Secrets and Guardians: Devious Intentions by H. Chambers (summer beach reads txt) 📖

at Darius, everything about Darius repulsed him; even with his battered face he still looked 'girlish'. Men were meant to be strong, tough, if it had been him facing an invasion he would have fought to the death.

'Take him away and put him in the deepest, darkest dungeon there is here,' said Kerdred. 'And stay guard,' he added.

Kerdred turned to Garth, 'Take some men and dogs and bring me back the princess, alive'.

Garth nodded and made a hasty retreat. Garth had heard a lot about Kerdred, his scarred face, wild eyes and malicious grin, but seeing him up close was a different matter. Superstitious people would say he was 'Devil crazed' and Garth after meeting him wouldn't disagree. Apparently when he was younger he had been quite handsome and possessed a good sense of humour, now, however, he just came across as possessed.

Kerdred sat back on the chair, for more years than he cared to remember he had been following his father’s wishes and fighting so his brothers could have their own lands. As he got older he wondered the wisdom of this. He would still only have Thantos when his father died, which given his age wouldn't be that long. Thantos was large enough for him, maybe he shouldn't have listened to his father. Killing both his brothers would have been a lot easier. Maybe he was just getting tired of killing. Looking down the hall at the people sitting he spoke quietly to the tall, straight man with piercing dark brown eyes who was standing next to him, Cain.

'Those willing to swear loyalty to me, let them go. Kill the rest,' said Kerdred disinterestedly. 'And bring some of the women over,' he added.

One of Ami's maids was chosen for Kerdred's inspection.

'You two, come with me,' said Kerdred rising from the chair. 'Don't disturb me for the next couple of hours,' he said to Cain.

Cain nodded, taking the rejected women back down the room. Ami's maid sighed in relief at her narrow escape. Sadly she had not realised that very soon Kerdred's men would have the same idea.

Cain had been with Kerdred since childhood, once friends now it was Cain's job to sort out the aftermath Kerdred created after every attack, whether that be a village, a town or a country. There was always so much to do, the quicker Cain got this town back up and running under Kerdred's control the easier it would be to face King Hylaw and his men in the coming weeks. He would probably get very little sleep over the next few days.

The two men escorting Darius banged on the dungeons outer door. Dull sounds were heard from the other side as the door was unlocked. As the door opened the most revolting, stomach churning stench assaulted them. Then appeared a man, he would probably have been quite tall but for his bent back. Half of his face drooped and from the slackened part of his mouth he was drooling. The grotesque figure in front of them looked first at the men and then at Darius. Igmy was used to the men’s look of horror.

'My lord, how kind of you to join me, I gathered from all the noise there was something afoot,' Igmy said having difficulty manoeuvring his tongue around the words.

'Lord Kerdred is now in control of Brinkton, do you swear allegiance to him?' said the taller man on the left of Darius.

'Will this new lord let me keep my position here in the dungeons?' asked Igmy.

No one in their right mind would want to work down here, thought the man, trying desperately not to gag.

'I assure you, your position will be secure,' said the taller man.

'OK then, but can you tell this Kerdred not to send any more prisoners down here until he does something about this lot.'

Igmy lifted the lantern to show the man that the dungeon was already well patronised. It was so dark that they could hardly see and didn't want to come in any further.

'You two stay there until I have Lord Darius safely locked up,' said Igmy.

'Kerdred wants him in the deepest, darkest cell,' said the smaller man on the right of Darius.

'Ah shoot, that's way down there, here I'll give you the key and you can take him,' said Igmy pointing into the darkness.

'No, it's your job, unless you want me to report to Lord Kerdred that he should have you replaced,' he replied.

Grumbling Igmy led Darius slowly down the passage, his awkward gait causing the lantern to swing creating eerie shadows on the stone walls. The men watched as the lantern disappeared around a corner. A few minutes later Igmy returned.

'Is Micka still alive?' asked Igmy.

'Who's Micka?' said the taller man.

'The other guard, he does the days and I do the nights. What do I do if he doesn't come in the morning?' asked Igmy.

The men looked at each other, if this 'Micka' fellow was dead they would be hard pushed to find anyone else to work down here.

'We're on guard outside the door tonight, let's just wait and find out in the morning,' said the taller one sounding tired.

Igmy closed the heavy door and replaced the bolts. Waiting a few minutes he then whispered, 'All clear'.

Lanterns lit up all through the dungeon. Soldiers threw off old sacks they had been lying under and came out of the cells into the passage. Lewin hurried down to get Darius, telling the men behind him to get rid of the buckets. The soldiers quickly emptied the pails of warmed human waste down the stink hole and covered it up. They sat Darius down in the guards area, Lewin began fussing over him, cleaning some of the cuts on his face.

