Read Online The Greater Challenge Beyond (The Southern Continent Series Book 3) by Jeffrey Quyle - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jeffrey Quyle
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dig out the mortar around the hinges of the door.
He found his way to the bench and sat down in bafflement. He was still groggy, and slowly drifted off to sleep as he leaned back against the wall, but he started into upright alertness when he heard a cacophonous clanging noise sometime later.
A glow was visible through his door, and it grew brighter as he sprang up, anxious to find out what had happened – what mistake had been made to move him to his cell, and where Hope was (he prayed she was not in a cell somewhere else).
“Hello! Hope?” he called.
“Stop your racket!” a voice rasped.
Moments later a pair of torches appeared at his door, bright enough in the darkness that their glare was blinding. Grange was unable to see who was at his cell door, but he heard the rattle of metal on metal, and then heard the hinges creak open.
“Traitor, we’re here to find out what you had planned,” Grange heard Goala say, as he watched the Earl step out of the glare of the two torches, which spread to either side of him in the small cell.
“I’m not a traitor; I’m not even a part of Southgar, as far as I know, except that Hope called me her Protector,” Grange answered. It was baffling – completely baffling – to him as to how such a situation of mistaken identity, or mistaken assumptions, could have come to such a ludicrous situation.
Goala’s hand appeared out of the darkness and slapped Grange’s cheek hard, rattling his teeth and sending him crashing backwards against the stony wall behind him.
“I want no lies and no more of this ridiculous story of lost memories,” Goala said heatedly.
“Where’s Hope?” Grange asked, as he held his hand to his cheek. “She’ll vouch for me.”
“She is on her way to Southgar. We told her that you and Morine spent the night together and then ran off together this morning,” Goala answered. “She’s in a coach with our guards, and she’ll have no desire to ever see you again.
“Nor will she ever see you again,” he added.
“I have no idea what you think is happening, but I am completely innocent. I found Hope held captive; I rescued her and brought her to freedom; and this is how you reward me!” he shouted. “You’re the biggest bunch of fools on the face of the earth!”
Goala’s hand swung out of the shadows on the opposite side this time, and struck him in the shoulder, knocking him off his feet and crumpling him into a heap on the floor. He looked up and from the lower angle saw that the two torch holders were Oehla and Skore.
“Don’t touch me again,” Grange shouted as he slowly stood up.
“What makes you think I’m anything but who I said I am?” he asked, ready to pick their flawed logic apart.
“You look just like a spitting image of the old king, Ragnar, when he was a young man. You’re some unexpected offshoot of his tree, which we thought was completely chopped off,” Goala answered. “So your story about miraculously walking Hope through an entire camp of Bloomingians without detection, then incredibly evading all their patrols in the wilderness, well, it all sounds a bit too simple,” the Earl said. “A lot too simple.
“I think the story of wanting to tie the Bloomingian blood lines into ours is more likely. I think the whole thing was set up to make you appear to be a hero to a naïve girl, so that you could bring her back to Southgar and seduce her, and so seduce your way back into power,” he pronounced his conspiracy theory. “Everyone in the Bloomingian settlement and all the guards and patrols were told not to intercept you, and to let you make your getaway with the girl.
“And then, once you were here, you were only too willing to put on the banished colors of the Bloomingians, the green and red,” he added emphatically.
“They’re the only clothes that were given to me, for the love of the gods, you idiot!” Grange shot back in anger.
Goala’s fist came flying
He found his way to the bench and sat down in bafflement. He was still groggy, and slowly drifted off to sleep as he leaned back against the wall, but he started into upright alertness when he heard a cacophonous clanging noise sometime later.
A glow was visible through his door, and it grew brighter as he sprang up, anxious to find out what had happened – what mistake had been made to move him to his cell, and where Hope was (he prayed she was not in a cell somewhere else).
“Hello! Hope?” he called.
“Stop your racket!” a voice rasped.
Moments later a pair of torches appeared at his door, bright enough in the darkness that their glare was blinding. Grange was unable to see who was at his cell door, but he heard the rattle of metal on metal, and then heard the hinges creak open.
“Traitor, we’re here to find out what you had planned,” Grange heard Goala say, as he watched the Earl step out of the glare of the two torches, which spread to either side of him in the small cell.
“I’m not a traitor; I’m not even a part of Southgar, as far as I know, except that Hope called me her Protector,” Grange answered. It was baffling – completely baffling – to him as to how such a situation of mistaken identity, or mistaken assumptions, could have come to such a ludicrous situation.
Goala’s hand appeared out of the darkness and slapped Grange’s cheek hard, rattling his teeth and sending him crashing backwards against the stony wall behind him.
“I want no lies and no more of this ridiculous story of lost memories,” Goala said heatedly.
“Where’s Hope?” Grange asked, as he held his hand to his cheek. “She’ll vouch for me.”
“She is on her way to Southgar. We told her that you and Morine spent the night together and then ran off together this morning,” Goala answered. “She’s in a coach with our guards, and she’ll have no desire to ever see you again.
“Nor will she ever see you again,” he added.
“I have no idea what you think is happening, but I am completely innocent. I found Hope held captive; I rescued her and brought her to freedom; and this is how you reward me!” he shouted. “You’re the biggest bunch of fools on the face of the earth!”
Goala’s hand swung out of the shadows on the opposite side this time, and struck him in the shoulder, knocking him off his feet and crumpling him into a heap on the floor. He looked up and from the lower angle saw that the two torch holders were Oehla and Skore.
“Don’t touch me again,” Grange shouted as he slowly stood up.
“What makes you think I’m anything but who I said I am?” he asked, ready to pick their flawed logic apart.
“You look just like a spitting image of the old king, Ragnar, when he was a young man. You’re some unexpected offshoot of his tree, which we thought was completely chopped off,” Goala answered. “So your story about miraculously walking Hope through an entire camp of Bloomingians without detection, then incredibly evading all their patrols in the wilderness, well, it all sounds a bit too simple,” the Earl said. “A lot too simple.
“I think the story of wanting to tie the Bloomingian blood lines into ours is more likely. I think the whole thing was set up to make you appear to be a hero to a naïve girl, so that you could bring her back to Southgar and seduce her, and so seduce your way back into power,” he pronounced his conspiracy theory. “Everyone in the Bloomingian settlement and all the guards and patrols were told not to intercept you, and to let you make your getaway with the girl.
“And then, once you were here, you were only too willing to put on the banished colors of the Bloomingians, the green and red,” he added emphatically.
“They’re the only clothes that were given to me, for the love of the gods, you idiot!” Grange shot back in anger.
Goala’s fist came flying
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