Bricrui (The Forgotten: Book 2) (9 page)

If they had moved from creating vicious
magical beasts out of dogs and cats into using these practices on
humans, it would explain the appearance of Lord Telvani in his
current state. Though why he would have used such practices on
himself was still a mystery.

The Knights in each section of the main hall
yelled to Sir Ruawn that everything was clear, and he waved them
all forward. Natalya followed her three Knights towards the nearest
doorway. The first put his back to the wall and held his sword out
in front of him at the ready, and then whipped into the hallway. He
twisted around, searching for signs of trouble, then nodded to the
rest of them to follow.

Natalya peered around uneasily. Here there
was more evidence of a struggle, but as of yet, still no people. Or
monsters. One of the Knights in front of her paused and knelt, and
Natalya shifted to see past his bulk to identify what he was
looking at. There was a dried stain on the stone floor, a stain
that Natalya was all too familiar with after visiting the remains
of her town. It was blood. It appeared to have been largely spilt
in the center of the hallway, but it smudged outwards as though the
person had been dragged off.

Natalya caught the eye of one of the Knights
watching her. She hardened her face, determined not to let the
nausea overtake her. He dropped his eyes back to the blood. The
first man stood and made sure he had the attention of each of them,
before indicating that they were going to follow the blood, and to
stay alert.

They stepped around the bloodied ground and
followed to where the path disappeared underneath a door. They
fanned out and positioned themselves around the door, before slowly
pushing it open. The stench that wafted out threatened to overwhelm
her, and Natalya was relieved to see that the Knights did not seem
any more immune to the smell than she was.

She looked inside to find the source of the
odor with trepidation. It appeared to be some sort of storage room,
with barrels and sacks piled high, though several of these were
broken open. The path of blood led to the center of the room,
behind a wall of boxes. The sound of buzzing flies filled the air.
Their tight group moved forward in sync.

At the sight, Natalya drew in a deep breath,
inadvertently filling her mouth with the taste of death. The man
had been almost completely devoured; his mangled remains were
slathered on the barrels around him and the floor. Many of the
bones appeared to have been gnawed on, and some were crushed
underfoot. His head was a good five feet away from the rest of him,
his empty eye sockets staring upwards, and his jawbone, no longer
covered by flesh, hanging open in an ghastly expression of
horrified surprise.

“By the Gods,” one of the Knights whispered
under his breath, raising three fingers to his heart in a gesture
of calling upon the Three. Though Natalya was of the opinion that
Queen Layna’s assessment of their worshiping the Three as gods now
that they had revealed themselves to be only another being in the
universe was correct, it was difficult not to want to appeal to
some higher power in a moment such as this. Several other Knights
mirrored the motion.

They quickly swept over the area, making sure
that whatever had done this was not still lurking in the corners
before backing out. One of the Knights hung behind, and picked up
something from the body. Natalya gave him a confused, and slightly
disgusted, look.

“It’s an identification necklace,” he
explained, holding it up for her to see. “A lot of the guards and
mercenaries wear one so that their family can be notified in case
of their death.” He glanced back uneasily at the remains. “We won’t
be sending this one’s body to the family for burial, but at least
they’ll know what happened to him.”

She nodded. Hopefully they wouldn’t be given
the gruesome details. Natalya had insisted that she knew everything
that had happened in Hardonia, and the Queen and Hunter had
reluctantly told her. Now, she sometimes wished she could take that
back.

Back out in the hallway, they moved down the
corridor for some ways before a sound prompted all of them to
immediately freeze. It was that of footsteps coming closer. They
tensed, their weapons drawn, and their eyes glued in the direction
of the noise. Shapes emerged from the darkened recess, slowly
taking form. Natalya sighed in relief as several other Knights
saluted them as they came into view.

Everyone relaxed.

“Anything?” Sir Jeremy asked their group.

“We found a corpse, completely decimated.
You?”

