Prisoners of the Keep

by Susan Bianculli

  I peered around for him, and saw that Jason had managed to gather a fair amount of rocks some ways away while we’d done the Rite. But I knew that that meant he couldn’t have seen the ritual work.

  “Never mind; you missed it,” I said, excitement changing to frustration. I looked back at Arghen. “Hey, Arghen, I don’t mean to be nosy, but can you clear something up for me about what I just saw?”

  “Yes, Lise?”

  “I thought you said that Under-elves were drained of magic. How is it that you can cast spells?”

  He smiled. “I said ‘nearly drained.’ But I am not, in a way, casting a spell. I am praying for and receiving aid from Quiris to do the Rite. But you happen to be more right than you knew. I am unusual for most Under-elves in that I now can use magic, precisely because of Her.”

  My mind flashed back to Caelestis’ explanation of magic. “Oh, right. Because you now believe in a goddess, and belief is what ties you into the magic of the world. Do you think other Under-elves would be able to be like you if they believed in someone?”

  A look of consideration crossed his pale-skinned face. “I do not see why they would not, Lise. Likely the one who live on the Surface can. But as the Under-elves of the Sub-realms renounced the Gods and Goddesses, it is a moot point.”

  “You guys done yet?” Jason called over to us.

  “Yeah. Are you?” I shouted back.

  “I guess so. Let’s find out if I have enough.”

  The three of us collected the bodies and took them over to Jason’s rock pile. We discovered there was enough to build a kind of barrier to hide the corpses by using the canyon wall as a backdrop.

  When we were done, Jason suggested, “Hey, we should find and check out where these Goblins came from. Maybe we’ll find some useful information, or more stuff, there.”

  “An excellent idea,” agreed Arghen.

  In searching the nearby area we found a small cave that had been carved out of the side of the mountain and was easily accessible by our mounts. During a quick conference about how to approach it Jason pointed out that it was probably deserted, or else the Goblins would have had reinforcements in our fight. Arghen and I agreed with him about that, so we slid off our horses and stood before the opening. The Under-elf looked at it with puzzlement.

  “What’s wrong, Arghen?” I asked.

  “This cave. It is not natural,” he replied.

  “What do you mean?” demanded Jason.

  “If this was a natural cave, the opening would not be so smooth or symmetrical. If the cave was chiseled out, not only would it have been a tremendous undertaking but there would be the mark of tools upon the stone. There are none. So, I am forced to think that it was constructed by magic of some kind.”

  Jason gave a long whistle. “Do you think it’s safe to go inside?”

  Arghen peered through the arch of the cave entrance. “I would have to think so; else the insides of this cave would not be set up as an outpost.”

  “Okay.” Jason walked right in.

  “Wait! There could be a …!” I cried, but was too late.

  Arghen and I looked at each other, then shrugged and followed when we didn’t hear anything like a trap going off. Inside the cave we found that the smoothness of the entrance continued on through the brown-grey stone of the cave’s ceiling and walls. There was a small pond towards the back wall, with a large raised flattish place that had four bed pallets on it to the left and forward of the water. There were some shelves against the walls on the opposite side that had supplies, and torches were bolted to the walls all around the area. There was even a fenced-in place that had must have been used for the horses, if the hay bales and old droppings inside meant anything.

  We raided the camp and found besides fresh provisions some useful odds and ends like oil flasks, rope and a very welcome addition of funds for the money pouch.

  Arghen noted as we searched, “We must be getting near to the objective of our quest. These Goblin sentries had obviously been organized by someone, as evidenced by their matching uniforms and this outpost. Probably by the two beings that were named by those three Goblins we fought the night we met. There must be a larger camp or settlement somewhere not too far off, and I am guessing that is where we will find those whom the Goddesses said were in need of help.”

  Jason asked, “So, do you think that it would be okay for us to stay here tonight? Sleeping inside a cave would be a nice change for once.”

