Emperor of Ansalon

Chapter 6

Creeping silently upward, Ariakas felt a mental weight dragging at his footsteps. His pace slowed, and finally he stopped altogether, no more than a dozen steps from the bottom of the secret stairway.

The urge to rescue the lady still drew him forward, but with the keys in his hands, he began to consider the prospects of a realistic plan. How would he get her through the keep and over the drawbridge with a castle full of ogres watching over them? The more he thought, the more he decided that some sort of diversion was essential to their chances of success.

Decision made, he turned and descended the stairs again, stealthily advancing into the dungeon to the door he had left partially unlatched. Sliding the catch-bolt qui shy;etly to the side, he stepped within.

"Is that you, warrior?" The voice rasped from the lightless cell. The dwarf's eyes were far more attuned to the darkness than were Ariakas's.

"I've come back to give you that chance at freedom," he announced without preamble. "You still want to escape?"

"More than anything-but why give me a chance now?" The dwarf's voice was tinged with skepticism; this stout Hylar would not be fooled by any tale of phil shy;anthropy. Ariakas's adjusting eyes showed him a look of shrewd appraisal on Ferros Windchisel's dirt-streaked face.

"I'm going to make my own escape, with the la- another prisoner. The more of us who get away, the more confusion we'll cause the ogres."

"Diversion, huh?" Ferros Windchisel digested this information with the pragmatism he had displayed all along. "Can you get me a weapon?"

Ariakas cursed sarcastically.

"The guard's dagger would do," Ferros offered help shy;fully. "You'll have to get the key for this collar off of him anyway."

"I've already got the key," Ariakas whispered, raising the ring.

Ferros nodded and took the iron circlet. He worked his way through four or five keys before he found one that fit. Then, with a satisfying click, the ring sprang open, and the dwarf was free. He immediately turned to the chain and collar that had held him close to the wall. As Ariakas had noted before, a second lock connected the chain to a bracket in the wall. Fumbling for a few moments, Ferros found the key to release that catch, and he turned back to the warrior. In one hand he now swung a five foot length of chain that terminated in the heavy collar.

"Not the ideal weapon," Ferros allowed, "but better than nothing."

Ariakas had to agree. He led the dwarf back to the secret stair and started climbing to the ground level. "I heard a bunch of 'em in the main entry," he told the dwarf. "Hopefully they'll have gone on to other things by now."

His heart fell as they reached the first exit, however, and plainly heard the boisterous shouting of ogres beyond the door. He slumped against the wall, memo shy;ries of the lady dancing through his mind. Fleetingly he thought of pushing the dwarf into the hall of ogres, but he knew that would create no useful diversion whatso shy;ever. He had to get Ferros out of the tower, get the ogres to chase him in pursuit.

"Have you seen where the drawbridge mechanism is?" asked Ferros Windchisel.

"Yes-the stairway goes right past the winch room."

"Well, if you feel like taking a chance, I'm willing to take a bigger one," offered the dwarf. "Let's go have a look at it."

Wondering what the stocky fellow had in mind, Aria shy;kas led him up the three spirals to the drawbridge room. "Last time I checked," the human warned in a strained whisper, "I saw two ogres standing guard in there."

"Only two?" replied Ferros Windchisel brightly. "That shouldn't be much of a problem."

Ariakas, in spite of himself, liked the hearty dwarf. "How'd a resourceful fellow such as yourself get tan shy;gled up with these scum buckets?" he asked.

"I had a que-some important business that brought me into the Khalkists," Ferros explained. "And then I didn't pay enough attention to routine precautions. Bastards took me prisoner while I was sleeping," he admitted ruefully.

Soon they reached the alcove leading to the draw shy;bridge room, and Ariakas carefully opened the concealed door and pressed aside the tapestry.

The two ogres remained. One looked out a slot in the wall where a supporting chain ran to the raised draw shy;bridge; the other was grumbling and pacing across the small floor space. The shadows and pillars obscured the rest of the room from view. The heavy door connecting the room to the rest of the tower stood open, but they could hear no sounds of other ogres on this level.

