale, smooth sand that trickled through her fingers, as she whispered softly, her other paw weaving in an intricate pattern. Her eyes were fixed on Sir Kathis as she intoned the spell, but something reflected the dying firelight off her muzzle; her eyes had changed from deep woodland brown, to bright, metallic silver, like twin pools of liquefied mercury.

Sir Kathis blinked, then his body went limp and his head slumped onto his chest and he slept, overcome by the spell that had been cast over him. Jessica lowered her paws and sighed softly, then brushed past him and slipped out into the darkness.

*

Outside, Jessica stared up into the glittering heavens and she sighed, then raised her paws and began to chant in a low, wavering voice. All around her, the trees sighed and murmured amongst themselves, as a coldness swept over the clearing in which her cottage lay. Here and there, eldritch vapours materialised and danced like capricious ghosts, blending and swirling through the glade, as the fog rose in their silent footsteps, and within moments, blanketed the grove in a thick, pea soup.

In the centre of the fog, Jessica stood, head bowed as she shuddered and then looked up, and moved purposefully through the fog, which parted magically before her, then closed behind her again, seemingly swallowing the young Doe into it's icy embrace.

*

Sir Kathis' stallion reared and snorted, its ears flat, nostrils flared and eyes rolling as it watched the fog swirled and eddied amongst the trees, barely seen ghostly forms dancing and weaving through the trees as they herded the stallion further and further away from the cottage and his master. At last, the Stallion found himself backed into a dead end, a fatal precipice at his back, nothing but small, scraggly trees and the impenetrable fog before him.

Cackling and whispering, the eldritch forms formed a semi-circle before the stallion, and he whinnied in panic, tossing his proud head and pawing in terror at the ground, his entire body shaking with his dread and trepidation. He'd bravely fought Dragon's, he'd seen more wars and skirmishes than was his want, but never in his life, had the stallion ever felt such terror. This was beyond his capabilities to comprehend - and it was this fear that even now, paralysed him with indecision.

*

From out of the swirling mists, Jessica strode purposefully - appearing as if a ghost herself. Angrily, the Stallion's ears pasted flat and he snorted warningly, but Jessica showed no fear as she approached the stallion. If anything, a look of sadness was in her eyes, which turned the stallion's blood to ice water in his veins. He reared, snorted and pawed at the air, warning her away, but Jessica only sighed, then stopped a bare handful of paces away.

"I am sorry," Jessica sniffled, as she clasped her paws before her and looked into the eyes of the Stallion. "You know why I must do what I must, I wish it had never come to this, but I can not allow you to divulge my secret. Please, do not struggle, I do not wish to make this any more painful than it will already be, yet I will try to make it quick. You are a proud, brave and noble creature, your only mistake, was coming to my forest, but I do not blame you.but now you know of me, and I can not allow you to leave. I am so sorry.."

She raised her paws to the sky and the fog swirled in around both her and stallion..

*

There was an equine's shriek of mortal terror, followed by a sickening crunching of breaking bones and the skittering of hooves on stone...followed a moment later by a heavy silence.

*

As the fog swirled and parted, it revealed the gravel spattered with blood, the loamy soil torn and ravaged, small shrubs broken and bent - but there was no sign of the Doe, or of the brave stallion..

To Be Continued.