by V F Sharp
“You! Miss!”
She spun around to face him.
“What’s your name?” he said.
“My name?”
“Yes. You say you’re a guest of the prince.”
From the skeptical tone of his voice, Ezstasia assumed that he probably wanted to confirm her identity with the prince, which is the last thing she wanted.
As she stood there contemplating whether to give him her real name or a false name, a bloodcurdling scream rang out from the castle doors.
A man ran out of the castle. He was on fire from head to toe. Ezstasia froze and found herself staring in complete shock. Other men, wearing the same black outfits and masks, came running out after him as the guards rushed toward him.
“Get the water buckets and pumps!” yelled one of the masked men to the guards. “Now!”
Ezstasia watched in horror as the men tried to keep the screaming victim from running rampant. She wanted to help but she didn’t know what to do. Then she remembered her cloak. She quickly unfastened it and removed it as she ran through the now unguarded, gated entrance.
“Use this,” she yelled to one of the masked men. The man grabbed it and threw it over the screaming worker in an attempt to smother the fire. The guards returned with two water buckets and a hand pump.
In the midst of the chaos, people ran up and down the bridge, horsemen began to arrive and people yelled at one another from every direction.
Ezstasia got pushed back toward the castle over and over again by the growing crowd, until she couldn’t see what was going on. During a break in the crowd of people, she got a glimpse of the man’s badly charred face as the guards doused the flames. She covered her eyes at the sight, unsure if he was alive or not. As the smoke-filled air penetrated her nostrils, she slowly removed her hands from over her eyes. She watched as the guards carried the man on a wooden board, covered in her cloak. They loaded him onto a carriage and began dispersing the crowd. Thinking fast, she covered her mouth and ran to an arched breezeway just inside the castle gates.
Lost in all of the mayhem, only now did Ezstasia realize that she’d somehow, through a bizarre twist of fate, achieved her goal. She was inside the castle gates.
She saw what must have been a hidden stone door on the side of the castle. It was cracked open. She hid behind a pillar and saw one of the men in black emerge from the hidden door. As he removed the black mask that covered his face, he knelt to the ground and stared at the dirt. He began to sob. After a moment, he stood, pulled himself together, and headed back inside the door as he put his mask back on.
Ezstasia waited a few moments and quietly stepped forward from behind the pillar. Just as she began to head toward the hidden door, a hand grabbed her arm.
* * * *
“Fin!” said Ezstasia, relieved to see that it was him, but also embarrassed that she was caught. “You scared me half to death! What are you doing here?”
“Me!? What’re you doing here? We were trying to figure out where you were going, so we followed you here.”
“We? Who’s we?”
Just then, Lanzzie, Randin, and Zander stepped out from behind a corner of the castle.
“Do you know how much trouble you can get in?” said Lanzzie. “Let’s all get out of here now.”
“You go,” said Ezstasia. “I can’t. There’s something I need to find out.”
“Find out!?” said Zander. “We just saw a man come out of there on fire. What could you possibly want to find out?”
“I wanted to prove to you all that the prince is preparing for something, just like he said.” In truth, she wanted to prove to herself that he wasn’t guilty of putting the magic in the forest to begin with. But now she wasn’t sure of that either.
“Ezstasia,” said Fin, “for all we know, the prince could be responsible for whatever set that man on fire. It’s too dangerous to be here.”
Ezstasia hesitated. As she considered how she should proceed, a tremendous rumbling came from inside the castle. She glanced up and thought she saw smoke bellowing from one of the windows. Another loud sound shook right through her bones, this one resembled a roaring furnace, and it caused the stone walls to vibrate.
“What was that?” said Randin.
“I don’t know, nor do I want to know,” said Zander. “Is that smoke coming from the cracks?”
Ezstasia watched as they looked toward the smoke. In that short moment, she had made up her mind.
While her friends were distracted, she ran toward the hidden side door and entered.
Just as she slipped through the doorway, she heard the deafening noise again. She made her way into the side corridor which led to a stone foyer. She could feel a burst of heat enveloping her face, making it difficult to breathe. No wonder those men wear masks over their faces, Ezstasia thought to herself. But how could they handle wearing the black outfits in this sweltering place? And what were they even doing in here that required so much heat?
After passing through the large foyer, she walked to an opening that led into a long hall, dimly lit by torches mounted high above. She slowly walked into the long hall, and as her eyes met the torches, she realized the walls didn’t even reach the ceiling. In fact, the castle didn’t seem to have multiple floors.
She felt her spine tingle with the thought that someone may catch her and there’d be nowhere to hide. But still, she made her way forward, convincing herself that she would just get a glimpse of what was going on. Then, with any luck, she could leave unnoticed.
The intense, rumbling commotion startled her again and she held onto the wall for balance. She was much closer to the source of the noise now and she felt another burst of scorching heat come her way. She could hear metal chains dragging along the hard, stone floor in the distance.
