Gherad pulled on the chains, but they were as thick as a man's arm and
gave no quarter. The ceiling above him was beginning to burn now, and
soon he knew it would all come down on his head. He tried again to reach the ring with the key attached to it but it was still out of reach. Suddenly there was a clang, and his left arm swung forward, the chain pulling behind it. He stared at it in disbelief for a moment, and then realised what had happened. The Iron rings had been bolted into the wooden wall, and as the wall behind him had begun to weaken from the flames, the fastening ring had worked free. He immediatly began pulling on the right one with all his might, as the roof began to sag above him...
The roof collapsed, and flames reared into the air to consume the remains of the hut. Gherad stared back at the ruins as he ran for his horse outside the gates. As he looked, though, he realised the horse was gone. Cursing, he headed off back to town...
The Gorgon's troops dragged Adara onto the foredeck as his ship cleared the mouth of the Aldur.
'How good of you to join us, milady,' The Gorgon said, mockingly. 'I hope you don't decide to throw yourself over the side at any point in our journey, having to fish you out could be so tiresome.'
'You know my husband will come after me, Gorgon,' She replied quietly. 'Of course, if I kill you myself I'll save him a job.' The Gorgon sent a wary look to one of the gnolls who held her arms, and he nodded, showing they hadalready checked her for weapons. He turned his attention back to her, and his voice showed he was prepared to take no risks anyway.
'My lady, I think you will find our below decks accomodation to be suited to your needs. I'm sure these men can find you a nice storeroom.' As the Gnolls dragged her, still struggling, beneath the deck and down a few flights of stairs, she desperatly tried to fight them off. If she could just get free, and over the side... The walked her along a long corridor, and stopped at the stores door. The first gnoll opened the storeroom door, while the second shoved her inside.
It was dark within. Bottles and cases of food and spare wood sat of
shelves, piled to the ceiling. Adara turned and slammed her shoulder against the storeroom door, but the bar was already down and the door was thick. A snarl came from outside, a threat. She stopped her attempts, knowing it would do her no good. She sat resignedly down on a sack and waited for them to reach their destination...
Gherad ran between the houses and bounded up the inn's steps two at a
time. As he made for the upstairs rooms a few turned from the bar to look at him, but most were too drunk to be seriously interested.
He barged through the closed door at the end of the corridor. His father turned on his heel where he had been pacing in front of a small fireplace. On a nearby bed sat another man, tall. He regarded Gherad with slight curuiosity, but no sign of anger crossed his hawk - like face.
'Son!' His father said, giving Lord Hettar a sideways look as though to say he was embarrased.
'Wait, Horgoth, he must have something important to say if he barges in like this,' Lord Hettar quieted the older man, then turned to Gherad. 'This was something important?' Ghenread stared at him for a moment, he had never heard anyone manage to silence his father before.
'Yes my Lord,' He said quickly 'I was riding in the hills to the East when I spotted a military camp, with the Gorgon's banners flying over it.'
'Thank you boy,' Hettar turned to the older man as though to start giving him orders.
'That's not all, my Lord.' Gherad said and the tall man looked back at him. Gherad realised what he was going to have to tell him and he gulped back his dread. 'I came here nearly two hours ago to tell you. I was waiting outside, so as not to disturb you but...'
'But?' Hettar's voice sounded dangerous, and Gherad once more gulped
back his feelings of dread.
'But Lady Adara found me outside, and asked what I was here for,' As
Gherad paused, Hettar put a hand to his face, wiping at his eyes. 'She
asked me to show her the camp, so I did. The Gorgon must have seen us
this time, because a mob of gnolls attacked us.' The Horse Lord
looked up quickly
'Is she...' He sounded as though he dared not continue.
'No, my Lord, but they captured us. They took us to the camp, and the
Gorgon took her Ladyship away, to a place he called 'Gorgon's Crown' Then they set fire to the hut we were in, and I only just escaped.' He lifted his chained hand as though to illustrate his point.
For a moment Hettar was silent, and Gherad stood stock still in the centre of the room - the silence was almost as bad as anything he might have said. Then Hettar lashed out, and a mug which had been sat on the beside table shattered into hundreds of pieces against the far wall. The he seemed to control himself.
'I was afraid of this,' He said, and Gherad stared at him. He never thought that Hettar was afraid of anything. 'I told her she should stay back at the Stronghold...' He seemed to remember where he was. 'You're sure they said Gorgon's Crown?' Gherad nodded
'They must have used some sort of sorcery my Lord, they vanished with a
clap of thu...'
'Yes. I can guess,' Hettar cut him off, turning to his father. 'Get your men ready, we're off to Sendar.'
'You don't mean to take ship do you my lord? We've all heard of Gorgon's Crown but surely...'
'If that's where the Gorgon has took her then it must be there.'
'You won't find a sailor to carry you, and even if you do he'll be one in a million. You'll only be able to take a handful with you...'
'Well, I have you, your son,' Gherad's father seemed about to protest, but Hettar continued 'He escaped the Gorgon and brought us news we might never had heard. I think he's ready,' He turned to Gherad 'I can't hold you responsible for what happened, Gherad,' A slight, rueful smile crossed his lips. 'She can be forceful when she wants to be.'
