Woof, woof, woof, woof!
She wouldn’t stop barking at the ceiling. Dale and Smith looked up towards the spot she was barking. The light bulbs of realization went on in both their minds at the same time. The skylight openings. Ginkgo was smelling the outside, maybe even bunnies…
Dale gave her a treat and then put her away.
Smith changed into his ape form, and Dale climbed onto his shoulders. He climbed into the shaft. It lead upwards towards fresh air. The narrow shaft did not go straight up vertically, so he could not see the sky, but he could feel a slight breeze. Dale braced himself, his back tight against the wall, and kept his feet firmly planted. Smith jumped, changed into his humant avatar, and grabbed Dale’s legs.
“Damn, dude, you’re heavy,” Dale said. He grunted and pushed his legs even tighter into the wall, keeping them both from falling.
“Hold on,” Smith said as he climbed onto Dale’s shoulders. “Don’t fall.”
“Thanks for that, I might have forgotten that falling hurts.”
“Hold. Hold. Got it!”
Smith reached the point where the shaft changed direction, he climbed higher, and then lowered his arms after turning back to an ape. He lifted Dale up, and they walked through the horizontal shaft for a few hundred meters before it changed direction. The slope took them up.
“I see the sky,” Dale said.
“Thank the spider gods…”
The last ten meters of the shaft was vertical and they had to climb by pressing their backs against the wall while moving their feet one tough step at a time. It took them twenty minutes, but they made it out of the earth and found themselves in a small cavern with a view of a strange valley, a small road, and the Three Queens.
“I see why they call those rocks the Three Queens, it looks like they were sculpted.”
“I think they were.”
“Robur said they were natural.”
“Hmmmm. Maybe, but whatever, they are an obvious landmark. The path there—” Dale pointed to the path heading off the road upwards into more trees, “that’s supposed to be the way to the castle.”
“Hey look!” Smith pointed. Two figures were walking. They were visible for moment as the path left the trees, then they disappeared again.
“Was that Jara and Yingtai?”
“It was,” Smith said. “I mean, it sure looked like them.”
“They’ve got a big head start on us; I guess we should try to catch up.” Dale walked out of the cavern into the sun. “It feels good to be out of the ground.”
Smith followed him and took a deep breath. “Awwwww. Fresh air.”
“Holy Shit!” Dale pointed towards the Three Queens. “Is that—”
“Yeah, shit. Amy and Emi…”
“Now what?” Smith started walking downhill.
Dale followed him.
“I guess we follow the assassins who are following the Princess, who is heading towards another Princess and see if we can stop the assassins before they cause any more damage. I guess. I don’t fucking know anymore, but we can’t stay here.”
“Firm grasp of the obvious, commander.”
“Yeah, you want to be the leader?”
“No thanks.” Smith looked back over his shoulder and gave Dale an evil smile. “It’s all on you, boss.”
“Well, there’s nothing we can do except head to the castle. We’ll never catch them no matter what we do; the question is whether we can make the castle by nightfall or if we’re going to have to set up a camp and spend the night out here. In the woods…”
“I’d rather not.”
...........................
They reached the Three Queens an hour and twenty minutes later. The stone was definitely hand worked, no doubt about it, but ancient. Moss grew in the fine cracks and crevices. The stone was worn from centuries of weathering, and broken pieces on the faces and hands gave an odd look to the statues like they’d been rescued from vandals a year too late.
Dale didn’t like the silence. “We should get out of the open,” he said.
“Agreed.”
They headed towards the path that lead into the forest, the direction of the Pierstone Castle. They were an hour and a half, or so, behind Amy and Emi.
“Should we ride mounts?”
“Dangerous, being as there are only two of us.”
“True. The women were on foot. I guess we should follow suit…”
The advantage of a mount was speed; the disadvantage was the size, noise, and the dust created by any large beast. They’d be too easily spotted by spies or enemies. When they reached the forest, under the cover of trees, Smith had an idea. “Why don’t you ride that grizzly bear mount you said you got from the bear boss drop?”
“Why?” Dale asked.
“Because I can outrun you as an ape, I mean, by a lot, and a bear ought to be able to run silently through the forest. It’s worth a shot.”
Dale considered. “Okay, let’s try it.” Dale brought out his grizzly mount, Smith became an ape, and the two of them moved through the forest, quickly and silently.
...........................
A couple of hours later Smith stopped. “I hear people.”
Dale halted the grizzly and dismounted.
They both changed into their humant forms and walked slowly towards the voices. The Pierstone Castle was in the kingdom of King Mopsus and because they had the King’s welcome, they didn’t want to run into anyone looking like they were in attack mode. Neither of them was armed and Dale brought Ginkgo out; because she was so friendly she would help them look even more peaceful.
When they dropped from the trail to the road they saw dozens of people, wagons, dwarves, elves, hunters, merchants, and a few of the King’s soldiers. People were traveling in both directions and nobody paid any attention to them.
Dale approached the closest soldier. “Which direction is the Pierstone Castle?”
