Pagewalker (37 page)

The next morning, he was awoken from his
oblivion by a sharp slap on the face administered by his old enemy
Samuel. Before his eyes focused he knew this already, the smell of
sweat and rotting leather from the old armour Samuel insisted on
wearing under his glistening royal cloak, he always wore this
through superstition or sheer filth, never removed, even as he
slept. As Dertrid’s eyes focused he saw the boots, stained with
blood, his blood. As he looked around he could see the whole city
watching him with sad eyes. The people had loved his father as a
king, but since Queen Dalton had taken over, this city had become
like a prison camp.

Samuel released Dertrid and let him fall to
the ground, where he was picked up by two guards. Samuel was giving
his speech to the crowd and they were booing his every word.
Dertrid’s senses were still failing and could not understand the
hum that was Samuels drone of a voice.

‘I will free you all’ Dertrid shouted
interrupting Samuel’s speech.

‘I will return and rid this place of evil.
Remember that my children of Sáann!’

At that, Dertrid was thrown into a large pit
of putrid filth. He knew that this pit, It was the pit of the Sáann
beast, the most vicious of all beasts to have ever lived in
Northland.

Dertrid picked up the small sword that had
been thrown down for him to protect himself with and waited for the
large wooden doors to open, releasing the beast. He remembered
sneaking down many evenings to spy on this abomination, every time
his father would find him and stop him, Dertrid remembered the
sounds it made though, the sound of bones crunching between its
jaws, the sound of blood splatting and dripping from the fresh
kill, like fresh tomatoes under a blunt knife. It had no weakness,
Dertrid knew this, many years it has been fought and fed, never
beaten, especially with eh toothpick Dertrid was given as a
weapon!

When the doors opened, the beast was lying
motionless on the ground, It’s head lay a few feet from the
bleeding stump that was its armoured neck and a few men were
standing beside it. They called to Dertrid, "Come this way Dertrid!
Just follow this tunnel and it will bring you outside! You will be
safe there! The rebellion has already started in the city centre!
Now is your chance".

Dertrid ran towards the tunnel there was a
sound of steel sliding on steel and rusted hinges singing. The thug
of boots landing and armour clanging as it fell. Dertrid did not
stop running he knew that sound, he looked back, it was as he had
feared and known, he saw Samuel running behind him with a small
squad of royal guard, the most ruthless and merciless soldiers
sword to the thrown with unwavering loyalty and no moral ethics of
their own, soulless killing machines trained and sworn to do
anything the crown ordered, anything.

Dertrid’s saviours ran towards Samuel in a
vain attempt to protect their hero but they were ripped apart by
Samuel who was burning with blind rage and was running with the
speed of the wind. Dertrid did not stop running and as he leapt
into the tunnel he threw the dagger at Samuel. It plunged straight
into Samuel’s chest. Stopping him dead in the air. Dertrid had
always been a great shot and now finally it had paid off. As
Dertrid looked back he saw Samuel pulling the blade from his chest
and falling to the ground in shock from the unexpected pain.
Dertrid crawled as fast as he could toward the end of the tunnel
which led to the outside world. He ran up the long dirt and stone-
filled pathway towards the forest winding through debris from the
market, crates from the harvest and all sorts of rubble in his
path, he sprinted through small towns and hamlets covering himself
in a dust mat he stole that covered freshly picked potatoes, the
dried dirt stained and ran on his face as it mixed with the sweat.
He ran and ran until either his body gave up or he could find a
place to rest. All the while the image of a city crumbling filled
his thoughts, the face of Samuel overlooking the destruction burned
into Dertrid’s skull, Hatred and anger kept him running, the dream
of revenge kept him alive.

