The next morning, before the birds began to sing, Leus and Lirya met up in the sitting room of his chambers. Lirya yawned, having had her sleep interrupted last night due to the unforeseen turn of events. Despite that, she had a decidedly bright smile on her face.

Who would have known that Leus is actually a decent guy? Lirya thought, I guess I was wrong about him… After all, he’s helping me get Jason freed!

Leus looked remarkably well-rested, for someone who had been wide awake at midnight. His hair was as immaculate as ever, looking almost white in the early morning sunrise and he was dressed in a cherry red jacket lined with silver buttons and a fine silk tunic.

Lirya yawned again and Leus drew out a chair for her, which she sank into gratefully.

“Thanks, Leus!” She sighed, dropping all pretence of formality.

Her hair was in tangles and she was dressed in a simple mossy green vest and leggings paired with comfortable boots.

Leus sat down in a chair opposite hers and leaned back, crossing his legs.

He looked at Lirya, addressing the point directly, “Do you have any idea how we are going to rescue your friend?”

She frowned and looked at her knees, “Well… we just… find the dungeon and… get him out?”

Leus sighed, “You don’t even know where the dungeon is? Okay, let us start small. What do you know?”

As the sun slowly rose and the rest of the castle’s occupants roused from their slumber, the two discussed their options. It was clear as soon as Leus began to question her that Lirya had little or no knowledge of the castle she grew up in. She’d considered herself quite knowledgeable of the castle but it turned out that she had barely familiarised herself with her surroundings.

How am I supposed to know these things? Lirya thought, small tears of frustration brimming at the corners of her eyes, I’d never been outside the castle since Jason took me outside yesterday!

Leus stood up and leaned over and wiped her tears away gently saying, “Don’t worry… don’t cry. I’ll go and have a look around the castle—I have an excuse, since I’m a guest. I can say I got lost—and find the dungeons. There should be a stairway somewhere leading down. I’ll come back when I’ve found it, then you can follow me—since your friend probably won’t trust me.”

His gaze was soft as he straightened, “I know it’s hard for you right now. I can’t even begin to imagine how you’ve grown up… if you’ll describe your friend to me, I can see if I can slip into the dungeons to see if your friend is there.”

She nodded and gave him a description of Jason—Bronze eyes and blond hair a couple of shades darker than Leus’s own. He’d been wearing his squire uniform—a cream tunic with the Throeyns crest sewn at the chest—when she’d seen him last. Lirya, having grown up around guards all wearing that selfsame crest, described it in great detail to Leus. It was a small crest consisting of two neydeer, antlers facing inwards towards one another and a sword in the background—a new addition since Echozar was gifted to the family.

As soon as she had given Leus the information he needed, he departed and she promptly made herself at home on his bed and was soon fast asleep again.

<--<< >>->

Leus, on the other hand, had no such luxury. He walked through the silent halls of the castle, his echoing footsteps the only sound he could hear.

It’s eerily quiet, he thought, There should be servants, at least. This silence is unnerving. It's like I’m the only person in this castle.

Leus explored the castle, marvelling at how large and complex the interior was. He’d avoided closed doors leading into main halls as he’d decided that a stairway leading to a dungeon was unlikely to be situated inside someone’s room. It made searching the castle somewhat easier, and he eventually came upon a promising stairway at the back of the castle. Built in a room with no windows and few torches, it was semi-dark and cold, but the outline of a staircase leading under the castle was unmistakable. Grabbing a nearby torch from one of the scones, Leus took a few wary steps down and peered into the gloom. The stone steps were clearly poorly maintained and grimy. Parts of the steps had crumbled, forming piles of debris on the step below and various green plants had set root, coming from cracks in the walls that spilled bare dirt into the castle and onto the ground. There was no light illuminating the steps except for the torch Leus held but as he reached the corner of the spiral stairway, he glimpsed warm torchlight. It was the smell that reached him first—a truly pungent mixture of unpleasantness. He quickly hid the light of his torch and peered around the corner. Rows upon rows of cells stretched into the distance, fading into shadows at the end of the hall. Torches, set at intervals through the dungeon, illuminated just enough for Leus to make out exactly how long the dungeon was. Directly in front of him and to the right, there sat a guard. His eyes were closed and he snored periodically. The guard was slumped in a creaky chair, his arm resting on a worn wooden table and a spear was balanced across his lap. A set of keys dangled from his belt and a small knife lay on the table, the blade glinting in the flickering torchlight. He wore a uniform that Leus recognised from Lirya’s description, although the tunic clearly strained against his potbelly.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

