“Thank you, youngster,” Sheenda looked up at him appraisingly. “That was much appreciated. I’m not sure those weren’t going to come falling back down on top of my head in another minute or so.
“Who are you, and why are you here?” she asked.
It seemed that he had arrived at a decisive point. He had to answer, and his answer might make it easier to find the prisoners or might make it harder.
“I’m brand new to the palace,” he began.
Sheenda cut him off. “Get out now, while you can, before this place sucks you in and poisons you or kills you. This is a treacherous, evil place,” she spoke in a low voice. “You look like a nice youngster – get out instantly to save your life and your soul!”
Kendel was taken aback by the vehemence of her advice.
“I can’t,” he replied. “I can’t just leave those girls in the tower,” he inadvertently blurted out his intention.
“Ah,” Sheenda murmured.
Kendel realized what he had said. He looked at Sheenda whose hooded eyes were bright and shiny within her wrinkled visage.
“You’re in love with one of the young girls; they’re pretty little things, they are. I’m not surprised. But you’ve got no chance of seeing them, let alone rescuing them,” she advised with a tender pat on his shoulder.
Sheenda would be an ally, Kendel realized. Accidentally revealing himself to her had been a stroke of luck.
“I’ve got some advantages,” he decided to confide in the kitchen worker. “I have some magical powers I can use,” he closed his eyes and focused his thoughts on the blue energy within himself, making his walking staff start to gently glow with its soft blue light.
Sheenda took a step back.
“What is this?” she hissed.
“It’s a gift from Miriam,” he answered.
“Bless the goddess,” Sheenda made a perfunctory motion of worship, touching her fingertips to her heart three times. “Is she answering prayers again? The world is a better place.”
“She’s not answering prayers yet, but I hope to change that too,” Kendel said. “But first, I want to rescue the girls, and Sir Elline.”
“It’s Sir Elline too, now is it?” Sheenda asked.
“Is he a prisoner in the blue tower, with the girls?” Kendel asked in return.; he was hopeful that the prisoners were kept in a single location.
“He’s a prisoner in the tower, to be sure, but not with the girls. He’s kept up at the top, and they’re in a chamber somewhere below that. So what army do you have to take with you to fight your way up the tower through the guards to find Sir Elline, then fight your way back down to grab the young ladies, and spirit yourselves to safety?” Sheenda asked. “Beside your glowing stick?”
“I don’t have an army, but I think there’s a chance to win, if the gods want,” Kendel realized that he was living his life on the basis of the whims and wishes of the gods and goddesses of the world. He’d never felt so personally directed by God back in the real world – he had definitely never had been so personally directed, he realized – truly, personally touched, manipulated, directed, or scolded. And it was starting to feel like the one reliable part he understood of how the magical world operated.
“Well, follow me,” Sheenda directed, as she turned and waddled down an aisle to a set of cabinets. She opened one and polled out a cloth-covered tray, then lifted the tray.
Five small cakes sat on the tray.
“Here now, at the bottom of the tower, tell the guards these are for the guards at the top of the tower, then offer to share one with them. They’ll happily take the cake and let you go up. When you get to the top, tell the guards the cakes are for them and one is for the prisoner’s last treat. They’ll let you in to see Elline,” she anticipated. “And what you do after that, I don’t know.”
Kendel took the tray, then leaned down and kissed the helpful old woman on the cheek.
“We probably won’t come back through here to say ‘thank you’,” he told her.
“Just leave the tray in Elline’s room, and don’t dent it!” she mockingly scolded him, then grinned as he took the tray and began his journey towards the front quarters of the palace. He extinguished the glow of his staff before he left the kitchen premises, and continued on, still grinning.
His grin didn’t last long. As he walked down a wide corridor, a troop of men came through a crossing and moved in front of him. In the center of the group strode Beches himself, looking grim as he listened to a counselor who spoke too softly for Kendel to hear over the sounds of the marching boots striking the stone floors. Beches looked gray and worn, tired and worried.
