“MY
FEET ARE FREEZING,” Jarco said
as he stumbled
into her again.
“You should have put your clothes back
in the
tunnel like the rest of us,” Brianna
told him.
“I wanted to be able to see them when
we came
back,” Jarco explained.
“And now you’re wearing a sheet,”
Caitlin
teased. “Good plan.” The invisibility
potion hadn’t
worn off the jester yet, so the sheet
seemed to be
hovering around by itself. “You look
like a ghost
floating down the hallway.”
“I can’t believe someone took my
clothes,” Jarco
replied.
“It was a servant’s quarters,” Brianna
said. “You
leave clothes there to be cleaned and
mended.”
“I didn’t think servants would still be
working
after their king got dethroned,” Jarco
defended.
“Who sits the throne rarely affects the
life of a
washerwoman,” the king said.
“Be thankful you have your sword,”
Caitlin
added. “You will have a greater need
for it than
your silks.” The faint smell of smoke
stole Caitlin’s
attention from Jarco’s problems. “Do
you smell
something burning?” she asked Jarco.
“Yes. Do you think they’re burning the
castle?”
Jarco returned.
“I would say they’re trying to burn
their way
through the doors your father sealed,”
Lord Tywell
answered.
“Those fools,” Brianna put in. “The
doors are
centuries old and so are the rafters.
They will burn
like paper and bring the whole castle
down around
them.”
“Good,” Unglar said. “Let Gyger be king
of the
ashes.”
“Let’s hurry and get out of here, lest
we become
part of his realm,” Jarco joked.
The group picked up the pace. Movement
through the tunnels was still slow
going. Only the
half-elves of the party were able to
move at regular
speed. Unglar had the most problems.
Between his
size and the huge ax he carried,
Caitlin wondered if
he would make it past some of the
smaller parts.
“Here it is,” the king announced.
Caitlin and Brianna exchanged puzzled
looks.
There was no entrance in the wall
before their father,
and the girls were sure they knew all
the secrets of
the tunnels. The king touched a finger
to each of the
three symbols engraved on the wall. One
of his sigils
lit to match each one. After the third
sigil began to
flare, the stone of the wall simply
faded away.
“We didn’t even think you knew about
the tunnels,”
Caitlin told him.
“I spent my childhood playing in them,
just like
the two of you,” the king said.
The inside of this tunnel was well lit.
Magic
torches lined the wall, illuminating
the hallway with
their light-blue flames. Caitlin was
glad the humans
would be able to see again. It would
greatly improve
their travels.
As soon as the party entered the
tunnel, the
stonewall reappeared behind them.
Caitlin placed
her hand against the stone. No trace of
an opening
could be found. She wondered just how
much she
and her sister didn’t know about the
castle.
The hallway bled into an open chamber
filled
with various items. One rack held a
collection of
swords; another had pieces of armor in
different
sizes. There were food stores, fresh
clothing and
gold. Everything was well tended. The
swords and
armor were free of rust. The clothes
were clean and
pressed. This was cleverer than she
thought her father
was capable.
“When did you do all of this?” Caitlin
asked.
“I have it done every week,” he
replied. “You
didn’t think you got that trait from
your mother, did
you?”
“Was it mom’s idea?” Brianna teased.
“She may have mentioned it,” the king
admitted.
Caitlin was in her forties when her
mother
passed. Her mother was human and lacked
the gift
of extended life Elvin blood gave to
the rest of the
family. Even as hard as her mother’s
death was on
her and her sister, she knew it was
worse on her fa-
ther. Iris, her mother, was the love of
the king’s life.
It had been over forty years since her
death, and her
father had yet to think about taking
another wife.
“May I use some of the clothing?” Jarco
asked
her father.
“Of course,” he answered.
The invisibility was leaving Jarco. The
spell
wore off the rest of the party long
before it had the
jester. Her father said it was because
of a crystal in
the hilt of the jester’s sword. It was
meant to extend
the life of magic, and apparently
worked quite well.
The outline of his body was just now
coming into
focus.
The Jester Knight slid on a pair of
riding pants
and discarded the sheet. Then he found
a shirt to
match and a pair of boots. It was
strange seeing the
jester wear something other than the
colors of motley.
“Oh, much better,” Jarco said. He stood
up and
inspected his new boots. “A little
lacking in color,
but much warmer for my feet.”
“Where does this passageway come out?”
Brianna asked.
“Under the east tower,” the king
answered.
“But there is a rock cliff on that side
of the castle,”
objected Caitlin. “We would have to
have
wings to get around that way.”
“There’s a way,” her father soothed.
“Gather
what we need and follow me.”
“Best for us to head for the free
cities. We won’t
be able to siege the castle,” Conta
said gravely.
“Even with the Peasant Army, we don’t
have the
numbers.”
