Aela Read online

  ‘You have placed me in a difficult position,’ Juno said to Rom. ‘You should be dying, not Arnor. What am I to do with you?’

  The crowd continued to chant non-stop ‘Death to the enemy. Death to Rom!’ and worked themselves into a frenzy.

  ‘Guards take him away, I will deal with him later.’ shouted Juno.

  As Rom was lead away, some of the people began to realise what was happening and a few leapt to their feet and started running towards Rom and the guards. Seeing this, a number of the guards turned to face the small group of people with their spears at the ready, whilst the rest of the guards hustled Rom through a side entrance and half dragged and pushed him along the tunnel. Rom was soon once again in his prison cell, unceremoniously thrown on the floor and the door slammed shut.

  Rom felt as if he had achieved nothing and he was back where he had started, but this time round he had killed the people’s hero, Arnor. All of a sudden he felt completely exhausted in body and mind. He found himself falling in a exhausted sleep, as he lay sprawled out on the prison floor. He felt as though he had been pushed down a long dark tunnel and he heard a voice calling him, ‘Rom, Rom, Rom.’

  There in the blur of his mind, he thought he saw a faint figure looking like Aela sitting on a cave floor with her hands outstretched towards him. ‘Come to me Rom, I need you.’ Then his mind went blank and he heard and saw no more.

  How long he had been lying there, Rom could not tell as he slowly opened his eyes, taking in his gloomy surroundings. Nearby someone had left an oil lamp with its flickering wick providing some light to the darkened room. Rom’s eyes focused on a round loaf of bread, with what appeared to be a hunk of cheese and a cylinder shaped vessel. Cautiously and wearily Rom moved his arms and legs, then gingerly rolled on his side. His whole body ached, especially the arm that took the major impact from the blows Arnor delivered on Rom’s shield with his sword, during the contest.

  Gradually he pushed himself along the floor towards the lamp and food. Grasping the vessel he downed the liquid inside the container in a series of gulps hardly stopping to take a breath. Once Rom’s thirst was slaked, he tore the bread apart, eating the pieces rapidly. He devoured the cheese in an instant and then he raised his body resting his head against the stone wall of the prison, and breathed slowly.

  This moment of peace was short-lived as he heard the sound of footsteps outside his prison door. There was a murmur of voices, the door was flung open and in strode two men, they walked towards Rom and dragged him to his feet. His arms were quickly pinned to his sides by these men, before Rom could do anything to protect himself from the onslaught.

  In strode Juno, ‘I have decided to spare your life this time. Fortunately for you, Arnor will live. I banish you from my territory forever. If you return again you will surely die a most horrible death that I can devise for you.’

  Juno then turned to the guards, ‘Take him to the border of our territory, release him there.’ Then facing Rom he added, ‘I hope the wolves soon track you down and kill you.’

  Juno turned on his heels and marched with his retinue down the corridor, leaving Rom and the guards to digest the implications and meaning of the orders. Without wasting anytime, Rom was hustled out of the cell by the guards. In a flash Rom realised that he would soon be on his way to freedom. It was still dark outside the prison complex as Rom was marched along the street and out of the main gates into the forest.

  To make sure he did not escape, Rom’s hands were bound together in front of his chest. This time Rom did not mind, as he would soon would be free again, to do what he wanted to do. Whilst he was stumbling along in the dark, his thoughts centred on a plan to rescue Aela from Eena and the Cave people.

  Then, there were sounds of a number of feet running in the dark and Rom and his party heard yelling, ‘Stop, stop, Juno has changed his mind, Rom is to be brought back to him and placed in the prison again.’

  Rom was totally devastated at this sudden change of events and tried to make a run for it, but he was soon again surrounded by the guards. He yelled in despair, ‘this is a trick and it is not true. Juno gave me a free pardon that I could leave immediately.’

  The guards were equally amazed at this sudden change of orders. They stopped and turned towards the person who had claimed the reversal of the orders from Juno. The Head Guard exclaimed, ‘On what authority do you have to order us to bring Rom back to Juno.’

