Child Of A Guardian And Of The Free (Book 3) (21 page)

Chapter
23

Leaving Sanctuary

‘
Kelian!’ Callian shouted. ‘You and Cahndrech need to get out of here!’ Cahndrech stirred and Callian’s hand flashed over her face. She was instantly asleep again.

‘
Elena!’ Kelian cried out, wishing with all his heart that his wife had not come to Tathra.

‘
Kelian,’ Callian pleaded. ‘You have to leave! If I can find them I’ll get them to safety.’

‘
Can you hear her thoughts?’

‘
I can’t. So either someone’s blocking them or she’s too far away. Kelian you have to go now.’

Timbul sprang forward but stopped as Garran appeared in his path.
‘I’ll take her,’ Garran ordered, reaching out and taking Cahndrech from Timbul’s arms.

A commotion outside the room caused them to pause. The sound of swords rang
out and they could hear screams of terror and the chaotic sound of furniture smashing, people shouting and what sounded like crockery being thrown. Six guards closed in around Cahndrech and the remainder ran from the room, as Evan pushed his way past and ran to Kelian.

‘
Evan, get Kelian out of here!’ said Callian. ‘Garran, you have to let them take Cahndrech with them.’

‘
No!’ Garran glared at Callian in disbelief.

‘
Garran, I don’t know if we can stop this. We need your help. But we still have to get Cahndrech and Kelian out of here right now!’

Garran cursed in frustration as he handed the sleeping Empress to Evan.
The increasing sounds of battle did not wake her. He watched the girl protectively then turned to the Superior Commander. ‘Asdul, I don’t think you’re well enough yet to face this battle, but you’re a dangerous soldier and Evan’s going to need help. Please stay with the Empress! Tappy go with them!’ he ordered. Garran put his hand on Evan’s shoulder, forcing him to turn to him.

‘Evan, you look like death!’

‘It’s my little girl, Norah. I have to find her!

Garran nodded and turned to Maza. ‘You have to find the Princess Pevita and get her out of here as well as Norah and Kalinya! They will be with Nali or Leana.’ Maza ran from the room.

‘Protect her, Evan,’ Garran implored, looking sadly at Cahndrech.

‘
With my life,’ said Evan, and Garran nodded grimly and turned away.

‘
None of you have your swords!’ Kelian shouted after Callian, Timbul and Araas.

‘
It won’t matter,’
Timbul’s thoughts came to Kelian.
‘We’ll take someone else’s.’

‘
Follow me!’ Asdul cried and he ran from the room and down the hallway, away from the sounds of battle, with Uslantlo, Evan, Tappy and six guards close behind him. To his relief, when he reached the door to the tunnel Maza was already there, herding a very frightened Princess Pevita, Kalinya and the old servant Nali. Evan gave a cry of relief to see that Pevita was carrying his daughter Norah.

‘
Where’s Leana?’ Uslantlo asked urgently.

‘
Dead,’ Maza said shortly. ‘She was killed trying to get Norah past a bunch of attacking guards. Nali can explain later. The other servants are heading out through the eastern entrance. Let’s get out of here.’

They rushed towards Uslantlo
’s home as the sound of chaos drew closer. Maza turned as they reached the door leading into the Vocopulis’ residence and he grabbed a sword from a stand just inside the doorway. ‘Keep going! If they come through, I’ll stop them! I’ll catch you up!’

Evan slid to a halt.
‘You can’t hold them off alone!’

‘
No. I can’t. But I can slow them down.’

‘
Maza-’

‘
Just go Evan! You promised to get her to safety and you have to protect your own King as well.’

Evan swallowed hard and turned away. He heard Maza give a shout of challenge then he heard the sound of swords as he raced through the house, making his way to
the bedroom where the escape tunnel began. One by one everyone climbed into the tunnel and Asdul secured the trapdoor behind them, leaving them in darkness. They moved forward as quickly as they dared until the tunnel narrowed and forced them to crouch to pass through.

‘
I can’t carry the Empress through this part of the tunnel,’ said Evan to Asdul, lying Cahndrech gently on the dirt floor of the tunnel and kneeling beside her. ‘And I can’t wake her up. Whatever Callian did to her is too-’ He broke off as Callian’s thoughts came to him.

