VI. The Enemy Draws Nearer (10)
VI. The Enemy Draws Nearer (10)
The gates of a city or castle were generally open only during daylight hours.
It was the same reason peasants in rural villages returned home after sunset.
Daylight made inspections easy. Once darkness fell, even a torch did little to help.
Spitzenberg was no exception. The gates had closed tightly just after sunset.
Peddlers and travelers who had missed entry by moments were preparing to camp outside. Keldric frowned at the prospect of camping with his destination right before him.
"It seems the gate is closed."
"I’ll speak to them."
Radomar stepped forward first. Having visited Spitzenberg several times, he intended to call a gate guard he knew personally.
"Ho there, Matthias! Are you about?"
A head appeared above the wall. It seemed to belong to Matthias, the soldier Radomar had called.
"Radomar? Is that you?"
"Aye! This is the honorable Sir Keldric of House Bellaf, sent from Bogenberg! He wishes to enter Spitzenberg, so open the gate!"
Even a knight could not lightly demand that a city open its gates after dark.
Gates existed to defend against outside enemies. Demanding entry in the dead of night simply because one was a knight would insult the noble who ruled the city.
"I'm sorry, but that won't be possible!"
The same applied to Keldric. A knight from a famous house might have received special treatment, but Keldric of House Bellaf was not yet known in Spitzenberg.
Keldric reached inside his coat, took out Count Bogenberg’s letter, and guided Aveline forward.
"God be with you. I am Keldric of House Bellaf!"
"It is an honor! But by His Lordship’s order, no one may enter the city at night!"
"I carry a letter from Johann von Bogenberg, rightful lord of Bogenberg, to the Baron of Spitzenberg! Open the gate at once!"
"...Please wait!"
Keldric gently stroked Aveline’s mane while he waited. Matthias disappeared behind the wall and returned shortly afterward.
"We’ll open the gate!"
Entry was normally forbidden at night, but a knight bearing official business for the city’s lord was another matter.
Keldric was Count Bogenberg’s envoy and contracted knight. Turning him away at night could have consequences.
"Let’s go in."
"Yes, Sir Keldric."
The mercenaries gathered themselves again, and Keldric advanced toward the slowly opening gate.
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The streets of Spitzenberg were tidier than he had expected.
The city was not particularly lively. Apart from occasional noise spilling from inns and taverns, Spitzenberg was quiet.
"Shall I inform His Lordship of your arrival?"
"That won't be necessary. The hour is late."
Matthias bowed repeatedly and offered to escort him to Baron Spitzenberg, but Keldric politely declined.
Entering the city late on official business was discourteous enough. There was no need to go to the castle and wake the baron.
The baron would have scrambled to prepare a welcome, leaving Keldric feeling like a nuisance who had dragged his host from bed and forced him to provide hospitality.
He would rather spend the night at a nearby inn and send word to the castle in the morning.
"Come along. I know a decent inn."
"Good."
After dismissing Matthias, Keldric followed the confident Radomar through Spitzenberg’s nighttime streets and studied the city as they went.
'So this is the City of Rock... The stories were true.'
Not every building was like that, but wherever he looked, he saw structures seemingly carved from enormous boulders rather than built with ordinary stone and mortar.
Keldric recalled the tale he had heard on the road.
Legend said ancient dwarves had carved an entire peak into a city using techniques now lost. The rumor appeared true.
Even the walls looked less like stacked masonry than a single mass of stone carved into shape.
Keldric’s eyes shone with interest. It felt like discovering that a childhood fairy tale had been true all along.
Carving an entire mountain into a city was beyond anything he knew.
When Keldric encountered something he did not understand, asking Alisa was fastest. He turned to her as she rode beside him.
"These buildings are strange. Do you think they were actually carved from solid rock?"
"It seems so. I had only heard the stories as well. This is my first time seeing them."
"How do they support the weight?"
"I’m not certain... Perhaps some mysterious force, such as lost ancient magic or runes, sustains them."
That was wholly unfamiliar territory. Keldric decided to accept it without digging further.
He did not even understand how Alisa’s magic worked. Picking apart every new mystery would only give him a headache.
Keldric followed Radomar to the inn. It was clean and served excellent food, and even this ordinary inn seemed carved from rock, greatly arousing Alisa’s curiosity.
The cost was no concern. Count Bogenberg had provided silver for travel expenses.
