NexLord: Dark Prophecies (13 page)

Aerin looked up and could see that the rope
came from the very top of the wall, and Lor’s face was looking down
at him, his hand giving him a come-hither wave. He gave the rope a
strong pull to see if it would hold, and then tied it to his belt
and started climbing.  Four times he came to places where
there was no way to climb and Lor would manage to pull him up
enough so that he could start climbing on his own
again.  Lor's hands grabbed him and pulled him between
two merlons of the parapets at the top.  Both of them
were breathing hard from their exertions and they sat down with
their backs to the parapet wall to regain their breath.

"How..." Aerin started to ask, then saw the
board caught between two of the parapet towers, the rope tied off
in the middle.  "Ah, you threw that up here until it
caught, then climbed the rope."

Lor nodded.  "I couldn't have
thrown it all the way from the bottom, so the pole got me close
enough."

Aerin got to his feet and held out a hand for
Lor to grab.  "Come on, it must nearly be three A.M., we
have to get to someone."

Lor grabbed hold and Aerin hoisted him to his
feet. 

A tower bell suddenly rang, much louder this
time since the boys were only yards away. It rang out three times
and then the voice of a watchman called out the third hour.

"Oh no," Aerin exclaimed, "we're too
late!"

"No, call it just in time; come
on!"  Lor ran along the top of the wall toward the
barracks ahead.

As they neared the center of the wall they
could see large dark shapes brandishing weapons pouring into the
courtyard below.

There was a watch bell mounted from a
crosspiece in the wall near them, the rope trailed down so it could
be rung from below.  Lor grabbed it and started the
bell
swinging and ringing
loudly.

Aerin began yelling with his hands cupped
around his mouth, “Togroths in the Seat, to arms, to
arms!"

Lights flared up within the barracks as lamps
were lit, and then the first of the Togroths reached the doors.

Aerin heard the sound of swords meeting
swords from within the barracks.

Something flew by Aerin's head, and then
another one struck the wall behind them; Aerin saw a short barbed
Togroth arrow on the stones.

"They're shooting at us, Lor, run for it!"
Aerin yelled. Together they ran down the wall toward an open
doorway into the main Keep.  A few arrows struck around
them as they ran.

They found themselves in a long hallway that
was decorated with tapestries and suits of armor; it was empty at
the moment.

"Where to?" Lor asked.

"I don't know, but we should get out of here
now that we've given the alarm."

"
At last,
sanity has returned!  I was starting to wonder about you,
my good friend," Lor exclaimed with a grin.  "We need
another rope so we can go over the wall and fade into the
city."

Lor finished speaking just as a pack of three
Togroths pounded up the wide stairway that led to this
hallway.  The boys slid to a halt on the smooth floor and
the tableau held for a moment. Then with one shared look of
panic,
the two boys turned and ran
back the way they had come.  Lor was soon ahead, slightly
outdistancing Aerin.

Human yells and Tog barks came from behind
them and the sounds of fighting commenced, loyal Guardsmen had
engaged the Togroths.

Ahead of the boys, two Guardsmen came into
the hallway with their swords out.  They had come from
the wall
where
the boys had first
rung the bell.

"Thank Gedin!"  Lor
exclaimed.  "Guardsmen, there are Togroths in the
Keep!  We gave the alarm, but they cut off our escape. Be
aware that some of the Guardsmen at the gate are traitors..." Lor's
voice trailed off with sudden suspicion.

One bearded Guardsman glanced at the other
and some communication passed between them.  When his
gaze returned to Lor he suddenly raised his sword up across his
body and brought it down in a backhanded slash toward Lor's
throat.

With a yelp of surprise, Lor dove into a
forward somersault that took him under the slash of the sweeping
sword; he rolled on one shoulder and bounced to his
feet.  He grabbed the
polearm
off the suit of armor along the wall and heaved
it like a spear at the false Guardsman.

Aerin opened one of the side doors and yelled
to Lor, "Quickly, in here!"

Lor needed no further urging as he ran for
the open door.  The false Guardsman dodged the pole arm
and then both men pursued the boys.  Aerin slammed the
door in the men's face, and Lor slammed down the crossbeam with a
loud, "TH-wack!"

