“I see you are feeling better.” The old mage’s voice was cold and emotionless. “Tollis tells me that the drugs no longer work on you. That’s unfortunate. For you.”
He strolled further into the room, a blue-robed mage and two soldiers following. The two soldiers took up positions on either side of the open door, flanking the blue mage in their centre. Eichmann’s mannerism was casual as he stopped in the centre of the room, glancing out the window. He appeared to admire the setting sun.
“W-what do you want?” Anna asked. She tried hard to keep the fear out of her voice. And failed.
His attention refocused on her, his eyes peering deep inside of her. Could he read her thoughts? “Tollis is starting phase two of his plan and needs more of your blood...as always.” He took two long strides toward her and she pressed her back as hard as he could against the plastered wall. Like a trapped rabbit she looked for an escape, but there was none. “But I’m more interested in your mind.”
Eichmann moved away from her and she released her held breath. He studied the untouched fruit for a moment, before looking back to her. “If only I had found you before Tollis, things would be different. I have no interest in your blood, but your mind and your breeding is a different story.”
The blue-robed mage looked at his leader, and then at her with interest, but the two soldiers stood like statues, appearing not to listen to their conversation. They looked directly ahead and never glanced at her or Eichmann. Their uniforms were different to the royal household guards, who wore blue. The soldiers that guarded her wore red surcoats over their armour. There were no symbols displayed on their uniforms to indicate their alliance, but she knew they were part of the Wizards of Solaris’s personal army.
“Oh, well. Let’s get this over with.” Eichmann turned to face her and raised a hand, pointing at her. She felt a cold sensation tingling at her extremities and instantly knew he was using magic. The whites of his eyes darkened as the magic flowed from him and into her body. She shook uncontrollably and her breaths came in large gulps. Anna closed her eyes and her body tensed from the pain that coursed through her.
“No!” she screamed.
Instantly, the pain stopped.
She opened her eyes. Eichmann stood in the same position. His eyes were back to normal and he lowered his outstretched hand. His face was unreadable, but not so for the blue-robed mage. He openly displayed surprise or even shock.
What just happened?
“Impossible,” said the blue-robed mage softly.
After a long moment, Eichmann smiled. “Good...very good.” He continued to stare at her for a few moments. “Hmmm. Interesting...” The old mage turned and walked to the door, stopping beside the blue-robed mage. “Take her blood by force.” He left the room without a backward look.
The blue-robed mage and the two soldiers moved toward her. She had nowhere to go and the soldiers grabbed her and forcibly pushed her onto the bed. One held her down and the other secured her arm, with the wrist exposed. She was powerless to move. The mage produced a silver tray and a thin-bladed knife from a bag on his hip, and with a sinister grin he moved the knife toward her arm, already heavily marked from previous blood lettings.
“This will not hurt if you stay still,” he said as he gripped her wrist, pulling her arm straight.
“No!” she screamed. But unlike Eichmann, it didn’t stop their work.
Chapter 16
“What do you mean, impossible?” asked Finn.
It was still early morning and the sun’s golden rays had not yet risen over the city’s walls. The curfew had finished but would be enforced again at sundown. For now, Rulle’s citizens were free to walk the streets without the fear of being detained by the city guard.
People hurried by, heads down, going about their business as Finn sat opposite Jobes in a quiet corner of a tiny cafe. It was in the centre of the city away from the docks and hopefully, prying eyes. They hadn’t been there long but had started their discussion even though Karok had not arrive yet. From their seats they looked out over a small market square, one of many around the city. Finn was not distracted by the sights and sounds of the colourful merchants as they hawked their wares. He was too absorbed with his mission to rescue Anna.
“No one wants to be involved in anything that will bring Tollis’s spies down on them. People have vanished and everyone is nervous.” The sailor looked sober this morning, unlike last night. They drank a local black drink, it was hot and bitter. “It would be the executioner’s axe for anyone breaking into the palace. Even King Ferdinand would give you the chop for that.”
