The Keep

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 13As the three figures drew nearer, Nyk and Josyff moved forwards to greet them. Esyal however, remained where she was and pulled the hood of her coat further forward so that it completely concealed her face.

“Jonal, Aryck,” Nyk called out as the grey silhouettes became recognizable. There was a brief flurry of confusion as Nyk and the two men greeted the other and asked and answered the same question.

“What are you doing out here?”

“We were coming to see what had happened to the Surveyor’s equipment,” Nyk explained.

“And to get some extra... supplies,” one of the new arrivals laughed. Nyk gave a disclaiming shrug.

“Do you have the equipment?” he asked.

“We do, and you’re welcome to it.”

Without further comment, the two men began unhitching their substantial back packs. Nyk pulled a rueful face. “Aren’t you coming back to the Keep?”

Jonal gave Nyk a discreet and knowing look, his eyes indicating the third figure who was standing, like Josyff and Esyal, a little way back from this meeting.

“No. The going was worse than we thought before we set out — much worse — really slowed us down. We don’t have enough supplies.”

Nyk looked both surprised and concerned. He leaned forward urgently but Jonal replied to his question before he asked it.

“The gentleman was very... insistent... we come out.” His manner asked that the matter not be pursued.

Nyk glanced quickly at the silent figure standing nearby. As though taking the scrutiny as an invitation, the figure stepped forward. He was the tallest there and, like Esyal, his face was hidden by the hood of his coat.

“I am Adroyan Sirthied,” he said, extending his hand to Nyk. His voice was soft and cultured but full of quiet assurance — oddly powerful. “You are Nyk, I presume?” he went on as Nyk uncertainly took his hand.

“Yes, yes,” Nyk replied unsteadily.

“I’ve come to...” Adroyan paused. “To... help the surveyor.” He turned to Josyff, who instinctively straightened.

“The Keep is important to us,” Adroyan said, taking Josyff’s hand. “You must do your work well.”

Josyff felt a swirl of indignation begin to flare up at this high-handed and unnecessary injunction, not least as it was uttered without even a greeting, but Adroyan was speaking again before it could find voice.

“But then, you always do, don’t you? That’s why you were chosen.”

The seeming compliment aggravated rather than calmed Josyff’s reaction but he remained silent. Adroyan turned to his guides. “We must continue; I need to reach the Keep.”

Jonal gave him an enigmatic but far from friendly look.

“You can go on with Nyk and the surveyor now, sir. We didn’t expect the conditions we ran into. Never known this much snow so early. It’s not good.” His thumb pointed over his shoulder and he spoke to Nyk as if in appeal before turning back to Adroyan. “It’s bad back there. We haven’t the supplies to go on to the Keep and get back. Even if we leave now it’s going to be difficult to get back to the village.” Though he spoke quietly, his tone was a mixture of fearful defiance and anger. Josyff sensed irritation in the listening figure of Adroyan. The tentative dislike he had taken to this stranger hardened, but so did a resolve to be cautious: the man exuded New Order. And he was no underling — no mere “helper”. Who was he? Why was he here? What did he want? Questions he knew he could only wait to have answered.

As if in confirmation of Josyff’s conclusion, Adroyan said, “You are needed here,” his voice still quiet, but full of command.

Jonal faltered momentarily, almost as though he had been struck, then he seemed to gather courage from somewhere. “With respect, we’re needed more at the village, sir. We’ve families and jobs to tend. If we go on to the Keep in this weather we could be stranded there for weeks. It’s going to be dangerous getting back as it is. You’ll recall I advised you against this trip.”

There was a tense silence. Josyff half expected a conceding nod from Adroyan, but it was Jonal who took the initiative. He held out his hand to Nyk.

“Sorry we can’t stand and chat, Nyk, but you’ll have to be moving quickly yourself if you’re going to get to the Keep today. You can manage all this?” He nodded towards the packs that he and Aryck had been carrying.

Nyk looked set to talk further but settled for a shrug and, “We’ll be all right. You get along — and take care. Regards to your family.”

Jonal bowed towards Josyff and nodded towards Adroyan, then he and Aryck turned about and set off back the way they had come.

