The Hekamon (3 page)

He looked to Tansley, who nodded in acknowledgment that
the deal was concluded, before leading them over to the woodshed door
at the back of the store room. The man opened the door and beyond it,
the small hatch, low down and in the far corner, that lead into the
hillside that buttressed hut.

He looked at Alyssa, "Ready?"

"Yes," she smiled back, touching her shawl
appreciatively.

Kormak entered the tunnel first and his sister followed
behind. The bag he was now dragging beside him, made the passage back
through the tunnel even more difficult. Forcing him crawl and slide
in a snakelike fashion, before he made it to the point where he could
stand and open the trapdoor above him.

He lifted the bag out first,
and did so carefully. It contained something far better than he ever could
have hoped to bring back from this trip. They were the apparel
of a leader and a commander, and were just what he was looking for.

Kormak made use of some wooden steps built into the wall
at the end of the tunnel, climbing up and heaving himself out, before
holding the door open for his sister to join him above ground. Once
there, the two of them waited while their eyes to adjusted to the
darkness once more.

He knew his sister would be upset when assuming her
necklace to be lost, but he would get it back before long, and when
he did, she would be eternally grateful. Until then, he had put the
otherwise useless object to a far nobler use. It had helped him
acquire something important, he could feel it.

Kormak swept some leaves over the exposed trapdoor and
Alyssa helped as well. Once the door was concealed, they both
remained silent, listening for any sign of movement from the forest
around them. Before deciding the way was clear for them to head
north, down the wooded hillside, toward the Rhavenbrook Bridge and
safety.

Having progressed a few dozen paces further along the
ledge, it started to widen again. They weren't safely through yet,
but even Decarius found himself breathing a little easier. He was
familiar with these tunnels from the time of the bewailing wars, when
they were a vital strategic route. Yet there was something about
being a few inches away from thousand foot drop that he could never quite
get used to.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" He said, finding
himself fully three feet away from the edge.

"We're going back a different way, right?"
Aegis asked, his face visibly ashen, even by torch's warm light.

"Right," he replied, watching to make sure
Gregario made it across safely, before the trio continued on their
way. Once again, Decarius moved a few paces ahead, leaving Gregario
to talk with Aegis, as he seemed to have more patience with the boy.

As the crevasse running alongside the path grew narrow,
the risk of a fall diminished, until eventually, the far wall joined
with the ledge to form an enclosed tunnel once more. Even as it did
so, the sound of the wind outside their sheltered place was
becoming more noticeable. It only increased as they rounded the final
bend where the tunnel opened into a cave, a place of special
importance.

"This is the Eyrie." Gregario said to Aegis,
who responded with a low whistle that seemed to find the resonance of
the rock, and the cave reverberated to the sound.

Decarius walked into the cave and began to circle it,
allowing the flickering torchlight to illuminate the walls around
them. He saw names carved in the rock, names he recognized. His own
was there too, but he didn't point it out, he wasn't the same man
anyway.

The idealistic young soldier who carved it was gone. The war
might have been the making of him but the way it ended had changed
him. Victory had been within their grasp.

"This was an important vantage point," he
heard Gregario telling Aegis, "a place to watch over all the
lands to the north."

The three moved to the center of the cave while Gregario
continued to hold forth, "For years it had been permanently
manned. Four men on duty at a time, with two keeping watch. I was
here myself a few times. You too, Decarius?"

He nodded but didn't expand on it, lookout duty had been
easy, it wasn't anything to boast about.

"You can see the fire pit, Aegis." Gregario
said, pointing out the hollow in the cave floor, before looking up at
the ceiling and the blackened, stalactite covered roof, fifteen feet
above. "I can still smell the smoke."

With the pair of them continuing to talk, Decarius
started making his way to the cave mouth, holding the torch back, allowing his cohorts to look around the Eyrie, while
protecting the torch from the gusting wind outside. The cold turbulent
air was fighting the flame and winning.

