[Mkguild] Patrol XII

[Jack Moore]

AN: And my second message

Patrol XII

May 18th, 697
Sir Tallis gripped my arm so hard I cried out in pain. He wouldn't let go,
though, he just pulled me as fast as he could. Into the woods we went and
Tallis almost lifted me off the ground as he ran.
I didn't even think about why he was doing this. I just knew if Sir Tallis
was doing this, it must be for a good reason. It's only when Tallis pulled
me against a tree branch, scraping my back that I screamed out in pain.
"Sir Tallis stop!" I cried out. "I'm hurting. I'm hurting real bad!" Sir
tallis didn't look at me. He didn't do anything. "Please! I wanna stop!" He
sighed but he did come to a stop.
"I'm sorry James...I-I wasn't thinking." Tallis let go of my hand and
turned away. I rubbed the bruise on my wrist. "I'm sorry James..." he
repeated. "It's not right that I have to hurt you."
"Yeah, yeah." I said. "Why's the manor smoking? Like, father's study is on
fire What happened?" Tallis didn't say anything. He pulled out his short
sword and ran the flat of the blade over his arm.
"Someone set a fire to cause a distraction. They assumed the knights would
rush to that, trying to protect your father. They were correct as it turns
out..." Sir Tallis put his sword away, only to hesitate and pull it again.
"Why do you have that out Tallis?" I asked. He didn't respond. "I'm sorry I
yelled, but you hurt my arm." Sir Tallis nodded, still not turning back.
"I...you okay? You look sad Tal."
"No, I'm fine." He forced a smile. "I just...it's getting to me today. I
need...I'm sorry James, I truly am." Sir Tallis walked over to a rock and
sat down. He kept his eyes on the ground, deliberately avoiding me.
I walked over to my guardian and hugged him. He smiled but only for a
second. He still wouldn't look up at me.
"You're sad. Like really sad. I wanna help." I said. Sir Tallis nodded.
"I know you do James. You're a good kid." Now he did smile genuinely. "It's
amazing that a good kid came from such a bastard like Leontes." I gasped at
the bad language used about my father. Or at least tried to.
In truth I'd heard the servants say far worse every day. I didn't know what
a "skull fucking son of a bitch" was but they'd called my father that many
times.
"Tallis?" The real reason it surprised me was Sir Tallis never spoke bad
about my father. In truth he never spoke bad period. Not about anyone.
Right now Tallis didn't seem to care.
"I've done a lot of bad things you know James. Way too many bad things." He
let out a weak laugh. "That's why I was so happy to get the job of
protecting you. I'd never have to go into war again. I'd never have to kill
a kid who'd never held a sword in his life."
I didn't know what to say. I just waited as my guardian continued.
"You made my job so much easier James. Did you know that?" I shook my head.
"My job suddenly had purpose again. Instead of killing, I was nurturing and
protecting. I felt like a knight, not just a sword for hire."
Sir Tallis laid his sword across his lap. He occasionally rubbed against
the blade. I reached over and touched the cold steel. It almost made me
shiver.
"Before that, there was only one thing that kept me going. My wife, the
most amazing woman I'd ever met." Tallis smiled. "People wonder if the gods
truly care about us. I know they do because they brought me to her."
'Why is he telling me this? Where is my father?' Sir Tallis was now looking
right at me, only he wasn't. He was looking through me, looking past me,
looking at his little cottage on the manor grounds.
"Aimé is her name." Tallis said. "I know you're still young James, you
don't have the love for women you will one day. But you will understand,
eventually you will know just how wonderful it is to have a woman in your
life."
"I guess." I said, growing more confused as we kept talking. "Sir Tallis,
is something wrong? I wanna go back to the manor." Sir Tallis nodded.
"I understand. I just...James do you ever think about what you'll do when
you become Lord?" I was eleven then, of course I didn't. The only things I
thought about were getting through my lessons and getting more time with my
hawk.
"I know being Lord is real important Tallis." I said. He shook his head.
"That's not what I mean. Do you ever think about being Lord? What it means;
all the responsibility it entails?" I shook my head. "No, I'm not surprised
you wouldn't. Being an important Lord in Isenport means you get to hold a
little power and everyone wants to kill you.
"In the time I've been here, your father has had three assassination
attempts on him. They all failed, of course, and they all came from an
unknown enemy. Or that's what Leontes said. The truth is they came from the
other high Houses in the empire."
"Sir Tallis?" I whined. He held up his hand.
"Let me finish boy, let me finish. I'm telling you this for your benefit."
I sniffled but sat back down.
'Why won't he let me go home? What's going on here?' Sir Tallis continued
talking. He no longer saw me.
"Every noble house, every person in power wants to be in power so they can
be the target of the assassinations. Amazing isn't it? Everyone in this
empire wants to marry their children to other children in the great houses.
Then they want to kill the head, so their bloodline can take over."
Sir Tallis looked up at me now with a smile. "Your blood goes to the
Imperial family though. You're too young to be married. Why someone would
want to kill you I will never know."
"Sir Tallis I want to go home." I said. My fear was now rising into my
mouth. "Take me home right now."
"Now the question is, if you want to kill a member of a noble house, how do
you do it?" Sir Tallis asked. "You can hire an assassin, but actually
getting to your target is not that easy. Your father, for example, has a
hundred knights at any time. You have me as your guard."
"And I love you guarding me." I stammered. Sir Tallis nodded.
"You're the second most important boy in my life." He sighed. "Only next to
one. My son. My amazing son Randwell." I noticed his eyes beginning to
water. He wiped them, trying to hide it from me. "My wife and my son are
everything. I'd protect them from anything, even against you James." I
swallowed.
"What happened Sir Tallis?" Tallis shook his head.
"Nothing you can do. No one protects the families of knights James. No one
cares about us. Not even when assassins take your family hostage and tell
you that if you want to see them again, do something for them." Sir Tallis
looked up. "Kill your charge."
I tried to leap away, only for my foot to get caught on a log, leading me
to face plant into the mud. Sir Tallis grabbed me by the back of my shirt
and lifted me out of the mud.
"Let me go!" I yelled. "Put me down!"
"The sooner this is over the better." Sir Tallis said. His voice was edged
with steel. Sir Tallis placed the tip of the blade against my struggling
back, letting it poke and scratch me.
"Sir Tallis!" I cried. "Please!" Tears flowed freely from my eyes, matched
by those of my first guardian.
"It'll be over quickly James." Sir Tallis pressed the blade into my skin,
cutting me. Now I started to bleed. I struggled but no longer near as hard.
'It's over. It's all over.' Sir Tallis pulled the blade back and...and!

