Kale and Dar looked at each other, then down at Leetu’s motionless body. Dar’s strength surpassed Kale’s, but his compact body wasn’t suited to carrying the long, fragile emerlindian. Kale was taller than any of her companions.
“I’ll carry her,” said Kale. “Help me get her onto my back with her head and arms hanging over my shoulder.”
Dar wrinkled his brow, tilting his head as he looked at Kale with a speculative eye. “Are you sure?”
Kale nodded. “I’ll pretend she’s a bag of potatoes I’m bringing up from the storeroom in the tavern.”
Dar chortled. “She’s a lot lighter than those big bags of potatoes.” He grabbed hold of Leetu’s arms, efficiently pulling her to a sitting position. Kale bent over, and between her lifting and Dar’s shoving, they got Leetu’s limp body draped over Kale’s shoulder.
Kale couldn’t straighten up. Dar guided her over to the rickety ladder.
“Do you want me to push from behind?”
Kale heard a suspicious bubble in his words. “Are you laughing?” She huffed and shifted her burden a little to the center of her back.
“No, of course not.” Dar adjusted the moonbeam cape covering Leetu.
“Do you require my assistance?”
“No!”
I can do this, and I can do it quick. I want out of this fortress. I’ve had enough of smelly, dark holes. I’ve had enough of adventures. Oh how I wish this were really a sack of potatoes. And I wish this were the tavern basement.
She put a foot on the lowest rung and shifted her weight upward. The branch forming the crossbar under her foot creaked. She swiftly stepped up to the next rung. The thought of grawligs and bisonbecks and mordakleeps and Wizard Risto lurking outside the dungeon entrance, waiting for them to come out, crossed her mind. She closed her eyes and hung on to the rough wooden ladder as her mind reached to the area above. No one but Seezle stood anywhere near them.
Kale forced herself to move a foot up to the next rung.
Adventures like this should be done by people who like adventures like this. I don’t like them at all.
And once I get out of here, I’m going to see Paladin. I’m going to talk to him and tell him how I feel. I’m not good at this questing. I’m going to leave Leetu and Dar with Paladin, and I’m going to The Hall.
Maybe after I go learn about o’rants in a part of the country that is peaceful and filled with o’rants and nobody ever, ever goes questing, and after I’ve been taught properlike in a school that’s made just for getting people ready to do things like questing and adventures, maybe then I’ll go look for meech eggs and find bog wizards and battle grawligs.
She reached the hole and poked her head out. Seezle’s soft glow illuminated the small yard. Nothing had changed since Kale had last seen it. She breathed a sigh of relief and scooted over the edge. Dar popped out almost immediately.
“I’ll scout ahead,” said Seezle.
Her light went out, and only a whisper sounding like a breeze indicated she’d gone.
“Rest a minute,” said Dar.
Kale had barely eased Leetu down to the ground and collapsed beside her when Seezle came back. She whooshed through the arched doorway and settled between Dar and Kale. Her clothing began to glow a soft amethyst as she spoke.
“There’s fierce fighting at the main gate. The castle itself is deserted. We can save time by going over the terrace and passing through the banqueting hall and then the kitchen area. The well is just outside.”
“How did you find out so quickly?” Kale asked. “You haven’t been gone a minute.”
Seezle’s eyes widened. “Kimens are the fastest creatures anywhere in the world.”
Kale frowned. Again she wondered if the tales of kimens flying might be true. But she was too tired and scared to puzzle over the question.
“Let’s go,” Dar moved to pick up Leetu’s feet.
Kale hustled into position, holding Leetu’s shoulders, and watched Seezle slip underneath. As the kimen took her place in the middle, Kale noticed how graceful and fluid her movements were, almost like light spilling across the meadow as the sun came up. If her hands had been free, Kale would have reached out to touch Seezle’s clothing. Perhaps these creatures did wear light as Dar had said.
In the distance, the clash of swords, the bellows of bisonbecks, and the shrieks of men and animals testified to battle. Kale swallowed the fear rising in her throat and urged Dar to hurry.
