The Catastrophe of the Emerald Queen (15 page)

Challandra watched the armoured figures move off down the
corridor and counted them. Six in total.
There isn’t much time
, she thought. She had to do something, anything to alert
the boys and the other staff that something was wrong. She knew
that the man holding her would probably kill her if she struggled.
She saw the last of the men walk off round the corner and decided
to try one last, desperate method. She suddenly went limp. The
soldier swore and whispered angrily. “Stand up curse you” he hissed
as she flopped in his grip. He tried to haul her back up but she
hung as if lifeless. With a string of whispered cursing, he
released the grip he had on her mouth and lifted her under the
shoulders.

As her lips were freed Challandra whispered
softly. “Kohelo aspaharn folehol.”
At first nothing happened but then from the very walls of the
building a low growl emerged, almost inaudible at first but rising
in volume.

Jared squirmed as the hand held him and suddenly Bue
whispered in his ear urgently
. “Shut up! Quiet! Something’s wrong.” He slowly released
his hand and put his finger to his lips. The boy on the next bed
stirred and looked up, raising himself up on his elbow and looking
through sleepy eyes at them both. Bue turned around, keeping his
finger on his lips and the other boy frowned. 

“
What’s the
problem?” Jared whispered back, feeling scared.

 “
Footsteps in the corridor, no
one should be around this time of night
.” 

Jared strained to listen but could hear nothing. “Bue
you’re imagining it, go back to sleep
.” 

Bue looked defiant and anger
flashed in his eyes. “I know what I heard, get out of bed. Get your
trousers and shoes on” he whispered harshly. 

Jared blearily complied and stuffed on his socks before
shoving his feet in his trainers. Bue looked anxiously at the door
and then back to Jared. “Come on” he hissed as Jared stood and
reached for his jacket. He opened the window over Jared’s bed and
the ancient hinge creaked as the heavy frame swung out.
”Be quiet and follow me” Bue
whispered and pulled himself up, straddling the cold sill. He swung
both legs out and then dropped the small distance to the darkened
courtyard. Jared peered after him and saw that the room looked out
on to the sports hall. “Come on!” Bue hissed urgently, the worry
clear on his face. Just then they heard a moaning noise start and
Bue looked sickened. “Come ON!!!” he yelled. As Jared was about to
follow him, the other boys all awake now, the door of the room
burst open and two armed men stood hulking in the doorway, their
blades shining in the dim light from the courtyard.
 

“
Stop!” the
nearest one shouted and made to lunge at Jared. The moaning noise
continued to rise and became louder with each passing second. The
soldier hurled himself across the room to try and grab Jared, just
as the noise became unbearable. Then something extraordinary and
utterly horrible happened.

Challandra felt the soldier’s
grip on her relax as the moaning sound reached a climax that hurt
the ears. He released her and Challandra kicked free, piling up
against the wall and away from the stricken man. He reached out to
grab her but then clamped his hands over his ears as the horrendous
wailing continued. Just as it seemed the sound would become even
worse it stopped completely. The soldier glared at her, reaching
for his sword.

 “
Despicable witch!” he
shouted
. “What did you just
do?”

 
As he tried to draw his weapon
a monstrous shape appeared behind him in the shadows blocking out
what little light there was, grabbing him tightly, pinning his arms
to his sides. The man screamed and thrashed violently but was
unable to break the grip. The figure that held him was hugely vast,
misshapen and irregularly formed. It was grey and stood around
three metres tall with huge eyes
and a wide, blunt nose. The nostrils flared as it angrily
yanked the wriggling soldier into the air. As it grunted the sound
seemed to resonate from every part of its
body. 

“
HELP ME!!!” the soldier screamed as the hulking
figure stepped backwards. Challandra remained motionless, staring
frightened yet reassured by the sight of the immense creature. The
figure took a
nother step
backwards and, as if it was entering a vertical pool, the stone of
the wall parted as its body made contact, the rock rippling
slightly as if made of water. The thrashing soldier screamed louder
still as the creature holding him continued to step backwards and
with a final motion they dissapeared inside the wall, the man’s
horrible screams suddenly cut off. The corridor was empty, save for
Challandra.

