The Shadow Ruins by Glen L Hall

Author:Glen L Hall [Hall, Glen L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Young Adult Fantasy
ISBN: 9780995798540
Publisher: G22 Publishing
Published: 2018-04-24T04:00:00+00:00

The Trow-Hulda

Under the trees there was very little air. Sweat was dripping off Brennus’s nose and his nostrils were burning from the intense humidity. He was now being carried along by Drust, who seemed not to feel the heat. Neither did the creature. It had set a relentless pace. Brennus couldn’t be sure, but it seemed they were following some sort of overgrown path up the wooded hillside. It was steep and zig-zagged round trees and bushes. Now and then Brennus would spot a stone that had been placed in the middle of the path, for what reason he could only guess. But the stones were becoming more prominent and before long he realised they were beginning to form jagged steps entwined in a strange dance with the trees, which were now much closer together.

Looking up through the dense foliage, unable to see the afternoon sun, Brennus felt helpless. Here he was, clinging to his brother like a frightened child, while behind him the Faeries had been unable to prevent the Shadow Ruins from crossing the Dead Water and other servants of the Ruin might be crossing this very moment. How had it come to this?

Then he caught sight of something in the trees: a figure clinging to a trunk. As he looked more closely, something moved at the very edge of his peripheral vision, this time on the opposite side of the stone steps, but when he turned, it was gone.

‘Drust,’ he managed to say through parched lips.

‘I have seen them.’

At the thought of danger now encircling them, the last of Brennus’s strength seemed to leave him. Exhausted, he buried his face in Drust’s dark curls. There was a haze settling across his vision, a sickness in his stomach and a heaviness in his body. He was struggling to stay conscious.

Then a single horn blast split the silence and he felt Drust come to a sudden stop. There were further blasts, perhaps answering calls. Forms were dropping from the trees all around them. They were short and squat, no more than five feet tall, and they had long beards almost to their waists. Each of them carried an axe with an ugly blade which they held before them threateningly. Brennus couldn’t tell by their dark faces whether they were friend or foe.

‘Ezru!’ A voice deeper than any man’s called a name he had never heard before. ‘Why have you not come alone?’ The voice sounded angry.

‘Breth,’ came the creature’s voice in reply, ‘you need to close the path. You cannot delay – the Ruin’s servants are coming.’

Brennus was struggling to focus on the men, if that’s what they were, now forming a tight circle around them. They had thick necks and grizzly faces, painted with brown and green flecks and masked by long beards and eyebrows. They were wearing thick animal hides and looked as though they could have come straight out of the Stone Age. Their arms were muscular and had also been painted with spots of brown and green.

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