The Keep

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 15Nyk swore as he caught Esyal. The impact almost over-balanced him but he recovered before Josyff could reach him. There was a brief swirl of confusion until Nyk lowered her gently to the ground and knelt down beside her. Josyff dropped down next to him, but Adroyan remained standing, motionless.

“Esyal, Esyal,” Nyk said purposefully, supporting her head and slapping her face lightly. There was no response. Then, in an echo of Josyff’s actions when they had first found her, he felt for a pulse in her neck and, satisfied with that, bent forward attentively to see if she was still breathing.

“What is the matter with her?” It was Adroyan. There was a hint of irritation in his voice.

“I don’t know,” Nyk replied. His manner was icily polite and Josyff saw his jaw stiffen momentarily. “She’s alive. She may just be exhausted — we’ve no idea how long she’s been out here or what she’s been through...” He fell silent.

“Or?” Adroyan prompted tersely, noting Nyk’s uncertainty.

“Or it may be some kind of head injury.” Anger surfaced briefly in Nyk’s voice. “Whatever’s made her lose her memory may be serious.”

“Is there any sign of a head injury?” Adroyan’s tone was neutral now.

“No, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

Nyk’s brow furrowed and he looked back the way they had come.

“Should we go back after Jonal and Aryck?” Josyff said, anticipating Nyk’s thinking. “If it is a head injury she’ll need proper help — a doctor.”

Nyk looked intently at Esyal for a moment and then back once more into the greyness before replying. “No. We’ve no choice. Whether she needs a doctor or not, we can only go back to the Keep from here.” He looked at Josyff with both concern and resignation. “We’re going to have to carry her.”

“We can leave the equipment,” Josyff said, slightly surprised at his own lack of hesitation. “Mark the place and...”

“No!”

It was Adroyan.

“The Keep must be measured. It is important — very important.”

Josyff spoke quickly as he sensed Nyk’s temper slipping from his control.

“With respect, sir, I know precious little about travelling in the mountains but even I can see that while a moment ago our position was risky, it’s now become dangerous. The girl will have to be carried. We can come back for the equipment first thing tomorrow. It won’t suffer for a night out here.”

Adroyan inclined his head as though he were listening for something, then he looked slowly round.

“The weather might worsen,” he said, adding softly, as if to himself, “The Keep must be measured.” He stepped forward. “I’ll carry the girl.”

Before anyone could protest, he crouched down and picked up Esyal, seemingly with little effort. “She is light. She’ll be no great burden.”

Nyk looked openly confused at this unexpected development but recovered quickly.

“You’re sure?” he asked, peering into the darkness of the hood hiding Adroyan’s face.

“Yes.”

“Speak if she becomes too heavy,” Nyk said, abruptly authoritative. “If you collapse we’ll be in real trouble and it’ll be more than the equipment that’s lost.” He did not wait for a reply. “We must get on.”

He set off again and Adroyan followed him. Josyff hitched his pack until it was comfortable, picked up his share of the equipment, then took up the rear. More and more questions were demanding attention as he looked at the tall new arrival but he thrust them away. The next few hours were going to be grim enough without him taking a tumble because he wasn’t looking what he was doing.

The three figures moved on through the falling snow, maintaining the same steady pace that Nyk had set since they left the two guides. He seemed to be unaffected by the extra weight he was carrying, as too did Adroyan, and Josyff could not avoid feeling a twinge of inadequacy as his legs eventually began to protest and his packs began to grow heavier. He was more than relieved when Nyk stopped at the top of a slope.

“A few minutes,” he said. “Get our breaths back.”

Adroyan carefully leaned the still unconscious Esyal against a rock, stretched himself and rolled his shoulders to ease the strain in them. His hand went into the hood to wipe his brow.

Well, whoever you are, you’re certainly strong, Josyff thought, as he crouched down in front of the young woman. He leaned forward and placed his ear close to her mouth, then he checked her pulse.

“She’s still breathing and her heart seems to be beating strongly,” he said, “In as much as I know anything about such things.”

Nyk shook his head. “I’ve no idea what we’re going to do with her if she’s really hurt,” he said, looking worried. “Still...” He glanced around into the greyness. “One thing at a time, I suppose. Let’s concentrate on getting all of us back safely.”

“I can carry her for a while,” Josyff volunteered to Adroyan.

“She is too heavy for you,” came the unhesitating reply. “We can stop again if the effort becomes too much.”