The two scared boys looked around the sealed
chamber for an exit, but it held only a table and a chair. There
were no windows and the door through which they had entered was the
only way in or out. 

The door shuddered with a heavy ‘thud’ as the
bodies of the two traitorous Guardsmen hit; they were doing their
best to break in the door.

"They want us dead! We're the ones who know
some of the Guardsmen are traitors!"  Aerin exclaimed as
the truth hit him.

"Great, and there's no way out of here," Lor
complained. He was standing in the center of the room and spinning
around, “and that door isn't going to hold, that crossbeam isn't
very thick!"

Aerin spotted a very small opening in the
wall and ran over.  "Look it's a dumb
waiter! I
f we can fit..."

"I'll fit," Lor proclaimed, but then he
paused.  "You first," he told Aerin bravely.

"No, I'm bigger than you are; I might get
stuck so you should go first."

Lor shrugged and backed his rear into the
wooden box and then pulled in his legs, head and arms; it was a
tight fit.

Aerin pulled the ropes sending Lor down the
dark shaft.  He did not go too far before the rope
stopped, a moment later the dumb waiter was coming back up,
propelled by Lor pulling the ropes from below.

Aerin could hear the wood splintering behind
him as the door weakened. The dumbwaiter box arrived and he
duplicated Lor's entry into the box. When he had wedged himself
into the box as far as possible he yelled down to Lor, "Pull
the rope!"

The box started to move, but Aerin's
projecting knees struck the edge of the opening, halting the
progress.

In the
room,
he heard the snapping of the wood as the crossbeam broke.

"Pull!” he yelled as best he could and then
exhaled to make himself smaller and pulled his knees in with all
his strength.

Lor pulled for all he was
worth.  Aerin clenched his teeth as he tried not to
breathe.  He felt his knees scraping along the walls, but
the box started down.  He gasped in a desperate breath as
soon as he felt his knees reach the welcome opening of the room
below.  Letting his sore knees unbend was heaven.

"Gedin's breath, you had me worried!" Lor
exclaimed.

"You were worried, I was scared to death,"
Aerin admitted. He headed for the kitchen door.  "We're
not out of here yet, but I'll tell you one thing, I won't forget
those traitor’s faces as long as I live!"

They ran through two deserted kitchen
chambers and then out through a dining hall.  
Eventually,
they reached a hallway where a
few people were moving around.  A man with bushy eyebrows
and dressed in robes was calling for calm.  He spotted
them and bellowed, "Who are those boys?"

Aerin and Lor ran the opposite direction, and
after two turns down different
hallways,
they finally got out of sight for a
minute.  They found a set of stairs and started up when,
nearby, they heard someone's voice call for help; it was a young
voice.

"Did you hear that?  It came from
this way," Aerin noted.

Lor grabbed him by the arm, "And just who do
you think you are, a NexLord?  In case you hadn’t
noticed, WE’RE the ones who need help!"

Aerin shrugged free, and said, "Come on, we
can at least check it out!" He started toward where the voice had
come from.

Muttering about dead heroes, Lor
followed.

Ahead they heard the sound of running feet
coming their way.

“In here!” Lor exclaimed while opening a
nearby door, which was luckily unlocked.   They got
inside swiftly.

The hoarse bellow of a Togroth calling some
command echoed down the hallway from the direction of the
footsteps.

"Close the door!" Lor demanded of Aerin in a
terrified voice.

But Aerin held up his hand, "Wait..."

The last person Aerin expected to see in the
hall came around the corner at a run.  Aerin was
momentarily shocked, but he recovered and jumped out in time to
grab the fleeing Darel by his robe, which scared the
white-faced
boy nearly to death.

"Whoa, it's me, Aerin!  What are
you doing here?” he asked his friend Darel.

"Togroths!" Darel exclaimed in a frightened
and out of breath voice, pointing the way from which he had just
come.

Aerin pulled him inside the room and closed
the door hurriedly.

