CHAPTER 10

The Reunion

Brude’s army continued to tramp along the sacred way, kicking up a pall of dust as men and horses moved along the road. The sun was high in the sky, so Brude ordered his lieutenants to halt the army, so that they could rest for a short period. The men uttered deep sighs of relief, as they either dismounted from their horses or just lay in their tracks, gasping for breath as they felt so tired, hungry and thirsty.

Young boys with water containers ran down the lines of men to provide the necessary liquid, also giving each man a couple of pieces of bread and chunks of cheese to eat. Brude loftily dismounted from his magnificent steed, looking around surveying the scene and making sure that everyone was carrying out their duties as they should. His eagle eye missed nothing, as he busily estimated the condition and strength of his army.

He then turned towards Eena and helped her dismount from her horse, giving her a mock gracious wave as he assisted her from her mount. Then he went to Tua’s horse and repeated the procedure with her with equal distain in his overall manner towards her. Neither of the women acknowledged Brude’s mocking gallantry and tried to ignore him as much as possible.

Brude went to Juno’s horse and asked, ‘How are you going, old friend? I do hope you are not too tired and thirsty.’

Juno remained forebodingly silent during Brude’s sneering speech, but he just couldn’t help saying between gritted teeth, ‘I hope you burn in hell before you reach my Temple!’

Brude let out a hearty laugh, replying, ‘You are not in a position to be issuing a curse on me, as all I have to do is to order one of my men to run you through with a sword and you will be dead!’

Juno calmly replied, ‘Well, if you do kill me then you have no bargaining tool to convince my people to accept you as their new leader.’

At these words, Brude became red with rage bellowing to his lieutenants, ‘Drag this man from his horse and I will kill him now.’

Tua cut in saying, ‘If you do that Brude, then you will be defeated now and it will be useless to sack the Temple of the Sun. The people will rise in revolt against you again and again until they defeat you.’

At hearing this, Brude stood transfixed and realised the common-sense of Tua’s words. ‘All right. All right, woman! Give this vermin water and food. For the time being I will keep him alive.’

Brude then quickly turned on his heels giving Tua a baleful look, as he strode along the road towards the Temple of the Sun. Whilst he was doing this, he was all the time muttering under his breath, dark deeds of what he was going to do with Juno, Tua and Eena as well as anyone else who opposed his will. It wasn’t long before he calmed down, took a few gulps of air, turned around and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, he started striding back towards his army. As he approached his lieutenants and the trio of Juno, Eena and Tua he shouted orders for his officers to gather around him. So a military scheme could be best worked out by himself and his advisers, on how to storm the Temple of the Sun.

Just then, one of the scouts came riding back on his horse yelling, ‘The Temple is just over the next hill and the main gate is fully guarded, but the gate itself is open.’

On hearing this news, Brude decided that the best strategy was lightning action now, so he quickly ordered his lieutenants to reassemble his army, and this time the men were to advance faster on foot and horse with rapid speed. By the time they reached the summit of the hill, the sun was already beginning to slowly sink behind the main mountain. Tua knew that at the foot of this particular mountain the Temple was situated in a valley.

Tua whispered to Eena ‘I am afraid that Brude and his army are going to surprise the guards at the Temple, especially as the gate is open. What can we do to thwart Brude’s plan?’

As if telepathically reading their thoughts, Brude ordered that Tua, Eena and Juno’s hands were to be tied to the front saddle of their horses and also to gag them with a cloth across their mouths. This order was carried out very efficiently and quickly by Brude’s men as much to the indignity and mortification of the trio. They were now even more incapacitated prisoners and were now useless to warn the garrison of men who guarded the Temple of the Sun, of the impending attack of Brude’s army.

‘Guards, take these prisoners to that hill and make sure they do not escape from your charge,’ ordered Brude.

Just at that moment, Rom and Aela were viewing the Temple of the Sun as they walked along the sacred way, completely oblivious to the fact that Brude’s army was a short distance behind them. They were delighted to see that the gate of the Temple was open, so they quickened their steps as they walked towards it. Both now knew that they had a good chance of gaining sanctuary as genuine fugitives in the inner sanctum of the Temple.