Both what he said and the way he said it left Josyff unable to do anything other than grunt an acknowledgement which was both wordless and graceless.

“It’s not too far now,” Nyk said briskly into the awkward silence, and as if to atone for a momentary doubt. “It’ll be dark early, unfortunately, but, barring accidents, we should be back at the Keep before we have to start using lights.”

Adroyan’s head went back and once again Josyff had the sense of a predator scenting the air.

“Good,” Adroyan said, picking up Esyal. He nodded to Nyk to continue.

The snow shifted and changed as they walked: sometimes it fell thick and discouraging, making them lower their eyes and lean forward; sometimes it almost stopped, leaving stray flakes dancing in the air, but only as if bracing itself for further onslaught. The sky remained unbroken but grew slowly darker. Nyk’s pace increased perceptibly and he kept glancing back at his charges. Josyff was beginning to feel very tired and he was increasingly grateful for the stick that Nyk had thrust on him. He noticed that Adroyan’s posture was less confident than it had been and allowed himself a small hint of satisfaction. It was followed almost immediately by a reproach. The arrival of this stranger was fortuitous. He and Nyk on their own would not have been able to carry the girl and all the equipment. In fact, he reflected, they would have been hard pressed to carry her and any of it.

The thought of the equipment brought with it thoughts of his work and in turn an unexpected longing to be home with his wife, to see this strange, unsettling job finished — filed away — reduced to the safety of an old memory. He shook his head and echoed Nyk’s earlier advice — “Just put one foot in front of the other and we’ll get there.”

“Ah.”

It was Nyk. He had stopped and was pointing.

“Splendid,” he said. “They’ve lit the beacon.”

Josyff followed Nyk’s hand. It took his eyes a little time to adjust but gradually a faint glow in the distance took form. “The beacon?” he queried.

“That’ll be Henk’s idea,” Nyk said, not answering the inquiry. “Can be quite thoughtful at times.”

“Not much further, then?” Josyff said.

“Further than it looks,” Nyk replied pitilessly. “But the beacon’ll help. It’s going to be dark before we get there.”

And, after a further brief check on Esyal, they were moving again. Josyff tried to keep his mind off his own increasing discomfort by thinking about the others. Nyk was older than he was and Adroyan was carrying a greater burden and both were walking on without complaint. After a while however, he stopped looking for solace of any kind and his mind became like the dark, impenetrable sky above, filled with the monotonous instruction, “one step at a time”.

His aching legs and shoulders stopped his thoughts from wandering as he followed the others through the deepening gloom, though with each step he thought he could sense the present of the Keep weighing down on him.

Just tiredness, he managed to think, after a while. Be better when I’ve had a good sleep and got started on this job properly.

But the thought had the ring of a rationalization and it offered no consolation.

As Nyk had said, the beacon proved to be a considerable help. Though it shone high above their heads, its light bounced off a myriad snow-covered surfaces and lit their way like a soft moonlight.

Then the Keep, or more correctly, the bright star of the beacon, came into view.

“Don’t look at the beacon, you won’t be able to see your feet when you look down,” Nyk warned. “There’s still plenty of places to take a tumble.”

Adroyan either did not hear, or chose to ignore the advice. He stopped sharply, almost causing Josyff to bump into him, then stood staring at the Keep. He threw his hood back. Josyff took the opportunity to lean on his stick while Nyk turned his back on the Keep and waited. Josyff could not see his face but judged it to be full of wilful patience. By contrast, Adroyan’s face was all too visible now. Josyff glanced at it then turned away quickly. Deep shadows gave the man’s face the appearance of having been carved and there was a look in his eyes — bright and predatory — that was disconcerting to the point of being frightening. Cradled in his arms, Esyal should have looked like a tired child being carried by loving parent, but to Josyff she looked more like unconscious prey — the prize of the day’s hunt.

He flinched. Adroyan was speaking to him. “This is indeed the place. It must be measured — you must measure it well, surveyor.”

A frisson of anger suffused Josyff — I always measure things well, it said — but he was both too tired and too instinctively cautious to let it catch fire.

“Tomorrow we’ll start,” he replied.

“Let’s get there first,” Nyk intruded sourly, and he set off again.

As they trudged up the final slope, Josyff began to make out the shadowy form of the Keep at the edges of the light. In addition to a growing sense of oppression, something seemed to be wrong, although he could not make it out.

Until they reached the top.

The dark chasm of the moat greeted them. The drawbridge had been lifted.