“Lord Uylvich told me to come help you in the kitchen while he . . . has a meeting . . . with my aunt.” She really didn’t know any other way to describe it, nor did she want to try.
“Meeting, huh?” He looked her up and down, sizing her up. Pelya was extremely happy he didn’t have the same gaze that the lord had used on Aunt Kally. “Say, do you know how to use that little sticker on your side?” he asked, pointing to her longknife.
“Yes Sir,”
“Good! I got a problem with rats in the basement. They’re eating my food supplies and destroying things. You go take care of them and I’ll give you a few coppers spending money,” he told her as though it was the most brilliant plan ever.
Pelya narrowed her eyes and put a hand on her hip. “Really?”
“Tell you what, if you get ten, I’ll give you a silver piece,” The cook bargained enthusiastically.
“Really?”
“. . . Yes, really. Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked, drawing back in surprise.
“You really want me to go kill rats in the basement?” Pelya raised an eyebrow. “It sounds like the first part of every bad adventure story ever told.”
“Well this isn’t an adventure story and you’re just a little girl. I’m telling you to go kill some of those rats in the basement and I recommend you do so . . . unless you want me to go interrupt Lord Uylvich’s meeting to tell him you’re a disobedient little brat . . .” He left the threat hanging there.
That wasn’t how she wanted to rescue Aunt Kally. Pelya had the distinct impression the lieutenant wouldn’t appreciate the interruption. “Yes Sir,” she agreed reluctantly.
“Good girl.” He pointed to a door in the far wall. “The basement’s through there. You’ll find lanterns on a table and you can light one to see your way. I’ll give you a copper for each rat carcass you bring me.”
She nodded and went to the door. It wasn’t too dark below, so she went down the steps quickly after closing it behind her. There were a lot of boxes, barrels, sacks and crates scattered around the stone floor and on large shelves. Pelya lit a lantern and lifted it. There were already a few lanterns hanging from hooks on posts deep in the basement. They were all at low flame to conserve oil. A rat stared at her boldly from atop one of the crates.
“Hello, rat,” she greeted it. Instead of taking out her longknife to kill it, she made her way through the stacked crates to discover how large the basement was. Pelya didn’t mind rats. They were a natural part of the city and usually didn’t bother humans as long as humans didn’t bother them. It wasn’t a popular sentiment, but she wasn’t about to get their blood on her clothes. It wasn’t worth coppers she didn’t need.
The thought of blood made the image of it flowing from Bobbell’s mouth flash across her mind. Pelya whimpered at the memory. It had woken her up screaming every night. Frath was always there for her and had taken to sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor next to her bed.
She shook off the negative thoughts. The strong odor of moldy cheese tickled her nose and Pelya decided not to eat anything with cheese either. The basement was bigger than it had seemed originally. There were other rooms that were kept cold by runes inscribed into the walls and doorways. The entire space was a little chilly, which felt nice after the warm days they had been having. It still wasn’t summer hot, which she was grateful for, but it was certainly getting close to that.
Another set of stairs led to a deeper level of basement. She looked back and listened for a minute to see if anyone else had come down. It was quiet with the exception of an occasional creak of the building or skittering of rats. One rat sat on a barrel, staring at her. She put a finger to her lips and whispered, “Shh.” It turned and went about its business in silent agreement not to tell.
No light came from the stairwell below. Pelya held her lantern up as she went down. It occurred to her that she wasn’t even remotely scared. A basement was tame compared to the city streets underneath Dralin or the alleys of the Wizard’s Mall.
Grief squeezed her heart again, but she shook it off and looked around the sub-basement. The air was cooler and mustier than above. She saw furniture, old paintings, rolled up rugs and tapestries, various tools, dishes and house wares like candlesticks and baskets. It was a minor adventure and she was enjoying herself for the first time since exploring the academy with Ebudae.
Pelya saw a stone door with a lock on it set into the right side wall. She studied the area around it for a minute as Uncle Bobbell had taught her. She hoped it was locked so she could use the tools kept under her tunic.
