Defenders of The Sacred Land: Book One of The Sacred Land Saga

by Tyson, Mark

  “Oh, what kind of trouble?” Gondrial asked.

  “We have something of a mystery brewing; I will explain it all to you as we journey to the east quarter tomorrow to shop for dry goods and load up the ale. This is neither the place nor the time to discuss it. Do you think you will be sober enough to accompany us by tomorrow morning?”

  “Is a sataflass a tree?” Gondrial stated.

  “No, Gondrial dear, a sataflass is actually a shrubbery,” Lady Shey said, rolling her eyes.

  “Oh, really?” Gondrial looked perplexed. “Are you certain?”

  “Aye, my drunken friend, quite certain.”

  Gondrial shook his head. “At any rate, I can accompany you just fine.”

  After supper, Dorenn thought it might be a good idea to get good night’s sleep. The next day was sure to be a long one, and he did not get any arguments from the tired party of travelers when he suggested that they should turn in early as well. Rodraq and Trendan walked back to the wagon to make sure it was secure, and they returned with the women’s personal bags. Tatrice, Sylvalora, and Lady Shey shared a room. Lady Shey made it clear that she would be keeping an eye out for mischief. Dorenn said goodnight to Tatrice and joined Rennon in their room. Trendan and Vesperin shared the room next to Dorenn. Rodraq and his men stayed in the room nearest the entrance to the hallway in order to keep an eye out for strangers. Symbor could sometimes be a dangerous place for traveling merchants.

  As Dorenn was getting into bed, he thought he heard the sound of a door opening to the next room. He could have sworn he heard Gondrial’s voice speaking to Vesperin and then footsteps tracking down the hallway. Dorenn wondered what Gondrial had said to Vesperin but not enough to prevent him from slipping into a deep, meditative sleep.

  Lady Shey hid in the shadows just beyond a hedge of trees near the guarded palace walls as Gondrial silently and skillfully stalked to her side. “I thought you would never get here! Where have you been?” she hissed.

  “Sorry, love, I thought you wanted to meet at your room, and I accidentally stumbled into that cleric, Vesperin.”

  “What! Did he question you?”

  “Of course he did. I get the feeling he trusts no one.” He paused a moment as Lady Shey stared at him. “Not to worry, I put him to sleep.” He pointed at his temple with an index finger.

  Lady Shey wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. “You could have ruined everything, you thickheaded dolt.”

  Gondrial smirked. “Name calling from such a pretty face, how tragic.”

  Lady Shey smiled in spite of her mood but quickly recovered her scowl. “Never mind. Put that guard to sleep.” She pointed at a lone guard standing watch at a single gate. “And I will open the gate.”

  Gondrial whispered a few words and the guard collapsed onto the ground. Lady Shey motioned with her hand, and the gate silently opened.

  “You should teach me that one day,” Gondrial whispered to her as they stealthily passed through the gate.

  “Only if you teach me how to cast that sleep spell,” she whispered back.

  “It’s a deal,” Gondrial said.

  “HALT! Who goes there?” a guard shouted as he rounded the eastern corner of the palace.

  Gondrial whispered a few words, and the guard collapsed. “There is a downside to not killing them, Shey dear, they will wake up and remember something amiss.”

  Lady Shey shrugged her shoulders. “They cannot see us clearly in the dark, and we will be long gone by the time they report the incident Nothing to worry about, Gondrial.” She opened a side door to the palace and grabbed Gondrial’s arm, pulling him forcibly in. “Now do try and stay quiet. If the floor plan you found is correct, it should be one room from the main hall to the library.”

  Gondrial stumbled behind Lady Shey. “It is dark in here.”

  “Find the door. It should be directly ahead of you,” Lady Shey said as she made her way carefully in the darkness. The room was small, and when Lady Shey reached the opposite door, she pulled it open. Inside she did not find a hallway. Instead, it was another room dimly lit by torches at either end. The new room was as wide as the room they were leaving, but it was much longer in length, and at the opposite end was an archway. At first, in the low light, they did not know exactly what they were seeing in the room. It appeared to be full of casket-like boxes lined three on top of each other and spanning the entire length of the room. Lady Shey let out a low gasp as she realized where they were.