“You don’t want me to go careening around a corner like a druddum and run smack into a guard, do you?”
“Seezle said the castle is deserted.”
“That was a minute ago. Things change quickly in the middle of a fight.” His whisper came with a sharp warning. “Keep your ears open and use that talent of yours.”
They passed under a stone archway into a courtyard. Gingerly, Kale extended her mind. The encounters with darkness intimidated her. Reaching with her mind had been fun until the mordakleeps took Leetu, and Kale first touched the horrible black void. Concentrating on mindsearching and trying at the same time not to mentally bump into the darkness, she stumbled on the uneven stone bank.
“Watch where you’re going,” hissed Dar.
Kale bit back a retort. Something moved ahead of them, not within their range of vision but just beyond. Her mind sensed two beings.
“Stop!” she squeaked.
“I’m sorry, Kale. You’re right. I shouldn’t be barking at you.” Dar continued walking. “We’ll get out of this. Don’t worry.”
“Dar, stop moving! There’s someone ahead. Beyond that wall.”
They came to an abrupt halt and listened. Kale gave all her attention to identifying the enemy.
“Two bisonbecks,” she said as soon as she had clearly caught their image.
“Right in the way!” Seezle fumed. “We want to go across that terrace and into the banquet hall.”
“Here,” said Dar, “put Leetu down under these bushes.” He headed to the side of the bricked terrace where a cluster of ornate benches nestled in an alcove of lush green shrubs. They put Leetu between a marble seat and a statue of two dancing maidens.
Once they had the emerlindian on the ground, Seezle darkened her clothing. “I’ll go see if these are strays, or if the whole guard force is falling back, deeper into the castle grounds.”
She sped away before Dar could respond. He looked annoyed.
“I’ve been told before,” he said, “that working with kimens is a trial.”
He stood and walked up the bricked pathway a short distance. Kale followed. Now they could hear the bisonbecks muttering to each other on the other side of the wall. Dar touched Kale’s arm. She leaned down to hear his quiet voice.
“Kale, read these bisonbecks’ minds. Find out why they’re here, and how long they intend to stay.”
It took Kale only a minute. “They’re looking for a place to set up a hospital for their wounded.”
“Tell them this isn’t the place. Suggest they look for someplace closer to the stables.”
“Why?”
“Because we want them to move.”
“No, why would they want to be closer to the stables? I need a logical reason.”
Dar rubbed his hand over his chin and closed his eyes. In a moment they popped open with a twinkle. “Because Risto will have their heads if they put smelly, bloody soldiers this close to his living quarters.”
She closed her eyes and concentrated. Opening her eyes again, she grinned at Dar. “It worked.” Her pleasure evaporated. “Oh!”
“What’s wrong?”
“They’re coming this way.”
Dar put strong hands against Kale’s waist and pushed. They dove behind a fountain surrounded by bushes just before two hulking bisonbecks in tattered uniforms came through the gate.
One stopped inside the entryway, grunted, and looked around suspiciously. “Did you hear something?”
27
LOCKED DOORS
The
two bisonbeck soldiers snorted and grumbled at each other. Kale couldn’t make out what they said. She watched with relief as they ambled in the other direction, carelessly poking under and around the bushes.
Afraid of drawing their attention, she mindspoke to Dar. What are we going to do?
“Stay hidden.”
That’s all right for us, but we didn’t exactly hide Leetu. Kale glanced back at the alcove and gasped. Dar, she’s gone.
Dar’s head snapped around and then back at Kale. “She’s not gone. She’s wrapped in the moonbeam cape. Kale, try to keep calm.”
Kale bit her lip and turned back to study the patch of ground beside the carved bench and stone maidens. After a moment, she detected the tip of Leetu’s boot near the foot of a marble dancer and a tendril of blond hair close to the elaborate seat.
The soldiers worked their way around the far end of the courtyard and started back. She held her breath. As long as Leetu stayed still, she would be practically invisible. That could happen. After all, the emerlindian hadn’t moved on her own since they found her. Kale’s head swiveled as she first watched the bisonbecks and then Leetu’s concealed body.
