Ailn was busy touching a statue.

Specifically, he was touching the statue of the woman on top of the fountain. And Kylian, who had just attested to Ailn’s surprising talents to Aldous, felt a bit embarrassed about it.

“I don’t fully follow what you’re doing,” Kylian said. In truth, he didn’t follow at all.

“Your Grace…” Aldous looked on in confused consternation.

“I’m pretty certain there’s a secret passage here,” Ailn said. He gestured to the wall nearest the fountain. “Just look. Why does that part of the wall bulge out half a foot? It’s cracking, too.”

He pointed toward the top of the wall, where he postulated the existence of a cistern, and traced it down through the area of the lower wall which protruded out. There were indeed cracks.

Then he pointed down along the ground.

“The piping is obviously going to be underneath the ground,” Ailn continued. “A place that gets this cold, I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a maintenance tunnel.”

“...That’s plausible. Not convincing,” Kylian said.

Aldous shook his head. “I’ve served as a knight for three decades, and I’ve never heard of such a thing. The high marshal is in charge of the castle’s security—if it existed, I would know.”

“Hey, I’m not betting my life on it,” Ailn said, going back to fiddling with the decorations on the fountain. “But the blue scrap of dress we found got me thinking. Then I remembered something we heard earlier today. About something someone else heard.”

“Which specific thing?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Is there a reason you’re not telling me now?” Kylian asked.

“Give it some honest thought.” Ailn said. “We heard all the same things today, didn’t we?”

Kylian couldn’t even muster up the energy to be annoyed. But they’d seen and heard so much today that it was a blur, and he was mentally exhausted.

This was the last stop for the day. Against his better judgment he was already checking out—waiting, essentially, for Ailn to give up so they could get some rest. Slowly and methodically Ailn once again examined the fountain.

The fountain had a central statue, though you could think of it as two: a woman in the clothing of a saintess standing atop a wolf’s head. It was a moderately sized fountain, and the woman was also of modest size. The wolf’s head she stood on top of was to scale, and the water sprout was located in its open mouth.

Ailn started his tactile examination from the top. This meant he was presently handling the statue of the representative Saintess. Handling was a nice word for it. Grasping, pinching, twisting, patting. The sight made Kylian wince for a number of reasons.

“Aha,” Ailn said.

Kylian’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a stone scraping, and iron turning in its tread. Ailn was turning the Saintess around like a screw.

For a moment, Kylian wanted to strike him for vandalizing the fountain. But as Ailn kept turning the Saintess around, it became increasingly clear to Kylian the scraping stone sound was coming from somewhere else—namely, right behind him.

A section of cobblestone raised with every turn of the generic stone saintess, and soon enough it protruded from the ground enough that it could be lifted.

Aldous and Kylian stared at the newly revealed passage, amazed.

“Damn,” Ailn said, wiping the sweat off his brow. “I’m good.”

----------------------------------------

The entrance to the passage was below the cobblestone. When they set to lifting it, they realized it was hinged, and upon opening it saw a short ladder down into the maintenance tunnel.

Pulling the cover closed, it began to sink back down, and they could hear gears shift, presumably spinning the Saintess statue in reverse and back into its original position.

“Unbelievable…” Aldous muttered, defeated. “To think I would be so completely unaware of such a passage…”

“Relax, man. Didn’t you spend most of your life fighting shadow beasts?” Ailn asked.

“Well, yes…” Aldous said.

“It was an important lesson for me to learn, I’ll admit,” Kylian said.

The self-reproach was evident in his voice. While Ailn’s case for it was plausible, Kylian hadn’t actually believed the passage was there. At the very least, he didn’t think they’d find it.

It was a dark passage with a low ceiling. The low height was exacerbated by the pipe which ran along it. and the upsidedown stone arches which held the pipe in place. Avoiding these obstacles with their heads proved to be a challenge.

More than that, the passage went deeper than they’d expected, and it wasn’t long before the light from the surface was hardly reaching them.

Kylian manifested his holy aura to light the way. It wasn’t ideal for navigating the dark, since the aura’s light naturally waxed and waned, but it would have to do.

The continuous flash of white against the dark, with the musty air, and the soft echo of their footsteps—well, it wasn’t pleasant. In all honesty, the effect was quite unnerving.

