This is a long chapter so get yourself a drink, find a comfy chair and enjoy.........................

The next morning there was a gentle knock at the door. A man servant entered the room with a tray. Darken Rahl stood at the window looking out, an imposing form, his body silhouetted within the frame of the window. He didn't turn around, but spoke in his quiet, but commanding voice.

"Where is she?"

There was a slight chink of crockery as the man began to shake. "Urm, Archery p p practice My Lord."

"Archery practice?"

"A team represents the castle at the summer fair and she is practicing with the others out on the grass plain. You can observe them from the east battlements My Lord."

Before he could ask anything else, the man servant lost his nerve, the tray crashed down onto the bedside table and he ran from the room, he forgot to tend the fire.

Darken Rahl left his room, he went outside and found the steps leading to the battlements. As he climbed he saw some of the men training below in the main courtyard. He thought again of General Valmont and the last time he had seen the man………………

Darken was fifteen years old, just over a year before, he had been sent to join his father's army. He was small for his age and his father thought that being a soldier would toughen him up and prepare him for leadership. His only comfort was that he has been assigned to the same unit as his older friend Demmin Nass. As a soldier, no allowance was given for his age, or who his father was and he was expected to perform all the duties of a regular soldier. At first Demmin would help him when he could, carrying some of the heavier equipment and showing him the best way to accomplish tasks, but most of the time he had to cope on his own. It was a rough and frightening time in his life, a boy going out on manoeuvres with grown men, no quarter given for his age or lack of experience.

It was a tough life and for the most part he bore it well. Except for one thing, actually it was two things; Goran and Kord, the two soldiers who made his life a living hell. They would never openly bully him, but they had it in for him from the start and any opportunity they had to make his life a little more miserable, they took. At first it was the odd whispered taunt or insult, but when they found he couldn't go running off to his father for help, things got steadily worse. They would 'accidentally' kick over the bucket of water he had carried back to camp, put dead rats in his bedding, once they filled his water bottle with urine. Always they were there, in the background plotting and sniggering. Demmin told him to ignore them and Darken suspected he had spoken to them, because they would stop for a while, but eventually Goran and Kord would be back to their old tricks.

About a month ago they had rejoined the main regiment, which was laying some city under siege. Darken didn't know or even cared about the details, as an ordinary soldier he just went where he was sent. Although, this place did have the luxury of two man tents, which made a pleasant change from sleeping rough outside. Demmin was currently away from camp on some scouting mission and Darken was always more cautious then, as the pair would often take the opportunity to torment him even more. However, things had been quiet for a few days and Darken began to hope they had finally tired of their games.

One morning the Sergeant announced that General Valmont would be visiting their camp that day to inspect the troops and every soldier was expected to be ready on parade in two hours. Everyone rushed to their various tasks, kit cleaned and stored away, weapons checked and the camp had to be spotless. Darken had completed his tasks outside and went into tidy the small tent he and Demmin shared. There wasn't much to do as Darken was by nature a neat and tidy person. He then went to put on his sword, but discovered it was missing from its scabbard.

His first thought was Goran and Kord, this was their doing, they knew he couldn't go out on parade without his sword. He ran out of his tent, where would they hide it? He raced over to the cook's tent, it wasn't hidden in the food sacks or barrels and all he got was a cuff around his ear from the cook who thought he was trying to steal an apple. He checked all around the camp, but didn't dare ask anyone, he couldn't possibly admit that he had lost his sword. He saw Goran and Kord and went over to where they were sitting by their tent cleaning their equipment.

"Where is it?"

"Where is what, your highness?" Goran retorted in a mocking tone

"You know what I'm talking about! Where is it?"

"Kord, do you know what his highness is talking about?"

"Not at all Goran, perhaps he should go ask the pigs."

They both laughed at him.

Darken ran over to the edge of camp where they kept a dozen pigs. He stuck a stick into the swill trough and moved it around, it wasn't in there. He was about to climb into the pen and start looking through the mud when he stopped. It wasn't going to be there, Goran and Kord had said that so he would make a fool of himself. Instead he ran back to his tent, perhaps they had hidden it somewhere in his own tent. He started frantically tearing the inside of the tent apart; he even went through Demmin's personal trunk, he felt guilty for doing so, but he hadto find his sword. Eventually he stopped; the tent was a wreck and no sword to be found. He sat on the edge of his cot and threw his head in his hands. He had never felt such despair, he could feel the tears pricking at the back of his eyes. Throughout all his time in the army, all the hardship, the bullying and misery, he had never cried once and now….

