Chosen (29 page)
There was a wooden door
directly in front of her. She ran her hands over the door looking
for a way to open it, but she couldn’t find a handle. ‘Great, what
do I do now?’ she thought. She ran her hands over it again in case
she’d missed something the first time. No, there was definitely no
handle, perhaps it could only be opened from the other side. No,
Thomas would not have sent her down here if there wasn’t a way to
open it. She decided to expand her search and began to feel along
the walls, first the left wall . . . nothing, then the right wall,
she was just about to admit defeat when her fingers brushed
something that felt slightly different from its surroundings. Going
back for a second touch, she felt a small bar recessed into the
wall, she’d almost missed it because it was so covered in moss. She
picked the moss away until she could get her fingers behind the
bar. She pulled. Nothing happened. ‘This is ridiculous,’ she
thought, ‘it has to be that, there is nothing else here.’ Then she
heard it; a low rumble which turned into a banshee screech as the
door began to slowly inch open.
She tensed, ready to run if the
door was being guarded. A flickering light invaded the darkness
causing her to throw an arm up to protect her eyes. She had been
temporarily blinded by the light. She heard voices; familiar
voices.
First Max, ‘Oh my god, it’s
Elkeira.’
Then, happily, her brother, ‘I
knew you could do it little sister, I’m so proud of you.’
Then Gilster, ‘thank Minerva
you’re safe.’
Slowly her eye-sight returned,
the door had opened almost exactly opposite the cell her brother
and friends were in, she could see their relieved faces looking at
her, smiling. She jumped through the doorway and ran to the cell
door, trying to hug everyone through the bars. ‘I don’t have a
key,’ she cried, ‘how will I set you free.’
‘Give me one of those,’ said
Max spying the pistol butt protruding from Elkeira’s waist band,
‘stand back and I’ll get us out of here. She turned to Gilster and
Tallon, ‘pick up Haven and be ready to move.’
She fired the pistol at the
lock, the sound loudly reverberating around the cells. The lock
dropped off and she swung the door open. Elkeira had retreated back
into the tunnel. ‘Quick, get Haven into the tunnel.’ Gilster and
Tallon had to manhandle Haven over the lip of the door and into the
opening, it wasn’t easy, Haven was a big man and the tunnel was
very narrow.
Max was the last to leave.
‘Thank you for all your help, would you like to come with us, I can
open your cell door,’ she said to Epona.
‘No, child it is not my destiny
to go with you, but don’t forget the device,’ said Epona, ‘turn it
off as soon as you can. But I have one more piece of information to
give you, heed it well if you value your life.’
Max leaned towards the bars
waiting for the old woman to speak.
‘When the last portal is opened
stand as far back away from it as you can, it is not like the other
portals, it’s power is immeasurable. If you are too close you will
be sucked into it and die.’
‘Thank you,’ said Max, ‘I will
pass your warning on to the others. But are you sure you will be ok
if we leave you here?
‘I will be fine, now go, your
time is short.’
Max disappeared into the tunnel
and Elkeira pulled the bar, closing the door behind her.
It was impossible for the three
men to fit abreast in the tunnel. ‘I’ll have to carry him,’ said
Tallon to Gilster, ‘I just need your help to get him up.’
Eventually they got Haven onto Tallon’s shoulder, where he held him
steady. With wounds still not fully healed, it was slow going with
frequent stops. During one stop, Max asked Elkeira where she had
been hiding. Elkeira told her all about Thomas and how he had saved
her. When Max told her about the device, where it was and how it
had to be shut off, Elkeira became very excited.
‘Thomas will be able to help,’
she gushed, ‘he knows secret ways into every room in the keep, I am
sure he could get us into that room.’
They finally reached the end of
the tunnel and fell into the corridor near Thomas’ place. Poor
Tallon was totally exhausted having carried Haven the entire way,
his bruises were throbbing and some of his wounds were bleeding
again.
‘Once the device is turned off
I will be able to heal those for you,’ said Max worriedly checking
the wounds.
‘I’m fine, it’s nothing a
little rest will not cure.’
‘Unfortunately, I don’t think
we’ll have much time for rest,’ said Max, ‘but thank you for
carrying Haven, we couldn’t have done it without you,’ she
added.
