Of Rangers and Dragons

Chapter 4

It was raining a lot, the wind was blowing fiercely and even with the lit torches clearing the sentries' view, the night was unusually dark . At this late hour, no one was walking around the large, spacious grounds of Castle Araluen anymore, only the guards and sentries remained awake, dozens of them, cautiously guarding every inch of the Castle's walls and grounds.

In the castle's main entrance, a young guard sighed out loud once again, he was waiting for his colleague to show up and rotate, so he could finally close his eyes and rest. The other guard, standing at the left side of the gate, looked at him sympathetically as his comarade's head leaned against the wall.

"You're rotating with John again?" he asked

"Naturally" the younger one, Dereck, snorted distastefully. John was a fat fifty-something year old man famous for being late, especially when duty called.

"Well, at least tomorrow you've got the day off. I always take my children to my mother's house when I have the day off" his friend said nostalgically, as if he could already smell his mother's wonderfully baked pies. Dereck was about to say that he didn't have any kids and that his mother was dead when he heard a awkward clopping sound coming at their direction. Both men instantly held themselves erect, holding firmly their spears, searching for the source of the sound.

A tall figure ran desperately towards the castle's main entrance, a man, the simple quality of his clothes identified him as a commoner, probably from the village nearby. His head was dangling as if it was way too heavy for him and he was limping. Barely able too run anymore, the guards caught him by his arms, lifting him as they called some of the other guards to help. Thankfully, John decided too show up precisely that moment.

"What the he-" he froze, he definetely was not expecting that.

"Don't stand there doing nothing you useless pile of dung! Do something!" Dereck demanded.

The third man immediately ran over to help his colleagues, holding the man who now lifted his head to speak "Someone... the Dorans...help...send help" Dereck look at him wide eyed, the Dorans were a family that lived in the outskirts of the village, something had happened.

"Terrin" he called his other companion "Send someone to call the Ranger and a healer", he carefully laid the exausted man on the ground, insisting him to rest while the healer came with a stretcher to carry him to the infermary. He looked to the sky, the sun would begin to rise in about an hour or two, this would be a long day he thought.

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The place was cold, freezing, actually, the high ceiling and  thick walls were of a dark, dull gray colour, and the rectangular room was unfurnished.  The only thing present was a tall, throne-like wooden chair, the older man sitting in it and the two younger men kneeling before him. 

The short curls of what once was full brown hair was now white and opaque, it framed his long face, revealing a scar that came from his upper lip and reached his left eye, a token that was given to him by one of his many enemies, a token given to him by a man that was now dead.

He looked down to the two men before him with disgust, they were dirty and battered, the mission had obviously been tuff, but all that mattered to him was whether it had been sucessfull or not.

"They are dead, my lord" the one in the right said, not sure how to proceed the conversation, he shifted nervously and looked shyly at his master.

"Good" Eros replied gravely, he sighed, obviously his men were not saying something. 

"We lost Gaunt... sir" the left one said. His master stood up, his short and twig like figure moving towards the two men, the three wore long, black robes, each with a black leather belt securely fastened on their waists, with black leather boots that looked recently oiled. He halted in front of them, pale green eyes staring right ahead.

"Well, it happens, doesn't it." Eros brushed off, like many other tyrants, the deaths of his own men didn't matter to him, as long as they managed to fullfill his greatest ambitions.

"Of course, other than Gaunt's death" he said with false sorrow "Today has, altogether, been a good day" he said. The other two men looked at each other, their boss was in an unusual good mood.

"Something else happened, my lord?" Burton asked. Eros eyed him carefully, wondering if he should tell these men his new discovery, like many partly insane leaders like him, he was frequently paranoid and found himself many times doubting his men's loyalty. But then again, they would find out sooner or later.

"Aparently, the boy was seen... in Aslava" he told them. For the last several months he had seeked restlessly for the boy, for the last thing he needed to sort out before achieving his destiny. 

"Aslava? I thought Jairo said he was dead"

"Jairo is a fool! They never found his body, he only believed what he wanted to" he said raspily, his dislike for the man was more than obvious. "But we are not telling him, the boy belongs to me, I don't want that stupid Emperor wanna be after him. We will send more men after him, send them to search every inch of aslavan land until he is found"

"And the girl, my lord?" this time it was Clark who had spoken. Eros paused, and then proceeded to walk straight ahead. 

"What about her" he growled. He was not fond of her either.

The two men looked nervously at each other, they didn't know how their master would react to the news.

"Gaunt had recently arrived from Toscana when we went after the Dorans, apparently Jairo set her to marry one of his sons, my lord. Apparently the senators pressured him to do so." Eros looked at him in some surprise, things just could not get better , he thought.

"Then perhaps I should be kind enough to send the happy couple a wedding gift"