The Citadel

                                              Chapter 1

The Citadel consisted of a complex of buildings, located on a flat, rocky promontory that stood high above the sea. Bridging the fifty foot gap between the promontory and the mainland was a sixty foot drawbridge that could be drawn up in times of danger, thus making it almost impregnable as a fortress.

The promontory itself was about five hundred feet high by 1000 feet square, which is why it had been chosen as the site for the complex. Along the outer perimeter, spaced about every fifty feet, were thirty foot high watch towers that were manned by archers in times of trouble. Each tower was connected by a twenty-five foot crennelated parapet that could be manned by additional troops as needed.In it's five hundred years of existence it had never been taken in combat or by siege.

It was almost spring time and the winter had been relatively mild. Belafor, the current superintendant, was mounted on his charger, Ranger, getting ready to make his yearly inspection tour of the nearby village and farms to be sure that all was well and ready when the new class of students would be arriving within the next two weeks. Beside him was his long time friend and former student, Lemuel.
No two people could have been such an odd looking pair. Belafor was of an ancient elven race, whereas Lemuel was a short sturdy dwarf, but they had been friends for twenty-five years and Lemuel would never let Belafor out of his sight when outside the grounds of the complex.Ordinarily Lemuel would have been on foot,but since he and Belafor was doing the annual inspection tour he was mounted on his favorite warhound, Berserker.

" Well my old friend are we going to sit here admiring the view?" he asked jokingly, "or shall we proceed."
Belafore just looked at him in silent contemplation as he sensed that there was something drastically wrong. With his extrodinary vision he could already see that the fields had not yet been plowed and that the village seemed awful quiet.
" My friend I would keep that axe of yours ready." he replied as he loosened his sword to make it easier to draw.
Lemuel was not one to take his friend lightly whenever he sensed that something was wrong and proceeded to draw his axe that was slung on his back.

As they approached the woods that were on the outskirts of the village even Lemuel felt something was wrong and gripped his axe handle in a firmer grip. An arow suddenly went singing by his ear and he immediately dismounted, knowing that his warhound would track and slay the offending archer. Besides that he preferred to fight while standing on his own two legs. Meanwhile, Belafor, who had already spotted the hidden archer let loose with an arrow of his own. Wounding the assailant and with the warhound covering they approached cautiously. Lemuel was all for killing him on the spot, but Belafor, being older and wiser, chose to question their assailant.

Belafor looked down at their assailant with disgust. Looking upon the ugly looking creature he thought Lemuel might be right, maybe they should put it out of its' misery. The creature appeared to be a cross between a human and an orc, but he really couldn't tell.

" What manner of creature are you and why did you try to ambush us? " Belafor asked.

" As to my race I am a morag from the far western mountains and I was sent by my Lord Sirius to kill you. " the creature replied in a low, gravelly voice.

" Who is this Lord Sirius and why would he want me dead? "

" My Lord is great wizard who intends to conquer this land and enslave all who dwell here. As to why he wants you dead is his business. "

Lemuel could not control himself any longer and with one mighty swing lopped off the morags head before Belafor could stop him.

" The least you could have done was let me finish questioning him! " he said a little angrily.

" I'm not about to stand there and let a foul beast that's not even fit to lick your boots, speak to you that way and get away with it. " Lemuel said as he wiped the blade of his axe clean.

" We'll do the inspection tomorrow. " Belafor stated, " I have a great deal of thinking to do and it might be a good idea to send a few of the lads out to do some scouting. This does not bode well for anyone." Lemuel nodded his head in agreement. Regaining their mounts, they rode back to the Citadel in quiet contemplation.


                                                  Chapter 2

Belafor sat in his study thinking about the things the morag had said. He had never heard of this Lord Sirius before and wondered why he would want to enslave people who had never travelled beyond the western mountains.