Into The Dark Flame (Book 4) (17 page)

   The lizard-head withdrew and the porcullis was raised with tortured groans and rattles. The seven entered the ward before the great donjon itself. The portcullis was lowered again. Leth cast his eyes around and saw more lizard-headed guards on the parapets and elsewhere within the walls. They carried spears and shortswords, and in some cases bows, and wore mail shirts and leggings with, here and there, steel breastplates. Set into an adjoining wall some eighty yards away was another portcullis and gate.
   'There is our freedom,' said Rasgul, aside. 'Let’s hope that Cerb is in good humour.'

   A high double-door at the head of a flight of steep stone steps opened and out of the donjon strode the first lizard-soldier. 'His Gracefulness is willing to see you. Dismount, if you will, and step this way.'

   Rasgul nodded to Leth and Harg. 'You two come with me. The others can remain here.'

   The three followed the lizard-man through the door. They passed along a dim, high-ceiling corridor which stank of boggy-damp and ages of decay mingled with a faint taint of rotten food. Turning to the right they entered an immense hall. A huge oak table and benches occupied the centre of the floor. The ceiling was lost in the shadows overhead. Several suits of rusting armour stood before two of the walls. Various over-sized ornaments and vessels were placed here and there with little sense of
order. In a huge vault of a hearth a hearty log-fire blazed. Before it stood the giant, Cerb Two-Heads, staring into the flames.

   The lizard-headed guard strode foward in front of Leth and his companions, then halted and hammered the stock of his spear against the stone floor.
'The visitors, Excellence.'

   The nearer of Cerb's two heads turned and surveyed Leth and the other two with a lugubrious eye. The second head continued to gaze into the fire.

   'So I see,' the first head boomed. Massive in size, it was the head of a fair-haired man in middle-age. Big, drooping, fleshy purple lips showed a few crooked, decaying teeth. The eyes were round and pale-grey, set deeply beneath a gnarled and nobbled brow. A sallow tinge characterized the skin, which was heavy and slack and deeply seamed. The face was dominated by a large crooked nose, and the chin was broad and split with a deep dark cleft. The fair hair fell almost to the shoulders in lifeless greasy hanks. Leth could not make out the second head, other than a darker brown mass of hair at the back of the skull.

   Cerb himself stood twelve feet high. His body was bulky and strong, his
chest like a massive water butt, arms and legs as thick as ash boughs. He wore a heavy brown linen shirt, oatmeal coloured trousers and loose leather boots.

   The first head peered for some moments at Leth, Rasgul and Harg, each in turn,
then said, 'Well, I understand you plan to divert me. You have a quest. Is that so?'

   'Indeed it is, my lord,' replied Rasgul. 'We are engaged upon a venture which we believe will have much appeal to the great and mighty Cerb.'

   'Is this venture exciting enough to divert me from my discussions with my self?' enquired the first head.

   'We would think so.'

   The second head jerked upright and made a scoffing sound. 'That I doubt!'

   'No, don't interrupt!' the first head retorted.

   Now the giant turned away from the fire to face the three full on, and Leth was able to view the second head. In contrast to the first this was the head of a creature seemingly produced from a mingling of human, ogre and possibly other things. It had small, dark fierce purple eyes and a long twisted nose. The lower jaw was thrust forward, so that the lower teeth extended beyond the upper. Dark brown hair was pressed down upon a broad, heavy skull.

   'We have entertained visitors like yourselves on previous occasions, and never have you given us a quest
nor anything else worth leaving Ardbire Keep for,' the second head declared angrily. It peered closely at Rasgul, 'In fact, you look familiar to me. Have you passed through here before?'

   Before Rasgul could reply, the first head spoke again in a milder tone. 'No, I think not. I have never seen this fellow before.'

   'You were probably asleep,' said the second head.

   'No, I think it is rather that your eyes and memory play you false. I have told you
before, these matters are best left to me, for those very reasons.'

