any more than what makes a soldier settle down and take up fishing?”
Konic was startled. Not many townspeople even knew that he had been in the Army when he was younger. Surely the sword calluses were long gone and covered by years of fishing. How could this simple bandit know that? Then again, this was no simple bandit, Konic reminded himself. The man had all the poise of a person who had spent his whole life in the Army. Perhaps he is a forward scout for one of the many warring armies ravaging Sordoa. Then again, most of the bandits plaguing the world had been soldiers at one time or another. “We’ve had trouble with bandits invading the town before,” Konic finally said. “If that is your intention, I would like to dissuade you from the thought.”
“If that is your true purpose,” the bandit smiled, “you can leave now, satisfied that you have accomplished your mission. I have not seen much in your town that would interest a group of bandits.”
The bandit’s smile told Konic that the man had not bought his story, but surely he could not know why Konic was here. Even Konic was not sure exactly why he was here. He wanted the boys safe and he suspected that this man might be harmful to them, but why? What did the bandit want here? How could he find out? Finally he decided, as he did most other times, that the truth was usually the best course. “I lost my wife to bandits three years ago,” Konic declared bitterly, “and all I have left is my son. If you are here to harm him or his friend, I will kill you.”
When the bandit made no comment, Konic shakily continued. “I know you are a man of great skill and you think my threat idle and boastful, but I assure you that I will not rest until your bones are scattered to the vultures.” Konic took the star weapon out of his pouch and slammed it on the table. All eyes in the common room turned at the sound and the bandit swept the star up and out of sight before Konic could see the man’s hand move.
The bandit rose and gently touched Konic’s sleeve. “Let us walk,” he simply whispered and strode out the door of the inn. Konic rose unsteadily and followed. The man could easily kill him outside and be out of town before anyone even noticed, but Konic had a duty to his son that nobody would frighten him out of. When Master Clava had gone through the door, he saw the bandit leaning lazily against a post as if he had not a care in the world. He was holding the star weapon in his right hand.
“Was this given to you by your son?” the bandit asked.
“His friend,” Konic responded. “The son of my friend. He says you almost killed him with it.”
The bandit just nodded and before Konic realized it, the man in black had three of the stars in his hands. He turned casually and nodded at a sign across the street. The bandit threw the three stars, one at a time, at the sign. All three of them landed inside a letter O in the sign. “If I had wanted to harm the boy, rest assured that you would not now be talking to me about him.”
Konic followed the bandit across the street to retrieve the stars with his mouth hanging open. “The boy was attempting to sneak into my campsite and thought no one could hear him. I scared him away. That is all there is to it.”
Konic nodded as the bandit pried the three stars out of the sign. He handed one of them to Konic. “Return this to Tedi, that it might remind him to never underestimate his opponent. It is called a Lanoirian Star and it is a potent weapon in experienced hands. Perhaps he will learn how to use it.”
Konic stared at the bandit. “How is it that you know the boy’s name?” he demanded.
The bandit sat on the stoop of the building, the other two stars already put back wherever they belonged. “I overheard him and Arik, who I suppose is your son, talking in the woods about some witch in a blue dress. They were on an animal path just west of the coastal highway. Arik was trying to find Tedi and finally succeeded. Do you know who this witch is?”
Konic was stunned with the amount of information that the bandit possessed. The man would make an excellent spy. He had been in town less than a day and already knew more than most of the townspeople. Master Clava sat next to the bandit and shook his head. “No,” he replied, “but whoever she is, she has too much interest in the boys for my taste. How do I know you are not allied with her?”
“If I was,” the bandit smiled, “she would still be here instead of chasing your boys up North somewhere. She will return, you know. Whatever she is after, she will know by tomorrow night that the boys did not go north.”
“How do you know so much?” Konic frustratingly asked. “Just who are you?”
The bandit stared at his feet as if debating with himself as to how much to say. “My name is Garth Shado,” the bandit finally stated, “and I mean no harm to you or your boys. As to the witch, I saw her pass last night. She travels in the company of Dark Riders, about twenty of them. How old are the boys?”
Konic’s head jerked upright. The boys had told him about everyone wanting to know how old they were. He turned and stared into the bandit’s icy blue eyes. “You will explain your need to know their ages,” Konic demanded with a tone of challenge.
Garth raised his hands as if to fend off an imaginary attack and smiled. That smile was beginning to get on Konic’s nerves. “There are the Prophecies of the Collapse,” Garth said softly. “The Prophecies foretell of the children who will rise up to slay the Dark One. Although the Prophecies don’t specify when the children will be born, many believe that those children were born in the year of the Collapse. There are rumors that the Dark One has ordered the death of any child born that year. The boys are close enough in age to draw a lot of attention, even if they are not the children of the Prophecies. I am afraid that people will be interested in their age as long as they live. Some people, like myself, will only be curious. Others will have a more serious agenda.”
Konic was not sure that Garth had put himself in the right category, but at least he now knew why everyone wanted to know the boys’ ages. “How do you know that the witch will be back?” Konic asked.
“Because the Dark Riders will fan out and check everyone heading north,” Garth replied. “She will soon know that she has been duped. It is only logical for her to return to the last place she sighted them to try and pick up a trail.”
Konic stood and faced the bandit. “Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me, Master Shado,” Konic said formally. “I will digest what you have told me, but know that I am sincere where the safety of the boys is concerned. If you have duped me with your intentions towards them, it will not diminish my resolve to protect or avenge them.”
Garth only nodded as Konic strode down the street towards the quay. Konic was shaking with fear and he was determined that no one would notice. He barely held his body back from running all of the way to the campsite. Instead of returning directly to the campsite, Konic waved to Alan and continued down to the shore to sit and think. After a few moments, when Alan realized that Konic was not coming back to the campsite, he walked down to join Konic. Konic was sitting on the sandy beach and didn’t even appear to notice when Alan walked up and sat beside him.
“What is the matter, friend,” Alan asked cautiously. “Are you all right?”
When Konic looked over at his friend, Alan could see that he was shaking and his eyes were moist. “It is worse than we expected,” Konic replied with an unsteady voice.
Alan wondered what had happened to make his friend afraid. Konic had always been the steadfast one, never shaken, never fearful. He wondered if the bandit had harmed him in some way. Alan could not see any bruises, but he knew a man could be broken without any marks. “What did the bandit do?” demanded Alan.
Konic gazed at the rolling surf, heard the waves crashing against the shore. Strange, he thought, how some violent actions were so soothing, while others so unnerving. “It isn’t what the bandit did that bothers me,” confided Konic. “It is what he said that upsets me.”
Konic relived the meeting with the bandit for his friend, leaving no detail unspoken. “Then, even if these rumors are untrue,” Konic concluded, “our boys will never know peace or safety in their lifetimes.”
“Surely, if we explain it all to the town council,” Alan offered, “the whole town would stand behind the boys and help protect them.”
“Would they?” queried Konic. “Would this town really stand against twenty Dark Riders and a witch? How about the next time when it was two hundred Dark Riders and a dozen witches? What if one of the townspeople was a Black Devil and nobody knew it? All it would take is one arrow, or one knife, or some damn spell.”
Alan recalled stories of the Black Devils from before the Collapse. The group was a society of magicians devoted to a wizard known as Sarac, the same Wizard who supposedly had been chosen by Alutar, the Great Demon, to be the Dark One and rule the world. If the stories are true, it was Sarac, as the Dark One, who had caused the Collapse of the Universes. “You know that I will stand with you until the end, Konic. No matter what the end may bring.”
