Kveldulf cracked his neck and stretched his arms and back after rising from his bed. “Gods it’s good to be finally out of bed,” he said to himself. His muscles felt stiff, needing an extra moment to be stretched out before he felt they were ready for the day. Throwing on some clothes and making his way downstairs, he saw the others already enjoying their breakfasts.
“Kel!” everyone shouted when he was halfway down the last flight.
“And already I regret this decision.”
“Oh, come now,” said Cid reassuringly, “it’s good to see you up and about again.”
“And your armor should be good to go as well,” said Benkin. “Added a little more protection and all that.”
“Thank you,” said Kveldulf sincerely before taking his seat next to Cid and Jeanne.
The inn keeper walked over, placing a plate of freshly scrambled eggs, strips of bacon and a several pieces of bread on the table for Kveldulf. Grabbing a piece of his meal, Kveldulf saw while Cid turned back to the others. “Now with Kel back on his feet, I think it’s time we go over what we learned during our recent reconnaissance around the outer ruins as well as our guest a few days ago. Maeryn, what did you and Silvius find out?”
“Well,” said Maeryn, “their patrols have definitely increased since our last raid and with their … whoever that man was, failed with what he was doing here.”
“Are there any other viable back ways into the ruins?” Ben asked.
Silvius opened his mouth, closing it slightly before speaking. “Hypatia, Maeryn and I think we might’ve found another way in.”
“Well don’t hold us in suspense,” said Cid, gesturing Silvius to continue.
Hypatia stood up from the table, holding a rolled map in her hand, unfurled it over the table once plates and mugs were removed. “So, I was going through some of the old maps I have come across on the area when I found this one dating all the way back to before the Reign of the Wraith King. And that’s when I found this.” She pointed to a small path connecting a large cavernous area to a small, looking more like a scribble of a line than a path.
“And we know this isn’t simply an artistic inclusion?” Cid asked.
“That’s what I first thought,” Hypatia replied. “Since we know how some people are when they enjoy a certain flourish in their craft.”
“Like an ostiary,” said Kveldulf.
Hypatia pointed to Kveldulf, her face beaming with a wide smile.
“Precisely! Well, I cross referenced this with another one done a few years ago,” Hypatia said as she placed another map on top of the first one. “If you see here, they marked the same location as its own cave.”
“Do we know if they’re connected?” Jeanne asked.
“I can’t say for certain. But it’s definitely worth a look,” Hypatia replied.
“Well, I think once we get some food in our stomachs, we gather whatever gear we’ll need for the road and then pay these brigands a formal visit.”
***
Kveldulf could spot two people at the front of the cave. They were leaning against the rock face, silent, one using a knife to clean their nails. He turned to Cid, who was crouched next to him and using hand signals said, What’s the plan?
Cid replied, Maeryn will take them out, you, Ben and Jeanne move up behind me, the rest will follow after the all-clear is given.
Kveldulf, acknowledging the orders, slowly unsheathed his blade, laying the flat of the blade down on the ground. Cid called Maeryn over and both gingerly moved forward to the bandit’s encampment. She looked over to Cid, who nodded and both notched arrows and in a swift moment, both the brigand sentries were dead on the ground.
Kel, Jeanne, Cid, and Ben moved towards the entrance of the cave, and after investigating the area, Kel and Jeanne gave the all-clear. The others emerged from the woods, weapons in hand. Leonidas looked down at one of the dead and undid their sword belt, fastening it to his waist.
“Saw one to your fancy?” Hypatia asked him.
“I left mine back at the clinic,” he replied, “And I’d rather not be left wanting in a scuffle.”
“I’d lend you mine if you’d like,” Hypatia said, offering her his blade.
“Thank you, kindly, but the last time I tried to wield a song-sword it was not a pleasant experience.”
“Oof, I remember those salad days too well.”
Leonidas unsheathed his blade and the two joined the rest inside the cave. Hypatia took point of the group, pulling out a little pouch with several sticks of white chalk. Holding the ancient map in one hand and a chalk in the other, she traveled down and marked the wall periodically.
“What’s with the chalk?” Benkin asked.
“No sense getting lost on the way back,” she said to him.
Cid, Ben and Silvius held a torch in hand as Jeanne used a fireball and Leonidas used a red glowing stone to illuminate the interior of the cave. As the light of the entrance faded into the blanket of darkness, fingerlings of tree roots becoming engulfed by the cave walls. Stalactites reached down towards them, with small droplets of water sporadically falling on their heads.
