Chapter 15 – The Study
Grouped around the meeting table, we all glanced over the map of the castle. Redmond was looking over it, looking slightly confused. “I’ve never been in this part of the castle. Granted,” he added, “it’s the private wing of Delroy and Aubrey, so that’s not surprising.”
“So how are we going to get in there?” Philipia asked, ever practical. “It’s guarded, right?”
Redmond looked at her with a pitying expression. “You lot have MAGIC. You could distract guards in your sleep.”
“Good point.”
“So what exactly is the plan?” Violet piped up, strategies already forming in her head. “I suppose Redmond can get you into that wing of the castle. He’s the jester so his presence will be less surprising than if three girls with dubious reputations are wandering around.”
“Yes, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to actually go INTO the study,” Redmond pointed out. “If I’m caught there, there’s absolutely no hope for me. If you are, you can always claim you got lost or something. I don’t have any such excuse.”
“Right,” Philipia said calmly. “And I think we need to have arrange a meeting. If we’re not back within a certain amount of time, you’ll know something’s up.”
“We could use my house as the rendezvous,” Kymber offered. “If you’re asked about it, just use the excuse that Alye needs her swords sharpened or something.” Alye pricked up at the sound of that.
“I do, actually,” she mused, taking one out and running her finger lightly over the blade.
“It can wait,” I snorted. “You’re not going to be lopping heads off in the castle. That’ll do wonders for the carpet.”
Instead of laughing, Alye glared at me. The tension from last night still put a strain in any and all of our conversations. I rolled my eyes and turned my gaze back to the castle plan.
Violet was going over the plan, beginning to end. “So you three,” and she pointed at Alye, Philipia, and me, “will be escorted by Redmond. You’ll distract the guards and then Redmond will lead you to the door of the study. He’ll have to leave then, but will be waiting at Kymber’s house. This shouldn’t be too difficult. Get in, take what information you can find about what Lord Delroy’s planning, and then leave as soon as possible. How long should the waiting period be before we start getting worried?”
I frowned, calculating mentally. “I’d say give us an hour or two. No more than that. This isn’t that complicated; it’s just a recon mission.”
“A wha mission?” Lunae asked, breaking in with a puzzled face.
“Reconnaissance. You know, gathering info and spying and stuff?” I replied, frustrated. The Rebellion members were really cool and all, but it got so annoying having to explain all these modern phrases to them.
Then again, the gap was about seven hundred years (give or take a century), so I guess I didn’t have much cause to complain.
“Alright then,” Violet announced, gathering up the papers scattered on the table. “We should do this tonight. Get it over with as soon as possible so nobody suspects anything.” We nodded. This could be the most important moment of the Rebellion. We were uncovering a plan to wipe us off the map. Either this would be a total walk in the park or…
I didn’t really want to think about the other possibilities.
The four of us, Philipia, Alye, Redmond, and me, walked through the massive double doors of the entrance. We strolled casually down the hallways, Redmond telling jokes to lighten the mood and make it look like we were just going for a stroll around the castle. In his pocket, I could see Redmond’s fingers clutching the map. Nervous, I gripped my staff tighter. Soon, however, our first test came.
As we walked, our shoes making little noise on the plushy carpet, another set of doors, these with several locks and two guards, appeared down one of the right-hand halls. Our group stepped by, and then stopped. Quickly, I conjured up a little ball of blue energy, rolled it a couple times, and flung it down the hallway. It flew past the heads of the guards and ricocheted off several suits of armor, finally bouncing down another hallway. The guards, started out of their boredom, dashed down the corridor, following the still-springing ball as it caused havoc. I grinned in pleasure. There are few things more hysterical than harassing bored soldiers. You should try it sometime. Then again, maybe not the best idea.
Back to business. We darted down the passage, looking at the door. Alye took up her swords and shoved the blades into the locks. They were like huge, but effective, lock picks. Within a couple seconds, the third bolt sprang open and we squeezed ourselves through the narrow opening, shutting the door behind us. Just in time too. The guards came stomping back, annoyed and fussing. They probably thought someone from the kitchen staff was playing a practical joke on them, for I heard one mutter that they’d “have a few nice things to say to that new maid.” I could only imagine what that would entail.
Anyway, we darted down the new hallway, Redmond now pulling the map out and studying it carefully. “Turn left at the next intersection,” he whispered, his lowered voice still breaking up the quiet surroundings. So far, things were going very smoothly. But abruptly, we heard the stomping of soldiers’ heavy boots on fine carpet.
