NexLord: Dark Prophecies (39 page)

He fell on top the short wall of the well.
Mara nimbly hooked his ankle with the crook of her cane, which
lifted him up and over the edge.  His shriek froze the
blood of the young watchers on the roof; it was not a yell that a
human voice could achieve.  There was a splash, followed
by more horrible sounds of struggle and shrieks of
pain.  It went on for what seemed like an eternity, and
then something rose out of the well.

A cloud of green haze coalesced above the
well for a moment, and then sped off to the east.

Mara watched it go.  When all was
still, she glanced up toward the roof and pointed to the city wall,
clearly telling them to get their eyes back on business.

"What, in Gedin’s beard, was that?" Lor
demanded.

Another sound of smashing stone occurred,
accompanied by their building shaking again.

No one said anything for a moment.

Lor poked Aerin, "You're the one who has had
his nose in all the books, what was that thing?"

"I'm not positive," he tried.

"So guess," Lor demanded.

Aerin took a deep breath, "It was probably a
Wraith."

"Wraith... as in the dark spirits that come
to steal children," Katek scoffed.

Aerin shrugged, "Lor asked me to guess, don't
blame me when I do.  Besides, Mara said they are
real."

"Why do you think it was a Wraith?" Dono
shuddered, remembering the sound of the arrow striking what seemed
like wood.

"It's
shrieks
, I've read that they can freeze a foe with a
shriek.  You must admit, that wasn't a sound you've ever
heard a human make," Aerin noted.

"It was just the well amplifying his voice,"
Katek stated, though his voice wasn't as sure as it had been.

Right
then,
the ground shook again, with that same dull impact sound of rending
stone.

"What, in Gedin's name, IS that?" Lor
demanded.

Dono sounded puzzled.  “It can't be
an earthquake, it's too regular."

"I don't like this, I don't like this at
all," Aerin exclaimed.

Along the top of the wall, men were shouting
and Aerin spotted Yearl gesturing for the Guardsmen to get
back.  Aerin saw Tocor approach the wall and look over
the edge.  The booming impacts continued, shaking bricks
free from the walls of nearby buildings.  A giant red
hand, with three fingers and a thumb, came over the top of the
wall, ripping away the massive stones.  A second hand
appeared and ripped away more stones.  One hand plummeted
down to the stone top of the wall, digging into the hard stone with
long black fingernails, creating a handhold for the creature that
raised itself onto the top of the wall.

Overwhelming fear smote the observers and, as
one, their arms and hands raised as they tried to block out the
horror before their eyes.  Though they blocked their
vision, their minds were unable to withstand the thought of seeing
the eldritch horror that pulled itself over the massive
wall. 

Aerin steeled himself to look, but the effort
was too great.  Peeking from the corners of his wide
eyes, Aerin caught a glimpse of hell through the interlaced fingers
that were before his face.  The Beast's eyes were dark
soulless pits, and its wide grin held more long pointed teeth than
Aerin thought possible.  Black shining horns came out of
the sides of its head and sinuously curved around to point the
sharp tips forward.  Massive bulging muscles rippled
under the thick, red, hairless skin of its shoulders, as the tall
creature raised itself to its full sixteen-foot height on the top
of the wall. 

Aerin's eyes locked shut in terror as tears
streamed down his face, but through an incredible effort of will,
he pried his eyes open for a moment and saw something he thought he
would never witness, Tocor was backing away from the creature,
retreating down to the square below.

At the
quarian's
movement, the creature’s eyes locked on him and
a long thin forked tongue licked out between its numerous teeth,
the tail that emerged from the end of its spine thrashed back and
forth with a mind of its own. 

The young terrified observers on the rooftop
were of the same mind, without conscious decision they backed away
and got out of sight of the horror that had come out of their
nightmares and into their city.

As they scrambled around the corner of the
building, the horrible creature that had risen from some pit of
hell spoke.  The voice that issued from its throat was
that of a thousand tortured human voices all speaking at once in
nearly perfect unison.  The force of the sound shook the
ground.

"It is your time, Lizard Prince," the beast
declared.