'Thank you my Lord.' Despite the situation, Gherad grinned with relief.
Hettar turned back to his father.
'I leave the selection of the rest to you, ten or twenty, good men who can be quiet. Hurry, we have little time.' Gherad and his father both nodded and left the room, leaving Hettar alone with the thoughts of his wife...
Hettar leaned on the rail of the Sendarian merchantman as it crossed the Western sea. He finally had some time to himself, without being bothered by one man or another. He had been down to the horses for a short time, but even there he could not find the solitude he wanted right now. The horses did not understand kidnapping...but they understood death, and this was what they had assumed, despite everything he told them. Being with them was depressing right now, and at least here he had only his own thoughts to trouble him.
He remembered being in a situation like this before, and it was that which bothered him the most. Would history repeat itself? If so, the portents were not good. Thinking about this memory reminded him of something. He pulled the silver medal from beneath his tunic and stared at it in his hand. The man who had taken him to his father had given it to him, and the other man in the tower had stared at it like he recognised it...He wondered why he had not realised it before. He had tried to forget about the events of that day so long ago, but now they flooded back into his memory. The man had known his name, he realsied, and the man who had rescued him from the Murgos had known it too, although he did not remember his. They were one and the same he realised, and Dar had sent him flying into the depths of the Baron's Dungeon.
He shook his head. These thoughts were not helping him at all, all they were doing were pulling him further into the mire of depression. He realised that after his hatred for Murgos had begun to wane, his family had become near enough the only thing he lived for. If Adara was...gone, what would he do? He stared ovver the rail, into the darkness of the night...
He woke the next morning to the sound of running feet on the deck, and
shouts from the ship's crew. He grabbed his sabre and rushed up on deck to see what was going on.
The sky was still dim, it was only just dawn, and a heavy mist hung in the sky. A sailor pushed past him and leaned over the rail with his fellows at the prow of the ship. Hettar walked carefully up the deck to where the captain stood, cautious of what was happening. Was this mutiny?
'What's happening, Captain?' He asked quietly, giving the sailors at the rail a wary look, as the other Algars appeared from below decks.
'Why my lord, do you not see?' The Captain grinned and pointed beyond his sailors over the rail. As Hettar looked, the sun burst through the fog and the mist drifted away, to reveal a sharp cliff rising from the sea three miles distant. Despite himself he gasped. He knew what this was, and knew that the sailors did as well - there was great fame attached to being the first to step upon a fabled land, and the great cliffs of the Gorgon's Crown which reared before them presented the ideal opportunity...
Adara looked up from where she sat on the bed in the small tower room as a key turned in the lock of the abrred door which sealed her in. First came the Minotaur, Kargath. twirling the ring of keys around one of his fingers. The large crossbow he carried always was slung across his shoulder, ready to bring to bear and fire, Adara saw with the thoughts of escape fading. Behind him came the huge form of the Gorgon.
'I hope you're finding your accomodation to your standards milady,' He said in that strange tone she had noticed him use a number of times now. At first it had sounded mocking, but now she began to get the feeling there was something else there as well, an actually genuine wish that she did find her room to be enough. She stared at him, saying nothing, as she had done since their last conversation on the deck of his ship. 'We expect your husband to arrive within a short while, although I cannot promise that you'll get to see him again. Kargath here has the guard ready to recieve him and whoever he might bring with him,' Still she stared, and a look of frustration crossed the monster's face. 'Very well, say nothing,' he spat. 'We'll see later if your tongue has loosened.' He stepped back, and Kargath slammed the door shut, locking it behind him. Adara lay back, wondering if there was any way out of this...
As the Sendars threw the mooring ropes over the posts of the wooden dock, Hettar scanned the low buildings which surrounded it, searching for an ambush. When none seemed obvious, the gangplank was lowered, and the Algars ed their horses onto the land. After recieving assurances from their captain that he would wait for them, Hettar lead the small abnd away, towards a squat, red shape which sat atop a high hill some distance away.
Adara was stood near the thin window which overlooked the stone courtyard below when next she recieved visitors. This time it was the Gorgon alone who entered.
'I'm sure you'll be interested to hear that your husband has arrived,' He told her in his rumbling, heavily accented voice. 'After I have killed him, I'll release you into the protection of the Sendarian captain who now waits on my docks.'
'Why did you do this?' Adara demanded, turning fully towards him, her eyes angry, partly at being used in this way, and partly by the fact that the Gorgon planned to use her to kill the man she loved.
'Your husband wounded me greatly in the past, milady,' The Gorgon replied, the anger rising in his voice as he recalled what had happened to him. 'For this he will pay the price.' The Gorgon left, slamming the door angrilly behind him. Adara sat on a chair near the window, and for the first time felt a serious fear. She had seen Hettar fight Murgos in the past, she knew how much of a force rage and hatred could be.
