by Jess Lebow
Behind the portcullis, a set of huge wooden doors, banded together with iron, swung open. Liam imagined it would take an elephant, or perhaps a pair of them, to knock them down. He could honestly say they were the largest doors in Duhlnarim. Hells, they were the largest doors he’d seen in his whole life.
Captain Beetlestone shoved Liam with the butt of his sword. The pointed metal dug into his back and Liam lurched forward through the opening. He had never been inside Zerith Hold before. This had always been the prize the Crimson Awl had coveted. He could hear Ryder’s words echo in his head. “When the time is right, we will storm the gates and kill the oppressive bastards inside.”
Liam had always believed those words. But he could see it was going to be a lot harder than they had imagined.
Just inside the front gate, the stone walls were lined with archer’s ports—murder slits, Liam had heard them called. As he was marched by, he could see that even now they were manned. Past the entryway, the front courtyard was built exclusively to repel invaders. An open staging ground filled most of the space between the stone walls, but there were raised platforms, perches for more archers, arranged around the edges. From his vantage point, Liam thought you could likely station thirty, maybe forty men on these platforms. Anyone entering this killing field would be surrounded, faced with arrows from all sides.
Across the open courtyard, Beetlestone shoved Liam from behind again, forcing him to follow the other guardsmen up a shallow flight of stone stairs. At the top was another doorway. This one, though not as grand as the portcullis and monolithic wooden doors they’d just passed through, would likely hold out against any invading force the Awl could muster.
The double doors were manned by four fully armed soldiers. As Liam and his escorts approached, the guards separated, two on each side, and pulled the doors open. The huge iron hinges made a grinding noise, not the complaint of a rarely used mechanism suddenly having to work after a long rest, but simply from shouldering the burden of a heavy weight.
Liam was ushered inside through an opulent entry hall and up another flight of stone stairs, these covered with a fine red rug. It was like nothing he’d ever seen. Paintings of regal-looking men and woman lined the walls. Treasures of all kinds filled nooks and decorated tables. Suits of antiquated armor, relics from past wars and from foreign nations, stood motionless along the wide hallways. The spoils of war were arrayed in every possible location—a strong word of warning to visiting dignitaries.
At the top of a final flight of stairs, Liam’s entourage came to one last set of doors. Unlike the others they had encountered, these were small and unguarded. The dark wood was polished to a high shine, and the ornate brass doorknobs shone brightly in the late afternoon sun.
Captain Beetlestone pushed the doors open, and Liam was ushered into a large, well-appointed room. There were tables and chairs situated in little clusters all about, as if the primary use for this room were for small groups of people to carry on intimate conversations. On the opposite side of the room was another, single door. It was closed.
In the corners, each partially hidden by a tall wooden bookshelf, stood four well-disciplined soldiers. They wore white capes, closed at the front. Their shoulders were adorned with golden embroidery, and their helmets had what appeared to be silver-etched runes running along their edges. All of them had their heads bowed. From this distance, Liam couldn’t tell what sorts of weapons they carried. Their capes covered everything.
Though they were tucked away behind the furniture, they didn’t appear to Liam as if they were trying to stay out of view. On the contrary, they seemed to be stationed in easy sight of the front door and the windows along the far wall. Anyone entering the chamber would see—and be seen by—them.
Unlike the guards who had escorted Liam from his home, these ones were oddly different. They stood stock still, each in his place, not seeming to care about the events unfolding before them. They stared, eyes to the floor, as if they were golems waiting patiently for their orders.
Captain Beetlestone produced a pair of manacles and held them out before Liam. “Keep your wrists together,” he said, “and this won’t even hurt.”
Liam glanced again at the guardsmen. Deciding it was a good idea to follow the captain’s instructions, he lifted his arms, placing his wrists together. “If I’d known your dungeon was this nice, I would have given myself up long ago.”
