by Philip Blood
"The watch calls two!” they heard faintly. From somewhere further it was repeated, as the hourly proclamation of time circulated through the city.
"It's two bells; we have only one hour until the attack begins. How fast can we get to the Seat?" Aerin asked.
Lor appraised him a moment. "Fifteen minutes, but I must detour and get shoes and clothes; I cannot travel the High Road barefoot."
"How long will it take you?" Aerin prompted.
"We'll be outside the wall in twenty minutes," Lor decided.
"All right, go, I’ll stay here until you return. Dono, you and I need to retrieve our shoes. We will have to sneak back to where we left them near the church entrance.”
Dono nodded resignedly and the two boys headed down the street with Dono in the lead. Lor took off in another direction, at a swift run.
There was no commotion to show anything had been amiss when they reached the street where they had left their shoes. After sneaking along the side of the street to where their shoes were, Dono and Aerin quickly put them back on.
“Go, Dono, tell Mara what we know!" Aerin urged, and Dono took off at a run.
Aerin returned to meet Lor and lost a year's growth when Lor dropped out of the darkness next to him in the alley. The street boy was wearing old clothes, mostly too small for him, but at least he had a well-worn pair of shoes.
"Come on, be careful and follow me exactly," Lor cautioned, climbing up the side of the building.
Aerin swallowed hard, but he followed the agile Lor up the rough blocks of the stone wall. They seemed to climb forever, but eventually, they reached the rooftops.
"This way, come," Lor said, running across the rooftops toward the distant structure of the Seat of Stone.
Aerin followed as best he could, and Lor kept giving advice on how to move as they went.
When they reached the outer walls of the Seat, Lor stopped and crouched on the rooftop of the building across from the legendary fortress.
"How much time do you think we still have?" Aerin asked, out of breath from their run.
Lor estimated a moment. "I think it must be passed the half, we took longer than I anticipated getting here."
He didn't add that it was because Aerin had slowed him; he didn't need to since they both knew it.
"The guards at the gate are likely the traitors since they are to open the gates for the invaders. I guess that means we will have to sneak inside somehow," Aerin reasoned.
Lor’s voice was calm as he said, "You know that it is the death penalty to enter the Seat of Stone without leave?"
Aerin looked stricken. "Death?"
"Yes, and they mean it. You still want to do this?"
Aerin swallowed hard. "Yes, I will not allow these horrid creatures to kill anyone else when I can put a stop to it."
Lor smiled. "Just checking; fine then, we go over the wall… there!” he exclaimed, pointing to a place two buildings down the street.
"How?" Aerin asked.
"It's easier to show you, but just remember who wanted to go in," Lor exclaimed as he ran off toward the indicated building roof.
They reached the roof and Lor went to the tall flagpole that was mounted in the center. "Give me a hand here; we need to lift this pole from the holder."
Both boys grasped the four-inch diameter pole and lifted for all they were worth, slowly they got it up until the bottom cleared the holder, but then they lost it. The pole came falling down and Aerin had to leap clear.
"Somebody inside has to have heard that!" Aerin exclaimed after the pole landed on the rooftop with a loud wooden thump.
Lor shrugged. "Perhaps; but this is a store, and it is closed until morning, so perhaps we might be lucky." Lor quickly went to the pole and removed the rope that had run to the pulley at the top. Then he started dragging the pole toward the roof edge, "Come on, we have to shove the pole across to the wall!"
"What good will that do? The fortress walls are higher than this building; we'll never lift it that high, even if it would reach!" Aerin complained.
"Stop griping, we don't have to reach the top, trust me," Lor explained.
They started shoving the pole across the intervening gap. Luckily it wasn't far to the fortress wall, as the city had expanded until buildings had crowded the outer wall of the fortress. The fortress walls were higher, though, so the pole could not reach the top.
"Aim for that protrusion… no, more to the right!" Lor said pointing. "Now push!” he added, and they managed to get the end of the pole on the flat piece of block that projected about two inches from the main wall. The pole was now suspended across the street to the wall and lay on the thin ledge of the projecting stone about fifteen feet below the top of the wall.
