Blue Ridge: Vol. 2 - The Search (5 page)

Foster slinked through the underbrush on the outskirts of the market.
They were positioned in a line trying to go as quietly but as quickly as possible. The market was coming to a close for the day by the time they got to that part of the forest, and the lengthening shadows was making Foster nervous. The Queen was known for nighttime revelries, which meant a lot of light, and a lot of people. They weren’t close enough to hear what the merchants were saying as they packed up their wares and prepared to go home. All they could hear was the sound of voices and occasional clatter of something being dropped. Magic was heavy in this part of the Realm and Foster wanted to be out of the area hopefully before full night was upon them. He knew it was a dream. How could they possibly locate Nadia and get her out, in just under two hours?

The underbrush began to thin and so did the trees as they began to feel the strain in their legs of the ground elevating. Warren stopped and sat on the ground grabbing a stick. “Ok, the gnome said if she is a prisoner in the dungeon, we will have to try and breach the castle from the west side.” He said as he began to draw a rough shape in the ground, imitating the same drawing the gnome had made. “He said there should be a door about here that looks like part of the mountain, just rock and stuff. It’s where the guards empty chamber pots and,” he paused and gave Foster a sympathetic look, “and where remains are thrown for the wolves to dine on.”

Foster flinched and kept his eyes on the ground. He wished his father was here. They never saw eye to eye, but he had been a warrior, and was a killer in the human world. He would know what to do.

Stefan reached out a squeezed his shoulder. “Come on; let’s do what needs to be done.”

They began cautiously picking their way through the trees and occasionally laid face first listening to the ground and watching for movement. Foster had noticed a tiny blue light hovering over their heads since they were in cover behind part of the market. He kept the information to himself because of Stefan. They last thing they needed was him bellowing and crashing through the forest trying to swat a light pixie. As he looked at, he realized it was looking back at him. It flew closer and came within an inch of his face. The little creature was no more than a quarter inch tall with tiny translucent wings. He could barely make out slender legs and arms. Most considered them female, but his mother taught him that they were actually asexual and could be whichever sex they wanted. No one had ever been able to truly study them, and Foster hoped it stayed that way. Large eyes that were out of place on such a tiny head stared back at him. There wasn’t a pupil or iris; there was only a baby blue across the entire eye. It blinked multiple times at him and flew several feet away, stopping, and then flying back. Foster was sure it was frowning this time.

“What are you doing?” Stefan hissed. “Oh. Great. A pixie.”

“I think it’s trying to get me to follow it.”

“Don’t do it! It’s probably a pet to the Queen!”

The pixie flew closer and rolled its eyes. “No, I think it wants to help.”

Warren came back and looked at the little creature. He smiled and tried to touch it. It flew away quickly and came back shaking its head at Warren holding up the tiniest finger possible, wagging it back and forth. Warren laughed delightedly. “I’ve just been chastised by a light pixie!”

A tiny giggle escaped, and it placed both hands over its mouth. Warren looked at Foster and smiled. Stefan on the other hand cursed.

“Can we go?”

The pixie flew ahead and the three followed.

*****

Nadia had dozed off and was awoken by Garth moaning and calling out for a guard.
She stood and began banging the palms of her hands on the bars and yelling too. Footsteps could be heard coming down steps from nearby. A few seconds later, a red faced, angry guard stood before her cell.

“Silence, you piece of trash! What is all of this noise?”

“Please, it’s Garth. I think he’s hurt bad!”

To punctuate her statement Garth moaned loudly from the cell beside her. The guard stepped in front of his cell and put his hands on his hips.

“Well, what is it?”

“I need help. I am hurt very badly, please, can I have a doctor?”

The guard laughed. “A doctor? What do you think this is?”

“The Queen said not to hurt him too badly! You could be in a lot of trouble if he is!” Nadia said as she wrapped her hands around two bars and peered out at him.

“
I
had nothing to do with his injuries! I’m just a guard!”