The convoy passed by, letting Kendel continue on his way. After two wrong turns, he found himself at a heavy door where two guards stood at attention.
“I’m to take these up to the guards for Sir Elline,” Kendel reported, uncovering the goods on the tray.
“We’ll make your load lighter,” one guard said as he casually took two of the cakes off the tray. “Don’t dawdle up there; we’re not supposed to allow any visitors the night before the execution,” he said as he swung the door open and motioned for Kendel to proceed.
The girls you lust after are on the third floor, behind a locked door, Shaiss’s voice sounded in his mind. Go up to the top and set Sir Elline free first, get the girls on the way back.
“How will I persuade the guards to let Elline go free?” Kendel asked, relieved to hear the goddess participating in his adventure at least.
Stop dawdling and climb the stairs! If you can’t do it, I’ll take care of it, Shaiss replied sharply. And don’t forget to address me reverently, she added.
“What does that mean?” Kendel asked.
You are unbelievable! Why did Miriam ever settle for such a low-grade hero? It means you address me as ‘My Goddess’! Shaiss spoke with unconcealed contempt.
“I’m sorry, my goddess,” Kendel said contritely, then stopped talking and tried to climb the stairs more quickly.
He was breathing heavily as he climbed the fifth flight of steps to reach the top of the tower minutes later. Kendel immediately spotted a pair of guards standing at a door down a short hall. They were both armed with swords and watched him closely as he stopped to take more deep breaths.
“There are no visitors allowed,” one guard said before Kendel even stepped forward.
“I have cakes from the kitchen; they’re gifts for you and the prisoner,” Kendel answered as he began to walk towards the men at the door.
Ask the man on the right if he still strokes Maarine’s hair while they make love, Shaiss told Kendel.
“What?” he made no sense of the comment.
I will strangle Miriam for having such an idiot! Shaiss’s voice thundered inside his head. Do it!
“Do you still stroke Maarine’s hair while you,” Kendel stumbled verbally for a second before choking out the end of the sentence, “You know, while you make love to her?”
The man on the left jerked his head to the right to look at his companion.
“What are you talking about?” the left-hand man asked, her voice sounding strained.
“What have you been doing with my wife? Are you why she’s been gone to visit her sick sister so much?” the man on the right suddenly swung his sword around to point it at his companion instead of Kendel, who stopped in his tracks.
“She doesn’t love you, and she can’t get enough of me,” the accused man suddenly laid bare the truth of his treachery. He shifted his own sword and swung it forcefully at the husband he was cuckolding.
There were four clashes of the two metal blades striking each other as the two men instantly began a vicious battle that ended quickly, with both of them lying on the ground in expansive puddles of their own blood. Kendel stood at the spot he had stopped, his mouth gapping open in shock and horror at the sudden deaths.
The handle of the door the guards had protected rattled, then opened slightly.
“Was there swo
rd work out – great father of war!” Elline stared at the bodies on the floor, pulled his door wide open, and looked at Kendel.
“What happened here?” the knight asked.
Don’t dawdle! Shaiss’s voice practically screamed inside his head, making him wince.
“We need to hurry to get out of here,” Kendel replied. “Let’s go downstairs and get the ladies of the court,” he urged.
“Of course,” Elline stepped out, and casually stooped to pick up the two bloody swords, which he effortlessly wiped clean against the uniforms of their owners while not slowing down his approach to Kendel. “Here, one for you and one for me,” he offered the hilt of one to Kendel. “Is the rest of your squad downstairs?”
Kendel dropped the tray of cakes, then started down the stairs without answering, afraid of what Eline’s response would be to the disturbing revelation that there were no others involved in the escape plan.
He left the stairs on the third floor and found three doors. He banged the end of his staff against the closest door. “Vivienne! Grace! Sophie!” he called their names and waited but heard no answer.
Elline arrived as he banged on the second door. “Grace, are you there?” he asked loudly.
