Fall of a Kingdom

by Michael Greenfield

  “I’d say that there’s been nobody in this immediate vicinity for a good few days.”

  Farsighter looked across at Dorrin. “Not in large numbers anyway.” He turned to face southward, toward the King’s force. The dust of their travel was clearly visible. “Perhaps we’ve overreacted?”

  “I wish that I could say that, but I still have the feeling that we’re not alone out here.”

  “Aye, I have the same feeling.”

  “We should start a circuit of the northern reaches around the keep once we’re over the next hill line.” Dorrin indicated the next hill that was perhaps a mile in the distance.

  Farsighter just grunted his acknowledgement before spurring his horse onward.

  Cal had Tamala’s weight bearing down on his right shoulder as he hurried as fast as he was able through the halls of the keep. His bow was clasped firmly in his left hand, though he knew that whilst carrying Tamala’s weight he should have tried to keep his right hand free to use the dirk if required. For some reason that he could not explain, it felt more right for him to keep his bow arm free than the other way round.

  His initial plan had been to find Luda and then check on Lord Marig, but the further he travelled the more worried he was becoming. He had not seen any of the castle staff on the level of Tamala’s room, and now he had arrived at the main stairwell with still no sign of any of the others.

  He was about to make his way down the stairwell itself when movement from below caught his eye. He only just stopped himself from calling out for help as he realised that the figures he could see were not those of the keep staff.

  Crouching behind the banner at the top of the stairs he kept looking as he counted eight figures, all similarly clad in grey, loose clothing and slightly darker grey cloaks. The voices that he could hear now that he actually tried to listen were quite guttural. The language harsh.

  Shaler.

  On his own he might have considered using his bow from the position of cover that he occupied, but with Tamala there as well there was no question of his even trying to play the hero. Carefully he made his way away from the edge of the stairs and headed back down the nearest corridor hoping that he could find another way down.

  Several thoughts were now crashing through his mind. Not only had Dorrin charged him with protecting Tamala, but he also now thought that he knew what the Shaler plan was. Somehow he had to get this information to the King before it was too late, but how.

  Dorrin and Farsighter looked blankly at each other. The trail that they had finally picked up after coming down from the first line of hills had stood plainly in front of them not two seconds before, yet now they could find no trace of it.

  From the indentations that they had found it was plain that the group had stayed at this one spot for a brief period, and not too long ago at that, then they had just vanished.

  “I would say that this is more your area of expertise than mine.” Farsighter could think of no alternative except magic to explain what he was now seeing.

  “So would I, but I have no idea how it was managed. To transport such a large number would require more life energy than any one mage could possibly master.” Dorrin looked thoroughly confused as he tried to fathom out what had been done at this spot.

  Farsighter was about to add something when he suddenly stopped dead. “Dorrin. If you could transport a group of this size from here, your target would have to be close. There’s only one place close enough that would require transportation to enter.”

  “Gods, the Keep.”

  Cal approached the open doorway exceedingly cautiously. He had already surmised that most of the staff must have been caught on the lower levels and this was the first open doorway he had come across since he had left the stairs.

  Inside he could hear faint sounds though he was unable to decide what they were. It almost sounded like some form of ritual chant.

  He gently lowered Tamala to the floor and then moved to stand beside the door. As quickly as possible he darted his head through the opening, ready to withdraw it as quickly as he could, but the sight that he was greeted with shocked him into a frozen statue.

  Luda knelt before a bed upon which lay the body of the Lord Marig. Although stunning, that was not what had shocked Cal so much. Luda himself was rhythmically rocking back and forth on his heels, slowly chanting. His own knife was heavily pressed against the palm of his hand, blood slowly dripping from the cut it had caused.

  To one side of the bed lay an inert body. Blood had slowly pooled around it and it was obvious that Luda had already killed the murderer of his father.

  Slowly Cal moved through the entrance and stepped to just to the left of the grieving giant. His hand slowly came to rest on Luda’s shoulder and he could feel the silent sobs that wracked the man’s body. For a few minutes he stood in silence, waiting.

  Then, almost as if he had been totally unaware of the presence of the other man, Luda stood. He turned to face Cal.

  “Who?”

  “Shalers. They have the lower levels, how, I don’t know. I’ve got the Lady Tamala with me.”

  Luda just nodded, then strode toward the corridor. As he passed through the open doorway his hand reflexively moved up and across his shoulder to grasp the hilt of his sword. The metallic scrape of the blade flowing out of its sheath was all the more chilling for the almost nonchalant way in which Luda drew it.

  “They mean to trap the King in the courtyard?”

  “That is what I believe.” Cal was struggling to keep pace with Luda, having had to stoop to pull Tamala to her feet as he raced to keep up. Fortunately, the Lady appeared to be regaining some of her strength and Cal found that not so much weight was being passed on to him this time.

  Retaining his silence as he followed Cal was surprised to see Luda head straight for the stairwell that they had just left. As soon as they arrived, the big man in his black leather motioned Cal to one side where there was a slight recess in the wall.

  “You and Tamala wait there. Be ready to move as soon as the time is right.”