Aerin looked at the pole dubiously. "You don't expect me to swing hand over hand across this, do you? For one, it would make the pole come loose, and I'd fall to the street, and second, once I'm there I'd be stuck. Other than that one projecting stone I don't see how you could climb up the rest of that smooth wall."
Lor smiled at him, "No, what I expect you to do is hand me that piece of wood right there," he said, pointing at a yard long piece of wood about two inches by two inches thick. "And now I expect you to get down to the street level and get over near the wall just below the pole."
"I can do that," Aerin agreed, "then what's the plan?"
Lor was pulling off his shoes, which he slipped into pockets on either side of his tunic. "Then I'll drop this rope to you, tie it on and I'll help you climb up... got it?” he asked, winding the rope around his waist.
"But how..." Aerin started to ask just as Lor stepped up on top of the pole with his bare feet.
Aerin's eyes grew round in surprise. "Are you NUTS, you can't..."
Lor looked back at him smugly. "Don't ever tell me what I can't do." Then he walked out over the drop smoothly moving across the pole while holding his piece of wood horizontal before him for balance. He moved slowly yet continuously so as not to make the pole bob around and dislodge itself from the precarious place it rested on the fortress wall.
Aerin watched entranced, the pole bent as Lor reached the middle, but held. If Lor had not been so slim it would surely have bowed too much and fallen from its position on the wall.
Aerin suddenly realized that he was watching Lor when he should be getting down to the street, so he went to the side of the building where a series of ledges allowed him to climb down. He nearly slipped twice and skinned his ankle once, but he managed to make it to the ground. As soon as he reached the other side of the street, and looked up to check Lor’s progress, a thin rope fell down beside him, nearly hitting him in the face.
Aerin looked up and could see that the rope came from the very top of the wall, and Lor’s face was looking down at him, his hand giving him a come-hither wave. He gave the rope a strong pull to see if it would hold, and then tied it to his belt and started climbing. Four times he came to places where there was no way to climb and Lor would manage to pull him up enough so that he could start climbing on his own again. Lor's hands grabbed him and pulled him between two merlons of the parapets at the top. Both of them were breathing hard from their exertions and they sat down with their backs to the parapet wall to regain their breath.
"How..." Aerin started to ask, then saw the board caught between two of the parapet towers, the rope tied off in the middle. "Ah, you threw that up here until it caught, then climbed the rope."
Lor nodded. "I couldn't have thrown it all the way from the bottom, so the pole got me close enough."
Aerin got to his feet and held out a hand for Lor to grab. "Come on, it must nearly be three A.M., we have to get to someone."
Lor grabbed hold and Aerin hoisted him to his feet.
A tower bell suddenly rang, much louder this time since the boys were only yards away. It rang out three times and then the voice of a watchman called out the third hour.
"Oh no," Aerin exclaimed, "we're too late!"
"No, call it ju
st in time; come on!" Lor ran along the top of the wall toward the barracks ahead.
As they neared the center of the wall they could see large dark shapes brandishing weapons pouring into the courtyard below.
There was a watch bell mounted from a crosspiece in the wall near them, the rope trailed down so it could be rung from below. Lor grabbed it and started the bell swinging and ringing loudly.
Aerin began yelling with his hands cupped around his mouth, “Togroths in the Seat, to arms, to arms!"
Lights flared up within the barracks as lamps were lit, and then the first of the Togroths reached the doors.
Aerin heard the sound of swords meeting swords from within the barracks.
Something flew by Aerin's head, and then another one struck the wall behind them; Aerin saw a short barbed Togroth arrow on the stones.
"They're shooting at us, Lor, run for it!" Aerin yelled. Together they ran down the wall toward an open doorway into the main Keep. A few arrows struck around them as they ran.
They found themselves in a long hallway that was decorated with tapestries and suits of armor; it was empty at the moment.
"Where to?" Lor asked.
"I don't know, but we should get out of here now that we've given the alarm."
