The Headless Knight of Sleepy Trees
Draft_2
By: Chase L. Currie
(Tales of The Bat)
“I can’t let you do that,” The Bat said pulling Danial’s eyes over to him. He stood a few feet away with his paw on the hilt of his sword. Danial was shocked to the see hero but didn’t move at all. He kept the arrow knotted and pulled and most of all aimed right at Seathan.
“Now, I know why the Headless Knight fled,” Danial said.
“Put the arrow down,” The Bat order.
Danial grin. “You don’t want your friend to die?”
Seathan was the friend the Knight was talking, and he didn’t want to die either. He may be wounded, but his good paw was still quick, quick enough to cut the string of the bow and run around the little cloth on Danial’s chest. He cried out in pain for a moment jumping back as the Bat race forward.
Danial spun around called out, “Father,” from the pain of Bard’s attack. Fog rushed in over the walls pouring into the courtyard like water from a bucket. The fog raced at Danial making a Knight right by his side, a second later, the Headless Knight swung its sword at the Bat hitting his armor but doing nothing to the hero.
“Kill them,” Danial order running from the brawl.
Seathan backed up to the wall hurting more than ever from the arrow in his shoulder watching the living Knight flee. The Headless Knight stepped forward at the Bat as if it somehow believes nothing could hurt it.
“You forget quickly,” The Bat said pulling his sword from his side. The night lit up with the flames rushing up the blade beating back the darkness and the fog. The Headless Knight back away for a moment but did not run this time. He had nowhere to run.
The Bat fought the Headless Knight with each blow hurting the undead warrior and the undead warrior’s blade doing a little against him. Seathan watched in awe like the one time he was at the sword tournament in Whispering Oaks. The Knights in the tournament willed their sword as if they were born with the steel and the Bat along with the Headless Knight fought better than any of those Knights. He was glad he didn’t have to face any of them, but the Headless Knight could not win.
The Bat dug the sword of Death into the chest of the undead. The flame attacked him with more fury then starving wolves in the dead of winter. The very fact the fire was having to attack the body of something undead went against the laws of creation and they were going to do everything to rectify that mistake.
The Headless Knight cried out from a mouth unseen on a head that wasn’t there. He grabs the burning steel causing the fire to jump onto him more and then eating his body into nothing. He blew away like the ashes he was in the wind.
“No,” Danial cried out from somewhere and firing a black powder rifle into the side of the head of the Bat. The iron ball from the rifle shoved him right into the ground with enough force for Seathan to hear his helmet hit the dirt.
Seathan’s eyes went wide he was sure Artful was dead under the helmet there was blood leaking out a little bit. “You took him away from me again,” Danial yelled running up to the body. “I can never get him back now.”
“You used black magic?” Seathan asked standing up and pulling Danial’s eyes to him.
“What choice did I have?” He asked pointing his weapon at the wounded Bard.
“You could have done what your father asked,” Seathan said. “You could have left and lived your life away from here.”
“Would you?” Danial asked. “Would you walk away from the wrongs committed against your blood?”
Seathan said nothing.
“I didn’t think so,” Danial said. “It is my duty to find justice for my family where no one else would. The Queen wouldn’t hear my pleas. No Knight would come to my aid. The world turns its back on me, and I had no choice but to make a deal with the Devil.”
“You should have looked to the AllFather,” The Bat said making Danial look down at him in time to see the blade entering his belly. He wailed out in pain with the flames taking his soul to the Afterlife. He fell on his knees as the Bat stood over him and give him the pray of the ‘Lost Warrior,’ a pray about the forgiveness of a warrior who has lost their way from the AllFather. Artful hoped along with Seathan when Danial stands in front of the Lord that he would find forgiveness.
Once the pray was over the Bat rushed over to Seathan asking, “Are you alive?”
“Not dead yet,” he weakly said. “But it’s hurting.”
“Can you make it a little longer?” The Bat asked.
“I got all the time in the world,” Seathan said watching the Bat bury Danial’s body in the grave where his father once lied. The Bat raced to cover the body with dirt so he could get Seathan back to town and to a Healer. By the time he was done Seathan had passed out from the loss of blood and the pain.
A few days later Seathan awoke in a hard bed in a house he did not know. He tried to sit up, but the pain from his shoulder kept him from doing so. He looked around seeing his clothes had been removed and his wound clean and then plugged by bandits. He sat back looking up at the ceiling with a heavy sigh.
A few hours later a young Healer came into the room with a lovely smile on her face. “You are awake,” she said.
“I am,” he nodded. “Is my friend around?”
“Friend?”
“The Sword Saint?” He asked.
“Ah, no he moved on,” she said. “He didn’t say anything about your friend. All he says was he found you on the road.”
“Oh, right,” Seathan said told her. He fell back to sleep with the next time he awoke Lord Ichabod was sitting next to him reading a book. “You are always reading,” the Bard said.
“I must keep my mind shape like a sword,” he said with a deep frown on his face. “It is good to see you alive.”
“It is?”
“Yes. I’m sure you found the truth about this Headless Knight,” Ichabod said.
“I did,” he nodded. “It was the father of Sir Danial Riverpaw.”
Ichabod frown even more and Seathan was surprised he could frown deeper. “I was afraid so,” he said. “Is this all over?”
“Almost,” Seathan said. “Did you know his mother was helping a witch?”
“I did.”
“Is that why you put her to death?”
“No,” Ichabod said standing up. “I looked the other way for her and my friend, but she would do everything in her power to flaunt her magic. I begged her to stop but she would not. She left me no choice.” He wouldn’t look Seathan in the face. All he did was stare down at his feet. He deeply felt regret for carrying out his duty when it came to Danial’s mother. “I pray for everyday forgiveness when it comes to her and her family.”
“Why did you let Danial become your Head Knight?” he asked.
“Because I took him after the death of his family,” he said, “and made sure he became a Knight. I didn’t think he would go to these lengths to have his revenge.”
“Well, you won’t have to worry about it anymore,” Seathan said.
Ichabod nodded and sighted walking out of the room without saying a word. Seathan closed his eyes happy all of this was over, and he could go back to the Queen soon.
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