by Cadman, Dean
“Oh, don't worry about that, I've got much more gold than we could possibly need back in Helveel. That's one of the things I need to collect on our way through. Do you think you have enough gold to buy three horses?” Lusam asked.
“I think so. Why what do you have in mind lad?”
“Here's what we'll do. We'll both enter Stelgad over the top of the west wall, that should be the furthest point from any gate, and therefore hopefully avoid detection when I use my magic to levitate us over the the wall. Once inside we'll split up, I'll go rescue Neala from the Hawks' guild, and you'll go and buy us three horses. Once you have the horses leave the city by the north gate, the one that leads to Lamuria, then when you're out of sight return to the same spot where we entered the city, and wait for me to return with Neala. The Empire is looking for two people entering the city, so I doubt they would look twice at a man leaving the city alone.” Lusam said, sounding far more confident than he actually felt.
“I won't let you try and rescue Neala alone, it's too dangerous. The deal was we rescue Neala together, then we head to the High Temple. Too many things could go wrong if we separate, and you don't even know the city layout, so how would you find the Hawks' guild headquarters?”
“Renn I'm sorry to say this, but it would be far more dangerous if you were with me when I entered the Hawks' guild. They can't touch me with their weapons when I have my shield up, but they would cut you to bits in seconds if you were there. I've also seen first-hand how they like to use poison darts to subdue their enemies. If that happened to you, and Neala was in bad shape when I rescued her, I would be faced with leaving one of you behind, and that I can't do. Trust me on this Renn, having fresh horses ready so we can put some distance between us and the city will be far more useful to our cause in the long run.” Lusam said.
Renn remained silent for a long time, playing out various other options in his mind, but none of them seemed more likely to work than the plan Lusam had come up with. Reluctantly he had to agree with Lusam's plan, and they spent the next hour working out the finer details of what they would each do within the city. When they were ready to leave Renn drew a basic map of the city on the ground, showing Lusam the location of the Hawks' guild headquarters in relation to where they would enter the city. After Lusam was sure he had memorised the location, Renn insisted they knelt in prayer together, and ask Aysha to watch over them all in the coming hours.
Even though Lusam had actually seen Aysha in person, he never really expected any response to Renn's prayer, but he was wrong. As he knelt side by side with Renn, he felt the unmistakable touch of Aysha's light wash over him again, totally reinvigorating him. He wouldn't have considered himself tired in the slightest before that, but afterwards he positively buzzed with energy. He remained kneeling until Renn had finished his prayer of thanks to Aysha for her blessing, then began to stand back up. He was almost knocked back to his knees when Renn slapped him hard on his shoulder. “Now we're ready to rescue Neala lad,” Renn said joyfully, beaming a smile from ear to ear. His joy was certainly infectious, and Lusam couldn't help feeling equally elated at what had just happened to them both, again.
“Let's go do this,” Lusam agreed, heading back deeper into the trees, and starting to circle around to the west wall, all the time staying far enough within the trees to remain well out of sight.
***
The past few days had really dragged for Neala whilst travelling the road to Stelgad. Skelly had stubbornly refused to hold any kind of conversation with her, restricting his replies to single word answers, and even then only if it suited him. At first she had strongly denied all knowledge of his recent poisoning, even though he said he had found evidence of it inside their old waterskin. She sensed the small seed of doubt in his mind as to whether she had been involved or not, but later he had forced her to eat several pieces of the dried beef she'd earlier blamed for his illness, only to discover she remained perfectly well after eating it. She considered faking the illness, but with her hands still tied to the saddle she was unable to use her fingers to make herself vomit. So here she was, riding in silence towards her fate in Stelgad.
She knew they were getting close to Stelgad now by the familiar mountain range visible on the western horizon. She didn't expect Skelly to make camp again for the coming night, but instead thought he'd push on until they reached the city. For the whole day she had been desperately searching every shadow in the tree-line for signs of Lusam coming to rescue her, but with each passing hour her hopes began to fade more and more, until she convinced herself he would never come at all.
She had been certain Lusam would come for her, to rescue her from her captors, but the more she thought about it, the more she found reasons why he wouldn't. She began to understand he didn't really need her any more, and why would anyone risk their life to save someone they didn't need? He'd already accumulated a small fortune in gold, and could easily collect more any time he needed it, also Mr Daffer and Lucy had offered them a home for as long as they wanted it, so he wouldn't be homeless either.
The closer they got to Stelgad, the more certain she was that her fate was now sealed, and she would soon find her life ending on the end of Shiva's knife, or worse. Silently she prayed to Aysha to give her strength to endure what would surely come, and to make her end as swift and painless as possible. Not long after Neala had guessed Skelly wouldn't want to stop and make camp again that night, he actually confirmed her suspicions by increasing their speed significantly, alternating between short gallops and much longer periods of cantering. At the pace they were now setting Neala estimated they would reach Stelgad around midnight, or just after. The sun had already begun to set over the western mountain range, and the clear skies above promised a well-lit night to come by the presence of an almost full moon just rising from the east.
