Ky picked himself up after making an ass of himself. People saw him fall—and a few knights. He heard a girl giggle. He put his eyes down to make sure he wasn't noticed by someone he knew.
Big joke. They saw it.
He shot a look back at Indigo. "You made me look like an idiot." He took Indigo's reins harshly.
At the corner of his eye, he saw Javelin walking towards him. When he picked his head up higher, he saw a few knights standing by the side of the streets, staring.
Oh God.
"Are you all right?" Javelin asked him.
"I'm fine," he muttered.
Another knight approached him. "Wow. What happened?"
"I slipped on the ice."
It was a lie. Jumping off a horse at full speed just wasn't his thing. Good way to realize that.
"You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"
Ky dusted himself off again. "I'm fine, thank you." He turned his head to Javelin then at the knights as they began to gather around him. A few even came from a distance. He heard a few muttering to themselves.
"Nice to see you all," he said to them.
One clapped and whistled, which made Ky smile.
"How have you all been doing?"
"Safe so far," one said.
"No Gears," another said.
He looked among them and watched more approach from what seemed out of nowhere. "Good, then. Does anyone know where I can speak with the head of this village?"
One raised his hand. A young knight. "I'll show you."
Ky gave him a nod. "If you could."
The knight leapt from a porch and walked to him with a bounce to his step. All of them seemed to be happy to see him, except for one. He thought he got a glance of Sol Badguy. He had no doubt it was him, hidden by a corner . He turned anyway when the young knight led the way with Javelin following. He pulled Indigo along with him, so did Javelin with his horse.
As they walked, he noticed the young knight glancing back at Javelin and neither one of them introduced himself. So Ky did it for them.
"This is Javelin."
The two gave each other a nod of recognition.
Javelin kept quiet, too tired from the trip to speak anything of interest the other boy may want to hear. Or maybe the other boy was quiet by nature. Maybe he didn't care. He didn't know everything about his knights. They came and went. He commanded large armies then smaller the next. He couldn't get to know every one of them. The both he was with were strangers, but it didn't have to stay that way.
"What do you know?" Ky asked the boy.
"You mean around the village? This place is quiet. They have walls and that big gate as their only protection but with the reported Gears, they could still be attacked. It's happened only outside the gate, so they say. We've been watching. The villagers here like it that we're here. You can feel it. Oh, the chief's office is up here." He picked up the pace and led him to a small building next to the police station.
He opened the door and held it for Ky.
Ky stopped and glance around for a spot to tie Indigo, but he saw nothing. Leaving him no choice, he let go of the reins. The horse only stood there like a loyal dog.
Ky stepped into the building, passing the door which the young knight offered. "Thank you." He was led to a door where he knocked.
"Visitors."
"Not now," a man said from behind the door.
"Two knights here. Armed, too."
"Be right there!"
The two exchanged glances and grinned.
Silly.
He heard footsteps and the door opened by the chief himself. He was a short and stocky man. When he saw him, the man looked Ky up and down, looking a bit intimidated at first. But being faced with a man armed with two swords had that effect on some people.
"Ky Kiske," he introduced himself. "Leader of the Sacred Order. Who called?"
"I did!" the main exclaimed.
"Well, let me talk to you. I'd like to hear what's going on."
"Gears, that's what's been going on—"
Ky held up a finger. "We can sit down for this, can't we?"
"Oh, right." The man bowed as if he were in front of some sort of god. "Come in, come in. Can I get you anything? Coffee? Tea?"
Tea sounded good.
"Thank you. I could take some tea while we talk. I barely had anything on the way."
"That's fine." The man then looked at the younger knight next to him. "Get some tea, won't you? For both of us."
His lips dropped into a frown. "I'm not a secretary!"
"Watch it." The man then looked at Ky. "Keep him under control."
"What am I, a dog now?"
"Enough," Ky growled and held a hand up to the chief. "Forget it. Don't talk to my knights that way, even the younger ones. Have respect!"
"Sorry." He took a fast bow.
Ky ignored it and looked at the young knight. "That's all. Thank you for taking me here."
"Sir." The young knight turned and left.
Ky watched him then returned his attention to the chief. "Will you invite me inside?"
"Yes!"
The man stepped aside and held the door for him. Ky walked into the blue-carpeted office. There was a mahogany desk in front of him and a single window behind it. On his right was a tall bookshelf, half of it full.
There was no chair for him.
Ky watched him as he sat down behind his desk, leaving Ky to stand. Most people would give more respect with a Holy Knight before them. But Ky didn't bring it up. He was too tired. So he stood Thunderseal up and began, "Please explain what's been going on."
"Well, Gears have been stalking outside our walls lately. It must have started two weeks ago. People saw them wandering out front the gates, but no more than three at a time. I was afraid they would bring more and break through the gates and get inside or someone would get killed out there." He paused. "And that's what happened. A little girl was killed. She went outside the gate when she wasn't supposed to. She went out to play. No one noticed until it was too late. After that, that's when I called for the knights. We haven't seen the Gears since."
"If you feel so comfortable now, why did you call for help again?"
"I thought we needed more."
"Numbers wouldn't help. Since the Gears know we're here."
"But are they still out there?"
"I don't know. I haven't talked to my knights about that yet. I just got here."
"Talk to them. Soon."
Ky frowned."I intend to. I will have a meeting with them."
"When?"
"When I can. Be patient."
"My village and people may be at danger. A girl's already been killed and I heard another village, Mallory has been brought down. They may be apart of that raid."
"Sir, I assure you, your village will be safe with my knights. After they came, they haven't shown up again yet, right?"
"Not that I know of."
"Then you are safe for now."
"So this it?" the man boomed. "Is this what you came here for? To tell me I'm safe?"
"No. I'm going to make sure those Gears are gone and they stay gone."
The man gave him a look. A dumb look.
"I'm going to kill them," Ky said.
"Then go out there and kill them."
He couldn't stand it anymore. This man—
"I'm through here," Ky said and left the room.
When he went outside, Javelin and the other boy were gone, except for Indigo, who stood waiting patiently for him.
