Prisoners of the Keep

by Susan Bianculli

  Jason swore as both the crash and her shout woke the rest of the sleepers, but we had the upper hand. Some of the guards got tangled in blankets and fell over themselves as they tried to get out of bed. The first guard, who by now had her back to the wall and a short sword in her hand, yelled out what she saw to the others.

  Smart. Too smart, I thought to myself.

  We fanned out to engage the room’s occupants, Ragar shutting the room’s only door behind us to prevent any from escaping to spread the alarm. Before I had a chance to feel any apprehensions, the Goblin by the door swiped viciously in an attempt to cut open my midsection. Inhaling sharply I twisted to the side and her sword slid harmlessly by. I riposted in return and skewered the guard. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another blade slicing down at me. I pulled my saber from the corpse and raised it at an angle so the heavier blade would slide down along it, as opposed to landing flat and perhaps shattering my sword. The male Miscere, who looked like a cross between a Goblin and a Troll, drew back and swung at me again. I ducked low and lunged forward like in fencing class and pierced his right bicep. He howled, but it wasn’t enough to make him drop his sword.

  The guard came around at me again. I skipped backward, nearly tripping over the body of the Goblin female from my first fight. I stabbed at his thigh. I must have hit an artery because it fountained a blackish red colored blood. He howled even louder and paused to clap a meaty paw to his leg. That was his mistake. I lunged forward again and, angling my sword up just right, stabbed upward between the ribs right into the heart. He collapsed, and I stood panting over the body of my second opponent. I looked around wildly to see how everyone else was doing, but the battle was done. We were victorious. I looked down at the two bodies at my feet but felt only relief that I was still alive and unhurt. Perhaps the video-game suggestion Jason had made was working for me.

  “This fight just proves we have one question before us: do we want to fight everything first and then find the rune key, or do we find the rune key first and then fight everything?” asked Ragar.

  I frowned. “It’s not like that, Ragar. We don’t have to fight everything.”

  The mountain-cat-elf started to object, but Arghen supported me. “Lise is right, Ragar. We will fight only those we come across.”

  I started to object because I didn’t want to fight people not offering us harm, but then I remembered Arghen’s earlier explanation about mindsearches.

  “But what if they are running away to bring back reinforcements?” Ragar meanwhile argued. “We cannot let that happen, else we would be swamped with fresh fighters just when we are tired and over-extended. No, the best plan is to kill everything in sight to make sure we are successful,” he ended with surety in his voice.

  Auraus spoke up. “No, Ragar, it is not. There are plenty of people here who are not soldiers. They do not deserve to die if they do not cross our path. Would you have us go after those who live in the village on the other side of the keep as well?”

  Arghen, Jason and I perked up our ears at this.

  “Village? What village?” demanded Jason.

  “This keep is located in a little canyon valley that is vaguely tear-drop shaped in the smaller end, where we are now,” the Wind-rider explained. “There is a settlement of Goblins, Trolls, Ogres, Miscere, and other such beings in front of this building. They are the support system for the keep: the servants, the workers, and the like. It would make sense they would run home if they hear the keep is being threatened.”

  “Ah,” said Arghen, as something seemed to click for him. “I will bet Morsca has started the people in the village and the surrounding lands worshiping her. She would want them to help cement her becoming a Goddess.”

  Auraus cried, “Can she do that?”

  The Under-elf quirked his face. “Through the lash of fear you can get beings to do many things. And if she uses magic to accomplish things that look like miracles, some of them may even be genuinely convinced she has become a Goddess.” He cleared his throat. “Changing the subject back to the original, I agree with Auraus. If such beings do not cross our path, we do not need to seek them out.”

  Ragar softly growled, “But what if Morsca and Bascom have some big magic that allowed them to move reinforcements from somewhere else to here?”

  The Wind-rider regarded him with an exasperated look. “I am not a mage of any kind. I do not know if it is possible. However, since we have never heard of armies appearing out of nowhere, I am going to assume it unlikely.”