  Arghen nodded. “I think it would be safe enough to stop here for the night. We can water the horses fully, and ourselves.”

  “Oh, yes! And take a bath in the pond, not just a washcloth washing!” I exclaimed, enchanted by the idea of getting fully clean for the first time in too long a while.

  Arghen smiled indulgently at me for my wish for a bath as we made ourselves at home in the outpost.

  CHAPTER 20

  The next day we continued on down the road even more cautiously than before. We had two more Goblin lookout encounters in the two days afterwards just like the first one, which were handled pretty much the same way. Emotionally the fights were a little easier the second and third times around for me, and on the last one I even got a nod of approval from Arghen after it was over. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about any of it, so I settled for nodding back.

  When the fights were over, Jason absolutely refused to watch Arghen perform the Rites, claiming it was a better use of his time to find places and rocks with which to hide the bodies than to speak mumbo-jumbo over dead corpses. I could tell Arghen wasn’t happy with Jason’s attitude, but as Jason was entitled to his opinion, the Under-elf let it be.

  It also became much slower going in the mountains. The trails became kind of like a corn maze, except not of corn but of canyon roads where seemingly promising trails suddenly ended in a cliff side, or the remains of an old avalanche blocked the way forward, or a passage looped back on itself. Arghen and I agreed that we had reached the giant’s play-doh grounds we’d seen from our mountain climbing expedition, which meant we were definitely on the right track.

  The further in we went, the more signs of previous travelers increased: from the ruts of wheels spotted in the sparse dirt of the roads, to old horse droppings, to the occasional bits of broken leather or metal pieces that might have come from bridles or wagon traces. Once we even found a thrown horseshoe.

  At one point while we rode Jason sighed loudly. “Are we there yet, Mom?”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Mom? That would have been the weirdest birth ever, since you’re older than me.”

  He stuck his tongue out. “You know what I meant.”

  “Yeah, but I dunno. Quests take time. It’s not like we have a sports car and GPS to zoom us to our destination.”

  “I guess. But it would be nice to have an idea of where we were going,” he grumped.

  “The only thing I can give you is that it’s in these mountains somewhere, and I’m hoping that when we get to the source of the smoke we’ll get another sign. I’m sorry I don’t have more to tell you.”

  Jason grimaced.

  Over the next couple of days we glimpsed figures on horseback far ahead of us from time to time. When that happened, we would drop back in order to remain out of sight. On one occasion we heard the rumble of a horse-drawn cart accompanied by the tramp of feet in another nearby canyon passageway, and we reined in our horses to wait until the sounds had faded away. After that near encounter Arghen and I decided that climbing would probably be safer, which meant we needed to find a place to leave our mounts. We happened upon a cavern up a slight incline that was wasn’t too difficult for the horses to reach. We checked it out and found a decent-sized natural cave of dull grey and brown stone with plenty of headroom and some trickling water. It was just what we needed. After we settled the horses and the dranth on opposite sides of the cave, talk turned to strategy.

  “Should we travel by day or by night?” Arghen asked.

  I said, “We don’t have y
our Under-elf ability to see in the dark, you know. We would just be stumbling around mostly blind if we did that.”

  “Yes, I do understand. But we need to be less visible while we move. Traveling by day we would be seen far more easily than by night.”

  Jason said with a grimace, “Scrambling around mountains at night is not my idea of fun. But scrambling around mountains during the day being visible to someone with a sniper something-or-other isn’t either, so night would be the better choice. I just don’t think we should be leaving the horses in the first place; it still makes no sense to me because we’d go faster than on foot. We could travel at night on the horses.”

  “No we can’t, Jason,” I informed him. “Horses that can’t see well are more at risk for stepping in something, or on something, which could make them go lame or even break a leg, especially in bad terrain like this. Do you really want that?”

  “No, I guess not,” he said reluctantly.

  “So we’re back to rock-climbing. I know your muscles are probably still not feeling great, Jason, but I don’t see any other way. And if both of you think night is better choice, then let’s do night.”

