Dragon Knights Fan Fiction ❯ Rune's Quest for Peace ❯ Knives In The Dark ( Chapter 3 )

The lurching of the wagon disturbed Rune greatly. Step One of Meditation in Three Easy Steps clearly stated that a comfortable place to sit was essential to achieving the proper, meditative state. The rolling of the wagon just didn't settle into any sort of rhythm and the frequent bone-jarring jolts as yet another stone was squashed by the wheels of the rickety wagon, left Rune feeling queasy. He tried his hardest, but shutting his eyes amplified his other senses and Rune's disquiet grew.

Once again, Rune closed his eyes, leant back and with all the determination in his heart, emptied his mind. Out went Rath's far too vocal voice. It seemed to have grown in volume recently and it really hurt Rune's ears. Out went Thatz's envious glares. Really, he just didn't understand how awful those people were. So he missed a meal, he really ate far too much and if he'd a little less larcenous energy... Step Two... Empty your mind. Rune exhaled deeply, then limbered up his arms, readying himself for another try.

He tumbled over as a jolt from what must have been a boulder wracked the wagon.

"This is ridiculous," he said, righting himself. "How can I achieve any kind of rest in a jittery old thing like this?"

Another forceful shudder shook Rune and he stood up, bending over at the waist. With his feet wide apart and his hands holding onto the wooden braces, he slowly made his way towards the wagon seat.

He poked his head out of the canvas and greeted Hargrun, his wife Laine and the small baby cradled in her arms.

"Thanks again for letting me rest in your wagon. I'm sorry to put you and your family out, sir," he said to the smiling man.

"Don't worry, Mr. Rune," the man said, as he flicked the reins at his horse. "The girls are having fun talking to your two friends."

"Did you get enough sleep back there, Rune?" asked Laine.

"Unfortunately, I am still a student of this discipline," said Rune, grimacing and turning pale as he clambered onto the hard, wooden seat. "I found it difficult to achieve the restful mind necessary for meditation."

"Oh well, now that you're up, I guess we can pick up the pace a bit." With that, Hargrun urged his horse to catch up with the rest of the wagon train, just disappearing around the next corner.

Rune's stomach lurched. His new friend hadn't been a wagon driver for long and Rune clutched tightly to the wagon seat and prayed that he'd meet up with another set of wagoneers and have a more comfortable ride the next day.

The train stopped for the night in a large glade a few metres from the road. There were relatively few areas in the forest that would accommodate even a handful of wagons and Hargrun had worried that they wouldn't make it to a clearing before dark, though that was no excuse for driving like a demon. Rune waved to him before staking a claim for the rest of his party in the campsite. He'd managed to get a small fire going when he was joined by Thatz and Rath.

"It's your turn to cook, Rune," said Thatz, tossing some wizened vegetables to him.

Rune eyed them critically. "You want me to cook with those? Are you sure they're safe to eat?"

"It was the best I could scrounge up from the rest of the camp," glowered Thatz. "I couldn't get anything from the castle's kitchens before I left."

"I warned you that your raids would have consequences," murmured Rath.

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Thatz. "Hindsight has perfect vision and all that. If you don't like it, then go buy some food from one of the traders. You'll find their rates this far from town to be very unreasonable."

"What'll we do after we eat?" asked Rune, fishing out some pots from his satchel and filling them from his canteen.
"Go to sleep," said Tetheus, emerging from the shadows. "I'll keep watch tonight."

"There should be good craic tonight. I was looking forward to a few chats and songs by the fires," said Thatz, trying to take his arrival in stride.

"You mean gambling," interrupted Rune, bashing the pots together, bubbling water spilling out as he laid them by the fire.

"Now, Rune," Thatz said, a twinkle in his eye. "What would teamsters know about gambling?"

Rune awoke from a garbled dream where Pao Tzu was dancing with a chicken and explaining that meditation wasn't as important as egg yolk. Rune was waltzing with a demon and was swept away before Pao Tzu got around to explaining why.

"Rune!"

He sat up and looked in Rath's face. It had the strangely hysterical and darkly disturbing glint that he usually got when ... The sounds of the camp waking up almost disguised the clash of swords. Almost, but not quite.

"Wake Thatz," Rath hissed, creeping away from the fire. His sword was already in his hand and Fire was perched on his shoulder. "I'm going to help."

Rune jumped up and grabbed him before he disappeared.

"Don't use Fire," he exclaimed.

"Why not?" asked Rath, confused.

"Look around you," said Rune. "These wagons are flammable. The entire camp could go up if you start throwing flame around."

Rath's face fell, but he nodded and stalked off.

"What's happening?" yawned Thatz, struggling out of his bed. "I was at a party with cake and ..."

"We're under attack," said Rune. "Get ready. I'll go check on Hargrun and his family and then I'll meet up with you."

"Okay," agreed Thatz, clambering to his feet.

