Warden
Imight not have wanted sustenance, but my mate knows better. My stomach is grateful to be filled with good food, and my heart is grateful to have Hazel by my side.
Once we’re done, she throws aside the blanket covering her.
“What are you doing?”
“I feel better and I want to find this amulet,” she responds, bending to pull on her boots. “Don’t you?” She pulls on her dress and straps the sword to her waist before turning to me. “So where is it?”
“Reavely says it was last seen in the dungeons where his father had a strong box,” I explain. “I believe we can start there and chances are it will reveal itself.”
“Okay,” Hazel responds as we exit the bedroom. “What does it look like?”
“It is a red stone, surrounded by a grey stone. Carved into the shape of a Wyrm.”
Hazel looks around at the red and grey stone which makes up the castle we’re in.
“That should be easy to spot then,” she grumbles.
“There is a crystal set in the eye of the Wyrm. The crystal gives it the power,” I explain.
“What sort of power?” she asks as we descend the spiral stairs down and down to the dungeons.
“The power of sight, which, as you have found, the Thegn uses against us.”
“So, we can see it?”
“For something which does not want to be seen, this is a power it fears.”
“Hardly seems a way of defeating it.”
“Once seen, it cannot be unseen, and then it can die,” I explain.
We reach the bottom of the stairs, and they open out into the stone dungeon.
It’s well lit by flickering torches, and as I expected, Reavely has had it cleared of anything which might be reminiscent of its previous function.
Instead it is being used to store food items which need to be kept cool.
A much more sensible use of the space. I pick an apple out of a bushel and bite into it.
Beside me, Hazel snorts a laugh, so I hand her an apple too.
“Where should we start looking?” She takes a bite of her apple, and my trousers tighten.
“We need to find the area where the strong box would have been.” I lead her deeper into the dungeon and we navigate around the crates filled with everything needed to keep an entire castle of Barghest going.
Very different to what is kept in the dungeons of the Shadow Keep.
“This is ridiculous,” Hazel says. “We’re going to need to spilt up to cover more ground, or we’ll be down here for weeks.”
I don’t want to agree with her because I don’t want to leave her, but my lady is correct. The Barghest castle is built on the same pattern as the Shadow Keep, but it is much, much larger. Unless we do this separately, we could be here for days.
I doubt the Thegn will wait, not if it’s already been in my mate’s head once before.
“If we do the separate passages individually and then return to the main passage once searched and wait until the other arrives back,” I suggest.
Hazel nods and turns down the first passage to our left.
I head right and begin looking for anything which might resemble a strong box or a place to hide an amulet.
I can’t imagine the Barghest looked particularly hard for the thing.
After all, he has everything he needs and is not going to be bothered by a Thegn.
It still rankles with me I even had to admit my involvement with it to Reavely. He didn’t pass judgement, but no creature actively encourages a Thegn into their lives.
“Warden!” Hazel’s voice rings out through the dungeon.
I am instantly in my Brag form and galloping to where I last saw her, pounding down the passage.
But there is no sign of my lady.
“Hazel?”
“Here.” Her voice comes from right next to me, but there is only a blank wall.
“I can’t see you,” I growl.
“No.” The twisted form of the Thegn pushes through the stone into the passage. “You can’t see her,” he says. “She belongs to me now, along with the amulet and the sword she carries.”
I lash out a kick at the creature, but it does not connect, instead going straight through.
“When are you going to learn, Warden? I took what I needed from you, and in return you got what you wanted. You don’t get anything else.”
“That wasn’t the deal,” I snarl, attempting, again, to lash out at him with the sharp edge of my front hoof.
The Thegn is not here. It is somewhere else and it has taken Hazel.
“Now, now, Warden. I’m sure you don’t want your pretty mate knowing the truth, do you?
And you can keep your secret if you don’t pursue me.
” Its shadow face becomes filled with irregular teeth, ones which belong to all the animals in the Yeavering.
“I can keep a secret from her, for all eternity.” He laughs, a wheezing and a snorting I had hoped to never hear again.
“You’re good at picking powerful beings to become involved with. I will enjoy Hazel very much.”
I launch myself at the Thegn with a roar. It pops out of existence, but above, I hear the sounds of the Barghests howling out a warning.
My hooves are like thunder as I pound out of the dungeon, up into the courtyard, where there is an incredible commotion.
“Warden!” Reavely bellows at me from the steps of his castle keep. I know I agreed not to be in Brag form, but I no longer have a care for what he thinks.
“It has Hazel,” I shout. “The Thegn has my mate.”
A number of the Barghest warriors are looking skyward, and I follow their gaze. On the top of the turret, the Thegn is framed, dark against the sunset. In its claws is my Hazel. She’s limp, like she might already be dead.
All I hear is the thumping of hooves on stone, blood rushing in my head as I race up and up the turret to the windswept top. Behind me are the shouts of the Barghest, which are whipped away as I burst out of the wooden door to find the place empty.
Empty save for the hollow, choking laughter of the Thegn.