by Lyndon Hardy
"Cannot the magicians give it an edge as well?" Alodar asked as he handed the dagger back, releasing his grip reluctantly. "With a feel like that one almost would be tempted to take on a swordsman."
"As I understand it, the ritual is set," Aeriel said. "Any change destroys the symmetry of the whole. Either one accepts a perfect hilt with a blade of no value or a dagger with no magical properties at all. And of course, if such a dirk as this could cut, the magicians' price would preclude it from the baubles of the nobility."
"You speak most strangely of your peers, my lady," Alodar said with the beginnings of a smile.
"I did not reach the council of the queen by adhering to what convention would expect of me, Alodar," she said. "Had I thought and acted as the rest of Vendora's childhood friends, then now I would be no more than a lady-in-waiting, concerned with pretty needlework, rather than affairs of state. Let the likes of a Festil be guided by tradition, rather than what each situation uniquely demands. I will not be frightened by an idea, just because it has not been previously recorded in the sagas.
"And as proof of that," she continued, returning Alodar's smile, "please call me Aeriel. There is no need for ceremony for one who seems to work so diligently in our cause. I could not but notice that you react to our situation in a different way than most everyone. Rather than moping about when free from a turn at guard, you have been examining each mortar joint with that small glass of yours. Do you still carry out the queen's commands of now so long ago?"
"Yes, I still look for a key," Alodar said. "But as yet I have found none. I am beginning to think that there is nothing in the passageways to aid us. The answer must lie in one of these three chambers under the keep. So I visit each in turn, hoping for some inspiration."
"And which is next?"
"The second level, the one with the pillar."
"Good, let me go with you."
Alodar blinked, but then quickly nodded his agreement. The two left unnoticed out one of the passageways to the towers. They trudged along in silence for awhile, and then Alodar decided to make the best of his opportunity.
"How fares the queen under our duress?" he said.
"Alas, she lets her fate weigh heavily on her shoulders. As you can see, she broods too much to conduct herself as her station requires she should."
"But if somehow we are indeed rescued?"
"Ah, she would return to her former self in an instant, full of glory. And ample gratitude for the man who saves her."
"Regardless of station?" asked Alodar.
"Yes, regardless." Aeriel laughed. "I see the queen interests all men in the same way."
Suddenly, before he could continue, the ground shook with a long rolling wave; the torch lights blew wildly and flickered dim. The narrow passageway roared with the sound of crashing stone, and the shock, muted and stretched by the thick walls, echoed for several moments.
Aeriel reached for Alodar's arm. In the quiet that followed, he muttered, "The second one today. It only can mean that they are toppling the towers, one by one. Either our remaining defenders above give them difficulty or they seek to level Iron Fist on some mad craze. It is well that they have not yet discovered any entrances to these chambers."
Aeriel released her grip and breathed deeply. "Come," she said. "We were going to the second level."
They reached the tower in a short while. Descending through a hole in the floor, they climbed down to the next landing. Retracing their steps one level down, they returned to a chamber under the keep. It was deserted and built similarly to the ones above and below, except that instead of a slab or water pool, a massive stone column ran from floor to ceiling.
"It certainly is not needed to support the vault," Alodar said. "The other two chambers have the same span and the ceiling runs free from wall to wall. Yet strength is somehow the essence of that column. Look at it, not a seam anywhere, a monolith of granite. It could withstand the blows of many a mangonel and give up not a single chip from the shock."
"If it does not support, is it indeed even secure?" Aeriel asked.
"Yes, the base penetrates below floor level. From the look of it, it also projects up into the ceiling as well."
Alodar stepped back to survey the column but found himself instead watching Aeriel as she inspected the stonework. Her eyes darted first to the ceiling, then to the floor, and finally scanned the length slowly for any crack or seam. She looked back at Alodar when she was done, and her eyes widened as she realized what his focus of attention had been.
"Excuse my boldness, but you are most pleasing fair," Alodar said without thinking.