Chapter Eighteen
Lusam and Renn emerged from the tree-line to face the immense western city wall. It towered high above them, blocking the sight of all the buildings beyond it, except one. A spire of a building made of smooth white coloured stone stood slightly higher than the wall itself. Four large open arched windows, one each side exposing a large bell of some kind, and a further four smaller open windows above the bell that looked like they could be used as a look-out post. The question began to form on Lusam's lips regarding the use of such a magnificent building, but before he could voice it, Renn answered.
“It's The Sanctum of Light lad, an outpost of the High Temple. The original building was built here shortly after the great rift was closed. It was manned by the first paladins of Aysha, who were stationed here to track down and kill all remaining Netherworld creatures this side of the river, and to make sure no more crossed from The Black Forest. “The building you see before you now is the third built on the same foundations as the original one. Although they still officially guard against any Netherworld creatures that may find their way across the river, it's now primarily used as a training outpost for new paladin recruits. I myself spent over ten years there, learning swordsmanship and the finer arts of battle, before I was finally accepted by the High Temple to complete my training in Lamuria, and eventually becoming a paladin of Aysha,” Renn said, looking up at the spire that obviously held many mixed memories for him.
“We'll cross the wall and enter the city here then, the tower will provide us with the cover we need,” Lusam said, making his plans to levitate them both through one of the top windows of the tower.
“No! We can not enter the temple uninvited. It would be disrespectful, and also dangerous to do so,” Renn replied brusquely.
“But you're a paladin aren't you? How can it be disrespectful for a paladin to enter their own temple? And I'm sure whatever danger you're referring to my shield can protect us from it,” Lusam said confidently.
“Yes, I am a paladin, you however are not. To set foot inside the temple without permission would mean certain death for you.”
“You're forgetting my shield,” Lusam sai
d smiling. Renn didn't look impressed by Lusam's words. He looked to the north and south, checking nobody could see them before he said,
“Shield yourself now.”
“Why?” Lusam asked, looking all around him for any danger he had missed.
“Just do it,” Renn replied. Lusam complied and erected his shield, just in time to see Renn remove his sword and casually swing the blade towards him. Lusam wasn't concerned at all as he saw Renn's sword coming towards his legs, not until the blade glowed bright blue and passed straight through his shield as if it wasn't there, striking him hard across his buttocks with the flat of his blade. Lusam howled in pain as he felt the full impact of Renn's sword. He hopped around holding his breath and his back-side, whilst at the same time turning a strange shade of purple and making strange muffled sounds. After a minute or two Lusam remembered to magically dull the pain and was able to regain his composure a little.
“What did you do that for?” he asked, still rubbing the impacted area. Even though he had blocked the pain from it, he knew it would leave a nasty bruise by morning, but he couldn't risk using his magic to repair it right now.
“Because you asked for it. Being over-confident will get you killed lad. You can be sure that the paladins inside the temple wouldn't afford you the same courtesy I just did, they would be using the sharp bit of their swords.”
“Okay, okay, I get it!” Lusam said, “but, you told me that most paladins and priests never experience Aysha's light in their lifetime, I've felt it three times now, and spoken with Aysha herself, surely that counts for something towards making me worthy to enter one of her temples?”
Renn thought about Lusam's words carefully, and found it hard to disagree with his logic on his worthiness to enter one of Aysha's temples. After all, he had witnessed Aysha bless Lusam with her light three times, and she had appeared before him physically. To Renn's knowledge that had never happened before, and certainly not in the last few centuries since records had been meticulously kept regarding all such events. The moment he accepted Lusam's worthiness within his own mind, a subtle wave of euphoria washed over him, confirming to him beyond all doubt Aysha's acceptance of Lusam's plan to enter her temple.
“We will enter the temple lad, but you will remain behind me at all times. Is that clear?” Renn asked, but his tone left no room for debate, not that Lusam had any intentions of arguing after Renn's recent sword demonstration.
“No problem,” Lusam readily agreed.
“Okay, try get us up there without anyone seeing us, or more importantly sensing your magic,”
The sun was now setting beyond the western mountains, and the shadows would help conceal their presence as they breached the top of the wall. Although Lusam could clearly see how high the wall was, he wasn't prepared for just how thick it was. When they reached the top of the wall they both instinctively fell to their stomachs and crawled the full width of the wall to peer over into the city below. The wall was easily four times thicker than Lusam was tall, his mind boggled at the thought of how thick the base must be, and how it had been constructed in the first place.
Looking down onto the streets below they could see many people moving to and fro, all oblivious to their presence so high up above them.
“We should wait a few minutes until it's fully dark,” Renn suggested. Lusam agreed, there was no point risking detection for the sake of a few extra minutes. Renn used the vantage point to show Lusam exactly where the Hawks' guild was located, and even from this distance Lusam could make out occasional movements on the rooftop of the building. No doubt from ground level they would have been all but invisible, but to Lusam's mage-sight they glowed brightly enough to see from his elevated position. He scanned the city streets for any signs of Empire agents, but found none to his relief, and informed Renn of his discovery. “How can you tell they aren't Empire agents from up here lad?” Renn asked sounding confused at Lusam's statement.
