“Don’t mention it. We are honored to assist the Raie’Chaelia. If you need us again, just call.”
“If I can remember how,” Chalice said, smiling. She still felt uncomfortable with her title. She didn’t think she could ever get used to being called the True Princess.
“You will remember,” Ardenne reassured her and smiled back as Chalice and the others gathered their mounts from the men and led them down the dock.
“Hey, I just thought of something,” Jeremiah said after a moment.
“What?” Chalice asked.
“Their name, the Quaie’Miren. Is that Angaulic?”
“Yeah.”
“What does it mean?”
“It means the ‘Faithful Seers.’” Chalice said.
“That’s a fitting name for them,” he remarked, scratching his chin.
The evening sun shot long shadows on the wooden planks of the pier, and cries of petrels echoed overhead in the moist air, as they strode down the dock to enter the port town of Auvergny.
Chainbridge
“There are guards at the gate,” Jeremiah cautioned, squinting.
“You have good eyes!” Ben remarked, lowering his looking glass. “Yes, I suspected there might be,” he added as he glanced down the landing stage that jutted out from the main strip of the pier.
The others were hiding in the shadow of a merchant ship that was docked in a slip next to them. He motioned for them to approach. Waves lapped up against the side of the ship as it creaked with movement and masked the sound of their footsteps as they made their way toward him.
“I want you all to stick together in a tight circle until we’re off the pier and onto the village road. Don’t move too quickly either. If you manage to do this correctly, the guards won’t see or hear you,” he said, pointing to the customs house that stood next to the entrance to the town. Everyone nodded and did as they were told. “Follow me, but be as quiet as you can. When I give the signal, you can cross the gate.”
“What’s the signal?” Jeremiah asked.
“I will tug on my right ear, like this,” he replied and showed them.
As he strode in front of them with his mount, his stone glowed a soft grey. Then, he tucked it deep into his cloak so that no light shone. Suddenly, Chalice felt a strange sensation pass over them. It was like a warm wind that rippled through her hair and down her neck. Instantly, she could hear nothing, not even the sound of her own breathing. It was almost as if she had gone completely deaf. The unnaturalness of it threw her, but she continued on with the others without faltering.
When they reached the customs house, one of the men in uniform sauntered up to Ben, motioning for him to stop. The man said something to him and Ben pulled out of his pocket the papers that the Farahs had given him. The man nodded and motioned toward the door of the customs house. Ben handed him his horse’s reins and disappeared behind the door.
Chalice watched the guard holding the horse as he looked over his shoulder to make sure that Ben was gone. Then, he moved to undo the strap on Ben’s saddlebag. You scheming thief! she cursed silently. She had to restrain herself. It was all she could do to keep herself from breaking out of the circle and yelling for Ben. She didn’t need to, however, because the Appaloosa, seeming to sense what the man was doing, moved to the side so he couldn’t reach the saddle. The man tugged on the reins and scolded the horse, but it did him no good. The horse continued to dance around, thwarting every effort he made. Chalice giggled quietly as she looked at the others who were laughing as well. The horse was making a complete fool of him.
Just then, Ben emerged from the small building and the man stood still, abandoning his attempt. Chalice could see that the papers Ben was holding were stamped with the customs house seal of approval. Although he hid it well, his face was pale and she could tell that he was worried. As the man handed the reins back to him, Ben motioned for the other guards to approach. When they circled around him, Chalice saw him tug on his right ear and she nudged Jeremiah, who motioned the others to follow.
Slowly, carefully, and soundlessly, the five of them moved past the circle of guards and set out into the streets of Auvergny. When they were a safe distance ahead and blocked by a stone statue, they stopped and waited. Ben was walking brusquely, guiding his horse in their direction, not looking back. As he drew near, Chalice could hear sound come back to the world and she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Something is wrong,” she said to the others.
“What do you mean?” Kirna asked.
“Something happened in that customs house,” she said. “I know it. I can tell.” Just then, Ben had reached them.