  ‘I have a written order signed by Juno himself.’ As he spoke he thrust the piece of paper into the hands of the Head Guard.

  ‘That is not any good for me as I cannot read.’

  ‘Well that is not my fault,’ retorted the messenger.

  There was a heavy silence between the two protagonists as they glared at each other. The Head Guard began to mutter to himself, ‘Okay! Okay!, come on men let us return with our prisoner and hand him over to Juno. As far as I am concerned Juno can do whatever he likes with Rom.’

  So with a heavy heart Rom was ordered to turn around and the party retraced their steps back to the Temple of the Sun. Rom was seething with rage at the sudden change of events and vowed he would seek revenge. Everyone was silent in the group as they retraced their steps back to Juno’s palace.

  It was sunrise when the unhappy party reached their destination and Rom was once more thrown in prison. This was Rom’s darkest moment in his life, as he now had plenty of time to think about his hopeless situation, whilst lying spreadeagled on the floor of his prison cell. He had hoped to be a free man again, so he could continue on his quest for the possession of the Sacred Sword and be able to rescue Aela as well.

  But, here he was a prisoner once more and he was sure that Juno would this time have him killed. In his mind he could visualise he was running through the forest trees, putting as much distance as possible from the guards. He started to imagine in his thoughts what it would be like to be a free man again and he allowed himself to slip into a trance.

  He remained in this trance like state, to which to him appeared to be an eternity in time. He relished this feeling, cocooned in the ever encompassing emotion of love and feeling completely physically secure. He was very reluctant to bring himself out of this trance. But this peaceful feeling was slowly fading so he allowed himself to release himself from the trance coming back to this real gritty world. Gradually he woke up to the reality that he was Juno’s prisoner once more, lying on the floor, in a dank prison cell.

  Then an absolute incredible situation occurred, when once more the guards returned and hauled Rom up from the floor and propelled him out of the prison door. This time no one spoke a word, as the guards marched Rom down the dark alley, through the main gates and into the forest. Rom did not utter a sound, as he was totally convinced he would be murdered and his body left in the black depth of the forest, for the wolves to devour.

  After what seemed an agonising, never-ending time of walking, the guards suddenly stopped in the complete blackness of the sombre forest. Then without speaking, the guards melted away completely into the trees, leaving Rom standing alone, expecting at any second to receive a deadly blow on the head by one of the them, but nothing happened. So Rom fell slowly on his knees and gradually collapsed onto the ground, loudly moaning all the time. Once again total exhaustion took over and Rom lapsed into an exhausted sleep.

  Slowly, the sun moved higher on the horizon, Rom gradually opened his eyes as he lay sprawled on the ground. By moving his head from side to side to side he was able to clearly view all around him so that he could now see any animal or human if they tried to sneak up on him.

  He heard running water nearby, so he got himself to his feet and wearily made his way towards the sound. Soon he was looking into the clear waters of a sizeable stream and he bent down to slake his thirst. In doing so he misjudged his balance and tumbled in head first, just missing an overhanging branch by the merest of margins.

  Down, he sank into the depths of the waters and with a mighty effort he pushed himself back up towar
ds the surface, spluttering and coughing. Once his head was above the surface of the water, Rom felt the cleansing and invigorating affect of the liquid, so he decided to splash around for awhile. Feeling his muscles relax, he tried to float on his back, but his feet were constantly being dragged down by the sheer weight of the heavy sandals that he wore.

  He pushed himself towards the embankment and levered his body on dry land again. Taking off his sandals he discovered the long bladed dagger and he began to feel happy again, that he now had a weapon to defend himself, if necessary. Then there was a loud cackling sound close by and Rom looked up to see a dishevelled figure in some kind of filthy robe holding a thick staff in one hand. This apparition was shaking all over, with loud sounds of laughter, coming out of what appeared to be the head.

  Rom was mortified and at the same time perplexed at this creature’s strange behaviour. ‘Who are you?’ demanded Rom. ‘What do you find so funny?’

  Rom jumped to his feet, flashing his dagger in front of the figure in a menacing fashion.

