NexLord: Dark Prophecies (35 page)

“The Togroths are attacking,” Tocor
stated.

Aerin scrambled out of
bed
as if Togroths were in the courtyard.

Tocor chuckled, “Relax, they won't be in the
city, yet.”

Aerin slowed his mad scramble for clothes to
a reasonable pace.  “How do you know they won’t breach
the wall?”

Tocor smiled, “Because most of the Guardsmen
have spent time along the border forts, and are veteran
fighters.  Those posted on the walls will not
panic.  They will stall the attack long enough for
reinforcements to arrive to help repel the enemy."

“How are Togroths getting to the wall?”

“Ladders,” he stated simply.

Aerin glanced toward his pile of practice
weapons standing in the corner of his room.  “Are we
going to help?”

There was an amused tone in the Quarian’s
voice as he answered, “You think you’re ready then?”

“No, but…”

“Your fighting skills will not be needed this
night, at least, not on the wall.”

Aerin realized they were finally going to
discuss why Tocor had woken him.

“You must help guard the Seat, Gandarel must
not leave,” Tocor ordered.

Aerin was puzzled, “You mean I need to make
sure no Togroths get in?”

“Certainly, but the real danger lies with
someone taking Gandarel out.  Watch anyone who leaves the
seat tonight, no matter how they are dressed.  We must
make sure Gandarel stays safely behind the inner
walls.  Do you understand?”

“I understand my orders, but not why they are
given.”

“Good, that is all you need to
understand.  However, I will explain a little so that you
do not go insane on me with worry, and so fail to keep your
senses.  We suspect that there may be a traitor within
the Seat.  Someone got to those Guards who opened the
doors for the Togroths back when they attacked the
Seat.  We never found out who was
responsible.  However, Gandarel has not been murdered, so
it follows that their objective is not to kill, but to
capture.  Mara believes that this was their intent the
first time as well.”

Aerin frowned in thought, “But I heard that
priest say that they were to kill Gandarel!”

“Did you, are you sure?  Or did you
hear him say something that you just assumed meant kill him?”

Aerin tried to remember, but that episode had
happened quite some time ago.

“I can’t remember, but if you thought there
was a chance that someone was going to murder Gandarel, shouldn’t
we have done something?”

Tocor shrugged, “Mara was sure he would not
die.  I listen to her when she is that positive about
something.  Besides, we didn’t really have a choice; the
only way we could have gotten him out of the Seat was to abduct
him.  Mara decided that there were other reasons he had
to stay, so that wasn’t an option.”

Aerin was amazed, “But you considered
it?”

“This is not a game,
Aerin.  Gandarel must become the new NexLord or we
believe there will be no stopping the Dreadmaster this time.”

That made Aerin pause for a
moment.  “If only Ragol was alive
in
this age, he could lead the armies again!”

Tocor shrugged, “Ragol was unable to destroy
the Dreadmaster, not by military defeat, and not face-to-face, but
Mara says that there is a slim chance that Gandarel could be the
one.  Again, I trust her on this kind of
thing.  Now, enough of this chatter; get
moving.  Lor is probably already waiting on you, I got
her up first.”

Tocor left his room, and as Aerin laced up
his shoes, he wondered at the sudden tendency of Mara and Tocor to
tell him things they had never been ready to discuss openly
before.  The more he thought about it the more nervous he
became.   

Lor wasn’t ready when Aerin looked for her in
the courtyard, but he saw her come out of her room a moment
later.  He did a bit of a double take, her clothes, while
still fairly masculine in basic form, were no longer chosen to hide
her more female attributes.  The tight sweater she wore
tonight left no doubt as to her shape.  It disconcerted
Aerin, but he put it from his mind as best as possible.

Where Aerin was still a bit sleepy, Lor was
astonishingly cheerful and awake.  Lor liked
excitement
and preferred the night to the
day.

“Hey,
sleepyhead
, did you hear about the attack?”

Aerin scowled, “Yes, and I’m worried, what if
they breach the defenses?”

“Then you and I will grab a high seat and
watch Tocor take them all,” she replied with a grin.

