The Citadel Ch. 04: Way Up

© 2018 by Pitchblack

Chapter Four. Way up

After some steps what seemed to be the main road they left before, the air inside the bag felt stale and consumed. A pungent odor of some rotten vegetables which once had been stored inside the sack stung her nostrils and made her retch. The thick gag sealed her mouth almost completely and allowed her only to breathe through her nose. The struggle to keep up with their fast pace marching her forward left her winded and panting for air. Her nostrils flared wide with every breath together with the heave of her hard working chest which had to labour toughly and without cease to bring enough air into her lungs.

Annie's feet started to hurt from the many obstacles which got in the way and she clumsily stumbled over. Every time her toes bumped into some hard or piercing trash she bit with a groan down on her gag. In the meantime the contorted cloth had become thoroughly soaked from the drool that was constantly leaking out between her teeth kept apart. The tug of the leash was a poor signal which didn't help her much to find a way through the hustle and bustle of the townsfolk following its own business on the morning streets. More than once one of her captors had to grab her arms and draw her back, else she would have bumped into one of the passerby's or stumbled in front of a heavy loaded cart.

She thought that she had already walked for hours when a change in the footsteps of her escort made her aware that the city gate was near. Suddenly their steps thudded more hollow when they reverberated from the thick stones of the tunnel which lead beneath the city wall towards the gate at the end. The air felt muddy and damped on her bare skin. Although thoroughly subdued and completely at the mercy of her captors Annie's thoughts circled with every step more excitedly around a possibility how she could make an escape and draw the attention of guards at the gate. If she could start turmoil then the watchmen couldn't turn a blind eye on her and were compelled to intervene. She strained her ears and tried to listen for some sound which could tell her how far she was away from the guard station.

Yet that damned sack cut her off from every useful information and left her running around like a stupid ass. She muttered an annoyed curse into her gag, but the thick burlap sealed her off from her surroundings and it was hardly possible to observe what was going on. At some point she thought that she had heard some shouted orders which could only come from the guards. However, the hood distorted these sounds so much, that she couldn't say how far they were away. When the crowd around her came to sudden halt all her nerves in her stomach fluttered and the urgency caused her to hold her breath. Tensed up she tried to locate the three kidnappers around her, but the surging mumbling of the peasants in her vicinity made this task almost impossible.

Wedged between the forward pressing crowd Annie was carried on and made some cautious steps. She could hear the annoyed cries of a toddler somewhere in front of her and the squeak of some cart wheel beside her. Better now than never she thought. Maybe she was lucky and could get around the cart and this heavy obstacle between herself and her abductors. When the querulously infant started another one of his shrieking attacks she made a small step side way and waited eagerly for some reaction. However the leash remained slack. Stinker seemed to be distracted and suddenly she pulled with all force ahead and jumped in the assumed direction of the cart. Her hobbled feet didn't made that an easy endeavor, but somehow she managed to not entangle her feet or stumble over them. With a jerk the leash went taut around her neck, but she leaned forward into the rope with all her strength and suddenly it snapped loose.

A muffled cry of joy escaped her lips when she was free and the momentum carried her almost effortlessly forward. On her way she elbowed some unseen bodies down which earned her some cry of protests. After some more steps, she really bumped into the wooden planks of the assumed ox cart. She breathed hard into the dampened cloth between her teeth and leaned for a short moment against the side panel before she readied herself to move on. She felt how the cart rumbled slowly on and when the vehicle finally passed by she stumbled forward along its backside. There was a faint smell of hay or straw which seemed to be piled up on the load bed. For one moment Annie thought about crawling into the cart and hiding beneath the hay, but she couldn't really perceive a possibility how to climb up that fast without the help of her bound hands.

