by Paul Kite
I walked away from the temple thoughtfully, and slowly went towards the residential buildings. Lunchtime was near. Free from work, novices and monks headed towards the refectory. They were in a hurry to take their favorite places and to be the first to taste the freshly cooked warm food. Some young people accompanied me with surprised and curious looks — apparently, such strange newcomers didn’t appear very often in the monastery.
I couldn’t explain why, but, probably due to my intuition, I decided to go to the prayer room instead. My feeling served me well and I happened to be there by chance. Luck was on my side once again.
The room was almost empty. After all, the time for prayer had long passed, and as I'd already mentioned, it was lunchtime. Two young novices were standing near the far wall and talking quietly about something. I was about to turn around and leave the prayer room, when the word ‘prison’ during in their conversation caught my attention.
They haven’t noticed me yet, so I activated the invisibility spell, and came closer. I was truly hoping that they were talking about the very prison I needed.
“I told you!” The first guy spoke excitedly. He was thin, with his fair hair cut short. “If you try to escape, you'll end up in prison and perish there, like all the people the elder brothers have imprisoned there! A punishment cell is nothing. People are locked up there for small sins.”
“I can’t stand it anymore!” His interlocutor said in a trembling voice. He was of medium height, about eighteen years old, or younger, also short-haired and with freckles all over his face. “I'm sick and tired! My father shouldn’t have sent me here! I don’t want to be a monk!” He was on the verge of tears.
“Hey! Hey! Stop talking nonsense! Are you a man or a little, frightened girl? Don’t even think of crying!” The fair-haired guy said strictly.
“You’d better help me escape from here.”
“It won’t work, my friend. Even if the monks don’t catch you, the creatures in the forest will definitely kill you!”
“But I saw a map of the monastery lying on the table of the Head of the Council. Is there no secret passage leading somewhere to the forest?”
“Nope…” and then the fair-haired man squinted and asked again. “What did you see and where?”
“Well... I saw it accidentally, on the first day when I arrived with a caravan. Dad took me to the most important monk, I learned later that he was the Head of the first Council. He wanted to give him some gifts in person and introduced me to the monk at the same time. And while they were chatting, I sat on the edge of the chair and saw an old yellowed sheet that was sticking out from under a pile of papers. I’ve always been of a curious nature, ever since my childhood... So, I pulled it out a little, and there was an inscription! ‘The Map of the Ardal Monastery’. It was dated to the year of the construction of the monastery, as far as I remember.”
“Wow! Lucky you are,” the first guy whispered with a touch of envy.
“It’s bad luck…”
I stopped listening to them. I was completely indifferent to the problems of the novices. I heard the main thing — the map of the Ardal monastery was in the room of the certain Head of the first Council!
I left the chapel, first turning off my invisibility. Another question appeared in my mind: where was the room of the Head of the first Council? At first, I thought I should go back to the chapel and ask that guy about it, but then I changed my mind. I decided to follow him, and interrogate him when he was alone.
I needed to stop wasting time. Searching for the room on my own would take too long. I immediately rejected the idea of turning to someone and asking where the local Head lives. First, no one would want to tell me, and second, it might look too suspicious. If a simple person, not even a novice yet, suddenly wanted to find out exactly where the head of the monastery lived, they would either send me to that eldest monk named Ra-Lam to find out the answer to my question, or alert the guards, who would tie me up and interrogate me.
Without hesitating, I sat down on the steps next to the door. I had to wait for the novices to come out of the chapel. Of course, I wasn't going to kill the guy, but I had to ask him a question, and. apparently, he seemed to be a coward, so a more threatening approach might do the trick.
The door slammed noisily and the two guys sped past me like a whirlwind, almost knocking me over inadvertently. They jumped out of the chapel, as if it were on fire, and then stopped in the middle of the street. They whispered about something and, after shaking hands, went their separate ways. The boy I needed to speak to went to the nearest residential building and I followed him. I tried to keep a distance of ten steps, so as not to arouse the young man’s suspicion and also not to lose sight of him.
The novice went inside the building and I skittered after him. He went up to the second floor and stopped in front of a door leading to a room. As far as I knew, novices’ rooms were designed for one person. They had the same ascetic conditions as all the other monks, regardless of their rank. I quickly looked around to check if there were no witnesses. We were alone, so I instantly ran to the novice, who'd just opened his door and stepped across the threshold. I threw him into the room and gently closed the door behind me.
The guy, stunned by such rude treatment, cringed in a corner of the room in awe and looked at me with wide, frightened eyes.
“Hey, listen carefully!” I materialized the Chaos Dagger in my right hand and plunged it between the wall and the door with force, thereby jamming the door. That could help delay uninvited guests for a dozen seconds.
Unfortunately, the rooms in the monastery couldn’t be locked. The inhabitants never bothered installing locks, because they were all 'brothers,' as they called themselves. Well, at least there were doors.
“Where’s the room of the Head of the first Council?”
“W-why d-do you n-need it?” The novice asked, stammering.
