Unkarra Gate (1st draft)

Chapter 11.3

Bogrel had urged everyone to move as quickly as possible, keeping the aurochs moving as steadily as it could, but it came to the point that he could hear the pursuit behind and knew fleeing had failed them. When he reached a spot by the drop off which was clear of trees and underbrush, he turned to Dara and Ezara.

"You take them on ahead. I'll try to deal with them here. If I don't return to you, just keep trying to run."

The two girls' faces opposed each other as they listened; Dara's showed concern, while Ezara's face was hard and determined.

"I'm sorry I've led you all this way, just to this end. I never thought they would follow this far..." he trailed off and looked behind for a moment.

"You did all anyone could have done," Dara said.

"That's a lie," bit Ezara between her teeth. "He could have killed every one of them back before they started chasing us. We wouldn't even be running like this if he had just finished it at the start."

"'Zara!" Dara admonished her friend.

"But that's the thing, girl," Bogrel continued. "He didn't die on my blade, but the one hunting us, he died that night. I found the spot where he bled out. But there he was, alive and trying to kill me, that night I went back to kill that monster of a barber. I tried to kill him again, but he was strong. I had to run." He looked back again. "There's no time now. Run, stay out of their reach. I'll do what I can to slow them down."

He walked away from the two girls and over to the wain, which had come to a halt during the chat. The children inside watched him as he took his favourite sword from the back. He paused and looked at them for a moment, but without a word turned back to stand atop the rock mound.

"Go on, now!" he told Dara and Ezara again.

Ezara turned away first, taking the reigns of the aurochs to lead it on. Dara stood behind a few moments longer, staring at Bogrel's back as she tried to think of what she should say, but turned away without a word in the end.

The group of kids went on, and just left his sight just as the house Stamrin troops entered his sight. They numbered five, and looked haggard and worn. Their clothing was disheveled; their faces long. They halted at the base of the rock mound upon which Bogrel stood. He waited patiently while they caught their breath.

"Where's your lordling?" he asked the group.

"You are to turn yourself in," the center soldier responded, ignoring Bogrel's question.

"That doesn't seem likely," Bogrel responded playing with his sword tip upon the ground. In contrast, the soldiers gripped their weapons nervously. He took command of the conversation with a strong voice. "My name is Bogrel. I've been in more battles than I can even remember. I've lost count of the number of men I've killed in a single battle, let alone in my life. I've seen kingdoms fall. And always, I was hoping that I would be the one to die, but I never was. Now, if you step any further, I sincerely hope it will be you who dies."

This was met with silence, and eventually whispers among the men, but not from their commander. Eventually he responded. "That boy that rescued you from us, we found him at that farm and took him with us. He took himself and Lord Commander Ronclay off the cliff a little ways back, landed way down on the rocks." He paused.

"You might be a criminal, but chasing you to the edge of Geberra ought to be death sentence enough. Come on, troops, let's go." He turned away from Bogrel, sheathing his sword. The others followed, with expressions that mixed both smugness and relief.

Bogrel waited the few minutes until they were entirely out of view before he turned and ran off to catch up with the kids he had sent ahead. It wasn't long before the obvious path turned upwards towards the higher alpine of the mountain, away from the cliff. He could see the group and the aurochs ahead a short ways; the treeline stopped abruptly and opened into a sort of uphill meadow.

They stopped when they could see him approaching. The younger children cheered, most of them following Damar's lead and exuberance.

"Did you kill all the men?" the young boy asked.

"No, I told them all to go home." Bogrel answered.

"Can we go home now?" asked Michelle, a hopeful question that simply went unanswered.

Ezara turned away and walked off ahead, calling her brother's name.

Dara saw Bogrel's look, and answered the unasked question. "Ezrik ran off ahead, chasing his cat again."

Then they heard Ezrik's voice from far off. "Hey!" he yelled. "Come see! Come look at this!"

He was atop the crest of a rise in the alpine, and he disappeared behind it again, running further ahead. The rest of them crested the ridge together, and all saw what Ezrik had been so excited about together.

Upon the next ridge stood a crumbled black tower, a lone stucture across the siloutte of the hillside. Ezrik was well on his way towards it; Damar broke from the group and dashed towards it as well. The children swarmed Dara, asking over and over "What is that?" and other silly questions like, "is it a castle?", "do they have goodies?"

Dara managed to quiet them down and in turn asked Bogrel, "Bo, do you know what that is?"

He motioned them onward before replying. "I've never seen anything like that."