  The mountain-cat-elf glowered but subsided, gripping his spear in his hand-paws so hard that a slight crunch was heard.

  Arghen asked me with deliberation, as if to remind Ragar, “Champion Lise? This is your quest. What do you want to do?”

  I waved my hand about. “When we leave here, let’s just try and act as casual as we can. At least until the first guards we cross, anyway. We’ll take the first set of stairs going up that we find, and then let’s just keep going up and see if we can locate Bascom and Morsca’s rooms. And whatever we run into on the way,” I heaved a sigh, “we’ll deal with. But,” I continued, looking straight at Ragar, “no going out of our way after people.”

  “What if we pass where they have been hiding and then they try and stab us from behind?” Ragar asked belligerently.

  “Then you may do what you want to defend yourself,” I retorted as I turned away from him, weary of his attitude.

  We checked through the room’s chests, and assembled enough clean guard uniforms for us to use as disguises. Auraus was able to flatten her white-and-gold wings into a kind of a cape, but the tops and bottoms of them still stuck out from the biggest uniform we could find for her. It was the best we could do.

  Jason started to jitter in place. “Okay, c’mon, c’mon! The longer we stay, the more likely we’re going to run into more guards. Let’s not do a Custer’s Last Stand!”

  Everyone but me looked at him curiously, but they understood the gist of his meaning if not the reference. We re-sorted ourselves into our previous order. Once everyone was ready, I opened the door and we walked out boldly in our new disguises. We went down the short corridor and turned left at its elbow. True to Dusk’s descriptions, the magically smokeless torch-lit short hallway ended in a T-intersection where two Miscere sentries, both a green-skinned Goblin-Troll mix, stood facing the other hallway. I realized these guards were going to have to be killed without warning, and I mentally braced myself. I nodded to Arghen, and we sauntered forward a little faster to put ourselves ahead of the rest of the group.

  The two Miscere Goblin sentries looked back at us, incurious, and then turned around again to their boring duty. They didn’t stay bored long when Arghen and I skewered them neatly and quietly from behind. We each caught a body as it dropped and dragged it back into the hallway. I was semi-amazed both at my detachment and the fact that I was able to drag the heavy deadweight at all. Not that long ago I would have found both of these things much harder to do. I sent up a quick prayer of thanks to Caelestis for the Goddess’s forethought. We dumped the bodies back in the barracks and then moved out according to the directions that Dusk had provided. We walked in our pairs spaced apart about ten feet to thinly disguise the fact that we were together.

  Dusk’s directions had mentioned there were stairs at the intersection of the next hallway. I was surprised that there was no one on duty down here. I decided not to question our good fortune and went right across the corridor and up the stairs. But as we climbed Arghen made the hand signal that indicated guards. I raised my eyebrows, and he motioned with his head towards the top of the stairs. I nodded my understanding and passed the warning behind me. We continued upwards with the unspoken agreement that we would do the same maneuver on the guards up here just as we had done downstairs. The two black-skinned Troll sentries who stood at the top of the stairs were better guards than the other ones, however. Though they didn’t show any alarm, they watched our approach.

  The one on the
right called out as we neared, “What is your business on the upper floors, friend?”

  Arghen smoothly lied, “Morsca sent for us. Her message said something about needing volunteers for a secret mission and that our squad was to report at once.”

  Incredibly to my mind, the guard bought it. He nodded and the pair returned to their usual alert position. I looked at Arghen but he gave a tiny shake his head. I guessed he meant that if we started a fight here it would draw others, so was not worth the risk. We walked on.

  Before we passed them the Under-elf paused and pushed our luck. “Friend, I have not been up here before. She said we were to go to her study. Can you tell me which is the best route to get there?”

  Oh. So that’s why he didn’t attack them—Arghen wanted more information. The Troll he addressed looked at him strangely.

  The other one laughed. “You are new recruits, I can tell. Go to the end of this hallway and take the stairs up. That is the best way to get to her ‘study’.”

