Spellbinder, page 33
part #2 of The Jester King Series
“So, we go across.”
The others stared at the giant, sizing up him and his statement. At last, Malcolm stepped aside of the others and eyed the chasm.
“I think I can jump it.”
“I also think I can jump it,” Shaldra said.
Billy looked at them and nodded, then his eyes came across Aeth and he stopped. “What about Aeth?”
Again, Camion piped up. “On my back.”
“What?”
“I jump with him on my back.”
“And you’ll make it?”
“Does fish swim in sea?”
“Just leaves you and me, Hugh. With what Malcolm taught me, I think I can make it.”
Hugh smiled. “I’ll be fine.”
“What of your wound?”
“It’ll be fine. It feels better since you doctored it.”
Billy looked at Malcolm and Shaldra. “Well?”
Malcolm and Shaldra took a few steps back to get a running start on the leap over the pit. Malcolm turned to Shaldra. “Shall I go first?”
Shaldra turned, sprinted to the hole, and sprang into the air. Billy inhaled and held it. A long moment later, the elf touched down on the opposite side.
The entire party exhaled.
Malcolm went next, performing a flip in the middle. When he landed, he turned around to face Billy and bowed. “Billy, remember what I taught ya ‘bout using your weight in a flip to gain distance?”
“Aye. I remember.”
“Now would be a good time to show me how well ya learned it.”
Billy stepped back a few paces until his back came against a wall. He breathed several deep breaths and looked at the hole in the floor.
Look at your target, he told himself, remembering Malcolm’s training. Not what you’ve got to cover. Look at your target.
Billy raised his eyes and focused on the floor on the other side of the hole. He took a last deep breath and pushed off the wall. He sprinted to the edge of the hole and leapt with all his might into the air. He tucked tight into a ball, and closed his eyes before the fall beneath him could steal his nerve and draw him down into its depths. He allowed his body to move by memory in the way it had learned after an hour of practice with Malcolm.
Billy opened his eyes and found himself on target. He put his feet down, and his momentum carried him into the arms of Malcolm and Shaldra.
He straightened himself, and then bowed to Malcolm. “Ta-da.”
“Ta-da, indeed,” the highlander grumbled. “You better stick to juggling. Your tumbling master robbed ya blind.”
“But I didn’t pay him anything.”
“There ‘tis. Ya get what ya pay for.”
Billy and Malcolm laughed, then turned to face the others across the pit.
Aeth climbed onto Camion’s back with Hugh’s help, and the giant stepped back. He took only a few steps before he made his leap. Aeth squeezed Camion around his neck and did his best to hold on with his crooked legs. Though he didn’t move with grace, the giant’s strength propelled him over the gap, and the two oddly paired companions arrived safely on the other side.
*
Camion let Aeth down off his back, and then he and the others turned to Hugh. They stood back from the hole, coaxing and encouraging him to come across with their hands.
Billy gave him a smile. “You can do it.”
Hugh took off his sword and threw it across to him. Then he threw over his helmet and gauntlets.
“Well … here I come.”
Hugh stepped back as the others had done, took a deep breath, and ran up the corridor. He got up to a good speed, placed his foot at the edge of the pit, and pushed off. At that moment, the bit of masonry under his foot gave way, forcing him to dive for the distant ledge.
Hugh stretched out with all his might to reach the other side. He grasped at the stonework on the ledge as his weight carried him into the chasm. Before he could get a hold on anything, he slammed into the face and bounced off.
He fell. He scrambled to hold onto something. His eyes searched below him. Then his descent stopped as something gripped his wrist. The wound in his gut opened, and he cried out.
When his head cleared, Hugh looked up at his extended arm and found Camion holding his wrist with one hand and the rock face with the other.
“Hugh.”
“Aye, Camion.”
“Hold my leg. I can’t hold us with one hand.”
Hugh threw his arms around Camion’s leg, and the giant reached up to hold the rocks.
Malcolm appeared at the edge and shouted down, “Hugh, can you find somethin’ to hold on to?”
