Steel Roses

Hunter of Tales

Beldon dropped into one of the disused parlours and straightened up, darting through the dark room and opening the door a crack, listening. He couldn’t hear anything. The castle was so large the intruders and his company could be anywhere.

“Master Beldon? Is that you?”

Beldon whirled around and saw one of the servants – shaped like a cat – creeping out from behind the sofa. He quickly moved over and knelt in front of the maid.

“Are you alright?” he whispered.

“Yes Sir, but you shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous.”

“Those men?”

“They have guns, Sir. Everyone has locked themselves away or went to defend The Master.”

Beldon grimaced. “It seems one of the men has already got past them,” he said and the maid let out a gasp of horror.

“The Master!”

“He’ll be alright.”

“No! No he’s sick! He can’t be moving around, he could barely stand yesterday.”

Beldon stared at her. “What’s wrong with him, exactly?”

The maid looked at him for a moment, then looked away. “Not my place to say that, Sir.”

Beldon glared at her then looked around, putting a finger to his lips.

They both looked to the door as voices sounded from outside.

“The hell is up with the place?” someone hissed beyond the door, “It’s empty but I keep hearing strange noises like there are people around. If that damn kid is playing some game, he’ll be paying more then with just his head.”

“Ah shut up,” someone else said, “If the place is empty, it’s empty. If people are here, they’re avoiding us. Either situation works. Just look for the treasury and be done with it.”

The voices past the door and Beldon opened the door a crack to peer out. Two men walked down the hall, their footsteps silent – if they hadn’t been complaining, Beldon wouldn’t have known they were there.

Beldon looked around, then gestured for the maid to hide before he reached over to a table and tipped a candelabra off the top, sending it clattering away across the floor.

He took a step back and slipped into the shadows behind one of the sofas, the maid appearing on his lap to look as well as the door opened.

“See anything?” one of the men asked as his partner walked in, looking around. He spotted the candelabra.

“It’s just some candle holder,” he said, frowning at the item. “How’d it fall?” he muttered.

Beldon gestured to the maid, who looked at him, terrified until he smiled. She grimaced but stepped off his lap, paused a moment, then raced out from behind the sofa and launched at the man.

He gasped in fright, narrowly missing kicking her in his panic before she fled to the other side of the room, scrambling under another sofa.

“What’s wrong?”

“A damn cat,” the second man snapped, spinning around trying to find the maid. Beldon grabbed him, his hand locking over his mouth, silencing his gasp, tripping his feet out from under him and dropping them both to the ground. His hand flew out to grab the candelabra before the man could call for help and he brought it down on his head, rendering him unconscious instantly.

His head snapped up to watch the door as he pulled the sword and pistol free from the holsters around the man’s hips then rushed back into the shadows as the man’s partner looked in.