Patience was the word he had always told her when teaching how to pick locks. Pelya rolled a half barrel near the door and set the lantern down on it so she could study the door, checking the seams for unusual gaps or perhaps a hidden canister that might pop with gas if she opened it. She didn’t know exactly what it would look like because Bobbell hadn’t been able to arrange equipment that advanced. She was relying on his verbal descriptions.
After checking all of that, she looked back and listened to make certain no one else was coming down. Then she unrolled the picks onto the barrel and chose three that were the most useful. Pelya knelt in front of the lock. Bobbell had snuck her around a few times to different doors and had her practice, but this was the first time she had ever attempted it by herself.
The lock looked very similar to another one she had learned on. Pelya carefully inserted two of the picks in to see if they became warm. When they didn’t, she knew there weren’t any magical wards on it and pulled them back out. Pelya trusted Bobbell’s judgment of their ability.
Before trying to pick the lock, she tested whether or not the door was even locked, a rule Bobbell had hammered into her head to make sure she would never look the fool. It was, so she eagerly inserted the first pick into the lock. Once it was set, she put in the second and third. With a little pressure, the lock clicked. It surprised her that she might get it so quickly, but when she tested the handle, it opened.
The room beyond was dark too. Pelya put the picks back and grabbed the lantern. She was disappointed to see more crates of household furnishings. Some of the items on shelves along the wall appeared to be tarnished silver, which would justify the locked door. Pelya wouldn’t have stolen anything. She considered herself a member of the Guard sworn to uphold the law, but picking locks and sneaking around took skill and made her feel alive. They were also useful abilities to have when hunting down true thieves and criminals.
Pelya sat down on one of the crates in disappointment. She put the lockpicks back under her tunic and felt the pouch with her other two rune balls, remembering that one of them would find secret doors. Ebudae had told her that most of the manors in older districts like the Merchant and Noble Districts had secret passages. She picked out the light green ball and rolled it around in her hand. Before doing anything, Pelya grabbed the lantern and went back to the upper basement to see if anyone had come down to check on her.
That level was clear and a minute later, she was back in the room. She said the key word to activate the rune ball and it began to glow green. Pelya shined it around the room only to be extremely disappointed when it didn’t reveal anything. Not willing to give up, she took it out into the rest of the sub-basement to see if she could find something.
When the light revealed a space behind a stone wall in the back corner, she smiled gleefully. It took a moment of moving the rune ball around the area to find the trigger, a stone she had to push near the low ceiling. She stood on a crate and pushed with all her might while still holding the rune ball. It worked, but created a slight grinding noise.
Pelya froze in hope that no one had heard. After a minute, she investigated the passage beyond, taking the lantern along for better light. It was much cleaner than she expected. There was little dust or cobwebs and the floor was swept, meaning that the passage was used. It worried her that she might get caught. People didn’t tend to be understanding about strangers in their secre
t passages and the standard excuse of looking for a chamber pot defied credibility.
She was undecided for a moment, but decided to explore to the left first. About two hundred feet away, there was a set of stairs going upward. Pelya didn’t want to go up, so she turned in the other direction. The secret door to the sub-basement was still open, so she found the passage-side trigger and closed it, hoping it would also let her back out. She kept the rune ball activated. It would continue to work awhile and there might be other passages.
After another three hundred feet, there were stairs going down. Pelya stayed to the left-hand side and hoped there were no traps along the way as she quickly moved down. After sixty steps, they turned and went down the other direction. They did that three more times before coming to another hallway.
Pelya made her way carefully through the damp passage. Patchy moss covered the walls and ceiling, but the floor was clear. She followed it for two hundred feet before coming to another door. It was metal, but plain. She tried the latch, expecting it to be locked, but the door opened easily.
What she saw on the other side of that door caused her eyes to go wide in amazement.
