Dust began to rain down and stone cracked and groaned in protest, unable to bend with the bucking, shifting passageway. Huge stone blocks began to fall ahead of and around the elven wizard.
“Tarth!” Maude screamed and tried to turn back.
Borik and Malek blocked her way and shoved her toward the exit.
“Run, Maude! Do not make his sacrifice be in vane!” Malek shouted as he and Borik half dragged her toward the light.
The party sprinted out of the passage just as the falling stone sealed off the entrance, forcing out a massive gout of dust and sand at their backs as five figures raced through the dust cloud and out toward the end of the canyon.
They kept running until they reached the horses where they stopped and tried to catch their breath. Maude looked at Malek and Borik, her faced etched in sorrow. Malek and Borik returned her gaze, eyes full of sympathy knowing how fond Maude was of the bizarre elf. Then all three of the remaining members of Maude’s Marauders turned and looked at the two soldiers standing next to them, breathing hard and sweating profusely.
“What?” the shorter of the pair asked as Maude glared at the two soldiers.
Maude held her blade out straight before her, pointing it at the two brothers like a giant wizard’s wand.
“Easy now, lady, ain’t no call fer violence,” Nobby said gently and raised his arms over his head and was quickly imitated by his enormous brother, Morton.
“Don’t you dare follow us, and don’t you dare tell anyone which way we went,” Maude said with deadly menace.
“Ah, right then, we’ll stay right here quiet as a mouse,” Nobby promised.
“Right, mum’s the word,” Morton added.
Maude, Borik, and Malek mounted up on their horses and left the two soldiers behind, riding as hard as the pack camel would allow, which wasn’t more than a trot, but they quickly put some distance between them and the fallen temple.
***
There had been a great deal of excitement at the keep in the last few days. Not only were the twins keeping Rusty and Colleen busy despite having the two nursemaids, Zeb had brought a boatload of children back from Southport, twenty-three in all. Simon almost had a case of apoplexy when he opened the door and saw Zeb standing there surrounded by children and Toron looming over him with at least half a dozen youngsters sitting on his hairy shoulders and hanging from his horns like screaming, giggling, wind chimes. Several more had arrived from Southport and the smaller surrounding towns, making the grueling walk on their own or hitching rides on passing wagons and caravans.
Grick was making his nightly rounds when a soft knocking came from the front door. “Who be knocking on Grick’s door this time of night?” the goblin grumbled. “Better not be no big rat again, or Grick gonna whack him good.”
Grick reached up and pulled down on the door handle, swinging the large portal open. Standing in front of him, looking at him eye to eye with an expression of absolute terror, was a little girl of no more than eight or nine years old standing in a nightshift and clutching a worn rag doll.
“Well, what’cha want?” Grick asked impatiently. “You gonna stand there with yer mouth open till bugs fly in, or you gonna come inside?”
Fortunately, Ellyssa had forgotten to fill the pitcher next to her bed with water before she went to sleep and had come down to the kitchen for a drink when Grick answered the door.
Ellyssa saw Grick and the terrified young girl at the door and quickly ran over. “It’s okay, Grick, I’ll take care of it.”
“Good, Grick cannot stand at door all night with bug catching girl. Rat’s ain’t gonna whack themselves,” Grick mumbled as he descended into the basement.
“Come inside,” Ellyssa told the terrified girl, encouraging her with a gentle push. “Don’t be afraid, that’s just Grick. He’s actually really nice. You’re new here aren’t you? Did you come from North Haven?”
The girl was in no state to speak but, looking at her bare feet, Ellyssa had to assume that she had. The girl was shivering as much from cold as from fear. It was late spring, but the evenings were still quite cool.
“Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?”
Ellyssa took her to the kitchen, using her magical talent to light a few of the globes, and sat the girl down at the small kitchen table while she found some fresh bread and cheese and poured her a cup of water. The girl ate as if she was hungry but not starving. Her shift was clean and in relatively good repair as was the rest of her with the exception of her feet. Ellyssa concluded that she must not have been one of the homeless children but perhaps a runaway.
