Chapter 5

I sat on his bed and took his hand. We made the jump to the corridor just outside of the shielded apartment where we landed sitting on the floor. I took off my belt and whistle and helped my father to carry Lord Bushton into the bedroom and lay him on the bed. Several maids and the Keep doctor were waiting there to receive him. They made him as comfortable as possible, and Father left six guards there to make sure of Lord Bushton's safety.

We went back to Father's office, and I told him of how much help Granny Eltman had been. Father was much less bothered by magic than most people, so he approved wholeheartedly of the help being given by Granny Eltman. I did not mention that she was investigating what the King might have to do with this because she had asked me to remain quiet on that subject.

When I was ready to leave, I collected my horse and retraced my steps to return to Blakeslee Keep. As far as I could tell, everybody at the Keep believed that I had simply been out riding. I held a private meeting with Rolf and Elbert in my office at Blakeslee Keep and brought them up to date on all events. Now that Lord Bushton was safely ensconced at Springfeld Keep, I felt that it was time to show them what the belt was capable of doing.

We donned our traveling attire and called for our warhorses. It was indeed a relief to be moving around with my two old friends much as we had done before the trouble started. It was amazing that it had started only a few days ago, yet seemed as if it had been going on for months.

We rode into the copse and I told them that I was transporting us to the site of the attack on the sheep. My purpose was that this was some distance away and a place that we had never visited as a trio. I was not completely sure what would happen when we got there. We grasped hands and made the magical jump.

We were caught completely by surprise! We made the jump still sitting in our saddles, and thank God that we had. The moment we arrived, we spied two of the wildest beasts that one could imagine. There was no doubt that they were magical and that they were evil, just from the pall they placed on their surroundings.

The beasts looked like they had the body of a giant cat about six feet long, not counting the four-foot barbed tail. The head had four eyes equally spaced around the skull so that it could see in all directions at all times. The teeth were sharp and spiked like those of a cat, and the fangs must have been eight inches long. The feet were huge: at least double the size one would expect on a similarly proportioned cat. The toes had claws that had to be six inches long. The fur was black from nose to the tip of the tail and stank like a cesspit.

Fortunately for us, the cats were as surprised to see us as we were to see them. We had time to draw our swords and to take up our shields. The two cats jumped at us as soon as they got their wits about them. We three were all seasoned warriors, and so were our horses. The horses had been trained to attack whenever in doubt, and I think that was what saved us.

The cats charged, and the horses charged. The horses outweighed the cats by several times, and the cats were knocked to the side. There was a solid thump when we struck the cats, but the cats received much the worse of the impact. Today, by some lucky chance, I had my claymore along instead of my shorter bastard sword. Thus, I was the only one to reach a cat with my blade, but I did make a savage cut along its side. The beast's ribs were exposed by the cut and black blood began to pour out over the ground. The grass shriveled immediately wherever the blood fell! The smell was as foul as any charnel house that you might have ever encountered! It was truly a putrid situation.

Fortunately, my cut must have severed some important muscles. The cat fell to one side and had to struggle to regain it feet. Elbert made good use of the opportunity and dashed in. He made a sweeping cut at the beast's neck and beheaded it with a single swing: a testament to the man's strength!

Meanwhile, Rolf was acquitting himself well against the other beast. He had lopped off its left foreleg upon the cat's second charge. The black blood had spattered about and was killing a lot of the grass, but none had hit any of the humans or the horses. Rolf jabbed at the beast's face with his bastard sword and penetrated an eye socket for an inch of so. However, that brought him so close to the beast that it was able to whip around its tail and stab Rolf's horse in the belly with its barb.

That was enough to cause his horse to collapse with no warning, and the horse rolled over Rolf's right leg. Thus, the leg was broken in two places, one above and one below the knee. Rolf's head hit the ground so hard that he was knocked unconscious. The cat turned as fast as it could to try to bite Rolf in the neck between his helm and his gorget (a neck shield). I managed to get there in time to lop off the beast's head with my claymore before it could reach Rolf for what surely would have been a killing bite.

We had killed the two magical beasts, but Rolf's broken leg needed immediate attention. In almost a reflex action, I whipped out my whistle and summoned Granny Eltman. She was there as quickly as usual, and all I had to do was to point at Rolf.

She gestured, and the now dead horse floated off of Rolf's leg where he was pinned to the ground. She gestured again, and Rolf's leg was healed that quickly. Such a thing was hard to believe but all the more welcome. Rolf was still unconscious, and Granny Eltman said to let him awaken on his own. His leg would need to have a few minutes to recognize that it was healed. Elbert and I thanked her most profusely, and she bowed before disappearing.

While we were waiting, Elbert and I stripped the dead horse to recover the very expensive tack and other items it had been equipped with. Rolf had loved that horse, so he was going to be very upset at its loss. On top of that, the horse would have to be replaced and trained to accept Rolf as its new master. That definitely was going to complicate things, but it was a problem that every knight knew how to deal with. Luckily, Father had some extra warhorses, and he could spare one for his son's squire, so Rolf was saved that great expense.

We waited the 30 minutes that it took for Rolf to wake up. We were more than glad to see him get to his feet. While he was still unconscious, the two dead magical beasts had disappeared, and Elbert and I were not sure what that might mean. At least, no new threat appeared while we stood there, and we breathed a sigh of relief when Rolf rejoined us.

He climbed to his feet and said, "Strangely, I could swear that I had a broken leg from when my horse fell on me, but I feel nothing out of the ordinary now." I told him what had happened and that we would jump to Springfeld Keep as soon as he was ready.

It was a bit awkward jumping to Springfeld with all of those pieces of equipment that had to be held while we did it, but we managed. We straggled through the gate and men came running to help us. Father showed up almost immediately, and he gave a replacement horse to Rolf. I was grateful when Rolf did not even have to ask for the horse.

We got squared away and rode back to the copse. I had the belt transport us to Blakeslee Keep, and everybody was surprised to see Rolf riding a strange horse. I gave an edited synopsis of our adventure to Capt. Morley and depended on him to spread the word of what had happened. I wanted everybody to be aware of strange beasts in the neighborhood and for them not to go wandering alone.

Rolf and Elbert were now convinced of the abilities of the magic belt that Granny Eltman had given me. That went a long way toward removing their distrust of white magic, but, like everyone else including me, they were deathly afraid of the evil of black magic. We would all have been perfectly happy if we never had to deal with magic in any of its forms, but life seemed not to work that way.

Life was a lot simpler at Blakeslee Keep now that Lord Bushton was at Springfeld. Only those who needed to know knew that Lord Bushton had been moved, but none of them knew where he had been moved or any details of how it had been done. All that most people knew was that we three noblemen now appeared at the usual times and did the usual things that noblemen did. That did wonders to raise the morale of the Keep.