Neither The Beginning Nor The End

By Arasan P M

Avan was pondering over his life decisions which had led him to this situation. He was 10 feet away from the top, but he was stuck. He looked down, in the darkness he couldn’t see the ground which was around 90 feet below. He was very proud of his climbing skills, he could climb almost anything which would be impossible for normal people, and this pride had spurred him to climb these 100 feet wall of the fortress at night. He was not able to find any hold to climb further upwards, and neither could he find his last foothold.

He was at the point of where exhaustion and desperation threatened to take over, when something dropped right on his face. He almost lost his grip in surprise. Then he touched it and found out that it was a rope. Though suspicious he had no other option but to take the life line and climb upwards.

Once he climbed over the parapet wall, he slumped over and took some quick breaths in relief. His savior who was hooded, spoke in an urgent voice, “we cannot stay here forever, Lets make ourselves scarce before the guards come”. Avan though curious agreed, though his situation had bettered, he knew he was still in danger until he left this fortress.

“Who are you? And what are you doing here?”, asked Avan. “You can call me Ival, I am saving your skin at the moment”, came the brisk reply from the girl. “And if you don’t want to get caught, follow me quietly”. Avan obliged and followed her quietly. They descended downstairs from the roof, quickly went through a corridor and turned left where there was another stair case, she quickly led him down two flights of stairs. They went through a maze of corridors. They were going through what looked like a dark unlit hall, when Avan tripped on something and fell with a crash, Ival quickly pulled him to the side behind some tables.

The Dark Hall was suddenly illuminated with light from a torch as someone opened a door and came in. “Who goes there?” boomed the voice of the Guard. They both held their breath hoping that the Guard will not notice them, but it seems the guard was intent on finding the source of the commotion. Avan heard Ival muttering something under her breath, there was again a loud noise outside the other door across the one where the guard had entered. The guard hurried outside to investigate. Quickly Avan and Ival ran through the door from which the Guard had entered and made their escape. Avan was little suspicious of the source of the sound that distracted the Guard, but kept his mouth shut.

Ival led him behind a fold in the wall, which cleverly concealed a very narrow passage. He followed her for a few minutes inside the dark passage before she stopped in front of him. Ival used some flint to light up a torch on the wall. Avan saw that they had come to a room, with no apparent windows. “What is this place’, he asked her.

“A Place to hide and rest, before we do what we came to do”, replied Ival. “But, first let’s eat.”

“We?”, asked Avan, “how do you know what I came to do?”. “Who are you and why did you, err how did you find me”.

“So, many questions”, replied Ival opening her bag. She took out some bread, cheese and cured meat. Avan eyed them with temptation, he was hungry.

“As I said, I am Ival. I came here for the same reason as you”, said Ival, “to rescue Rikard, I am assuming that you were not climbing the 100-foot wall at night to meet the lord of this city. I didn’t know that one can climb such a wall, but there are better ways to enter this fort”.

“How do you know that I am came for Rikard?” asked Avan as he froze midway while wedging some cheese in between the bread he had picked up. “

“You are carrying his bag”, replied Ival, “I will answer all your questions, but first we eat, I am famished”.

By Arasan P M