A Sorcerer Imprisoned (Song of Sorcery Book 2)

by Guy Antibes

  Ricky moved the light to the cell door. No plug obstructed this side. He pulled out his key and unlocked the door slowly, gently, in case someone lurked on the other side. Satisfied, he locked it again. Ricky decided he’d risk the bed. He spotted the back of a chest. He turned it around and looked in the drawers. Perhaps he could find something that he could use to cover the bed.

  The drawers were stuffed with old moth-eaten cloaks. Did Ricky want to sleep on moths or whatever someone had left on the bed? He decided on moths. Ricky covered the bed and rolled up a cloak for a pillow. Using the biggest cloak for a blanket, he decided he hadn’t slept enough and closed his eyes just after he extinguished the sorcery light.

  Pacci’s beating seemed to be worth it if he could manage the library again. That was his last thought before someone beat on the door.

  “Valian!” an unfamiliar voice called. “Food. Stay away from the door!”

  Ricky sat up and clutched the cloak around him. The door cracked open, and a guard slid a tray of food inside. A tiny sliver of candle lit the room. He hadn’t expected to be fed, but he looked at the splotches of food. He wouldn’t be gaining weight in captivity, at least not from a meal a day like that.

  He ate everything. Ricky couldn’t scavenge anything in the kitchens until late at night. He even licked the plate. The water smelled funny, so Ricky left it alone. Maybe they drugged it. Pacci was capable of anything if his reason for incarcerating him was because the other unit trainers were jealous.

  Ricky finally felt good enough to survey his surroundings again and worked out the lumps and bumps by rearranging the furniture. He set up a reading desk, a dining table, and cleared out a corner for his bed. Satisfied he had made the cell into more of his own, he went to sleep again.

  When his eyes opened from sleep, he unlocked the door and peeked outside. Like the previous evening, no one bothered to guard the basement itself, just the stairway from the main level. Ricky followed the sound of snoring and tapped on Warden Sarini’s door.

  “Hello?” Warden Sarini said.

  “It’s Valian,” Ricky said.

  “Come in, if you can.”

  Ricky unlocked the door. “I can, but—”

  “I heard your scuffle with Antino Pacci. It was a reprise of my own, except my beating was less physical and more verbal. I suppose since we are basement-mates, you can call me Nania. Could you make one of those magic lights?”

  He did as she asked. “Then I’m Ricky.”

  “Ricky.” She gave him half a smile. “What are we going to do?”

  “Study,” Ricky said. “My key works to the library, too. I’m going to exercise the bruises away and do some reading. Do you need any food?”

  She lifted up a pitcher. “I think they put something in the water. It smells different.”

  “I didn’t drink mine, either. Give me the pitcher, and I’ll get water from the washroom.”

  Nania’s eyebrows rose. “But they may hear you.”

  “I don’t care. The guards won’t believe their ears, anyway. I’m thirsty.”

  He grabbed the pitcher and quickly returned after rinsing it out and filling it with fresh water. Ricky had already drunk his fill.

  “You wouldn’t happen to have a scrap of bread? I didn’t get very much to eat.”

  She smiled at Ricky and pulled out the sack of food Ricky had given her the previous night. “Help yourself.”

  Ricky did. He had a thought.

  “Do you want to exercise? You used to be Princess Pira’s bodyguard.”

  Nania looked insulted. “Who says I’m not fit now?”

  “Then do you want to be more fit? I have enough broken furniture to fashion practice weapons.”

  The warden smiled. “I suppose that would be preferable to rotting away until they kill me after Winter’s Day.”

  Ricky had suspected such a possibility but hadn’t voiced it. “You want a chance to live, don’t you?”

  Nania narrowed her eyes. “You bet I do. I didn’t quit my royal post because I was a coward.”

  “I’m sure Princess Pira is a disgusting person.”

  She laughed at Ricky’s remark. “I wouldn’t quite put it that way, but she was a trial. When do we start?”

  “Not tonight,” Ricky said. “I cleared a cell down here to practice sorcery with Kela, but we can use it to work out. I learned a few forms from Effilia Asucco that we could use.”

