The Complete Twilight Reign Ebook Collection by Tom Lloyd Read Free Book Online

father?’
    Another nod.
    ‘Do you know why you’re here?’
    A shrug this time. Isak didn’t look at the guard; he kept eyes on his father, swiftly disappearing into the night.
    ‘Who told you to come?’
    ‘No one did. They chased me from the stable, I don’t know why. I thought if I could find a patrol my father wouldn’t beat me to death, and here must be the best place to find a patrol.’
    ‘Did you kill the man as he said?’
    Isak held up his injured hand for the man to see. ‘I did, but he was trying to cut my throat at the time.’
    And you’re sure no one sent you?’
    Isak gave him a wary look. ‘Of course. Why do you keep asking me that? Who would have sent me here?’
    The man gave up. With an exasperated click of the tongue he turned back to the guardroom and motioned for Isak to follow. His comrade stayed for another moment, his expression disconcerting as he stared into Isak’s eyes. When Isak straightened up and looked back at the white-eye, a spark of belligerence flared to life in his belly, strangely, it was the guard who shivered and looked away.
    The normal guard, the smallest of the two by a good five inches, motioned again for Isak to enter the guardroom and this time the boy follwed the flicker of a fire and stepped inside towards the warmth.
    He picked his way past two short-handled glaives propped against the wall and placed himself as close as he could to the flames. There was a small table in the middle of the room on which was a pile of rags and an empty plate. Isak fingered through the oily rags, looking for the cleanest, which he wrapped as tightly as he could around his injured hand.
    The white-eye guard stepped inside and pulled the outer door closed. It was a thick piece of oak with a massive iron lock, but the door was dwarfed by the slab of granite on a simple iron runner - presumably to be used in times of siege. Once the room was secured, the man turned and examined Isak again. Isak couldn’t work out if the expression was hostile or puzzled, but he decided he was too hungry or cold to much care anymore.
    The other guard moved to the far end of the room where the outline of another stone slab was visible. He pulled a chain hanging through a hole in the ceiling and gave a short whistle. The sound was repeated somewhere above, and it heralded a widening of the dark crack down one side. Isak could feel the grinding of stone through his bare toes.
    The guard plucked a burning torch from a holder on the wall and ducked through the growing gap. ‘This way,’ he said tersely.
    Thirty yards of narrow passage took them to an iron-bound wooden door set at an awkward angle to the wall. Pushing this open, the guard stepped back to allow Isak to squeeze past. Ducking through the doorway, Isak peered into a large noisy hall, then descended the handful of worn steps. A huge blazing fire was opposite him, above which hung spitting haunches of meat attended by two young girls. The room contained a score of long tables, and some of the men - Isak guessed they were guardsmen from their austere uniforms - turned to look at the new arrivals but quickly resumed their meal. The high beams of the chamber were hung with regimental flags and drapes covered the walls, interspersed with shields, swords and broken standards, no doubt trophies from past battles. The scents of pipe-smoke, burnt fat, fresh bread and thick stew hung tantalising in the air.
    Isak craned around, peering at the hall’s ornaments, recognising a handful of the emblems from his travels. They’d probably been won in the battles recorded on the wall tapestries. Though the hangings were faded and soot-stained, he was still able to make out the lines of troops and enemy formations. He turned back to the guard, who pointed at one of the servants, then stepped back inside the passage and closed the door. Isak stared after him; clearly they didn’t care that he’d killed a man. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense - but nothing