‘We’re a team,’ said Tallon,
‘isn’t that what you keep telling me. Now where is Thomas’ place,’
said Tallon to Elkeira, ‘I’ve still got to get Haven there yet.’
Hoisting Haven back up he continued down the corridor after
Elkeira, ‘and it better not be far,’ he said, ‘or I will start
charging for my services.’
Max had to smile. ‘You’re doing
great,’ she said, ‘almost there.’
Elkeira knocked on Thomas’
door. ‘It’s alright Thomas, it’s me,’ she whispered. The door
opened a crack, one eye peeping out.
‘I didn’t expect to see you
again,’ said Thomas, not noticing the others standing in the
shadows, ‘not that I’m unhappy about it.’
A voice came from the dark,
‘Elkeira, hurry up this man weighs as much as a mountain.’
Thomas’ eyes widened in fear,
‘who is that?’ he asked Elkeira.
She smiled sheepishly, ‘it’s my
brother and my friends.’
‘You brought them here,’ he
hissed, ‘why?’
‘We need your help again,’ said
Elkeira, ‘let us in and I’ll explain.’
Thomas hesitated, then opened
the door wider, ‘yes, yes of course, but please, I beg you, be
quiet.’
Swearing loudly Tallon stumbled
over the threshold banging into the doorframe, almost dropping
Haven in the process; he staggered on and managed to make it over
to the bed before releasing his hold on Haven. Unfortunately he
didn’t let go quick enough, causing both men to fall heavily on the
bed, the combined weight of the two large men smashed the bed like
it was made of match-sticks. The noise echoed down the tunnel
causing Thomas to cringe in fear, ‘please, you must be quiet or
they’ll hear us,’ he hissed.
‘Sorry,’ said Tallon,
extricating himself from underneath Haven and the smashed bed,
‘blame him,’ he said pointing to Haven.
Max closed the door quickly
before any more sound echoed down the tunnel. The little room had
suddenly become quite crowded with all the newcomers.
Thomas was talking to Elkeira
over by the hearth. ‘Why did you bring them here, you’ve put me in
danger of being found.’
‘I am so sorry,’ said Elkeira,
‘if there had been any other way, I would not have come back, but
like I said before, we need your help.’
‘If I do this one last thing
for you, will you then go and leave me in peace,’ he said
wearily.
‘Yes, of course, I never meant
to put you in harm’s way again, you’re my friend.’
‘All right,’ said Thomas, ‘what
is this one thing you need from me this time?’
Max spoke, ‘Elkeira tells us
you know secret ways to travel around the keep, is this true?’
Thomas nodded. ‘Do you know a way into the room at the top of the
keep?’
‘I do,’ said Thomas, ‘but why
would you want to go there, the room is empty.’
‘Apparently not,’ grunted
Gilster, who was trying to move Haven into a more comfortable
position. He was lying awkwardly on the mattress that was now
perched on top of a pile of broken wood.
‘We have heard Benitoff’s
energy device is in that room,’ said Max continuing.
‘Who told you that,’ said
Thomas, ‘it’s not true, the room is empty.’
‘Have you been up there
lately?’ asked Max.
‘Well . . . no,’ said Thomas,
‘but Fisher told me the room is empty.’
‘Well we have it on good
authority there is a device up there which is causing the draining
of energy from people, if we can turn it off then Haven should
recover, if not,’ she said turning serious, ‘then he will probably
die, you’ve got to help us Thomas.’
‘I said I would help you and I
will, but then you must go, it is very dangerous for you to be
here, the guards will not stop looking for you.’
‘Thank you,’ said Elkeira
kissing his cheek causing him to redden, ‘tell us where to go and
then I promise we will leave you in peace, forever.’
‘Don’t make promises you may
not be able to keep,’ said Gilster quietly.
Max nudged him in the ribs,
‘one thing at a time,’ she whispered.
Thomas explained to them the
secret way to reach the room and a short cut out of the keep so
they wouldn’t have to come all the way back to his room again. ‘The
way is very narrow and steep,’ he added looking worriedly at Haven
sprawled on the floor. ‘It will save you having to come all the way
back down to the main part of the keep, it will bring you out near
the outer wall, very close to the portcullis, you will need to open
this to escape.’
‘I will go and turn off the
device,’ said Tallon reaching for his bow.