“Who’s there?” a voice called from behind the third door.
Kendel rattled the handle, but the door was bolted shut and did not budge in the least.
“Where are the keys?” Elline asked.
Use that power than Miriam gave you, Shaiss advised.
“Yes, my goddess,” Kendel obediently answered.
“What? Are you praying now? Can you wait ‘til we go by a temple?” Elline asked as Kendel closed his eyes and focused inwardly, seeking to pull the blue energy into the staff so that he could then release the green.
“Stand away from the door,” he shouted. “Grace, move everyone away from the door,” he instructed as he opened his eyes, just as he felt the energy begin to obey.
“Lords of chaos! Magic!” Elline swore as he saw the staff begin to glow, while Kendel raised it to point at the door.
“Get back now!” Kendel warned one more time, then felt the green energy suddenly leap upward, eager to be released, eager to engage in the world.
A flash of green light filled the space around the door, immediately followed by a crashing sound, then a sizzling that reminded Kendel of the sound of electricity, and flames and smoke seemed to be everywhere. He momentarily felt pressure against his own chest as the explosion occurred.
“You’ll not harm those poor young girls!” Elline mistook Kendel’s intentions and swung a sword at him, as the sounds of screams from the girls filled the room on the other side of the fire.
Kendel saw the motion out of the corner of his eye, and jumped back, but not quite far enough, as the tip of the sword sliced across the outside of his shoulder.
“Stop it you idiot!” he shouted in shock and anger. “I’m here to rescue them.”
“Come out quickly. Vivienne, bring the other two out. Come on now, hurry,” Kendel shouted in through the doorway while he kept an eye on the wary Elline. Kendel held his right hand over the injury to his left shoulder, his colorless staff lying on the floor at his feet.
Vivienne was the first of the ladies in waiting to appear, shrieking softly as she leaped through the smoldering doorframe, where flames had subsided, but smoke still billowed away from the charred timbers.
“Sir Elline!” she cried with a note of joy as she spotted the knight. “You’ve rescued us!”
“Sir Elline?” Grace queried just a moment before she appeared as well, followed immediately by Sophie. The three girls all stared at Elline, as Kendel studied them.
They were slightly disheveled in appearance, and their faces were pale. They thought they were just hours away from being executed, he reminded himself.
“This powerful magician is your savior, not me,” Elline answered, pointing his sword at Kendel.
“Sir magician, thank you for rescuing us. Will we leave the palace now?” Grace asked.
“Do you have a refuge for us?” Vivienne chimed in.
“Will we fly away on a magic carpet?” Sophie asked.
Kendel looked at her in surprise. “A flying carpet?” he asked. “Do you have those here too?”
“What’s going on up there?” a guard’s voice echoed up the tower’s central atrium from the ground floor below.
“Sir magician, what shall we do?” Elline asked.
Kendel knelt down to pick up his staff. “My goddess, how do we escape?” he quietly asked Shaiss.
Go down, let Elline kill the guards, and leave the palace, Shaiss replied sharply. Isn’t it obvious?
It wasn’t completely obvious to Kendel, but he was not in a position to say so to the perpetually angry goddess of revenge.
“Sir Elline, when we go down the stairs, if you will defeat the guards at the entrance to the tower, we can escape from the palace ,” Kendel straightened up, one hand on his shoulder wound while the other held his staff.
“But magician, you’re injured,” Sophie protested.
Kendel felt gratitude for the girl’s attention to his condition. “We can take care of it when we’re free of the palace,” he answered. “We need to go downstairs.”
“You go first, and divert the guards’ attention,” Elline said. “The ladies can wait here until our passage is safe.”
Kendel gave a nod, then stepped to the staircase and looked down.
“I’m on my way,” he told the men who he saw staring upward. “I’ll be right there.”
“What was all that noise up there?” one guard asked.
“What happened to your arm?” the other asked as soon as Kendel was back down on the main level.