Drawing back the tapestry, the human lowered his voice to a faint whisper. "You close and bolt the door- that'll keep the rest of 'em from joining in. I'll try to get one ogre in the first rush. We can both finish the second one off."

Ferros nodded. They pulled the tapestry aside again, and signaling his advance by a touch on the dwarf's shoulder, Ariakas charged into the room. His sword drawn, he raced toward the ogre who looked out the wall opening.

The dwarf darted to the door, and Ariakas heard it slam, then thunk as the catch-bar fell into place. The human then cursed as his own plan went awry.

The pacing ogre uttered a grunt of astonishment at the first sign of attack, and the sound was enough of a warning to the warrior's intended target. That brutish creature whirled from the window and brought up a knotted club. Ariakas snarled as his blade bit deep into the tough wood, his blow effectively, if crudely, parried. So much for the surprise attack.

He heard a growl of rage as the second ogre moved up behind him, but he could spare no attention for this new attack.

The ogre in front of him yanked its club free of the sword and raised the weapon menacingly. Ariakas watched the club begin a plummeting descent toward his skull. Only when the monster had committed all of its muscle-power to the attack did the man dart to the side. The weapon struck the floor with a shattering of flagstones just a few inches to the side of the lunging warrior.

The ogre emitted a strangled grunt as Ariakas drove his sword deep into the monster's sagging belly. The beast then howled in outrage and pain, staggering backward, but the warrior kept up the attack. With shy;drawing the gore-streaked blade, he thrust again, pierc shy;ing the ogre's thigh and felling the monster like a toppling tree trunk. One quick thrust to the neck fin shy;ished the job.

Whirling, he raised his weapon to face the second ogre, only to gape in surprise at the sight before him. The great beast lay on its back on the floor, kicking and flailing with its massive arms and legs. There was no sign of Ferros Windchisel, and Ariakas wondered momentarily if the dwarf had fled, cowardlike, back into the stairwell. At least Ferros had slammed and bolted the door. But what could be choking the ogre, he wondered.

Then he noted the necklace of iron links drawn tight around the ogre's throat. The bloated face grew purple and quickly darkened to a deep blue. The creature's eyes bulged out, and a dark blue tongue protruded pathetically, a fetid wheeze coming from the throat. The huge body was racked by an involuntary shudder. Finally it collapsed, dead.

"Hey-move this son-of-a-musk-ox off me, will you?" came a grunting voice.

Grinning in relief and amazement, Ariakas pulled on one of the strangled ogre's tree-trunk legs.

Ferros Windchisel, lying on his back underneath the ogre, pushed with his powerful arms and quickly scrambled free. He unwrapped his chain from the ogre's neck and looked at it reflectively.

"It's an old dwarven tradition," he announced with a smug grin. "If we don't have a weapon, we make a weapon out of whatever we have."

"That one worked damned well," Ariakas allowed, impressed.

They took a moment to listen at the door, and were relieved to discover that their brief fight had apparently passed without notice from the rest of the tower. Then both turned to the chains and gears linked to the mas shy;sive bridge.

"Here's my idea," said Ferros, completing an inspec shy;tion of the device and nodding. "You want a diversion, and I want to escape. It won't do either of us any good if they catch me a hundred feet from the gate, will it?"

"Go on," Ariakas said warily.

Ferros crossed to the strangled ogre and pulled the brute's weapon from its belt. The two-foot blade had served as a giant dagger to the monster, but for the dwarf it would be a serviceable sword. Next Ferros hoisted the length of chain, with its ring still attached. He gestured out the narrow window, and Ariakas saw that the drawbridge support chain emerged from the window to be secured by a heavy eye-bolt near the very end of the bridge.

"I'll hook this ring around that bolt-before you start to lower the drawbridge," the dwarf explained. "That way I can hang onto the chain, on the far side of the bridge, and they won't see me go down-at least, not right away."

"Perhaps they won't see you at all," Ariakas coun shy;tered. "What kind of a diversion is that?"