The passage sloped up at a slight incline, and the ceiling sloped at a greater incline, until eventually they could stand straight. It was clear they’d reached the section of the passage through the actual castle wall.

Presently, they came upon a split in the pipe and passage. In one direction, the upward slope became sharper. In the other direction, the slope went downward.

“This was probably the original function of the tunnel,” Ailn said, pointing at the sharp upward slope, then the downward one. “I assume that comes from the cistern. I’d imagine the other one goes generally to the kitchen. And then, after that…”

“After that?” Kylian asked.

“After that, we’ll see if it connects to other passages. When castles get renovated or expanded, hidden passages are often elaborated at the request of the central family.”

Even more than before, Kylian couldn’t help but be impressed. Ailn’s deductions when they’d first been in the courtyard hadn’t just been sound. They’d been correct.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Look,” Ailn said, grimacing. “It’s gets narrower over there.”

The tradeoff for the ceiling raising, apparently, was a narrowing of the width of the passage. It was still wide enough to pass through without sidling. But it wasn’t comfortable, especially for Aldous who was of heavier set and broader shoulders than the two younger men.

When they reached its narrowest point, Ailn stopped.

“Hold on a second. What are these?” Ailn stopped and examined something that was on the floor. “It’s shattered glass, and… dried wax? This must be from a lantern.”

“I suppose someone broke a lantern while traveling through here. It looks like they were rushing and smashed it because of the narrowed passage,” Kylian guessed.

“A lantern of glass is rather expensive,” Aldous said suspiciously. “Would a passage for maintenance not have been used mostly by servants?”

“These kinds of things become family secrets over time. Cultural practices—like servants hiding away in walls—usually end up being abolished,” Ailn said. “Then, the existence of passages like these get passed down in written memory. The only ones who retain the knowledge are those that can read.”

They went on through the narrow stretch of passage for a while. This area was particularly claustrophobic, and difficult to navigate even with the light from the warn spell guiding them. Besides being cramped, there were more than a few turns that went on for a few meters before reaching a dead end.

And they’d almost walked right past the small seam in the wall that actually continued on to the rest of the passage.

Once they went through the seam, the passage widened out, and Ailn seemed to find something interesting on the wall. “Hey. Check out this indentation,” he said.

He pressed against a convex section of wall, and the sound of stone shifting could be heard. “I bet if we pushed here, we’d bust into one of the kitchen cupboards.”

Now that they’d stopped, they could hear the soft sounds of bustling from the kitchen beyond the concrete walls.

Ailn released his hands, and the stone shifted back. Then he pushed slightly, and the stone shifted forward again. He seemed to be contemplating going through.

“Do you… think going through would aid our investigation, Your Grace?” By now Aldous had given away all pretense of expertise to the prodigious young master.

“Not at all. But it could be pretty funny,” Ailn said.

“Then don’t,” Kylian said.

So they kept on.

The extent of the passage was what surprised Kylian the most. It was difficult to track exactly how far they traveled, because they were moving so tentatively. Still, it was a deep passage, and he suspected there were multiple entrances in and out of the castle.

He’d been disoriented by their movement through the dark, but he guessed that they were in the keep by now. It made some sense. If the castle were attacked, a passage like this could be used by the core family to escape in secret to at least the outer bailey.

It wouldn’t be the best move in every case, but it was a sensible option to have.

“There are a few places we could end up,” Ailn said. “There’s a hearth in the Great Hall. The existing chimney structure would make hiding a passage easy. In fact, it would be connected with the hearth in the solar.”

The passage started to widen again, and even turned a corner.

“Or its bookshelves,” Ailn continued. “If your intention is to hide a passage from the start, then a bookshelf obviates the need for any complicated stone masonry. They’d essentially be a normal wall, made of wood.”

“Fascinating,” Aldous said, with a tone of genuine enlightenment. “I had no idea you were so… learned, Your Grace.”

Kylian himself wondered how Ailn would know all this. Perhaps when he was younger he’d read a book in the ducal study about castle building?

They turned yet another corner. That’s when Kylian noticed something.

“Stop,” Kylian said. “There’s something here.”

He’d nearly missed it, but there was something lying on the floor. Feeling a little gratified he’d found a piece of evidence himself, he picked it up.