As Rom and Aela approached the guards at the gate, there was a sudden commotion behind them and they could see that the guards were staring straight through them. Rom quickly turned around, looking in the same direction as the guards.

At a distance on the horizon, Rom could see Brude astride his magnificent black horse, resplendent in his golden armour. Also behind him appeared silhouetted against the sky, a whole bevy of horses and armed men, as well as foot soldiers, holding banners swirling in a cloud of dust. Aela quickly looked at Rom.

‘Good God, Brude has arrived with his massive army,’ Rom said to Aela. ‘We must convince the guards to give us sanctuary, otherwise we will be lost.’

Neither Aela nor Rom needed to have worried, as at that instant they were caught up with a group of peasants who were outside the fortress walls tending to their crops. They too, also had seen the danger up on the hill. The peasants had come running like agitated ants, as fast as they could, to get inside the fortress walls as quickly as possible, in order to gain some form of protection from the enemy So our heroes were able to pass unnoticed amidst the motley scrum of people and quickly gained access inside the gate.

The guards were too busy organising the closing of the two huge bronze gates to be concerned about the people who were scrambling inside the fortress. They were too preoccupied with this task, as well as organising at the same time, sending a messenger, back to their headquarters situated near the Temple informing their commander of the approaching enemy.

Rom grabbed Aela’s arm, ‘Come Aela, let us run down this street away from the crowds and make our way towards the Temple of the Sun.’

The couple fled along the narrow alley way, only stopping when they felt they were relatively safe. Both were panting and finding difficulty in getting their breath back to a normal rhythm. Simultaneously they leaned their backs against one of the walls of a house situated along the alley way.

Aela whispered to Rom, ‘Do you think anyone recognized us as we came through the gate? We do not want to be taken prisoner by Juno’s men.’

‘I really haven’t the faintest idea Let us rest here for awhile,’ suggested Rom as he struggled to breath through his mouth.

Aela was so grateful for this suggestion, she immediately plopped herself down on the pavement, placed her head in her lap and closed her eyes. Rom sat beside her, relieved that he also could have a short rest.

Unbeknown to Rom and Aela, someone in the crowd had recognised them, this person was crafty Croan. He realised that he needed to run at high speed towards the headquarters, to let the Commander Arterus know of the news that not only did they have Brude’s army at their gate but also within their walls was Aela and Rom a golden prize they could use to bargain with the enemy.

Croan immediately thought that he may be granted a wonderful reward of riches for supplying this information to Arterus. He quickly ran towards the headquarters of the army, muttering, ‘At last I may gain some recognition and be useful to the commander and his lieutenants.’

On reaching his goal, Croan tried to enter the building, but was immediately stopped by two guards, who blocked his pathway with crossed spears.

‘Let me in! Let me in! I need to see the Commander, as I have some important information to give him.’

The two guards looked at each other, as all they could see was a scruffy looking, agitated person, with darting, furtive eyes, who was waving his arms in an ungainly fashion.

Neither of the guards were impressed and one of them exclaimed, ‘Get out of our sight you filthy vagabond! Our Commander doesn’t want to see you. You look disgustingly dirty and you have a suspicious looking face. I don’t think I would believe your information, even if you were my mother!’

Croan at this stage was really frustrated, and continued to shout, ‘Let me get in, you underlings! I have some important news for the Commander Arterus.’

The two guards looked at each other for a moment, then without a word, they faced Croan, pointing their spears straight at his heart, as he was standing in front of them.

‘Get out of our sight you villain, before I run you through with this spear,’ said one of the guards.

Croan saw that the guards meant business so he made a hasty retreat down the alley from whence he had come.

As he was running, he inadvertently tripped over Rom’s legs that were sticking out, as Rom was half-lying on the flagstones, with his back against the wall. Croan tumbled onto the stones, at the same time cursing at the top of his voice. Rom sprang up and unsheathed his sword.

‘Who are you? You dirty scoundrel,’ as he pointed his sword at Croan’s throat.

‘Don’t kill me’ gasped Croan. I have some important information for the Commander, but he won’t see me.’