  “I nearly got a touch in when I sparred with her; I’ll have you know.” Nania’s face lit up.

  “I know how tough that is. We’ll have interesting matches for a few weeks,” Ricky said. “Maybe we can work out some way to save Kela before the slaughter.”

  “Are you going to lock me away for the night?”

  “I’ll let you get back to your snoring, Mistress Nania.” Ricky bowed.

  “I don’t snore!”

  Ricky smiled. “Of course you don’t. Good night.” He left her, locking her away and locked his door before he set out for the library.

  He quickly slipped into the library and locked the door behind him. He had to sigh as he looked at Henni’s empty desk. Ricky went to the back and worked in near darkness to get into the secret library. He removed the two textbooks on sorcery that he needed, the one on battle sorcery and another on spell creation.

  His bruises began to throb by the time he had finished and crept into bed. At least he could sleep late.

  ~~~

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  ~

  “O UT!”

  Ricky’s eyes snapped open in total darkness. A rim of light outlined the door. He rubbed his eyes and stood up, shoving the cloaks on the other side of the bed.

  Someone threw the door open. Ricky didn’t see Pacci.

  A guard retrieved the tray.

  “Come here. You didn’t drink the water.”

  Ricky looked at the guard’s face. “It smelled awful.”

  The man sneered. “You’ll drink it eventually or die of thirst.”

  Hardly, Ricky thought. But he wondered if they would slip something in the food. These people were capable of anything.

  The guard punched Ricky in the stomach, but he was ready and let the blow push him back.

  “Figures. Weak,” the guard sneered. “You’ll get some more to eat tonight. Until then feel free to rot.”

  “No chamber pot?” Ricky asked.

  The guard laughed. “Not for you,” he said as he closed the door and locked Ricky in.

  Ricky sat at his desk, now fully awake. He listened. At least these guards treated Warden Sarini with a little respect. He heard them exchange her chamberpot. He would have to use the washroom or retrieve a bucket from the cleaning closet in the library.

  After listening to them leave, making lewd jokes about the warden, Ricky had an idea.

  He left his room and went to the Nania Sarini’s cell.

  “Can I come in?”

  “Hurry.”

  Ricky locked the door behind him.

  “Do you have an idea where the kitchen storage room is in relation to these cells? I’m sure I spotted a door in the room.”

  Nania thought for a bit. “There might be a corridor that leads in that direction, but I didn’t put much thought to what was down here. Those who came before me didn’t even use these rooms to punish inmates.”

  They’d just beat them and lock them in their rooms, Ricky thought.

  “I’ll try exploring farther down the corridor. Henni gave me a tour, but we didn’t make it to the end. How often do the guards come down during the day?”

  “Once or twice. Certainly, to deliver dinner, the only meal served.”

  “I’ll continue to bring food from the storage area. I need the rest of the day to recover from my beatings.”

  “It still hurts?”

  Ricky nodded. “I didn’t have any problem going to sleep, though. I’ve been worse. I may not be back until after they serve dinner.”

  He left her. Ricky wished sh
e had a candle to light up her day, but he thought it might be too risky. He was pushing his luck exploring the rest of the basement. After creating just enough of a sorcery light to see, Ricky continued down the dark corridor.

  Room after room. There were more dungeons than he remembered, but he saw two doors close together. He opened one and found the corridor he sought. He locked the door behind him and proceeded down a cobweb filled passage. It ended in a room-sized opening. A moldering desk and chair sat in an alcove. An empty rack of hooks hung behind it.

  So this was where the original dungeon started, he surmised. That meant the storage room might not have always supported the kitchen. He tried to put his key in the lock, but the opening was all wrong. He brightened the light and looked at the rust flaking off the doorknob.

  He used his magic to jiggle the insides of the lock, but the mechanism was in the same shape as the outside. He heard the tumblers crumble. Ricky sang, heedless of anyone rummaging around in the storage room, and used all the will he could to get the lock to disintegrate.

  The knob fell off, and tiny fragments of metal built up in the space left behind. Ricky cleaned the debris out as thoroughly as he could and pushed. The door didn’t budge. Ricky didn’t know if something blocked the door or if it was frozen shut like the old door to the hidden library.

