Aela (23 page)

Confusion ensured briefly, with arms and legs waggling in all directions Ayab was able to wriggle himself free, get up quickly and run straight towards the trees and he very soon disappeared from sight.

‘Get off me you idiots, give a man a break. You both weigh a ton and you are hurting my legs. I can hardly breathe,' yelled one of the soldiers.

With a lot of grumbling and swearing the men disentangled themselves and slowly got up, shaking twigs and leaves off their grubby clothes.

‘Well, our prisoner has escaped, but I don't think he will get very far, with his hands tied behind his back. Let's start following his tracks now and we will soon recapture him. Once we do, we then can have the utmost pleasure of killing him slowly, the lying traitor,' stated one of the men.

The group of men then moved back into the darkness of the trees and soon disappeared once again.

Aela turned to Rom, ‘We had better make a quick escape whilst we can, Rom. They could easily back track and this time find us. I don't like the filthy mood they are in and they could easily kill us on the spot without thinking twice of the consequences of their actions,' hissed Aela in Rom's ear.

‘I know. I know. You don't have to drive it so hard in my ear,' testily replied Rom. ‘We are not getting any closer to our goal of retrieving the Sacred Sword from its hiding place near the Cave of the High Priest. We are completely lost in this black forest and I am near breaking point. I am tired of running away from our enemies. I want to challenge them and fight to the death,' shouted Rom in anguish.

Aela was taken completely by surprise with Rom's total frustration, as she had only seen him always in control of all situations he was facing, courageously and coolly thinking out the next strategy that he was going to apply to outwit his opponent.

She quickly placed her arms around Rom's neck and drew his head gently onto her bosom, whispering softly in his ear, ‘You are my hero and champion always, my darling. I know you will think of a plan to get us out of this mess. We can put our heads together and work out a strategy, so that we will survive and be triumphant,' exclaimed Aela.

At that moment a male voice was heard close by. ‘Wise words coming from such a beautiful and fair lady. You are a lucky man to have someone who has such faith in you,' the tall stranger bowed low as he uttered the words.

Rom immediately sprang to his feet, unsheathing his sword at the same time, whilst making sure he was standing in front of Aela, shielding her from any danger. ‘Who are you?' demanded Rom.

‘My name is Tuhn, Keeper of the Forest. I would like to know who you both are and what are you doing in my forest?' demanded Tuhn.

‘Well you have a nerve,' replied Rom angrily. ‘If you really want to know, my name is Rom and this is beautiful lady is Aela. We are trying to find our way out of this forest, so we can walk along the old road, the sacred way to the Temple of the Moon, back to our people.'

‘Come with me and I will lead you both to the old pathway and show you which direction to take, so you can go home.'

Aela and Rom were very happy with this news and readily agreed to follow Tuhn through the forest. Very soon they reached the old sacred pathway, with the aid of Tuhn's expert guidance. Rom then realised that he and Aela had been going around in circles aimlessly getting nowhere.

‘How do you know in which direction to go, Tuhn?' asked Rom.

‘That is my secret,' Tuhn coolly replied. ‘I must go now as I have much to do. Good luck in your quest to find the Sacred Sword and take it back to your people.'

Tuhn then bowed deeply to both of them, quickly turned on his heels and melted back into the gloomy forest. Leaving Rom and Aela standing and staring incredulously at the place where Tuhn had disappeared into the trees.

‘Is he human or is he a spirit of the forest? Perhaps he only exists in our minds,' exclaimed Aela.

Rom shook his head, ‘Whatever or whoever he is, he certainly came at the right time to get us out of our predicament. I need to see where the sun is positioned in the sky, in order to work out what direction we should go. Retrace our steps, retrieve the Sacred Sword where we hid it and then go home.'

He looked upwards through the branches of the gnarled ancient trees standing near them and could just discern the shining orb of the sun. He shaded his eyes from the searing bright rays and began to sing softly an age old prayer, ‘Oh, supreme god of light, fashion your eternal life giving warmth, give me the knowledge, so that I can unlock the puzzle of truth, find my way back to the magical Sword and everlasting redemption.'

Rom closed his eyes, humming softly to his inner self for a few moments and then he stood perfectly still hardly breathing.

Aela was transfixed, listening to Rom's incantation and she hardly dared to breathe herself, in case she broke the spell.

Rom suddenly gave out a deep sigh, gently lowered his head to his chest, and raised his hands clasped together with the palms facing inwards. He then lifted his head again, opened his eyes wide, looked straight ahead and fixed his gaze on the trunk of the tree.

‘Aela, we must walk in that direction along the pathway as that is where home is waiting for us,' he loudly exclaimed.

Without hesitation, he started striding purposefully along the road, with Aela following in his footsteps immediately behind him.

CHAPTER 10

The Reunion

B
rude's army continued to tramp along the sacred way, kicking up a pall of dust as men and horses moved along the road. The sun was high in the sky, so Brude ordered his lieutenants to halt the army, so that they could rest for a short period. The men uttered deep sighs of relief, as they either dismounted from their horses or just lay in their tracks, gasping for breath as they felt so tired, hungry and thirsty.

Young boys with water containers ran down the lines of men to provide the necessary liquid, also giving each man a couple of pieces of bread and chunks of cheese to eat. Brude loftily dismounted from his magnificent steed, looking around surveying the scene and making sure that everyone was carrying out their duties as they should. His eagle eye missed nothing, as he busily estimated the condition and strength of his army.