“The guards upstairs,” Kendel stuttered, without a clear idea of what to say.
“Hand your swords over to the boy,” Elline was suddenly standing behind the two guards who were caught unaware. The knight had the point of a sword pressed against the back of each.
“He’s free!” one of the guards looked over his shoulder and gasped at the sight or Elline. “The boy set him free somehow.”
“Will you kill us, my lord?” the other one asked, as both guards dropped their swords in front of Kendel.
Despite his wounded shoulder, Kendel stooped to pick up the swords, holding his staff in one hand and finding that he couldn’t pick up both weapons with the hand on his wounded arm. Grace swung around Elline, followed by the other two girls and competently lifted the swords, while Vivienne helped Kendel back to his feet.
“You think I should kill them, don’t you?” Elline asked, looking at Kendel. “Well, I won’t; there’s been too much murder, too much death here recently. We’ll take them prisoner. Now lead us out of here,” he motioned to Kendel.
Which way to go? Kendel stood for a second, hoping for directions from Shaiss. When none sounded, and when Grace looked at him quizzically, he decided to lead the others back towards the kitchen.
“Follow me,” he said, and quickly took the first steps to take the lead, then slowed down as he looked and listened for others who might be traveling through the halls of the depressed and desolate palace in the evening.
Turn at the next right corridor and go upstairs. There’s someone else you need to take, Shaiss spoke to him unexpectedly, making at him jump.
“What is it?” Grace observed his jitters.
“Let’s go right, and upstairs,” Kendel replied as they came to the empty crossing and went around the corner. A staircase was nearby, and Kendel led the way up.
“There’s someone up here we want,” Kendel answered the unspoken question he sensed on Elline’s lips. Shaiss was making him nervous and jumpy by only giving out dribs and drabs of information when Kendel wanted to know as much as possible.
“Is it the nurse?” Sophie quietly asked Vivienne.
Kendel flung his arm wide and screeched to a stop, then pressed himself back against the wall, his arm pressing Grace back
with him as he heard a sound ahead. The others followed his lead, even the two hostage guards.
Kendel saw a guard fling a door open, making retching noises as he hurried down a hall to the left without even looking at the small band of escapees.
“Luck is with him, wherever he’s taking us,” Elline said in an aside to Sophie.
Through the door and then the first room on the right. He must go with you, Shaiss emphasized the word must with a forcefulness that rang inside Kendel’s soul.
He led them through the door and down a familiar hall, then right.
“Why are we here?” one of the hostages asked.
Chapter 11
Kendel recognized the room they were in. He recognized the startled woman who sat in a chair next to a candle-lit table.
He recognized the casket-like bier that King Ardur slept in. Even after the weeks of time that Kendel had been away, on his adventure in Parker’s body as well as the days since, the king was comatose but still alive.
“We take him?” Kendel spoke to the air in astonishment, addressing Shaiss.
“We can’t,” he protested. “He’ll die.”
Use Miriam’s power – preserve him. Take him and be on your way. Now. Hurry. Go out the way you came in, the goddess directed.
“What are you doing? This is a foul deed. We shouldn’t desecrate the noble man’s final days,” Elline protested vociferously.
“Who are you? Why are you here?” the nurse spoke up, trying to be protective of her patient, even though the group far outnumbered her.
Kendel was at a loss, trying to process the inexplicable course that Shaiss was leading him on. He didn’t understand it, but he was in no position to deviate from it. And what exactly her last directions meant were unclear, but he would try to follow them, and hopefully do something that would relieve the anger and mistrust that was directed at him by everyone else in the room.
He lifted the staff with both hands and closed his eyes as he called upon the blue energy within him. He had found that the goddess’s power did respond to his direction, but only to act as an insulator that enabled the green power to also be utilized. He hadn’t tried to use the blue power for anything else, certainly not for trying to preserve a dying king, whatever preservation meant.
The Blinded Journey Page 6
