Chapitre 197: Into the Rain
Despite all the precaution, Nathaniel and his company never reached the General. When the portcullis of the wall fell shut behind the group of four and their escorts, Nathaniel's suspicion spiked. His eyes grew frighteningly cold and calculating as he inspected the defensive measures of the stone corridor they'd entered.
Towards the sky, it was unsealed, more like a street passage with buildings to the sides. Yet, both ends were blocked with portcullises and only one door lead away from it. A door, which he suspected could be barred with iron locks from the other side. There was not one other soldier in sight, not even archers up on the walls to the sides of the stone corridor.
Nathaniel's eyes met Sam's shortly. At the same time, all riders halted their horses and began to dismount. Since they were heavily armored, the escorts took a longer time than their four guests.
"Wait here. The General will come to meet you soon", Marcus Iceflower said, and, without another glance at the group, lead his men to the door that exited the gate area, taking their mounts with them. When everyone was through, Nathaniel heard the creaking sound of a heavy lock being placed before the door.
Below the hood of her coat, Katherine exchanged a look with Lady Brandon, before taking a step towards her husband. "Uhm, dear, I kind of feel like we are on a silver platter."
"That's because we are", Nathaniel returned without batting an eye. Half a second late, he realized the real intention of Katherine's question based on the knitting of her brows and gave a deeper explanation. "They want to isolate us here and either shoot us to death from above or just stall us until we die from thirst - which would be more likely to succeed, given that my magic can shield us from most flying weapons."
As Katherine nodded slowly in deliberation, Nathaniel suddenly felt an unexpected feeling wash over him. It was something in Katherine's gaze or the way she held herself. A formidable power emanated from her, a strength he had only felt from leaders at the forefront of their army.
"So", she said, and the gaze of her violet eyes was as sharp and determined as his own, "what will we do?"
Nathaniel didn't know if it was happiness or sadness constricting his throat. Maybe it was even worry that she needed to show this strong side of hers. In his heart, he had always known that she had it in her, but only dire situations could bring it forward. Was he at fault for getting her in danger time and again?
Taking a deep breath, he shook himself out of his daze to answer. "We ride out of here as soon as Sam opens the door."
"Huh?" Instantly, the presence of Katherine was gone, leaving behind a confused young woman. As she looked around for the butler, a small, affectionate smile slid over Nathaniel's face.
"When they dismounted, he got to the door first. Since this place seems quite deserted, he should not have much of a problem", he explained, and mounted his horse again. "Any time now, he should... ah."
One of the portcullises gave a crunching sound, then it slowly went up. Ten centimeters, twenty. Shouting voices came from the wall, and footfalls.
"Get ready", Nathaniel advised, and lead his horse closer to the gate. Rapidly, Katherine and Lady Brandon sat in their saddle again and prepared to spur on their nervous horses. Not so long ago, they had stocked up again for the whole company to have one each. Now, the new animals needed to show their worth.
"Careful!", Nathaniel suddenly bellowed, and a shadow left his hand to lash through the air. With thumping sounds, arrows spiked the floor between the horses, making them neign with fear. A shocked sound left Katherine's mouth, but while the women still fought to calm the animals, the next barrage came.
A lone arrowhead survived the dark veil Nathaniel had thrown over the group and gazed Lady Brandon's arm. She hissed with pain. The portcullis was slightly higher than one meter now.
But then it stopped. Nathaniel cursed as fighting noises came from above, and again the command to shoot. Despite not seeing their prisoners, arrows flew towards the swamp of magic power. The horses acted up again, one barely avoiding another arrowhead. The shafts were eaten, but metal still came through.
Nathaniel's face turned into a grimace as the magic struggled against his grip. Unwillingly, he pushed it up, away from his companions and towards the archers on the wall. What followed, where screams. Grueling and terrified screams, echoing down from above.
As the screams died out, there was only silence. Nathaniel's face grew even more twisted and pale as if bloodless. Clenching his fist, he forced his magic to stay where it was. Then he called, his voice rough: "Old man?"
Silence. Minutes later, slowly, the portcullis started to move again. Relief washed through Nathaniel's eyes, but there was no time to rejoice. He stretched out his hand and, like a stream finding a hole in its bed or a maelstrom built out of black clouds, the darkness twirled together to meet it. Slowly but surely, the magic succumbed to his will, and left black stripes in his veins as it rushed for the magic gate in his body.
When everything was sucked in, Nathaniel leaned forward exhaustedly. His eyes though, were burning rubies scanning the upper end of the walls. Nobody was there. Not one archer held its bow out the embrasure. Sam was not seen either.
The portcullis went up completely before it stopped again. Yet, none of the three riders spurred their horses. At least not until the rattling of metal from a distance told them that the wall was not yet completely empty.
Gritting his teeth, Nathaniel swept his gaze over the two women, then thought of his own condition. Finally, he took the reign of Sam's horse, and signaled for departure. Until they had left the corridor, he knew that Sam would wait and try to protect the chain holding the gate open. As soon as they were gone, Sam would be able to hide himself until he gained an opportunity to escape. Leaving his horse behind would only tell the soldiers that one person had not left yet. Even if he were heavily wounded, moving in the shadows was Sam's expertise, so they could just hope that he would be fine.
Nathaniel's gaze was as dark as the storm clouds above when they rode out into the short stretch of land between the two kingdoms. They had not come far when arrows again rained from above, making all reluctance to leave disappear. For now, they would not be able to return to their country. If some more things went wrong, maybe they would be unable to return forever. But that was not a thought Nathaniel would entertain in his heart. Katherine, though, was not so sure of this.
When the wall was out of shooting range, the river parting the two countries came in sight. As if purposely adding to their misery, the grey sky waited just for this moment to release the rain that it had held for the whole day. Big drops of water soon seeped through the clothes of the traveling company.
"We need a pause", Nathaniel assessed, and led them to a stretch of trees. Taking shelter beneath them, Katherine healed the wound of her friend, who was unusually quiet. Going through the saddle bags, Nathaniel took account of the food. There was just enough for three days if they were very sparse with it. They had enough gold, but that would only be useable when they entered another country. With a war coming, Dragsa would most likely be unwilling to let them in.
Suddenly, Nathaniel's frown deepened. It had been suspicious before, but now that they were out, Nathaniel wondered even more where the icelandic soldiers were. Why, if they were soon to fight against Dragsa, was the wall so sparsely maned? Unless...
Thinking to here, Nathaniel reminded himself to take note of Dragsa's defensive measures should they reach their side.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone