Herba's Forrest [Complete]

Chapter 11

The lock on the door of Brian's cell began to move. He sat up swiftly and waited to see who was standing on the other side. The door opened and Brian saw three guards standing there. His heart began to race as they came closer, grabbed him roughly, and dragged him to his feet. Brian's arms were bound behind his back and he was escorted out of the dungeons. He squinted as they entered the bright light of the courtyard.

His eyes adjusted quickly and he looked around. The entire household seemed to have showed up to watch the proceedings.

Are they really all so eager to see me die? Brian wondered.

Brian's eyes were drawn to the gallows that occupied most of the space in the courtyard. His mouth ran dry and his heart skipped a beat.

He looked around for Natalie as he was propelled toward the structure. She stood to his far left. A shiver shot down Brian's spine as they made eye contact. She regarded him coldly with nothing in her eyes but pure hatred.

He was led up the stairs onto the platform and a noose was placed around his neck. Gabriel met his eyes with a defiant glare and Brian remembered what he had said in the dungeons. He hoped beyond hope that Gabriel would not do anything stupid that would get him killed as well.

The floor dropped from beneath Brian and the noose tightened around his neck. It felt like forever to Brian, but it was actually not long at all. He was dimly aware of the sound of screaming. Then all pressure on his neck stopped and he fell to the ground.

Brian lay there for a moment, gasping, and then muttered, "I am going to murder Gabriel for this." It was bad enough that he was going to die. He did not want his best friend to go down with him.

He waited for the guards to crowd around, to pull him up out of this hole beneath the platform. They did not come. Brian struggled to sit up. His hands were still tied behind his back, making it difficult to pull himself to his feet. He placed his hands on the edge of the platform behind him and pulled himself up onto it, expecting to see the guards wrestling Gabriel to the ground.

The scene that lay before him could not possibly be more different from what he had thought. Looking around, he understood why no one had bothered with him. The courtyard was the scene of a battlefield! Men in green and grey uniforms surrounded him, fighting with every weapon they had against the household.

One thought popped into Brian's head suddenly. Natalie. He looked around, but she was nowhere in sight. Making a snap decision, he got to his feet carefully and jumped down from the platform. This nearly ended with him facedown in the dirt as a result of his tied hands. He scanned the sea of faces quickly and saw one that was familiar. Brian crossed the battlefield to Gabriel and was nearly decapitated in the process.

"Decided to join the fun?" Gabriel asked, grinning. He was locked in combat with an enemy soldier. The poor man was losing badly.

Any fool could see that the entire enemy army was losing badly.

"Cut me loose!" Brian said urgently. An enormous man with a long brown beard was coming his way with an equally enormous battle sword.

"Happy to oblige," Gabriel answered, parrying his enemy's attack and cutting the rope from Brian's wrists in one swift movement.

"A sword!" Brian yelled. The man with the battle sword was getting closer.

"Right!" Gabriel twisted his sword around his opponent's and pushed it upwards. The sword flew from the man's grasp. The man had no time to recover from this shock before Gabriel's sword came down and smote his neck. Without even a slight pause, Gabriel turned and caught the man's sword as it came down.