"At last, sanity has returned! I was starting to wonder about you, my good friend," Lor exclaimed with a grin. "We need another rope so we can go over the wall and fade into the city."
Lor finished speaking just as a pack of three Togroths pounded up the wide stairway that led to this hallway. The boys slid to a halt on the smooth floor and the tableau held for a moment. Then with one shared look of panic, the two boys turned and ran back the way they had come. Lor was soon ahead, slightly outdistancing Aerin.
Human yells and Tog barks came from behind them and the sounds of fighting commenced, loyal Guardsmen had engaged the Togroths.
Ahead of the boys, two Guardsmen came into the hallway with their swords out. They had come from the wall where the boys had first rung the bell.
"Thank Gedin!" Lor exclaimed. "Guardsmen, there are Togroths in the Keep! We gave the alarm, but they cut off our escape. Be aware that some of the Guardsmen at the gate are traitors..." Lor's voice trailed off with sudden suspicion.
One bearded Guardsman glanced at the other and some communication passed between them. When his gaze returned to Lor he suddenly raised his sword up across his body and brought it down in a backhanded slash toward Lor's throat.
With a yelp of surprise, Lor dove into a forward somersault that took him under the slash of the sweeping sword; he rolled on one shoulder and bounced to his feet. He grabbed the polearm off the suit of armor along the wall and heaved it like a spear at the false Guardsman.
Aerin opened one of the side doors and yelled to Lor, "Quickly, in here!"
Lor needed no further urging as he ran for the open door. The false Guardsman dodged the pole arm and then both men pursued the boys. Aerin slammed the door in the men's face, and Lor slammed down the crossbeam with a loud, "TH-wack!"
The two scared boys looked around the sealed chamber for an exit, but it held only a table and a chair. There were no windows and the door through which they had entered was the only way in or out.
The door shuddered with a heavy ‘thud’ as the bodies of the two traitorous Guardsmen hit; they were doing their best to break in the door.
"They want us dead! We're the ones who know some of the Guardsmen are traitors!" Aerin exclaimed as the truth hit him.
"Great, and there's no way out of here," Lor complained. He was standing in the center of the room and spinning around, “and that door isn't going to hold, that crossbeam isn't very thick!"
Aerin spotted a very small opening in the wall and ran over. "Look it's a dumb waiter! If we can fit..."
"I'll fit," Lor proclaimed, but then he paused. "You first," he told Aerin bravely.
"No, I'm bigger than you are; I might get stuck so you should go first."
Lor shrugged and backed his rear into the wooden box and then pulled in his legs, head and arms; it was a tight fit.
Aerin pulled the ropes sending Lor down the dark shaft. He did not go too far before the rope stopped, a moment later the dumb waiter was coming back up, propelled by Lor pulling the ropes from below.
Aerin could hear the wood splintering behind him as the door weakened. The dumbwaiter box arrived and he duplicated Lor's entry into the box. When he had wedged himself into the box as far as possible he yelled down to Lor, "Pull the rope!"
The box started to move, but Aerin's projecting knees struck the edge of the opening, halting the progress.
In the room, he heard the snapping of the wood as the crossbeam broke.
"Pull!” he yelled as best he could and then exhaled to make himself smaller and pulled his knees in with all his strength.
Lor pulled for all he was worth. Aerin clenched his teeth as he tried not to breathe. He felt his knees scraping along the walls, but the box started down. He gasped in a desperate breath as soon as he felt his knees reach the welcome opening of the room below. Letting his sore knees unbend was heaven.
"Gedin's breath, you had me worried!" Lor exclaimed.
"You were worried, I was scared to death," Aerin admitted. He headed for the kitchen door. "We're not out of here yet, but I'll tell you one thing, I won't forget those traitor’s faces as long as I live!"
They ran through two deserted kitchen chambers and then out through a dining hall. Eventually, they reached a hallway where a few people were moving around. A man with bushy eyebrows and dressed in robes was calling for calm. He spotted them and bellowed, "Who are those boys?"
