Alutar: The Great Demon (12 page)

Max hurried up the stairs to the third level and made his way towards the armory. When he arrived, the door was closed. Max placed his back against the wall and waited. He looked both ways along the corridor before nudging his pocket. Within seconds, he felt something small crawling inside his cloak and eventually clawing at his neck. A tug on his ear told him that the fairy had made it to his post.

“Is it time now?” Runt whispered in the Ranger’s ear.

“Not just yet,” whispered Max, “but I would not be able to wake you when it is time. We will let the guard eat before you strike.”

The fairy offered no response, remaining silent like his partner. A few minutes later, one of the Rhodan warriors appeared. She balanced a tray of food against her hip as she knocked on the door of the armory. A voice called permission to enter and the servant opened the door, letting it swing until it gently hit the wall. She carried the tray to the table and set it before the armory guard. Without a word spoken, the servant retreated, closing the door behind her. The door had been open for more than enough time to allow Max to enter and move away from the doorway. The Ranger stood behind the armory guard and watched him eat. When the man pushed his tray away, Runt darted out of the cloak of invisibility and shot towards the ceiling. He immediately called forth a sleep spell, and the guard’s head promptly fell upon the table.

“If there is enough room for your head under the door,” ordered Max, “watch to see if anyone is coming.”

Runt shot down and headed for the door. Max moved the chair next to the guard away from the table and knelt down next to the sleeping man. He took hold of the key ring on the guard’s belt and detached it. Rising to his feet, Max moved the chair back and sat at the table. He opened his pouch and pulled out a small wax tin. He pressed one of the keys into the wax and carefully extracted it. Shoving the first tin out of the way, Max procured another tin and made an image of the second key. When all of the keys had been processed, Max had sixteen tins on the table. He carefully packed them into his pouches and then restored the key ring to the guard’s belt. He arranged the chairs properly and then called to Runt. The fairy shot back into his hiding place, and the invisible Ranger stepped into the hallway to continue his mapping.

* * * *

Sheri heard running outside her suite in the Lair in Herinak Castle. She opened her door and stepped into the corridor. She saw several people dash into the large dining room and frowned.

“Who are you?” asked a voice from the other direction.

Sheri turned her head and saw a handsome young man with a neatly trimmed black beard.

“I am Rita,” the Knight of Alcea answered. “What is going on?”

“It’s Samana’s birthday,” smiled the young man. “Come on and join in the fun. I am Harold.”

Prince Harold grabbed Sheri’s hand and led her along the corridor to the dining room. When they reached the door to the dining room, Harold positioned Sheri alongside the door and held a finger to his lips. He then opened the door and stuck his head into the room.

“I brought a present for you Samana,” he called into the room. “There is a new person in the Lair.”

There were joyous laughs and shouted comments, but Samana’s sister’s voice rose over all of the others.

“I hope it is an Alcean,” Rynda shouted. “That is the only birthday present Samana wants.”

Loud laughter rippled through the room, but Sheri cringed on the other side of the door. Harold looked at her with a puzzled expression, but he led her into the room without comment.

“I don’t know about that,” he announced to the group. “Her name is Rita, and I just found her on my way here.”

Everyone watched as Sheri entered the room, and the laughter died to silence. Sheri smiled weakly and gazed about the room.

“What is an Alcean?” she asked. “And why would someone want one for a birthday gift?”

“We were just joking,” smiled Rynda. “Welcome to my sister’s birthday party, Rita. Where are you from?”

Sheri said nothing, and Prince Samuel came to her rescue.

“We are being rude,” the Spino heir said. “We haven’t even introduced ourselves, and we are already grilling Rita. I am known as Samuel, Rita. Welcome to the Lair.”

“I am pleased to meet you, Samuel, and thank you for the warm welcome.”

