Chapter 23: Down The Tower

Ragnar edged his way down the dusty, stone steps. Healie, who had gone down first, kept motioning for the soldier to advance, insuring him that it was safe. Once his head cleared the ceiling of the floor, Ragnar surveyed the room. Sure enough, it was completely bare of lilypas or ozwargs. He stepped down, letting a bit of the tension subside for the moment.

They were now on the third floor from the top of the tower. The floor they had just come from had been absolutely wiped out, all of the lilypas from that floor now on the top floor searching for Ragnar. It held several rooms with piles of hay and grasses in the corners, probably the lilypas' beds. If the lilypas slept on the floor above, then the ozwargs probably slept on this floor. And Ragnar figured that these monsters were not going to be as easy to fool as the lilypas. He and Healie were going to have to be very careful here.

The soldier and the healer quietly walked over to the entrance leading out to a hallway. After Healie checked the area out, the healer motioned for Ragnar, letting him know it was safe. Again, keeping to the inside of the hallway, Healie led Ragnar to the room that would lead them to the floor below.

The hallways were very quiet, which made Ragnar somewhat edgy. Normally, he should be able to hear guards talking at night, joking or complaining. It was common at Burland Castle so why shouldn't it be common here as well? Something was up and Ragnar figured either his presence had something to do with it or the presence of whoever was in the lower levels of the tower as well. He was going to have to keep his senses as sharp as a knife.

Healie pointed to a door and Ragnar nodded to the healer to continue on. Once Healie passed by the entrance to the room, the healer turned to face Ragnar and raised three of its back tentacles. Three ozwargs. It was not going to be easy to kill them all quickly, especially with his sword beginning to dull.

He took a few breaths, gripped his sword tighter, and nodded to Healie. Ragnar then spun around, charging into the room. The three ozwargs, which seemed to be dozing, bolted up, surprised by Ragnar's sudden charge.

Ragnar slashed savagely at the closest ozwarg, cutting into the monster's blue robes but only grazing the skin. However, the soldier's sheer force of the attack caused the ozwarg to reel back until Ragnar rammed it against the wall. The ozwarg slumped to the floor, apparently unconscious but Ragnar didn't have any time to check to see if it was dead. There were still two more to deal with.

The soldier turned to face the other two ozwargs. The monsters were already prepared, however. They whipped out a pair of wands and began to chant strange words.

Magic! Ragnar thought, his eyebrows rising in apprehension. He started to charge again but it was too late. The ozwargs finished their spells and three-foot long icicles formed at their hands. They then flung their arms out and the icicles flew forward. Ragnar had little time to dodge, his forward charge already forcing his body weight forward. He quickly brought his shield up, hoping it would block the magical attack.

Ragnar felt his shield vibrate violently as he heard one of the icicles shatter against it. However, at the same time, he felt a sharp pain pierce his right leg. Somehow, Ragnar didn't scream out from the sharp pain and continued forward.

The ozwargs, exhausted from the spell, didn't stand a chance. Ragnar slashed and stabbed, cutting the ozwargs to shreds of flesh and cloth, his rage taking control of his attacks. In a matter of seconds, little remained of the soldier's enemies.

Breathing heavily, Ragnar slumped to the floor, his sword clattering on the stone floor. He didn't care if other ozwargs or lilypas heard it. He just wanted to rest for a moment. His right leg started to feel numb and Ragnar looked at it. He saw a large icicle half buried in his thigh. Blood was dripping off of it along with the melting water, causing a tiny red pool beside his leg.

Gritting his teeth, the soldier placed his hands on the slippery, cold surface of the icicle and started to pull it out; a difficult task given the wet icicle wasn't easy to get a good hold of. After a minute, the icicle slipped out and Ragnar's blood began to flow freely. The soldier tried to apply pressure but it helped very little.

"Healie!" he called out to the hallway. The healer slowly floated in, apparently surveying the carnage Ragnar had caused. "I need your help over here," Ragnar said, pointing to his leg. Healie floated over to the soldier and studied the wound for a moment.

"Well?" Ragnar said, beginning to get impatient with each flash of numbing pain that went up his spine.

"I... no... he-al... all," Healie said, somewhat apologetically. "Just... some."

"Do as much as you can," Ragnar said. "I'll tend to the rest." Healie lowered its head forward, as if nodding, and began waving its tentacles rhythmically. Soon, the blood stopped flowing and energy surged through Ragnar's body. New tissue began to form where there was none but the healing was slow. Ragnar glanced at Healie and saw the healer seemed to be straining. "That's enough," Ragnar gently said, holding up a hand. He didn't want his companion to over-tax itself.

