NexLord: Dark Prophecies (37 page)

"The hood!" Lor demanded.

Just then Aerin heard a set of running
footsteps, and he paused.

Lor froze as well, but when the footsteps
went by she reminded Aerin, "Hood?"

He reached for the black cloth sack that was
cinched around her throat, but he heard a door open in the room
next door.

"Wait," he whispered to
Lor
and then went to listen at the connecting
door between the rooms.

Lor made a sound that pretty much summed up
her frustration, but kept it as quiet as she could.

As Aerin headed for the door he heard a voice
yell out loudly, "Guards, assassins in the Seat!  To
Gandarel!"

"Tocor!" Aerin heard a familiar voice call
out.

Aerin didn't wait longer; he opened the door
and stepped into the room.

Five sets of eyes turned at this latest
intrusion, and Aerin found himself the center of attention for an
instant.  Then the three older men behind Gandarel
returned their attention to the bald headed Quarian who stood just
inside the room, holding a gray staff that was slick with yellow
tog
blood at both ends.

"Guards!"
Hork
, the High Priest of The Hand yelled again.

Six guards finally arrived, and Tocor backed
into the room away from their drawn weapons.  He held his
staff in a defensive
posture
but
made no moves.

"Kill that assassin!"
Hork
demanded.

"Hold!" Gandarel exclaimed.

"No, he's right, guards, apprehend that
man!"  Niler Corbin, head of the council, stated to the
squad.

Councilman Enolive stepped before Gandarel to
protect him.

The guards moved toward Tocor, who backed to
the center of the room.

"Tocor," Aerin yelled, "drop your staff!"

Tocor glanced at Aerin and then tossed the
staff to the ground.  It hit with a very heavy sound and
didn't bounce.  Tocor straightened and placed his hands
at his sides.

"Gandarel, there are Togroths coming through
the secret tunnel into the Seat!" Aerin exclaimed.

"What are you talking about," Niler
demanded.

Aerin continued, "We were captured at the
outer exit of the secret tunnel by Togroths, they are in the old
granary!"

Gandarel spoke, "You and Tocor?"

"No, Lor and I," explained Aerin.

"And Tocor?" Gandarel asked.

Tocor answered for himself, "I followed the
boys into the granary later on.  He speaks the truth,
though any Togs in the granary will not be entering the
seat."  Here he pointed at the yellow blood on the staff
at his feet.

"This story sounds false," Hork hissed.

Just then Lor stumbled into the room with her
hands bound and the hood still over her head.  "I don't
care what you think it sounds like! Now, will someone PLEASE take
this damn hood off my head?"

At the sight of the bound up Lor, Aerin's
story had some credence, and though the guards did not sheath their
weapons, they stopped their advance on Tocor.

As things were straightened out over the next
hour, Aerin managed to get near Gandarel and speak
quietly.  "Darel, was anyone trying to get you to leave
with them tonight?"

Gandarel thought for a
moment.  "Niler asked me to come with him just before
Hork and Enolive arrived.”

At that
moment,
Hork yelled, "I want him thrown in the
dungeon!  He shall be burned in the fires for his
sins!"

Enolive entered the debate, "Regardless of
his race, he may have saved Gandarel."

"That's irrelevant; do not listen to his
forked tongue! He is demon spawn, and nothing he says can be
trusted!”

"The guard captain has found eighteen
Togroths dead in the granary," Enolive countered.

Hork
sneered, "He probably murdered his own companions to get in with
Gandarel.  He must not be allowed to succeed."

"He may depart," Gandarel stated, frowning at
his three advisors.

Hork
stood
up straighter, "You imperil your soul when you side with the
darkness, Gandarel."

"So be it," Gandarel stated, and motioned to
his guard captain.  "See that the Quarian and my friends
are taken outside the seat, unharmed.  I am leaving this
up to you, Captain."

"Yes, Milord," he answered, and collected his
three charges.

A Guardsman tried to pick up Tocor's staff
and cursed, it was so heavy that it took two men to lift it and
carry the bloody instrument from the room.

