When they arrived at the castle, the Princess said, “There were only a few clues about where this passage might be.” She closed her eyes and changed her voice to one of studious recitation, “A drunkard’s life is a waste of time, except of course, for mine. Deep within the earth it sleeps, my way out, my life to keep.” She scratched her head, “It doesn’t make much sense though. And I can’t fathom what the writing might mean.”

“Are you sure it refers to a way out?” Freydis asked, “It could mean anything. A magic item, a weapon, a way to die painlessly to avoid capture?”

Deirdre appeared to think it over, then answered, “I don’t think so. The book was dated to hundreds of years ago, in the reign of King Johrelya. He was a notorious coward and drunkard, I can’t picture him sacrificing himself or doing anything but running. It would be exactly his way to build a secret escape just for himself.”

“If it’s there, we’ll find it, I’ll go down and help them, Princess Deirdre… if you would, why don’t you go upstairs and get some rest, you should prepare to address the city soon. Prepare a few words, it will do them good to hear you speak to them.” Faust did his best to put on a brave, stoic expression, but not for the first time he felt boyish and awkward when her luminous green eyes looked at him with such absolute faithfulness.

“If you think that’s best, this is a lot to take in, I’ll leave you to it then, Faust, Freydis, I wish you luck.” She put her hand up to her forehead, “I suppose I am weary… this has been a lot to cope with… I’m just not strong enough for stress like this.” Deirdre made a show of trying to smile at the party of adventurers, but kept it fragile and uncertain as if she were unable to maintain it.

“Not to worry, we’re on it!” Brunwaeld quipped and tapped the butt of her maul on the floor of the carriage, “I tell you, we’ll find the passage, follow it to wherever, and crack the skulls of anything that may pose a problem, or Faust will die a virgin!”

Faust flushed in the face at her taunt, but did nothing more than roll his eyes, which was the same reception the others had for it.

Deirdre Fomorisa blinked rapidly for several seconds and did not roll her eyes. “Faust won’t die. He won’t. He won’t.” She insisted, and before the moment could become awkward, the carriage came to a halt and the Princess made her exit.

She moved so quickly away from the carriage that Brunwaeld rubbed the back of her head and muttered, “Maybe that was a little too… I don’t know?”

“You were only joking, she’s just tired and worried, she’ll be fine.” Faust said, and no sooner was the Princess out of sight than he got out of the carriage and said, “Now come along, follow me. I’ll show you where the steps to the lowest levels are.”

It was a quiet, severe walk, and it wasn’t hard for Freydis, or any of them, to see that Faust’s mind was occupied, even racing. His steps were long and full of purpose, his boots slapping the stone floor harder than Nazari slapped uncouth suitors. His usual quiet professionalism had become urgent, if not quite panicked, and this was unchanged as he guided them into a corridor that in turn led to a heavy door. When he opened it, there was a single wide square stone which had stairs going both up and down, with small torches burning, casting light and shadows in every direction. He took the nearest one off the wall, “We’ll need this on the lower levels, this way. This is the only set of stairs that goes to the deepest part of the castle, if there is- if the Princess is right,” he corrected himself and cleared his throat, “we’ll find it by going this way.”

They descended the staircase for what felt like forever, with Faust’s grave air weighing as much as the tension of a dangerous quest on their shoulders, the flickering lights cast their shadows against stone which was first laid with the founding of Gelia itself hundreds of years earlier. Or, perhaps even older.

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Eventually there were no torches but the one he carried, and the shadows diminished, each having only one instead of two or three dark silhouettes against the ancient rock, the air grew cool, as gentle as the graves that awaited all mortals.

“This is the lowest level, I don’t know how deep it is, but I’ll go with very.” Faust said and put his hand on the wooden door, it was splintered in places, cracked, and had no lock on the outside.

He pushed the door open, the hinge squeaked and creaked, and he stepped into a room with a relatively low ceiling. Brunwaeld ducked under the door frame to step in with the others and hunched over to avoid hitting the stone ceiling.

“Close that, would you? There’s an old metal bar to seal the door behind us, go ahead and use it, would you?” Faust asked as he made room for the others. The room was long, dark, and the ground was dirt, rather than stone.

There were barrels, broken buckets, tool fragments, the squeaks of the occasional rat, and endless dust, along with countless casks along the wall, some were small, half the size of Faust himself, others went from floor to ceiling.

“Now that we’re alone, I want to ask you something.” Faust said as Brunwaeld made herself as comfortable as possible, dropping to a crouch after barring the door from the inside.

“Alright… What is it?” Belladonna asked, her voice was curious, but even though she couldn’t be completely sure, it wasn’t hard to guess.

“I’m not going to let the Auxkos Empire take her away… but… I’m also not going to let her die.” Faust searched their faces, what he could of them at least, Belladonna’s face was a mystery, while the others seemed sympathetic at least, their eyes going toward and away from him while they sought something to say.

Freydis chose to speak for them. “I’m sorry, but we can’t fight for her. If we do that, they’ll bring in adventurers to stop us, and-”

It was just going to be a repeat of what he already knew, so he cut her off. “That’s not what I’m asking. I know you won’t fight for the city. I’m not going to ask you to do that, I’m not dumb.” He answered, and their pity became uncertain.

“I want to get the Princess out. All I want from you is a little help doing it. Look, you owe her.” Faust urged, gesturing to them each in turn. “Nazari, she helped document your faked death so Auxkos wouldn’t look for you anymore. Brunwaeld, you’re wearing what she did for you, and that costs more than most of the armor in the Guild right now combined. Belladonna, the only reason you have a party now is because of her, and Frey-” Faust stopped when Freydis cleared her throat.

“We know what she’s done for us, I’ve never forgotten it. You don’t have to sell me on it.” She chuckled, “I was actually wondering about how to get her out myself, knowing you’re not willing to go along with her orders is actually a relief.” Freydis sighed and made a big show of wiping nonexistent sweat from her brow. “Listen, first we have to find this thing, this way out, then do the clearing action. But when the time comes, we’ll make sure…without breaking any rules, of course, that you have plenty of head start, and we’ll chip in some coins in different currencies to help you get out of here. Some from the Divine Kingdom, some from Amagidan, and even some from the Qadish, that’s probably your safest bet, so go there. We might be able to help you out a little along the way. But I can’t promise anything.”

Faust exhaled a deeply held breath, “Thank you. Thank you. A thousand times thank you.”

“No sweat. You’re our friend.” Brunwaeld said and clapped him on the back hard enough to stagger him a little and make their shadows dance with the motion of his torch.

“Alright, let’s find this thing.” Belladonna said, and with that, they got to work.