Island of Darkness

by Richard S. Tuttle

  Eltor nodded, and together they ran across the clear area. Eltor gazed upward and followed Mistake’s progress high above his head.

  “You are both remarkable women,” commented Eltor. “If you are not both elves, I will eat this uniform after we escape.”

  “I do not understand how that can be,” mused MistyTrail, “but I am beginning to believe it. I have spent years denying that elves exist, but you have proved me wrong on that count.”

  Eltor pushed MistyTrail away and then jumped aside as he heard a clatter above his head. A second later a knife plunged into the ground between them. MistyTrail’s eyes rose with worry. She saw Mistake hanging from one hand high above them.

  “She dropped one of her knives,” Eltor said with dread. “She will fall to her death when her arm become tired.”

  MistyTrail sighed with relief as she watched Mistake move further up the wall. She bent down and picked up Mistake’s fallen knife.

  “She carries plenty of knives,” explained MistyTrail. “She must be really tired.”

  “I can’t imagine why,” Eltor replied sarcastically as he stared up into the darkness. “I would love to take the two of you to Elvangar.”

  “I would like that,” smiled MistyTrail. “Right now, I just want to get off this island. I don’t care much where we go.”

  “I agree,” replied Eltor. “After our escape attempt, I felt as if Caldal and I were bound to die on this island. Now I have hope.”

  “Do not get your hopes too high,” warned MistyTrail. “We are not escaping this island right now. We are about to enter the most dangerous place on it. We may all die before this night is over.”

  Suddenly, the air sang with the sound of a rope whistling through the air. Eltor and MistyTrail stepped swiftly away as the free end of the rope struck the ground. MistyTrail gazed at the small section of rope resting at her feet.

  “If that balcony was a couple of paces higher the rope would have been too short,” remarked MistyTrail. “Kaltara is indeed watching over us. Climb the rope.”

  “You go first,” Eltor offered gentlemanly.

  “No,” MistyTrail shook her head. “We may still need to create a fog, and you cannot do that. Hurry up the rope while the moon is hidden.”

  Eltor nodded and grabbed the rope with both hands. He pulled himself upward while MistyTrail waited at the base of the temple. She gazed upward as Eltor faded into the darkness. A few moments later the rope jiggled exaggeratedly, signaling that Eltor had made it safely. MistyTrail grabbed the rope and began climbing the side of the pyramid. The climb was long and arduous, and she began to appreciate the effort that Mistake had expended to reach the balcony.

  As MistyTrail climbed over the railing of the balcony, Eltor began pulling up the rope and coiling it. Mistake was trying to peer through the closed shutters of the doorway that led into the temple. MistyTrail stepped alongside Mistake.

  “Can you tell what is beyond the shutters?” MistyTrail whispered as she handed the fallen knife to her sister.

  “No,” Mistake replied as the cloud passed away from the moon, “but we are going to find out. There is no turning back now. Your Kaltara has seen to that.”

  MistyTrail smiled at her sister as Mistake sheathed her knife and pulled a thin strip of metal from her belt. Mistake worked the metal between the shutters. In just seconds the shutters swung open slightly. Mistake peered into the dark room and then turned to Eltor.

  “Leave the rope tied to the balcony,” she said softly. “We may have to leave in a hurry. Just place the coil on the floor.”

  Eltor nodded as knives suddenly appeared in the hands of the two sisters. He quietly placed the coil of rope on the floor and stepped closer to the two women. Mistake gently opened the large shutters.

  Chapter 18

  Chamber of Horror

  The shutters on the balcony on the Temple of Vand opened quietly. The moonlight illuminated the nearer portions of the room. Mistake peered into the room before stepping into it. Eltor and MistyTrail followed her.

  The room was large and obviously a library. Tall bookshelves lined each of the walls, and racks of scrolls were set in neat rows in the center of the floor. Near each of the corners of the room were desks and reading chairs. The room was unlit and empty.