One by one the others introduced themselves. None of them mentioned titles, but Sheri noticed that they no longer used their fictitious names. With the introductions done, no one pressed Sheri about her nationality. All of the attention was turned towards the birthday girl. Baron Stikman had arranged for a lavish birthday cake and baskets of sweets for everyone. When the attendants noticed the extra person at the party, they scrambled to fix up another basket for Sheri. The party ran on for an hour with Samana receiving gifts from the others. The gifts were all handmade, but Samana acted like she cherished each one. When everyone had their fill of cake and sweets, the conversation turned to talk about the countries of Zara. Sheri listened intently and tried to figure out how to drive the conversation towards politics. As she watched the heirs interacting with one another, she noticed that Samana was watching her closely. Their eyes locked and Sheri quickly looked away.

“Where are you from, Rita?” Samana asked loud enough to draw the attention of everyone. “Is it Karamin or Vinafor?”

Sheri felt everyone looking at her, and she suddenly felt very out of place. Her face must have reddened because Samuel came to her aid once again.

“Leave her be, Samana,” he pleaded. “She will open up when she is ready.”

“I am just curious,” Samana pressed on. “Queen Romani has no heir, and I do not know who rules Karamin these days. What is the harm in finding out?”

Sheri knew that the Baroukan woman would push relentlessly until she had an answer, and that would halt Sheri’s plans of directing the conversation.

“I have never been to Karamin,” Sheri declared, “and I am no relation to Queen Romani.”

“Ah, Vinaforan then,” concluded Samana. “If you are not a princess, what are you doing in the Lair?”

“I do not think it is proper to abuse the hospitality that has been extended to me,” frowned Sheri. “I am grateful to Baron Stikman for allowing me such comforts in this troubled time. Can we speak of other things?”

Samana raised an eyebrow, but the others nodded and returned to their previous conversations. Sheri tried to follow all of the conversations at the same time in order to get a feel for the heirs and their personalities. She was so intent on listening that she did not notice Samana moving around the table until the Baroukan sat down next to her.

“The others might not care why you are here,” Samana said softly, “but I do. You might as well tell me now, because I will not stop asking. And don’t even think of getting out of it by mentioning that the baron told you not to reveal anything. We have all been told that, but we have our own code up here in the Lair. You are either one of us, or you are an outsider. The choice is yours.”

Sheri turned and glared at the woman, but she knew the threat was real enough. Samana probably controlled the others enough that a shunning would make it impossible to accomplish her mission.

“I am not royalty,” sighed Sheri, “but I will be soon. I am betrothed to a prince, and I am not too happy about it. I would appreciate it if you would keep my secret to yourself. I still like to think that I will find a way out of it.”

“If you are betrothed,” frowned Samana, “there will be no getting out of it.”

“There might be,” shrugged Sheri. “War is coming to Zara. It might change a lot of things.”

“War?” asked Prince Harold. “What do you know about a war?”

Sheri noticed that everyone had stopped talking and were staring at her.

“I heard a great deal on the way here,” Sheri said as she tried to make something out of the situation. “The Federation attacked some distant land, and things went terribly wrong for them. There is now talk that that distant land will bring the war to Zara to destroy the Federation.”

“The Alceans!” exclaimed Princess Jeanel. “They survived!”

“That is wonderful,” added Prince Harold. “I thought their cause was lost.”

“Wonderful?” scowled Samana. “Do you realize what you are saying? Our families will be destroyed. Our countries will be destroyed.”

“Not true,” countered Prince Harold. “The Alceans are not destroyers. Have you never read anything about them?”

“I have,” interjected Bonnay, “and I agree with you, Harold. The Federation has not done anything good for the people of Zara.”

“There is truth to that,” agreed Prince Samuel. “My own mother has helped destroy Spino, and she has done it with the backing of the Federation.
 
I only worry about the loss of lives during the coming war. I hope it is not too great.”

Prince Bultar rose and started to leave the room.

“Where are you going, Bultar?” asked Rynda.

“We were told that we were free to leave if we wished,” stated the Candanaran prince. “I need to return immediately to Zinbar and alert my father to the coming war.”

“There is no way to leave the horse countries,” declared Sheri.

“There is a boat that travels to Ur,” Prince Bultar said. “I plan to be on the next one.”

“The boat no longer runs,” Sheri said. “I heard them saying that they captured three Federation spies on the last boat and that they were no longer going to allow boats in or out.”

