Philippe of Morgarath

Episode Eighteen

They kept searching for the stones, all night. Sometimes they found small rocks that were lighter of colour than others, but nothing showed that they were the stones they were looking for. After Philippe questioned out loud if they weren’t ruining her trail by picking up rocks, looking at them, and throwing them into the darkness angrily, they decided to stop and wait for sun-up. There simply was no other choice.

The night felt like it took forever. The dark refused to leave, and so did the clouds. Reagon did not stop cursing, and swearing. Every chance he had, he got angry at someone, or something. Both Davon, and Philippe, kept blaming themselves for what had happened. Philippe was angry that he did not give it more thought, while Davon felt guilty about thinking more of his nightvision.

When the first beams of light appeared on the horizon, all three men were so deep in thought, that they did not notice Uhno get up. He walked around, without making any sound, and then froze in place. He took his bow, which was not drawn and therefor looked more like a staff, and pointed at the floor. It took a small while before the boys realised he was looking at them.

‘What do you have there, Uhno?’ Philippe got up, and walked up to the man. He bend forward, and instantly recognized the rock. ‘I’ve got a stone’, he yelled at Reagon and Davon, who perfectly synchronised jumped up, and ran to him.

‘You’re right’, Davon agreed enthusiastically. Then he ran in a big circle around the rock, until he found the second. ‘And another one here!’

Eventhough there was light, the third rock was more difficult to find. It took a small time before they found it, near the edge of the small forest close tot he village. The fourth though, they could not find. After hours and hours, Philippe dropped to his knees next to a big boulder. He laid his head to rest against it, and regret came flushing back in.

‘I never should have allowed her to do this’, he said, while knowing perfectly fine that Merya would not have cared for his opinion.

Davon shook his head. ‘Someone as confident as her?’ he said. ‘Good luck trying to stop her.’ Reagon chuckled.

‘I do not know any one as confident as she is’, he said in agreement with Davon Yaarth. ‘Which means she will be alright. She must be.’

Philippe sighed, and bumped his head against the rock, in defeat.

He then instantly jumped up. ‘This is not a rock’, he said. He had felt it with his head, and a slight echo made him aware that it was hollow.

He walked a bit closer to the rock, and then a circle around it. With his feet he tossed through the leaves and moss around it. That’s when he noticed two iron objects, attached tot he rock.

‘What is that?’ he said. Reagon walked up to him, just as surprised as the regent’s son.

‘But why’, he said. ‘Those are hinges.’ Reagon walked to the other side of the rock, and started pushing it. ‘Don’t just stand there, help me’, he said aggitated at the other men.

Altogether they pushed the rock, and noticed it opening up.

A hole in the ground appeared. Just big enough to crawl through on your hands and knees. Without exchanging a single word, all four of them bowed down and crawled into it. The small hallway expanded pretty quickly, and before they knew it, it was big enough to walk on both legs. Glowing torches hanging from the side of the hallway, lit their parth. After a small while, they arrived at a crossroads. Uhno and Philippe took the left side, while Davon and Reagon took the right. The side that Philippe and Uhno were following, did not lead them very far, before they arrived at a very sharp turn.

Philippe pushed himself closely against the muddy wall, and carefully looked around the corner. He saw there was a little empty room, with a door in the back. He gestured to Uhno that they could go.

They were instantly eye-in-eye with two men. They had just come from a different hall that Philippe had completely missed. They quickly reached to their weapons, but before either their swords -or that of Philippe- were drawn, they were hit with an arrow to the face.

Philippe looked back at Uhno, who stood with his drawn bow in his hands. ‘Thank you’, he said. Uhno nodded as answer.

They took the corpses by their feet, and dragged them back to the entrance, to take them away.

When they reached the entrance, Davon and Reagon were already waiting for them. Without asking about the corpses, Reagon enthusiastically said: ‘Our road ended up to a door, I’m a hundred percent sure Merya is behind it. She must be.’

Philippe shrugged. ‘Our road also ended to a door, but we couldn’t so easily open it up. What if we would meet up with fifty men? We’d be totally outnumbered.’

Reagon walked up to the corpses. ‘So these are the legendary demons?’ he laughed, after he pulled their masks of. ‘They are normal men. And ugly for that matter.’

Davon turned away from the horrible spectacle, his face pale and his hands shaking.

‘If we dress up like them’, Philippe continued. ‘We can go back and inspect the rooms.’ Reagon agreed and nodded heavily. ‘Yes, let’s go, Philippe’, he instantly answered.

‘Oi’, Davon said, eventhough his voice did not sound sure. ‘And what about us?’

‘Reagon and me look more like these men’, Philippe assured his nephew. He did not tell him he was worried for him, and did not want to put him in harms way. ‘You and Uhno can watch the entrance. Trust me, you are safe with him.’

Reagon and Philippe took the men’s clothes, and after they washed the blood from the masks in a creak nearby, they went back in to the hole in the ground. They split up back at the crossroads, to each try their own door.

It did not take long before Philippe saw the door. He kept his eyes focussed on the small hall to his right, and walked over to it. With his sword drawn, he took a deep breath and opened it.