What a sorry state that guard is in, Leus thought, I doubt he could even hold his own in a real battle. It really makes me wonder how he became a guard in the first place! Are we truly in such a pitiful state that we must accept any random drivel who considers himself a ‘guard’? It's been fifty years, for Pelos’ sake!

Leus took his eyes off the guard and peered into the cells. It was clear that several were occupied, as he saw huddled shadows within the first few cells. Leus caught a flash of golden hair before he turned back. He wondered briefly at what those poor souls had done to incur the wrath of Lord Rowan before heading back to inform Lirya of his findings, memorising the way back using the various cracks and paintings on the walls as guidance.

He found her sprawled in deep slumber on his bed when he returned and gently woke her, describing what he’d seen.

<--<< >>-->

Leus had led Lirya back to the dungeons after giving her a brief run-down of the layout.

He told me he saw someone who had hair that looked like Jason’s, even if he didn’t get a close look, Lirya thought, I should get Jason out of there quickly!

As they rushed to the dungeon, Leus explained that there was no one around to hear their footsteps and urged her to run if she could. Time was of the essence, he told her, as their absence could be discovered at any time. Out of breath and exhausted, they reached the stairs to the dungeon once again. Lirya took a deep breath and coughed, her eyes watering, as the stench of the dungeon invaded her senses.

“Gods! What is this stench?!” She cried, covering her nose with her hand in a futile attempt at blocking the smell.

Leus said grimly, “Yes… it certainly doesn’t smell like a patch of roses down there. Breathe through your mouth—it will help. I think I saw your friend in the second cell but there is a guard. With any luck, he’s still sleeping and we can just go and take the keys from his belt, sneak your friend out and be done before that guy wakes up.”

As it turned out, luck was certainly on their side as they discovered that the guard was still fast asleep and snatched his keys without much trouble. Lirya made her way to the cells quickly and peered in, moving on when she found them empty or uninhabited by the golden-haired youth she was searching for. Heading into the shadows that the torchlight failed to light up, she peered into yet another cell and jerked back.

Leus hurried over to her and asked what was wrong.

Lirya pointed a shaking finger at the interior of the cell, “H-He’s there… but, oh Gods! What have they done to him?!”

Jason hung, suspended by manacles around his wrists, from the cold dungeon wall. His feet dangled, brushing the ground and his head lolled. The uniform he’d so proudly worn just a day ago was torn to shreds exposing tanned skin and angry red marks. Dark purple bruises marred his body and his face was no better off. His dry lips had split and his cheek had swelled up to a nasty bluish colour.

With shaking hands, Lirya took the keys and opened the cell, rushing in and undoing the manacles. Jason fell heavily and landed on shaking arms. He tried to sit up but collapsed, his arms unable to sustain any weight after his ordeal. Leus entered, pulled Jason up and supported his body, hauling him out of the cell and into the light of the dungeon corridor. Lirya glanced back up the hall to check if the guard was still fast asleep—which he was, thankfully. She walked over to him carefully and refastened the keys to his belt and turned to the stairwell sharply as the unmistakable sounds of footsteps echoed down to the dungeon.

She heard Lord Rowan’s voice and froze up as he shouted, “We head to the dungeons! I shall interrogate that squire brat that my daughter brought back now!”

At the sound of Lord Rowan’s command, the guard awoke from his peaceful slumber, saw Lirya and promptly screeched at the top of his lungs, “Intruder! They’re down here, m’lord!”

It would appear as though luck had deserted them.