―I thought you knew most things, Gilbert,‖ Axis said dryly. ―You do know exactly where
the Keep is, don‘t you?‖
Gilbert‘s face splotched a patchy red in embarrassment. ―At the end of the path,
BattleAxe.‖
Belial swore under his breath. ―Is that all you‘ve got to say, you useless lump of…‖
―Belial,‖ Axis said mildly, ―it is not a good thing to curse the Brotherhood of the
Seneschal. If Gilbert says the Keep is at the end of the path, then the Keep is at the end of the
path. Of course, it might help if Gilbert knew how long this Artor-forsaken path is, wouldn‘t it,
Gilbert?‖
Gilbert swallowed. He wished he were back in the Tower of the Seneschal. ―We have not
had any communication with the Keep for some time, BattleAxe.‖
Axis frowned. ―Jayme said he was going to send a rider in to tell them we were coming.‖
―The Brother-Leader sent a rider, it is true…it‘s just that he hasn‘t come back out again.‖
All the men shifted nervously now. Timozel and Arne, the youngest men present, traded
frightened looks and fingered their axes.
Axis remembered how unsure Jayme had seemed about the records the Keep contained.
―And just how long is it since the Brother-Leader has heard anything from the Keep, Gilbert?‖
Gilbert rolled his eyes skyward, as if he found something terribly interesting among the
clouds. His skin was pasty-white in the dawn light. ―Thirty-nine years.‖
―Thirty-nine years?‖ said Axis incredulous. ―Gilbert, how does anyone know there is a
Keep in there? Jayme told me that Brother Ogden was chief Brother in the Keep. How does he
know that if there‘s been no communication for thirty-nine years?‖
Arne, a dour-faced and dark-haired man, chuckled suddenly in grim humour. ―Because
that‘s who the Seneschal sent to take charge thirty-nine years ago, BattleAxe!‖
Axis stared at Gilbert. ―Is that right?‖
Gilbert nodded unhappily. ―The Brothers are an uncommunicative lot,‖ he muttered.
Axis swore under his breath. Why hadn‘t Jayme told him this? ―Belial. If we‘re not out in
three days, send in a party after us. If that party doesn‘t come out within three days, then send
no-one else in. Break camp and go back to Carlon. You can tell Jayme that if anyone else has to
go back into the Woods then it will have to be him. And if he doesn‘t want to go into the Woods,
then he can go and stop the Forbidden at Gorkenfort.‖
Belial nodded and backed his horse off a little. ―May Artor keep and hold you in His
hand, BattleAxe.‖
―Now and forever,‖ the others muttered.
Axis turned to the other three. ―Arne, Timozel, are you ready?‖ They nodded. Axis
turned to Gilbert. ―Brother Gilbert, you may take the lead. Your prayers might help to keep the
demons at bay. Timozel, you follow me; Arne, bring up the rear. Are you ready, Axe-Wielders?‖
―We follow your voice and we are ready, BattleAxe!‖ Timozel and Arne shouted.
―Then let us ride,‖ Axis cried and spurred Belaguez into a gallop.
Belial stood and watched them until they disappeared into the gloom of the Woods, then
he slowly turned his horse. He would set guards by the trail night and day until his BattleAxe
came back. Halfway back to camp he came across Faraday standing alone in the waving grass,
watching the spot where the riders had disappeared.
The men slowed their horses to a walk once they entered the Woods. Within thirty paces
of the tree line they were completely lost in gloom. Every man sat straight and tall in the saddle,
eyes shifting constantly from side to side, expecting attack at any moment. They could hardly
conceive of a world where there were no wide-open spaces, where the sky was not instantly
visible. The three Axemen had pulled their swords from their weapon belts and held them at the
ready. Gilbert occasionally whimpered in fear and would have stopped had not Axis kept
Belaguez pressed against his horse‘s rump.
