The Keeper of the Stones

Chapter 10



14th August – Near to Heron Getracht Fortress – Rhuaddan



The blue skies opened and a dazzlingly bright light raced down onto the field outside Heron Getracht fortress. Three warriors emerged from the brightness. Sawdon and Adrob were holding up the gravely wounded Boghias, he was in tremendous pain, unable to stand unaided, but despite his wounds Sawdon threw him to the ground. Boghias fell heavily on the turf and screamed out in agony. Then he sobbed uncontrollably as Adrob tried to comfort him.

The mighty Thargw roared loudly in frustration. He’d expected to be closer to the stones, to at least have some clue as to their destination or whereabouts, he couldn’t understand why the shard had brought them back to the fortress. ‘Perhaps, it has been drawn back to the Lichtus?’ he thought, as he searched his brain for an answer. ‘Raarr! Whatever the reason, one thing is clear. The stones are nowhere to be seen!’

Sawdon was absolutely livid that the boys had escaped him. “Rrraaaarggh!!! They must be here somewhere!” he raged, his fists clenched tightly in anger as he scanned the horizon in every direction. The Herfion Mountains could just be seen far away in the distance. Miles of fields and meadows, villages and hills lay between Sawdon and his prey, though at this point he had no way of knowing their location or fate.

“He’s dying!” shouted Adrob, deliberately trying to get Sawdon’s attention and feeling aggrieved at the lack of interest and care being shown by the warrior to his fallen colleague. “He is not long for this world. The wound is too deep, and it will not stop bleeding.” he added, as he knelt down beside his friend cradling his head in his arms and trying his best to ease his pain. Adrob had become quite close to Boghias over the past year or so, they had their differences but he liked him, he respected him as a warrior, and Sawdon’s treatment of his friend angered him.

Sawdon halted his scan of the countryside. The Thargw was still furious, he looked down on the stricken Boghias who was lying on the floor in Adrob’s arms, gasping desperately for each painful breath. Sawdon could see that he was dying, nothing more could be done for him. ‘Death is just a matter of time,’ he thought, ‘and time is a precious commodity in our current plight.’

Suddenly, the mighty warrior drew his battlesword. Without warning, he plunged it deep into Boghias’ body, expertly cutting his heart in two with one blow so that death was immediate. It was the kill of an expert.

Adrob jumped up startled and he reacted without thinking. “The Lords of Srenul!!” he exclaimed, cursing loudly and instinctively going for his sword. A split second later, Adrob’s rational thought processes had returned and, realising the folly of his actions, he halted his sword arm, immediately throwing his weapon down onto the floor.

He was just in time! The mighty battlesword of Sawdon came within inches of cutting him down, the Thargw’s intended strike being pulled deliberately so that the blade fell just short of its target, the wind from it caressing Adrob’s cheek as it sailed swiftly past his face. Adrob knew that he had come within a split second of death, he shook violently with fear as he now faced Sawdon’s wrath.

“I... F-forgive me my Lord!” he begged, falling to his knees. “I do not know what possessed me. I...”

Sawdon merely scowled at him and grunted loudly, he was not one for wasting conversation and he didn’t intend to discuss the incident. “Come!” he growled, as he marched off toward Heron Getracht. “We have to report to the King.”

Adrob picked himself up gingerly. He trudged obediently behind Sawdon without saying a word, mightily relieved to still be alive. They entered the gates to Heron Getracht fortress and walked into the courtyard. Sawdon made straight for the well in the centre, he wound the bucket up quickly and poured its entire contents over his head, wetting the thick black hair on his body. Once he’d finished, he turned around to face Adrob.

“Come. It is time once more to admit to failure.” he snarled. “Do not expect to survive this meeting, Adrob. You should make peace now with whatever God you worship.”

The anticipation of King Vantrax’ likely reaction to their news had already frightened Adrob. Now that Sawdon had added to it, he was absolutely petrified. He noticed that Sawdon had a curious smile on his face. The Thargw obviously didn’t fear death, he didn’t seem to fear much at all, not even King Vantrax! Adrob could see that Sawdon was prepared to die for his failure to capture the stones, but the same could not be said of him. He considered briefly running for the hills, but he knew that Sawdon would strike him down if he tried before he even reached the gates. He decided that he had no choice but to face Vantrax and stick as closely to Sawdon as possible, reasoning that the King would not deprive himself of a warrior of such ability and hoping that, in allying himself so closely with him, he would earn leniency from a man who would ordinarily kill him for such failure, without a second thought.

The two warriors climbed the stairs and entered the tower room to find Vantrax looking out of the window slit in the direction of the mountains, having observed their approach. The evil wizard heard them enter the room and turned around to greet them.

“So, three are sent, but only two return? What happened?”

“Boghias is dead sire.” answered Sawdon directly. “Killed by the…”

“Aaaggh!! Spare me the details, Sawdon!” interrupted Vantrax impatiently. “The stones. That is why you were sent. What news of the stones?” he demanded.

“They are here my Lord, on Rhuaddan.” replied Sawdon, glancing at Adrob with a look that said, ‘If you value your life, you will keep your mouth shut and let me do the talking!’ The Thargw continued.