Nadia could see fear in his eyes at the mention of being in trouble with the Queen. “Yes, but you are in charge of him
here
, if he were to die in your care…”

“Alright!” the guard yelled holding up a hand to silence her. “I’ll take a quick look.”

She could hear the keys rattle as he removed them from his belt and unlocked the cell door. The sound of chains rattling and the surprised yelp of one of them alarmed Nadia. She could hear scraping and grunting.

“Nadia, cover your ears and sing or talk to yourself!” Garth called out.

She did as she was told and her mind began to pull apart as she heard the melodious sound of Garth’s voice, his true voice, start to talk to the guard. She sang louder to herself, but not so loud that she didn’t hear the guard begin to scream. Suddenly there was silence. Nadia was about to call out when she heard the soft rattle of chains, and suddenly Garth was at her cell door unlocking it.

“Come!” he said sharply. “Others will be here soon, after all that racket!”

“How will we get out?”

“Not sure yet.” Garth grabbed her by the hand and pulled her down the darkened hallway just in time as several guards came down the stairs. They were at a dead end and Garth pushed her against the wall and tried to flatten himself beside her. The guards were talking rapidly and one was sent to tell the Queen. Two others came down the hallway with torches looking in each empty cell. Nadia was cold with fear and touched Garth’s hand. She willed them to blend with the wall. She prayed silently for a miracle. She kept thinking over and over again:
please don’t see us!
One of the guards came to the end of the hall and held the torch in front of him. His eyes scanned them and the walls around them before he turned to go the other way. He and the other guards left at a run. She could hear one say, “That’s a bloody shame! I liked ‘ole Clive!”

Garth and Nadia let out their held breath. Garth looked at her warily in the dim light. “How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“He didn’t see us. It was as if we were just part of the stone wall.”

Nadia grinned and took a shaky breath. “I
know
! It was some kind of miracle!”

“No, not a miracle, you used Glamour.”

*****

The light was failing and Foster was becoming agitated by the way the blue light of the pixie was to lead
ing them. He tried to stop it but was only given a shake of its tiny head in response.

“This isn’t good.” Warren whispered beside him. “We are going to end up near the front of the castle.

“I told you not to follow it! It’s a trap!” Stefan’s angry voice said just behind them.

The pixie darted ahead of them and stopped just below a sharp rise. The three watched her as she hovered in front of their noses and imitated lying flat on her stomach. Foster nodded and they cautiously went up the rise and lying flat once they were at the top. They could see the inner courtyard from under a thick row of rose bushes. The courtyard was full of people. Foster could see Fae and Sidhe mingling in their respected groups. He also saw several members of the Nephilim standing off to one side. He watched as the guards motioned another group in from the gate. He squinted and sucked in breath watching as his family walked into the courtyard. His mother walked with a straight back and he could see the pensive look on her face. His father was beside her with a stern expression, his hand lightly touching her lower back. Dain followed with a scowl, but the most surprising part of it was the older couple that was in the barn from the night before. They walked with his family as if they belonged. Some of the Fae and Sidhe bowed as the older couple passed.

Warren tugged on Foster’s arm and pointed to the pixie. It was trying to get them to follow to a small area of the castle where the building began to meet with the actual rock of the mountain.

Stefan came close to Foster’s ear. “Be aware of the sky. I have heard that she has a Griffon or two at her command.” Foster nodded and they moved silently to the place where the pixie was hovering. There was some kind of bush with thick thorns, and she kept darting in and out of the bush. Foster cautiously pushed a branch of the bush back and hissed through his teeth as thorns ripped at his flesh. He could see a small door big enough to crawl through. The others peered over his shoulder.

“How will we get in without being torn to pieces?” Warren whispered.

“Like this.” Stefan said, and pushed several branched down at once breaking them with a snap.

