A Joust of Knights (Book #16 in the Sorcerer's Ring) Read Online Free PDF Page B

We may die,” she concluded with a
smile, “but we shall do so with a smile.”

CHAPTER SIX
     
     
    Godfrey raced through the streets of
Volusia, joined by Ario, Merek, Akorth, and Fulton, hurrying to make the city gate
before it was too late. He was still elated by his success at sabotaging the
arena, managing to poison that elephant, to find Dray and release him into the
stadium just when Darius needed him most. Thanks to his help, and the Finian
woman, Silis, Darius had won; he had saved his friend’s life, which relieved
his guilt at least a little bit for setting him up for ambush in the streets of
Volusia. Of course, Godfrey’s role was in the shadows, where he was best, and
Darius could not have emerged the victor without his own bravery and masterful
fighting. Still, Godfrey had played some small part.
    But now, everything was going awry;
Godfrey had expected, after the match, to be able to meet Darius at the stadium
gate as he was being led out, and to free him. He had not expected that Darius
would be escorted out the rear gate and ushered through the city. After he had
won, the entire Empire crowd had been chanting his name, and the Empire
taskmasters had become threatened by his unexpected popularity. They had
created a hero, and had decided to usher him out of the city and for the
capital arena as soon as possible, before they had a revolution on their hands.
    Now Godfrey ran with the others, desperate
to catch up, to reach Darius before he left the city gates and it was too late.
The road to the capital was long, desolate, led through the Waste and was
heavily guarded; once he left the city, there would be no way they could help
him. He had to save him, or else all of his efforts would be for naught.
    Godfrey dashed through the streets,
breathing hard, and Merek and Ario helped Akorth and Fulton along, gasping for
air, their large bellies leading the way.
    “Don’t stop!” Merek encouraged Fulton as he dragged his arm. Ario merely elbowed Akorth in the back, making him groan,
prodding him on as he slowed.
    Godfrey felt the sweat pouring down his
neck as he ran, and he cursed himself, once again, for drinking so many pints
of ale. But he thought of Darius and forced his aching legs to keep moving,
turning down one street after the next, until finally, they all emerged from a
long, stone archway, into the city square. As they did, there in the distance,
perhaps a hundred yards away, lay the city gate, imposing, rising fifty feet
high. As Godfrey looked out, his heart dropped to see its bars being opened
wide.
    “NO!” he called out, involuntarily.
    Godfrey panicked as he watched Darius’s
carriage, drawn by horses, guarded by Empire soldiers, encased in iron
bars—like a cage on wheels—heading through the open gates.
    Godfrey ran faster, faster than he knew
he could go, stumbling over himself.
    “We’re not going to make it,” Merek
said, the voice of reason, laying a hand on his arm.
    But Godfrey shook it off and ran. He
knew it was a hopeless cause—the carriage was too far away, too heavily guarded,
too fortified—and yet he ran anyway, until he could run no longer.
    He stood there, in the midst of the
courtyard, Merek’s firm hand holding him back, and he leaned over and heaved,
hands on his knees.
    “We can’t let him go!” Godfrey cried
out.
    Ario shook his head, coming up beside
him.
    “He is already gone,” he said. “Save
yourself. We must fight another day.”
    “We will get him back some other way,”
Merek added.
    “How!?” Godfrey pleaded desperately.
    None of them had an answer as they all
stood there and watched the iron doors slam behind Darius, like gates closing
on Darius’s soul.
    He could see Darius’s carriage through
the gates, already far away, riding into the desert, putting distance between
themselves and Volusia. The cloud of dust in their wake rose higher and higher,
soon obscuring them from view, and Darius felt his heart break as he felt he
had let down