Picking his way through the
boulders at the entrance, he made sure there had been no rock falls,
or anything else which might hamper them, and, seeing the way clear,
he climbed out onto the lip.

Without the cave's protection from the elements, he
could feel the cold northerly wind biting at his exposed flesh and
stinging his eyes. Their descent was going to be difficult. He had
forgotten how different the weather could be this side of the
mountains. It was his first miscalculation, and hopefully his last.

Decarius was joined on the ledge by the other two. There
was very little else to be seen inside the Eyrie, especially without
torchlight. Besides, it was the view this high mountain position gave
of the lands below that made it important. It was a view worth
seeing, even at night.

As the three of them squinted into the wind and the
darkness, the torch finally gave up the fight and went out. Decarius
discarded the smoking stick. Not that it mattered, he wouldn't have
been able to climb down holding it anyway. The clear skies meant
there was enough star and moonlight to go by, once they'd given
their eyes time to adjust.

"You spent time at this lookout, Gregario?"
Aegis asked.

"Yes, a few months in total."

Months?
He had assumed Gregario had seen more action.

"Can we see much at night?"

"We can make out some of the main features yes.
Look down, whoa, careful." Gregario grabbed hold of Aegis, who
had stepped too close to the edge and the long drop below.
The young man swayed dizzily, his cloak flapping in the stiff breeze.
"On second thoughts, don't look down," Gregario suggested,
"there are forests, glades, mountain streams, and not much else,
you can take my word for it."

"I will," Aegis said, stepping back.

"Northwest from here you can see the lights of
Demedelei town and, just beyond it, Demedelei Fort."

"Yes, I can see." Aegis said, looking to his
left and at the town, no more than two miles away.

Decarius looked too, but it was the fort that he focused
on. A stone structure built on a rocky motte, looming menacingly over
the timber framed buildings of the town.

"And just to the east of the fort," Gregario
continued, "Serfacre."

"Is it on fire?" Aegis asked, not
unreasonably. The red glow that emanated from it contrasting with the
inky blackness of the surrounding countryside.

"Yes, in a manner of speaking. It's where the
forges, foundries and workshops are located. They make all manner of
things there, like…"

"Weapons," Decarius interrupted, "and
lots of them."

It still rankled with him that they allowed Demedelei to
manufacture weapons like they did. Coralai even facilitated it by
channeling water away to stop the mines flooding. It was written in
the peace treaty and something he would change, given the chance.

With the torchlight out, and Decarius growing more
accustomed to the darkness, he thought it time they advanced. "Let's
go," he said, satisfied that Aegis had seen enough. There
remained some difficult obstacles to navigate.

He started to make his way down to the ledge below.
Sitting down on the hexagonal stone column he was on, and taking his
weight on his hands, he swung his body over before turning and
lowering himself down and letting go, dropping the last couple of
feet to the ledge beneath. Aegis followed, slowly and cautiously, but
making it eventually, with Gregario following without difficulty.

As
Decarius looked for the next suitable step, something caught his eye.
It seemed that Aegis had not seen everything of interest that the
lookout post had to offer.

"There, see that?" he said, pointing to a few
specks of light amongst the trees about a mile and half from their
position.

Aegis looked where he was pointing, almost due west,
along the ridge of the mountains, "The trading posts?"

"Yes," he replied, and just at that moment,
one the points lights he could see, dimmed and went out. It was well
past midnight, and despite the late hour, a few of the other huts
remained lit.

Decarius began moving again, they needed to press on.
Judging by the pace of their progress, he could tell they were still
a few hours journey away. Still, things were going to plan, they
should be there by morning, and will have recovered the Plautius
Gauntlets by midday at the latest.

Kormak lead his sister through the trees and into a
clearing, a few hundred yards north east of Tansley's hut. There wasn't much of a path to speak of, but a series of rocks, stumps, bushes
and distinctive trees provided some familiar waypoints for them to
follow.