“Chalice, Jeremiah, pull the cowl of your cloaks up and hide your faces. Do it now!” he said sternly and they both lifted their hoods.
“What’s going on, Ben?” Jeremiah asked.
“There are drawings of you two posted on the walls of custom houses in every port city in the Realm. There’s a bounty on you, alive or dead.”
“How do you know?” Chalice asked.
“There are two posted on the wall in there and they are good likenesses of you, too. I asked about them. I had to skirt around the subject carefully so as not to cause suspicion, but that’s what I learned. How the news traveled this quickly, I have no idea.”
“Well, wait a minute, how are we going to get back, especially with …” Chalice broke off.
“That’s right Ben,” Jeremiah finished for her. “How are we going to escort an entire village of people through the entrance and past those guards? Isn’t that going to be a little obvious?”
“Don’t worry. I have a plan to deal with the guards. There aren’t many of them, so it will be easy. Just follow my instructions and it should be fine—”
“Isn’t that what you said when we left Cedarwood?” Tycho interrupted.
“Tycho, I’m not in the mood right now,” Ben growled warningly. Then, he placed Bunejab in front of his saddle and mounted his horse. Tycho shut his mouth immediately, mounted, and followed Ben with the others.
“Ben, you know that guard who was holding your horse?” Chalice asked.
“Yeah.”
“He was trying to get into your saddlebag.”
“Did he take anything?”
“No, your horse kept moving out of the way.”
He grinned and patted the horse on the neck. “Good boy!” he said. “Yep, that’s why I named him Dancing Clown. He’s been trained to do that with strangers.”
Chalice smiled. Smart horse! she thought as they continued down a narrow alleyway to the right. The cobblestone street, wet with moisture from the coastal air, glittered in the moonlight. The shop windows along the alleyway were dark as businesses had already retired for the evening. The sun was set and the only lamplight streamed from broken windows of a tavern ahead where an annoying clamor broke the silence of the dark. A chipped wooden sign just outside, hanging lopsided on its chains, read The Fisherman’s Tale.
The six riders passed by unnoticed, as the men inside were engaged in drink, music and dance. It appeared that nothing on the outside could interrupt the ruckus within. As they rode the length of the road, they noted that every street block had some sort of tavern or inn sporting loud music and carousing men. They passed by several horse carriages and wagons along the way and after a few minutes, were close to the edge of the town.
Out of the corner of her eye, Chalice thought she had seen a shadow peeking out from behind a building, but when she looked again, there was nothing there.
I’m jumping at shadows, she chided herself. I need to calm down.
The buildings and cobblestone streets eventually gave way to dirt roads and lush countryside. Cottages dotted the hillside sparsely as the road stretched up a steep hill. As soon as they had crested it, they saw the profile of a small mountain in the distance, contrasted with the light of the moon rising just behind it.
“There it is,” Ben said.
“What?” Chalice asked. “Tha
t’s Chainbridge?!” She couldn’t believe how enormous it was.
“Yes. The mountain is its base and the fortress covers the entire top,” Ben replied. “At this point, we need to get off the main road. We’ll cross over there into the trees.”
He pointed down the road to the right and heeled his mount forward. They followed. As they drew nearer to the trees, in the moonlight Chalice could see the huge chains that held the massive bridge in front of the entrance. It spanned a wide, steep canyon that separated the mountain from the hillside.
As soon as they entered the thicket of trees, they could barely see where they were going. The moonlight was completely blocked by the dark canopy overhead. Jeremiah reached behind his saddle and detached a small lantern that Ardenne had given them. Halting briefly, he lit it and held it up so everyone could see the path ahead. They proceeded through the trees to a winding trail that led down the steep slope of the canyon. It took what seemed hours to reach the bottom and even longer to reach the base of the mountain.
“The entrance is this way,” Ben said and they followed him into a narrow gorge eroded into the mountainside. The steep, rocky cliffs loomed and threatened overhead. The pathway ended in a dark, jagged hole in the rock wall that was large enough for all of them to enter with their mounts. The horses seemed to hesitate as they were heeled forward into the darkness.