They had not dealt with any runaways that she was aware of and did not know what they would do with one. Would they return her? Ellyssa guessed it all depended on why she ran away. She kept talking to the young girl in a soft, friendly voice in hopes that she would relax enough to start talking.
Ellyssa cleaned the girl’s feet with a damp cloth and dried them before asking if she was tired and wanted to go to sleep. The girl just nodded, and Ellyssa led her up to her room and shared her bed with her. The girl was obviously exhausted and fell asleep, leaving Ellyssa awake for a short time wondering where the girl had come from and what had happed to frighten her so much and drive her from her home. At first, she thought it was just seeing Grick that had her so terrified, but she soon dismissed that as only part of the reason. Perhaps she would find out more in the morning.
The dawn’s light broke through the open shutters, and the fresh morning air wafted gently into the room through the open window. The girl stirred when Ellyssa sat up in bed. Her back was to Ellyssa, and she started when Ellyssa laid a hand on her shoulder and began to cry, tightly clutching her rag doll.
“It’s all right, I’m not going to hurt you.”
Ellyssa swung her legs over the side of the bed, opened one of the wooden trunks in her room, and rummaged through the clothes it contained.
“Here, you can have some of my old clothes I outgrew this year. They might be a little big for you, but that should be okay.” Ellyssa set the clothes out on the bed. “Are you okay? I’m sorry I scared you, I didn’t mean to.”
The girl swallowed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “That’s okay. It’s not your fault. I forgot where I was and thought you were someone else. These are really nice, thank you,” she said as she put on the trousers and tunic.
“My name is Ellyssa, what’s yours?”
The girl spoke barely above a whisper. “Melissa, but everyone calls me Missy.”
“Missy is good, we already have a Melissa. She’s older though. Where did you come from, and why did you come here? You don’t look like you were homeless.”
“I had to run away. It was a really bad place. One of the other kids said he had heard that the magus who lives here sometimes took in children who have no home. Will I be sent back because I had a home?”
“I don’t know. Was it your mom and dad that were mean to you?”
Missy shook her head, sending her big brown curls swinging. “No, my mom and dad died. It was the man who bought us. He is a bad man, and he hurts us, does things to us.”
“What kind of things?” Ellyssa asked, not understanding.
Missy just shook her head and clutched her doll tightly to her chest.
“It’s okay; you don’t have to talk about it right now if you don’t want to.”
Ellyssa even found her a pair of shoes that were only a little too big and led Missy downstairs to the dining hall. The morning was already bustling and noisy. The cooks were in the kitchens making all the meals for everyone. There were eight cooks now and several kitchen girls.
Outside, workers were building the extended wall and chopping down trees to construct the extra billets to house all of the children and adults who lived, worked, and studied at the citadel. Rusty had to put Azerick’s idea of log cabins to use just after he left as more and more children began arriving seeking shelter, which meant he had to hire more people for full time j
obs. Most of the workers simply walked or rode up to the keep from North Haven, but a few, mostly the instructors, found it best to live at the keep.
Most of the teachers were sitting at the large dining table when Ellyssa and Missy walked in and took a seat next to each other.
“Is that the magus?” Missy asked, looking at Magus Allister, who, in his robes and with his long grey beard, looked every bit the part of a storybook wizard.
“No, that’s Magus Allister. He’s one of our teachers. Azerick is the one who owns the keep and takes in all the kids, but he’s not here right now,” Ellyssa explained.
Ellyssa pointed out and named all of the adults at the table then introduced Missy to Allister, Rusty, and Colleen.
“You walked here last night from North Haven by yourself?” Allister asked.
Missy nodded without raising her eyes from the table.
“Oh, you poor dear, you must have been exhausted and terrified being out so late,” Colleen said and hugged the girl.
“Yes, ma’am, especially when I saw the wolf. He had big yellow eyes, and I thought he was going to eat me,” Missy said, nodding her head emphatically.