The soldiers rattled the bushes directly opposite their hiding place. Dar touched her arm and motioned her to follow. Darting from a clump of tall flowers to a fountain, from bushes to statues, from one spot of cover to the next, he took them to the area already searched by the enemy. They passed the gate they hoped to use for an exit. From the new location, Kale eyed Leetu’s position and then watched the warriors. The bisonbecks, growling and poking swords into the shrubbery, edged closer to the statue.
“Tell him to be still,” hissed Dar.
“Who?”
“Gymn.”
Kale followed Dar’s gaze. He stared at a place between the tip of Leetu’s boot and the lock of hair. The moonbeam cape presented a bump in midair that gyrated, clearly visible.
Gymn, oh Gymn, don’t move. The enemy is close. Be still. Please, be still. Don’t wiggle. Don’t move. Freeze!
Gymn responded. Once again the moonbeam cape served as camouflage.
One of the big brutes thrust his sword into the shrubbery behind the statue. The other leapt onto another bench and peered in and around the alcove.
Kale thought her heart would pound right out of her chest.
Be still, be still, be still, she chanted in her mind. The words were for herself as well as the baby dragon. Kale wanted to bolt out the gate.
The soldier on the bench jumped down behind the statue and started around it. He stumbled over Leetu and fell flat on his face.
“Aargh!” The battle cry came not from the fallen man but from Dar. He rose up beside Kale with his short sword drawn and charged the man on the ground. Kale’s eyes widened as she watched Dar’s blade sweep across the back of the man’s neck. The soldier howled and rolled. Dar held his sword in two hands now with the point down. The bisonbeck’s arm came out to catch the doneel’s leg in a great meaty hand. Dar plunged his weapon downward. The silver blade stuck in the enemy’s chest.
Kale was on her feet, running to help. The second soldier sprang toward Dar.
“Look out!” she screamed.
Dar tucked himself in a ball. Instantly, his shimmering bubble covered him like a turtle shell. The blow of the bisonbeck’s blade rang off the magical shield.
Screaming his frustration, the soldier jumped at Dar with both feet. He landed on top of the shell, forcing it down with a crackling snap on the bricks.
Kale stopped her forward course and plunged into the bushes, running behind them to a place of better advantage. The soldier either heard her or saw her. He left Dar and bellowed as he approached the manicured thicket. She dropped to her knees and crawled into the underbrush.
What can I do? What can I do?
Make him trip?
Blind him with a flash?
The soldier’s huge boots stomped inches from her hands. The branches above her clattered.
Blind him!
She squeezed her eyes shut and thought with all her might.
It worked. Even within the protection of the shrubbery, her eyelids glowed red when the light burst with full intensity around her.
The bisonbeck groaned. His body hit the bricked pathway. Kale stayed where she was, huddled in the dark, panting and trembling.
She listened. Bedlam clamored at the fort entrance, but many walls and buildings muffled the clash of arms. The courtyard around her pulsed with the aftermath of conflict. Tension hung on the air. Silence echoed in sudden stillness.
“Kale, come out,” Dar called. “Where are you?”
She tried to speak. “Here.” Her voice croaked a broken whisper.
“Here,” she said again, a bit louder. She inched out of her hiding place.
Dar sat where she’d last seen him, his shell gone. He rubbed his eyes.
“Tell me next time, all right? Warn me.” He shook his head as if to clear it. “By all the light on the crystal sea, that was brilliant.”
Kale tried to smile in response to his praise, but her lips quivered. A sob rose in her throat. She choked it down and finished easing out from under the stiff, scratching branches. Dar still rubbed at his face, knuckling his eyes.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“I hope so,” he answered. “Check Leetu and Gymn while I try to focus.”
She didn’t bother to stand, crawling the few feet to the base of the statue. The cape had fallen away and exposed part of the emerlindian’s clothing. Kale saw Leetu’s chest rise and fall in a gentle, shallow rhythm. Gymn lay inside his pocket-den in a quivering ball. Kale pulled him out and held him securely against her neck, rubbing one finger on the ridges between his ears.
