Chapter Twenty-Four
Servant and Master
L’Roth burst through the door, two more men behind him, their swords held ready. The house was empty and in darkness. L’Roth swore and lowered his sword.
“They have fled,” he told his men. He kicked the table over in his anger, and then he turned and strode out.
The wagon stood outside the house. The driver and brake-man were by their horses, trying to sooth them as they snorted and stamped their hooves, their breath visible in the night air. L’Roth went straight to the wagon.
“They have fled!” he repeated, but now with anger in his voice.
“I STILL HAVE THEIR SCENT!” Gil-Yan hissed. “THEY ARE MANY AND THEY ARE ON FOOT! Their trail must be clear to even you! They pull a wheeled cart with them! We can yet catch them! Hurry! Hurry!”
L’Roth replaced his sword in his scabbard and gazed up at the sky. “Aye, you speak the truth, but the chase is not for you. We must return if you are to be back in the castle before morning.”
“But they will escape!” Gil-Yan rocked the cage wagon in her frustration.
“Be still!” L’Roth shouted at her. “This is now a task for men and horses, not you. Their path is clear as you say, and it will still be fresh when we return in the morning. And if those at the villages should see us in our pursuit they will think nothing of it, which is not what they will think if they saw you!”
Gil-Yan hissed and grumbled but said nothing.
L’Roth turned and shouted to his men. “Mount! We return to the castle!”
His Knights jumped on their horses and the driver and brake-man climbed on to the wagon. The driver took up the reins and urged his charges forward once more. The horses strained and the wagon creaked as it rumbled forward.
They soon left the empty house behind.
All the way through the forest Gil-Yan lay flattened to the bottom of the cage, hidden in the shadows, grumbling quietly.
L’Roth was equally sombre. Sombre and thoughtful. He had needed Gil-Yan to find those that had escaped him. Only she could smell them out where they left no visible trail. But now that he had a trail that he could follow he could do without her. That should have pleased him, but instead it worried him. He knew that Gil-Yan wanted her freedom. She always denied it, but he knew it was her only goal. She wanted to be free, and what she would do if she were free he could easily guess. But one thing was certain; this would be her best time to escape.
He had seven men with him, five of them Knights on horse-back. Three of them were men that he knew he could trust. Not Sir Henry’s men, but his own. But would they be enough if Gil-Yan should seek her freedom? He thought not. No, if Gil-Yan should seek her freedom, L’Roth knew that she would have to be defeated by wits and not by the sword.
Gil-Yan rose suddenly from the floor of the wagon. Her head struck the roof of the cage with a clang, causing the wagon to jolt and the bars to bend.
The sound shook L’Roth from his thoughts and he spun round on his horse, thinking the moment had come, and drew his sword.
But instead of striking or knawing at the bars, Gil-Yan snorted again and again, taking in quick breaths. Then she turned her head and stared at L’Roth, baring her teeth.
“Insiders!” she hissed. “Insiders are close by! They come for me!”
Almost as soon as she had spoken, an arrow hit the driver in the side of the head and he tumbled from the wagon.
L’Roth shouted at his men, “Destroyers in the forest!”
The attack came swiftly. Another arrow felled one of the Knights even as he drew his sword. Then the Destroyers themselves appeared, rushing from the shadows and the trees and striking at men and horses alike.
Gil-Yan bellowed and roared, shaking the wagon and rocking it from side to side. The brake-man drew on the brakes as the horses reared and panicked. He jumped down but didn’t bother to soothe them; instead he hid under the wagon.
There was sudden death in the darkness.
A horse fell, kicking and snorting, its rider struggling to free himself as two Destroyers pounced on him, stabbing and slicing at him and the horse.
L’Roth sliced at another Destroyer, but she ducked out of the way and ran. Suddenly they all ran, and L’Roth’s men galloped after them.
L’Roth saw them go and quickly shouted at them, “Stay with the wagon! Stay with the wagon!”
Two obeyed, but one rode on. L’Roth knew that he would not return.
L’Roth jumped down from his horse. “Dismount! Stand by the wagon! Use your shields against the arrows!”
His men did as he told them, unclipping their shields from their saddles and holding them up before them. L’Roth did the same, and soon they were all stood with their backs to the wagon, their shields with their colourful emblems held high before them.
Behind them, Gil-Yan shook the wagon. “Let me out! They come for me! Let me out!”
“Quiet!” L’Roth shouted at her.
It wasn’t long before the first arrow thudded into one of the shields. It was quickly followed by two more.
L’Roth calmed his men. “Hold firm!” he shouted. “If they want her, they’ll have to come and take her!”