‘No . . . I think it will be
better if Elkeira turns it off, we don’t know how long it will take
before Haven starts recovering and we may need you to carry him
again,’ said Max.
‘What!’ Said Tallon, ‘not
again.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Max,
‘hopefully it will be the last time.’
‘I’m never going to let him
forget this,’ said Tallon.
‘I’m sure when he knows what
you’ve done,’ said Gilster, ‘he will be most appreciative.’
‘He’d better be,’ grumbled
Tallon.
‘We’ll stay here at Thomas’
until we notice a change in Haven, then we can go straight from
here to the portcullis,’ said Max, ‘hopefully we can get it open
before Elkeira gets back down.’
‘Someone will have to go with
Elkeira,’ said Tallon, ‘it will be too dangerous for her on her
own, it should be me, but it seems I will be carrying on with my
pack horse duties,’ he finished, frowning at Max.
‘I’m not a child,’ said
Elkeira, stamping her foot in a very childlike way, ‘I can do this
on my own.’
‘No, Tallon’s right,’ said Max,
‘someone will have to go with you.’ She looked across at Thomas who
had been sitting quietly on a stool watching the proceedings.
‘You want me to go,’ he said,
more a statement than a question.
‘Yes, Thomas, come with me, we
can do this together,’ said Elkeira excitedly.
Thomas hung his head. ‘All
right, I will do this for you only because you are my friend,’ he
said looking up at Elkeira. She kissed him again, excited at the
prospect of him coming with her.
Max explained to Elkeira and
Thomas what they must do to deactivate the device and how they must
not touch the metal plate or the device with anything
metallic.
‘I will take my bow,’ said
Elkeira ‘and leave the rest of the weapons here for you, if the
guards see you, you may have to fight your way out.’
‘The doorway is behind here,’
said Thomas, indicating a large wardrobe in the corner of the room.
Gilster and Tallon manhandled it away from the wall trying not to
trip over Haven in the process. The door was very small, only about
three feet tall.
‘Well, there is no way we could
have got Haven through that,’ said Gilster.
‘I would have made him fit,’
said Tallon, smiling grimly.
‘Be careful,’ said Max, as
Thomas and Elkeira, crawled into the passage way, ‘with a bit of
luck we’ll see you both again soon.’
‘Don’t worry about me, I will
be safe,’ said Elkeira, smiling back at them through the doorway,
‘I have my hero with me.’
‘Can you please put the
wardrobe back in front of the door when we’ve gone,’ said Thomas,
‘I don’t want to risk anyone finding their way to my room.’
‘Certainly,’ said Gilster.
‘Good luck, little sister,’
said Tallon as he closed the door behind them. ‘So, now we
wait.’
‘Yep,’ said Max, ‘now we
wait.’
It was very dark in the narrow
passage way; Thomas pulled a torch from his coat which he switched
on immediately the door closed behind them. Blocks of undressed
stone poked out from the walls making moving around a little like
tackling an obstacle course; cobwebs hung from the ceiling a foot
over their heads and an inch of dust covered the floor; the smell
of vermin was cloying, Elkeira could tell it had been a long time
since anyone had used this passage.
‘Follow me,’ said Thomas taking
the lead, ‘but keep talking to a minimum, I don’t know if they will
be able to hear us.’
They had been travelling the
secret passageways of the keep for about twenty minutes: up and
down old, cracked stone stairways, through tiny openings barely big
enough to squeeze through, up walls, under floors crawling on their
knees. To Elkeira it seemed they were doing a lot of back-tracking
and she began to grow restless.
‘How much further,’ she hissed
when they reached another stone staircase and could finally stand
upright again. Thomas put a finger to his lips.
‘I have tried to take us
through the emptiest parts of the keep,’ he whispered, ‘but there
may still be guards around; hopefully not much further, we are on
the 7th floor and the room we seek is one floor up.’ Elkeira smiled
and heaved a sigh of relief.
Max, Gilster and Tallon sat
quietly in Thomas’ room. ‘How long do you think it will take them
to reach the room and destroy the device?’ asked Max.
