IT WAS TWO DAYS LATER when Cyrus awoke face down with a bad taste in his mouth; he coughed displacing dust on the floor, getting some of it in his eyes. A harmless black spider crawled away from him. The poison butterflies had been conjured to kill but the enchantment was centuries old which was a lucky break for him. The insects were now dead on the floor. He stood up and immediately fell over; he was actually weaker than he felt, seeing spots before his eyes, finally managing to sit with his back against the wall. He shook his head but it didn’t help.
Cyrus was forced to sit for hours while his strength returned, trying several times to get up but realizing that he was too weak to stand. He finally managed to make his way to the door, pulling on its wrought iron circular door handle that hung from the mouth of a silver lion. He had to pull on it several times before realizing that he had to push it open, fell inside displacing another layer of dust. The interior was surprisingly large, a thirty foot ceiling with illuminated white stalactites dangling down at least five feet, the light from them lighting the place quite well. Sitting in a peculiar long chair that had perhaps also been a bed was a skeleton, the remains of the owner he guessed. In his skeletal right hand was a golden cube with strange markings on it; he stared down at it but didn’t touch it, had he been a wizard there was no telling what the thing would do to him though he was fascinated by it. It did look like it was solid gold.
Cyrus discovered a dagger on the floor, barely visible through the dust but when he cleaned it he discovered that it was encrusted with two large rubies and several diamonds, its point was impressively sharp. “What a beautiful weapon! I might be able to get a fortune for this. The life of a knight is the choice of a fool.”
On the west wall he found small cavities that were stuffed with leather pouches, and when he opened one it looked like some sort of herb inside; he presumed it was some sort of magical ingredient and then again it might simple be a spice. Inside another pouch he found flecks of gold and in yet another were what seemed to be spider legs? His strength not yet fully recovered he sat on what was a huge trunk, twice the length of him but it was locked, his. It was a triangular lock that needed a key. He was excited by what the trunk might hold, envisioning it full of gold coins, and so he hit it several times with his sword but it did not give way to the blade. Hoping that it wasn’t sealed by magic he left the old trunk for the time being as his eyes darted around on the floor in search of the key.
There was a large tome on a pedestal and every time he went near it there were vibrations coming from it, knocking off bits of dust from the ivory stand as well as from the book. Although he couldn’t be certain it definitely appeared to be a sorcerers den. And if so he could be in danger simply by being in here, but the potential for reward had him and wasn’t likely to let go. He so wanted to open the book but was frightened of it, might there be an enchantment attached to it that would transform him or kill him outright. Curiosity could be almost as deadly as the trap itself.
Cyrus continued to explore the chamber, ignored the table with two chairs with an inch thick of dust on it. Inside an old wooden cupboard were five blue and green glass jars with flared rims, their bases having a concave center which permitted them to stand. He smelled all five bottles and though they were almost empty their scents were strong. One smelled like fresh earth, another like there had been something decaying, disgusting. The third one was a pine scent although so strong it made his eyes water. The last two scents of onions and fresh dough, the smell of the fresh dough made him realize that he was hungry and so had a piece of dried and salted beef.
As he picked up a silver coin from the floor he happened to glance under the table where he spotted a small wooden box sitting on one of the woven chairs, as he placed it on the table it was quite heavy, with the anticipation that it was full of gold coins he flipped it open. Cyrus’s face sank as it was full of keys, must be hundreds, perhaps as many as a thousand. Why so many damn keys when he knew of only one locked item? He dumped the keys on the table and picked up one that had fallen; all their ends were triangular in shape. He tried that one first in the trunk but to no avail, and then at least a dozen more. But when he went back to get another he saw the strangest thing, half the keys were now gone, simply vanished.
Cyrus stood with his mouth open for a time, trying to figure out what just happened. “What is this now?” He went through the keys and selected another one that he believed to be the approximate size. Inserted into the truck and then quickly stood up, only to see another half dozen keys disappear before his eyes. What if one of the keys that had disappeared was the one that opened the truck? What manner of crazy spell was this?
Cyrus sighed and took another bite of meat before trying yet another key, this time the key vanished from his hand and the box with all the keys. After he scratched his head vigorously he looked under the table and there was the box, as if it had never been disturbed and when he picked it up he realized by its weight that it had been replenished with keys and so he had to start over. He was determined to stick with it. Must be something good, had to be something good, something great in that trunk. Cyrus decided that he would need to memorize some of the keys which should increase his odds somewhat but there were so many different bows.
He sat and finished his dried beef before he went back to it. It took him fifty-seven times before he discovered the proper key, had given up several times but then went back to it. The key that opened it was made of silver with a pair of eyes on it, at least he thought they looked like eyes, and if there had been a trick to finding it sooner it had been beyond him.
