by P D Atkerson
Aroron squeezed his hand around it, and it cut into his skin, drawing blood. He wiped the blood off, and shoved the letter into his cloak pocket, then hooked the necklace around his neck.
Aroron turned and ran for the edge of the tower. He would go, if Shon wanted him to. He might never see Shon again.
Aroron stood next to the tower wall, and took in a deep breath, gripping onto the top of the wall, he quickly pulled himself onto the ledge. He stood there for a second catching his breath as he looked down over the edge at the water below him. It was a good two hundred-foot drop to the cold, murky water below. He really hoped he would make it to the passage alive!
Aroron glanced back over his shoulder, towards the tower gate where Shon stood, waiting for Kant to emerge. His father looked at him and nodded, Shon turned around, just as Kant broke through the trapdoor and came towards him.
Aroron caught a glimpse of Kant. Shon slammed the pommel of his sword in the gate leaver, it snapped off and fell with a 'thud' to the floor at his feet.
Shon looked at Aroron one last time and ran at Kant. He screamed, as he dove at Kant. Aroron quickly looked away, turning back to the water below him, and the climb waiting for him. He had to make it to the passage if he wanted out of the castle alive.
He wasn't about to abandon his father, but there was no way of helping him here and it looked like this was the only way out now. Shon had broken the lever off, they'd have to pry the gate open to get through. With one last deep breath, Aroron lowered himself down to a sitting position, gripped the side of the wall, and swung his legs down. He brought himself around and found a foot hole in the small cuts in the wall.
As Aroron slowly descended the wall, the sound of swords clashing above, met his ears. He dug his fingers into the stone but kept going at a steady pace. He heard a strange groaning sound and wondered what it was, till he remembered the gate, they were opening it! He moved a little faster, still careful of his footing.
He was halfway to what had to be the passage, when he lost his footing and slipped. His feet swung out from under him, dangling from the tower with only his hands holding him from the watery landing below.
Just as this was happening to him, a man appeared at the top of the tower and looked down at Aroron, somehow, they made it through the broken gate.
"I found him!" the man yelled from above.
Aroron heard Kant's voice as he yelled, "What are you waiting for? Go down after him, you slow Draven!"
The man's eyes widened, and Aroron could see him swallow. But the man pulled himself over the wall's edge and slowly took a step down the wall. He grabbed the side of the tower with his body, and squeezed his eyes shut, lowering himself down over the edge. He took his first step, and another towards Aroron.
There was no way Aroron was going to come this far and give up now! He swung his legs back towards the wall, and quickly found a footing and lowered himself down, still moving towards the corner of the tower, it was still far away. Step by step, he made his way down towards it. When he looked down, he could see a black hole in the wall of the tower.
Aroron grabbed onto both sides of the dark stone doorway, which presumably led to the passage, and swung his body through and let go.
He dropped to his knees and stood, brushing the dirt off his pants. He stared at the blackness lying before him.
At first, he couldn't make out anything in the darkness. Slowly, shapes began to form around him. He was in a small room, with a low hanging roof. He moved forwards, his hands extended, feeling along the cold wall. He started to grow sick, no it couldn't be! He ran his hands along the wall, from one side to the other.
He just couldn't believe it!
After everything he'd been through, to come down here and find there wasn't a passage! He knocked his head against the wall.
He had to get out of the castle. But the entrance was blocked by a wall of bricks.
Aroron ran his finger along the wall and looked at them. They were covered in a thick layer of dirt and dust. Aroron sighed. Whoever told Shon about the passage down here, either hadn't know what they were talking about, or had hoped to trap them.
Of course! Aroron thought, hitting his head with the palm of his hand. That was why Kant had been in front of the tower earlier tonight! Kant had known Shon was going to try and escape from the castle. But who told Shon about the passage? Whoever it was had done this on purpose. He had to find another way out of there.
But how was he going to do it? There wasn't a passage anymore, and he could still hear the scraping sound of the guard's boots as he slowly climbed down the wall of the tower.
He'd be there soon, and Aroron would be trapped. If he wanted to make it out before the guard caught him, he had to get off the tower, and fast! He turned around and moved back towards the pathway to the tower lit by moonlight.
Aroron bent out slightly and looked at the water below and wondered how cold the water really could be. It wasn't snowing yet, so it was fairly warm out. It didn't mean the water would be warm. He let out a sigh and noticed he could see his breath. Well, maybe it wasn't warm. But he had to jump, he'd known he was going to have to even before he'd climbed down the tower wall. It was just one of those bad things you just know is going to happen to you.
Aroron took several steps back, till he stood against the wall.
He took in a long, deep breath, and plugged his nose. He knew if he thought about it any longer, he wasn't going to jump.
Aroron tightened his free hand into a fist, ran forwards, and jumped.
For a split second, everything around Aroron slowed. He saw the water below him, and the dark woods lying beyond the castle. He saw the lights of distant torches burning. All of this happened to him before he went plunging into the cold water below, sending a wave of water against the tower wall, and for a second, everything was silent.
