Prisoners of the Keep

by Susan Bianculli

  “It is possible, Auraus, but not likely,” I said. “Now let’s get cracking with the plan.”

  CHAPTER 23

  All of us returned to the yard and retrieved the uniforms from the dead guards. Jason, Arghen and eight of the biggest of the freed prisoners put on the best pieces to disguise themselves. While the false guards dressed, the Under-elf taught everyone the meaning of several different hand signals and whistles so that people would know what to do if he made one of them. I then ordered the non-guards to move the dead bodies into other cages, and directed them how to spread out as evenly as possible into the cages nearest the watch positions to fake the pen’s usual appearance. But Auraus balked at that.

  “I cannot. I just cannot go back into that cage!” she said as her voice rose, her white-and-gold feathers hackling in the moonlight.

  “It’s just for show, Auraus. It won’t be locked,” I soothed.

  I walked by her and went to the cage I’d chosen. It was across from the guard emplacement furthest from the Keep entrance, and was where Thoronis was. I adjusted the door of the enclosure so it would look closed, but in reality would swing open at my lightest touch. I hoped that she would see my calm example and copy it.

  No luck on that, though. The Wind-rider was adamant. And Arghen, to Jason’s open look of disgust, backed her up. As a compromise she went around to the rear of her cage and sat on the ground leaning up against the bars, white-and-gold wings slightly spread.

  I prayed to Caelestis that a bored glance given by a guard coming in for the shift change in the semi-darkness would fool him into thinking that Auraus was still locked up. We had just finished scurrying to our places when the door to the Keep opened and the next shift of guards walked in, consisting of a variety of full- and part-blooded Goblins, Trolls, and Ogres. They appeared lax and incurious toward the new recruits standing in the guard stations and simply headed to their assigned places. The Dusk Rescue Force waited for me to give the previously agreed upon signal—a sharp, short whistle I could make with my fingers in my mouth. It was to be given when the last replacement was ready to take his or her place, with earlier placed ‘guards’ delaying their replacements by inconsequential chatter or questions. This is why I had chosen to be stationed where I was, so I could see the last guard was in place before I signaled.

  It seemed almost impossible to me that it would work, but somehow it did. When I sounded the whistle, we leapt into action and brutally attacked the hapless guards. It was over quickly. The guards didn’t expect the people they were replacing to try and kill them, nor expect prisoners to leap from apparently locked cages to assist in their murder. I was going to help Thoronis out, but the Surface-elf took care of our opponent so fast that he was half way to the next guard station before the first body had even hit the ground.

  When I saw the immediate opponents were down, I whistled again. Everyone immediately dropped to the ground. We waited to see if the action had called attention to itself, but incredibly it seemed not. No calls of alarm rang through the night. Arghen climbed to the top of a cage and signaled that we all were to head for the entrance in the keep wall. We gathered to the right of the door leading inside and pressed up against the wall. The Under-elf and I made a quick assessment of the raiders. It was discovered that three of the former prisoners had been killed, and that several more bled from cuts and gashes. Jason quickly organized a couple of rescuers to go get uniforms off the nearest newly dead guards, got others to strip them into bandages, and had still others to tend to the actual wounds. That kind of surprised me—who’d have thought a gang member would have medical training? But then I figured they probably had to have some in order to avoid going to the hospital every time someone got hurt after a fight. I shook my head, feeling a deeper pity for Jason than I had before.

  Auraus snagged one of the strips of cloths and wound it around her collar to help hide it. She then reached into one of the many pockets in her clothes and pulled out a tiny, slender book.

  She asked Arghen, “May I have a couple of people to come with me to tend to our fallen comrades? I need to give them the Rites of the Dead.”

  He raised a white eyebrow. “You still have your handbook of Caelestis, Lady, even as a prisoner?”

  She lowered her grey eyes. “That is because once Bascom put the collar on me he said it was only so much bound paper to me while I wore his creation. And he was—is—right, at least for ordinary spells. But surely it will not hold true for what I need to do as a Priestess.”