‘
Place your hand on the child’s forehead and let my thoughts flow through your mind, Evan.’

Evan reached out and placed his hand on Cahndrech
’s forehead. He felt strangely light headed as the guardian’s emotions ran through his mind, and he was momentarily overwhelmed by the intensity of Callian’s thoughts. He steadied his breathing and exhaled very slowly.

Cahndrech
’s eyes opened. ‘Where am I?’ she asked, frightened by the surrounding darkness.

‘
Thank you Callian,’
Evan thought with relief. ‘We’re in the escape tunnel that leads from Uslantlo’s home. Asdul is with us and His Majesty Kelian is here too,’ he added reassuringly. ‘Sorry to wake you Empress, but unless you crawl we can’t fit through the tunnel.

Cahndrech sat up.
‘Who else is here? Where is Garran?’ Her voice was high with fright.

Asdul placed his hand reassuringly on the girl
’s shoulder. ‘The Sanctuary is under attack. We had to leave in a hurry to bring you to safety. Could I explain everything once we have you away from danger please?’

‘
Of course,’ said the little girl and her voice trembled. ‘Is Garran alive?’

‘
I don’t know,’ said Asdul honestly. ‘Are you ready to go?’ Cahndrech knelt and began to crawl forward, following Evan. ‘Evan,’ called Asdul. ‘There’s no way any of us will be able to open the door at the end of this tunnel. It’s too heavy and very difficult to manage - Garran obviously didn’t have humans in mind when he decided we needed to make adjustments, or maybe he did…regardless, only one person at a time can fit in that part of the tunnel and you won’t be able to lift it by yourself. About ten paces ahead of where you are now, there’s a tunnel leading upwards and then south. We will go that way. You’ll need to push a fairly heavy wooden crate out of the way to get through and then you need to unbolt the trapdoor. It’s really hard to see in the dark. You go through first and I’ll lift up the Empress and Princess Pevita and then Norah.  Kalinya and Nali will need help too. Then His Majesty and everyone else can follow, with your permission of course Empress? ...Empress?’

‘
Sorry. I guess you didn’t see me nod,’ said Cahndrech and Asdul laughed.

‘
No, I didn’t.’

Evan reached the hole in the tunnel roof and pulled h
imself upwards. This tunnel led south for several hundred paces but was high enough to stand up in and the group reached the end within minutes. ‘I certainly didn’t see this tunnel when Garran brought us into the Sanctuary. Where does it come out?’ asked Kelian.

‘
Behind my home,’ said Asdul. ‘You know, it’s so dark down there that very few know of this way out. And I want to keep it that way,’ he added firmly, leaving no doubt that this was an order. ‘There are several places which would normally be deemed safe, where I would take the Empress,’ said Asdul, ‘but right now I’m not convinced anywhere is safe. We’re probably better off going somewhere unexpected.’

‘
The silahfohr where Garran found us when we first arrived,’ Evan suggested. ‘Even if he can’t hear our thoughts, I’m sure he’ll think to look there. And perhaps no-one else will realize who we are. If we keep any familiar faces out of sight...and if we’re lucky.’

‘
We have no idea if what’s happening back there is confined to the Sanctuary or if the entire city is in turmoil,’ said Kelian. He gritted his teeth and swallowed hard, trying to control the ache in his heart as he wondered if the guardians had managed to find the Queen.

‘
I’ll move out into the open, and if the city’s quiet, we’ll make for your silahfohr. If it’s too dangerous, I’ll return here and we’ll think of something else.’ Without waiting for an answer, Asdul pushed his way through a mass of thick, prickly bushes and disappeared.

Callian
, Araas, Timbul and Garran rushed down the hallway towards the increasing sounds of battle. Callian raised his hand and they slowed and then stopped about twenty paces from a solid wooden door.

‘
Well?’ Garran prompted impatiently. ‘What’s happening?’

‘
From what I can sense, there are hundreds of soldiers and guards fighting each other. And both sides seem to think they’re doing this to save the Empress and defend the Sanctuary. At least, one side thinks they’re defending the Sanctuary, which they are, and the other side seem to have been duped into thinking the others are traitors,’ said Callian. ‘We’re going to have to be extremely careful what happens when we go through this door.’

