The Ruins of Gorlan: Chapter 27–Epilogue

From time to time, undulations in the intervening ground took both rider and horse out of sight, and the first time this happened, Will reacted with a cry of alarm as Gilan simply seemed to disappear into the ground.

"Sorry," Will muttered, annoyed that he’d allowed his nerves to get the better of him. Halt regarded him shrewdly.

As they rode, their passage was marked by intermittent reports from Will.

They urged their horses on now in a canter, the easy lope of the Ranger horse that would eat the kilometers ahead of them.

Gilan nodded his acquiescence and Halt felt a surge of fondness for him as he did.

Added to the physical effort of moving constantly to the rhythm of whichever horse he was riding—and the two had distinctly different gaits, due to their difference in size—was the equally debilitating mental strain.

Here, an owl hooted and stooped to fasten its claws around an unwary mouse.

He gave his horse ten minutes’ respite, until Tug’s breathing seemed to settle and his sides ceased heaving.

The two men-at-arms on duty there, surprised by his sudden appearance and breakneck pace, stepped forward and barred his path with their crossed pikes.

He was loath to go further, but the Baron gestured for him to continue and he finally gave voice to the suspicion that had been building inside him through the long night and day. "Sir...I think maybe there’s a chance that they’re after Halt himself.”

He thought over the cursory briefing that Arald had given as they mounted to leave Redmont.

There were no complex tactics involved, just a headlong charge that might take the two killers by surprise.

The Battlemaster demurred for a moment.

It was an unearthly sound that twisted the stomach into knots of fear and turned the blood cold.

His face was ashen as the hellish sound soared through the night toward them, to be answered immediately by another, identical howl.

Giant pieces of masonry, still held together by mortar, lay scattered on their sides and edges, sometimes half buried in the soft grassy earth.

They reared back on their haunches as both knights leaned forward in the stirrups to drive the lance points home.

The Baron gingerly retrieved his lance from the fire.

He couldn’t believe that the monster had continued to absorb that hail of arrows and still come on, seemingly undaunted.

He had fashioned a supply of torches and kept them burning as darkness fell and he waited for the implacable killers to come for him.

Halt was clear of the hiding place now, the small knife sliding free of the sheath almost of its own volition as he ran across the courtyard, dodging and weaving among the scattered rubble.

The armor of wax-matted hair protected the beast, but the sheer force of the blow staggered it so that it reeled back from the knight, screaming in fury and frustration.

The armor of wax-matted hair protected the beast, but the sheer force of the blow staggered it so that it reeled back from the knight, screaming in fury and frustration.

Will sat at a table with Horace, Alyss and Jenny, while the innkeeper plied them with a succulent dinner of roast goose and farm fresh vegetables, followed by a delicious blueberry pie whose flaky pastry won even Jenny’s approval.

Will sat at a table with Horace, Alyss and Jenny, while the innkeeper plied them with a succulent dinner of roast goose and farm fresh vegetables, followed by a delicious blueberry pie whose flaky pastry won even Jenny’s approval.

The two girls had agreed immediately, eager for a break in their day-to-day lives, which now seemed rather humdrum compared to the events that Will had been part of.

“Come on, you solemn lot!” she cried to the musicians by the fireplace.

The impending war with Morgarath, and the need to mobilize troops and call in old alliances, must have created a mountain of paperwork.

Will grinned at him, unable to resist the jibe that rose to his mind.

“A lot better these days, thanks to Halt,” he said and, as Will adroitly plied him with more questions, he described life in the Battleschool for them, joking about his mistakes and shortcomings, laughing as he described the many punishment details he attracted.

Will noticed how Horace, once inclined to be boastful and a little arrogant, was far more self-effacing these days.

He saw a flutter of color as Jenny, uninhibited as ever, waved a scarf at him.

Alyss, standing beside her, was a little more discreet.

He drew the sword slowly and reverently from its scabbard.

Before them, the low sun of the late afternoon filtered through the luminous green leaves of the forest, the light seeming to dance and gyrate as the light breeze stirred the leaves.