  Mistake moved silently to the doorway on the opposite side of the room from the balcony. She placed her ear against the door and listened for sounds of people beyond it. She heard nothing. MistyTrail moved alongside Mistake and tapped her. The Sakovan pointed to a sliver of flickering light passing through the small crack near the floor. Mistake nodded silently and pointed towards the side of the door. MistyTrail grabbed Eltor lightly by the arm and led him away from the door.

  Mistake eased the door open a crack. She peered out into the torch-lit corridor. When she saw no people outside the room, she started to ease the door open wider. It creaked loudly. She held her breath for several seconds while she remained motionless. Trying anew to leave the room, Mistake edged the door open with excruciatingly slow movements. When she had the door opened wide enough to walk through, she stuck her head into the corridor and looked both ways. Seeing no one, she boldly stepped into the corridor. MistyTrail and Eltor immediately followed.

  “Is there anywhere to hide while you close the door?” asked MistyTrail.

  “Leave it open,” whispered Mistake. “It takes too long to close it. We would surely be detected.”

  “Then we must close the shutters,” MistyTrail retorted. “Otherwise we will be telling everyone that someone has entered the temple. I will close them. Which way are you going?”

  “We should go towards the rear,” interjected Eltor. “The front entrance appears to be a level higher than the rear. We need to go down two levels.”

  “You think they will be at the lowest level?” asked Mistake while MistyTrail slipped back into the library to close the shutters.

  “I cannot imagine that they would place the torture chamber anywhere near where normal people would go,” reasoned Eltor. “The level below the front entrance is the smartest place to start our search. Besides, that is the level of the rear entrance. Why transport slaves through the whole temple?”

  “It is a good enough place to start looking,” shrugged Mistake.

  Mistake led the way towards the rear of the building. They had not gone very far when a staircase appeared on her left. She looked questioningly at Eltor as MistyTrail exited the library and moved up to join the rest of the group. Eltor merely shrugged. Mistake started down the stairs.

  Distant screams drifted up the stairwell. The noise set Mistake’s nerves on edge. She continued downward and halted when she heard voices talking much closer than the distant screams. MistyTrail and Eltor halted behind her. The voices started coming closer, and Mistake could detect footsteps on the level below her She turned and signaled the others to go back.

  The three intruders fled silently up the stairs. Eltor checked the corridor carefully before leaving the stairwell where they had entered it a short time ago. He turned to his left and headed towards the rear of the building. After a few moments of creeping along the corridor, he came to another stairwell. He turned and started down the stairs. MistyTrail followed him, and Mistake just managed to enter the stairwell as she saw two people come around a distant corner into the corridor.

  “Hurry down,” Mistake urged softly. “There are people in the corridor up here.”

  “Did they see you?” MistyTrail asked worriedly.

  “I don’t think so,” Mistake replied. “At least they did not appear to.”

  Again the distant sounds of screaming rose up the stairwell, but the sounds were louder than the last time. Eltor passed by the landing for the next level and continued downward. He was halfway to the next lower level when he heard nearby voices. There were people coming up the stairs. He turned and pointed upward to MistyTrail and Mistake. Everyone turned around and raced softly up the stairs.

  Mistake peeked around the co
rner and saw that the corridor went only in one direction. There was a wall blocking the way towards the rear of the building. With little choice of direction, Mistake entered the corridor and headed towards the front of the temple. She raced for the next stairway in case the people coming up the stairs decided to exit the stairwell on this level. She knew that they would certainly be seen if they didn’t hurry. Mistake led the trio into the next stairwell and stopped. They waited tensely as each of them listened for sounds. Only the distant screams could be heard.

  Mistake led the way down the stairs. When she reached the bottom, she checked the corridor before heading towards the rear of the building again. In the distance she could see a large door blocking the corridor. It was in the same place as the wall blocking the corridor on the level above them. She moved swiftly towards the door. As she passed another corridor branching off to her left, the screams became quite loud. She passed the corridor, her eyes locked on the distant door.