  ‘My name is Ette, the old Hag of the forest. Some people are frightened of me and others seek me out to listen to my words of wisdom. Also I use my herbal remedies and magical spells to cure their sickness,’ replied Ette. ‘I can see you have been in a fight of some kind, by the marks on your arms and chest. You must come with me now to my cave and I will cure you,’ commanded Ette.

  ‘I remember you, Aela and I shared a meal with you a few days ago back at a lake,’ exclaimed Rom.

  He was feeling very bad tempered, tired and sorry for himself and couldn’t see the sense in following this strange creature into the depths of the forest. ‘Why should I go with you?’ blurted out Rom.

  ‘Suit yourself,’ sniffed Ette. She turned her back on Rom and waddled slowly towards a group of nearby trees.

  Now Rom was truly baffled and felt that he had lost the initiative in the exchange of words. Perhaps by following Ette, his thoughts flashed by in a rush in his head, she could lead him to others, who were in a better position to help him.

  So, reluctantly, he started to walk behind her into the woods. All the time Rom was feeling very uneasy about this action. It seemed a long time in Rom’s mind, as Rom continued to follow in the footsteps of Ette. But at last their journey appeared to be coming to an end, when he saw a large gaping hole in front of him, an entrance to a cave. Ette beckoned with her hand, for Rom to follow her through the entrance.

  Inside Rom could see glistening jagged rocks hanging from the high vaulted ceiling of the cave. There was the dripping sound of water and he could see clear liquid slowly running down the walls of the cave. Ette motioned to Rom to sit on a rocky platform, whilst she disappeared into the darkness at the back of the cave. It was not long before she reappeared, carrying a closely woven basket in her arms full of jars of different shapes and sizes.

  Bending forward Ette placed the basket in front of Rom on the ground. ‘Stay very still whilst I have a look at your wounds,’ ordered Ette, peering at Rom’s arms and chest. ‘You have been in a fight and you certainly received a battering. No doubt it is over territory or a woman,’ exclaimed Ette.

  Rom was outraged with this comment, quickly replying, ‘Neither. I had no choice, I was forced to fight Juno’s champion Arnor and I won.’

  ‘Well, well, that is very interesting, Juno will not be happy. He always has to win everything. I am amazed he didn’t kill you on the spot,’ stated Ette.

  Rom recounted, still in his dreamlike state, with remarkable detail the contest between Arnor and himself, whilst Ette applied soothing ointments and herbs on Rom’s wounds.

  ‘I will give you a special drink which will help to restore your energy and general health,’ muttered Ette.

  After fiddling around with a couple of bottles of liquid, she poured the mixture into a bowl and motioned Rom to drink it. Gingerly Rom took the bowl out of Ette’s hand and raised it to his lips. He took a cautious sip and much to his surprise the contents tasted sweet. He drank the rest very quickly and experienced a warm feeling as the liquid ran down the back of his throat. There was a soft ringing sound in his ears, then blackness and Rom was fast asleep.

  ‘Rest, Oh handsome one. You will need all your strength to face the trials ahead,’ said Ette softly.

  She placed a large animal fur over Rom and a soft pillow of grass under his head. Then she slowly advanced towards the fireplace, that she had previously placed an orderly pile of cut wood. Expertly she struck a flint stone on the nearby rock and soon had a cheerful fire blazing in the hearth. Every now and again, she glanced towards the spot where Rom was lying, sighed and shook her head. She then contemplated her own thoughts and muttered to herself in low inaudible tones.

  The next morning as the sun was rising Rom bid farewell to Ette at the cave entrance feeling energised and rejuvenated from the nights rest and Ette’s expert treatment of his wounds. He assured Ette he knew which direction to take through the forest back to Eena’s Cave to rescue Aela once more from the clutches of Eena and her warriors.

  With a cheerful wave of his hand Rom disappeared into the darkness of the forest feeling very pleased with himself, that he was once again in control of the situation. He felt that he would very soon would rescue Aela from Eena and her warriors and they would be free to pursue his quest by stealing the Sacred Sword from the inner sanctuary of the Temple of the Sun.