“Quick, in here!” Alye hissed, flinging open one of the myriad doors and pulling us all inside. It was a tiny little closet, a broom cupboard really. But it was safe, and although the dust made my nose go crazy and I almost had to sneeze, the soldiers passed by without suspecting a thing. Soon, the sound of their footsteps passed and we sprang out of the cupboard, resuming our quest.
Thanks to the castle plan, it didn’t take long to find the study. A few feet from the all-important door, Redmond stopped. “This is where I stop,” he said very softly. “I’ll meet you at Kymber’s house in an hour and a half. Be careful.” Without another word, he turned around and marched swiftly away. He turned the corner and was gone.
“Well,” I murmured, nervousness clenching my stomach, “this is it. Let’s do it.” We strode purposefully to the door and Alye turned the handle. Surprisingly, it opened easily.
We stepped inside and shut the door again. Then we turned around. The room was quite empty. Dust was gathering on a desk near the window. As we carefully walked forward, making no noise, we heard something that sent our minds into a total panic.
Someone coughed lightly, shattering the stillness of the room. We backed frantically against the wall, for the room had another chamber on the side, like someone had built a room next to the current one and then knocked the wall in. With infinite care, I peeked around the corner.
Oh god.
Oh no.
Oh dear.
We’re dead.
Two dozen soldiers were standing in the adjoining room, waiting for one of us to reveal ourselves. There was no way they hadn’t heard the door open and close, or our panicked breathing. I trembled. We were trapped. I didn’t see any way out.
“We know you’re there,” a hard, cold, unfamiliar voice said. “Step around the corner with your hands up or we will subdue you ourselves.” Fear and terror flooded my brain. I couldn’t think. All rational thoughts fled. The only thing still lingering in my mind was self-preservation.
“And why should we believe you won’t kill us anyway?” Alye demanded, a faint tremble in her voice. Next to me, I felt Philipia’s breathing even out and her shoulder began to fall past mine. She was trying to shapeshift without making any noise the soldiers could hear.
“Because if you don’t come out in exactly five seconds, we will come over there and fight you. Three against twenty-five, I believe the odds are against you.”
Of course, in a situation like this, the smart thing to do is to surrender quietly and hope you aren’t spitted. But since when did we three do the smart thing?
So we whipped around the corner and started fighting. Predictable, I know, but much more satisfying.
With a blaze of azure, I focused a beam of energy that toppled two soldiers. Alye was dueling at lightning speed with two guys at once, her blade slicing through the air faster than the eye could see. Philipia had gone for both strength and speed, becoming a wolf. She dived onto one soldier and knocked him clean over, then going for another one’s wrist and dodging the sword he swung at her. The room was an insane frenzy, with me trying to blast any soldier I could see while Philipia acted like a rabid wolf (bad analogy since she WAS a wolf) and Alye’s swordsmanship defeated several.
Suddenly, however, someone got their chance. A hard, crashing blow fell on my head. My staff was knocked out of my hand and a trickle of red blood started running down my face. I heard Alye’s frantic voice call my name and Philipia snarling in fury and then everything vanished in a cloud of black.
Ow. Pain. Headache. Total, complete, and utter ravaging, head-throbbing insanity. With a groan, I opened my eyes. For a moment, my brain just refused to process what I was seeing. I was surrounded on all sides by glistening black and gray stone. The dark ceiling seemed to press down on me, although that might just have been the headache. I sat up, feeling my scalp. A faint line of dried blood marred my face and I rubbed at it, ignoring all the medical advice about germs and things. I didn’t want to look like some crazy person who’d gone all face paint postal.
Although in the present situation, it didn’t seem to matter.
With shaking legs, I stood up. Philipia and Alye were lying close by, also with head wounds. As I leaned against the wall, Philipia stirred and woke, fingering her cut. “Ouch. What unholy thing hit me?”
“A soldier, I think,” I replied. “Got me first, though.”
“I noticed. What is it with you and people bashing you on the head?” Philipia smirked, wincing as she turned to Alye, shaking her awake. “Alye, wake up. No time for beauty sleep. Not that you’re likely to get any good out of it.”
“Shut up,” Alye groaned as she returned to the world of the living. They seemed alright, so I glanced around. This cell was about ten feet wide and sixteen feet long, with high walls made of impenetrable stone. Instinctively, I searched the ground for my staff, but then remembered that it had been taken. With a whimper of frustration, I sank against the wall, holding my head in my hands.
“So it was a trap,” Alye said softly, a layer of panic underneath her words.