“You’re as big a coward as I am,” she whispered. “Because you feel what I feel, and I feel what you feel, does that mean we make each other’s fear worse? We’ll both have to be more brave.” She sighed and looked over at Dar examining the bisonbeck bodies. “Like Dar. He’s already up and seeing to our safety.”
Dar leaned close to the soldier stunned by Kale’s blast of light. He prodded the prone man with his sword. She watched him pat the side of the bisonbeck’s uniform, locate another long knife, and remove the weapon.
“These soldiers won’t fight again,” he said. He rubbed at his face as he stood erect.
Have I damaged Dar’s eyes? I sent a vision of blinding light into the soldier’s mind. How did Dar…?
“Dar?”
“Hmm?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Hmm?”
“If I sent the suggestion of brilliance into the bisonbeck’s mind, why was the light real? I saw the flash even with my eyes closed. The flash nearly blinded you. No one should have seen it but him.” She nodded toward the man at Dar’s feet.
A puzzled frown tightened Dar’s furry features. He looked down at the soldier and then up at Kale. He rubbed his eyes again with the back of his hand and squinted at her once more. He opened his mouth and closed it again without speaking.
“Hurry!” The shrill command came without warning. Both Dar and Kale jumped. Seezle’s blurred approach created a whistle as she zoomed through the archway and came to a halt. “That light drew too much attention. Let’s move. We have to get out of here.”
They ran to pick up Leetu.
“Where have you been?” Dar demanded as he hoisted the emerlindian’s feet to his shoulders.
Kale let go of Gymn to snatch up her end of Leetu. She didn’t want her injured friend to hang upside down off the back of the agitated doneel. Gymn’s little claws poked through the material of Kale’s blouse as he clung to her shoulder.
Seezle slipped into her place under Leetu. The procession moved down the brick pathway, through the gate, and onto the terrace.
“To the forest.” Seezle’s voice returned to its natural light cadence. “To see Paladin. I asked if we should join the forces at the fortress entry and help secure the prisoners’
freedom.”
Dar’s ears perked up. “And?”
“He said no. Our priority is to get Leetu to safety. We go through the river cavern.”
The doneel’s shoulders drooped. He trudged wordlessly across the polished stone surface of the elegant terrace toward the wall of glass doors that gave entry to the castle.
Shouts sounded nearer now. The rumble of determined troops grew louder as boots tramped in the corridors between buildings.
Dar reached the first door.
“It’s locked,” he said over his shoulder. “Back up a couple of feet.”
Once in position, Dar kicked a leg out, his heel aimed at the pane of glass next to the handle. His foot hit the glass and bounced, sending the shock of impact back through the four waiting to reach safety.
Dar growled.
“Enchantment,” said Seezle. “It’s reinforced by magic.”
“How are we going to get in?” Kale looked with apprehension toward the garden wall that blocked their view of what was happening in the narrow castle passageways. Flickering torches could be seen as they passed on the other side. Citizens of Risto’s castle compound rushed about in the night. How many of them were soldiers?
Dar caught Kale off balance when he swiftly sidestepped to the next door. She scurried to follow, struggling to keep Leetu from slipping from her grip. Dar tried the knob and then quickly went on to the next.
“Look,” cried Seezle. “Down at the end. Open windows. See?”
Kale saw what she meant just as Dar took off at a trot down the side of the building, passing all the doors. Three feet from the ground, a row of windows stood open. The panes of glass in wooden frames tilted outward on metal hinges attached at the top. Dar put down Leetu’s feet. The others lowered her carefully to the ground.
“Seezle,” said Dar, “you go in first. Kale next, and then we’ll pass Leetu through.”
Seezle ducked under the pane of glass and disappeared inside. Kale crouched to get in position.
Dar exclaimed under his breath, “Wonderful!” His tone did not indicate pleasure.
Kale lifted her eyes to his face. She followed his gaze at the same time she heard a commotion. A half-dozen bisonbeck soldiers marched up the steps at the far end of the terrace. The warriors spotted Kale and Dar. Two gave a triumphant shout. Twisted grins sprang up on their ugly faces. Kale took in a sharp breath.