  Jason made a face as Arghen changed the subject. “I suggest that we do something about your clothes before we go, Lise.”

  “My—clothes?” I asked with surprise. “What about them?”

  “You are rather bright in gold colored armor. You will show up more easily on the mountain than we will. I suggest that you borrow some of my spares in order to have better camouflage for our reconnaissance.”

  We raided the saddle bags. I put one of Arghen’s black shirts on over my armor, and Jason came up with some black cloths from his saddle bags to wrap around my hair. Arghen tucked all of his white hair up under his helmet and took off anything light colored. We then made up smaller packs of equipment from our saddlebags to carry just in case. We didn’t anticipate being away too long, but we nevertheless spent the rest of the daylight gathering fodder for the horses and setting out meat for the dranth just in case. Satisfied that they were as safe and provided for as we could manage, the three of us did our best to wipe away signs of our passage into the cave and to wait for sunset.

  When Arghen judged the sky was dark enough, he led us out with me behind him and Jason bringing up the rear. The waning moon above was both a curse and a blessing. A blessing in that it would not easily light us up to any night watchers; a curse in that it made night climbing difficult for us humans. Arghen was patient, however, and progress was made. Long before false dawn brightened the sky, the Under-elf froze and thrust a warning hand out behind him. Jason and I immediately stopped, hearts pounding.

  “I see a watcher up on the ridge, but it is fortunate he did not see me. I am guessing we are close to where your quest is located, else why post what seems to be a lone guard?” he said quietly.

  “You can bet it isn’t a lone guard,” said Jason sourly.

  “I need to go closer to get more information on how to get around him,” Arghen said.

  Jason spoke up unexpectedly. “No, actually, I think I should. I have some experience in sneaking about unseen, remember? Have you?”

  Arghen eyed him with a surprised look. “No, I have not. All right. If you think that you can go and return without being noticed, then please do.”

  Jason dropped his pack on the ledge. He maneuvered past me and Arghen and slipped over the ridge top. Soon he came back and motioned us to follow him to a crop of boulders.

  “The watcher doesn’t look like he’s paying attention to anything except the inside of his eyelids,” Jason whispered when we reached the hiding place. “But I noticed two things: he’s carrying a wicked-looking spear or something, and he has a horn on his belt.”

  Arghen said thoughtfully, “Ah. A summoning horn, most likely. The watcher probably is to blow it if he sees anything out of the ordinary.”

  Jason nodded. “Yeah, makes sense. There’s actually a line of watchers, though it’s pretty spread out. The next closest one I saw was on the next ridge over.” He waved his hand to the left and continued, “It seemed suspicious to me, and I got to thinking maybe there’s traps or something where there aren’t any watchers. And if I was in charge, there’d be other lines of watchers closer in, since you all don’t have technology to keep you in contact. So when we go closer, I suggest letting me find the safest path first.”

  With Jason leading us we kept as low a profile as we followed him cover to cover, and we froze every time the watcher looked in our direction. Arghen assured us the watcher, who was an Ogre, did not have night sight or hearing like an Elf. That made me breathe a little easier. Past the Ogre, the ground sloped downwards. There were more plants growing here providing more cover, but also more of a risk of something snapping underfoot. We moved slowly. When we came to a large clump of bushes, Jason signaled we should stop.

  “Wait here,” he whispered as he took off his pack and slipped forward.

  “Should we be concerned about magical traps or alarms?” I whispered to Arghen.

  He shook his head. “That there are physical watchers here tells me that magic is not in use. Had I not seen them, I would have suspected magical traps.”

  When Jason came back, he guided Arghen and me past another watcher. As he did he raised one finger and pointed to the left to indicate the nearness of another guard, which we silently acknowledged. Once we’d found another greenery tangle to wait in that had some small leafy trees mixed in, Jason moved out again. He returned and led us again, raising two fingers and pointed in both directions. We nodded our understanding of the increased number of guards as we made our way through the developing scrub forest. The next place we stopped in was a large, black colored spruce whose drooping branches were big enough to hide under. Jason slipped forward again, but came back almost immediately.

