“I wonder what Walak is doing out here and how he avoided the attack?” pondered Antello as he pointedly ignored Syman’s statement of caution.

“We will find out when we revive him,” Lyra murmured. “Antello, go retrieve the horses while I see if he is hurt. I’m afraid I just let the reins drop when I heard the screaming.”

Antello sheathed his sword and rambled off as Lyra knelt next to Walak and checked him for injuries.

Satisfied that Walak’s only injury was a bump on the head, Lyra placed her hands on his forehead and cast a mild healing spell that would ease the pain when he woke. By the time Antello returned with the horses, Walak was rousing from his short slumber.

“What happened?” quizzed Walak as he looked up at his captors. “Where are the raiders?”

“I am afraid it was us stalking you,” offered Syman quietly. “We thought you were a raider.”

“How did you escape?” asked Lyra. “Where is your horse?”

Walak sat up and felt for the bump on his head. “I didn’t have a horse,” he answered. “My father was supposed to arrive this morning so I was not in class. I wandered into one of the empty study rooms and was gazing out the window when the screaming started.”

“I will go back and get a horse for him,” offered Antello as he tied the other horses to a tree.

Walak started shaking and crying as he related the tale. “I hid while they were killing everyone,” Walak sobbed. “After a while the raiders left for other parts of the castle and I slipped out the back and ran for the woods. They killed everybody.”

Walak’s head sunk to his cupped hands and he started sobbing uncontrollably. Syman wandered off to check the horses while Lyra sat next to Walak and put her arm around him and tried to console him. After several moments of unresponsiveness, Lyra let her mind wander to the bizarre events of the day.