"You are the suspicious type! But wait 'til I finish. When you get the bridge down most of the way, those buggers will try to climb out on it-if I know ogres, and I do. You've got to give me a few minutes. Hold the bridge above the ground, too far for an ogre to leap. I'll swing that chain back and forth and get me a jump that'll carry me to the far side. The ogres're sure to see me then-and even if they don't, I'll give a yell after a couple of minutes. At that point, you can let the drawbridge down all the way, and I guarantee they'll come after me for all they're worth."

"How do you know they won't send a couple after you and leave the rest here to keep an eye on me?" demanded Ariakas, immediately distrustful of the dwarf's plan. "How do I know you'll shout-what's to prevent you from disappearing into the dark and leav shy;ing me here with a tower full of ogres?"

"You have my word. I'll call out," replied Ferros, stiffly. He scowled at Ariakas, apparently for the first time wondering if he should trust the human. "And as for the former, I told you-I know ogres. There's no love lost between their folk and mine. If they suspect they're about to be humiliated by a dwarf, they'll do every shy;thing they can to stop him-me."

Ariakas pretended to study the chain, the draw shy;bridge, and the winches, but all the time his mind was racing through the convolutions of the plan. He didn't like it. Once the dwarf was dangling within reach of the far precipice, Ariakas lost control of events, and he was forced to place his trust in this stranger. True, the dwarves he'd known had generally been a forthright lot. But that was no guarantee as to the veracity of this particular individual. And Ariakas hated a plan that depended upon someone else.

"Look-you can always lower the drawbridge right away. I've got a helluva lot more to lose than you do," stated Ferros bluntly. "We have to do something, and quick! You got a better idea?" he concluded, with termi shy;nal logic.

Ariakas admitted that he didn't. At the same time, the burning memory of the lady in the upper chamber stirred within him, and he yearned to get back to her. For the moment, he just wanted to see, to touch her- whether or not they escaped almost paled into a sec shy;ondary consideration.

"All right," he agreed tersely. "Let's give it a try."

"That's more like it," Ferros snapped. "After all, I'm the one sticking my head into a noose!"

"I'm not going to draw it tight," Ariakas promised, half joking. In truth, if the dwarf had shown any signs of betraying him, the warrior would have tossed him to the ogres without a second thought. But for now, the plan on the table, which required the dwarf to be alive, seemed to be the only one they had.

Ferros tucked the short sword into his waistband and wrapped the chain around his shoulder and chest. He turned, once, to regard Ariakas with a faintly apprais shy;ing eye. "You know how the drawbridge works?" he asked.

"This latchpin is the release-these coils hold tension on the chain to let the bridge down slowly," Ariakas explained with confidence.

"I'm glad I asked," Ferros replied tartly. "Unless you engage this friction bar, those coils won't hold up a thing. You'd have squashed me into a hearthcake!"

"Oh, the friction bar," Ariakas said sheepishly. It was a simple lever, and he pushed it into its engaged posi shy;tion-a detail he would have forgotten on his own.

"Wish me luck," said Ferros rhetorically. He sprang into the narrow window and tested the tension on the chain.

With remarkable agility, the dwarf scrambled along the chain, dangling beneath it and supporting himself with broad, long-fingered hands. The muscles in his shoulders tightened from the strain, but he quickly worked his way to the great eye-bolt in the draw-bridge's end plank. Beyond him yawned full darkness, with just the snow patches on the surrounding peaks visible in the faint starlight.

Heaving himself up to the edge of the bridge, Ferros straddled the end beam for a moment while he manipu shy;lated the ring, latching it around the same eye-bolt that supported the drawbridge chain. Then, with a quick wave, he dropped out of sight behind the stout wooden barrier.

Immediately Ariakas turned to the winch mechanism to reassure himself that the friction bar remained engaged. He released the latchpin, and-true to Fer-ros's prediction-the weight of the bridge began to draw out the chain with a slow, deliberate rattle.

The low drone of ogre voices that Ariakas had heard throughout the keep changed in timbre. First came a slight pause, and he pictured the brutes reacting with shock to the lowering of their drawbridge. Then, as he expected, he heard cries of alarm and footsteps thun shy;dering up the stairs.

A quick glance showed him that the bridge still had a long way to go, so he ran to the stout door and checked to see that the bar was firmly placed. In the next instant he heard a booming smash against that barrier, and then another. Gruff, growling voices snapped and barked at him from the other side. The words were unintelligible but the outrage came through clearly.

