The Cold Light Fades - Book 1 of the Crystal Chronicles

Chapter Fifteen - On the Run Again

The tavern had become eerily silent.  The only sound was the wind as it howled through the hole where the door used to be. The patrons had all turned to stone and only their nervous eyes twitched and glanced around the room.

"Answer me!" Kashant growled in his rasping colourless voice. To punctuate his impatience a black tentacle lashed out from his cloak and smashed a nearby table into splinters.

At first nobody dared to speak to the stranger, but then one of the villagers stood up from his table.

"I've seen them royals that you're after," the man drawled in a drunken country accent.

Alesson's heart was in his throat. He reached under the table and rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. The villager came forward and Alesson saw that it was one of the Inn's stable workers. Someone who knew who they were and where they were staying. His sudden rush of adrenalin turned to pure anger when he realised that the villager was going to turn them in to the demonic Kashant.

"They're camped just out the back of the village," lied the villager and Alesson quickly swallowed his fury and tried to keep his emotions under control. "They was far too stuck up and fancy to stay with the likes of us," muttered the man in a disgruntled tone of voice.

"You lie," said another voice from another table, and Alesson's heart skipped a beat or two as a new wave of panic set in. "They left this morning you dolt. They'll be halfway across the ice fields by now."

"I don't think so Ingent," said the first villager. "I saw them with me own two eyes just a few moments ago."

"I think you've had too much to drink, Assa. They most certainly left this morning," the man called Ingent called back.

"Did not," Assa shouted.

"Did too," Ingent retorted.

Then Assa lunged at the other man and knocked over the drinks of several other occupants in the bar. Soon the whole bar was brawling, beer and tables were being thrown everywhere, as the drunken brawlers shouted at each other.

Deltain had pulled the twins down under the table, away from the violence. Alesson was just about to join in with the hostility when an apple rolled gently under the table toward them. Alesson looked up in the direction that the apple had come from and saw a serving man hunched down behind the bar, the man beckoned to them when their eyes met.

"Oh, those damn fools," Deltain whispered.

"What Deltain?" Linta asked the old man.

"This is all a diversion to help us escape, but throwing themselves in front of that monster is just going to get them killed," Deltain mumbled sadly. "But I have no choice. I must get you two to safety. Stay low and get over to the bar."

Alesson did as he was told, he took his sisters hand and half crawled, half scurried across to the bar, with Linta close behind.

"Quickly Your Highnesses," said the barkeeper as he lifted a trap door that went down into the cellar, and then he grabbed a lantern and thrust it into Deltain's hand. "Take this and move to the hatch at the back."

"Thank you," Deltain said quickly, before dropping down into the damp dark cellar, with the twins close behind him.

The trap door was closed, and the musty cellar became dim, lit up only by the light of the lantern. Deltain pointed towards the rear hatch that was slanted upwards to allow easy access and motioned for the twins to walk toward it.

Just as they got to the hatch, a loud detonation sounded from above and they heard the shadowy Kashant bellow angrily. Deltain flung open the trapdoor and started pushing the twins up and out into the cold twilight. Another loud booming sound came from behind and the shouts of the riotous drinkers turned to screams of agony.