‘Who knows,’ said Gilster
leafing through a book he had picked up from the mantelpiece, ‘it
depends on how easy the path is to traverse I suppose. It probably
hasn’t been used in decades, let’s hope Thomas is familiar with the
way.’
directly in front of her. She ran her hands over the door looking
for a way to open it, but she couldn’t find a handle. ‘Great, what
do I do now?’ she thought. She ran her hands over it again in case
she’d missed something the first time. No, there was definitely no
handle, perhaps it could only be opened from the other side. No,
Thomas would not have sent her down here if there wasn’t a way to
open it. She decided to expand her search and began to feel along
the walls, first the left wall . . . nothing, then the right wall,
she was just about to admit defeat when her fingers brushed
something that felt slightly different from its surroundings. Going
back for a second touch, she felt a small bar recessed into the
wall, she’d almost missed it because it was so covered in moss. She
picked the moss away until she could get her fingers behind the
bar. She pulled. Nothing happened. ‘This is ridiculous,’ she
thought, ‘it has to be that, there is nothing else here.’ Then she
heard it; a low rumble which turned into a banshee screech as the
door began to slowly inch open.
She tensed, ready to run if the
door was being guarded. A flickering light invaded the darkness
causing her to throw an arm up to protect her eyes. She had been
temporarily blinded by the light. She heard voices; familiar
voices.
First Max, ‘Oh my god, it’s
Elkeira.’
Then, happily, her brother, ‘I
knew you could do it little sister, I’m so proud of you.’
Then Gilster, ‘thank Minerva
you’re safe.’
Slowly her eye-sight returned,
the door had opened almost exactly opposite the cell her brother
and friends were in, she could see their relieved faces looking at
her, smiling. She jumped through the doorway and ran to the cell
door, trying to hug everyone through the bars. ‘I don’t have a
key,’ she cried, ‘how will I set you free.’
‘Give me one of those,’ said
Max spying the pistol butt protruding from Elkeira’s waist band,
‘stand back and I’ll get us out of here. She turned to Gilster and
Tallon, ‘pick up Haven and be ready to move.’
She fired the pistol at the
lock, the sound loudly reverberating around the cells. The lock
dropped off and she swung the door open. Elkeira had retreated back
into the tunnel. ‘Quick, get Haven into the tunnel.’ Gilster and
Tallon had to manhandle Haven over the lip of the door and into the
opening, it wasn’t easy, Haven was a big man and the tunnel was
very narrow.
Max was the last to leave.
‘Thank you for all your help, would you like to come with us, I can
open your cell door,’ she said to Epona.
‘No, child it is not my destiny
to go with you, but don’t forget the device,’ said Epona, ‘turn it
off as soon as you can. But I have one more piece of information to
give you, heed it well if you value your life.’
Max leaned towards the bars
waiting for the old woman to speak.
‘When the last portal is opened
stand as far back away from it as you can, it is not like the other
portals, it’s power is immeasurable. If you are too close you will
be sucked into it and die.’
‘Thank you,’ said Max, ‘I will
pass your warning on to the others. But are you sure you will be ok
if we leave you here?
‘I will be fine, now go, your
time is short.’
Max disappeared into the tunnel
and Elkeira pulled the bar, closing the door behind her.
It was impossible for the three
men to fit abreast in the tunnel. ‘I’ll have to carry him,’ said
Tallon to Gilster, ‘I just need your help to get him up.’
Eventually they got Haven onto Tallon’s shoulder, where he held him
steady. With wounds still not fully healed, it was slow going with
frequent stops. During one stop, Max asked Elkeira where she had
been hiding. Elkeira told her all about Thomas and how he had saved
her. When Max told her about the device, where it was and how it
had to be shut off, Elkeira became very excited.
‘Thomas will be able to help,’
she gushed, ‘he knows secret ways into every room in the keep, I am
sure he could get us into that room.’
They finally reached the end of
the tunnel and fell into the corridor near Thomas’ place. Poor
Tallon was totally exhausted having carried Haven the entire way,
his bruises were throbbing and some of his wounds were bleeding
again.
‘Once the device is turned off
I will be able to heal those for you,’ said Max worriedly checking
the wounds.
‘I’m fine, it’s nothing a
little rest will not cure.’
‘Unfortunately, I don’t think
we’ll have much time for rest,’ said Max, ‘but thank you for
carrying Haven, we couldn’t have done it without you,’ she
added.