While he had only been on this journey a few of times over
the summer months, he now felt confident enough of the way. Alyssa
though, had never been this far south of Rhavenbrook Bridge and was
dependent on him to guide her home. He would teach her the route
as they went. And though the darkness was making things more difficult, they
would always need to make this journey at night, so it was
unavoidable.

"Which way now?" he asked.

"This way," Alyssa said confidently.

"Almost," he corrected her, "it's better
to follow the hillside here and stay on level ground for longer."

"Okay."

Kormak was pleased his sister was accepting his advice.
She didn't always do so and could be headstrong and willful. She
would be wise to follow his directions here, though, there were times
when the darkness was even move pervasive and the fog had a tendency
to settle in these dales. The lay of the land would be an invaluable
guide in such circumstances.

After passing by a few more readily locatable boulders,
hailstones as they were known in these parts, dropped by a giant or
so the legend went, they arrived at rocky escarpment.

"Now?" He asked again.

"Now we head due east, along a path we should be
able to see right here." She said, the way out of the clearing
becoming visible as they approached it.

"Right, this is the longer way but we avoid Tivitay
and Serfacre this way, so it's safer."

Alyssa grinned, her bright smile shone even by the faint
light of the stars, Kormak could see her demeanor was becoming more
assured. She had been nervous coming this far south into unfamiliar
woods, but the journey had been more straightforward than they'd
expected.

It was just like the elders had told them, when they spoke
of their plans to establish a trade route here, since everyone avoids
these glades, they are safer than the highways. Safer from people
anyway.

They were now on a worn path, an animal trail most
likely, boar, deer and badgers were all common enough sights. The
path weaved between the trees, mostly silver birches in this part of
the forest. Some of their yellowing leaves remained but most had
fallen, creating a carpet of yellow that crunched underfoot,
releasing the scent of fresh earth and aromatic oils.
While the starlight provided enough illumination in these fair
surroundings to allow them to make good progress.

"I can hear the sound of water." Alyssa said,
as they approached an important waypoint, "Spring Glade?"

"Yes," he said, as the pair entered another
clearing much larger than the last. "We turn for home here but
we'll take a moment before we do."

Spring Glade was a large open field, sloping gently
downhill and surrounded by birch trees, their bark shimmering and the
branches swaying in the chill breeze. They hadn't stopped here on the
way to Tansley's, but now they took a few minutes to rest and get
their bearings.

They walked toward the center of the glade, where the
sound of running water grew louder, until they arrived at a mountain
spring. Crystal clear water pouring out of the hillside, filling a
small pool and lapping over various shaped and colored pebbles.

Small
stones and a few larger hailstones surrounded the pool, from which
water flowed into a small stream, before continuing down to the edge
of the clearing, one hundred yards away.

"The source of the Rhavenbrook," he said,
resting the leather bag on one of the large rocks, before kneeling
down and cupping one hand to take a drink. After a few gulps of the
cold, fresh water he took the opportunity to fill his boar-hide
leather water flask.

Alyssa did likewise, and when duly refreshed, she looked
around the glade, "It's beautiful here," she said, speaking
quietly.

"Yes," he agreed, taking in the vista. The
starry night sky was especially striking, their high vantage point on
the hillside giving and unimpeded view to the northern horizon.

"I'm trying to imagine what it must be like at
other times," his sister said softly, "It must be
particularly beautiful on warm summer's day. I wonder if I will ever
see it like that."

"That will never happen," he told her
emphatically.

Alyssa seemed a little crestfallen at his certainty but
misunderstood his reasoning, "Must we always travel at night?"
she asked.

Kormak touched the tattoo on the right side of his face,
"I'm a ferguth, so yes, we must," and seeing his sister's
disappointment added, "but that's not the main reason." He
then turned to look south, and the wall of stone that rose up behind
them, "This close to the mountains, the glade won't see a
summer's day either."