Dertrid stopped beside an old Cobo tree to catch his
breath again. His heart was pounding as if someone was repeatedly
hitting him on the chest with an oversized war hammer. There was
sweat running down his face and dripping off his nose as if it were
a water pump in the city centre. His back and the rest of his body
was warm, sweaty and sticky. The Cobo tree he was leaning on was a
small stunted tree with large thorns which shot out at those who
were evil in heart. Dertrid, therefore, was safe leaning against
it. A rustling sound from behind made him jump. As he spun around
he drew his dagger again and called, "Who's there?" Dertrid moved
closer to where the sound was coming from and hacked at the bush in
front of him. Leaves and twigs flew in all directions. The greenery
of the bush covered the ground where He was standing.. "I said
who's there! "he called again in a more threatening tone. A soft
voice came from behind him. He recognised it but he wasn’t sure
from where. It sounded calming and delicate. It reminded him of his
mothers voice, as she told him stories before he went to sleep as a
child. Dertrid was awoken from his daydream by the same voice in
his head saying,

‘Look behind you’.

Dertrid noticed that the voice was not coming
from within his thoughts but was indeed coming from the bush.
Before he could grab the owner of the voice he heard the sounds of
soldiers running up the steep pass from the city toward the forest
entrance. Dertrid began to run but his body was aching and he could
feel his strength ebbing . He stopped and faced the approaching
troops, trying not to show any fear. As one of the soldiers walked
toward Dertrid the same voice as last time came from behind him
saying, "Duck !"Dertrid had no other choice, so he did as she said
and fell to the ground, just avoiding the arrow that came soaring
past his head. The arrow struck the guard between the eyes, sending
him flying backwards in a ball of blood that stained the uniforms
of the troops around him. Dertrid leapt back up and launched a
frenzied attack on the dazed troops who were trying to help the
fallen guard. Dertrid ended the lives of several troops but he was
overpowered by the remaining five who pulled him to the ground and
began beating him. Suddenly the blows stopped and Dertrid looked up
at them. They seemed to be staring into a tangled mass of branches
which obscured a dark figure. One of the guards walked over to it
and gingerly began poking it with his sword. The same voice came
again to Dertrid as he lay on the ground. "Don’t move", it
whispered to him. "Why? Who are you?" he replied . "Just do as I
say if you wish to survive", the voice told him. Dertrid had no
other option but to do as the voice said so he lay on the ground
and rolled over to the edge of the clearing. Three of the guards
walked over to where the fourth was standing. They dragged out a
body and lay it in the middle of the clearing beside their other
dead comrades. They poked it a few times with their weapons and
then stabbed it a few times to make sure it was dead. While all
this was going on Dertrid spotted a dark figure slowly creeping
towards the guard at the back, without a sound. The dark figure
drew a small bent knife and slit the throat of the unfortunate
soldier. When the other three turned around the figure leaped up
into the treetops. There was silence for a time until a shower of
arrows rained down on them causing all the guards to fall down dead
on top of Dertrid. As Dertrid pushed the corpses away he saw a
small rope ladder suspended in front of him. The voice once again
said, "Climb it". Dertrid obeyed the voice but when he was halfway
up, his body finally gave way and he fell to the ground from
exhaustion.

Dertrid awoke to the sound of sweet singing. Once
again the voice reminded him of his mother singing to him when he
was a child. The song was the same as well;

Ode to the joy of life,

The blacksmith just carved a knife,

The children all play,

Until the day,

The child gives the knife to his wife.

The song was an old song usually sung in the slums of
Sáann but his mother had sung it like a nursery rhyme to him. "Good
morning Dertrid", called the voice. "Who are you?" Dertrid called
back to her quite perplexed. The voice called again, "Come and see
for yourself." Dertrid jumped down from the tall tree house that he
had slept in and walked over to the fire that was still bumming. He
saw a tall thin female with long blond hair that stretched to under
her waist. She

Was wearing a long white robe and a large
amount of jewellery was hanging from her neck. Her scent was as
sweet as fresh herbs picked from the royal garden that morning. It
drew him closer to her as if she had put a rope around his neck and
was dragging him towards her. He sat down beside her and stared
into her deep blue eyes, which seemed to hypnotise him with their
sparkling beauty.

