Cave Of Forlorn

by R. C. Rutter

  Cerberus was walking just in front of Erica. She was keeping a close eye on him to make sure he did not cause any trouble. She watched as the creature tripped over a tree root and fell down. As he fell, he dropped some coins which rolled everywhere. He lifted himself up slightly and started picking up the coins. Erica felt compelled to help and bent over to grab some coins. As she did so, Cerberus took off.

  Erica yelled, straightening herself and pulled out her wand. Cerberus was running as fast as he could down the path to the pit. She lifted her arm, pulled it back, and released the spell. It flung through the air and was heading straight for him. It was almost like he planned it because just as the spell reached him, Cerberus leapt in the air, aiming for the pit entrance. Only part of the spell made contact and he screamed, tumbling over and over as he disappeared into the pit.

  Erica started to follow him but Robald yelled back instructions from Eric not to pursue. They needed to get to the castle and Cerberus was not really a threat.

  Eric had no idea how wrong he was.

  * * *

  Chapter 22

  On his knees and head bowed, the soldier was breathing heavily and listening very intently for instructions. He dare not look up and possibly face the wrath.

  Damien stood over him rubbing his forehead with his eyes closed. “Tell me again, just how did the Queen manage to convince an army of 5,000, MY ARMY, to JOIN HER?”

  The soldier quivered fearing for his life. He tried to explain that he was not present when it happened and therefore could not give a firsthand account. The messenger had barely made it back to the castle, told the gate guards what had happened, and then collapsed. Somebody had to tell the demons so they gate guards drew straws. He lost.

  “I am sorry, my Lord, I can only relate what was told to me. Knowing the many brave and courageous soldiers under your command, I can only guess that she must have had a massive army.”

  “ARMY? ARMY? She had no army. She killed our father, declared herself Queen and has dominion over a group of farmers. The tallest one would not even come up to your elbow. Even with years of training, they are no match.”

  Damien sat down with an intense look on his face. “She must have been planning this all along.” He looked at the soldier “You are dismissed.”

  The relieved soldier stood but kept his head bowed low. He tried to be as quiet as he could, taking three steps back before turning around. His pace quickened as he headed for the door. He did not take a breath until the door was closed behind him.

  Damien looked up at the brothers that were in the room. “Summon all of the brothers, we have much to discuss.”

  * * *

  “Apre Forlorn”

  “Apre Forlorn!”

  Eric thrust his hands into the air as if to give the command emphasis. Everyone was crowded behind Eric anxious to leave this place and to reach the castle.

  After numerous tries, Eric lowered his hands and his shoulders slumped. “Well, that worked out well.”

  “Eric? Are you giving up so easily?” inquired Erica. “Remember, it was not you who actually opened the cave.”

  “Ah, my sister, you are wise beyond your years and your memory is most appreciated. Sometimes I forget that even powerful wizards need help once in a while. Alas, Lydia, would you please do the honor?”

  Lydia worked her way through the crowd. At least she thought she did. Robald took the opportunity to lead the way to the front and anyone with sense quickly moved out of the way.

  Lydia raised her hands like she saw Eric do. “Ahem, Apre Forlorn” and she took a step back listening. “APRE FORLORN, APRE FORLORN, APRE FORLORN.” The door failed to open. “Uh, this is pointless.” She looked straight at Eric. “Any ideas?”

  Eric was muttering under his breath. Every few minutes or so, he would look up, raise his arms, and utter a spell, only to be disappointed when it did not work. He was momentarily distracted by the smell of Erica’s cooking. She had set up some big pots and the feast was being shared. Samuel and Bartholomew were the first in line.

  Gweneviere got her bowl and sat down. “Hey Sam, hey Bart.”

  They nodded back, too busy eating to verbally acknowledge her greeting. As soon as the door opened, they would be leaving. This might be their last chance to eat. They liked that she called them Sam and Bart. Their people were always so formal.

  “Hey Sam, have you ever been outside?”

  Sam nodded affirmatively.

  “Tell me, what spell did you use to leave?”

  “Oh, no spell, the Queen always set it up. All we had to do was to walk right up to the wall without stopping and it would open.”

  Gweneviere dropped her bowl and starting running towards Eric. The rock hit her in the head and she fell over, unconscious. Sam and Bart screamed for help as they rushed to her aid. More rocks were flying towards them. They looked for the source and spied Cerberus standing about 100 yards away.

  Thorgon heard the commotion and arrived to help. He looked at Gweneviere then followed the gaze of Samuel and Bartholomew. “It is not possible.” As he watched, the creature was joined by multitudes of nefarious characters. Thorgon easily picked up Gweneviere and threw her over his shoulder.