  A red-haired Surface-elf and a dark brown Faun nearby stopped what they were doing and volunteered to assist.

  “Can I come too?” I asked hopefully.

  “What?” demanded Jason in astonishment, head whipping up.

  He paused in applying a field bandage to a slash on the arm of the pretty black-haired Surface-elf named Teriah who’d spoken at the bluff.

  “I’ve seen Arghen work, and now I want to see a Priestess of Caelestis’ at work,” I explained over my shoulder as I went to stand with Auraus.

  “Oh, yes!” the Wind-rider enthused. “Since you have been working for Her, you should see and learn the Rite. Perhaps one day you will be responsible for releasing the souls of those you defeat. It would be good if you knew how to perform this duty if you ever choose to become a Champion of Hers.”

  She paused, looking at Arghen. “Champion Arghen? Did you wish to come too?”

  “No,” he demurred. “I will stay and finish arranging matters here.”

  I followed the Priestess back into the cage yard. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jason finish quickly and rise, probably to stop us. But the Under-elf interposed himself between him and us.

  “Arghen? What are you doing? Let me go! We’ve got to get them back here and get going! We can’t be exposed like this, and this locura is taking up valuable time!” I heard Jason say in a low, exasperated voice.

  “She is a Priestess of Caelestis and is ministering to the spirits of the dead as she should. She understands the time issue and will not be long about it. It is not ‘locura’ as you call it; this is something that needs to be done.” Arghen used the firm tone I had come to know these past few weeks—the one that meant he would not be moved by any argument.

  Jason must have recognized it too, because all he replied with was a scowl and a muttered, “Yeah, well, if we get captured and killed because of this I’m going to come back and haunt you.”

  He turned back to finish bandaging Teriah.

  We four gathered up the three dead rescuers, and laid them out according to how Arghen had shown me in the mountains. The Surface-elf and the Faun took up respectful positions behind Auraus as she knelt down at bodies’ feet. She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them and her Handbook and recited the short Rite of the Dead. Then she frowned.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “I am truly cut off from communion with Caelestis!” exclaimed Auraus angrily, gesturing to her neck. “I had hoped the collar would not matter for this, but the ceremony is not working.” Then her eyes grew wide. “But you—perhaps you could do it!”

  “Me?”

  “You are a worshiper of Caelestis—that means you have the potential in you! Here, close your eyes and pray for the gift of Her divine power, and for a connection to me.”

  Surprised, I obediently did, and felt a golden warm feeling grow inside me.

  “Now, read along with me, and visualize the power in you from us flowing out to blanket the bodies in front of us.”

  I did and read the words of the ritual from Auraus’ handbook, feeling the same sort of tingle that I had felt when Arghen had done the Rite. My eyes grew big as I saw the silver mist rise up out of each body at the Rite’s end. The mist coalesced into a representation of each person before arrowing up and away into the night. What startled me was the bodies then slowly collapsing in on themselves under the cloaks, dropping the fabric to the ground.

  I’d done it—I’d cast magic! My eyes went
wide, my heart leapt, and a silly grin plastered itself on my face. I was warm and happy all over, and I felt for the first time what it meant to accept a Deity inside my heart. The Elf and the Faun bowed in respect of the Rite and headed back to rejoin the others.

  “Very good, Lise!” Auraus cheered my success. She saw the expression on my face and said as she rose and offered me a hand up, “Yes, Lise, you truly have successfully cast the divine-based magic which releases the souls and causes the empty bodies to return to dust. I promise I will explain more fully at a later time, but we should get back to the others now.”

  I rose, but held onto her hand. “Wait! Why did the bodies collapse into ashes? They didn’t when Arghen did the Rite. Why the difference?”

  “The difference is because I am a Priestess and not a Champion,” she explained. “You were using part of my magic and guidance to do the Rite, so you tapped my kind of magic instead of his.”

  “Shouldn’t we do the guards too?” I asked her, feeling giddy.