‘
Callian, they’re Tatharlian. I can’t sense their thoughts!’ said Garran. ‘I could end up murdering a lot of innocent people! It really annoys me that of all the humans in the world, these are the ones I can’t clearly sense!’

‘
You can sense my thoughts brother,’ said Callian confidently. ‘Listen to my mind. Let’s try to find out who’s behind this and take them down. It would be best if we avoided killing any of the guards until we know exactly what’s going on, so let’s find out who is responsible for this mess. Ready?’

Garran, Timbul and Araas walked cautiously forward. Everyone pressed themselves ag
ainst the wall as Callian pushed the door open.

Chapter
24

Luck

Dale pulled himself from the pool. The waterfall had not been particularly high and he
’d managed to land in the deep pool below without injury. He lay on the rocks for a few minutes then clambered to his feet. The scene before his eyes was not at all what he’d expected. Uniform clad men were walking in all directions between crude huts. Among them were a considerable number of people wearing plain clothing, but none were dressed as absurdly as Dale. The ground was rough and damp and quite disturbed. Each one of the huts appeared to have been hurriedly built from old wood and many had pieces of fabric stretched over gaps in the walls. Between each hut there were wooden tubs containing dirty clothing and there were cords strung between the huts where uniforms hung drying. In the center of the muddy space between the huts was a ring of large stones in the middle of which a fire was burning. A small black kettle sat partly in the flames and steam was coming from the spout. Dale looked at the huts. Only one hut looked completely stable. It was slightly larger than the others and was entirely made of wood. It had a reasonably sturdy looking door. Dale watched the uniformed men for a few minutes and wondered if the larger hut belonged to their leader. He knew it was pointless to ask for help, since he couldn’t speak their language and it was only by chance that he’d stayed alive for this long. He wondered if Eibhear had been taken into one the huts and if so, how he might find out. Deciding that a direct approach would serve best, he was about to cross the muddy ground to the first hut when a thought struck him. He would be far less noticeable if he was wearing the same uniform as these men rather than his current garish attire. He walked boldly towards the nearest hut and reached up to remove a uniform from the line, hoping the man he could see through the gap in the wall of hut would not try to stop him. The man gave a shout and Dale jumped back nervously. Fortunately the man was not shouting at him. He wasn’t even facing Dale. The man left the hut, crossed the muddy ground and snatched the boiling kettle from another man’s grasp, and then launched into a tirade berating his fellow soldier for taking advantage of his efforts in boiling water.

Dale didn
’t stay to watch any longer. He grabbed the uniform, ducked behind the hut and quickly changed his clothing. By lucky chance, the uniform tunic fitted him well. The pants were not so good and Dale found he had to hold onto them to stop them sliding over his hips. He ended up rolling the top over several times at the waist and rolling the legs up twice before he was satisfied with the result. The tunic covered the top of the pants and he hoped no-one would notice his feet were bare.

He walked towards the largest of the huts and paused at the doorway. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and stepped inside. There was no-one inside the hut. It was a single room.
The smell of damp filled the air and clutter lay everywhere. Towards the back of the room, there was a desk with a small wooden chair standing away from the wall. The desk was covered with sheets of parchment, old feather quills, and several pots which contained different colored writing liquids. Earthenware bowls holding half eaten meals lay amongst the writing gear. A metal cup had been upset and the water had run amongst the parchment, staining maps and diagrams. In front of the desk was a pile of dirty and worn blankets. Scattered across the floor Dale could see discarded boots, several broken spears, as well as pieces of a broken barrel, and clothing which had been used for cleaning, though he wondered how long ago this may have been seeing the state of the hut. There were several old cupboards in the room, quite a few chairs, some damaged and some intact, and three massive chests lined up against a wall. More blankets had been piled on top of the chests.

