Chapter 1

A Black Carriage

The night was quiet. The remaining clouds from the day slowly rolled over the mountains, disappearing into the nights sky. One by one the sounds of night came to life. Crickets started to create harmonies together. A black sparrow flew to his perch, and called out into the night. His squak echoed throughout the forest, traveling towards a dark road. Slowly a low hum could be made out on the air. The sparrow tilted his head, trying to hear the noise better. He hopped across the limbs, and looked down onto the road below him. Horse hooves could now be made out. The rhythmic galloping faded in and out. Nearly invisible, a black carriage flew down the path. It was surprisingly quiet. Only the horses made any noise. It rushed passed the sparrow, and faded away into the night, headed towards the small village of Escamar, which could be seen far off into the distance. At this same moment, in the town of Escamar, two boys were trying their best to sneak into their friends house to wake him.

“Shu!” said Reed as he boosted Ryan to the window sill.

“Do you see anything Ryan?”

Ryan rolled his eyes, “Nope, his lights are off. Should we sneak around back?”

“Knaw his folks are asleep back there--they’ll hear us for sure.”

Reed shook his leg side to side. He slowly lowered Ryan down as he spoke.

“I told him to meet us at Crown’s Inn eleven o’clock sharp, and it is now a quarter past. Ryan, we are gonna have to bust in to wake him. Here, let me boost you again. Try and get your foot on the ledge.”

 As Ryan and Reed tried to climb up Stacker’s house to break into his room and wake him, a pair of gleaming eyes watched them from behind. The eyes had a sparkle in them and a grin could be made out from the darkened face.

“Almost got it,” stammered Ryan as he heaved. Then all of a sudden, “Whoosh!”

Ryan’s foot slipped and “Bam!” He fell right on top of Reed in a crumpled mess.

As the two started to try and figure out what had just happened they were startled to hear laughing from the shadows. They quickly looked behind them to see who it was. Right there, leaning on an old tool shed was the man himself, Stacker. He had dark orange hair, white pearly teeth, his eyes a bright emerald green, his skin dark and healthy. He had been watching his friends for some time as they tried to break into his house to wake him. He had tried to hold in his laughter, but as soon as Ryan had fallen on top of Reed he couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were right there!? “ Reed demanded as he stood up, brushing his shirt clean. “We could have broken a bone trying to wake you up. Well, wake the you who seems to already be awake.”

At this all three boys laughed. Stacker grinned ear to ear and took a bite of his apple he had in his hand. Ryan got to his feet slowly and brushed his hair out of his eyes. He yawned and murmured, “Okay gents, now that we are all here let’s get going. Don’t want to go to bed too late.”

“Can’t we just discuss our plans right here?” asked Reed  “No one is around and it won’t take long.”

“What!” said Ryan “Not here, we need to go to the Inn and talk. Besides, they have comfy booths we can sit in”

“Whatever,” replied Reed as he leaned back on one leg.

“Well, I’ll lead the charge” said Stacker. He climbed up the tool shed and put a hand out for Ryan and Reed to grab hold of. From there they crept along the balcony and climbed up onto a higher roof that was next door. You could see the entire town from up there. The church bell, Baker’s street, even the top of Reeds house.

“Alrighty you first Stack” said Ryan as he patted Stacker’s shoulder. Stacker looked down the long shingled roof and took a deep breath. He then narrowed his eyes and started to sprint at full speed down the roof. At the very end he jumped, flew through the air, and landed on another roof, skidding down the shingles. Reed followed, and Ryan brought up the rear. This process was followed several times, Stacker swinging and jumping rooftop to rooftop with Reed and Ryan not far behind.

Out in the nearby forest at this very time, an owl glided to its perch. A harvest mouse scampered into his home in the rushes, ready to end the day with sleep. The owl spotted the mouse but stayed at bay. It looked out from the trees and into the distant fields. It stared at the silhouette of the village Escamar. The moon was full, gleaming brightly behind the town. The owl could make out three silhouettes running from rooftop to rooftop. They were skidding down roofs, jumping over alley ways, and daring innumerable other stunts. It was quite an interesting sight, even the owl was distracted momentarily from his nocturnal rounds.

The three friends finally landed on the Inn’s roof and stopped. As they started their descent they came to a sudden halt, for right below in a dark alley between Crowns Inn and the Beakers and Beatle shop was a black armored carriage. This carriage was not from Escamar; its black velvet doors gave that away. The wheels were not made from standard oak, but crafted from solid black iron. The horses pulling this mighty carriage were huge. Built like powerful beasts, they were still quite lean. Short black manes tossed, and each one of the four had armor that matched the carriage: great broad chest plates, horse helmets, and even leg plating.