“Wait!”

It was Esyal. She was moving after them. “I must go with you,” she said, her voice urgent.

Jonal looked at Nyk inquiringly.

“We found her in the cave,” Nyk explained, almost apologetically. “She seems well enough but she can’t remember where she’s from or how she came here. Perhaps someone in the village might know who she is or who she was with.”

Jonal put his hand to his head and looked quickly at the still motionless and watching Adroyan then at the way back to the village.

“We can’t take her,” he said urgently to Nyk. “It’s going to be hard enough for us on our own without dragging some passenger along.”

“I'll be no passenger. I can manage,” Esyal said forcefully.

Jonal looked back to Nyk who gave an almost imperceptible shrug. It was enough.

“No!” Jonal's tone was final but he snatched at an excuse. “If your memory’s gone you might have a head injury — it’s too risky. I’m sorry.” Then, as if offended by his own abruptness, “What’s your name? I’ll ask about you in the village. But for now you’ll have to go to the Keep. You’ll be safe there.”

“Esyal Wrenith,” Nyk answered on Esyal’s behalf. “We’ll be all right for supplies for a few weeks, but send someone out as soon as you can.”

Jonal and Aryck were walking away. Jonal raised an acknowledging hand.

“No, wait!” Esyal shouted again.

“Too dangerous, girl,” Jonal called back over his shoulder. “Go to the Keep. It’s a safer journey. But not if you waste time arguing.”

Esyal made to move after them but Nyk caught her arm.

“No,” he said. “If Jonal and Aryck say it’s safer to go on to the Keep then that’s what you should do. They know the mountains, the paths and the weather — better than I do, for sure. They’d have taken you if they could.”

“They can’t stop me following them, though — nor can you,” Esyal said defiantly.

Nyk released her arm and took a step backwards, partly extending his arm as if to encourage her on her way. “That’s true. But you’ll die if you do. Look at them.”

Esyal followed his gaze. Jonal and Aryck were already almost lost in the swirling snow.

“I’ll follow their footsteps,” Esyal protested. Then her shoulders slumped. “They’re going too fast, aren’t they? I...” She was clenching her fists and her voice was angry and bitter. As it faded, a soft, hissed oath drifted into the dead greyness.

With tentative paternalism, Nyk patted her arm, then he addressed the whole group briskly. “Come on. We’ve no time for debating. Let’s get moving.”

There was a brief, bustling interlude as he attended to the distribution of the packs that Jonal and Aryck had brought. Josyff took a relish in Adroyan’s unspoken but obvious reluctance to carry anything, though he was careful not to let it show.

“I know this stuff’s important to you, boss,” Nyk said to Josyff with apologetic firmness. “But if things get bad, we’ll have to stow it somewhere — come back for it another time. The cold won’t hurt it, will it?”

“It shouldn’t do,” Josyff replied. “I don’t relish leaving it after waiting for it for so long, but I understand.”

“The measuring of the Keep is important,” Adroyan announced sternly.

Only a long misty breath out betrayed Nyk’s wilful patience.

“No disrespect sir, but the choice might be ourselves and the equipment buried in the snow out here ’til Spring, or the Keep unmeasured but us alive ready to measure it another day.”

Somewhat to Josyff’s surprise, Adroyan appeared to be debating this point with himself before he eventually gave an imperious wave of his hand to indicate that they could all move forward.

Nyk took the lead, with Esyal walking by his side whenever she could.

“Stay easy but stay alert,” he told them. “Just put one foot in front of the other and we’ll get there. Don’t fret about how far we’ve come or how far we’ve got to go — it won’t make any difference to either of them, but it’ll wear you out.” He chuckled softly to himself, “Like life.”

They walked on for the most part in silence. Despite Nyk’s instruction that they stay alert, Josyff found his mind wandering, lured into a sense of isolation by his own slow and steady footsteps, the silence of his companions and the deeper silence of the snow-streaked greyness enclosing them all.