“I think there may be one or two more than
even Tocor can manage,” Aerin noted.

Lor shrugged, “Then we’ll mop up the rest
for
him, I need a little exercise
anyway.”

“Will nothing sober you?”

“Nope, I’m ready to prowl.  I
hope you wake up before you land on your head, I’m feeling like a
run!”

“Oh, Gedin, don’t take that same route to the
Seat, I nearly tossed my lunch when I looked down halfway through
that leap.”

“Don’t worry; we’ll keep it a little safer
for you tonight, but still fun!”

Aerin sighed; Lor was in a real mood.

“Come on, the
last
one to nab a traitor has to moon the Togroth
army!”

Despite his worries, Aerin had to laugh at
Lor’s antics, her mood was contagious.

“
First,
we
find Dono, I can’t wait to yank the covers off his warm snuggled
body, then we’ll trot on over and see what is sneaking in the
night,” Lor decided, heading up their favorite path to the
roof.

Katek came out of his room dressed for
travel.

Lor looked him over.  “Hey Kat, are
you coming with us tonight?”

“My name is Katek,” he answered, “but yes,
Tocor suggested I keep you two company and help watch over the Seat
tonight.”

Lor gave a very predatory
grin.  “Well, Kat, it’s time for you to show us what
you’re made of on the High Road.”

Katek looked up toward the roofs without much
enthusiasm.  He knew the other kids used the rooftops for
their travel about the city, but so far he had avoided going with
them.  He didn’t want them to know, but he had a fear of
heights.

“Maybe we should stick to the streets?” he
suggested, hopefully.

Lor just laughed and swarmed up the side of
the Villa toward the roofs.

“Great,” Katek sighed.

“Come on, Kat, I’ll show you the ropes, it is
actually a lot of fun,” Aerin assured him.

“It will not be fun, and do you have to call
me Kat?”

“Hey, it sounds like a nickname that is going
to stick, you might as well get used to it.  Besides a
‘cat’ is not a bad animal to be associated with when you are about
to travel the high road.  You should try to land on your
feet all the time.”

Without further talk, Aerin went up the
drainpipe toward the waiting Lor.

“Great,” Katek muttered again.  He
swallowed hard and then started climbing up after Aerin.

When he was only ten feet off the ground the
familiar pain in his stomach started, he was deathly afraid.

Lor's head peeked over the roof and
snickered, "I bet Mara could climb up here faster than
you.  Maybe we should call you Dog instead of Kat."

Katek scowled angrily and reached for the
next handhold above him.  He arrived at the top,
breathing hard, though not from exertion.  Before he
could even look back over the edge to see how high they were, Lor
reached up with both hands and patted him on the cheeks.

"Can't keep up with a girl, Kitten?” then she
laughed at his angry look.  She turned and ran across the
flat roof and
leaped
across to the
next building, a good ten feet away.

"Don't call me that!” he demanded
angrily.

Lor called across from the other building,
"Just touch me once before we reach the seat and, I swear to Gedin,
I'll never call you that again!"

Katek growled, then ran toward Lor and
leaped
.

Lor danced along the edge of the roof, then
turned and climbed higher toward its peak.

Katek scrambled after her.

Aerin shook his head and followed behind his
two friends.

For the next half
hour,
Lor stayed a tantalizing five to ten feet in front
of Katek, taunting him all the time.  She never stopped
moving, and he couldn't quite catch her.

They arrived at the roof overlooking the
outer wall of the Seat and Katek pounced.

This time,
Lor didn't move and he grabbed her by the arm. 

"Hah!" Now you WILL stop calling me Kat," he
gloated.

Lor laughed, "No, I will stop calling you
Kitten, that's what I promised.  But Kat fits you well,
that was the fastest anyone ever learned to follow me across the
High Road, and I'm King... well, Queen of the High Road," Lor said
with a grin.

Katek suddenly realized what they had just
done, what he had just done, and what Lor had just done to him, all
in one flash.  "You knew!"

Lor raised an eyebrow, "That you were afraid
of heights?"

"Yes!"

"No, you aren't, you just thought you
were.  How else could you have followed me all the way
here?"

Katek finally smiled back, "You are
incorrigible."

