Dryw Henge

by Jonathan Forth

  “Glad of it. It was about time someone stepped up and took a little more responsibility here at the castle.”

  Dorf turned round in surprise. Both Sumnar and Urien said they’d never seen him look so relieved.

  “Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes. You are most welcome back to the castle. Most welcome.” And he embraced the two of them.

  *

  The train of supply carts were meandering along the tracks. Perhaps twenty in total carrying salted beef, dried fish, flour, beans, fruits, dates and spices. They had been travelling for almost a month from the port to the east of Lumines. Vane had established his centre of trade with the southern lands and now maintained his supply lines from the port. There was perhaps a unit of one hundred men guarding the train on both horseback and foot.

  “I’ll be pleased when we get these delivered and we can head back on our way. I’m sure the supplies will be welcome for the troops but I’m always wary of being ambushed. And being the first cart, it’s you and me that always get the first arrow in the chest.

  “Bandits always have to make a statement. Let people know they mean business. So, they shoot the drivers in the first and last carts. Causes maximum confusion and blocks everyone in. If we don’t surrender we all just get gradually picked off one by one.

  “I know we have plenty of guards but I still keep a plate under my shirt when I’m driving.” He tapped the metal under his tunic with his knuckles just to check it was still there.

  They headed down a narrow gorge with steep sides. Rocks protruded from the sides where the soil had been washed away by rain. Tree roots burst from beneath trees that clung to the upper edge of the ravine.

  “Actually, this is the perfect spot for an ambush!” he joked.

  Just at which moment Prince Aron stepped up on a large boulder that was blocking the exit of the gorge.

  “Crap, me and my big mouth.”

  The driver yanked on the reins of the horses, which were daydreaming as they plodded along, and complained bitterly about suddenly being pulled up. The driver dived into the cart behind him and peered up from among the turnips.

  A Gamuran horseman rode up to the front.

  “Driver you’d better have a damn good reason for… Oh!” he said seeing Prince Aron who was still stood on the boulder and pointing his arrow directly at him.

  “I am Captain Ulger of the Horde. I would think very carefully about your intentions here. This food is destined for the Horde at Ampheus. If you intend anything other than a casual wave or perhaps a jovial ‘good day gentlemen’ I have a hundred men here who will run you through and deal with any other ragtag bandits that you may have in your employ. Think very carefully about who you are dealing with.”

  The Prince stood and placed his hand on his chin. Clearly, he was in fact giving this a great deal of thought.

  “Unfortunately there is a tariff for passing through this gorge.”

  The captain sighed. “Are all Terramians fools? Never mind, what is it?”

  “Well for twenty carts,” the Prince counted them, “the tariff is twenty-two carts. So you better get another one and then you can pass. Of course you need to leave the carts and their contents here.”

  “That makes no sense at all,” replied the captain.

  “Oh, you’re not even going to negotiate.”

  “How about you let us through and I’ll not stick your head on a spike?”

  “I don’t feel we are coming to an amicable solution here. Twenty-two carts and everything in your pockets.”

  “I’ll stick your head on a spike and feed your rotting innards to pigs.”

  “Again, you are not very good at this. In which case we’ll just take the carts and you can walk the rest of the way.”

  “You and whose army?”

  “Well there is me… And him,” Aland stepped up on the boulder next to Aron.

  “And them!” The Terramians advanced up to the edge of the gorge. Perhaps two hundred of them shoulder to shoulder all pointing arrows at the Gamuran.

  “This is an outrage!” cursed the captain. “We will hunt you down and wreak vengeance on you and your bandit filth.”

  “Sure, sure,” smiled Aron. “First drop your weapons, empty your pockets, take off your tunics, trousers and boots and go and stand by the wall of the gorge.”

  As the Prince’s men turned around the carts and drove them to Windfell Woods the Prince stood in front of the scantily clad Horde.

  “So please sit down and make yourselves comfortable. You’ll be here for a couple of hours until we cover our tracks. So here is my tuppence worth. And you can take it or leave it. I think you have two options. My experience with Vane as he now calls himself is that anyone who fails his bidding will end up with his head on a pike. If you return to his army at Ampheus it is the fate you will likely endure. You will have the pleasure of serving as an example to the rest of his men. If you turn around and go back to Aquamura you may live.

  “Now if you do go to Ampheus and you have the chance to speak before your head and body are separated from each other permanently, tell Vane that Prince Aron and his men will be harrying and harassing his supply chains. Nothing will get through to Ampheus. Let his men drink fetid water and eat stale rotted food. Let them starve from insufficient rations.

  “We will be eating beef stew, fish broth and roasted vegetables until our stomachs are full and we can belch contentedly before taking a nap.”

  After two hours most of the Horde returned the way they came. The captain and two of his men made their way along the track to Ampheus.

  *

  Those travelling to Celestina had made camp on the Midland Plains. The night sky was clear and the moon shone brightly such that you could see grey impressions of rift valleys and craters reflected in the dust of the planet’s surface. The Midland Plains were flat, a wide expanse of course grass and rocky outcrops that stretched for leagues. Not much lived here so apart from the human noises and the sound of the odd insect, it was eerily silent.

