The Crystal Legacy (Book 2) (12 page)

“I don’t remember hearing of a Tashia,” Saxthor said.

“Me neither,” Bodrin said, examining the ominously small food bowls. “We must’ve skipped the court school the day that bit of trivia was covered.”

“Tashia was a town below Lake Lemnos that sent its soldiers to raise the siege of Hoya in its early history,” Tournak said. “That left Tashia undefended. The sacrifice was great, but it saved Hoya when King Henri Tulak the First had just founded the kingdom of Talok-Lemnos. Ever after, the honor of guarding the castilyernov has always gone to Tashians.”

Saxthor grabbed the cell’s iron bars. “Prince Henri would never have violated such a time-honored tradition.”

“The chatra is replacing the prince’s household with people loyal to himself,” Tournak said. “Either the chatra aspires to the throne, or he was sent by the Dark Lord to secure the key southern defense of the peninsular in preparation for an invasion.”

“What will they do with us?” Bodrin sat in the straw at the back of the cell.

“Who knows,” Saxthor said.

Saxthor should’ve weighed the mission’s importance against that of checking on his cousin’s condition, Tournak thought. Having to make unpleasant choices is a rocky experience on the road to maturity. The boy’s mistake endangers the mission and us.

“What’re you thinking about, Saxthor?”

“I’m thinking I got us into this mess before thinking it through,” the penitent prince said. “Now I don’t know how to get us out of this.”

That evening, three guards passed by, pushing a cart carrying a whole, raw ox leg. Tournak thought it out of place that the dungeon wouldn’t be on the route to the kitchens. Soon a terrifying, guttural scream echoed through the dungeon from below. The men looked at each other, unnerved.

“That scream was like nothing I’ve ever heard,” Bodrin said. Several more muffled screams pierced the dungeon as if the source had something in its mouth. The men speculated until the guards again passed by their cell.

“What was that screaming?” Saxthor asked. His hands gripped the cell bars. “You torturing someone below?”

“Shut up; don’t be asking no questions,” the guards’ leader said.

Later in the evening, the Dungeon Keeper came by with the prisoners’ evening meal. He wasn’t like the other guards. The other guards were in uniform and made disparaging remarks to the untidy keeper as he passed.

“You been around here long, old man?” Saxthor asked.

Tournak got the impression the man didn’t get much company or attention.

The keeper started babbling. “I been the Dungeon Keeper for twenty-seven years of the prince’s reign. There won’t much to do. We almost never had a prisoner. Then that new man come and within a month were made chatra. No one thought much about it until the nasty little man started demanding attention above his place.”

“The chatra has been prime minister for only a month?” Saxthor asked.

“Yep, that’s what I said,” the keeper continued, visibly annoyed at the interruption. He looked back up the cellblock and nodded, pointing out the guards. “These here new men what the chatra brung in from up north replaced all them old guards. The Tashian guards complained to the prince. He sided with them at first, but then he weren’t seen in public for a while.” The scruffy old man looked down at the floor and paused, his hands on the bars like Saxthor’s.

“What’s happened to Prince Henri?”

“After a while, he come back and held court, mostly at night, though he weren’t feeling good. Replacing the Tashian guards went on like before, but the prince didn’t stick up for the Tashians again. It were a scandal at court. Now me, I be the only one of the old staff except the kitchen help.”

Saxthor whispered to Tournak. “This man resents the foreign guards lording it over him. Maybe I can exploit that resentment.”

The Dungeon Keeper returned.

“They treat you pretty badly, do they?”

The jailer ranted about all the abuses the new guards heaped on him. After he vented for a while, and Saxthor and the keeper were on friendly terms, Saxthor gently slipped in his question about the screams without it being a question.

“That was a horrible scream this afternoon. I don’t know how you can stand hearing that for long.”

“The man won't shut up. He’ll tell what he knows of any subject for company and attention,” Tournak whispered in Saxthor’s ear.

“Oh that be a terrible thing, that is.” The keeper’s head shook side to side.

