Deliverance

by Brittany Comeaux

  Of course, even Blaze knew that this was going to be much easier said than done.

  ****

  On the first day of his journey, Blaze made it back to the river, crossed it, and found his way to the other river. There were soldiers every now and then along the banks, but thankfully, the areas were covered with enough hills that he could navigate around them to avoid being seen. On occasion, he dared to sneak into the soldier camps to steal supplies, such as a cloak to cover his face and neck, a canteen with water, food, money, and a few knifes he figured would come in handy.

  He traveled east along the river, and even though he was constantly exhausted, he only slept in areas he knew he wouldn’t be found, and he didn’t sleep for more than an hour or two at a time. On the second day, he figured he could cover more ground if he had a horse, so he traveled south a short distance to a village where he bought a horse with the money he stole from the soldiers. He somehow didn’t attract the attention of the soldiers nearby, and was even more thankful that the rancher who sold him the horse didn’t recognize him from the wanted posters that the soldiers had posted in the village. Blaze rode on his dark brown horse the rest of the day and once again slept only a few hours that night.

  Blaze finally reached the edge of the forest around Cartigo by noon on the third day. After tying his horse near a small pond and giving him plenty of food, he set off towards the wooded area. Upon arriving, he snuck around a group of trees and happened to catch eye of several soldiers patrolling the area.

  Damn, Saitar must’ve warned Bogdan I was coming, Blaze thought. He began to carefully move to the side when his foot caught something metal on the ground. Thinking at first that it was an old horseshoe, Blaze went to kick it off of his boot, when he realized that whatever it was, it was stuck in its place.

  He bent down to examine the object and realized that it was not a horseshoe, but a handle that was attached to a small wooden door in the ground. Overgrown roots and weeds covered up the little door, and after brushing it all off, Blaze pulled the handle and opened the door. Inside was a ladder that led straight down into a tunnel. Blaze wondered if it might lead to the castle, but then he remembered something Crystal told him: she and Gavril had escaped the castle ten years before through a tunnel that led just outside the forest.

  He knew that Bogdan never found the tunnel, so he decided that this was the best way to sneak into the castle. He crawled inside and climbed down the ladder, quietly shutting the little door behind him, and once his feet were on the ground, he ventured forward into the unknown.

  Thankfully, some holes in the ground let light escape into the tunnel so that Blaze could see where he was going. He walked and walked for a good while, and the further he went, the more soldiers he could hear above him. The tunnel continued forever, and curved and dipped downward or upward every now and then. He could hear rats squeaking and scurrying away from the sound of his boots splashing into small puddles of water. Just when he thought he would be navigating the tunnel all day, a small amount of sunlight shined on another ladder at the end of the tunnel. Blaze grabbed onto it and climbed up to the ceiling where another small, wooden door lie, and barely lifted it.

  He slowly peeked through the crack and didn’t see or hear anyone, so he lifted the door all the way and came out of the tunnel. He realized he was in some kind of storage room, and there was a small window that sunlight escaped through. The room was small, and there were a few shelves with ceramic pots and a few brooms leaned against the wall. The little door he came through was covered with a rug and had fallen off when he lifted it, so just in case, he placed the rug back on top of it.

  He crept up to the door and pressed his ear against it. After hearing nothing on the other side, he opened a crack and peeked through it. He realized almost immediately that he was in a corridor on the ground floor near the kitchen, and also realized that the dungeon wasn’t far from there either. After making sure that no guards were around, Blaze crept into the hallway and darted off in the direction of the dungeon.

  Blaze sneaked around several corridors as he made his way to the east wing of the ground floor, and to his annoyance, there was a guard stationed right by the entrance to the dungeon. Dammit, he thought. He realized that he would have to get rid of him somehow, and then he had an idea. When he raided the soldier camp, Blaze had found some poison throwing darts, and he had practiced with those after some halflings showed him how to do it, so he decided to give it a shot.