“That was probably Ghost. He’s nice too and only half as wild as Wolf, the boy he’s usually with,” Ellyssa clarified.
“A boy has a wolf for a pet here?”
“More of a friend really.” Ellyssa laughed. “Personally, I think they’re probably related somehow.”
“Can I stay here? I don’t want to go back to the bad place, please don’t make me,” Missy pleaded and was on the verge of tears.
Colleen held Missy tightly to her chest. “Of course you can stay. Why is your home so bad?”
Missy did not want to talk about it. Right now, all she wanted was for the nice woman to hold her, pet her hair, and tell her she was going to be all right. It was almost like having her mother back again, what little she could remember. She was so young when her parents died and her uncle sold her and her brother to those men who sold them to the bad man.
After breaking their fast, Ellyssa took Missy around to see most of the kids, skipping classes, with Allister’s permission, and even found Wolf and Ghost sitting in their favorite clearing. Wolf was actually sitting up against the stump reading one of the books Ellyssa had given him.
“Hi, Wolf, I can’t believe you are actually reading!” Ellyssa said as they drew near.
Wolf jumped up startled then glared at Ghost. “I told you to warn me if someone was coming! Yeah, please don’t tell anyone. It’ll ruin the savage image I have worked so hard to cultivate.”
“You could cultivate potatoes in your ears there’s so much dirt in them,” Ellyssa replied. “But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you are actually civilized.”
“You take that back! Just because I can read doesn’t mean I’m civilized!” Wolf looked at Missy as if seeing her for the first time. “Who’s the girl?”
“This is Missy. She walked all the way here from the city last night.”
“Oh, you’re the one Ghost saw last night on the road. He said he was watching out for you.”
“Really? Can I pet him?” Missy asked.
“Sure, he won’t bite unless you’re a bad guy, and then he’ll rip your throat out.”
Missy worked up her courage and stroked the big black wolf’s soft fur. Sitting as he was with his big puppy dog eyes and wagging tail, he certainly did not look like he ever bit anyone, although he was certainly capable of it. Even sitting on his haunches, he was as tall as Missy and outweighed her by at least eighty pounds.
The three kids and the wolf played in the woods for most of the day. Wolf and Ellyssa showed Missy all of their favorite places and just spent their time running, jumping, and exploring, enjoying the feeling of total freedom, and for Missy, a rare day without fear. Hunger finally drove the two girls back to the keep. Wolf stayed behind so he could plan his own raid later on when the cooks were not likely to expect it.
Later that evening after the supper meal, Ellyssa and Missy were up in Ellyssa’s room along with Roger and several other children playing games and talking about school. Missy was amazed and delighted at the colored balls of light they made fly around the room, but then she started crying.
“What’s the matter, Missy, why are you crying?” Ellyssa asked, laying a hand on the girl’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, it’s just that everything is so great here, and I think about my brother and the other kids having to stay with that bad man.”
“Your brother is still in that terrible place? Why didn’t he come with you?”
“He was supposed to. He spent a long time cutting through one of the bars over the window. Every day, he was able to cut a little bit more with a saw he made. The night he finally got it cut all the way through, he bent it up and held a bed sheet while I climbed down, but the bad man came in the room and saw us. Derran told me to run away. I think he hit the bad man. I could hear the man hitting Derran really hard over and over, but he just kept yelling for me to run, so I did.”
“Could you find the house you lived in again if we took you?” Ellyssa asked.
“Yeah, but why? You won’t make me go back will you?” Missy asked in a sudden panic.
“No, of course not! I say we go and rescue your brother and any other kids that are still there.”
“We can’t! He’s a bad man and big. We’re just kids.”
“We are not just kids, Missy, we are wizards. We can take care of the bad man and any guards he has. Trust me.” Several of the other children added their support as well.
“Don’t you think we should tell the grownups first? Maybe they would help,” Missy asked tentatively.
