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Back to Empire on the HPe3000
... and ...
The retreating Hill Giant or such was the form of the apparition,
stood facing the massive wooden doors but its touch moved them not at all.
Its hands reached out, its fingers disappeared into the surface of the
board, but it was a thing of no substance or solidity. Its form wavered
once again and the door began to move, creaking on rusty hinges and
incing along wider and wider. As it made its slow progress, Nosnra
pushed himself to his feet, splinters of wood piercing his hand and arm,
sending a dozen trickles of blood dripping down to the floor.
Ursoth ran to his fallen master, but Nosnra ignored the brush of
the bears furry side against his leg and took a stumbling sprint forward.
Ahead the semblance of a Giant had slipped through the narrow crack
between door and frame, its chest and shoulders passing through the hard
grained wood like steam through an iron grate.
It took precious moments to cross the long passage from the hall
proper to the double-doored entranceway. Nosnra swore vilely under his
breath, cursing the clutter of benches and tables which had slowed his
pursuit and sent him tumbling to the ground. He reached out and grabbed
the door by its edge and swung it open with great force, a hinge bolt
sot from its anchor in the wooden frame and gave a dull thud against a
nearby wall.
Beyond the passage lay a vast entry hall lined with cloaks hanging
from a forest of pegs set in the wall. Below the cloaks, piles of
skinwrapped bundles and scatterings of carry-alls and packs littered the
floor. A cold, damp draft blew from the outer doors. The great Ironbound
portals let in the breeze, left open when the should have been shut fast.
"Eadnoth!" Nosnra shouted. The young warrior was nowhere to be
seen. "Eadnoth!" he yelled out the name but expected no reply. Was that
the phantom spirit he saw, deaf to his entreaties, in the Great Hall.
With quick strides he crossed to the outer doors. The night was
filled with noise, a constant patter of rain as its backdrop. Looking
out into the starless dark he could see nothing, no sign of his errant
guard.
"Eadnoth!" he called once more into the rain, but there was no
reply. A fire built within him. This was no uneasy dream which sent him
away from his bed and well earned sleep. Where was this guard?, What was
the silent form he had come chasing after? He had no answer. Now he would
rouse his people and set the Steading astir.
The watchtower stairs were before him, he had but to cross the
entry hall and follow them to the upper chamber. In his mind he could hear
the clanging of the steel hammer on the iron bars, the alarm raised and
the phantoms which plagued him chased into the night.
* * *