Tak

Aldervale - Part 6

     When he regained consciousness, his head pounding with pain, he was lying in the back of the cart. His hands were still tied, or he assumed they were. They were numb with cold. He couldn't do a thing with them, but they were behind his back and he couldn't move them. His ankles were also tied and he was tightly gagged with a thick strip of cloth. Jack must have worried about him waking up too soon.

     The axe handle was lying nearby, and a sudden wave of fear, mingled with anger, swept through him when he saw the fresh blood that stained its thick end. He could have killed me! He could have smashed my skull like an eggshell! He made loud, angry noises through the gag and Jack looked round at him. He grunted in satisfaction and went back to his driving.

     The sky was growing light. Dawn was approaching. He struggled to a sitting position to see where he was and a bound hand struck a wooden board. Agony flashed through him, so great he almost passed out again, but when the pain had ebbed away to a dull ache Tak found he was reassured. At least his hands were still alive.

     They were well on their way into the mountains, he saw. There were already steep slopes on both sides of the road, reaching up on one side and down on the other, and ahead of them he could see the entrance to the narrow, steep sided valley that led to Castle Nagra itself. At the rate they were going they were probably less than an hour from arriving.

     He imagined what would happen when they got there. Jack Nowl holding Tak out over the precipice and threatening to drop him if Lyssa weren't returned to him. Philip laughing and turning his back on them. Would Jack really drop him? He didn't know, but he thought he might. He really thought he might. His guts shriveled with fear as he imagined Jack letting go of him, imagined falling, his bones shattering as he bounced off one stony outcrop after another...

     He had to tell him that Philip cared nothing for him. Disliked him immensely, in fact, and would like nothing better than to see him dead. He tried to speak, but the thick wad of cloth held in his mouth pressed his tongue to the bottom of his mouth and held his jaws so far apart that the hinges ached painfully. The only sounds he could make were a few unintelligible grunts which Jack Nowl ignored, probably guessing he just wanted to be untied.

     He thrashed about, kicking the side boards with his bound feet, desperate to communicate that he had to tell him something.

     "Stop that," said Jack without looking around. "Lie still or I'll knock you out again."

     The matter of fact way he said it told Tak he meant it and he froze in terror, sobbing quietly with despair. There was nothing he could do. He was completely in Jack Nowl's power.

☆☆☆

     The day grew brighter as the yellow sun rose higher and steamy vapour began to rise from their clothes and the wooden boards of the cart. Below them, a layer of mist lay at the bottom of the valley, its surface undulating like slow motion waves on a cloudy ocean in the very faint breeze that was beginning to rise. It was one of the most beautiful sights Jack Nowl had ever seen but he was in no mood to appreciate it. All he could think of were the miles passing by beneath them, carrying him ever closer to a likely death. Any risk was worthwhile to rescue his daughter, though. The thought of her in the monstrous wizard's bed caused all thought for his own safety to burn away in a flame of red fury.

     They entered Nagra Valley, and half an hour later they turned the last bend in the high, narrow road giving him his first glimpse of Castle Nagra. His heart quailed in fear at the sight of the dark, forbidding walls and towers, home to who knew what nameless horrors. It was a place of such terrible reputation that he wouldn't have come this far to save his own life. His daughter was in there, though, and the thought made him sit upright with new determination. He would do whatever it took to get her out. Whatever it took.