After turning right at right angles, a sloping passageway ran into a short corridor. Split and damaged doors, like decaying, jagged teeth lined a dilapidated corridor.
At this point Kron interrupted. “Cut out the flowery language, why don’t you?”
The goblin nodded. He continued on with his description. One of the passageways led to what used to be a treasure room. It had been ransacked. Half destroyed chests, empty and desolate, lay strewn around. A hidden trapdoor, long since discovered, led down to another room. Talarren knew here was where the secret treasure of the House of Harrad had been kept but long since pillaged, most likely, by adventure seekers. A hole in a wall ten feet from the floor had been discovered, the goblin said. It opened to a passage ten feet in length so narrow only a child could crawl along it.
“My Title Deeds were hidden there, according to my map,” Alex exclaimed, breathless.
According to their goblin prisoner, nothing of value was found when they came.
The goblin continued his description of the castle. Opposite the treasure room was a watch room off which ran an old lower-level dungeon, still used by Leroy Boadstool for misbehaving goblins. Three goblins were currently incarcerated, including two for calling him Leroy Toadstool instead of Boadstool, which is a difficult sound for a goblin to make in commontongue. Two goblin guards stood watch day and night.
Talarren stood up and addressed Alex. “If goblins have not been able to find your Title Deeds with a powerful druid, they are not there, we can be sure. There is no point continuing.”
“But what if that druid has them?” Alex asked. “Maybe he found them when they were searching for treasure. Maybe he’s stored them in his chambers for some reason. I could ask for them back.”
“He wants your castle,” Kron said. “Even if he had your papers, which sounds far-fetched, he would never hand them over.”
“Then we must go in there and take them,” Alex insisted.
Kron turned to Talarren with a look of helpless resignation. At that moment, Esmay’s cry rang out. Talarren let out a piercing cry, indistinguishable from any eagle. They watched as Esmay landed on Talarren’s outstretched arm, clucking and chirping.
“Perry and Caspar are on their way. I’m afraid there’s nothing more we can do here. We must go.”
The goblin walked away.
“Where be you going?” Kron growled.
With its grubby finger pointed at Talarren, it answered: “He said I could go if I told you what I knew. I did.”
“How do we know it’s true?” Kron asked.
“Why don’t you go underground and find out for yourself?” the goblin snapped.
“I wouldn’t believe this goblin if my life depended on it,” Alex said. “I’m not going to give up my castle and everything I’ve inherited when it’s so close within my grasp. I will pay you if you come with me.” Desperation crept into Alex’s voice.
“What with?” Kron asked. “You have no gold.”
“When I come into my inheritance I will be king. I will be able to pay each of you a small fortune.”
Talarren turned to Alex. His face took on a truly terrifying aspect. “There is a garrison of goblins down there. And a minotaur. And a Purple Ivy druid, if I’m not mistaken. If your papers are not there, why risk our lives?”
“We can’t give up now we’re so close,” Alex pleaded, tears streaming down his eyes. “I beg you. Can we at least try and reclaim them if there is any chance they are down there still?”
“Come, we shall discuss this once more when Casper and Elfindi arrive. That includes you,” Talarren said to the goblin.
Razel shrunk under the goblin’s look of disgusted anger.
Caspar and Elfindi galloped toward them before slowly bringing up their horses. They jumped off and corralled their horses.
“About time,” Perry complained. “I was beginning to…”
Talarren cut him off. He quickly explained their predicament.
“I think you should go down there,” the goblin suggested. “Crispin is a good goblin. He’ll prove to you we don’t have your papers.”
Kron clipped his ear sharply. “When we want your miserable opinion, we’ll ask for it. Another word out of you and…” Hazbeen shrunk to half his size under Kron’s blazing anger.
Chapter Fourteen
Who is Leroy?
TALARREN STOOD IN THE centre of his party. “Our plan will be to infiltrate. An all-out battle will fare badly for us. We need to avoid this minotaur at all costs. We need spells and secrecy. We have to take this Leroy druid by surprise, or his spells could destroy us. This is why you are all here.” Once more Talarren wished for the presence of his half-orc friend running a tavern in Florentino. “We know a secret entrance into the castle. This may be our best point of entry.”
