Chapter 2.4

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Krast was no more than a road with a few small side streets, all lined by hovels which seemed to have grown from the mud. In summer, I remembered, open-sided tents crowded the main street, their meager stores filling the needs of the village, the castle, and the few outlaws who slipped over the mountains to sell smuggled goods. Under the almost-winter sky, however, the town was empty, showing little life beyond the tavern. A tiny church, large enough to hod a dozen Christians if they didn’t breathe too hard, huddled on one side of the road, and a Bardhall, barely any larger, crouched on the other.

This was a people barely religious enough for the necessities of life.

The road wound up from the village, bordered on either side by thorny bushes and flinty rocks. We climbed it slowly, listening as rocks rattled down the slope and struck the carriage. Most were pebbles, but a few were large enough to rock us, and I heard the swearing of the men on top.

Finally we came to the black fortress walls, and turned into the maw of the beast. We rattled through the gatehouse, and came to rest in the bailey. The carriage door was opened – by James, and not by a servant of the castle.

I stepped out. The only person I saw was a stable hand, who ambled over as he wiped his hands on his dirty tunic. "An’ what be yer business here?"

I couldn’t see soldiers, but I was aware of the arrow slits in the wall behind me. When I brandished my lord’s letter, with its wax seal and ribbons, it was as much for them as for the servant.

"What would Ay be wantin’ with thet?" the stablehand asked.

"We wish to see Lord Guerney," Charles said for me.

"Ay’ll send word thet yer here." He turned away.

"We wish to be taken to him," Charles said. "Immediately."

The stable hand looked back.

Charles drew his sword and knelt before it. This was not a threat, but a statement that as a knight of the realm, he had the right of audience with any man in fealty to the High King.

The stable hand shrugged. "M’lord is at leisure in his hall."

Charles stood and replaced his sword. "Then show us the way."