The camp was in a state. Screams, flames, the clashes of swords and the hideous laughter of demons filled a confused and violent aura. Rune tripped over broken equipment and stumbled past damaged wagons, scarred deeply by parried slashes and dripping a hideous ichor, a mixture of blood and ooze. Despite the sounds of panicked combat he saw nothing but shadows and fallen corpses. The flaring light from misbehaving campfires blinded his eyes and shifted the landscape into something alien.

He barely sensed the first attack. A sword suddenly appeared in front of him; a wild swing from a demon drunk with battle and especially careless. Rune jerked out his own blade and stabbed him through the heart, or what passed for one, before he could correct his error. Rune grimaced at the ichor from its body and holding the sword low, he ran on. Meanwhile, the sticky goop ran off the steel like quicksilver, leaving it clean and pure.

A lurking guide-rope trapped Rune's feet and sent him sprawling. He planted his hands under him and began to leap to his feet, when he saw a pair of staring eyes from under a nearby cart. Rune grabbed his sword and the eyes disappeared with a squeal.

Rune gained his feet and scanned for an ambush, but saw nothing. He crouched down and approached the cart, his blade ready to strike anything that attacked him. The gloom was almost complete and he took a quick breath before ducking his head underneath. His eyes adjusted to the sight of a boot scrabbling away from him.

"Wait!" he called. "I'm not a demon!"

The boot stopped and shuffled around to reveal a shoulder, then a head.

"Mr. Rune?" came a quavering voice. "Thank goodness, I thought we were in trouble, for sure."

"Hargrun?" asked Rune.

"Yes," the wagon-driver replied. "We crawled under here when the alarm went off. It may not appear noble, but at least we're safe."

"You did the right thing," Rune said reassuringly. He looked at the rusty sword clutched in Hargrun's hand. It looked as though it wouldn't survive one strike against a blood-thirsty demon, let alone protect the family of frightened humans. "Stay here and keep hidden and I'll fight anything that comes this way."

"Is Rune hiding with us?" said little Marcy, the youngest girl.

"I am, Marcy," he said softly, hugging her with his free hand.

Though it was peaceful under the cart - Laine and Hargrun had piled boxes and sacks around the cart, hiding their family from danger - violence spread throughout the camp. Booted feet ran past and the horrible sounds of pain and death rang out and echoed in Rune's ears. People died and he hid, yet every time he thought to leave, he felt Marcy's body tremble and he stayed where he was. If anything happened to them, if Rune couldn't protect five people, his heart would break. And so Rune did nothing and betrayed the camp.

Then he heard a sound he did recognise, a pattern of clashes and yells that were uniquely Rath's.

Carefully, Rune crawled to the edge of the hidey-hole and peeked out between two of the boxes. The coast was clear so he pulled himself out and crouched beside a nearby wagon. Rath's grunts had grown quieter, which meant that he'd moved farther away. Before heading after him, Rune checked his escape route; nothing was visible through the boxes: the family was safe.

He sped through the campsite, jumping over bodies without a second glance, feeling vulnerable every moment that his charges were unprotected. He rounded a wagon and found Rath stabbing a twisted, shadowy yokai and preparing to run after its twin.

"Rath, wait!" Rune yelled, running up to him.

As Rath turned a demon materialised by his feet and struck upwards, shadowy fingers elongating into dark claws. Seeming not to notice, Rath left his sword arm drop, the arc nicely chopping off the demon's hands.

"Rune, what... nevermind, I have demons to slaughter," he said, turning away from the Water Dragon Knight.

"Wait," said Rune, hopping over the bodies, frantically waving his arms to keep his balance when he landed awkwardly. Rath waited for him to catch up, his foot twitching. Rune panted once, then launched into his spiel. "Hargrun, Laine and their children are hiding under a caravan," he waved back the way he'd come, "over there. I promised to guard them, but now I've found you, you can do it and I can help everyone else."

Rath blinked. "Go back that way? But I've killed everything that way."

"More demons will turn up, Rath. They don't stay in one spot."

Rath shook his head and thrust his sword in a different direction. "Listen, that's where the demons are. If I go back, I'll get to kill at most another five, there's twenty that way already."

"Rath," Rune begged. "I can't leave them on their own. If anything happens they'll be slaughtered."

"Then run back to them," he replied, turning away.

Rune grabbed onto him. "I can't." His voice failed him and he tugged at Rath's shirt until he could force the words out again. "I can't stay with them. There are twenty wagons in this camp. Each wagon has at least three people and they're dying." Rath shuddered as Rune pleaded, his voice quavering. "You can't heal them, Rath, but I can. I can really help. I can save lives, but not if I have to protect a whole family. You have to go back so that I can use my healing magic, faerie magic. I won't be able to live with myself if there's a camp full of human bodies tomorrow; it won't matter how many demon ones lie beside them."

Rath sighed and his shoulders slumped. He looked toward his original destination, then back at Rune and glared. "Okay, but you have to scare as many demons as possible in my direction."

"I promise," Rune said, smiling in relief. He wiped his eyes before running off.