The soldier reached into his pack and pulled out a medical herb. He then put it into his mouth and began to chew it into a pulp. Once satisfied it was ground enough, the soldier pasted his fingertips with the herb and rubbed them across the wound. Burning pain shot through his body as he did so and he gritted his teeth. The burning quickly subsided, though, as the healing properties of the herb sunk into the injury. It would be slower for the curative properties of the herb to take effect but it would eventually get the job done faster than the body's natural healing.

Ragnar slowly stood up, his muscles aching as he did. Placing his sword back in its scabbard, the soldier put his pack back on and turned to the stairway leading to the level below. "Ready?" Ragnar asked Healie.

Healie looked at Ragnar for a moment, then at the corpses of the ozwargs. "Oz-wargs?" it asked, pointing to the corpses.

Ragnar shook his head and wearily said, "Leave them." He was much too tired to bother dealing with corpses. He just wanted to get this over with so he could get some rest.

Healie pointed to a small group of lilypas that had formed a circle. Somewhere in that circle was a staircase that led below ground. Healie had said the children were being held in a basement, so Ragnar figured this was the staircase to go down. Only six lilypas guarded the staircase. A quick, fierce charge should disorient the monsters long enough for Ragnar to slip through. If he was fast enough, he might even be able to grab the children before an organized resistance formed. With Healie backing him up, he would then charge back out, the children in tow, and escape the tower. Sure, the plan was far-fetched but in his tired state of mind, and his patience waning, it was all the soldier could think of at the moment.

He turned to Healie, briefly stating his plan, and turned back towards the lilypas. Ragnar took a few breaths, gripped his sword as tight as possible, and sprung out from the shadows, roaring a battle charge.

The lilypas scattered, terrified of the large, berserk human charging at them. Ragnar managed to swing his sword at one of the fleeing monsters, slashing a large gash on the lilypa's back. However, he did not have time to celebrate the small victory. He had to get down the stairs fast.

"Ragnar!" he heard Healie call out to him as he started down but he hardly noticed, concentrating entirely on the task at hand. Whatever it was, it could wait.

The staircase was quite short and Ragnar found himself at the bottom sooner than he expected. It was very dark in the basement. He seemed to be in a large, low room. There was a dim light coming from the opposite side of the staircase. He advanced slowly, keeping his guard up.

The room was eerily quiet. The only sound he heard was the shuffling of his feet and the crackling of fire ahead of him. This worried the soldier. If the children were down here, he would expect to be able to hear them crying or moaning, just like Healie said they were when the healer searched the tower earlier.

Ragnar tilted his head back and whispered, "You said the children were in the basement. Where are they?" There was no reply. Ragnar turned around and saw that the healer wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Healie?" he called out, trying to keep his voice low enough so he would not attract any attention to any guards that may be down here. His only reply was the soft echo of his own voice.

Ragnar started to worry. Had his companion been captured when they charged? He remembered hearing Healie cry out his name but that was it. The lilypas were too far scattered to have caught the kind monster.

Suddenly, Ragnar heard a shuffling sound from his left. The soldier spun his head in that direction and caught the fleeting glance of a shadow ducking behind a large pillar. It could have been a trick of the fire but Ragnar kept his guard up all the same.

The soldier continued forward, turning his head left and right, expecting lilypas, ozwargs, and elves to leap out from the shadows of the large room. Eventually, he came to the source of the light: two large fires burning in tiers ten feet tall. In between the tiers was an altar with a thin, white cloth covering its top. Ragnar's first assumption of it was a sacrifice altar and the soldier had fleeting images of the children being sacrificed by the elves to whatever deity they worshipped. However, Ragnar saw no bloodstains covering the altar and quickly abandoned the thought.

The altar's face had a strange carving in it. Several layers of dust had filled in the grooves of the carving but the soldier could still make out its features with relative ease. It had the picture of a large dragon's head, overlooking the world from high above. Ragnar recognized the image. He'd seen similar paintings in Zenithian Temples. Was this an altar devoted to the Zenithians?

A flash of movement in the corner of Ragnar's eye caused his thoughts to stray. He sensed someone trying to sneak up on him and he got his hand on his sword, keeping his face towards the altar.

Then, without warning, Ragnar spun around, his shield in front of him. He felt a blade impact on the shield's iron surface and a violent vibration shook the soldier. However, Ragnar's assailant seemed surprised and the soldier made good use of the distraction.

He charged forward, his shield still in front of him. He connected solidly on the attacker and they both fell forward, Ragnar pinning the attacker on the dusty floor. He then whipped out his sword and prepared to stab the attacker.

However, the light from the fires finally revealed the attacker's face that had remained mostly shadowed before. Ragnar stopped his assault, slowly relaxing his grip on his sword and relieving some of the pressure off of his shield.

It was Sir Sandor!