Once out of the direct line of sight from the
creature, the kids were able to function again.  All of
them were breathing
hard
as if
they had run a five-mile race. 

"Gedin help us, what is that thing?" Dono
cried.

"I don't know, but it's going to kill Tocor
and Mara," Aerin said, remembering his vision of Mara having
died.  "I'm going for help; you stay here and see where
it goes.  Lor, make sure you stay up here, no matter what
happens!”

Lor smacked him mildly across the mouth with
her right hand: “I’ve warned you about treating me like a
girl!”

To everyone’s surprise, especially Lor, Aerin
punched her in the mouth, which knocked her to the rooftop.

He stood over his friend and pointed at her
as he said, “Lor, get this straight, I’m WAY over the thought of
treating you like a girl. I am telling you, that if you, not Dono,
not
Katek,
if YOU go to the street
you will die.  Trust me on this, I've SEEN it.”

Without waiting for his shocked friends to
react, Aerin headed over the rooftops toward the Seat of Stone.

After Aerin was gone, Lor got to her feet and
wiped a little blood from her lip with the back of her
hand. 

“I guess you better stay up here,” Dono
noted.

Lor glowered at him, “Like
hell.  Come on, we’re going to circle around and approach
Mara’s position from the street.  I’ll bet she is going
to try and stand up to that... thing.”

"But Aerin…”

“Doesn’t know everything.  Are you
coming with me?” Lor asked while taking a couple steps toward the
neighboring rooftop.

“Shit,” Dono exclaimed, and looked at
Katek.  “I’ve got to go with
her
when she gets this headstrong you never know what
she’ll do.  You coming or staying?”

“I’m not staying alone,” Katek decided, the
fear they all felt was still riding just under their skin.

“Then let’s get going, I guess we’re in for
it now.”

There was a horrible bellow of a thousand
tortured voices from the nearby street.

The three kids felt sudden fear strike and
they froze, and then Yearl was there, and his abrupt arrival nearly
caused the three kids to jump from the roof.

"Gedin, where did you come
from?”  Lor said suspiciously, she didn't like the
thought that someone could sneak up on her on the High Road.

Yearl was all business.  "Mara
wants you all away from here, now!  You're feeding the
Dreadbeast!"

"What do you mean?" Katek asked in
confusion.

"I don't have time to explain, I must return
to Mara, NOW.  Flee these buildings, and get as far from
here as you can.  GO!” he yelled.  It was the
first time they had ever heard Yearl raise his voice.

They went, flying over the rooftops in their
haste.

By the time they looked back Yearl was
gone.

Ten roofs away, Lor slowed.  "I'm
not running away! How do they know we might not be able to
help?"

"Lor, they said we were 'feeding' that thing,
I don't know what that means, but I'm sure it isn't good," Katek
noted.

"We'll approach slowly and carefully, if we
notice anything, we'll fall back if necessary, all right?"

Katek thought about it for a moment, and then
nodded, "I'm ready to do battle."

"Has everyone lost their mind?" Dono
noted
but followed his friends
down to the streets.

Aerin arrived at the front gate of the Seat
and dropped to the streets.  There was a large crowd of
people at the gate, pounding on it and screaming.

Aerin wormed his way through the crowd to the
front and wondered how he could get through to the Guardsmen.

At that moment the gate opened slightly, just
wide enough for a Guardsman to half step out.  “You
people, get back and stop pounding on the gate!  The
Guard is already doing all it can!”

“Let us in the Seat, before the monsters get
in!” someone yelled.

“They won’t get in, and we can’t fit the
entire city inside the Seat.  Go to your homes and let us
do our jobs!”

Aerin knew the Guard wasn’t going to listen
to him while he was just one of the crowd, so he crouched down and
suddenly dove in, angling through the door and between the
Guardsmen’s feet.

The Guardsman was alert, and too quick to
allow anyone past, and managed to reach down and grab Aerin by the
belt.  The crowd saw him part way in and surged
forward.

Cursing, the Guardsman yelled to the men
behind him, and they pulled him back in, slamming the
gate.  In doing so they pulled Aerin in as
well
since he was attached to the man’s leg with
both arms.