  “Gondrial, I think we are in some sort of barracks. Where did you get these floor plans?”

  “I bought them from a corrupt guard in the marketplace.”

  “Gondrial, you fool, he sold you into a trap. Quickly turn around and let’s get out of here before we wake one of them.”

  Gondrial nodded and turned to go back the way they came, but barring the door loomed a dark figure. One of the guards stood directly in the open doorway with his arms crossed, staring intently at them.

  Gondrial straightened and cleared his throat. More of the off-duty palace guards rose from their slumber. “Well, this isn’t the way to the royal bath? Damn it, my lady, I think we took a wrong turn,” Gondrial lied.

  “Indeed, perhaps if we retrace our steps we will have better luck,” Lady Shey said, taking a step toward the open archway ahead. “Run, Gondrial!”

  The two ran in opposite directions as the stunned guards bolted after them. Gondrial managed to trick the guard at the doorway and escape into the night. Lady Shey made it through the archway and into the palace.

  “Summon the hounds!” bellowed a guard.

  Gondrial saw a hedge with a terrace reaching up to a second floor window. Thinking it easier to get inside the palace than to run to the gate, he deftly climbed the terrace, narrowly escaping capture by a searching guard close on his trail.

  Lady Shey slipped into a hallway located on the first floor and into a small room. Undiscovered, she waited patiently in the darkness until she could hear no activity outdoors or in the hallway before she slowly began to move about the room, looking for another side door. After a few moments, she held up her hand and let out a puff of breath, which formed into a soft, glowing ball hovering over her palm. Being careful not to let the light of the ball grow too bright, she shaded it in her palm, allowing it to become just bright enough for her to see her surroundings more clearly. She apparently had stumbled into a small, unfurnished anteroom. It was grey, dark, and devoid of anything but dust, a small window, and a side door. Lady Shey tried the side door and found it locked. She whispered a few words, and the lock gave an audible click as it gave way. Slowly Lady Shey moved her head out of the doorway and peered both ways. It was another hallway. Not a soul stirred, so she ventured out of the anteroom. The sconces lining the hallway were mostly unlit, and the rest glowed dimly. The small globe of light she carried gave way, and she dropped her hand to her side. She tried, but she could barely make out the patterns and mosaics on the tapestries lining the walls. Lady Shey could see a small oblong table with unlit candles in the shadows at the end of the hall. At the left end of the same hall was a set of double doors. She stepped out of the anteroom and tiptoed down the hall. She slowly pushed the two wooden doors open. By dumb luck she had stumbled upon the very room she was trying to find, the library.

  The king of Symboria’s library was a marvel to behold; the shelves of books lined two floors top to bottom with a spiral staircase on either side of the room. The woodwork of the room, crafted by Sylvan elves, was intricate and sleek. In the center of the room, a grand wooden table stood for the king to sit at and read. Several divans, covered in rich, red velvet with silk throw pillows, lined the rows between the bookshelves on both sides of the library. Six sconces lit the room with a soft yellow glow. Lady Shey knew approximately where the book she searched for was located, and she wasted no time making her way across the library to find it. It took only moments for her to locate the silver-bound volume, and she carefully removed it from its resting place on the shelf.<
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  “Damn,” she cursed to herself. “I forgot to check it for incantations! Careless of me.” She exited back into the hallway and held the book to her chest. As she headed back toward the anteroom, she heard the alarm sound outside in the courtyard. The guards were searching near her location. The situation had become more serious now. Lady Shey had to find a way out undetected. As the guards rushed around the interior of the castle, she exited through the anteroom window and slipped out of the unguarded side gate. Now safely in the streets, her thoughts reached out to Gondrial. She hoped he would try to escape and not try to get to the library on his own. She paused behind a shop to find out. She spoke a few words, and soon her mind’s eye raced back to the palace and directly to Gondrial. Lady Shey watched in horror as he kissed the queen deeply on the lips and exited her chamber, putting back on his button-down shirt in the process. The doorway to the king’s room across the hall burst open, and the king himself stepped out just in time to see Gondrial running down the hall. Infuriated, Lady Shey let the incantation die. “Let him get caught, the fool! I hope he does get caught and beheaded!” she huffed. “I was actually worried about him while he was safe and sound in the queen’s chamber. I am a dupe.” Not knowing if she was angry with Gondrial or with herself for caring, Lady Shey ran toward the inn with the book.

