Windcatcher: Book I of the Stone War Chronicles (48 page)

As he carefully glanced around, he noticed none of the surrounding soldiers paid him any attention. His hair was darker than many of the soldiers, but was not uncommon; and although he and Sebastian did not have any tattoos, not all soldiers showed the patterns on their body.

Raylan checked his right and saw Sebastian maneuver himself closer to him, both were carefully making sure not to lose track of each other.

On their approach that the morning, they had tried to choose a spot close to the harbor to join the constantly moving stream of soldiers. But, they ended up hiking around an entire area where they were cutting down trees. From what Galirras had told him, Raylan figured most of it was used for the ship construction.

Because of the detour, Raylan and Sebastian spent half the afternoon walking with their enemies, before—finally—the first harbor buildings showed up from between the hills.

By the time they entered the seaside settlement, the sun had begun to set, which would make it easier to stay hidden, if needed. Raylan looked around and saw a few soldiers move away from the main stream, to drop off bundles of provisions, swords, straw mats and the like. Other soldiers would grab the gear, before setting of in the direction of the bay. As the land declined toward the water, they saw ships, floating in the bay between the different structures. Most of the buildings were quickly constructed warehouses, meant more for a basic protection against the elements than for providing any kind of luxury.

Raylan tapped Sebastian on his arm and pointed to some soldiers moving the provisions. They walked over and each took something on the shoulder to carry. Pretending to deliver the provisions, they moved in the general direction of the bay.

Galirras had been right. The harbor buzzed with activity. Soldiers walked everywhere. They saw large trees being dragged to the edge of the settlement, where carpenters went to work, creating everything from planks to large masts for the sailing ships. A constant mix of hammering and sawing was heard throughout the bay. The harbor felt like a small town, because of all the activity. He saw livestock walking the streets, herded by butchers from the look of the cleavers on their belts.

It surprised Raylan, a little. He really saw no normal civilians. No farmers, hunters nor shop owners. Normally, such a large force would draw in all kinds of people, looking for the opportunity to make a little bit of extra money.

The only women Raylan saw were transported in a caged wagon, all of them with iron rings around their necks, connecting them to the bars of the cage. He noticed other slaves were pushing carts holding barrels and boxes. In those cases most of their neck rings were chained together. A number of them carried large pieces of wood, toward the water, most likely for the ship building. The slaves looked skinny; their hair was filthy and full of knots. Their skin was darkened with smears of dirt and sweat from the forced labor. None of them dared to look up, or talk, fearing the whip that already cracked often enough, without provocation.

Moving between two buildings, they heard a woman scream behind a door. The laughter of men accompanied it, giving Raylan a dark feeling, his every fiber wishing he could stop what was taking place behind that closed door. He threw down his pack and was at the point of opening the door, when Sebastian grabbed his shoulder and softly shook his head. Swallowing hard, he hesitated another moment, before picking up his pack again, cursing and defeated.

As he started to move, he noticed a soldier looking at them, following their movements. The soldier had been talking to some men, who now continued to patrol the area. But, the single soldier still looked at them with great interest.

Had he seen me go for the door? Seen Sebastian stop me?
Raylan wondered.

He followed Sebastian as he saw the soldier starting to move toward them. Increasing his pace, he pushed Sebastian into a small passageway.

“Move, someone took notice of us,” he whispered.

As they moved, quickly, along the side of the structure, Raylan saw a door and tried to see if it opened. It swung in and they quickly moved inside, closing the door behind them, unseen by the soldier that just came around the corner. The guard looked around the empty passageway, shrugged his shoulders and returned to his post.

Raylan rested his back against the door. He heard Sebastian slump down to the floor. Both of them had been walking, nonstop, since they joined the soldiers on the road; but only now that they had stopped, did they feel how tired their legs were.

The inside of the building was pitch-black. No torches were lit, and there were few windows to let in the moonlight. Raylan heard Sebastian breathe deeply, taking the moment to rest.

“Can you see anything?” Raylan whispered.

“Not yet, just waiting for my eyes to adjust.”

While Raylan could barely see, he felt the size of the room was very large. Perhaps, it was the way the sound carried, or maybe he subconsciously took note of it when they entered; but it felt like a massive hall with a high roof. He tried to think of how high the roof was when he had looked at the outside of the structure, but his attention had been on the woman’s screams.

He pushed off and took a few steps forward.

“Where are you going?” asked Sebastian.

“Just trying to figure out what’s in here. That guard might still be out there. We might need to find a different way out.”

Inching along, Raylan softly slid his feet forward, stretching out his hands, trying to prevent himself from walking into anything. He jumped at the touch of something hard and cold in front of him. As it remained immobile he carefully ran his hand across the surface. It felt cold and rough. His hands followed the form, slowly developing a picture in his mind of the thing in front of him.

Chest…arms…head and big, taller than me…

The image of a statue became painfully clear in his mind, feeding the knot in his stomach as he recognized more and more of the shape. He put his head forward and rested his forehead against the chest of the statue, cursing it silently. He let out a disappointing groan, bumping his forehead against the stone chest multiple times.

A ghol’m…a damn ghol’m…why am I even surprised to see it…of course they would have a ghol’m here.

He heard Sebastian shuffle closer, attracted by his disapproving sounds.

“What is it?” he asked.

“A ghol’m…”

As he stepped back from the roughly carved ghol’m, Raylan noticed his eyes had adjusted to the low light. Outside the clouds split, which let the moonlight pour into the building. As the darkness was slightly lifted, the size of the hall became clear. The sight of it took both their breaths away.

“Oh crap, that’s not good,” said Sebastian.

