Lauki's Arc

Chapter 11 of 18

Conrad's grip tightened on his cane. Torra's words hung in the cold hall. But Lauki did not let her finish. "No," he said. "Your father asked for deeds. Not more secrets." He turned to Conrad. "You want proof I am worthy. Give me a task. I will do it." Conrad studied him. "There is a lord who bleeds my lands," he said slowly. "He rules a black tower crowned with a weeping skull. His roses choke the villages at his feet. No knight I sent has returned." He leaned forward. "Bring me his head, and I will call you worthy." Lauki rode out that afternoon. He found the tower before dusk. It clawed at the sky, black stone wrapped in thorned vines and dark roses. A crowned skull wept twin streams of red down its face. Stone gargoyles crouched at the gate. Their eyes tracked him as he dismounted. The gate groaned open. A thing of bark and bone stepped out. Black roses bloomed from its shoulders. A skull face split its trunk, and purple light burned in its sockets. The treant swung a knotted arm. Lauki dove. Thorns raked his side. He rolled up, pressed his palm to the ground, and let the fire out. Flame raced up the roots. The treant shrieked and burned. Its roses curled to ash. Lauki did not wait for it to fall. He ran through the gate and up the winding stair. The Rose Lord waited at the top. Onyx plate covered him head to foot. A horned skull helmet grinned above spiked shoulders. In one gauntlet he held a mace, its head a steel rose ringed with thorns. "Another sent to die," the Rose Lord said. His voice rang inside the helmet. He swung. Lauki ducked, and the mace cratered the wall. Stone dust filled the air. Lauki loosed a burst of fire. It splashed off the black plate and did nothing. The Rose Lord laughed and came on. Lauki gave ground, back to the window. The mace rose. Lauki threw his flame low this time, not at the armor but at the floor beneath the lord's boots. The old stone cracked. The Rose Lord's foot broke through. He staggered. Lauki lunged inside the swing. He gripped the horned helmet with both hands and poured every ounce of fire into it. The metal screamed and glowed white. The Rose Lord clawed at the helm, then dropped his mace. He fell to his knees. The helmet split, and he went still. Lauki knelt beside the body. He did not take the head. He took the shattered helmet instead, its horns cracked, its crown broken. Proof enough of the man beneath. He rode back through the night. He set the broken helmet on Conrad's desk. Dawn light caught the dents in the steel. Conrad turned it in his hands a long time. Then he looked at Lauki. "You did what my knights could not," he said. "You have your deed." He set the helmet down. "Now we speak of my daughter."