Chapter 19
Instead of a dark and dusty room with treasure and hidden dangers, Pelya saw a room filled with magical lanterns, bookshelves along one wall, a stone floor with thick magical runes painted on it, workbenches with items of wizardry much like Ebudae had in her labs and more runes painted on the walls. In addition to that, there were a few small, magical creatures in cages scattered throughout the room. On the far end, surrounded by eight orange, glowing orbs of lights that were set on stands, was a large cage. But the thing that made Pelya gasp was the orange dragon lying in the middle of the cage, staring at her with liquid-silver eyes.
She had heard a few tales of dragons, but few people ever saw one. They were mysterious creatures that stayed away from human civilization. What she remembered hearing from Mieky, a bard friend of her father’s at Carnival, was that dragons were the most powerful creatures in the world. He told her that entire armies had fallen before them, but hadn’t heard of dragons killing humans or vice versa anytime in the last millennium or more and didn’t know why. Mieky said little was known about them other than the facts that they were bigger than a large inn, very beautiful, could fly, and that it was an absolutely horrible idea to upset one.
As she carefully walked toward it after shutting the door behind her, Pelya observed that the dragon was beautiful, stunning even. Metallic orange scales covered the body from snout to tail, glimmering in the light of the orbs and lanterns. The wings were folded back and its head was resting on its front claws. Pelya got the distinct impression that it was sad, though she couldn’t figure out how she knew that.
Mieky had mentioned that dragons were bigger than most large inns, but this one was more the size of a large wagon. Pelya wondered if he exaggerated the facts or if it was just a small dragon. She wasn’t sure if it was safe to get too close, but curiosity was stronger than anything. “Hello, beautiful dragon . . . you are a dragon, aren’t you?”
Its head lifted a tiny bit and a pitiful, trembling wail emitted from its mouth before settling back on its forepaws. The small dragon looked weak to Pelya and she instantly felt sympathy for it. “You poor dear,” Pelya said, moving toward the cage. She stopped at the edge of an intricately spoked, large circle of runes that surrounded the cage. She studied them for a moment without understanding what any of it did. “You’re trapped in there aren’t you?” she asked before instantly realizing it was a stupid question.
It gave her just the slightest miserable nod of its head. She was surprised that the creature understood her, but remembered Mieky telling her that they were said to be much more intelligent than humans.
There was a large lock on the gate and Pelya got the idea of helping it escape. It was probably a stupid idea, but she didn’t care. The creature was far too beautiful to be locked away. She noticed that the circle on the floor had spokes leading outside of it that attached to the stands the glowing orbs were above. Those spokes were the same color orange as the orbs and went directly underneath the dragon. “Are they draining your power?” Pelya guessed.
The head rose further that time and a louder wail came forth.
“Shh, shh,” Pelya hushed anxiously. “I don’t want anyone to find me here, otherwise I won’t be able to rescue you.” The dragon tilted its head in curiosity at the word rescue. Pelya glanced back nervously to make sure no one had entered the room before turning to the dragon again. “I don’t know what I’m doing or if I’ll succeed, but I’m going to try.” She gestured to the circle of runes on the floor. “Is that some sort of magic that keeps anything from getting to you?”
It didn’t respond right away. Its eyes swirled more rapidly. Then it nodded slowly. Pelya got the impression there was more to the answer. Guessing what the dragon was trying to communicate to her was difficult. Setting down the lantern, but still keeping the rune ball in her hand so it wouldn’t deactivate, she pulled one of the picks out of her pouch and held it forward toward the circle. It didn’t just become warm, it turned white hot and burned her fingers, causing her to drop it. “Ouch!” she yelled, ignoring her own advice to be quiet. The dragon raised one of the long ridges that ran over his eyes in a most humanlike expression. Pelya stuck the wounded finger in her mouth and glared at the creature.
Luckily, the pick only became hot when handled. She was able to retrieve it with the leather of the pouch and work it back into its opening. “I need to be able to pick the lock, but I have no idea how to get past anything magical,” she told the dragon sadly. It slumped its head in dejection.