“Wow,” exclaimed Reed, “Those are Northern stallions, bred for speed and endurance. Mighty fine they are.”

“Who owns a carriage like that?” asked Stacker, his eyes full of amazement and wonder.

“No one from around here” replied Ryan. “This must be some sort of messaging carriage from the Capital.”

“You think so?” replied Reed. “Well, whatever is in it, or who’s it is I’m going to find out,” and with that Reed slowly started to let one leg down over the building’s edge. Stacker’s hand quickly grabbed Reeds leg and held it.

“Oh no you are not,” he said with a grin on his face. “Because we all three will find out together at the same time.”

“Well, let’s get going shall we?” Reed replied in an impatient voice. The three boys leaned over the shingles and stared down at the dark passage below. Just as they thought the coast was clear a hooded figure stepped out of the carriage, holding a long package. It came out so fast it caught the boys by surprise, Ryan tried to duck down fast but instead slid down the slick shingles until only his chest and arms were holding on. His legs had swung out and dangled in the air. Stacker grabbed hold of Ryan’s shirt collar and held him in place, while Reed quickly leaned over and grabbed Ryans leg and pulled it up.

“Ah jeeze, thanks fellers. Thought I was a goner there,” Ryan stammered. His cheeks blushed with embarrassment. Reed and Stacker took no notice and acted like nothing had happened, their eyes still focused on the darkness below. The dark figure had taken no notice of the boys’ small rescue and had walked briskly into a nearby door that led into the Inn. For a split moment light pierced the gloom. The sound of a piano and laughing could be heard. As quick as the sound came, it went. The door shut.

After almost giving themselves away, Ryan thought it best to redeem himself and be the first to go down. His heart was pounding.

“Let’s follow em!” he exclaimed with fake courage. Beads of sweat were evident on his forehead.

“Be quiet gosh darn it,” whispered Reed with a hiss.  “Now we don’t know who or what that was. Could be a royal spy.” Reed’s eyes narrowed. His jaw was working. “Or an assassin.”

Stacker slowly turned his head towards Reed. A smirk on his face.

“What?” Reed asked.  Stacker grinned.

“An assassin? Or a spy?” Stacker said with a sarcastic tone.

“Well it could be!” Reed said with an unsure voice. Stacker chuckled to himself and quickly stood up. He stretched his arms and suddenly jumped down onto the carriage. Without hesitation, Ryan and Reed followed. They crept along the narrow lane and hid behind some old barrels. Peeking around the crates, they stared at the horses. The stallion’s nostrils opened and closed, with steam shooting out. It appeared that they had just arrived and were still catching their breath. Stacker slowly walked up to them but paused suddenly. All went quiet. They were suddenly alarmed to hear voices break out from the building next to the Inn. Ryan and Reed quickly hid among the barrels, but Stacker stood motionless for a second. Then he stepped abruptly to the building and placed his head near an open window.

“I’m telling you Smith, this is it, this is what we’ve been waiting for.”

“I know that!” replied a sharp voice. “I don’t give a hoot or a holler about the Cardinal. It’s the king who will decide.”

“Shu!” Don’t say their names for bloody sake.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Ah no one can hear us, anyways this is all about to be over. Dan..err, I mean that fellow who is waiting for us has our money. Let’s get this over with, tell the King, and leave this town tonight!

“Don’t say any names you buffoon.”

The talking stopped. Everything went quiet. Stacker drew even closer to the window in an attempt to hear better but to no avail.

“Stack!” whispered Reed. “What did you. . “ Before Reed could finish, he was quickly cut off by the sound of a door being unlocked. Stacker quickly dove into nearby debris just in the nick of time. Two hooded figures with black cloaks walked rapidly out of a side door across the alleyway and into the tavern. Once again light flooded from within, but there was no sound of laughing or piano playing this time.

“Well, I’m highly intrigued,” Stacker said as yawned.

Ryan and Reed both jumped up and ran over to Stacker. Reed looked into an Inn window and looked back to Stacker.

“What did you hear Stack??”

“Something about the Cardinal and the King, and getting paid and leaving town tonight. There were more words but that is pretty much it.”

Ryan stood still. He looked to Reed who was back to the window looking in.  

“Well,” Ryan said. “This is better than I thought. We can’t just stay out here, shall we go in?”

Stacker slowly looked over to Ryan. He then stared at the ground and slowly said “Let us wait a moment. Just in case.”

Stacker then walked up to the carriage and put his hand out to feel it. Ryan also walked up and looked closely at a golden viper that was nailed onto the front of the carriage. It was solid gold, with diamond eyes. The snake itself was coiled around a mighty sword with its tongue out, making it look like it was hissing.