   'My eyes are perfectly functional, my memory intact,' spat the second head. 'And I say I have seen this fellow before. I tire of this, anyway. His quest can be of no possible interest.'

   'That is what you always say, without even paying me the courtesy of hearing what the quest might entail. I believe that to join these valiant fellows on a quest that might take us far and wide would be very interesting indeed. It is a long time since we have left the Keep.'

   'Not so! Not so!' fumed the second head. 'There is nothing these men can say that would interest us.'

   'Now there you go again, speaking for me as though I have no opinion of my own.'

   'Bah!' Cerb's second head scowled. 'Always you have to try to gainsay me. Why? Why can you never agree with anything I say?'

   'Ah now, I think it is rather the other way around,' frowned Cerb's first head. 'You must surely admit that. No matter what I say or what views I hold, no matter what I even think, I can always rely upon you to find fault with it.'

   The second head shook irritably from side to side. 'Not so! Not so at all! But I was quite happy here, gazing into the flames and thinking my quiet and serene thoughts. I am aggrieved at the disturbance, and I do not want to embark upon any quest or adventure.'

   'Well, there you've said it!' declared the first head. 'You simply do not want to bestir yourself, no matter the reason. You are indolent, a dreamer and stay-at-home.'

   'Not so! But I desire
no surprises nor forays into foreign lands, nor adventures of any kind beyond the gates of Ardbire Keep. You know that as well as do I.'

  'And I am tired of never going out!' declared the first head peevishly.

   At this point Leth witnessed something extraordinary. It seemed that Cerb, being in disagreement with himself, tried to go two ways at once. That is, the second head turned away to regard the flames, and tried to take its body back with it. But the first head was inclined to move away from the fire towards the three men, and thus resisted the second head's effort. A struggle ensued, with each neck straining to draw the colossal body in the direction it wished to go. Cerb's body, drawn simultaneously in two directions, shuffled, twisted and lumberingly danced but remained essentially in one place.

   Cerb's two mouths puffed and blew, then began to curse one another. The heads turned and glared each other in the eye. The four cheeks grew red, the two pairs of eyes bulged as the body strained to go two ways at once and its mighty muscles took it nowhere but in a slow, arduous circle. The eyes flashed; spittle flew.

   'Why must you always be so difficult?' demanded head one.

   'Me? How dare you? You are the one who is intent upon destroying my equanimity!' riposted head two.

   'I simply want to go out!'

   'And I don't!'

   Head one suddenly succeeded in exerting a superior effort upon the body, and dragged it two steps away from the fire. Head two responded accordingly. The giant, grunting and growling, jerked three steps in the opposite direction, tottered two steps forward, staggered back, lunged to the side, performed another small circle and finally came to a halt beside the central table. Cerb leaned forwards, his great hairy hands upon his knees, breathing hard. His twin heads were low, pouring with sweat. His single pair of lungs gasped for air like monumental tortured bellows.

   Presently the first head came up, and stared at the three. It blinked once and licked its lips. 'Now, you have not yet told me, what of this quest of yours?'

   'Well--' Rasgul began, but the second head had shot up in response.

   'I do not want to hear it! It is of no interest to me!'

   'Yes it is,' said head one.

   'No it isn't! I will hear no more of it!'

   There was another brief, though relatively stable tussle, with both heads straining to pull away from the body.

   'My lord Cerb, perhaps I can suggest a compromise,' said Rasgul in his harsh, throaty whisper.

   'A compromise?' queried head one. 'No, I will hear of no compromise.'

   'Yes I will,' declared head two. 'What is it? What do you suggest?'

   'No! Be silent, or I will have you spitted and stuffed and will eat you for my supper!' threatened head one.

   'You cannot! And I have as much right to voice my opinion as you!'

   At this one of the giant's huge hands came up and cuffed head one hard across the back of the skull. Head one emitted a bellow of outrage. The other hand came up and struck the second head a solid blow on the cheek. The first hand then grasped the second hand. Each held the other firm and the two heads snarled and growled and bared their teeth, berating one another in no uncertain terms.

