The Keeper of the Stones

Chapter 31



Early Evening 15th August – Astelli Plains - Rhuaddan



Sawdon’s comment about Knesh’ ‘parting gift’ was not received well by the evil King. “Yes, thank you, Sawdon!” snapped Vantrax angrily, as they stood staring disbelievingly at the rising cloud of black smoke in the distant eastern sky. “It is Heron Getracht, there can be no doubt. My fortress is in flames. Raaarrrrr!!! How??? Artrex does not possess the soldiers required to take a fortress, not in quality or numbers. How has this happened?” he asked, with a mixture of bewilderment and fury. The two warriors remained silent for a while as they both thought hard to come up with an explanation.

“Srrr, could it be that we have an enemy we were previously unaware of?” asked Strymos. “Renegades from the south perhaps?” he ventured, thinking aloud.

“No, I do not believe so. The enemy in the south is too weak, they are close to defeat. And they would not get past Obreth’s forces. They would not be capable of taking a fortress such as Heron Getracht.” answered Sawdon confidently.

“Then who? Who, Sawdon, who???” demanded a furious King Vantrax, in an increasingly loud and aggressive voice. Sawdon looked at him calmly as he considered his response carefully.

“I do not know for sure, my King. A small force of King Artrex’ maybe? It is unheard of, but they did know of our presence on the battlefield, your own servant gave them that information, I believe they would have correctly assumed that your Guard had accompanied you. They may have seen an opportunity in that; a great fortress, emptied of all its best soldiers? If that is the case, then it is a work of genius.” added Sawdon, unable to restrain his honesty and impressed by the probable tactics employed by his enemy.

King Vantrax glared at him angrily. “You know, Sawdon, at times, your perpetual insistence on telling the truth as you see it is... Annoying!!!” he screamed, as he flew into a wild rage and moved to stand nose to nose with the Thargw warrior. Sawdon didn’t flinch, he’d seen Vantrax’ fits of temper many times before and had come to accept them as a part of his nature.

“I offer my apologies sire for my choice of words, it is my way. But, what happens now? With Heron Getracht in flames, what is your command? Do we pursue whoever has done this? Assuming that they are not long gone and disappeared, and if we can pick up their trail?”

Vantrax thought hard about Sawdon’s question, trying to plan his next move. He had a very difficult decision to make and his mind was being clouded with anger. After a while, he shook his head and replied.

“No! We cannot waste time chasing shadows. We have to wait for news of my brother and his army. If we defeat them, all will be well and we will be able to reinforce the Southern Army with soldiers from the north. And we have to try to get those stones! With them, I will be invincible. I will build an army and a fortress the like of which has never been seen. This world will tremble at the very thought of them, I swear it!” he cried.

“Yes, sire. But what of the prisoners at Heron Getracht?” asked Sawdon, realising that any force attacking the fortress would have found the dungeons full. “If they have managed to release...”

“Krarr, a few hundred miserable wretches are of no consequence to us now, Sawdon. Bressial is the only concern I have there. I knew I should have killed her when I had the chance. But, without my brother and an army behind her, she is no danger to us. No, we continue pursuit of my brother’s army, and when we find them, we destroy them!” Vantrax shouted firmly.

The conversation then halted as each of those present tried to think of the best plan of attack for locating and dealing with the rebels. Vantrax sat quietly with a look of fury on his face. Sawdon and Strymos maintained their uneasy silence, the animosity between the two was growing and their intense dislike of each other could no longer be disguised.

The Northern Army camp on the plains beside Erriard forest was one of complete contrasts as the darkness closed in. Most of the Thargws and Falorians were still singing songs and making merry, celebrating their hard fought victory and honouring the memories of their fallen comrades. A few were more melancholy as they mourned their losses. The Taskan Warriors, Petrosyans, Nadjans and the rest of the army, were still angry and upset at the way in which the battle had been fought, particularly the obvious bias and favour shown by their commanders toward the Thargws. Most were painfully aware that they could have completely destroyed the Rebel Army at Erriard forest if they’d been thrown into battle earlier. They were now huddled in small, disgruntled groups stewing on this thought, and looking enviously over at the partying Thargws and Falorians. The Dzorag hunters had still not returned from their pursuit of the rebels. Strymos began walking among the soldiers of his former command, listening with mixed feelings to all their gripes and agreeing completely with their assessments of what had happened, whilst exonerating himself from any blame.

After a while, Vantrax eventually grew bored of the perpetual silence, to break the monotony, he started a conversation with the Thargw warrior beside him. “Do you know, Sawdon, in all the years I have known you, I was never truly disappointed by you, until today.” he said, speaking almost as a father would to his son.

Sawdon, the mightiest warrior in the Northern Army, with the hardest of well-earned reputations, was visibly shocked and upset by the unexpected statement from his King, and he hung his head in shame. It was an insult and a call to arms for the proud warrior that demanded satisfaction. But King Vantrax had taken him in when he was at his lowest ebb, he’d personally raised him from nothing to become a commander of armies. The evil King was the closest thing he had to family and his harsh word’s hurt. They hurt Sawdon as the warrior had never been hurt before! He looked back at his master with eyes brimming with ferocious determination.