  I noted the odd way he said the word but didn’t want to give anything further away by asking more questions. Arghen hesitated, met my eyes, and indicated that we should move on. We were about four steps beyond them and ready to whirl about when the fight broke out.

  Arghen and I spun around to help, but it was already over. The mountain-cat-elf stood over the body of the guard on the left, whose head and neck now looked way out of place. Jason’s sword was through the throat of the Troll on the right. I did a quick scan to see if any others had heard the commotion, but once again it seemed that our noises went unheard. We ran back and glared at Ragar and Jason just as Auraus and Thoronis reached them.

  I whispered furiously, “I’m leading this party! You will follow me!”

  Ragar whispered back, angry, “We came across them! They are not servants but guards who are supposed to attack intruders! You did nothing, so I got rid of a future threat for us all!”

  Jason merely shrugged.

  I narrowed my eyes at the pair of them. “We were getting ready to! Next time, don’t jump the gun!”

  Both Ragar and Arghen looked confused at my words, and I realized they’d never seen a gun, much less heard the term.

  “Never mind,” I said shortly.

  Arghen said, “We had better move fast now. These are the upper floors, and the upper floors are where the more experienced and better armed guards will likely be stationed. We do not even know if there is a corridor detail walking a patrol or not, and I do not want to stay and find out!”

  Thoronis added, “We are just going to have to bull our way in now. We need to work as if we have been discovered and they just have not caught up yet. So let us do what Arghen says and move!”

  We turned and ran in the direction the now dead guards had indicated.

  CHAPTER 27

  When we reached the foot of the stone stairs, we barreled our way up. I hoped charging would help us to overcome the guards that I was sure were up there. We reached the top step and saw two grey-green Goblin sentries, swords drawn, on a wide carpeted landing lit by two smokeless torches. They stood protectively in front of a heavily decorated wooden door. Arghen and I led with our swords while Jason and Thoronis sidled to either side. The Goblins knew they were being surrounded and called out for help, probably hoping to get the dead Troll guards’ attention and assistance. Almost as one, three swords and a long knife struck together to silence them. The guards dropped.

  We didn’t pause long because we didn’t know if anyone else had heard their call. Thoronis immediately went to the door. It was larger than normal and was both bound and inlaid with white, black and grey colored ivory in some sort of chaotic design. The Surface-elf listened for a moment, indicated he heard nothing, and then tried the handle gently. It was locked. Before I could ask him to, he made way for Jason. Jason studied the lock and then pulled out the Field Catamount’s fangs again. He shoved one into the keyhole, wiggled the other in beside it, and in short order there was a loud ‘click’.

  “So, do we barge in or sneak in?” he whispered.

  “Sneak this time,” I whispered back.

  Thoronis and Arghen shoved the bodies to each side of the doorway while Jason opened the door. I looked over his shoulder and understood the odd look the Troll guards we had talked to had given us. Morsca’s ‘study’ wasn’t just an office—it was nearly a whole floor done up as a living space. My mouth rounded in an ‘O’ at the huge size, and Jason pursed his lips in a silent whistle of surprise.

  The ceiling was fifteen feet high and supported at intervals by pillars adorned with colored marble, bedecked with jewels, or silver-gilted and gold-leafed in intricate patterns. Moonlight from the windows that ran the length of the exterior wall shone on the decorations on the pillars. Between them, colorful tapestries hung from rods that hugged the ceiling, allowing rooms of fabric to be created at the whim of its owner. Presently all were bunched and tied to their nearest pillar to create a mostly open view, though the overall darkness made it hard to see far into the room. There was an office area in the corner to the right of the door furnished with two large, ornate wooden desks facing each other and surrounded by paper-stuffed wooden shelving. To the left was a two-person conversation nook holding a floor brazier with a low-burning fire of something that smelled like scented sandalwood. What looked like other kinds of sitting areas were scattered about further in, disappearing from our sight into the room’s interior dimness.