A flaming arrow flew through the darkness like a tiny comet and struck the wagon. Gil-Yan hissed and spat at it through the bars and it went out. Another arrow struck a wheel. One of the Knights chopped it free and stamped it out on the grass.
It was then that they came. Nine of them. Nine against three. Three of them held branches that burned brightly. They were the first things L’Roth and his men saw, dancing between the trees like giant fireflies.
Kai-Tai led the Destroyers to the wagon in a charge, her face twisted in anger. Like all the Destroyers, she was filled with an undeniable hatred for those she faced. But the hatred she felt for the occupant of the wagon far outweighed that for the men who stood in her way.
L’Roth and his men didn’t shirk from the battle. In their heads they knew it was already lost, but in their hearts they hoped only for the glory of a noble death.
Gil-Yan rocked the cage wagon, bouncing it on its wheels. She bellowed in the Destroyer language. “Dat te karonak! Ne par jento te Tun-Sho-Lok!”
No one listened or seemed to care anymore. Swords clashed in the forest, shields were smitten aside, and blood splashed on the wagon and on the grass. No sooner had one man fallen when he was quickly despatched in a frenzy of stabbing.
The burning branches were thrown at the wagon. Gil-Yan writhed around, spitting at them and trying to reach them through the bars. She shouted at L’Roth, “Let me out, Le-Roth! I can help you! Let me out before it is too late!”
L’Roth ignored her. He fought with two Destroyers, his shield cut to ribbons by the flurry of blows they struck against him. Then one of the Destroyers stabbed through the shield. The blade pierced L’Roth’s chest, but it stuck in the shield. L’Roth seized his chance, throwing aside the shield and lunging at his attacker, his sword going through her throat.
Gil-Yan shouted again, desperately, pleadingly. “Le-Roth! I can save you! Let me out!”
L’Roth saw the last of his men drop to his knees. The Destroyers surrounded him in an instant. It would soon be over.
“To Hell with my soul!” L’Roth spun round and with a mighty blow he sliced his sword through the pad-lock on the door of the cage.
The door flew open and Gil-Yan sprang from the cage. She landed among the Destroyers. Without hesitation or fear they struck and stabbed at her with their swords. Gil-Yan’s skin brightened to silver at each blow, and even though the swords struck deep, they had no effect.
With a roar, Gil-Yan spun round and snapped at one of the nearest Destroyers, her immense teeth scissoring her victim into bloody meat. She shook her head and an arm and a leg flew aside, disappearing into the darkness.
Jai-Soo raised her sword and moved forward, but Kai-Tai pulled her back and shouted, “Ban te nar! Ne an dat! Cha! Cha!”
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br /> The Destroyers ran. Gil-Yan gave chase, bounding after them, and springing upon the back of the last of them. She bit and tore her victim to ribbons, gulping down the bloody remnants, and then she raised her bloody snout and roared at the heavens. It filled the forest like the roar of some primeval beast, triumphant in the hunt for its prey.
Abruptly, Gil-Yan ceased her roar, turned, and stared directly at the wagon, her bright red eyes narrowing. The last of the burning branches thrown onto it still smoked, but the flames hadn’t caught. The Destroyers and L’Roth were gone. But she wasn’t alone. She could smell the human. A movement by the wagon caught her eye and she sprang forward.
The brake-man who had been hiding under the wagon jumped to his feet and ran for his life. He ran as fast as he could, as fast as he had ever ran before. And as he ran he screamed, his scream echoing through the darkened forest until suddenly –SNAP! It stopped.
Gil-Yan quickly ate her victim, licking the blood from the grass. Then she sniffed and snuffled around, finding the bodies and remains of all who had fallen, her long tail weaving about behind her. She ate them all, horses, men and Destroyers. She left nothing behind.
Her presence caused the utmost fear in the horses still attached to the wagon. Even with the brake locked on they had dragged it forward some distance. She ignored them. Soon she would consume their flesh, adding it to her own. But they were tethered, and she had other business to attend to first.
She raised her head and snorted in the cold night air. Then she bellowed, “Le-Roth! Le-Roth! I smell your blood, Le-Roth! You are wounded! Where do you hide?”
There was movement in the shadows. Gil-Yan sprang forward, her mouth agape and her teeth bared. She galloped through the trees, crashing through branches and bushes.
“I see you! I see you!” she bellowed.
L’Roth heard her charging towards him, but he had found what he wanted, he had found the only thing in the forest that could save him.
Gil-Yan slithered to a halt, her claws raking up the grass and the soil. She stared at L’Roth and hissed.
He had found his horse.
L’Roth’s smile was almost demented as he shouted at her in his triumph, his sword in his hand. “That’s right, witch of the night! I have four legs! Do you think yours are faster?”