“I can see their auras, same as you can,” Lusam replied, equally confused at Renn's question.
“But from all the way up here how can you see what people are wearing, it's too dark to see their clothes clearly now. Surely all you can see are the auras of people as they move around the city, some brighter than others of course, but if you can't see their robes, how would you know if it was an Empire agent or not?”
“Because of their aura colour of course,” Lusam replied, beginning to tire of explaining the obvious.
“What do you mean `aura colour?`All auras are the same colour, blue. They're blue because we're all children of Aysha, and Aysha's light is contained within all of us, they can't be any other colour lad,” Renn said looking over at Lusam.
“Well that guy who tried to kill me in Helveel had a very bright scarlet coloured aura, not a blue one. I've seen one or two in Helveel in the past with the same colour aura, but not as bright as his was, and they were wearing normal clothes not black robes. I never really paid much attention to the colour before that guy tried to kill me, I guess I just thought everyone was different that's all,” Renn's mind reeled with the implications. For centuries the Empire had successfully hidden its spies amongst the citizens and elite of Afaraon, causing untold damage and hardships to its people. If Lusam was truly able to spot them simply by his ability to see their auras as a different colour, it would deal a staggering blow to the Empire's network of spies within Afaraon. Any spies sent to the Empire were often caught very quickly and executed before any useful information was obtained. It was far too easy for them to be detected as they didn't wear a working ring of the Empire, so the first time anyone challenged them they would be caught and killed. Lusam's ability would go a long way to readdressing the balance between Afaraon and the Empire of Thule.
“Lusam, if what you're saying is true, and you can indeed spot an Empire agent simply by the colour of their aura, well, the implications are staggering lad. You may well be the most powerful weapon we have against the Empire and its spies. You could simply walk into a room and instantly know who was a spy by the colour of their aura. We could feed misinformation where required, and remove others at will. The Empire wouldn't know what's hit them,” Renn said grinning from ear to ear.
Lusam had never even thought about such things before, spies and Empire agents were never a factor in his life growing up, nor did he relish them being part of his life from now on, but he instinctively knew they would be. For now he needed to focus on the job at hand, rescuing Neala, and escaping the city with all their lives intact. He also didn't really want to get involved in a discussion with Renn about it right now.
“Whatever you say, but it's dark enough now so I think we should make our move,” Lusam said. Renn nodded his agreement, and they both shuffled over to line themselves up with the open windows of the tower. Lusam quickly levitated them both across the gap and through the upper window, letting Renn take the lead. Once they entered the bell-tower they found themselves standing on a platform that circled the four windows, giving whoever may be up here a perfect view of the entire city and beyond. Looking over the edge of the platform Lusam could see the giant bell hanging just below them, and the thick ropes connected to them that disappeared far below. An old rickety wooden ladder linked the next floor down, where a stone staircase started spiralling its way around the tower and down to the floor far below.
“That ladder doesn't look too safe to me,” Lusam said, nodding towards the ancient looking construction. “By the look of the floor I would say it's been a long time since anyone came all the way up here to do any sight seeing.”
“You may be right, it's my first time up here and I lived here for over a decade. In the history books I read it tells us that the original temple's tower was many times higher than this one, and always manned. Subsequent buildings here have kept their towers so tall only as a symbolic gesture towards the original building. But I'm sure the ladder will hold us lad, don’t worry.”
“I'm not worried at all, you're the one going first remember?
Not to mention, I'm the only one here that can fly,” Lusam replied, tying hard not to laugh at the look on Renn's face when he looked over the edge of the platform at just how far below the floor was. Renn only grunted his reply as he approached the ladder and prepared to descend to the next level.
Lusam was amazed that Renn was actually going to try and use this ancient ladder, and hadn't just ask him to lower them both to the next level using magic instead. Lusam had thought it was hilarious when Renn had tried to cross the river back in The Black Forest and fallen in, but he thought watching him plummet from this ladder might be even funnier. He levitated himself out behind Renn as he started to descend the rickety old ladder. Renn didn't even notice Lusam a few feet behind him, hovering in mid-air, matching his descent rate. Suddenly the inevitable happened and the rung he was standing on gave way, he held on tight with his hands, but that rung too gave way and he plummeted down the centre of the tower. Lusam fell at the same rate as Renn, leaving him flailing his arms and legs silently in mid-air for several seconds before he decided to end his own amusement and rescue the paladin. He slowed their descent quickly and guided them both back towards the stone spiral staircase, where they gently touched down.
Renn stared up at Lusam, his face ghostly white. Lusam thought maybe he had gone too far with his joke this time, and decided to put a little distance between himself and that sword of his.
“Are you okay?” Lusam asked gingerly. Renn sat upright putting his back to the wall, he didn't look up at Lusam when he said,
“You did that on purpose, didn't you?”
“I swear I never touched that ladder, it broke all by itself. All I did was save you,” Lusam replied innocently, fighting the urge to burst out laughing.
“I meant, you let me fall all that way before you stopped me, and never told me you were right next to me all the way down,” he said calmly, still visibly shaken.