After washing away the day’s grime and lying down, Keldric fell asleep almost immediately, exhausted from half a day in the mountains.
That night, Keldric had a strange dream.
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A sensation of floating woke him. He found himself in a strange, unfamiliar place.
Keldric stared around in bewilderment. Darkness surrounded him, and the floor was damp. He had no idea where he was.
'What is this?'
Without lowering his guard, Keldric quickly reviewed everything that had happened before he fell asleep.
He had eaten the meal included with his lodging, washed behind the inn, left his armor and weapons with Arno, and gone to bed.
Nothing about that sequence had been unusual. Keldric was also a light sleeper; if someone had moved him while he slept, he would have noticed at once.
Perhaps it was a dream. The thought reassured him slightly.
Keldric slowly blinked his eyes in the darkness.
He imagined three dots in the darkness and slowly moved his eyes. As his sight adjusted, black outlines began to emerge around him.
"A cave?"
Sharp formations rose from the floor and hung from the ceiling, while cold droplets fell intermittently above him. It looked like a cave, which explained the damp floor.
Once his eyes adjusted, Keldric carefully stood. He had left all his armor with Arno, yet the clinking around him unmistakably came from chain mail.
Keldric took a slow step. Despite the armor, his body felt absurdly light.
This was definitely a dream. The wet floor and falling droplets felt and sounded vivid, but none of it was real.
Alisa might know something about the phenomenon. Keldric resolved to find her as soon as he woke.
As his eyes adjusted further, he could see more of the cave. He advanced one step at a time.
He could not turn back. Whenever he turned to look behind him, his body somehow ended up facing forward again.
With no other choice, he continued forward until a strange sound reached him.
Grrrr...
It sounded like a dog baring its teeth. The growl was so low and deep that it might not have come from an ordinary wild dog.
Keldric instinctively reached for his waist, though there was no reason for his mace or sword to be there.
His gauntleted fists were all he had. He swallowed as tension tightened his throat.
Facing someone in reality would have made him tense, but not afraid. A lucid dream that felt this real was unknown territory.
He could not prepare for what he did not understand. Strength was the only thing he could trust.
Keldric’s gaze turned cold. The threatening growl came from the darkness ahead.
If a wild dog appeared, he planned to kick it first and ask questions later. But if it was a wolf...
'They say wolves have been appearing frequently along the mountain passes. I only heard it from others, but please be careful, Sir Keldric.'
Berno’s warning flashed through Keldric’s mind.
Keldric became certain that the low growl belonged to a wolf.
That certainty was strange. Keldric was normally cautious in everything, yet this conviction came with unnatural force.
Cold air brushed the back of his neck, and his tension peaked.
Keldric paused, then started forward again.
There was nowhere to retreat. If it was a wolf, he could somehow beat it into submission with his fists.
He walked for some time. The growls drew closer and came more frequently.
At last, Keldric entered a broad, open chamber.
"What the..."
Keldric swept his gaze around. The smooth-walled chamber was filled with bizarre stone statues.
Some reached forward, some lay prone while looking behind them, and others crossed their arms as though warding something off.
Then he felt a threatening burst of heat.
Keldric rolled across the floor and drove out a fist on instinct. What should have struck empty air slammed into something like tough hide.
Thud!
"Kurgh!"
The instant he heard someone gasp for breath, Keldric’s consciousness shot upward.
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"...?"
Keldric opened his eyes to early morning sunlight and looked around in confusion.
Everything was unchanged: stone walls and an inn room furnished within them.
His thoughts were in turmoil. Keldric quickly gathered himself and dressed.
The dream remained vivid in his mind. He intended to ask Alisa about it.
"I’m not sure about dreams like that... Divination and dream interpretation aren’t my fields."
But Alisa, already eating on the ground floor, knew nothing about it either.
Keldric frowned as he watched her answer around a mouthful of potato.
"Perhaps you were simply exhausted. Even if we didn’t cross the entire range, climbing halfway up was still strenuous."
"Is that so?"
"If it continues to trouble you, perhaps you should consult a diviner."
Alisa might have been right. He could simply have been exhausted and had a meaningless dream.
'That was strange...'
Still, it continued to bother him, so he decided to seek out a diviner when he had the chance.
That was not his immediate priority. Something more important came first.
Keldric forced down his unease and waited for the servant Baron Spitzenberg would send.
By now, the castle should have received word that Keldric had entered the city. Someone would be sent soon.