“But surely those goblins would have found it?” Caspar suggested. “It will be either blocked or guarded.”
Talarren described goblin excavation methods. Their goblin prisoner nodded occasionally, impressed with his knowledge of goblin practices. Talarren also revealed druidic methods of concealing secret doors in wilderness settings. He turned to Hazbeen.
“Now, my fine friend, if you want to earn yourself some gold, you will tell us every detail about Harrad Castle’s lower levels, its secret doors and entrances and anything else that could help us.”
“But Talarren,” Perry objected, “you can’t trust this miserable goblin.”
“You’re offering him gold?” Kron exclaimed.
Hazbeen swung a punch at Perry’s stomach, but Perry moved too quickly. Kron overpowered it in massive, powerful hands, pinning him helplessly to his side.
“Gimme your gold first,” Hazbeen ordered Talarren.
“What a nerve…” Perry cried, about to slap this brazen goblin hard across his pointed ear.
“Don’t!” Talarren said. He took a gold piece from a side pouch. “Release him, Kron. His information is more valuable than anything else we have.”
Hazbeen snorted triumphantly as Kron pushed him away. “Listen to your boss, fools. He knows what he’s talking about. Gimme another piece first.”
“You’ll get another if I give you one,” Talarren replied. “Speak!”
Hazbeen waxed lyrical about where this secret, underground entrance into the castle could be, although he claimed nobody knew. Goblins suspected its entrance connected with Leroy’s chambers which were off limits to all except visitors and the great, fearsome minotaur who’d taken up residence there. Goblins had begun excavating a second lower level where the minotaur’s quarters were located. They’d also constructed more rooms and passages extending out from Harrad Castle’s lower level, including a secret entrance leading directly underneath the watch tower.
“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Alex demanded angrily.
Talarren gave him another gold coin. His goblin eyes lit up greedily. He slipped it into his pocket, gazing into this mysterious Ranger’s incredible eyes. He was drawn in and terrified all at once.
His own beady eyes narrowed as he looked around conspiratorially. “When us goblins do our forest patrols, we’ve noticed a rock formation surrounded by a thick crop of trees and dagger brambles, two hundred feet north of the outside wall. A week ago we thought we saw something, perhaps an animal, sneaking around ahead of us. We snuck behind it, keeping concealed. We surrounded the area but saw nothing. When we approached we noticed the thick dagger brambles surrounding it, so impregnable we didn’t bother investigating. If there is a secret exit, we believe that rock formation is a likely place.”
Talarren nodded at Caspar. Dagger brambles were a typical druidic forest defense. Leroy would undoubtedly have other more sinister defences in place for any intruders showing too much interest.
“If we can somehow find a way into that secret tunnel without anyone knowing, it could give us a huge advantage,” Caspar said.
“I think it is our only way,” Talarren said. “But I’m worried about this mi
notaur.”
Hazbeen coughed, then slowly extended his open, calloused palm. Talarren placed a third gold coin into it, to Kron’s horrified disgust. Hazbeen scowled at Kron but told Talarren the minotaur spent time with his precious bulls each afternoon in the back paddocks. He suggested if Talarren could sneak through that secret door while the minotaur tended to his bulls, they could get what they needed and sneak out again. “It’s a very big minotaur, this one,” Hazbeen said, standing on his tippy toes and extending a short, stocky arm high as he could, reaching Perry’s head.
Talarren asked more detailed questions about the goblin routines and Leroy Boadstool who apparently had little to do with rank and file goblins. He questioned Hazbeen about rooms and chambers. When they finished their questioning Talarren had Alex tie up the goblin and take him inside the log outpost.
“Someone has to guard our prisoners,” Talarren said.
“Can’t we leave them here?” Perry asked, afraid of missing the action again.
“Too risky,” Caspar explained. “If they get free and sound the alarm, you can kiss your precious dimples goodbye.”
