Tagan stopped where they were going; confident Braulor knew this land and was taking them in the right direction. He no longer wondered about where; now he was wondering when they would stop. They had started off at a sprint but unable to keep that pace up had slowed to a light jog. They hadn't stopped however and Tagan ached everywhere. From the soles of his feet to the top of his head, every step was becoming a painful experience. An experience he didn't want to feel any more. His throat hurt from gasping for air. His lungs burned with that same air and the stitch he had was no longer content to stay in his side and was spreading out around his whole abdomen. Braulor hadn't said anything. He kept them moving, the land undulating beneath their feet in waves. Up, down, up down. But they were continually sloping upward. Tagan could tell that much. Through the few breaks the trees provided he could see the valley floor getting farther and farther away, the Jaswulder slimming from raging river to line of blue that cut through the land.
Cresting another hill Tagan saw a blur to his right and Braulor went down in a tangle. Before Tagan could even yell out he felt a pair of arms wrapped around him and down he went too. He struggled to reach his weapon but the arms were like rope and held him tight. He couldn't budge. "Get off me." He could hear Braulor struggling somewhere nearby but couldn't see anything and tried to crane his head around to locate him.
"Crenoah. It's me. Get off."
The struggling stopped. The pair of arms around Tagan slackened a little but didn't let go.
"Braulor?" an unbelieving voice exclaimed.
"Yes. It's me. Now will you get off."
Tagan still couldn't see anything but heard a sigh of relief and the scraping of ground as Crenoah got to his feet.
"What’s going on?"
"We didn't know it was you Braulor."
"That's my brother. Let him go." Braulor commanded and the muscular arms holding Tagan pulled away like they discovered they were holding something dangerous.
Tagan rolled over onto all fours and then bounded to his feet, adrenaline pumping through his veins now that he was free, and cast around, taking in the scene. Braulor was dusting himself off while a burly man stood nearby watching him closely. Two more men stood looking from Braulor to Tagan.
"Your brother?" a tall, wiry man said; a confused look on his face.
"Yes, Stonjsin, my brother. It's difficult to explain." Braulor could see the men look at one another.
"Who are these guys?" Tagan hadn't moved from where he was and eyed the group with blatant suspicion.
"These are men from my clan."
Tagan relaxed a little and moved closer to Braulor as he brushed twigs and leave from himself.
"But why are you guy’s way down here?" A confused look of his own set in across Braulor’s face. "Why aren't you at Vjeinka Rise?"
The men looked at one another again and a somber mood infected the area, chilling the air and forcing dread in Tagan's stomach.
"What happened?" Braulor asked when none of the men offered any news.
"We’re not sure what happened, Braulor."
"What do you mean you’re not sure, Drebos?"
"He means we don't know what happened." Stonjsin assumed control for the sheepish Drebos.
Braulor just looked at them incredulously, not knowing which of the dozen questions he should ask first. "Explain it as best you can then."
“It was a normal day. Everybody was going about their business. Right around lunch though, everything changed. We were attacked."
This, Braulor could understand and nodded "Ok. You were attacked. By who?"
"That's what we don't know Braulor. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. Dark… things were popping up here and there and everywhere. Out of thin air they would appear right beside one of us and they would attack, killing with one or two strokes before disappearing again." Stonjsin was working hard to keep his quivering voice from breaking.
Braulor and Tagan looked at each other as ice set in their veins. Both of them knew what Stonjsin was talking about.
"We didn't know what to do. Men were dropping dead left and right. Pools of blood were everywhere. Men were going crazy slashing at the air around them with their swords; shooting arrows at nothing. Then the slashes and arrows started hitting each other and things got really awful. I tried to rally the men as best I could but there was too much panic and confusion; people running mad in every direction trying to defend themselves. I made the decision to get the women and children into the rear tunnel and dropped the Crazzank."
Braulor was stunned.
The Crazzank was rock and rubble that was set up as a last resort if they were under attack. They could retreat into the rear most tunnels and release the Crazzank, sealing off the tunnel. It would take weeks for attackers to dig through the rubble and pursue them .By then the clan would be long gone. Braulor was sure that it would never be used; certainly not in his lifetime. That Stonjsin felt compelled to go to such an extreme as to drop the Crazzank spoke volumes about the horrific nature of the situation.
"Where were Jolon and the council during all this?" Braulor found it hard to believe that nobody from the council had taken control.
"I don't know, Braulor. I saw Jolon at one point but there was too much mayhem, the council didn't have time to do anything. I had to make a decision.”
Braulor moved to Stonjsin and patted him on the shoulder. "You did what you had to do Stonjsin. Don't forget that. You saved the women and children."
Emotion overwhelmed Stonjsin and he broke down, his body wracking with sobs.
The rest of the men looked away, their own eyes filled with tears, faces contorted, as they tried to hold back emotions.
Braulor stopped patting Stonjsin and surveyed the rest of the men. "So how did you come to be here?"
"I was back to back with Crenoah trying to keep from getting stabbed or shot in the melee. When the Crazzank dropped, dust was everywhere. We couldn't hear anything. It looked like fog had rolled in. Stonjsin came running out of the dust and grabbed us and we all ran for it, right out the front of the cave." Drebos trailed off, feeling like he had abandoned everybody.
"We came down here and decided to wait and see if anyone else got out so we could mount a counterattack." Crenoah added.
Stonjsin only nodded in agreement, still trying to gather himself.
Braulor sighed, pondering, before asked. "What about Tyran? Did anybody see him?"
The men looked at one another and each of them shook their heads.
Chapter 28