Sir Bentley and Holbrook Court (19 page)

The Ashen Knight gave the rope that was tied to Eirwyn to two men and then drew his sword. The Lucrums hushed to silence.

“For your pleasure I have given you a maiden to sacrifice to the Yagormoth. Behold Lady Eirwyn, daughter of Lord Kingsley.”

A raucous cheer rose up from the villagers. Bentley was appalled by their superstitious bloodlust. It seemed their hearts and minds had been given over completely to the darkness of Lucius.

The Ashen Knight attempted to hush them again. He pointed toward Eirwyn as he continued to speak. “The wrath of the lake leviathan will be appeased once more.”

The Lucrums resumed their cheers as the end of Eirwyn's rope was tied to the lanyard that looped out to the pole and back. She was forced onto a plank that protruded out past the balcony platform. Bentley could see her terror and wanted desperately to save her, but there seemed no possible way. He could only watch helplessly as the nightmare began to unfold.

“Please, no!” Eirwyn screamed, but the cheers of the villagers became a chant once more. One of the men took a spear and pushed it toward Eirwyn until she teetered on the edge and then fell off the plank. She plummeted downward until the rope tightened. It yanked her arms hard, and she screamed. She dangled in midair above the water, kicking against the agony of the moment. One large man began to pull on the lanyard, and she was slowly hoisted out to the small rock island.

When she was midway to the rock, four men lifted a large stump into the air and dropped it onto the rock cliff that supported the balcony. It made a deep
thump
, and Bentley could feel the concussion in the ground he lay on. They lifted and dropped the heavy stump again and again. Every few seconds the deep thump reverberated through the ground… and presumably through the water.

Eirwyn continued to be hoisted out and downward to the small rock island until her feet began to dangle in the water. Bentley searched desperately for some avenue of rescue, but the entire balcony surrounding this corner of the lake was now filled with hundreds of chanting villagers. Even if by some miracle he could save Eirwyn from this Yagormoth creature, they would never escape the bloodthirsty villagers.

He watched as they stomped on the wooden planks with each beat of the calling drum and filled the space in between with an eerie chant that seemed to be orchestrated to summon the Yagormoth. Bentley steeled himself against the dread and fear that mounted within him.

“Give me strength and courage, my Prince,” he whispered, looking once more toward Eirwyn.

THE YAGORMOTH'S
LAIR

Bentley rose to his feet and removed his breastplate and spaulders. He secured his belt tightly and felt for the handles of his sword and long-knife. He still didn't know what he was going to do, but he could not let Eirwyn die alone in this gruesome spectacle.

Eirwyn still dangled from the thick rope that bound and towed her. She was now able to set her feet on a submerged shelf that skirted the small rock island. She climbed a couple of steps upward and eased the painful pull on her hands and arms.

The lanyard continued to move until her end of the rope was pulled tightly up against the pulley on top of the pole. The slack in the rope was enough for her to move about two or three paces, but her arms were still lifted up above her head. She looked nervously about the water for some sign of her impending doom. So did Bentley.

The thumping of the calling drum seemed to increase in its frequency, as did the volume and intensity of the chanting. Then a stir rose up from the villagers, and some of them pointed toward the waterfall.
Bentley looked intently and spotted movement near the base. From his elevated viewpoint, he thought he saw a dark, leathery snakelike creature lift its head through the turbulent waters for an instant and then resubmerge. The sight sent his stomach into his throat, for even from this distance he could tell it was a monstrous creature.

He tightened his hands into solid fists as he considered his options. He considered jumping directly over the top of the balcony below him and into the water, where he would land close to the rock island, but such a tactic would deprive him of any surprise advantage. He decided to wait until the last possible moment, even though he knew Eirwyn would pay the price in terms of terror.

Bentley looked again along the line from the waterfall and saw nothing. Long moments passed before he saw a streamlined wake racing toward the rock island. He could make out a dark massive body just below the surface of the water. It was moving fast.

Bentley's heart began to pound, and he pitied Eirwyn, for now she saw it too. The Lucrums’ chanting and beating grew more frenzied as the beast came closer. Bentley now stood up, no longer caring if anyone saw him. They would all see him soon enough.

Thirty paces from the rock, the dark mass seemed to fade away as the animal plunged deeper into the water. Bentley projected the line of its movement and calculated he could make a jump to the creature, but the venture would be perilous. There was nothing to break his fall but rocks, water…and beast.

