"Unfortunately, that may mean that monsters from this area were summoned to fight against the Gardian army," Thomas pointed out.
Finally the heroes came to a cliff looking over the rough seas below. A similar looking cliff could be seen on the other side. Alice drew out the Rainbow Drop and stepped up to the edge of the cliff.
"I really hope this works," said Ron nervously.
"Of course it will work!" snapped Alice.
Thomas saw Suzanne staring at the waters below. It was as they had heard; the waters were so rough that it seemed impossible for a person to swim them. Even a large ship would have trouble.
"He may have found another way," said Thomas, guessing at Suzanne's thoughts. "Or perhaps he's still searching for a way to cross somewhere. Maybe he'll end up crossing the bridge we make after us." Suzanne gave no answer but just nodded.
Alice said a few words of magic and turned the vial holding the Rainbow Drop on its side. The colorful liquid spilled out towards the waters below, disappearing from sight after a few moments. Then a great light filled the area. The light turned different colors and was so bright that the group found it difficult to keep their eyes open. After some time the light passed and they could open their eyes again. In front of them now was a gorgeous bridge with all the colors of the rainbow.
"Wow!" gasped Alice. "How beautiful!"
"I'm afraid we have little time to gawk," said Suzanne. "Zoma will have taken notice of this. Let's not take the chance that it decides we're worth some of its attention. We'd best be moving quickly."
The traveling did not get easier once the four reached the island. The island was covered in mountains, hills, and poisonous swamps. Charlock Castle waited at the top. It took two days of climbing to reach their final destination. The gloomy castle appeared before them. It was not much to look at. No decorations covered its walls, not even some dedicated to the Archfiend. If the four did not know better they might have thought the castle abandoned.
Past the castle the heroes could observe the battle between Charlock and Tantegel. The bridge of light that Rubiss had conjured up still stood. However, the forces of Tantegel had nearly been pushed off the bridge.
"They must have been pushed back in the last few days," observed Ron.
"Which means morale will be low," said Thomas. "And that means the fear and despair of the army will strengthen the Archfiend."
"Come on," urged Suzanne. "Let's get inside."
There was very little decoration inside Charlock Castle. A grand staircase led into the castle proper. There were two stone statues of giant, hulking men standing there. Other than that, there were no banners or paintings adorning the walls and no rugs or furniture to be seen. The place looked bare.
"If this is Zoma's stronghold I wonder why it left these here," commented Ron. "Wouldn't it make more sense for it to commission statues of itself or something?"
"It seems as though Archfiends do enjoy some degree of secrecy," answered Alice. "After all, we didn't even know Baramos's name until we fought it. Since so much of their plans are executed in the shadows perhaps it works best for them not to reveal themselves even to their own minions."
"That makes sense," said Suzanne. "Remember we found out about that secret passage from a human man that was working for Zoma. If Zoma had statues of itself out here then he or any other human minions of his might defect and reveal Zoma's appearance to the people."
"Wait, didn't we hear that Zoma revealed itself to King Rius when it shattered the Sword of Kings?" asked Ron.
"The battle did take place in the isolated town of Kol," suggested Alice. "And the king was on a secret mission. The Archfiend might have realized the king would not want to spread the word about his failed secret mission and the shattered Sword of Kings."
The entrance room split into two hallways. The four took the hallway on the left. It was a very long and wide passage. There were no signs of opposition.
"Looks like the army has distracted most of Zoma's guards," said Ron hopefully.
At the end of the long hallway the heroes turned a corner and made their first encounter with other life within Charlock Castle. In front of them was a five-headed dragon without wings; the same sort of enemy they had encountered in the cave where they found the Shield of Heroes. Behind the dragon was a man carrying a staff. The man wore a mask over his face and wore strange furs. He was dressed similarly to the tribes of the Necrogond in the upper world.
