Demonified (Hawkblood Chronicles Book 1)

by Stephen Schultz

  On his way back up, Kyell was shifting the rope on Esselles, moving all the slack from the end of the line to the front. “The top of this crack gets too wide for you two to be able to continue to shimmy up this way. But I will take it to the top since it opens up on one of the ledges. This additional slack should get me there. Once up, I’ll secure the rope and you will begin to use it to climb up. As I just explained to Laris, first, he will climb the rope to your position and lock himself in and let the slack play out between you. Then you will start to climb the rope towards me. Before you take up all the slack between you and Laris, you will need to find a new secure location. I will try to mark them as I go.”

  “Why don’t we just move back out to the rock face as before?”

  “I checked. There are not nearly as many hand holds this far up. I suspect as we near the plateau, the rock has not been exposed as long as the rock below. You two can do this. I’ll give you a bit more rest and then we’ll head up.”

  It seemed far too short a time before Kyell was climbing up the crack, seeming to cling to the rock face even though Esselles could see no obvious hand holds. It wasn’t long before he had climbed out of sight. A few minutes later, there was a tug on the rope indicating it was time for them to climb. Esselles gripped the rope and began pulling himself up hand over hand. When he could find toeholds, he used his feet to help push him upward, but had to keep pulling with his arms or he would start to peel away from the cliff face. He came to a small crack in the rock where a small piece of cloth was stuck in and knew it to be one of the spots Kyell had marked. Sure enough, in addition to being able to do jam his fist into the crack, there was a small lip he could get a hold with his feet. He got himself positioned and tugged on the upper rope for Kyell to take up the slack.

  He waited for it to go fully taut and then waited a bit longer, to ensure Kyell had been able to tie it off again. Then he tugged twice on the drop rope to Laris, who began to climb up. Esselles could feel the pull on the rope as Laris climbed and he was forced to release his fist jam as the stretch of the rope above him caused him to be pulled too far down with Laris’ full weight coming up from below. He was able to release his feet and instead grab hold of the small lip with his hands to keep from moving around as Laris climbed.

  Before long, Laris reached him and Esselles helped him move up past him and get into position to hold himself in place. Once Laris had his fist and feet firmly in place, Esselles began to climb the rope again. After an arduous climb, with his arms beginning to tire, he was surprised by a whisper from above.

  “Grab my hand,” Kyell said. “We were closer to the ledge than I thought. We only needed to do the one stop.”

  Esselles gladly took Kyell’s hand and let him hoist him up onto the ledge. They then secured the rope and tugged twice to signal to Laris to climb. Before long, all three were on the small ledge, resting their weary arms.

  “This next section will not be strenuous,” Kyell said as they rested. “But do not take it lightly. Stay low and stay to the left, against the rock face. The right hand side is strewn with gravel and dirt and there are portions that might break away if you put too much weight on them. Not to mention, if you are too close to the edge you could be seen from castle. The good news is, we have made good time, and so as soon as we move across to the top of the ravine, we will be able to rest until dawn.”

  “Thank the gods,” Esselles said, rubbing his sore arms and shoulders. “I’m exhausted.”

  “Exhausted?” Kyell asked. “Remind me to talk to Landir about adding more climbing to the training regimen.”

  “I’ll be sure to do that,” Esselles replied.

  Kyell let them rest for another ten minutes while he coiled the rope and occasionally crawled forward a little to peer around the outcropping and over the edge of the ledge towards the castle.

  “Time to crawl,” he said, and then flipped over onto his stomach and showed them how to spread their weight and crawl along the fractured and precarious surface.

  The ledge ended in a wide shallow bowl that emptied out into a ravine. Kyell indicated they should all sit along the back side of the ledge.

