Read Chris Karlsen - Knights in Time for Free Online Page A

if the captors killed him in the process, but he would kill the man who
    blinded him.
    “Bastard.”
    A thick forearm came around his neck like a vise. With the crook of the man’s arm
    against Stephen’s throat, the man squeezed tight. Stephen fought for breath. He pulled at the
    man’s arm with one hand and brought his elbow back hard into the man’s ribs. The man grunted
    and squeezed tighter. Stephen’s legs buckled. The man stayed with him as he dropped, his chest
    hard to Stephen’s back as he slipped to the floor.
    Chapter Six
    “Oh,” Stephen groaned and took several deep breaths. He was sitting in the chair again.
    He couldn’t move his arms. Once more, they’d tied him with padded cuffs.
    “You test our patience with these outbursts Mr. Palmer,” Monette said. “Have another
    and you’ll force us to relocate you to the Psych Ward, where you’ll be kept restrained at all
    times.”
    He didn’t know what a psych ward was, but constant restraints meant chains.
    “If you swear to remain calm, we will release you.” It was Berger.
    “I’ll be calm.”
    He heard the soft slide of leather through buckles as Berger freed him.
    Stephen dabbed the puffed skin around his eyes with his fingertips.
    “Do not touch your eyes again, Mr. Palmer,” Berger warned. “They must heal.”
    “I won’t.” He stroked his cheeks. Strange, why was there only a tingle but no pain? For
    them to insert the micro-plates they spoke of, they had to cut his face.
    “I don’t hurt. Why?”
    “We gave you a pain killer following the surgery and a sedative. Once that pain medication
    wears off, we’ll give you Vicodin.”
    “What herbal potion is Vicodin? It’s not a plant I’ve heard of.”
    “It’s not a potion but a pill. You don’t have to take it if you don’t wish.”
    He had no fondness for pain and appreciated the lack of it he currently enjoyed, but he
    needed his wits about him in this place. And, he’d like to know what a pill was but much was
    different here and a pill was one more oddity.
    “You may not believe me, but I empathize with your distress and panic at losing your sight.
    I’m sending for a woman to keep company with you for a few days. Her name is Juliette. I think
    you will find a friend in her,” Berger said.
    “Is she pretty?”
    “Does it matter?”
    Stephen gave a little laugh. His first laugh since the battle. “No...just curious.”
    #
    Stephen sat in the chair by the window and inhaled deeply. Cloutier had opened it and a
    gentle breeze that smelled of fresh grass blew inside.
    Cloutier had also spoken of a station of some sort. He told her the bawd put something called a classical station on when she visited.
    “Bawd,” she repeated. “I don’t know this English word.”
    “I don’t know half of what you and the doctors say,” he said with a shrug. “Can’t say I
    care anymore.”
    Cloutier repeated whatever the bawd did and music came from across the room. Then,
    she left.
    He explored the part of the room the music was the strongest and discovered it was
    conjured up from the wall. He rubbed his hands over the area. The sound flowed out from behind
    a mesh screen in the wall. His finger found a knob beneath the mesh. He jumped back as a slight tinkering produced a loud blast. What had he done?
    A nurse rushed into the room before he had a chance to tinker with the knob to lessen the
    sound. “Such noise, Mr. Palmer, this is not acceptable. Do not toy with this again,” she scolded.
    The disturbing clamor wasn’t his fault. How could the touch of a button affect the noise
    from the wall? “’Tis not my doing,” he said.
    She made no reply and left.
    He sat in the chair by the window, listening to the music. Hard to imagine but the music
    today was lovelier than the station the bawd had chosen. Mystified by the...how would he
    describe it? Grand sound...yes, grand sound, he listened intently. Many of the instruments were unique to him, but the way they came