“We must make haste,” Talarren urged them. “Perry, much as I hate to say it, we need you here with Hunter. I can rely on you to keep our prisoners secure. You’ll know what to do in an emergency. I can’t afford to let Alex to do it and Razel is not up to it. I need Caspar’s spells and Elfindi’s stealth. Razel’s spells will come in handy. Kron and I can do whatever fighting, if any, needs to be done, but I’m hoping it will not come to that. We infiltrate Leroy’s chambers and search for the Title Deeds. Hopefully Razel’s spells will give us time to retreat. We meet you here and escape together.”
Perry snorted. He could see sense in Talarren’s reasoning, but he did not like it.
Ten minutes later they’d made their way through birch and oak trees north of the castle’s outer wall. A rocky outcrop loomed ahead, surrounded by a copse of large oaks and dagger brambles forming an impenetrable undergrowth. Thorns like daggers jutted out in every direction from gnarled lianas thick as a man’s arm.
“Leroy’s first line of defence,” Razel said.
“That’s not the half of it, young lass,” Caspar said. “If we attempt to hack at them, those ghastly gnarled lianas would flail about. We’d be ripped to shreds.”
“That tree,” Talarren whispered, pointing. “Is it…?”
“A Hominis Tree,” Caspar gasped.
All Razel, Kron and Alex could do was wait for an explanation.
“A Hominis Tree,” Caspar explained, “is a favourite of druids. See those branches? They can crack an ox’s back as easily as I can snap a twig. Can you imagine what they can do to a man?”
“Or half-elf,” Elfindi said warily.
“They’re intelligent beings,” Caspar continued. “They’re camouflaged guards.”
“Well, I can think of a way to bring it down,” Kron growled, softly patting his axe.
Caspar shook his head. “Before you drew back your axe its massive bough would slam onto your head. Goodbye Kron. Your armour may as well be eggshells. Then this intelligent tree would communicate to creatures on the other side that intruders were advancing. Leroy would know in no time. We would be sitting ducks out here.”
“A Stasis! Spell?” Talarren asked Caspar.
“Just what I was thinking,” Caspar replied. “Razel, can you cast some sort of immobility spell?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I’m sure I can immobilise this Hominis Tree with a Stasis spell, along with any creature lurking around as a guard, including whatever lies down that secret entrance. Reinforced with your Immobility! spell, we should succeed.”
“What about these horrible dagger brambles?” Kron asked Caspar contemptuously. “You’re not going to tell me my armour is useless against their pathetic little thorns?”
Elfindi turned from Kron to the dagger bramble thicket, then back to Kron. “Pathetic little thorns? I’ve never seen such a savage-looking plant. Razel, do you have a spell to destroy them?”
“Won’t your Stasis Spell immobilise these thickets?” Elfindi asked Caspar.
He shook his head. “It only works on animals or living creatures, tot plants or non-organic matter.”
“You call that tree an animal?” Elfindi asked.
“It’s a tree monster with a form of intelligence. It’ll be guarding Leroy’s secret entrance. But they only attack to defend themselves or to stop anyone trying to enter what they’re guarding. It won’t give away its position unless it has to.”
“Enough with your botany lesson,” Kron growled. “What will we do about these dagger brambles? Razel?”
Taking a few steps forward, Razel took out her wand. She recited an incantation, then pronounced: “Brambles Entangle!” Everyone watched expectantly. Nothing happened. She made another incantation, then pronounced: “Flatten!” Nothing happened.
“It takes a druid to command these sorts of plants,” Talarren explained, quickly noticing a bright shade of red covering Razel’s extraordinarily beautiful face. “I have an idea. Perform your Stasis! and Immobility! spells together. Once this Hominis Tree is safely incapacitated, we climb to that branch. Razel will perform a Stiffen Rope! spell above and across those dagger brambles to that rock outcrop. We’ll make our way over them and down the other side and go from there.”
After five minutes of laborious climbing combined with shuffling and panting, Alex climbed off Talarren’s rope behind Kron, making his way to a thin patch of bare earth between a ten foot high rock and an impenetrable wall of dagger brambles. Razel performed her Find Secret Entrance! spell. It revealed a secret entrance. A door constructed of stone, indistinguishable from the stone wall around it, its iron hinges hidden along a fissure of the rock, slowly opened. Alex watched in wonder. Twenty years ago he barely escaped with his life carried by his aunt through this very entrance, fleeing those detestable Norse murderers. Razel followed with an Unlock! Spell.
