Chapter IV

  Aria gave a low whistle as she gazed at the sharp pointed logs that formed the fortified perimeter wall of the village. Standing at an impressive forty feet tall, each log was at least three feet thick. Along the tops of the perimeter, sentries could be seen patrolling on the platforms along the top of the fortification. Lookout towers could also be seen, spaced at regular intervals around the wall. The road passed through two massive wooden gates that were at least fifteen feet tall and over a foot thick.

  “They aren’t taking any chances with this place are they?” she commented.

  “The entire village was burned to the ground by marauders when I was fifteen.” Darius said quietly. “Only a few dozen of us survived. After that, the people took the security of the village very seriously.”

  They were watched closely as they passed through the gate, but no one tried to stop the two wandering mercenaries. It was only after they had passed through the gates into the safety of the surrounding walls that Aria realized the enormity of the space inside the village.

  “How many people live here?” Aria asked Darius, gazing around in wonder at the activity of everyday life in Feldon.

  “The village is much larger than when I lived here, but I’d guess that there are probably around four to five hundred people living here now.” Darius replied, looking around. “The last time I saw this place, there was only ash and rubble. They’ve done a lot of rebuilding in the past ten years, but the layout seems to be similar.”

  Several people had stopped to stare at them, whispering to one another. One man whispered something to a boy of about ten years old. Glancing nervously at them, the boy ran off in the direction of the town hall. Darius didn’t seem to notice and continued walking down the broad main road.

  After a few minutes, from the direction of the village square, a bell began to toll, sounding clearly through the village.

  All along the broad-way, people were disappearing. Homeowners were busy closing doors and shutters; mothers were frantically shooing children indoors. Soon, the street was deserted. Aria looked around, concern written all over her face. “Not very friendly, are they? I think you’re right. Something is very wrong here....”

  They continued on, anxious to discover what was troubling the village, when they ran into a group of villagers from the direction of the central square. Four armed men were there, dressed in simple garb. All four were armed with swords drawn. Three more men were approaching from the sides bearing longbows, arrows already set and pointed in the direction of Darius and Aria.

  “That’s far enough.”, one of the four swordsmen said, stepping forward. Behind the archers, Darius could see an elderly man hurrying towards them, led by the boy who had hurried off earlier. Darius halted his approach, unlimbering his sword from off his back and resting the tip on the ground. The archers tensed at the movement, drawing their bowstrings, readying their lethal missiles in expectation of his next move.

  The elderly man and boy reached the group just as the tension was reaching a lethal flash point. The leader of the swordsmen was demanding in a loud voice to know what business Darius and Aria had in Feldon. On catching sight of Darius, the old man seemed to relax a bit.

  “Put your weapon away, Tyrell. I know this man" the Elder said. Turning to Darius he asked, “You never did know when to back down from a fight did you Darius? Even when you’re hopelessly outnumbered -- seven to two, you still don’t give up. Have you finally decided to return home?”

  With the acceptance of their village Elder, the weapons were lowered and the travelers followed the old man, who introduced himself to Aria as Xavier Frost, back to the town hall. As they walked, Xavier told about the rebuilding of the village, and the decision to erect the walls.

  “...so after the village was destroyed, we decided that we couldn’t trust in the Feltharin army to protect us from the bandit groups roaming the Barrier Mountains, so we started building the walls. There were only about thirty of us that survived the attack. After you left with the group of Feltharin Knights to hunt down the marauders, Darius, it was decided by many in the surrounding countryside that the outlying farms were too dangerous to maintain. Many of the farmers and their families moved into the village and helped us to rebuild."

  Xavier turned to the boy, who was still following them, and said “Seth, go get Elainna. Please bring her to the town hall.”

  Seth ran off, and Xavier turned back to Darius. “Rankin probably isn’t going to be vary happy to see you, Darius, but Elainna has missed you terribly.”

  “Who’s Rankin?” Aria asked, her head spinning with all the new names.

  “Darius’ brother-in-law.” Xavier answered, before Darius could. “He never quite forgave Darius for what he saw as abandoning the village after it was destroyed. He felt that Darius should have stayed to help rebuild, and protect Elainna. Instead, he left with the soldiers who arrived from the palace too late to do anything.”

  “Why did you leave the village?” Aria asked. She had wanted to ask that question for years, but had never had the opportunity to ask before.

  Darius sighed, “The soldiers needed a tracker who knew the Barrier Mountains well. My father had been a tracker for them before he settled down here, and had taught me. No one else seemed interested in trying to stop the marauders, so I went with the soldiers.”

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  Xavier shook his head, “Darius is being modest. At the age of fifteen, he was one of the best trackers there was. He was already good with a sword as well, and probably would have fought and died with the others when the marauders came raiding. However, he was trapped with Elainna and some of the other survivors in the basement of the old town hall when it collapsed on them as they were trying to get the younger children to safety.”

  “I should have been out there fighting alongside my father, instead of trapped in that basement.” Darius lamented.

  Xavier laid a gnarled hand on Darius’ shoulder. “Your sword wouldn’t have made a difference, my boy. Those marauders were a company of professional soldiers from Malthorm who had deserted and had taken refuge in the mountains. They were well trained, and well armed. Your father and a few others of us were the only ones who even had swords. Most of the villagers were trying to fight with farm implements. The rest of the villagers were just trying to flee. The marauders didn’t care though. They cut down everything in their path - Men, women, and children: armed or not. It didn’t matter to them. Besides, did finally stop them - in the end.”