“Doesn’t anyone want to stop this mad man?”
“Everyone is scared. You can’t blame them.” Jobes watched a woman enter the cafe and sit down at a table occupied by another woman. “I’m scared for my family by just sitting here with you. These are dangerous times.”
Finn had faced a lot of danger lately and he could easily understand other’s reluctance to get involved with people they don’t know. They have nothing to gain and everything to lose. What now?
“Where’s the dwarf?” asked Jobes. “His gold might be able to buy your way in.”
“Karok? He should be here by now...”
“You’ll never sneak in unless you have inside help.”
“If only my father was here. Sneaking is his expertise.” He has been gone for so long. I hope he is all right.
The door opened and the unmistakable form of Karok entered the shop. He made a straight line for their table and sat down. He was grinning, which Finn had only seen Karok do when he was in battle. This couldn’t be a good sign.
“Did you find any help?” asked Finn.
“Aye,” said Karok as he attracted the young waitress’s attention. She walked over, taking a slip of paper and a small quill from her apron.
“Yes, sir,” she said.
“Ale, if you please.”
“We don’t serve ale, sir.”
“What sort of tavern doesn’t sell ale? Beer then.”
“Sir, we’re a cafe. Would you like coffee? Cake?”
“Only if it comes with ale—”
“He’s good, miss,” interrupted Finn. “Coffee will be fine.” The puzzled waitress left them to continue with their discussion.
“What have you found out?” asked Finn.
“There is no way we can sneak in through the front gate,” said Karok.
Finn slumped in his chair and ran his hand through his black hair. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “Then there’s no chance of freeing Anna.”
“I said sneak. We’ll walk through the front gates with our dwarven heads held high.”
“What do you mean, walk?”
“The head of the mason’s guild here is a friend of mine. Well, he is actually a cousin. A distant cousin, but still an honourable dwarf.” Just then the waitress returned with a steaming cup of coffee and placed it on the table before Karok. He nodded his thanks and she left.
“What’s this got to do with entering the palace?” asked Finn, baffled by the dwarf’s seemly random piece of information. Jobes remained silent.
“Arr, well, you see if we blow up a wall—”
“Blow up?”
“Yes, we sneak into the drainage system, as you have done before, and place a barrel of black powder at the wall’s foundation. Then we blow it up and who do they get to repair it? The mason’s guild.”
“And your friend—”
“Cousin.”
“Your cousin is the head of the mason’s guild.”
“Yes.” Karok sat back, looking pleased with himself. He took a sip of his coffee and screwed up his face. “This tastes like mud.”
Finn let Karok’s crazy plan stew in his head for several long moments. We take a boat to the cliff wall. Scale it, drop a rope down and haul up a barrel of black powder. Then blow up part of the palace and posing as masons, we enter the palace through the front gates... There are a hundred things that could go wrong a
nd probably will...but do we have a better plan?
“Do we have any other ideas?” asked Finn finally.
“Not without copious amounts of bloodshed.”
“Don’t look at me,” said Jobes, raising his hands. “I’m just a simple sailor, but if you are sneaking into the drains, aren’t you already on the palace grounds?”
“He’s got a point, lad,” said Karok.
That he does. That may be the easiest way in. Take a boat to the cliff and sneak into the drains, find Anna and get out the same way. If can’t find her, ask the princess for help.
“Let’s do it. Jobes, can you take us in your boat to the cliff without being seen?”
He mocked personal injury. “In the biggest harbour in the known world...yeah, we could hide in the open.”
Chapter 17
Moonlight glistened on Finn’s grey sweaty skin as hand over hand, he and Jobes pulled up a thick rope, lifting their cargo higher and higher up the steep cliff face. The rope ran over a greased piece of timber, which protected it from being cut on the rocky edge. The sound of the sea roared as the waves smashed against the cliff’s rocky base. The pair toiled high above the sea on a ledge near the entrance to the underground storm water system. The same entrance that he and Severus had used to enter the palace before.