"Oh enough, Alodar." Aeriel raised her hand as a slight color came to her cheeks. "I have seen the effect of the queen on too many men not to know what truly constitutes beauty. Let us concentrate on our search."
Alodar nodded and motioned to the archway, suddenly pleased with himself for what he had said and the reaction it had caused. Without another word, they left the chamber and returned to the flanking tower. As they began to climb down to the bottommost level, the ground shook again like a blanket snapped taut on a newly made bed, and the rumble echoed about them so that neither could speak. As the reverberations died, a man-at-arms poked his head through the opening to the level above.
"Lady Aeriel, come quickly to the queen's bidding," he shouted down. "A strange occurrence in the central chamber."
Alodar and Aeriel quickly reversed direction, following the man back to the queen. Everyone of their small band was there, filling the room, and all heads looked anxiously upwards towards the huge vault of the ceiling. Vendora was where Alodar had seen her last, but now she stood propped against Feston, leaning heavily on the arm he wrapped around her.
A sudden streak of motion caught Alodar's eye. He turned his head upward to see several large drops of opaque liquid ooze out between two of the massive stones. They fell and spattered against the rusty slab at the chamber's center and added to the messy orange slurry of their predecessors.
He frowned in concentration. Nothing from thaumaturgy certainly, he thought. But what had Periac told him of the other arts? What would seep through what no mason could chisel in a week?
"Solvent!" he yelled as the answer struck him. "And it looks high grade. Everyone out! The ceiling is going to collapse. That is how the towers were toppled. They are dissolving the mortar between the stones."
No one moved. All were transfixed by the slowly increasing tempo of the drip and the widening pool on the chamber floor. Before Alodar could say more, the giant keystone in the center of the vault began to slide slowly down and away from the rock which surrounded it. It gathered speed; with a cascade of liquid on every side, it fell away entirely, into their midst. With a resounding crash, it hit the slab and sprayed liquid and splinters of rock in all directions. The crowd screamed and sprang alive, bolting for the passageways, shouldering one another aside in their haste.
Alodar and Aeriel moved to one side to let them pass, their eyes on the queen across the chamber. Feston, with his grip still on Vendora's arm, spun her towards the nearest exit and pushed her ahead. Periac recovered his balance from a brushing blow and plunged after the queen. Festil immediately followed, almost catching the thaumaturge's cape with his long running stride.
Alodar looked again at the ceiling. Through the new opening, Bandor's men were lowering a rope ladder and several were making ready to descend. He glanced over his shoulder into the passageway from which he had just entered and then hesitated no longer. Grabbing Aeriel's hand, he raced across the room, avoiding the many small pools of solvent which were now working on the seams in the floor. As he passed the slab, his eyes was caught by its now shining brilliance. The bath had cleaned away the rust and a good portion of the iron as well.
He stopped suddenly and looked again. The shine was not from the iron alone.
"Look, Aeriel," he exclaimed. "In the center of the iron, a disk of copper! It is not a solid iron slab, after all. Beneath the rust is this
circle of copper in a yoke of iron. A circle at each level. The copper here, the column below, and a well at the bottom of it all."
Three circles of the same diameter! One above the other. In a flash the castle's secret came to him. He looked again at the rope ladder. Two men were already gently swinging on it. He grabbed Aeriel again and ran off after the others. He had the answer. If there was only enough time to use it.
CHAPTER FOUR
The Hero's Reward
THE passageway blurred by and Alodar glanced back over his shoulder. Bandor's men were already in the tunnel after him. He increased his speed; the drawn swords shining in the torchlight gave his legs urgency even beyond what he had felt two days before when the outer walls had fallen. He squeezed Aeriel's hand tighter, and they rapidly closed on Vendora and the others up ahead.
They caught the queen just as they entered the small room under the corner tower. The panicked flight momentarily stopped in a mass confusion of waving arms and shouted directions.
"Up, up to the surface. It is our only chance," yelled Festil as he tumbled Periac down from the stairs and started to climb.
