Guns Of Avalon

His hands had been tied behind his back and he hung from a low bough by a rope that had been knotted about his right ankle.

He was talking - brief, rapid phrases in response to Ganelon's questions - and his face was moist with spittle and sweat. He did not hang limply, but swung back and forth. There was an abrasion on his cheek and several spots of blood on his shirt front.

Halting, I restrained myself from interrupting for a moment and watched. Ganelon would not have put him where he was without a reason, so I was not immediately overwhelmed with sympathy for the fellow. Whatever it was that had prompted Ganelon to question him thus, I knew that I, too, would be interested in the information. I was also interested in whatever the session would show me concerning Ganelon, who was now something of an ally. And a few more minutes upside down could not do that much additional damage…

As his body slowed, Ganelon prodded him in the sternum with the tip of his blade and set him to swinging violently once again. This broke the skin lightly and another red spot appeared. At this, the boy cried out. From his complexion, I could see now that he was a youth. Ganelon extended his blade and held its point several inches beyond the place the boy's throat would come to on the backswing. At the last moment, he snatched it back and chuckled as the boy writhed and cried out, «Please!»

«The rest,» said Ganelon. «Tell me everything.»

«That's all!» said the other. «I know no more!»

«Why not?»

«They swept on by me then! I could not see!»

«Why did you not follow?»

«They were mounted. I was on foot.»

«Why did you not follow on foot then?»

«I was dazed.»

«Dazed? You were afraid! You deserted!»

«No!»

Ganelon held his blade forth, snapped it away again at the final moment.

«No!» cried the youth.

Ganelon moved the blade again.

«Yes!» the boy screamed. «I was afraid!»

«And you fled then?»

«Yes! I kept running! I've been fleeing ever since…»

«And you know nothing of how things went after that?»

«No.»

«You lie!» He moved the blade again.

«No!» said the boy. «Please…»

I stepped forward then. «Ganelon,» I said.

He glanced at me and grinned, lowering the blade. The boy sought my eyes.

«What have we here?» I asked.

«Ha!» he said, slapping the inside of the youth's thigh so that he cried out. «A thief, a deserter - with an interesting tale to tell.»

«Then cut him down and let me hear it,» I said.

Ganelon turned and cut through the cord with one swipe of his blade. The boy fell to the ground and began sobbing.

«I caught him trying to steal our supplies and thought to question him about the area,» Ganelon said. «He's come from Avalon - quickly.»

«What do you mean?»

«He was a foot soldier in a battle that took place there two nights ago. He turned coward during the fighting and deserted.»

The youth began to mouth a denial and Ganelon kicked him.

«Silence!» he said. «I'm telling it now - as you told me!»

The boy moved sideways like a crab and looked at me with wide, pleading eyes.

«Battle? Who was fighting?» I asked. Ganelon smiled grimly.

«It sounds somewhat familiar,» he said. «The forces of Avalon were engaged in what seems to have been the largest - and perhaps final - of a long series of confrontations with beings not quite natural.»

«Oh?»

I studied the boy and his eyes dropped, but I saw the fear that was there before they fell.

«…Women,» Ganelon said. «Pale furies out of some hell, lovely and cold. Armed and armored. Long, light hair. Eyes like ice. Mounted on white, firebreathing steeds that fed on human flesh, they came forth by night from a warren of caves in the mountains an earthquake opened several years ago. They raided, taking young men back with them as captives, killing all others. Many appeared later as a soulless infantry, following their van. This sounds very like the men of the Circle we knew.»

«But many of those lived when they were freed,» I said. «They did not seem soulless then, only somewhat as I once did - amnesiac. It seems strange,» I went on, «that they did not block off these caves during the day, since the riders only came forth by night…»

«The deserter tells me this was tried,» said Ganelon, «and they always burst forth after a time, stronger than before.»

The boy was ashen, but he nodded when I looked toward him inquiringly.

«Their General, whom he calls the Protector, routed them many times,» Ganelon continued. «He even spent part of a night with their leader, a pale bitch named Lintra - whether in dalliance or parlay, I'm not certain. But nothing came of this. The raids continued and her forces grew stronger. The Protector finally decided to mass an all - out attack, in hopes of destroying them utterly. It was during that battle that this one fled,» he said, indicating the youth with a gesture of his blade, «which is why we do not know the ending to the story.»

«Is that the way it was?» I asked him.

The boy looked away from the weapon's point, met my eyes for a moment, then nodded slowly.