When the two saw the heroes the man motioned forward and shouted something. The dragon stepped forward to engage the group. Since the four had fought the beast before they knew they could not give it space to begin breathing fire everywhere. The four surged at it. Alice ran up first. The dragon brought three of its heads around to snap at her. Alice knew she was making herself a target so she stopped quickly and focused on defending herself. She blocked a bite attempt by one head with her shield though the force knocked her to the ground. She rolled away from the second head but the third slammed into her back, sending her rolling away.
The dragon's offensive left an opening for Suzanne and Thomas. Thomas lunged forward and drove his blade through the neck of one of the heads that attacked Alice. Suzanne took the Sword of Kings and cut one of the other heads clear off. The creature was already howling in pain and Ron rushed forward to attack its torso and finish it off.
However, the man behind the dragon cast a spell. A collection of soft sparkles of light covered the dragon. Almost all its wounds were healed. It remained short of one head though the stump was sealed and no longer bleeding. The recovery allowed the dragon to forget its wounds and block Ron's jumping strike. He was sent flying to the side as one of the heads swung around and smashed him in the side.
The dragon maneuvered itself so it had a head facing each of its foes. Alice tried to stab at the head biting at her but the dragon attacked too ferociously. It was all she could do to keep from having its teeth sink into her armor. Thomas fared a little better as he managed to cut off one of the eyes on the head that attacked him but it managed to get its teeth into his arm. Suzanne bashed a head with her shield and sent a deep cut into its long neck, nearly incapacitating that head. Ron pulled off a daring maneuver in which he got up slowly, daring the dragon to go for a killing blow. The dragon's head opened with to bite into him and Ron thrust his sword inside. The dragon was rewarded for its attack with a blade going through its mouth out the top of its head.
Unfortunately, the man cast his magic again. The dragon's wounds were healed again. Even the wound Ron dealt was erased.
"We have to take that guy out!" yelled Suzanne. The man yelled out orders of his own and the dragon moved back to block the four's progress towards the man. One of the heads took advantage of the space to breathe fire on the group. Suzanne decided to also take advantage of the space: she held the Sword of Kings into the air. Bolts of lightning came down from the ceiling and stroke both their foes.
Alice used her enhanced agility to find an opening. She rolled underneath one of the hydra's heads and came up to the man. The man was surprised and struggled to get his staff up to defend himself. Alice cut the staff into two pieces with one strike and nearly did the same to the man with her next.
Now the dragon had no further support. Ron and Thomas moved together to take it down. Thomas slid to the ground and swung upwards, cutting into the bottom of one of the dragon's heads. This left Thomas in a dangerous spot and the dragon took the bait once again. This freed the way for Ron to once again go for its torso. Ron leapt onto its back and rained his sword down upon it. Thomas was sure to crawl out of the way before the dragon's corpse fell on him.
"Did anything else hear that?" asked Ron immediately, looking around to see if they were about to be greeted by more foes.
"Tom, heal us up quick and let's get moving," urged Suzanne.
"Don't waste any magic on me," said Ron. "That Ring of Life that Ortega left will do enough for me." Thomas wasted no time and the four were soon off again
. The hallway kept going around the corner and a branch came off it soon after. The heroes continued straight.
"This would take us towards the middle of the castle, in terms of west and east," said Alice. "Borles said the passageway was in the throne room which I would think is towards the middle."
"A solid course as long as Borles isn't actually still working for Zoma and spreading false information," pointed out Thomas.
Nevertheless, the group continued on towards the middle. The hallway turned towards the middle and when the four were at about the exact west-east center the hallway branched to run up the middle. They took the branch this time.
The room they ended up in was very spacious. It was very wide and even longer than it was wide. There was no decoration in the room save for six green stone statues, each depicting a mammoth of a man wearing only a toga. The four wasted no time examining the statues and continued to the north end of the room.
Right before they could exit a huge stone block sprung up, cutting them off.
"A trap!" warned Thomas.
"Look! The entrance is cut off too!" said Alice.