“How many are there?”

The hall was indeed large, consisting of one, big space.

“It must be at least three hundred feet long,” said Sebastian.

As the moonlight illuminated the dark stone of the ghol’ms, they saw some parts sparkle from the black crystals in the rock. The number of ghol’ms in the hall was sickening.

“There must be hundreds of them,” said Sebastian. “I’ve seen how many the mines produced in those early days. They kept going for all these years…they must have thousands…”

“Thousands? That means thousands of scrolls…thousands of people…children…all those small infants...how can someone do that? Damn them. Damn them all!” Raylan roared through his teeth, as he kicked the ghol’m in front of him. It did not budge at all…

A loud clank echoed through the hall, as they suddenly saw the light pour in a set of double doors that had been thrown wide open at the other end of the warehouse.

Soldiers streamed in as orders were shouted.

Both Raylan and Sebastian automatically ducked to the floor, forgetting their disguise.

“They can’t find us here, even with this armor on,” said Sebastian.

“What are they shouting?”

“Something about this being the last batch. That they have until sunrise to get everything loaded up.”

“Sunrise? Are they that close to setting sail? We’ve really got no time to waste. Grab your pack…we’ll go back through the door.”

They quickly opened the door, to peer through a crack and to see if the guard was still around.

“Empty,” said Sebastian.

“Let’s go.”

They moved into the abandoned passageway, and rapidly continued on their way toward the water.

Shifting between the workers, they deliberately moved quickly and smoothly, making sure not to be in anyone’s way and avoiding those who might ask questions.

As they approached the final buildings before reaching the water, they took position next to one of the smaller buildings, behind a number of crates.

The bay was filled with ships, just like Galirras had said. Dozens of large sailing ships were anchored along the coast with smaller ships spread out throughout them. Raylan could not see them all, nor did it matter. Where Galirras had seen mostly empty ships and a quiet harbor, the water was now packed with dinghies moving soldiers back and forth to all the ships.

“We’re too late…no way we’ll be able to take over a fully loaded ship with that many soldiers on it,” said Raylan, angrily.

“What about the smaller ships?”

“I don’t see an easy way to get to them with that many eyes on the water. We’ll be spotted for sure. They could instantly block us in and board us…it’d be suicide…”

“There must be something we can do. What about the one on the far side? I don’t see any one on deck there yet,” urged Sebastian.

“Seb…Seb is that you?” whispered a very soft voice, nearby.

Both Raylan and Sebastian froze in the middle of their hushed conversation, looking around for where the voice was coming from.

“Up here,” the small voice said, quietly. “I thought I recognized your voice. What are you doing here?”

Sebastian looked up to a small window, metal bars lined the windowsill. Two of the bars were grabbed by two dirty hands, and a face pressed against them, trying to squeeze through as far as possible, to look downward on the two surprised men.

“Marek? Is that you? I thought you were dead,” hissed Sebastian.

“Not yet, although sometimes I wish I was,” the voice said, half joking. “Listen, you need to get out of here. It’s swarming with soldiers.”

“We know,” said Sebastian, pointing at their armor. “We’re here on a mission. We’re going home Marek…back to Aeterra.”

“Seb!” said Raylan, as he grabbed his arm to shut him up.

“It’s okay Raylan…Marek’s a friend. He was on my father’s ship, and he always had my back in the mines. No way would he expose us…”

“It’s true. I’d never betray Seb…oh, shit!”

The skinny face disappeared from the window. A moment later, a guard’s voice thundered on the other side of the wall. The clank of a metal gate opening was heard. The window let out more shouting, and Marek’s voice protested, for a moment, before grunting under the sound of something hitting flesh. It was clear that the guards continued to abuse their prisoner, until all the resistance seeped out of him. Laughter echoed from the open window as the guards walked away and shut the metal door with a loud bang, followed by the cold clank of the lock falling in place.

Unable to look into the windows from the outside, Raylan and Sebastian stood against the wall, to stay out of sight as much as possible, and waited. After the silence carried on, for a while, Sebastian looked up.

“Marek…Marek…you still there?” he whispered, softly.

They heard someone move inside softly, slowly. A hesitant hand grabbed the bars, as Marek pulled himself close to the window again. His face showed deep bruises and there was a cut on the side of his head. One eye was already swelling up so much it was hard to keep open.

“I’m…here…”

Marek looked at them both.

“The soldiers aren’t too friendly here. I suggest you guys don’t get caught…”

Raylan noticed the iron ring around his neck.

“How long have you been here with that?” asked Sebastian, pointing at his own neck.

“Ever since I was recaptured in the forests... When we broke out from the mines, some of us got split up…I guess I was just one of the ones that didn’t get away.”

“If I’d known, Marek…” said Sebastian.

“Then what? You would’ve gotten yourself killed trying to rescue me? I’ve never blamed you, Seb, and I never will. I’m just glad to see you’ve made it,” said Marek. “But what are you doing here?”

“We’re here to get a ship,” said Raylan.

“How are you going to steal a ship with just the two of you? They’ve been loading up the ships for days, and this morning, they started assigning soldiers to each of them. There must be at least forty soldiers on each of those ships…”

“We didn’t know until we got here. If only we’d been a day earlier,” said Sebastian.

“If not this, what other options would we have? None,” said Raylan. “We’ve got to find a way.”

Marek looked behind him, spooked by a sound, but heard no soldiers coming. He turned his attention back to them.

“Do you see those weird-looking ships down the waterline? The ones with the large sacks? They’re called windships, and they have the ability to fly. You might not believe it, but I’ve seen it myself.”