Hettar stared up at the wall, which reached forty feet above him. He laid his hand against it, and part of it crumbled away beneath his fingers. It was old, and badly maintained. Whatever it had been built to keep out appeared to have been vanquished many years ago. THere was a good chance, he thought, that the wall might have fallen somewhere. He hoped so - It was much too high and smooth to climb, and the gate them had given a wide berth earlier would no doubt be well guarded. He motioned for the others to follow him as he swung down from his horse and led it along the wall.
Gherad followed his father and Hettar along the moss ridden wall, checking above him occasionally to see if anyone was watching from above. But the wall was deserted, and by the look of it had been for some time. Up ahead was what they had been looking for. A tumble of bricks which lay scattered across the heath on which they walked marked a palce where the wall had crumbled and collapsed, creating a steep rise over the boundary. Hettar seemed to look around quickly, then lead them over to a stand of straggly bushes where they tied down their horses. After watering them, they drew their swords and began to filter over the wall.
Not a sound emanated from the courtyard itself, but a dull rumble emanated occasionally from below their feet, as though something huge moved beneath them. The base of the fortress was a nest of seperate towers and bastions, and Gherad stared about him with a sense of helplessness. There were so many different places where Adara could be being held. As he looked to Hettar, hoping he might ahve made a decision, the man's eyes went distant.
'Follow me.' He said suddenly.
Hettar walked confidently towards the open gates of a low building on one side of the courtyard. He already knew there was no one within, apart for one occupant, who he spotted as he strode openly through the gate with the others following him nervously. The black horse he had given to Adara whickered quietly as he approached, lookig warily at his companoins. He patted the horse's neck, sending a thought out to it. Suddenly the creature shuddered, and Hettar felt another presence there.
'So,' A voice said, a deep, rumbling, heavily accented voice. 'You have come, as I knew you would.'
'Who are you?' He thought into the horse's mind. He was thinking quickly. If the Gorgon was a Sha Dar, that must mean he was not all he seemed.
'That is not important. All that is at the moment is who finds you first, me or my men. I would much prefer it to be me, but the gnolls are hungry right now, and they hunt well when they are.' A flash of worry flashed through the Algar's mind as he heard the yelp and barks of the hunters in the distance
'Really.' He said, trying to stall the Gorgon. There was something he was thinking of, but he didn't know wether or not to risk it or not.
'You don't sound suitable afraid, Algar,' The creature growled. 'Maybe if I tell you this is her death warrant I'm signing right now, that might change your mind.'
'Yes it might.' Hettar said, trying to ignore the Gorgon's words. He needed all his concentration for this. sending a thought out to a horse was as natural as sharpening his sword, but one step further seemed like a mile away. Closing his eyes, he reached out carefully.
'Her ladyship might not be as happy as I am that you seem not to care.' The creature grated. He did not suspect, Hettar thought. He felt the boundary, the line he had never felt before, and had certainly never crossed. With a swift surge of thought he broke through it. It was like being washed by a huge black wave, and he struggled mentally, struggling not to be drowned under the dark thoughts of the Gorgon. Rising like a thin pinacle in the centre of the evil sea was a single crystal spire of thought. Hettar probed towards this. He had to hurry, the Gorgon would soon realise what had happened.
'What the...' The beast said, but it was too late. A mental immage of towers, staircases, and finally a large barred door appeared in his mind.
'Thank you.' He said simply, snatching his thoughts back. He heard a scream of anger in the horse's mind before he broke that link, and he smiled slightly. The horse eyed him, and he patted its neck once more.
'Take him to where we left the others,' He instructed one of his men. 'Wait with him there for our return.' The man nodded, a slight twinge of disappointment in it, and led the black horse away. Hettar steadied himself against the wall for a moment, breathing heavily, overcoming the worst of the feelings of seeing the inside of the Gorgon's mind. Then, without another word, he led the Algars towards the base of one of the high towers, knowing exactly the way they should go.
Gherad looked cautiously around as he stepped through the wide doorway into the base of the tower. He heard the growls and grunts of minotaurs in the distance, the clang of hammers on anvils not so far away, and his own heavy breath very close by. He forced himself to be calm and watched as Hettar walked straight towards a steep, spiralling staircase. He wanted to know how he seemed to know the way, but knew now was not the time to ask. They strode upwards and upwards, and soon his heavy breathing was not a result of fear of the unknown. They stopped, once as the staircase led into a long corridor. Gherad found himself standing next to Hettar, as he waited, listening. The man seemed to think it was time to go, but Gherad felt a sudden feeling of dread. Without thinking he reached out and grabbed the man's arm. Hettar turned, his eyes angry and questioning, and Gherad realised he had no answer to that look. Any questions Hettar might have had about his motives were quieted by the rusty creak of a door scraping open, a conversation, short and brief, between a deep, hevily accented voice and a higher, barking voice in a strange language, and the breeze caused asthe towering, stony skinned form of the Gorgon strode poast, inches from their hiding place. Hettar let his breath out slowly, cautiously, and gave Gherad a look of thanks. Without a second's pause Gherad knew what he must do next. With the whispered curses of Hettar and the hissing orders of his father to come abck in his ears, he stepped out into the corridor...
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