“We have gold enough to hire
mercenaries from
the free cities,” Caitlin reminded as
she tossed a
satchel of gold coin over her shoulder.
“And the ork
will cut off their supplies.”
“And from the looks of things, Darious
just
burned the king’s gardens trying to
open the doors,
so they will be in need of supplies,”
Brianna added.
When they made it to the exit, the
group realized
the truth in Brianna’s deductions. Gray
and
black smoke inundated the horizon,
while red
flames shot from every window. The
gardens would
not be the only thing burned by
Darious’ folly. The
whole east wing of the castle looked to
be ablaze.
“I hope someone helped Trayvis,” Jarco
said,
gazing at the fire.
“Why do you care about that traitor?”
Conta
questioned.
“He was the only one who treated me
like a person
when I was still a jester,” Jarco said
bluntly.
The courtyard was filled with gray
smoke from
the raging fires. In front of them
stood the twentyfoot
stonewall. And on the other side was a
rock cliff
with a two hundred foot drop. Her
father had led
them into a dead end.
Caitlin’s mind began to work. She knew
the
front gate would be too well protected.
The walls
would be lined with archers who had
orders to kill
on sight. Going back the way they came
would put
them in the middle of an inferno. There
was no way
over the wall, and even if there were,
only a straight
drop off a cliff waited on the other
side. What could
father have been thinking?
An arrow hit the wall a few feet from
her head.
Through the swirling smoke, she could
see the outlines
of two archers on the wall. Brianna
grabbed the
king at the same time as Caitlin.
Together they
pulled him behind them. Neither girl
was afraid to
take a shaft for their father.
As one of the men drew his bow to loose
another
arrow, Brianna began to chuckle. At
first, Caitlin
thought her sister had lost her mind.
Then she
saw the shape behind the two men. A
long black tail
swished back and forth in the air as
the figure descended
on its target. Puffer’s claws dug into
the
archer’s arm, causing him to drop his
bow. His shaft
flew off somewhere into the smoky mist.
The shoulder
dragon continued his flight and landed
on
Brianna’s back.
Unglar took his bow from his back and
fired two
arrows at the men. One knight fell to
the ground in
time. The other, however, caught the
missile in the
center of his chest. The impact knocked
him off his
perch and into the chasm behind the
wall. His
screams could be heard throughout the
courtyard.
The alarm began to sound before the
last man could
even get to his feet.
“We will make a stand here,” Caitlin
said. “Unglar,
keep firing on the archers. Don’t let
them get
position on the wall.”
“Darious has over two hundred men in
the castle,”
objected Conta.
“Bet we make it one hundred before
we’re
done,” Brianna bragged, pulling her
sword.
“I think we’ll do better than that,”
Jarco added,
pulling his own sword.
There was a confidence Caitlin never
heard before
in his voice. His eye filled with
determination,
but the jester’s body remained at ease,
waiting for
the right moment. She looked at her
sister, puzzled
by the sudden change.
“I will tell you later,” Brianna told
her with a
smile.
“I didn’t lead us here to die,” her
father scolded.
“Follow me.”
Unglar loosed another arrow at the last
archer. It
caught the man in his shoulder. He
dropped back to
the ground and took cover behind a
raised part of
the wall. Caitlin kept watch on the
archer to make
sure he didn’t attack again.
The king walked over to the fountain in
the
middle of the yard. He chanted
something in Elvish.
Caitlin and Brianna had tutors for the
language, but
neither excelled in the subject. They
saw no point in
learning a tongue long dead to the
world.
“Give it a push, Unglar,” her father
commanded.
The half-ork did as the king asked. The
fountain
moved away to reveal another tunnel.
This one was
lit with the same ever-burning torches
as the first.
Winding stairs went down the corridor
as far as she
could see. The party hurried inside and
Unglar
pulled the fountain back over the
opening. It
cracked loudly as it locked in place.
“Wonder if Darious will try and burn
that out of
the way,” Jarco joked.
Caitlin ignored the jest. Her home was
burning.
And another king would rule what didn’t
go up
with the flames. The thought of King
Gyger ruling
Kings Overlook was overwhelming. The
faces of all
the half-breed refugees who fled Karal
flooded her
mind. They ran for their lives only to
have death
chase them. She failed her father, her
king and the
people of her land. Tears stung her
eyes.
Brianna came to a stop in front of her.
She
turned to face Caitlin. Teardrops
dripped down her
face. The two sisters embraced each
other. She comforted
Brianna like she did when they were
children.
For a brief moment, Caitlin was the big
sister again.
“Please, Caitlin,” Brianna sobbed.
“Make them
pay for this.”
“I will,” Caitlin replied without
hesitation. With
no army it would be a tough promise to
keep, but
Caitlin never broke a promise.
Continued...