Aerin and Lor ran the opposite direction, and after two turns down different hallways, they finally got out of sight for a minute. They found a set of stairs and started up when, nearby, they heard someone's voice call for help; it was a young voice.
"Did you hear that? It came from this way," Aerin noted.
Lor grabbed him by the arm, "And just who do you think you are, a NexLord? In case you hadn’t noticed, WE’RE the ones who need help!"
Aerin shrugged free, and said, "Come on, we can at least check it out!" He started toward where the voice had come from.
Muttering about dead heroes, Lor followed.
Ahead they heard the sound of running feet coming their way.
“In here!” Lor exclaimed while opening a nearby door, which was luckily unlocked. They got inside swiftly.
The hoarse bellow of a Togroth calling some command echoed down the hallway from the direction of the footsteps.
"Close the door!" Lor demanded of Aerin in a terrified voice.
But Aerin held up his hand, "Wait..."
The last person Aerin expected to see in the hall came around the corner at a run. Aerin was momentarily shocked, but he recovered and jumped out in time to grab the fleeing Darel by his robe, which scared the white-faced boy nearly to death.
"Whoa, it's me, Aerin! What are you doing here?” he asked his friend Darel.
"Togroths!" Darel exclaimed in a frightened and out of breath voice, pointing the way from which he had just come.
Aerin pulled him inside the room and closed the door hurriedly.
Being in the room did nothing to lesson Darel's fear; he grabbed Aerin by the front of the boy's tunic. "They're searching the rooms one by one; eventually, they’ll find us in here!"
Lor was frowning at Darel darkly but said nothing.
Aerin didn't see Lor’s frown, he was too busy figuring out how to get away from the approaching beasts.
A nearby red tablecloth caught his eye. "Quick, we need a knife!"
Lor produced one as though out of thin air.
Aerin grabbed the knife and quickly slashed three triangles of red material from the tablecloth and then he pulled his sweater off and threw it to Darel. "Put that on, they've seen you and I want you to look different." He quickly attached a red triangle to each of their chests as best he could, and then pulle
d open the door.
"Come on, and whatever you do don't run from them, do what I do," Aerin ordered.
The other two boys looked at him strangely but followed him out of the room.
"I sure hope you know what you're doing because..." Darel started to say when the six Togroth beasts ran around the corner behind them.
Aerin turned and made sure the red triangle showed on his breast. "The heir went that way; he took the stairs upwards to the barracks area, so hurry, Mumand commands!” then he pointed with a fully extended arm toward the way to the stairs.
Lor swallowed, and then pointed the same direction as Aerin.
Darel, not knowing what else to do, stayed somewhat behind Aerin and pointed as well.
One Togroth started toward the boys, and Aerin nearly ran, but another beast grabbed the advancing Togroth and barked something, and then the brutes turned and lumbered down the hallway in the direction the boys were pointing.
As they went out of sight Darel sagged against Aerin. "Gedin take me, I think I'm going to throw up. I've never been so scared."
Lor shook his head and smiled at Aerin, "You have some nerve, don't you?"
Aerin shrugged, "It worked didn't it?"
Then a silky voice spoke from behind them. "It won't work on us, boy."
Aerin whirled around only to be confronted by the priest Malachai. Accompanying him were the same two traitorous Guardsmen that had nearly cornered Aerin and Lor in the room upstairs.
The boys started to back away, but the Guardsmen lifted short bows knocked with arrows.
"Now, now, boys, not leaving the party, are we?" Malachai asked in a voice that at any other time might have sounded pleasant, but in this fright-filled moment, it was blood chilling. Aerin felt the same sudden hatred for his friends starting to affect him, as it had in the basements of the church.
Into the cold silence following the priest's words a new voice spoke, surprising everyone present. "Hello, Chai E'tan," Mara's low-pitched voice spoke conversationally from the stairway, she stepped out into sight, her hands inside the sleeves of her gray robe. Yearl, with his two sticks in hand and Tocor holding his gray staff stepped out to flank the old woman.