Then Rom, recognising Croan’s voice, bent down, looking at him. ‘Ho, ho. What do we have here? The worst traitor in the world, Croan!’

At these words, Croan stopped squirming and looked up to see that he was staring straight into the face of Rom. He was quite surprised, but at the same time, he was also secretly pleased he had discovered Rom.

Croan thought that the gods were truly smiling on him, that he would receive the golden award of recognition, he was craving.

‘I know who you are, you are Rom!’ cried Croan in triumph.

‘Well, what of it?’ Rom testily replied. ‘You cannot be trusted and I think the world would be a better place if I kill you now. Nobody will miss you.’

Croan looked really terrified. ‘No, no, don’t do that, because I can help to you. I know of a secret tunnel, that lies beneath the Temple where you can hide in safety. If you walk along this passage it leads you underneath the mountain to a path on the other side, where you can escape.’

‘I don’t believe a word you are saying,’ hissed Rom. ‘You are always lying about something or other.’

‘You have to believe me! I will take you now to the entrance of the secret passage,’ blurted out Croan, desperately hanging onto Rom’s leg.

‘Let go of me, you whining idiot!’ yelled Rom, and at the same time he tried to shake Croan off.

‘Rom, wait a moment. Let’s listen and not close our ears to him,’ stated Aela in soft tones. ‘He might know something after all.’

‘Yes, yes,’ exclaimed Croan eagerly. ‘You are a clever lady. I am telling you the truth. I will take you both there now, as I want to escape as well. Brude and his massive army will sack the Temple and I don’t think he is going to spare many lives, I am not ready to die just yet.’ Croan gave out a nervous laugh.

Rom paused a moment, as he looked straight at Croan intently, as if he was trying to read Croan’s thoughts, through his eyes.

Croan blinked his eyes and lowered his head, breathing heavily, as if he was waiting for Rom’s sword to pass through his heart at any instant.

‘All right your life is spared, but if you double cross me at any time, I will show you no mercy,’ exclaimed Rom, at the same time kicking his leg in a vain attempt to shake off Croan’s grip, who continued to grasp his leg desperately with both hands.

‘Come Croan, Rom has agreed to spare your life, so let go of his leg.’ Aela quietly said.

With this reassurance, Croan released his tight grip on Rom’s leg. ‘Thank goodness for that, my leg was beginning to ache with Croan’s hands gripped around it. Take us immediately to the entrance of the secret passage, so we can escape to safety,’ ordered Rom.

Without a word Croan very quickly walked down the alleyway and both Aela and Rom had a lot of difficulty keeping up with him. Very soon they were at the front entrance of a small Temple, which was illuminated with two large torches attached to the two main columns at the front entrance.

The flames from the torches spluttered in the evening breeze. There were no sentries standing guard in front of the tall pillars or on the steps, which struck Rom at the time as being unusual. But he had no time to think about this anomaly as Croan quickly disappeared into the gloom of the main hall of the Temple.

‘Come quickly Aela, we must not lose sight of Croan. He is our only chance of escaping.’

Aela needed no prompting from Rom, even though she was feeling tired from all the running along the lane. Somehow she found another reserve of energy within her body and leapt after Rom, as he dived into the sinister darkness of the main area of the building.

Neatly positioned in regular niches, were a number of flickering torches all around the walls, giving off a fitful light, providing the impression of a number of dancing figures contorting into weird shapes, cavorting along the surrounding walls of the temple. Aela took one look at these patterns and shuddered, making sure she was even closer to Rom, as they ran through the immense chamber, trying to find out which way Croan had gone.

She called, ‘Rom, he is disappearing through that big black hole at the far end,’ she frantically pointed with her finger. At the same time she grabbed Rom’s arm and shook it vigorously. Rom needed no further prompting, as he leapt forward with his sword unsheathed and pointed the tip of the sword in that direction.

As they ran closer, they could see Croan reach out one hand and touch the wall. A grinding sound could be heard, as though stone on stone was in collision with each other. Then Croan completely disappeared into a black void, with Aela and Rom tumbling after him.

