The Darkening Storm: book 2 in the epic fantasy series (Power & Empire) by Hutton L. J

Author:Hutton, L. J. [Hutton, L. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wylfheort Books
Published: 2013-05-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Tales of the Departed

Rheged: Eft-Yule

In a daze, the six of them staggered down the snowy hillside towards Fell Peak Fort. None of them wanted to believe that not a soul survived below, and all felt compelled to go and make sure nobody needed help. It was a totally surreal experience slithering down the slopes, for the howling gale had erased all signs of human passage and left the snow pristine and untrammelled again. Matti felt like they were the only people left in the world, then found that so terrifying that she automatically reached for Elidyr and Iago for the comforting reassurance of touching someone alive. Kayna too, she noticed, was hanging on to Edmund and Gerard as though they might suddenly be sucked away from her. The crunching of their boots across the surface sounded unbelievably loud. So loud that they could not believe that anyone around would not hear their approach.

Stumbling onto the main road, they saw the gates to the fort hanging drunkenly from their hinges. The iron bands holding them had burst apart as if some monster had torn his way in by hand. In shock, they walked in unchallenged. It looked like a scene from some deranged painter’s idea of the Underworld, and even the battle-hardened Iago stood aghast at the sight. Everywhere there were bodies. Some heaped up, others lying singly. Some with arrows or spears sticking out of them, stabbed by their own comrades. Men seemed to have fallen on their neighbours and friends and torn one another to pieces. Others still lay where they had fallen, each still clutching the dagger they had stabbed their partner in death with. And so many. A thousand men seemed a huge number when they were on the move, but there was something even more overwhelming about seeing that number of dead.

Yet only parts of that number were actually out where they could be seen. Many must have died in the buildings which were now blazing infernos, and the ghastly red, flickering light kept bringing new scenes to a weird but static life. Suddenly they would see a man’s arm thrown up as if reaching for help, only to realise it was the light moving and not the arm. It flickered in sightless eyes, too, unnerving everyone. A loud crash nearly made them jump out of their skins with fright, until they realised that the fire was beginning to really take hold across the fort, and that a large beam had fallen in on one of the barracks.

“We haven’t got long!” Iago warned them. “Luckily the main walls and the keep are big, old, seasoned oaks, and they’ll take forever to catch alight, but the rest will go up in earnest soon. Let’s split up. Gerard, you take Elidyr and Kayna and go left. The rest of us will go right. Stay in your threes, go round the parade square, and keep to the outside unless you definitely hear someone – and I mean hear , as in proper words! Don’t risk your lives because you think you hear a vague moan or groan.

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