Good-at least the first part of their plan had taken the enemy by surprise. He ran back to the window, careful to avoid the chain that steadily clanked outward and down. The drawbridge had reached its halfway point. Although the darkness of the mountains closed in, he could make out enough of the shadowy platform to judge its distance from the ground. As it fell farther away from the main hall, sputtering torches in the entryway cast their illumination outward, an orange glow creeping slowly up the planks.

The ogres continued to pound at the door to the room, but the beam was stout and showed no signs of splintering. The drawbridge dropped lower, and Aria shy;kas tried to imagine Ferros's situation. He knew the dwarf must be swinging back and forth from his short chain during the entire descent. The warrior pictured that terrifying gorge, yawning nearly bottomless below the Hylar's feet, and vertigo tightened his gut. He admitted to himself that Ferros Windchisel was nothing if not courageous.

Finally he saw ogres scrambling up the sloping sur shy;face of the descending bridge-the dwarf knew his ogres-and Ariakas quickly jammed the latchpin into the winch. Immediately the drawbridge ceased its descent, poised a distance that he hoped was within the dwarf's swinging range above the opposite lip of the chasm.

The bridge lurched, and as Ariakas leapt back to the window, he saw one of the scrambling ogres stumble and fall, surprised by the sudden cessation of move shy;ment. The monster rolled from the edge of the bridge, screaming frantically at his companions-two of whom, in a surprising display of courageous loyalty, dived to catch their cohort's hands.

But the ogre's hold was too precarious, his weight too ponderous for any such dramatic rescue. Slowly, inex shy;orably, the grip of clutching fingers weakened until at last he fell free. The wriggling form swiftly vanished into the darkness below, but the echoes of his terrified scream lingered long afterward, ringing from the sur shy;rounding crags.

Had Ferros Windchisel made his leap? Ariakas had no way of knowing, for it was fully black beyond the end of the drawbridge. How long should he wait before dropping it the rest of the way? What if the dwarf chose to escape silently, failing to draw any of the ogres after him?

A long, ululating cry rose from the darkness, well beyond the lip of the drawbridge. Ferros was as good as his word! Immediately the ogres fell silent, almost as if the dwarf's taunting call had touched some deep, pri shy;mal instinct within them. Then their howling grew to a maddening frenzy, and those on the drawbridge scrambled desperately outward, as if hoping that their weight alone would be enough to drop the bridge the rest of the way.

Now was the time. Ariakas started back to the latch-pin, but then paused for an instant. A cruel grin split his scarred lip, and he disengaged the friction bar. Only then did he release the latch.

Chain whizzed past him with a high-pitched scream, unrolling as fast as the unrestricted gears could turn. With a shuddering crash the drawbridge smashed onto the far side of the chasm, bouncing sharply upward before it came to rest again. At least two ogres tumbled off the sides-there may have been more, but Ariakas didn't see them. In any event, terrified howls added to the din as the unfortunate beasts tumbled thousands of feet to their deaths.

But now the drawbridge was down and then, once more, that strangely musical howl rose from the dark shy;ness. The ogres thundered out of the tower in a stam shy;pede, bellowing their outrage and fury as the entire band rumbled toward the echoes of the dwarf's unearthly cry.

Ariakas listened a moment, satisfaction growing within him. Even the ogres who had been pounding at his door rushed down the stairs to join in the stampede. The fools! He crowed to himself, allowing his pleasure to grow into a kind of elation.

Quickly he pulled aside the tapestry and raced around the dizzying spirals toward the top level, his breath drawn in gasping pants by the time he reached the next landing. Struggling for air, he pounded higher, lumbering through the darkness of the secret stair. He passed another landing, and then another.

A few steps above that landing Ariakas crashed headlong onto a solid grate of iron bars. The shock of the impact knocked him off his feet, sprawling to his back with a clatter of armor and sword.

As the echoes of his fall rang through the darkness, he reached forward to confirm with his fingers what his intuition already told him: Someone had closed an iron grate, completely blocking further ascent up the secret stairway.