Chapter Eighteen – The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep by Kelly D. Tolman

Posted by admin on January 26, 2009

The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep is a fantasy novel describing the adventures of Colter Halfspear as he becomes a man and an initiate of magical powers.

A faint smell of brimstone tingled my nose as I nudged the wizard awake. I heard Iven move in the shadows and I knew that whatever waited out there could tell exactly where we hid. Whatever it was moved with absolute silence. The eyes had disappeared, but now the smell grew subtly stronger, or at least more definite, but I couldn’t locate it with only a smell.

“It’s over there,” whispered Iven as he pointed to a patch of darkness between two tall pines. I looked but couldn’t see anything more than shadows. Very little starlight filtered down to us and the moon was less than half full. Iven drew back his bow and loosed an arrow in that direction.

Suddenly a shrieking scream of a girl or woman ripped through the night. Terror clutched at my heart, and I watched, transfixed as a jet of fire erupted from the shadows towards our camp. At the last instant I had enough instinct left to jump into the bushes and out of the way of the flames. On the heels of the fire came a bellowing roar and screech, like a great bear cackling in the wind. Again a woman’s scream broke the air, this time more clear.

“It has someone,” called Iven. “Whatever it is, it has a prisoner.” For a man who had sense and cunning around a forge, Iven sometimes lost his head in the heat of battle. He plunged recklessly after the beast, whatever it might be, brandishing his hammer. In my recklessness and youth I followed without hesitation, eager to not be left behind. Pascalli continued to snore peacefully even as the camp around us began to burn. Wizards have a way of ignoring trouble that isn’t great enough for them to have an interest in, and I trusted he could manage quite well without us.

By the light of the burning tree behind me I saw the back of a horse, or at least what appeared to be a horse. In that quick moment I shot an arrow, trying at least to wound the creature and slow it down. It’s hard to say, and Iven often argued with me later that it was actually his arrow that wounded the creature, but at least one of us must have. I don’t see how he could have hit it since he fired into complete darkness, while I had a clear shot. I know I didn’t miss. Maybe we both hit it. My shot was answered with another spout of flame and more growls, though more distant and the fire was much easier to dodge this time. The woman had taken up a constant whimpering now, but even with that we were only able to track it a few hundred meters before darkness swallowed it and we lost the trail.

Angry and tired, we made our way back to camp. “Did you see that, lad,” commented Iven. “I hit it a clean shot there. A bit tricky with all the fire, though.”

“I think I hit it,” I replied. “I had a clear view of the hind end. Did you see the woman?”

“No, but I’m sure she’s alive. I only hope she’s still alive in the morning.” His tone was grim.

“Do you think it will be safe to track? What if there are more of them?” I hoped I didn’t sound as frightened as I felt. Chasing things in the dark was brash and bold, but now that my blood had cooled I didn’t think it wise to pursue more trouble than I needed.

“Safe or not, I’m going after it,” said the smith. “Somewhere that woman has a family who wants to know about her. If she’s alive then she deserves better than being a meal to some fire breathing beast. If she’s dead, she deserves a proper ritual.”

“Who deserves a proper ritual,” rang the familiar voice of Pascalli when we reached camp. “I see you’ve left me here to burn while you went for a hike.”

“I tried to wake you,” I said, but obviously he was already angry beyond consolation. I looked around the campsite. The fire had not spread to other trees.
The early spring dampness had held back the potential blaze, though I knew that in dryer weather the entire mountainside could have burned.

“You I can understand,” he said to me. “You are still young enough to be excused for foolishness.” He turned to Iven. “But you have no business being a fool.”

“My business is my own,” replied Iven gruffly. “My neck is my own to risk. Whatever it is, it has a captive, and I mean to rescue her.”

Suddenly Pascalli’s eye’s lit with the knowing sparkle that they always did when he came upon some secret joy. “Oh, ho, a woman is it? Ho, ho, ho, indeed. And what would you do with her if you caught her?” He was laughing now almost uncontrollably. “Keep her in a sack? Trade her for a bag of meal?”

Iven merely glared at the wizard and squeezed the haft of his hammer until I felt certain it would crack. “I hunt at first light,” he said. “Come or stay as you will.” The smith grabbed his bedroll and flung it down, in an instant he pretended to sleep.

“Oh, I’ll come,” said Pascalli. “I should like to see the entertainment.” He gave me a wink. “Besides, I think our young charge will want a hand in the fun, and he’s a much better tracker than you.” Seeing that he could not goad Iven any further, Pascalli gave up. “I’ll take watch then, you two will need your rest.”

I didn’t sleep much after that. It’s hard enough to sleep on rough ground on a cold night, even after you’ve done it for a long time, but I was still shaken and more than a little excited. When the first light began to appear with the melting shadows, even before the sun crested the peaks, Iven had roused himself and began searching for the trail. I at least took the time to eat some dried meat and saddle my horse properly. Whatever we were following wouldn’t go on foot, and I saw no use charging off unprepared. Even when hunting the wild pigs and goats that roamed near my farm at home we never went far without horses and provisions. I could see that Pascalli had tried to warn Iven, not just goad him.

“You’ll need this,” I called. I handed Iven the reigns to his horse and gave him a strip of meat. Pascalli rode close behind, smiling as if nothing had happened the night before.

“Rain may be coming,” he commented. “The summer will be wet.”

