The Dark Pursuit
© 2001 Paul Holland

CHAPTER 2
Into Lord Eisley’s Manor

The dark clouds were barely visible against the night sky. Garrett patiently waited in the darkness, fifty feet below the parapets and garrisons of Lord Eisley’s Manor. Garrett had already noticed and carefully studied the paths of two guards as they patrolled the front entrance to the manor.

Garrett slowly brandished a dark object in his hand. It looked like a blackjack or a club of some sort, I was sure. The guard was strolling closer. I, hidden behind a hedgerow, leaned out to observe what was happening. The guard was so close I could hear him whistling a tune. I’m sure that Garrett could, too.

The guard came even closer. I grimaced, knowing what would happen next. The guard walked right in front of the Master Thief, and I could see Garrett raise the blackjack and steady it in the air, waiting…waiting…

The unsuspecting guard, clad in armor, walked by. Garrett stood and crept after him, and swung the blackjack in one mighty sweep of his arm.

An owl hooted loudly as the guard caught the blow and crumpled to a heap on the ground. Without hesitating, Garrett crouched and slung the unconscious body over his shoulder. As quickly as he, he started to make his way back to the shadows.

My eye suddenly caught movement on the other side of the front gate. From my hedge, I could make out the silhouette of another guard making his way through some shrubs. He hadn’t noticed the attack or that the other guard was nowhere to be seen.

However, the Master Thief hadn’t noticed this, and still had a good 20 paces to walk before he was safe in the shadows. The guard would see Garrett soon, which would defeat my purpose for being there. I wanted to wait as long as possible to intervene.

I took out my bow and fitted an arrow to it anyway, but didn’t draw it back…yet.

Garrett, under the weight of the armored body on his shoulder, still had 10 paces left. The guard was coming around the corner. I had no choice.

I drew back the arrow and took aim just as the guard spotted Garrett with the guard’s fallen comrade. The familiar sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath reached my ears as the guard drew his sword.

“Who-“

The guard never spoke another word as my arrow took him through the neck. He fell, hitting the hitting the ground hard. The grass beneath him rapidly became dark red instead of green.

The second the guard had choked out on the arrow’s impact, Garrett’s hooded head whipped around toward the fallen guard. Maybe he saw the angle of the arrow protruding from the body? Maybe he had heard the bowstring snap and send the arrow? Perhaps the Master Thief had sensed my presence? In any case, his head slowly turned toward me. I quickly ducked back behind the hedge.

I waited tensely. I almost thought I could feel his eyes burning through the hedges. I started sweating and blinked furiously. My hand edged for my sword. I drew it, took a deep breath, stood up, and assumed a fighting stance, my eyes frantically sweeping the courtyard.

The Master Thief had vanished.


I gingerly made my way to the front entrance. About halfway there, I saw the body which Garrett had been carrying slumped in a dark corner behind a pillar. I then remembered about the guard which I had slain and made my way to him. I slung him over my shoulder and set him down in another corner between a row of hedges and the manor wall.

I looked up to the parapets and the garrisons. Two guards were just removed from the situation, and the sentries above had not even noticed.

I made my way through the front entrance, the gate already up. I nimbly opened the front door ever so slightly, peeked inside, and saw that the hall was empty. I entered and closed the door behind me quietly. The hall went straight, with two doors on either side, then split left and right. I noticed the ground was a stone floor, so I could move without being extremely careful of the sound of my boots.

I decided that if I were Garrett, I would have checked each of the doors. I chose the first door to my left, and it was locked. He had not been there, unless he locked it on his way put. I did not want to take the chance of encountering someone, so I tried the first door to my right. It was open, so I stepped in.

The ground felt different to me, almost like a watery type of substance…or sticky. Maybe it was…

I looked down and saw that I was standing in a puddle of blood. Little spots of blood were here and there, in a trail leading to a dark side of the room. I didn’t have to look over there to know what had happened.

I examined the room. Carpet floor, and some elegant pictures on the walls. I looked over and saw a treasure chest, locked. I took out a lock-pick, fitted it in the keyhole, and delicately started twisting, turning, adjusting, turning, adjusting, twisting…

It took me about 30 seconds to pick the lock. I opened up the chest…

Empty.

Damn. He had already been there.

I wiped off the blood on my boots onto the carpet the best I could and exited the room. I looked again at the room across the hall from me. Might as well grab some loot on the way.

I picked the lock on the door, which was much easier than the previous chest. I carefully stepped in, and noticed a bed with a table and chair, not to mention a picture of Lord Eisley on the wall. A shelf caught my eye, and I went over to investigate.

A golden goblet with jewels encircling it was sitting on a shelf. I grabbed it and quietly put it in my loot bag. The only other thing of value there was a roll of silver coins. I took them as well.

I left and explored the other two rooms. Garrett had been in both. One guard was dead on his bed in one room. Both rooms had been looted.

I proceeded down the hall, and a sound other than my footsteps on the stone caught my ears. I heard two guards talking. My eyes darted around the hallway, looking for a hiding place. I saw twin statues, both of some kind of god-like woman, facing each other on either side of the hallway. I quietly rushed over and crouched behind one of the statues.

As the guards spoke to each other, their voices became audible.

“-into the cellar. So Isaac tells me that supposedly there is a treasure in there. He said that Eisley calls it the “Archer’s Own”.”

“Isaac, eh? You’re really going to listen to that taffer?”

“Why not? He is Eisley’s head servant. He might hear a lot-“

The guards walked past me down the hall, and I was unseen. Suddenly, they stopped at the entrance and looped back to continue the route. They walked past me once again, oblivious to my presence.

The Archer’s Own?

I waited as their footsteps faded away into the halls.

Chapter 1 / Chapter 3

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