Bobble flitted back at that moment and Charles hoped he had heard Phichorian.
“The next two rooms are clear.”
Amertious led the way in.
The first room was small, just an entryway. The second was larger, with racks along one wall for swords and spears.
“Where would you like me to check next?” Bobble asked.
Amertious paced around the room. “If they’re on this floor they’ll have heard us by now.” He nodded to a dark staircase. “Down first, then up.”
Bobble saluted and flitted down the stairs. Charles watched until the sprite was swallowed by the darkness, which took about six seconds. Amertious went to the other door and looked around the edge. He motioned for them to follow.
They found themselves in another large room, this one with several long wooden tables. The dining room, or maybe they called it the mess, or the refectory like they did at the university. Amertious started looking under all the tables and opening a cupboard that was filled with plates. Charles turned to Phichorian. Phichorian shrugged and started looking under tables himself. Charles joined in, even though he had no idea what he was looking for. Hopefully it would be so obvious he’d know it when he saw it.
Charles never did find out what they were searching for; as he looked under the fifth table, Bobble flitted by, just past his face. Charles straightened up. He saw Bobble dart under Phichorian’s table, then dart over to Amertious. Bobble hovered behind Amertious, glancing over his shoulder until he saw the rest of them edging forward.
Melissina smiled at Bobble and nodded.
Bobble straightened and spoke, “My lord...”
Amertious turned. “Did you find anything?” He sounded dismissive, like he couldn’t imagine Bobble would have found anything important.
But Bobble was not acting like someone with nothing important to say, wringing his hands and bouncing on his toes, even though he was still hovering in the air. “I know where the guards are,” he whispered.
“Where?” Amertious looked ready to run at them.
Bobble pointed to the stairs. “There are at least twenty down there; I could see them from the prison stairwell.”
Amertious drummed his fingers on the table. “At least twenty? So there could be more.” He swept across the dining room and back into the main room.
Melissina and Phichorian followed Amertious. Charles fingered the hilt of the sword Amertious had given him as he followed. Practicing with it had been fun, but he certainly didn’t feel ready to take on a real enemy.
Amertious sensed when they had entered the room. “All right. We’ll use the stairwell to our advantage and funnel them through.” He made one more circuit of the room then stopped and faced them. “Someone will have to lure them up here. I don’t think more than two people can make it up at a time. If we’re very lucky, we’ll be able to pick them off in small groups as they come up the stairs. We just need to decide who’s going to go down there and bring them up.”
“I will,” Melissina said at once.
“Princess,” Amertious sounded pompous and condescending at the same time.
Charles felt like he should volunteer, but Phichorian spoke before he could form the words.
“I’m the logical choice.”
Amertious looked ready to agree at once, and Melissina opened her mouth to protest, but Phichorian went on without waiting for either of them.
“You need your best fighters up here to defend. Clearly that’s Melissina and Amertious. Between Charles and me, I would put my bet on Charles. And I’m a more credible threat. So I go down and get them up.”
“Right.” Amertious didn’t leave any room for protest. “I’ll stay closest to the door and try to keep them in the stairwell. Melissina, take up a position behind me where you can be ready if any break through. Charles, you and Phichorian will guard her.”
Charles nodded.
“What is my role?” Bobble asked.
“Keep out of trouble.”
Bobble sniffed and turned his nose up, clearly offended.
Melissina whispered, “Stay by Charles. Give him some pointers.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Bobble bowed and landed on Charles’s shoulder.
Charles felt a little better with Bobble on his shoulder.
Amertious got himself in position then nodded to Phichorian.
Phichorian disappeared down the dark passage. Charles saw Melissina draw her sword and did the same. He clutched the sword hilt until his knuckles went white, straining to hear any sound from the stairwell.
It happened all at once. There was a crashing, clashing sound, then Phichorian burst back into the room. The instant he had cleared the door, Amertious was in front of the opening, blocking it with his body, his sword flashing. He managed to hold back three soldiers, but a fourth forced his way through. Melissina's blade flashed as she parried a blow and followed with one of her own. A fifth guard climbed over his fallen comrade and came at them.
Bobble yelled instructions in Charles’s ear as he carried them out by instinct. Then Phichorian was there, sword in hand, helping to drive the soldier back,
As the soldier fell away, Phichorian’s sword through his belly, Amertious yelled, “I need room!”
Phichorian left his sword in the soldier and began dragging the ones Amertious had felled by their ankles to the center of the room. Charles tried not to think about it. Then there was another soldier and he couldn’t think of anything but keeping the flashing blade from his head. He plunged his sword in.
There was a lull and Charles was able to admire Amertious’s skill. He was clearly the best fighter in the room. Melissina was holding her own. She wasn’t in the same league as Amertious, but she was a good fighter. Phichorian was better than Charles, but he gave Charles the feeling that, with practice, he could get to the same level as Phichorian, or even a little bit better.
And then it was over. One second he was driving back a spinning sword, the next it was silent, nothing but the sound of Melissina and Phichorian panting. Charles barely noticed his blade drooping towards the ground or his arm shaking uncontrollably until Phichorian’s hand wrapped over his and helped support the blade.
