Prisoners of the Keep

by Susan Bianculli

  I was amazed at the first sign of humor I’d seen from him, which almost made me miss dodging a pair of silver hair brushes and some decorative perfume bottles that flew off a dressing table at me. We ducked through the next partition, avoiding the rod and tapestry as they fell, and found a wide marble-fronted fireplace along the back wall. There was an almost burnt-out fire still in the grate. I realized what was about to happen and turned to run straight back into a tapestry decorated with a large forest, which promptly fell with its railing and rings on top of me. That was still better than being hit by the low-burning logs and ash that had risen when I was near enough. Ragar batted the logs away mid-air, and he ended up with dirt all over his tan-and-black fur while helping me out of the cumbersome fabric.

  We entered the large walk-in hearth, and soot shook down on top of us and gave us both a coughing fit. A large crack sounded above us, and we looked up to see the chimney shifting sideways to narrow the flue and rain small stones down. The accompanying ash and dust of the shift nearly choked us, and I panicked and wondered if the death curse was going to stop this avenue of escape after all. I wildly prayed to Caelestis, and a feeling of calm descended on me, stilling my soul.

  “Go on, Ragar. Climb,” I said.

  I felt peaceful enough now to accept my fate, so I didn’t add that I wasn’t going to follow behind him. I knew if I stayed he’d have a better chance to escape this hell-hole. But the mountain-cat-elf grabbed me and boosted me with ease up into the chimney. I didn’t want to slow Ragar’s escape, and in truth didn’t really want to die, so I scrambled up the rough hewn flue and searched for toe and finger holds that would support me. There were enough lumps to grip as we made our way up the irregular stone vent.

  When we squeezed through where the break had happened, our weight made the flue shift more. We stopped and protected our heads from more falling debris as best we could. When the air somewhat cleared again, we climbed up as fast as we could to the sounds of more crumbling all around us. When we reached the chimney’s lip, I still feared I wouldn’t be able to get out. I glanced back at Ragar. He urged me on with a wave, and I hesitantly reached up. I was delighted to find that my hand passed through the broken top. I scrambled out with him right behind me, and we found ourselves on the flat roof of the keep. Between the other chimneys scattered here and there on the roof, we could see down into the front courtyard and out to the settlement beyond. There was a beehive of activity down there as people scrambled in and out of the keep carrying loads of things: food baskets, casks, fabrics, and other things like that. The damage seemed to be worse down there than it was up here—almost as if the death curse had been planned for Morsca’s killer to try and escape to the lower levels. Which is what I would have tried had I been on my own. A sizeable chunk of the front wall collapsed into the courtyard near us, and Ragar shoved me out of the way of another falling chimney.

  “Thanks!” I gasped to the mountain-cat-elf, who only yelled back, “To the side of the roof! Let us see if we can find a way down from there!”

  We dashed to look out over the edge. No easy way down from here; the curtain wall was too far away to jump. We turned and ran along the verge towards the back of the keep where the yard was, and the roof cracked right in-between us. The crack separated us quickly and the stones under me crashed into the side courtyard below, taking me with it. Ragar roared and grabbed for me but missed. I screamed as I lost my footing and plunged downwards. I closed my eyes and prayed that Caelestis might receive me when I died, but I was amazed when I felt hands catch me under my arms in a hard upwards jerk. I opened my eyes and was relieved and thankful to see that it was Auraus who had hold of me.

  The Wind-rider flew me to the mountain blind Arghen, Jason and I had quitted just hours before. As we approached the area, I saw Dusk, Arghen and Jason standing and waiting with open arms. I didn’t understand why until Auraus, instead of landing, circled lower, slowed, and dropped me so that I fell towards them. I screamed in fear, not understanding, but they caught me and tumbled with me to the ground to soften my landing. Auraus, without waiting to see what had happened, swooped back towards the keep. On the ground we untangled ourselves from one another.

  “What the hell happened to you, Lise?” exclaimed Jason with concern.