I materialized the second dagger and, sitting down opposite the guy, checked the sharpness of the perfect blade with my finger.
“Either you answer my question now or …” I said threateningly and, grabbing the guy’s hand, pinned it to the floor. I leaned the blade to his little finger, pretending to cut it off.
“No, no! Please, don’t…” the guy try to jerk his hand away, but I was holding his hand very tightly.
“Well?” I pressed the blade into his skin, and a drop of blood appeared.
“The second building, the third floor, the fifth room from the stairs to the right,” the novice blurted out, squinting at the wound.
“And in what building are we now?” Of course, I wasn’t aware of the fact that the houses in the monastery were numbered. “In what direction is the order?”
“The fifth. And the next is…” he pointed with his free hand to the left, “the fourth.”
“Thank you,” I nodded and dispelled the dagger. With a quick punch of my fist, I sent the guy into an unconscious state.
Tearing his bed sheet in pieces, I tied the guy’s hands and feet firmly. Having rummaged in the inventory, I found a weakening potion and poured it into his mouth. He’d be unconscious for about ten hours. Making sure that at least part of the potion went down his throat, I put a gag in his mouth and pushed him under the bed. I put the other pieces of fabric on the bed. Then I spread and straightened the blanket over them. It looked nicely straightened up. I hoped no one would guess to look under the bed.
I listened to the sounds in the hallway. It seemed there was nobody there at that moment. I removed the second dagger and opened the door. The corridor was empty, as I’d thought.
I left the room and headed for the corridor between the buildings. My step was calm and measured. The people around me should have had the impression that I was just taking a walk.
When I reached the second building, I went down to the third floor. A man appeared at the end of the corridor, so I went halfway down the stairs hastily. I waited a couple of minutes that seemed like an eternity to me.
D
ownstairs, a couple of monks were standing and talking about something in low voices. But when I came here, they were not there. I hoped that they would not go up to the third floor. I went up again and looked around the corner. There was no one there, so I activated the invisibility skill and stepped carefully on the wooden floor.
I located the fifth door on the right, looked around again to check if anyone was there. I was alone, so I pushed the door open and went inside.
Chapter 9
I looked around the room in surprise. It was larger than the one in which the monk Ra-Lam lived.
His chamber wasn’t exactly as luxurious as the apartment of a prince, but still, it was completely different from the dwelling of an ascetic. The room was five by six yards. A nice comfortable bed stood by the window. There was also a large desk with a bedside table to the right of the door and a pair of carved chairs nearby, a wide closet near the left wall and as many as four magical lamps. Taking one of the chairs, I pushed it to the door and propped it so that if someone decided to go into the room, he wouldn’t be able to open it immediately. Then I opened the window widely, preparing my escape route just in case.
I set about finding the map in question. I looked into the closet which was closest to me, but I didn’t see anything except some clothes and monastic robes. I pushed the hangers aside, the bottom was also empty: there were no boxes, no folders, no chests.
I came to the table and checked the papers on it, but didn't find what I was looking for. I leaned toward the drawers built into the nightstand and pulled each drawer. They were all locked. I took out my dagger with a grin and started to pick the lock of the first drawer.
Having spent a minute at it, I finally broke the wood, slipped the dagger under the drawer and pulled it open, tearing out the lock fastening with a snap. There were some documents, contracts, and lists. I opened the next drawer faster. Charms, scrolls with spells, a pair of seals, writing quills and a pair of inkpots. Just in case I took the scrolls, they could prove useful to me. I left the amulets in the box because having lifted one of them, I checked its the stats, and it turned out that they were created specifically for the monks of senior ranks. The third drawer and ...
Three! There were three maps! In addition, one of them was just the map I needed — I quickly looked over the old yellow sheets of paper.
Suddenly I heard the sound of the door rattling and the creaking of the chair.
“Who’s there?!” A loud, annoyed voice was heard from the corridor. “Open the door, damned thief!” Moreover, the door shook again.
It was lucky I’d opened the window beforehand as a precaution. Having thrown the maps into my inventory, I activated invisibility and climbed out hastily. At first, I just wanted to jump but it would be a long jump, so I changed my mind, after estimating the length of the fall to the stone pavement. I’d surely break my legs, and the invisibility would drop immediately after getting injured. I had to cling to the grooves between stones in the wall, like a spider, and hurry down. At a distance of a couple of yards to the ground, I jumped and flipped over, softening my fall. I pressed against the wall and listened to the voices attentively.
Whoever was there had managed to move the chair holding the door and burst into the room. A lanky figure leaned out of the window, carefully looking for the thief. Luckily, he was looking in the wrong direction. I held my breath, afraid to draw excessive attention to myself, even though it wasn’t possible to hear my heavy panting at such a distance.
“Shut the gates! Alert all the guards!” The man ordered someone in the room. “Find this bastard! Take the search artifacts to the armory, and check everyone! He’s has been marked by the opened seals.”
