Without further drama, they scaled a tree and reached the ledge of a window, leading into the lord’s first chamber. It was barred by shutters that could be spied through. William peeked inside and concluded that the lord was asleep in his inner chamber: An extension of the main chamber, separated by a curtain.
He heaved forth his sword and slid it between the two shutters, then cautiously moved it upward until it collided with a horizontal wooden piece. The blade was edged into its bottom, then used to lift it up from its holders. The shutters got loose, wafting shyly forth from their stationary binds.
William caught the free boards and held them in place before telling Lucifer to, “Fetch me all the papers on the desk and search the drawers for a small leathery pouch”. The dinosaur checked out the room, then swiftly made its way to the fancy desk.
It gathered up the papers like a chicken pecking for corn. The stiff material crumbled and squeaked, but didn’t wake up the sleeping lord. Lucifer hurriedly gifted the documents over to William, then it began clawing open drawers. A loud snore broke the calm, causing them both to stare in shock at each other. No one made a move until the chain of consistent snores resumed. Lucifer rummaged through each compartment and found many pouches, however, most of them were empty. After searching for 15 minutes it finally found the right pouch and retreated from the chamber unscathed.
The shutters were locked and an ominous timer had now been set. For the moment the lord should awake and witness his room, he would without a doubt notice a difference. Like the dirty paw-prints, his missing papers, and slightly scratched furniture…
Lucifer was made to fetch Boros on the hill. While it did, William went beneath a lit window with the papers in hand. He was very interested in the name of the Rubspit maker.
The first one in the stack was a document describing someone’s research on the Rubspit’s qualities and how it was possibly produced. It stated that the ointment was an incredible all-around cure that could easily vanish illnesses such as the flu, tuberculosis, measles, and the sweating sickness. While it took a bit longer and further appliances to mend skin and flesh. As for bones and nerves, they were the slowest to heal but the medicine did have a noticeable effect on the healing process. It could, however, not replace arms, legs, or other body parts. Nor accomplice something that the body could not naturally do by default…
Still, it was a powerful tool for sure. Another element that William was 99% sure wasn’t mentioned in the original book… But then, why would it be? It wasn’t exactly an element that the protagonist was in need of when he had his own healer on his five-star dino-team.
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Unfortunately, the document contained no information regarding the owner of the medicine...
William flipped to the next paper, which was a report that described breeding experiments. And how the perfect bonded partner was bordering the retarded as the intelligent ones were too unpredictable to handle at times… This kind of thinking was coupled with the fear that one day dinosaurs would rule over the human race. A reasonable prediction but then again, were dinosaurs really that coordinated to rule like that?
The last paper William managed to skim was about an order that the lord had legitimized in Irkmane. It stated that women and old folk, who dared grieve their loved one’s forced labor for the king, would be branded as heretics. And whoever questioned his role as god’s messenger should be punished with the lord’s own ire. Which was something along the lines of skinning people alive...
William went past the formal stuff and ended up resting his gaze on the lord’s signature. “...”, it caused his tired eyes to widen and his bandaged hands to tremble. *Aruu?*, Lucifer softly hooted from the thickets. William broke out of his state of shock and listed his way over to the other, whispering, “I’m starting to hate silver!... Why couldn’t it have been someone else who fancied lustrous metal than that sick Caspian!?... I don’t want to ever meet him again… We should hurry!”.
Boros, who was standing behind Lucifer, observed the stars with a musing look. The little human squeaked at it, “Hey, Boros! Are you ready to distract the fortress?”. The giant creature lazily bowed its head as a confirmation, then it began to wander closer to the enemy’s base. William and Lucifer winked at each other and snuck their way into the damp cellar.
They remained outside where the air was less dense and observed every guard that should enter or leave the place in hopes of catching the glint of a key. One of them yawned and doused a torch in a barrel of rainwater.
The guard stretched his arms and was about to head for the sleeping quarters when Charkel entered the yard. The man wobbled a bit under his guise of competence. “Good evening, men… Anything to report?”. One of the guards disguised his yawn and reported, “Everything’s good, sir… The only unusual thing about tonight is your esteemed presence?”. Charkel smirked, not sure either why he felt so restless. “What can I say?... A miracle is mayhaps about to happen? And I’d rather not miss out on it… Would you?”.
The guards looked at each other, both shrugging off the man’s intuition. They saluted Charkel, then dragged their sore feet to bed. Charkel gazed around the square enclosure before letting his eyes shoot up to the star-lit heavens. As if the moon’s light was too bright for his being, he quickly hid under his hood and walked next to the dungeon’s entrance. The pure light from above reflected the whereabouts of a bundle of keys he protected.
Lucifer and William nodded in agreement. They shifted in the dark, ready to attack the exposed individual when they were countered by a wry whisper. “Why, good evening sinner…”, Charkel greeted, chained to the spot with a calm smile, and his gaze still fixed elsewhere.