  Dorenn thought Lady Shey looked a bit unkempt as they ate breakfast. Her face appeared puffy and her eyes were red and swollen. Lady Shey, speaking in bursts of anger, would not say why she appeared so ragged. Sylvalora received the brunt of her foul mood by asking her where Gondrial had gone. Sylvalora and Tatrice decided to go shopping for dry goods without her.

  Dorenn and his companions went to the docks to load the ale as Lady Shey returned to her room with Rodraq and his men close behind.

  “I bet that scoundrel Gondrial is behind Lady Shey’s foul mood. I would bet my right eye on it,” Rennon speculated.

  “I don’t think so, Rennon. He seemed too drunk to bother with anything but sleeping it off last night. I think she must have had some trouble falling asleep. Perhaps you should give her a sleeping power tonight,” Dorenn said as the two young men climbed up onto the red wagon.

  “I will if she needs one,” Rennon replied, “but I still think it’s Gondrial.”

  Dorenn rolled his eyes. “All right, if you say so.”

  Vesperin chided Rennon. “I think Dorenn is right. She appeared to me as someone who had stayed up all night.”

  Rennon became irritated. “All right, if she is unable to sleep at night I will ask her if she wants a sleeping powder.”

  The four young men had no trouble finding the dock and loading the shipment of ale. After paying the dock master, they drove the wagonload of ale back to the Dragon’s Eye Inn and waited for Tatrice and Sylvalora to return with the dry goods. As midday approached, Tatrice and Sylvalora finally returned.

  After a quick midday meal, Sylvalora roused Lady Shey from a nap, and the party packed up in preparation for the return trip. Trendan began driving the second wagon with Vesperin at his side. Rennon and Dorenn remained on the red ale wagon, and Rodraq assumed the scouting duties. Lady Shey’s two guards took their place at the rear of the small caravan, and Lady Shey sat on the rear of the dry goods wagon with Tatrice and Sylvalora riding on the top support behind the driver. Dorenn’s merchant caravan entered the final gate check in the early afternoon where two gate guards inspected both wagons.

  Dorenn thought the guards had found something amiss on the dry goods wagon, but, after some talk, they waved both wagons onward, and the caravan moved out of the gate and back onto the main road home.

  “I wonder what was so interesting about the dry goods wagon,” Dorenn said to Rennon.

  “I cannot say, but as soon as we get a bit farther out of the city we will stop and check the wagon ourselves,” Rennon replied.

  Dorenn nodded his approval.

  Lady Shey climbed down from the back of the dry goods wagon, opened the door, and stepped inside, watching the city of Symbor slowly fade in the distance. She pulled the silver-bound tome from beneath her dress and held it to her bosom as thoughts of Gondrial entered her mind. Suddenly, she regretted leaving him at the castle, and she feared the worst. Her worry shifted to sadness. “Goodbye, Gondrial,” she said aloud. “I hope you made it out of the palace all right.” Then she remembered him kissing the queen and she became angry again.

  “Goodbye? But I just got here. Those guards almost found me until I distracted them.” Gondrial pushed a bag of beans off him and moved to sit on a crate next to Lady Shey.

  “Gondrial!” Lady Shey said with a start. Setting the book aside, she threw her arms around him and gave him a hug. Then she remembered she was still angry with him, and she pushed him back just before she slapped him squarely in the face.

  “What was that for?” Gondrial asked as he rubbed his stinging cheek.

  Lady Shey did not reply. Instead she hugged him warmly, and then followed her hug immediately with another slap in the face.

  Gondrial grasped Lady Shey’s arms. “Okay, now I’m confused, and I implore you to stop slapping me in the face, my lady.”

  Lady Shey took the book from the crate and turned her back to Gondrial.

  “I see you found the book we were after. I assumed you had since you neglected to meet me in front of the stables near the inn at the agreed time. I—”

  Lady Shey turned suddenly. “I know what you were doing while I was searching for this book, Gondrial. Do not make small talk with me!”