Silvius ducked his head as one tapped his. “I am not a fan of this, not a fan at all.”
“Not alone there,” said Maeryn, with her hood over her head.
“Won’t that impair your hearing?” Silvius asked.
“No more than checking to see if something is dropping spit on my head.”
“Eloquently put,” said Silvius, throwing his own hood over his head.
Kveldulf waited for half of the group to enter the cave before he continued down. Moving down the corridor, he found Leonidas, keeping close to the walls as he spotted a series of faded images chiseled into the rocks. He softly blew on the dirt before brushing the rest away. “Silvius,” Leonidas said softly, him over. “Come take a look at this.”
Silvius walked over to Leonidas and examined the artwork carefully, using his torch to illuminate the writings and images. “Remarkable,” he said in a hushed voice.
“Can you read it?”
“No, but I recognize it was written before even the Wars of The Fallen.”
“That was over twenty thousand years ago!” Leonidas replied.
“We’ll definitely have to come back for further studies once we’re done with current matters.”
Kveldulf came up to the two and looked at the pictographs with a careful gaze. He had remembered his mother telling him about those wars when he was a child. The dark days when his family were among the few to oppose the Draken Kings and their acolytes.
“Make sure to mark these down carefully when you do, Silvius,” Kel said to him. “This … this is important.”
“Without a doubt,” Silvius said breathlessly.
As Silvius and Leonidas left, Kveldulf looked back at the images and wondered what stories they held? Were they odes to families like his, fighting against a great evils, were they the servants of Draken Tyrants cursing his ancient kin? Were they different stories altogether from ages remembered in vague riddles and fleeting fancies?
When the ghostly façade of what once was can barely be seen in ambiguous dreams passed down from generations. When one’s soul can glimpse into a time of glory and civilization far greater in splendor than the magical words of the most brilliant of bards could muster. And the degrading disease wasting inherit to civilization had not taken hold.
Kveldulf looked down, feeling the terrible sensation as if he was a small drop in a vast ocean. Lost in the vastness of time and unable to do more than be pulled to whatever direction it desired him. Perhaps this was to be the fate of him and his kin. To be lost, and forgotten by those who used to admire and praise their names.
He looked back at the wall. Wondering what were the thoughts of those who made these etchings so long ago. While the others began disappearing into the cavernous path, Kveldulf placed his hand on the wall. Bowing his head, making a silent vow to his ancestors before returning to the others.
Hypatia, at the head of the group, and still holding the ancient map on the cave, looked down and studied the path they were on. Silvius looked over her shoulder, inquisitively. “Shouldn’t we have left that back at the inn?” Silvius asked.
“Probably, but anything happens we’ll blame the ogre,” she said. “Can someone bring a torch over please?”
Cid walked up, and Hypatia compared the path on the map with where they were presently. “I think we’re headed in the right direction,” she said before continuing down the tunnel.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“How much further do you think we have until were in the …” Cid asked before he paused his speech, almost dropping his torch from his hand.
They reached a ledge overlooking a vast fortress hewed into a great recess of the cave. Cid gestured everyone got down to their stomachs, Kveldulf needing to snap himself out of the trance-like state he was in as he first looked upon the fortress. They carefully peered their heads to gain a better look at the structure.
At first glance, the whole structure was a great and terrible shape cloaked in darkness. Light halting before its presence, daring not to pierce through to unveil what laid behind. Only as their eyes began to adjust to the darkness, did they see the whole scene hidden deep within this forgotten part of the world. Set deep within a deeply tilted valley cloaked in shadowed light on the other side the long recess before them.
The fortification itself rested on the black stone knees of the jagged valley. All dark, as if absorbing the light of the world to sate a hunger never to be satisfied. Even the ebbing light from inside seemed to be less illuminations and more the ominous cold gaze from within the bowels of the hellish beast. Each opened window took the appearance of an eye peering out, looking onward with a cold emptiness to the rest of the cavern.
Even the rocks themselves seemed influenced by the vile presence of the castle nearby. Their forms were grotesque, ghostly and demented, as if born from ill dreams. A rotting odor touched Kveldulf’s nose and he lifted a bit of his cloak and covered his nose.
“Ugh,” Silvius said, trying to swipe away the stench. “Smells like something died in here.”
Benkin sniffed the air before lightly coughing. “I think you’re not far off, Sil.”
“What do you think they’re doing in here?” Maeryn asked.
