A Dance with Shadows

A Story by Dymestl

Part of a book i'm writing.

Two men on horseback thundered up an overgrown road beside a huge river. One of them was dressed in blue linen, riding a black horse, the other was in blood coloured chainmail, riding a tawny horse. Neither of them said a word as the rode up the road, each one intent on pushing his horse to greater speeds. Only when the great grey walls of a castle came into view, did they finally stop, and let their horses rest.

“I'd say we made good time,” the mailed one said, and his companion nodded. The blue clad figure was searching his bags for the seal of his office, a small, sea green wave brooch that marked him as an officer of the Seasguard.

“Lord Throne needs to know the danger I found,”He said, abandoning the search for a moment, to look at his friend through, blue eyes laced with green.

“How did you find it? The mountains are three thousand miles from the sea,” The mailed man said, and the Seasguard officer looked up with a small smile.

“The Raging River runs from Sidsual to the sea, and we used to patrol up and down it. Then we started losing our ships, our galleys and our long boats,” He said quietly, “Drago, our size is less than half what it once was.”

Drago nodded, toying with the mail links on his arm, “It could be worse Eaglefriend. Come on, let's get inside Grey Haven, then you can explain what you saw to Thiodarr.”

Eaglefriend pulled his hand out of the bag, the wave brooch in his hand. “Alright, let's move,” He said, swinging onto his horse, and when he did, his eyes turned a darker blue before returning to the normal colour. Drago noticed however, and loosened his sword in it's scabbard.

“You couldn't kill me Drago, not now, not ever. Honour runs in your veins like blood,and you can never choose to be dishonourable ” Eaglefriend said, without even turning around.

“I could beat you senseless though,” Drago responded, and with a the sound of leather scraping on metal, the blade was fully drawn.

“You would try,” Eaglefriend said, drawing the curved blade that hung on his saddle. Drago grimaced, and silently they bowed to each other. Then, with a yell, Eaglefriend's charged, sword sweeping down to fast for the eye to follow. Drago's sword leapt to meet it and the blades slammed together with a clang. Back and forth they fought, Eaglefriend's cloak billowing and swirling behind him like a bird.

Finally, Drago started to laugh, and Eaglefriend's fierce look was replaced by a grin. They were both such skilled fighters, that the fight would only end when the other collapsed from exhaustion. As the sun finally reached it's peak Eaglefriend stepped back, and his leg, too tired to hold much longer, buckled. Drago took this chance to step back and look at the dents in his armour.

“At least we know that the smith was right. The enamel is barely chipped,” He marveled, as the other came to his feet.

“That's good news,” Eaglefriend said, sheathing his blade, and putting a foot in his horse's stirrup. “but we wasted time here, Grey Haven awaits.”

“So it does,” Drago agreed, sheathing his blade and mounting his own animal. The pair rode back in a comfortable silence, each one looking forward to a drink or three in the tavern. “Is that smoke?” He asked, suddenly. Eaglefriend looked up and nodded.

“That's smoke,”He confirmed, urging his horse to a gallop.“Come on, Thiodarr and Mari might still be inside.” Drago gave a small smile, before thundering up the Gateway after him. Drago caught up to Eaglefriend in the shadow of the portcullis, and pulled his horse up beside the silver haired youth.

“What happened here?” He asked quietly, but his voice echoed off the dead castle's walls.

“An attack,” Eaglefriend said briefly, and swung down from the saddle to look down at the fine ash that fell like snow from the towers and lay on the ground like a grey shroud. The sun glinted off something in a tower and Drago dismounted on the far side of his horse in case it was an archer.

“There's something in the tower,” Drago exclaimed, and Eaglefriend looked up. “Should we investigate?”

“Of course,” The other responded, pulling his sword off the horse's saddle. “It might be a survivor.” Drago nodded and drew his own straight blade, the sapphire in the hilt flashing. Silently they crept toward the tower, each one concentrating on not making what ever was up in that tower suspicious. When they reached the door, the found it was slightly ajar, and Drago reached up to put his hand on it, the hinges screeched in protest. He turned and mouthed, sorry.

Eaglefriend chuckled quietly and started up the winding staircase, pausing at each floor to check for survivors. However, he found none, and turned to let Drago take the lead when they were near the top. A quarter turn later Drago stopped, and in a voice that was more suited to the open field of battle while the swords clashed and men died he said, “In the name of King Robb Claidh the Unbent, Lord of Ascait, and Protector of the Realm, I order you to throw down your weapons, and enter the tower.”

Silence. Nothing moved above them, and, just as Eaglefriend thought that perhaps they had imagined the flash of light, he heard the sound of booted feet on stone. It came closer, and paused ladder that lead into the tower. Then the trapdoor opened and the thing that had been up in the tower dropped down to land in front of them. Eaglefriend didn't quite see what happened next, but he felt a blinding pain in his chest and heard a sharp crack as his ribs broke. His last thought before he hit the hard stone wall and fell unconscious was, that's not human.