“My King! I make these solemn promises to you here and now; I will kill this Keeper. I will recover those stones for you. You shall have the victory you seek over your brother, I swear it! I will not stop until the whole Ruddite Rebellion is crushed. Until I see Artrex’ corpse lying before my very eyes. All of this I swear to you now, my King. May I be refused entry to Kalvanaar if I do not make so!” roared Sawdon loudly, his deep, growling voice rising in pitch as he became more and more emotional.

King Vantrax nodded arrogantly at the Thargw. He was impressed by the sincerity in Sawdon’s voice, though he did not show it. To be banished from Kalvanaar for a Thargw warrior was to suffer eternal hell. Their soul would never rest, it would be left to wander through the afterlife alone in search of the gates, separated for all time from his comrades in arms. Only by gaining entry to the sacred place could a Thargw truly be at peace, his journey through life and death, finally at an end.

Vantrax looked the warrior straight in the eye. He’d already forgiven Sawdon several times for failures he would never have tolerated in others. The evil King had no friends or family, he had alienated all those he once loved long ago, he didn’t like this compassionate side to his character and it embarrassed him. Still, he responded kindly to the warrior’s vow.

“Very well, Sawdon. We will say no more on the subject.” he stated in a hushed voice.

They continued to stare at the forest in silence for some time. Until, just before sunset, the first of the Dzorag hunters suddenly appeared out of the darkness, two riders ahead of the main force, who galloped swiftly up to the ridge to report. The first rider dismounted quickly, whilst the second took his horse’s reigns and then galloped away to their part of the camp. It was the Dzorag leader himself who reported to the King. He was a huge warrior with thick, matted, black hair which was strewn awkwardly across his head and face, and a tangled mess of a beard which hid his features, except for his huge nose and his two piercing dark black eyes. He was clad in a variety of foul-smelling animal skins and he carried a giant battleaxe in his right hand which he wielded effortlessly, despite its immense weight, as if it were a child’s toy. He wore no helmet, unlike the rest of his men, and he walked with an air of complete arrogance. His name was Zaknar.

“King Vantrax,” he began, purposely ignoring Sawdon who was standing beside the King, “the enemy has escaped into the T’Nesc Moorlands. They were too far ahead of my riders. We rode hard, but we could not close the distance in time to catch them. They have destroyed the bridge at Eartal. We rode up and down the river for some distance, but we could not find a safe place to cross, the river is too fast and too deep. I thought it best to report back to you immediately. I would not lead my men into such a place without knowing the safe pathway through the swamp.” Zaknar stated, in his deep, lazy-sounding voice.

“No, Zaknar, you were right not to follow them into the Moorlands. I have already lost too many soldiers in that place and it would have been futile. And you were right to report back to me.” answered a disappointed Vantrax.

“They destroyed the bridge?” asked Sawdon, surprised by such tactics.

Zaknar eyed Sawdon up and down with a disapproving gaze. The Dzorag leader was one of the very few warriors who were not scared of the mighty Thargw, though this probably had more to do with his own ego and distinct lack of intelligence, rather than confidence in his own fighting abilities or prowess.

“Yes. As I have said, they destroyed the bridge. A clever move, we would have caught them before they reached T’Nesc if they had not done so. The King and the boy with him stayed until last, they could be seen on the far side of the river.” he stated.

“You do well to remember who it is you address! And to show me more respect, Dzorag! If you value your life.” growled Sawdon viciously, clearly angered by Zaknar’s looks and tone of voice.

Zaknar jumped back a little, startled by the sudden fury in Sawdon’s voice. He glanced questioningly toward Vantrax as the Thargw started moving toward him, the Dzorag raising his battleaxe in the same moment.

The wizard King lifted his hand instantly, stopping Sawdon in his tracks. “Say what you will, Zaknar!” ordered Vantrax firmly. “I will hear the truth. Speak your mind now, or hold your tongue forever.”

Zaknar lowered his axe and looked at each of them in turn. “I think you already know what I am going to say, King Vantrax.” he said insolently. “We missed a great opportunity today to end this war. It was not the enemy who defeated us here. We should have been sent into battle before we were. We are hunters, we could have taken that forest and we could have captured that brother of yours, if you had let us. You pay us well King, so we will accept your decisions, but my soldiers are not happy! And neither am I. That is all I have to say, it needed to be said.” he stated angrily.

Then he turned away and stormed off in the direction of his camp, before Vantrax or Sawdon could reply. Sawdon made to go after him, he was absolutely livid at the insolence and lack of respect shown by the hired warrior, but Vantrax halted him again.

“Let him go! He is right, Sawdon. Mistakes have been made that have cost us dear. You have to prove yourself all over again to this army. You have failed them today. And they will not easily forget it.” the King shouted.

Sawdon clenched his teeth and his fists. He’d never been so angry, every fibre of his body was seething with rage. He was humiliated and it was almost more than he could bear. But he knew that the reason he was so upset was because they were right. This had been one of the worst days of his life. He wasn’t used to failure, or defeat, in any way, shape or form. All he could think about now was getting even, redeeming himself in the eyes of his King and his soldiers.

‘Someone is going to pay! Someone has to die!’ he thought, ‘I have to fulfil my promises to my King! Kraar… But where do I begin? The rebels have fled and I cannot exact my revenge! Raaarrrgh!!! This is intolerable!!!’