There were voices outside the hut. Dale lifted the lid on the nearest chest and slid inside, lowering the lid in the hope that some of the blankets would remain on top. His luck held. He found
himself sitting on a most uncomfortable surface. He felt around for a moment before determining that the massive chest contained weapons, mostly large knives. He picked one up, raised the lid slightly and jammed the hilt between the top of the chest and the lid, preventing the chest from closing entirely. Holding the knife in place, he raised the lid again, pushing it upwards with his head, and then he reached for one of the overhanging blankets. With a gentle tug, he caused it to drape over the front of the chest. He lowered the lid once again and tried not to move as he heard the door open.

A man stalked across the room, deftly avoiding the mess
, and fell into the wooden chair. He called out and two men followed him inside. Dale drew breath sharply when he saw they were carrying Eibhear’s body. They dropped the body on the floor and stood back. Through the crack between the chest and its lid Dale could see the faces of the two men. One was Corleo and Dale was certain the second man had been with him in the forest. The door opened again and another two men entered. Dale leaned forward and pressed his eye to the crack as he saw they were carrying Rudiger. Seconds later Ben and Rezon were brought into the room. They were dropped unceremoniously to the floor. The door opened yet again and Raline was escorted inside. Her eyes were wide with fright and Dale could see she had been crying, but she seemed otherwise unharmed. It was obvious the soldiers did not consider her a threat and Dale wondered if they thought she was captive of the fallen, as they had thought of him. The man in the wooden chair said something as he gestured to the bodies on the floor, but Corleo shook his head adamantly and gave Rudiger a nudge with his toe. Rudiger groaned and opened his eyes slightly.

The man behind the desk leapt up with sudden enthusiasm, obviously pleased to see that at least one of his captives wasn
’t dead. He began barking orders and the soldiers sprang into action. Several pails of water were brought into the room and dumped over the bodies and then the men tried to drag the captives to their feet. Eibhear was first to regain full consciousness. He glared up at the man nearest to him then he reached out and placed hand on his brother’s forehead. Rudiger opened his eyes. He stared at Eibhear and relief flowed from him.

‘
Are Ben and Rez...?’ Rudiger tried to turn over to see if they were alive.

‘
I’m alive,’ Ben mumbled. ‘And so is Rez. Supreme Majesty! It’s been a long time since anyone hit me quite that hard.’

‘
They hit me with something that looked like an axe handle.’ Rezon’s voice was hoarse. ‘And they didn’t just hit me once. I can’t believe we weren’t returned.’

Corleo growled something angri
ly and everyone fell silent. Eibhear rolled to his feet, feeling some strength return knowing his brother and his friends were alive. He reached down and helped Rudiger, Ben and Rezon to their feet. Raline stood next to the doorway, staring at Rezon. His hair was matted with blood and his lips were split and bleeding. Blood had run from his head and soaked his uniform. He held one arm across his chest and Raline wondered if it was broken. A small nod from Rezon confirmed her suspicion and she turned away to hide her face. The man who had been seated in the wooden chair pulled Corleo aside and began to question him. Dale bumped his head on the lid of the chest as Eibhear’s thoughts entered his mind.

‘
Where are you?’

‘
I’m in the chest right behind you. If you took one step backwards, you’d be sitting on top of me.’

‘
You can tell me later how you got in there, but-’

‘
Eibhear, I’m sitting on a pile of weapons! They are mostly knives, but a couple of swords and a few other bits and pieces. And I know the knives are sharp enough. Every time I move I cut myself.’

‘
You’ve got to be joking!’
Eibhear’s thoughts were incredulous.
‘We can’t be that lucky!’

‘
Unless you think lucky is being beaten almost to death and taken captive... If you move back slowly I reckon I can pass you some knives, then you can hand them on to Rudi, Ben and Rez.’

‘
Er Dale, our hands are tied.’

‘
Rezon’s aren’t.’

‘
That’s because his arm is broken. They think he’s not dangerous with a broken arm…very foolish of them.’

‘
If you step back I’ll try to cut you free.’

With infinitesimal movements,
Eibhear began to move backwards. Most of the soldiers were listening as their leader questioned Corleo, and no-one noticed as Dale raised the chest lid slightly and cut Eibhear’s hands free. Then he began to slip knives into Eibhear’s waiting hands. He passed out eight knives then listened once again for Eibhear’s thoughts.