As soon as the door was barred and the crowd
held safely outside, the man hauled Aerin to his feet and glared at
him.

“Now you’re in trouble, boy!”

“I’m here to warn Gandarel of a break in the
outer wall defense!”

The man growled at him, “And what makes you
think… wait a minute.  You’re that boy we’re supposed
to... damn... Herold, get over here, this is the
lad
that Milord Trelic instructed was to have
free
pass to see him."

The man named Harold stepped forward and
looked at
Aerin
as if he was a
turnip.  "Indeed, well
lad
, now
tis
not a good
time to bother Milord Trelic.  Come back in a few days
and…"

Aerin interrupted the well-meaning guard, "I
must see Gandarel, now.  I have news about the
attack!"

"He says there is a break in the wall
defense,” the first Guard explained.

"Lad, leave this business to the Guard, we
have already sent the reserves to hold the break," Harold
explained.

Aerin shook his head wildly, "No, it's not at
the South Gate; it’s in the East Wall!  A great beast
climbed the wall and smashed the top.  Togroths will soon
pour
in, we must send help!"

Harold frowned, and then looked at the other
Guardsmen.  "Milord did say he was to have
access.  I'll go and see if he will see you, or at least
hear your story from me."

"Bless you, but please, hurry!  My
friends are in danger and they are trying to hold them back."

A few minutes later Gandarel appeared,
following Harold.  More Guardsmen followed behind.

"Aerin, what is this I hear about an
attack?"

Aerin quickly explained the situation back by
the wall, as best he could.  When he told of the
red-skinned giant that had scaled the wall, even Gandarel looked
skeptical.

"The lad's imagination is getting the best of
him," one Guardsman said, but when Aerin tried to defend himself
the man quickly added, "It happens, lad, you see strange things in
the heat of battle sometimes, especially at
night.  Shadows, excitement, blood lust, all combine to
fog the mind."

"Think what you may, but I know what I saw,"
Aerin answered.

Gandarel made a quick
decision.  "Get all my personal Guardsmen together, and
have them arm themselves.  We head for the breach
immediately."

"But , Milord, perhaps we should consult
the..."

"This is an emergency, we go
NOW!  Assemble my men and have my armor and weapons
brought out.  Bring lit torches."

"Yes, Milord," the man replied and ran to
follow his orders.

"Gandarel," Aerin said, "Mara told me that
you must not come to the battle.  You have to remain
within the Seat of Stone."

"I'll do no such thing.  I may not
be the Warlord yet, but, by Gedin, I will uphold our family's
position even so!  I appreciate Mara's concern, but it is
that of a mother hen.  I am nearly a man now, I make my
own decisions."

"But..."

"I will lead this counter attack," Gandarel
stated
with new authority in his
voice.

Harold spoke to Aerin and his voice was
proud.  "He sounds like his father now, the
steel
in his blood has bred true!  The
Regent may not have given his blessing yet, but he is already our
Warlord!"

The other Guardsmen around them nodded or
called out, "Hear, hear!"

Torches were passed out among the soldiers
and within
minutes,
the gates were
pulled open.  The crowd surged forward for a moment, but
the armored Guardsmen pushed them back. Many of those present
thought they were coming to disperse the crowd.  The
panicked people broke like a wave on the hard rocks of the
coastline.  They turned and fled.  The heavily
armed elite soldiers were Gandarel’s personal Guardsmen, handpicked
from the toughest and best of the border guard.  Every
one of these men was a veteran of battle.  Gandarel led
them in a quick march across the city toward the East
Wall. 

As they marched, the flickering torchlight
cast odd shifting shadows on the walls of buildings, and Aerin
remembered his vision of uniformed Guardsmen dead on the stones,
the scene lit by torchlight.  He wondered if he was going
insane.

Aerin felt a dark foreboding and wondered who
would die this night.

When they neared the east wall the sounds of
battle greeted them.  The sound of many running feet
echoed from around the corner, and suddenly there were Togroths
attacking.