“I don’t think I ever heard an animal scream like that before.” Saxthor moved closer to the jailer.

“Nor like as ever you will again, neither,” the keeper said, apparently itching to tell what he knew and impress the stranger. “That comes from a beast what never walked the earth before.”

Bodrin and Tournak moved closer.

This man knows a secret and hopes to impress us with it, Tournak thought, focused on the jailer. The man must assume we’ll never leave the cell alive now that we’ve angered the chatra.

“Someone up there’s a bit of a wizard, but he ain’t too good at it,” the keeper said, snickering. “Seems he tried to fuse a man with a bear. His powers of wizardry weren’t none too sharp, and the whole thing blew up in his face. The man and bear went part together somehow, but the two parts fight. The monster was too much for the wizard to control. Now they keeps the mistake on the dungeon’s lowest level so no one up above hears them screams. That thing hates them as made it.”

“Why not just kill it?” Bodrin asked.

“They done magic. None of them knows how to kill that thing. The pain drove it mad. They’re scared it’ll get out and wreck the fortress. They feeds it to keep it quiet ‘til they can decide on what to do with their mistake.”

The tickled keeper laughed. The foreign guards, who thought themselves superior, had such a serious problem on their hands and couldn’t handle it. The keeper beamed at Saxthor, waiting to see if his story impressed them and raised his status, at least in their eyes.

“You must be a very brave man to remain in the dungeon with such a creature. They must’ve kept you on for your bravery.”

The keeper straightened up and gripped his rusty sword hilt.

“I sometimes goes with them to feed it just to see it lash out at the guards what brings it meat.”

“Are you babbling again, Father?” A beautiful girl came down the corridor toward them. “You know the sergeant said he would crack your knuckles if he caught you chattering with the prisoners again.”

The girl was extraordinary with an olive complexion, full red lips, and glowing blue eyes all framed in long, glistening black hair.

Bodrin jumped from his place of concealment, startling Saxthor. “I have to see the face that goes with that voice in such a place as this.” Smitten, his eyes locked on the girl. As she came up to the cell, Bodrin melted. “What words are worthy of such a vision of loveliness?”

“He’s her slave,” Saxthor said to Tournak. Both grinned.

“Is this lovely young lady your daughter, Sir?” Saxthor asked.

The Dungeon Keeper beamed. Father and daughter smiled at each other for a moment.

“This be my youngest daughter, Tonelia. She’s a bit of a wild thing. She spent most of her time in the woods with the boys growing up, and now I can’t do much with her.” The proud grin never left his face as he looked over at her again.

“Now Father.” She blushed.

“She’s a vision of loveliness; you’re a lucky man to have so beautiful a daughter,” Saxthor said.

Poor Bodrin’s face stuck to the cell’s bars like gum. His blue eyes glistened while fixed on her. Tournak couldn’t contain his response, and periodic chuckles slipped out as he watched him.

Tonelia gave Saxthor an appreciative smile, but held her stare with Bodrin for a long moment. Then her father cleared his throat. Tonelia smiled at Bodrin and slowly strolled up beside the dungeon keeper.

“Come on, Father, you must still feed the other prisoners before the sergeant scolds you for being too friendly with these poor people.” She nudged her frowning father to move him to the next cell but flashed back another smile at Bodrin. The poor fellow sank weak-kneed down the bars.

*

Hendrel was first to see the ornsmak, noting an almost imperceptible ripple searching for the energy trace of its recipient. It scrutinized the inn for Saxthor, then following his trace, flowed on to the Castilyernov Hoyahof. It was the day after his companions left for the fortress, and they should’ve been back or sent word by then.

“The ornsmak could only have come from Memlatec, the last wizard capable of creating it,” Hendrel said to Delia. “It’s searching along our trail, so it’s searching for Saxthor or Tournak. Should I go south and warn Memlatec of their predicament or go in search of them? It’s still too dangerous to send word to Memlatec through any means I have, lest it be intercepted and betray their location. I’ll pack all our belongings and leave them and you with the innkeeper for safekeeping.”