He heard a noise from the back of his tent, something wrapped in a dirty cloth was pushed under the canvas, followed by a hand, then a head and body. A girl of about six years old appeared, he assumed it was a girl as she was wearing a dress, but apart from that it was difficult to tell. She was filthy, there was mud on her face, her hair was matted, Darken looked closer, what was that in her hair? It looked like sh..(Ugh!) and by the stars what was that smell?

He sat there not knowing what to say, eventually he mumbled.

"Girls aren't allowed in the men's tents."

"I know, that's why I crawled in under the side."

"What's your name?"

"Ellie, what's yours?"

"Darken"

"I found your sword Darken." She handed over the grubby cloth.

"How? Where?" Darken grabbed the cloth, it smelt as bad as the girl.

"I saw two men throw it into the latrine, so I got it out for you. I tried to clean it up a bit".

"You climbed into the latrine, into….., to get my sword?" (No wonder she smelt)

"I've got to go now, my governess is looking for me." She crawled back under the canvas and disappeared.

"Thank you Ellie!" Darken shouted after her, but the girl was already gone.

Darken couldn't believe his luck, he had his sword back. Outside came the final call for parade, he opened the package she had given him, the sword still had mud and 'stuff' attached to it, he grabbed another cloth and gave it a quick wipe over. It still wasn't clean, but he didn't have any more time. He threw the sword into its scabbard hopping no one would notice and ran outside to take his place.

The men stood to attention in the small open space in the centre of their camp. It was nearing the end of summer, the sun was burning off the last of the morning mist and it looked to become another pleasant day. As they stood there Darken could hear Goran and Kord whispering in the row behind him, he ignored them, and was grateful that he had his sword back. They stood for some time, General Valmont has still not appeared, although his unit was part of General Valmont's regiment, they hadn't had the honour of seeing the great man so close before. Darken was quite nervous, he had heard so much about him, had studied the account of the battle of Hawks Ridge so many times, he could quote it word for word. General Valmont was the man every good soldier aspired to be. The wait continued and the air around them got warmer.

Within any group of soldiers there was always the odour of men. It was one of the things that Darken had struggled with when he first arrived. Coming from his castle life with access to baths and scented soap, the raw sweat of men, took some getting used to. As a soldier, you could have a quick wash out of a bucket of cold water and sometimes, if you were lucky enough to camp near one, a swim in the river, eventually, it was just one more hardship that Darken had gotten used to. As the temperature started to rise he was aware of the odours around him, but one smell started to become stronger than any of the others. He became aware of the unmistakeable stench of excrement, to his horror he realised the smell was emanating from him, or to be more precise, his sword. He had wiped it over (there had been no time to wash it properly), but had not removed every single trace and so as the temperature rose, the smell intensified and all he could do was stand there. He heard sniffing from behind and whispered voices.

"I say, what is that unusual odour?"

"Smells like royalty to me."

Goran & Kord as usual, but to his horror, several of the other men sniggered as well. Darken was mortified, worse than that though, General Valmont had arrived, he stayed frozen to the spot, hoping that as he was in the second row he wouldn't be noticed. Unfortunately General Valmont seemed very keen to see all his troops and started walking along his row towards him. Darken closed his eyes hoping it would all be over soon, when he opened his eyes the General was standing in front of him.

The sergeant spoke "Present arms!"

Darken paused for a moment, then took the sword from its scabbard, the smell intensified and Darken thought he would die of embarrassment.

General Valmont looked at him with kindly eyes and spoke very softly, but with great authority. "Is there a reason your sword is in such a condition soldier?"

"No sir." He felt so unworthy as he stood before the great man. Goran and Kord sniggered behind him.

"I cannot let this go unpunished. You will clean your sword and then clean all the spare equipment held by your unit.

"Yes sir." His face burnt with shame. There was more sniggering, but General Valmont appeared not to notice.

"Are you sure you have no explanation?"

"None sir."

General Valmont moved on and continued his inspection. A horrifying thought occurred to him, what if the General told his father of this incident? Although Darken wrote home, he had no direct contact with his father and they had not spoken since he had enlisted. He knew his father had people watching him from time to time and reporting back, but to hear this news from General Valmont himself, his father would never forgive him for bringing such shame to the Rahl name. This truly was the worst day of his life.


Later that afternoon as he continued to clean the equipment, he saw Demmin had returned, he didn't look up as his friend walked over. Demmin in turn didn't speak at first, but sat down beside him, picked up a leather scabbard, and started to apply polish. For a while they worked in silence, eventually Demmin spoke.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Darken didn't look up and continued working. "Bastard Goran and bastard Kord, that's what happened." He didn't say anything about being helped by a six year old girl.

