Read Online Bricrui (The Forgotten: Book 2) by Laura R Cole - Free Book Online Page A

it now. If Alina had already been turned into one
of those beasts, no amount of wondering what could have been would
bring her back. If she hadn’t, and was still alive, her best chance
would be for Natalya to concentrate on the future.
    By the time Sir Ruawn came looking for her,
having rounded up additional men, she was ready. The ride to the
castle seemed tortuously long, and all of the Knights were subdued.
Though she hadn’t mentioned the encounter with the beast and was
sure that Sir Ruawn had not either, there must have been talk of it
at the palace. All the Knights seemed to understand what it was
they were riding towards.
    As their slow procession neared the castle,
Natalya got the distinct impression that something nefarious was
indeed underway. Their approach was too quiet. No one appeared on
the castle walls to look down on them. The iron gates guarding the
entrance were lowered. Even the murky water of the moat was eerily
calm, the smooth surface reflecting the sky above.
    Sir Ruawn held up his hand to halt the
troupe, now another thirty men stronger. They paused while he
examined the castle. Natalya clicked her tongue and nudged her
horse over next to him.
    “Any thoughts on how we’re going to do
this?”
    He didn’t answer immediately, but moved
cautiously closer to the lowered gate. He knelt at its base,
reaching out to touch the dirt that had been displaced as the iron
spikes had been forcefully thrust into the ground. He stood and
dusted his hands off on one another. He moved to the edge of the
gate and angled for a better view towards the mechanism that
lowered it.
    He grunted to himself. “The gate chain’s been
cut,” he informed her over his shoulder. She started to move
forward to investigate for herself, but he held up a cautionary
hand. She watched him as his eyes scanned the empty courtyard
beyond.
    “What does that mean?” she asked
curiously.
    “It means,” he replied, “that for some reason
they really didn’t want something getting in,” he paused in quiet
contemplation and then added grimly, “or out. Ever.”
    They walked along the walls until they came
across an archway, through which water poured out of the castle
into the moat. Several boards had been haphazardly thrown over the
grating that covered it and nailed into place. Sir Ruawn stood
staring at this for some time.
    Finally, he commanded the troupe to withdraw
to a safe distance while they pondered how to proceed. Obviously
they still had to get into the castle in order to investigate, but
without knowing the reason for the desperate action the occupants
had taken, it was a bit of a gamble.
    “So what do we do now?” Natalya implored. “We
can’t get in.”
    “We can,” Sir Ruawn countered, “just not
through the gate.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I have a spell that combines with a special
substance to blow a hole straight through the castle walls, and I
have been authorized to use whatever means necessary by the
Queen.”
    “Than what are we waiting for?” Natalya
exclaimed, jumping to her feet.
    He didn’t move. “I have been contemplating
the reason for the gate being closed,” he explained patiently, “and
am not sure that blowing a hole in the castle wall is such a good
idea.”
    “Why not? You said it yourself we can’t get
through the gate.”
    He gave her a hard stare. “You saw what we
might be up against,” he said in a whisper that was barely audible.
“I am becoming more and more certain that this castle was closed
off to keep something in. Can you not imagine what it might be that
is locked inside?”
    She sat back down in a heap. She had spent
all day trying not to imagine just that. So the castle could
be filled with those, those…things. She shook her head. Those
things that Alina might now be one of.
    “Well,” she challenged him in a sudden rush
of confidence, “That’s why we stopped for reinforcements, isn’t it?
We won’t find out anything by sitting here outside the