Ky estimated he had gotten only three hours of sleep during the night, too anxious and too busy listening to the walls of his flat, wondering how safe the village was. His mind stratigized battles as he laid there in his bed or paced the floors. Despite his lack of his sleep, he was ready. He had arrived at the gates before the light of dawn, waiting for his knights to arrive. Now, an hour after his arrival, all his knights were accounted for. Two horses were with them, Javelin's Onyx and his Indigo beside him.
He turned his head and gestured a hand to a group of men waiting by the gates. With his command, two men gathered on each side and began pulling back on the gates. He watched as they strained against the heavy doors and brought them back. They had an easier time than they had last night, and they were trained fighters. Then again, this was their only protection.
When they opened it wide enough for them to pass, Javelin, with his flagstaff held high, went out first, followed by Ky.
The two trail blazed on their horses to the edge of the forest and stopped. Ky looked into it, looking for shapes and even smells, but found nothing on the surface. They had to go deeper into its belly.
"Here," he said, "we will spread out. Look over each rock, tree and log. I was told its where they come out. After we're done here, go to the edge towards the other side of the forest." He pointed. 'We'll regroup there. Good hunting." He entered the dark forest.
He held Thunderseal down towards the ground, ready to strike any Gear hiding below. He held it tight with full leather gloves.
As he rode, he glanced around to keep some of his knights in sight, too. In the distance, he saw Javelin's blue flag. They were all following in its direction. Some stopped to check for any sign of Gears as they went on. Even Ky stabbed an oddly shaped tree but got nothing out of it, only a notch left by his blade.
He looked through each unknown and suspicious shape his human eyes could see. He waited for logs and deadwood to start moving, but no such thing happened. He gave a few swings here and there but didn't bring anything up.
Then, on his right, he heard one knight begin to sing as they went along, trying to disturb any Gear that may be with them and to keep their band together by the sound of his voice. Now they were able to keep tabs on each other by sight and sound.
As he listened, Ky began to recognize the voice. He had heard it last night in the tavern, accompanied by a guitar. Now, he didn't know that singer was one of his knights.
Some of the other knights joined in with him for a few verses, then let the lead singer take over.
It was a song of war.
Darkness, darkness, through fire and rain
Gleaming blade don't fail me now in this twisted fate
I don't want to die for heaven's sake
My eyes watch them come for us all
Fight!
Darkness, darkness, though fire and rain
Fight!
He went on for a few verses while the knights chanted some lines. Ky almost laughed. He never saw such a sight. But the situation was serious.
Through a few hours of searching, they came out of the forest with nothing. It had Gear written all over it, and he and Javelin had gone through it before with no sign. Now that he went slow and in a hunting mood, it was no longer safe. He felt it. There could have been Gears here when they passed through. Was it possible they were the ones who stirred up the Gears and drew the dead Gear to the village? They had been safe since the knights came here.
"All right," he said, "seems like there's nothing here—for now. So, we'll move on." He pointed towards the mountains. "There." He turned his head to Javelin who stood with the others. "Javelin?"
The young flag bearer galloped his horse in front of him then slowed to a walk and trail blazed again.
They all followed him.
Light flurries began to fall by the time the knights neared the mountain face. The snow stretched across the field and climbed up the rocks and crevices. The rocks looked like deep gashes from under its snowy flesh. It ran up and over with angles and drops. They all watched the world that surrounded them cautiously like predators.
There was no signs of Gears, and with the new falling snow. Any signs of Gears would be covered. But that didn't discourage Ky or the knights. They were hardened with callouses and cuts that scarred them from travel and fights. Ky himself had callouses and burns on his hands. His feet could handle more endurance these days than a normal man. He walked and fought until and feet and muscles hurt.
He wasn't the sort who stood by and watched his men go into battle. He went with them.
Indigo pinned his ears back and pulled his head back towards him. He began tossing his head and danced sideways.
"Indigo!" Ky gave his reins a hard yank. It only quieted him a moment before he fought with him again. "Indigo, what's wrong with you?"
The horse stopped, his ears still pinned. He swayed his head with Ky trying to keep him under control. He gave the horse a thump on the side but it did nothing.
He should have listened to his horse. He knew better to trust him.
Out from the mountain side, Gears spilled out and ran down like rain on glass. It was a mass of them. There were even aerial Gears flying over the crest of the mountain.
"Engage! Engage!" Ky shouted while he pointed at the horde. They charged from behind.
The knights spun around and attacked as they neared with Ky running after them. He began slashing with Gears snapping at him and Indigo's side. He stabbed down on a small one and cut his sword across the air and hit a larger one with his magic. Its flesh opened and the creature fell. He did the same to another and another.