“No duh, Einstein,” Philipia snapped. She stared around her. “Where are we?”
“My guess,” I replied, “would be some deep dark dungeon pit of despair thing. It’s practically a requirement for medieval castles. Now how do we get out of here?”
“Gimme a minute,” our resident shapeshifter answered, standing up slowly and taking several deep breaths. Gradually, her breathing slowed until she was completely in control. And then she concentrated.
Only problem is, nothing happened.
She tried again, a vein twitching in her temple. Still nothing. With a cry of exasperation, she opened her eyes and exclaimed, “What’s WRONG with me? I’m doing exactly what Lunae taught me! Why can’t I do anything?!”
“Here, let me try,” I offered. Even without my staff, I could still do some magic. I reached inside myself for the energy, tapping into the spring of magic. But as soon as I tried something simple, a barrier rose up. Try as I might, my magic was being closed off. Even really simple stuff, like making a small streak of blue energy, was prevented. I was handicapped.
Alye rubbed her forehead and watched the two of us struggle to do actions we’d taken for granted in the past few weeks. “I think there’s something that’s, like, inhibiting the magic and stuff. Like a dampener or something?”
I stared. “Where’d you pick up that vocabulary?”
She stuck her tongue out at me. “Sci-Fi Channel. Gotta love it.”
“Can we quit focusing on TV shows and try to get OUT of here?” Philipia stormed, a wave of aggravation erupting from her. But there wasn’t any way out. There were no handy ventilation shafts or switches in the wall that would open up secret passages. We were trapped.
“How did they find out?” I sighed as I slumped against the wall, hope leaving me.
Alye furrowed her brow. “I dunno. I guess somebody told them.”
“But who?” Philipia gasped. “Why would one of the Rebellion give up our plans when this whole mission was vital for the freaking survival of the group?”
“Then we’ve got a double agent, a snitch,” I said quietly, fear gripping me at the very thought of such. How long had someone been listening to our plans, reporting them, ruining our chances? But the thing was, our missions had pretty much all gone smoothly (with the exception of the first raid, but that was kinda our fault). If someone was betraying us, why’d they wait till now to take action?
“I can think of someone who would do this,” Philipia growled. “It’s self-explanatory, isn’t it? Who’s the son of the guy we’re fighting against, who has top access to our plans, and who gave us the bloody map of the castle?”
“But Aubrey’s HELPED us!” Alye protested, fury leaping into her eyes. “Remember? He’s given us intelligence and done a whole bunch of stuff for us! If he’s evil, which he’s NOT, then why bother?” She rolled her eyes. “I think it’s someone else.”
“Who?” I asked.
She lifted her head and stared right at me. “Redmond of course.”
What? What?? WHAT???
“But in that case, your argument for why Aubrey’s not the snitch stands for Redmond too!” Philipia pointed out angrily. “And he’s been helping us since the beginning of the Rebellion!”
I stayed out of this debate, not wanting to really grasp the implications. If Aubrey…or even Redmond, though I hated the thought of that…knew all about us…then we were doomed. We’d been set up, and we’d probably spend the rest of our short lives down here. I put my head between my knees and let a tear trickle down, while Philipia and Alye argued with increasing intensity.
I didn’t know how long had passed since we’d been captured. Philipia and Alye had lapsed into a furious silence, facing opposite corners of our cell. How could a rescue possibly be attempted when there was no way of knowing where we were or how the Rebellion could find us? Basically, I was at my lowest point. I didn’t know what to do or how to do it. My magic was useless. There wasn’t any way out of here.
“I’m starving,” Alye broke the tense quiet.
“So am I, but I doubt we’ve got a five-course meal coming,” Philipia retorted, anger still simmering.
Back to sullen silence. And just then, a completely unexpected sound reached our ears.
A very faint clink. And then another sound, the softest whisper of a crackling fire. We stopped all movement and listened very closely. Where was it coming from? Our cell had no noticeable doors, although I suspected there was a trapdoor in the ceiling, but the queer sound was coming from beneath us! What the heck?
Suddenly, a very familiar sound. The groaning of a plank that hasn’t been moved in ages as it’s pushed back on its hinges. On the ground, not three feet from Alye’s foot, the earth trembled slightly, dirt sliding back to reveal a wooden square. And as we watched, not daring to breathe, the wood shifted and rose up, while a hand appeared from the blackness underneath, shoving the trapdoor up. A recognizable face appeared, grinning as he pushed the planks back.
Redmond. Twinkling eyes and all. “Hello there,” he said cheerily. “Need some help?
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