'Thank you Lewin, maybe we could see to my cuts a little later,' said Darius kindly. 'Please tell me what happened after I spoke with you.'

Lewin sat down looking quite tired.

'We came down to see Igmy, there was only one prisoner here who was due to be executed anyway,' started Lewin.

'You killed him?' interrupted Darius.

'Not me personally, I had one of your soldiers sort it out, anyway, Igmy thought the plan might work and made some useful suggestions of his own,' said Lewin smiling over at Igmy. 'It all went very smoothly. What was it like up there?'

Darius looked down at the table. Even if he had been better prepared, they would have taken the town. Those armoured Nefkins destroyed just about everything in their path. Darius had also not realised how many of Kerdred's men were in the town. How long had this been in the planning? Darius didn't even like to guess. It was only when Nathe had told him everything he knew that Darius had realised the danger.

'It was bad,' he said.

They waited for him to say more but Darius could not bring himself to talk of it, he clenched his fists trying to hold himself together.

'Darius, we need to plan your escape. Tomorrow Kerdred will start organising his men, but tonight they will all be celebrating their victory, I think we should take our chances now,' said Lewin his heart breaking as he watched Darius struggle.

'I cannot leave yet, my niece escaped but they are sending men after her, if she is captured she will need our help,' said Darius sadly.

Lewin needed time to think. When Darius had told him about the girl from the circus, he had pleaded with him to make plans for an immediate escape from Brinkton at the first sign of an invasion. Darius had argued that he could not been seen to desert the town, he would not be seen as a coward. Lewin had gone along with the dungeon idea only because Darius would then not be seen as a coward and when he did escape, it would make Kerdred look a fool. But now...

'I think you are wrong,' said Lewin beginning to pace as he got his thoughts in order. 'You need to escape, it will give hope to the people of Brinkton and will upset some of Kerdred's plans. However I agree with you about helping Ami, why though should we wait here for her to be brought back?' said Lewin leaving the idea to formulate in Darius's mind.

Now Darius needed time to think.

Darius looked around, there were eight soldiers, Lewin, Igmy and himself.

'Are any of you archers?' he asked the soldiers. Three men stepped forward. Darius nodded and thought again.

'What supplies do we have?' he asked Lewin after a few minutes.

'Food, water, bows, swords and a couple of spears,' said Lewin. Darius nodded and then went quiet again.

'Well if we are going to do this we had better get started,' he decided after a while.

Igmy came to Darius's side. 'I will stay, I can't run or fight, I will just hold you back,' said Igmy.

Darius looked at Igmy, it was true. Even if Igmy made it, he hated being seen by people, when Lewin had found him years ago in a gutter he had been sorely beaten and not for the first time.

'What will you do?' he asked.

'Oh, I have a few ideas,' said Igmy with a lopsided grin. 'When you kill the men at the door, can you just knock them out first, then kill them away from here, it would help with any story I make up,' added Igmy.

The dungeons were located deep in the castle along a narrow corridor, nicknamed 'dead end' that led out to a secluded execution yard. It was not long before Darius and his men were through the arch at the far end. It was now very early in the morning and just beginning to get light, this next bit was probably the most dangerous; crossing open ground at the back of the castle to a small coppice a couple of hundred yards away. With a bit of alteration to their attire and a cloak for Darius, they ran across the courtyard. They had thought about trying to get horses but decided the risks were too great. Once they reached the roads they headed east.

When Micka didn't turn up that morning, Igmy left the dungeon, suitably smelly and went to his room in the servants’ quarters. He was lucky, Lewin had made sure he had a room to himself and although it was very small, it was his. That evening he went back down to the dungeons, obviously no one had thought to check on them. Trying to look as annoyed as he could, he went and found someone who looked vaguely important and began babbling about being told his job was safe.

'They promised me, they did, they said Kerdred would let me keep my job and now there's no one there. I know I said he had to sort the prisoners out but I hadn't meant kill them all. How can I be a prison guard with no prisoners?' rambled Igmy and began walking away shaking his head.

'What?' said Cain sharply, hoping he had misunderstood the gist of this idiot's complaint.

'Hard to be a guard, with no one to guard, suppose I'll just go and sit down there by myself. Wish they would let me know though, had become quite attached to some of those men. Would've liked to have said goodbye and stuff before they got their heads cut off,' mumbled Igmy trying to look at a loss at what to do next.

Cain stared at Igmy.

'Follow me and on the way tell me exactly what happened this morning,' said Cain.

Igmy, in a long winded and not always coherent way, explained how in the morning a man with two soldiers had taken over from him, Micka having been found dead. When they reached the dungeons Cain went into each cell looking for any clues. Igmy had asked a couple of Darius's soldiers before escaping to relieve themselves in the buckets provided for such necessities. Cain looked at Igmy suspiciously, Igmy was used to being looked at and had over the years