  “Wow, griffins and gargoyles,” said Ailin. “That would be something to behold. That’s quite a story, Gulden. Certainly an adventure.”

  “I can ride a griffin,” said Mia. “And led a cavalry charge into the Horde army. I definitely think I deserve the last piece of rabbit.”

  The group were sitting around a small fire on the Midland Plains having made good progress to Celestina.

  “What about me?” said Ailin. “I battled bandits, evaded Janshai, climbed through an ice gorge and fought Gorath. I think that tops everything.”

  Halle started to use her sign language.

  Ailin nodded, “Halle can turn into a wolf and ravage all of us to death with her ferocious fangs.”

  “That’s a very persuasive argument if ever I’ve heard one,” chuckled Raisa.

  Halle smiled sweetly at them all, grasped the last chicken leg and started nibbling on it.

  “It was probably not far from here that we first engaged the gargoyles. Frankly we had no idea what hit us, it was as if we were simply being picked off by invisible demons. We lost a lot of men and horses those first few days without knowing what foe we faced.

  “I think we should be safer this time as Vane will not have his spies informing on us. Unlike before he will not be aware of our journey and hence will have no reason to track us. That said there could be Janshai or gargoyles patrolling the plains so we should stay alert and watch for trouble.”

  “The first sentries will guard their quadrants till midnight. Each quadrant has a pair of sentries and bows. Any shadow that blurs the stars and they will raise an alarm. It’s exactly the same defence that you used to good effect after you knew what you were dealing with,” added Ailin.

  Mia stepped away from the group and looked into the distance, towards Celestina.

  Gulden followed her. �
��How are you faring?”

  “I fear for my people, the children and my mother.

  “I know my mother, she would have stood up to anyone invading the city. It was her way, but also her responsibility as an Elder. From what we know of the Black Wizard, it breaks my heart, but I suspect she has fallen.

  “Parents would have led the children to the catacombs. It is always a contingency if Celestina comes under threat. There are provisions there but three weeks is a long time. They will be suffering from a lack of daylight and there is always a chance they are discovered. My hope is the Janshai will not be too thorough in their searches of the city.

  “Else, where would be the inspiration to rebuild Celestina if the future, our children have been taken from us?”

  “But for now at least we can hope.” Gulden put his arm around Mia and she rested her head on his shoulder as they stood there in silence.

  *

  Vane and the Janshai had returned to Ampheus. He stood outside his pavilion looking down on the castle standing next to the Black Wizard.

  The clouds in the sky above were dark and foreboding. The wind, seemingly incessant, whipped at their hair and cloaks.

  “Well we are ready once more. The battle for Ampheus will begin in earnest.”

  The Black Wizard nodded, “Though why anyone would want this god forsaken rock fortress I will never know. Does the sun never shine here?”

  Vane grimaced, “It is a symbol. A symbol of the pride of men. A testimony to generations of kings. Imposters, pretenders to my throne. I will take it back. I will break the will of man here and the rest of the realms will follow.”

  “Lord, now you have the four totems you have the power to destroy the city. Why wait, why not do it now?”

  Vane turned to look at him, “Because I want to undermine the resolve of Terramis stone by stone. I don’t want them to die by an invisible hand. I want them to feel hope gradually slip through their fingers as their fortress is undermined and they watch their comrades fall one by one around them. I want their courage to ebb and wane. Till there is none.”

  Vane raised his staff and swept it across the length of Ampheus. His brow furrowed as he strained with the effort. The air shimmered around the castle’s walls and turrets, and then dispersed.

  “With Saturnus gone his mark on this world will diminish with time. For now it still remains strong. It is not easy to remove his spells. But not impossible. Send a ball of fire at one of the turrets.”

  The Black Wizard rolled his palms in the air creating a flicker, a spark of fire. He then leant back and cast his hand forward. The flame emboldened, hissing and fizzing, drawing energy until bursting into an explosion of flames as it hit one of the castle’s turrets. Boulders and tiles exploded, rupturing a hole in the turret and casting the bricks onto the buildings and streets below. Cries of panic could be heard from the city as its residents and soldiers dived for cover.

  “What the hell was that?” asked Dorf.

  Sumnar looked up sensing a change, “Saturnus’s protection spell over the city has been removed. Ampheus is now but bricks and mortar once more.”

  “Bricks and mortar maybe,” said Urien, “but its foundations run deep into the rocks bound to the core of the earth. Its walls are thick and strong. The boulders solid and heavy. It’ll still take a mighty blow to tear them down, that we can be sure of.”

  “Bring forward the trebuchet,” cried Vane.

  The machines, perhaps fifty feet high, were gradually rolled into position, pulled by the rippling muscles of elifants that leant into the rope harnesses and slowly advanced the trebuchet into place. They roared with the effort and exertion as they were whipped forward to the beat of drums in the background.

  The machines were huge wooden structures reinforced by metal and rope. Its handlers yanked down the long arm that was connected to the stocky base of the trebuchet, and lifted large rocks into the slings attached by leather straps to the beams.

