Lorik The Defender (The Lorik Trilogy) (11 page)

“I’m thinking any escape passage would be easy for the king to find,” Lorik said.

“You want to start looking behind the throne?” Vyrnon said.

“That’s my thought,” Lorik said.

They climbed the dais and passed the two ornately carved chairs. There was a thick, purple curtain behind the thrones. Vyrnon pulled it to one side.

“You first,” he said.

The passage beyond was dark and Lorik guessed they would have to find torches or lamps of some kind. He wasn’t sure how to light the torches or lamps, there was no fire burning in the castle and combustible material would be hard to find.

“We need to find a light source soon,” Lorik said, as the two men made their way through the darkness.

Lorik kept one hand on the wall of the passage and another in front of him. He wasn’t afraid of the dark, but he didn’t want to crack his skull on the stone archway as they passed into another room.

“Is that light up ahead?” Vyrnon said from behind Lorik.

“Some,” Lorik confirmed. “Looks like another room.”

They stepped out of the passageway into a good sized room filled with mirrors, armor, and wooden chairs. The high window was shuttered, but there was a long dowel rod with a metal hook on the end propped again the wall under the window. Lorik used the rod to pull open the shutters and let light into the room.

The armor was highly polished and obviously not intended for use in battle. Lorik glanced around at the room and saw nothing of interest to him. There were two doors, one to Lorik’s right and one directly opposite the passage they had come from.

“Which way?” Vyrnon asked.

“Let’s keep moving in the same direction,” Lorik said.

They went across and entered another room, this one full of dresses and ornate furniture with thick cushions. There was a fireplace filled with unburned wood and a brass lamp on a high stand.

“This must have been the royal dressing room,” Lorik said.

“For the queen and her maids,” Vyrnon said, touching the silky fabric of one of the many dresses.

Lorik nodded. “We need to light a fire and get this lamp burning.”

“I can do that,” Vernon said. “I’ve got flint. I just need a little kindling.”

Lorik reached over and tore the sleeve off one of the formal gowns.

“How about this?” he said.

“That works,” Vyrnon said with a smile.

The room was very gloomy at first; there were no windows and the only light came from the doorway of the room they had just left. Still, Vyrnon was as good as his word and after only a few minutes he had a fire snapping and popping in the hearth. He stood near the fireplace, warming his hands. The castle wasn’t as cold as the open prairie, but it wasn’t warm and cozy either. Lorik thought of his home in the Marshlands. It had been his parents’ home, just a simple structure, with a kitchen and sitting area near the fire. Lorik never remembered it ever being cold there, even in the heart of winter when the frosty temperatures dipped south and cooled the swamps. Lorik liked traveling in the wintertime; the cooler weather made the mud dragons and snakes less active. Occasionally, the mud would freeze and he could drive his massive wagons across trails that were normally too soft to support him.

“It’s not a cozy place, a castle,” Lorik said.

“No,” Vyrnon agreed. “I prefer a good inn, myself. One with ale and hot food.”

“I agree,” Lorik said. “This place feels too formal for my taste.”

They used one of the sticks from the fire to light the lamp, which was a simple affair once Lorik removed the ornate brass shade. It was a simple well filled with oil and a wick which caught the flame quite easily. Lorik replaced the shade, which reflected the flame’s light and cast it down in all directions.

“Let’s keep moving,” he said.

He held the lamp up and they explored several more rooms. Finally they came to a spiral staircase. They went down and found a long room with several roughhewn wooden doors.

“The dungeon,” Vyrnon said.

The doors were all open, and there was a foul odor in the room.

“Someone must have let all the prisoners out,” Lorik said.

“It smells worse than a barn,” Vyrnon said.

“But it doesn’t smell of death,” Lorik said. “Let’s keep moving.”

Beyond the dungeon was what appeared to be a storage room. They nosed around, but it seemed that they had come to a dead end.

“We better go back and see what the others have discovered,” Lorik said.

“Hope they had better luck than we did,” Vyrnon said.

“Me too. It’s getting late as well. We’ll need to make arrangements for the men watching the horses.”

“I’ll see to them, my lord.”

Lorik nodded. He wasn’t sure how much he trusted Vyrnon and he preferred to keep men he didn’t trust close by, but Vyrnon’s gifts lay with horses. He would see to it that the mounts, which would be vital to their escape, were well cared for through the night.

