“Did they also sacrifice people?” Selen asked.
“It wasn’t the norm, but I guess, yes,” Louis said.
“Let’s have a look at it,” Lissandro said. He dismounted and approached the stone. The others did the same. They spread out and explored the stone in search of some symbols that could prove helpful.
“There were writings on the plates on this side, but it has faded with time,” Lissandro noticed. He scratched the moss off the rock with his nails, revealing the shape of old runes.
“Do you know what we are supposed to do?” Louis asked. He was scraping with his dagger in an interstice between the plates. “It seems to be solid stone.”
“Come over here!” Selen shouted from the top of the structure.
Lissandro and Louis climbed the slope and joined him.
“This is a drain. It stretches on the whole length of the stone. And here, look, it looks like stains of blood,” Selen said, pointing at a gutter covered with brown marks.
They followed the drain up to a rectangular stone, standing on the highest point of the structure. They brushed the leaves, scraped the moss, and pulled out the weeds to clear it. The top was curved, like a recipient.
“It was probably made to contain the blood of the victims,” Lissandro said.
“And I think it’s precisely what we should do,” Louis said.
“Kill an animal?” Selen asked.
“Give our blood,” Louis answered. “Let’s make a fire.”
They gathered some dead branches and made a fire on top of the structure. Lissandro drew out his knife and passed it through the flames. They moved to the altar and sat in a circle around it. With the blade of the knife, Lissandro cut through the palm of his hand. Blood flowed out of the open flesh. He held his hand over the stone and gave the knife to Selen, who did the same. Then, it was Louis’s turn. The drops of their blood blended in the shallow recipient. Once it was full, the blood overflowed and ran down the drains on the side, onto the stone.
The edifice quaked. Lissandro heard the noise of a heavy stone door opening. They looked at each other.
“Did that come from under us?” Lissandro asked.
They got up and ran down the slope. Where one of the plates had been, now stood a deep, dark hole. The air coming from it smelled putrid. Lissandro tried to see something gleam, but the hole was pitch black.
“We should probably take a torch…and mend our wounds first,” Selen said. “I’m still pouring blood everywhere.”
They put some clean cloth around their cuts and a rag around a stick that they lit in the fire. Lissandro was first to go through the gaping hole. He ran one of his hands against the wall, while the other hand held the torch. Water dripped down the slimy wall. Its texture gave Lissandro the impression that he was running his fingers through a sea of slugs. The way was going down. He felt a slippery stair under his boots. The tunnel was narrow and warm.
“Maybe someone should have stayed outside in case the door closes itself again,” Selen said.
“It’s a bit late for that, don’t you think, Selen?” Lissandro groused. “We already can be happy if nothing comes rushing at us the other way. It’s narrower than a cellar stair. Wait! I see something.”
Lissandro saw a glimpse of light in front of him. He stumbled on the bottom step of the staircase. “Stop. There is something,” he said. His hand felt a crook with a torch on it. He lit it.
The walls opened on to a round cave without apertures. Right in front of them stood three pedestals, each supporting an armour. Lissandro passed the torch in front of them. “They are splendid,” he whispered. Selen approached and stretched out his arm. Delicately, he laid his fingers on the massive armour standing in the middle, tracing the shapes of the minutely carved decorations.
“Wait… This one is…mine,” he whispered.
“We haven’t discussed it yet, but you can have it if you want,” Louis responded, checking the wall on the other side of the cave. “It’s too shiny for me anyway, too much gilt.”
“No, I mean,” Selen pursued, “I know this armour. It’s mine. At least, it was. When I was…” He paused. “I remember!” Selen screamed. “I was a knight. A knight of the royal guard. Louis, I remember!” He cried out in joy. Lissandro ran to him, soon joined by Louis.
“What do you remember, Selen? Tell us,” they both said, full of hope.
“I was a knight of the guard,” Selen said. “There were fights, soldiers fighting, everywhere. I can’t see well… I see fire. The palace was under attack. I see blood, people dying around me. I…died.” He stopped, shocked. “I am dead.” Selen looked at Lissandro in disbelief and then at Louis. “I am dead,” he repeated.