She realized that the hall was about to come to an end as she quietly and slowly approached the end of it. She peeked into the adjoining room that it led to. It was a massive area with a towering ceiling. As she looked around, she could see stone steps built into the walls that looked like they led to exterior rooms.
She spotted a few of the men in black. They were approaching a row of giant, black vertical bars that appeared to be made of iron. Each bar was at least three or four times her body’s width. She leaned her head in quietly to get a better look and, could see that these bars were actually part of an enormous cage.
Taking care not to be seen, she stepped softly into the room and ducked behind a pillar, where she could hopefully get a better look.
Just as she got behind the stone column, she heard the sound of a heavy chain moving again, followed by a dull rumbling. It was coming from the cage. She peeked her head out from behind the pillar and her mouth dropped. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. She had never seen such an enormous creature.
She couldn’t believe her eyes as she looked at this giant, heavy behemoth with scales. Just as she had decided that she was going to leave this castle, it slowly picked up its neck and she saw the beast’s enormous head, scales jutting out the sides of its face and under its chin.
She blinked several times to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. But there wasn’t any doubt. From the giant scaly body to the long, spiked tail and the glowing yellow eyes, she realized that she was staring at a real, live dragon.
Ezstasia was face-to-face with a creature that she thought no longer existed, at least not anywhere outside of the Magiclands.
The beast began moving again, dragging the heavy chains with it. She looked over to see that the men in black were outside the cage arguing with one another over something she couldn’t quite make out. They were in the heat of the debate when Ezstasia turned back toward the cage and almost fell backward in shock. She watched another head slowly pick itself up inside the cage. It had two large horns on the top of its head. Then another head came out of the shadows, with a long horn protruding downward from underneath its chin. She felt her breath quicken as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing.
&
nbsp; The other two giant heads came forward and small bursts of yellow and orange flames began to illuminate the belly of the terrifying beast. Her mouth dropped when she realized exactly what she was seeing—an ancient creature she’d only read about in books. The three heads belonged to a single, monstrous beast. She was staring face-to-face with a three-headed dragon!
“Back up!” yelled one of the men to the others.
She could see the men slowly stepping backward, nearly tripping over the large chains that extended out from the cage along the ground.
A loud horn blasted from an outer room and startled her. She could hear footsteps and loud voices in the distance, coming from all directions, including the hall she’d just come from. Whoever it was, they were running.
She froze in place as the men in black all sprang into action, each grabbing a chain that hung from the towering ceiling next to a large curtain. They all pulled the chains as two layers of large, heavy black canvas dropped over the dragon’s cage. She certainly couldn’t emerge from behind the pillar, and now she couldn’t leave through the hall either.
The footsteps were getting closer.
Just then, two guards emerged from a large doorway across the room. One was more decorated than the other and stepped forward, as the men in black that she was observing came toward them.
One of the men in black lifted his face mask, revealing chiseled features and a scar down the side of his face.
“Sir Aldus,” said the decorated castle guard, “we have a breach.”
“What kind of breach?”
“A group of spies were caught inside the castle. Three men and a woman.”
“So you actually caught them, then?” said Sir Aldus. He turned to his colleagues in black. “These castle guards are getting better,” he said, smiling.
“Maybe not all of them,” said the guard. “I’m told there was a woman trying to enter the castle earlier. We don’t know if she made it in or not, but we can’t afford prying eyes, so we’ve engaged our breach protocol.”
“You’ve secured the full perimeter?”
“We have. No one can get in or out without being checked. I’ve already alerted all the guards.”
More guards entered from all directions and walked toward Sir Aldus and the other men.
“Good,” said Sir Aldus. “We’ll search in here and secure Trycernius. Have your men check their assigned sectors.”
The head guard motioned to the others and they all followed him out of the room. Sir Aldus nodded to the men in black, and they responded by checking the surrounding area.
Ezstasia’s heart was pounding through her chest. As Sir Aldus and his men began searching the room, she looked around for a place to hide. There was nowhere to go, and she couldn’t make it to the corridor without being seen.
This was all her fault. Now her friends were likely in the dungeons—or worse. She contemplated whether to give herself up, but if the prince was indeed behind the return of magic, then she’d just be trapped along with her friends. She would be unable to help them—or anyone—for that matter.
The men searched behind the pillars opposite her. They’d be upon her soon. She had to think fast.
She looked behind her, desperately trying to find a hiding place. Then she spotted it. Hidden in the shadows was a large crack toward the bottom of the thick stone wall. She tried to focus on the inside of the crack and thought the hollowed area in the wall may be just large enough for her to fit her entire body inside. But could she fit through the slit of the crack? There was only one way to find out, though she risked being seen.
She quietly moved from behind the pillar toward the dark crevice in the shadows. One of the men turned in her direction but didn’t appear to have seen her. She knelt down to peer inside the opening. Instantly she felt the hairs on her arms rise. Inside she could see what appeared to be hundreds of silk webs covering the wall. They glistened in the soft lighting that poured in from an unknown place. She could make out several enormous, vicious looking spiders waiting to catch their prey. She thought to herself that the men in black were doing the exact same thing with her. Ezstasia was overcome with dread. There was no way she was going in there.