  The Wind-rider looked at me solemnly. “We do not have the time, I am ashamed to say. It was necessary to release the souls of our allies, but if we granted the same mercy to our enemies, that might assist the others of the keep in capturing us. If we are successful, we will come back and do it later.”

  She turned and started to walk back to the others, but I didn’t let go of her hand. She stopped again and glanced back at me, puzzled.

  “Wait,” I said. “I’ve changed my mind. I’ve decided I want to become a Champion of Caelestis for as long as I am in this world. If this is part of what Champions do, then I want to be able to in help this way, too.”

  “You do?” she asked, happily astonished.

  “I do,” I said with firmness. “How do we go about it?”

  “We do not—but She does,” the Wind-rider replied.

  I was going to ask Auraus what she meant by that when I felt a pleased mental pat on my back. A muted shower of golden sparks surrounded me, and infused me. My gasp of delight had me inhaling gold sparks, which felt like tickles going down into my lungs, and I coughed slightly. My armor changed from stiffened hide to a sturdy light chainmail with Caelestis’ symbol emblazoned across the chest, and all my clothes changed to white and gold.

  “Wow,” I breathed, exhaling fading golden particles.

  Auraus bowed low before me. “Be you welcome, new Champion.”

  Despite Jason’s fears of delay all of this hadn’t taken long, and we were back to join them just as the last of the wounded had been bandaged.

  CHAPTER 24

  We entered the keep by the door through which the guards had used. Not everyone could help free Dusk, of course; and as a newly minted Champion of Caelestis still on my quest, Arghen had declared that he would follow my lead. The others agreed they would too, since the Goddess had honored me. In the end I decided that Arghen, Jason, Auraus, Thoronis, and Ragar should go with me inside, and that the rest of the freed prisoners should go and clear out the lines of watchers surrounding the keep.

  We found a large, stone guardroom filled with short swords, rain cloaks, whet stones and other fighting supplies on shelves lining the walls. The fat dribbly candles in the wall sconces illuminated the area, showing several empty scarred wooden tables and chairs scattered around the floor and three other doors leading out of the room. We fanned out and took the most useful supplies from the shelves.

  Arghen indicated the doors. “Lise? Which way do you think we should go?”

  I shrugged. “We don’t have a layout.” I looked at Auraus. “Have you been in the Keep before?”

  The Wind-rider grimaced. “Yes. But since I was sick, I am afraid my recollections are too hazy to be relied upon. I remember the corridors being very confusing and maze-like, though.”

  Thoronis and Ragar nodded agreement with her words.

  Jason spoke up. “Since it’s all a crap shoot, why not stick with the perimeter of the walls as far as we can in one direction? Once we run out of choices that way we can decide where to go from there.”

  “Or better yet, let’s check each door first before leaving this room,” I said.

  The first door we checked led to a long, candle lit hallway with a door at the end. The second led to a hallway with a door immediately across from us with no other openings for thirty feet until the hallway elbowed left. Behind the third I expected another corridor, but found instead a large landing with stairs leading down into darkness.

  The Under-elf looked encouraged. “Ah, an entrance to a dungeon! Perhaps Dusk will be down there.”

  “If it is a dungeon, we can be sure that there are guards down there,” Jason reminded everyone.

  “Jason, will you please sneak down there and see if there are?” I asked.

  He left without comment but with a wide smile.

  Jason came back a couple of minutes later flashing a very large bronze ring with several keys on it. “I saw nobody all the way down to a big wooden door at the bottom of the stairs where I found this key ring hanging on a hook. If there was anyone beyond the door, it was too thick for me to hear anything.”

  I said, “All right—let’s move out.”

  Out of the blue, Auraus balked again.

  “I cannot. I cannot go down there,” the Wind-rider said in a small voice, looking at the tunnel-like stairs disappearing underground.

  Ragar huffed out a sigh. “Humph. At least this is more like the Auraus I met on the way here. I was beginning to think there had been a mirror-image switch in the cage yard or something.”