Warren and Foster winced from the sound and they flattened themselves to the ground and tried to see the courtyard. A nearby guard had heard the sound and was looking their way. He scanned the rose bushes and trees, then shrugged and turned back to the crowd, watching as they began to enter the castle.

Foster breathed a sigh of relief. He touched Warren and pointed towards the courtyard. Warren nodded and stayed where he was. Foster crawled back to Stefan and tried to look at the door. It was old and from the look of the decay, forgotten. He pushed on the base of it and felt it give a little. Stefan reached through the braches at top and smacked the door one time; causing it to swing inward. Both looked back at Warren. He scanned the yard once more and gave them a thumb up before crawling back to them.

“Everyone has gone inside. Just a few guards remain.” He whispered.

It was complete darkness as Foster peered inside the doorway. He took a deep breath and began crawling through. It was slow work. He could feel thorns grabbing and tearing at his clothes and there wasn’t much room to move. Once inside he crouched and moved a few feet away to make room for the next person. Stefan threw a pack of matches through the doorway and Foster felt around on the floor until he found them. He pulled one out and lit it. He could see he was in some kind of small hallway. It was only wide enough for two people to lie side by side, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to stand. Crouching or crawling was going to be the only options.

Foster shook his hand as the flame from the match touched his fingertips. He moved further up the hallway as Warren and then Stefan entered. Stefan did the smart thing and Warren could hear him quietly shut the door. He moved a few more feet and lit another match as he began to move forward. The hallway ended another twenty feet and they could make out a faint light coming from a slit in the floor. Stefan took the matches and lit one handing it to Warren. He lit another and they held them forward to try and help Foster to see. Foster ran his hand from the slit upward and felt along the edges of something. He waited patiently for more matches to be lit, and continued inspecting the area with his hands.

“It’s an old panel.” He whispered. “It’s made to look like the wall, but it can be moved.” He laid his ear to it and listened. He could barely discern noise, and it sounded far away. What he could hear reminded him of kitchen noises. He took his fingertips and felt for the edges of the panel. He pulled backwards once around the edges, and it gave way swinging inward. Foster flattened his body to the floor and inched forward until he could see just through the opening. The panel opened near the top of a hallway. The drop to the floor below was at least eight feet. The hallway was not well lit and looked dusty. He hoped the dust indicated it was an unused place. Foster turned around and let his feet and legs go out of the opening first. Once his torso was part way out, he inched the rest of his body out and fell to the ground, landing in a crouch. He was facing the wall and spun around quickly looking and listening for the sound of anyone coming. When he didn’t hear anything he motioned for the others to follow.

“I don’t think anyone has been here for a while.” Warren said looking around.

“No.” Foster said and stood for a minute trying to decide which way to go. He chose the way that would take them further into the castle. They walked silently through the passage toward the better-lit passage that intersected at the end. The hallway in front of them looked a little more used. It was better lit and there wasn’t the accumulation of dust on the floor. A rat scurried from up the stairs on the left and ran past them.

“If there is a dungeon, it will be lower.” Stefan whispered.

They approached the winding stone staircase and listened at the top. Foster was sure there was voices echoing at the bottom but he couldn’t be certain. They started down, hugging the wall as they went. When they reached the bottom, two guards met them with surprised faces. Stefan silenced them before they could react by banging their heads together and letting their limp bodies fall to the floor. He stepped over them casually and checked the cells. He paused at one and motioned for the others. They looked at the dead guard. He had been stripped of his weapons, but for some reason his body was still there. Blood was drying on his face and had dried on his ears and around his eyes and nose. A look of horror was frozen on his face.

“Why would they just leave his body but take his weapons?” Warren asked.

“My guess is that they haven’t removed the body because they don’t know it’s here yet, or they are in pursuit of the one who took the weapons. This man died from a bursting of the brain. I only know of two Nephilim that are capable of this.”

Foster felt a surge of hope rise in his chest; maybe someone was helping Nadia.

