Chapter 19
The moment of celebration was cut short by a loud crashing sound that echoed from the front door of the cathedral. Startled into action, they all ran to the entrance to have a look, with the big knight taking the lead. It was Logan’s regular practice to bar all the doors leading in to the building and that was very fortunate, for when they arrived at the source of the noise, another loud crash reverberated on the wooden beams. Angry voices could now be heard coming from the street outside and Logan slid open a peep hole to see what was going on.
“Give us the witch with the red hair,” one gruff male voice exclaimed. “Send her out or we will burn this place to the ground!” Logan did not answer back but quickly locked up the big wooden doors as best as he could.
“How many are there?” Goast asked quickly
“There are at least 40 angry men out there with torches and assorted weapons,” Logan answered with lines of worry forming on his face.
“Ladies,” Gaost spoke now with urgency, “Go quickly and gather all that you can for supplies. It looks like we will have to slip out the back and start our journey sooner than expected.”
“The door should hold for a while, but all of us should gather our packs quickly and meet at the back door,” Jirah said sternly.
“Agreed,” Gaost said quickly and they all dispersed swiftly to their rooms. In a few short minutes, they had all gathered near the back entrance with packs ready and stern faces. Jer helped Logan with the last few tie straps on his armour and once he was ready, the big knight was the first out the back door.
“Are we taking the horses?” Jirah asked Gaost.
“I think we better leave them behind. I want to move from here without being seen and the horses will make that next to impossible.”
“If it is sneakiness you need boss, then I can help in that department,” Jer said with a mischievous grin. “I can get us out of here without being seen.”
“Lead on then Jer, we will follow you.”
“Wait here for a sec and I will scout ahead.” The boy was gone around the corner in moments.
The remainder of the group waited in the dark stable behind the cathedral without saying a word to each other. The angry shouts and the clanging of makeshift weapons still echoed through the air and it made all the companions very nervous. Without any warning, a dark figure jumped out from behind Rose and grabbed her, pulling her thick red hair with one hand, and holding a long wicked looking dagger against her throat with the other. Logan’s swords were ringing in an instant along with the drawing of Jirah’s bow.
“Don’t do anything stupid or the witch dies right here,” the would-be assassin hissed through his teeth.
“You cannot succeed in your task Malak,” Logan said with firmness. “Let her go, for I do not wish to kill you.”
“You stupid fool of a knight. There is nothing you can do about it,” the wicked looking man said, slowly backing away from the stable, his knife now making little cuts along Rose’s throat. “I have been serving Belial for years in this town, right under your nose. Jeru belongs to my master now and there is nothing you can do about it.” The evil priest of Belial fully intended to drag Rose back to the dark altar in his basement in order to spill her blood before the Fallen One, but he never counted on Jer. To everyone’s surprise, the little thief jumped out of the shadows behind Malak and drove his silver dagger into the man’s lower back. Malak’s face contorted and he writhed in pain, yet no scream came out of his open mouth. The young thief let him drop with a soft thump as yanked out the deadly knife and bent down to wipe it off on the grass. Rose turned to clasp the boy firmly to her, still trembling in fright. All the others put their weapons away and quickly moved over to console the terrified young woman, thanking Jer in quiet whispers as they came.
“That was a close call,” Gaost said in a whisper. “Thank you Jer. It would be best if you could lead us out of here as quickly and quietly as possible.”
The boy simply nodded and waved for them to follow. They followed Jer carefully through many back alleys and dark streets, stopping when he stopped, and staying close together. Jirah had moved over to walk next to Rose and held her hand in comfort as the crept along in the middle of the group. The only sound coming from the group was the occasional creak of Logan’s armour at the rear of the party. After a quarter hour of sneaking through Jeru’s underbelly, Jer stopped them all at what seemed to be an abandoned building that butted up against the outer wall of the city. He gestured for them to come in close and whispered, “There is a secret door in this place that leads out through the wall. I am the only one who knows it’s here as far as I know, but we should be on the lookout just the same.”
They all agreed and continued to follow the able young boy through the house. There was no light at all in the building, so all they had to follow was the sounds of Jer’s shuffling feet, but in very little time, a small door opened to reveal the outside of the city. The moon was nearly at full and its light shone through the quiet woods surrounding Jeru. Everyone took a quick glance around them to see if they would be discovered, but no one was there.
“Thank you Jer,” Logan said, brushing the boy’s hair with a large gloved hand. “You have proven yourself to be very useful already.”