CHAPTER 7
“I am dead,” Selen murmured. Tears ran down his cheeks. He remembered now. Flashes of memories rushed to his mind. After days of siege, the enemies had finally invaded the palace. They had massacred the king. As a member of the royal guard, it had been his duty to protect the queen, but they had been outnumbered, and he had been killed. Everyone had been slaughtered. He had failed, and he thought he remembered why. But that was too much to endure for now.
Selen felt his legs weaken. He thought he would fall when he felt a hand grab him gently by the wrist.
“I can assure you that you’re not dead,” Louis whispered. “Not one of us is. We bleed, we feel.”
“I know what I saw. It happened,” Selen said. He turned his tearful face to Louis, who gave him a hug.
“If what you saw was for real, it would mean that you survived, or that it happened in another life,” Lissandro suggested. “With all that has happened to us, I am ready to believe in anything. Maybe we will get answers, somehow.”
“We should have found some here,” Louis said. “But now we are left with even more questions.”
“Well, we needed equipment. Here it is.” Lissandro gestured towards the armours.
Selen felt that Lissandro tried to stay positive, but he detected fear in his voice. If he was dead, or had been killed, probably his companions had been too. Yet, he had no right to drag them down with him. He needed to calm down. It was true enough that he still had a body of flesh and blood. He dried his tears with the back of his hand.
“We should try out the armours,” Selen said. “Which one do you want?”
There were two other suits of armours beside his old one. One looked to be made of adamantine. The whole armour was finely decorated with arabesques, and a large tree was embossed on the breastplate. There were also two pairs of imbricated pauldrons, making the highest part of the armour look huge. The large tassets, completed with chain mail, unfolded like superposed scales.
“Take it, Louis,” Lissandro said. “You two seem stronger and taller than me. You should take the heavy armours. I will gladly take that one,” he added, turning to the third one.
It consisted of a chain mail of high-quality steel, with inlaid protections for the arms, encrusted pauldrons, and a short breastplate. It did not mismatch the other two and was definitely made for an archer.
The armours fitted their proportions perfectly. Selen searched for signs of damage that could have occurred during what he now called his previous life. Strangely, there was nothing to be seen, not a single spot. Once clad, they got out of the cave. The rays of sunshine reflected on the armours like on a mirror. There was no sign of rust or even dust on them. It was like they had been placed there right before their arrival.
“We have no helmets. We will have to be careful during close fights,” Louis said.
“Which way should we take now, Lilo?” Selen asked.
Lissandro turned to him. “I have no idea. I only saw this place. I guess that now that we are ready for battle, if I dare say, we could head east.”
“East? I thought the war was down south?” Louis said.
“I want to avoid the Ebony Forest. We will go east and then turn south,” Lissandro said.
“It sounds fine,” Selen said.
&nb
sp; “For me too,” Louis added.
They put their cloaks in their bags and got on their horses. Selen noticed that the sky had turned a heavy grey with ragged, black clouds. The wind was blowing colder. He hoped it would not rain.
“Look up!” Louis shouted. Selen looked at the sky again. There was smoke rising from afar, too much smoke for a campfire.
“What do you think it is?” he asked.
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Something is burning,” Louis answered.
“We should hurry,” Lissandro said. “There may be people injured.”
“Stop!” Louis called out. “Listen to me. This is exactly what we shouldn’t do—run towards danger like it was a game or sport. It’s not because we have armour that we are indestructible. Whatever we do, we plan it. We will go that way, analyze the situation, and act accordingly, because the last thing we want is to be hurt because of foolish actions. Agreed?”
Selen nodded. Though he agreed entirely with Louis, Selen was taken aback. It was the first time he had heard Louis speak that way. His voice had been clear and firm, as if he had talked to a troop and not to his two companions. Selen wondered if Louis had been aware of it, or if it had come as a reflex.