  “Fire at will!”

  The trebuchet were released sending the arm flinging around its central axle, rotating to release the sling and propelling its contents towards Ampheus. Its towers were dented, dust and mortar burst from the walls.

  The handlers pulled on the ropes to bring tension to the counterweight once more, pulling it into place ready to fire again.

  Chapter 18

  The Lost Valley

  Sumnar, Dorf and Urien ran to the battlements. The noise of the blows from the rocks hitting the city shuddered through its walls.

  “Man the ballistas,” cried Sumnar. “Target the trebuchet. Let’s see if we can’t take a few of them out.”

  “Well, looks like the battle for Ampheus has finally begun in earnest.”

  Vane turned to his general, “Keep pummelling the castle. All hours, day and night. I don’t want them to be able to eat, drink or sleep without feeling Ampheus shake to its very foundations.

  “And fetch Armanar.”

  With that he stepped back into his pavilion.

  The tent parted and two Janshai jostled King Armanar whose wrists were bound behind his back into the pavillion. He twisted and turned to fight the grip of the two men that held him. Though they staggered under the might of his strength they just managed to hold him. Finally, they threw him down to the ground in front of where Vane sat on a large wooden armchair. King Armanar got his footing underneath him and brought himself up to his knees. He spat blood on the floor from his mouth where one of the Janshai had elbowed him in the face.

  “Undo my bonds and we’ll see whether you are brave enough to take a cheap shot again,” he snarled at the Janshai.

  “So, the mighty King Armanar falls here at my feet. All that misplaced confidence and arrogance you showed to Gorath. You are now weak and powerless. You would be wise to hold your tongue. You are but a speck of dust in the passage of time whereas I am ancient beyond your comprehension.”

  “Try me, at least I did not crawl out from some putrid cesspool from the depths of Dern.”

  Armanar’s body lurched in pain as Vane raised his hand, crunching his fingers and squeezing and crushing the King’s body. He released him and Armanar slumped to the ground. “Do not vex me King of Terramis or I will wring the life out of you.”

  At that point the tent opened again and two men scuttled into the pavilion again accompanied by Janshai.

  “Lord, it looks like one of our supply trains was ambushed. The carts and provisions stolen by Terramian rebels. We have no idea where they came from but we can’t afford our provisions to be interrupted.”

  “What do you have to say for yourselves?”

  “We had little choice. They perhaps had two hundred bowmen. They were following the orders of Prince Aron.”

  “There is always a choice. But you have earnt a reprieve by reporting this to me. Would you be able to find your way back to where the ambush happened?”

  “Yes Lord.”

  “General, take a detachment of Janshai. Track this bunch of renegades and wipe them out.”

  “So,” said King Armanar. “Your plan is slowly unravelling, piece by piece. You cannot rule by threats and fear. You may kill a man, but another will step up and take his place.”

  “It is of no consequence. I will deal with them one by one.”

  “Why? What is it you want? What did we do that made you hate this world such?”

  “I would not expect you to understand. I was once of a people proud and strong. We just wanted a place for ourselves. A home. Stood against us was another power that fought us for supremacy of this world. Not right or wrong. Simply opposing forces that could not live in harmony with each other. We defeated the Tutaim but they pleaded to the Creator to help them, and she did, tipping the balance in the favour of the Tutaim.

  “My tribe was cast forever to wander the wilderness. In desolation and the wretched
ness of our despair we fell one by one until there were only two of us left, the last of a once proud tribe. We had a child and it succumbed to an illness and was lost to us. My wife in misery and grief never recovered. She mourned, cried and in sorrow the life faded from her.

  “In isolation, the last of my kind, I was forced to live a lonely existence. Walking the earth alone. It was then that I found the Quintessence Totem. I embraced it as it embraced me, our beings slowly moulded together until as my physical body wasted and died, my being was absorbed into the totem.

  “We lay lost, forgotten, until one day I discovered a mind, amplified by the intensity of the Fire Totem. And I called out to that being. A being also disillusioned and in despair. He came to me and gave himself to the power of the quintessence and to myself. And I overwhelmed his weak spirit and took hold of this body.

  “I was reborn again.”

  “But what happened to Gorath?”

  “Perhaps he is in this body somewhere, but he has diminished with time. A husk, a prisoner within his own body.”

  “And Leo?”

  “Is that not obvious? Even with quintessence this body is decaying and dying. I had to find a new form for my spirit to continue for the next generations. I found a mind, more complex than most, more in tune with the rhythms of the world around him. The sort of mind that would channel the force of the quintessence and allow me to meld the two bodies and transfer from one form to the next.

  “I sent my disciples to find the boy and ready him to receive my spirit.”

  “And what would happen to the boy?”

  “Like Gorath, he would still be in his body, but overwhelmed by my presence he will fade and diminish.”

  “You are barbaric.”

  “It is no more than the fox taking the mouse, the bear catching the salmon.”

  “You are wrong, you are imprisoning someone in their own body for an eternity. Unable to have a will of their own. I would rather die.”

  “It is what it is. We will find the boy again and I will live anew in his being.