Being in the room did nothing to lesson
Darel's fear; he grabbed Aerin by the front of the boy's tunic.
"They're searching the rooms one by one;
eventually,
they’ll find us in here!"

Lor was frowning at Darel
darkly
but said nothing.

Aerin didn't see Lor’s frown, he was too busy
figuring out how to get away from the approaching beasts.

A nearby red tablecloth caught his
eye.  "Quick, we need a knife!" 

Lor produced one as though out of thin
air.

Aerin grabbed the knife and quickly slashed
three triangles of red material from the tablecloth and then he
pulled his sweater off and threw it to Darel.  "Put that
on, they've seen you and I want you to look
different."  He quickly attached a red triangle to each
of their chests as best he could, and then pulled open the
door.

"Come on, and whatever you do don't run from
them, do what I do," Aerin ordered.

The other two boys looked at him strangely
but followed him out of the room.

"I sure hope you know what you're doing
because..." Darel started to say when the six Togroth beasts ran
around the corner behind them.

Aerin turned and made sure the red triangle
showed on his breast.  "The heir went that way; he took
the stairs upwards to the barracks area, so hurry, Mumand
commands!” then he pointed with a fully extended arm toward the way
to the stairs.

Lor swallowed, and then pointed the same
direction as Aerin.

Darel, not knowing what else to do, stayed
somewhat behind Aerin and pointed as well.

One Togroth started toward the boys, and
Aerin nearly ran, but another beast grabbed the advancing Togroth
and barked something, and then the brutes turned and lumbered down
the hallway in the direction the boys were pointing.

As they went out of sight Darel sagged
against Aerin.  "Gedin
take
me, I think I'm going to throw up.  I've
never been so scared."

Lor shook his head and smiled at Aerin, "You
have some nerve, don't you?"

Aerin shrugged, "It worked didn't it?"

Then a silky voice spoke from behind
them.  "It won't work on us, boy."

Aerin whirled around only to be confronted by
the priest Malachai. Accompanying him were the same two traitorous
Guardsmen that had nearly cornered Aerin and Lor in the room
upstairs.

The boys started to back away, but the
Guardsmen lifted short bows knocked with arrows.

"Now, now, boys, not leaving the party, are
we?" Malachai asked in a voice that at any other time might have
sounded pleasant, but in this
fright-filled
moment,
it
was blood chilling.  Aerin felt the same sudden hatred
for his friends starting to affect him, as it had in the basements
of the church.

Into the cold silence following the priest's
words a new voice spoke, surprising everyone
present.  "
Hello,
Chai
E'tan
," Mara's low-pitched voice
spoke conversationally from the stairway, she stepped out into
sight, her hands inside the sleeves of her gray
robe.  Yearl, with his two sticks in hand and Tocor
holding his gray staff stepped out to flank the old woman.

The hatred cut off instantly, and the boys
felt normal again.

"Who is this that knows my name?” the priest
Aerin knew as Malachai asked and the volume of his voice grew
louder.  It was the first time Aerin had heard it change
from the silky smooth tones.

"Come and find out, Egedwa, du
taton
sumatlack
,
Deglick
" she
said, suddenly speaking fluidly in a different tongue.

Malachai's eyes widened and he
barked, "Kill her."  His two men immediately raised
their bows and fired, but Yearl just stepped between them and
Mara.  In a
flash,
his
two sticks streaked in swift arcs and the arrows were deflected
from the air and struck the floor and walls to the side.

Mara's smile never slipped.

Lor grabbed the tunics of the two boys and
whispered in their ears, "Let's
fade
while they aren't looking!"

Aerin wanted to watch, but Lor dragged him
away around the corner.  Once the battle was out of sight
he regained his senses and followed the other two boys at a
run.

The boys fled, and
this time,
Darel guided them through the castle
halls.  He took them to a rear stairway and up into one
of the towers.  Once inside Darel sealed the large iron
bound doors behind them.

From the tower
windows,
they watched the fight below until it was over
and only then did they emerge.  Darel led them down a
side hall where they cut through two rooms, and then entered a huge
open chamber where an unorganized group of people mixed in loud
conversation.