“Blood everywhere back that way,” he jerked
his head in the direction they had come, “but nothing like
that…yet. It’s giving me the creeps.”

He nodded and the enlarged group turned to
the right, where the two hallways converged and continued. Together
they made a solemn procession towards what Natalya assumed was the
bedchambers. Upon entering, they were relieved to find that it was
devoid of carnage. There was, however, evidence that the occupants
had left in a hurry. The closet doors had been left ajar and
clothing that had not made it into bags had been abandoned on the
floor. The table appeared to have had its contents brushed into a
bag carelessly; several bottles hadn’t made it, and had rolled away
or had smashed below.

“This is looking more and more like they
didn’t want something to get out after them,” one of the Knights
murmured. Several others nodded their agreement, Natalya included.
But if they had succeeded in trapping it inside…she didn’t bother
finishing the thought.

Shutting the doors again behind them, they
met back up with the rest of the Knights in the main hall. Similar
stories were exchanged on the state of the castle. Only three
bodies total were reported, indicating that the majority of them
had escaped before the monsters, whatever they were, had really
begun their rampage. There was only one section left: The dungeons.
Why did monsters always have to be in dark scary places
?
Natalya wondered.

The lot of them headed to the stairs below
with Sir Ruawn in the lead. He did not expect his Knights to do
more than he was willing to do himself. He took a torch from the
wall and lit it with magic. Natalya had been delighted to learn of
his abilities and had tried to get him to show her what else he
could do, but other than when it was necessary, he refrained from
using it. Natalya half-thought he was still unable to shake the
feeling from before Queen Layna’s reign that use of magic, except
when permitted by the priests, could result in the punishment of
death. Natalya would love to know if Sir Ruawn had been employed by
the priests or if he had been able to pay the training fee. Or,
perhaps he had been rogue like the Queen herself, refusing to give
in to either unfair restriction. He refused to tell her, however,
so it remained a mystery.

The darkness closed in around them and
Natalya paused with the rest to let their eyes adjust before
venturing farther. They cautiously moved forward in silence, aside
from the metallic clunking of the Knights armor, and prepared for
the worst. The guard room was empty; a few empty mugs still lay on
the table, and a deck of cards was spread out over its surface. Sir
Ruawn liberated the keys from the hook on the wall and unlocked the
door. Natalya held her breath as he inserted it into the lock and
swung the large wooden door open.

Nothing.

They crept forward, inching their way through
the corridor, peering into cell after cell. All were empty. They
searched the entire dungeon, but came up with nothing - not even
prisoners. Natalya let out the breath she had been holding.

Suddenly a shout sounded from above where
sentries had been left at the top of the stairs, and the Knights
burst into action. They raced towards the commotion, and found the
two sentries engaged in battle with three of the monsters in
various stages of the affliction.

Natalya joined in the Knights around her in
roaring their battle-cries, both to distract the enemy away from
their comrades and to let their brothers-in-arms know that help was
there. The monsters turned in surprise, and one of the sentries
landed a blow to the one nearest him. He let out a triumphant cry
which was cut short as the thing turned back towards him and raked
his claw-like hands across the man’s throat. The gurgled moan that
escaped as he fell to his knees was a sound that Natalya would
never forget. She watched in horror as the monster immediately
sprang onto the dying man, and ripped at his flesh with its teeth.
The gash in its back where the sentry had torn it open closed
magically, and never slowed it.

The other two monsters stopped their attack,
distracted by the fresh blood, and pounced upon the dead man as
well. One of them had long hair, matted to its face and stuck into
the pustules there, and as Natalya looked closer she could tell it
was once a girl. She sucked in her breath and searched the face,
hoping beyond hope that it was not Alina. It turned to her, its
bright blood-red eyes boring into her, and she let out the air she
had been holding in. It wasn’t her sister. This girl had a dark
birthmark extending down the side of her face.