“Wait,” said Jobes, and Finn didn’t argue as he braced himself. The eldon changed his grip slightly on the rope and was thankful for the leather gloves he wore. He gulped down air, breathless like he had just run a marathon.
Jobes nodded and they continued with their labours. Muscles burning, they finally hauled the dwarven cargo up to the ledge. Karok’s black hair appeared followed by his grasping hands looking for purchase. Finally, he gripped on to a rocky outcrop and hauled his squat form onto the ledge where Finn and Jobes stood.
Finn leant back against the rocky cliff face. “Next time,” he panted. “Take off your armour before we haul you a hundred yards into the air.”
“Next time?” said the dwarf, giving the eldon a sideways glance. “There won’t be a next time. I was dangling in the breeze like a giant’s toy.” He removed his battle axe from his back and gave it a practice swing. He was ready for action, unlike his two companions who were still out of breath.
The night air quickly cooled the sweat on Finn’s back and he shivered. He looked out over the dark water and harbour, taking a long swig from his water flask. He offered it to Jobes. The sailor drunk deeply, corked it and handed it back. “I’m not going in there,” the sailor said, indicating the drain. “I have too much to lose. I’ll wait out here.”
Finn thanked Jobes for his help and gathered up his discarded warden’s cloak and the black sword. He and Karok walked the short distance along the ledge to the grating that covered the drain’s outlet. Water trickled beneath the iron gate, flowing over the rocky ledge to drop off the cliff edge and fall into the sea far below. The gate had not been repaired since the last time Finn had entered and it was removed without too much trouble.
Finn lit a small hooded lamp and crouching down, entered the low tunnel. He hoped his memory would navigate him through the twisting passageways to the grate that he and his father used to enter the courtyard before. Their footsteps made only the smallest sounds as they splashed through the stream of water, flowing ever outward. Karok followed and seemed relaxed in the tight quarters, making Finn wonder how narrow the tunnels were in the dwarven cities, buried deep under the tall mountains in the north. If they survived this night, he would ask his companion about them.
After many twists and turns, Finn stopped at an intersection to get his bearings. All these tunnels look the same. He decided to pick a random tunnel and see where it led.
“Are you lost, lad?” asked Karok.
“No,” Finn lied. “Why do you ask?”
“Because, this is the tunnel we started in.”
“Is it?”
“A dwarf is not worth his salt if he gets lost underground. Especially, if he’s only twenty yards from the entrance!” said the dwarf. Finn looked back and the lamp light revealed that the dwarf was grinning at him.
“I guess I’m a little lost.”
“All right, follow me.” Karok moved past Finn and set a swift pace down the tunnel. He didn’t hesitate when they came to a corner, just walked around it as though he had been there a hundred times before. After the first dozen turns, Finn was totally lost. Just when Finn’s neck was getting a little stiff from bending over, Karok stopped suddenly and Finn almost ran into him.
“You can turn that lamp off now,” said Karok. “We’re at an exit.”
Finn looked up through a grate above his head, at the stars in the night sky. He turned off the lamp and the tunnel fell into semi-darkness. His eldon sight worked better than a human’s in low light and he could still make out his companion’s squat shape. He heard told that dwarves could see in total darkness. He doubted the stories, but his mind went back to Mordan’s sword. When he wielded that weapon, it allowed him to see in total darkness. The sword was magical for sure, but he didn’t know the limitation of dwarven sight.
Karok leant into Finn and whispered, “I’ll give you a boost up so you can look around.” The dwarf stood directly under the grate and cupped his hands. Finn stepped on his hands and Karok easily lifted him up. Finn couldn’t see much, but by the smell of manure and straw, he guessed they were near the stables. He told Karok.
“As good a place as any,” said the dwarf. “Try to open the grate.”
Finn tried, but it was firm. He used his hunting knife on the latch and after several long moments, he came to the realisation that he couldn’t open it.
