The Kingdom on the Edge of Reality by Gahan Hanmer

Author:Gahan Hanmer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Two Harbors Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Sir Leo was the first person I saw when I reached the castle. He was practicing with his bow, but as soon as I was close enough for him to get a good look at me, he dropped everything and ran to help me off my horse. "Never mind, my friend," he said when I tried to tell him the story. "Let's get you inside." Then I collapsed.

When I woke up it was dark outside, and I was all bandaged up and lying in bed. Albert was there, and Jenna, and Marya, and Sir Leo, and Sir Rudy Strapp, and a couple of men who I had never seen before who were apparently knights by the leather trim on their clothes.

"He's awake, Sire," said Marya.

Albert came over and sat down in a chair by the bed. "Can you hear me, Jack?"

"Yes, your majesty." I had to say it twice, because the first time it came out as a croak.

"How are you feeling?"

My chest was still sore under the tight wrapping of bandages, but nothing like it had been before. "I feel a lot better, Sire," I said. "But I think I'm going to have to skip jousting practice tomorrow."

That seemed to clear the tension in the air. I could see that they had all been very worried about me.

"If you feel up to it, we'd like to know what happened." So I told them about the fight with Mike and Mitch, and about my confrontation with Lord Hawke. I told them that a peasant girl had taken care of me while I was unconscious and that she had shown me the river trail to the bridge; but other than that I didn't tell them anything about my relationship with Mora. When I had finished, I felt tired and sore all over again.

"I think he ought to rest now, Sire," said Marya.

"Yes, I'm sure you're right, Mage," said Albert. "All right, lads, we'll reconvene in the hall." The men filed out, with friendly nods and smiles in my direction as though I'd broken my leg catching a touchdown pass. I found that rather confusing, but I tried to smile back.

"I'm going to let these women look after you, Jack," said Albert. "You won't mind that, will you? We'll talk more in the morning."

"I hope I haven't screwed things up."

"Just rest now. I'm the king. You can leave the fretting to me."

"I never killed anyone before, Albert."

"Oh yes, I understand, Jack. Believe me, I understand very well." He paused in the doorway, and I imagined that a whole review of his experiences as king was passing through his memory. "The life here takes some getting used to," he said finally. "This isn't Connecticut." Then he went out.

"Mage," said Jenna with just a touch of queenly hauteur, "would you leave me alone with Sir Jack for a moment? I promise not to tire him." I wondered what she wanted. I didn't want to be left alone with Jenna. I wanted to go back to sleep.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.