The White Knight

Chapter Sixteen--The Test of the Gammataur

  "This looks bad," King Alexander said sadly to himself.  He was looking at the hand-written note the sparrow had delivered.  He recognized Geoffrey's writing.  One of his best Kingsbane, long thought to be dead, was alive, but apparently held as Melisande's prisoner.  Maybe there was a chance that Maria was alive also.  What hope was for her if Melisande had her?  However, this was the least of his worries.  According to the note, Melisande had been continuously recruiting Red Knights.  If this was true, that there were thousands of Red Knights, plus the amount of Death Bearers being brought back to life, his knights combined with the Knights of King Christoph, there would have no chance in winning.
         There was only one thing he could do.  He had to get more people to join his knights.  He had to persuade them.  He called several of his less experienced knights together.
         "I need you to travel to the villages to the north, south and west of here.  You must talk to the villagers to join in this war.  They may be afraid.  However, with Melisande and her group of knights in Utofamia, they would have no chance for peace.  She will either mercilessly kill innocent people or force them to join her knights.  Utofamia will be lost without their support."
         "It will be done," the knights vowed.  They raced off to the different villages.  King Alexander shook his head slowly.  "Will this do?  Even if all the villagers join the knights, we still will be out numbered."

         Single file they marched, some on horseback and some walking by foot, each on staring at the back of the individual in front of them.  Twenty miles the line stretched, with only one thought on each person's mind-total destruction to the once peaceful world of Utofamia.
         The long line of knights was passing a group of huts that was too their left.  One knight pointed.
         "We may be paying somebody a visit there."
         Something deep within another knight's consciousness spoke, "No Idres, that village is abandoned.  I also smell sickness there."
         "That is true; I remember they fled a while ago.  There is a horse down there, shall we take it for our knights?"
         Once again, something spoke in Maria's consciousness, even though she was not sure what it was.  "No, that horse is too thin.  It will not last either for this walk or in battle."
         "We do not want to go off track," Melisande said.  "We have plenty of horses for know.  There is a better village to the west.  We will take their houses and lands. We will use this place as our base of operations.
         The long line of Red Knights and Death Bearers kept moving west.  Three hours later the last of the knights passed the abandoned village.  The sleeping Geoffrey was left miles behind.

         The enemy knights camp in a village near King Alexander's castle.  Several knights are sent to scout the land.
         The lone man stood in the trees and looked at the village he once lived in.  Normally, a bustling marketplace, where he made his living making and selling armor to both the White and Black Knights, was abandoned.  He wondered, if the people survived the coming war, would this place be the same.  He put his head over his donkey’s nuzzle to keep him quiet.
         "Thankfully, the rest of the villagers had already left," he said to himself, as he saw a large group of Red Knights coming from the east.  None of them would have survived.  Even though things already looked grim for them, and the rest of Utofamia, everyone had the desire to fight and die for the land.
         Several knights walked to near where he was hiding.  He recognized the evil one, Melisande.  Praying that his donkey would keep quiet, he heard her and another talking.
         "King Alexander's castle is about fifteen miles from here,” Maria said.  "We should send a team out to see if this is where his knights are."
         "True," said Melisande.  "The Plains of Musglove are further to the west than the castle.  Why waste our time if they are in one place and not the other.  Get a group of twenty knights and take them to scout the land."
         They walked off.
         When he was sure he was safe, the man led the donkey away.  He moved slowly so the contents in the cart would not rattle and make any sound that would attract the attention of the enemy.  He knew the shortcut to King Alexander's castle.  He would be able to cut off half of the distance.  That may be able to buy some time. 
         Melisande laughed to herself.  She had seen the man within the trees.  She had led Maria and Idres towards the trees so the man could hear what they were saying.  "I am sure he is off to tell King Alexander our plans.  Even with the villagers joining the knights their numbers do not even come close to what I have.  The plan is starting to fall into place."

