"I know what we are up against," the captain cut him off tersely, in a low voice, so as not to be overheard, "and it isn't only the inhabitants of La lengua demonios."
**
Dominic had left the main group after giving instructions to evacuate, he had taked off on his his horse toward the Chateau. With his search party once again all together, minus the General, they took off at a fast pace. in sharply, the others close behind him following suit. From up ahead Dominic heard the unmistakable sounds of gunfire. All together as one they pulled their horses off the road, they dismounted and waled their horses into a secluded area and tethered the horses to nearby trees. Dominic led them down a trail that went parallell to the road, he was taking them towards the sound of the gunfire. He needed to know what was going on and whether or not they could safely get to the Chateau. Santiago, Anya and Patrick were all following close behind, while Eraldo and Jakob went the other direct, still looking for their sister.
The shooting was coming from further away than Dominic initially judged, it was a good twenty minutes or so before they spotted a bend in the road. A tree had been felled and split in two, each half of the tree on either side of the road blocking any access to the town. The scene in front of him, as they came out of the forest clearing showed that some of his soldiers had mannaged to capture some of the men the General had sent. As Dominic approached the group, he was halted by people coming from the other direction, one of them was Patrick.
"We tried to stop them and force them to surrender," Patrick said breathlessly, "but they opened fire and broke away. We shot their horses to slow them down, and chased the survivors until they decided to make a stand, here. There were more of them at the Chateau, along with Matias and his aeroplane."
Dominic"s face was a mask of white fury. "What happened at the Chateau? And where is Matias now? He was supposed to be in a jail cell in Port Lira."
"From what I gathered they had attempted to storm the Chateau, your mother andMaria held their ground very well, with my new son-in-law Nicolo. However the few that remained surrendered when we surrounded the Chateau," Patrick told him. "I don"t know how Matias managed to break free, but as soon as we got to the Chateau he came out of the woods and surrendered to us. I don"t think that he was entirely a willing accomplice, or if so, he had been betrayed. At the moment he is under arrest with the others, back at the Chateau." Patrick said as he concluded his summary.