Book I Chapter 6

The two friends hurried through the courtyard. They entered the main building, grabbing a knapsack full of food that Aarden had left tucked in a dark alcove.
“You were planning this?” Vale asked, smirking.
“Just in case,” Aarden smirked back.
Aarden pulled an empty sack out of the knapsack and grabbed some pieces of art and jewelry that was lying around the entranceway. Vale gave him a confused look.
“She’ll never miss it,” Aarden said in a rush. “We’ll need money eventually.”
He handed the bag to Vale and they ran out together. Vale’s horse was tied up next to a beautiful brown stallion. The horse snorted wildly and Aarden cast a worried look at Vale.
“It was the only one I could find,” Vale shrugged, concerned.
“It’ll be fine,” Aarden said. He stepped over to the horse and touched his hand to its nose. The horse immediately calmed and climbed onto the horse’s back.

* * *

Several miles outside the city walls, Vale began to slow. A grove of trees stood on top of a hill, overlooking the road. Aarden began looking nervously around, but Vale turned his horse off the road and started up the hill.
Aarden’s eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness and he soon found the dark shape of Booruck on a large black warhorse. He exchanged some quick words with Vale and they started at a gallop out the other side of the grove.
Booruck allowed Vale to take the lead and dropped back to talk to Aarden. The farm boy was still uneasy with this smooth dark man. Booruck smiled his crooked smile as they sized each other up.
“I want to thank you for your help with the escape,” Booruck finally said. His voice sounded loud in the nightly quiet. Aarden glanced to see if anyone was around to hear. “Vale told me how much you helped, and at a great deal of sacrifice to yourself. I understand how difficult it must be for you to be here tonight.”
“I’m here for Vale,” Aarden said kindly. “He is my brother.”
“Yes, Vale has told me of your devotion towards each other. Be careful. I’m afraid that it may one day get in the way of your duty.”
Aarden looked at Booruck out of the corner of his eye. Who was this being who felt it his place to pass judgment on his friendship with Vale. Booruck’s dark complexion was exaggerated by the darkness. Aarden suddenly realized how well he could see, even though there was no moonlight. The sky seemed to have a pale brown light glowing from it, as if it was early morning.
Booruck saw Aarden’s confusion and smiled. “The sky has a natural light here close to the Wall.”
“The Wall? Where is it? How close are we?”
Booruck pointed ahead of them. Aarden could just see a large structure at the top of a distant hill. He stared expectantly, but was distracted when Vale suddenly held up his hand. They stopped as Vale slid off his horse.
Vale clicked at his horse as he let her go and the obedient mare quietly trotted back to Aarden and Booruck while Vale crept quietly forward. Aarden held his breath as he watched. Booruck’s hand was on his sword, and Aarden did likewise.
Soon, Vale crawled back to Aarden and Booruck. His face was distressed.
“There is a patrol camped ahead. They’re blocking the road and the terrain looks dangerous around them. I just don’t know this area.”
“We can’t afford a confrontation,” Booruck whispered back. “We need to find a way around.”
“Wouldn’t it be best if we waited until they went to sleep,” Aarden joined.
“They’ll have sentries-.”
“But a few is easier to sneak through than a patrol,” Booruck interrupted Vale. Vale nodded and pulled a blanket out of his saddle. Booruck did likewise and started wrapping it around his saddle. Aarden saw how it kept the buckles on the saddles quiet and copied his companions.
When they were done, all three crept to the outlook and spied on the patrol camp. Vale discussed the camp’s strengths and weaknesses with Booruck. Aarden tried to pay attention but soon drifted to sleep.

* * *

Vale shook Aarden awake. Aarden quickly got his bearings and noticed Booruck was missing. Vale put his finger to his lips and pointed down at the camp. Aarden looked carefully and found Booruck creeping towards a sentry. Aarden jumped, but Vale put his hand over Aarden’s mouth. He pointed again as Booruck passed silently past the sleeping sentry; then turned and waved Vale and Aarden down.
When they got to the camp, Booruck pointed at a sentry sleeping on the other side of camp and made a motion with his hand. Vale nodded and passed the gesture on to Aarden. Aarden nodded, confused, merely copying Vale.
As they passed through the camp, Aarden glanced down at the sleeping soldiers. They all were wearing white armor with lion symbols on the breastplates. The shadows cast a red hue on everything; the fire had died to burning embers.
Aarden finally relaxed once they passed the outer sentries. These were awake and alert, but Vale and Booruck guided Aarden through silently.
Once out of earshot, Vale let out his breath and smiled. They all began undoing the blankets on the saddles, breathing easier.
“Did you see their breastplates?” Vale finally asked, breaking the silence. “They were elite guards.”
“That shows the state of the army here,” Booruck laughed. “The Durvies could be taken by a single tribe of Ingots.”
Aarden felt ashamed. Only a few months ago, those same criticisms had come from him. Coming from Booruck, they felt more derisive, even condemning.
As Aarden began dwelling on his suspicions of Booruck, Vale stole his attention as he gasped and pointed. Aarden looked up quickly to see the Wall looming before them. They had failed to realize how far they had gone in silence, creeping through the patrol camp. They were now less than a mile away from the base of the enormous structure.
“That must have been the famed wall guard,” Booruck said sarcastically, looking back at the glow of the fire pit. “We shouldn’t have much more of a problem with the military.”
“Where do we go from here?” Vale finished packing his blanket and snacked on a piece of dried fruit they had raided from Aarden’s kitchen.
“About a mile to the left of here, we’ll find a crack in the wall. I’m afraid we’ll have to go on foot from there.”
“The horses should be able to find their way back to Aarden’s manor,” Vale said, more to quell his own fears. Booruck nodded and then began leading them along the Wall.
Aarden glanced up at the massive structure. The Wall stood over ten times higher than Aarden. He had to look nearly straight up to see the top. Soldiers had once stood guard at the top of the Wall, but defenses had become lax after years of peace.
The Wall was gateless, windowless, with a dozen sets of stairs running up to the top. The rocks had been cut from the mountains surrounding the then hamlet of villages. Once the Durvies trusted the Wall, the villages quickly became cities until they developed into the metropolises they were now.Booruck snapped Aarden out of his thoughts. At the bottom of the wall was a large boulder. It looked like it had fallen out of the wall, but it still blocked most of the hole. Aarden squeezed his body through the gap and found an equivalent crack on the other side. Booruck followed closely behind. Vale took the gear from the horses and slapped their rears, sending them home. Then he too pushed himself through the gaps