  When the guard looked in the opposite direction and exposed his neck, Blaze swiftly flung his wrist and shot the guard square in the neck. He dropped to the ground and died almost instantly, and so Blaze hurried up and dragged him into the dungeon door after unlocking it.

  Blaze then closed the dungeon door, dressed himself in the guard’s armor, and carried the guard’s body to an empty cell, where he dropped the body down and left it. Blaze then peeked through the bars of each cell, looking for a familiar face. Several prisoners cried to him for mercy, but he ignored them. Finally, he heard a familiar voice say, “That damned king of theirs,” and Blaze instantly recognized it as Sigurd’s.

  He ran in the direction of the voice and saw Sigurd as well as Kerali, Maryn, Taryn, and an unconscious Thaddeus in the cell as well. The old mage sat upright with his legs folded and his eyes closed. He muttered dreamily when Blaze approached and then with a loud gasp, Thaddeus awoke and stared straight at him.

  “Blaze! Is that you?” Thaddeus asked.

  “Blaze?” Everyone exclaimed at once.

  Blaze replied by removing the guard helmet, exposing his face.

  “AHA! You made it, my boy!” exclaimed Thaddeus, who rose to his feet and ran to the cell bars to meet Blaze.

  “How DARE you show yourself after what you’ve done!” Sigurd growled at Blaze, “If I had my axe, I swear I’d—”

  “Oh hush, Sigurd!” Thaddeus interrupted, “Do you honestly think if Blaze actually did betray us he would risk his life to sneak in here to help us?”

  “What are you saying, Thaddeus?” asked Kerali.

  “Blaze is innocent,” Thaddeus replied.

  “And how do you know that?” asked Sigurd.

  “I saw it! I saw him fighting that big fellow . . . oh, what was his name?”

  “Orodan,” Blaze clarified.

  “Yes, Orodan! I saw Orodan tell you about the mark and how Saitar used that to get information! As soon as I did, I knew that the traitor could see the vision too, so I quickly alerted you and put myself to sleep so that Saitar couldn’t see anymore!” Thaddeus explained.

  “So that’s why you told us not to wake you?” Maryn asked.

  “Exactly!” Thaddeus replied. He then turned back to Blaze and said, “I am so relieved that you came, but you need to find Crystal quickly! The wedding is in two hours!”

  “I thought she was here?” Blaze replied.

  “No, no, she’s been locked up somewhere else. The ceremony will be in the hall on the third floor, from what I hear,” replied the mage.

  “Okay, we can split up and try to find her before the wedding,” Blaze replied and then began shuffling through the key ring.

  “We stay here!” Sigurd barked.

  Blaze paused and replied, “Why?”

  “Sigurd is right. If the guards notice that we are gone, they will immediately alert Bogdan, and Crystal will be put in much more danger than she is already in. If you do not find her before they notice we are gone, then she could get hurt because of us. I refuse to take that chance,” Thaddeus said.

  “By my axe, I will not disgrace her father’s memory by putting her in more danger so I don’t have to stay in this dirty cell. He was a great ruler and an even better person; his daughter is no different,” Sigurd replied nobly.

  “Yes, she has been a loyal friend as well as a wonderful leader, and I will not let her be hurt,” Kerali added.

  “Don’t worry, Blaze. We’re tougher than we look,” Maryn said.

  “We can wait
to get out of here a little while longer,” Taryn added.

  Blaze sighed and said, “Okay, I’ll find her myself.”

  “Oh and there’s something else you need to do once you have gotten her out of Cartigo,” Thaddeus said.

  “What?”

  “While I was asleep, I had a vision of my brother, Malcolm. He came to me and told me that the last Gaull shard was with him, and that he took it to the Lost Realm when he died. It lies there now!”

  “The Lost Realm?” Blaze asked.

  “Crystal will explain it. All Malcolm told me was that the shard was there and that the two of you were needed there. He also said that Crystal will be able to learn the secret to holy magic if she goes there!” Thaddeus concluded.