The men shouted their battle cries. The fighting around him flashed with light of magic and flash of teeth. They were crowded with Gears.
Ky clenched down on his teeth as he slashed his sword over his horse's head and sent lightning charges into the air over and over. Indigo flatted his ears and ducked his head slightly as he did this.
He spotted Javelin's flag in the chaos, raised high.
Ky slashed down on a Gear lunging at his side, hitting it on its short muzzle. It stumbled back and whimpered like a dog, leaving Ky to strike a deadly blow across its chest.
Another charged head-first at him. Indigo reared as it came closer. Ky held tight and was nearly jolted out of his saddle as he made a light buck followed it. He yanked hard on the reins after he got all four hooves on the ground. He then glanced over momentarily to Javelin again, who was stabbing and slashing at the Gears around him, with the blue flag flying gracefully as he attacked. He didn't look like an inexperienced fighter, not with the fluid courage he moved with and the quickness of his horse under him. Hell, his own wouldn't listen to him. So, Ky abandoned his seat and with the words, "Away, Indigo," the horse ran from him.
Ky returned a glance to the young flag bearer who now was accompanied by an archer, launching a flaming arrow at a Gear, then turned his attention upwards. There was a flock of winged Gears about the size of large vultures overhead. They were hairless, wings like bats and had a tail following behind them. They were headed for the village.
Ky dropped his mouth with his heart pounding before he screamed, "Somebody stop them! They're headed for the village! They'll swarm!"
At his command, two archers, including the one he saw with Javelin, and another knight, the falconer ran after them.
He caught a glance of Sol who sent three Gears flying backwards from a blazing blow from his sword. There were patches of green grass exposed from the melted snow.
Ky's observance was broken when a large white-furred Gear charged him. Ky prepared himself and sent a charge of electricity. It struck its chest, slowing it down, but it didn't stop it. It was going to hit him.
He braced himself and stuck his blade out in front of him as it ran into it. It snapped at the air a few times before it began to weaken, then went limp on top of him. He kept his hold on his sword that impaled the beast and his legs struggled until it felt his entire body was trying to keep it from falling on him. He tried to push it, but he couldn't get it to move. He was pinned.
He looked around to see if the knights saw their leader trapped underneath the beast, but no one did. When Ky turned his head, saw an attack on one of his knights that should have been stopped.
Javelin was thrown from his horse with the whip of a Gear's tail. He landed hard but slowly picked himself up again. When he looked to see the Gear who attacked him, it grabbed him into its jaws and threw him. Ky watched in horror.
Now riderless, the Gear focused on Javelin's horse and did the same to it. Ky's heart made a header for his stomach.
"Javelin!" He struggled harder to push the Gear off, yet he couldn't get if off. He screamed in rage as loud as his lungs could take. On top of him, the Gear got heavier. Ky began to slip and sink under it. It felt like it was melting on top of him. The white of its body over him made it feel like the world was covering him in the snowy white, scared and angry.
Then, finally, the dead Gear began to lift. He turned his head and saw a glance of Sol's body.
"You like getting into trouble, boy?"
Ky sneered at him but had no strength nor words to say anything—except maybe 'go to hell'.
"Get this thing off him! Get this off him!" More men rushed over to him and began to lift it. Ky stopped pushing and pulled himself out from under it. When he pulled his sword from its chest, the blade came out smoothly. Blood spilled from the wound. Ky's arms and hands were covered in its blood. But he cared less about that.
Once freed, he ran immediately for the spot where Javelin had fallen. No, thrown.
"Javelin! Javelin!" He made a dead stop, sliding on the ice and snow. He knelt by his body, which was covered in blood. The snow around him was splattered with it. Some soaked.
Ky stared down on his body, hoping to see some sort of chance he was still alive in this mess, but no, it was too late. Javelin was dead. He died by the time the Gear picked him up in its jaws. The fall only gave him some broken ribs, but the bone crushing bite did him in.
Ky turned his head and past the dead bodies of Gears, he saw the flag standing up from the snow in a sad but victorious pose. Ky stared at it in a hypnotized way. It was wrong. It was wrong to bring him here. They had given him an inexperienced flag bearer and he had ignored their warning about the boy.
It wasn't the Gears who killed him, it was him.
He still stared at it when the others approached him from behind.
"He never dropped the flag," he mumbled. A honorable thing, their sight from chaos, and his only weapon; he never dropped it. They were victorious. But only in battle.
