Michael Mathias - Kings, Queens, Heroes, and Fools

“Hyden strung up his elven longbow before they started, and Mikahl donned his chain mail shirt and made sure Ironspike was loose in its scabbard. Each of them shouldered a leather pack of rations and waterskins, and then started off.

Hyden found himself searching for signs of lions. He’d never seen a lion, save for a sketch of one in one of Dahg Mahn’s volumes. He saw two paw prints, and plenty of geka scat, even a feeding area were some long dead carcass had been strewn about by the predators, but he didn’t see a lion.

“The gekas must stay close to the lake,” Hyden observed. “They’re amphibs by nature.”

“Then why would they leave the marshes?” Mikahl asked. “Why would they leave a naturally protected environment that suited them?”

It was a good question. The zard were amphibs too. Hyden had read about them in books that Phen showed him in Xwarda’s Royal Librarium. Why would they leave their natural habitat for the Westland plains? He pondered the question as they continued through the day. It was an uphill hike the whole way, and they were both happy to come over a rise early in the evening and see the great shining surface of Lion Lake glittering in the shallow valley before them. It was too late to attempt the swim, and they were too far away. They skirted the shoreline toward the castle, being sure to stay in the cover of the wooded hills as they went. It wouldn’t do to have one of the zard-men on the high gray walls spot them creeping around. They moved away from the water, back over the rise. There they could build a fire and not be seen. They made camp and rested after eating a solid meal of salted beef, bread, and dried fruit. Then the two of them eased up to the ridge and looked out at the looming mass of stone and steel that they would soon be inside of.

Hyden had Mikahl point out Pael’s tower. It was the one closest to the southern corner of the castle. Hyden made a smug face. It wasn’t nearly as impressive as Dahg Mahn’s tower back in Xwarda-now his tower, he corrected the thought. He hoped that saving Phen and the Princess, and stealing back the Silver Skull would be as easy as winning through Dahg Mahn’s trials had been. In his heart he knew better.

Talon swooped in, landed on a nearby tree and began preening himself. He was tired from watching over them all day.

Mikahl didn’t see a great hulking castle across the glassine expanse: he saw home. A wealth of emotions flooded through him as he gazed at the place where he was born. The joy, relief, and comfort one should feel when returning home was absent, though. Anger at seeing those zard-men patrolling the walls, and the disgust that flared every time he saw the lightning star took their place. He ground his teeth. He had a mind to draw Ironspike, call forth his bright horse from its symphony, and go riding over the walls wreaking havoc. The longer he sat there, the harder it was to keep from doing just that. His thoughts must have shown plainly on his face.

“You’ll have your chance, Mik,” Hyden said from beside him. “They want you to come running into their traps. Don’t oblige them.”

“She’s just right there,” Mikahl argued, but with fading conviction. He knew Hyden was right. They had to be cautious and stick to the plan. One more sleepless night wouldn’t kill him. “We should go long before the sun rises,” he said trying to calm his anger. “We should use the cover of darkness to get up against the wall.” He sighed and turned away, putting his back against a rock. “We’ll have to stay in the water a while. I doubt we could find the marked stones Lord Gregory told us about in the dark, but I think it’s a better plan than trying to swim in the daylight.”

“Aye,” Hyden agreed, remembering what the trout looked like in the lake from Talon’s perspective. The tower guards would be able to see them even when they were underwater. He thought that he could probably climb straight up the wall if he had to. Getting there was the trick. He gave Mikahl a pat on the shoulder. “Just be sure you leave your chain mail here. I’m not going to spend the morrow dodging arrows while I’m diving to pull you up from the bottom.”

Inside the castle, Spike followed Cole down into the upper levels of the dungeon. The wizard had put the Silver Skull in a leather sack and was toting it over his shoulder. Spike had to stay a good distance behind because the scorpion-like creature that Cole had bound was following him as well. Phen was trying desperately to see through Spike’s eyes, but it was hard. Sometimes he could, and sometimes he couldn’t.

Rosa’s untimely questions were driving him mad. Not only did they break his concentration, they were taking away his confidence. It seemed that every time his mind was relaxed enough to see with his familiar, she couldn’t help but ask a question.

Phen saw Cole pass a hallway that he remembered. It led to a smaller hall that went to the base of the tower where he’d gotten on Pael’s lift. Yesterday, Phen learned the command to lower the device. There were a few terrifying minutes of waiting to see who or what was coming back up on the lift after it suddenly eased down out of the room. Cole had come up with a tray of food and a pitcher of water. He set the items on the floor and looked around curiously. Seeing nothing but Rosa’s huddled form and the stirred up dust, he’d huffed, stepped back onto the lift, and spoke the command for it to lower.

Phen tried to make a mental map of Cole’s passage from the point he recognized, but it was no use. Too many turns and archways, and then two sets of stairs. Phen saw the wizard come to a dark alcove with a great iron door centered in its far end. Cole rapped on the steel and a head-high window opened inward spilling orange torchlight in a rectangular beam. A pair of dark skittish eyes looked out. Then after a loud clank the door creaked open. Cole spoke to the man at length, allowing the hell-born scorpion, and then Spike, to ease into the area. Spike had to scurry past them all into the deeper shadows in order to keep Cole’s venomous pet from seeing him.

The dungeon guard was terrified of Cole’s new creature. His fear caused the wizard to cackle with delight. Soon Cole’s zard assistant arrived. Phen overheard part of their conversation.

“Let us see if that thing running loose down there can survive my new friend,” Cole told the zard.

“Thinkss we’ll be rid of it soon,” the zard said.

“I hope so. I didn’t mutate that breed bastard so it could take over our lower levels,” Cole snarled. “The giant Flick caught me has probably starved to death by now. It’s a pity we had to leave it in chains. He might have been able to rid us of the breed freak.”

“A curiouss battle, Masster Cole,” the zard commented. “One I would haves liked to ssee.”

Cole nodded his agreement. “Escort this hell-spawn to the lower gate, Zalvin; maybe it will rid us of our problem so that we can at least examine the pure blood’s internals before it starts to rot.”

“Yessss, Masster Cole,” Zalvin gave a short dutiful bow. Cautiously, as if leading an angry dog, the zard urged the scorpion down a darkened stairway and disappeared.

After Cole left, the dungeon master shut the iron door behind him. The instant the door banged shut, Phen lost contact with Spike. He began to worry about his familiar. Phen tried and tried to reestablish his link with the lyna, but just couldn’t do it. With a frustrated sigh he put his head in his hands and tried to think.

“Are yew all right, Pin?” Princess Rosa asked.

He started to correct her pronunciation of his name, but decided that it would be pointless. To her, she was saying Phen. It was her Seaward accent that caused her to pronounce it wrong. Earlier he had asked her what the people of Seaward call the little appendages that helped a fish swim. “Feens,” she’d replied. After that he gave it up.