I have the idea a lot of castles, including Daein Keep, have their little secrets, including hidden rooms and tunnels. I'm not sure someone like Ashnard would have much use for a hidden escape passage, but those before him might have had need for it. My first thought for this was a simple one-shot, but for now I have left it a little open ended. I can always add to it if the ideas come.
Daein Keep was large and somewhat intimidating, nothing at all like the orphanage Pelleas had grown up in. It had been a whole new world, going from a cramped room with many other boys to having his own private space while they sought to free Daein from Begnion. That was nothing compared to the feeling of having a title and castle once the war was won. He had a bed of his own, his own clothing, and more rooms than any building perhaps ought to have.
The only thing the young king lacked for was freedom.
It was not due to people mistrusting him. The citizens were tired of Begnion and would take anyone, including the son of the Mad King Ashnard, over brutes like General Jarod. In fact, it felt a little like the staff and military skirted around him. It was also not due to his duties. Though the role of king felt like a lot of work, he found himself bored through much of the day. Work seemed to fall more to those around him, though nights turned out to be a completely different story.
No, his lack of freedom came from his newly-found mother, Almedha. She had lost him before, she had told him, she would never let him leave her side again. For that reason, much of Daein Keep remained unexplored and new to Pelleas.
He had once thought of slipping away from his mother and exploring the nearby rooms when she found herself distracted. It was not something he could do. It was behavior more fitting for a mischievous child and not a young king. He had remained dutifully and patiently by her side.
He wanted to explore the library; there was no doubt a large selection of tomes that might be useful to him. Almedha would disapprove of his seeking out magical books, she had disapproved of him being on the front lines in the war, but she did not have to know that was what he was looking for.
"Mother, do you think you and I could take our meal in the library?" Pelleas asked her one morning as the time for the midday meal drew close. The thought had suddenly sprung to his mind; why not take the chance? The worst thing she could do was deny it.
"The library? But why?" She seized his hand and searched his face for any sign of distress. "Does someone here displease you?"
"No, not at all." Most everyone had been kind to him. "It's just that... you and I have not had a private meal since we arrived here." It was not a lie, but Pelleas felt guilty using it to suit his needs. "No one will disturb us in there."
Almedha looked down at his hand as she started to stroke it. "Very well," she said uncertainly. "If that is what my precious son desires... I'll make arrangements for it." She gave his hand one last squeeze before she released him.
"I'll wait for you in the library," he promised.
She watched as he walked down the hall, but once out of her sight, his footsteps quickened to a near excited run. It would not buy him much time, but it would give him a chance to look around. He slowed his pace again as he approached the library. A faint tinge of pink appeared on his cheeks as he opened the door. Thank the goddess no one had seen him nearly running! It would have been very embarrassing!
Once inside the spacious room, Pelleas stopped to look around in awe. There were shelves upon shelves full of books, more than he ever thought even existed. He could not imagine that the soldiers who had previously occupied the keep bothered to read them, but someone had taken it upon themselves to keep the library clean and spotless. The floors were spotless as the sunlight filtering in through the windows showed. A table and chairs were under a large window, for those who wanted to read. That would be where he and his mother had lunch. He spared the table a quick glance before he slipped deeper into the stacks.
He scanned the titles on the shelves and was pleasantly surprised to see some order to the books. There were shelves upon shelves of history books, books devoted to maps and charts, and what even appeared to be someone's old, personal ledger crammed between two thicker books. Pelleas was curious, but he passed on it for the time being. He would feel a little uncomfortable reading someone's personal thoughts, and it was not what he was looking for.
As he passed on the ledger, a glint of golden ink caught his eye. There they were! The bookcase was taller than he was and loaded with tomes. There were more there than he had ever seen displayed in any weapon shop. Each shelf appeared to be devoted to a different type of magic. Some were full of simple spells and others were loaded with complex magic he had never heard of. He found a tome near the bottom that caught his eye, its cover a rich purple. He knelt and slid his finger to the top of the book so he could pull it out.
The book did not budge.