Her facial features were the most beautiful
he had ever seen. Any man could have mistaken her for one of the
angels from the afterlife that the priests babble on about. Dertrid
could not have asked for anything better to have happened to him.
He had been rescued by the most beautiful woman he had ever seen .
"Here, look at this". She handed him a piece of paper that looked
like a wanted leaflet. As Dertrid looked closer and started to read
it he saw that it showed a picture of him and a large WANTED
printed over his face. "I don’t believe it! Where did you get
this?" he asked her. "A stranger left it behind ," she remarked,
after handing Dertrid his breakfast. "Well, where is he? What did
you do with him?" Dertrid asked while taking a large mouthful of
some kind of meat he had never tasted before. "Well..." she
muttered glancing down at the strange meat. Dertrid spat out the
mouthful and started coughing frantically “ You are a Criminal?" he
exclaimed. "No ,silly, I told him I would look after you. Then he
walked off in the direction of Keener" Dertrid stood up and grabbed
his clothes. The girl threw Dertrid a sword. "Here, take this. I’m
sure you will need it. By the way my name’s Elessa"

"Elessa, that’s a beautiful name,” remarked
Dertrid as he started

Walking toward the opening in the forest. He
turned round to see Elessa putting out the fire and gathering her
things together. "Wait for me, Dertrid", she called , running to
catch up with him.

"I’m coming too, Where are we going?" she
asked him when she had caught up with him. "We are going to find my
father’s friend Gladwin an old Druid who fought with my father
during the great division wars", he replied ,still walking. "Oh....
why?" she asked. " I can’t go back to Sáann now that there is a
price on my head. Gladwin is the only one I can turn to now",
Dertrid said. “Look!” exclaimed Elessa in horror, stopping in front
of the opening in the trees. “Keener is on fire!” "Quick!" Dertrid
yelled as he ran down the long pass towards the town . All that
could be heard throughout the valley was the cries for help from
women and the screams and yells from children.

The smoke was filling the valley and the
flames from the blaze were at least 20 feet high.

As they got closer to the burning town they
saw three of the Queen’s men running towards them. Dertrid drew his
sword and ran toward them with the blade sparkling in the sunshine
as he

ran. When he reached the first man he dived
under his blade and sliced the soldiers leg off. He then ran to the
second and brought his sword down to meet the soldier's blade. They
both fell to the

ground but as they did so Dertrid landed on
top of the soldier and thrust his blade into his neck. Dertrid
grabbed a rock from the road and bludgeoned the soldier over the
head with it, The third soldier fell to the ground with an arrow
plunged into his eye. Dertrid stood up and walked over to where his
weapon was and picked it up. Elessa and Dertrid walked into the
bumming city only to see bodies everywhere. The very street seemed
to be covered with blood.

Dertrid hid behind an overturned cart and
pulled Elessa down with him.

Two soldiers emerged from a nearby house
carrying a screaming woman. They tied her up and gagged her and
were on the point of killing her when a mysterious figure emerged
from out of the mist. .He swung his blade twice and killed both of
the men. He untied the woman and she ran off into the shadows.

He then turned towards Dertrid and Elessa
Dertrid stood up and walked toward the figure but as he emerged
from behind the cart an arrow impaled its self in his back. He fell
to the ground with a thud and

darkness enveloped him. Elessa ran to Dertrid
and dragged him behind the cart again.

When she looked up, the stranger was fighting
three more of the Queen’s men. Those three were slaughtered as
well. The mystery fighter stood still in the middle of the town
centre and

put his hands in the air. He dropped his
weapon and shouted to the burning ruins at the top of his voice,
"Come forward any more candidates for the eternal sleep! What are
you waiting for? Are you showing me mercy? Why didn’t you show
mercy to my family? "

Out of the corner of her eye Elessa saw a
soldier in one of the top windows aiming a crossbow at the figure
in the centre of the town.

She drew her bow, fed an arrow and fired. The
soldier in the window caught the arrow in the neck and fell to the
ground. Elessa began to drag Dertrid out of the town to safety.

She had managed to struggle a short distance when the
strange figure appeared. He picked Dertrid up on his back and ran
with him to the safety of nearby bushes. He dropped Dertrid at the
foot of another Cobo tree where he knew he would be safe and
started to walk back into the town. Elessa stood in front of him
and thanked him for his bravery. She told him that there was no-one
left in the town