  “Okay, this ravine heads straight down past the castle. We will need to go one at a time because there is no easy way from the ravine to the castle, other than to go under the drawbridge, which would defeat us climbing up all this way. So when we get to the end of the rope, we are going to push off the back of the ravine and swing over onto the roof of the castle. I will go first to show you how it is done. But you will need to follow quickly. There are a number of patrols and while we will have the advantage of the rising sun obstructing their vision, but that will not last for long. Now get some rest. We will be in combat in the morning.”

  Kyell woke them up just as the eastern sky was showing the first hints of the false dawn. “It will be morning in about an hour,” he said. “Our best time to climb down will be in about thirty minutes. The sky will be bright enough to affect their night vision, but the sun will not have risen yet to drive away the shadows of the ravine. Let us break our fast. And be sure to relieve yourself back in the direction we came. We are going to be sliding down this ravine shortly. I would rather not do so through your urine.”

  “Now that you mention it,” Esselles said sheepishly as he crawled to the southern edge of the small depression. He undid the draw string on his pants and rolled over onto his side. It was a strange sensation lying high up on the edge of a rock wall and urinating while in a prone position, but his bladder soon overcame the awkwardness. As he crawled back to rejoin the others he passed Laris heading to do the same.

  Kyell was securing the rope through a split in the edge of the depression. He fed it back down through a second split and tied it around the rope, checking his knot twice before taking up the slack such that the rope was now wound tightly around the rock. He set the coil of rope down.

  After they had finished eating, Kyell had them crawl to the edge of the ravine. Below them they could see the castle. The spire of the tallest tower was only about twenty-five feet below them. The top of the upper wall was another fifteen or twenty feet further. The ravine plunged past the upper wall, past the lower wall, and entered a chasm spanned by the drawbridge. The main stream that had cut the chasm still had water flowing in it. The stream that had cut this ravine did not. It appeared to have been primarily formed by spring runoff.

  Kyell signaled them to move back from the edge. “I counted ten sentries, total.”

  Esselles had looked, but had only seen seven. “Where?”

  “Three outside the main keep, two on the upper wall, four on the lower wall, and one walking the lower grounds.”

  “How are we going to avoid being seen?” Laris asked.

  “We will largely be out of view of most of them while we are in the ravine. Only those on the lowest levels would be able to see us. Fortunately, thanks to their overmuscled backs, uruks do not look up often. The two I am most worried about are the two on the upper wall. Once on the upper wall, we will be shielded from those below, including those at the keep if we stay low. But there is no way we can all get down while the two upper wall sentries are on the far side.”

  “And what if someone is in the tower?” Esselles asked.

  “Then we will be seen,” Kyell answered nonchalantly. “We will deal with that if it happens. This is our last chance to wait until help arrives. Anyone wish to wait until then before we go in?”

  Both Esselles and Laris shook their heads.

  “We’re in, sir,” Laris added.

  “Okay, wrap your hands in the strips I cut from my cloak, like this,” he said as he began tightly wrapping both his palms and his fingers. “We will be sliding down the rope and your hands will be shredded otherwise. I have tied a couple big knots at the end, but be sure to start slowing yourself down before you get there or else you might not stop.”

  “And that would be bad,” Esselles said in a whisper.

  “Yes it would,�
�� Kyell said with a slight smile at the corner of his mouth. Esselles smiled back, realizing he had said it aloud.

  “When you get to the end, look for me. I will signal for you to swing out like I will have done. Esselles, as soon as you see me let go of the rope, you are to start down. Laris, same thing. As soon as Esselles lets go of the rope, you are to start down. Everyone ready?”

  Kyell adjusted the sword on his back, grabbed the rope, and slid to the edge of ravine. “See you on top of the wall.” And with that, he dropped over the side. Esselles watched as he slid quickly down the ravine, worn smooth by the waters that poured off the top of the plateau in the spring. In a few seconds, he was near the end of the rope and clearly squeezing tight to slow his descent. Esselles looked out toward the castle and saw no sign that anyone had spotted him. The nearest guard on the upper wall was still walking away and the other was out of sight on the far side of the castle. Kyell had already pushed away from the wall and was swinging on the end of the rope towards the castle wall. He leaped from the end of the rope, over the crenellations, and onto the top of the wall, landing in a quiet crouch. The rope swung back into the ravine. A tap from Laris reminded Esselles that he should stop watching Kyell and descend the rope himself.

