The Mighty Morg

12. A Mutiny and a Bounty

Moribus paced outside the stone overhang with drawn sword, awaiting his master's return. Though the morning sun was blazing, it remained bitterly cold on the hilltop, and his breath frosted on the thin air. He held up the blade to regard his reflection in the pitted steel. Lack of sleep had left him looking red-eyed and feral. He breathed out heavily, clouding it over. The edge of the blade had some fresh chips from the duel. It was a wonder it hadn't shattered. Don't be rash, he counseled himself. Bide your time and continue to play the loyal squire. When you return to Alvaron with the dragon's bounty, it will have all been worth it. But when he flipped the sword over, his haunted reflection returned. Is this what Pagun thought before he died? Is Lord Manerion just using you for dragon bait?

His overworked mind flipped between conspiracy and conjecture. So the knight had misled people into thinking he had slain hordes of dragons. Where was the harm in that? True, he had seen him kill a man in cold blood, but the injured Marduke had already been on death's doorstep. Was the death of his former squire really so suspicious? Accidents happened all the time, especially in a business as perilous as dragon-slaying. The hillside massacre was proof of that.

The quest was starting to seem impossible. To survive, he would not only have to face down a fire-breathing monstrosity, but he would have to avoid falling victim to the knight's machinations. Once the dragon was slain, what use was Moribus to him? So many perils, and so few paths that led back to Alvaron and safety. What tormented him most was the fear that he might never again lay eyes on Meglinda. He could picture her standing beneath the laurel oak, her almond eyes radiant in the sun. Had he stroked her pearly skin for the last time?

He was still wrestling with these thoughts when the knight came around a bend in the path below, whistling a spritely tune as he tossed a stone in the air. Moribus felt something rigid inside him lock into place, and he knew his course was set. He could endure the knight's insults and squally tempers, had grown used to them in fact, but this new jauntiness in the face of tragedy and danger deeply unsettled him.

Moribus blocked the knight's path, holding his sword out before him. He had spent several sleepless hours composing a damning soliloquy for the occasion, but in the light of day, the words seemed overwrought and silly. "Stay where you are," was all he could manage.

Lord Manerion kept coming. "Have you lost your wits, boy? What is the meaning of this?"

"I said stay where you are!" Moribus cocked the sword. "Or so help me Rhojë, I will strike you."

"Easy there." Lord Manerion halted and spread out his palms in a placating gesture. "If it's more lessons you want, I'm afraid the time for lessons is over. We've a real dragon to slay now, and that little tickle-stick of yours won't be of any use. So how about you just put it down and go about your chores like a good little squire."

"I don't want any more lessons from you," Moribus said, marshaling his resolve. The knight sounded too calm, too reasonable, too much like his own inner voice urging him to back down. "I'm not putting down the sword until I get some answers."

"I see." The knight rubbed his thumb against the stone as he coolly digested the situation. "Gone craven on me, is that it? Caught your first glimpse of death, and now you want to go crawling back to a warm bosom. Not that I blame you. Why, if I had a lovely damsel like that, I would make a tent out of her skirts and camp inside them."

The knight had picked the wrong time to make a bawdy jest. Moribus thrust the point of his sword underneath his chin. "How dare you speak of the Lady Meglinda like that!"

Lord Manerion raised his chin to expose more of his neck. "Go ahead and finish it, boy. Just make sure you get in a good, clean strike. I can't stand messy work. Just tell me one thing. What was your price? If it was any less than a thousand crowns you were bought for too cheap."