  Gondrial looked puzzled for a moment and then smiled. “My lady, surely you mistake what you saw. I am a gentleman after all.”

  “And just what is it that you think I saw, Gondrial? I haven’t given you any indication as of yet,” she said, tucking the book into a small chest beside the crate.

  For once, Gondrial was at a complete loss for words, and then, after a moment of thought, he spurted out, “What was it that you thought I was doing?”

  Lady Shey threw her hands into the air. “Oh, this is ridiculous!” she said before she climbed out onto the side step of the wagon.

  “Wait, Shey, wait!” Gondrial tried to stop her, but she would not hear him, and she climbed farther onto the side of the wagon, eventually sitting just behind Trendan and Vesperin. Gondrial tried to follow her, but she had kicked the door closed and it had jammed.

  Trendan looked behind him and wondered why Lady Shey had such a sour look on her face. “Is there something the matter, my lady?” he asked.

  “Gondrial is aboard the wagon. He was hiding in among the dry goods. I suppose he is coming back to Brookhaven with us after all,” she said bitterly.

  “So that’s why the guards almost searched us,” Trendan observed. “Why did he hide in the back of the wagon? We would have let him come along if he had asked.”

  “His presence displeases you, my lady?” Vesperin asked. “I should think you would be glad.”

  “No, not at all, Vesperin. I am glad.” Lady Shey shifted uncomfortably. “He should have let us know he was going to come with us is all, instead of stowing away.”

  Trendan shook his head. “Was he hiding from the guards for some reason?”

  Lady Shey briefly flashed on the image in her memory of Gondrial leaving the queen’s chamber. Her expression turned angry. “You know what? I do not feel like discussing the matter at the moment.”

  “Aye, my lady, sorry, my lady,” Vesperin said, facing forward.

  Lady Shey continued to stay in her melancholy mood even after Rodraq found a suitable place to stop for the night. After helping set up camp, she immediately retired for the evening into her tent and would see no one. Gondrial seemed indifferent about her irritation and denied involvement in her mood. Rennon was suspicious of Gondrial after he found out that he had stowed away on the wagon and began watching his every move.

  After they had secured camp, Vesperin departed to a nearby clearing to pray and meditate while Rodraq and his two guards
set up guard duty. Trendan selected wood from a nearby tree and practiced fletching a few arrows. Tatrice and Sylvalora busied themselves with supper. Dorenn had talked the two women into letting him select the menu for the evening. As the son of an innkeeper, he could not bring himself to eat another meal of dried meat, cheese, and beans. Therefore, he persuaded Tatrice and Sylvalora to let him cook, and he prepared a tasty meal consisting of flatbread, succulent cuts of beef with thick brown gravy, and fresh vegetables that Tatrice had purchased at the Symbor market. After the mealtime dishes were put away and the sun had set, they all turned in for the night.

  Rennon walked to Lady Shey’s tent with his bag of herbs and potions. “My lady, are you still awake?” he inquired timidly.

  “What do you want, Rennon?” Lady Shey asked irritably.

  “I have brought you a sleeping powder. It is a very mild powder, but it should help you fall asleep. Shall I brew it for you?”

  Lady Shey appeared out from the front of the tent. “I appreciate the thought, I do, but I do not need nor do I require a sleeping brew.” She smiled a thin smile. “Thank you, Rennon, but no.” She turned back into the tent, and Rennon shrugged his shoulders. “I will just leave a bit of the powder in a small bag by your tent should you change your mind,” he said as he placed a small bag from his pack beside the entrance to her tent. As he walked away, he stopped briefly and turned toward Lady Shey’s tent. He saw her arm reach out and take the small bag. Rennon smiled and then made his way back to his tent.

  Chapter 6: The Woods

  Dorenn awoke from a fitful sleep to the sound of chirping birds. He had gotten used to the soft bed at the inn, and his sleeping pallet required some getting used to. The camp was already alive with activity. The women were setting up for breakfast, and the men were packing the tents on the wagon.

  “Are you finally awake?” Trendan asked. “Tatrice is cooking breakfast, and this is the last tent to be packed. We should move out in less than an hour.”