Beetlestone smirked. “And if I’d known you were such a pansy, I would have come to collect you before now.” He finished clasping the irons around Liam’s wrists, then he slapped him on the back of the head.
Liam stumbled forward a step. “That was uncalled for.”
Beetlestone cuffed him again, forcing Liam to one knee. “So was that,” said the veteran soldier. Then he turned toward the door. “Come on, boys,” he said, addressing the other guardsmen. “We’ll leave him to Lord Purdun.” The captain led his men out of the room.
“Stupid bastard,” Liam said under his breath. “Some day it’ll be my turn.”
The door closed and latched as they left.
Liam lifted himself back to his feet and took in the furnishings. The walls were lined with shelves, and the shelves were choked with books. Liam was struck with a sense of awe. He could count the number of books he’d read in his lifetime on one hand. Hells, if the baron wanted to lock him in here for the next few years, it would be all right with Liam. He’d be the best-read farmer in all of Erlkazar.
He took a few steps toward the nearest shelf and fingered a leather-bound tome. He hesitated before lifting it out, watching to see if one of the guards was going to stop him.
Not one of the cloaked figures budged.
Liam shrugged. Guess they don’t consider me a threat to their reading material, he thought.
The book he picked up was entitled The Life and Times of Grooble Stonepate. Liam opened the cover to find a poorly drawn sketch of a rather goofy-looking dwarf. Liam hadn’t had many encounters with dwarves. Though it wasn’t uncommon to see them doing business or passing through Duhlnarim, very few of them chose to make it their home. Those who did had a tendency to keep to themselves. But even so, Liam knew enough to tell that whoever drew this picture of Grooble Stonepate was either a very poor artist or had even less knowledge about dwarves than he did.
Closing the cover, he placed it back on the shelf, the chains on his manacles clinking against the wood as he did. He ran his finger along the row of books. Each had a different feel to it, but none of them had titles on their spines. He wondered how people ever found what they were looking for.
“Guess you just match the color of the cover to the mood you’re in.”
He picked up another book, this one bound in dyed red hide, and turned it so he could see its title: The Art of Waging War, by General Bartholemew G. Blazencrow.
“A wonderful read.”
Liam started and almost dropped the book.
“If you find the time, I highly recommend it.”
Liam placed the book back on the shelf and turned to face the speaker. The young man was not much older than Liam himself. His bright red hair, combed neatly to one side, made a wavy pattern across the top of his head. It was obviously awash in some sort of scented oil. Liam could smell it from where he stood.
The man wore finely made clothes of what looked like silk and a fencer’s belt around his waist. Oddly, though, no sword dangled from his hip. But the man’s most distinguishing feature was a series of three long scars across his left cheek. Though they seemed old and long-healed, they stood out, a bright burgundy against his pale, freckled skin.
The scarred man looked Liam up and down, seeming to take his measure. “So, you’re an educated man.”
Liam nodded.
He offered Liam his hand. “I am Lord Purdun, Baron of Ahlarkham.”
Liam was momentarily stunned. He had seen the baron before—his portrait hung in every major service building in Duhlnarim—but he’d never been this close befor
e. Standing right beside him, Purdun didn’t seem so imposing. In the paintings, he was the oppressor, the icon responsible for all of Ahlarkham’s problems. He was a menace, a force of evil that must be stopped at all costs. But in person, old “Firefist,” as he was sometimes called, was just a man.
“I know who you are,” said Liam, refusing to take the baron’s hand.
Purdun smiled. “And I know who you are, Liam of Duhlnarim.”
Liam nodded. “I suppose you do.” He shook his shackles without lifting them into view. The chain made a satisfying clink.
The smile drained from Purdun’s face, and he snapped his fingers. One of the cloaked guards suddenly came to life, stepping out from behind a bookshelf. As he did, he seemed to grow and grow. The cloak’s hem lifted from the floor, and the man’s legs extended beneath. What had appeared to Liam upon first inspection as a floor-length robe in fact only came down to the guard’s knees.
