“Perhaps he was deserving of true counsel,” Argon replied.
Gareth’s fury deepened. He hated this man. And he blamed him.
“I don’t want you around me,” Gareth said. “I don’t know why my father hired you, but I don’t want you in King’s Court.”
Argon laughed, a hollow, scary sound.
“Your father did not hire me, foolish boy,” he said. “Nor his father before him. I was meant to be here. In fact, you might say I hired them.”
Argon suddenly took a step forward, and looked as if he were staring into Gareth’s soul.
“Can the same be said of you?” Argon asked. “Are you meant to be here?”
His words struck a nerve in Gareth, sent a chill through him. It was the very thing Gareth had been wondering himself. Gareth wondered if it was a threat.
“He who reigns by blood will rule by blood,” Argon proclaimed, and with those words, he swiftly turned his back and began to walk away.
“Wait!” Gareth screamed, no longer wanting him to go, needing answers. “What do you mean by that?”
Gareth could not help but feel that Argon was giving him a message, that he would not rule long. He needed to know if that was what he had meant.
Gareth ran after him, but as he approached, he could hardly believe what happened: right before his eyes, Argon disappeared.
Gareth turned, looked all around him, but saw nothing. He heard only a hollow laughter, somewhere in the air.
“Argon!” Gareth screamed.
He turned again, then looked up to the heavens, sinking to one knee and throwing back his head. He shrieked:
“ARGON!”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Erec marched alongside the Duke, Brandt and dozens of the Duke’s entourage, through the winding streets of Savaria, a crowd growing as they went, towards the house of the servant girl. Erec had insisted that he meet her without delay, and the Duke had wanted to lead the way personally. And when the Duke came, everyone followed. Erec looked around at the huge and growing entourage, and was embarrassed, realizing he would arrive at this girl’s abode with dozens of people in tow.
Since he had first seen her, Erec had been able to think of little else. Who was this girl, he wondered, who seemed so noble, yet worked as a servant in the Duke’s court? Why had she fled from him so hastily? Why was it that, in all his years, with all the royal women he had met, this was the only one who had captured his heart?
Being around royalty his entire life, the son of a king himself, Erec could detect other royalty in an instant-and he sensed from the moment he spotted her that she was of a much more regal position than the one she was occupying. He was burning with curiosity to know who she was, where she was from, what she was doing here. He needed another chance to set his eyes upon her, to see if he had been imagining it or if he would still feel the way he did.
“My servants tell me she lives on the city’s outskirts,” the Duke explained, talking as they walked. As they went, people on all sides of the streets opened their shutters and looked down, amazed at the presence of the Duke and his entourage in the common streets.
“Apparently, she is servant to an innkeeper. Nobody knows her origin, where she came from. All they know is that she arrived in our city one day, and became an indentured servant to this innkeeper. Her past, it seems, is a mystery.”
They all turned down another side street, the cobblestone beneath them becoming more crooked, the small dwellings closer to each other and more dilapidated, as they went. The Duke cleared his throat.
“I took her in as a servant in my court on special occasions. She is quiet, keeps to herself. No one knows much about her. Erec,” the Duke said, finally turning to Erec, laying a hand on his wrist, “are you certain about this? This woman, whoever she is, is just another commoner. You can have your choice of any woman in the kingdom.”
Erec looked back at him with equal intensity.
“I must see this girl again. I don’t care who she is.”
The Duke shook his head in disapproval, and they all continued walking, turning down street after street, passing through twisting, narrow alleyways. As they went, this neighborhood of Savaria became even seedier, the streets filled with drunken types, lined with filth, chickens and wild dogs roaming about. They passed tavern after tavern, the screams of patrons carrying out into the streets. Several drunks stumbled before them, and as night began to fall, the streets began to be lit by torches.
“Make way for the Duke!” screamed his lead attendant, rushing forward and finally pushing drunks out of the way. All up and down the streets unsavory types parted ways and watched, amazed, as the Duke passed, Erec beside him.
Finally, they arrived at a small, humble inn, built of stucco, with a pitched, slate roof. It looked as if it could hold maybe fifty patrons in its tavern below, with a few rooms for guests above. The front door was crooked, one window was broken, and its entry lamp hung crookedly, its torch flickering, the wax too low. Screams of drunks spilled out the windows, as they all they stopped before the door.
How could such a fine girl work in a place like this? Erec wondered, horrified, as he heard the shouts and jeers from inside. His heart broke as he thought of it, as he thought of the indignity she must suffer in such a place. It’s not fair, he thought. He felt determined to rescue her from it.
“Why do you come to the worst possible place to choose a bride?” the Duke asked, turning to Erec.
Brandt turned to him too.
“Last chance, my friend,” Brandt said. “There is a castle full of royal women waiting for you back there.”
But Erec shook his head, determined.
“Open the door,” he commanded.
One of the Duke’s men rushed forward and yanked it open. The smell of stale ale came out in waves, making him recoil.
Inside, drunken men were hunched over the bar, seated along wooden tables, screaming too loudly, laughing, jeering and jostling each other. They were crude types, Erec could see that at once, with bellies too large, cheeks unshaven, clothes unwashed. None of them warriors.
Erec took several steps in, searching the place for her. He could not possibly imagine that a woman like her could work in such a place. He wondered if maybe they had come to the wrong dwelling.
“Excuse me, sir, I’m looking for a woman,” Erec said to the man standing beside him, tall and wide, with a big belly, unshaven.
“Are you then?” the man yelled out, mocking. “Well, you’ve come to the wrong place! This is not a brothel. Although there is one across the street-and I hear the women there are fine and plump!”
The man started laughing, too loudly, in Erec’s face, and several of his fellows joined in.
“It is not a brothel I seek,” Erec answered, unamused, “but a single woman, one who works here.”
“You must mean then the innkeeper’s servant,” called out someone else, another large, drunk man. “She’s probably in the back somewhere, scrubbing the floors. Too bad-I wish she were up here, on my lap!”
The men all screamed out in laughter, overwhelmed with their own jokes, and Erec reddened at the thought of it. He felt ashamed for her. For her to have to serve all of these types-it was an indignity that was too much for him to contemplate.
“And you are?” came another voice.
A man stepped forward, wider than the others, with a dark beard and eyes, a deep scowl, a wide jaw, accompanied by several seedy men. He had more muscle on him than fat, and he approached Erec threateningly, clearly territorial.
“Are you trying to steal my servant girl?” he demanded. “Out with you then!”
He stepped forward and reached out to grab Erec.
But Erec, hardened by years of training, the kingdom’s greatest knight, had reflexes beyond what this man could imagine. The moment his hands touched Erec, he sprang into action, grabbing his wrist in a lock, spinning the man around with lightning speed, grabbing him by the back of his shirt, and shoving him across the room.