The gloom and the silence enveloped them. Not even birds called from the trees. About
one hundred paces in, Timozel abruptly cried out from behind. ―BattleAxe!‖
Axis pulled Belaguez to a halt and whipped around in the saddle. ―What is it?‖
Timozel was bent double, half out of the saddle as he leaned further and further down his
horse‘s off side. ―It‘s my axe!‖ he gasped, ―it‘s…‖
Now Axis could feel it too, a massive weight hanging down by his right hip as if a
gigantic hand had seized his axe by the haft and was pulling it towards the ground. He grunted
and tried to pull the other way, but whatever had hold of his axe was too strong. The next moment he was pulled out of his saddle, and though he desperately grabbed the pommel he felt
himself being dragged inexorably to the ground. Axis heard Gilbert cry out in horror, but he had
no time to see what was wrong with him. The pressure on his axe increased—whatever invisible
hand had hold of the haft was unbelievably strong—and, an instant after he heard Timozel hit the
ground, Axis was pulled completely out of the saddle himself and hit the ground so hard that his
breath was knocked out of his body.
Axis unbuckled his weapon belt to free himself of his axe almost as soon as he hit the
ground, and the instant it was free he felt the immense pressure disappear. He jumped to his feet.
Timozel and Arne lay struggling on the ground nearby, their horses a little further down the
track, milling in confusion. Axis almost lost his footing as the ground swayed underneath his
feet.
―Tim…Arne…unbuckle your weapon belts!‖ Axis shouted, stumbling in his efforts to
reach his men still writhing helplessly on the ground. Timozel had been pulled halfway into the
ground and Axis bent over him, the ground heaving beneath his feet, desperately trying to help
Timozel free himself from his axe. Finally the weapon belt dropped free and Timozel grunted in
relief. Axis hauled him to his feet then bent to help Arne, who had also unbuckled his weapon
belt. All three turned to look for their axes, but the ground was heaving and buckling even more
violently and their axes had completely disappeared underneath the loose covering of leaves and
pine needles that littered the surface.
They all stepped back several paces to where the ground was firm, legs shaking. ―Artor
save us!‖ Arne gasped, ―they would have taken us with them!‖ For a few heartbeats longer they
stood, swords in hand, chests heaving as they fought to recover their breath, watching the ground
where their axes had disappeared, hardly able to comprehend what had happened. After a
moment the ground settled down until even the leaf litter had ceased to shift. They exchanged
frightened glances. What sort of place was this where the forest could eat axes? How could they
fight the very earth itself?
―I wonder whether the rider that Jayme sent was wearing an axe,‖ Timozel said quietly,
his youthful face ashen. ―And if he was, I wonder if he got his weapon belt off in time.‖
―And how many others are buried under the earth in this spot,‖ Arne whispered.
That thought didn‘t bear thinking about, and Axis battled to regain his equilibrium. ―Get
back on your horses. I for one am going to feel a lot better with Belaguez underneath me again.‖
Gilbert rode back as the others remounted. ―What happened?‖ he asked.
Axis swung into Belaguez‘s saddle. ―We have been deprived of our axes, Brother
Gilbert,‖ he said, a lot more calmly than he felt. ―We must hope that the forest does not eat us as
well. Ride on.‖
Nothing else troubled them for the rest of the long ride, although the forest loomed still
and dark around them and they were all tense and jumpy, snarling at each other whenever a twig
snapped under hoof or a low-slung bough scraped at a head or a shoulder. Hands lay slippery
with sweat on the hilts of swords, but the three Axemen were unwilling to wipe their hands along
their cloaks in case the demons, or whatever other dark fiends inhabited these Woods, chose that
moment to attack.
After they had been in the saddle almost eight hours, the ground started to drop away
underneath them, and they had to rein their horses back on the increasingly steep path in case
they slipped and fell. An hour later Gilbert pulled his horse up and turned back to Axis, his face
now so weary that deep lines of fatigue scored his pimply cheeks and forehead.
―BattleAxe,‖ he waved ahead sketchily. ―Water.‖
Axis peered through the gloom. Although it was difficult to see very far ahead, he could
see a glint of water. ―Keep going,‖ he said. ―The sooner we find somewhere to rest and eat the
better.‖
― If we find somewhere to rest and eat,‖ he heard Timozel mutter. Axis hefted his sword