“Lift me, I’ll have a go,” said Karok as he lowered the eldon.
Cupping his hands, Finn lifted Karok up to the grating, where he used his hatchet to lever the latch. After only a few heartbeats, Finn started shaking under the strain of the dwarf’s weight and wasn’t sure how long he could hold him up. Snap! The latch broke and Karok pushed the grate open. The dwarf grabbed onto the edge, pulling himself up and through the opening. Finn leapt up, catching the edge and after a few swings of his long legs, he too scrambled through the opening and into fresh air. Karok lowered the grate back in position. They were standing in the shadow of the stables. The building was long and capable of housing a large number of horses.
Finn crept around the building’s corner and peeked through its opened doors. At the far end of the stable, two boys were throwing fresh straw into a stall. A horse nearby snorted and its ears rotated, trying to pinpoint Finn’s location. He ducked back from the door and waited. After a moment he looked back into the stable. The horse’s sound went unnoticed by the boys who hadn’t look up from their task.
The eldon moved back to Karok who pointed across the courtyard to the main gates. Large iron braziers were scattered throughout the area, throwing out orange light. A patrol of ten blue-clad soldiers marched to the gates and swapped positions with the gate guards, who marched toward the main palace building and disappeared from sight. The moonlight shone on the armour of more soldiers marching along the battlements. It seemed almost impossible to cross the courtyard unseen. That rules out knocking on the front door. They would need another route into the palace.
Keeping to the shadows, the pair moved to the rear of the stable. The palace grounds were silent except the faint sound of music coming from the main building. Someone is having an entertaining night. Finn’s heart beat loudly in his chest as he and Karok darted across the open ground to the shadows of the rear wall. They paused behind a pile of hay bales. No one challenged them and after several long moments Finn started to move off, but Karok grabbed his arm.
A group of soldiers appeared from around the corner of the palace and headed their way. Finn’s hand dropped to his sword hilt, anticipating a battle. But the gods smiled on them and the patrol marched passed them without a sideways glance at their hiding spot. The soldiers travelled along the rear of the palace and disappeared
around a distant corner. Finn released his breath.
Following the outer wall, Finn could see the silhouettes of trees and bushes at the building’s rear. It was the royal residence’s gardens. He scanned the palace, looking for an entrance. There were many windows high up the palace wall and many of them were lit. There were no doors visible.
Karok indicated a small building not far from the palace. What? Finn shrugged. The dwarf indicated that the eldon should follow as the dwarf moved rapidly toward it.
The stone building was locked with a large iron padlock. “Why bother?” Karok chuckled. He removed his battle axe from his back and wedged it between the door and the padlock. Leaning on his axe shaft with all his weight, the padlock broke with sharp metallic snap. Karok pushed opened the door and disappeared inside. Finn drew his sword and followed.
It was dark inside and Finn stumbled over something, bumping his shin. He cursed silently in eldon. A light flared in front of Finn and he stared at a grinning dwarf.
“A good dwarf always carries a candle,” he said. “We can’t see in the dark, you know.”
That puts that old myth to bed.
The small building was for food storage. Boxes, wine and beer barrels, sacks of vegetables and grains filled every corner of the room. There was enough to feed an army. Karok moved deeper into the room then stopped, his eyes widening. He selected a green bottle amongst many crates, and uncorking it, he took a long swig. When he came up for air, he had consumed most of its contents. “That’s good...real good for human ale!” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Karok, we don’t have time for this. Half the night has already passed.”
The dwarf gave a sly grin and finished the bottle in one gulp. “You’re right, lad. I’ll get a bottle or two on our way out.”
“Where to now? We can’t hide in here all night.”
“This food store is very close to the rear of the palace and if I’m not mistaken...” He held his candle high and Finn could just make out stairs leading below ground level. “There is a tunnel from the store room to the palace kitchen. And besides, my cousin told me it was here.”
The Warden and the Shadow Queen: The Warden Saga Book 3 Page 8