Ellyssa shook her head. “Azerick probably would, but Magus Allister and Rusty probably wouldn’t do anything to break the law. They would probably just tell the magistrate, and if he is a rich man or a nobleman, they probably wouldn’t do anything. This is something we have to do ourselves. Who is this man anyway?”
“His name is Lord Potsworth. He is big and really fat, and he smells like bad cheese. He likes to wear these big rings on his fingers that hurt when he hits you.” Missy went on describing the man in detail.
“It sounds like the man who tried to buy me and got mad when Azerick bought me instead,” Ellyssa said after Missy finished describing him. “Azerick would definitely help us if he was here, and I bet he would like it if we rescued the other kids from him. He did not like that man at all. In fact, Azerick blasted him that night and sent him flying.”
Missy’s face drained of color. “That must have been the night he came home so angry. None of us had ever seen him so mad before. He beat us all really bad that night.”
Ellyssa could not help feeling guilty, but she was angry even more so. “I say we go get him tonight and rescue everyone.”
“I’m in,” Roger said and put his hand in the center of the circle they were sitting in.
“I’m in too,” Stephanie said and added her hand.
All of the children added their small hands to the circle, one atop the other. Once they were all in, the kids pumped their hands one time and prepared for the mission.
The rescue party all went and grabbed their jackets and exchanged their slippers for shoes or boots. Ellyssa went into the vault and looked through the magical scrolls Azerick kept down there. He had given Ellyssa several classes on reading and using magical scrolls, which would allow her to cast the spells written on them even if they were spells that she could not normally cast given her current skill.
She plucked out a couple of scrolls she thought she might need and closed the vault. She turned to run back up the stairs but stopped when she found Grick looking at her from down the hall.
“What is troublesome girl doing in Master Azerick’s vault?” Grick asked.
“I was just looking for something.”
Grick looked at her shoes, the quiver of darts on her hip, and the way she was dressed. “Look likes you be going rat wha
cking.”
“Yeah, me and some of the other kids were going to go rat whacking tonight—outside.”
Grick nodded. “Must be big rat. Maybe big rat like Grick kill in master’s bedroom, eh? You be careful, big rats be tricky sometimes, bite hard.”
“We’ll be careful, Grick, thanks.”
Ellyssa ran up the stairs to her room where the rest of her gang was waiting. She told them they would wait until it was later when the rest of the keep went to sleep. While they waited, they went over their plan. Ellyssa’s biggest fear was getting past the guards now walking along the wall and around the tower grounds.
She hoped that she had found the solution to that problem in one of the scrolls she took from the vault. Ellyssa made frequent trips down the stairs to see if everyone was asleep yet. It was mostly the cooking staff that she needed to be gone since she wanted to sneak out through the kitchens. The troop of six children crept down the stairs, cut through the dining room, and into the kitchen.
Ellyssa lifted the crossbar out of the brackets, gently set it aside with Roger’s help, and opened the door. The kids crept past the new extension where the new kitchen had been built and behind the building where the staff slept.
The wall was not far from the kitchen billets but farther than it used to be. This section of the wall had been torn down and moved several hundred feet out from where the old wall had been. Ellyssa picked a spot in the wall near where it butted up against the sheer, granite cliff towering hundreds of feet over the keep grounds.
Ellyssa flipped through the scrolls and found the one she wanted. The runes illuminated her face as they flared up and burned out as she read the spell from the scroll. A shimmering hole opened near the wall making it look as though there was a large breach. Ellyssa waved to her gang hidden next to the kitchen billets. Roger led the troop through the magical portal with his shambling gait where it dumped them out at the edge of the woods three hundred yards from the wall.
Ellyssa stepped through the gate after the last child ran through. It snapped shut behind her as she crossed over and stopped for a moment, trying to shake off the disorienting effects of the spell. She saw Roger sitting against a tree surrounded by the others and holding his nose.
The Sorcerer's Path Box Set: Book 1-4 Page 100