They followed Louis’s recommendations and approached the place quietly. Two houses located at the border of the village were burning. They heard men and women scream, but no children. They were too far away to hear what was being said. Nasty looking men in leather outfits ran in every direction, some with swords in their hands, some with goods that they packed in bags. They saw a few villagers being harassed by the looters but no dead bodies.
“How many armed men do you count, Selen?” Louis asked him.
“I can see five. But there may be more somewhere else, or inside the houses. What should we do?” Selen whispered.
“You take the three on your left, and I’ll take the two on the right—these ones look nastier. Lilo, you cover us with your arrows in case there are more. There are no bodies. It means the outlaws are mainly here to steal and not to raze the village. They may run away, or not,” Louis told them. “Let’s move, now.”
They came out of the forest unnoticed. Everyone in the village was too preoccupied to look in their direction. Selen watched Louis go to his two who were busy loading a cart near a house. Louis surprised one of the bandits and cut through his chest with his blade. As he headed to the second one, a man waving an axe rushed out of the house. He was hit in the throat by one of Lissandro’s arrows. Louis turned around again and ran his sword through the other man’s belly as the bandit reached for a dagger. The men’s agonizing screams had drawn the attention of more outlaws, who now advanced towards them. Without a sign of fear or hesitation, Louis faced the small group and attacked the first man with a thrust towards the legs. Blood gushed out of his thighs. Shrieking with pain, the outlaw stumbled and threw his sword forward in a desperate attempt. Louis sidestepped and cut the bandit’s head neat. He paused. The next man engaged. Louis blocked the blow, flipped his sword, and pushed it through the second man. He looked around. The last two outlaws had been hit by arrows.
Selen, who had watched, petrified, decided to move. He headed left to the three men scavenging in the backyard of a house. They were busy plucking cabbages. He sneaked behind the nearest one and knocked him out with the pommel of his sword. As he was ready to attack the next one, the man knelt down.
“Please. Have pity, my lord,” the man begged.
Selen held his blow. The third bandit took advantage of the situation to slip away. Selen did not know what to do with the man in front of him. He definitely could not kill an unarmed man, especially if the latter begged for his life.
“Spare my wretched life and the one of my friend. Look! He is unconscious. I can drag him on my back and disappear,” the man said. “I swear you will never see me again.”
Selen sighed and gave up. He made a sign to the man that he could fetch his friend and flee with him. The bandit did not hesitate. He picked up the unconscious man and ran away through the bushes.
Relieved that he had not needed to spill blood, Selen went back to the main road. Louis stood over the corpses, examining them.
“Selen, are you all right? Did you take care of your men?” Louis asked. He fumbled in a bag and took out a purse of coins. He threw it in again and let the bag fall to the ground.
“I did. I let them go,” Selen said. He was sure that he had made the best decision.
Louis froze and looked at him with an ice-cold gaze. “You did what?” Louis’s voice was more than threatening. It sounded deadly.
For the first time since his journey had begun, Selen felt fear. “I… I just…” he stuttered.
He saw Louis’s expression change. “I am sorry, Selen. I didn’t want to sound like that. Forgive me,” Louis said, confused. “I know you are full of compassion, and I do admire you for that, but this is war. We can’t let enemies flee if we don’t want them to come back later in a larger number. These men had burned houses and would not have hesitated to kill villagers,” he explained.
Selen saw that Louis tried hard to keep calm. If he was mad at him, at least he struggled to hide it. Selen realized that he had probably been wrong in letting the men go, but what pained him more was to have disappointed his friend. He felt ashamed and looked away.
“It’s all right, Selen,” Louis insisted, a hand on his shoulder. This time, Selen saw that his companion meant it. He smiled timidly.
Lissandro was joining them when they heard men come from the other side of the village. They discerned cries of joy and laughter. The villagers moved towards them.
“Thank you, my dear lords!” the big man leading the group burst out cheerfully. “You have saved our village!”
