The Immortal King: Part One of the Godyear Saga by Jason Malone

Author:Jason Malone [Malone, Jason]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2021-02-26T22:00:00+00:00

“Good fight, eh?” Dughlas said. He had propped himself up against a tree and was holding a bloody rag to his face. He smiled as I approached him.

“I’ve never seen you defeated before,” I said. “What happened?”

“The bastard nicked me with his sword.” Dughlas pulled the rag away to show his bloodied face. A long, open cut ran down from his forehead to his lips, and I grimaced. His eye had been sliced open and I doubted he would be able to see through it again. Dughlas grinned through the pain.

“That’s more than a nick. Does it hurt?” I asked.

“Just a bit.”

I shook my head. “Your eye is practically gone, Dughlas.”

“I’ve always thought one-eyed warriors were menacing.”

“Only the good ones, so you’re out of luck. We will need to dress that.”

“Aye.”

I turned to Philip, who paced around the tree. “Philip!”

“Yes, Master?” he called.

“Thank you for that. I probably would’ve died without you. Are you all right?”

“I am fine,” he said. “It was no harder than killing the chickens back home.”

I laughed. “Good lad, that’s the spirit.”

Matilda, looking a little green, rolled her eyes and tutted. “Farm boys…”

I opened my flask and gestured for Dughlas to sit back, then he pulled his hand away from his face and let me clean his gash. Matilda had brought with her a small flask of alcohol for treating wounds, and for that I was thankful. His scar was truly a gruesome sight and would need to be dealt with by a proper healer once we reached Everlynn. That was another two days through the forest, and I hoped Dughlas would last till then without his wound festering.

I tore a long, thin strip of linen from one of the cloaks of the men we killed and wrapped it tight around Dughlas’s head. I was never good with fixing wounds, but I thought that — along with Matilda’s alcohol — would be enough to keep him going for a few days.

The wound I had inflicted upon Cubert was less severe than I had thought. His mail had done its job well, so the wound was not very deep. I had Matilda wash the cut while I tended to Dughlas, and she wrapped Cubert’s belly with clean cloth so it would not fester. She had some skill in tending wounds from when her father’s men returned from hunting or fighting robber bands.

“You made the right choice, Cubert,” I said once I had finished with Dughlas. “What will you do now?”

“I was hoping I could serve you again, lord. I know I broke my oath, but I want to right my wrongs. Ever since Egil and I left you in Oldford, I’ve had regrets,” he said.

“You tried to kill me back there, before Dughlas shot your horse.”

“I was just defending myself, lord. We meant only to take your sword.”

I thought for a moment. Oathbreaking is a serious crime, but Cubert was a good man. He had been loyal until that night outside Oldford and served me faithfully. His sister had been killed during the attack on my home, and that must have been hard for him.

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