‘Are you sure you want to do
this,’ asked Thomas, who up until now had remained silent.
Fisher violently backhanded
him, knocking him to the ground. ‘You dare question me,’ he
shrieked.
At the sudden unexpected
outburst Max, stepped back nearly falling over Tallon who was
standing right behind her.
‘Do not be afraid little one,’
he whispered, ‘I will protect you.’
She turned, ‘I’m not afraid, it
was just the suddenness of it, it caught me off guard.’
‘Forgive me,’ said Fisher
turning to face them, his demeanour completely changed since his
outburst, ‘I forgot to say, please leave your weapons here, they
will be returned to you when you leave.’
‘I will not go unarmed,’ said
Tallon stubbornly.
‘Of course, you always have the
option to stay here if you wish,’ said Fisher.
‘We need to stay together,’
said Max, ‘please leave your bow and come with us.’
Tallon looked at Max intently,
‘I promised to follow you to death’s door and beyond, I will not
break that vow, I will leave my bow.’
They gave their weapons to
Thomas, who was now sporting a black eye and a cut lip.
‘I can heal that for you if
you’d like,’ said Max looking at Thomas’ lip. Haven smiled, there
was his old Max.
‘A healer as well as a leader,’
said Fisher, ‘well, my, my, this just gets better and better. You
will not heal him,’ he added, ‘he needs to learn his place and a
few cuts and bruises might just teach him some manners,’ he
finished dismissively.
Max ignored Fisher and put her
hand on Thomas’s lip. It took quite awhile before she felt the
energy begin to flow, it felt sluggish and thick, not light and
airy like it usually did. Fisher took a menacing step towards her,
his temper rising again.
‘Did I not just say . . .,’ he
began threateningly. Tallon and Haven blocked his path.
‘Let her finish,’ said Tallon
menacingly.
‘She’s very good at what she
does,’ added a smiling Haven.
Faced with two giants in his
path, Fisher backed down, but he wasn’t happy about the turn of
events and it showed in his eyes.
A few minutes passed and Max
moved her hand to look at Thomas’ lip, she frowned. ‘It’s not as
good as I usually do,’ she said speaking to Thomas, ‘but I hope it
doesn’t hurt as much now.’
‘It feels much better, thank
you,’ said Thomas gratefully.
‘Come on, come on, let’s get
moving,’ said Fisher impatiently. You can leave Dorn behind, he is
of no importance. It wouldn’t have mattered if you’d killed
him.’
‘It would have mattered to me,’
muttered Dorn. ‘Tell Benitoff I found them,’ he yelled out to
Fisher’s fast receding back, ‘if there’s a reward you know where to
find me.’
Thomas stayed behind to guard
the track, but a few of the archers tailed along behind the
others.
‘Hurry now,’ said Fisher, ‘we
want to be there before dark or the trail will be too hard to
find.’ They followed along behind for what seemed ages, nobody
talking, all lost in their own thoughts.
When they finally reached their
destination it was not at all what they had expected. They had
thought perhaps a cave or some derelict building, maybe even a few
crude huts in the woods but no, when the trees thinned what stood
before them was totally unexpected. It was a huge stone keep
surrounded by high stone walls and a moat; there were battlements
and archer’s slits for firing on the enemy below, it had been built
to keep the enemy out. What little damage it had sustained had been
repaired; they could see the colour difference of the new stone
work.
‘The person who lives here must
have a lot of influence . . . or money,’ thought Max. She was
beginning to worry about the decision she had made, ‘I hope this
doesn’t turn out to be an “out of the frying pan into the fire”
scenario,’ she thought worriedly.
Fisher led them onto the stone
bridge which spanned the moat, yelling as he went. ‘Open the gate,
we’re coming in.’ The giant wooden portcullis was slowly raised,
creaking and groaning in protest. They walked under its deadly
spikes hanging high above their heads.
Tallon looked up, ‘I do not
like this,’ he thought, ‘I do not like it at all.’
They found themselves in a
large, grim courtyard paved with dirty, grey flagstones; ahead was
the keep, its stone walls looked impregnable in the fading light. A
few ragged people were standing around braziers watching the
newcomers with suspicious eyes. Max looked up and saw armed men
patrolling the battlements, they carried bows, swords and some even
had rifles slung over the shoulders, she shivered.