“Alright, let’s get moving.”

Finding the armory wasn’t difficult for Stone. There were several buildings in the castle’s bailey, but only one had fortifications. They found the lock broken open. Inside the room, which had no windows and was sealed up with clay in the cracks between the tightly fitted stones to keep out any moisture, it was difficult to see. Stone swung the door open wide and let his eyes adjust to the gloom. There were racks and racks of spears, pikes, swords, shields, and other weaponry.

“Jackpot,” Stone said to the two volunteers who had been assigned to help him. “Let’s start with the spears, get them all out here in the light so we can inspect them.”

The men gathered as many of the long weapons as they could carry, then laid them gently on the ground. The weapons were sturdy, but the men had an acute sense that the weapons were their only protection from an invading army. They were used to working with simple spears, plain shafts of wood with a crude metal spearpoint made of iron. Most of the weapons the volunteers carried were from a stockpile Lorik had made with the help of a blacksmith during the Norsik invasion, or scavenged from the loot which the raiders abandoned when they fled back into the Wilderlands.

The spears from the king’s armory were different. The wooden shafts were smooth, but not plain, they were thicker on the ends, with a narrow place in the center that was wrapped in rough strips of leather. Stone held one up and was impressed by how balanced the weapon was. He could balance the spear, which was as tall as he was, on one finger in the very center of the spear’s shaft. The blades were all dark blue, leaf shaped, and oiled to keep the metal from rusting. Stone touched the spear’s point and it pricked his finger. Then he checked the edge on the spearhead, it was honed as sharp as any sword.

They laid the spears out on the ground and Stone counted them. There were two hundred in total. He sent his volunteers to do the same with the pikes. The pikes were longer than the spears, and each had a short little hook at the end, just below the thin, axe shaped blade.

“What do you do with these?” asked one of the volunteers as he walked out with an armload of the pikes.

“They’re for foot soldiers facing men on horseback,” Stone explained. “They’re long enough that you can engage without being in range of your opponent’s weapons.”

“Yeah, but what do you with them?” the farm boy, turned volunteer soldier, asked.

“You use the hook to pull knights off their horses,” Stone said, demonstrating how the weapon worked. “And the blade is self-explanatory.”

The boy looked impressed.

“Get them all laid out where we can see them,” Stone instructed. “I need to check the battlements before we lose the daylight.”

Stone went back to the gates. They were heavy, but hung on well-oiled hinges. He pushed one and could barely move it, but the door slowly moved forward. There were large, metal hooks on the back side of the gates made for holding large beams of wood that would secure the gate. Stone found three wooden beams, and several support beams which he guessed would be used for propping against the wooden gate doors to give it added strength. There was a set of stone steps on the side of the thick, gatehouse wall. Stone climbed up and found a wide parapet along the wall, with thick stone crenulations on the outer edge. Everything on the main gate side of the castle looked to be in good working order.

There were baskets of stones, and iron braziers at regular intervals, as well as barrels lined with burlap for holding extra weapons. Stone went slowly around the castle wall, looking for any signs of weakness, but the battlements were strong and in good working order. If the Leffers had attacked the castle walls, there was no sign of it. On each of the four sides he found a set of narrow stone steps leading down to the courtyard around the castle. He could envision a couple men on the ground near the steps using the long pikes to trip enemies that had breached the walls and were trying to get to the castle.

It was almost dark when Stone returned to his two volunteers.

“Almost as many pikes as spears,” said one of the men.

“Good, there are barrels on the walls. I want you to put ten spears in each one,” he explained. “Put them in with the blades down. Then put in ten of the pikes, with their blades sticking up. You understand?”

“Yes sir,” both men said.

“Get busy,” he ordered. “Then join us in the castle.”

Stone went up the wide stone steps that led to the castle entrance. He could already smell food cooking and his stomach growled. He hoped Vera and Vanz had found something good to eat. He liked the little corn cakes that the cook had made, but he was growing tired of them too. He hoped they might find some meat and perhaps a little ale to wash it down with.

Stone didn’t go into the long feasting hall, but instead wound his way through the long corridors until he found a spiral staircase. The steps were polished stone, worn smooth from years of constant use. He jogged up the stairs, ignoring the wide landings he passed as he moved higher and higher. He was out of breath when he finally came to a door at the top of the staircase. He unhooked the leather thong that held the door closed and stepped out into the last rays of sunlight. He was high above the city, high enough to see over the city walls and view the land around the castle for miles and miles.