Thinking it was stuck, Pelleas pulled again, a little harder but not so hard that he would damage the book. It fell forward two inches and stopped again but with a peculiar clicking sound. Pelleas had no time to consider the noise as the bookshelf swung forward. He fell on his backside and scrambled back as quickly as he could. Sitting on the floor, his hands propping him up, Pelleas stared at the open door with awe. Did his mother know about this? What secrets within the castle was she keeping from him? He thought she would say anything about hidden passages, especially ones that led out of the keep, but he also had to wonder if she didn't speak of them because she did not want him to use them.
He stood and peered inside. He could see no deeper than what the sunlight allowed, and that was not very far. His curiosity got the better of him. He had the sense to grab a fire tome and stepped inside. The bookcase squeaked shut behind him.
With a whispered incantation, Pelleas conjured a small ball of flame he could hold in his hand. He held his hand high but could not see much more beyond what he saw before entering the passageway. He turned to look behind him but found nothing but cold stone. There was only one way out, then.
Before he could go forward, he heard the muffled sound of a woman's voice. It had to be his mother. Was she calling for him? He could not tell. Her voice sounded so far away.
"Mother?" he called. His voice echoed around him. As the echo died, he heard her call back in response.
"Pelleas?" There was a note of panic in her voice. "Darling, where are you?"
"Ah... behind the bookcase." It sounded like a foolish answer, but it was the truth.
"Which one?" She had drawn closer, close enough for him to understand what she was saying.
"The one with the tomes," he shouted back. His voice was not used to shouting, and the echoes made him sound louder than he thought he was.
"Behind the - ?" Her voice drew even closer. Then he heard her shriek. He recoiled at the sound. "There is no behind the bookcase!"
Now that she was close enough to fully hear, even with the stone wall serving as a barrier between them, the fear in her voice was painfully obvious to him. He felt terrible for his sudden curiosity. "There is, it's a secret door. One of the tomes opened it."
Almedha made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a sob. "I thought I knew of every passage out of this castle," she said, more to herself than to her son. To Pelleas, she called, "Can you come back the way you went in?"
"No, there's nothing but wall. I think I should see where this leads."
"You stay right there!" she cried. Pelleas then heard thumps and thuds behind him as Almedha began frantically pulling book after book off the shelves.
"If you don't know about this passage," Pelleas told her, wincing with every thump, "then don't you think it would be wise to find out where it goes?"
"What if it's blocked?" Almedha was fully sobbing by then. The sound of it tore at Pelleas's heart. "What if you can't get out any other way?"
"That's why we should find out if it is. I'm going ahead, Mother. If my way is blocked, I'll come back, I swear." As an afterthought, he added, "Please tell someone else this secret door is here." He knew if she found the right tome to pull, she would hurry after him by herself. If the way out was barred in some way, it would leave them trapped with no one else knowing of where they were.
He stepped away from the sounds of her tears and of tomes hitting the floor. His steps were slow as he walked along the stone corridor. To his surprise, and relief, there were old sconces set into the walls. He was very proud of himself for grabbing the fire tome. He used the tome to light the sconces, though he was not sure how long the magic would last. Not only was it going to be helpful to him, it would aid anyone who came to find him, as well.
A part of him expected some nasty surprise to be in the tunnel. He heard the sound of rats, but the rodents fled from the light of the fire he held. Cobwebs were everywhere, though he tried his best to avoid stepping into one. He did step into a puddle, of what he hoped was water. He held the flame above him to see if he could find the source of the puddle. On his right, at the point where wall met ceiling, he could see a faint trickle of water slowly running down the side of the wall. Where was he at, exactly? What above him could cause a leak? Had it simply been water from the ground from a previous rain?
Pelleas spared the leak one last glance before he continued on his quest to find wherever the secret path took him.
He wondered as he walked. How much time had passed since he found the secret door behind the bookcase? It did not feel like a long time had passed, but he had no way to prove that. And what of his mother? Had she gone to someone else to tell them what he had discovered? She surely must have. The speed at which she had been slinging books from the shelves was very fast. If she had not gone to find someone else to let them know, she certainly would have found the right one by that time.
Pelleas glanced behind him, almost expecting his mother to appear as he did. When he turned, the light from the fire he held caught on something he did not notice before. He backtracked to the sparkle and knelt down. A gold necklace lay against the wall, easy to miss unless some source of light hit it just so. He inched his fingers close to it, careful to avoid a sticky bit of spiderweb as he did.