They key made a click as he turned it and then he slowly opened the trunk and was surprised to discover stairs leading down another level, it had concealed a secret door, he had not expected that. There could be anything down there, a magical object or a monster waiting to eat his face off. He smiled at the thought but the fact was that face eating monsters did actually exist, though he had never seen one and had no desire for such an encounter. But there were stories of corpses with no faces and the knowledge was in the history books. He sat and stared at the trunk. All the effort it had taken to open it might be for naught because he was scared to go in. It smelled damp down there.
Cyrus jumped up when he heard a chink, it sounded like someone had dropped something, something metallic. He was worried that whoever it was could certainly make his way up those steps and into the chamber with him; he wasn’t a coward but magical creatures needed to be faced by a number of knights or better still by a wizard. And there again was the sound of something dropping which made him wonder if something wasn’t trying to lure him. Cyrus paced, continually returning to the trunk to see if something was coming up to get him, eventually he saw a terrible sight halfway up the steps inside the trunk, a walking skeleton, bleached white with not a single piece of skin on it.
The skeleton stuck his head up through the trunk and spoke. “We keep this thing closed because it’s drafty down here. Are you coming down or not?”
The skeleton appeared to be affable, not at all aggressive, and what Cyrus did next surprised even him. “I guess I’ll come down for a bit.”
At the bottom of the stairs were three other skeletons sitting on chairs around a table playing some sort of card game. One skeleton was wearing a green hat with a black brim and a white feather sticking out of it. Another was wearing a gold necklace with a large blue sapphire and Cyrus would certainly like to get his hands on that. How difficult could it be to kill a skeleton? There were no weapons to be seen. His sword should make quick work of them but they might have magical abilities.
“How is it that you come to be bones?” asked Cyrus. He looked past a doorway to his right that led down into darkness, though there was some light in the far distance.
“A sorcerer’s curse,” said the one with the hat.
He decided he had to have that necklace; even if it wasn’t magical it certainly looked like something that a king would wear. He envisioned receiving se
veral bags of gold for it. He pulled his sword and attacked, chopping the head off of one and then another.
“Stop that!” said the one with the necklace; his head was promptly cut off and kicked against the wall.
Cyrus grabbed the necklace and ran back up the stairs only to discover that he couldn’t open the trunk from the inside. He was trapped. And the skeletons were putting their heads back on and starting up the stairs after him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
MARCUS RUBBED HIS SHOULDER. Night had fallen and he felt unusually tired, it’s not that he felt unwell but there was a bit of a tingling where the arrow had gone in. His wand had vibrated to tell him that there had been venom but being a sorcerer his system had defeated it although traces would remain for a day or two.
Marcus was prone on his bed with his book in his hand searching for a spell that might come in handy when he went to battle those damn wizards. Raina entered and sat on the bed beside him, Brother and Kayden were outside in the hall along with the other golden knights; he wished that Adorok was still around so that he could discuss tactics. The realization that his wand had at one time been a wizard was a little comforting as he never felt alone.
“I’ve come to wish you a good night,” said Raina and she kissed him tasting the grape juice that remained on his breath.
“Pleasant dreams,” he said.
“Are you worried about facing those three wizards?”
“I am,” said Marcus. “That message from Adorok is disturbing. You would think there would be other sorcerers out there that could save the world not just me; they need to get off their arses and join the fight.”
Raina smiled as she held his hand. “Yes but not many are TarCranian wizards.”
Marcus nodded as he thought about it. “It wouldn’t be healthy to fight a TarCranian wizard that actually knew what he was doing.”
Raina went to bed without saying another word.
The wand vibrated from the night table, which was a barrel that had two apples on it and a book. Marcus the thought occurs to me that you haven’t used that small pouch you discovered whilst inside the book. Push me into it and I shall try to decipher its ingredients.
Marcus got up taking his shoulder bag off the floor and pulled out the small pouch, a little smaller than his thumb. Back on the bed he stuck the tip of his wand in it.
Quddquaa crystals, very rare indeed, wrote the wand. This might destroy the staff should you be able to get your hands on it. But heed this warning the crystals will be dangerous to you as well should you be too close when it releases its energy.
“How does it work?” asked the sorcerer.
Give me some time to check on it.
The wand was quiet for a time and Marcus wondered what it was like being inside the wand, perhaps he was looking up the information in some tiny book. When he was trapped inside the tome it was quite spacious.
I have it wrote the wand. You hit it with your fist or a rock and the crystals will rub against one another which will release all its energy at once. And you don’t want to be standing next to it when it does. You will have a short time to get away. I recommend that you run like hell.
Marcus thought it sounded dangerous. He yawned. “How short?”
Unknown.
Marcus closed his eyes and was soon asleep. After a brief time he got up and commenced to sleepwalk, servants and knights ran from him as his golden knights followed him around inside the castle, and as the boy made his way out into the courtyard many watched from the castle’s murder holes and from high atop the walls, all wanting to see what he was going to do. It was exciting to see what he was going to conjure up but also frightening. His golden knights surrounded him having no fear of his sorcery.
“If only he could spell himself to stop sleepwalking,” said the king as he peered out his window.