Ky slowly rose and stepped away. There was nothing left but dead Gears and an innocent flag bearer. It was over.
"Indigo!" he then began calling. "Indigo." He stepped through the Gears and whistled. He waited to see the horse to come trotting towards his rider but he saw nothing. "Indigo."
"Ky!"
He turned his head over his shoulder and saw one of the knights walking towards him and shook his head.
Ky watched him, then slowly, it dawned on him what he was about to say.
He quickly looked around and began another search. And it didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for. He saw a color of blue on the white ground and a brown body on the ground. It was Indigo. Ky ran to him and when he stopped, the horse lay still, eyes staring into nothingness. The saddle was half ripped off with the horse's side crushed. Indigo had suffered just like Javelin and his little horse. And again, he was the one who sent him away.
"Indigo," he whispered and went to his knee beside the horse's body. He placed his bloody gloves on his cheek. Cold tears began to brim around his eyes before they fell. All the battles they rode together on, how he was the only one who could touch him, like it was magical; the way he understood, smart and loyal; it was like Indigo wasn't a horse at all.
Now, it was over. He had failed them both. He never let any of his soldiers die on his watch. But what was this? A failure.
He slowly stood, his eyes still on his dead horse. He took a swipe at his eyes, leaving a bloody mark on his face, then heard someone approach him. He took another swipe, pretending to scratch.
He looked over his shoulder and saw two knights walking towards him. One was Sol.
"Any other casualties?" he asked them.
"No," the other knight said. "Everyone else is accounted for. Are you all right?" He looked him up and down. The way he looked, the blood that was on him was a give-away he could be hurt. All he felt was some sore muscles from the heavy Gear being on top of him.
"I'm fine. These are the Gears." He looked into the distance where the aerial Gears had gone, but he didn't worry about that. With the knights who went after them, they would be dead by now. There were too few to do any damage. "We're through," he said and walked off, leaving the others behind.
He walked back to the village ahead of them where he saw the three knights who pursued the aerials standing by the gate. One had his falcon perched on his shoulder.
Ky only walked past them as they watched him. He heard one whisper, "Boy, is he pissed."
Ky approached the face of the doors of the gates and looked up to the guards. They didn't open the gates to him, so he screamed, his rage still in him, "Open the Goddamn gate!"
No. A sin.
After things had calmed down, Ky returned to the chief of the town's office. He calmed himself as much as he could before going in, knowing the man. With a sigh, he grasped the door knob and slid the door open. Inside, he saw the man reclined in his chair with his feet up on his desk, looking out the window.
Ky let out another sigh through his teeth.
"Yes?" the man said, swiveling a bit towards him.
"Your people are safe now," Ky said.
"What?" There was no concern in his voice. But suddenly he put his boots to the floor and sat up once he saw the blood on Ky. His eyes were fixed on him as if he was in the same room with a murderer.
He felt like one.
"There was a battle by the mountains," Ky said. "My men were ambushed. But we won the battle. I think it was the ones who were awaiting your village. You won't be hearing from them again."
The chief stared at him before he said, "I'll have a nurse look at you. You don't look too well."
Ky looked down on himself. His shoulders and arms were covered in blood still. And Javelin's blood was on his hands.
"This? No. It's Gear blood."
The man laughed. "I thought you were hurt. But heck, if you walked around looking like that someone would think you were hurt, about to die. Any one else hurt?"
"Last time we check, none exactly. A few cuts maybe but nothing serious. But. . .two died." He paused. "I mean one!"
"One? You said two."
"My horse died."
"Well, we'll get you a new one."
With that remark, Ky's anger returned like a snap of a twig. "That wasn't just any horse! He was trained by and for Holy Knights! He was a strong and loyal horse. He was mine!"
The man stared at him, shocked by his outrage and thankfully didn't say anything about it.
"Well, I'm. . .I'm sorry you lost one of your men and your horse. Is there anything I can do for you?"
Ky shook his head. "We'll stay here for one more day before we leave. But we'll leave a watcher or two to make sure they are gone. Otherwise, our services are done here." He turned then and went out the door. He got no thank you out of the man.
When he came outside into the cold again, he saw the falconer with Sol beside him. Sol was holding Javelin's flag over his shoulder with the blue cloth flapping behind him. It held the memory of the battle, their victory and Javelin's death.
Slowly, he stepped down and walked past them, anxious to get out of his blood-covered uniform. When he passed Sol, the two exchanged glances, but this time there was no hatred. There was mutualness, serenity and understanding. It took the death of an innocent knight to resort to it. It was the first and last time he saw that look.