Hornguard 1a

  The double bronze doors swung open quietly as the group of rhinos in black cloaks walked through. Two of them walked up the deep, dark black carpet. At the end of the carpet, they knelt and bowed their heads down. “I have found the location of two of the magical items from Hornguard.” said a voice from the throne in front of the men. “I want your party to go and retrieve them for me.”

  “Yes, M’Lord.” responded one of the men. They stood up and left with the double bronze doors closing behind them.

  “Those are two weapons that won’t fall into the hands of the Chancellor.” With that the figure in the black robe laughed, an evil laugh.”
* * * * * * *
  “Let’s explore the ruins.”

  “Sounds like fun,” Joel replied. The german shepherd boys picked up their sacks with lunch in it and walked out the front door. The pups quickly ran out of the small hamlet and walked along the road. As they were going along, they talked about the big day tomorrow. They sat down, after a while, to take a break. As they were sitting there, an old wolf in a beat up brown cloak and boots walked up to the two. He leaned on the tree as if tired from walking. The boys eyed him carefully, but the old man didn’t seem to notice.

  “`tis a nice day.” the man said.

  Joel replied carefully, “I guess so.”

  “You’re both from Frankton, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “You both ready for the big day tomorrow?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Who do you think will pick you?”

  “Well,” Joel started, opening up with more excitement when the day was mentioned. “I think that James, the weapons master from Rillion, will pick me.”

  “Why would the famous weapons master for the king, pick you?”

  “Well, he said that I showed great interest and that I had much skill for one of my young age.” Joel responded proudly.

  “Is that so?”

  “Yeah, and he also said that he was only going to pick two…”

  “The other one will be me.” interrupted the other pup.

  “Is that so?” the old man stated again.

  “Well… I’m just as good as he is.” the other canine answered.

  “Well, it is a good thing that he is picking two. Where are you headed right now?”

  “Over to the ruins.” Joel responded again.

  “Why do you want to go over there, isn’t it too scary for youngsters.”

  “Nah, it’s fun to play and explore over there.”

  “Yeah, and there are neat places to look around.” the other canine chimed in.

  “Well,” the old man said as he stood back up. “I must be moving on. I hope James picks you both tomorrow. Have fun at the ruins.” He started off down the road towards Frankton. After he went out of sight, they got up and went on towards the ruins.

  The tower looked like a tree as the boys got closer to the road leading towards the old castle. They decided to explore the tower first. The tower was still in one piece as they got up to it. They walked in through the broken door to the first floor. The room was huge, with a spiral staircase in the center going up to the sleeping rooms, at least that’s what the boys believed them to be. There was a large fireplace on the opposite end and the remains of tables and chairs were all over the floor. The boys looked in and around everything. After finding everything they could on the first floor, they went up. Most of the upper floors were bedrooms as they suspected. They didn’t really find much to interest them there. On the floor right below the top of the tower; however, they did find an interesting room. The door was still in place, but didn’t move when the boys tried it. They had to force it, many times before it would finally budge open. Inside they found an old armory with a lot of rusted equipment. They searched the room carefully, and did find two daggers that weren’t rusted or damaged. The daggers actually looked very nice and well cared for. As they looked at the weapons, they noticed that there was some writing on them, but neither of the boys could read it. After they finished looking at the daggers, they noticed the ladder going up on the north wall. Climbing the ladder brought them too the roof of the tower. The view was great, but the big horn mounted on a swivel base was what captured the boys attention. Joel walked up and looked into it. The sound echoed around the hillsides.

  “OW, that hurt.” Joel yelled. “Don’t do that again, Tom!” Joel yelled.

  “Sorry.” Tom replied laughingly.

  “It isn’t funny, you could have hurt me.”

  “I said I’m sorry.”

  “Let’s go to the ruins now.” The boys descended the tower in short order, and headed on the main road towards the ancient fortress.
* * * * * * * *
  “There’s nothing in the tower worth anything, boss.”

  “There has to be.” the boss replied angrily. “Search again, don’t leave any stone unturned. The Overlord wants those two magic weapons. The army couldn’t find them when they took over, but they are here.” He closes his eyes for a moment. “I can feel it, they’re so close…”

  “BOSS!,” another guard yells down from the top of the tower, “there are two people walking towards the castle.”