The chain of the necklace had broken, but the pendant remained whole. A deep blue gemstone sat in the middle of the pendant, but he saw nothing that could give him any hint of who it belonged to or how old it was. He flipped it over between his fingers then pocketed it, feeling a little guilty as he did. He would have to get a better look at it when he left the darkness of the secret passage.
As he pressed further, Pelleas thought he heard voices overhead. Surely that could not be so. He could barely hear his mother in the library until she was right at the bookcase he was behind. He asked himself again just how long he had been down there. It could not have been long enough for his mind to play tricks on him, could it?
A sudden chill swept over the young king; so did the desire to return the way he had come. He had to take a moment to calm himself and remind himself that he had come this far. Why not see it through to the end?
His steps became smaller as his burst of bravery began to falter. He found himself glancing back more and more. "This is foolish," he whispered to the darkness. "It's just a rarely used escape route under an old castle. There is nothing down here that can hurt me."
"Pelleas!" The sudden sound of his mother's cry, coupled with the fear that he was beginning to feel, made Pelleas jump so much that he nearly extinguished the flame he held.
Before he could even reply, she had raced to him and pulled him into a tight, enveloping hug as she covered his face with kisses.
"My sweet boy," she murmured, "please never take such foolish risks again!"
"Mother, I'm all right," he insisted. He winced at the sudden light behind her. "General Tauroneo!" Pelleas was relieved to see the older man. So his mother had told someone else about the passage. Not only that, but no one in his mind had been better to tell than the general. "Did you know about this place?"
Tauroneo watched as the young king gently freed himself from his mother's grasp. "I had no clue," he admitted. "I'm not even sure Ashnard knew about it."
"We should go back," Almedha implored.
"We can't," Pelleas reminded her.
"I propped the door open and left a couple of guards by it, just in case."
Pelleas felt foolish. Why had he not called anyone when he found the door? Why had he not thought to prop it open himself? Had it been simple curiosity, or had it been the idea of a little bit of freedom from his mother that had pushed him into exploring the unknown?
"We should return, then seal it off."
Tauroneo was able to hide his shock at Almedha's words. Pelleas, however, slowly shook his head in disbelief.
"No, Mother. Sealing it would not be the best thing to do." He could have ordered her, as her king, to not seal it. Instead, he chose to appeal to her motherly side. "What if there is an attack, and the closest route to safety is this one? We could go no where if you seal it."
Almedha, tears sparkling in her eyes, looked from Pelleas to Tauroneo. The older man nodded slightly, agreeing with the point the king had made. "You don't even know if there is an end," Almedha pointed out. "It could have been blocked ages ago. Or - or..." She covered her mouth with his hand to hide the trembling of her lips.
"I'll go as far as I can," Tauroneo offered. "If there's a dead end, I'll return to the library. If there's an opening, I will inform you both of where this tunnel stops."
Almedha liked the idea, but Pelleas did not. "I should like to see the end as well," he insisted. He had found the long forgotten passage, after all, and he felt it was only right to see it all the way through.
"You need to eat," Almedha reminded him. "You must be famished!"
The midday meal had long slipped his mind, but his stomach had not forgotten. Almost as if her words reminded it, his stomach made a small rumble. "You'll tell me what you find?" Pelleas asked.
"Of course, Your Grace."
Reluctantly, Pelleas allowed Almedha to lead him back the way he had come. The return made the passage feel a lot more shorter than it had actually been. The faint sound of dripping reminded Pelleas of something. At the puddle, he stopped his mother. "I found this here," he said as he pulled the necklace from his pocket and showed it to his mother. She carefully took the old necklace from him and examined it. "You don't happen to know who it belonged to? Perhaps that could give us an idea of how long it has been since someone has been down here."
"I have seen many jewels from Ashnard's family over the years, but I do not recognize this piece."
Pelleas nodded and took it back from her. Her answer was a little disappointing, but it did help. If his mother did not know this piece, then it had been a very long time since someone had been here. He held onto it until they reached the library again.
The bright sunlight was jarring after being in nearly full darkness for so long. Pelleas blinked and shook his head as he tried to adjust.
"Everything all right, King Pelleas?" Tauroneo had left two men on guard. The closest one to Pelleas reached for him instinctively, then stepped back as he remembered his place.