I was in trouble. Either the room itself or the locks were under magical alarm. That meant I had to hurry. I thought I would have had a little more time to think of a plan to enter the prison and free the wizard. Now I had to improvise.
I rushed away from the building. Then I abruptly turned into the street between the refectory and some kind of warehouse, because I’d noticed a small detachment of warriors in the distance hurrying towards the second building. I’d have ventured to slip past them if they were ordinary melee, but two archers accompanied them. They were carefully peering into every shadow and every dark corner. To notice me under the canopy of invisibility wouldn’t be difficult for them with their high levels of cultivation.
There was only one thing I could do so that they would not even try to check my street. I huddled in the gap between the corner of the dining room and some old boards. They were stacked on top of each other nearly two yards high. I held my breath. The detachment marched past loudly and disappeared from view.
I exhaled loudly from relief. Deciding not to waste time, I delved into the study of the maps.
I was surprised at how simple it was! I should have guessed that several entrances led to the prison.
Well, the first passage to the prison was in the army barracks. I was denied access there, as well as in the armory, but the second one was situated in the Airnas’s temple. It was hidden in the walls of the building and led to the third underground level.
I was so close to my goal when I went up there, and I had no idea.
Well, it was easier, of course, to enter the prison from the temple itself. But judging by the notes below the map, a special amulet was required to open the secret door. According to the information, there were only three of them in the monastery. It was a pity that the names of the carriers were not indicated, it would greatly facilitate my task.
There was neither a picture nor a description of the amulet, so I had no way of knowing what to look for.
Perhaps such an amulet was among those that were in the second drawer in the head of the Council’s room. He must have such an artifact. What a fool I was, I had a chance to put them in my inventory as well as the scrolls. However, I’d raised such noise there, that I couldn’t go back.
I decided to think about the problem that I’d created for myself later and began to study the two remaining maps.
All the secret entrances and exits on the territory of the monastery, including the passage through the cliff were marked on one of the maps. Moreover, the traps were marked with double-sided arrows. The second map was a complete plan of the prison facilities and the amulets’ location. I looked at each of the five levels, and the location of the three keys. They were marked as open palms. One key, as I expected, was in the Head of the Council’s possession. The bold number “1” stood opposite the second building and at the bottom of the map, there was a footnote with the number of the floor and the room in which it lay. The second amulet was in the barracks, in the office of the guard captain. The third was in the Airnas’ temple, in the senior priest’s chambers.
It was clear that I wasn’t going to enter the barracks. Neither for the key nor for going to jail. It would be the same as to tie my own hands and surrender myself to the guard. However, the temple may be an option... I had to take a look at how well it was guarded. If the monks and warriors had gone there in search of the mysterious thief, it could be a problem. The main question was if the high priest was in the temple. Perhaps it was the same old man who was mumbling a prayer on his knees in front of the statue of Airnas. When I went inside, wanting to climb the tower, he was in prayer, and when I went down half an hour later, nothing had changed. Suddenly I remembered what Ra-Lam had told me when he came in the morning - if I wanted to pray to the patron god, I should go to the prayer house. Prayer in the temple was the prerogative of only the priests of Airnas.
Until the invisibility time had expired, I looked out from behind the corner and, after making sure that, the coast was clear, I went to the drainpipe. It led to the roof of the refectory. I tugged at it, checking if it was holding tight, and climbed onto the roof.
I decided to get to the temple in that way because the path was shorter, and there would be no guards or archers on the roofs. That was a bit strange, actually. If I were in their sho
es, I would always have had archers and crossbowmen in key positions so that they could overlook and control the entire territory of the monastery.
Having climbed onto the roof, I made sure that there really was no one there, as well as on the nearest houses. I took off at a run and jumped on to the next building. A tile cracked treacherously under my feet and I almost fell down, barely teetering on the edge of the roof. I needed to be more careful.
I cautiously approached the roof edge of the house closest to the temple, watching attentively and stepping carefully. There it was: the temple was 40 yards away. It was a pity that it stood apart from the rest of the buildings. Otherwise, I would have been able to climb onto its roof and get inside from there.
Below, there was no one else on the street apart from the three monks, including Ra-Lam, two warriors, a swordsman, and an archer, standing exactly at the entrance of the temple.
I had no choice. I had to go down and wait for them to leave or figure out how to divert their attention. It was impossible to slip under the invisibility past the range damage dealers or high-level mages.
Hiding in the shadow of the house, I watched the temple. Neither the monks nor the warriors, apparently, weren’t going anywhere in the nearest future. On the contrary, the number of people at the entrance increased. Three swordsmen approached the group of people.
Cursing everything in the world, I mentally went through the penetration options.
If the houses in the monastery were wooden, then I wouldn’t hesitate to start a fire. Unfortunately, there was only stone everywhere. Of course, I could set fire to some kind of warehouse from the inside. There were a lot of wooden objects and fabrics. It was unlikely that all people would be sent to extinguish the fire if they would need to extinguish anything at all.