"I'll talk to them."

"No, don't. It will only make things worse."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, it's my problem, I'll sort it." He had no idea how, but didn't want his friend to think he had to protect him all the time. He looked at Demmin.

"The tent is in a mess and I'm sorry I went through your things."

"Don't worry." Demmin got up and put a hand on his young friends shoulder. "I'll clean up the tent."

Darken continued to clean the equipment, he missed supper, not that he minded, he felt too embarrassed to eat with the other men and he didn't finish until it was almost dark. As he was packing away the last of the equipment, his sergeant approached.

"The General wants to see you now soldier."

"Me, why? I've finished cleaning the equipment."

"Are you disobeying a direct order from your superior?"

Darken stood to attention. "No sir!"

"Follow me." The sergeant walked so fast Darken almost had to run to keep up. They stopped outside a tent. "Well, in you go." Darken hesitated, the sergeant grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threw him through the doorway and closed the entrance to the tent.

"Ah, Darken." General Valmont looked up from some papers, he motioned him forward. "Come in, sit down."

Darken cautiously approached the desk and sat down.

"Have you had any supper?"

"No sir."

"Here." He passed over a large plate of buttered bread and cheeses. "Help yourself."

Darken tucked into the food, he hadn't realised until then how hungry he was. General Valmont continued to look at the papers on his desk. Darken noted that they were actually maps.

"Do you know what the army is doing here Darken?" He noted the general kept using his first name.

"No sir, they don't usually let us ordinary soldiers know what is happening."

"About a mile away is a city, we have been laying siege to it for two months now. That's two months of wasting time, men and resources."

"Why don't you just attack the city?"

"Come here and look at these maps."

There were various maps and detailed drawings of the area. The city was sited high up on a mountain, it was exposed only on one side and the remainder was protected by a huge mountain range.

"Our siege engines are too low down and far away to do any substantial damage. The only way into the city is along this narrow road, which leads up to a drawbridge; unless this drawbridge is lowered we cannot enter the city. We have tried to scale the walls, but the men have been shot down by archers before they have even reached the wall. There is no known way over the mountain and they have enough food stored to withstand a siege for at least another 8 months. It will soon be approaching winter and I do not want my men suffering unnecessarily through the particularly harsh snows in this area.

"Can you poison the water supply?"

"The water is supplied from natural springs which flow from deep within the mountains."

Darken studied the maps and thought for a while. "Where does the waste go? If there are no openings at the front, it must leave the city somehow."

General Valmont smiled. "It just so happens that today one of the scouting parties has returned, about two miles away from the city, they have found a small entrance, some sort of sewer pipe. It had a heavy metal grid over it and was well hidden. They think it may lead to the city."

"Are you going to attack from that way?"

"It would be difficult, the opening is small, I could not send a whole army that way."

"But you don't need an army, just a few men who could get inside, lower the drawbridge and open the gates. Casey and Verco are small men they could do it."

"Yes, I have already considered them, but I would like you to go also."

"Me?"

"Yes, I think you should lead the men Darken."

"But they're older than me. I've no experience of leadership."

"One day Darken, you will become a great leader."

"I hope to be like my father."

"No Darken, you will never be like your father, you will be better than him. You have a great destiny ahead of you and it has to start somewhere. Tomorrow you will lead the men into the city, lower the drawbridge and open the gates."

"I thought that after earlier today…." He blushed at the thought of that morning's humiliation.

General Valmont placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We cannot change our past, but we can always change our future."

"I won't let you down sir."

"I know you won't, I believe in you Darken."

That evening, Darken walked back to his tent with more hope in his heart than he had ever had before.


He arose early the next morning and travelled with Demmin (who had been in the scouting party) and the other men to the location of the entrance. He saw the entrance was about five foot wide, he could just about stand upright in it, the metal grid had already been removed. There wasn't much room in there for fighting, so the men decided to removed their armour and stripped down to shirt, trousers and boots, they also decided to leave their swords and just take daggers and crossbows which would prove more useful at the other end. The remaining equipment consisted of fresh water, a day's supply of food, some rope a hacksaw and metal file in case of unknown obstructions. It had been estimated that without any delays they could reach the city in a couple of hours, they would then wait until dark, disable the guards at the gatehouse, lower the drawbridge and open the gates.

As the torches were being lit, Demmin completed a last check of Darken's equipment. "Take care my friend, I know you can do this."

