~Ivor~

“Go bring the men in...safely.” Valerin barked the order indignately to me as if I were one of his own men. I glared at him with a sideglance, then approached him and led him just out of earshot of Arthur.

“Fool!” Don’t you realize you could kill him now along with his best men. You could usurp the crown uncontested and not have to worry about this Pendragon scum any more.” I could feel my teeth raking against each other as if boulders were crashing down. The storm began to well up inside me as if a red rage has taken control of me. Valerin simply looked to me with a strange look in his eyes. It was a look of undeterred madness and I thought for a moment that I saw something shift. I knew at that moment that he could kill me in the blink of an eye although I could very well return the gift with my dying grasp.

“Do as I say.” Was all he said in return. He treated me as if I was one of his own men, but perhaps I have become one. This alliance I had forged with him may have made me a subordinate where before I was an outsider. At least on the inside I was able to do as I pleased. As long as I played the game by his rules at first.

I whistled a high pitched shriek and my hounds came running to my sled. “Take my horse. I want the men to look up to you when you bring them in.” Valerin called over his shoulder as he returned to Arthur.

“I would rather take my hounds.” I said coldly. I did not want to tell him that I could not ride a horse. Usually when hunting, a horse was too large and scared away the prey. I preferred to use my hounds and have them lead my on my sled. Also it made me feel like a war hero on my chariot. It was more of a sled though, but the sled was able to slide over even dry ground as if it were a sheet of ice.

Once the snake is drowned and I can see the look of fear in his eyes will I ever rest. He will die, but so shall I one day. The difference between other men and me is that I won’t mind when that day comes. It will free me into quietude.

I reached the gate to see chaos unfolding before it. Arthur’s men had reached it far sooner than either Valerin or myself had anticipated. There was no way for me to enter into the fray unscathed. I raised my head to the heavens and cawed to the birds in the air. A group of herons flew down to the earth and grabbed Arthur’s knights, holding them by the arms.

I called Valerin’s men to cease and desist. The men looked at me as if I were insane, but once my hounds growled at them, the did as I said.

“The King wishes these men unhurt.” I called my dogs off Valerin’s men and the birds off Arthur’s and led them up the hill to the barbarian courtyard.