Free Bricrui (The Forgotten: Book 2) by Laura R Cole Page B

carefully. Looking around, he gestured for the awaiting
Knights to advance.
    Natalya and the Knights entered the
courtyard, strangely unmolested, and Sir Ruawn waved his men to
spread out. They flanked them on both sides, inching their way
along the side walls, alert for danger. Still nothing popped out at
them, there was no alarmed shouting at their entrance, and no one
made an appearance.
    Natalya’s nervousness increased. Sir Ruawn
had prepared her for an attack, but the ghostly quiet was
unnerving. Three Knights closed in around her, holding their
shields up in a protective triangle, and Natalya’s eyes roamed the
towers for signs of movement.
    They entered the main hall and she sucked in
her breath. The long table was completely overturned, a feat that
must have taken some doing, and debris littered the ground. Several
tapestries had been ripped from the walls and were now sprawled out
across the ground.
    Natalya and the Knights spread out and
searched the room. Natalya edged her way along the far right-hand
wall. She held two dirks out in front of her that Sir Ruawn had
insisted she train with. Jeremy had volunteered for the job and the
two of them had been working tirelessly to prepare her to defend
herself should the need arise. In the beginning, Sir Ruawn had
tried to convince her to stay behind and let the Knights do the
dangerous job of actually searching, but Natalya was not about to
stand around waiting for someone else to find her sister. He had
quickly learned that she could not be dissuaded, so had changed his
tactics to keep her protected the best he could instead in
compromise.
    She thought she saw a flash of motion flit by
the doorway, reflected in the blade, but when she looked, there was
nothing there. She stepped carefully around a shattered bowl, the
pottery left strewn over the floor, its contents dried and
unrecognizable, covered in flies. Her eyes darted back up to her
surroundings.
    The castle itself was huge, though the
decoration was strangely disturbing. Lord Farthen had a reputation
for being very under-handed and rather peculiar. He had controlled
a monopoly on certain trade goods which was suspected to have been
obtained, and maintained, through illegal and violent methods. He
also had been arrested for being extremely involved in blood-magic,
having been a part of the Order and in charge of their bloodbeast
experiments.
    If they had moved from creating vicious
magical beasts out of dogs and cats into using these practices on
humans, it would explain the appearance of Lord Telvani in his
current state. Though why he would have used such practices on
himself was still a mystery.
    The Knights in each section of the main hall
yelled to Sir Ruawn that everything was clear, and he waved them
all forward. Natalya followed her three Knights towards the nearest
doorway. The first put his back to the wall and held his sword out
in front of him at the ready, and then whipped into the hallway. He
twisted around, searching for signs of trouble, then nodded to the
rest of them to follow.
    Natalya peered around uneasily. Here there
was more evidence of a struggle, but as of yet, still no people. Or
monsters. One of the Knights in front of her paused and knelt, and
Natalya shifted to see past his bulk to identify what he was
looking at. There was a dried stain on the stone floor, a stain
that Natalya was all too familiar with after visiting the remains
of her town. It was blood. It appeared to have been largely spilt
in the center of the hallway, but it smudged outwards as though the
person had been dragged off.
    Natalya caught the eye of one of the Knights
watching her. She hardened her face, determined not to let the
nausea overtake her. He dropped his eyes back to the blood. The
first man stood and made sure he had the attention of each of them,
before indicating that they were going to follow the blood, and to
stay alert.
    They stepped around the bloodied ground and
followed to where the path