  Cal just nodded before placing first Tamala in the recess, then positioning his own body between her and the open area by the head of the stairs.

  Noting that Cal was effectively out of sight of anyone coming up the stairs Luda took a deep breath and bellowed an ancient family war cry down into the hall below.

  Cal heard the frightened shouts of the recipients of the traditional challenge, followed by the outrage as they realized that they were being challenged by a lone individual. The clattering of hobnailed boots sounded as perhaps a dozen of the Shalers that had now congregated in the hallway charged up the stairs. The look that Luda wore across his face was perhaps the most frightening thing that Cal had ever seen. It was the look of a man totally at peace with himself, prepared for whatever came, no matter what.

  His sword was held slightly behind him with the tip just touching the stone clad floor. There was no tension in his body at all, totally the opposite of the vast amounts of tension evident in Cal’s own body. He could not believe that Luda was just going to stand there.

  The lie was given to his belief the moment the first Shaler stepped onto the landing. Luda spun viciously about, spinning the great blade that he wielded. It took the Shaler clean across the abdomen, nearly cleaving him in two.

  His follow through was to continue the spin of his body, lashing out with his foot and catching the next to crest the top of the stairs, sending him tumbling back down them.

  Luda continued to spin and drag the sword through a deadly arc as he began to move backward toward the corridor that he and Cal had only moments before emerged from. The group of Shalers were concentrating so much on the swordsman that they failed to notice the crouching pair to their side. In just a few seconds the group had disappeared into the corridor and out of Cal’s sight.

  Standing, Cal moved back to the banister and glanced down into the hall. He could see no one in sight. Glancing back down the corridor he coul
d see the melee around Luda continue, although the big man was having more trouble wielding his blade in the confines of the narrow passage.

  With no apparent danger behind him Cal made his decision. He raised his left arm, again finding that his right hand appeared to naturally travel to the quiver and the waiting arrows. The first was in flight almost before he realised that he had sighted it.

  Luda saw the expression of confused pain on the face of the Shaler in front of him just as he pitched forward, displaying the arrow in his back. The attacker beside him looked for the source of the attack, giving Luda the opportunity to drop his sword and whip out his short knife. A bit of a joke in the name, as it actually had a blade about twelve inches long, a feature that made it almost as lethal as a normal sword. In the close confines of the passageway it made it a blade to truly fear, especially in the hand of an expert.

  Luda had been taught weapons ever since he could stand.

  The nearest Shaler never even realised he was going to die; the blade took him clean through the heart. Another two were already down to Cal’s arrows and what had been beginning to become a contest that Luda could not possibly have won was now turning into a rout. The Shalers, realising that they were trapped between two equally lethal choices, began to panic. Once the panic had set in it only became a matter of time before the last of them fell.

  Less than a minute later it was over. Luda stood over his sword, breathing heavily, whilst Cal calmly unnocked the arrow he still had fitted to his bowstring. A faint sound behind him caused him to whirl to face the edge of the stairway again, but he relaxed almost instantly upon seeing Tamala slowly edging out from the alcove where she had remained hidden.

  “My Lady?” Concern must have showed on his face because Tamala was quick to shrug away his doubts.

  “I’ll be fine. What’s been happening, and why did you have your bow drawn just then?” Then she saw Luda emerge from the passage, blood covering much of clothing and hands. “Luda!” She turned accusingly to Cal. “You raised your bow with an arrow nocked at Luda, what in all the hells were you doing?”

  Strangely, this was not the way that Cal had expected nobility to thank people. “My Lady,” but before he could finish the sentence Luda started to laugh.

  Tamala’s eyes turned in his direction. Her expression making it clear that she did not see what was so funny.

  “Apologies my Lady.” He brought himself back under control by motioning for Cal to take up a position at the top of the stairs. Nodding in reply Cal moved to where he had been directed, glad for the moment to be out of eye contact with the Lady. “Can you remember what happened to you after you left us and went to your room?”

  Tamala paused as she considered what she could remember. Slowly it dawned that she could recall next to nothing of what had happened after she had entered her room, apart from the idea to try and scry the surrounding area when she heard that the King was approaching.

  “I seem to remember very little.” Suddenly she seemed unsure of herself.

  “We heard you cry out. Cal was the first to reach your room,” Cal could feel the flush colouring his cheeks as Tamala’s eyes turned back to face him, “and he found you lying on the floor with your scrying bowl spilt beside you.”

  “A barrier, someone must have erected a barrier spell whilst I was trying to see.”

  “It would not be the first magic that appears to have been used today.” He pointed a finger back down the passage to the litter of bodies that lay where they had fallen to either his own blade or Cal’s arrows. “And as for you.” He glared at Cal before softening his features to a smile. “I drew them down the passage so that you could escape.”

  Cal felt himself blushing further. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled, “but I couldn’t leave you. It just didn’t seem right.”

  Luda grinned. “Right or not, you have my thanks. Dorrin and Farsighter were right about you, you’re definitely more useful than you look.”

  Cal grinned back.

  Tamala didn’t look as impressed as the big warrior. “That still leaves us with the problem of getting out of here.”