  “Okay, so does Crystal know how to get there?” Blaze asked.

  “No, so you will need to visit the City of Magi to consult with the elders about it, and they can also remove this,” replied Thaddeus, who then pointed to Blaze’s neck where the tracking mark was.

  “Good, because this thing is more trouble than it’s worth,” Blaze replied.

  “By the way, what happened to Gavril?” asked Thaddeus.

  It just dawned on Blaze that the general wasn’t in there, so obviously after the incident by the river, he hadn’t been captured.

  “We got separated . . .” Blaze replied.

  “Oh, well, I suppose you can find him later.” replied Thaddeus, “Now go, hurry!”

  With a nod, Blaze replaced his helmet and darted off down the corridor and out of the dungeon.

  CHAPTER 17

  Gavril carefully snuck around the edge of the forest outside of Cartigo to find a way past the soldiers stationed throughout the area. He saw all the soldiers in the surrounding forest, and even though he didn’t know why they were there, he knew there was only one way into the castle. He continued to search until he found the trap door he was looking for at the foot of a large tree. When he saw it, he went to open it, but realized something was odd; it had been opened recently.

  “Don’t tell me they found this,” he muttered.

  The young rebel traveling alongside him muttered back, “Wouldn’t they be stationed here, then?”

  “Maybe, but there’s plenty of open area for us to get away from an ambush, so they could be waiting to trap us on the other side of the tunnel where there is no place to run,” Gavril replied.

  Whether he was right or not, he knew this was the only option he had to find Crystal. For the past two days, he traveled frantically south towards the rebel hideout. On his way there, he ran into survivors of the attack on the hideout led by the Daldussan General Orodan only a few hours after the team had left. The shards they had collected were stolen and the whole hideout was in complete ruin. Very few rebels survived, but those who did found a place for the weaker people to hide and those who could fight well enough traveled north to find their leader and warn her.

  Along the route to the Caris shrine, they came across a weary Gavril, who informed them they had been ambushed by Bogdan and that Crystal and the others had been captured. They informed Gavril of their news as well. Despite what they had just been through, the surviving rebels still wanted to fight, so Gavril took temporary charge as leader and planned a sneak attack on Cartigo to rescue their comrades.

  “So what are your orders, Gavril?” asked the rebel.

  “We’ll move in one group at a time. I will go in first and you can follow a little ways behind. When I see that it is safe to go in, you can go back and inform the others to come in as well,” Gavril commanded.

  “Yes sir!” the rebel replied.

  After they told the other rebels the plan, Gavril and the younger rebel traveled through the tunnel under the city. They walked carefully with their swords drawn in front and upon reaching the end, Gavril instructed the rebel to stay his ground. The former general then emerged from the tunnel after making sure it was clear. He then inched closer to the door and stopped dead in his tracks when he heard two male voices just outside the door.

  “My, you make a wonderful groom, Lord Valamar.”

  Gavril recognized that as Saitar’s voice. He then heard Valamar reply, “I have quite a luscious bride, as well.”

  Gavril had to calm himself from shaking almost hard enough to shake the hilt of his sword.

  “It amazes me how easy it was to get her to agree to this. All we had to do was threaten to kill her friends and she followed orders like a puppet,” Saitar coldly stated.

  Gavril mouthed “son of a bitch” when he heard this; he wanted to slice through all of them for taking advantage of Crystal’s love for her friends.

  “I can’t believe how easy it was to get her to not only trust the prince, but to fall for him too, it seems. I just loved the broken look on her face when Bogdan told the rebels the truth,” Valamar replied.

  Gavril could feel his face flush bright red. Though he didn’t want to see it, it was evident that Crystal was falling in love with Blaze, and the fact that he led her on only angered Gavril more.

  “Oh, but here is the best part, Blaze didn’t turn them in,” Saitar replied.

  Gavril’s heart sank and his face turned from red to white.