Tocor made no comment, but the Guardsmen
looked at him fearfully, the quarterstaff was made of solid
steel.

When they were outside the gate of the Seat,
Aerin looked up to the roof of the building where they had left Kat
and waved him down.

A few minutes later Katek joined them.

"How, in Gedin's paradise, did the two of
you, plus Tocor, end up coming out of the Seat?” he asked them.

"I'll expect my water hot and ready at nine
tomorrow morning," was all Lor answered.

Aerin looked up at Tocor, "How did you manage
to find us?"

"I arrived in time to see you and Lor working
the lock on the granary, and when you did not come out, I went in,"
he explained, as if nothing special had transpired.

"Do we need to watch more tonight?"

Tocor shook his head, "No, I believe the
excitement for the evening has concluded."

When they reached Mara she required a
separate report from each of them, even Tocor.  When
Aerin told her his version of the story, Mara stopped him when he
got to the whispery voice that had called his captor
'Betrayer'.  "And the voice you heard called it by that
name?"

"Yes, I'm sure; I'll never forget that
terrible voice."

"And it said something about you being
useful?" Mara asked.

"Something like that, I can't remember the
exact words," Aerin admitted, "I was trying to be brave, but I was
terribly scared of that voice."

"It's all right, Aerin, older men than you
have done worse."

"Was it really the Dreadmaster?" Aerin
finally asked.  He'd been afraid to even ask the question
lest the answer be what he suspected.

"The Dreadmaster is dead, Aerin, only the
echoes of its personality stain the world, though its power is
waiting, intact."

"Waiting?"

"That's enough for now, I don't want to fuel
your nightmares, I imagine they will be bad enough
already.  You've had enough for your brain to handle in
one day."

"Yes, Mara, but what should I do… I'm
afraid."

"I know, and so, tomorrow we must begin the
next stage of lessons on fear,” she answered, and then gestured for
him to leave her room with a wave of her hand.

But Aerin had one last question: "Was tonight
written about in the Dark Prophecies?"

Mara didn't answer instantly, and when she
did she didn't answer his question directly.  "Once we
walked further down the path of light with each day, but now we
only dodge the arrows of darkness.  Go to sleep, Aerin."

Aerin went to his room and slept, but his
dreams were haunted by the voice of the whisperer.

Chapter Eleven

"At the bleakest moment of the siege, an
enemy long forgotten came for the heir, and fear fed its
power."

-  From the Dark Prophecies

For three days the Togroths attacked, day and
night.  Each time they managed a foothold on the wall
they were pushed back.  Tocor and Yearl entered the
fighting on the wall six times, and swiftly became legends among
the Guardsmen.  
At
first,
they feared the Quarian and showed disdain for the
Willowman, but when the fighting got tough, they welcomed them on
the line.  Soon word of their exploits overcame the fear
and prejudice and the Guardsmen welcomed their aid.

Aerin learned of this after the third day,
when he overheard two Guardsmen discussing the strange
pair.  During the same time Aerin, Lor,
Dono,
and Katek had been keeping up their
nightly watch on the gates out of the Seat.  So far
nothing else had transpired on that front.  Aerin tried
to get in to see Gandarel, but he was told the heir to the Seat was
too busy to meet with friends.  Aerin didn't know if that
came from Gandarel, but he doubted it.  Aerin just wished
he could get in and warn Gandarel about the possibility of a
traitor.  He still wasn't sure if there was a traitor, or
if Betrayer had been an assassin from the
outside.  Regardless, he knew with a certainty he
couldn't explain that Betrayer was still out there and still
scheming.

The promised lessons on fear had not happened
as of yet, and Aerin didn't mind at all.  The siege took
up all his time.  He'd watched many of the attacks from
the roofs with his cohorts, but they had not gotten embroiled in
the battles themselves, at least since the first
night.  Being hauled like a sack of turnips by a Togroth
had made Aerin a little more respectful of the Togroths than he had
been.  He just wished he could have seen Tocor when he
stepped into a group of eighteen slavering killers, each weighing
over three hundred pounds.  Aerin still didn't know how
Tocor had killed them all without taking a scratch.