‘We’re a team,’ said Tallon,
‘isn’t that what you keep telling me. Now where is Thomas’ place,’
said Tallon to Elkeira, ‘I’ve still got to get Haven there yet.’
Hoisting Haven back up he continued down the corridor after
Elkeira, ‘and it better not be far,’ he said, ‘or I will start
charging for my services.’
Max had to smile. ‘You’re doing
great,’ she said, ‘almost there.’
Elkeira knocked on Thomas’
door. ‘It’s alright Thomas, it’s me,’ she whispered. The door
opened a crack, one eye peeping out.
‘I didn’t expect to see you
again,’ said Thomas, not noticing the others standing in the
shadows, ‘not that I’m unhappy about it.’
A voice came from the dark,
‘Elkeira, hurry up this man weighs as much as a mountain.’
Thomas’ eyes widened in fear,
‘who is that?’ he asked Elkeira.
She smiled sheepishly, ‘it’s my
brother and my friends.’
‘You brought them here,’ he
hissed, ‘why?’
‘We need your help again,’ said
Elkeira, ‘let us in and I’ll explain.’
Thomas hesitated, then opened
the door wider, ‘yes, yes of course, but please, I beg you, be
quiet.’
Swearing loudly Tallon stumbled
over the threshold banging into the doorframe, almost dropping
Haven in the process; he staggered on and managed to make it over
to the bed before releasing his hold on Haven. Unfortunately he
didn’t let go quick enough, causing both men to fall heavily on the
bed, the combined weight of the two large men smashed the bed like
it was made of match-sticks. The noise echoed down the tunnel
causing Thomas to cringe in fear, ‘please, you must be quiet or
they’ll hear us,’ he hissed.
‘Sorry,’ said Tallon,
extricating himself from underneath Haven and the smashed bed,
‘blame him,’ he said pointing to Haven.
Max closed the door quickly
before any more sound echoed down the tunnel. The little room had
suddenly become quite crowded with all the newcomers.
Thomas was talking to Elkeira
over by the hearth. ‘Why did you bring them here, you’ve put me in
danger of being found.’
‘I am so sorry,’ said Elkeira,
‘if there had been any other way, I would not have come back, but
like I said before, we need your help.’
‘If I do this one last thing
for you, will you then go and leave me in peace,’ he said
wearily.
‘Yes, of course, I never meant
to put you in harm’s way again, you’re my friend.’
‘All right,’ said Thomas, ‘what
is this one thing you need from me this time?’
Max spoke, ‘Elkeira tells us
you know secret ways to travel around the keep, is this true?’
Thomas nodded. ‘Do you know a way into the room at the top of the
keep?’
‘I do,’ said Thomas, ‘but why
would you want to go there, the room is empty.’
‘Apparently not,’ grunted
Gilster, who was trying to move Haven into a more comfortable
position. He was lying awkwardly on the mattress that was now
perched on top of a pile of broken wood.
‘We have heard Benitoff’s
energy device is in that room,’ said Max continuing.
‘Who told you that,’ said
Thomas, ‘it’s not true, the room is empty.’
‘Have you been up there
lately?’ asked Max.
‘Well . . . no,’ said Thomas,
‘but Fisher told me the room is empty.’
‘Well we have it on good
authority there is a device up there which is causing the draining
of energy from people, if we can turn it off then Haven should
recover, if not,’ she said turning serious, ‘then he will probably
die, you’ve got to help us Thomas.’
‘I said I would help you and I
will, but then you must go, it is very dangerous for you to be
here, the guards will not stop looking for you.’
‘Thank you,’ said Elkeira
kissing his cheek causing him to redden, ‘tell us where to go and
then I promise we will leave you in peace, forever.’
‘Don’t make promises you may
not be able to keep,’ said Gilster quietly.
Max nudged him in the ribs,
‘one thing at a time,’ she whispered.
Thomas explained to them the
secret way to reach the room and a short cut out of the keep so
they wouldn’t have to come all the way back to his room again. ‘The
way is very narrow and steep,’ he added looking worriedly at Haven
sprawled on the floor. ‘It will save you having to come all the way
back down to the main part of the keep, it will bring you out near
the outer wall, very close to the portcullis, you will need to open
this to escape.’
‘I will go and turn off the
device,’ said Tallon reaching for his bow.