She looked over at the men in black who were thoroughly searching the far corners of the room, but they were getting closer and closer to her. She peeked back into the hole and stared at the spiders. They seemed to be staring back at her, just waiting for her to enter their home. Ezstasia’s palms began to sweat.
“We didn’t check over there yet,” Ezstasia overheard one of the men say. She looked up and saw that he was pointing in her direction.
“Go look, then,” said Sir Aldus.
He began to move quickly toward her, she took a deep breath and stuck her foot into the crack, feeling the cobwebs crack and pop as she pushed the rest of her body inside.
She nestled deeper into the web-filled darkness and tried not to make a sound. She watched the man in black approach the pillar she had just been hiding behind. He looked carefully around it and then slowly turned his head in her direction.
She felt one of the webs beside her face begin to vibrate. She shifted her eyes toward it and saw a giant, furry spider menacingly inching its way down the web. She gasped loud enough for the man to have heard her. Much to her dismay, he jerked his head toward her and immediately began to walk in her direction. Fear pulsed through her body as she felt one of the spiders gently lower itself onto her shoulder. She threw her hand over her mouth as she felt the weight of its body against her skin. She tried to remain still, though she wanted nothing more than to scream and shake every spider off her trembling body.
The man knelt and squinted into the shadows that surrounded her as she tried to control the shaking in her breath.
The spider was on her neck now, tapping its hairy legs against her skin.
She glanced down and saw more spiders at her feet. Ezstasia felt as if she might faint at any moment. She had to remind herself over and over to keep breathing and to not focus on the furry eight-legged creatures that surrounded her.
To her immense relief, the man stood and turned to walk away, just as a group of knights entered, carrying swords in one hand and torches in the other.
“Find anything?” said Sir Aldus.
“Nothing here,” said the man in black. “I thought I heard something, but it seems to be clear.”
“Let’s keep searching. If you heard a noise, the woman could be nearby. You check near the west hall.”
As the man left, Sir Aldus held the torch just in front of the wall that she was hiding in. The flames illuminated the floor in front of her. He began to stoop down to get a better look, just as the spider crawled to the other side of her neck and then into her hair. She clutched her fists and squeezed her eyes tightly shut, feeling the sting of tears behind her eyelids. She felt the eight-legged arachnid creep up the left side of her head. The knight stooped down even lower.
She would give anything in this moment just to be back at the cottages with her friends and to put this entire forest and kingdom behind her.
“I was sent to help,” yelled one of the castle guards from across the room, whom had apparently just entered. “Should I put on a suit?”
Sir Aldus walked away toward him. Ezstasia wiggled her head to try to shake the spiders loose, to no avail. The castle guard was holding one of the black suits up, which he’d pulled out from a wooden box which lay across the room.
“I think not,” said Sir Aldus. “We’re just about done in this area. You’ll be out of here soon.”
Just then, a soft rumble grew louder and turned into a deafening roar.
“Not soon enough!” yelled the castle guard.
“We should probably get out of here for your sake,” said Sir Aldus, seemingly impervious to fear. “Trycernius isn’t in the best of moods today.”
The two men left the room while smoke and heat filled the cavernous space.
Ezstasia had never been so thankful to
have a raging three-headed dragon in the same room as her. She burst out of the crevice, frantically rustling her hair and shaking her legs to get rid of the spiders. She could still feel one in her hair, so she clenched her teeth together and swatted the menacing creature off her head. She didn’t dare look; she couldn’t bear to see the size of it once it hit the floor. She ran toward the wooden box, her body still twitching. She saw from her peripherals as it scurried off.
Ezstasia opened the box and grabbed one of the black suits, putting it on just as the dragon roared again, flames shooting out the side of the canvas that covered its cage.
She quickly grabbed one of the accompanying black masks from the box and slipped it over her head and ran past the dragon’s cage. The thick smoke made it hard for her to breathe. She ran through the large, open room and down the long hall to the exit, hoping nobody would stop her.
She felt the sensation of spiders crawling up her legs and slapped at them every few feet. But that was the least of her problems now. She moved quickly, constantly looking around for anyone that would be searching for her. Meanwhile, she realized that she was taking a huge risk in trying to brazenly walk out of the castle, even if she did have a disguise.
She approached the castle’s entrance and saw several knights and guards grouped together in conversation. She braced herself and ran right toward them, yelling in as deep of a voice as she could muster.
“In there!” Ezstasia yelled. She pointed back toward the hall from where she had just run out.
The guards looked confused, but they listened and ran toward the direction that she had pointed. Just as she attempted to pass the guards that stood at the castle gates, one of them grabbed her arm.
“Sir, with respect, we have our rules,” he said. “No masks past this gate.”
She kept pointing at the castle, trying to distract him.
“Are you okay, sir?” said the guard.
Ezstasia’s frantic pointing at the castle didn’t seem to be working. She watched as more guards approached them.