* * *
At the same time, on the other side of the castle, Prince Enrick Delroy Moone had been reading a book by candlelight, curled up under his soft covers. Out of nowhere, he was overcome with coldness.
Enrick gasped for air and dropped the book onto his bed, he nearly fell off it! Shivering and trying to catch his breath, he gripped his chest. His lungs burned and his fingers were numb. His nose was freezing, and he couldn't think.
Just as quickly as it came, it was gone.
What was wrong with him? He wondered, feeling his skin. Oddly, it was warm. Slowly, his mind started to clear, and he could think again.
"Flan!" he screamed, as he picked up a book sitting next to his bed and flung it against the wall. The door opened and his servant entered.
"Yes, my lord?" Flan said, bowing.
"Did you open a window?" Enrick asked, reaching for the book on his bed, but as he did, his hands began to shake.
Flan shook his head vigorously. "No, no, my lord, it's night time, I wouldn't ever open one at this time of night. Not in winter!"
"Fine, just put another log on the fire and be gone with you!" he said, waving to the servant as he picked up his book again and began to read, even though he still shivered from the cold. He couldn't shake the feeling, there was a reason for this, he just didn't know why.
* * *
For a second Aroron couldn't think or move. He wasn't even sure where he was. He gasped for air, pushing himself to the surface of the water, he coughed water out of his mouth and his head hurt.
What had he been thinking? He still had to find a way out of the castle, he was only past one of the outer walls!
He kicked his legs out hard against the current of the water, as it threatened to pull him back into its cold embrace. Aroron fought hard against drowsiness as he tried to stay aware of what was happening around him.
Water dripped from his hair and into his eyes, blinding him, as he swam towards the icy shore of the castle moat, his whole-body shivering.
Aroron grabbed for the edge of the moat with shaking hands. His hand slipped and he fell back into the dark icy water. He fra
ntically fought to stay above the water, grabbing for the edge of the moat again. This time he was able to grab a hold of the ice and hang on.
He dug his fingers deep into the ice and pulled himself up out of the water.
Aroron gulped the cold air of night, gripping his side with one hand and digging his nails into the ground with the other. He let out a deep breath, and a cloud of fog left his mouth and rose up into the sky, where it vanished into nothingness.
He shivered and rubbed his arms. It was cold out and being wet didn't help. He knew winter was coming, he could feel it in the air.
He sighed, knowing he couldn't sit there for long, he had to find a way to help his father get out of the Dark Castle. Closing his eyes, he greedily breathed the cold air again, as rain fell on his face. He began to drift off to sleep, as the cold overcame him.
Aroron's eyes quickly flickered open when he heard banging coming from above, from inside the tower!
He listened for a moment, not daring to breathe.
With a sinking feeling, he realized what the noise was. It was the sound of heavy boots hitting stone steps of the staircase. They were headed back down the tower, Aroron had to get going before it was too late! It was only a matter of time before they brought him to stand in front of King Munay to be judged for what he'd done.
Aroron had no idea how he could help his father get out of the Castle! It definitely wasn't by making a run for the Dubh-woods. No. If he left, he'd never see his father again! And he wasn't about to let something like that happen.
Aroron had to find a way to get back inside the castle and find his uncle, Lord Trot, surely he'd help him.
How was he going to get back into the castle now, without anyone knowing about it? He shoved himself to a sitting position and looked up at the castle wall lying before him. He racked his brain for any way he could get into the castle. He thought through everything he knew about the castle.
Then he remembered, but it was a long shot at best. there was a grating under the castle bridge which let water into the castle. Which made sense, the water had to get in there some way, right? He shoved himself up and looked towards the bridge.
He'd heard there was a way into the castle through it. Someone had used it once before, but it was winter and the water was colder than it was in the summer time, and it might not work. Hadn't the person been trying to get in? He couldn't remember.
He bent his head down. What else was he going to do? He knew there was no other way he could get into the castle.
He would have to do it, it was how he would get back into the castle to get help for Shon. He would have to go through the grating, even if he froze in the water doing it. Even if it meant he might die. He had to try and save his father from Munay.
Aroron shoved himself back up onto his feet and moved towards the water's edge. He hesitated, before climbing back in, shivering as he did. He'd never liked cold water, but he had to just act like it wasn't cold.
"It's not cold..." Aroron mumbled to himself, as his teeth started to chatter, and the cold crept up his back and neck.
He took in one last deep breath and let himself drop down under the surface of the cold water.
Chapter 4
A Watery Grave
When Aroron opened his eyes again, his vision filled with the watery blackness surrounding him. Weird shadows moved around him, as moonlight pierced the surface of the water.
His body started to go numb, as he kicked his legs and slowly swam downwards, towards the castle bridge.
Aroron's lungs began to burn. The water started to weigh down on him as he drew nearer. It wouldn't be long before he lost all feeling in his body, and Aroron was pretty sure it wasn't a good thing, no matter what kingdom you were from.
