Victim of Fate (35 page)

Alto didn’t need to look to know who it was.
Caitlin was inside. Alto drew his sword and started forward.

"This again? You fool. You couldn’t beat me
before; why do you think you can now? All of this could have been
avoided, you know. You could have given up and saved your family
and friends."

Rather than waste time with words, Alto broke
into a jog and smashed into the evil knight. Beck knocked his sword
aside but couldn’t stop the charging warrior from slamming his
shield into him and driving him back.

"You’ve already lost, farm boy!" Beck spat at
him. "I’ve killed your entire family, but don’t worry, my men had
their fun first."

Alto snarled and struck out with his sword,
hammering it into Beck’s and driving it down. He caught the
knight's blade with his shield to keep the sword at bay while he
thrust his broadsword at the knight’s chest. The point of Alto’s
sword slammed into the steel breastplate and slid off to the side
without even leaving a scratch.

"So much for your magic sword, boy!" Beck
taunted after he saw the blade deflected away. "And without magic,
you’re nothing but a peasant that got lucky."

Beck punched Alto in the face with a
gauntleted fist and staggered the young warrior back. He advanced
and thrust his long sword at him, but Alto managed to move his
shield in to intercept.

"More magic," Beck sneered when Alto’s shield
defeated the attack. "Anything else and I’d have stuck that shield
to your belly. Just give up, boy, and I’ll kill you quickly. That’s
more than your family got for the trouble you’ve caused us."

Alto slammed his sword into Beck’s armored
shoulder, earning a grunt from the man but little else. The knight
slashed up and knocked Alto’s sword out and away, and then the
skilled warrior somehow managed to flip his sword under Alto’s and
knock it back the other way. Alto struggled to keep up but the next
strike pulled his blade from his weakened fingers and sent it
flying.

"Now what? You’ve got no sword?" Beck
teased.

Gasping for breath that his battered body
needed, Alto stumbled back a step and reached for the troll’s
dagger on his hip.

"A dagger? Against plate armor?" Beck laughed
at him. "You’re not just a farm boy, you’re also the village
idiot!"

Alto lunged forward and used his shield to
pin Beck’s blade between them. He thrust the dagger in blindly and
didn’t realize he’d hit anything until his fingers were crushed
against Beck’s armor.

"What—" Beck wheezed, his eyes and mouth
wide.

Alto pulled the dagger out and jammed it in
again, and then he pushed the dying knight away. Alto stared into
the wide eyes of the dying knight and growled, "And what are you
when your magic doesn’t work?"

Beck fell back to his knee and stared at
Alto, and then crashed forward and lay still on the ground. The
other four men-at-arms stared at their fallen leader while Alto
scrambled to sheathe his dagger and run to his broadsword. His
movement spurred them into drawing their own blades and charging at
him. Alto killed them all using nothing but brute strength and a
berserk fury that allowed him to pay no mind to his own safety.

Caitlin’s sobbing pierced the avenging
warrior's red haze. Reminded that she was still alive and trapped
inside the burning house, he looked up at the house that was nearly
sheathed in flames. Without a second thought, he rushed into the
building. His shield smashed aside burning doors and furniture
while he searched for her.

Caitlin was tied to the fireplace, her
clothes ripped where it mattered most. Her skin was split and
bruised from abuse. She saw Alto and cried out, and then lapsed
into a coughing fit that didn’t end until she passed out.

Alto cut her down and grabbed a blanket his
mother had made off of what remained of their couch. Beck and his
men had smashed and cut up the furniture, either looking for gold
or simply because it was fun for them. Alto wrapped Caitlin up in
the blanket and carried her out.

Once Caitlin was safe in the barn, Alto
returned to the yard and picked Beck up so he could stare down at
him. The knight was dead. The light gone from his eyes forever.
Alto spat on him and smashed his face with his fist until he
couldn’t tell if the blood coating Beck’s face and Alto's fist came
from the dead man or himself.