“I don’t know,” Cid replied, “but I doubt it’s anything good.”
There was moat around the keep, the outer ditch surrounding the structure was fitted against the cavern walls themselves. Several rounded watch towers and arsenal towers formed the angle points of the outer walls. Maeryn leaned forward, her eyes narrowing as she viewed the walls before opening in full and pulling back quickly. She turned to the others, “Look!” she said in a hushed voiced while pointing to the walls. Kveldulf trained his eyes to where Maeryn was looking and saw a series of pike standing upright along the length of the wall. All of them with a served head resting on top.
Hypatia looked down to the base of the walls. “Oh, good Honia,” she said, putting her hand over her mouth. The others looked down and saw more palisades erected along the stone ground, themselves decorated with impaled victims. Some appearing recent additions, others having been placed there for some time, and a few of the stakes having several bodies resting on top of the other.
“By the gods,” said Silvius. “This is just … horrid.”
“An ill wind sickens this place,” said Leonidas, looking back to the castle’s walls as Kveldulf noticed the dusky stone making up the outer walls and the stone façade throughout the rest of the cavern were gilded with gold veins. Windows decorating the keep’s walls displayed the image of a woman. Her head adorned the with crown styled as a cobra with its hood flared out. Her elongated face pulled down with fanged teeth spread out in a disturbing smile. Spikes come forth from her arms and fire engulfs her hands. Green ichor pours down her multiple legs as a tail curved behind her.
At the top of the keep was a pillar of lighting coming from a hole along the cavern’s ceiling. And save for a few small torches doting the area, was the only light source for the entire space.
“Well …” said Benkin, “that is something.”
“I think we’re at the Fortress of the Wraith King’s wife, Elzba Belthory,” Silvius said, his voice shaky and his lip trembling.
“Outstanding,” Cid said, letting out a heavy breath.
Kveldulf cracked his neck. “I guess we’ve got our work cut out for us then.”
“If I wasn’t trying not to lose all comportment, I’d be giddy and trying to write this all down,” Hypatia followed with a wide smile.
“I guess finding a chamber pot presently would be too much to ask?” Leonidas said.
“There’s a hole over there, if that’d help?” Jeanne replied.
“I’m seriously considering it,” he said sincerely.
“How could a place like this be forgotten?” Maeryn asked.
“People are quick to forget what they find trivial and mundane,” Leonidas said. “Look at Orumus’s Council half the time.”
Silvius turned to Leonidas. “They’re not that bad.”
Leonidas turned to Silvius. “Really, Silvius? Do we need to go into the ungodly length of their title? Or how long it’s taken them to fix the street outside my home?”
“They have much on their plate and can only do so much.”
“You visit them sometime and see how busy they are.”
“That’s enough!” Cid softly snapped. “You two are going to give our position away.”
Cid turned back to the others. “Maeryn,” he said, waving her over, pointing to a series of steps leading down to a low bailey, with a worn path leading into the wall. “Does there seem to be a way inside?”
Maeryn took a moment to survey the area. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head. “I can’t really tell from here.”
“Given Belthory’s history using magic to her advantage, I wouldn’t be surprised if the door was cloaked in some spell,” said Silvius.
Cid turned and spotted a series of steps leading down into the ditch surrounding the castle. Looking back at the others he ordered, gesturing them to follow. “Come, I think a way down.”
Moving quietly, the group negotiated their way down the steps into the ditch and towards the wall of the keep. Jeanne, Silvius and Leonidas went over to the door. Silvius unfurled a rolled belt with a variety of lockpicking tools. Jeanne ran here hands against the wall as Leonidas, his hands making geometric patterns, slowly began dissipating the magical cloak covering the door.
Leonidas, moving his hand in geometric patterns and his fingers in a series of specific positions, conjuring a series of triangles, rotating within circular boundaries the followed him along the castle walls.
“All right, how?” Kveldulf asked the doctor.
“I took a few interesting classes at the university,” Leonidas replied, keeping his eyes on the wall.
“Must’ve been an unorthodox institution,” Kveldulf heard Silvius whispered.
“Unorthodox would be an understatement,” Leonidas replied.
Silvius shook his head in shock. “All right, how?”
“Now that would be telling,” Leonidas said, holding his finger up and pointing it slightly towards Silvius.
“Are you two finding anything?” Cid asked Jeanne and Leonidas. Both shook their heads.
“Nothing,” Jeanne said, “not yet at least.”
“Is there anything we need to be mindful of?” Benkin asked.
