Chapter 3.

 

THE BRIGANDS

 

            Aurelius led them up to the castle and they followed him across the drawbridge, through the entrance and into the courtyard. The courtyard was large but was littered with debris which must be the remnants of a tremendous battle. To one side were some large derelict buildings. These had obviously been where the inhabitants of the castle had once lived. There were no roofs on any of them, and all the doors and windows had gone. Most of the brickwork was damaged and blackened by fire. There must have once been a terrible battle in here, though Philomena. The breeze blew the mist around them and she felt very cold and afraid as It was not a very nice place to be, very dark and very quiet. They went with Aurelius across the courtyard to where there was a small graveyard. It was marked out by a low stone wall with a narrow entrance. Philomena normally was not scared of graveyards, but she was afraid of this one.

            As they went through the gate, it seemed even colder than the rest of the castle. Philomena could see that all the graves were open, with piles of earth around them from where they had been dug out. She could see that the coffins inside were empty, their lids scattered around. Her father walked over to an object that was lying on the ground and she watched as her father knelt down and picked up what looked like a fairy, the size of a small dog. Philomena knew from her school books that this was probably a fliter, the messenger of the Gods. It was blackened and badly burnt, its wings shrivelled by fire. Her father cradled it in his hands and it opened its eyes slowly and painfully and then whispered to her father.

            "My Lord, they are back, they are here again. You must stop them before it is too late.“ The voice tailed off as the fliter exhaled its last breath and passed away before their eyes. Her father laid it back on the ground, but Philomena could see from the look on her father’s face that something was very wrong. What could it be she wondered and why had the fliter called her father "My Lord?” She had never heard anyone call her father that before.

            "Sit down all of you,” said Aurelius to his family. "Before we do anything else there is something I must explain to you."

            "Many years ago there was a great war, the romanans against a fierce and evil race called the brigands. Their aim was to kill all the gods and take over the world. It took many years to overcome them and win the war. The final battle was fought here in this castle. The last brigands were killed and buried here, but as you can see, the corpses have now gone. This can only mean that some of the brigands must have escaped during the war and have now regrouped and decided to come back to restart the conflict and realize their aims. They will have taken the corpses to regenerate more brigands for an army. They are strange creatures with some odd biological features. They have ways of renewing life that are unique to them. This can have only just happened and right now I do not know how many of them there are, or where they might be. But they are evil and dangerous. We lost many fine Romanan warriors during the Great War. Whatever else happens, these brigands must be destroyed as soon as possible. But right now I am in fear of what is about to happen."

            At that moment, Philomena heard a huge forceful hissing sound. She looked up at the top window of the nearest turret just in time to see a face move swiftly from view back inside. Almost immediately a stream of fire emerged from the same window and headed straight for them. Her father’s words had been prophetic.

            Aurelius turned swiftly and held up his hands in front of his family. A shimmering barrier emerged from them which deflected the fire bolt away.

            "Quickly,” he shouted, "get behind the gravestones.”

            Lilia pulled Philomena behind a gravestone which was large enough to protect them both from further such attacks. Lucia was already behind another with Marcus. Philomena looked for Bohemia but could not see him.

            At that moment a large human like figure burst out of the turret doorway. It was dressed in black with shiny armor plates covering its body. It had a yellow fleshy face with piercing green eyes protruding from under a hood and as it ran towards them it was hissing loudly. Philomena was very scared, but she could not take her eyes off this strange creature. She then saw another emerge from the doorway, but it was instantly pounced on by Bohemia, clamping his jaws around its neck.

            The first one was getting nearer and Philomena could clearly make out its claw like hands, one of which was holding a short curved sword. Suddenly there was a loud bang and a bolt of light enveloped it and caused the creature to glow and it hissed loudly as it disintegrated into a pile of dust. Philomena knew her father had killed it. She looked back at the other creature just in time to see Bohemia snap its neck and let it fall lifeless to the ground. There was silence again as the mist swirled around them. Marcus laughed as he had thought this was a game. He did not understand danger like normal human beings. Philomena knew these must have been brigands and that again only her father had been able to save them.

