The Fabled Beast of Elddon Read Online Free

wooden bars with a
meaty thwack. He rebounded, eyes vacant, and fell away, hitting the ground as
more guards fell on him.
    “Tristan!”
Ryia shouted, tears filling her eyes.
    Ander
snapped the reins again and again, trying to get the horse moving, but the
soldiers held her fast. A guardsman grabbed hold of his leg, and Ander swung
his sword, catching the man on the side of his helmet and sending him reeling.
More soldiers came at him from the other side, and Ander hewed down at them,
shearing through a leather pauldron. Blood spattered the ground and the wounded
soldier fell back.
    Ander
looked to Tristan and saw him on the ground, unmoving. Ander twisted, seeking
some means of egress, but there was none to be found. He had been right all
along. This was a bad idea and they had been fools to try it.
    He
caught the edge of a blade on his broad sword and kicked the man in the stomach,
doubling him over. Ander raised his sword, but the butt of a spear came out of
nowhere striking him on the forehead. He saw a brilliant flash of light, then
felt a sudden jolt of pain as he hit the dirt next to the cart. He tried to
rise but was thrown down again by angry soldiers who now crowded around him. He
struggled up, pummeled by fists, swords and daggers grating against his
hauberk. Then a sharp blow to his head sent him down into the darkness.

Chapter 3

 
    Ander
opened his eyes, wincing at the light. His head throbbed and there was a foul
taste in his mouth like old boot leather. He shook his head, trying to clear
the fog that impeded his thoughts. A moment later he realized he was on a horse,
climbing a steep hill at a slow walk. His next revelation was that his wrists
were tied and his arms bound with rope. He raised his eyes to see Elddon’s
soldiers, some riding, others walking. Tristan rode beside him, bound in the
same manner. The youth looked as wretched as Ander felt.
    “Welcome
back,” Tristan said, leaning forward and spitting a gobbet of blood and phlegm
onto the ground. He had a black eye, a split lip, and a swollen lump on his
forehead.
    “Where
are they taking us?” Ander asked.
    “Elddon
Castle,” Tristan said, nodding toward the stone walls at the top of the hill.
The castle was built on a heap of stratified limestone overlooking a wide and
fertile valley, with the mountains behind it providing a suitably awe-inspiring
backdrop. Ander twisted in his saddle so that he could see the village of
Elddon behind them, then turned again, looking west. Just beyond the hill was a
wide lake, and on the other side of it, half hidden by a stand of trees, was a
large stone building. Ander frowned at it, wondering its purpose.
    “That’s
Santhebury Abbey,” Tristan said, seeming to read Ander’s thoughts. “Ryia wanted
us to be married there.”
    Ander
looked at his friend. He could see the pain in Tristan’s eyes, that sense of
bitter loss and defeat. Ander had some experience with those feelings. He knew
that their efforts to save the girl had been doomed from the start. But there were
some things a man had to do, even if he knew at the onset he would fail. This
was one of those.
    “Tell
me about the castle,” Ander said, steering Tristan away from the topics of Ryia
and marriage.
    “Oh,
well,” Tristan said, shaking himself. “Before the Dreamland Wars this hill was
called Ayus Shen, the faie hill--”
    “Faie,
as in faieries, as in mischievous little people with wings and needles for
swords?” Ander asked.
    “Aye,
just so. I’ve always wondered if there were really faie living here once,
slipping through the vale to play tricks on the ancient Anthunians.”
    “There
are none here now,” Sir Egan said, riding up beside them. “I can assure you of
that. After the Anthunians left, Ayus Shen became the royal seat for the kings
of Elddon, and they claimed supremacy over this entire region, from the
mountains to the River Blaithe.” The knight shook his head. “But that was a long
time ago, before the