"Thanks."

He took a lit torch and led the way into the pipe. At first the journey was easy; they waded through ankle deep water and could almost walk upright, only the occasional rat scurried past. However, as they continued the pipe began to twist and bend and appeared to take a more circular route. At one point they entered a small cave and had to climb up to the outlet which was six feet above them. The pipe became a tunnel which got narrower in places and at other times would widen into a large passage way. They eventually climbed through a particularly narrow passage that unexpectedly opened into a large cave. A small waterfall cascaded down on one side, but there were three other tunnels, the men looked at them in despair.

"Where do we go now?"

Darken realised the two older men were looking at him for orders and it occurred to him that he really was in charge of this mission. "We'll rest for twenty minutes."

While the men rested he studied the openings then pointed to one. "We need to go this way." He paused then said "We're following a sewage pipe, trust me I know what shit smells like." He smiled and then they all started laughing. After a few moments Verco said.

"Goran and Kord really are bastards aren't they."

Casey agreed. "I thought when they started picking on you, that they might ignore me, but no such luck."

Darken stared at the two men. "I thought I was the only one they bullied."

"Sorry, but you're not that special, Goran and Kord, like to share their attentions. Casey and I have been tormented by them long before you turned up."

"Do you remember that time they bound and gagged me then stuffed me into a kit bag. I wasn't found for ten hours."

"I thought you had deserted and spent the day convincing the sergeant that you were doing various chores around the camp while I tried to work out where you had gone."

Darken listened as the two men traded stories, some things he had experienced, others he was now pre-warned about. It wasn't pleasant being bullied, but now he had two allies who knew exactly what he had endured and that thought made things a little more bearable. When he got back, something would have to be done about Goran and Kord, he didn't know what, but his future felt a little brighter.

They continued along the chosen tunnel until eventually they emerged into a large chamber. This appeared to be the main drainage channel for the city, numerous smaller tunnels led off this chamber and they systematically tried each one until they found a chamber that appeared to be directly beneath the courtyard which was designed to carry away the rainwater. Around the walls there were smaller pipes about twenty inches in diameter. On one side iron rungs were set into the wall which led to a metal hatch in the ceiling of the chamber. Casey climbed the rungs and examined the hatch.

"It's locked from the other side; I can see a heavy metal bolt holding it in place." He climbed down. "There is no way we can break though from this side, we're going to have to find another way into the courtyard."

"What are we going to do?"

Again the two men looked to Darken for an answer. They were all tired and dirty and were still only halfway through their mission.

"Let's rest for a while."

They rested and ate some of the food, it was still light outside and they could hear people walking around above them. Darken considered his options, the metal hatch definitely couldn't be broken through from this side, at least not without making a lot of noise and attracting the attention of the guards. They could go back to some of the other tunnels and find a way up to the surface, but they wouldn't know whereabouts in the city they would emerge and would then have the added problem of finding their way back to the main courtyard undetected. After they had eaten he extinguished the torch, slivers of light came through the edge of the metal hatch, the light also came through two of the small pipes in the walls. He walked over to one, put his head into it and looked up, it sloped upwards at about a forty five degree angle, he could just about make out the grate for the drain at the other end. They may put a bolt over a metal hatch, but no one ever locked the grate on a drain. He looked at Casey and Verco, they were too big, but he thought he could just about get his shoulders into the pipe. He turned to the others.

"I've got an idea."

They waited until dark and then waited another hour. Casey and Verco had been taking it in turns to listen at the hatch for movements above. All was quiet and there didn't seem to be anyone walking about in the main courtyard, the main focus for the guards would be on the battlements looking out towards the enemy camp. General Valmont had made arrangements for the camp fires to burn a little brighter and the music, singing and general voices from the camp to sound a little louder, not enough to cause alarm, but enough to make the guards relax a little, safe in the knowledge that their enemy has settled down for the night. What they didn't know was that this 'distraction' was being orchestrated by only a few people, the main body of the army were slowly moving into position waiting for Darken and his men to open the way into the city. Darken had the two men help him into the pipe, they pushed him in as far as possible, but now it was up to him he only just fitted and there wasn't much room to manoeuvre. He inched his way along the pipe and hoped that he wouldn't get stuck; he thanked the stars that he didn't suffer from claustrophobia. It took about fifteen minutes to crawl the few short yards to the grate, where he breathed a sign of relief. For the first time he could see some of the courtyard, fortunately the drain was by a wall and not in the middle as he had feared. He tried the grate, but it didn't move, he first thought was despair, all this effort! He calmed his thoughts and concentrated on his breathing, 'men made more rational decisions when calm' something else he had been taught, he then took out his knife and traced around the edge of the grate, trying as quietly as possible to remove the build up of accumulated dirt and grunge. He tried the grate again, this time it moved; slowly he lifted the grate and climbed out of the drain. He crouched by the wall and looked around, there was no one about, the battlements overhung the edges of the courtyard, if he kept to the wall, nobody from above would see him. He heard muted voices from the gatehouse over the other side. Carefully he moved over to the metal hatch, it had a heavy bolt, but fortunately no lock. As quietly as he could he slid open the bolt and released his men from their 'prison'. The two men climbed out and moved with him over to the wall. They made their way around to the main gate. There was a small window into the gatehouse, Darken peered in, two men sat at a table playing cards, there was another man asleep in a chair. He could see the mechanism for the drawbridge in the room, they would need to deal with the guards.