         Michael recognized the man leading the donkey and cart.  This was his fourth trip back and forth to the village.
         He went to help him unload his cart.  "Is this the rest of it, Thomas?"
         "Yes, Sir Michael.  I have been working at my shop nonstop.  There will be enough swords.  Yet, there is still a shortage of armor.  Can you do me a favor and get a message to King Alexander?"  Thomas quickly explained about the enemy in the village.  "There are so many of them."
         "I will tell the king," Michael walked off.
         Michael found the king talking to Gregory, his Kingsbane.
         "We will set up an ambush," King Alexander said.  "Gregory and Michael, get twenty of you best men together."  The men rushed off.
         He turned to a third knight.  "Gather everybody and get them towards to Plains of Musglove.  We will have to start moving them out.  Everyone is to be on full alert."

         "They are coming from the due east," Gregory said, running up to King Alexander and Michael.  "They are about a quarter a mile away."
         "Good job, Gregory."  The King said.  "We will flank them, attack them on their side.  Quick men position yourselves on the ridge.  Do not attack until I give the order.  Gregory, go back to the observation post and see if they change direction."
         Ten minutes later, he returned.  "They are right behind me!"
         "Be prepared to attack on my call."
         Soon the sounds of horses were heard.  Twenty Red Knights passed by the ridge.  When half of the knights were through the valley, King Alexander yelled, "Now!"
         The ambushing team rushed down of the Red Knights.  Taken by the element of surprise, the enemy quickly fell victim to the onslaught.  Two knights in the rear of the platoon were able to withdraw and retreat in the direction they had come from.  The others lay on the ground either dead or wounded.
         "Take no prisoner," King Alexander ordered.  "Show them no mercy, since they have shown us none."
         Michael and Gregory went to each knight, removed their helmets and took anything that would aid them in the coming war.  If a Red Knight was still alive, he was quickly slain.
         Maria had fallen from her horse during the attack.  She was stunned but overall not hurt.  "I can not lie here and pretend I am dead," she thought.  "These knights are unmerciful.  They will know I am still alive and kill me.  I must fight."  Her hand tightened around the hilt of her sword.
         Gregory approached Maria's still body.  He rolled her over onto her side and removed her helmet.
         She jumped up and stared at Gregory with hatred.
         "Maria!" he yelled shocked.  "What are...?”
         Those were the last words he uttered.  With one swing of her sword, she decapitated the Kingsbane.
         The onyx collar fell from her neck.  She stared at the White and Black Knights in confusion and bewilderment.
         "Seize her!" yelled King Alexander.  One of the knights grabbed her arms and held them behind her back.  The king approached her and noticed the onyx collar lying on the ground.  He picked it up and looked at Maria.  "Did Melisande bribe you with gifts so you betray me?!"
         "I..."
         "SILENCE!"  He swung hand and slapped her across the face.
         "King Alexander!"  Michael protested.
         "Do not interfere!"  He put his hand on her throat and came close to choking her.
         "You are a traitor!  You will be punished severely!"  He turned to the knights.  "Take her to the prison tower.  She is to be tried for treason."

         King Alexander stared at Maria as she faced him in the tower's prison cell.  He regretted what he had to do.  However, she had turned her back on him and sold him out to Melisande.  She was a traitor to not only him but to all of Utofamia.
         He read from the parchment, "Maria Fancher, you have been guilty of treason."
         "What happened to the fair trial!" she yelled at the king.  True it was disrespectful, but he had not even given her a chance to speak for herself.
         The king ignored her and continued, "You are sentenced to death.  Your execution will be tonight."
         "That is not fair!"
         "Sir Michael of the Black Knights will carry out the execution." 
         Maria looked at Michael, her friend, in shock.  He kept his eyes on the floor.
         King Alexander turned and left the cell.  Michael followed him out.
         Outside the door, King Alexander said, "Use whatever method you want.  In the morning, take the remaining men to the Plains of Musglove."
         "You cannot do this to me!" Maria yelled through the locked door.  She collapsed to the floor, crying for both herself and Utofamia.
**********************