  As she reached the door, she saw the stairwell that they had almost come down. She signaled for MistyTrail and Eltor to take refuge in the stairwell while she crept closer to the large door.

  The door had a window cut into it with large metal bars crossing it in both directions. Mistake rose up on her toes and peered through the window. What she saw frightened her. She turned and ran to the stairwell.

  “What did you see?’ asked Eltor.

  “Cages,” reported Mistake. “Both sides of the corridor beyond that door are lined with cages. There are kruls walking the corridor. I am sure that Caldal is probably in one of those cages, but we cannot just walk in there.”

  “How many cages?” asked MistyTrail.

  “I could not count them,” Mistake shook her head. “They went on as far as I could see.”

  “And this is only one side of the temple,” frowned MistyTrail. “I would be surprised if the other side was not the same. There must be hundreds of cages. How will we ever find Caldal?”

  “Is the door locked?” asked Eltor.

  “It is,” nodded Mistake, “but that is not the obstacle. I can have it open quickly, but I cannot make the kruls disappear.”

  “Open it for me,” asked Eltor. “I will go look for Caldal.”

  “Are you crazy?” balked Mistake. “Perhaps you didn’t hear what I just said. There are kruls patrolling the corridor outside the cells.”

  “I heard what you said,” replied Eltor as he dug into MistyTrail’s pack and extracted a piece of the uniform that they had cut off of the legs to make it fit him.

  He took the scrap band of cloth and shoved it onto his head. He stretched it almost to the point of tearing it as he forced it down over his ears. When he was done, he tried to fold the ragged edge underneath the band. MistyTrail stepped close and helped him.

  “What are you planning on doing?” she asked.

  “I am the only one who knows what Caldal looks like,” explained Eltor. “I know how the kruls think. As long as there is no alarm, they think little of elves. It would surprise them to find an elf in uniform, though. That is why I covered my ears.”

  “But they will still smell you,” frowned MistyTrail.

  “They will,” nodded Eltor, “but they are not quick thinkers. Hopefully they will not put the smell together with my looks.”

  “So you are going to pretend to be a soldier?” asked Mistake.

  “Can you think of any other way to see who is in those cages?” replied Eltor.

  “My brother is not going to sacrifice himself in this evil place,” MistyTrail said adamantly. “We will find another way.”

  “I am sure that both of you are elves,” Eltor smiled weakly, “but I know my family well. I am a brother to neither of you. You two should leave here and find a safe place to wait in the forest. I will find you somehow.”

  “If you are going in there,” Mistake said seriously, “we are going with you. We are not splitting up.”

  “Don’t be foolish,” protested Eltor. “I doubt any of us will get out of here if you don’t leave immediately. I had no right to drag you to into this. Please leave the rope for me.”

  “It is perfect,” grinned MistyTrail as the other two turned to look at her as if she were stark raving mad. “You can be herding Mistake and I into the cell area. If we look like elves, the kruls will not think anything of the smell as we pass by. They will mistake you for human.”

  “That would work,” Mistake nodded slowly. “That just might work.”

  “No,” frowned Eltor. “The kruls will be only too helpful to find a cell for both of you.”

  “You must learn never to argue with both of us,” grinned Mistake. “If you want that door unlocked, we are going with you.”

  “We have skills that may save our lives,” added MistyTrail. “You alone would not stand a chance. It is all of us or none of us. Make your choice.”

  Everyone was silent for few minutes while Eltor thought about what they were about to do. Finally, he nodded in agreement.

  “We are going in,” decided Eltor. “I cannot be this close and give up my hope for Caldal.”

  “Can you make it so the door does not lock again?” MistyTrail asked Mistake.

  “I can, but I will have to leave my tool in the door,” Mistake answered. “We may not come back this way.”

  “Do it,” urged MistyTrail. “We cannot afford for you to be seen working on the lock while the kruls are nearby.”

