Leetu, I must find Leetu Bends.
She opened her eyes and trudged back the way they had come, past those she could not help. Following that unseen pull that told her where she would find her comrade, Kale tried to ignore the sights and sounds of misery. She offered the captives words of encouragement, saying they would soon be free. For now, Kale had nothing to give them but hope.
She passed through several tunnels and caverns. None were vacant as they had appeared earlier. Cats, rats, and druddums slunk and scuttled along the passages. Each room held a despairing group of captives. Kale saw mariones, doneels, kimens, urohms, emerlindians, and tumanhofers. With a start, she realized some of the prisoners were o’rants. She had never met another of her race.
Dar urged her forward when she stopped beside an old o’rant man. “I know, Kale, but now is not the time. Tend to Leetu first.”
In the corner of the next dungeon, they found Leetu’s form rolled against a cold stone wall. Moisture oozed from the rocks and flowed down on the emerlindian. Leetu slept in damp clothing and a shallow puddle that smelled heavily of rusty iron.
Shimeran put his fists to his hips and glowered at the tenants of the dungeon. “Where is the kimen who stands by her friend at this hour?”
The wretched prisoners shook their heads, cowering away from the angry, two-foot-tall kimen.
Dar moved to stand by Shimeran and spoke quietly. “Do you think they even saw Leetu’s kimen companion?”
Shimeran shrugged off the question. “I will know why the emerlindian was left alone.” He knelt beside Leetu. He felt her forehead and shook his head. “Her skin is hot, yet she shivers. Let us see what we can do for her.”
Dar, Kale, and Shimeran moved Leetu’s body, limp and feverish, to a drier spot.
“This one is near death,” announced Shimeran in a solemn voice.
A fierce denial rose to Kale’s lips, but she bit it back. It had taken them a long time to reach their comrade.
I don’t really know if Gymn can cure someone so weak.
With help from Dar and Shimeran, Kale laid her cape on the dirty floor and moved Leetu onto the woven moonbeam material. Kale sat down next to her and tenderly pulled Gymn from his pocket-den at the edge of the cape. She held him close to her chest, nestled in her folded arms.
“Wake up, little one,” she cooed to the dragon. “We have work to do.”
Gymn wrinkled his nose against the putrid smells of the dungeon and tucked his head against Kale’s sleeve. With a forefinger, she lifted his scaly chin. The young beast blinked his eyes in the kimen’s light. She remembered Shimeran had called the golden glow “hope.”
“We must try,” she told Gymn. She peeled him off her arm and laid him against Leetu’s pallid cheek. The emerlindian did not stir. Kale left one hand on the healing dragon and placed the other on Leetu’s soiled arm.
A sparkling voice called to them. “You’ve come to rescue the emerlindian. What’s happened here? Only an hour ago this place was like a tomb. Nothing living but me and the Paladin warrior.”
“Seezle!” Shimeran’s voice rang with displeasure. “I should have known. Where have you been?”
“Easy, big brother. I went to get fresh water, a blanket, and some food.”
Kale looked quickly at the small female kimen. From under the folds of her garment, Seezle produced a loaf of bread, a flask, and a heavy, folded cloth.
Shimeran grunted. “The emerlindian cannot eat. We will dribble some water into her mouth. These comrades will eat the food. I know not when they last ate, but their journey has been long and ’tis not over yet.”
Kale gladly accepted the drink and bread. Although they still had some provisions in their stores from Granny Noon, it had been some time since they’d eaten. While Kale’s cape with its full hollows was within easy reach, Dar’s belongings were back in the forest with Celisse. Truthfully, she hadn’t thought about food and how hungry she was until she saw Seezle’s offering. Kale shared with Gymn. Dar eloquently thanked the kimen and set right to work on the scant meal.
With the edge taken off her hunger, Kale turned back to her role with the ailing emerlindian and Gymn. She wondered if the healing process would be as exhilarating as it had been when they worked on Celisse’s wounds. Leetu’s wounds were deep in her being—old, not fresh—and inflicted by an evil touch. Celisse’s wounds had been to the surface flesh, relatively newly dealt, and delivered by an arrow rather than the physical touch of wickedness. This would not be a simple healing.