  Samuel let out a low whistle. “This is not good. I recognize many of them, all thrown into the pit after being found guilty of their crimes. If you ever wanted to gather a rogue army of bandits, thieves, and murderers, this would probably be the way to do it.” Having realized what he had just said and what it meant, the color drained from his face.

  Samuel felt his arm being pulled and just went with it. He was too stunned to think. After hearing his name being yelled over and over, he finally came back to reality. Thorgon was a few steps ahead of them carrying Gweneviere and he was yelling loudly. The group was in an uproar as they grasped what was happening.

  “Erica!” Eric yelled as he pulled his wand and starting throwing spells at the pursuers. Erica soon joined him; casting spells that landed right in front of the Cerberus. There were too many of them for the group to fight. Even with the wizarding help, there was no way they could stay and fight. There were hundreds and hundreds of them and more were joining all the time.

  Samuel and Bartholomew had reached Eric who paused for a moment. “Just how many have you thrown into the pit?”

  Eric continued throwing spells, killing a few and slowing down the rest.

  “I dunno. Nobody’s ever counted, probably two or three a year.”

  “A YEAR? For how many years? Look at all of them! We need to go.”

  “I agree” said Bartholomew. “Robald, need you to call everyone to follow me.” Robald’s eyes opened real wide. “Okay Robald, point taken, I know you are tall, you follow me, they follow you.” A rock went whizzing past his head. “It also makes you a bigger target.” Bartholomew smirked. “Let’s go!”

  Robald began yelling as he kept an eye on Bartholomew who was running right at the rock wall and was not slowing down. “The bloody little bugger has lost his mind no doubt.”

  Robald yelled for everyone to follow him. He looked for Lydia who was at the back of the group, swords flailing as she batted down rocks. “LYDIA! COME NOW!” Lydia started backing up making sure everyone was heading towards Robald.

  “Run, faster, RUN!” came the command from Lydia. I can only hold them off for so long. “Move faster!”

  Bartholomew reached the rock wall which was still solid and ran to it as fast as he could. He was just inches away from it and closed his eyes, bracing for the impact. He yelled and the sound filled his ears. He fell over his own feet, half-expecting to hit the wall, half-expecting the wall to open. The sound in his ears and the cold air hitting his face let him know that he succeeded.

  Bartholomew smiled and opened his eyes. He was quite proud of himself until he looked back and realized that he was about to be trampled.

  * * *

  The Queen knelt over the place where Michael had been. Softly weeping, she was having trouble breath
ing. No one dared say a word or approach her. They had witnessed her wrath before but had never seen her so distraught. No one knew what she would do.

  The Queen looked up and slowly took in the sight of everyone watching her. “I am sorry. This has all been a bit much. I never intended it to be like this. I just wanted my own kingdom, wanted to be left alone. No drama, no worries, just a comfortable life. My poor baby brother, so innocent, not corrupt like the others, with a heart big enough to show compassion. Such a tragic loss.”

  The Queen sniffled and her eyes fell on the body of Shabb. Her anger exploded “Filthy, rotten, fleabag, poor excuse for a mangy dog.” With every insult, she flicked her wand and Shabb’s body flew through the air. She soon grew tired of it, realizing that it was not doing any good and sent his body sailing over the trees.

  Her attention drifted back to the soldiers standing near her but she stood there silently. The tension in the air was thick.

  “All this is because of that stupid little girl. Doesn’t know she is the daughter of the King, doesn’t know that she has magical powers, and doesn’t even know about the prophecy.”

  “Your Majesty, what are your orders?”

  “The Queen was stunned at the rude interruption but was out of sorts so it did not faze her like normal.

  She contemplated for a moment and said very calmly “We shall go to the cave, we shall find them, especially the girl, and we shall slay them all. Maybe then we will be left alone.”

  The Queen began walking very slowly in the direction of the cave. The soldiers fell in line behind her.

  * * *

  Guards arrived at the Royal Chamber to secure it for the meeting. They knew the routine, two at every window facing out, two guarding the door from the inside, and two platoons guarding the door from the outside.

  The secondary platoon guarded the narrow servant’s stairs from the kitchen to the chamber door. The stairs were designed with defense in mind and were in a counter-clockwise direction. Anyone coming up the stairs would have their sword arm blocked by the wall on the right. If anyone attacked that way, they would have to kill each soldier and then move the body to get past it. It was seen as an impossible task.

  The demons demanded this high level of security as it was dangerous for all of them to be in the same location. If anyone attacked, they could possibly annihilate all of them with a single blow.

  The demons were smart, demanding, and ruthless.

  After the room was secure, the demons began arriving, each taking his place at the long conference table. The head of the table was reserved for Damien, eldest of the brothers. Fourteen chairs in all awaited the occupants.

  Damien held his head in his hands. In public he would not show such weakness but in the small room adjoining the chamber, he had privacy. Protocol dictated that he would arrive last so he waited.