“Keep breathing,” Phichorian whispered. “It will get better.”
Phichorian held the sword steady while Charles’s hand shook, and stood close behind him, ready for Charles to lean against him if his legs gave out. Charles was glad Phichorian was there, and even gladder that his legs, while they shook like jelly, did not give out.
Chapter 10
Amertious looked around the room. “Does that look like all of them?” He didn’t address the question to anyone, but Bobble and Phichorian knew it had to be answered by one of them. Phichorian nodded. Bobble answered, “Yes, that looks like all of them.”
“Good, I’ll go down first, in case you’re wrong.” Before anyone could answer, Amertious drew his sword and ran down the stairs. He had gone so quickly, it took Melissina a few seconds to draw her sword and run after him.
Phichorian turned to Charles. “Are you OK?”
Charles nodded. He was still shaking, but he didn’t feel like he’d collapse in the next few minutes.
“Good, then we’d better go after them, in case they need protection from themselves.”
Charles staggered as Phichorian let go of his sword, but he was able to stay upright and followed Phichorian to the stairs.
* * *
The prison was pretty much what Charles had expected: a stone room lit by torches with a drain in the middle covered by an iron grate. There was a ring of keys on a hook by the foot of the stairs. Twelve wooden doors split off the main room, with iron grates giving a view into the small, dark cells. Amertious was moving counter-clockwise, looking into each cell, Melissina doing the same clockwise. They met across from the stairs.
“No one?” Melissina asked.
Amertious shook his head.
Phichorian grabbed the keys from the hook and began ope
ning the cells. Melissina went into the first and looked around, searching all of the blind spots. Bobble took the second cell. Charles caught on and took the third. It was small and dark, with a pile of straw on the floor and little else. Charles did a quick scan of the room for bugs, but he didn’t see any so he went in. He looked in all the corners and came out in the time to see Melissina going into the fifth cell.
They made their way around until they were all standing outside the last cell door.
“There’s no one here,” Amertious said.
“There has to be,” Charles said.
“Amertious is right,” Melissina said. “I don’t see anyone in any of these cells.”
“But...”
“Do you see anyone?” Amertious asked.
Charles shook his head.
Phichorian put a hand on his shoulder. “What makes you so certain?”
Charles felt like an idiot as he said, “It’s just that, in the game, when all the minions crowd around one spot, there’s something there.”
Amertious snorted, but Phichorian nodded. “To guard it. It makes sense.” He stepped back to the center of the dungeon and looked around.
“Anything different?” Amertious almost sneered as he asked.
Phichorian paced back and forth, the grate rattling under his feet as he passed over it. “Think, think,” he muttered. “Hidden room?”
“I doubt it,” Melissina said. “There’s solid rock just outside.”
“OK, what else?” Phichorian stood very still and held his hands out. “Do you feel any magic, Melissina? A concealment spell maybe?”
Melissina stood still and closed her eyes. “No, nothing like that.”
“Neither do I. How about a secret passage?”
Melissina shook her head. “Where would the entrance be? In a cell?”
Phichorian stopped above the grate and stared down at it. “It couldn’t be.” He dropped to his knees and pulled on the grate. It lifted away easily. “Bring the light.”
Melissina brought the torch from the wall over and knelt by Phichorian, leaving plenty of room for Charles to lean over too. There was a chain attached to a large ring dangling down into a deep shaft, held taught by an unseen weight.
“Bobble?” Melissina asked.
“Of course.” The sprite grabbed a splinter of wood, lit it from the torch and flitted into the dark shaft. They watched the tiny point of light until it was swallowed up in the darkness.
“He’s here!” Bobble’s small voice echoed up the shaft.
Phichorian clapped Charles on the back.
“How do we get him out?” Melissina called down.
“His arms are attached to the chain. I think you can pull him up.”
Amertious grabbed a handful of chain.
“What about his feet?” Phichorian called. “Are they attached to anything?”
“Why does that matter?” Amertious asked, ready to pull at once.
Phichorian stuck the point of his sword into a link of the chain, where it acted like a brake. “I want to be certain they’re not attached to anything before I start tugging on things.”
Bobble called up, “There’s a chain bolted to the floor but I think I can unhook it.”
“Gruesome,” Charles murmured as he imagined the result.
“I suppose I do have a gruesome turn of mind. Comes of telling tales about villains I suppose.”
“His feet are free,” Bobble called. “He says to pull whenever you’re ready.”
Phichorian dropped his sword and grabbed the end of the chain. Amertious leaned over the edge of the hole and grabbed a handful of chain. Between them, they pulled the chain up and out of the hole.
In a few minutes, Charles could see a pair of manacled hands. He grabbed the hands to stop them from scraping on the stone. Melissina leaned over and caught the arm just past the elbow to ease the prisoner over the edge. Charles changed his grip to help her.
“Hold,” Melissina called when the man was half out of the hole, bent at the waist. “Charles, help Phichorian.”