  He too checked to ensure his weapons were secure and then grabbed the rope. He felt a little trepidation as he pushed to the edge of the ravine, but quickly overcame it knowing that speed was of the essence. As soon as he pushed over, he was careening down the side of the ravine, picking up speed and feeling each little irregularity in the ravine as it jolted him. He realized he must be coming to the end of the rope and started to squeeze. It was harder to slow his descent than he anticipated, although he could feel the intense heat through the cloth wrappings. He hit the knot with a lot more momentum than Kyell had but managed to keep hold. He took a second to catch his breath then, holding firm to the rope and with his feet on the face of the ravine, pushed away so he could see the top of the wall.

  He could not see Kyell except for his hands, which were sticking up between a crenellation and flashing all ten fingers twice, and then pausing before repeating.

  Twenty seconds, Esselles thought. The guard must be near. So he ducked back into the ravine and counted to himself. When he reached twenty, he pushed away again and saw Kyell waving for him to come. Esselles crouched against the ravine and pushed off with all his strength. He swung out of the ravine and towards the wall, but he realized he had not picked the best angle and was not going to quite make it. Fortunately, Kyell realized it as well and leaned out through the crenellation and managed to grab his right foot before he started to swing back towards the ravine. Kyell pulled him over the wall and Esselles let go of the rope. His weight and momentum pushed Kyell backwards and he landed on top of him, but by landing on Kyell, it also prevented and loud clang of a weapon hitting the wall. He rolled off Kyell and onto his hands and knees whispering an apology.

  It was only then that he noticed the dead guard a few feet away – the hilt of a dagger protruding up from the base of his skull. He turned to Kyell with a questioning look on his face. Kyell simply shrugged as if it was nothing.

  To Esselles’ chagrin, Laris managed to push himself out over the wall properly and did not need Kyell’s assistance, other than him taking the rope from Laris. He carefully tossed it out a bit so that it would fall back into the ravine.

  “Get your weapons ready,” Kyell whispered. “The other guard will be coming back this way. We need to kill him without letting him get a cry out, and preferably without making much noise.” As he was whispering, he moved over to the dead uruk, placed one hand on the back of his skull, and extracted his dagger. It came out with a squishing sound and more blood pooled around the uruk’s head. “I am going to move ahead and try to catch him from behind. But be ready with your crossbow in case I am unable to dispatch him.”

  Esselles unstrapped his longsword from his back and lay it on the ground. He unwrapped it from the cloth he had used to keep it from banging on the rocks and unsheathed it as well, setting the sword on top of the discarded wrappings. He then did the same for the strange disc club he had obtained from the demon lair. Beside him, Laris was doing the same with his sword and crossbow, cocking the crossbow and loading an arrow. When they looked up from their preparations, Kyell was gone and nowhere to be seen.

  Wanting to get a look, but afraid of giving away their position, Esselles grabbed the helm from the fallen uruk. It stank and had some blood on it, and it was overly large, but it worked for his purposes. He put it on and began to stand up, remembering at the last minute to stay in the hunch that was characteristic of the uruks.

  Ahead on the wall, the other uruk spotted him and seemed to stop in confusion. But he was not standing for long because a dagger flashed across his throat at the same time a hand clamped his mouth shut. A spray of crimson shot out and he was pulled down and backward to the walkway on top of the wall.

  Like Esselles, Kyell donned the helmet of the uruk, but he also picked up the large bardiche the guard had carried and put it on his shoulder. Seeing the example, Esselles bent down and picked up the bardiche of the uruk nearby.

