Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane) (90 page)

             
Craklor let out a sickening animal-like sound that might have been laughter.

             
“Speaking of filled belly’s, they will be expecting me at breakfast.”

             
A puddle of tears wet the carpet beneath Thane’s face as he listened to the pair of footsteps move back towards the door. A lie! It had all been a lie! How could this be happening? How could he have been fooled so easily? He felt the familiar pain of a broken heart squeezing in his chest.

             
Suddenly, the voices returned. “I almost forgot,” Bedler’s voice resounded from the landing. “The reason we came up here in the first place. What would our young guest think if he saw this hanging around my neck?” Bedler’s slippers paused at the head of the bed in plain view and then turned and retreated back to the door. “I certainly would have a hard time explaining that away.” The door shut followed by lonesome silence.

             
Thane tried to wipe the tears from his eyes feeling numb. His dreams of a new life shattered. He chided himself as a fool for hoping—no, believing—that he could live out the peaceful life as painted by Lord Bedler’s deceptive words. A soft thump brushed against his keen ears at the sound of something hitting the carpeted floor. Could someone still be in the room with him? He tensed, keeping himself completely still. His heart pounded loudly in his ears convincing him that it would give away his location. What would they do with him if he were caught?

             
Minutes passed without the slightest whisper. What were they waiting for? If they knew he was there why hadn’t they just taken him? Thane risked a turn of his head to scan the carpet at his right. No boots were in sight. But there was something different. An object rested on the floor that had not been there before. Waiting a few more minutes to make sure he was, in fact, alone, he wiggled his way out from under the bed and plucked up the object. It was a leather necklace with a small, round pendant, made from a strange type of leather. It must have been what Bedler had returned to the room for. But why would a necklace cause him such alarm?

Thane turned the piece over and stifled a scream while casting it to the ground. He fell back on the bed and quickly pulled his leg up to check. He let out a breath of relief. All was intact. He was whole. But, how then did Bedler get that?

              Slowly, he reached a quivering hand back down to the floor and gently lifted the necklace up for closer inspection. Cold sweat beaded on his face as his bulging eyes locked onto the round piece of leather dangling before him. But it wasn’t animal leather; it was skin. Skin from a Chufa’s ankle. It was a TanIs. Someone had fiendishly cut it from its owner instantly tearing out their soul and banishing it forever, never to find rest. Such a death was more excruciating than any other. The horror of such a sight was enough to make any Chufa tremble at such a heinous death. But what tore at Thane’s every fiber was not so much the fact that he held the TanIs of a lost Chufa, but that the TanIs was exactly the same as his own.

             
Rage like no other he had ever felt suddenly boiled within him seething to the surface, begging for escape. Begging to lash out and kill. Begging to destroy. Begging for freedom. “I have to get out of here. I have to save Tam and warn the others.” He wasn’t exactly sure why the trolls were coming but he was willing to bet it had nothing to do with living peacefully. To think he had actually been led to believe they were other than what they truly were—evil and bloodthirsty

             
Throwing the TanIs around his neck, he raced for the door. The thought of such a thing touching his flesh would normally have made his skin crawl, but the rage that fired through his veins negated any second thoughts. He would not allow Bedler to parade around glorifying in the death of one of his own. One just like him. He paused for a moment wondering what the other had been like. How had he treated his gift? Was he an outcast too? How had he come to such a terrifying fate?

             
Pushing silently through the door, he trotted easily down the stairs without the slightest hint of sound. When he reached the bottom, he pulled up quickly. Straight down the hall Bedler stood at his bedroom door knocking. The echoes of his voice reverberated off the walls as he called out his name trying to rouse him for breakfast. The sight of the old man made Thane’s skin feel as if on fire. His first instinct was to race down the hall and tear the wicked man’s throat out with his bare hands. Instead, he turned back and ran up the stairs. He had to get out now. Soon, they would find him missing and a search would be organized.

             
Bursting back into Bedler’s room, he made a quick search. “Where am I going to go?” Rushing to the far window, he immediately eliminated making his way east through the troll camp. Turning to the northern facing window, he eliminated that route as well. It only led to more mountains and the sea beyond. “I have to get to Haykon. That’s my only hope of finding Jack and Dor. Turning back to the south window he stared at the ends of the Mogolths as they stretched out to meet the sea. “That’s it. That’s the only way. I can make it around and come up to Haykon from the south.” A slight smile broke his hardened expression and then quickly vanished. “Tam.” It wasn’t enough to find Jack. He had to free her. This may be their only chance to get her back.

             
Running back to the east window, he stared out at the dark horde. Somewhere in all of that Tam was held captive and he was not going to let her suffer one moment more than he could help. “To the east then. Now, how to get out.” Pressing his face against the paned glass, Thane looked to the left and right, hoping to find something that would let him lower himself down to the next level. Nothing. It was a sheer wall. “Think, Thane, think.” The thought of returning to Bedler and Resdin and then trying to escape later crossed his mind, but he didn’t want to risk it. He knew he would not be able to play at ignorance well enough to be convincing. No, he had to get out now.

             
Turning back to the door, he stared at it pushed out into the hall. Walking slowly towards it, he grasped the handle and pulled it silently closed.
An outward door for defense
.
Eventually, it would be broken in though and then what
?
Trapped
? Turning back around he looked down at the carpet.
I don’t think so
. Falling to his knees, Thane grabbed the edge of the huge carpet and began to roll it towards the bed revealing the wood planks underneath. He kept rolling until he hit the chest at the end of the bed. Standing up, he scanned the floor but found nothing unusual or out of place. After rolling the carpet back, he started at the north wall and did the same thing. Still nothing. The south wall revealed the same.