The bulk of the fighting was taking place around some encircled wagons: Rune didn't know whose they were. The desperate humans were holding off the demons, but their strength was waning. Rune ran to their aid, but tripped over several fallen corpses, the faces of the dead still grimacing with hate and fury.

The light from a random flare illuminated his pratfall and a handful of demons broke off from the main attack to take care of this new threat. Rune jumped up as the first claw swiped out, raising a welt, but not doing any serious damage. He backed off, taking slow steps, as they tried to encircle him. Every pace took him from the fading fighters; Rune took a deep breath, watching the sniggering demons as their forms shifted in the firelight.

When he bumped up against the wooden side of a cart, they launched an attack. Rune parried furiously, swinging his sword and hard-pressed to block each attack. A high blow from the tree-demon met his blade, but the sword's momentum was too great to alter in time to meet the spindly yokai's swipe - Rune had to swerve in order to dodge that one, which left him open at his back. Fire sliced down his spine as a half-sensed shadow danced in and cut him. The blood clotted immediately, although the pain remained.

After the initial rush Rune calmed down. Only one of the demons had a blade - with the extra reach he had, the Dragon Knight should be able to hold them at bay if he was careful and so he started to breathe according to one of the patterns in Ease Stress with Pao Tzu. He held his blade lightly, doing just enough to block the attacks, but no more so that he had plenty of time to parry the swipe from the demon on his right - enough time to open a streaming cut of darkest ichor and still sweep to his left and disarm the shadow. He fell back with a cry and the spindly demon, thinking that Rune was distracted, rushed in. Rune dropped to one knee and stabbed him through the chest, then pressed his advantage against the tree-demon. Unused to fighting alone, he fell swiftly and Rune rushed to the tired humans, already chanting a healing spell.

He released his first spell on a man who was falling backwards with a knife embedded in his chest. As the magic took effect, Rune yanked it out and threw it back into the yokai mass. The second man he tried to help shook his head while dodging blades, claws and teeth and shouted "Inside the boundary! Help them." Rune nodded and leapt over an over-turned cart, into the eerie peace at the circle's centre. One dead body, no more than a boy, lay on the ground, but so did several breathing ones, the rattle of air in their lungs louder almost than the screams from outside. Rune healed them all. Every casualty that could stand ran back into the fray and sent their comrades to Rune's gentle touch and the energy to fight on.

The tide turned during the night. Fear and terror are the main weapons of demons and with Rune on their side, the travellers never lost heart. As fighters mopped up the remaining demons in the camp, the injured staggered into Rune's circle: some leaving healthier than they'd been in years. The work was tiring, but joyful and eventually the injuries he tended became less and less serious until Thatz swaggered in, holding up a limping Rath.

"Tetheus is missing," he said with a cheery grin. "I searched the camp and I can't see him anywhere."

"You don't think they killed him, do you?" Rune spluttered, gesturing awkwardly to the milling crowd, still alert and with weapons drawn. "He is quite demonish, after all and they may have mistaken him in the heat of battle."

Rath dropped onto the ground with a thump. "You seriously don't think that anyone here could take him on, Rune." He lifted his shirt and exposed a nasty gash. "Besides, look at Thatz. He's dying to spill something."

Thatz laughed. "Okay, you'll never guess what I saw! Well... heard!"

The other two stared at him, while Rune summoned up the energy to tend to Rath.

"He's meeting a girl!" he stated proudly. The grin widened. "Tetheus, is meeting a girl! Tetheus!"

"Are you sure?" asked Rune. "I didn't think he was that type."

"I thought he was asexual," said Rath with an open mouth.

"Wonders will never cease," sighed Rune. "There you go."

Rath poked at his side and then lowered his shirt with a nod to Rune. "Tetheus." He shrugged. "I know that he wasn't going to go with us all the way, but I would have expected him to say goodbye."

"If it's a really pretty girl then I could understand," snickered Thatz.

"Me too," sighed Rune.

Rath stared at them. "I can't. Who'd dump their friends for a girl?"

Thatz clapped him on the back. "One day you'll understand. Anyhow, we'd better go get some sleep: there'll be more wagoning in the morning."

Rune groaned.

"Don't worry Rune," Thatz said again. "I know that you're wrecked, but I'm sure that we can find at least one wagon that isn't too badly damaged for you to rest in."

"Maybe even one with all four wheels intact," Rath smirked.

I started writing this on the first of December, 2004 and I've been fighting it pretty much since. This fic suffered horribly from a block: I had the plot worked out to more detail than usual for me and I was forcing the characters. Because of that I couldn't write. I eventually worked out what I was doing wrong, deleted the forced bit and sat back and watched Rune and Rath do their thing. Everything flowed again and I was able to finish this off.

I also had to write a fourth thread to get the basic plan down properly. That story won't be released until well after the three serieses are finished because I'll need a lot of help with it and will be claiming a beta from dkbetas, the livejournal community. That's if one agrees, otherwise you won't see it.

This fic is notable for having the most action of anything that I've written to date. - I have to learn how to do it right sometime.

Oh yes, review now!