At his full height, the man (though Liam doubted this was a man, never had he seen anyone so massive) needed to duck his head to avoid hitting it on the ceiling. His bulk had been concealed behind the bookcase, but out here in the open, Liam could see that this was no ordinary bodyguard. Easily nine feet tall, the soldier had arms as big around as Liam’s middle. His face was mostly concealed. Only a few glimpses of pale gray skin showed through the golden mask attached to his helm.
This enormous creature crossed the room toward Liam, carrying his massive frame with the lithe grace of a predatory cat. Despite his size, Liam could tell this guard had some speed.
As he approached, Liam took a step back. Stopping beside the two men, the bodyguard produced a small silver key and handed it to the baron.
Purdun took the key from the guard. “I also know about your ambush of my carriage several days ago.”
Anger flared inside Liam. He could see the soldiers pouring out of the doors, the guardsmen surrounding him and his brother, and Ryder dropping to his knees after being slashed across the gut.
“Tell me something I don’t already know.”
“Now, now,” said Purdun, trying to smother a self-satisfied smile, “I only did to you what you were planning to do to me. You were outsmarted and beaten in a fair fight. Don’t be a sore loser.”
Liam lashed out, grabbing for the baron’s shirt. “You killed my brother.”
Purdun’s eyes went wide, and he lunged back. Reaching for his hip, his hand grasped at something Liam couldn’t see. One moment, the baron was unarmed. The next, he stood on guard, a rapier materializing in his hand as if out of thin air.
The pain of losing his brother drove Liam forward. In a blink he sidestepped and grabbed hold of the bell of Purdun’s blade. Knocking it aside, he lunged for the baron’s throat. “I’ll get—”
His words were cut off when his feet left the ground. The baron’s massive bodyguard grabbed Liam by the back of the vest, wrenched his hands off Purdun’s neck, and lifted him in the air. Liam was helpless, dangling a gnome’s height above the floor like a baby kitten.
Purdun stood several steps away, his sword pointed at Liam. His carefully coifed hair hung now over one eye. His shirt sat cockeyed on his chest, crumpled at the neck where Liam had grabbed hold.
The baron pushed his hair back out of his face. “I’d rather you didn’t do that again.”
Liam’s arms and legs swung freely. He craned his neck to look back at the gray-skinned creature. The bodyguard held him off the floor with only one arm and apparently little effort.
Liam looked back at the baron. “Or what?”
Purdun took a deep breath, looking a little exacerbated. Then his face broke into a smile, and he laughed.
“I like your spirit.” He turned his rapier around and slipped the tip back toward his belt as if he were placing it into a sheath. The blade disappeared slowly, looking as if it were being swallowed by an invisible snake. When the hilt reached his hip, it too vanished, and the baron’s fencing belt once again appeared to be conspicuously empty of weapons.
Purdun straightened his shirt and collar and collected himself, then he nodded to the bodyguard. “Put him down.”
The creature released Liam, and he fell to the ground, landing on the wooden floor with a thud. Liam scrambled away from the bodyguard and lifted himself to his feet.
Purdun looked him over from head to toe, spared a glance at his bodyguard, then took a step toward Liam, holding the key out.
“Please,” he said pointing to Liam’s shackles, “I’d prefer if you weren’t wearing those.”
A shudder ran down Liam’s spine. He’d heard about this sort of thing.
He took a quick glance around the room. The other guards were still motionless in their alcoves. The door he’d come in was closed and presumably locked. The only other way out was the stone archways in the far wall that looked out on the bay and the ships in the harbor. It was a long way down—too far for Liam to jump.
Liam shuffled away from the baron. “Is this some sort of game?”
Purdun stopped, still holding the key out before him. “Game?”