“Yes, I would agree son,” Jirah said. “You nearly scared the life out of me when you popped out from behind that dark priest.”
Gaost nodded in agreement to all the encouraging words and asked, “How is it that Malak did not cry out loudly when you stabbed him?”
“I really hate doing that,” Jer said with a grimace on his face. “I have only done it a few times before, just to save my life you know? If you stab right into the kidneys at a certain point, then the bad guy gets sorta frozen and can’t scream.”
Rose could tell that the boy was rather shaken by the whole incident so she did her best to reassure him. “Well I am sure glad that you happened along Jer. You did what you had to too save me and for that I am in your debt.”
Jer blushed furiously as both of the women now kissed him, one on either cheek.
“We are all in your debt Jerhard,” Gaost said in agreement. “Now we should be moving on. Logan, you can take the lead.”
“I start every journey with prayer holy one. Would you like to pray or shall I?”
“Go right ahead,” Gaost said, sounding somewhat impatiently. “Just make it a quick one please. We are not out of trouble quite yet.”
The knight dropped to one knee, held both his hands open and closed his eyes before offering his prayer to Ya. “Holy and Eternal Ya, thou hast set before us a long and perilous journey. We dare not undertake such a quest on our own strength, so we look to thee for thy help and guidance. Bless and protect thy servants and grant us thy strength to face the enemy with brave hearts. Amen.” The big man slapped his metal clad right hand firmly against his chest plate and rose up with a bright look in his eyes.
“Well said brother,” Gaost said. “Let’s start walking and I will explain to the others the route we are taking as we walk.”
The massive knight started off with Rose directly behind him, followed by Jirah. Gaost walked to the rear and Jer, still a little restless, chose to rather scout all around the party.
“We are staying off the road then I assume?” Jirah asked.
“We must assume that the enemy has eyes everywhere, so we will stay off of the well traveled routes,” Gaost said “Logan has told me that he knows of an alternate route westward that bypasses the fens.”
“Do not the fens run northward right to the great cliffs?” Jirah asked. “I have never even heard of so much as a goat trail that goes around the north side.”
“Very true sister,” Logan answered back. “The mighty wall of James runs from the north right down to the great cliffs. There is however, a cave that the knights of the thorn have used for many years. It was built secretly into the wall right where it connects
to the escarpment, and leads down into the edge of Murken wood. I have taken it a few times over the years when I go to visit my family in Marah.”
They walked along at a brisk pace to keep up with the long strides of the big man, but Jer was not one to walk on a straight path. The energetic young boy crossed the group often, moving in and out of the bushes that lined the trail.
“Don’t wander too far off son,” Jirah said with a worried face. “There are most likely creatures in this area that you have never had to contend with.”
“Sorry lady,” Jer said with a sheepish grin. “I have never really been in the woods before. I just wanna see what’s out there.”
“You can call me Jirah son, besides; my heart skips a beat every time you pop out of nowhere right in front of me.”
“Alright, sorry Jirah,” the boy said, a pout forming on his lips.
Jer walked along with the huntress for a while after that, asking her many questions about animals, hunting and tracking. Having never left the capital city, the boy was fascinated to hear Jirah tell all her tales of finding and killing the wild beasts that roamed in the wild.
“I remember hearing stories about bears and wolves,” the orphan said. “Is it true that they will tear a man apart?”
“I have never been attacked by a bear myself. They are just as afraid of us as we are of them. Wolves are another story though because they always travel in packs. They do not hunt people as far as I can tell, but I try to stay away from them all the same. To answer your question though, yes, most wild animals with sharp teeth and claws can tear you apart.”
Now Jer walked just a little closer to the huntress. If there were animals out there that could rip him apart, he wanted to be close to the one person that knew how to kill them.
“Have you ever been attacked by somethin’ Jirah?”
“Not very often Jer, most of the time I kill them with my bow before they even know I am there. You are not the only person who can sneak around without being detected.”
The young thief smiled at that remark and the unlikely pair continued to walk together for at least an hour discussing various subjects.
Rose was delighted to hear the two sharing all of their trade secrets with each other. It would be obvious to any observer that Jirah would have made a great mother and it made Rose wonder why Jirah never had a child of her own.
“We will not reach the south section of the wall for another hour or two,” Logan turned to inform them. “Shall we continue on or find a place to sleep here for the night?”
“There seems to be no one following us,” Goast answered back, “but I would like to continue on just the same.”
