The Song and the Serpent

“There it is!” Kian almost shouted as he pointed. “I see it!”

He pointed up the slope of a rise that led east, away from the river. Adan turned and looked up to see the dark stone of a tower rising above them.

”The Tower of Cellion,” he said, relief evident in his voice.

They had risen early that morning and made their slow way along the river bank. There was no path beside the Tosken river, so they had been forced to find their way through ravines and gorges mixed with patches of dense underbrush. A shallow spot in the rushing river had allowed them to cross to the eastern side by mid morning. By now, the sun was already high in the sky approaching midday.

Thankfully, they had seen no sign of the warriors pursuing them. Adan wanted to hope that they had lost them along the river, but the events of the last few days had taught him better than to hope for such good fortune.

Kian turned right and urged Arrow to a gallop. Adan directed Havoc to do the same and they rode up the slope of the wooded hill. The trees temporarily obscured the stone tower above, but as they crested the hill, they came to an open area that surrounded the structure.

Two hundred paces tall, the cylinder of stone stood four times higher than any tree on the slope. Large blocks of stone had been chiseled to fit together, layer upon layer, to form the four walls of Cellion. Adan could see cracks and gaps in the crumbling stones that displayed the tower’s age. Vines had crept their way up the face of the stones, and patches of green moss and other small plants covered the lower layers.

Adan could see parapets at the top of the structure and a single doorway sat at the base. No door hung in the open entrance. Adan guessed the old gate had rotted away decades before, leaving nothing but an arched opening. Adan could see six windows on the wall facing them, tall, thin slits in the stone that afforded the tower’s occupants the ability to see outside without being easily seen.

Adan and Kian slowed their mounts as they approached the doorway and Adan looked down at the tall grass surrounding the tower.

“Kian,” He said in a low voice.

Kian looked back at Adan. “What is it?”

Adan pointed to the ground where he could see clear signs or recent activity around the tower. Grass had been crushed and knocked over by walking feet in many places.

Kian read the signs in the grass and looked up at Adan. Someone had been here recently, that much was evident.

They dismounted, taking care not to make a great deal of noise as they landed.

“If someone is here,” Kian whispered, “and they hate warriors from Undelma as much as we do, then they won’t like the sight of us riding up. They’ll probably think we’re scouts for a larger force.”

Adan looked down at the remnants of his brightly colored robe. He had cut a great deal of it off to use for their torches in the Morkil, and their time wandering the entire northwest of Esta hadn’t improved his appearance, but Kian was right. They were still dressed in the livery of the servants of Sithril.

“So we proceed with caution then,” he said, putting a hand on his sword hilt and making his way to the entrance.

They climbed the set of steps that led up to the doorway and looked inside. Daylight illuminated a large empty chamber beyond with a set of stairs at the back of the room.

Kian made to step forward into the tower, but Adan put a hand out to stop him. Kian looked up at Adan, puzzled.

“I’ll go first,” Adan whispered in explanation. “I’m your bodyguard, after all.”

Kian stiffened. “I’m not the future Lord of Farel anymore, Adan.”

Adan opened his mouth to protest, but he could find nothing to say. Instead, he drew his sword and stepped forward into the dark interior before Kian could stop him.

He glanced right and left, confirming that there was no hidden assailant in the chamber. Kian stepped in behind him.

After circling the room to ensure its emptiness, Adan turned to the steps. A winding staircase spiraled up the tower’s exterior wall to the next level.

Adan began to climb the stone steps with Kian directly behind him.

“You don’t have to do things like that anymore,” Kian whispered, gesturing back to the doorway. “I don’t need to be kept alive and protected anymore. I’m just an ordinary man now.”

Adan didn’t answer as he climbed the steps.

“I’m just your friend, and I don’t want you to die for my sake.”

Adan continued without answering.

“I mean it, Adan. Do you hear me?”

Adan paused on the steps, not facing Kian.

Kian hesitated behind Adan. “Well?”

Adan took a deep breath. “I made a vow to you and your father, and I’m not going to break it because of what’s happened. Don’t encourage me to.”

Adan continued up the steps. After a moment, he heard Kian resume climbing behind him.

“Alright,” was all Kian said.

The spiral staircase wound upward to a second level which was empty. Four windows sat opposite each other, evenly spaced apart, and shining small daggers of sunlight into the dark interior. Adan and Kian ascended four more levels in silence, finding nothing but more windows, bare stone, and cobwebs. Adan’s curved blade remained unsheathed during the climb.

“It seems we may have come here in vain,” Kian whispered.

As Adan stepped through the doorway to the fifth level, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

Instinctively, he lifted his blade. His head jerked to the side.

Something connected with his upraised sword and threw him off balance. A dark figure had leapt forward and tried to strike Adan over the head with a staff.

Adan reeled backwards and the figure rained down a hail blows with the sturdy shaft. Adan desperately blocked while trying not to tumble backwards on top of Kian. He felt Kian’s hand on his back and heard the sound of scraping metal as Kian drew his blade.

The man attacking them wore a brown robe with a rope tied around his waist to hold it in place. A brown cowl obscured his face and he wielded the staff with a practiced hand.