Gil-Yan crept forward, snarling and hissing. “You cannot run far enough to evade me! I will find you, Le-Roth! In the night, in the darkness, I will strike at you and devour you!”
L’Roth backed away on his horse, and it pranced and reared in its eagerness to be gone. “Ha! Empty threats! I need only to ride to the castle! And once there I will strike off your head! Aye, and Sir Henry’s too, if he gets in my way!”
“You would not dare! I would catch you and eat you!”
“Would you? Are you so sure? Would you like to wager on a race between my four legs and yours? A race to the castle! See how eager my charger is to put distance between us! Will you wager! My life for yours, witch of the night! Answer! Answer!”
Gil-Yan stopped her advance and crouched down. She growled menacingly but didn’t reply.
“I think not!” L’Roth said in triumph, and then he roared at the top of his voice, “GET BACK IN THE WAGON!”
Gil-Yan growled and roared, baring her teeth at him. She spat and clawed at the grass, her tail waving snake-like behind her.
L’Roth waved his sword at her. “GET BACK IN THE WAGON!” he repeated, his voice almost hoarse.
“I will not!” Gil-Yan shouted back at him in her deep voice, spitting and snarling. “I will not! I will not!”
“Then the race is on!” L’Roth shouted and turned his horse.
“Wait!” Gil-Yan screamed at him, a hint of panic in her voice. “I can still smell the Insiders! To ask me to re-enter the cage is folly! They watch and wait! If you lock me inside they will return and try to burn me! I will not enter the cage while they are near!”
“And I will not wait with you while you are free!” Without another word, L’Roth dug his heels into the flanks of his horse and it leapt forward, reaching the gallop in an instant.
“Wait!” Gil-Yan roared again, and her claws tore up the grass as she rushed after him. “You need me, Le-Roth! You cannot possess that which you desire without me! Wait! Wait!”
Either L’Roth didn’t hear her, or he didn’t care what she said. He rode on.
Gil-Yan chased after him, smashing and trampling through bushes and young trees. She snarled and spat and roared at the shadows. But even though she was powerful and strong and ran as fast as she could, she still couldn’t catch L’Roth. She was too big and heavy. She cursed those she had eaten. They still weighed her down, not yet assimilated and turned to her own flesh. She fell behind and her roars turned from anger to fear as she saw L’Roth disappear ahead of her.
His horse flew through the forest. L’Roth rode with his body crouched down, his head so low that he peered between the ears of the horse as it galloped through the trees. At first he could hear Gil-Yan crashing through the forest as she pursued him, calling out to him in her despair. By the sounds of her hurry and panic she would leave a wide trail of destruction that would puzzle many travellers. He ignored her calls, remembering instead her cries of triumph at being free. Slowly, the sounds of her pursuit faded as she fell behind, and soon the forest became silent, and only the thumping of his heart and the horse’s hooves filled his ears.
It had been a race of death, and as the castle came into view, L’Roth knew he had won it. But his own feelings of triumph at his victory were short-lived and hollow. He had heard her words and they were true. He needed her, and he hated and despised himself for his weakness.
“Open the gates! Open the gates, I say!” he shouted at the guards on the ramparts as he approached, waving his sword at them.
The guards signalled to men in the courtyard below who ran to the gatehouse to obey, and the gates swung inwards. L’Roth shot straight through the gatehouse, his horse skidding to a halt by the West Tower. He jumped down and ran to the door of the tower. The men who guarded it tried to bar his way, but he kicked and struck at them with his sword, and they fell back in confusion.
L’Roth pushed open the door and marched inside, his sword still in his hand. He ran down a stone staircase and came to another door. He kicked it open and immediately found himself facing Sir Henry and two other Knights who barred his way, Sir Morgan and Sir Edmund. Without waiting to explain, he hurled himself at them.
“Let me pass!” he bellowed as they held him back. “I will strike off that witch’s head this instant!”
“For what reason?” Sir Henry shouted back. “Why this sudden change? What took place between you that brings on this anger?”
“She ate my men!” L’Roth almost screamed.
Sir Henry and the two other Knights stared at L’Roth. They stared at him as if they thought he was mad. It was only then that L’Roth realised how demented and hysterical he must look to them. He deliberately attempted to calm himself and tell them what had happened.
In the gatehouse, the men who had opened the gates for L’Roth had stood and stared as he rode by. They had watched in surprise as he had brushed aside the guards at the West Tower and gone inside. Now they heard something large and heavy approaching through the forest. They turned to look, and instantly dropped their pikes and ran.
Men scattered in all directions as Gil-Yan burst through the gatehouse and came slithering to a stop in the courtyard. Even L’Roth’s horse bolted for the stables.
