Bridge Kings : Ranger's Codex Episode 2 by Ed Knight

Author:Ed Knight [Knight, Ed]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Codex Books
Published: 2023-08-30T16:00:00+00:00

June the 24th

Do forgive yesterday’s long entry; I think it plain that a great deal happened that was…well worth scribing down. Yet I awoke today like a man from a night’s long bout of drinking—there hung within my head a sense of things left unfinished, and much more destroyed, broken, and buried in the mess of the previous night. I would not call it guilt or shame exactly, but more stupefaction at having done so much in such a desperate, violent rush.

Through my room’s little window, I watched as the town worked to put itself together again. Clumps of commonfolk gathered up bits of their homes and carried them back to their proper places. Guards stood here and there talking to throngs of fishwives, obviously at a loss as to what to say to them. Worst of all was the royal beach just beyond the keep, where better than two dozen statues stood, lay, crouched, or crawled—and yet remained grey, unmoving, and dead. I stood there by the glass much longer than I should have, just looking at them. It is rare to see so much death made tangible, and arranged in one place. One’s breath is stolen by the sight of it, and a numbness creeps in behind the eyes. Memories of similar scenes from the past come rushing in…and then one is forced to step away from the window and try to turn the mind to fairer things.

I’d collapsed in bed with all of my clothes and weapons still on, and so it was a simple matter of drinking a bit of water, stuffing in a wad of redfriend and heading down to the great hall. I wished to make a quick, if not unfeeling, exit. The basilisk was vanquished, if not entirely dead. Thus I had no more business in Fifthbridge, other than to bid the baron farewell, take my coin, and go. If I managed all that in a morning, there remained a chance of me making the guild on time. A slim chance, yes, but with the right horse, a slim chance might be enough. This thought brought to mind the great grey horse, turned to stone and floating downriver. He and I never did get to enjoy our getaway across the bridge. A shame too, for I knew from the first he was a rare steed, full of pluck and gusto. May Pebble rest forever in the endless plains of the Horse Lords.

Suddenly the sight of Gil, motionless and pale in the corner of my room stopped me short. He alone had been only half-changed, and might stand some chance of survival. So long as the witch yet lived…I remembered my plan and steeled myself for what I must do.

I lifted him and ran down to the great hall, where the baron stood surrounded by a crowd of angry fishwives. They yelled of dead husbands, lost fortunes, splintered hovels, and a river fast emptying of fish. I smiled, even in light of the tragedy

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