Selen could not avoid noticing that the man was one head taller than all of them and probably twice the weight of Lissandro. Yet, he congratulated them as if they were heroes.
“We only killed a few bandits,” Lissandro said.
“Those few bandits, as you said, had ransomed the village for days. Today, they had decided to come for a raid. Thanks to you, no one got killed,” the big man added. He turned to the villagers behind him and shouted, “I think these pretty lords deserve some drinks on the house! What do you think, guys?”
His proposition was welcomed by a cheerful roar from the crowd.
“Our horses are still in the forest,” Selen managed to say.
“We will take care of them, my lord. Patrick, fetch the horses!” the man yelled.
Selen and his companions were dragged into the local tavern. The place was surprisingly big, like a barn, and even more astonishingly, clean. Tables and benches were arranged in rows, and a plain, wooden bar stood on one side. Massive wagon-wheel chandeliers hung from the ceiling, spreading a bright, yellow light in the room. The place rapidly packed with what looked like the whole population of the village. The atmosphere became bawdy, and songs were sung. The crowd forgot about them eventually, and they enjoyed some moments of peace.
“There is a room there, down the hall. We can have it for the night,” Lissandro told them. He was back from the bar with beer mugs in each hand, and he placed one in front of each of them. Selen looked at his mug with suspicion. “You can drink it, it’s just beer.” Lissandro laughed.
“I don’t usually… Well, I’ve never sat in a tavern like this,” Selen said. Neither did he recall the last time he had drunk alcohol. He regretted he had no cloak to hide under. He felt too visible in his shiny armour. It was not even spotted with blood like Louis’s.
“Then let’s celebrate it,” Lissandro said. Louis looked at Selen and smiled, but he stayed silent.
They enjoyed a few drinks and listened to the music. Selen felt the alcohol warm his body. He could still appreciate carefree moments, after all.
“I think I will check the horses,” Lissandro said, “before I get drunk.” He grinned. He rose and pushed his way through the crowd.
Louis turn
ed to Selen. “Come,” he said with a look that made Selen blush.
Selen followed him through the hall, to the room that the owner had left for them. It looked more like a warehouse than a room, but there were beds and it was warm. Selen felt an arm around his waist and was pushed against the door. Louis kissed him passionately, pinning him against the wood.
“I’ve missed your touch,” Louis sighed. Selen felt a warmth spread from his cheeks to his loins.
“Me too,” Selen said, overwhelmed by feelings he still could not explain. He hugged Louis and ran his fingers through his long, wild hair. The smell of his friend’s skin reminded Selen of the scent of wood violet blended with a light odor of sweat. “Take me,” Selen whispered into Louis’s ear, his face beaming.
They struggled to remove their armours. It was a meticulous task, and haste did not make it easier. The metal plates fell down on the floor with a clunk. Selen’s febrile hands were slow at unlacing the straps. Louis was more conscientious and was the first out of his armour. He came to Selen and helped him to undress. His friend’s hands slipped under his clothes, rubbed his chest, and pulled the tunic over his head. Louis’s hands cupped Selen’s hips, his blue eyes staring at him. Shame invaded Selen’s body when Louis tugged at the laces of his pants. Afraid that his friend saw his arousal, Selen pushed back Louis’s hands clumsily.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Louis said, taking a step back. “I’m so rude.” His friend removed his own clothes instead.
Selen gazed at him. At the inn, Selen had seen Louis in the light of the moon. The shadows had hidden most of his body from Selen’s sight. Now that he saw him in the last rays of daylight, Selen realized how gorgeous he was. His skin was smooth and pale, except for the dark hair on his groin. He was slim, with barely shadows of muscles, thus accentuating his marked hips and sharp collarbones. Selen looked down at Louis’s loins and thought that he probably should not have felt ashamed of his own state. He even felt a bit thrilled to be the cause of such turmoil in Louis. He was lost in the contemplation of his friend until he realized that he was the one being rude. Selen removed his pants. He did not try to hide himself anymore.
Rising from Dust (Light from Aphelion Book 1) Page 5