  Luda looked a bit sheepish for a moment but was stopped from saying anything by a sudden realisation on Cal’s part. “You wanted to die!”

  It was not a question. The silence that enveloped the threesome chilled them all. “You were swearing a blood oath when I found you next to Lord Marig’s body.”

  “Your father?” Tamala’s face blanched.

  “An assassin.” The blank way in which he stated the answer chilled Cal even further.

  Dorrin and Farsighter crested the hill overlooking the Keep and stared intently to see if they could perceive anything untoward. The town itself appeared to be bustling as usual. They could see figures moving around the battlements at the top of the keep itself. Even the smoke appeared to be winding its way from the kitchens as it should as the cooks finished preparation for the evening meal that they should have been getting ready to sit down and enjoy at this very moment.

  In fact it appeared as if everything was as it should be.

  “Perhaps we’re mistaken.” Dorrin didn’t look entirely convinced even as he spoke. “Maybe the Shaler’s are up to something else, or it’s even possible that the King was forewarned and we now see his party approaching after successfully defeating them.”

  Farsighter had not taken his eyes from the Keep. “If that were true friend Dorrin, then why is the Keep locked up tight?”

  Dorrin cast his eyes back to the entrance to the Keep and realised that Farsighter spoke the truth. The massive oak and wrought iron gates had been closed up tight.

  “The King shows no sign of slowing to set up camp outside of the town.” The vanguard of the King’s force was now plainly visible moving rapidly down the slopes on the opposite side of the Keep. “I have the horrible feeling that the trap is already sprung,” Farsighter turned to face Dorrin, “and we are the ones that have sprung it.”

  “They already have the Keep?”

  “And the causeway will become a killing zone. His Majesty is sure to be at the lead of his forces, we’ve got to get to him before they reach the causeway.”

  With that he kicked hard at the flanks of his horse and raced down the hill toward the town, Dorrin’s own steed not more than half a stride behind him.

  From the main entrance to the Keep itself Cal, Luda and Tamala could see most of the courtyard around the main gateway. Luda had already passed comment on the fact that the gate itself was shut, though they could see no further sign of activity in the yard itself. The ramparts above were a different matter entirely.

  Cal shook his head in exasperation. “There’s no way that we would be able to get the gates open and across the causeway without being seen.”

  Tamala nodded her head in agreement but Luda almost looked as if the idea was appealing to him. Before Cal could make a comment on the fact that the life of their monarch took precedence over any blood vow that he might have made, Luda spoke.

  “Going through the gate is quite obviously out of the question, but I wonder if they’ve thought about the servant’s entrance?”

  Cal looked quizzical but Tamala had to stifle a laugh. “I would imagine that they probably wouldn’t even know about it.” She turned to face Cal. “There’s an entrance through a tunnel that runs beneath the causeway. It opens in one of the houses just the other side of the town walls.”

  “I was told that there was only the one way into the keep.”

  Luda answered that question. “Officially there is. The tunnel is only for the use of servants and aides that might have a need to gain entrance to the keep in a hurry, without the time to convince the guard to let them in.”

  “Spies!”

  Tamala was truly amused by the way that Cal spoke the word, almost as if it was a curse all of its own.

  “Naturally. Every lord has their own network, as well as the imperial network of course.” She threw her gaze toward Luda. “I think our young he
ro needs a bit of education about the real world.”

  “Perhaps, but it will have to wait until we can spare a moment or two.” His eyes flicked over the ramparts again before he made his decision. “Run!”

  No further encouragement was required as both Cal and Tamala found themselves struggling to keep up with the young nobleman. Cal thought of himself as being quick on foot, but for the short distance to the gatehouse he was sorely tested.

  Fortune may not have been smiling on the trio inside the keep, but out in the courtyard it seemed that their luck had changed considerably. Glancing furtively from side to side as they emerged from the entrance they were relieved to note that none of the Shalers appeared to be bothered with what was happening below them within the yard itself, only with what they could see outside.

  There was no cover between the main building and the gatehouse, so they had no option except to run for it. Luda set off first, followed by Tamala, and then Cal brought up the rear constantly watching the walls for any sign that they had been seen. Cal had almost reached the cover of the gatehouse when he paused. Luda didn’t notice and darted from sight, but Tamala saw the youth stop and checked her own run.

  “What?” It was more of a hiss than a whisper but Cal ignored her for a moment.

  Above them he could see the Shalers preparing for the ambush but the figure that had stopped him in his tracks was slightly shorter than the rest, and definitely stockier.

  “There’s a human up there.” He pointed to where the figure stood.

  Tamala’s gaze followed the direction that Cal had indicated and then froze. Her eyes narrowed and her face took on a cold quality that Cal had only ever before observed in the expression of his father. It was a look of cold fury.

  “Come.” Cal had responded to the command before he even realised that he had started to move. The stride of the person that he trailed appeared to be completely different to that of the person he had followed out of the keep’s great entrance. Tamala no longer ran, she strode purposefully toward the doorway to the guardroom, where he could now see that Luda had realised that they were not behind him and had stuck his face out to see what they were doing.