Gorgoroth (Haladras #2)

NINETEEN

Skylar watched the slave compound through the rusted iron bars of his cage as the cart sluggishly bumped along the road. He watched as it grew smaller, until there was nothing left of it but a dark speck along the ruddy horizon. He might have gone on watching had the crest of a hill not shrouded it from view. It was pointless to keep watching. He knew that. What else could he do but hope to see his friends one final time, perhaps see which direction their new captors would take them? To the north, to the south...east, west? In what direction was he himself being taken?

Gradually, control over his muscles returned to him. Yet the numbness remained. Whether from the muscle paralysis, or heartache, he didn't know. Nor did he care. The pain he felt over the loss of his companions was worse than any physical pain man could endure. For surely they were lost, just as he now was lost.

The barren terrain rolled by with little variation. Rocks, sand, scraggly shrubs, sickly trees, nearly as barren of branches as of leaves, and red sky. The color accentuated his thoughts, his pain. And as time waxed on, both his gloom and the hue of the sky darkened until blackness reigned.

How long they traveled, Skylar did not .

Despite the darkness, a faint ambient light permeated the landscape. Its light source a mystery, for he saw no moon. Eventually, dense clusters of huts and shacks sprang up on either side of the road. After some time, these gave way to more permanent structures-large buildings, shops, taverns, warehouses. People dotted the dark scene as well, illuminated by the sallow glow of street torches. None of these paid them any attention, but all continued about their business, pushing carts, lugging sacks, or carrying heavy thoughts, as though a caged cart full of slaves rolling through the streets was the most nature thing in the world. Many other carts plied the pothole-riddled streets too.

The city went on forever. There seemed no end to the buildings and dwelling houses. Suddenly the sides of the road fell away down into a deep chasm. For the darkness, Skylar could not see the bottom of it. The road itself narrowed into a bridge, just wider than the cart. The cart's wheels clattered prominently as they crossed. Far below, faint as a soft breeze through tree boughs, the sound of rushing water rose into the night air, mingling with the creak and clatter of the cart.

The cart moaned to a halt. A few muffled voices came from ahead.

Skylar turned to see why they had stopped. A gated wall stood before them, four meters high. A torch-wielding sentry was speaking with the driver. The driver presented a wrinkled parchment to the sentry, who glanced at it quickly, nodded, then motioned for them to pass. The great iron gates screeched open, the driver whipped the beasts, and on they rumbled.

They entered into a stone-paved court. Towering in front of them, sharp and angular, was a black stronghold. It loomed before them like a shadow against the night sky. Lacking turrets or battlements, the structure was little more than single keep rising from the stone pavement, pierced here and there with the pallid glow a casement window. A castle? Not as mighty and proud as Castle Ahlderon, but menacing nonetheless.

The driver directed the cart round the front of the black castle, toward one side of it, passing several sentries on foot as they went. Passing through anothergate, they entered a stableyard, where the driver brought the cart to a halt., The clambered down from the cart, tied the reins to a post, then strode off in the direction of the castle.

Skylar glanced around, but saw nothing of interest in the torch lit stableyard. A few carts, a pile of hay in one corner, a hairless beast with a rope around his neck, chomping away at the hay. There was no sign of other life, not sentry nor stableboy. If he had some means of escaping from his confinement, now was the time. Alas, all he possessed were iron shackles, short pants, and raw, blistered wrists.