Suddenly the beating and the chanting stopped, and silence hung in the air. Eirwyn pulled against the thick rope, trying to retreat back to the opposite side of the rock island near the shoreline, but her bonds would not yield.

Bentley felt his heart pounding rapidly and tried to suppress the rising fear within him as he readied himself. In the burst of a moment, the silence of this gruesome amphitheater ended as the surface near the far edge of the rock island erupted in a geyser of water and dark leathery
skin. The Yagormoth thrust itself up from the water nearly as high as the balcony and pounced onto the rock island in an avalanche of water. Most of the creature landed on the exposed rock island, while the hind legs and most of the tail rested on a submerged shelf. Eirwyn was drenched in an instant from the overspray.

The Lucrums all gasped and stepped back from the railings of the balcony for the ominous sight of the Yagormoth evoked such an involuntary response. It was a monster of legendary proportions—at least fifteen paces from head to tail. The massive mouth in its lizardlike head was filled with daggerlike white teeth that protruded upward and downward in alternating directions to form a tight seal on any prey it chose to grab. The neck was twice as long as a horse's and also twice as thick. At the base of the head, a mottled red and blue collar of skin stood straight out in a threatening show of ferocity.

The body was thick, with reptilian scales and many sharp protrusions. The legs were powerfully muscled; the webbed feet, spiked with talons, were as long as a knife's blade. A tail half as long as the body swished back and forth in the water. The whole creature was designed to swim stealthily through the water at great speed and devour anything that dared enter its territory.

Bentley froze for an instant at the monstrous sight before him. The animal opened its mouth and spread the colored skin collar wide as it screeched a cry of attack. Eirwyn maneuvered desperately to keep the pole between her and the animal.

Her scream shook Bentley from his daze. The Lucrums had not yet fully returned to the balcony railing, and Bentley realized an opportunity that wasn't previously there. He jumped to the railing of the balcony just below him and grasped one of the vertical supports to keep his balance. The Lucrums nearby were momentarily stunned, and their surprise gave Bentley enough time to draw his sword and aim his next jump toward the Yagormoth.

From here, his plummet downward was only a little more than the
height of a man. Keeping a two-handled grip on his sword, he launched himself outward toward the Yagormoth's neck just as it lunged for Eirwyn.

He realized in midair that he was going to miss his mark. Instead of straddling the Yagormoth's neck, he landed with a thud on the creature's hindquarters, where his blade hardly penetrated the thick hide. The enraged creature whipped its powerful tail. It slammed into Bentley, knocking the wind from him and sending him flying along the edge of the rock island. His sword flew from his hands and plummeted into the deep water. He landed partly in the water, five paces from Eirwyn.

“Bentley!” she called, but her voice sounded muffled and distant. He gasped for air and fought to stay conscious. Vaguely he wondered how they could ever survive the attack of this monster now that his sword was gone.

He heard another screech and looked toward the Yagormoth, which now had new prey to focus on. Bentley watched the creature turn, then
lunge toward him. He forced his lungs to open, and he filled them with air. There was no place to go except backward… into the lake.

Bentley jumped back and sank into the cold lake just as the beast crashed down on top of him. Here beneath the water line, the rock platform curved slightly inward. Bentley pushed himself downward and hugged the rock as the Yagormoth's body passed over him. Through the crystal-clear water, Bentley watched the creature swim outward in a wide circling maneuver to gain access to him.

Bentley heard the deep thump of the calling drum again and felt the vibration in the rock and water about him. The Yagormoth heard it too, but the sound seemed to confuse it. It hesitated at the far side of its circle.

Bentley swam beneath the water around the base of the rock, out of the creature's direct line of sight. He was nearly out of air, and he resurfaced almost on the opposite side of where he had jumped in. He lifted himself out of the water, and the Lucrums began to shout angrily. The calling drum continued, as did their stomping on the planks of the balcony.

Eirwyn was still looking toward the last place she had seen the Yagormoth when Bentley made his way to her. “Eirwyn,” he said between gasps, and she jumped away from his voice, still terrified. The panic in her eyes pained Bentley greatly. He put his hand on her cheek. “I'm going to get you out of this!”

Bentley withdrew his long-knife from the sheath. He reached up to her hands and began to cut through one of the ropes. Each hand was tied separately, and the ropes were tough and thick.

“Bentley!” Eirwyn said quietly, and Bentley knew by her tone that the beast was on its way again. He spotted the dark mass speeding below the water, followed by a wake of turbulence above. His knife sliced through the last strand of the first rope, but Eirwyn's left hand was still bound to the lanyard above.