Delia stood up wagging her tail and Hendrel patted her. He started for the citadel soon after not knowing how to free them from the Hoyahof, but he’d have to try. Twit followed close by.

*

The ornsmak found Saxthor in prison that evening. No one else there saw the rippling in the air. He’d received ornsmaks twice a year while on Helshia and immediately recognized it.

Making sure no guards were in the corridor, Saxthor took the message in his hands and held it, verifying his personal identity. The shimmering transformed into plasma, releasing its message. Memlatec sent word of the court and of his worries about the Dark Lord’s growing strength. The wizard warned Saxthor to suffer no delays but to press on in his mission to retrieve the “lost artifacts.”

The message stung. Again, it exposed Saxthor’s poor judgment and the consequences they now suffered. Tournak joined him.

“The chatra won’t wait forever to discover our identity and significance. Eventually, when no inquiries came from Konnotan, he’ll decide we’re of no consequence and eliminate us.” Saxthor turned to Tournak. “We must escape, and soon.”

Saxthor held the ornsmak between his two hands again. When it warmed, it transformed ready to accept his reply. Saxthor alerted the wizard to their imprisonment in Castilyernov Hoyahof by a foreign ‘chatra.’

“I suspect the Dark Lord sent the man to discover the defenses of the most fortified border town on the main route down the peninsula,” he said. “We’ll escape somehow, but Prince Henri is under the chatra’s spell. He can’t be counted on for assistance.”

Saxthor closed the ornsmak, sealed it, and dispatched it back to its originator. Memlatec would know how to handle the situation openly with the queen or quietly through other means. Meanwhile, he needed to devise an escape.

*

“Here she comes again,” Saxthor said.

“I told you to open the gate and let me pass,” Tonelia said to the guard outside the cellblock.

Saxthor heard her, as did Bodrin, who tripped getting to the cell bars.

“If you don’t let me pass, and anything happens to those men, father will tell the chatra, and you’ll go to the thing on the lowest level.”

Tonelia got her way and came down the corridor with a food tray for the prisoners.

“Isn’t she’s beautiful.” Bodrin dangled on the cell bars like an ornament.

“Good evening, gentlemen.” Tonelia’s flirtatious voice glided through her smile, cast to Bodrin. “I trust you’ve had a good day under the circumstances.”

“She’s teasing Bodrin trying to make conversation,” Saxthor said to Tournak. She handed Saxthor the plate through the door’s food slit. Waiting for them to eat and return the plate was a convenient excuse for lingering.

“You’re so lovely,” Bodrin mumbled.

Tonelia flicked her hair in the moonlight, where she positioned herself to show her face and hair to best advantage.

“You’re too kind, Sir.” She held Bodrin in her enticing gaze. For an instant, she turned to Saxthor. “The guards are betting on how long you’ll be here. They think not more than a week.”

Tonelia was as attracted to Bodrin as Bodrin was to her. Saxthor suspected she wasn’t happy confined to the fortress dungeons with little company and no future. Being young, she would want to see more of the world. It dawned on Saxthor she was their best hope, and he must take it.

“It must get awfully lonely in here for a beautiful young girl.” Saxthor said. Bodrin’s glare stung.

Jealousy isn’t a pretty sight, Saxthor thought. Still, I have to develop my plan since Bodrin isn’t thinking of escaping the castilyernov or its mistress.

“It gets so lonely here,” Tonelia said to Saxthor, turning her gaze back to Bodrin.

Saxthor saw a charging wild ox couldn’t turn his gaze from her.

“I’m going mad here. Father always says we’ll go into the city more so I can meet an eligible man, but then we just stay here.”

“You should help us get away from here, and you can come with us and see the world,” Saxthor said. His joking tone belied its seriousness. She didn’t look afraid or reject the idea outright, so at least she heard and would think about it.

Saxthor stood back and let Bodrin get closer to the girl. The more she bonded with Bodrin, the more likely she was to help them. He’d have to detach her from her father while bonding her with Bodrin.