As far as Aerin was concerned, Tocor could
take on the whole Togroth army.

It was on the third day that Gandarel came to
see Mara.  She was out when he arrived with his troop of
Guardsmen.  He left them in the courtyard and went up to
Mara's room.  After knocking, Gandarel tried the door and
found it unlocked; Mara trusted those who had access to the inner
courtyard.  Gandarel checked the courtyard and found only
his Guardsmen present, so he stepped into Mara's room and looked
around.

The room looked clean, like
normal.  He noticed the worn wooden box on the desk and
went over and opened the lid.  Inside he saw a stack of
old documents.  He wondered if this was the prophecy that
Aerin had looked at, the one Mara had mentioned to his
council.  He picked up a few sheets and thumbed
through.

His eyes caught on something and he started
to read.

"…and inside the Chamber of
Stone,
he will know that his failure has killed
his best friend.  From this day forth, the world will
shed tears of blood..."

Outside Gandarel barely heard his Guards
calling.  His heart pounding, he quickly put the
documents back into the box, then swiftly crossed to the door and
went out.

On the
balcony,
he looked down in time to see Lor, Dono,
Aerin,
and Katek reach the ground
from the roofs.

"Milord, I just wanted to tell you that these
four had arrived," the sergeant of his guard called up.

Aerin looked up and saw Gandarel on the
balcony, he grinned at his friend.

Gandarel came down, but his eyes were haunted
with the words he had just read.

Aerin came over to meet him at the bottom of
the stairs and they shook sword arms.

"It's great to see you, Gandarel!" Aerin
exclaimed.

"And you, Aerin," Gandarel answered, but his
voice caught in his throat.

Aerin frowned, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Gandarel stated.

Aerin knew him much better than that, and
told him so.  "Hey, you can't hide things from your best
friend!"

That made Gandarel even more nervous.

"So, what brings you to
Mara's?  Need to get back into training?" Katek asked,
walking up.

Gandarel shook his head, "I wish that were
the case, but I've just come to talk to Mara.  I need all
the council I can get.  The Togroths are still outside
the walls, but they are getting more desperate. From
reports,
I have heard they nearly
made it into the city on the last attack.  I'm getting
worried.  My councilmen are considering ordering the
Guard out in a sortie, but I remember Mara saying that the Togroths
would leave.  I want to know if she is guessing, or
basing this on some old document.  I have to make a
decision soon, and it could send many men to their deaths."

Mara came in through the front gate at that
moment with Tocor at her side.  She paused on seeing the
Guardsmen
and then noticed
Gandarel.

"How did you get away from your councilmen?”
she asked in way of greeting.

Gandarel gave her a sly look, "They were
meeting about the Togroth situation and I told them I had some
thinking to do.  They were glad to get rid of me for the
moment, I've been... a bit headstrong lately," he noted.

Aerin snickered and Lor laughed outright.

Gandarel gave them a shrug.

Mara appraised him for a
moment.  "You're not here for my lessons, why then?"

Gandarel
explained
as he had for Aerin.

"I see," Mara stated.  "Well, I
could tell you that it is written in an old prophecy, but that
isn't going to convince you, is it?"

"It's not me that needs convincing," he
answered.

"You are getting smarter, Gandarel," Mara
noted.  "Well, let's just apply some
logic.  How long have the Togroths been outside the
city?”

"Three days."

"Correct, and in that time have you seen any
supply wagons arrive?"

Gandarel considered the question; he had not
had any report of any wagons at all.  "No."

"So, what are they eating?"  Mara
asked.

Gandarel hadn't considered it.  "I
guess they are foraging for food."

"No
doubt
and that should last an army like that about, oh… two days, and
that was up a day ago."

"So you think they will leave for lack of
food?"

"No."

Gandarel's head hurt, as it often did when he
spoke with Mara, she would lead you down a path to a conclusion,
but then tell you it was the wrong one.  "All right, what
will they eat?"