This man was a warrior.

After gaining his balance, Adan drove himself forward at the assailant, trying to get close enough for the attacker’s staff to be useless. A staff may be an excellent weapon for wide swing attacks, but it was less ideal for close quarters.

Adan tried to pin the staff against the wall to his left and push the man back, but the man pivoted to the side. Adan’s weight carried him into the room.

Only then did he realize his mistake.

Four more men stood in the room, armed with various tools and weapons. They surrounded him and brandished two hammers, a wood ax, and a spade. Adan lifted his blade and took a fighting stance.

Kian dashed in after Adan and came to stand beside him.

The man with the staff joined his companions as they formed a ring around the two of them.

“Drop your weapons now,” the hooded figure said in a low voice.

They ignored him, and stood still, watching their attackers warily. Adan saw one other man dressed in the same brown cowl as the first attacker. The other three wore long tunics and belts made of leather. None of them looked like warriors.

“Drop them now.”

“Or what?” Kian asked.

“I would think that’s obvious,” the man replied, taking a step forward.

“You think we’re scared of you?” Kian replied.

“You ought to be. You’re outnumbered.”

Kian laughed. “Outnumbered? Outnumbered? Do you hear him, Adan? He says we’re outnumbered. I think he expects us to surrender willingly.”

Adan remained silent. They had certainly faced far worse than these five in the last few days, but the man with the staff knew how to handle himself.

“Let me tell you something, my good fellow,” Kian continued. “In the last fortnight, we’ve survived an attack at sea where we were really and truly outnumbered, taken prisoner by deranged warriors and then fed to their pet drynth. After surviving that, we’ve faced down elite guards, a dark spirit, a long, dangerous road home, and the entire army of invaders who destroyed our homeland.”

Kian held the man’s stare as he paused for breath. “And now you have the audacity to ask us to surrender because we’re outnumbered…”

The man in the brown robe didn’t answer.

“If you’re trying to avoid an unnecessary fight,” Adan interjected, “then we’ll happily oblige you. But neither of us will be surrendering to anyone today.”

The four others looked at the man with the staff. Adan saw questions in their eyes.

They don’t know whether to believe him or not, he thought.

The staff wielder held Kian’s stare for several moments.

“Are you saying you don’t serve Sithril?” he asked.

“We don’t,” Kian replied.

“And your garments?”

“Disguises to help us escape.”

“And you really have been to Undelma.”

“Yes.”

The man relaxed, resting the butt of his staff on the floor. At his gesture, the other four men stepped back and lowered their weapons.

“You don’t seem to be lying,” he said, “and we don’t want to fight you if it’s unnecessary, but you may understand why we don’t trust you. We received word that a troop of Undelmans were headed this way from the sack of Farel. We expected them today and thought you were scouts.”

Kian lowered his blade, but he did not sheath it.. “You heard correctly. We were followed by a troop on the east road yesterday, although we hoped to lose them along the Tosken.”

“Who are you?” the man asked.

Kian hesitated before answering. “My name is Kian, and this is Adan. We come from Farel.”

“Survivors from Farel?” one of the other men said, a young lean man with brown hair and a beard. The man gripped the handle of a wood ax as if the tool was a lifeline. “We were told that there were no survivors.”

“We weren’t there when…” Kian paused and cleared his throat. “…when it happened.”

“Who are you?” Adan asked the robed man.

“I’m Samo, the Bard of Estanik.”

“Never heard of it.”

“You wouldn’t have. It’s a small village in the north.”

“And the rest of you?” Kian asked, glancing at the other four.

Adan surveyed the others; The young man with the brown hair and beard, the other robed figure whose face was still invisible behind his cowl, and two men who looked identical in appearance. Adan realized they were undoubtedly twins, judging by their matching faces. They stood tall and muscular, with scraggly beards and long black hair tied with a cord at the back.

“We’re from Estanik as well,” the man with the dark hair and beard replied.

“Except me,” the other brown robed figure spoke out. The voice underneath the cowl was high pitched and sounded very young. He set the head of a spade he had been holding on the floor and leaned the handle against the wall. Then he drew back his hood, revealing a young, beardless face with curly blond hair.

“Laxander of Allgor,” he said. “I’m an apprentice to the Chief Bard.”

“I’m Nolt,” one of the twins said.

“And I’m Bolf,” the second one said.

“And no, we won’t expect you to tell them apart,” the bearded man said. “I’m Fin, by the way.”

Adan looked back at Samo to see the bard remove his cowl as well. He was bald, dark skinned, with a long thin nose and a carefully trimmed black beard.

“We all seem to be Estans, here,” Kian said, looking around the room. He still held his sword in one hand.

“Or at least we claim to be,” Fin said.

“I have a question,” Kian continued.

Samo nodded.

“How is it you know about Undelma and Sithril? We had not so much as heard those names until we were captured.”

Adan had been wondering the same thing.

Samo glanced at his companions. “That’s a bit of a long story.”

”We’re in no hurry,” Adan said.