“We need to be vigilant,” Talarren warned them. “We do not know what awaits us on the other side. Caspar’s Stasis! spell most likely would immobilise most living creatures, but perhaps not powerful monsters. And if I’m not mistaken, deadly traps will have been set for unwary invaders.” He nodded to Caspar who clutched his ancient staff. Talarren drew his sword. Kron held his hand axe. A narrow tunnel would prove ineffective for wielding his mighty battle axe. Elfindi placed an arrow on his bow. Razel stood prepared for whatever spell she may need. Alex, sword in hand, blood pulsating through his naïve, impetuous veins, kept nervously looking behind him.
When Talarren pulled open the secret door, light entered to reveal a well-maintained tunnel barely six feet high and six feet wide. Shallow steps led down. To their left two wooden torch stems were set into a wall above a cavity containing flint and torch. Two fat geckos lay motionless, positioned in pipe-like gutters. There were no cobwebs or thick layers of dust, showing the tunnel was in regular use. Talarren turned, putting his finger to his lips. He bent down to pick up a gecko. Its underside had been branded with the Grove of Purple Ivy symbol, ivy twisted around a dagger. Talarren wrung the gecko’s neck with a pop and threw it into a cluster of dagger brambles. Kron stamped viciously on the other gecko. Its innards squirmed out its mouth. He pinched its tail between thumb and forefinger and hurled it away, forcing Elfindi to duck as a fleshy titbit spun toward his long hair. Alex’s reflexes were not as sharp. A morsel of gecko guts landed on his stained shirt.
Once again Talarren placed finger to lips. He nodded to Caspar who performed another two spells. “Silence!” “Disarm Traps!” he commanded softly. Immediately a section of steps depressed slightly. A dozen arrows shot out from both walls, but fell eerily silent under Caspar’s Silence! spell. Further along three more steps lowered slightly. A large stone block forming part of the ceiling fell down with what would have been a thunderous crash. Silence. The stone block slowly raised itself on an automatic winch. Talarren turned to Caspar. Caspar r
aised one finger and pointed, indicating one more trap close to the door.
They walked on in silence, Alex closing the secret door behind him. Razel cast a Light! spell using her wand, lighting up the tunnel for some distance.
“That hole!” Elfindi hissed, pointing to a hole in the ceiling ten feet away. “I hear mutterings.” Nobody heard him, but Razel saw what he was pointing to.
She performed a spell but as she did so she felt a sinister movement. Suddenly one enormous spider after another scrambled out of the hole, abdomens fat and round as a pig, legs as long as a man’s. Many made it through before Razel’s “Block Hole!” spell blocked the hole.
An elven arrow impaled the first scuttling spider. It pulled its legs into its body and crumpled downward. Talarren leapt forward with lightning speed. Before anyone knew it, two spiders were sliced clean in half. Some spiders attacked from the ceiling, others from the floor, yet others from the right and left walls. Caspar’s staff struck upwards. “Surface Stick!” he cried. Three spiders found themselves inexplicably stuck to the ceiling, unable to move their spindly legs.
Another crumpled from a second Elfindi arrow. One fell from a thudding chop between its eight eyes from Kron’s hand axe. Two more jumped on him, digging their poisonous fangs into his plate armour, without effect. Talarren’s sword sliced through another. Caspar whacked one with his staff, sending it crashing into the opposite wall. Kron brought his gauntleted fist down onto the face of one of the spiders attempting to bite him. Liquid spurted out from its crushed eyes. It slowly dropped to the ground. His axe finished the other as it desperately tried to find dwarven flesh to sink its fangs into. One scurried along the wall directly for Elfindi and jumped, leaving him no time to drop his bow and draw his sword. Razel’s wand sent it somersaulting backwards. “Arachnid Repellent!” she cried, yet no sound came forth. Talarren’s sword cut it in half. Caspar’s mace clobbered three confused, helpless arachnids into oblivion.
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