  “He didn’t?” asked a confused Valamar.

  “Not willingly, no. You see, I saw the little tracking mark they branded him with, and so I left my own mark on it so that whenever Thaddeus would get a vision, I would too. I soon could see that the rebels were gaining his trust, so the king decided that there was no better way to crush their hopes forever than to make them think Prince Blaze fooled them all,” Saitar stated.

  “How nasty of Bogdan to trick them like that! He’s a genius,” Valamar stated.

  “Indeed, he is.” Saitar agreed, “Oh, and the king will regretfully be unable to attend the wedding and asked me to apologize on his behalf. You see, we believe that Prince Blaze will try to sneak into the castle to save the girl, so the king will have his hands tied with the town defenses all afternoon. I will be joining him as well.”

  “Oh, that’s a shame. I was looking forward to his presence,” replied Valamar.

  “Well, it is necessary if you want your wedding to be uninterrupted by that whelp,” Saitar stated.

  “Yes, I suppose so,” Valamar admitted.

  Gavril suddenly felt a mixture of anger towards the two men and shame at the way he treated Blaze. Just as soon as he vowed to find him and make amends, Gavril could hear Valamar and Saitar laughing and walking away, so he cracked open the door and saw that the coast was clear. When he was sure no one could hear him, he shook his head and muttered aloud, “The bastard was telling the truth!”

  Gavril then opened the trap door and called down to the rebel and said, “Tell the others it’s safe to come in here!”

  “Yes sir!” the young rebel called. Gavril then heard the rebel’s footsteps fading into the tunnel.

  ****

  Blaze snuck through the corridors of the castle in the stolen guard armor. Thankfully, he didn’t have to hide since the helmet covered most of his face, but he had to be careful not to attract suspicion from real guards by lingering around. He remembered how the Daldussan soldiers marched and tried his best to mimic it despite never actually trying it. Apparently, he was able to pull it off, and even though he got a few stares, he knew the other guards just thought he was a rookie by the way they shook their heads.

  Whenever he was sure no guards were in the corridor he marched in, Blaze then creaked one door open at a time and checked inside each one for Crystal, but he could not find her. He didn’t dare check too many at a time, because he was afraid of getting caught and ruining any chance of Crystal escaping. He was beginning to get nervous after an hour of looking and not finding her, and he had to hide how frantic he was after another half hour.

  Dammit! The wedding is about to start, he thought.

  He was just checking in another empty room when he suddenly heard footsteps behind him. His heart sank when a knife suddenly app
eared in front of his face and then was held to his throat. He was suddenly shoved into the empty room and the door was closed.

  Blaze then heard a familiar voice say behind him, “If you make a sound, I will kill you. Now tell me where Princess Amelia is being held captive.”

  Blaze then replied, “Gavril, it’s me, Blaze.”

  The knife suddenly moved away and Gavril let go of Blaze, who immediately turned around and lifted his helmet off of his head. He looked at Gavril, who was accompanied by two other rebels, and he pleaded, “Look, Gavril, I know don’t care what you think—”

  “I’m sorry,” Gavril interrupted.

  Blaze straightened up and responded, “What?”

  Gavril let out a long, deep sigh, and replied, “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you when you said you didn’t betray us. I overheard Saitar talking about what he did to your tracking mark. I then found Thaddeus and the others in the dungeon and they told me all about it that as well as how Malcolm told him Crystal is needed in the Lost Realm. They also told me you were here, so I figured if I looked for Crystal, I’d run into you eventually.”

  “Well now that we’re on the same team, let’s go find Crystal,” Blaze responded.

  “I couldn’t agree with you more,” Gavril said.

  “Do you have a plan that doesn’t include threatening me?” Blaze remarked.

  “No, but your disguise gives me an idea. Let’s get the other men together and get into position,” Gavril replied.

  Blaze placed the helmet back onto his head and said with a smirk, “Let’s go crash a wedding.”

  ****