Chapter 14

Christopher sleeps better than he has in a long time. He wakes up with the younger of the two girls sleeping next to him, but he only has one thing on his mind and it isn't this beautiful fifteen-year-old pure teenage girl named Serena.

He eats without taste and starts preparing all his weapons. Every creature in the tent that has the ability to talk does just that. Endlessly. He tries to be polite and explains to Katarina to be ready.

"I hadn't thought much about it, but there was no doubt that my age and lack of experience was to hinder my efforts."

The King comes all right, with his long pretty black hair and purple and silver royal robes, but a hundred soldiers surround him, and every time Christopher tries to get closer he is forcefully and rudely shoved aside. The teenage king is pale and spindly, and Christopher can tell how he has been molded to do another's will. By the time Christopher gives up he has several cuts on his chin from swords being pointed there telling him to back the abyss off.

Christopher thinks if he hadn't lost his quiver of arrows in the flood he could use his bow from a distance. He will have to remember to get more. Christopher follows the crowd around, and never does get his shot at the king, or really even a good close look at him. The only satisfaction that he takes from the day is that the king never goes anywhere near the tent with the dragon egg.

"I planned on getting the dragon egg for myself later that night."

Christopher isn't really concerned that he didn't get his shot at first try. He knows he has at least two weeks to try and try again, and to plan a different angle of attack, because he'll never get close enough to watch the life drain from his eyes.

"That thought saddened me a little, for I had thought of nothing else for a long time now."

Or at least Christopher thought he had endless time. As he is walking around the bazaar again he comes to that opening that has the hanging dead wizard. This time Christopher sees a living wizard hanging there. He is going to have to make a very difficult decision, either to continue his journey of revenge and hatred or try and help some good people.

"If I did nothing I would be no better than the ones that turned their backs on Sarah. Clarity of thought was painfully but steadily coming back to me. There was no way I came all this way for nothing. Or was it for nothing?"

Has everything happened for a reason? Certainly Christopher has committed unspeakable crimes against decent folk, but he has also freed many slaves and killed many of the enemy.

"I don't need this."

That thought makes him laugh to himself, because he didn't need any of this and he sure as hell didn't ask for any of it.

"Oh well."

Once Christopher makes sure everybody understands the plan and the dangers of it, he goes back out into the loud and active bazaar gathering last minute supplies and information. The first thing he does is he goes and buys a covered wagon and another sturdy horse. He fills it with supplies and weapons and takes it back to the tent. It barely fits between some of the tents and the other patrons aren't too happy, but Christopher just tells them, "Go abyss yourselves!"

Christopher tells the older of the two girls, "Hannah, take charge and get everything ready to go at the crack of a whip." Hannah is only just seventeen years old, but she has a sharp mind and courage. Her brunette hair and blue eyes shine from a round face that is very lovely. She is much shorter than Christopher at five-foot tall, maybe five foot one mark at the most and she is very thin from being under fed. Christopher figures the poor girl can't weigh more than ninety stonelings at the moment. At least the new calf length deep red with white flowers dress he bought her looks pretty on her.

By now it is late in the day, and all that is left to do is wait for darkness to come. Christopher walks over to the unicorn and explains everything that he is about to do. He has no idea if she understood or is even physically able to make a run for it. Next Christopher goes to the centaur and he is more than ready. Next comes the minotaur.

The minotaur gets so excited that Christopher has to tell him, "Quiet down before the wrong people take notice and we fail before we even begin." He nods his massively horned head with a look in his eyes that comforts Christopher for some reason. "Comfort in chaos."

Christopher knows this is going to be near impossible to pull off without more people, but it's better to die free than live as a slave.

At last sweet darkness has descended, and Christopher is on his way over to the weasel that has the dragon egg, so he stops by the display area and it appears the wizard is still alive. He is going to be the hardest to pull off, and Christopher will need one hell of a distraction.

When Christopher walks in unannounced, the fellow that has the dragon egg is looking very dejected. By the time he looks up from his self-pity, Christopher has the sales station flap pulled down so nobody can see in the tent.

The only acknowledgment he gives Christopher before he kills him is, "Oh, it's you."

Christopher puts the shiny gold egg in a basket and goes to the minotaur first. He is such an imposing looking force, no one but the three guards are anywhere near him. Christopher kills two of the guards in quick succession, but the third guard backs away from Christopher and is about to call out for help, but unfortunately the guard backed away from Christopher towards the cage with the minotaur in it. The minotaur reaches out and nearly tears the guard's head off as he breaks his neck to stop him from calling out the alarm. Christopher releases the minotaur. They put the bodies of the guards in a tent and then go and find the centaur.

There are a lot of people standing around, and Christopher is trying to make it look like the minotaur is his slave, because he doesn't want open battle if he can put it off for just a little longer. Christopher walks over to the owner and puts his arm around his shoulder and leads him into his tent telling him, "Let's negotiate a fair price." The minotaur growls at the nearby people and half of them leave. Since Christopher comes out without any noise, everybody just figures they came to a fair price as he walks off with the centaur and minotaur. Hopefully they won't discover the body for a minute or two.

They hurry to the unicorn. There they find a sorcerer and a dark priest, plus the owner of the unicorn. Before Christopher can make a move or even make a decision on what to do, the centaur and minotaur have all three of them dead. Later the centaur will explain to Christopher that even amongst the magical community, all revere the unicorns, and to harm one is the worst of crimes.

Christopher manages to get all three of them back to the tent. The wagon is ready. To fit in Christopher gently whips the minotaur, as they were getting way too many curious looks, and says, "Slave, bring those retched animals along before I turn them into lunch."

Once in the tent Christopher tells the centaur and minotaur, "Wait here while I go and get the wizard."