Under the cold water, it felt like the bridge was miles away. He started to wonder if he'd gotten mixed up, and was in fact heading the wrong direction, away from the bridge.
Aroron swam on for several more minutes, when he hit (head first) into the metal grating below the bridge. It was through this grating he would make it back into the castle. He could feel the water pull him against the grating.
Aroron closed his eyes as he tried to regain his bearings.
Still holding his breath, he felt around in front of himself, his fingers running along the cold steel.
The bars of the grating were tightly woven together, nothing bigger than a small rock could find its way between them. But Aroron knew there was a hole someone had cut in to it years ago, just big enough for him to fit through, hopefully.
Aroron gritted his teeth together, as his lungs started burning even more, longing for fresh air. He pushed past the pain. His fingers came across nothing but air, grabbing hold of the grating, he pulled himself into the hole.
Before Aroron knew what was happening, the current pulled him through the hole.
He grabbed at the bars of the grating, but the water was too strong for him to fight against. His grip slipped, pulling him into the swirling water below, back into the castle.
The water swirled faster and faster as it pulled Aroron deeper into the inky blackness of the water under the castle. Aroron grabbed for something, anything to slow his descent. But the walls and everything around him were smooth as glass from the years of flowing water. He was pulled along with nothing to stop him and he started to wonder if he'd make it out of the water alive.
His lungs burned even more than before and his ears popped, as he went deeper and deeper underground, the water grew even colder as he went, and soon he couldn't feel anything. By now, his whole body was numb.
Aroron pushed himself up to the surface and gasped for air as the water rushed out of the tunnels and into the clear night. He instinctively grabbed for the edge of the water. The moonlight played off the water on the stone wall on both sides of him. His fingers slipped on the wet stone, he couldn't hold on for more than a second before the water pulled him under once again. It continued to drag him deeper into the Dark Castle. Aroron's mind spun with ideas of how he could stop himself from going further. He wondered if he wasn't already in the center of the castle.
Oh, how he wished he'd never climbed back into the water!
Why hadn't he run for the woods? What good was he to his father dead? Would he have been able to live with himself, if he hadn't come back? Probably not.
As he was thinking about this, the water dropped once again, and ran back into the darkness of the tunnels under the castle's structure.
Aroron knew he had to get out of this water! He wasn't sure which way was up anymore as the water pushed him into the darkness. Water was above him, water was below, water was everywhere, he didn't know where to go!
Through the water, Aroron heard the sound of something rumbling ahead of him and for a second, his heart stopped beating.
He knew what the sound was, and he hated even the thought of it. There was a waterfall ahead of him! He remembered it now, in the middle of the castle court yard, he hadn't even thought of the fact that the moat must flow into the fountain somehow.
As fear enveloped Aroron's heart, he knew he had to do something quickly. He kicked and grabbed at the wall, with everything in him. He fought in vain to find something to hold on to, to stop himself from flying out of the tunnel, and out into the fall of the water. But the wall was smooth as glass and there was not even a crack big enough for him to shove his finger into.
The water ahead of him split, and Aroron quickly kicked his legs against the wall and shoved himself towards the left tunnel.
He was running out of air, and every second he fought to stay conscious, as the coldness began to numb his head. He knew he had to get out of the water, or the water would turn out to be his lonely grave yard.
Finally, after what felt like forever, the water slowed, as it came back out into the cold winter air. Aroron shoved himself to the top and gulped in the air. The coldness of the air gagged him for a moment.
Aroron coughed, and wiped the water off his face, his h
ead spun, and he tried to figure out where he was, he'd lost all sense of direction. He was breathing hard and his lungs burned like fire, but at least he could still feel them. Something he couldn't say for the rest of his body.
His arms and legs didn't want to move, but he knew he had to get out of the water before he went into shock. He forced himself to swim towards the edge of the water lying two dozen feet away from him.
He reached the side and grabbed onto the edge of the water and pulled himself out. He fell back onto the ground and groaned. Slowly, the numbness left him, and his bones started to hurt, like someone had been snapping them apart and put them back together again. He wasn't sure which was better, the hurt, or the numbness.
A wind blew past the castle walls, a howling sound sending a jolt through Aroron. He sat up and looked around. He was on a small ledge next to one of the castle's inner towers. The tower hung above him, like a giant, waiting to attack him. Nothing looked familiar to him and he wondered what part of the castle he was in. Where had he ended up?
Aroron closed his eyes and thought about the layout of the castle and remembered. There was a part of the castle he never really went to. The part where the royal family lived.
"Great," he mumbled to himself. "I'm on the wrong side of the castle."
Aroron sighed, as he pulled his wet hood up over his head again. He needed to get inside the castle before his body went into shock from the cold, before anyone saw him from the dozens of windows above and around him.
Chapter 5
In the Shadows
Aroron pushed himself up onto his knees and instantly regretted it. Pain shot up his legs and down his back, he swayed trying to stand straight.
Once he regained his balance, he moved towards the door slowly, taking every step with care. The last thing Aroron wanted was to fall onto the cold stone ground again.