‘Wait here,’ said Fisher
dismissively. ‘You,’ he said pointing to the bowmen who had
followed them, ‘you can return to the forest, tell Thomas he is to
return to the keep with the . . . ,’ he hunted for a word,
‘‘guests” weapons.’ He then disappeared through the gigantic wooden
door of the keep. The bowmen turned to leave, exiting under the
portcullis, which began to close behind them.
‘Well,’ said Gilster sounding
amused, ‘I think we’ve arrived.’
Max looked worried, ‘I think I
may have made a big mistake,’ she said, still watching the guards
on the battlements high overhead.
Elkeira was wandering around
the courtyard looking up at the keep. ‘This place is huge,’ she
said in awe, ‘we could not take this building with a thousand
warriors could we Tallon?’ Tallon didn’t answer, he was busy
counting armed men.
‘What do you think Haven, have
I made a big mistake?’ thought Max. CLANG!! The portcullis closed
shut, making everyone jump.
‘Too late to worry about it
now,’ he replied ominously.
Twenty minutes passed with no
sign of Fisher returning. ‘I think if they were going to kill us
they would have already done it by now,’ said Gilster.
‘I have counted at least fifty
armed men,’ whispered Tallon, ‘some have weapons I have never seen
before, they look like metal tubes.’
‘They’re guns,’ said Max, ‘they
are very dangerous, they can kill in the blink of an eye.’
‘I can vouch for how dangerous
they are,’ said Gilster grimly, rubbing his shoulder.
‘I think I would like to have
one of these . . . guns,’ said Tallon.
‘He’s back,’ shouted Elkeira
running towards the group. They turned as one, to see Fisher
striding across the courtyard towards them.
‘Come, quickly,’ said Fisher
beckoning to them, ‘Benitoff is anxious to meet you and he’s not
the sort of person who likes to be kept waiting.’
They hurried across the
courtyard and followed after him into the keep. It was dark and
forbidding inside, a few flickering candles in sconces gave off
what little light was available and they were spaced so far apart
great pools of darkness swam between each one.
‘Stay together,’ whispered Max,
‘we don’t want to lose anyone in here, we’d never find them
again.’
‘I for one, am sticking very
close,’ said Gilster.
‘Quickly,’ said Fisher sounding
unusually flustered, ‘we mustn’t be late.’ If Fisher was sounding
this agitated thought Max, she was not looking forward to meeting
Benitoff. They climbed the spiral staircase up, up.
‘How much further,’ moaned
Elkeira, her legs beginning to ache from the climb.
‘Quiet,’ hissed Fisher, ‘we are
almost there.’
They reached the top of the
stairs and Fisher led them down a narrow corridor with many doors.
They had not seen another person since entering the keep. There
were no adornments anywhere, no paintings or tapestries hanging on
the walls, no statues standing silent, nothing, it was like the
place was deserted.
Reaching the end of the
corridor, they came upon a large wooden door with huge, ornate,
metal hinges; in front of the door stood an armed guard, a giant of
a man, with a long black beard reaching down his chest.
‘This must be the place,’ said
Haven keeping his eyes on the guard. The guard moved aside and
Fisher opened the door. Light and warmth spilled from the
room.
‘This is more like it,’ said
Tallon, entering behind Fisher.
The room was cavernous and
contained all the trappings of someone with great wealth. Candles
glowed brightly from every nook and cranny, banishing the darkness.
Fires blazed merrily from every grate, giving the room even more
light. Elegant tapestries, colourful portraits and animal heads
adorned the walls. Pelts from a number of different animals lay
scattered over the floor. Max saw one of a giant black bear and
winced hoping Tallon hadn’t seen it. At the end of the room they
saw a man casually sitting atop a large throne, one leg dangling
over the arm, a glass of something in his hand. He ignored their
entrance. They walked slowly forwards, following Fisher who bowed
low and long.
‘Sire, these are the people I
told you about, they have come through the portals and the Chosen
are among them. They are looking for a friend who was taken by
Anubis.’