“We found the Keeper. He had the box just as you predicted, but he also had two boys with him. One of them took the box and ran. The Keeper blocked our path and we fought, we could not use our advantage in numbers, space was limited, it restricted our movement. By the time we were past the Keeper, the boys had gone. Vanished through the light. They have to be here. Somewhere on Rhuaddan.” Sawdon stated firmly.

“And the Keeper, Sawdon? He is dead, yes? You did kill him?” asked Vantrax, his temper rising and his face turning red as he guessed the answer from the look in Sawdon’s eyes. “Raaargghh!!! The boys! What do they know? Two of them you say? All is not lost then!” raged Vantrax, trying desperately to salvage something from the situation. “They are alone in a strange land, they are on foot, they cannot travel far. So it should not be too hard to find them!” he shouted angrily.

Adrob was beginning to feel a little more at ease now that the evil King was talking. He could see that Vantrax was preoccupied with far greater things than him. The stones were all the wizard was thinking about now and he hoped that his and Sawdon’s failure might be overlooked this time. ‘We’re actually going to get away with it,’ he thought, ‘just so long as we do not mention it again, there is a good chance of escaping with our lives. Maybe of avoiding any punishment at all.’

“My Lord. We have failed you again, our lives are yours. Do with us as you will.” stated Sawdon emphatically and dramatically, the dishonour of failure a second time proving too weighty a cross for him to bear.

Adrob looked up at the heavens above. ‘You stupid...!’ he thought, ‘why could you not just forget about your honour for once?’

He closed his eyes and awaited his fate, now that it had surely been sealed by the Thargw. Vantrax glared at them both. Sawdon was now down on one knee with his head bowed, Adrob remained standing, his body visibly shaking and his eyes tightly closed. The King thought hard for a brief moment.

“No, no! You have not yet failed me. The stones are not lost, not yet. Go and fetch some fresh horses and call out my guard, I want search parties to ride out in every direction…”

The King was interrupted suddenly by the sound of galloping horses. Both he and Sawdon raced to the window slits to see who it was.

“Ours!” shouted Sawdon, as his superior eyesight caught a glimpse of the horsemen. “But why do they gallop so fast? Something is wrong sire!” he warned.

“Yes. Let us go and find out. Today would seem to be a day for surprises.” answered Vantrax, as he led them down to the courtyard.

By the time they’d descended the stairs, the two horsemen had dismounted and were drinking water thirstily from the well. One of them had a pale in his hand and the second was drinking from the bucket. It was to the second warrior that Sawdon spoke.

“Soldier!” he barked firmly. “What have you to say to your King? Why do you gallop so fast into the fortress? Report!”

The startled warrior attempted to reply. “A-a-Ambushed! D-dead... Strangers…” he spluttered, as he lowered the bucket. He was breathing hard and desperately trying to catch his breath.

“Slow yourself down and talk clearly to your King.” Sawdon instructed.

The soldier took a couple of deep breaths to regain his composure and started again, this time looking straight at Vantrax. “My King, we were slave hunting a runaway from your mine at Lidzenstor. We tracked him all the way across the Astelli plains to the edge of the Herfion Mountains. We were catching him. He ran, very fast, made for the rocks at the base of a mountain, we almost had him. My captain and my friend gave chase on their horses. I saw the captain’s sword raised to strike the slave down, we were going to take his head back as a warning to other slaves. But then, it happened. Someone, a stranger we did not know was there, jumped out of the rocks and cut the captain down with one blow of his sword! He never had a chance. Sumir, my friend, charged the stranger, but another swordsman jumped out, and he was killed in the same way.”

The soldier stopped talkig, he was visibly upset at having to recall the events and the death of his friend, but Sawdon didn’t relent, he wanted to know more. “Two strangers you said. What were they like? Talk you Rachtis!” he roared ferociously.

“Sir!” the soldier replied, bolting upright and trying to collect his thoughts, obviously feeling intimidated by Sawdon’s presence. “I have never seen their like before. Dressed in funny clothes they were, they did not look like they were from this land, maybe Mynae? I don’t know, but not from here. The first one was fast, very fast. He knew what he was doing. And yet, they were both so young. The second was…”

Vantrax interrupted him angrily. “Two of them? And now two of you. Did you not finish them? I see no injuries between you?”

“Srrr… No sire.” the soldier replied sheepishly. “The… Srr… Slave returned making three. We… Did not know if there were more of them in the rocks. Srr… We…”

“You did nothing!” roared Sawdon angrily, seeing the answer written plainly in the soldier’s eyes. “And what of this slave? What was his name?” he demanded.

“Srr… Verastus sir.” replied the soldier.

It was all too much for Vantrax and he flew into a wild rage. His right hand grasped the Lichtus from inside his shirt and pulled it out. He pointed his left toward the soldiers.

“Delak tostederud!”



Vantrax shouted at them with real anger and venom in his voice. Two bolts of lightning shot out from his fingertips, hitting the soldiers in turn where they stood and incinerating them instantly. Two small piles of grey smouldering ash were all that remained.

Vantrax took a faltering step backwards, the energy required to launch the strikes had severely weakened him and he nearly fell. He was caught by Sawdon, the warrior looked over at the shocked Adrob with stern eyes, ‘inviting’ him to help. Adrob immediately responded by taking Vantrax’ free arm.

“Come my Lord,” he said, “Sawdon and I will take care of you, let us take you inside.”