Once inside, they found themselves in a large cave whose various tunnels seemed to stretch out in all directions, winding deep into the mountain. It was very dark and Chalice noted that there wasn’t a trace of velarium within the cavern walls. Ben dismounted and motioned for the others to do the same.
“Tycho, light your lantern,” he ordered. Tycho tried, but his hands were shaking too badly to light the oiled candle inside it. Ben could tell he was nervous.
“Here, let me do it,” he said and his stone shone softly. A flame shot up from the wick and the lantern burned brightly. “Tycho, Bunejab will stay here with you as we go into the mountain. He’ll climb the rock wall just outside and keep watch for unwelcome visitors. We need someone to stay with the horses. Can you do that?”
“Sure. So, what happens if he sees someone?”
“Then come get us immediately.”
“Okay … uh, Ben …” he said and paused.
“Yes?”
“What happens if you don’t come back?” he asked soberly. His voice was a little shaky and Chalice and Kirna could tell that the stress was starting to get to him.
“We will!” Ben said with steely resolve and Tycho nodded. Then, they all handed their reins to him, patting him on the shoulder and Kirna gave him a tight hug.
“We will be back,” she reassured him.
“Kirna, grab your lantern,” Ben commanded and she complied. Lighting it with his stone, he set off down the first tunnel to the right. Chalice, Kirna, and Jeremiah followed.
After a few minutes, the tunnel became very wide and wound round in dizzying directions. At a certain point along the path, Chalice felt very strange. It was an achy hollowness that tingled deep within her stomach and throughout her body.
Am I getting sick? she wondered. Or is this just nerves? Am I finally succumbing to the stress like Tycho? Then, all the sudden, it stopped and she shrugged it off, continuing down the tunnel with the others. The path sloped upwards, turning into an exhausting climb that seemed to last for hours. Finally, it leveled off and they reached a stone wall. A long, metal bar was set horizontally into the stone door in front of them.
“Jeremiah,” Ben said, “I need your help with this. It’s heavy. I could use my stone, but I want to make sure we can move it manually, just in case I’m not here to close it.”
“I can do it, Ben,” Jeremiah said as he set down his lantern and moved to the door. His muscles strained tensely as he pushed with all his strength. Slowly, the stone slab shifted and opened.
They knew immediately that the prisoners were near as the smell of rotting corpses, fetid water and human excrement drifted into the corridor. Nausea gripped Chalice like a vise and she almost vomited. She had never smelled anything like this in her life. It was disgusting and she knew that her people, including her grandparents, were in there. It fueled her anger toward Dar’Maalda even more.
Pinching their noses, they reluctantly entered the corridors of the once-library that was now a series of wrought iron cell blocks holding prisoners. Following Ben’s lead, they walked along the passageways looking for anyone familiar. Mostly, they just saw ghostly shadows in dark corners of the cells where the light from the torches that dotted the prison walls did not reach. They recognized no one.
“Good Lord!” Ben said in revulsion. “This place has completely changed. These cells used to be nooks that held bookcases and desks. Now look at them.”
Suddenly, a male voice issued from the darkness: “Jeremiah?” Jeremiah halted and turned the lantern to the right as Ben continued on down the corridor and around the corner.
“Toby? Is that you? We found you!” he exclaimed when he saw his best friend who had approached the bars. Jeremiah could faintly see figures shuffling in the darkness behind him and heard someone cough softly.
Tobias looked ghastly. He was wearing dirty brown trousers and a torn cotton shirt. His eyes looked like dark holes sunken into his sallow face. Under normal conditions, Tobias was tall, strong and healthy, but now he appeared much thinner and malnourished, as though he had lost a lot of weight in a very short period of time.
“What have they done to you?” Jeremiah asked sadly, shaking his head.