Reed walked away from the window to join the other two at the carriage.

“Wow, that is a beautiful sight.”

“What?” replied Ryan. “The viper?”

“Nah, I’m talking about the horses.” Reed replied as he stroked one of the horse’s mane.

“Alright I think we are in the clear to go in,” Stacker said abruptly.

The three walked over to the Inn’s main entrance to not draw attention to themselves. The smell of dank whisky was the first thing they noticed as they walked in. Its pungent smell perfumed the air in a vaguely unpleasant manner. Tables were pushed aside to the walls carelessly, with chairs spewed about the room. Men of midlife lay about in an undignified way, but this place help no expectations for dignity or grace. The bartender had wispy gray hair, yellow eyes, and an unkempt mustache. His eyes defined desperation, and his body language did not help the counter argument to this opinion. In the center of the room on the floor lay an older man, fast asleep. In one hand he held a bottle, the other a fork. He looked like a dead man, but his rising and falling chest said otherwise. Stacker gazed around the room. After realizing there was no immediate danger, he pointed out a staircase to Reed and Ryan. They quickly made their way across the room and ran up the stairs.

The hallway was dark.  The only light was shining from underneath the doors, making the floor seem to glow. A window at the end of the hall showed rain was beginning to fall, the wind tossing and turning the trees. Water dripped from the high ceiling down on the three, from holes long ignored.

“What a lovely place,” remarked Reed with a sneer.

Ryan half smiled and looked about his surroundings. He looked to Reed, then to Stacker.

“What exactly are we doing here?”

“Well,” Stacker replied, “searching”

“Searching for what exactly?”

“Those hooded figures you dweeb,” Reed replied before Stacker could answer Ryan’s question.

“But what are we going to do? Like, just eavesdrop on them?”

“Something like that” replied Stacker quietly as he pressed his head against the first door.

“Reed you go down the hall around the left side of the corridor and Ryan, you take the right side. Come get me if you find anything interesting.”

Reed and Ryan both crept silently down the hall, holding their breath. Reed disappeared around the corner while Ryan went ahead and started listening next to the doors at the end of the hall.

Stacker cupped his hands together. He pressed them against the door and held his ear to it.

“All you do is buy things for yourself, Rob!”

“Oh yeah!?” replied a high pitched voice. “What about that necklace, that blue diamond one?”

“That was four years ago! Four! And the blacksmith told me those were fake diamonds!”

“Fake! Well, you deserve fake diamonds you witch!”

Stacker quickly took his head away from the door and walked quietly away to the next. His face was a slight grin as he thought to himself how funny the man sounded with the high pitched voice. He then cupped his ears again and listened in to the next room. There was no sound. He waited a minute or so and then moved to the next.

“That money belongs to me, and me alone.”

“You alone? You filthy slug!” The responding voice was raspy and evil sounding. It dropped to a hissing whisper. “We went into this thing fifty-fifty, and need I remind you what happens if one of us breaks the deal?”

“The deal was we both go in, we both rob, we both kill, we both get money. You just sat out there keeping watch while I did all the work. “

There was some commotion in the room. A quick thumping sound was heard, and something hit the ground hard, and with that Stacker quickly moved on to the next door. He looked down the hall to check if the others were on there way back. “Even if we do not find them, I will still have some interesting things to tell,” he thought to himself. Stacker was beginning to wonder if the hooded figures were even there when he heard a sharp noise come from behind one of the doors. It sounded like metal on metal scraping. He quickly made his way across the hall. This door was different. It had a keyhole slot that one could look through. Stacker bent down quietly and looked through.

“She’s a beauty is she not?” said a deep voice. The sound of the metal scraping that Stacker had heard was a sword being drawn from its metal scabbard. Stacker tried to look in better but the keyhole was so small it made it nearly impossible. He shuffled around a bit to get in a better position when all of a sudden the door swung open. A hand shot out and grabbed Stacker by the arm and yanked him inside. Stacker’s heart was pounding.

“Ok kid, what did you hear? You’ve got no business eavesdropping.”

“Nothing!” replied Stacker quickly. He looked to the man who had addressed him. He was very tall, with dark eyes, his hair short and blonde. Stacker looked around the room to see several men, all armed with daggers in their belts, two of them even had crossbows with arrows at the ready. One man behind the bed in the room was quickly sheathing the sword that Stacker had caught a glimpse of.

“What’s your name, kid?” the tall man asked.

Stacker stared for a second and responded, “Stacker, Stacker Dukov”

“And what are you doing here Stacker?”  