         Michael walked glumly through the darkness.  Most of King Alexander's men were already at the Plains of Musglove.  Only a few knights and Kingsbane were still at the castle. 
         He thought about the execution he was ordered to do.  "He wants me to carry out the task!  He cannot get one of his own to do the task!  He wants me to be the one to kill Maria!"  Michael angrily threw his helmet to the ground.  He slumped to his knees and sobbed bitterly.
         After a few minutes, Michael stood up, wiping his tears.  He made up his mind.  "I am not going to do it!  I am going to get Maria out of that tower.  I will get her horse and tell her to ride as far from King Alexander's castle as she can get.  I will just tell everyone, I carried out the task privately and burned her body.  It will be better for her; the future of the knights is doomed." 
         A sound came from behind Michael.  With his hand on the hilt of his sword, he turned sharply around.  It was James, one of the new Black Knights.
         "I am sorry, Sir Michael, for bothering you.  I request permission to speak.
         Out of all his knights, Michael could not remember any of them showing the respect that this one was showing him.  He always spoke to him humbly.  Michael gazed up at the stars, trying not to keep his mind on Maria.  There was a sound in the sky.  "It cannot be thunder; there is not a cloud in the sky."
         "Yes James, what is on your mind?"
         "It is about Maria."
         Michael sharply turned his head towards James.  He looked almost as distraught as he was feeling.
         James continued, “Maria saved my life and I cannot bear to see her executed."
         "Me neither," Michael sighed.  "How did she save your life?"
         "I was wounded and would have died if she did not give me some Conchiva."
         "I never realized this.  When were you wounded?"
         "It was before I became a Black Knight."
         "I do not understand."
         "You see, Maria healed me.  Yet, she protected me too.  She never told anyone, but I was a Red Knight."
         "You were a Red Knight?" Michael asked, shocked.  "Maria did not tell anyone.  Of course, she was protecting you."
         "Yes Sir."
         "I can understand why," Michael said.  "Even though Scott was a faithful knight during his short time with us, some people still did not trust him."
         "That why I want to help, Maria.  I know you were ordered to carry out the execution.  However, I would rather just get her out of the castle and let her escape.  Where she could go for safety, I do not know.  I believe there is no safe place in Utofamia presently."
         "I was thinking the same.  At least one other person feels sympathy for her."
         A crashing came through the trees.  "IDENTIFY YOURSELF!" Michael yelled drawing his sword.  A horse appeared with a limp rider on its back.  The man weakly raised its arm then fell to the ground with a thud.  Michael and James ran to the fallen figure.  They turned him onto his back.
         "It's Geoffrey!"  Michael yelled.
         James knelt next to the fallen Kingsbane.  "He is burning with fever!  Help me carry him back to the castle!  Wait!  We may not have time!  Help me get him to the campfire!"
         The two knights carried the sick Kingsbane back to the fire.  Since, most of the knights were already at the Plains of Musglove, nobody else was around.  "Do you have any Conchiva on you?" Michael asked. 