And sighed. To my amazement I was lowered to the ground. I turned around to
face my former protector, and my best friend. Sir Tallis couldn't look at
me.
"I have to kill you to save my son James." He shook his head. "But I can't
do it. I just..." He sighed. "I can't hurt you either James. I love you as
much as Rand; I won't harm you anymore than him."
"They have your family?" I asked. Sir Tallis nodded. "We can save them! I
can tell father and he can get them free!" Sir Tallis let out a small laugh.
"I stabbed my charge. I'm expected to die to protect you, or to let anyone
close to me die. The moment I took to serving your father, my life ended.
Your father won't care." Sir Tallis took my hand. "Come on, let's-
A blast of fire blew through the woods and struck Sir Tallis in the chest.
It sent him flying, leaving him to crash face first into the ground. I ran
over to him.
"Sir Tallis!" Tallis rolled onto his back, with smoke drifting off his
chest. His eyes were closed and breathing labored. I embraced him. "Sir
Tallis please be okay."
"J-James?" He cracked open his eyes. "Uh I'm alright. I'm just more stunned
than anything..." He pushed himself up. "What hit me?"
"I did." We both turned, to see a figure walking towards us. A knight like
Sir Tallis, but not as tall. His red, wavy hair that stood up on ends
identified him for me. Sir Enfer, looking beyond furious. "James stay away
from that man."
"No!" I yelled. "You hurt him!" Sir Tallis tried to say something but I
kept yelling. "You could have killed him!"
"You're a mage." Sir Tallis rasped out. He grinned. "I always knew Leontes
had a mage watching me. I'm not surprised it's you." Sir Enfer didn't say
anything. His eyes never broke from Sir Tallis. We sat for a moment, none
of us moving or knowing what to do.
"Do you know how magic feels?" He asked, breaking the silence. Sir Tallis
glared at him. "It feels amazing. It's a part of the universe you can shape
and cause to flow in any way you choose. It's something you can touch and
mold, but you don't know quite how you do it, even when you're doing it."
Sir Enfer approached us now, drawing his sword. I clung tighter to Sir
Tallis. "It's a gift that you feel like you can change the world with. I
chose to use my gift to protect the noble house of Dorothea, even unto the
death of everyone close to me. If you can't be bothered to do the same then
I have every right to use my gift against you."
"I didn't kill the boy." Sir Tallis rasped. "He's still alive. I couldn't-
"Oh I heard your little speech." Sir Enfer said. "I was afraid to move out
of fear you might kill him. But congratulations, at the end you managed to
do your duty. If only all knights could remember to do their duty some of
the time."
"Stay away from him!" I yelled. Sir Enfer barely glanced at me.
"Tallis I will march you back to the manor." Enfer said. "Lord Leontes will
hear the whole story right away; you can expect his punishment to be
swift." Sir Tallis swallowed. "Now stand up." Tallis looked at me.
"It's okay James. You can let go of me." I just squeezed him tighter.
"Tallis now!" Sir Enfer snapped. Sir Tallis reached up and removed my vice
grip from his neck.
"Nothing I can do now James." Sir Tallis whispered, standing up. "It's
okay. You're safe now from the man who tried to kill you." He turned to
Enfer. "You need to send knights or anyone to rescue my family."
"We will." Enfer said. "But you know they may already be dead." Sir Tallis
swallowed and nodded. "Now come on."
I wanted to stay with Sir Tallis but Enfer grabbed my arm and wouldn't let
go. He dragged both of us back home, to face my father.
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