"No, no father," Feston boomed louder still. "See the stonework. We must go down." As he spoke, he yanked Vendora out of the way of dripping liquid that began to ooze from the ceiling and pushed her through the opening in the floor.
Everyone clambered after. As Alodar brought up at the rear, he saw the small group disappear into the passageway that led back under the keep.
"We will make our stand around the pillar," Festil shouted back to the three soldiers who now ran with him. They drew their swords as they raced, and Aeriel instinctively started to follow.
Alodar grabbed her by the arm and held her back. "Our only chance lies below," he said. "Let us hope that Feston and the others can hold them off until the spell is finished."
He plunged down to the bottom level, pulling Aeriel with him. The staircase seemed to spiral for an eternity and his heartbeat almost drowned out the clank of mail and shouts of the chase that now filtered down after them.
Finally at the bottom, he raced for the central chamber, scarcely noticing the diminishing noise as the hunters chose to pursue the quarry one level above. In a moment they reached their destination and saw the serene pool at the center. Alodar looked rapidly about. They were alone.
"Quickly, Aeriel," he said, "your ring. No, no the unadorned one. Gold is not the best choice and we must at least make the shape as similar as we can."
Aeriel slipped one of the rings from her finger and, with a puzzled expression, handed it to Alodar. Without pausing for explanation, he fumbled in a pouch at his waist and withdrew a small collection of coins.
"At least the copper will be right," he said as he quickly tried matching the coins one by one to the shape of the ring. "Ah, this one jams in properly. Now fill the cup with the water from the well."
Aeriel took the cup he whisked from his cape and dipped it in the pool. "What spell do you cast here, Alodar? I see that the coin in the ring is like the copper disk in the iron collar we saw bared above. But their intent I still cannot fathom."
"The cool water of the well will shrink the metals slightly," he replied, "and because they are different, the copper disk will slip free."
"But what can we use for the energy source? There is naught here but stone and water," Aeriel said, waving her arms about the empty chamber.
"You listened to master Periac well," Alodar said, "but no source is needed for this spell. Rather, we need a sink to absorb the heat we extract from the hunks of metal two levels above. And the water in the well will serve that purpose for us. Now stand close to me, for in truth I know not all that will happen."
Alodar glanced quickly into the four passageways, but no figures fleeing or pursuing showed in them, and he began the binding. When be was done, he thrust the ring holding the coin into the numbing cold of the water and held it motionless. Simultaneously the stillness of the pool was broken by the eruption of tiny bubbles all across its surface.
Alodar held the ring firmly, though his fingers began to ache with the cold. The simmer of the pool changed into a boil, growing more vigorous by the second, and the first wisps of steam crept upward into the already dripping air.
Alodar looked anxiously back and forth between the now scalding well and the placid ring. Was it cold enough? Was there enough water in the well?
The feeling left his hand and the opaqueness of the steam engulfed them; so the passageways were blotted from view and the oil lights in the wall became dim and diffuse.
Finally as the fog closed in, the copper coin dropped clear of the ring and gently fell to the bottom of the cup.
"Look to the ceiling," Alodar shouted as he tore his eyes from what he held. Brushing aside the vapor, they could dimly see the round keystone at the center of the vault tremble and begin to move. It slipped down a foot and then another, increasing speed with each moment and heading unerringly for the well in the chamber's floor.
"Why, it is not a stone at all," Aeriel exclaimed. "Look, it is getting longer and longer like a giant column."
"The column from the second level," Alodar explained, "held in place by a copper cap in the yoke of iron."
He could say no more before the granite cylinder fell into the concentric hole in the floor, missing the edge all around by mere inches. With a sharp crack like a giant bullwhip, it hit the water's surface and drove the liquid downward. Aeriel stumbled to her knees from the intensity of the blow, and Alodar fell awkwardly over her, both flailing and grabbing for their ears in pain.