         "I have some in my room, Sir!  I will be right back!"  James started running back to the castle.  Thankfully, they were a short distance from the castle and the drawbridge was down.
         Michael looked down at Geoffrey.  How long he had been sick, it was difficult to know.  With Geoffrey’s rattling breathing, he was close to death.  How thin he looked from the last time he had seen him.  Held as Melisande's prisoner, what abuses did he have to suffer?  Michael took his flask and poured water on Geoffrey's head, hoping to cool his fever.  This seemed to work as Geoffrey began to revive.
         Delirious he said, "I have to save Maria.  She is in big trouble!"
         "Take it easy, son," Michael told Geoffrey.  "James will be back soon.  Please Bellerophon," he prayed.  I cannot bear if another innocent person has to die."
         James came crashing through the trees.  "I am sorry about the noise.  It is not too late, is it?  I ran as quickly as I could."  He handed Michael a flask.
         "I made some tea and crushed the Conchiva in it."
         "Good idea," said Michael.  "It will be easier to get some in him.  Help me sit him up."
         They both got Geoffrey to a sitting position.  He was drifting in and out of consciousness.  "Drink this, son."  It was out of habit.  He and Geoffrey looked the same age, but Michael had been in Utofamia longer, much longer.  "It will make you feel better."
         It took much effort for Geoffrey to drink a small sip.  However, as soon as the liquid went down his throat, the illness started to leave his body.  He fell back, exhausted.  "Let him sleep for a bit," Michael said.
         "I got some chicken from the kitchen and some soup.  It looks like he needs a hot meal."
         "It sure does," Michael agreed. 
         The sound of thunder came again, this time louder. 
         "That cannot be thunder," James commented.  "There are no clouds in the sky."
         "I noticed that earlier," Michael said.  "Maybe it is a sign of Utofamia's doom," he thought to himself.
         Geoffrey slept soundly for an hour.  Waking up he felt relaxed, refreshed and completely healed.  "Here, Sir," James said humbly.  "You must eat."
         Geoffrey bit into some chicken, and then he remembered Maria.
         "Maria is in trouble!"
         Michael and James looked at each other.  How did Geoffrey know about Maria's pending doom?
         "Melisande has her prisoner in the Black Castle.  She is trying to make a Hole in Time?"
         "What do you mean?
         As he ate his food, Geoffrey told them about everything that had happened to him and Maria.  "If I find that Red Knight," Michael said, talking about Idres, “I am going to kill him and make him suffer while I am doing it!  How dare he hit her!"
         "Me too," said Geoffrey.
         "Count me in," said James.  "You called that lake, the Mirror; the lake where Melisande was able to view Maria's world?"
         "Yes."
         "Do you think she was hypnotized by Melisande?"
         "It is possible.  She tried to struggle then was drawn in by the surface.  I think she could not pull away."
         James sighed, "Sir Michael, I think we should tell Geoffrey about Maria."
         "What about Maria?  Has something happened to her?"  He slumped down, "Please tell me I did not get here too late!"

