Dusk Over Arcath

Chapter 12

Canth's sword screamed as he yanked it from its sheath. Castleia's fingers wavered with the arrow between their slender tips. Indecision was written plainly across her face. 

One moment... Two... Suddenly the riders were upon them and the decision was made for her. 

"Who goes there?" the first inquired gruffly. Each wore a suit of fine plate covered and brandished long spears that flapped behind them in banners of blue. Lowered visors gilded in silver hid their faces. Even their horses wore large plates that shimmered in the sun as though they too were gilded. 

"Castleia and Canth of Arcath," the girl answered, eyeing the man down the length of her arrow. 

The three riders circled. Their leader shouldered his broad blue shield and opened his visor. Two murky green eyes inspected them with a mixture of interest and amusement. His armored hand stroked a narrow dark beard that spiked from his chin. 

"Arcath? The name feels strange on my tongue - where might that be?" 

"My lord," Canth bowed, "might you first tell us who we have the honor of meeting?" 

This brought a smile to the man's face. "We are not lords, fair traveler. Nay, just humble soldiers under the King's commission." 

"We have no business with your king or his soldiers," Castleia declared, arrow still leveled. "Ride on your way and we will go on ours." 

Another one of the men chuckled through his helmet. "Well said, little warrior. But all who pass through the King's land is his business. We had to go a good way outside our path to follow your torch - will you now not even do us the courtesy of answering for your trespass?" 

"We trespass on no one. We know of no king over this land and do not answer to one." 

"My apologies, my lords," Canth insisted hastily. "A night's ride is no ease on one's mind. I fear it has sharpened my companion's words if not her wit." Castleia shot him a dark look. "I fear we knew of no king and meant no ill will. Our path necessitates our trespass, though you have my word we mean to stir no trouble among you." 

"The boy speaks as well as the girl promises to fight," the third rider nodded, hosting his banner in solute. 

"Aye," the leader nodded. "Your words ring fair, Canth of Arcath. Yet my rider speaks the truth: we cannot let you continue without the truth of your journey. To where do you go and what spurs your ride?" 

"Our business is our own," Castleia growled. 

"We ride south," Canth answered, ignoring her. "It is our hope to seek council among the Halfmen of the High Mountains." 

"A fine people," the knight nodded. "Fierce-hearted folk but not unpleasant. It seems to me, however, that the gates of Tegonoragoth are farther south than the casual northerner might venture. I ask you again, to what end do you ride?" 

"We seek counsel on one Narenhior of Celebrior. A great host has come to our gates seeking refuge and telling tales of the south. We wish to see what of them are true." 

The warriors lowered their lances as the leader's face darkened. "I fear you have lied, though intentfully or not I cannot say."

It was Canth's turn to furrow his brow. "I do not know of what you speak, my lord?"

The knight pulled on the reins of his horse, turning it toward Castleia whose bow remained directed at him. His blue banner whispered, unfolding as his lance's tip touched her brow. "Anyone who harkens from the Bloodletter carries a mark of violence. If you have so much as spoken to the shadowcloaked, war comes with you."