“You don’t want to know,” Tobias replied. “Mostly they’ve just been working us to death, literally.” He paused, then said: “Jer, how did you get in here? Do you know—” he cut off just then as Chalice stepped into the light.
“Toby, this is Chalice,” Jeremiah said, introducing them and handing her the lantern. Then, he fidgeted with the lock on the cell door.
“Do you know they’re looking for you two,” Tobias warned. “They have your pictures.”
“We know,” Jeremiah said as he and Chalice nodded.
“Then, what are you doing here?! Are you crazy?! If they catch you—”
“They’re not going to catch us,” Jeremiah interrupted him. “We came to get you all out of here.”
“How? There’s no way out.”
“Yes, there is,” Ben’s voice echoed down the corridor as he turned the corner to join them again. “We’re going out the same way we came in.”
“Toby, this is Ben Graeystone,” Jeremiah said. “He—”
“You all need to leave now!” Toby interrupted. “There is—”
His words were cut off as a noise issued from the corner where Ben had just been. He pivoted around and saw the dark figure of a man emerge. Before the man could react, however, an arrow whistled past Ben and drove into the man’s chest, the force of it knocking him back into the wall. A loud crack and a thud resounded in the chamber. Then, the figure lay motionless.
“… a guard,” Tobias finished as he glanced over at Jeremiah who was holding his bow.
“Ardenne was right about those bows,” Chalice said as Jeremiah re-strapped it to his back.
“Are there any more of them?” Ben asked, pointing to the unconscious man on the floor.
“No, not down here,” Tobias said. “They don’t like to come down here. They work in shifts and the next shift is in a couple of hours”
“Alright, I’ll keep an eye out for the next one. In the meantime, we need to start getting everyone out. Do you know where they keep the keys?”
“No, they’re locked away somewhere and the only person who knows is right there,” Tobias said, gesturing toward the guard on the ground.
“Wonderful!” Ben replied, frustrated. “Alright, I’ll have to open the cell doors myself. When I do, proceed quietly out and down the corridor to the end. Take a left and then the first right. A secret doorway at the end of that hallway is open. Enter it, but tread carefully. The passa
geway is dark and very steep in some places.”
Tobias nodded and Ben’s stone glowed a soft grey. The lock clicked and dark figures within the cell swam into view as they made their way toward the door. They looked like the dead walking. A pretty young woman with disheveled red hair walked up in a dirty, torn country dress. She was shivering and coughing.
“Seychelle! What’s wrong? Are you sick?” Jeremiah asked and she nodded.
“She has a fever,” Tobias said. “There are many down here who have fallen ill. Some have died. The Draaquans just leave them down here. They don’t care.”
Ben’s face contorted with rage and disgust. “Alright, those who are well will have to help those who are sick. Leave the dead. There is no time to take them. We need to move quickly in order to get everyone out before daybreak. Those of you who are not helping someone who is sick, grab a torch from the wall if you can. We will need the light.”
At this point, prisoners in nearby cells began rising and approaching the edge, holding onto the bars. A low murmur echoed down the corridor as Ben tried to silence them.
“Ben,” Chalice said. “You know, it’s going to be very difficult for them to make it to the docks. It’s far, even on horseback.”
“I know that, but we have to try,” he replied. “Even if we lose some along the way, we still have to try.”
She nodded and handed the lantern back to Jeremiah. Rushing into the cell, she took off her lambskin cloak and wrapped it around Seychelle.
“Here, this will keep you warm,” she said. “I’m Chalice.”
“Thank you, Chalice,” the young woman said weakly. “I’m Seychelle, Toby’s fiancee.”
“Fiancee?!” Jeremiah exclaimed and whipped his head around toward Tobias with a wry smile. “You finally did it. You finally proposed. By the way, you picked a really romantic setting.”
“Well, we thought it was the end,” Tobias replied. “But, hey, at least I was dating.” He said it in such a way, it made Chalice turn around toward them.
The Raie'Chaelia (Legend of the Raie'Chaelia, Book One 1) Page 31