A few cautious steps brought her forward when she tried to get on the other side, but somehow she must have underestimated the speed of the vehicle. Suddenly the cart was gone and instead she clashed into some human bodies which seemed to form a group of people in front of her. This time the crowd was too solid to elbow her way through. She heard an annoyed cry and someone uttering a low pitched oath. A moment later she was held up by broad hands which shoved her viciously into a different direction. She staggered forward, a few steps but luckily she caught herself in time before falling to the ground. Yet, Annie's attempt to turn around and get herself into the original direction was thwarted by another jolt which hit her treacherously in the back and sent her tumbling forward. To complete the misery one of her feet got entangled by the rope and she dashed with a solid thud of her knees on the hard cobblestones.

A sudden jolt of pain shot up from her chafed kneecaps and made her cry out in anguish. Hot tears welled up in her eyes and she gasped into her gag. The short moment of joy about her budding freedom was replaced by a feeling of rising devastation. Annie sobbed helplessly when she realized that she had lost any orientation and idea about her whereabouts.

"Please! Please help me!" she croaked, but the words piteously pressed out between her gagged lips sounded like unintelligible stutters unable to reach any one of the people surrounding her.

"Please, isn't there anyone around who could help me up ...." she babbled on, but there was no reaction either. All she could hear was the faint shuffling of footsteps all around her, yet nobody showed mercy or wanted to get involved with such a miserable and wretched creature sprawled on the dirty street. She couldn't tell how much joy she felt when at least a sturdy hand grabbed her elbow and pulled her up and out of her stunning misery.

"Now what do we have here?" a stern voice asked after she was standing on her feet again. To Annie's utmost relief it seemed that the person who had uttered these words wasn't one the bastardy goons who had captured her. Her feet almost gave way and she had to lean against the hand for support, else she would have dropped back to the floor straight away. She shook her head and tried to utter a frantic request to free her, at least from that dreaded sack on her head. She didn't know if he had understood any of her sputtering groans, but when she felt some fingers working on the cords around her neck she was glad to hold still until the knot were loosened.

The moment the bag was pulled up and from her head was one of the happiest in her life. Although the light in the tunnel beneath the city wall was dim, she blinked several times before she was able to recognize some of the scene around her. A tall bearded man was standing beside her, obviously the one who had pulled the hood from her head. His helmet, chain shirt and the scabbard on his side showed that he was one of the watchmen on guard duty at the gate. His eyes widened somewhat with disgust when he recognized how disheveled and soiled she looked. Drool, snoot, tears and the dirt from inside the sack had all mixed up to a greasy muck which covered most of her face and dripped down over her chin and neck onto her bosom.

"Pleazzzz ...!" Annie hissed between her teeth and tried desperately to indicate to him that he had to remove the dreadful gag too. Her pleas became even more frantic when she looked side way and recognized to her horror that Scarface and his comrades were pushing their way through the crowd towards them.

"Hey good man, it's good that you kept our custody back!" Scarface exclaimed when he reached them, "However now it's better to return that lousy tramp to us, we will take care that she is not troubling you anymore."

The watchman furrowed his brow, but didn't show any sign to back off, "That's quite a commotion you started here. And that's not a very convenient way to treat a woman, even if she had behaved mischievously or violated a regulation. I want to hear what she has to say."

When he looked into her eyes she hastened to nod her approval. A faint glimmer of hope returned to her eyes when she felt the fingers of the watchman when he drew her sticky tresses apart and untied the knot at the back of her neck. A heavy groan escaped her lips when he pulled the thick cloth from between her tense lips. She worked her jaw briefly and then she pressed the bloated cloth ball with her tongue from behind her teeth and spat it out with a relieving sigh. She had to open and close her mouth several times before she was able to speak. Still her jaw and felt dislodged and cramped together when she launched to explain her dire situation to her saviour.

Scarface had followed the removal of her gag with apparently growing impatience and before she was able to utter a word he cut bluntly in, "You don't want to listen to that bitch. She is all lies and turns your head without missing a beat. She was even so insolent to fuck up with Sir Malcolm and now we are here to bring her to his justice."

"Do you want to stand in Sir Malcolm's way?" he asked with an enigmatic smile, when he recognized the emerging doubts over shading the face of the watchman.

"Please, ... oh god, ... believe me, I am not a liar ... " Annie tried to make her voice heard, but the guard seemed to have forgotten his honest manners at the mentioning of that lordly name. Her urgent protest fell on deaf ears and he interrupted her with a brusque gesture.