At the mention of Anubis’s name
he turned to face them. Black wavy curls fell about his face. He
appeared to be in his early thirties, although Max knew looks could
be deceiving. He had fine, almost feminine features. His blue eyes
were set in a flawless, porcelain face, nostrils flared on his
patrician nose, over thin pale lips. He stood to greet them,
standing about five foot seven, he was much shorter than the three
men facing him. He had on a three quarter length brown sleeveless
coat with pearl buttons over a white lace shirt, his pants were
brown leather with shin high shiny boots, a sword hung at his side
and a pistol poked out from his waist band.
‘You will leave us now Fisher,
I will call you if I need you.’
Fisher looked slightly taken
aback at being dismissed so quickly. ‘Are you sure sire?’
Piercing blues eyes turned on
him. ‘Are you questioning me,’ said Benitoff with a smile that
didn’t quite reach his eyes.
‘NNNo sire, never,’ he bowed
again, ‘I will be directly outside the door if you need me.’
Fisher hurried from the room.
Dismissing Fisher entirely from his thoughts, Benitoff turned to
greet his guests. ‘I am very pleased to meet you all,’ a smile lit
his face. ‘Now, tell me your names and where you are from.’ When no
one else spoke, Max stepped forward.
‘We are very pleased to meet
you too . . . sire,’ she said. ‘My name is Max and I am from
Earth.’ Haven butted into her thoughts, ‘don’t trust him Max, he’s
no friend to us.’ Max thought back, ‘I’ve gathered that already,
but I think its best we keep on his good side for now.’ ‘All right,
just be careful.’ Benitoff was waiting for her to continue with the
introductions, but before she could Elkeira stepped forward.
‘Sire,’ she said bowing
clumsily, ‘I am Elkeira and this is my brother Tallon, we are from
Naturine.’
He smiled at her, ‘thank you
Elkeira. And you two?’ he said looking up at Gilster and
Haven.
‘We are from Elaxier sire,’
said Gilster.
Benitoff looked from one to the
other and nodded in acknowledgement. ‘I already know from Fisher
that Haven is a telepath, Max is a healer and Naturines are known
for their shape shifting, his gaze settled on Gilster, and what
would be your . . . gift,’ he asked casually.
Not liking the turn this had
taken and hoping not to give away all their secrets, Haven spoke.
‘Before we continue . . . sire, would it be possible to find out
where our friend is and how she is fairing, we are extremely
worried about her?’
‘Of course, of course, tell me
her name, there are a lot of prisoners held by Anubis, I will send
my rats to search for her.’
‘Rats, ew,’ said Elkeira, her
nose wrinkling in distaste.
Benitoff laughed. ‘They are not
literal rats,’ he said, ‘although in some cases I’m not so sure,
they are people who spy for me on the outside, I need to keep up to
date on what is happening, I very rarely leave my keep, it is too
dangerous for me. The rats will be able to find your friend and
report back to me. Now, I ask again, what is her name?’
‘Daria,’ said Haven, ‘her name
is Daria.’
Benitoff clapped his hands
sharply; the door opened immediately and Fisher entered. ‘Yes
Sire?’
‘I want you to send out some
rats for me, they are to find out anything they can about a
prisoner called Daria, Anubis is holding her.’
‘Yes Sire, I will see to it
immediately,’ he bowed and closed the door.
‘We probably won’t find out
anything until the morning, so in the meantime I’d like you to stay
as my guests.’ Before they could answer, he continued, ‘you must be
starving, the hour is quite late, let us share a meal together, I
have the finest of everything and it will be my pleasure.’
The smile on his face seemed
almost genuine. Not wanting to upset him by declining his
invitation and needing to find out as much information as they
could Max graciously accepted for all of them. Expecting to hear a
whoop of delight from the ever hungry Haven, she looked around for
him, he was standing back from the rest of the group, his eyes
closed, rubbing his temple. Max became concerned.
‘Are you in pain Haven?’
‘I have a slight headache is
all, nothing to be concerned about,’ he answered.
‘Yes, I’m sorry about that,’
said Benitoff who had overheard the exchange, ‘you can blame Anubis
and his barrier. Wait here while I see if everything is ready for
us.’ He disappeared through a large, ornately carved door behind
the throne. Immediately the door closed the five huddled close
together.
‘We don’t have much time,’
whispered Max, ‘I don’t trust him one little bit, we must be very
careful what we tell him. Elkeira, please don’t blurt anything out
without first looking to one of us for confirmation and even then
think very carefully about what you say.’