The bard sighed. “Many of the bards have long suspected that Undelma was occupied again, and that it was only a matter of time before those zealots made an attempt on Esta.”

”Occupied again?” Kian asked. “This has happened before?”

”Not these exact events, but Undelma has been the site of many wicked doings throughout history. There’s something about the place that corrupts the hearts of men and encourages the most debased behavior.”

A memory flashed through Adan’s head: An image of a black figure standing on a stone bridge.

Adan and Kian looked at each other.

“We didn’t know anything for certain until our Chief Bard, Hurst, finally found the hidden city and confirmed our suspicions. Until today, we thought Hurst was the only man to see Undelma and live. You said something about a drynth earlier. Did it live in the temple?”

Kian nodded. “It lived in a chasm underneath. They would release it into an arena with our companions.”

“Coralyd.” Samo muttered as if to himself.

“If you knew so much,” Adan asked, “then why didn’t you warn the king or the other lords of Esta?”

“We didn’t know for sure until recently, but we did warn the king. And we charged the bards of every city, town, and village to warn their leaders.”

“No one in Farel knew about this,” Kian said.

“I’m not surprised. Many of the bards didn’t believe us. None of the bards in Threcalax would listen. The king has appointed Rhonwyn as his advisor, giving him a great deal more power than any bard should have.”

Laxander, the younger bard, stepped forward. “Rhonwyn has done everything he can to undermine Hurst. He wants the title of Chief Bard for himself and he’s willing to tell the king anything to keep his position, the hypocrite.”

”And the king has been fool enough to listen,” Samo continued. “I truly suspect that the messengers we sent to Farel and Allgor were intercepted and stopped in some way. That or they were secretly loyal to Rhonwyn. But now it’s too late, and Rhonwyn and the King will soon discover the truth. The Undelman’s are already bound for Allgor, and Threcalax will follow. It won’t be long before the Three Cities have fallen.”

Adan stiffened. Samo had already given up hope for Esta. In his mind, Hugo had already won. Adan refused to give up on their homeland so easily.

“I have another question,” Kian asked.

The bard nodded.

Kian cleared his throat. “Why are you five hiding in a tower, as far from the fighting as you can get, while your brothers face death at the hands of these murderers?”

At Kian’s accusation, Samo was the only man to remain unmoved. The other four stood up straight and glared at Kian.

“Why are you two here,” Laxander challenged. “We’re not the only ones to be as far from the fighting as possible.”

Samo held up a hand. “Peace. The question is a fair one. They don’t yet know.”

Laxander, Fin, and the twins restrained their anger and Kian’s implication.

Samo looked at the floor for a moment before replying. “I cannot give a satisfactory answer to your question at this very moment. Suffice it to say that we are not seeking to gratify our own cowardice. If you wish to know more, then there is something that you must do.”

Kian’s eyes narrowed. “What is it?”

”You must trust us, and come with us into the forest.”

Adan looked at Kian to gauge his reaction. Kian never took his eyes off the bard.

”We will not require that you give up your weapons. You can either throw your lot in with us to discover why we are here, or leave this tower now. Your choice.”

Kian remained quiet, considering Samo’s proposal.

In the silence that followed, a distant sound came clearly through the window facing west: The sound of a distant shout.

“I see it!” A male voice cried. “Up the hill.”

Everyone looked at each other, eyes widening.

“Undelmans!” Fin whispered. “They found us.”

“No one move!” Samo shouted. He spun around toward the window behind him and peeked out.

“I see them,” he whispered. ”No less than twenty warriors on horseback.”

”What do you plan to do?” Kian asked, his voice calm. “They will search this tower. Will you fight or flee?”

”We cannot flee,” Samo said. He looked at the four men with him and. “They’ll follow us and ride us down if we leave now. We must fight.”

“Then don’t stay here,” Kian replied. “Unless you have a hidden store of bows and arrows, you can’t drive them off in here. You’ll have to fight them in the open.”

“But we’re outnumbered and on foot,” Fin said, “There’s more than twice their number and they have horses. What if we draw them in and fight them inside?”

“They’re smarter than that,” Kian replied. “They’ll simply withdraw and block your exit. Then they'll either wait for you to die of thirst or smoke you out.”

“Like rats in a trap,” Samo growled.

“We need to take them head on,” Kian replied. “And now. Adan and I have horses. Let us ride first.”

Samo looked at him and narrowed his eyes.

“Let us earn your trust,” said Kian, brandishing his blade.

Fin ran to the window and looked out. “They’ll be here in moments.”

Samo remained silent, staring at Kian.

Adan understood his reluctance. If he and Kian were traitors, and they turned on the survivors, Samo’s men would be doomed.

“Samo, listen to me,” Kian said, standing to his full height. “I am Kian, Halthornson, heir to the seat of Farel. Adan here is my bodyguard and the finest swordsman I’ve ever seen. The men on their way here destroyed my home and my family and I have been itching for a chance to kill some of them.”

Samo’s eyes grew wide. “Halthorn’s son?”

”Follow me!” Kian commanded, before running through the open doorway and down the steps.

Adan was right behind him.