Hugh looked around him, but it was quite dark.
“Billy, send down a couple of lights.”
Shortly, several glowing orbs of light descended into the cavern and surrounded Hugh. He could now see the wall in front of him. It was a slippery hodgepodge of dark stones and black soil with nothing solid to hold. As he scanned for footholds, something further down caught his eye. It was pale and smooth and stood out from the dark stone and earth.
“Billy. Can you make the lights brighter?”
As the light increased, Hugh could make out rough shapes. There was an arm and a leg, and a head. The light revealed a human skeleton, resting on a ledge below him.
“Camion, swing me forward.”
The giant swung his body forward and then back, forward then back. The next time he swung forward, Hugh let go of his leg and fell.
“Hugh!” the giant exclaimed.
Billy, Malcolm, and Aeth rushed forward. “Hugh!”
“I’m well. I’m on a ledge down here.”
Billy leaned out over the chasm. “What are you doing?”
“Look, just get Camion up, and then lower me down a rope and some kind of sack.”
“If we had a rope,” Malcolm yelled, “we’d have it around your waist now, you maniac!”
“I have a rope.”
Malcolm, Billy, and Aeth stared at Shaldra until he shrugged. “Nobody asked.”
They then set to work to bring Camion up from the pit. Without Hugh to weigh him down, Camion was soon up with the others. Shaldra then emptied his pack and lowered it to Hugh with his rope.
Before long, Camion had hauled Hugh out of the pit. Once on his feet, Hugh removed Shaldra’s pack from his back and set it on the floor.
The others gawked at the small, intact skeleton that occupied the pack in a cramped sitting position. Dust and cobwebs had all but replaced the fine clothes that once adorned the remains.
“What the devil?” Malcolm made the sign of the cross.
“Not the devil,” Hugh said. “A little boy.”
Billy crossed his arms. “Lady Myrredith’s brother.”
Shaldra stared at the skeleton in his backpack. “Why’d you bring it up?”
“I’m laying him to rest with his family.”
Billy nodded. “It’s time he found rest.”
Shaldra motioned to the bones. “This is the one you told me about? The Ghost?”
“Ghost?” Aeth jumped back.
Billy grinned. “Nothing to worry about. He’s harmless. I don’t think he’ll bother us.”
“You don’t think?”
“We’re taking him home. With any luck, he’s already at peace.”
“Luck. Ha.” Shaldra continued to stare at his backpack. “If I’ve learned anything on this quest, it’s that dealing with corpses is anything but lucky.”
***
When Shaldra returned from his scout, he squatted low and invited the others to join him as he scratched out a map on the floor. “Just like you said, there’s a room only a few turns away. It’s large and round, with several resting statues on large slabs of stone here and here.”
“That’s the crypt,” Billy said.
Hugh stood. “Good.”
“Wait.” Shaldra touched his leg. When Hugh hunkered down again, Shaldra continued. “There are four guards sitting around a plain slab here, playing some kind of gambling game ...”
Hugh stood again and drew his sword.
“Wait!”
Hugh looked down at the elf. “The element of surprise. I’ll catch them off guard.”
Shaldra stayed put and stared at Hugh until he squatted. “There are two others eating over here to the right, one sleeping on the floor here behind this statue, and one watching the passages to the left. There are also three standing watch in the shadows of this passage with steps going up.”
Hugh scratched his chin and pointed to Shaldra’s floor map with his sword. “Three in this passage?”
“Aye.” Shaldra nodded.
“How are they all armed?”
Shaldra thought for a moment. “No shields or spears. Light armor. Daggers and short swords only.”
“What about this passage? How many on this one?”
“None.”
Billy pointed at the map. “Unless you count the two eating in front of it.”
Hugh looked up. “That one leads to the room you stayed in, just down the hall from Lady Myrredith.”
Billy nodded. “I came down into the crypt from my room, but I couldn’t have told you which passage it was.”
“It was that one. This passage, right here, with the three in the shadows, is the one that leads directly to Lady Myrredith’s room. That’s our goal.”