"I don't believe any of you. You all reek of trouble. Let's get you to the sergeant on duty. He has to decide what to do." he answered and then he turned away from her and waved two of his fellows to accompany them to the guard station beside the gate. She bit her tongue furiously, but since he had delegated the decision to his superior there was no good in arguing with the ordinary watchman anymore.

With the three goons in tow they entered the guardhouse and were ushered into the office of the sergeant on duty. Her heart missed a beat when she recognized the pathetic figure which slouched behind the desk. The officer was as ugly as a puffed toad. His greasy uniform looked like to be bursting at the seams and especially around his bloated, fat belly. Greasy wettish foam garnished the top of his broad mustache and he burped repugnantly when he put the half emptied tankard of ale down in front of him. Recognizing the unsteady look of his glassy eyes she was sure that it wasn't the first mug he had downed since he had get up this morning.

"Harry, what is this all about? I said that i don't want to be disturbed til noon! Urgent business, you know ...." the sergeant slurred almost incomprehensibly when he gaped at the watchman which had brought them in.

"Sir, they started a turmoil in front of the gate and disturbed the traffic." Harry saluted, "They had this woman hooded and gagged and tried to whisk her out of town." He pointed to Scarface, "This bruiser says it's all by order of Sir Malcolm, but the lass calls them all liars."

Even that small speech seemed to demand too much of the sergeants wit. His massive body swayed back and forth when he tried to focus on all involved in front of him. For a long moment his gaze lingered on her and she thought to recognize a glance of sympathy in his eyes. But then a wave of indifference washed over his face and he belched loudly while he took another slurp from his tankard. She wanted to beg him to hear her case, but a desperate feeling of hopelessness told her that even the simplest plea was in vain given the pitiful shape of this drunkard.

They had to wait for some minutes more before the sergeant was capable to come to a decision. Absent-mindedly he scratched a bloody spot on his bloated belly and peered hard at some papers on the desk in front of him.

Annie could already see the rise of a triumphant grin on Scarface face and she cringed inwardly on the thought how he would punish her for the last transgression. Stinker and Slaphead had already moved up behind her, ready to grab and snatch her away. At least she had got rid of the debilitating hood and gag. Yet, she wasn't sure if it was such a good deal and what atrocities from her sadistic abductors she had traded in for this poorly feel of freedom.

"Get this wretched harlot and her company out of my office! Don't care for Sir Malcolm or whatever is on his mind .... but, ...." the sergeant addressed them and then his head lolled forward, instantly falling to sleep.

"No you can't do this! You have to release me! I've done nothing!" she cried out hopelessly, but her squeal was only greeted by a rumbling snore which wafted rantingly through the office. The watchman shrugged his shoulders, but didn't intervene when they grabbed her at both arms and dragged her mercilessly out of the office. She managed to turn her head for a last pleading glance into his direction but he was standing there, stoop shouldered and a saddened look on his face.

"I can't do anything. May the gods have mercy with you." were his last dismissive words and then Annie was prodded out of the office and towards the door of the guard house.

"Stupid bitch! You will pay for this! I will flay the skin from the sole of your feet if you ever run away again!" Scarface hissed into her ears when she stubbornly dug her heels in at the doorstep and tried to stop them from hauling her out into the street, "Now move on or I strangle you on the spot!"

Annie knew that it was useless to infuriate her captors even more. With sagging shoulders she let go of her resistance and stepped out of the gatehouse. The sorry excuse of an official behind her had been her last hope to turn the tides to her favour. Once they were out of the gate time to find some help or escape her captivity was running short. Annie didn't know exactly know how far away the citadel was and for how long they had to walk there, but she had heard that it was no more than one or two hours. It was said that the building could be seen up from the eastern city walls, but she hadn't been very often in this part of the town or had been allowed to climb up on top of the battlements.

