Chapter 11: Magus's Castle!?
Marle and Frog felt themselves enveloped in white light as the teleported from Guardia Castle to the spot where Magus's Castle once stood. Everything went by in a flash and Marle and Frog found themselves on the ground. The sight of the foggy sky quickly returned to them as they found out that they were finished teleporting.
"Where are we?" Marle asked.
"Stupid Question." Magus said.
Marle rolled her eyes at Magus.
"We are outside the entrance to the Magic Cave." Frog told her.
"Which side? The Mystics or the Humans?" Marle asked.
"It appears to be the Mystics side." Frog said. "That means that we can find Queen Leene up ahead."
As usual instead of running, Frog hopped off in the direction of the black forest where Magus's Castle used to be. Magus started to fly off after him but Marle stopped him.
"Why do want to find out where those strange knights come from?" Marle asked him.
"What do you mean why?" he asked her with an annoyed tone in his voice.
" I mean what I said. Why do you want to find out." she told him.
"Why else? So I can meet the leader of these soldiers and how they know about me." Magus said. "I wouldn't dare go to help your family. I already told you that's not my reason. I would never purposely help anyone related to you in a million years."
Marle's face grew red and veins popped from her forehead. She clutched her fists as if she was going to hit Magus in his mouth.
"Why you selfish, pale-faced pointy-eared son of a bitch!" she yelled. "I come along to help you find YOUR sister but NOO, you have a problem helping me save my ancestor!!
She ran up to him and punched him in his face. Magus grew angry and grabbed her by the wrist. Marle watched as the hand he grabbed her with started to glow with magical energy.
"Let me go!" she yelled as she struggled to break free.
"OK." Magus said with a smirk.
He flew high into the air and dropped Marle. She screamed as she dropped. She was about to hit the ground when Frog jumped in and saved her.
"Magus you fool! Hath you gone mad!?" Frog yelled.
"The stupid girl should have learned to keep her hands to herself." Magus said as he floated away.
"Ouch. He hurt my loading arm. It'll be harder for me to load my bow." Marle said.
"Here. Maybe this will help." Frog said.
He reached into a pouch her had at his waist and pulled out a bandage, some berries, and some herbs. He walked over to Marle. He squeezed the berries so that the juice inside leaked onto the herbs, and then he wrapped the herbs around Marle's wrist. He secured the herbs by wrapping the bandage around the herbs.
"This should hold for some time until you can see a doctor. It's a remedy I learned while traveling, months ago." Frog told her.
"Thank you very much." Marle said. "First chance I get I'm going to set his hair on fire."
Frog just chuckled at the thought of Magus's hair burning and then he and Marle walked off in the direction of the bad guys' lair. When they reached the edge of the forest, they could only see a tower. On top of it was a giant dragon statue. They looked down to see Magus waiting for them.
"For someone who wants to rescue the queen, you sure ain't moving fast enough." Magus said.
Marle just rolled her eyes at him and she and Frog continued walking toward the forest. They entered it and soon after they were being followed by a group of bats that split up and flew away as soon as the entered the center of the forest where the castle stood. They stopped and stared in confusion. The castle the saw was at the end of a dirt path. The path led directly to a giant doorway. On both sides of the door were stone walls that led out to the side. Behind the wall, we're 2 towers. The bases were made of bricks and continued with stone. The edge of the towers were shadowed, but light illuminated the many windows. Connecting the towers was a thin bridge in the center. Behind the bridge was the main tower, the one with the dragon on it. This one was taller. Near the bottom were smaller windows. Shadows covered most of it, but light came from the windows near the top of the tower. The dragon statue on top of the tower had its wings spread, blocking any light from the moon from touching the castle. It had a very large horn, probably as big as the tower itself. It would be thought that the statue would fall through and crush the tower. Frog turned to Magus.
"Tis, your old castle. Am I correct?" He asked.
"Impossible." Magus said calmly. "My castle was destroyed when the gate opened."
"But we changed history. Wouldn't everything be different?" Marle asked.
"Wait. You're right. But if that's the case, how can everybody else remember things that happened in a timeline that doesn't exist anymore?" Magus asked. "Nothing makes sense. Many things should have changed that remain the same.
"Tis true, but we hath no time to seek answers for that now. We must make haste to save the queen and stop the Black Quartz Army." Frog said.
Still confused, the party headed for the giant doorway. It opened and they went in. They were all familiar with the castle so they thought they would know where they were going. The castle interior was the same as before. The floors were blackish blue, candles were everywhere, and the walls were covered with dark bricks. The climbed the staircase and came to a fork in the path. They new each path eventually led to a room, but the true path was right in front of them. Magus tried to cast a spell to open the teleporter, but his magic was warded off.
"I guess that means that someone is expecting us in the other rooms." Magus said.
"Do you think it's the guy from the castle who kidnapped Queen Leene?" Marle asked Frog.
"I am not sure, but we have no time to waste." Frog said.
They took the left path first. Heading down the hallway, they encountered many Black Quartz soldiers, and defeated them with ease, but Marle, with her damaged arm, only cast Magic spells in her useful hand. They eventually reached a room. This room was once the chamber of the swordsman, Slash, who was once one of Magus's henchmen. He had dangerous sword skills and impressive speed. This room was empty. When the party saw that, they prepared to turn back and take the other path at the fork.
"Don't tell me you're giving up that quickly!" a voice said.
The party turned quickly to see the purple hooded man from the castle appear out of thin air.
"I've been waiting for you. I wanted to get the chance to see your insides." The man said.
He stretched out his arm. His hand was covered up by the long sleeves of the cloak. A sword emerged from the sleeve and the man put near his neck, and moved it across as if he was slitting his throat, motioning that he was going to kill them. He then charged at Marle, Frog, and Magus.