And amid squeals of pain the Hèlsteeds were hauled up short, the chariot skidding to a halt before the dark door at the foot of the black turret. Shouting out some command to the warders, Andrak hurled his whip into the face of a cringing Rutchen lackey and stepped down from the platform and strode up the steps and into the spire, while behind him Spawn scrambled to obey.
’Mid shouts and curses and protesting axles, the drawbridge was wrenched back from across the gap and to the near side. And with hinges shrieking, the main gate was slammed to, Boom! the great bar falling into place, Clang! Gears clattered and ratchets clacked as the massive portcullis was lowered, iron squealing, huge teeth grinding down to bottom out with a juddering Doon! in deep socket holes drilled into the stone roadway below the barbican.
And Elyn and Thork were shut inside dark ramparts, the way out locked and barred, shut inside a black bastion, its very stones teeming with foe, shut inside an ebon fortress with a vile host who would surely murder them if he but knew.
CHAPTER 36
Early Winter, 3E1602
[The Present]
Dimly lighted by the cressets without, Elyn and Thork found themselves facing a great dark main hall filled with clotted shadows, strangely churning-confusing mind and vision. To their right they could see the murky beginnings of a cramped stairwell wrenching up and inward. To the left, the wall fetched up in the darkness against an angled corner. To the fore, all that Elyn could see were vague shifting ebon shapes, and she could hear a scrabbling. “Long-tables and benches, Princess,” whispered Thork, conscious of her inability to see through deep gloom. “Scraps of food rotting upon the boards. Rats scuttling.”
Without, they could hear the tramp of feet, and the light grew brighter.
“Whither, Thork?” hissed Elyn. “They come, and I cannot see as can thee.”
“To the fore, Lady,” answered Thork, “for I would not be trapped upon those narrow stairs. Better we seek safety in this great hall than chance it upon the steps.”
Swiftly, Thork stepped through the viscid shadows and among the tables, suddenly coming to an opening along the right-hand wall through which reddish light shone. And Thork could not fathom why he had not seen its glow before. But ere they could investigate, Spawn entered the door behind, and Elyn and Thork shrank back into the shadows.
Troops of Rutcha and Drōkha tramped inward from the bailey, their torchlight casting leaping shadows, luminance sputtering across the darkness to shove at the twisting murk, as if a struggle for dominance took place, some pools of blackness not yielding at all to the guttering light. And inward came Andrak’s wayguard, standing down from their duty. And with them came the Guula: corpse-white with flat dead-looking ebon eyes; like wounds, red mouths slashed across pallid faces, and their pale hands had long grasping fingers; Man height, but no Man ever was this creature of Neddra. Without a glance at the two intruders, warders turned leftward into the angled corner and disappeared down a stairwell that neither Thork nor Elyn had seen till this moment.
“Ai oi, Thork,” whispered Elyn, “they pass through a door that was not there before.”
“Nay, Lady,” Thork gritted, “the door was always there, yet we could not see it. These accursed shadows: they twist the eyes. . Look you, my Lady, by the light of the burning brands, see: there be a strange coiling to this murk, and clots of shadows that form churning walls of darkness, and even my eyes see not past those writhings.”
Elyn’s gaze swept across the dark chamber, blackness curling in the torchlight. “The Wolfmage warned us that Andrak, too, was versed in the art of concealment; no doubt this is his hand at work.”
Thork grunted but said nought as Foul Folk continued to tramp inward and down, though occasionally a Rutch or two, laughing vilely, would pause a moment in sport to swing scimitars at scattering rats, blades futilely thunking into wooden tabletops, cleaving no victims, skewering none. Finally, the last of the wayguard disappeared down the dark stairwell, and when all had passed beyond seeing, once more the hall fell into seething gloom.
“Princess”-Thork’s voice was low-“if the rest of the castle be as this, then I would as soon wait until daylight ere continuing our quest, for you are nigh sightless in this murk, and at risk.”
Thork held up a hand to forestall protest. “List, what would you say were the boot on the other foot? Would you have me walk about blindfolded? Nay, Lady, for not only would that be foolhardy, it would go ill for us should we need to engage the foe in combat. And just as you would not care to lose my axe in that event, I care not to lose your sword should it be needed.” Thork paused a moment, then spoke on: “Too, I deem that it will take your eyes as well as mine to find that which we seek.”
“I agree, Warrior,” responded Elyn. “Though vague shapes loom before me, they are as black on black; in these environs I am the same as blind. Yet were we to carry torches or lanterns so that I could see clearly, then I misdoubt that e’en this silveron stone I bear would conceal the blare of our bobbing brands from hostile eyes, and they would wonder at who bore the light, and wondering, would at last know to look at us instead of around our edges.
“But there is this to consider as welclass="underline" to search in the daytime will be to search not only when the Kammerling is likely to be more exposed, but also when we are more exposed as well, exposed to Andrak’s eyes, and he knows how to see us.”
“Aye, Lady,” responded Thork, “yet heed: The only time that we have seen Andrak is at nighttime. Mayhap he suffers the Ban, and will not be about in the daylight.”
“Perhaps none will be about in the daylight, Thork”-Elyn continued the line of reasoning-“for the Foul Folk cannot abide its touch. They will hole up somewhere in chambers below when the Sun is in the sky.”
“Aye then, Princess, are we agreed?” At Elyn’s nod Thork gestured at the dimly lit passage at hand. “Our plan was to get in, get the Hammer, get out: the first step is accomplished; the next two are yet to be done. If the remainder of Andrak’s holt be as is this twisted hall of darkness, then let us seek a place of safe hiding to await the dawn.”
Axe and saber in hand, they stepped into the opening whence came the reddish glow and paced down the length of a short passage; suddenly, ere coming to the end, they could hear the clatter of pots and pans and crockery, a noise that seemed to have always been there but was somehow unperceived till now. They emerged into a smoke-filled, shadow-wrapped kitchen flickering with the rudden light of cooking fires, distorted silhouettes writhing upon the walls. And rushing thither and yon were Men! Swarthy, dark Men, and some yellow-hued, from Hyree or Kistan or mayhap the mountain villages within Xian. Cooks and scullery Men. Butchers hacking away at gobbets of an unknown dark meat. Serving thralls. Kitchen drudges. And Elyn and Thork glanced at one another, and a silent understanding passed between them: now they knew who would ward the castle during the daylight hours: Men!
Drawing Thork behind, by a circuitous route Elyn led the way across the chamber and toward an exit catercorner, stepping ’round tables and slipping along walls, avoiding the scurrying workers, none of them apprehending that aught was amiss. But just as the pair started through the distant portal, a tray-bearing thrall, hastening in the opposite direction, nearly crashed into them; yet at the very last instant he stopped in seeming confusion, nearly tripping over his own feet, the two intruders shrinking against the wall and passing within touching distance. And as they sidled past, the thrall’s confused eyes darted furtively this way and that, as if trying to catch hold of an elusive sight. Seeing nought, he wiped his brow in puzzlement, and rushed on into the kitchen.