In The Shadow Of The Beast by Harlan H Howard Read Free Book Online Page A

air.
    Here in the servant’s wing, the situation
was dire. By Sigourd’s estimation the explosion had come from the
direction of the weapons chambers. Undoubtedly the result of the
gunpowder stores secreted there being lit. There were over fifty
barrels of the explosive powder hidden in a secured vault below the
foundations of the west wing, which would be called upon in times
of conflict to power the lethal weaponry of his father’s armies.
Not any more.
    Weather by accident or design, those powder
stores were undoubtedly gone, vaporized in the time it would take
Sigourd’s heart to hammer out a single beat.
    Unfortunately for most of the castles
servant’s, they were quartered in a building adjacent to the
weapons store. That building was now mostly unidentifiable ruin,
and what remained was being swept by fire, consumed hungrily by
roiling flames as a strong wind from the east fanned them to even
greater heights of ravenous consumption.
    Outside, men at arms and other inhabitants
of the palace had gathered to fight the terrifying blaze, to stop
it spreading to the rest of the castle before all was lost. Sigourd
cursed himself for not being there with them, for not standing
shoulder to shoulder with those brave souls. But Sigourd had to
find her first. Find Isolde and get her to safety. That was all he
could think of doing. The guilt lanced him like a blade driven into
his belly, but he forced it down and pressed on into the billowing
smoke.
    All around the sounds of shouting and the
groans of the dying filtered through the darkness toward him. He
knew that Isolde had been given a room near the north west section
of the building, the closest part of this wing to the site of the
explosion. He prayed to the gods that she had survived unharmed,
that he would find her amongst the survivors, wide eyed in terror,
shaking like a leaf with fright but otherwise unscathed.
    As he progressed, members of the serving
staff rushed past him, coming out of the smoke like phantoms they
didn’t stop to question what their lord was doing in this part of
the building, so near to the danger. They were too terrified to see
anything but their hopes of escape. They fled past Sigourd into the
ruined warren of the servant’s quarters.
    Voices nearby. Calling for help. Sigourd
strained to discern the direction they had come from, and when they
came again he shouted out, ‘This way, to me!’
    He continued shouting as he moved deeper
into the darkness, struggling against the unrelenting black smoke
and the blistering, scolding heat.
    More figures ahead, moving amongst the
shadows. Sigourd shouted again, ‘To me!’ and the figures began to
move in his direction, two serving girls that Sigourd recognized
and a senior footman that he did not. Huddled together, they
staggered toward Sigourd, who clambered through the twisted
wreckage to pull them further along the corridor to a point where
the heat was less intense, the smoke less choking.
    ‘ Are any of you hurt?’ he
asked quickly, scanning them for signs of injury.
    ‘ No lord’ replied the
footman, blinking in surprise to see who his rescuer happened to
be, ‘just a little shaken.’
    ‘ Then lead these women back
along the corridor to safety. Follow the curve of the wall if the
smoke becomes too thick to see.’
    ‘ I will lord, but what of
you?’ replied the footman, a note of grave concern in his
voice.
    ‘ I must find someone. A
serving girl named Isolde. Do you know her?’
    ‘ I saw her moments before
the explosion,’ offered one of the terrified serving girls, her
voice cracking with fear, ‘she was heading back to her room to
rest.’
    ‘ Go, follow the wall,’
Sigourd commanded, and without further delay he threw himself into
the pall of smoke as the trio of terrified servants moved off
quickly in the other direction.
     
    It was hard to tell if Sigourd had the right
room, he’d only been here once before. Dressed as a common footman
he’d secreted his way to