Rom could hear Croan heavily breathing with quick blasts spitting out of his mouth, just in front of him. Also Croan let out loud oaths, whenever his body or head accidentally hit the roof or rough side walls of the tunnel, as he clumsily lumbered along. Both Rom and Aela were following very closely behind Croan and they too came in painful contact with the tunnel walls and the low roof in the pitch darkness. The air was also musty and foul smelling and all three found themselves spluttering and coughing.

It appeared like an eternity as time passed, all were at breaking point in their physical endurance, when Croan gave a triumphant cry, ‘I am through,’ then disappeared from sight altogether.

Rom and Aela tumbled over each other and ended up on top of Croan.

‘Get off, you are killing me,’ yelled Croan in despair.

‘All right, all right, stop moaning Croan. The way you are carrying on, you would think that I was killing you right now,’ loudly complained Rom.

Slowly the trio unravelled themselves from each other and inspected themselves carefully for any major injuries on their person. Satisfied none of them had any broken bones, other than a few minor cuts and bruises and that they were not seriously injured. They all got to their feet together and looked around to see where they were located.

The pale pink, blush-golden glow was discernable on the distant horizon, as the half oval shape of the sun peeped from the shadow of the night. A new day would soon be dawning, bringing life and hope for everyone who was alive on this mother earth. ‘Let us rest for awhile,’ suggested Aela. Without a word the three dropped quickly on the ground, stretched their weary limbs and at the same time tried to breath into their lungs as much air as possible.

Back at the Temple of the Sun, Brude’s foot soldiers set up a steady trotting pace down the incline, then without any orders from their officers they then broke into a wild run, yelling at the top of their voices.

‘Kill! Kill! Death to the bastards!’ and other curses that were lost in the thundering noise of the hooves from the horses of the cavalry, as their riders urged them on in front of the foot soldiers.

The horses sensing the excitement of the impending battle, flared their nostrils, letting out basic, whinnying shrieks of terror from their gaping mouths. First arching their necks, then lowering them, the horses en masse, broke into a mad uncontrolled gallop. Kicking further dust into the air, they streaked towards the Bronze Gates, with their riders leaning forward, lying low over the necks of their animals.

At the Bronze Gates, the sentries were desperately trying to close the mighty doors and at the same time attempting to stop the constant flow of terrified refugees, hell bent in getting to safety, inside the fortress walls.

Finally, the gates started to close with much grinding of wheels and counter weights, as the gap began to close. There was a loud clanging noise, as the two sides of the gate connected with each other and for a brief time there was silence. A rousing cheer was heard, from the relieved people who had made it to the sanctuary.

However this was short lived as there were scuttling sounds on the outside the fortified wall, then helmeted heads appeared at the top of the gates and the walls, with many pairs of blazing eyes staring down at the inhabitants below. Before anyone realised what was happening, Brude’s men had scrambled down the chains they that had thrown down to the flagstones of the main court yard.

Once the men had scrambled down the chains and their feet had hit the ground, they ran towards the big gates and some of the men then climbed up so they could then start the mechanism to open the big gates. As soon as there was a reasonable gap in the Bronze Gates, Brude and his men galloped through on their horses and started to hack down their enemy with their swords that were in close proximity to the cavalry.

Some men fell silently and others screamed in pain with blood gushing out of their wounds. The skirmish was over very quickly and Brude ordered his men to further advance down the street, towards the main Temple. He was impatient to hold the Sacred Sword in his grasp and then he knew he would truly be master of all the lands and people around him.

Brude, riding on his horse with his cavalry of riders and horses, was soon at the main entrance of the Temple, but there was no one guarding it. He slipped off his horse quickly and leapt up the steps and advanced through the main hallway, with his officers on foot closely following him.

The place was completely empty. Without hesitation, he ran into the inner sanctum and there above him was the Sacred Sword suspended in the air by a golden chain. Brude could see a lever situated directly behind the Sword, so he strode over, grasping it with both hands and slowly pulled it towards himself. There was a grinding sound and the Sword slowly descended towards him. It was soon, within his reach, Brude grasped it in both hands and swung it above his head in triumph.

‘Where are the priests who can teach me the Sword’s magical powers?’

There was silence amongst his men, Brude looked around impatiently. ‘Go and find someone now!’ he shrieked.