  I brushed at my bloody, disheveled, soot-blackened and torn clothes. “Never mind me! What about Ragar? Auraus said she can’t fly him! How is she going to help him?”

  “She may not be able to carry him, but she will be able to do something, even if it is only gliding him to the ground somewhere. But I am betting that there is so much chaos happening right now that even if Ragar and Auraus landed in the central courtyard and made their way out through the front gates on foot, they would not be stopped by anyone,” replied Dusk, though I saw worry in his amber eyes.

  Arghen nodded in agreement, and I hoped they were right. We waited anxiously for Auraus’ and Ragar’s return. The keep continued to crack and crumble in upon itself as the sun rose, and finally our two missing companions came walking in together through the woods.

  “What happened?” asked Arghen and Dusk together.

  Auraus cocked her head to one side. “It was not too hard. I was right; Ragar was too heavy for me to glide far with him. But I was able to get him down to the curtain wall. From there, he scrambled down to the ground while I kept watch for any attacks. Not that there was anything to keep watch for except falling rocks by that time. I landed and joined him in climbing up a part of the hillside, and we lucked onto a trail that had been beaten through the forest. I think it was the route that the guards take—took,” she corrected herself, “to reach the outlying patrols areas around here.” She shrugged. “We followed it, bore off when we had to, and here we are.”

  The mountain-cat-elf nodded agreement.

  “I am glad you are safe, Auraus,” said Dusk softly.

  She turned pink and looked away.

  Jason spoke up. “Okay, so now that we’re all back together, don’t you think we should, you know, leave?!”

  Jason’s words triggered my memory. “Where is everyone else? I’ve been so worried about Ragar and Auraus I completely forgot about all the other people we rescued!”

  The Miscere Surface-elf regarded me with solemnity. “The others did what they had to do. They took out the guard rings for a substantial swath around, and more. I think perhaps some were getting personal revenge. Some paid the price for that: four of them died doing so. Another one died in a separate mission to get provisions from the keep.”

  Arghen added, “I have sent the other ten to start climbing down where we first climbed up.”

  Auraus looked sad at the news of the deaths. “Where are those who have died?”

  “I’ll take you to them,” Dusk said.

  Tucking her arm into his, he led her into the forest. The Under-elf followed them.

  Jason looked at me and said with raised eyebrows, “Quests-within-quests? Castles cracking into pieces? Bodies lying around in the woods? And I thought New York was bad, chica.”

  Though he was trying to lighten up the situation, I knew he was shaken by it. I smiled a small smile at him.

  “Thanks, Jason. For everything. I’m really glad that it was you who ended up over here with me.”

  He smiled almost shyly back at me and formally presented his arm. I linked mine through his as we followed after the others.

  The place where the five bodies had been laid out turned out to not be that far away. Their wounds had been covered over and they were already laid out in the burial position. Jason looked sad to see that one of them was Teriah, the pretty black-haired Surface-elf he’d bandaged after the fight in the cage yard. Everyone stood silently respectful as Auraus and I drew up the covering cloaks over them. I raised my eyebrows as Arghen stepped into position beside us, but I remembered that he was Champion, too, and probably knew the Rite better than I did. The three of us did the full Rite of the Dead together. If the surprised look on his bron
zed face meant anything, it was then Jason finally became a believer in souls, at least, when he saw the spirits leave to go to their afterlives and the bodies disintegrate under the cloaks. I hoped that it would help open his mind to changing his beliefs about magic.

  I whispered to Auraus, “But what about Thoronis? Arghen couldn’t find him in Morsca’s bedroom.”

  “Thoronis’ body would have returned to dust when his soul was freed from the knife, since the ritual had already been said over it. Fear not—his soul is already in his afterlife,” she whispered back soothingly.

  When the Rite was done, Arghen gave us both a deferential bow, which we returned. The Under-elf, Jason and I then led everyone back down the side of the mountain where we’d come up not so many hours ago.