“Good, then the crops here will do well, if they can be planted early enough.” In the back of my mind I knew he was telling me that we had only so much time before all tracks and signs washed away. “Stay close, and look for blood.”

We followed the blood trail easily. At least one of us had wounded it, but we couldn’t tell who had done the damage as neither of our arrows turned up. At one point the creature must have fallen over, but the trail continued from the broken undergrowth. We tracked it up a steep slope towards a rocky outcropping. Other signs of the animal became more apparent as well. It had stripped several trees of their bark, like a bear will do to sharpen its claws. The marks stretched much higher than a man could reach and cut far deeper than any bear I had ever seen. Many of the smaller trees leaned over from its exertions, and birds did not sing in the place. Boulders and broken stones covered the top of the outcropping, and the trees on all sides were either broken, burned, or simply didn’t grow. The beast would know of our approach, if it didn’t already. I guessed that it lay concealed among the rocks, waiting.

“I don’t suppose you could just blast the beast,” suggested Iven to Pascalli when I pointed where the trail lead.

“I imagine I might, given time and a few Veldmen resources which I do not have on my person,” replied Pascalli.

“No use,” I said. “It’s likely resting now, but we would never get close enough without an attack, and anything like the Veldmen blasting powder would surely ignite if it sprays fire again.”

“Scratch, my boy,” cried Pascalli, as if in sudden surprise. “You’ve learned more sense in less time than I had ever hoped. Now if I could only convince you two to leave off this nonsense altogether I might believe you’ll live a long life.”

“Hush,” chided Iven.

“Hush yourself,” said Pascalli. “It already knows where we are.

He pointed to a small bird head, like an eagle that that peered over the rocks in our direction. The head was attached to some kind of reptilian neck, which I could not identify accurately from fifty meters.

“It’s a long shot but I think I can hit it,” I said, drawing my bow. Iven grunted his assent and Pascalli remained quiet for once, so I took the shot. The arrow flew straight and true, a much better shot than I had anticipated. Shooting birds can be tricky, especially without the proper ammunition but I trusted to luck with what I had. The arrow pierced the head and split it in half.

As the head fell apart, the neck began to flail wildly about as an ear-piercing screech shattered the air. A second eagle’s head rose up out of the rocks, followed by an enormous bull’s head. The creature jumped out of its hiding place and took cover behind rocks opposite us.

“After him boy,” bellowed Iven, and we charged up the incline as I fished for another arrow.
We reached the top and were greeted, not by a fierce melee of angry horns, but by the beast’s enormous horse rump, which erupted in a spout of searing flame.
“Look sharp lad,” cried Iven as he dodged the fire. I managed to guide my mount to safety just in time, but the heat singed my hair slightly.
The creature took advantage of that moment to whirl around and face us with its horns. The eagle head rose up and let out a scream like a woman in distress, and the great bull head snarled and roared like a bear. I had just enough presence of mind to shoot my arrow before grabbing my father’s spear. The arrow clattered harmlessly off of the creature’s skull. I aimed for the eye, but some instinct must have warned it to move and a last second twitch cost us a great deal of trouble.

Iven wasted no time jumping from his horse and wading in brandishing his hammer, until the beast reared up on its hind legs, showing powerful claws attached to lion-like fore-limbs. That move caught the smith off-guard. I had no intention of getting off my horse so easily. When it turned its attention to Iven I charged in with my short spear. The second eagle’s head must have noticed my move, for it positioned again to shoot fire. I sent the spear to stop the fire before it had a chance to burn us, and drove it as deep as I could. Now the beast roiled in pain and anguish. Some wisps of smoke and few small flames escaped. It began to lash about in every direction, seemingly unable to fight or run away. The screaming, so much like a woman being tortured wailed at us.
More out of pity than anger or fear I cut off the eagle head with my sword and then plunged it to the hilt into its heart.

Steam rolled out of the neck of the eagle’s head and some flames boiled past the bull’s tongue. My spear’s handle was forever blackened after that, but it was still as sturdy and strong as ever.

Pascalli rode up lazily after the fight complimenting loudly, “Well done, very well done indeed. You see, you didn’t need my help at all.” He surveyed the corpse with a knowing eye. “I see you’ve found your lost damsel, my friend.”

“You knew, didn’t you,” accused Iven angrily.

“I know a great many things,” replied Pascalli calmly. “I guess a great many more. You were in no real danger from that thing. No danger that could not be mended if chance fell the wrong way. I thought Scratch might enjoy the exercise.”

“What was that thing?” I asked.

“A leftover from the breaking. In ancient times misguided wizards spawned such things and when their masters perished they escaped into the wide world,” he said.

The creature had a small cave in that outcropping of rock, and from the top of that outcropping a person could stand and look over the entire valley below. The smoke of a homestead drifted into the clear sky from the valley. This marked the first habitation we had seen in since leaving the Veldmen to travel in the wild. Pascalli insisted that we look into the creature’s lair, but he didn’t want me to do it.

“It may have young, or it may have treasure, and as you said Iven, it may have a prisoner. If there are more of them in there I should like the comfort of knowing you two are not in my way. You two can wait out here or head down to the homestead. I’m sure that if you take the carcass with you they will be very much obliged and possibly offer us supper.”

On to The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep Fantasy Novel Chapter Nineteen

Back to The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep Fantasy Novel Chapter Seventeen

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