Feeling unequal to her task, Kale positioned herself next to Leetu with Gymn again on the emerlindian’s cheek. Hoping Wulder would strengthen her poor efforts, the o’rant girl placed her hands in the correct position to complete the circle.
Kale felt Dar and Shimeran move away. They would plot the freedom of the other prisoners. Kale would concentrate on Leetu.
When Dar nudged Kale’s shoulder, she realized she must have fallen asleep. She lay beside Leetu, her hands still touching the emerlindian and Gymn, making the healing circle.
“Kale.” Dar’s voice penetrated the fog of her mind. She raised her head without letting go of the circle. She tried to focus on Dar’s face but found that his long sideburns on fuzzy cheeks blurred with the rock wall behind him.
He spoke quietly. “Shimeran has gathered all the kimens who live within the fortress.”
“They live inside?” Her voice felt hoarse.
“Yes, as uninvited tenants. In fact, Risto doesn’t know they are here.”
Dar’s eyes traveled around the dingy cell. He looked ill at ease. She noticed Shimeran’s light had been replaced with a torch on the wall.
Dar fingered a small metal pick and held it up for her to see. “I am undoing the locks while the kimens are gone.”
“We’re alone?”
“We are never alone.” Dar’s word echoed strongly on the solid walls. He straightened his shoulders.
She struggled to understand the doneel’s words. The intense process of healing Leetu shielded her thoughts from the things going on around her. He had said someone was gone, and they weren’t alone. It didn’t make sense. “Gone? Who’s gone?”
“The kimens. They’ve gone out to gather more of their people. Those kimens who are used to being inside the walls will guide kimens from outside into the fortress. Our hope is there will be one kimen to help each of these prisoners escape.”
Kale nodded. Her head sank back to the ground.
Some time later she felt a touch on her wrist. She opened her eyes. Dar bent over her, fastening a slender green rope on her arm.
“What is that?” she whispered.
“A glean band. It will protect you when the hornets attack.”
Kale sat up, letting go of both Leetu and Gymn. “Hornets?” Groggy from her sleep and the healing, she looked around the room for a battalion of stinging insects. Instead, she saw a dungeon devoid of prisoners.
“Not here yet,” said Dar as he placed the same kind of bracelet around Leetu’s limp arm. “I am learning the most amazing things, Kale. Kimens have warriors and arm themselves with natural weapons. They plan to bomb the bisonbeck soldiers with hornet nests. Clever, don’t you think?”
Kale shook the muzzy feeling from her brain. “Dar, what’s going on? Did the magic return and cover the people, or are we really alone? How long have I been asleep?”
“Whoa!” Dar sat back on his heels and grinned at her. His ears perked above his head and waggled with excitement. “It’s nearly dawn. Awhile ago the captives were taken inside the castle, being fed and given water, and helping themselves to clothing from the servants’ quarters.
“But now they are hidden in the third quadrant, awaiting the kimens’ diversion. While the outer quadrants are in confusion, they will escape. In the forest, villagers summoned by the kimens will hustle them off to hiding places in the valley. After the prisoners regain their strength, a plan will be made to get them to their homes.”
Dar’s torrent o
f words had finally awakened Kale from her befuddled state. “What?” She sat up straighter.
“The kimens arrived about an hour ago. They sneaked in past the bisonbeck guards, which was risky but easier than a normal invasion would have been.”
“Invasion?”
“Pay attention, Kale.” Dar situated himself in a cross-legged position and leaned forward. “The kimens came into the inner circle without arousing the outer guard. They then went through the castle and incapacitated the servants.”
“Incapacitated?”
“They stunned them.”
“How can tiny kimens overpower servants?”
“They stun them,” Dar repeated. “It’s absolutely fascinating. I guess the kimen race didn’t like being defenseless. They’ve come a long way since the days Pretender tried to subjugate them and the urohms came to the rescue.”
“Dar!” Kale rose to her feet and glared at the doneel. “Explain what is happening without all this chitterchatter.”