“Wards, explosive crystals, probably something involving spikes going where spikes shouldn’t go,” Jeanne replied.
“We should remember that when it comes to protective measures around the castle,” Kveldulf said to Cid.
“Agreed. Just assume anything in there is hexed or bait,” said Cid.
Jeanne, spotting something abnormal along with the façade, turned to Silvius. “I think I found it,” she whispered.
Silvius came over, and gingerly fidgeted with the lock before he heard a click. As the door opened, they heard someone calling out from above them. “Hey! What do you –”
An arrow pierced his skull and he fell over the rampart towards them. Before hitting the ground, Jeanne, her arms outstretched, moved the man, still in flight, into the opened door way. In less than a thought fire and smoke bellowed from the door way and up into the chamber. Jeanne and Maeryn looked at each other, both holding a thumb up before Cid gave the signal to go in.
Moving quickly down the corridor, the group came to a series of room dotting each side. Cid, his ears perking up sharply, stopped the group with a flat hand held up. He turned his head slightly, before using his hand to say, Someone’s coming, hide!
Kveldulf ducked behind a room, with Hypatia and Silvius with him, the rest moving to the other rooms. They pressed their ears against the door. Listening to the growing clomps of heavy footsteps coming closer. “The hell was that?” he heard one guard ask. Kveldulf could feel his hands shaking and his breathing begin to speed up as he tried to calm himself and listen to the guards getting closer.
“How should I know?” said the second guard, “I just heard someone shout and then an explosion!”
“Gods, where is Clemmo? I thought I heard him shout before the explosion?”
“Probably taking another …” the second guard stopped in his speech. A series of cautious steps taken before he said, “Oh gods, it’s Clemmo!”
“What on earth? He’s burnt to a crisp!”
“Check the other rooms,” said the second guard, “See if the buggers are around here.”
Kveldulf gestured Silvius and Hypatia to brace the door. Pressing their shoulders tightly against the wooden slabs. The first strike from the guard caused dust to fall from the crevasses of the wood slats. Silvius looked to the others, “That was harder than I expected.”
“Shh,” hushed Hypatia before the next strike hit the door.
Kveldulf waved them away from the door before the third strike. Kel stood at the entrance, his sword held behind him, ready to strike, as the guard kicked down the door slab and was immediately decapitated. The other guard rushed through the door, with a cross bolt quickly landing into the middle of his forehead.
Kveldulf turned to see Silvius holding a crossbow and letting out a relived sigh.
“When did you learn to use that?” Kveldulf asked.
“Back at the university, it was a good way to make some extra coin … and get out of trouble if things got hairy.”
Cid and the others left one of the other rooms. Cid peered inside, seeing the two dead guards. “Nice work,” he said to them.
“Thanks,” said Kveldulf. “Should we keep going?”
Cid nodded. “Yes, let’s head out before more guards decide to check on these three.”
They journeyed along the lower chambers reaching an opening to a long and dark hall to their right with several jail cells on both sides. Leonidas, passing the opening, stopped and looked towards the chamber. Benkin noticed him standing still. “Everything all right, Doc?”
“I think there’s someone in there.”
“Ben, go with Doc and check it out,” said Cid.
“I’ll go with,” said Kveldulf.
“Me too,” said Jeanne.
The four entered the dark hall, their light sources the only illumination in the room. The cell floors were covered in bodies, ranging from freshly deceased and long dead. In the last cell on their left Leonidas found a pile, with a woman’s body laying at the top of the heap. “Oh gods,” he said.
Kveldulf and Jeanne came up behind him. Kveldulf knelt down and turned to Jeanne. “Look,” he said pointing to the woman’s neck, “A blue broach.”
Jeanne was silent her grip tightening around the flame and the color of the flame turning from red to blue. The fires beginning to burn away at her glove. Her jaw clenched shut as she bared her teeth. Her eyes had the look of murderous intent as the veins in her neck began bulging at the skin.
“Jeanne?” Kveldulf said to her.
As her body shook in rage, she was silent.
“Jeanne!” Leonidas said, moving his hand towards her, hesitant to touch her shoulder.
“We find the bastard, he’s mine,” she said venomously.
Both men nodded as she left the room. Cid entered the chamber and came to where Kel and Leonidas stood. He bowed his head and uttered a quick prayer. “When this is done, we’ll come back for her,” he said to Kveldulf.
“Let’s just get this damn thing over with,” Kveldulf replied.
“Agreed,” Cid said somberly.