   Leth stole a glance at the lizard-soldier who stood leaning upon the shaft of his spear and shaking his head from side to side in a world-weary manner. He caught Leth's eye and said, 'Oh, it is always like this. He carps and complains, and is in two minds about everything. For the most part he keeps it to himself, doing little more than muttering and sulking with occasional vitreolic outbursts. But whenever someone like you comes along, full of bright ideas,
'boom!
' He becomes uncontrollable, just as you see. He is beside himself! It will be days before he grows calm again. Why can't you stay away?'

   Rasgul replied. 'Ardbire Keep commands the only way between the Lower Abyss and the High Lands.'

   'That is nothing to me,' replied the lizard-soldier. 'I am just trying to keep the peace here.' He threw up his hands. 'It’s a thankless task.'

   Leth ventured to interpose. 'If we could just be allowed to continue on our way, calm might resume.'

   'Oh, I see,' said the lizard-head. 'Now you are of two voices too! What is this? Are you here to torment me, and bring His Worship to ruin? Why don't you bring your other companions in, and you can all voice contrasting views and opinions so that His Gracefulness is driven to utter distraction and tears the Keep down around our heads.'

   Rasgul flashed Leth a forbidding glance. 'That is not our intention, be assured. We wish only to continue upon our quest, and if Lord Cerb wishes to accompany us, we would be only too pleased.'

   Cerb had fallen quiet to listen to this exchange. His first head now said, 'Yes, I would like that.'

   Second head said, 'No, I wouldn't.'

   'Yes, I would.'

   'No, I would like to return to the fireplace and contemplate the flames and the profound flow of my thoughts.'

   'No, I would like a change, an escape. A dangerous quest is just what I need.'

   Second head shook obstinately from side to side. First head assumed a disconsolate expression. 'I’m in two minds, I acknowledge.'

   Second head was less charitable. 'I am utterly sick of you. All my life it has been the same. No matter what I want, you want the opposite. I have endured more than I can stand!'

   Without warning a giant hand flew up again and punched first head a resounding blow beneath the chin. Cerb's first head snapped back. Then, recovering itself, it retaliated by butting second head so hard that its nose immediately gushed forth a torrent of blood. Second head, its eyes watering, roared. 'That is it! I can stand no more!'

   'Nor I!' bellowed first head.

   'I am going!' screamed second head.

   'I too!'

   'I will bear you no more!'

   Another monstrous struggle began, this time even more violent. The giant rolled and yawed and hurled himself from side to side as the two heads strained to their utmost to take themselves in opposing directions. They screamed themselves hoarse:

   'I hate you!'

   'I can stand no more!'

   'This is it! I have put up with all I can!'

   'I will tolerate you not a moment longer!'

   Leth watched in bemusement as the giant flailed and stamped around the hall, arms and legs punching and kicking while the two heads continued their torrent of abuse. Cerb crashed into ornaments, collided with furniture, toppled suits of armour. Then he lost his balance and fell to the floor. He kicked and clawed and hammered at himself, the walls reverberating to the sounds of his acrimonies.

   The lizard-headed soldier cringed, and could only bear to watch through a gap between his fingers. Blood was flowing freely from various wounds on Cerb’s body and both heads. Lizard-head grew distraught. 'Oh, he has never been this bad before! He bickers constantly, and sometimes refuses to speak to himself for days on end, but I have never seen this.' He ran forward. 'Lord Cerb! Lord Cerb! Please, stop!'

   Cerb had scrambled to his feet again. The two heads continued to yell abuse at one another, but no more blows were thrown. Instead, paying no heed to the lizard-soldier or anyone else, they resumed their earlier posture, faces turned outward and away from each other, straining with every gram of strength to get away, one from the other. Their eyes bulged, their lips stretched, their teeth were bared; the veins at their temples pulsed, dangerously swollen, the cords in their necks stood out.