Asgoleth the Warrior - By Bill Kirkwood Page 0,12

and glanced at him with concern in her eyes and then she realised that he was jesting with her and she smiled back at him. He grinned and taking her by the arm, he began forcing his way through the dense crowd. Men cursed as he pushed past them but they swiftly subsided into silence when they beheld his mighty stature and grim face. It was not long before he and the princess arrived at the palace gates

They were met by the leveled spear points and nocked arrows of angry and suspicious sentries. An officer strode forward and demanded,

‘What do you want here barbarian?’

Before he could answer, Amira stepped in front of Asgoleth and said,

‘Do you not recognise your princess, Captain?’

A stunned silence descended on the Captain and then his face creased into a grin of joy.

‘Princess Amira! You are safe, may mighty Solus be praised. Come, enter swiftly, your father is distraught, he fears you dead.’

The spear points were lifted and the sentries stepped back to let them enter, with wide grins on their faces. Amira and Asgoleth entered the palace and the guards closed in protectively around them as the crowd cheered wildly. They were ushered quickly through the long torchlight corridors of the palace towards the throne room.

Asgoleth received many curious glances as he strode along beside the princess. He towered over the soldiers who were escorting him and in his plain mercenary harness he looked like a lean and dangerous wolf among a pack of hounds.

At last they swept into the throne room and were greeted by a momentary silence. All eyes were on the princess and the huge barbarian beside her. Then the king rose from his throne and strode over to meet them. Soldiers and courtiers stepped quickly out of his way to let him pass and he grasped her to him and held her tightly.

‘Amira, my daughter, you are safe thank Solus! I thought I had lost you forever. How came you to be in the company of this warrior.

Quickly she told her tale, leaving out what had occurred between her and Asgoleth. When she was done the king turned to the young barbarian with a smile on his face.

‘Warrior, you have done Torr a great service this night and We are grateful to you. Henceforth you will be known as Captain of the Palace Guard. You shall live here in the palace and the city of Torr shall be open to you. Will you accept this position young man?’

Asgoleth looked steadily at the king and said,

‘What of the present captain of the guard, your highness?’

The king scowled.

‘That treacherous dog, he was one of the kidnappers and he has paid the price for his betrayal. Now what say you warrior? Do you accept?’

Asgoleth grinned,

‘I will guard you and your daughter well your majesty.’

The king nodded and said,

‘So be it then.’

Then he ordered that Amira be taken to her quarters. Asgoleth made to follow her as she was borne away by fussing ladies of the court. He stopped when he heard an outraged voice cry out;

‘Sire, these Akonites have gone too far this time. We must mobilise the army and march against Trannos at once.’

‘Wait!’ the barbarian commanded and Amira and her ladies came to an abrupt halt.

The king and his nobles looked at him with raised eyebrows as he walked back towards them. He stopped in front of the king and said,

‘Your majesty, I do not believe that king Trannos was behind this nights work. In fact, I do not think he is even alive now.’

There were gasps of surprise at his words and the king demanded.

‘How do you know this?’

Asgloeth told them of the priest’s boast that Demos would lead the Akonites to victory and king Aractus nodded.

‘Aye, I know Trannos and he would never allow a magician like Demos any real power if he were alive. If Demos has usurped the Akonite throne then we must march against him at once, he is no wine soaked weakling like Trannos.’

Asgoleth held up a hand and shook his head.

‘Sire, it would be an act of the utmost folly to give up our positions in the mountains and march against them. The Akonites outnumber us at least five to one. If we were to march out and meet them on the plains in open combat, we would be overwhelmed by force of numbers.

Send for mercenary warriors to swell our ranks and when we have built up our numbers then we can move against them,