Instantly there was immediate action, as his officers sent out men to find someone who had the knowledge that Brude was demanding. But all the priests had disappeared, leaving Brude to brood over his dilemma.

Then someone suggested that Tua, as priestess of the Temple, might know something. Tua was brought before Brude, who ordered her to tell him, whether she knew the secret of the Sword’s magical powers.

‘I do not know myself the magical incantations, but first you have to have the true Sword. This is only a replica that Juno had made by his artisans, when Rom confiscated the true Sword.’

This was an unexpected revelation to him. Brude was extremely disappointed by this news. ‘Are you absolutely certain that Rom has taken the true Sword?’ stated Brude testily.

‘Yes, I am sure of this, as Juno told me this and swore me to secrecy. He did not want to tell his people, that he no longer had the true Sacred Sword.’

Brude paused for a moment. ‘Then why are you telling me this now, Tua?’

‘It is to my advantage to let you know the secret now,’ coolly Tua replied.

‘I would send your scouts out now and offer a rich reward for Rom’s capture. Better still, I would double the reward and see if you can also capture Aela as well. Then you are assured, Rom will reveal where he has hidden the Sword.’

‘What will you get out of it for yourself, Tua?’ asked Brude slyly.

‘You will reward me by bestowing on me the title of Chief High Priestess of the Temple of the Sun, as well as gold and jewellery,’ Tua replied.

‘Well, you are certainly very sure of yourself!’ Brude answered. He then shouted, ‘Guards, send for my officers so they can organise the scouts to start scouring the countryside for Rom and Aela!’

Tua was very satisfied with herself, as she quickly left Brude’s presence, she was very sure, she would be richly rewarded for her information.

In the meantime, Rom and Aela were arguing with each other about what would be their next strategy to take, as neither wanted to be captured again.

‘Let us go back to our people with the Sacred Sword!’ exclaimed Aela.

At this information Croan pricked up his ears and slowly moved closer to the couple, in order to find out more.

‘Hush, Aela. We do not want anybody to know what I have done yet,’ whispered Rom to Aela.

‘Croan, you can go and sit by that tree over there, so that Rom and I can have a private conversation,’ ordered Aela.

Croan very reluctantly shuffled over to the designated tree, muttering to himself.

‘Do you think he heard what I said to you, Rom?’ asked Aela anxiously.

Rom shrugged his shoulders. ‘Even if he did, it is now too late. But we have to make sure he doesn’t give us the slip this time, he must not escape from us.’

Aela nodded in agreement.

‘I think your plan to retrieve the Sacred Sword and return home is the best idea. I can’t think of any other strategy at this stage,’ stated Rom firmly. ‘But first, we must find some food and shelter for the night. We can ask the people living in those huts, just over the hill. Then tomorrow morning we can set off to retrieve the Sword and find our way home.’

With renewed energy and general feelings of purpose in their proposed plan of action, Aela and Rom collected Croan from under the tree and they started to walk in the direction of the cluster of huts, situated in a little hamlet just over the hill. They found the inhabitants very friendly and most happy to share their food and shelter with them for the night.

Next morning, Rom and Aela said their goodbyes and were about to begin their journey, when suddenly they were surrounded by a number of soldiers.

‘Found you at last. Won’t Brude be happy that we have captured you both again! Here is the gold reward promised by Brude for any information leading to your whereabouts!’

The soldier handed over a small pouch to one of the inhabitants. ‘Come, men. Bind their hands together. I do not want either of them to run away. What have we here? Some kind of scum?’ as he peered down at Croan who was lying on the ground begging for mercy.

‘I was going to hand them over to Brude’ wailed Croan. ‘I too, want a reward.’

At this statement, all the soldiers burst out laughing. ‘Off you go you scoundrel, before I kill you with my sword.’

With these words, Croan let out a scream and quickly ran towards the forest and he was soon swallowed up from view by the nearby trees.

‘Come, let us get these two back to Brude as soon as possible so we can claim our reward from Brude!’ exclaimed one of the soldiers.

So with feelings of intense defeat and foreboding, both Aela and Rom were led away by the soldiers on the road back to the Temple of the Sun.