         "That can not be true!" Geoffrey exclaimed.  "Maria would never be a traitor!"  Michael had just finished telling about the ambush and how Maria was captured with the Red Knights.  "There has to be an explanation.  What is to happen to her?"
         "She has been sentenced to death.  I have been ordered to carry out the execution."
         Geoffrey jumped up and pulled his sword.  "I will fight you to the death."
         "I am not going to do it.  I am going to allow her to escape."
         Geoffrey put his sword back in his sheath.  "Thank you.  I am glad some people believe in her innocence."
         There was the sound of thunder again.
         Geoffrey looked up at the sky.  However, there was also a flapping, but way in the distance.  "The Gammataur flies tonight," he thought to himself.  "Wait a minute!  The Gammataur flies tonight!" he said to Michael and James.
         "I do not get it,” Michael said.
         "Don't you see if we put Maria to the Test of the Gammataur that will prove her innocence?"
         "Of course!  The Gammataur spares the innocent!" Michael shouted, his spirits rising again.  Then he grew thoughtful, "What if Maria is guilty.  What if she became a spy for Melisande?  The Gammataur would know this and tear her to pieces."
         "We must talk to her quickly."

         Maria heard the sound of the key turning.  She knew Michael would be coming to carry out the execution.  "How dare he!  I thought he was my friend!  I will fight him!  No, it is not his fault.  This was King Alexander's doing.  Michael does not want anything to do with this.  I could see it in his eyes when he was last in here.  I might as well be brave.  If the king is not with him, I may be able to talk to him." 
         She turned to face the door as it slowly opened outwards.  All thoughts of the execution fled from her mind as Geoffrey entered the small room.
         He rushed over to Maria and embraced her.
         Sobbing, she said, "I thought you were killed.  I stopped receiving letters from you!  What happened?"
         "I am sorry.  I had to send a letter to King Alexander to warn him about Melisande's plans."  Michael and James entered the prison and shut the door.
         "Maria," Michael said.  "Believe me, I want nothing to do with this execution and am willing to let you go free."
         "Maria, do you remember the lake?"
         "I do.  Melisande was using it to draw thoughts from me."
         "I saw them too and I witnessed what life was like for you."  He explained how Andre had helped him escaped.  "There was nothing I could do to help you.  Andre thought your life would be endangered if Melisande had known.  What happened afterwards?"
         "I cannot remember."
         "Maria," Geoffrey pleaded, "you must tell us everything you remember.
          "I do not remember anything.  The last thing I remember was Melisande putting some type of necklace around my neck.  It was more like a collar.  The next thing I had known was King Alexander accusing me of being a traitor.  He believed that Melisande had bribed me with the onyx necklace."
         "I still think Maria was hypnotized," James said.
         "If she was, then she would be innocent in the Gammataur’s viewpoint."
         "What is a Gammataur?"
         "The Gammataur is a beast that is used in cases where a person cannot be judged to be innocent or guilty.  Maria, I love you whether you remember or not.  I would rather see you go free than be torn apart by that beast.  Please tell me if you remember.  We will just turn our backs and leave from here."
         "I agree too," said Michael.
         "Me two," said James.  "You saved my life."
         "I swear it!" Maria said, her voice cracking with fear.  "I do not remember!"
         "You have nothing to worry about," Geoffrey said.  "We have to hurry!  The Gammataur will be here within an hour."
         James pulled a rope from behind his back.  "To make this convincing to the guard outside, we should tie your hands behind your back.  However, I will not tie them too tight."
         Maria put her hands behind her back and allowed him to tie them.
         James and Michael supported Maria by the elbows as they walked to the door.  The guard saw them exit the room.
         "We are to take Maria to her execution."
         "Is he a witness?" he asked pointing to James.
         "Yes.  He will assist in the burial."
         "Carry on," the guard said.  Currently with no other prisoners to be responsible for, he would drink some wine and get drunk.  Then in the morning it would be off to the Plains of Musglove for, possibly, the final battle. 
         The three knights and Maria walked down the tower steps.  Soon they were crossing the drawbridge and heading away from the castle.  They passed the area where the knights and Kingsbane did their training.  Now they were going through the Hunting Grounds.
         "The clearing is up ahead," said Geoffrey.  They came to the edge of trees and found themselves facing a meadow.  In the middle stood two columns with chains hanging down.  The sound of thunder was louder.  Plus there was a breeze caused by the flapping.
         "We must hurry!" Geoffrey said.  The Gammataur will be here shortly!  Are you ready, Maria?  Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
         "Yes.  I am innocent.  This will prove it."
         The knights led Maria to the two columns and chained her hands to it.  Geoffrey kissed her one final time.  They headed back to the trees.
         The flapping was getting louder.  Soon the judge would be there.
         "What did I get myself into?" Maria thought wildly.  "What if I am really guilty?  Please let my death be quick, if I am!"
         Soon the Gammataur was seen in the sky.  A giant flying reptile of some sort, getting bigger each second.  It landed in front of Maria and opened its mouth to reveal fangs dripping venom.  She opened her mouth to scream.  This was the creature that was haunting her in her dreams the days before she came to Utofamia.  "Do not be afraid, brave Maria," a voice spoke in her mind.  "I am the Gammataur, judge of the guilty and the innocent.  I am to set you free and take you with me."
         "Take me where?" she asked.
         "To find the answers you seek," came the reply.
         The Gammataur breathed on Maria's chains and they fell from her arms.  She was free!
         "Climb on my back and fly with me."
         She climbed on the Gammataur's back and he rose in the air.  She turned to wave at her friends.
         "Yes!" Michael and James both yelled with joy.  "She is innocent1"
         Geoffrey just stood there, smiling wistfully at the departing Gammataur.  A tear ran down his cheek, “I love you Maria.  I pray we meet again."