He staggered back and fell to his knees,
exhausted. The knight's sword lay beside him. Alto stared at it and
then looked down to his own blade. Kevard’s Blade was said to be
the protector of the Kelgryn. It had failed him. Always when he
drew it, he felt its warmth and its eagerness. Not this time. This
time Kevard’s Blade had been dull and lifeless. A lump of
unbalanced metal.

He picked up the long sword and felt the
weapon hum in his hand. It was designed for killing. Well balanced
and swift, few things would stand in his way with it. Alto nodded;
he would need a blade such as this if he was going to avenge his
family.

He took Beck’s scabbard and girded it at his
side while moving Kevard’s Blade to rest across his back. Finished,
Alto turned and stared at the ruin of the farm. The majority of his
life had been spent with him knowing nothing more than this farm
and the lands around it. Now it seemed small and sad. So many
people and so many memories gone in an instant of violence and
cruelty.

Alto’s eyes fell on the remains of his family
that the knight had posted as warnings. He wondered what had become
of their bodies. It only took him a few moments to find them in the
filth of the hog pen. He worked on pulling them out while behind
him the house burned and broke apart, crashing in on itself little
by little.

Several hours later, as the sun was setting
in the west, Caitlin stepped out of the barn and walked up to him.
He rose from where he was pushing the last of the dirt on the
graves and stood. She sniffed beside him and stifled a cough. They
stood beside each other without speaking until the moon rose behind
them in the east.

Alto reached down and pulled the sheath
holding Thork’s dagger from his belt. He pressed it to Caitlin’s
hands and said, "This knife will cut through anything. Stone,
steel, wood, or flesh, nothing will slow it. Keep it safe and use
it only when you must; it’s very dangerous."

"I can’t believe they’re gone," Caitlin
clutched the knife without thought and whispered.

Alto nodded. "I know, but they are. It’s my
fault and I’m going to put it right."

"You’re leaving?" she whimpered.

"I’m taking you someplace safe first," he
said. "Then I’m going to kill whoever or whatever is responsible
for this. I won’t stop until I do."

"Alto…"

Alto ignored her. "We should wait until the
morning, but I can’t stay here tonight. Are you hurt? Can you
walk?"

She nodded, fresh tears falling down her
face. "They hurt me, but I can walk."

Alto closed his eyes and swallowed. "I’m
sorry," he whispered. "I can’t take it back, but I’ll make them
pay."

"I know you will," she said. "Daddy said it’d
be a waste if you ended up a farmer."

Alto felt the world spinning but with a
supreme force of will, he made it stop. If he'd stayed a farmer,
would any of this have happened? "Sometimes I wish that’s all I
knew," he said.

She looked down at the grave in front of
Alto. "Is this Daddy?"

He nodded.

Caitlyn swooned but Alto grabbed her before
she fell. She shook her head before stiffening and finding her
balance. "It was horrible," she whispered.

Alto nodded. "I know."

"You weren’t here!"

Alto opened his mouth to try to explain his
vision. He gave up and shook his head. It would sound crazy to her.
She was a simple farm girl with no idea of what the world was
really like. He’d been the same a lifetime ago. Now he could never
go back. He supposed she could never return to a sheltered life of
purity, either.

"Let’s go," Alto said. He grabbed her hand
and turned away but she pulled away from him.

Caitlyn knelt next to each grave, one at a
time, and offered a few words so quiet he couldn’t make them out.
When she rose, her cheeks were shiny from tears and red from the
cold. She tried to speak but no words came out. She nodded instead
and started to walk past him.

She stopped and looked at him. "Where are you
taking me? Holgasford?"

Alto stood still and stared at her. "Yes,
but, why would you think that?"

"A woman showed up yesterday morning, before
those other men. She rode a unicorn with a dwarf behind her. Said
her name was Lady Patrina and that she was the daughter of the Jarl
of Holgasford."

"Trina escaped? Mordrim was with her? What of
Namitus and Karthor and the others?"