  CHAPTER 33

  We reunited with the others at the bottom of the last climb, and our enlarged group started our way to where the mounts had been left. Auraus flew overhead to provide warning if anything should come. I was happy to see the ex-prisoners were well armed, which reminded me that Arghen had said something about a provisions mission. As Dusk and Jason happened to be the closest to me at that point, I climbed down a little faster to catch up to them.

  I asked Dusk, “Can you tell me what I missed?”

  The amber-eyed Surface-elf replied, “I joined up with the others behind that blind you had constructed. But before the group that went out to clear the guard paths had left, the little Gnome named Mereik made a suggestion. She thought that since the guards inside the keep on the ground floor had been taken care of, a small group of us should sneak back in and snatch any easily-gotten provisions to help with the escape. I agreed, so after directing the path clearers how best to do their task I took four volunteers and snuck back down and crossed the cage yard again. We entered the keep, rooted through the guard room, and took just about everything. We explored a long passageway behind a door from the main guard room. Behind the door at the far end of the hallway was not a second guard room, but a small kitchen probably used to feed the prisoners.”

  I nodded, recalling seeing that hallway when first deciding which way to go.

  “We surprised the kitchen staff by bursting in. Most of the beings in there did not put up much of a fight and tried to flee instead. But we knew that if any of the kitchen staff escaped, your party on the above floors would be doomed. We attacked before anyone could get out the only other door. One of my volunteers had a cook’s cleaver chopped into the side of his neck during the mad, disorganized fight—he was one of the five from the Rites of the Dead you just finished,” Dusk said.

  I nodded again, remembering the Surface-elf with a large bloodied bandage around his neck.

  “We who were left took some sacks that were lying around and stuffed what food and flasks we could find into them. The ruckus had attracted some guards, so we picked up our comrade’s body and ran back out with the guards hot on our heels. When we made it to the back wall, we turned on our pursuers. The guards had stones and weapons thrown down on them by the ex-prisoners who’d stayed at the cliff edge to aid us. To a one, the guards were killed.”

  Just then the shadow of wings crossed over us, and Dusk looked up to smile fondly. I glanced up and caught the little wave that the Wind-rider gave Dusk as she flew on by.

  Jason saw it too. “Hey, amigo, so what are you going to do about her?”

  “I fail to see why I should answer you about that,” said Dusk pleasantly, though with an undertone of ‘don’t push me’.

  “Okay, okay, I get the message,” said Jason, waggling his eyebrows. “But if you don’t do something soon you may lose out to an Under-elf, amigo.”

  Dusk looked at him in surprise. “Who, Arghen?”

  Jason grinned. “Hey, you never know. After all, Arghen says he was god-touched when he first saw her, and now he calls her ‘my lady’. And in my world, that means something serious. Does it mean the same over here?”

  Dusk didn’t answer, but furrowed his brow as he looked thoughtfully up to where Auraus rode the wind above.

  Eventually we made it to the cave where Jason’s, Arghen’s and my mounts had been left. They were none the worse for the wait, but they were a little skittish when so many beings started coming in. Auraus walked slowly over towards them. She spoke a few words and stroked each nose, and they calmed at her touch. The Wind-rider then grabbed Dusk and dragged him over to the water, and after him the others went to the pool one by one, eager to drink the water and splash a little on themselves to cool down from the climb. Ragar and I, out of respect for the others, waited until everybody was done before we polluted the water with the blood and ashes covering us.

  “I’m sorry, Arghen, but your tunic is a loss. It got taken away, or transformed, or something when Caelestis gave me my chain mail,” I said as I shucked off the beat up guard disguise.

  Arghen laughed. “Clothes can be replaced. And if it got transformed into the chainmail that helped protect your life, I have no complaint.”

  I ducked my head in pleased embarrassment, and I then sobered as I caught sight of a long scored line on the left side of the armor covering my ribs. I remembered how it had gotten there and shuddered, knowing what would have happened to me had that magical knife hit home.

  “So, will you tell us what happened?” asked Jason as he eyed me with an undecipherable look in his eye.

  As Ragar and I washed ourselves as best we could with the limited water, we recounted what had happened while escaping the keep. Jason’s mouth stayed open for most of the recital, which made me feel a bit better about the experience.