The brutality of Purdun’s elite guard was common knowledge. Liam had heard the tales of Captain Phinneous letting prisoners free only to claim they were trying to escape. He’d let them get into the courtyard, then sound the alarm. From what Liam had seen on the way in, a prisoner wouldn’t stand a demon’s chance in heaven of getting out. Anyone caught in that courtyard would be picked to pieces by the first volley of arrows. After that, there probably wouldn’t be much left. It was a sick game, another abuse of power and another way to dehumanize the citizens of Duhlnarim.
Liam held up his hands. “Why drag me in here and shackle me, only to let me go?”
Purdun grimaced. “I apologize, Liam. It was never my intention to chain you up.”
“I’m not going to give you an excuse to torture me. I’m not going to try to escape.”
One of the freighters in the harbor began to weigh anchor, its chain clanking as it rose out of the water. Liam looked out the window, once again longing to be aboard that ship bound for a new place.
Purdun chuckled. “Is that what you think this is?”
Liam’s attention came back inside the room. He never would have imagined his life ending like this. Three days ago, before he’d jumped out to attack the carriage, he knew that his actions could get him killed. Somehow though, he figured his end would be a bit more heroic.
He looked Purdun in the face. “There’s no one here except you, me, and your goons. You can do what you want to me and make up whatever story you like. You don’t need me to play along.”
Purdun waved his hand, and the bodyguard took several steps back. “Liam, I have no intention of harming you.”
“Then what did you bring me here for?”
Purdun stepped forward again and grabbed Liam by the wrist. Liam jumped back but not before the baron had unlocked and released his right wrist. The shackle swung free.
“I brought you here, Liam,” said Purdun, “to offer you a job.”
Liam stopped his retreat. “A job?”
Purdun nodded. “Yes, Liam. I want you to join my elite guard.”
Liam wasn’t sure he had heard the words right. “You want me to join your guard?”
“That is what I said,” confirmed the baron.
Liam laughed. “What makes you think I’d want to join your elite guard?”
Purdun shrugged. “The money.”
Liam was confused. Less than a tenday ago he’d attacked one of the baron’s carriages, and somehow that had qualified him for entrance into the baron’s elite guard. “Are all of your thugs ex-criminals?”
Purdun smiled, ignoring the question. “You’d get the best training and the best equipment. Three square meals a day, and extra provisions for your family. You could improve that run-down house of yours. Get your mother a proper wardrobe. Buy your father a new horse.”
“I don’t think you get it, Purdun.” Liam narrowed his eyes. “I despise
you. I hate everything you stand for. It’s you who made my family suffer in the first place with your laws and taxes. And now you come to me with an offer to make their life better, bring their lives up to the level they deserve.” Liam spat on the floor. “You step on our throats, suffocate us, then act as if you were doing us a favor by letting up, allowing us to simply live. Then you have the audacity to ask me to help you suffocate the rest of Erlkazar.” He lifted the open shackle and placed it back on his wrist. “No thank you. I would rather live the rest of my life in chains than be party to such villainy.”
Lord Purdun took a deep breath. “Well, Liam, I can certainly understand your position.” He placed the key in the shackles and locked them once again. “But it’s a standing offer. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.” Purdun placed his hand on Liam’s shoulder and directed him toward the door. “Come.”
Liam didn’t budge. “Where are you taking me?”
“I’m escorting you to the front gate, Liam.” He smiled. “To make sure you make it out of Zerith Hold safely.”
Ryder sat in the bowels of Lord Purdun’s dungeon, his legs chained together, his wrists chained together, and the chains chained together. Beside him on the wooden bench were two similarly chained men—one muscular and bald with the tattoo of a blue triangle on his forehead and the other skinny and sickly.
In fact, the entire dank, dripping room was filled with manacled men. They sat side by side by side, three to a bench, twelve benches in all, each man chained to the next. They all wore the same identical clothing: dirty gray baggy hemp pants and matching sleeveless shirts. Down one side of the floor a huge shirtless man, bulging with muscles, paced the narrow walkway between the prisoners. His chest was crisscrossed in old scars, and he carried a whip in his right hand.