The soldiers lunged at Bue and
Jared but Jared dropped down next to the young archer and winced,
clapping his hands to his ears as the moaning reached its zenith.
The boys were all similarly trying to shut out the noise, one or
two whimpering in fear as they curled up on their beds. 

The noise was painful and
seemed to scratch right within your soul. Then it stopped and with
a triumphant smirk the nearest soldier yanked Jared’s bed out the
way, the wooden legs grinding on the floor and tried to climb out
after the two boys. Bue jumped the few steps back to the open
window and brought his fist into the man’s face, punching him
square on the nose. The man fell back cursing and his partner leapt
up to the window frame just as a figure appeared in the doorway, a
horribly enormous figure that looked like some sort of clay monster
with massive fingers on each hand. It lumbered into the room and
surveyed the cowering boys, one at a time, steam erupting from its
nostrils as it weighed them up. After a moment its gaze turned to
the two soldiers and the one Bue had punched momentarily forgot his
bloody nose and exclaimed: 

“
What in the
love of chaos is THAT?!!” 

Bue grabbed Jared by the sleeve
of his jacket. “Come on!!” he yelled and pushed him towards the
sports hall.

In the room the two soldiers looked at each other, then at
the creature and both made for the window. One was still punch
drunk from where Bue had hit him
but the other leapt for the open window. His feet scrabbled
successfully for purchase as he heaved himself up and out. The
remaining man tried to climb out but the monster loomed up behind
him.

 “
Wait!!!” the man pleaded to the soldier outside who simply
gazed blankly back at him.

 
The
huge creature tottered towards the remaining man. scooped him up in
its arms and pinned him in a crushing grip. With a furious growl
the creature then stepped backwards into the corridor and simply
stepped into the wall. The thrashing soldier’s legs kicked madly
and his feet could momentarily be seen protruding, making ripples
in the grey stone. Then they were gone.

 
Bue and
Jared ran to the door of the hall and burst through it with the
soldier sprinting after them. 

“
STAND
FAST!!!” a figure shouted and Jared found himself staring at a
loaded and primed crossbow. 

“
Leppard,
it’s us!” Bue shouted back and Leppard hesitated before lowering
the bow and then raising it again when he saw the soldier running
up behind them. The man veered off and hid behind one of the
pillars in the central courtyard. Leppard triggered the bow and
sent the long bolt in his direction, the shot whistling through the
air and dissapearing into the woods.

 
Jared
staggered to a stop, panting madly and pulled up in horror as a
huge creature lumbered up beside Leppard. He stumbled and fell, his
back to the wall. Leppard ignored it and turned to Jared as he
lowered his bow.  

“
It’s ok
,”
he said reassuringly, glancing at the creature that stood silently
next to him, its shoulders slowly heaving. “It won’t hurt you. They
only attack trespassers.” 

“
Wh, what is
it?” Jared stammered as he finally found his voice.

 
Leppard closed the door and
bolted it, then turned back to Jared. “They are the wall keepers,
the final line of defence against attack. We call them the
Vagthunder
.” 

At mention of its name the
creature glanced at Leppard and then turned around, lumbering
noisily across the floor and into the hall. There it stood
motionless, looking at the three of them with a blank
expression. 

“
We haven’t
had to use them for as long as I can remember. Whoever invoked them
was clearly frightened.” 

“
You mean it
wasn’t you?” Bue said looking shocked. 

“
No young
master. Which means it was either Madame Veer or Challandra. Either
way we need to check they are ok” 

“
Too right!” Bue exclaimed angrily. He turned to
Jared and took him by the hand, hauling him upright. “Come on, we
have to help the others
.” 

Leppard looked at Jared
. “Boy, can you remember how to fire a
crossbow?” 

Jared glared at him and snapped
, “my name’s Jared and yes.”

 
Leppar
d chuckled. “OK Jared. Bue, get him a bow and a pack
of bolts.” 

Bue made for a large cupboard
at the back of the entrance hall and began tossing items out onto
the floor. Then he reached up and with more reverence he moved to a
wider cupboard next to it and opening it slowly extracted both his
prize, green, patterned bow and another one. He moved back to Jared
and handed him the second one. "Look after this, it’s the third
best one we’ve got” he said glancing at Leppard who smiled. Jared
had no doubts who had numbers one and two.