Gil-Yan roared in anger when she saw the open door to the West Tower. She rushed forward; her teeth bared, and rammed her snout against the doorway. The wooden door frame splintered and the door was smashed from its hinges, but she was too big to get through. She shouted into the open doorway, “Harm my other self and I will tear your flesh from your bones, Le-Roth!”
In the doorway to the underground chambers of the West Tower, L’Roth had just fini
shed his explanation when the outside door caved in behind them and Gil-Yan roared out her warning. L’Roth instantly lost control again and turned and screamed up the steps at Gil-Yan.
“You ate my men!”
“I ate only those who had fallen!” she shouted back, her snout pressed into the broken doorway, and her breath misting in the stone staircase. As she pressed harder, her snout and head seemed to narrow, and oozed further through the broken frame of the narrow doorway.
“You lie!” L’Roth bellowed. “You meant to devour me! You deny it now, but ‘tis the truth!”
“And you wished to kill me!” Gil-Yan shouted. “You threatened my other self!”
“Aye! And it was a threat well meant! Now you die, harlot!”
“Then I will dig you out and eat you like the worm you are, Le-Roth!” came her instant reply, and she began to chew and claw at the wooden door frame, tearing it to ribbons even as her body oozed and flowed further into the passageway.
With renewed determination, L’Roth turned and again tried to force his way through the door to the chamber beyond, but again Sir Henry and the two Knights held him off. They struggled and shouted, their voices raised.
At the top of the staircase behind them, Gil-Yan shouted more threats, her deep voice louder than all the rest. Outside, her claws raked against the stone work of the tower, reducing large blocks to dust. Her head was now well inside the passageway, and her neck growing longer by the second. She had scented and seen Sir Henry, and there was a new urgency in her voice as she called out to him.
“Sir-Hen-Re! Sir-Hen-Re! Be warned, my bond! Le-Roth has threatened to kill you if you stand in his way! Le-Roth, if you harm him, I will smash you and trample you!”
Sir Henry shouted back at her at the top of his voice. “Enough! No one will be killed tonight!” He waved at Gil-Yan. “Get back to the pit, Gil-Yan! I command you! Go now! I will speak with you later!”
There was a pause, and then Gil-Yan spoke in a low voice. “As you wish, my bond.”
There was sudden silence above them as Gil-Yan did as she was commanded, and vanished. Only moonlight now shone through the smashed doorway and cast shadows on the steps behind them.
Her obedient departure made no difference to L’Roth. He still struggled and fought to gain entry to the underground chamber.
“Out of my way and I will put an end to her forever!”
“You act without thought, L’Roth!” Sir Henry shouted back at him. “Think what we would lose! What opportunities! What glory!”
“There is no glory in being a meal for a monster!” L’Roth cried. “Get out of my way!”
If Sir Henry had been alone, L’Roth would have had his way, but the two Knights kept him back. L’Roth stared at them in surprise.
“Why do you stand at his side? You, Sir Morgan, were kinsmen to one of those that died! And you, Sir Edmund, you have no love for Destroyers!”
“Aye!” Sir Edmund replied. “‘Tis the truth, what you say! But from your story ‘tis also plain that it was other Destroyers that ambushed you and killed your men, not Gil-Yan! She ate more of them than she ate of our men!”
“Tell that to the brake-man!” L’Roth shouted, pushing forward again.
Sir Morgan pushed him back. “The brake-man was not my cousin! Your wrath is due to your own arguments with Gil-Yan, not her eating habits! My cousin died with honour, in battle against a stronger foe! Sir Henry is right! You act without thought, and such rashness will claim all our heads! Be still!”
At last L’Roth backed away. “You didn’t see her delight at being free!” he snarled at them. “She may not have killed your cousin, but she ate what the other Destroyers left of him! She has no love for humans, despite what Sir Henry may tell you! And the moment she is free again, she will devour us all!”
Sir Henry stepped forward. “We need her!” he said with all his determination, his clenched fist raised. “What we do is treason! You know it! All those engaged with us know it! Without success, we will all lose our heads! The artifact will soon be finished. This was why we were here, to see the progress she has made this day. With the power of the artifact the whole of Halafalon will be ours for the taking! Think of it L’Roth! Think of the day when you will be crowned King in the Palace of Ellerkan! Is it not worth the risk?”
L’Roth put his sword away and spoke with distaste. “We side with the devil, and our feet walk in the shadow of the gates of Hell. I grow sick of our task, but I am sicker at the knowledge that I covert most greatly what your witch harlot can provide. See that she finishes the artifact quickly, before my conscience overcomes my greed.”
They were his last words, and he turned, climbed the steps, and strode across the empty courtyard to the North Tower.