Their fallen comrade had enraged the Knights,
who were busily hacking away at the three monsters where they were
feeding on the dead man and ignoring their blows. Natalya had to
separate her mind from the situation in order to keep from going
crazy with fear. The Knights’ thrashing seemed to bounce harmlessly
off the monsters, and she saw Sir Ruawn back away from the
tussle.

He put away his sword, and Natalya, sensing
that he was about to perform a spell, got the attention of two of
the Knights nearest her and they closed in protectively around him.
He sent her a grateful look before concentrating on his spell.
Sweat beaded at his forehead and tiny wisps of smokes started
forming about an inch away from the monster’s body, as though fog
was forming on an invisible shield around them.

Several other Knights realized what he was
doing and either joined in the protection while waiting for their
opportunity to strike, or added their strength to his if they
possessed some talent.

The monsters seemed to sense the magical
attack and they twitched, but still remained intent upon the fallen
Knight, seemingly unable to follow any other directive than that of
their grotesque appetites.

A flare of fire appeared at their feet and
quickly formed a flickering ring traveling up their bodies, eating
away at the magical protection like a hair dangled over a flame.
The three tore their attention from their feast, aware of their
lost shields, and snarled at their opponents.

Natalya forced herself not to look at the
remains. The Knights charged, and with the barrier removed, landed
blow after blow on the misshapen monsters. Many of these healed
themselves too quickly for comprehension and Natalya could only
assume that perhaps they had used some sort of blood-magic to gain
strength from their victim. But the Knights rained down blows on
them, hacking away at flesh and bone, and there was little even
magic could do to reattach limbs that had been severed and kicked
across the room. Soon, the battle was over, the hacked up pieces of
the monsters all over the place and the Knights stood panting,
staring at the place where their brother-in-arms had fallen.

After a moment of silence, Sir Ruawn gave
orders to collect the monster parts into a pile far from the fallen
Knight and he lit these on fire with his magic, burning it until
there was nothing but ash. That unsavory task completed, they
gathered around to pay their respects to the Knight. Sir Ruawn
ignited his remains as well, though not in the same savage
conflagration that he used to consume the monster’s remains, but
rather a more dignified fire of funeral. The Knights all stood
stoically. A few words were said for him and Natalya did not bother
to try and stop the tear that escaped.

They searched the rest of the castle and
surrounding courtyards, and found the remains of several other
people and monsters. Whether the latter had been cut down by people
or other monsters was hard to tell, as all had obviously been fed
upon by the monsters in the aftermath. Every inch was explored to
ensure that none of the creatures could escape. One other live one
was discovered hiding in the kitchen, wallowing in rotten meat that
had been abandoned as the castle occupants fled. They were able to
dispatch this one uneventfully.

When Sir Ruawn was convinced that there were
no straggling monsters, he ordered a more thorough search; this
time for clues as to what had transpired here. It was a question
that Natalya was eager to find the answer to. Natalya and Sir Ruawn
took the offices, where no doubt Lord Farthen had spent the
majority of his time. In the likely event that he was the
mastermind behind this operation, this would be the most logical
place to find some answers.

They searched the entire wing thoroughly, but
found no evidence of foul play. As they searched the last room on
the hall, Natalya dropped the piles of papers she had been looking
through onto the table in disgust. How could he have monsters
taking over his castle and leave nothing to indicate that they ever
existed?

“Wait a moment…” Sir Ruawn mumbled almost to
himself. He picked up the documents she had just abandoned. He
stared at them intently with the faraway look that Natalya had come
to associate with those touching the power. She waited patiently
until he spoke again. “These are spelled to look like ordinary
papers, but in reality are not.”

“He didn’t even trust his staff?” Natalya
queried.

“Apparently not.”

“Well, what do they really say?” she asked
excitedly.

“I don’t know,” he told her regretfully.
“They are enchanted past my ability to break the spell. I can only
recognize that there is one.” He gathered together these and took
another look around the room, again with the faraway look, and
added a few more to a satchel. “We’ll have to wait until we can ask
the King and Queen to take a look at them.”