He then turned towards Eena and helped her dismount from her horse, giving her a mock gracious wave as he assisted her from her mount. Then he went to Tua's horse and repeated the procedure with her with equal distain in his overall manner towards her. Neither of the women acknowledged Brude's mocking gallantry and tried to ignore him as much as possible.

Brude went to Juno's horse and asked, ‘How are you going, old friend? I do hope you are not too tired and thirsty.'

Juno remained forebodingly silent during Brude's sneering speech, but he just couldn't help saying between gritted teeth, ‘I hope you burn in hell before you reach my Temple!'

Brude let out a hearty laugh, replying, ‘You are not in a position to be issuing a curse on me, as all I have to do is to order one of my men to run you through with a sword and you will be dead!'

Juno calmly replied, ‘Well, if you do kill me then you have no bargaining tool to convince my people to accept you as their new leader.'

At these words, Brude became red with rage bellowing to his lieutenants, ‘Drag this man from his horse and I will kill him now.'

Tua cut in saying, ‘If you do that Brude, then you will be defeated now and it will be useless to sack the Temple of the Sun. The people will rise in revolt against you again and again until they defeat you.'

At hearing this, Brude stood transfixed and realised the common-sense of Tua's words. ‘All right. All right, woman! Give this vermin water and food. For the time being I will keep him alive.'

Brude then quickly turned on his heels giving Tua a baleful look, as he strode along the road towards the Temple of the Sun. Whilst he was doing this, he was all the time muttering under his breath, dark deeds of what he was going to do with Juno, Tua and Eena as well as anyone else who opposed his will. It wasn't long before he calmed down, took a few gulps of air, turned around and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, he started striding back towards his army. As he approached his lieutenants and the trio of Juno, Eena and Tua he shouted orders for his officers to gather around him. So a military scheme could be best worked out by himself and his advisers, on how to storm the Temple of the Sun.

Just then, one of the scouts came riding back on his horse yelling, ‘The Temple is just over the next hill and the main gate is fully guarded, but the gate itself is open.'

On hearing this news, Brude decided that the best strategy was lightning action now, so he quickly ordered his lieutenants to reassemble his army, and this time the men were to advance faster on foot and horse with rapid speed. By the time they reached the summit of the hill, the sun was already beginning to slowly sink behind the main mountain. Tua knew that at the foot of this particular mountain the Temple was situated in a valley.

Tua whispered to Eena ‘I am afraid that Brude and his army are going to surprise the guards at the Temple, especially as the gate is open. What can we do to thwart Brude's plan?'

As if telepathically reading their thoughts, Brude ordered that Tua, Eena and Juno's hands were to be tied to the front saddle of their horses and also to gag them with a cloth across their mouths. This order was carried out very efficiently and quickly by Brude's men as much to the indignity and mortification of the trio. They were now even more incapacitated prisoners and were now useless to warn the garrison of men who guarded the Temple of the Sun, of the impending attack of Brude's army.

‘Guards, take these prisoners to that hill and make sure they do not escape from your charge,' ordered Brude.

Just at that moment, Rom and Aela were viewing the Temple of the Sun as they walked along the sacred way, completely oblivious to the fact that Brude's army was a short distance behind them. They were delighted to see that the gate of the Temple was open, so they quickened their steps as they walked towards it. Both now knew that they had a good chance of gaining sanctuary as genuine fugitives in the inner sanctum of the Temple.

As Rom and Aela approached the guards at the gate, there was a sudden commotion behind them and they could see that the guards were staring straight through them. Rom quickly turned around, looking in the same direction as the guards.

At a distance on the horizon, Rom could see Brude astride his magnificent black horse, resplendent in his golden armour. Also behind him appeared silhouetted against the sky, a whole bevy of horses and armed men, as well as foot soldiers, holding banners swirling in a cloud of dust. Aela quickly looked at Rom.

‘Good God, Brude has arrived with his massive army,' Rom said to Aela. ‘We must convince the guards to give us sanctuary, otherwise we will be lost.'

Neither Aela nor Rom needed to have worried, as at that instant they were caught up with a group of peasants who were outside the fortress walls tending to their crops. They too, also had seen the danger up on the hill. The peasants had come running like agitated ants, as fast as they could, to get inside the fortress walls as quickly as possible, in order to gain some form of protection from the enemy So our heroes were able to pass unnoticed amidst the motley scrum of people and quickly gained access inside the gate.

The guards were too busy organising the closing of the two huge bronze gates to be concerned about the people who were scrambling inside the fortress. They were too preoccupied with this task, as well as organising at the same time, sending a messenger, back to their headquarters situated near the Temple informing their commander of the approaching enemy.

Rom grabbed Aela's arm, ‘Come Aela, let us run down this street away from the crowds and make our way towards the Temple of the Sun.'

The couple fled along the narrow alley way, only stopping when they felt they were relatively safe. Both were panting and finding difficulty in getting their breath back to a normal rhythm. Simultaneously they leaned their backs against one of the walls of a house situated along the alley way.

Aela whispered to Rom, ‘Do you think anyone recognized us as we came through the gate? We do not want to be taken prisoner by Juno's men.'

‘I really haven't the faintest idea Let us rest here for awhile,' suggested Rom as he struggled to breath through his mouth.

Aela was so grateful for this suggestion, she immediately plopped herself down on the pavement, placed her head in her lap and closed her eyes. Rom sat beside her, relieved that he also could have a short rest.

Unbeknown to Rom and Aela, someone in the crowd had recognised them, this person was crafty Croan. He realised that he needed to run at high speed towards the headquarters, to let the Commander Arterus know of the news that not only did they have Brude's army at their gate but also within their walls was Aela and Rom a golden prize they could use to bargain with the enemy.