‘
It’s lucky these people were stupid enough to let us all stand side by side. Rudi and Ben are free and we’re all armed. I’ll give you a signal before we attack,’
Eibhear thought.
‘All I want you to do is get out of the chest and get Raline out of here. You’re human. These people will be very unlikely to stop you. Go into the forest and keep running. We’ll find you.’

‘
What sort of signal,’
Dale asked cautiously.

‘
Um...how about, ‘Dale we’re about to murder everyone in this room’,’
Eibhear responded grimly.

‘
I guess that will work for me,’
Dale thought drily.

Corleo turned back to face the captives and Dale felt the tension in the room rise dramatically. He knew what was about to happen even before Eibhear could reach his thoughts.

‘Five seconds,’
Eibhear thought and Dale tensed himself. He leaned his head forward and pressed his shoulders gently against the lid of the chest.

‘
Now!’
Rudiger shouted.

Dale flung the lid of the chest back and
jumped out in time to see the four warriors leap towards the nearest soldiers. He dashed behind Rudiger and grabbed Raline by the hand then turned for the door, wishing it was already open. Rezon slammed his uninjured fist into the face of a soldier and at the same time his foot smashed the door clean from its hinges, opening the way for Dale. Dale saw that the huge warrior had his injured arm held tightly against his chest. He pulled Raline through the doorway and ran for the trees. For a few minutes he could hear shouting and screams coming from the hut, and then there was a brief silence before the four warriors burst from the building. Soldiers appeared from within the surrounding buildings. They backed away cautiously as the four warriors ran forward threateningly. To the soldiers’ surprise the four warriors suddenly turned away and dashed into the forest following in Dale and Raline’s footsteps. Dale and Raline stopped when they caught up.

‘
Keep moving!’ Rudiger ordered.

Everyone spran
g forward. They ran, but soon slowed a jog and eventually to a swift walk as they were not followed. At the top of a high ridge of forested hills they reached a small abandoned hut. They had a look around but decided there was no point in stopping there. The roof was gone and it seemed the entire structure would crash to the ground if someone breathed hard enough against one of the walls. The view from the top of the hill was magnificent, and when they moved into the nearby trees they found the strangest of sights. Water was bubbling out of the ground and pooling in a small rocky basin. What caught everyone’s attention was the slight steam rising from the water. They felt the water and it was pleasantly warm. The warriors took no particular interest, but both Dale and Raline longed to bathe in the warm water. Unfortunately no-one felt they had put enough distance between themselves and their previous captors, so they left the hills and moved downstream into the rocky valley. It was hours before Rudiger suggested they stop.

‘
Do you think it’s safe to hide here?’ asked Raline.

‘
It seems like a good enough place,’ said Eibhear.

‘
Why?’ Raline wondered.

‘
For the last two hours we’ve crossed no visible tracks. I’ve seen no evidence at all that anyone has been this way lately. And if you look around, the entire area ahead of us is a massive jumble of rocks. There’s bound to be somewhere dry we can rest, and since we left that old hut we’ve been passing springs, so we’ll have water. I can’t speak for the rest of you, but I’m more tired than I’ve ever been in my life. I’ve been smashed over the head with a lump of wood and I’ve lost more blood than- Oh stop feeling guilty Dale! This wasn’t your fault!’

‘
Actually it
was
my fault,’ said Dale quietly, looking down at the ground. ‘Just to set the record straight, I was supposed to be watching whilst Eibhear got some sleep, then I was going to have a sleep when he woke up.’ No-one spoke as Dale sighed miserably. ‘It was raining and I heard the sound of the stream change and I went upstream to see if we were going to have to get out of there in a hurry. When I came back those people had taken Eibhear and-’ Dale felt his voice catch in his throat when he remembered seeing Eibhear’s body lying on the ground, covered in blood and appearing dead. ‘Eibhear, I’m so sorry!’

‘
Dale they might have taken us anyway,’ Eibhear pointed out. ‘And if you’d been calmly sitting beside me when they’d arrived - I said this before - you’d probably be dead. As it was, you managed to stay alive long enough to get us out of there. If it wasn’t for you we might still be stuck back in that horrible little hut. Rudi, Ben, Rez and Raline would anyway, and we’d have no clue where they were.’