  “Come on.” the boss shouted to the other rhinos. “We need to get them.”
* * * * * * * *
  The town and castle must have been beautiful in their day; unfortunately, their day seemed to have passed. As the boys passed through the old town, they looked through the remaining buildings, but didn’t find anything of interest. The crumbling buildings were grey with age. Joel used his newly found dagger to scrape some of the dirt and grime away, and was surprised to find red granite. The ruins looked as if they had been abandoned quickly as there were remains of pottery, clothing and tools.

  "Come on, let’s go to the castle.” Joel yelled as the other boy started to go into another building.
* * * * * * * *
  “They have reached the town.”

  “Good,” the boss stated, “we can trap them in one of the buildings. And, if they head towards the keep, we can stop them there. Remember, there is only one way in and out, the rest were blocked when the castle was destroyed.”
* * * * * * * *
  “Boy, it sure looks spooky.” Joel says quietly as Tom nods his head in agreement. They walked across the stone bridge, and entered into the castle. None of the out buildings were still standing, only the keep was still there. As they entered the keep, they noticed it still had it’s roof, though there were cobwebs everywhere. The dust was so thick that the boys boots left impressions as they walked around and looked in various rooms. There were old, dusty suits of armor and other junk that laid across the floor which the boys had to climb over. They finally found themselves in front of a large set of double oak doors.
* * * * * * * *
  “They’re not here.”

  “They must have gone to the keep. Janks, Fransk, and Mentch, guard the front door. If they come this way, knock them out, but don’t kill them. I want to find out who they are, who they work for, and what they know. The rest of you split up. Search the whole castle, leave no stone unturned. I want those two and I want them NOW.”
* * * * * * * *
  “The doors are stuck.” Joel said as he pushed on the door.

  “Maybe they’re locked.” Tom replied.

  “They’re not locked, Tom.” Said a voice from behind the canines. “They are meant to be pulled, not pushed.” Both boys jumped and tried to draw their new daggers as they turned around. The daggers ended up on the floor as the boys looked at a wolf that seemed vaguely familiar.

  “Whh… Whoo are you?” Joel asked timidly.

  “I am a friend,” the old man in brown responded, “who is here to tell you, you are being followed.”

  “Why would they follow us?” Tom asked, then quickly added, “and how did you know my name?”

  “They seek your daggers, and to know why two young men are in this old castle.”

  “If these are theirs, then we should return them to them.” Joel stated, picking up his dagger.

  “NO!” the old man said very quickly and directly causing the boys to jump a little. “They are evil men, they want to hurt you. Follow me, they are close at hand.” The pups look apprehensive and looked at each other until an arrow whisked by and struck the doors.

  “Stop in the name of the Overlord.” a voice demanded.

  “Quick, follow me.” The old man started down a side passage with a dazed Joel and Tom behind him. He took some turns and twists, then finally they ended in an apparently blocked passage.

  “This is a dead end, and they’re right behind us.” Tom said nearly hysterically.

  “Watch this.” The old man pressed a spot on the wall and mumbled some words. There was a slight gasp, then a section of wall opened up. “Quick, down those stairs and follow the passage. That should take you out and closer to home. I will make sure those men don’t follow you.”

  “What if we get lost?” Tom asked.

  “You won’t get lost as long as I am alive.” The old man replied then shooed the boys off.
* * * * * * * *
  “They went down this hall, I saw them.”

  “What’d they do, walk through the wall?” the boss demanded angrily. “You must have seen a bird or something.”

  “But I saw an old man with them.”

  “And I saw the King talking to the Overlord; shut your trap and keep searching or you’ll have worse things to worry about than that.”
* * * * * * *
  The passage was lit bysome unseen light as the boys ran down it. After a bit, they found that they were at a dead end. They nearly went into a panic until Joel decided to look for one of those stones that opened the door like the old man used. After a short search, he found one and found it opened a secret door. When they walked out, they found they were only an hour from home. With all the excitement that they had had already, the two canine pups quickly ran home where supper was ready. Tom’s mom scolded them for getting their clothing dirty. She made them wash all the dishes, take a bath and to go to bed early. For once, the boys didn’t even utter one complaint.
* * * * * * * *