Lorcan: Dragonquest

Chapter 5

WARNING: violence and gore. Witchcraft. And one unicorn.

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The screeches that breached the peace raised the veils of stupefaction that had held Lorcan and Cokelli in the parlor, eating and drinking the food put before them without a care. Only now did they notice a strange texture in the bread they were eating, and the glint in Lesintigan's eye as he glared at them.

The easily-offended Aefwealding turned and walked out, calling for his men.

"Now would be a good time to get going," said Cokelli. "We are in the witch's house."

"Where will we go?" asked Lorcan.

"Away," said Cokelli. "That'll do to start."

The sounds of stamping feet followed by a muffled "Got you!" caught their attention.

"The gnomes!" hissed Lorcan. "She's got them!"

Cokelli grabbed his arm and began to drag him away. "Well, it's better than having us. Let's go."

Lorcan snatched his arm away. "But we can't leave them behind!"

"Why not? You're not nice," Cokelli reminded him, consternation furrowing his forehead. "You're Soduane. If you were nice..."

Lesintigan rushed in. "In here," he said, leading a crowd of angry-looking men.

"That's the problem with being nice," said Cokelli. "Now see what's happened."

Lesintigan grinned, his lined cheeks framing his yellow teeth. "I have been looking forward to this so much..."

Cokelli glanced desperately around for something to use as a weapon. "Well, it should be worth a ballad—forty against two."

"There are twenty-three of us, including myself. You stupid thrall, you deserve this as much as your ridiculous master."

"Lesintigan, are we going to attack them or bore them to death?" asked one of his men, a burly thug with an eye pulled down by a puckered scar.

Just then, Hordis Ref stomped into the room with a tiny wriggling gnome clutched in each pudgy hand. "What's going on?" she demanded, her hair wild and her face red with rage.

Taken aback by the alteration in her appearance, Lorcan could not help but stare. Without her magical wiles, Hordis Ref was a stout, pig-faced wench with buck teeth and thick lips. To think he had floated in on a whisper of hope that he could win her affections! He reached for his sword, but, of course, it wasn't there. To his alarm, Lesintigan didn't seem to have a problem locating his, since he was holding it aloft with a feral snarl on his hawkish face.

The furious witch glared at the men. "What is this?"

"This man insulted me before our king," said Lesintigan, pointing his sword at Lorcan. "He humiliated me, deceived me, then set those gnomes on me again and again. I presume he has been complaining about me, but I can't imagine why. I am the offended party here."

Lorcan turned from the Aefwealding knight to Hordis, a shocked expression on his stubbly face. "Lesintigan wants to kill me because I wanted to eat at the banquet at Naceaster instead of answering all his questions. He has been chasing me ever since. Apparently, only blood can put it right. I see it differently, of course, because it's my blood he wants."

"And you've been running from him ever since," said Hordis, her eyebrow raised as if she did not believe him.

"And the other twenty," added Cokelli.