"Stay calm everyone," said Suzanne. "Let's see if we can better examine the room. We'll escape by force if need be."
The heroes cautiously moved back towards the south end of the room. As a common sense check Ron put his hand on the stone block that had appeared to make sure it was real and not an illusion.
The four began going back to the north end of the room when they heard a booming voice yelling at them, "We are the guards of the Archfiend's chamber! To enter you'll have to defeat us first!"
"Oh yeah? Show yourselves then!" challenged Ron.
"That voice sounded like it was coming from the statues!" said Alice.
As if to confirm her observation, two of the statues began to move towards the heroes.
Alice used her staff to burn the statues as they approached. The fire charred them a bit but they continued on through it as though it were nothing. The other three stepped in front of Alice to block the statues' approach. They focused their strikes on one statue, chipping away at it with their weapons.
The statue seemed unfazed by the assault. It swiped at Suzanne, sending her flying. It nearly crushed Thomas with its foot; he was barely able to leap away in time. The other statue picked up Ron and tossed him aside. As the statues drew near Alice cast a spell. Yellow light engulfed the four heroes, making them less susceptible to physical harm. She knew they would need it against the statues' relentless assault.
Before the statues could beat on Alice the other three got back to their feet. What the statues had in strength they did not have in awareness. With its back turned to them Suzanne, Ron, and Thomas were able to rain blows upon the statue they had started working on. Their magic swords cut through the stone. They cut off one of its legs, causing it to tumble, and one of its arms as well. The statue continued to move but was not adept at trying to crawl with two of its limbs missing. It was neutralized for the time being.
However, the other statue had reached Alice. It tried to pick her up and she was able to get out of the way. Unfortunately, her dodging took her right to the statue's foot and it kicked her in the midsection, sending her to the ground. The spell she cast earlier kept all the wind from being knocked out of her and so she was able to use her staff again to do some more damage. The statue's lack of awareness cost it as the other three were soon upon it. It managed to throw Suzanne off its body before it succumbed to the flurry of blows. Afterwards, the four made sure to further dismantle the statues until they stopped moving.
"Well that was a tough fight," said Ron.
"It might not be over," said Thomas. "There are four more statues just like those in this room."
"Why didn't they attack with the other two?" asked Ron.
"Perhaps to lull us into a false sense of security," suggested Suzanne. "Let's proceed cautiously."
Thomas healed the group and they continued forward. They walked around the statues so that they would not be flanked by any of them. When they were walking by the next pair of statues they heard another voice, identical to the last, "We are the guards of the Archfiend's chamber! To enter you'll have to defeat us first!"
"Here we go again!" cautioned Ron as two more of the statues came to life.
The four still were under the effects of the last spell she had cast. She decided to add some offense to defense and cast a spell on Suzanne, greatly enhancing her strength. The group had a better idea of how to fight the statues now. The other three ran up to engage the closer statue in melee. If fixated on Ron and moved towards him. Seeing this, Suzanne and Thomas easily circled around to its back. With her enhanced strength Suzanne's blade cut through stone as though it was butter and she lopped off one of its legs. Thomas contributed by chipping at one of its arms. As the statue fell it was able to clip Ron in the side with its non-injured arm. Ron shrugged off the blow and ran to the arm Thomas had chipped at and severed it completely.
Suzanne spun to deal with the other statue. This statue began by kicking her first. She backpedaled to avoid the worst of it but still had her legs taken out from underneath her and fell to the ground. She managed to roll over and block the statue's fist with the Shield of Heroes which proved its extraordinary power yet again. After that, the four once again took advantage of the statue's slow movements to get behind it and deal massive damage.
"That went a lot better!" said Alice cheerfully.
"I hope it gets even better," noted Thomas. "There are two more left."
Sure enough, once the heroes drew near the remaining statues they came to life also, giving the same line that the other pairs had. This combat went the easiest so far. The four were now well aware of how the statues moved and acted. They used their circling technique to strike the statues in the back as before. Suzanne and Ron suffered blows to the shoulders but it was nothing they could not deal with.