“I, I work here. I was just polishing the doorknobs.” Stacker realized no one would buy this story. He gulped but kept eye contact with the tall man.

“You’re polishing the doorknobs at midnight? Where is your polish and cloth?”

“Well we are running low on budgets, and they said to use my shirt and spit.” Even Stacker could not help but smile a bit at this ridiculous response. He grinned and picked up the edge of his shirt to reenact the motion of polishing. The tall man walked over and squatted down next to Stacker, staring him in the eye.

“Look Stacker, I’ll be honest with you if you’re honest with us. I will go first. We are in charge of a secret. A secret only known to a very select few. And if this secret gets out it would be terrible. The last thing we want is a kid telling everyone about what he saw.”

“Borne!” exclaimed one of the men. “What are you doing?”

Borne did not acknowledge the man. He still stared into Stackers eyes, and Stacker stared back with a grin. Right at that moment the door swung in and Ryan and Reed burst in, metal candle sticks in hand. Reed’s still had a flame, and Ryan also carried some weird looking gadget.

“Let him go!” Reed shouted. “Or I’ll. . .” Reed paused, he wasn’t sure what he would do. “I’ll. . . I’ll do something!” Ryan shook his head in embarrassment. Borne rose to his feet. He sighed and put a hand over his jaw.

“So there’s more of you, is there?” Stacker also stood up and looked to Ryan and Reed.

“I’m fine gents. They were just about to let me go.”

“Like hell!” shouted one of the men. “Now we sure can’t. They’ve seen too much Borne!”

Borne finally broke his gaze from Stacker and turned to his henchmen. He sighed and scratched his head.

“We will take them with us. Once the deed is done they can go.” As soon as he said this two of the men quick as lightning bolted at Ryan and Reed, seizing them. They quickly bound their hands. It looked so simple and easy, Ryan and Reed now looked like no threat at all. Clearly these men were trained.

“Don’t worry kids, we ain’t bad guys. Just got to make sure you don’t all go blabbing your mouths.” Stacker’s hands were also bound, and he was grabbed by the shoulder to be led out of the room. As they led the three of them out, Stacker saw another glimpse of the sword. It was only the hilt but what a hilt is was! The actual hand piece looked to be from gold. The cross piece was made of four metal pieces each a different colour, with two swan heads facing each other at the top.

“Stack,” whispered Ryan. Stacker looked over to Ryan who was next to him.

“Can you grab the gadget from my hands?” Ryan’s hands were bound behind him but the gadget was still firmly in his hand. Stacker’s hands were bound in front and loosely bound. Stacker then recognized the gadget as one of Ryan’s weird inventions. It was the one that made a loud screeching noise If you blew into it repeatedly.

“Yeah I can. Drop it.” replied Stacker in a whisper. As Ryan dropped the gadget, Stacker bolted forwards and grabbed it. All the men stood motionless, looking rather confused.

“Okay look here!” Stacker commanded. “If I blow into this thing it will make the loudest noise you have ever heard, and you can bet people will be running up to see where the noise came from, and we will tell them you are kidnapping us and you all will be locked up. Or let us go now and we will not tell a soul about what we have seen.”

Borne leaned back on one leg and smiled.  “Now there is a thinking young lad. I like you kid, and for that you three can go.” Reed looked over to the tall man who had spoken. He knew something was up.

“Then unbound us one at a time” He said as he put his hands out. Borne signaled two of the men to go and unbound Ryan and Reed.

“Alright there, you are free to go. Now keep your side of the bargain and do not tell anyone about us.” Stacker grinned and gave a nod. Quickly the boys raced through the hall and down the stairs.

“Borne why did you let them go? That gadget wouldn’t have done jack for them. Everyone in this building is undercover for us.”

“I know” replied Born. “They are just kids though. Besides, before they can tell anyone, our mission will be complete. Let’s get going gentlemen.”

The three boys raced outside. Their adrenaline was racing like never before.

“Well let’s get back to our beds before they changed their minds!” exclaimed Reed.

“Stack you go back to your house the rooftop way. Ryan and I will go opposite directions. That way they can’t catch all three of us if they follow.” With that all three boys split and ran home as fast as they could.

That night as the boys dreamed of far off places and adventure an owl swooped back to its perch. It looked down at the road and stared at a horrific scene. A black armored carriage was flipped over. Four dead horses lay in the mud, soaked by their own blood. Surrounding the carriage were dead bodies, swords still clasped in hand. One of the bodies still moved. It was a tall man, with dark eyes, and short blonde hair. He crawled forward and went limp. His hand was out, pointing west.