  “It took Darius three months to catch up with them.” Xavier explained to Aria. “But he was determined and finally tracking them down, led the Feltharin army to their camp. They were surrounded and routed that very night. The surviving marauders stood trial in Falconhome, and were finally sentenced to life in prison in....what - Atlan Year 7041?”

  “7,042 AY” Darius corrected. “A full year after the village was attacked. After that, I just couldn’t go back. I swore that I would never let anything like that happen again to any village. Besides, by that time, Elainna had already married Rankin, and I decided that I would just be in the way.”

  “Darius!” a voice called from the side. “Seth told me you had returned!”

  They turned to see a raven-haired beauty in a simple blue peasant dress staring at Darius with tears in her eyes. Unable to contain herself, she ran forward and clasped her arms around his neck.

  “I’ve been so worried, and I’ve missed you so....” Elainna sobbed into his tunic, as Darius stroked his sister’s black hair soothingly.

  Averting her eyes, Aria fought hard against a wave of jealousy as she tried to remind herself that the two siblings hadn’t seen each other in ten years. Still, Aria thought to herself, she wished that she was the one Darius was holding -- that it was her hair that he was stroking so softly. Aria shook her head to clear the thought away, hoping that she wasn’t as transparent as she felt.

  Elainna was gathering her composure now, dabbing her tears away with the hem of her house apron. She extended a hand to Aria. “You must be Aria. You look just like I’ve always pictured you. We haven’t heard from him in a long time, but Darius used to write about you often in his letters. ”

  “Oh?” Aria asked, looking sidelong at Darius who seemed to be looking elsewhere at the moment.

  Elainna continued, “We heard about the events in Trideria. I’m very sorry to hear about your father. None of us believe any of the charges that you two have been accused of.” turning back to her brother, she said, “Darius, I always knew you’d come back when we need you most.” she said earnestly.

  “What do you mean?” he asked with concerned, his attention snapping back to his sister.

  Xavier broke in, “Perhaps we’d better discuss this inside.”

  The went inside the town meeting hall, an impressive building with an open room that looked like it could house an assembly of several hundred people. Housed high above, in the tower at the back of the building, was the warning bell that had sounded earlier.

  Xavier led the group to a small chamber off of the main meeting hall that held a large oval table with enough chairs for them all to sit comfortably and talk. While a village girl brought refreshments, Xavier and Elainna caught the two travelers up on recent events.

  “...so about three or four months ago, the outlying farms began to be raided.” Xavier was saying. “At first, it was just a few crops or animals that were disappearing in the night. Soon, though, entire flocks or even half a harvest was found missing. We appealed to Falconhome for more patrols, but I guess that this type of thing is starting to happen in several of the outlying villages, and the army is stretched pretty thin.”

  “Feltharin never did maintain a very large army.” Elainna added, “We always felt that if the army got too big, that Malthorm or Trideria would feel threatened. Not to mention the Gah’Rin. They’re suspicious enough as it is.”

  “Who are the Gah’Rin?” Aria asked in confusion, unfamiliar with the name.

  “The dwarves.” Darius told her. “They live on the far side of the Barrier Mountains. They keep mostly to themselves, but occasionally trade with Falconhome.” Fearing the worst, Darius cautiously asked “Were you able to find the cause of the disappearances?”

  “Well, it was about that time that the earthquakes began to occur, and we thought that the missing flocks might have been scared from their farms, and wandered into the crop fields.” Xavier paused to take a long drink from his glass before continuing. “The matter was finally dismissed, and nobody here in the village thought much more about it until last month when one of the families about two miles east of the village was found murdered, their home burned and their crops ransacked.”

  Darius sat up a little straighter in his chair at this news, and a worried expression clouded his face. Aria knew that he was remembering the events of the village massacre ten years before.

  “It was around that same time that the creatures were spotted by our hunters in both the foothills of the Barrier Mountains to the west, and the outskirts of the Lindelin woods to the south.” Elainna interjected as Xavier nodded grimly. “Also, Rankin and some of the village hunters have found remnants of recent camps.”

  “The surrounding villages have also reported a recent increase of strangers in the surrounding lands.” Xavier said grimly. “Then, last week, a group came into town led by a man someone recognized as a former Triderian General. They offered ‘protection’ for the village from the recent violence for an enormous sum of money. When we refused, they told us that the raids would increase, and warned that more people would get hurt if we didn’t reconsider.”

  Darius grunted, “That explains the welcoming committee at least.”

  “Tyrell is one of the best fighters we’ve got. He’s the commander of the garrison that was stationed here after the massacre, but I’m afraid that we’re still not up to an outright assault if it comes to that. The entire garrison is only about thirty men.” Xavier sighed, looking very tired. “I dispatched a messenger to Falconhome begging for more help this morning, but I’m afraid that it might not arrive in time. In the meantime, we've doubled the patrols, and the gates are barred at sundown. Until we hear more from the palace, there’s not much we can do.”

  A commotion outside the hall interrupted them and urgent voices broke out in the other room. Tyrell burst into the room his eyes immediately landing on Xavier. “Elder, the messenger is back.”

  “Impossible!” Xavier exclaimed, rising to his feet. “He couldn’t have made the journey already.”

  “He didn't.” Tyrell replied, his brown eyes speaking volumes. “He’s dead...”