The first door he came to was ajar. He paused a moment to look through the opening and found an unused bedroom, most likely intended for guests. Not being what he wanted, he continued on. The next three doors yielded more unused rooms similar to the first, the fourth opened onto a hallway. Servants moved along its length upon various errands in sufficient numbers to preclude Bart from navigating safely through them. Before he moved on, he caught a whiff of an unmistakable odor coming from further down the servant filled hallway. Somewhere not far from where he stood was an indoor jakes. He thought that in a place such as this, they were a necessity, but he’d hate to have a room near one due to the odor. Moving on, he continued his search for the library.
At times, the hallway would have alcoves. Some were relatively small recesses bearing the bust of a man, while others were large enough for a person to step within, one even held an ornately carved chair. He followed the hallway around a corner and had gone a ways when he came to one of the larger alcoves. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of something that brought him to a halt. It was a tapestry, and hanging as it was behind a full sized statue of a woman bearing a vase, he almost hadn’t seen it.
Woven within the tapestry’s design was the River Man’s family crest. At first he wasn’t sure why this particular tapestry had piqued his interest. After all, he had passed dozens of similar tapestries hanging in hallways during his search. Then understanding came.
It was the design it bore was the crest, but not exactly. The part of the crest which he and the others believed to be the coat of arms from The Crypt was missing. It was exactly the same in every other respect.
Bart stepped around the statue and moved forward to give the tapestry a closer examination. The edges of the tapestry showed signs of age; a tear here, fading there. Clearly this had been in existence for quite some time. He pulled it a little ways from the wall to see what was behind it. He let it go when he didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. Bart hadn’t really expected to find anything, but you never know.
He started to leave the alcove when he heard footsteps approaching. They were coming from down the hallway through which he had come. Still invisible, he peered down the hallway and froze.
A score of armed men were approaching. In front of the armed men were four others. One was a man in his early to late twenties, dressed in light leather armor of the finest quality. At his hip hung a sword, and he walked with an unmistakable air of command. Behind him strode two others, civilians by their dress. But it wasn’t the man with the air of command, the civilians, or even the armed men which had him worried. Rather it was the one wearing a magic user’s robe that led the group.
In his hand the magic user held a ball of purplish light that shot forth micro bursts of lightning every few seconds. His attention was fixed upon the ball of light, except for the occasional glances he cast down the hallway before him.
“It’s close now my lord,” the magic user said.
‘What?’ thought Bart. ‘What is close?’
The man whom the magic user addressed as ‘my lord’ was the one with the air of command. Bart watched as the lord placed his hand upon the hilt of his sword, his eyes scanning to and fro as they steadily approached.
Bart held his breath as the party approached the alcove. He saw the lord glance within as he came abreast, but invisible as he was, Bart remained unnoticed.
The magic user came to a sudden stop two paces beyond the alcove. The purplish ball of light in his palm was giving off a steady crackle now as dozens of micro bursts continuously leaped from its surface. The magic user glanced to his lord and nodded.
“Fan out and find the intruder,” the lord said.
That’s all Bart needed to hear. Still invisible, he leaped from the alcove and shoved the nearest guard. Knocking him off balance and into the others, Bart fled down the hallway.
“Stop!” the lord commanded. But Bart ignored him and kept on running.
“Where is he!” one guard shouted.
Before Bart reached the corner where the hallway turned to the right, he heard the magic user begin intoning arcane words of magic. He weaved back and forth knowing that his attempt to avoid whatever was coming was most likely futile. Then all of a sudden, the walls began radiating a bluish glow.
“There he is!” a guard yelled just as his lord shouted, “After him!”
Bart bounded around the corner and fled to where he knew the stairs down to be. Up ahead, a servant exited from a room and glanced in his direction. The girl’s eyes widened and a scream of fear echoed as she raced back in the room.
She saw me! A quick check showed the Cloak was still in place, yet she had seen him. That’s when he realized it wasn’t the walls that were glowing blue, but himself. The magic user had somehow revealed him!
Behind him the first of the guards was turning the corner. A shout for him to stop came once again which he pointedly ignored. Putting on even more speed, he raced for the stairway to the lower level. When it finally appeared before him, he saw six guards blocking his way. Two of them had bows.
“Halt!” one of the guards ordered when they saw him coming. The two with bows quickly had arrow to string and were drawing their arrows back to fire.
Bart came to a quick halt. Behind him, the guards with the lord and magic user were approaching fast. He stood there and raised his hands. The gesture of surrender caused those at the head of the stairwell to relax slightly. But that was just what Bart was hoping they would do. With a quick leap to the side, he shouldered into one of the doors to the unused rooms he had inspected earlier. Knocking it open, he was soon to the other side and had the door shut and barred in the blink of an eye. The bolt keeping the door shut was rather simple and wasn’t designed to keep out determined men. It wouldn’t last long.
Casting a quick glance around the room, he spied a heavy chest sitting against the wall. Moving quickly, he pulled the chest over to in front of the door just as the first pounding came from the other side.
“Open this door!” a voice demanded.
“I don’t think so,” Bart said more to himself than them. As the pounding came with increased ferocity he moved to the room’s window, opened the shutter, and looked out. The drop to the ground below wasn’t beyond his capabilities to survive unharmed. But seeing as how the window opened up onto the courtyard where hundreds of men were drilling, it might not be the wisest route for him to take.
Bam! Bam!
The pounding on the door grew more intense then suddenly ceased. Knowing he had no other choice, Bart again looked out the window. He removed his Cloak and stuffed it quickly into his pack. That’s when he noticed that the Cloak was the only thing glowing blue. With it now in his pack, he no longer stood out quite so badly.
Outside the window was a narrow ledge running the length of the building. He began moving out onto it when…
Wham!
…a blow of incredible power struck the door. The bolt holding the door shattered as the door and the chest braced against it were blasted into the room.
Bart quickly made his way onto the ledge and began moving away from the window. He hadn’t made it very far when one of the guards appeared in the window behind him. “He’s on the ledge!” the guard cried.
Those down below heard the guard’s shout and looked up to see Bart moving along the ledge. Drills were abandoned as everyone turned to watch the unfolding drama.
“Archers!”
Bart glanced back and saw the guard was yelling to those who were practicing in the courtyard below. The guard then pointed to Bart, his meaning crystal clear.
Thwock!
An arrow struck the wall next to Bart. He knew he didn’t have much time. His mind raced for a course of action that would save him. Then he had it. If he could make it to where he was thinking before they took him, he might just be able to live another day.
Thwock! Thwock! Thwock!
With arrows beginning to strike the wall around him, as well as one embedding itself into his pack, he shuffled along the ledge to the next window. Behind him, guards were emerging from the window to follow him along the ledge.
Upon reaching the window, he kicked open the shutter and left the ledge with a leap. Three arrows sailed through the open window a split second after him.
“He went back inside!” a guard on the ledge yelled.