She nodded. "She said they were all headed
for Holgasford."

"Saints be praised," Alto whispered. A tiny
bit of weight lifted from his shoulders. Perhaps he hadn't gotten
everyone he cared for killed. At least not yet. "Wait, why was she
here?"

"To tell us what you’d done. How you’d
sacrificed yourself so they could live. So that everyone could
live." Caitlin cast a glance back at the graves and in a trembling
voice added, "Except not everyone’s living, are they?"

Alto felt his eyes burning as he stared at
the ground.

"She said you were her champion and she’d
never met anyone with a more noble heart. She offered Daddy a
king’s ransom as thanks for what you done. He wouldn’t take it,
though. Said that much wealth is a bad thing. He said it makes a
man lazy and invites bad things to come his way."

Alto nodded. His father would say that. He
was a wise man, wiser than Alto ever imagined he could be. And now
he'd never have the chance to talk to him again. He took a deep
breath to settle himself and changed the subject. "Patrina is
almost two years older than you."

"She looked older."

"She’s seen a lot this year," Alto offered as
an explanation. The withering look his sister gave him reminded him
of what she’d just seen and endured. He looked away quickly. "They
can keep you safe there."

"While you ride off and get yourself
killed?"

"If you had any idea what I’ve been through,
you would not ask such questions!"

Her eyes narrowed and her chin trembled.
"What you’ve been through?"

Alto opened and closed his mouth, clamping it
shut loudly. He had no right to speak lightly of what had happened.
Not to her. His cheeks warm from shame, he muttered, "Forget it.
Come on, let’s go."

"No, I don’t want to go with you!"

"You’re coming with me, damn it!" Alto
roared. Seeing the terrified look on her face, he calmed down and
stared at her. "I’m sorry, but you’re all that I’ve got left. I
can’t lose you, too."

"What about Aleena?"

"Who?" Alto asked, playing dumb.

"Lady Patrina, she said she was going to ride
to Portland and tell some girl named Aleena about you."

"Aleena doesn’t matter," Alto said. He meant
it; he hadn’t thought of her since he’d found Patrina again.
Besides, the fewer people he cared about, the less danger they were
in.

"Why’d she think so?"

"It doesn’t matter," Alto snapped. He saw her
stiffen and knew she deserved better than that. Better than him,
even. "Aleena is a serving girl at a tavern who had a crush on me.
I used her as an excuse to get Patrina out of the mines."

"So Lady Patrina likes you too?"

"She did," Alto admitted. "But that’s behind
us now. The less people that know about me the better. It’s better
I stay dead and buried under that mountain until I do what I have
to do."

"You're going to get killed," Caitlin
whispered.

"Whatever happens, you will be safe." Alto
turned away from her and looked to the east. He tapped his shield,
summoning the light forth. His sister gasped at the display of
magic. "Come on, we’ve got a ways to go."

Alto considered the path he'd chosen for
himself. The knight of the Silver Dragon was dead, but there were
more. Fizzulthorp was still alive and behind it all there was
Sarya, the dragon. He knew he hadn’t stopped them, even if he had
slowed them down by dropping a mountain on a portion of their
army.

"We’ve gotten lucky twice now," Alto mused
aloud. He ignored Caitlin’s shocked expression. "We’ve foiled
Sarya’s plans before she was ready to move. We can’t count on such
luck again. Sarya won’t make another mistake."

"What are you talking about?" Caitlin snapped
at him.

Alto ignored her as he debated with himself
in his head. "I won’t have another chance. I have to go back and
finish it, but I’ll need help. No, not them. They’ll just get hurt.
I need powerful help. The kind of help that can bring a mountain
down."

"Alto, you’re scaring me," his sister
said.

He turned and looked at her. "Don’t be
scared. I’m going to keep you safe. I’ve done things no man can do;
I can do this, too."

"Do what?"

"I’m going to kill a dragon."

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