  He whispered, “We’ve reached the end of this part of the trail. There’s a canyon lip not twenty yards ahead of us, and I think the smoke source is a castle or something. There’s also a courtyard and some buildings down in there.”

  We went with him. It had seemed a wonder to me that we were able to make it this far, but I wasn’t going to question our good fortune. Any place that had watchers that mimicked guard positions like I’d read about in my more adventurous fairy-tales usually meant something bad was near. I’d grown more respectful of Jason’s talents as we passed through the lines and was happy that he was on my side. We scooted up to the canyon’s lip on our stomachs to present as low a profile as possible while peering over the edge. I sucked in my breath as my beloved stories told me what I saw below.

  “This is a slaver’s pen!” I whispered, shocked.

  Jason jerked in surprise and then peered down sharply as Arghen nodded in grim agreement with me. The place was probably about half the size of a football field, and small one-person cages were lined up in a checkerboard pattern throughout the area. Wider travel lanes went east-west and north-south in a large cross. Many cages seemed to be occupied. The back end of what looked to be a medieval keep straight out of my history books stretched away on the opposite side of the canyon lip from our position, parting ways with the rough canyon walls. Being night, the yard was lit every twenty paces along the wall by a large torch over a small roofed half shack, under which armed guards of varying shapes and sizes stood. There were ten guard stations in all.

  I got that same feeling I’d had on the mountain side days ago—the shiver and the ‘click’—and realized that this was my quest, right here. What Caelestis had wanted me to accomplish was here. I needed to free the prisoners. How was I supposed to do that?

  Caelestis, I’m only fifteen. Are you really serious about this? I half-prayed.

  I took another look down there, and I knew in my heart that it wasn’t something I could walk away from anyway. Fifteen or not, I had to try to help them somehow. Arghen tugged on my and Jason’s sleeves to indicate we should pull back and talk, so we went back to the black spruce.

&nb
sp; “We’ve got to do something!” I whispered urgently as soon as we had crouched under the tree’s lowest branches.

  “Oh, yeah. Let’s storm the fortress, free all the slaves, and become big heroes posthumously because we’ll die doing it!” Jason whispered back sarcastically.

  “You don’t understand, Jason—this is it! This is what Caelestis has been nudging me towards. She said that I would recognize those in need of my help when I saw them. I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to free the people down there!”

  He looked at me with astonishment, and then said in an injudiciously loud tone, “You are out of your mind, chica!”

  Arghen and I hushed him as we froze in our tracks. Jason’s face flamed red. We waited for some minutes, but when nothing happened I breathed a sigh of relief at our escape from notice.

  The Under-elf looked at me. “Lise, are you sure?”

  “Yes, I am! While we were looking out over that place I got the same shiver and ‘click’ down my back as I got on the mountaintop with you!”

  “Ah. I must have missed it happening to you while scanning down below.”

  “And since it’s what looks like a slaver’s pen to me, I am taking it to mean that those poor people here are my mission from Caelestis, barring any further info from her. And that means I have to free them.”

  Arghen carefully did not look at Jason. “No, Lise. You should be saying ‘we’, not ‘I’. I told you when we met that Quiris told me to help ‘the unusual white and the gold’, and I determined that that was you. So no matter what, I am going to help you. And if you say that this is your quest, then it becomes my quest too.”

  I smiled at Arghen gratefully and turned to Jason. “Hey, thanks for everything, Jason. I’m guessing that you won’t want to help anymore—and that’s fine, really. You can just hang back here if you want.”

  Surprisingly, Jason shook his head. “Lise, you’re still loco to think you can go up against a fortress full of monsters with magic swords and stuff like that. But I must be crazier to think that I should help you, because I lo—uh, well, I just probably should for my own self-interest. So I guess I’m loco, too.”