“This is from the robe the Saintess wears.” Kylian felt the blood leave his face.

“Are you sure about that?” Ailn asked.

“...Indeed it is,” Aldous said gravely. “The crest of the duchy is juxtaposed with the insignia of the holy church. That’s something that would only be on her robe.”

The three stood silent for a while. Then Aldous coughed lightly.

“This is perhaps… inopportune timing, but seeing the cloth has refreshed my memory,” Aldous said sheepishly. “A courier was sent to the Saintess this morning to inform her of the young master’s fortuitous survival.”

Aldous continued: “We received a reply earlier this afternoon. She was so delighted to hear of your survival that she’s rushing back to see you. She is formally inviting you to dine with her and the rest of the family tomorrow.”

“So just her and Ennieux?” Ailn asked.

“I’d imagine so. Though Ennieux’s children are typically invited. Never seen them actually attend,” Aldous said.

“Can Kylian come?” Ailn asked.

“What? I don’t want to come.” Kylian turned his head back to glare at Ailn.

“I’d imagine you can bring anyone you want, Your Grace,” Aldous said. “Your sister must be thrilled that you’re alive.”

“Hm. We can keep it a surprise then. I’m sure Ennieux will be thrilled,” Ailn said. “Isn’t that great, Kylian? You can be there for our big family reunion.”

“Why don’t we just reach the end of the corridor?” Kylian asked a little sharply.

And so they went on, unsure of where the passage would take them. The corridor stretched on. The white light which followed them around kept flashing as they silently moved. It wasn’t long before Kylian lost track of where they were exactly.

In truth, the passage itself didn’t seem as if it were too long—just difficult to navigate because of their unfamiliarity.

As Kylian thought about it, the Saintess moving through this passage wasn’t necessarily suspicious. But then why did he feel such a sense of dread? The image of the blue scrap of the maid’s kirtle in the bushes flashed through his mind.

He glanced at Ailn, who seemed even less readable than usual.

“Perhaps Lady Renea takes after your mother,” Aldous spoke up with a laugh. “Celine was quite the tomboy growing up, you may not be aware. She would have been thrilled to know a passage like this existed. She may have even explored it herself!”

“It’s a little scary for kids, don’t you think?” Ailn asked.

“Celine was fearless to a fault,” Aldous said. “Even to the day she died… she refused to go down without protecting her daughter, and sending those bastards who served the Blanc family to hell.”

Ailn stopped walking. He faced forward, and Kylian couldn’t guess at what he was feeling.

“Sir Aldous,” Kylian said gently. “Ailn… did not actually remember the details of his mother’s death.”

“Oh,” Aldous’s face darkened. “I’m sorry you had to hear of it in this manner.”

“You can tell me more later,” Ailn said awkwardly.

Finally, they reached the end of the corridor. All that was left was a single wall in front of them.

They pushed it open.

Or at least, they attempted to. Even with their combined strength, the wall didn’t budge.

“Does the passage just end here?” Kylian asked.

For some reason, a part of him felt relieved. Somehow, this whole time it had felt as if the end of the passage would reveal something terrible. Perhaps it was just a false sense of portention, the result of moving through a dark and cramped space while the warnspell disoriented him.

If this was all there was to the passage, though, then he could fully rest at ease. He wasn’t in the presence of mind to quite put together what he was afraid of—it was simply a tangled theory half-forming in his head.

Unfortunately, Kylian then heard the sound of a single stone block being pushed. Ailn had apparently singled it as being recessed, and with some effort it pushed inward slow but sure.

An unlatching sound rang out through the intermittently broken dark.

A thin section of the wall opened outward, towards them—just enough to sidle through, and they made their way through one by one.

By now, sun had already set. This time any part of the castle which was neither actively being used, nor meant for traversing, would be unlit.

Thus, when they stepped in, Kylian hadn’t recognized it at first—he didn’t want to recognize it, and the different angle, the bizarre lighting, both made it easier to willfully pretend. But when his emotions stilled, it was clear where they were.

The wooden screen which separated the chamber in two, the white drape taking on the ghastly yellow while its gold trim reflected it.

The chair where the Saintess sat while she received the confessions of every knight.

They were in the bestowal chamber.