However, before that they would need to remove a large heavy wooden bar from the gate. The three of them tried to lift the bar, but it was too heavy for them. Darken knew that once the drawbridge was down the gates could be battered open, but how long would that take and how many lives would be lost while doing so? He instructed the two men to keep watch. He had been trained in the use of magic and could cast a levitation spell, but had only tried it on simple objects such as chairs and rocks; he had never attempted something as heavy as this. He closed his eyes and concentrated, he slowed his breathing and felt the magic within him, then let his mind flow out to his surroundings, he felt the warmth of the men beside him, felt their breathing and the anxiety within, no, that wasn't what he needed; he withdrew and searched further. He felt the stones of the city below and around him, the coolness and calm of centuries, its strength and steadfastness. He drew its energy within him and started the incantation. The magic flowed through his body and out from his hands to the wooden beam. Even with the use of magic Darken felt as if he was physically lifting the beam, it was heavy, too heavy, he continued the incantation, continued concentrating and slowly the beam lifted from its slot. He moved it around and lowered it gently onto the ground and then he collapsed exhausted. Verco helped him up and moved him over to the wall.

"Stay here, we'll deal with the guards."

He rested in the shadows and watched as the two men went to the door of the gatehouse. Casey scratched at the bottom of the door and mewed pathetically. The man was looking down when he opened the door, expecting to see a cat, what he found was a knife to his throat, the man backed into the room followed by Casey and Verco, there were a few muted sounds and it was quiet again. Darken struggled up and went over, inside he saw that the guards had all been quickly dispatched. They locked and barricaded the door, then set about lowering the drawbridge. Immediately, there were shouts from above, but it was too late. The three of them remained barricaded in the room, they were not dressed for battle and didn't want to be mistaken for the enemy and so stayed there until the sounds of the battle subsided.

They emerged from the room when the courtyard was filled with hundreds of soldiers cheering as General Valmont rode into the city. The great man looked over, caught Darken's eye and nodded his approval. Darken returned to camp with the others and life resumed as normal, he never had the chance to speak to General Valmont again.

There were no medals or honours given to the three young soldiers who had struggled through the sewers to let the army into the city, but a few days later, in a roundabout way they had their reward. They found that the problem of Goran and Kord had resolved itself. The two men had been found dead in a slurry pit belonging to a local farmer. Some empty bottles of beer had been found near by and it was presumed that the men had fallen in and being too drunk to climb out had drowned. No one had mourned their passing.

All these years later, as he stood on the battlements, he smiled as a thought occurred to him, he wondered if somewhere, filed away in the army records was a neat little report of the incident and subsequent investigation.

He stared out over the battlements to the grass plain below. There were about a dozen people there, most of them soldiers, but two were women. He felt frustrated that at this distance he couldn't distinguish between the two of them, they were about the same height and wore the same servant uniforms.

One of the soldiers was giving a very impressive display of riding and shooting a crossbow at the same time and the two women clapped as he hit the targets.

"They're tipped to win this years competition." His friend Demmin had joined him.

"You're in a good mood." Late night drinking and early mornings didn't usually agree with Demmin.

"I had a good night, won quite a bit at cards actually." He paused. "I saw you climb up here, looking for anything in particular?"

Darken didn't answer and the two men stood in silence for a while as they watched the archers practice.

"Who is she?" He had said the words more to himself than to Demmin and was surprised when he replied.

"She is General Valmont's daughter."

"His daughter? I thought she was just a servant."

"Her official title is Lady Ellissia Valmont; she prefers to be called Ellie."

To be continued…………………….