Marcus was now having a conversation with someone that was imaginary. “Where do you want it? There? No? Over there then? Well you need to make up your mind as I have other things to do.” He pointed to and fro and finally pointed the wand at the ground and the earth started to shake, much like an earthquake. Out of the soil pushed two trees, displacing rocks and grass; they were fully formed pear trees with lots of ripe pears. “There, consider my debt paid in full.”
The wizard lay down beneath one of the trees and started to snore loudly, making several that were looking through the murder holes laugh but they were also relieved that he had gone back to sleep.
Almost everyone heard it, the air itself appeared to crackle and hiss. Archers from atop the wall were the first ones to spot it, another huge fireball descending out of the night sky, illuminating the ground under it as it went. It hit the top of the pear trees setting them alight with magical green flame, the fire quickly spread setting Marcus on fire and he awoke screaming.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
THE SOUND OF DIGGING originated about two arm’s lengths away from the cell, digging and scratching and then a piece of rock fell to the ground with dust being released into the air. An ochoid came out of the wall and its eight heads looked around, seeing Alexa and the others behind bars it cautiously made its way to the key. Its heads were cute, shaped a little like a dog’s but with no snout and had the prettiest blue eyes; picking up the key in one of its mouths it passed it to another of its mouths and then another.
Merrill jumped up and screamed. “Hey, hey! That’s our key. Bring it here.”
The ochoid jumped from the sound of his loud voice, being a small creature they had to be wary of many things. It slowly made its way back towards the hole it had exited from with the key, keeping a dozen eyes on the humans that were behind bars.
“Please!” Alexa exclaimed. “We’ll trade for it.”
The ochoid paused momentarily making several chirps but she had no idea what it was saying, if it was saying anything at all, and for all she knew it might have been laughing at their predicament and then it disappeared back into the hole it had dug with their precious key.
Their hearts sank. The key was gone and there was nothing they could do. Stone would never know what happened to them though she imagined that there would be lots of rumors. Merrill considered putting an arrow through the ochoid if he ever saw it again but what would be the point? Obed thought about those poor horses outside; he imagined that eventually they would run off in search of food. They all slumped to the floor and Obed cracked his own neck, the stress of the situation was now getting to all of them.
Several legs and two heads of the ochoid stuck out of the hole and looked around. They all stared at it. It climbed up the wall and then onto the ceiling, most of its heads staring in their direction. It was curious at their proposal. The mention of trade always got an ochoids attention.
It caught the princess’s eye. “I’ll give you a gold coin for the key.” She took out her brown leather pouch removing a gold coin from it, flipping it in the air to make certain that the ochoid could see it. She hoped it wasn’t smart enough to figure out that once they were all dead it could get all of them anyway.
Another ochoid crawled out of the hole and down the wall, stopped and stared at Alexa; this one was bigger than the other one. She thought that they might understand her. They both crawled back down to the floor where they started to whisper to one another but they had left the key inside the hole. The first ochoid approached the bars, not close enough for them to reach it even though an arrow certainly would, risky business dealing with humans. It tapped one of its spider-like front legs three times on the floor.
“What is it doing that?” said Merrill.
The princess shrugged. “How am I supposed to know?”
The ochoid again tapped its front leg three times on the floor.
Suddenly Alexa thought she knew what it was saying. “You want three gold coins for the key?”
It jumped slightly, appearing to be excited at the prospect of getting three gold coins and again it tapped three times.
“I will agree to gi
ve you three gold coins but you have to go and get the key before I give them to you.” The princess watched as one ochoid whispered to the other.
The larger of the two ochoids shook all her heads no.
“You want the coins first?”
All eight heads nodded.
Obed grunted. “If you give them the coins they’ll simply take off and we’ll never see that key.”
Alexa knew they didn’t have much choice but she wasn’t going to say it aloud. It now looked as though the creatures were having a bit of an argument, with the larger one striking the smaller one on one of its heads
The larger ochoid turned and tapped four times, and after waiting a bit it again tapped four times.
“Now you want four coins?” asked the princess.
And again all its heads nodded vigorously.
She thought they were greedy little things. “I’ll give you three pieces of gold and that’s it. We made a bargain and you need to keep it.”
Alexa knew that it was definitely a possibility that they would take the coins and she would never see them again but her dead body would have no use for gold. She tossed one coin after the other through the bars and watched them bounce; one of the creatures actually caught one in its mouth before it hit the floor. The smaller one picked up the other two coins in different mouths and then disappeared back into its hole, followed by the other one. After some time had passed, more than an hour, they realized that the creature was not going to return with the key.
“I knew it,” said Obed. He brought his knees up toward his chest deciding to take a nap.
Merrill and Alexa also lay down with their heads on their hands and after a time they all dozed off, just before doing so the princess thought it was going to be an awfully slow death, and she wished she’d never had the idea to acquire the sword in the first place. This was all on her. Poor Abbey would never know what happed to her mother. Some people simply vanished and were never seen again.
Knight of the Sword (of Knights and Wizards Book 3) Page 12