             
He was getting desperate. Time was running out. Soon they would know he was missing. Crawling under the bed, he knocked softly against the carpet listening for any echoes that might reveal a hollow spot. Nothing. He checked under the table. Again, nothing. Rubbing his hands along the walls, he checked for a loose rock or lever but found none. He knew a search must have been started already. There was no way he could go back down now and act his way out.

             
He stared at the chest at the foot of the bed. “Of course!” he breathed. “It’s always the last place you look.” Opening the chest, he searched through its contents seeking the bottom going through only three black robes to get there. But, the bottom was solid.

             
The sound of footsteps ascending the stairs turned his blood to ice. By the sound of them, he could tell they were in a hurry. He’d been found out! Whar. He had one last hope. Closing the chest, he turned to its side and gave it a strong push. Nothing happened. It wouldn’t budge. “What is this?” Judging by its size and contents, it should have moved to the side without much effort. He tried again to no avail. The footsteps were getting closer, almost to the landing. “This has to be it.” Jumping to the other side, he gave a heave in the opposite direction, but still nothing moved.

             
The latch on the door clicked, releasing it. Thane froze, knowing he was a dead man. A loud thud hit the door followed by curses. Thane had to smile.
You have to pull it back to get in
. His eyes snapped back to the chest.
That’s it
. Sitting down in front of it, he pulled it towards him as the latch on the door clicked again. The chest slide easily forward revealing an opening in the floor that descended on stone stairs down into darkness.

             
Thane threw himself into the hole without thought of what dangers it might hide and tumbled down five or ten stairs before coming to a stop. To his great relief, the chest automatically slid back into position cutting off the sounds made by a mass of bodies crashing into the room.

*   *   *

              Two goblins stood trembling before Lord Bedler in the dining hall; his eyes alight with wicked fire. One of them spoke. “He no in Lord’s room.”

             
Resdin sat by, a slight grin breaking across his face. “Maybe he’s lost in the castle. It can be confusing for one not used to all the turns and twists.”

             
Bedler silenced him with a glance. “How could I have been so foolish to think I had trapped him? He’s been playing me for the fool from the start. I knew it had been too easy.” Bedler slammed his fist on the table making the goblins jump. “Where is that cursed dragon of mine, anyway. I was with him just moments ago.”

             
“You called master?” Craklor stood in the doorway, his features and expression covered by his cowl. At the sound of his voice, the two goblins broke in hysteria, trampling over one another to escape through the far door. “How may I serve?” he asked, falling into a deep and mocking bow.

             
“How about throwing yourself off the top of the castle,” Resdin sneered.

             
“Ah, breakfast speaks.”

             
“Enough!” Bedler screeched. “I want that boy in my possession before the sun drops or you both may find that my amusement of you has ended.

             
“Father...” Resdin started turning to the old man but was cut off.

             
“Just find him. I don’t care what you have to do, just find that boy and bring him to me!”

             
Craklor simply bowed and left the room without another word. Resdin rose to his feet and also bowed before slipping out in the opposite direction. Bedler rose to his feet, his white beard shining next to the red hue, which now lighted his face. “I will have you yet Gelfin,” he screeched, spittle flying from his lips. “You will be mine!”

*   *   *

              Satisfied that no one followed, Thane eased himself slowly down the stairs, feeling his way against the walls as he went. The stairway was completely void of light rendering his night vision useless. His heart still pounded from the closeness of his escape. Had he not found the passage when he had, it was almost certain he would now be in chains, held as a prisoner, or worse.

             
He descend the stairs for what seemed like an hour. At one point, the walls changed from mortared stone to smooth, hard rock and he knew he was no longer in the castle proper but descending deep within the mountain rock that stood as an ominous fortress high above the valley floor. Around and around the stairs continued deeper and deeper into the heart of the mountain as they reached for the ground.

*   *   *

              Lord Bedler stared through the east window high in his small tower room out across the valley and the gathering trolls and goblins. After dismissing Craklor and Resdin he retired here to try and gain some semblance of comfort at the sight of his approaching army. Moving to the south side he could just see the orcs beginning to breach the valley through Gullets Pass on their way to join ranks at the base of Raven’s Eye Peak. A slight smile cracked his pierced lips but his rage still smoldered at Thane’s loss. He knew his plan would go well without the Chufa boy, after all he had originally thought them extinct. It just would have been so much sweeter the other way. He sighed. “Well, his torture and death will have to ease the ache of what could have been. Another TanIs for my collection.”

             
Thinking of his prize, Bedler went back to the table where he had left it. He liked the feel of it against his skin. “What is this?” he screamed. “It’s gone!” Falling to his knees, he checked the floor frantically moving his hands along the carpet in search of his Chufa prize. He reached under the table and then under the bed but found nothing but dust. His hands shook with rage and anxiety. Moving about the room, he checked every inch, every nook. It was not there. “Aaaaaaaaaahhhh! He was here! He took it!”

             
Bedler threw open his bedroom door and rushed down the spiral stairs. “Bring me those two idiots!” he raged, sending servants scrambling for cover. “Where are those two sniveling goblins I sent to check my room? Bring them to me now!”

             
In no time, a large group of goblins, including the two who originally checked his quarters, crammed their way into their master’s high tower room. Calling the two trembling goblins to him, Bedler smiled wickedly. “Now, I ask you two, was the Chufa brat in here?” Both looked at each another before shaking their heads no. “You’re certain?” Both nodded quickly. Bedler turned toward the window behind him. “You know, the view is quite extraordinary up here. You can see your home, the Mogolths, right from this window. Why don’t you come and take a look?”