Perilous Legends

Chapter Three

        Ranak was in a foul mood today.  This really isn’t a significant observation, considering the fact that Ranak was always in a foul mood.  However, today he was angrier than normal.  The day had begun with a six hour march to castle Hartide.  Then, the siege engines had to be constructed amidst a rain of arrows and a whole lot of yelling.  After all of that, their best raiding party had gone missing.  This was then blamed on him, because he was technically in charge of them.  The captain had yelled in his ear for a good ten minutes before another unfortunate soul had brought him more bad news.  Ranak never actually heard what it was, because the captain’s booming voice drowned out mostly everything.  Ranak skulked back to his tent where hopefully he could forget this all after a drink or two, or three, probably three.

            “RANAK YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING LASY DRUNKARD, GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!!!”

            Ranak got up so fast that he ran right into the captain, who was standing like a pillar at the door of his tent.  Ranak took a deep breath in an attempt to calm his racing heart and slightly blurred vision.  “Yes captain?”

            “The next time you want to drown yourself in mead, make sure we’re not in the middle of a war.  Now if you feel sober enough to stand up without falling over, I suggest you get some men together.  That is, unless you want to be going over that wall alone.”  The captain said this last part with what he thought was a good sneer, but in reality it was more of a grimace.  If a person had just walked into a room full of dead pigs, they would have made a very similar face. 

            Ranak was very confused at this point.  “Umm captain, I may have possibly had one too many drinks, or maybe two, but I don’t think I quite heard you right.  You want me to climb over a wall taller than the Darkfall River is deep?”

            The captain replied with a line he had practiced over and over again for just such an occasion.  “Congratulations!  You were actually listening!”  After saying this, Ranak stared at him with a look that may have been disappointment.  This did not have the desired effect the captain wanted it to.  He tried a different approach.  “GO GET A UNIT TOGETHER THIS INSTANT!  IF YOU’RE NOT OVER THAT WALL IN TEN MINUTES, I’LL THROW YOU OVER IT!!!”  This not only made Ranak run faster than he had ever before in his life, but it also made the captain feel quite pleased with himself.  He watched Ranak fade into the mass of soldiers, and then walked away laughing deeply to himself.

            The first grappling hook fell about ten meters short of the top of the wall.  The next three were even more pitiful.  “Come on you lousy worms!  Throw ‘em higher!  Put some effort into it!  My own mother could throw those ropes better than you lot!”  Finally, much to Ranak’s joy, one of the lousy worms threw a rope over the top of the wall and it caught in one of the crenels.  “There you go! Now get up there quick, the guards are focusing on the front wall, but we have to hurry!”  The eight man unit scurried up the rope and onto the battlements.  Ranak unslung his sword and ran down a nearby flight of stairs to the rear courtyard.  Three of his men stayed on the wall in case a guard had seen them.  It would seem as if they were the only invaders, the guards would have no idea that five more warriors were inside the castle.  The rest of the men followed Ranak to a large doorway.  Ranak knew the first unit had gone to the treasury, but he did not know where that actually was.  After taking a few wrong turns and a quick scuffle, that resulting in no losses on Ranak’s side but three castle guards down, they found the treasury.  The first thing Ranak saw were two giant doors laying on the floor.  The second thing he saw was very big man in full drake-hide armor and carrying an enormous war-axe.

            “Look out!” yelled one of his men, as if it were not obvious that moving out of the way was a good way to continue living.  The giant slammed into the first soldier, sending him flying off the ground and landing a good four meters away.  The next one found himself high above the floor as he was lifted up and thrown into the others.  Ranak ducked behind a table and drew out a small clay pot.  Peeking over the table, Ranak saw that his original unit of five that he had brought into the castle was down to two.  A couple of seconds and one deft swing of the axe, and he was down another soldier.  Ranak again looked at the pot.  He thought for a few moments about whether or not to use it, and then made his decision. 

            The jar of Greek fire flew in a perfect arc and smashed to pieces on the hard stone floor of the treasury.  A wave a flame began to spread around the giant.  Ranak watched with grim satisfaction.  Stepping in Greek fire was by no means a good way to go.  The man looked at the growing flames for a moment, and then ran forward and vaulted over them.  Ranak watched in awe as the man cleared the flames unscathed and landed on the last remaining soldier.  Ranak looked on as the man stood up and turned to face him.  “Who are you?” Ranak asked.

            “Some call me Boar.  You call me Death.”  He drew back his arm and threw the war-axe at Ranak.  It spun through the air and slammed into him.  The momentum of the throw caused Ranak to fly backwards into a wall.  As he slumped down, he knew this was the end.  After all his years as a soldier of Tombhollow, it was over.  There would be no recovering from this wound.  He looked up at this impossible warrior, who by all means should be no more than a pile of ash, standing over him. 

            “Who are you really?”  Ranak asked.  “If you will grant me one thing, tell me your real name.”

            The man only glared at him.  “You hide when your friends fight for you.  You use coward’s tactics.  You smell of drink.  You are weak.  Boar has no respect for weaklings.”  With that he turned and stepped over the quickly dying flames, and slowly walked into the treasury.  Ranak regarded the scene for an instant, leaned his head back against the wall, and darkness stole him away.