Hemlock And The Wizard Tower (Book 1) Read Free Page A

amplification.
    "Know this: each of these ninety-nine has been complicit in crimes against our Guild. We will not abide those with hostile intent towards us. Each of these shall die upon the Drawbridge unless they can shed a single tear to atone for their crimes. Ninety-nine tears shall be the sum total of our required penance for these crimes. The alternative is death."
    Each of the ninety-nine Senators had perished soon after these words were spoken, for none had been able to muster the single tear required , though those who had some small remaining pool of energy had cried out, tearlessly and pathetically, at their fate.
    Hemlock couldn’t help but shudder a bit as she beheld the drawbridge and thought about its legend. It was closed, but there was a slight gap at the top, where its edge met a stone gatehouse. The gatehouse extended outward from the Tower proper at a height of almost twenty-five yards. The shafts of the spears, which were mounted on the drawbridge, were visible through this gap, and gave it an appearance not unlike a crude mouth , facing upwards towards the sky, punctuated by thin wooden teeth. 
    She had a rope and a small grappling hook with her, which she pulled out of her backpack. She secure d her hook through the gap and onto the very spears which were described in the story of the d rawbridge. It was those same spears she used as handholds to slip through the gap and into the interior side. She then climbe d back down the inside using those same shafts.
    That was almost too easy!
    S he had progressed farth er into the Tower than anyone she had ever heard tell of. P erhaps even this much progress, should she fail, would earn her a place in song and folklore: at least in the Warrens. S he shook her head and quickly dismissed any thoughts of failure.
    Then s he thought sadly of Safreon, and how his countenance lately seemed to be aging before her eyes. She ’ d watched him living his life in the constant sorrow of martyrdom; he didn't seem to derive much joy from his existence, despite the appreciation of many people  he had helped and mentored. In her estimation, he, above most others, deserved happiness in return for his sacrifices.
    A p ortcullis stood before her as tall as two of the tallest men in the City combined, and the iron was black, cunningly curved and slick with moisture. It was spiked downward at the bottom, and outward along its surface, with a number of cruel, upturned barbs. It looked massively heavy. 
    Hemlock began to despair. H ow she could have assumed she’d be able to gain entry into the Tower once she got past the d rawbridge?  She felt naive and foolish. 
    The Portcullis seemed to loom larger in front of her. She experienced a vision suddenly, of her flesh suspended on those upturned spikes. 
    The spikes glistened invitingly in the darkness. S he was sure they could easily support her weight if they were properly embedded in her flesh. M aybe it would be a relief to come to such an end. A t least it would show she had stubbornly tried to climb the obstacle and had never wavered or considered retreat.
    Safreon and Mercuria would be devastated at her loss, but she also knew they would eventually go on with their lives. And she thought they would have been proud of her, after years of recollection, each in their own way. 
    She caught herself, as she realized she was crouched and ready to spring up and run at the Portcullis!
    I t was odd she didn't remember consciously planning to do anything like that.
    I n some instinctive way, she realized she had actually been preparing to impale herself on those upturned spikes, just as she ’ d imagined herself doing in her melancholy thoughts of the past few minutes.
    Of course, the Portcullis of Infinite Sorrow!
    She’d been so relieved to get past the drawbridge she’ d been caught unawares by the Tower’s next legendary defense . She became aware of the emotion emanating from the Portcullis then ; it washed over her like a