Stefan eyed him sharply. “Don’t get your hopes up, boy. Garth is one of the more powerful of my kind, but I doubt he would help her if he was the one who brought her here.”

Foster nodded. They went back up the stairs as cautiously as they went down. Once back in the hallway they went in the opposite direction and found that noises were getting louder. They were definitely near the kitchens. Before any of them could react, a plump woman with red hair came out of a room on the side, carrying a huge mixing bowl. She looked at them in surprise.

“What are ye doing down here?”

Foster thought quickly and gave her a sly smile. “We’re lost.” he said with a shrug. He gave her his most dazzling smile and used glamour to appear clean and well kept. It worked. She smiled bashfully. “Can you point us in the right direction, Madam?” he said, and bowed with a flourish.

She giggled and pointed down the hall. “Left at the end, and up the stairs with ye.”

He took one of her hands and kissed it as she shifted the bowl and hugged it close. “You have saved us!”

She giggled again and disappeared through another door. They went in the direction she had indicated in case she came back through and found them trying other doors instead. They walked as quickly as they could in case someone else came on them unexpected. There were two other doors on the hallway besides the two the cook had just exited and entered. One was locked and the other opened directly onto a narrow staircase.

“This place is nothing more than hallways and staircases!” Stefan grumbled. They took the stairs cautiously, and once at the top they could hear voices talking somewhere below them. The space opened into a small stone expanse of about ten feet by six feet. The stone was cut across with an opening that was just wide enough to look through. Stefan made the motion of nocking an arrow and letting it go. Foster nodded that he understood. It was a place for soldiers to guard the Queen. Foster looked down into the cavernous room below them and saw that it was in fact the throne room.

“Why aren’t there soldiers here now?” Foster whispered.

Stefan shrugged and knelt before the opening scanning the room below. He dropped back and said, “I think they’re all down there. Maybe she uses this for assassination purposes.” He looked across to the other side. “I don’t think there’s another one over there.” He said indicating the other side. Foster looked and saw that the multi colored glass ceiling only covered part way and the rest was stone. He realized the side they were on was either part of the mountain or built into it, but the opposite side was hewn stone; built like any other castle; yet it looked almost identical to the side they were on. He could see the Queen’s throne was empty, and her guests gave it a quick glance as they began to take their seats. There was at least two hundred there, and he was unable to see his family.

Warren had crept forward and was crouching beside him. “What should we do?”

Foster              was about to answer when movement directly opposite from them caught his eye. “Stefan,” he whispered, “I think there
is
another one of these rooms over there.”

Stefan squinted and concentrated. “Yes! I do see it!” He looked below to see if any of the guests or guards were looking upwards, but they all seemed intent on staring at the empty throne or whispering behind their hands to each other. “Did you see something over there?”

“I thought I saw movement.”

They waited several moments and listened to the hum below them. A horn sounded and a loud voice yelled, “Queen Lily Armstrong, leader of the Eastern Realm of America!” The three watched as the Queen entered from behind the throne. She was dressed in an elaborate gown of rose colored silk, inlaid with brightly colored stones in the bodice that caught the light and made her glitter. She was exquisitely beautiful, and Foster knew instinctually she was as equally malevolent.

“What a pompous ass that woman is.” Stefan muttered.

Another chandelier was lit and raised by ropes, securing it above the queen’s head. The extra light caused a perpetual platform for her to look glittery and beautiful. It also caused a feeling of magic. One thing the extra light did was better illuminate the rooms on either side of the ceiling.

All three of them lowered their heads so that just their eyes and foreheads were in sight. Foster stared at the hidden room opposite and tried to see more movement. He was about to resign himself to it all being a trick of the eye, when he saw it again.

His mouth went dry and his stomach felt like he was falling. Another flicker of movement and Nadia’s face flashed back into view. She saw him the same time that the Queen called her court into order. Foster froze as his mind raced at the sight.

“Things just got a whole lot more interesting…” Foster said to himself.

To be continued…