Small geysers shot from the well around the edges of the column as it continued its plunge, moving more slowly as it pushed the resistance before it. The din of the contact echoed about, and Alodar felt dazed from the onslaught. The cacophony continued unabated for minutes; but through his cupped hands, Alodar could hear another sound slowly increasing in intensity, the rumble of stone on stone.
He looked about for the source of the noise and, as the copper top of the column slid from view into the well, he spotted motion in the northeast passageway.
"The whole floor," he exclaimed, "the whole floor moves as one unit. No wonder we could never spot a break in the stone. There isn't any."
"What has happened, Alodar?" Aeriel asked weakly, still on her knees from the shock. "What did the column do in the well?"
"It was a giant water ram, Aeriel. A giant ram that moved the whole passageway floor upwards a good three feet. We are seeing what no one has witnessed since Iron Fist was constructed hundreds of years ago. By the laws, let us hope we also see our way out of this trap. Look at that gap," he continued excitedly as he approached the raised floorway. "Stone a foot thick but still a slot beneath the bottom and the level of the cobbling here in the chamber."
As he got nearer, he lit a candle and thrust it into the newly made opening. "Stairs," he exclaimed. Before Aeriel could protest, he huddled down and disappeared from view.
The passage was narrow and confining, and Alodar had to stoop and bow in his shoulders as he made his way downwards. He held the candle in front as far as he could, but the darkness extended farther than the feeble light could reach. He paused and tried to concentrate on whether to continue or return to the chamber and announce his discovery. Each heartbeat relentlessly ticked away the time they had left, and the fall of the cylinder would surely bring Bandor's vassals on the run.
Aeriel's scream made his decision for him. Alodar quickly spun about and retraced the few steps he had made into the gloom. As he surfaced, Aeriel ran toward him, pointing frantically down the passageway that lay atop the newly discovered stairs. Alodar turned and squinted down the long length of stone archway that led to the corner tower. His already rapid pulse quickened as he saw in the distance the wave of torches and the glint of armor. At least six of Bandor's men were on the bottom level, babbling wildly about the raised flooring and pointing down at the newly discovered prey under the keep.
Alodar
grabbed Aeriel by the hand and turned to descend again into the darkness. He took a step and hesitated. "The queen," he said. "Where is the queen? It is no good unless we can also save the fair lady."
He ran back to the center of the chamber and sighted down the two passageways he could not see from the edge. The first was empty, but in the second he saw rapid movement towards him. His heart leaped with his good fortune.
"It is the queen, Aeriel," he shouted, motioning her towards him. "Feston is still with her, and I can see Periac and Festil close behind."
He moved his head from side to side, trying to see behind the four fleeing figures. He sucked in his breath. "More of Bandor's men hot on their trail," he cried.
He glanced back into the passageway with the raised floor. The men there had begun to move towards the chamber, though not with the speed of those pursuing Vendora and the others. Angry shouts and the rapid tread of feet sounded from behind, and Alodar whirled about, his worst fears realized. Enemies converged on them from all four corners.
Alodar felt his muscles tense and his breathing turn to shallow gasps. Run, run, take the only chance that you have, his body said. But he steeled himself and held his ground, eyeing each tunnel in turn, trying to estimate which group would reach him first. Time lost all meaning while he waited; it seemed an eon later when Feston and Vendora burst through with their pursuers hard at their heels.
"Where are the other men-at-arms?" Alodar scouted as Periac and Festil followed the first two into the center of the room.
"They stood their ground nobly to defend the queen," Festil gasped, waving aside Alodar's question as irrelevant to his own plight.
"Then follow me," Alodar commanded and he led Aeriel into the passageway. He did not pause to rekindle a candle, but caught the rhythm of the steps and descended as rapidly as he could in the blackness, pulling Aeriel after him. He could hear the voices of the other four following close behind.
They descended for more than a flight, and then Alodar stumbled as the ground suddenly became level and the tunnel widened. The others tumbled over him. As they flailed to disentangle, a dim light filtered down from above.
