Dennis McKiernan - Once upon a dreadful time

King’s horse-the namesake of that which the child does bear.”

Camille, who was yet in deep thought, seemed not to hear Borel’s solution, but all the others looked at the young prince and his white horse with its tiny silver bells ajingle.

“Mais oui,” said Alain, “you told us of that marvelous steed.

And now that you say it, I think I know what the very next part of the rede means:

“Ask the one who rides the one

To send seven children there.”

In that moment Camille broke from her pondering and exclaimed, “Aha! Now I know what it is I was chasing. Rondalo, you said that legend has it that the gods fashioned the Castle of Shadows such that it would change to accommodate whoever was to be kept within, oui?”

Rondalo nodded.

Camille then stood and turned to Raseri and curtseyed. “My Lord Dragon, your bedchamber upstairs is ready.”

“My bedchamber? Upstairs? What is this banter of yours?” Raseri gestured at the steps to the archways above and the corridors beyond. “The stairwell is too narrow, the passages too constricted. This is the only chamber large enough to contain me.”

“Then you have not tried?”

“Non.”

“Heed me, my dear Raseri, we must all of us here think beyond the bounds of our expectations, for, if the legends are factual, and this is truly the Castle of Shadows in the Great Darkness beyond the Black Wall of the World, we can prove it by you going to your chambers above.”

“But there are no chambers for me above.”

“Perhaps if you believe there are, then they will indeed be there. After all, the Castle of Shadows is said to be enchanted to accommodate its prisoners.”

Raseri looked at Rondalo, and the Elf turned up his hands and shrugged, but Scruff gave a loud chirp as if to say “Try.” Rising up and wheeling about, the great Dragon headed for the stairs, and even as he did so, they swiftly started to expand, as did the balcony and archways and the corridors beyond.

Camille then turned to Valeray and said, “Given the legends are true, surely this confirms we are trapped in a prison we have not the means to escape.”

At these words, Saissa began to silently weep, and Valeray took her in his embrace, while Duran in his innocence laughed gaily as he galloped Asphodel away.

“Ah, there it is,” said Orbane.

In the distance ahead lay a rocky upjut of an island in the clear waters of the sparkling sea. Even from the height Hradian flew, as they neared they could see that its craggy interior was filled with scrub and twisted trees, though here and there groves of tall pines stood. Some five miles across it was and thrice that around, and the shoreline itself was nought more than a rocky shingle, sand absent for the most part. Massive blocks of stone reared up here and there along the perimeter, but mostly long cliffs of sheer rock rising up from the sea beringed the entire isle. On the far side loomed a fortress of gray stone, sitting atop a low rise jutting out from the fall of the land. On beyond and farther down, another half mile or so, stood a town, curving about a modest bay. Rover ships were moored in the dark waters of the cove, with the arc of the island shouldering up all ’round. Hradian and Orbane could see folk in the streets of the port, and the docks were busy. Farther on, out on the brine, vessels fared away from the bay, while others approached. They were three-masted dhows for the most part, with lateen sails a vivid red to strike fear in the hearts of their victims, for they were corsairs, and this was the Isle of Brados.

As to the fortress itself, roughly square it was, an outer wall running ’round o’er the rough ground, some ten feet high and three hundred feet to a side and five feet thick at the top, wider at the base. A road ran down through a series of switchbacks to the town below.

Between the outer bulwark ringing ’round and the main bastion lay nought but open space, the land completely barren of growth; ’twas a killing ground should invaders come.

Centered within this outer wall and killing ground, the dark citadel stood: also built in a square some two hundred feet to a side, a massive wall stood some fifty feet high to the banquette with towers and turrets along its length and a great courtyard within. And at the very midpoint of the quadrangle stood a tall slender structure, mayhap some seventy feet high, window slits up its length, arrow slits up its sides as well.

And as Hradian and Orbane spiralled down, from somewhere below there came the clanging of an alarm gong, and, on the fortress walls, horns blew, and men pointed upward at the besom-riding pair.

“Acolyte, land on the balcony ringing ’round the top of the tower.”

“Oui, my lord.”

But as they approached, armed and armored men rushed out, crossbows and cutlasses at the ready. Yet with a whispered word and a simple gesture, Orbane halted them in their tracks, and they stood like statues, no longer able to move.

As warders in the courtyard below and upon the fortress walls called out in alarm, Hradian came to rest among the men frozen in place, and Orbane moved past them and into the chamber beyond, his acolyte following.

They came into a large room, with windows all ’round overlooking not only the fortress itself and the nearby surrounding terrain, but also the town below and the dark bay beyond.

In the center of the chamber sat a large round table, a scatter of charts thereon, and at the far edge stood a swarthy and bearded man, also frozen in place.

“My lord,” hissed Hradian. She pointed at an open trapdoor, revealing a spiral stair leading downward. “More come.” But Orbane paid her no heed, and instead stepped to the man and made a small gesture, releasing him from the spell.

As the man raised a forearm in a protective flinch, louder came curses and running footsteps of ascending brigands, and Hradian darted to the trapdoor and slammed it to and shot the bolt, barring the corsairs from entry.

“You have seen but a mere iota of my power,” said Orbane.

The man, in spite of his fright, lowered his arm and glared.

“And you are?”

“I am Orbane.”

Once again fear filled the man’s features; even so, he found his voice. “You escaped?”

“I did.”

“What is it you want?”

“I want to see your commander, for I have an alliance to propose, one that will gain you incalculable riches.” A hint of greed flashed through the eyes of the man. “I am Burque, Captain of Captains.”

A hammering rattled the trapdoor, and voices called out,

“Burque, open the way. We’ll deal with these interlopers.” Orbane sneered at these words. “You command these rabble, Captain?”

“Oui. But, my lord, I ask you to harm them not, for they only seek to come to my aid.”

“Ah, loyalty, eh?”

“Oui, for unlike the days of Caralos, under my command they prosper.”

“Caralos?”

“The former Captain of Captains, slain here in this tower by an unknown hand during a fireship raid.”

“By an unknown hand, eh? Was it not you?”

“Nay, my lord, though oft I contemplated it. Instead it was someone who stole a valuable map ere it could be delivered to the one who commissioned its theft.”

“Well, Burque, ally with me and you will not have to stoop to petty thievery, but instead prosper beyond your wildest dreams.”

“And what would this alliance demand of me?”

“Just that you transport an army of mine from Port Cient to a distant shore.”

“A distant shore?”

Orbane nodded. “Another port.”

Burque frowned and said, “You want to loot the town?”

“Not just the town, but the whole of Faery and all the riches within. And you will share in the wealth.”