  Arghen said when I finished up, “Ah. So that is why Auraus did not land when she came back empty-handed that time. All she did was call for us to be ready for her return as she circled back to the keep. She must have been looking for you to make an appearance.”

  Later, while everybody ate something from the supplies handed out by Mereik the Gnome, Dusk pulled Arghen, Jason and me aside. “Can I have a quiet word with you three?”

  We looked questioningly at him.

  “Have you given any thought to what happens now?”

  The others and I exchanged glances, and then we shook our heads.

  “No, not really,” I admitted. “I was just focused on doing my quest for Caelestis. I guess I kind of forgot there would be an afterwards.”

  Dusk nodded. “May I offer my services in handling this part? Though I am not too familiar with these parts of the mountains, I can guess well enough to get people to the places I do know nearby. I have dealt with enough variety of beings that I can probably get travel arrangements set up faster and easier than you, if only because I am older and have more experience.”

  We readily agreed to his proposal.

  Dusk stepped out to the center of the cave. “Everyone? May I have your attention, please?”

  We watched him make short work of it. He started off with a few jokes and then segued into asking where each being called home, making conversation with each as they answered. From the way everyone relaxed at his performance I was glad to see that Dusk hadn’t been kidding us.

  Ragar, the last to be questioned by Dusk, shrugged and said he hadn’t decided where he wanted to go. I was curious as to why Dusk didn’t ask Arghen, Jason, Auraus or myself anything but held my peace. Dusk then broke the freed prisoners down into two groups: a northbound group and a southbound group. Mereik, who’d been told privately by Auraus of Thoronis’ valiant death, mourned the loss of her friend in the northbound group. Dusk had a confidential word with a couple of the others who were to travel with Mereik and asked them to look out for her until she felt better. He also directed how the provisions should be split up; with a somewhat disproportionate amount going to the northbound group since they had further to go. He cut a provisions bag into several pieces and used ash from the fire to sketch some rough maps of the mountains and nearby settlements for each group. When Dusk was done, Ragar stood up, reached into his belt pouch, brought out the small c
hest, and then poured the jewelry bits at Dusk’s feet.

  “Everyone here should have a share of this. It is only right,” the Mountain-cat-elf said gruffly, a little embarrassed when everyone looked at him.

  “Why, Ragar! Thank you!” Auraus and I said together.

  We looked at each other, and I giggled.

  Dusk reached out a hand and stopped Ragar when he would have returned to his seat. “Ragar, since it is you who is being so generous, I think you should be the one to share out the spoils.”

  The Mountain-cat-elf self-consciously knelt down and spread out the jewelry. Each being ended up getting a couple of pieces, which was an unexpected bonus since they had been just glad to escape with their lives.

  When everyone had returned to their travel groups to get better acquainted, Dusk came over to Ragar to shake his hand-paw. “Thank you, my friend. That is something that I have always enjoyed doing as the leader of the Grey Riders: returning or sharing the spoils with the victims when I could locate them. You would make a fine bandit raider, you know. Have you given more thought to what you are going to do?”

  Ragar shrugged wordlessly.

  “Then let me suggest that you meet up with my band. I left Festille, my second in command, in charge when we split our group. Why not join them?”

  “But isn’t the problem of the disappearances over and done now?” I broke in. “What with Morsca dead and the keep destroyed?”

  Dusk looked at me. “Banditry never stops. But I do not think the ‘trading’ here is over just yet. Morsca was dealing with Under-elves, and they may not take too kindly to being cut off from a readily available source of slaves. A situation like this could be a hydra-headed thing, and all we did was cut off the head. The main one, granted, but others may or may not spring up in its place.”

  He turned to Ragar again. “You could be a big help to my band if you wished, and you can always leave any time you like. If you do want to do this, I will give you a note of introduction to them. You can travel with the northbound group until you get to where you would need to turn off to find our last camp. Then, with the skills you told me of while we were prisoners together, I am sure you could track them to wherever they are now.”