Charles dropped the hermit’s arm and grabbed some of the chain beside Phichorian. As soon as he had it, Amertious dropped his part of the chain and went to help Melissina. Charles had to use all his strength to hold onto the chain until Amertious got the man seated on the edge of the hole, taking his weight off of the chain and making it go slack.
Melissina offered her waterskin to the man. Charles thought he needed a lot more than water. The man was gaunt, with wispy white hair plastered to his head, dressed in tatters. He took the waterskin from her and drank deeply.
“Thank you,” he croaked.
Melissina smiled at him. “Now what do we do about the chains?”
Amertious picked up the man’s hand and looked at the manacle. Without saying anything, he pulled out his dagger. He twisted the manacle so the lock faced inward, then stuck the blade under the pin and popped it out in one quick movement.
“That answers that,” the old man grinned. His voice sounded much better.
Amertious popped the pin out of the other manacle and put the dagger away. “Ready to stand?”
The hermit handed Melissina the waterskin and nodded.
Amertious grabbed one arm, Phichorian the other, and together they helped keep the hermit steady as he stood and took a couple shaky steps back. Charles swung the chains out of the way.
The hermit turned to him. “So you’re the one I have to thank for not abandoning me. You’ll have to tell me about the game.” He smiled. “Yes, I heard everything in there. You do have a very gruesome turn of mind, minstrel. I’m grateful for it.” He turned to Melissina. “And you, my dear, you must be the princess.”
“Melissina,” she told him
“Yes, yes. You have the look of your mother. Then you must be Honorious’s son, the betrothed.”
Amertious nodded.
“And you want to get out of here before they send more men to get me.”
“It would be best.”
“Then help me to the horse or whatever I’m supposed to ride on.”
“We have a wagon,” Phichorian said as he helped steady the hermit.
The hermit looked ready to applaud. “Excellent. I don’t think I could ride just yet.”
Amertious drew his sword and started up the steps. Phichorian helped the hermit forward. At the stairs, Charles offered the hermit his shoulder too, and between him and Phichorian, they were able to get the hermit up the stairs. Melissina followed them up, her hand on her sword. Bobble darted up over their heads and scouted along the passage, darting back every few minutes to tell them it was clear.
They encountered no resistance as they made their way to the entryway. Amertious gestured for Charles, Phichorian and the hermit to stop. The hermit looked around the room. “And now?”
“Wait here,” Amertious said. “I will go outside and make certain there aren’t any other guards.”
“I will come with you,” Bobble offered.
Amertious was going to turn down Bobble’s offer, Charles could see it in his expression, but he didn’t.
“A good plan,” the hermit said, “but I find all of this,” he gestured to the bodies Phichorian had dragged there during the fight, “very distracting.”
“What do you want us to do?” Amertious grumbled. “Get rid of them?” He swept towards the door.
The hermit watched him leave, then turned to the rest of them. “I didn’t think he wanted to hear it, but that is precisely what I wanted you to do.”
Phichorian raised an eyebrow but went to the first of the guards, grabbed him by the legs, and looked around. “Where would you like them?”
The hermit smiled and sat on an overturned table. “There’s an easier way.”
Phichorian dropped the guard’s legs with a thunk. “Go on.”
“Light.”
They all turned to the hermit. He just stood there grinning at them.
“Light,” he repeated. “Go on, op
en the windows.”
Phichorian turned to Charles, “Come on.” He knelt in front of the nearest window and cupped his hands.
Charles went to him and hesitated. Phichorian shook his hands a bit. “Come on, I won’t drop you, just a boost.”
Charles put a hand on Phichorian’s shoulder, then stepped up into his hands. He wobbled a bit and clutched at Phichorian’s shoulder until he was steady.
“Ready?”
“Yeah.”
Phichorian stood up slowly until Charles could reach the catch holding the shutters closed. He knocked it out and pulled the shutters open, letting the sunlight flood in.
Charles and Phichorian were so busy concentrating on getting Charles down, they did not see the result. Melissina did and gasped. As soon as Charles’s feet hit the ground, he and Phichorian spun around.
There was a shaft of light cutting down the center of the room. As it passed over the fallen guards, the armor covering them began to shrivel and crush in on itself. In a few moments, they were nothing but twisted bits of metal with nothing inside.
Phichorian recovered from the shock first. He grabbed Charles’s arm and half guided, half dragged him to the next window and, after boosting Charles up to the shutter, went on to the next.
By the time all nine sets of shutters were open, the whole room was filled with sunlight, and all but three of the fallen soldiers were nothing but shriveled strips of metal. Phichorian looked over the scene.
“This is why they took you.”
The hermit grinned. “I’m probably the only human in the whole kingdom not loyal to Necorious who would recognize them for what they are and know how to stop them.”
“What are they?” Charles asked. He could see from the way Phichorian and Melissina leaned in that he wasn’t the only one who didn’t know.
“Shades.” The hermit grinned at Phichorian’s and Melissina's reactions. He turned to Charles, who wasn’t sure what shades were but knew enough to be afraid.
The hermit smiled at him. “You don’t know what they are, do you lad? Shadows trapped and given form by a powerful wizard with very dark magic.”
Fantasy Kingdom XXI Page 8