Finally, all the statues had been dismantled. The two stone blocks that were blocking the entrance and exit sank into the ground and the group's path was open again. They proceeded forward and found a throne room. It was like Borles had told them. The throne room was stripped of decoration and the floor sparked dangerously.
"Now let's see if that secret passage is there," said Suzanne.
Alice cast her levitation spell upon the group so they could walk over the floor without injury. They circled around the throne and looked for the spot on the floor that was not active. Ron was able to find the inactive portion after a few minutes of searching. He reached down and found a switch. A rectangular piece of the floor lifted up and moved aside, revealing a staircase underneath. The group descended.
"Looks like Borles was telling the truth," said Alice.
"It won't get any easier from here on," said Suzanne. "Stay on your guard, everyone."
They then found themselves in a large room with a sizable gap in the floor keeping them from the west, south, and east walls. They went north through an entryway and found themselves in a much larger and complicated looking room. In this larger room there were also gaps surrounding the floor. The floor also had large, rectangular holes in it. There were three exits from the room on the northern side. Complicating things was that several sections of the floor rotated, just like in the tower Rubiss had been sealed in.
"It's a good thing we've had plenty of practice with these by now," said Ron.
Alice got onto her stomach and carefully peered down one of the gaps. "Looks like a large dead end room below," she reported. "I can see a bunch of monsters down there too."
"Another trap," said Suzanne. "Let's be careful here. Sounds like we can bypass a fair amount of trouble if we don't let ourselves get hung up on these rotating floors."
Their previous time dealing with rotating floors helped them immensely. There were some close calls but they were able to get around the large room without falling. Two of the northern exits led to dead ends. One led to a staircase leading further downward.
> On the next floor they began in a small room with one exit going to a hallway. The hallway soon branched to the right. The four took the branch and soon found themselves flanked by monsters. The monsters were humanoid skeletons. The bones on the skeletons had a purple hue to them and they wore green armor. Each skeleton had six arms and a sword in each one.
Since Suzanne and Ron were at the head of the group they found themselves trying to dodge a storm of swords. They dodged and blocked some of the strikes but there were simply too many coming too suddenly. Both took several cuts throughout their body. Ron in particular was cut up badly.
"Retreat to the hallway!" ordered Suzanne. "Make them funnel to us!"
As they did so Alice cast a spell to heal some of Ron's wounds. Suzanne and Ron stepped backward until Suzanne took a small surge forward, attacking one of the skeletons. The Sword of Kings cut through bones and removed three of the skeleton's arms. However, her offensive cost her as the two skeletons that could reach her sent another blast of blades her way. Thankfully, Thomas saw the danger and had already been casting a spell. Most of Suzanne's wounds were healed as soon as they were made.
The skeletons had access to magic too. One of the skeletons was cut off by the group's funneling maneuver. Instead, it cast a spell upon the injured skeleton. Two of the arms Suzanne had cut off jumped back onto the skeleton's body just before Ron could strike it. Ron removed the two newly-attached arms and one more with a strike of his own but the skeleton could still fight.
Alice and Thomas combined to incapacitate the healed skeleton before it could strike again. Alice took its other two arms off with some carefully placed strikes while Thomas took one of its legs off. The skeleton was still able to move but was essentially harmless as it was reduced to just flailing on the ground. However, this left both of them open to attack from the other two skeletons. Suzanne and Ron saw the danger and leapt in front of their friends. They were in a better defensive position this time. Suzanne blocked most of the blades coming her way with the Shield of Heroes. Ron took a few cuts but returned them with a strike that took off two arms and very nearly the neck of one skeleton. Suzanne finished the job by cutting the skeleton in half at the midsection. The top half tried to use two of its remaining arms to crawl into a position where it could strike but Suzanne took the rest of the arms off with a couple of slashes before the skeleton could become dangerous again.
Dragon Quest Novel Page 66