Rose nodded in agreement and said, “I don’t think I could sleep right now anyway. I am still restless from being nearly killed tonight.”
“Onward it is then,” Logan stated quickly, and then the big knight turned to continue leading them down the rocky path. The sparse forest that they had been walking through since leaving the capital was now changing into a rocky open area. Soon there were no trees and only the occasional shrub growing in the cracks of the dark grey shale that was making the walk a little more difficult. Rose lost her footing more than a few times and with every slip, Logan would turn to make sure she was alright. One time, when she had fallen squarely on her behind, the knight turned and held out of his big hands to help her up, making her blush slightly. Rose chided herself quietly for feeling so out of place around the gallant man. Each time he would help her, it made her slightly embarrassed, but she also found herself growing fond of his gentle touch.
The towering wall was now coming into sight ahead of the group when Jirah called out in a fierce whisper, “Shhh! Nobody move.”
“What is it?” Jer said, his head darting back and forth to see what was out there.
“Nothing dangerous, I don’t want to scare away our lunch for tomorrow.”
Jer crept closer to Jirah and looked in the direction that she was pointing her notched arrow. A large bird, only slightly smaller than the little thief, was slowly pecking his way along an outcrop of rocks that stuck out just 20 feet away from them.
“What the heck is that?” Jer asked eyes wide with excitement.
“Just a wild turkey son so you can put your dagger away. Just watch and learn.” They all stood quietly to watch the skilled huntress as she let the arrow fly. In seconds, the big bird was flapping wildly on its back with an arrow protruding from its head.
“Nice shot!” Jer said with excitement as he ran over to claim the prized turkey. “That was the coolest thing that I have ever seen!” Now everyone was smiling, to see the wide-eyed kid having so much fun.
“Yes. Well done my sister,” Logan said. “Your skill with the bow far exceeds my own training.”
“It is not that hard to hit a target that is just standing there,” Jirah said, slightly embarrassed at all the attention.
“All the same, I think I would have you train the boy on his bowmanship rather than myself, if you would agree to this of course.”
“Please Jirah,” the boy was now pleading. “Will you teach me how to shoot like you?”
“Of course son,” Jirah responded, taking the big bird out of Jer’s hands. “I will be more than happy to train you.”
“I suppose that I will have to learn how to cook that poor animal now too?” Rose asked, raising one eyebrow.”
“Of course dear,” Jirah said with a smile. “It will hang for the night, and we can roast it over the fire in the morning.”
Logan turned again to lead the group along the rocky path that soon got them to the base of the long stone wall. He stopped at a large section of flat stone, right at the base a tall tower and drew out one of his swords. Looking up at the tower, Rose could tell that this was a building of some sort. Windows lined the parapet, but as far a she could see, there was no door that would grant them entrance.
“How do we get in this place Logan,” Rose asked. “Please tell me that we will not be climbing up.”
“There is a secret entrance, as you will soon see.” Logan slowly raised the hilt of one of his swords up to his face, with the tip pointing to the sky and muttered a quiet prayer. To everyone’s surprise, there appeared in the smooth wall, a small notch, just big enough to fit the sword that Logan had in his hands. He slid the blade into the opening and a faint click could be heard, followed by the shifting of a stone door that now opened wide in front of them.
“Even if someone stole this blade, they would not know the prayer needed to access the lock. We will be very safe in here.”
Everyone gathered up their things and walked through the stone opening and once they were in, Logan pulled a small lever on the inside to close the entrance behind them.
“You may light a fire in the hearth Jer,” the knight instructed his squire.
“Sure thing boss,” the boy said rubbing his eyes. They stood in a large room that was dimly lit from the faint moonlight creeping through the windows in the high stone wall. As the fire began to crackle in the hearth, its light shone brightly to reveal more of the guard house. Wooden cots were placed in neat rows to one end of the room, and a small dining area sat next to the fireplace. There was a long winding staircase that seemed to lead up to the top of the parapet, and a second door that lead to the passage Logan had told them about.
“Not a very fancy place to stay, but that is to be expected from the knights of the thorn,” Jirah said, hanging the wild turkey out of a high staircase window.
“No knights were ever stationed here on a permanent basis,” Logan replied. “This was meant to be a place to hide out or just get out of the cold and rain.”
“It will serve our purposed very well,” Gaost said. “We can all have a good sleep tonight free from the worry of intruders.” It did not take very long for them all to settle on a cot and drift off to sleep as the fire cast it’s warmth through the bleak stone room.
&nbs
p; ***