The commotion at the gate had settled down somewhat and they were able to pass under the massive iron grate that had been hoisted up to leave the traffic through. The feeble patter of her small feet on the wooden planks of the subsequent drawbridge were drowned out by the sound of sturdy boots and the rumbling of the cart wheels passing at the same time over it. The brackish water of the moat, still deep in the shadows of the city walls smelled musty away up to them. There were two small fortified towers at the end of the bridge, but nobody important showed up and they passed unchallenged and left finally the city behind them.

The disappointing events since her early departure from the watch house had burned most of her endurance. She tried to avoid the attention of her retinue by keeping her head low and save what was left of her strength for the inevitable challenges lying ahead. Despite her salient inactivity all of them kept a wary eye on her and Stinker held the leash short enough in its hands to quell even the slightest sign of insubordination on her part. At least Scarface refrained from executing his latest threat at the watch house immediately and left her alone.

There were fewer houses along the street now and she could spot more and more fields and orchards mixing in between. The sturdy cobblestones had given way to a dirty earth packed road which was deeply furrowed by numerous cart tracks. With every step she wished more for her sturdy walking boots instead of her slippers which were too soft for this rough road and let every small stone through which painfully pierced the sole of her feet.

The ascent of their way increased steadily and soon the street started to wind up out of the fertile valley of Hearthome and towards a pass in the distant mountain. Even though the sun wasn't up yet, the demanding ascent made her sweat with time. She could hear Saphead's short winded puffs from behind who had even more trouble climbing up than her. When the street had reached a vantage point at the top of the first ridge of the hills he asked for a break and she was able to take a thorough look at the surrounding. The city was now well below them which made the buildings and the busy commotion on its streets looks like tiny little toys.

Turning around Annie noticed with discomfort that the citadel was already nearer then she thought. Lodged on a steeply pitched foothill which jumped out from the ragged mountains behind like a bow of a giant ship the stronghold was an impressive sight. A massive barbican guarded the entrance to the fortress which was separated by a deep gorge from the main ridge of the sloping hills. The only way to cross over the gaping chasm was by the mean of an arched stone bridge. Built on the craggy escarpment below the massive stone walls seemed to fit in seamlessly with the underlying rock. They encompassed the donjon which looked like an enormous block of stone dominating the center of the citadel. A jumble of different towers, arches, ledges and walls surrounded the massive building in the middle without dwarfing its monstrosity not in the least.

In spite of its height and magnitude the fortress still lay in the deep shadows of the mountains behind. Dark and motionless like a sleeping dragon there were no sign of the inhabitants or all their doings. A few scattered lights blinked out of the cross-barred windows in the upper sections of the buildings. A narrow street branched off the main road and winded in steep curves around the castle hill up to the entrance. Guarded by small towers and intermittent wall sections it showed not much sign of travelers. Occasionally a small group of men trudged up or a lonely cart jolted its way to the top.

When Slaphead had regained his composure they started to hit the road again. The way led down into a gloomy grove of stunted birches which obscured their view of the surrounding land. At one time they had to clear the way for a group of horsemen which cantered swiftly down the road, but nothing else happened before they reached the junction where the road to the citadel branched off. Stinker turned into the smaller road which soon led out of the trees and towards the foot of the castle hill.

"Soon we will be up and back home." Scarface hummed behind her when they reached at least the scattered settlement at the entrance to the way up to the citadel.

Not that he cared as much for something others would call a home. The only reason for being here was that Sir Malcolm offered a generous enough payment for answering his wishes. He had become so used to deal with the more unpleasant sides of life that he didn't care anymore about what orders had to be executed and his employer gave him enough freedom to do what was necessary in his own way....

.... It wasn't always like this. Once he had worked his balls off to become an honest man of good standing. He was an attractive guy, married to a beautiful and skilled town girl from good family and on his way up to the higher ranks of the regal civil service. But then the senior magistrate favoured another one, an empty-headed chap who's only recommendation was that he was the nephew of some self-important nobility. Because of this affront he had thought his career ruined and lost any interest to work for this crooked rabble. Out of frustration he started to drink and spent most of the time in shabby taverns until he dropped battered under the table.