Dar frowned up at her, but his enthusiasm soon erased the glower. “A kimen springs out at a servant, leaping in front of his face. Then the kimen produces an explosion of light right in the servant’s eyes. I watched them do it dozens of times. The servant drops to the floor like he’s been clobbered on the noggin.”
“So all the servants were captured while I was asleep?”
“Yes, and then I tied them up, bound them hand and foot. They won’t interfere with our escape.” Dar looked at Leetu’s unmoving form. Gymn still sprawled across her cheek. “You weren’t exactly asleep, Kale. You were busy, too.”
Kale gazed at the emerlindian. Leetu’s complexion still looked pasty. Her breathing came in a long, shallow rhythm. She made no movements other than the rise and fall of her chest, indicating she lived.
Kale fought despair. “I can’t see that I did any good.”
“We’ll take her to Wizard Fenworth,” said Dar, rising to his feet. “She needs the healing power of someone skilled against the evil of Risto. Leetu won’t die now, Kale. You and Gymn have given her enough strength and us enough time to get her to Fenworth.”
Kale didn’t bother to say they had already failed at finding the bog wizard. She picked up the blanket to fold as she watched the still form of her friend.
How are we going to carry you? Will the journey make you worse? Dar says you will not die, but I’m afraid.
A flickering ball of light came rapidly down a tunnel and burst into the room.
“Dar, Kale, we must flee.” Seezle stopped. Her toes barely touched the rock floor. She seemed poised to run. With a glance over her shoulder, she leapt across the room to their sides. “Risto has returned. He appeared at the gateway of the fortress, cursing his guards, raging with words of destruction. Shimeran has gone to get Celisse and will meet us at the waterfall.”
Kale dropped the blanket and moved quickly to Leetu.
“Wrap the cape around her,” ordered Dar.
He grabbed the emerlindian’s legs. Seezle stood ready to bear Leetu’s weight in the middle. Kale hesitated.
“What’s wrong?” asked Dar.
“Where is Gymn?”
They all looked around.
“There!” Dar nodded toward a pale green lump on the floor.
Kale stooped to pick the dragon up.
“What happened?” asked Seezle as the o’rant girl slid Gymn into a pocket of the cape and then refolded the material over Leetu’s chest.
“Nothing,” said Dar. “Hurry, Kale.”
“Nothing?” quizzed Seezle.
“The dragon faints,” answered Dar, “when something frightens him.”
Kale lifted Leetu by the shoulders. Seezle slipped under her waist and supported her there.
“Where are we going?” asked Kale.
Seezle’s tiny hands appeared at Leetu’s waist. “Beneath the dungeons to the underground river and then to the falls.”
A picture sprang to Kale’s mind—her first sight of the fortress from across the valley. Midway up the sheer cliff below the black and gray castle walls, water shot out of the rocks and plummeted hundreds of feet to be hidden by a mist at the base.
“Can’t we go out of the fortress the same way we came in?” she asked hopefully.
“And face Risto?” Seezle laughed without any humor. “That would be an unpleasant death.”
Kale couldn’t see that the planned escape route offered anything pleasant at all.
26
OBSTACLES
“Aren’t we going toward the entrance of the dungeon?” Kale asked. She struggled to hold Leetu’s shoulders without letting her head flop from side to side.
Dar led the way with the emerlindian’s feet upon his shoulders. Kale saw him nod. “We have to go up, out of the dungeon, cross to the other side of the east courtyard, and down a well.”
Kale thought the doneel sounded very confident. “You’ve been this way before?”
“No.”
Seezle giggled from her position under Leetu’s middle. Her little hands grasped the material on either side of the emerlindian’s waist, and her disheveled head propped up the small of Leetu’s back.
“I have, Kale. I know the way.” Her voice almost sang the reassurance.
“At the bottom of the well is a river with wide stone banks. It’s easy to get from there to the falls.”
To Kale, the plan sounded as if it would take them to a dead end. “And once we get to the falls?”
Seezle remained cheerful. “Shimeran and Celisse will meet us.”
“I didn’t see any place for a dragon to land.”