  “Okay, that went better than expected,” Kyell whispered upon rejoining them. “But there is no way we can take out the next three without being seen. And of course, we only have two ranged weapons. So here is what we will do. I will masquerade as one of the sentries and start down the stairwell towards the front of the keep. You two will take up positions a good twenty feet to either side of the stairwell. That should still afford you a good firing angle on the guards while allowing me to keep their attention off of you. Do not take aim through the crenellations until after I start down the stairwell. Then wait until I launch my attack before you fire.”

  “Will you call out when you attack?” Laris asked.

  “No, but you will definitely know I am attacking.”

  Kyell stripped the nearest uruk of his scale mail armor and pulled it on over his own armor, making him appear bulkier than he normally did, although still not quite as bulky as the uruk. He strapped his sword across his back, replaced the helm on his head, and picked the bardiche up. “Okay,” he whispered. “You two crawl into position while I make my way over. Esselles, you will go on the far side. I will pause on the top of the stairwell to give you time to get into position. Now move out.”

  With that, Kyell started a slow amble along the wall in a remarkably good imitation of the sentry’s halting walking style. Esselles and Laris stayed in a low crouch below the crenellations, with Laris stopping to kneel about twenty feet short of the stairwell leading down from the wall. Esselles continued on and took a similar position on the far side of the stairwell. They could see Kyell starting his descent down the stairwell.

  Esselles rose up so he could peek over the crest of the crenellation. Two of the uruk guards were standing to either side of the large double doors leading into the keep and the third was standing in a relaxed position at the foot of the stairs. Esselles could not see Kyell on the stairwell, but he did see the guards all looking up at him. The guard at the foot of the stairs called out in a guttural language. To Esselles’ surprise, Kyell answered. The guard did not call out, but he did straighten up a little as if he knew something was amiss.

  By now, Kyell had descended far enough that Esselles could see him. He had reached the first landing, where the stairs switched back as they headed to the courtyard below. But Kyell did not take the switchback. Instead, he placed one foot on the short stone wall of the stairs and leaped at the bewildered guard, bringing the bardiche up over his head in a mighty downward swing as he was flying through the air.

  Esselles did not hesitate. He raised his club, took aim at the guard on the right, and swung at him. The disk shot out and streaked towards the target, ripping through his scale mail as if it were merely cloth. He saw that the guard on the left had a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest and the guard at the base of the stairs had a bardiche embedded h
alfway through his body.

  Kyell did not bother to remove the bardiche and instead drew his longsword from his back. Esselles and Laris raced down the stairs to join him. By the time they had reached the doors, Kyell had searched the bodies and found a key ring. As Esselles approached, he gave him a grim smile and tilted his head towards the disk, now embedded a half an inch into the stone of the keep. Esselles grabbed the nearest bardiche and used it to pry the disk out of the stone and then carefully picked it up and put it back into the club. Laris cocked and reloaded his crossbow.

  “Most keeps have an interior door,” Kyell said in loud whisper. “We need to keep them from locking it or we are in trouble. I suspect there will be murder holes in the ceiling but I doubt anyone will be manning them. However, if we get stuck between the two doors, it will not take them long to get there. Get ready. As soon as I open this door we are charging down the hallway. If you see anyone on the far side, shoot him.”

  Kyell pulled gently on the keep door, but it did not open. He examined each of the three keys on the ring and selected the one that appeared to match the keyhole on the door. He inserted it into the keyhole and turned it. There was an audible click. First try, he mouthed.

  Esselles stepped forward to grab the handle of the right hand door. Kyell unlocked it as well. Then he held up three fingers and lowered them one at a time. When the last finger went down, they both ripped open the doors and charged through.

  Sure enough, a short tunnel led to a second set of doors and two additional guards jumped up in surprise at the far end of the hallway. As they raced down the hallway, Esselles spared a quick glance up, confirming the presence of the murder holes. Fortunately, as expected, nothing came down through them.