  He didn’t have a knife to cut into the space between the door and the frame. He stamped his foot with frustration and paid for it with streaks of pain. He would have to sneak through the kitchen again.

  Ricky tapped on Nania’s door. “Has anyone come?”

  “Not for hours yet,” she said.

  Ricky quickly ran to the washroom and relieved himself before he went back to this cell. He’d have a very busy night, so he took another nap.

  Sleep was elusive, so he went to his desk and retrieved the books hidden in the debris that he had piled into a corner. He read more about spell creation. Ricky had been on the right track. Most of the book dealt with working out what spells could be used easily and what would drain a sorcerer. Everyone was different, something that Ricky already knew.

  He read more until he heard voices and footsteps. He extinguished his light and hid the books while he rushed to his bed. He decided he didn’t have to hide the cloaks.

  “Dinner,” the guard said. “Stay back.”

  “Why do you always tell me to stay back?” Ricky said through the door.

  “Pisan said you could kill at a distance.”

  Ricky laughed. “He's imagining things.”

  “He said that the Lonsi woman could do such a thing with ease.”

  “Not with ease and not from very much of a distance, probably less than the length of a sword.”

  “Really?” a voice asked.

  “Fool,” another guard said. “He’s trying to lure you into the cell so he can kill you. Pacci said to be wary of him.”

  “Then why doesn’t Pacci kill me?” Ricky asked.

  The voices on the other side of the door dwindled to urgent whispers. “You are a battle sorcerer, and Pacci said he still needs you.”

  Ricky could imagine what threats Pacci could make. And if it involved the taking of a hostage’s life, Ricky would probably submit. He sighed at the thought.

  He always considered himself tough enough for anything, but that wasn’t true. He wanted to save Nania, Kela, and even Mistress Lonsi, and Gil if he could. Henni was already lost. He shook his head as he missed the guard

  He moved to his bed. “I’m away from the door.”

  They opened the door just enough to slide the tray through the door.

  Ricky sniffed the food. He barely made out the same smell as the water was before. The water was clean. Whoever tried to drug them had reacted quickly to Ricky’s comment about the smelly drink.

  He wished he knew what the drug did. He returned to his book, learning more about how to gauge one’s strength. It took patience, something that Ricky struggled with. His stomach growled, so he left his room and tapped on the warden’s door. She didn’t answer. He entered her room to find her groggy, lying on the floor.

  She had eaten her food. Ricky couldn’t let that happen to him. He tried to get a rise out of the woman, but she mumbled as if she was asleep. Her eyes opened halfway. She looked drunk more than anything else, with a silly smile slapped on her face. He helped her to a sitting position. She reached up and pulled his head down by his ears, kissing him on the mouth.

  “You are such a good boy,” she said patting his cheek.

  Ricky backed away in horror, a hand to his lips. He didn’t even say anything, not knowing how the warden would react. He slipped back to his cell as he heard steps on the stairway and saw the end of the hallway brightening.

  He scraped some of the food onto the floor and put a wooden box on top of the mess and hurried to his bed.

  “He’ll be out of it by now,” Pacci said.

  Ricky turned his face to the wall as the door opened. Someone obviously thrust a light into the room. He heard footsteps. Someone slapped him on the head, most likely Pacci.

  “Did you enjoy dinner?”

  Pacci’s voice repulsed Ricky.

  “Wha? Wha?” he said, still facing the wall. He lifted up a hand a few inches above his body and let it fall.

  “He is of no use to anyone now. We’ll keep them both under until shortly before the big day,” Pacci said. “I forced Lonsi to admit that the boy can do everything we want him to without any additional training. No need to have him spread any more of his poison among the prisoners.”

  Pacci slapped him on the side of the head. Ricky just mumbled a laugh and raised his hand again.

  “Pathetic,” one of the guards said derisively as the door shut and locked.