  Aela was more and more frustrated with herself that she was still a prisoner. Eena was determined that Aela could not escape, as she had already lost one important prisoner, with Rom kidnapped by Croan and his men, a couple of days ago.

  Eena consulted with her advisers as to what best next to do with Aela. Jah was a grave and careful thinker, of medium build, in his middle years, but also he was very ambitious, he wanted to make his mark in the world. He was the first to speak. ‘In my opinion, I think this strange one should be let free. I can’t see any way she can help us.’

  There was a general murmuring of agreement from the other leaders and they all looked towards Eena in order to determine her reaction to this advice. She was not very happy, hearing these words and glared at Jah.

  Ardu quickly intervened with soothing tones in his voice, ‘It is good that Jah puts forward this point of view, but we also need to look at the other side of the argument as well,’ stated Ardu, smiling at everyone. ‘No, Aela must stay a captive for the time being. Perhaps what we must do now, is find Rom and bring him back here.’ Everyone nodded their heads in agreement at Ardu’s suggestion.

  Jah was relieved that the focus of attention has been momentarily taken off him and his verbal outburst. He made a mental note that next time, if he was in similar situation he would remain silent, but make sure he looked very grave and wise in his general demeanour.

  Ardu turned to Eena, ‘I have an idea. I remember Rom saying he had been journeying to the Temple of the Sun, to snatch the Sacred Sword from under Juno’s nose and take it back to his people who live near the Temple of the Moon. That is very likely where he has been taken by Juno’s guards and we must follow him there. Eena, organise your best warriors and send them to rescue Rom from Juno and bring him back here!’ stated Ardu in even tones.

  ‘You are so clever Ardu.’

  Eena jumped to her feet and clapped her hands, ‘Summon our best warriors immediately, so they can follow our scouts to the Temple of the Sun. They must bring back Rom instantly, there is not a moment to lose.’

  Quickly, Eena’s orders were carried out and very soon the warriors headed by Ardu were on their way, making quick progress through the forest. They continued their silent walk through the trees for the rest of the day and by sunset they reached the end of the forest.

  Before them, was the mighty Temple of the Sun, with its huge monolithic stones reaching towards the heavens. As the sun sunk slowly down the horizon, directly behind the stones, Ardu and his warriors stared in wonderment at the awesome presence of the huge Temple, surrounded by a thick high wooden wall.r />
  For a second or so they were overcome with the power of the rays of the sun lighting up the Temple before it disappeared behind the horizon. So, each man in unison looked to the heavens for the comforting sight of the moon, their Moon Goddess Athunor, but she was nowhere to be seen. A little sigh and a shudder was heard through the group of men.

  Then Ardu was the first to recover from the spell, ‘Lie down men, as we need to take in the surroundings and work out our strategy.’

  They instantly obeyed their leader’s command and lay flat on the ground. By now the Temple was lit by flaring torches and Ardu and his men could see the sentries placed at regular intervals around this side of the Temple.

  Ardu quickly assumed that there would be the same number of guards situated on the other side of the complex. ‘You, Rah and Eno, sneak around the other side to see how many guards are stationed there and report back to me. Also find a gate in the wall where we can gain entry to the Temple.’

  Both men scurried off to obey the orders as quickly as possible. Unfortunately Rah, who was well over six foot tall, and who was not so nimble on his feet, lumbered slowly and noisily after Eno. He was a giant of a man, with massive shoulders, huge torso and legs as well as large feet. Rah was slow to think but once he understood a situation or an order from his superiors he never forgot.

  ‘Come on Rah, follow me,’ Eno whispered impatiently and beckoned Rah to follow him.

  They carefully worked their way around the other side of the wall and took note of the number of guards and where they were positioned along the fortified wall. Very soon they were back to report their findings to Ardu about the large number of guards situated around the fortifications.

  The news was not good for Ardu, as there were so many guards surrounding the complex and they were so few in number. But he realised they had the element of surprise as their advantage and Ardu concentrated his thoughts on this fact, as he planned his next move.