Chapter 2: Part eight  

Posted by The Alchemist in

Erick sat upon a horse at the top of a hill covered in trees, his face shadowed by the cowl drawn up over his head. He wore a thick wool cloak, once red but now faded to a rusty color. Beneath it the steel rings of his mail shirt glinted in the faint sunlight filtering down through the trees. His heavy leather gloves gripped the reigns tightly, and his scuffed leather boots rested upon his saddle’s stirrups.

After taking a look around Erick kicked his horse into a trot and started toward the next hill.

Aleksey’s message had come to him late at night as he had lain next to his camp fire, trying to sleep. He’d ridden hard the next day to close the distance, hoping Aleksey and Jacob were still alive.

The snow crunched beneath him as his horse mounted the next hill. At the top the walls of Shelborne Castle could be seen, the great wooden gate standing ajar, and Erick gently urged his horse towards it.

After passing through the gate Erick stopped his horse for a moment and surveyed the area. Other then the howling wind, the castle was eerily silent. Snow floated on the wind and the ragged Shelborne banners on either side of the door flapped lazily in the breeze. To Erick’s surprise the doors to the castle opened and Aleksey came out, his clothes were ragged, and dark with dried blood in places.

Erick jumped down off his horse and ran to him.

“Aleksey, are you alright? Where is Jacob?”

Aleksey was quiet for a moment, he looked tired.

“The wolves took him last night. There was nothing I could do.”

The older man’s stern mask wavered, and a tear ran down his cheek.

“Nothing I could do.”

This entry was posted on Monday, August 4, 2008 at Monday, August 04, 2008 and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

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