Prince Bultar halted and turned around. “We are as good as prisoners then. What will happen to Candanar?”

“Doesn’t Candanar usually wait to see who will win the war before choosing sides?” quipped Samana.

Prince Bultar turned and glared at the Baroukan woman. “Perhaps it might not be so bad to watch the Federation crumble,” he snapped. “Candanar had no trouble taking care of its people before the Federation, and it will have no trouble after.”

“Let’s not fight amongst ourselves,” pleaded Rynda. “None of us will have anything to do with the coming war. Let’s just be friends”

Sheri smiled inwardly. While she had not managed to learn the views of the heirs very well, she had found a way to turn the conversations towards the destruction of the Federation. The next few days should give her enough time to meet with each of the heirs individually to ferret out their true feelings.

A dozen Rangers flew their unicorns over the tall peaks of the Barrier. Guided by a fairy, the unicorns set down on a snowy peak and the Rangers swiftly dismounted.

“You have a climb down of about one thousand paces,” reported the fairy. “I will guide you.”

“Are we directly over the Black Citadel?” asked the Ranger sergeant.

“We are,” the fairy nodded. “The face of the mountain is steep here. It will be a dangerous climb. Do you wish me to levitate your men down one by one?”

“No,” replied the Ranger. “We can not afford to have a lone man down there. We will all travel together. Check our path to see if there are any black-cloaks observing the area.”

The fairy saluted and disappeared down the side of the mountain. The Ranger sergeant turned and watched his men assembling their gear for the climb. He nodded with satisfaction at their proficiency. When they were all prepared, he addressed them.

“Our mission,” the sergeant said to his men, “is to prevent the escape of any black-cloaks from the Black Citadel until our replacements arrive. They can only leave the Black Citadel in two ways. There is a narrow path leading down the mountain, and they can transform into birds and fly away. Our descent will take us to a ledge directly over the opening of the Black Citadel. They should not be able to attack us directly with their spells unless one of them gets outside the cave. I cannot stress this enough. Not a single black-cloak can be allowed to exit the cave, either as a bird or in human form. If that happens, we will all die.”

The sergeant hesitated to let his words sink in before continuing, “Our primary weapon will be the bow, but use what you must to ensure completion of our mission. I also feel a need to stress the method of our descent. This climb must be undetected. That means not a single pebble cascading down the face of the mountain. It also means total silence at all times. I know that these things have been stressed many times before, but I must stress them again. We are facing hundreds of mages in the cave below us. One slipup and we will all die.”

“Why are we doing this?” asked one of the Rangers. “I mean, shouldn’t our mages be taking care of their mages? We have no protection against magical spells.”

The sergeant smiled. An officer in a different army might take those words as a plea to be excused from the mission, but the sergeant knew the questioner and recognized the question as one of logic. It was a valid question.

“Our mages will be coming,” the sergeant replied, “but there is no way that they can get into position without being detected and placed in harm’s way. Our goal is to provide a safe environment for them to get positioned. Once our mages are in place, we will turn around and climb back to the summit. Our unicorns will then take us to the valley floor to make sure that no one tries to come up behind our mages. Are there any other questions?”

There were no other questions, and the sergeant used hand signals to direct his men to start the climb down the mountain. His use of hand signals to start the mission denoted that the period of silence had already begun. The Rangers smoothly separated into two groups and began the descent.

* * * *

Prince Harold was tired of tossing and turning. He rose out of his bed and poured a mug of water. For a few minutes, he sat on his bed and sipped the water, his mind immediately returning to the discussion the occupants of the Lair had had earlier that day with Rita. The young woman had a knack for turning every conversation towards a talk about politics and how everyone felt about every little issue. It always seemed so innocent, but the prince was bothered by it. He knew that others were as well, particularly Samana. Still, the conversations always caused Prince Harold to examine his inner self and his fitness to rule. And that was what was keeping him awake at night. The Ertakan prince worried that he did not have the skills necessary to rule a country. The thought of assuming the throne of Ertak worried him.