“That’s if she’s still in her room,” Malcolm said. “The prince has likely moved her elsewhere.”
Hugh thought a moment. “Then why put guards on this passage? And why are they all concentrated in this quadrant? No. They’re guarding this passage.”
“What about the one guarding these passages?”
“He’s just pacing. They aren’t serious about defending the room from these passages. They aren’t armed heavily enough to fend off a strong attack.”
“Aye.” Malcolm nodded. “But there are enough of them to make it nigh impossible for us. What if one of them escapes and sounds the alarm?”
“Well, Camion will rush in and tackle those four before they can act, you’ll take this one, and I’ll take—”
Hugh stopped explaining his plan and turned to stare at the gaunt, ashen boy now kneeling beside him. The others likewise stared at their unannounced guest and his deep-set melancholy eyes.
“Hello, Rory,” Hugh said.
The boy smiled at him, then pointed at the map and laughed.
“Shhh.” Hugh put his finger to his lips.
The boy became quiet and focused on Hugh.
“Rory, do you remember me?”
The boy nodded.
“Myrredith is in great danger. We need you to be quiet so we can rescue her. Will you help us?”
Just like that, Rory faded into thin air.
Hugh reached out to touch him but found nothing.
Aeth exhaled. “That were him, huh?”
Billy nodded.
“Didn’t seem like such a bad sort ... for a ghost.”
Hugh made uneasy eye contact with the others, and then continued to spell out his plan of attack, which left Billy out of the fighting. With one dissenting vote, the party agreed they had little choice but to follow Hugh’s plan and hope for the best.
The rescue party crept down the corridors toward the Cyndyn family crypt. The voices of the Gwythie soldiers echoed off the walls as they neared their destination. When they came to the last corner, soft lamplight painted the ceiling around the turn. Billy and Shaldra extinguished their faerie lights and drew their swords while Hugh peeked around the corner.
Each member of their party stood ready, squeezing their fists and weapons to relieve the tension of that moment. They breathed through their nostrils, fighting to maintain a quiet, calm pace against the racing of their hearts. At any second, Hugh would give the signal that would set them flying with all speed and cruelty into the midst of their foes.
The sound of a boy’s taunting laughs suddenly burst from the next room. Billy stuck his head around the corner as the spirit of Rory Cyndyn leapt onto the slab-turned-game table. The four soldiers around it looked up in surprise as he kicked, and their coins splashed in all directions. One fell back to the floor while two others grabbed for him and banged heads.
“Get him!” the fourth player shouted.
All the men in the chamber scrambled to their feet as Rory lithely leapt from slab to slab, just out of their reach. One by one, they circled around him, closing in, backing him into the left end of the chamber where the lone guard stood barring the way to several doorways.
Rory leapt to the slab in front of the last man and landed on tiptoes on the statue of a knight. The clamoring soldiers behind him were now pushing and elbowing each other to get to him. Rory feigned left, then right, and finally leapt over the last guard’s head and rolled into the dark corridor behind him.
Rory stuck out his tongue, then laughed and ran up the corridor, with the guards giving chase. The rescue party listened as the ruckus of the guard detail faded into the distance.
Billy and Hugh looked at each other, amazed and amused. Before they could laugh, Shaldra’s face came between them, and he placed his fingers to their lips.
They pulled back behind the corner, and Shaldra whispered, “There’s still one on the steps, in the shadows. He’s a sly one. Maybe the leader.”
Hugh motioned for Malcolm. The highlander came and knelt beside them.
“There’s one left,” Hugh whispered. “In the stairwell.”
Malcolm took his dagger and turned it around so that he held it by the blade. He then looked at Shaldra. “Where, exactly?”
“Straight back in the shadows, behind the column on the right.”
Malcolm stood and peeked around the corner. He scanned the shadows of the alcove until he caught a glimpse of movement. He turned, made eye contact with Shaldra, and nodded.