  Everyone turned to him with questioning looks as the Wind-rider turned pink and hung her head as far as the collar allowed.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Just that Auraus, during most of the ride here in that damned wagon cage, was useless. She had collapsed in on herself. It seems her folk can not deal with closed-in or underground places well.”

  “Ragar! Auraus could not help it, and you know that!” admonished Thoronis.

  The mountain-cat-elf muttered something that might have been an apology, but I wasn’t too sure and wasn’t going to press him about it. But even his previous comment still wasn’t enough to prod Auraus into going down the stairs.

  Arghen said patiently, “My lady, you cannot wait here by yourself. We are looking for the rune stone that will unlock your collar, which means you need to be with us at all times. What if the dungeon portion is large and extends some distance back under the Keep, and we find a better way to leave it? What if guards come here while we are gone? Can you fight all of them alone?”

  Thoronis spoke up in her support. “It is likely that the rune stone will be found in the quarters that Bascom and Morsca have here. I would wager the rune stone will be in the highest room of this keep.”

  “You may have a point,” Arghen reluctantly agreed.

  “But treasure vaults are usually underground, and magic is a treasure,” I argued. “Shouldn’t we be going down?”

  Arghen said, “Often that is true, Lise—but a rune key, magic though it is, is not a treasure. It is a working implement. I doubt it would be kept in a treasure vault.”

  I mentally slapped myself for thinking that the magic would be locked away when I’d had so many examples of the opposite. Here, magic was prevalent, useful, and used.

  I decided. “All right, I’ve heard enough. Jason, you and I and Arghen will go down the stairs, scout out what’s behind the door, and come back. The rest will wait up here.”

  We went down the stairs, and at the bottom Jason quietly fitted key after key into the lock of the door. He was successful on the fourth try, and we gripped our weapons in readiness. The door groaned open to reveal a torch-lit guard room much like the one above, except that there were two green-grey-skinned Goblin guards seated at one of the tables, playing cards. They looked up at the door opening without curiosity, then did a double take and jumped to their feet when they saw us. But we were ready for battle where the Goblins weren’t, and
Jason and Arghen dispatched the two guards before the Goblins had even half drawn their swords.

  After the small massacre I realized that we hadn’t gotten a description of what this Dusk looked like. I supposed he would look something like Quiris did, except that I hadn’t ever seen her. I guessed we would just have to keep asking prisoners who they were until one answered to the right name. Looking around, we saw that one of the doors in this room was made completely of some kind of dark metal. There was also no keyhole in it.

  “I’ll just bet that that’s the one we have to open. How are we supposed to do that?” Jason wondered out loud.

  “Too bad the ones who could have answered that are dead,” I said with regret.

  Arghen walked up to the door and examined it closely. “This must be a puzzle door. I have heard about these before, but I have never seen one.”

  “So you don’t know how it works?” I asked.

  “I am sorry. I do not. We will have to decipher this together.”

  All three of us peered at the surface of the metal. I saw what looked like might be a dot, or maybe a slight depression, in the very center.

  “Hey, look here,” I said.

  “Where?” Jason asked.

  Jason, who’d been crouching down to inspect the bottom of the door, stood up to see and accidentally bumped my arm. My fingers brushed the dot. Instantly copper colored lines started swirling out from it, and we jumped back and swung our swords defensively all around us. Nothing materialized, and in just a few seconds a gently glowing, circular maze filled the center of the door with the exit point ending about where a keyhole would be. We lowered our weapons.

  “What do we do now?” asked Jason.

  “Solve it, of course,” I replied.

  “With what? I don’t have a pencil on me. Do you?”

  “There aren’t any pencils here. We’ll just have to use a finger.”

  I put my finger to the center dot. The maze’s corridors were wide enough for a fat thumb to easily trace along them, so I figured my slender fingers would have no problem. What was a problem was after I’d put my forefinger deliberately on the dot, I couldn’t lift it off again!