He was relieved to see that nothing was moving. He had been afraid of what he might find looking out over the kingdom, but it was a tranquil night. There were two of the tall lookout towers. He and Lorik would need to station men in each around the clock, but at least they had time to eat and make preparations before the witch’s army arrived.

He made his way back down the winding steps of the tower. When he finally reached the bottom, he was tired and the castle was dark. He had to move slowly through the darkened rooms and corridors in an effort find his way back to the feasting hall. When he arrived, he found most of the volunteers loitering around the huge hearth where a bright fire was casting warm rays of light around the huge space.

Lorik sat on one of the long tables, but Stone thought he would have looked more at home on the king’s throne.

“What a bunch of lollygaggers,” Stone called as he walked into the room.

“What did you find?” Lorik asked.

“Weapons, lots of them,” Stone said as he sat down across from his friend. “We’ve got enough spears for every man to have almost ten each, and pikes to keep any of the devils from climbing the walls.”

“Good, how are the battlements?”

“In good order,” Stone said. “As good as you could hope for.”

“No weaknesses?”

“None, it doesn’t look like the monsters attacked the castle walls. Or the castle itself, for that matter. I was just up in one of the high towers. The roof is intact on the castle.”

“It’s mostly stone,” Lorik said. “I guess they can’t break through that as easily as thatch.”

“No,” Stone agreed. “We’re in a good place. It’s very strong, even though we don’t have enough men to really defend it. I didn’t see any movement for miles around the city. The view from the tower is impressive.”

“We’ll need men up there,” Lorik said.

“I thought the same thing. But at least we have a little time to get ourselves ready. What did you find?”

“Nothing,” Lorik said. “We had to build a fire; it was dark and there were no torches. I found the dungeon, so you’ll have a place to sleep tonight.”

“Nice,” Stone said.

“But we didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. We’ll have to keep looking. I’m certain there must be some type of escape route.”

“There normally is, but it’s hidden for a reason,” Stone said.

“I should have asked Issalyn.”

“Oh, what happened to
Queen
Issalyn? You sound like you’re getting pretty friendly.”

Lorik ignored him.

“She probably wouldn’t have known anyway,” Stone said. “It didn’t sound like King Oveer had much to do with her other than trying to make babies.”

“It doesn’t help for you to bring up the king’s efforts with Issalyn,” Lorik said.

“Oh, come on. You’re no innocent, believe me, I know.”

“What has Vera been telling you?” Lorik demanded.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“You’re a nosy bastard,” Lorik said.

“But I’m handsome,” Stone crowed.

Lorik took a playful swipe at his friend, who ducked and leaned away from the table.

“Play nice,” Vera said, as she came into the room with a large tray of food. It was mostly vegetables, some steamed, others sautéed in a creamy sauce. There was bread and crocks of butter, fruit jams in big jars, and then Vanz brought out pitchers of wine.

The volunteers hurried over the table and soon everyone was eating and talking. Stone made sure there was two plates heaping with food, and a loaf of bread set aside for the men who had been helping him with the weapons. They came in late, just as Vyrnon was heading out with a basket of food and a small pitcher of wine. Lorik had given the man orders to move their horses out, away from the city. He wanted them north of Ort City, beyond the sprawling ghetto of mud huts, animal pens, and shacks that surrounded the walled capital.

Lorik ate quickly and then left Stone in charge. He had volunteered to take the first watch. He took one of the brass lamps, trimmed the wick and then left the feasting hall.

“He seems like he has the world on his shoulders,” Vera said softly to Stone.

“I suppose he thinks he does. He takes his responsibility very seriously.”

“I wish he would relax a little. We’re in no danger tonight, are we?” she asked. “I feel a little odd being in this huge castle all alone, but it’s better than being out in the open. I feel safer.”

“Yes, this is better,” Stone said. “But we can’t get too comfortable. I don’t like the idea of us getting trapped here.”

“Well neither do I, but I don’t mind having something decent to eat and a bed to sleep in that’s up off the ground.”

“Speaking of beds,” Stone said with a grin. “I’m requesting a private room.”

“Well, then,” Vera said, with a smile of her own. “I’m requesting that you take a bath.”