"You just noticed that?" Aerin said, smiling
at his two friends.

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?  Do you
feel any fear now?"

Katek considered their height, four stories
above the street.  He felt exhilarated, but the familiar
tightening of his stomach was gone.

"You see?" Lor said, not waiting for an
answer, "fear of heights is a natural instinct in humans, but just
like all fear, it can be overcome."

Aerin felt a moment of destiny in Lor's
words; the Dreadmaster used
fear
as his power and perhaps that too could be conquered.

Lor poked Katek in the chest with a finger,
"Besides, you are a natural up here, even better than Aerin was
when he started."

"Hey!" Aerin exclaimed.

Lor smiled, "You got better."

Katek looked over the roof at the main gate
into the Seat.  "So what do you think we should
do?  Just watch the gate?"

Aerin considered for a moment.  "I
don't know, are there any other entrances into the Seat?"

"I've heard rumors..." Lor admitted, glancing
at Katek.

Katek picked up on the look and knew Lor was
hiding something, "Rumors, from what source?"

"Just rumors," Lor dissembled.

"So spill it, what have you heard?" Aerin
asked, trying to get Lor's thieving activities out of the
discussion.

Katek smiled, "I think you have been
consorting with thieves, who else would have 'rumors' about how to
get into a place."

Lor frowned and gave Katek a sidelong glance,
purposely ignoring him as she answered Aerin, "I seem to have heard
that there may be some sort of secret entrance..."

"Entrance... exit, more like, only thieves
would think of it as an entrance," Katek noted.

"And what do you know of thieves?" Lor asked
the ex-gladiator in disdain.

Katek shrugged, "Nowhere near as much as you,
obviously."

Aerin stared at the high walls of the Seat as
if he could see through them.  "Where is the secret
exit?"

Lor was openly scowling at Katek
now.  "How should I know?  I just heard a
stinking rumor, not where to knock, for Gedin's sake!"

Katek grinned at Lor's obvious discomfort; he
figured his guesses weren't far off.  Baiting Lor was
turning out to be fun with the shoe being on the other foot this
time.

"Lay off her for a minute, Kat," Aerin
requested.

Lor turned her piercing look on Aerin; "I
don't need YOU protecting me from curious Kat here."

Aerin threw his hands up, "Fine, then please
help me figure out where a secret exit could come out, I don't have
much experience in this kind of thing."

From over Lor's shoulder Katek winked at
Aerin, and then said: "I bet Lor hasn't got a clue, let me see if I
can figure it out for you."

"This should be good," Lor noted.

"I'll bet there is a secret door down in one
of the shadowy corners.  It will probably be shaped to
look like a section of the stone.  The seams probably
follow the lines of mortar so you can't see it," Katek
improvised.

Lor looked him over
with
half-lidded
eyes.  "Are you done?"

Katek shrugged, "Yes, you have a better
idea?"

Lor ignored him and went to the wall, looking
down and then around at various buildings that were placed across
the street from the walls of the Seat of Stone.

"Well?" Katek inquired.

Lor held up a forefinger to signal for him to
wait while she continued to study the surrounding buildings.

"I told you, she..." Katek started, but Lor
interrupted him.

"The 'Exit'," she said, emphasizing the
change of
word
, "would be reached
from an underground tunnel.  If one exists, I believe I
know which building has the exit.  Now,
Smart-boy
," she said, referring to Katek, "tell
me which building you think it’s in?"

Katek looked over the street and
buildings
and pointed to one that was closer
to the wall than the others. "There," he pronounced.

"Wrong," Lor replied happily.

"That remains to be seen," Katek
defended.

Lor shrugged, "Care for a little
wager?  Loser fetches hot water in the mornings for a
month."

"No, not until I see your choice," Katek
stated.

Lor walked to the side of the roof to their
left, facing a street instead of the walls of the
Seat.  She pointed pretty far up the street to an old
round and squat building that had an old weathered granary sign
hanging over a chained up door.  The bricks were so old
that the rains had eroded them around the mortar
joints.  The building was obviously old, rickety and out
of use.  It looked like it was ready to be torn down.