Pelya sighed and looked around the room. The other creatures appeared to have their energy being drained as well, which suddenly made her furious. She wanted to save all of them, but couldn’t without some sort of magical knowledge. Pelya wondered briefly if Aunt Kally knew about the room, then she panicked in fear that someone might have come into the basement to find her. She calmed her breathing and decided she didn’t care.
“Let me see if I can figure something out,” she told the dragon. It didn’t respond except to follow Pelya with its eyes while she explored. It was a very large room with multiple tables. Magical items of all sorts were on many of them along with tools and ingredients to make those items. Pelya couldn’t help think that Ebudae would love the place.
Then, along the back wall, the rune ball exposed a very large secret door. It occurred to Pelya that it was large enough to fit a dragon. She looked for a mechanism, but couldn’t find it. For five minutes, she scanned the wall without discovering its secret. Some sort of room or wide hall was behind it, but the light only exposed fifteen feet beyond.
Foiled in her attempts, Pelya rapidly began searching the rest of the walls and even the bookcases. No other door revealed itself. Then she looked around all the tables and shelves for a key, scroll or anything else to give her a clue about the dragon’s cage or the entrance. It was to no avail. Well after an hour had passed, she sat down cross-legged just outside the circle in front of the dragon. Pelya put her chin on her fists and felt tears beginning to flow.
She was tired of crying and wiped them off furiously. “I’m sorry, beautiful dragon. I just don’t know how to get you out of here,” Pelya apologized miserably. It didn’t respond other than to continue staring at her dejectedly. Pelya began tossing the rune ball back and forth from hand to hand.
Aunt Kally was probably done with . . . ‘the meeting,’ as Pelya considered it in her mind. She didn’t want to think about the other stuff. “I’m supposed to be in the basement killing rats,” Pelya admitted to the dragon who didn’t respond. “Someone’s most likely searching for me now. I don’t care if I get in trouble, but I just wish I could save you.”
The dragon lifted its head up for the first time in a while. Pelya watched as it inhaled. Then it sneezed on her.
Pelya sat there in shock as it lowered its head again. Dr
agon snot covered her face and clothes, even oozing down her collar. “Eww,” she told it while holding her arms out in disgust. “I can’t believe you just sneezed on me after I tried to help you.” It didn’t respond at all. It didn’t even look guilty.
She crushed the snot-covered rune ball to destroy it. Pelya was about to throw the dust on the ground, but realized it would give someone a clue that she had been there. With a huff, she picked up the lantern, turned and stomped back to the door she had come in, still holding the dust. At the same time, she did her best to wipe off the extra-sticky snot with an arm.
As she ripped the door open and entered the secret passage, it occurred to her that she was doing a terrible job of sneaking around in a place that was owned by someone with powerful enough magic to capture a dragon. Her senses came back to her. Pelya set the lantern down and closed the door before picking it back up.
Everything was quiet ahead, so she made her way back to the stairs and up, stopping at each landing to listen again. It was still clear when she reached the original hallway and she headed instantly to the secret door. At that point, Pelya realized she had crushed the rune ball that allowed her to see the trigger to open it.
Pelya went to the steps up and counted back to where she remembered the secret door being. She was very pleased with herself when she got it right on the second try. The door opened in front of her and she slipped through. Much to her relief, there was no one in the sub-basement that she could see or hear. A rat noticed her, but seemed willing to keep the secret.
The secret door closed when she pushed the trigger on that side. It still made the grinding noise, but didn’t seem to alert anyone. Pelya moved to some crates a short distance away and threw the dust of the rune ball on the ground where it wouldn’t be seen. She wiped off the remaining powder on her pants.
There was no one in the upper level of the basement either. Pelya walked to the bottom of the stairs and stood there for a few minutes. Faint sounds of the kitchen trickled down the steps, but there was no indication of trouble or alarm.
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