  Ricky jumped up when the footsteps faded. He paced the room with restless energy, knowing he would have to wait until much later before he raided the kitchen. He dared not return to Warden Sarini’s room. He didn’t need another kiss from a drugged woman. What possibly prompted her to do that? Maybe it was a kiss of appreciation. He felt his cheeks burn.

  He ignored such thoughts by continuing to puzzle over some of the terms in the sorcery book.

  ~

  Ricky jerked awake. He didn’t remember the dream, but he quickly remembered where he was. Everything felt quiet, put to bed.

  He left his room, locking it behind him and padded through the obstacle course of slumbering guards to the kitchen. He darted through the storage room, and tripped, falling down half the stairs leading to the basement section.

  Ricky just lay on the floor feeling the pain. It was as if Pacci beat him again. The last few whippings and beatings had never fully healed. His worst fears about the Home had turned into an excruciating reality. Ricky took some deep breaths and stood. His legs felt a little wobbly, but it appeared that nothing had broken.

  He looked up the dark stone stairway. Ricky could have been lying on the floor seriously injured, but instead he escaped with a few more bruises to join all the ones he currently sported. He sighed. His life had become one exercise of endurance after another.

  He lit a sorcerous light and began to gather supplies. Ricky brightened the light, looking for the door to the passage that led to the front of the main building. He had to shift a shelf aside and there it was. Ricky grabbed a broken knife sitting in a small tub of broken kitchen tools and began cutting into the door, just like he had done for the secret library.

  He had nearly completed cutting around the door when he decided to give it a push. The door popped open, sending Ricky forward, sprawling through the entrance to the rest of the basement. He looked into the murk beyond the door and spotted the guard’s desk. Now he had to find a good method to enter and leave the storage area.

  Ricky sat on a barrel and gazed around the room. He decided he’d risk being detected in the storage room and put light items on the shelf. He purloined a hopsack bag from a pile in a big basket.

  Looking at footprints on the floor gave R
icky another idea. He could use his magic to disturb the dust and flour on the floor to cover his tracks. He had to experiment a bit, but he found the right spell to stir up the very surface of the floor. The flour would help ease sliding the shelf back and forth.

  Ricky searched his thoughts for a more permanent solution until he realized it wasn’t needed. In a few weeks, Antino Pacci and Nemo Mattia would empty out most of the Home and Warden Sarini, and he would be scheduled to die one way or another.

  Luckily, the door opened outwards towards the tunnel. Ricky put the supplies on the old desk and repositioned the rack. He hummed and used his will to stir up the detritus on the floor. Satisfied, he closed the door and had to break the ancient chair to find a splinter of wood that he jammed into the casing.

  He crept down the hallway to Nania Sarini’s cell. He rapped his knuckles on the door.

  “Whaddya wan?” she said, still under the drug’s influence.

  “I’ll leave food. Don’t eat what Pacci gives you.”

  “Huh?” she said.

  Ricky shook his head. He ran to his room and wrote down instructions for her. He split the food and liberated a pitcher of water from the washroom and set Nania’s out for her behind a rumpled wardrobe in her room. He left the note for anyone to see, risking discovery, but the warden needed to know where the food was hidden.

  Finally, the evening’s activities and the new bumps and bruises from falling down the storage room stairs overcame his desire to do more, and he collapsed on his bed after locking the door and making sure that the room didn’t appear in too orderly a state.

  ~~~

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  ~

  R ICKY HAD NO IDEA WHAT THE TIME OF DAY WAS when he awakened. He studied the book on spell creation until he reached a point where most of the terms and concepts left were above his current understanding. Ricky wished he had access to a sorcerer. He wondered if he should visit Siria Lonsi. Hopefully, Warden Sarini had recovered most of her wits and could tell Ricky where the woman’s quarters were.

  He could always say he had discovered the sorcery book when he cleaned the library. Even if he had to admit to finding the secret library, the knowledge of its existence would die with Kela and him. He could feel desperation invading into his thoughts. Every day, every hour, Winter’s Day crept closer.