  I gulped. I’d counted on Morsca’s work space being separate from her living quarters. It might be more convenient that they were together, but it also might be more dangerous. I caught Jason’s attention and waved him in the direction of the desk, indicating he should start his search there. Arghen and I eased further into the room. Ragar came in warily behind us. The mountain-cat-elf stiffened and then crouched in what looked like attack mode. His muscles tensed, and he growled softly. Auraus came and put a hand on his shoulder to quiet him, but he just shrugged her off and continued growling. Then the reason became apparent.

  “So, little Kitty, you growl again at me? I warned you about that when I inspected you in my audience chamber less than two days ago. Now I will have to carry through my threat of having you silenced,” came a cool, female voice from somewhere in the darkness ahead of us.

  “Mmmmorrrrrscaaaa!” Ragar ground out.

  My blood grew chill.

  “I see that you have brought some friends with you, Kitty,” the voice continued. “Some old, and some delightfully new. Not that it matters. I expect you, and every one of them, to throw away any weapons and kneel. Right now. I will be gracious enough to make sure that none of you are permanently harmed after I punish you for your transgressions.”

  I was astounded at the voice’s brass balls. To think that its owner thought she could just order everyone to surrender and kneel and expect it to happen! Jason, already quietly rummaging through the drawers of the desk, stopped—probably from sheer astonishment.

  The voice became sharper. “What do you think you are doing over there at my desk, little thief?”

  He dropped to the floor out of sight. I wasn’t sure if he’d done that voluntarily or if something had made him drop. I started to go check on him but stopped when Ragar, roaring, leapt towards the sound of Morsca’s voice. The Under-elf and I looked at each other for a timeless instant, and then we both dashed after him.

  “Auraus! Help Jason!” I yelled back over my shoulder.

  The tapestries shot across their various rails with ringing sounds, cutting off line-of-sight in all directions and plunging us into darkness. Ragar, Arghen and I were momentarily halted by this, but then the mountain-cat-elf snarled and charged ahead anyway. I made to follow right behind him, but Arghen grabbed hold of my elbow.

  “No, Lise! We need to be careful!” he exclaimed.

  Ragar, having ripped his way through the first tapestry blocking us, crashed over something in the darkness and landed face first on the floor. Light laughter from somew
here far behind the thick decorative fabric spurred him into outraged howls of anger. I couldn’t tell if the mountain-cat-elf was hurt or angry or embarrassed, but guessed it was a combination of all of those. A light unexpectedly appeared behind us. The mountain-cat-elf scrambled to his feet as we whirled around, swords ready. But it was only the Wind-rider carrying the two torches from the landing and presumably going to check on Jason at the desk. By her light I saw that Thoronis was nowhere to be seen. I worried about that briefly, but the worry were driven from my head when Ragar, as soon as he saw the light wasn’t Morsca, vaulted over the sofa that had tripped him and disappeared forward into the darkness, roaring again.

  I tried to go after him, but Arghen’s grip prevented me. I looked at him in the dim light and saw that the Under-elf seemed to have other ideas about following. He gestured in hand signals that we should instead make our way to the right of Ragar’s blunderings. I opened my mouth to say something, but stopped myself because I remembered that Elves have sharp hearing. Which meant Morsca might hear whatever reply I made to him. Frustrated, I shook my head as I tried to show in return I was unwilling to risk Ragar as a decoy. The Under-elf shrugged at me and went in the direction he’d indicated, leaving me to make my own choice.

  I fumed silently, and then winced as I heard another rip and crash ahead of me. The Mountain-cat-elf had careened into something else, this time knocking several metallic objects ringing to the stone floor. That made up my mind. Ragar was going to need protection from himself, never mind Morsca.

  I leapt after him.

  CHAPTER 28

  I made my way after Ragar in the darkness, and I heard Auraus’ voice say something indistinct behind me. Her light abruptly dropped from chest height to floor level as she screamed. Instantly guessing that Morsca had somehow slipped past us, I turned and ran back towards the office. So did Ragar. But before we had gotten even half way there the Wind-rider was abruptly silenced. I went cold.