  The chamber was getting noisy as the brothers arrived. A gathering of all of them had not taken place in months. There had been to reason to call everyone together. Greetings and jokes were the conversations taking place. They were all trying to lighten the mood for these were troubling times.

  Damien peeked out. He was anxious to get the meeting started and counted. Eleven in all, two were missing, one of which was killed in the cave. He mentally went through the list and discovered the latest missing was Michael. This was strange. Michael was always very prompt and very eager to please his older brothers.

  As the time of the meeting approached, the brothers began to take their seats. Three chairs were still empty. Conversations ceased as the brothers began pondering the location of Michael.

  Damien could not wait any longer, there was too much at stake to delay. He opened the door and walked into the chamber. As he did, the guards snapped to attention and the brothers rose from their chairs.

  Damien walked to his chair and stood in front of it. It was customary to invite everyone to sit. Damien looked at the empty chair at the other end of the table and contemplated waiting. He started to open his mouth when the pain struck; it was like a sword being thrust into his stomach. His eyes slammed shut from the pain and he heard the moans and groans from his brothers.

  The guards snapped to action, drawing their swords, but there was nothing visible to attack. They bounced from foot to foot, anxious and nervous, ready to kill.

  Damien fell into his chair as the others collapsed around him. They felt the pain at the same time.

  Damien knew what happened and could not believe it. He cried out “Michael, what has befallen you? Speak to me?”

  Silence met his request so he asked again and waited.

  “I am so cold. The pain is too great.”

  “Who attacked you? Where are you?”

  “A wolf. Dark here. Cold. Many soldiers. Like frozen.”

  “Michael, stay with me. We will send help.”

  “I am numb, so cold. Pain is no more. Bright light. Goodbye.”

  The demons sat there in stunned silence. This was the second of the brothers to be killed. It would not be the last.

  * * *

  Sacco was running fast, trying to keep up with Vincente. Breathing heavily, he was having trouble with the pace and talking “hey, slow….”

  “No, we can’t slow down. It was a stroke of luck that Shabb freed us. Even luckier that he left in a hurry heading back to the Queen. She must have been in trouble. Have to get far enough away so that when the Queen realizes we are gone, it will be too late for her to come after us.”

  Sacco said something but it was lost in the sound of tree branches breaking overhead.

  Vicente screamed “AH, SHE FOUND US!”

  The crashing got louder as it broke through the tree limbs until whatever it was landed right in front of Sacco with a loud thud. He could not stop in time and smacked right into it, tumbling head over heels.

  Vincente stopped when he heard his friend fall “You evil witch, I will kill you where you stand”.

  Only there was no one standing there. Vincente looked down at his friend who seemed to be covered in a ball of fur.

  “Sacco? Sacco? Talk to me!”

  “Ummmh, ummmmh, gefth thm auf a mmmmm”

  “What?” Vincente pushed some of the fur aside and found Sacco’s face.

  “Ah, I can breathe. Get me out of here. This thing smells awful!”

  “Well, I am glad you are alive.”

  “What is this thing?”

  “I don’t know but it appears to be dead. Doubt the Queen sent it because it doesn’t seem to pose much of a danger to us.”

  “It does if you happen to be under it. And the smell, yeech! Help me up, let’s take a look.”

  As Vincente pulled on Sacco, the fur shifted revealing big eyes and a mouth full of teeth. Sacco yelped and scrambled to get away from it. He pushed Vincente back until they were about ten feet away.

  “Looks like a wolf.”

  “You think?” Vincente smacked Sacco in the head. “The question is, is it alive? And why did the Queen try to hit us with it?”

  “Well, it is big enough to take out the two of us if it hit right. Guess she missed.”

  “Maybe she wasn’t aiming for us at all.”

  “Do you want to debate this or shall we just get the heck out of here?”

  “Now, wait a minute.”

  “No, you wait…”

  “No, you wait…”

  “Hey, I am in charge here!”

  “Oh yeah, over my dead body!”

  Sacco and Vincente were too busy arguing to notice that the mound of fur was moving. They had no idea until they felt the hot breath on their faces.

  They turned their heads to the source and were staring directly at a mouth full of teeth.

  Shabb lifted his body to his full height and towered over the two of them. Sacco and Vincente froze, afraid to move.

  Shabb’s eyes glazed over and he collapsed.

  Vincente spoke very quietly “Okay, very slowly, back up. Don’t make a sound. Let’s get out of
here.” He started backing up but Sacco did not move.

  “Sacco, C’mon.”

  “No, just think about it. He knows we are here. If we don’t help him, he will track us down. If we help him, maybe he helps us like he already did.”

  “No way, he’s almost dead now. Let’s leave him and get out of here.”