The Tinker's Tale by Michael DeAngelo

Author:Michael DeAngelo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Horse, Steampunk, Fantasy, Knights, Illness, Tellest
Publisher: Michael DeAngelo
Published: 2014-07-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six: Ungodly

His knuckles had turned white as he clutched the saddle. As Charcoal galloped forth, Maximus narrowed his eyes, struggling to keep tears of protest from rising up. The rider didn’t focus on the wilderness ahead anyway. His attention continued to fade, for his mind kept racing back toward earlier that morning.

* * * * *

“What do you mean, ‘happening again’?” he asked.

“Salvatore!” the priest screamed. “Salvatore. This is what happened to Salvatore.”

Maximus noticed the trails of blood that crept from the corners of the woman’s lips. Alice looked like a horrifying children’s doll. Her eyes were glossy and wide, and her skin had become ashen. She squeezed Richard’s hand until her fingertips were bright red.

“What can we do?” Maximus asked.

“It doesn’t usually strike this fast,” the priest explained. “But she has an existing condition. She’s...” He blew out a desperate sigh and wiped his sleeve over his brow.

“She’s got allergies,” Maximus conceded.

Richard’s eyebrows arched. Then the words washed over him, and he nodded. “I’m afraid to get her on a horse,” he said. “But she needs medicine. I’m no cleric, but I could administer her care.”

“Well, where can we get her medicine?”

The priest’s face had become as pallid as his wife’s. “Not even Greenwood would have what we need. We’d need to travel to Seramore. But... I can’t leave her side. I could use natural ingredients to treat her symptoms.”

“I’ll go,” Maximus declared.

* * * * *

Every time the rider reached the end of his most recent memory, his hand slid from the pommel of the saddle toward his hip. The pouch there was carefully positioned upon his belt, and every gallop made the contents jingle together. Hanging out of the folded flap, a rudimentary map was at the ready.

Maximus required no such direction. Long before, the flat, familiar land he had grown up in gave way to rising elevations. Hills and mountains seemed less lush as he traveled southeast, yet the wilderness still retained a new beauty. Far in the distance, he could see the sprawling city of Seramore. A humongous, rising building reached toward the sky there. Rugged mountains on the horizon painted an impressive backdrop.

Seramore was surrounded on all sides by a wide crevasse, except for a wide land bridge that connected the mighty plateau to the plains on the opposite side. An impressive lift system had been constructed just west of the land bridge to reach the lower lands. A series of additional lifts were situated along the southern perimeter, and as Maximus drew closer, he realized they were actually pumping water to the surface.

The rider wore an impressed grin, nodding his head. He quickly reeled his focus back, swinging Charcoal around toward that overpass. That entryway was congested, for it was the only way in or out of the city. Carts and carriages tarried along at a snail’s pace, and those on foot huddled together at the center of the bridge. Even though a wooden railing had been erected upon the sides of the bridge, people tended to avoid it.

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