RHIDAUNA, The Shadow of the Revenaunt, Book 1

CHAPTER 3 - RETURN TO TINNURAD (Part One)

Ghyll looked up. 'These were my people, Corporal.'

'Yes, Squire, that's good and proper of you. Yet it is better you don't look.'

'I must, Corporal,' Ghyll said in desperation. 'I have to know.'

The man sighed. 'Then come with me. It's not a pleasant sight; they're terribly burned.'

Without a word, Ghyll followed him into the tent. Even from outside he had smelled the sickening stench of burnt flesh and inside, it was overwhelming. A row of eleven charred bodies, large, small, and, as the soldier had said, unrecognizable. Ghyll walked past them, hand to his mouth, his face ashen. 'Grogar the blacksmith,' he said of a body with one leg. Next to the smith lay a faceless guard. He wore no boots, as if he'd run from the guardhouse in his stockinged feet. At the end of the row, Ghyll stopped at a tiny body.

'Oh, Gods, I don't even remember his name, Hanaar's newborn. Lord Hanaar of Lilliaun, near Halwyrd. Have him buried there.' He turned around, sobbing. 'Are they all you found? Out of almost two hun­dred folk?'

The corporal nodded, he had no words to offer.

Ghyll staggered from the tent and fell to his knees. Unable to contain himself, he vomited into the dust. When his stomach was empty, he looked at Olle, still silent beside him.

'They're all dead.'

Like the corporal, his foster brother could only nod.

Ghyll came to his feet and looked around the island. The remains of the tower were the only bit left standing. He stared dully at the blackened wall, without recognition. Then, his pulse quickened and his eyes cleared.

'That wall...' he said.

'What?' Olle blinked at the sudden words. 'What about it?'

'That was Uncle Jadron's chamber! You see that relief in the wall, with the Halwyrd arms? There's a hole behind it. On my sixteenth birthday uncle called me to his study and showed me to open it. There was a metal box inside. Letters and paper, perhaps something about my family!'

He broke into a run, jumping broken walls and loose heaps of rubble. Underneath the bit of wall was a sin­gle, fallen beam, leaning sideways up against the wall. Without thinking, he climbed to the narrow ledge that had borne the first floor.

It was higher than he'd expected; high enough for a nasty fall if he missed his footing. His heart was in his throat as he made his way along the narrow edge, until after gut-wrenching minutes he arrived at the relief. With the tips of his fingers, he sought for the spot that gave way. Found it! He pressed, but nothing happened.

Dear Gods! He felt dizzy and pressed his body against the stones, still warm from Tinnurad's fall. If the heat had destroyed the mecha­nism... No! He pushed the panic away and reached for his knife. With the tip, he poked into the split between the tile and the rest of the wall. He heard a faint click. Again, he thumbed the hidden but­ton. Success! Ghyll breathed a sigh of relief when the whole relief slid sideways. The sweat ran down his forehead into his eyes and without thinking, he wiped the drops away with the back of his hand.

The hole in the wall was deeper than he expected. He had to stand on his toes to put his arm far enough in to touch the end. It was not easy; balancing on the thin ledge like a tumbler, he groped around the hole. His fingers found something leathery and he pulled it to­wards him. It was a moneybag like stewards used, and it felt weighty.

'Here, catch,' he called down to Olle, whose anxious eyes had watched his every move. 'Take care! It's heavy.'

Again, he reached into the hole. Tilia let it be there! Yes! He sighed with relief. At the back was the bronze box he sought. Thank you, dear Goddess! For a moment, he hesitated, but to climb back with the box in his arms was impossible. After checking the fastenings, he dropped the thing in Olle's outstretched hands. Then, with his heart in his throat, he edged back to the blackened beam and the safety of the ground.