"I'm fine," Pelleas insisted. He extinguished the flame he still held then placed the tome back on the bookcase. The shelves were nearly bare. All the tomes Almedha had flung were still scattered on the floor.
"You're filthy!" Almedha bemoaned as she took in her son's appearance in the bright light. She frowned as she pulled cobwebs from his hair and wiped dust from his face.
Pelleas looked down at himself. She was right. He was not sure how it had happened, or how his mother had managed to stay relatively clean even though she had gone along the same route he had. "I'll go wash up," he told her. He was careful not to step on any fallen tomes as he walked. Before he left, he placed the necklace on the small table that he and his mother would eat at when he returned.
He returned to his own chambers, surprised his mother had not followed him. He knew she was going to be even more protective after what he had done, but he could not help but feel a little bit of pride. He had found a way out of the keep that no one else appeared to know about. It had clearly been used, but not in some time. He wondered, as he slipped out of his filthy clothing, if there were other ways out of Daein Keep. If he found the chance, he would have to ask General Tauroneo out of his mother's earshot.
After changing, he returned to the library with the hope that Tauroneo had returned. He had not, but his mother was waiting for him at the table, with their meal spread out before her. She was focused on the necklace Pelleas had found. The blue stone caught the sunlight on the table. Almedha heard him approach and looked up from the glittering gem.
"There you are," she said softly. "I was growing worried."
"Please don't worry about me," he insisted.
"I always will. Please, sit down and eat."
Pelleas joined his mother at the table and allowed her to fuss over him. He ate mostly in silence, his mind on the no longer hidden door merely feet away. If his mother asked him a question, he would answer despite his distraction. He also ate more than he wanted due to her insistence. It would be for the best if he did not upset her anymore than he had all ready done that day.
It was only when their meals were done and the remains of it cleared that General Tauroneo returned from the way he had come. Pelleas took the general's return as a sign the exit was blocked, but Tauroneo told him that was not true.
"Your escape route from the library comes out near the east wall. It narrows near the end, too much for someone like myself, but someone smaller like yourself could fit through with no trouble at all, Your Grace."
That was a relief, even to Almedha. "Then we should leave it open. I would hate to have to use it, but if anyone threatened my son, well, I suppose that is what it is there for."
"Thank you for exploring that passage, General." Pelleas reached for the pendant and held it out to the older man. "I found this down there before you and Mother joined me. Do you happen to know who it belonged to?"
Tauroneo studied it for a moment then shook his head. "I have no idea, it is unfamiliar to me. May I take it for a little while?"
Pelleas had no need of the jewelry; he handed it to Tauroneo. He looked again towards the door. Now that Tauroneo had returned, the large brick that had propped the door open had been moved, the shelf returned to its proper place. "I don't suppose the occupants from Begnion knew about it, either. I feel it would be best if no one else spoke of it for now."
Almedha and Tauroneo agreed. The two guards, who had remained even after Tauroneo's return as they had not been dismissed, also agreed. The secret would stay between the five of them. Pelleas and Almedha excused themselves. There was work to be done of the young king.
It was later that night, after a full day of dealing with issues ranging from the menu plans in the kitchen to solving a property disagreement and even sending out troops to search for possible remaining Begnion soldiers, that General Tauroneo found Pelleas in the king's bedchambers. "My apologies, King Pelleas," he began, "I know you must be tired, but I found something I think might interest you." He held out the pendant Pelleas had discovered earlier in the day. "There is a painting of a young woman wearing a necklace like this one, a Lady Maranda. I did not take the time to search the records, so I can only make the assumption that something caused her to flee. Her necklace likely broke as she ran out of the castle."
"Thank you, General Tauroneo. I shall check the records tomorrow morning and see what I can find." Pelleas took the necklace back and wished Tauroneo a good night.
He placed the necklace on the table by his bed and sat down. He had been exhausted when he retired to his chambers. Now, he found himself awake and curious. There had been so many people to call Daein Keep before him. He had no idea who many of them where or what stories they could tell. The castle itself also held its own secrets. The mere idea of mysteries within the castle felt both thrilling and terrifying to Pelleas. Like his kingship, he would approach them one step at a time.