“That way, traveler,” the soldier pointed. “You’d better hurry, the gates close for the night in under an hour.”
“How far is it?”
“Just under an hour, so, like I said, you’d better move out if you plan on being inside—”
Dale didn’t hear the rest of what the soldier said, he began walking briskly towards the castle. “Come on Smith; I don’t want to have to camp outside again. I want a warm bed.”
“I’m right behind you on that…”
They entered the castle gates forty minutes later.
The main castle could be seen in the distance, on the side of a hill. A massive mountain climbed behind it. Its fame was that it was massively defendable. Dale could see why. To approach the castle, an attacking force would have to climb uphill from the front. The small village of merchants, homes, inns, and other buildings filled a large area inside the gates of the castle. There were towers strategically placed, bowmen walked ramparts, and large torches burned along the upper wall. It was apparent why the Princess Talargo had chosen to come here, it would take a large force to attack this castle, and moving a large force through the forest that they’d just hiked through would be near impossible to do without complications.
“I can see why somebody picked assassins and not an attacking platoon,” Smith said.
“Indeed. I guess they’re here.”
“Yes. And well disguised, too. I can assure you of that.”
“Shit.”
“We should find Jara and Yingtai.”
“Agreed,” Dale said. “Come on, Ginkgo!” Dale clapped his hands. But Ginkgo was running away from Dale towards a small child.
“Ginkgo, come her girl. Don’t scare that kid!”
But the golden retriever ignored Dale and jumped up onto the young girl and licked her face.
Dale froze for a second. His eyes met the eyes of the young girl. He recognized her eyes, and Ginkgo had recognized her disguise, it was Amy. Dale ran towards her. “Stop!”
She sprinted away and Dale chased her with Ginkgo on his h
eels, the dog thought it was a game and gave chase as well. Smith followed behind them.
Amy was fast. She dropped her outer robe. Under that she had an all black tight fitting outfit. She sprinted down an alley with Dale and Smith on her tail. She jumped up onto a small fence, climbed onto a roof, and ran to the peak.
Dale followed, he yelled at his dog while he climbed the fence. “Stay!”
Ginkgo barked.
Smith yelled to Dale, “I’ll go around to the other side.”
Dale made it to the peak of the roof and ran towards Amy; she’d already jumped to the next rooftop. Dale leaped to follow her, lost his footing, and fell to the ground.
Smith ran to him. Ginkgo followed. She jumped onto Dale and licked his face.
“Down girl, down.”
She ignored him.
...........................
Dale and Smith walked up to the front entrance of the castle fifteen minutes later. Dale felt defeated again.
“Was Amy trying to…”
“I don’t know, but while we’re in town, you’d better have Ginkgo out.”
When she heard her name, she looked at Smith.
“Good girl,” he said. He petted her on the head. “Well, you’ve got to take a nap, girl, I don’t think you should be running around in the castle.”
“Probably not,” Dale said. “Come on, girl.” He put her away and looked at Smith. “What do we tell Jara and Yingtai?”
“Nothing at first. Let’s see what they say.”
They presented their credentials to the guards and were admitted into the interior of the castle. An aide walked up to them and introduced herself.
“I am Annagrum. Welcome! Princess Jara has had us eagerly expecting you. Follow me, Master Dale and Master Smith. We have rooms for you, refresh yourselves and relax, we’ll be serving a feast in the main dining room shortly, you have seats next to Princess Talargo, who is anxious to meet you both.”
Dale and Smith followed the aide to their rooms.
...........................
When they entered the main dining hall, Dale was shocked by the opulence. He’d expected something fantastic, but the scene was beyond what his imagination had pictured.
The room had a massive table, at least a hundred meters long. There were people seated along both sides of the table, shouting, eating, drinking, arguing, and discussing all manner topics. On either side of the room, there were serving tables, bars, and hosts who brought drinks, meats, and dishes to the main table. Raised stages ran along the outer walls for all manner of performers, jugglers, belly dancers, magicians, and animal tamers. It was like a circus (and in Dale’s mind, what he imagined a crazy Las Vegas show was like, although he’d never been there himself).
Their aide guided them to the head of the table.
“My Lord King Mopsus, may I present Master Dale and Master Smith, companions, and guardians of Princess Jara.”
The King stood and put out his hands. “Welcome to my Kingdom, travelers.” He took Dale’s hand in both of his and shook vigorously, then he did the same with Smith.
Then they were introduced to Princes Talargo.
“Thank you for risking a perilous journey,” she said. “Tomorrow we must meet and discuss news from my father… But not tonight. Tonight we feast!”
The King pointed to the empty chairs that had been saved for them.
“Sit, eat, and drink. I’d like to hear about your world. I’ve been told the most interesting stories by Master Yingtai and I do not know if I should believe whether she’s a historian or a master story teller. Flying machines? Machines that fly like dragons? Please, be at home, sit, eat, drink, and tell me fantastic stories, my friends. Our roasted razordillo is the best in the entire land. In fact, I’ve got the best bakers and the best brewers, too. Tell me if it isn’t so!”
...........................