  Mistake nodded and left the stairwell. She pulled the thin piece of metal from her belt and went to work on the large door. A loud click echoed through the corridor as Mistake picked the lock. She opened the door a crack and shoved the metal into the lock mechanism.

  “You two will walk before me,” Eltor said softly. “I will occasionally push you, so do not be alarmed. That is how prisoners are treated here. The kruls will expect it.”

  Both women nodded and crowded before the door. Eltor threw the door open and pushed them through it. The nearest kruls immediately turned to see who was intruding. Broad grins split their ape-like faces. Mistake had mentally prepared to keep her face presented as a mask of fear and revulsion. She did not have to pretend. The kruls licked their lips as Eltor shoved the two women through the door.

  MistyTrail immediately gazed to the left and right as they passed the first cells. She was surprised to see that each cell held several people. There were elves and humans in the cells. Males and females were thrown together in no apparent manner. Most of the people were sleeping or just sitting and staring at the bars of the cages. There appeared to be little life in the prisoners.

  Eltor’s eyes scanned each of the cells as he pushed the women before him. The kruls all turned their attention towards the newcomers. One of the kruls advanced and looked like he was going to grab Mistake. Eltor snarled at the krul.

  “Away,” Eltor shouted while waving his hand to indicate that the krul should step aside.

  The krul growled back, but he hesitated only briefly before moving aside. The other kruls suddenly appeared to lose interest in the newcomers. They turned away as Eltor and the women approached. Eltor drove the women steadily forward as he continued to view each cell.

  MistyTrail crinkled her nose in an attempt to avoid breathing the stench. She thought it was ironic that they had worried about the kruls detecting Eltor as an elf by his smell. The air was so foul that they would not be able to smell an elf under their noses.

  The corridor of cells was long, but Eltor drove the two women at a steady pace so that he had time to view the prisoners in each cell. The kruls further along the corridor looked at them with interest, but their inspection was cursory, and they soon returned to watching the prisoners. As they reached the far end of the long corridor, Mistake saw another door at the very end. The door was at a right angle to the corridor and led off to the left. She dodged Eltor’s push on her back so that she ended up quite close to him.

  “There is another door leading to the other side of the temple,” she whispered. “
I won’t be able to defeat the lock without my tool.”

  A nearby krul, who might have heard Mistake’s whisper, suddenly growled loudly. He pounded noisily towards the trio.

  “Stop,” Eltor shouted at the two supposed prisoners as he turned to face the approaching krul.

  MistyTrail had already reached the end of the corridor. She was staring into the last cell with curiosity, as it was the only cage that contained a single prisoner. A single male elf sat at the back of the cell watching what was going on. His eyes stared sympathetically at MistyTrail, yet there was a look of defiance in his face. He was an older man, but his body was firm and muscular.

  “Avalar,” the man said softly.

  MistyTrail cocked her head in confusion after the man spoke and then she heard Eltor’s shouted command. She turned to see Eltor and Mistake several paces back with a krul approaching them. The krul was waving his arm back and forth as he drew closer to Eltor.

  “No go,” growled the krul. “Back,” he added as he pointed back along the long corridor.

  “This is the wrong way,” Eltor announced loudly as he turned towards MistyTrail and waved her towards him.

  MistyTrail moved anxiously to where Mistake was standing. She glanced back briefly at the man who had spoken and then turned her attention towards the krul. Eltor stepped behind the two women and pushed them towards the krul. The krul nodded in satisfaction and turned away. He paid little attention to the trio as Eltor herded the two prisoners past him.

  The trio walked steadily back along the corridor of cells. Some of the kruls they passed looked with renewed curiosity; others with barely concealed humor at Eltor’s mistake. Eventually, the trio reached the door that Mistake had forced to remain unlocked. She deftly retrieved her tool as Eltor herded the women through the door. They moved swiftly to the nearby stairwell to get out of the long corridor.

  “What was that all about?” asked Mistake.

  “I can only assume that prisoners are not allowed through the door that we were approaching,” shrugged Eltor.