Images of the past days came and went, sharing only their dreamlike strangeness. The clock, the darkness rushing along the corridor, the seagulls, the blow to his head, all mingled eerily with the mundane realities of his profession — how he had come to be chosen for this job, how his equipment had been sent separately, how his team had been scattered. And what, for pity’s sake, was the Keep and why did anyone want to know anything about it, a bizarre and ancient building out here in the wilds? He pursued none of these as he knew he had no answers and they wove themselves into a web which pulsed with the steady rhythm of his walking and his breathing.

A cry and a push snapped him awake. Instinctively he reached out and grabbed the stumbling Adroyan. As the big man righted himself, Josyff felt the arm he was holding briefly tense as though to snatch itself free. Then it relaxed and he released it.

“Thank you,” said Adroyan quietly, his voice flat. Josyff nodded, uncertain what to say.

“You two all right?” came Nyk’s voice.

“Yes,” said Adroyan casually, brushing his arm where Josyff had gripped it as if to remove a blemish.

“We’ll take a little rest at the top of the next rise,” Nyk said.

When they halted, Josyff realized, somewhat to his embarrassment, that he did not know where he was. Engrossed in his own thoughts, he had lost track of the slopes they had climbed and descended. Although it was not snowing as hard now, visibility was still poor and he could see none of the peaks that he had carefully selected as suitable landmarks on his outward journey.

“Not much further now,” Adroyan said, interrupting Josyff’s silent self-reproach.

It sounded like a categorical statement and Nyk looked at him in surprise. “I’m afraid not,” he said. “It’s quite a way, yet. We shouldn’t stop for long.”

Adroyan was staring up into the greyness. Though his face was hidden, his posture indicated an inclination to argue the point.

“Are you sure?” he asked, still gazing upwards.

“Certain,” Nyk replied.

“Strange,” Adroyan said softly, and patently to himself. “I could have sworn...” His voice tailed off.

“Have you been here before, sir?” Nyk asked.

Adroyan shook his head absently but did not reply. Josyff had the impression of a predator scenting the wind.

Nyk glanced at Josyff, his expression a mixture of bewilderment, concern and irritation.

“Where are we?” Josyff asked him discreetly.

“By the Valsen,” Nyk replied, equally softly. He nodded towards Adroyan, still looking upwards. “Maybe he’s smelt the First Keep,” he muttered caustically. Then, to Josyff’s alarm, he voiced the idea directly to Adroyan.

“There’s an old tale saying that the First Keep was up there, sir. Though there’s only ever been the one that we know of,” he said briskly, but with the manner of a confident underling testing his bounds. “Maybe you’re psychic,” he added jovially.

Adroyan looked at him for a moment, his face hidden in the depths of his hood, then he looked upwards again and nodded his head once, very slowly, very slightly. Josyff found the movement unsettling. Nyk however, seemed unconcerned. He was rooting through his pockets.

“Do you have any food, sir?” he asked Adroyan.

Before any reply came, Nyk handed an apple each to Josyff and Esyal and held one out to Adroyan. He stepped forward and took it with a quiet, “Thank you.”

“They’re the last,” Nyk said, setting off. “We’ll eat as we walk. If we can keep a steady pace, we should be there before nightfall.”

“And if we can’t?” Esyal asked.

“We hobble through the dark,” Nyk replied, biting into his apple noisily. “I don’t want to camp if we can avoid it.”

Esyal fell in beside him as she had before.

She felt oddly disorientated. Her anger and disappointment at not being able to go with Jonal and Aryck to the village had been unable to sustain itself through Nyk’s steady but unremitting pace and had faded. Or, more correctly, like the mountains around her, they had been overlain. Nameless concerns permeated her thoughts, smothering her attempts to work out a clear strategy for what she must do when they reached the Keep. Ideas came with great clarity only to slip away as soon as she began to pursue them. Trains of thought took mysterious and unnoticed directions as they might in a dream — seemingly logical at the time but then rambling and incoherent.

“Just keep walking.”

Nyk’s voice dispelled her latest foray. She looked at him vaguely.

“You’re tired and weak from everything that’s happened,” he volunteered. “Don’t fight yourself, or the mountains, or the snow. Just keep your eye on me, and walk.”

Even as she was nodding in response to this, Esyal felt her knees weakening and the greyness sweeping in upon her.