While Malcolm limbered up, Billy whispered to Shaldra, “You’re the fastest. If he misses, you’ll have to stop him.”
At that moment, Malcolm side-stepped into the center of the corridor, raised his arm, and threw. Shaldra sprinted around the corner with his sword drawn. Malcolm’s dagger chopped through the air, hit with a thud, then clattered on the stone steps of the dark passage.
The party ran through the crypt to the passageway, with Billy’s blue faerie light leading the way. When they arrived, Shaldra stood and handed Malcolm his dagger.
“Nice throw!”
Malcolm sheathed his dagger and rolled his eyes at Billy. “If he misses ...” he scoffed.
Billy smiled and looked down at the Gwythie guard lying at the foot of the steps. A goose-egg-sized bump was rising on his forehead.
Billy shot his old juggling master an expression of surprise. “I thought you ...”
Malcolm frowned and shook his head. “Naw. Didn’t need to.”
Just then, the Gwythie guard came to. He scrambled to his knees, pushed Malcolm back, and reached up to grab a rope, which had its lower end tied to an iron sconce. Lura Zahn flew from Billy’s outstretched hand, sliced the rope above the guard’s grip, and returned. A moment later, Malcolm and Shaldra were on top of the guard. Hugh stepped forward into the tangle and knocked the guard unconscious with a mighty blow.
While Shaldra and Malcolm tied and gagged the unconscious guard, Hugh stashed the backpack bearing Rory’s remains in one of the corridors. When he returned, he gave orders for Malcolm, Aeth, and Shaldra to guard their escape while he, Camion, and Billy went up to collect Lady Myrredith.
“And if things get too chancy, take and hold that passage over there.” Hugh indicated the passage he had stowed Rory’s remains in. “That’s our way out.”
Billy patted Shaldra on the shoulder. “I’ll be fine. We need your sharp eyes and ears here.” He then turned and followed Hugh up the steep winding stairs.
At last, Hugh, Camion, and Billy stood at the secret door leading to the bedchamber of the master of Cyndyn Hall. Hugh reached up and grabbed the lever to open the door.
Abruptly, Hugh glanced back at Billy with an expression of apprehension. “Is she in there?”
Billy closed his eyes and concentrated. A moment later, he smiled, but then deep furrows creased his brow.
“What is it? What do you sense?”
“She’s in there, but there’s something wrong.”
“Wrong?”
“Something strange—a stranger.”
“She’s with someone?”
“Not exactly.”
Hugh became frustrated. “How can you not exactly be alone?”
“She is alone, but. ...You’ll understand once we’re with her.”
Hugh pulled on the lever and the catch opened. He pushed on the wall, and light spilled in through the doorway that appeared.
Hugh stuck his head into Lady Cyndyn’s bedchamber. The dying fire in the hearth bathed the room in dim red light. The subject of their mission lay alone in the large bed on the far side of the room. The first hint of morning’s light peeked through the small southern window.
“Blast, it’s late. We’ve taken too long!”
The rescuers crept into the room. Camion squeezed out of the secret passage and crossed the room to secure the door while the others approached Lady Myrredith’s bedside.
Hugh paused for a moment to take in her beauty as she rested beneath her furs and blankets. He reached down to wake her, and Billy grabbed his wrist.
“Be careful. She may try to scream at first.”
Hugh gave Billy a curious expression, and then sat on the edge of the bed and put his hand over Lady Myrredith’s mouth.
The lady’s eyes popped open; she looked at Hugh and attempted to scream. Hugh applied more pressure with his hand as the struggle began. Lady Myrredith flailed about as Hugh and Billy attempted to hold down her arms and legs.
“Camion.”
Camion left the door and came to lend Billy a hand with the determined Lady of Cyndyn Hall. The giant’s strength and menacing size put an end to her thrashing.
“Myrredith, it’s me! It’s Hugh!”
She looked at him and made another feeble attempt to break free.
Billy then gave it a try. “Milady. Milady, it’s me, William.”
“It’s like she doesn’t know us.”
“That’s because she doesn’t.”
