Chapter 41: Keeping Him Safe
For Simon, killing goblins was easy. Staying safe while he did it was a little more complicated, but that hadn’t been important before now. After all, he could always come back and try again, but that wouldn’t be an option for young Gregor. The kid had looked pretty strong for 16. Still, there was a softness about him that told Simon he hadn’t done anything more dangerous than sparring with his father’s men or maybe a fox hunt or whatever the upper class did for fun around here. So, even after returning to his room, Simon lay awake as he wrestled with his misgivings.
Those worries invaded Simon’s dreams as his subconscious explored all the grisly fates that awaited the entitled young noble while he tossed and turned. The first time they were both ripped to pieces in an ambush that Simon hadn’t spotted, but on the second attempt, even though he knew it was coming, they were still completely overwhelmed by the number of goblins, and the young scion in his care was maimed and disfigured. Simon could heal him, of course, but the boy’s arm grew crooked and scarred, and Simon was certain he would be hanged for it after everyone learned about his dark powers.
He woke up in a cold sweat shortly before dawn, uncertain of what to do. His dreams had been extra vivid since he’d become unstatued. Even taking that into account, though, this felt somehow more prophetic to him. They’d died repeatedly, separately as well as together, as he’d overcome this group only to be killed by that one or defeated all the warriors only to be burned alive by the shaman. In most versions of that recurring nightmare, he never made it out. Still, the ones he returned to the Baron bearing a corpse or a disfigured child were the worst of all as his subconscious went into overdrive.
Simon was filled with trepidation when he finally started to get ready that morning as he racked his mind for some way to keep the kid that was being entrusted to his care unharmed while he completed this mission. If he could just do that much, then he could finally take a break and try to figure some things out about this crazy world and come up with a plan. Maybe he could even figure out how to rein in his fire spell or learn to use an actual bow instead of the crossbow he’d been stuck with so far.
When he arrived at the Baron’s manor shortly after sunrise, he was informed that they were still having breakfast and he could wait in the servants’ kitchen. Simon would have been offended at that, but the biscuits and gravy they served him mollified him until his charge had eaten and dressed.
When Simon saw the Baron’s son, his heart sank further. The kid was wearing real armor in the form of a breastplate and chain mail, at least, but it was obviously a little too big for him and much too heavy to explore a cave. When Gregor moved, it was awkward and unbalanced, and Simon worried that if he took too large a swing, he would fall over.
“Handsome little devil isn’t he,” Baron Corwin announced. “Ready to go win a war all by himself.”
“Well, Mr. Corwin, Sir… the armor is really nice… it’s nicer than anything I could hope to afford, but I’m afraid if we go out like this, it will put your son in real danger,” Simon said, trying very hard not to sound like a jerk.
“What do you mean?” the Baron asked in a puffed-up way that made Simon sure that this was a mistake.