‘No . . . I think it will be
better if Elkeira turns it off, we don’t know how long it will take
before Haven starts recovering and we may need you to carry him
again,’ said Max.
‘What!’ Said Tallon, ‘not
again.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Max,
‘hopefully it will be the last time.’
‘I’m never going to let him
forget this,’ said Tallon.
‘I’m sure when he knows what
you’ve done,’ said Gilster, ‘he will be most appreciative.’
‘He’d better be,’ grumbled
Tallon.
‘We’ll stay here at Thomas’
until we notice a change in Haven, then we can go straight from
here to the portcullis,’ said Max, ‘hopefully we can get it open
before Elkeira gets back down.’
‘Someone will have to go with
Elkeira,’ said Tallon, ‘it will be too dangerous for her on her
own, it should be me, but it seems I will be carrying on with my
pack horse duties,’ he finished, frowning at Max.
‘I’m not a child,’ said
Elkeira, stamping her foot in a very childlike way, ‘I can do this
on my own.’
‘No, Tallon’s right,’ said Max,
‘someone will have to go with you.’ She looked across at Thomas who
had been sitting quietly on a stool watching the proceedings.
‘You want me to go,’ he said,
more a statement than a question.
‘Yes, Thomas, come with me, we
can do this together,’ said Elkeira excitedly.
Thomas hung his head. ‘All
right, I will do this for you only because you are my friend,’ he
said looking up at Elkeira. She kissed him again, excited at the
prospect of him coming with her.
Max explained to Elkeira and
Thomas what they must do to deactivate the device and how they must
not touch the metal plate or the device with anything
metallic.
‘I will take my bow,’ said
Elkeira ‘and leave the rest of the weapons here for you, if the
guards see you, you may have to fight your way out.’
‘The doorway is behind here,’
said Thomas, indicating a large wardrobe in the corner of the room.
Gilster and Tallon manhandled it away from the wall trying not to
trip over Haven in the process. The door was very small, only about
three feet tall.
‘Well, there is no way we could
have got Haven through that,’ said Gilster.
‘I would have made him fit,’
said Tallon, smiling grimly.
‘Be careful,’ said Max, as
Thomas and Elkeira, crawled into the passage way, ‘with a bit of
luck we’ll see you both again soon.’
‘Don’t worry about me, I will
be safe,’ said Elkeira, smiling back at them through the doorway,
‘I have my hero with me.’
‘Can you please put the
wardrobe back in front of the door when we’ve gone,’ said Thomas,
‘I don’t want to risk anyone finding their way to my room.’
‘Certainly,’ said Gilster.
‘Good luck, little sister,’
said Tallon as he closed the door behind them. ‘So, now we
wait.’
‘Yep,’ said Max, ‘now we
wait.’
It was very dark in the narrow
passage way; Thomas pulled a torch from his coat which he switched
on immediately the door closed behind them. Blocks of undressed
stone poked out from the walls making moving around a little like
tackling an obstacle course; cobwebs hung from the ceiling a foot
over their heads and an inch of dust covered the floor; the smell
of vermin was cloying, Elkeira could tell it had been a long time
since anyone had used this passage.
‘Follow me,’ said Thomas taking
the lead, ‘but keep talking to a minimum, I don’t know if they will
be able to hear us.’
They had been travelling the
secret passageways of the keep for about twenty minutes: up and
down old, cracked stone stairways, through tiny openings barely big
enough to squeeze through, up walls, under floors crawling on their
knees. To Elkeira it seemed they were doing a lot of back-tracking
and she began to grow restless.
‘How much further,’ she hissed
when they reached another stone staircase and could finally stand
upright again. Thomas put a finger to his lips.
‘I have tried to take us
through the emptiest parts of the keep,’ he whispered, ‘but there
may still be guards around; hopefully not much further, we are on
the 7th floor and the room we seek is one floor up.’ Elkeira smiled
and heaved a sigh of relief.
Max, Gilster and Tallon sat
quietly in Thomas’ room. ‘How long do you think it will take them
to reach the room and destroy the device?’ asked Max.
‘Who knows,’ said Gilster
leafing through a book he had picked up from the mantelpiece, ‘it
depends on how easy the path is to traverse I suppose. It probably
hasn’t been used in decades, let’s hope Thomas is familiar with the
way.’
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