Dale sat.
He smiled at Jara, and then at Yingtai. They seemed friendly. He’d talk to them tomorrow, as it was too crowded, noisy, and not private enough to talk about their mission at the banquet.
Dale wondered if it was safe, he remembered what happened the last time he was in a banquet with the Princess.
An assassination attempt…
The situation was out of his hands, and he was hungry. He was also tired of worrying about things that were out of his control.
The razordillo was absolutely the best Dale had eaten so far. It was roasted so that the outside was crispy and lightly seasoned, the inside tender and juicy. Fat dripped down his chin as he ate. The meat was served with chutneys and sauces of various fruits and sweets so that each bite was a mixture of savory and sweet.
They were served a wheat beer that the King claimed had won ten brewing contests and was the best in the land.
“We love to serve the best here,” the King said. He was clearly drunk. Dale smiled, raised his mug, and drank.
“The best I ever had, your highness,” he said.
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
You can't miss what you never had.
~ Hunter S. Thompson
I think Dale is confused. Again.
~ Private Smith
...........................
The feast continued late into the night.
Amy and Emi perched themselves in a shadow on the roof of the main kitchen.
“There are too many guards,” Emi whispered.
“We wait…” Amy closed her eyes and rested. “It’s going to be a long night; you should get some sleep.”
...........................
“Princess, wake up,” Yingtai said.
“What?!” The Princess Talargo sat up with a jolt. “Why are you in my room? Where are my guards?”
“Sleep potion, Rohini,” Jara said. “Yingtai and I are here to save you. There are assassins in the castle. Get dressed.”
“Sound the alarm!” the Princess Rohini Talargo shouted.
She was royalty, and under the protection of the King, so she didn’t need to sneak away like a cowardly pet. She dressed, walked towards the door, but didn’t reach it.
She felt a sting to her neck, like a bee had stung her, and she fell, unconscious, to the floor.
...........................
Dale woke up when he heard commotion and noise outside his room. He got out of bed and opened the door.
“What’s going on?” he asked a passing guard.
“The Princess has been kidnapped,” the guard answered.
Dale dressed and found Smith, who had also been woken by the noise.
“What’s happened?” Smith asked.
“It’s the Princess! She’s been kidnapped,” Dale answered.
“Let’s go find Jara and Yingtai.” Smith headed towards their rooms.
They beat on the door. “Princess Jara! Wake up!”
There was no answer. “Guard, can you open this door?”
A King’s guard opened the door to the Princess Jara’s room after getting permission from his commander. They did the same to Yingtai’s room.
“They’ve been kidnapped too,” Dale said.
“Maybe,” Smith said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… I don’t trust anyone, come on.” Smith ran off towards the main hall.
...........................
Emi shook Amy.
“Wake up,” she said. “It’s time, look.”
Amy looked in the direction that Emi was pointing.
Princess Jara and Yingtai were riding away from the castle. They had a pony behind them, carrying a rolled carpet, just about the size of a person.
“Bold,” Amy said.
“Indeed, they are getting desperate,” Emi said. “We need to follow, now, before they get too far.”
Amy was already running.
...........................
Dale and Smith left the castle. Princess Jara, Princess Rohini, and Yingtai were gone. The castle had been searched. The Princess R
ohini Talargo had a company that was loyal and true, but they were all deep asleep, they’d been given a powerful sleep potion. The King’s guard was forming groups and arguing about what to do and where to go. Bureaucracy. In-fighting. Arguing.
Dale and Smith had no time for it.
They left the castle on their mounts and raced towards the center of the village. The assassins would likely be taking their captives out of the city, although Dale wondered why had they not simply killed them in the castle?
There must be something else going on Dale reasoned.
“This is about the jewel and not about assassination, isn’t it?” Dale asked Smith more rhetorically than actually wanting an answer.
“Everything is always more than it seems.”
...........................
“We’re being pursued,” Yingtai said.
“Of course,” Jara said. “It’s what I expected. The two assassins. Bitches. They should be dead already.”
“What should we do?”
“You stay behind and ambush them, I’ll meet you in the dungeon.”
...........................
Amy felt something.
“Stop.” She dismounted.
Emi followed suit.
They crept along the trail, looking for signs.
An arrow flew. Amy ducked. Emi hit the ground. The arrow stuck into a tree behind them and exploded. Ice magic.
“Move to the left,” Amy said.
Emi moved away from her, and she started building up an imbued arrow so she could return fire. When her arrow was ready, Amy snuck closer to the position she had suspected that Yingtai, Jara, or both of them, were hiding. It must be only one of them, she assumed, because if both of them were in an ambush, they’d have fired two arrows at once.
The way to stop a pair of assassins, or attackers, was to hit them both at the same time, otherwise, the one left unharmed would be able to heal the one that was hit. That had been Amy’s tactic in the past. She snuck closer and eventually found the little nest that their attacker had made, it was empty.
“Emi, she’s gone.”
“Was it Jara?”
Nagant Wars: A LitRPG Novel (Nagant Wars Series Book 1) Page 39