            Aurelius ran quickly to the turret the brigands had come out of and entered it, closely followed by Bohemia. Philomena could hear her father and Bohemia running up the steps. She hoped there were no more brigands in the turret. Shortly she saw her father’s face at the window where she had first seen the brigand. She realized there must be no others in there. Within a few seconds, Bohemia came out the door and ran swiftly towards them and stopped just in front of the family, looking around for any further danger. Soon after that her father emerged from the door carrying what looked like a wide barreled rifle and with two fliters hovering behind him. He stopped and turned towards the fliters,

            "You must go and get as many Romanan warriors as you can and return by daybreak. I don't think the brigands can be properly organized yet, or have been able to make many weapons. It is imperative that you do not fail. We have very little time. We must stop them before they can gather an army, and beware of all the creatures in the Dark Forest, they all support the brigands. Remember, you must be back no later than dawn. They will surely return by then to assess their progress."

            As soon as Aurelius had finished speaking, the fliters flew swiftly out of the castle entrance and off into the Dark Forest, knowing that they must not fail in their task.

            "Lucia,” said Aurelius, "take the children into the turret and up to the room at the top of the stairs, it is safe there now.”

            Philomena felt cold, and night would soon be drawing in, which would make the castle darker and more scary.

            "Make yourself comfortable in there," continued Aurelius, "we will have to spend the night here. Bohemia and I will stand guard, so you can sleep easy. Brigands do not like travelling at night so I am sure you will be safe.”

            Philomena followed her mother and Lilia into the turret. They slowly climbed the steep stone stairs up to the room at the top where the window was. Like the spiral staircase the room was bare, with stone floor and walls. But there were some rugs and blankets on the floor and a large cage in the corner with its door open. This must have been where the brigands were staying and had been holding the fliters captive thought Philomena. Lucia was the last one to reach the top of the stairs as she had been helping Marcus climb them. He walked around the room looking at everything, but didn't react to anything. Philomena smiled, she knew that Marcus did know a lot about what was going on but never showed it. He also took everything in. The girls sat on a rug and pulled a blanket over them to keep warm. Lucia gave them some bread and water. Marcus came and took a bite out of Philomenas roll and walked off, returning for another when he had finished his mouthful.

            "We will be safe here for the night," said Lucia, "try and get some sleep. I will look after Marcus."

            Lucia walked to the stairs and sat down on the top one. She did this to stop Marcus going down them. He would take some time to go to sleep and would not understand the danger of going down the stairs. Dealing with the autism in Marcus was difficult and you always had to be alert and watch over him. Lucia faced away from the children. She did not want them to see her tears. She wondered if the children would ever be safe again or if they would ever be able to return to the farm, which up till now had been such a great home for them all, especially for Marcus. She slowly shook her head in despair. How could this have happened? The brigands should never have returned.

            Philomena was now warm under the blanket with her sister. Marcus was still walking about, fiddling with a bit of string he had picked up. There was suddenly the piercing scream of a caticus from the forest, again followed by several others coming from different directions. The sounds frightened her and she could see the fear in the face of Lilia, but she knew her father and Bohemia were guarding them and that they would surely never let anything happen to them. When they had finally finished eating and drinking, she lay back on the rugs. She was very tired from travelling through the forest, but she was still deep in thought. She had never heard or read about anything like this before. Even the history books she had read and studied at school did not give her the knowledge she needed to explain what was going on. Those covering the Great War did not help either. But at least her father certainly seemed to understand what was going on. Her thoughts were interrupted by Marcus, who joined her on the rug. He was obviously tired and snuggled up against her, quickly falling asleep. Philomena now felt surprisingly calm and despite the trauma of what had been going on, she slowly drifted off into a deep sleep too.