“There isn’t any. We’ll jump.”
Dar halted dead in his tracks, and since neither Seezle nor Kale could stop immediately, poor Leetu’s body folded up, bending at the knees and waist like a rag doll. Unconscious, Leetu made no complaint while the three straightened her out. Kale back-stepped, and Seezle, who had been pushed to the ground, stood erect.
Dar twisted to look under his arm at the kimen behind him.
“We’re going to jump?” he asked.
“There’ll be a net.”
Dar’s bushy eyebrows drew together in a fierce frown. His ears lay flat against his head, almost disappearing in his shaggy hair. “How can there be a net?” He scowled at Seezle. “You’re going to hang a net in a waterfall?”
“No, the net will be wrapped around Celisse. You just step off the cliff as she flies by, fall on top of her, and grab the net.”
Dar faced forward and started walking without any warning to those behind. Leetu received a stretching jolt. Kale was glad the emerlindian was oblivious.
“Let me tell you something about doneels,” said Dar as he marched, his face firmly directed to the path in front of him. “Doneels are a very social race. We excel in areas of culture. Doneels are comfortable among the aristocracy in palaces and with peasants at village festivals. We are generally blessed with musical, artistic, and literary talents.
“Doneels have been known to dwell among the tumanhofers in their underground cities. Doneels have sailed upon the ocean. Most doneels readily adapt to the rigors of dragon flying. However…” A hard edge sharpened his voice. He delivered his next words with cold precision. “We are not known for reckless feats of acrobatic stupidity.”
“It’ll be all right,” Seezle insisted. Kale could see nothing of the little kimen except her hands on Leetu’s waist, a few wisps of flyaway hair, and the glow of her clothing. “Shimeran is in charge of the details. Paladin is overseeing the rescue.”
“Paladin?” Kale’s attention centered on the muffled voice of the kimen under the midsection of their burden.
“Yes. He’s in the forest, encouraging the villagers. I tell you it was hard to come back into the fortress. I would have preferred to follow him around, listening to all he has to say.”
“How long will he be there? Do you think we’ll meet him?”
“Could be,” Seezle said. “But he rarely stays in one place
long.”
Kale wanted to hurry the others. A chance to meet Paladin filled her with excitement, but the reality of their situation squelched her hopes.
First, we have to get out of here. Then out of the fortress. Then out of the underground river tunnel. Then jump onto Celisse’s back and land safely. Then fly to the forest which is probably overrun with Risto’s henchmen. Unless Paladin comes to us, I don’t think we’ll get to him in time.
As they passed through the stone corridors, Kale searched the shadows. All the poor inmates had been rescued. The turmoil that had first alerted her to the hidden presence of prisoners was gone. Yet eerie silence draped every corner with mystery. She and her companions were the only living creatures who remained besides the rats, cats, and druddums.
The cats sat and watched them in various uninterested poses. Kale shivered at their cold stares. The house cats back in River Away had been friendly. These felines looked evil and brooding as if they observed intruders so they could report back to their master. Fingers of dread clutched her heart. She cleared her throat to ask Dar if it was possible for cats to be spies for Wizard Risto.
A druddum hurtled around the corner and slammed into a resting cat. A screech rent the air, followed by an instantaneous battle. Hissing and caterwauling echoed off the stone walls and down the corridors, ringing in Kale’s ears. She gladly quickened her steps to keep up as Dar stepped up the pace.
They reached the crude wooden ladder to the entrance of the dungeon. Kale’s arms ached from carrying Leetu’s body. Although the emerlindian’s slight figure shouldn’t have been heavy, her dead weight strained the o’rant girl’s shoulders. Kale wondered if the kimen and doneel were equally taxed.
Dar motioned to put their burden down. Once they placed Leetu on the ground, he arched his back and rotated his shoulders. Kale watched with a smug smile. He was sore too. The kimen danced over to the ladder and with no visible effort skimmed up the steps. Her clothing hid her legs.
She looks more like she’s floating up those steps instead of climbing them.
“The way is clear,” Seezle announced from her perch at the top. “Bring your friend up.”