Chapter 10 - Zigûr keeps his word
The next evening found us back at the palace. We waited in a nearby garden, watching the prison, until at last we saw Zigûr walk in and exit with the guards a few minutes later, their shadows stretching far towards the sea in the last rays of the sun. My heart pounded furiously in my chest; this was the time. I turned to Teti cautiously. "Do you really think we can trust him?"
"I think we may trust him to act in his own best interest," Teti replied.
We scurried quickly across the darkening lawn to the guard house. Inside the guard house by the stairs to the prison there was a hook from which several identical rings of keys hung. Teti grabbed two rings and hurried down. I followed, looking cautiously over my shoulder to reassure myself that we hadn't been seen.
It was pitch black inside; we had not brought a lamp. We groped our way down the dark hallway, until we heard Elrond's clear voice ask, "Teti? Is that you?"
"We can speak when we are somewhere safer," Teti answered.
"What do you mean?" Elrond asked, but Teti shushed him. I heard the keys clink as Teti searched for the right one, fumbling in the dark to find the keyhole. At one point, I heard the keys clatter to the ground.
"Teti, we have to hurry," I urged. Was that a light by the stairs? I couldn't tell.
"I am, my friend, I am," Teti said, as he searched frantically through the keys.
I eyed the stairs cautiously. Yes, it was definitely lighter now.
"Teti!" I whispered urgently, "I think someone is at the stairs."
"Already?" Teti asked.
Then, with a panic, I saw the light descend. They were coming for us. "Teti!" I hissed.
"I see it," he replied.
"You may be able to hide further down," Elrond suggested urgently.
But all fight seemed to have gone out of Teti. He simply sighed and took my hand. "No, he already knows we are here. We can do nothing."
Then the lamplight fell on us, and Zigûr was there, a mocking smile on his lips.
"There are now plenty of guards upstairs, but I wished to have some privacy for the moment," he said. "Some of them are a bit sensitive about mistreating captives." He reached down and took the keyring from Teti's hand.
"We had an arrangement," Teti said.
"One which I have upheld to the letter," Zigûr replied, unlocking the cell next to Elrond's. He gestured. "Get in."
I'm not entirely certain what came over me in that moment. I'd like to imagine it was some noble thought of distracting Zigûr long enough for Teti to escape. More likely, it was simply the blind panic of a cornered animal. At any rate, I could not allow myself to enter the cell quietly. I lunged at Zigûr.
The attempt was entirely ineffectual. He easily side-stepped me, and a fist like iron hit me in the side of the head. The world seemed to skip a moment, and I found myself on the ground. Another blow (a kick, Teti later informed me) hit my torso as I lay there, trying to find my bearings. The air was knocked out of me and I struggled to draw in a breath. Before I could, there was another blow, and I felt something inside me shift sickeningly.
"Stop, please!" Teti shouted. "He won't try it again, I promise." Teti rushed over and dragged me into the cell. I heard the lock of the door click as he closed the door.
I gasped for air, though each breath sent a stab of pain through my battered ribs. Teti supported my head on his lap, one hand protectively on my shoulder. I became dimly aware of Zigûr leering at us through the bars. Thankfully, he seemed content to remain outside our cell.
"Ah Teti! So clever, and yet so foolish. Do you know how I got the guards to leave earlier?" Zigûr asked, his voice dripping with mockery. "I told them I had recently learned there would be an escape attempt tonight, and that I needed them to leave so that the culprits would believe their plan was working, allowing us to catch them in the act. All of which was true, interestingly enough, and none of which violated our earlier agreement. It's not often I get to be honest, such a nice change of pace.
"Still," he said, unlocking Elrond's cell, "I think I will break the first point of our arrangement, about not harming Elrond, now. He spoke against me all those years ago when I came to Lindon, and seeing him suffer for it has been one of my greatest joys since I came to this bird-infested rock of a country. Thanks to you, I have had nearly two full days to think of what to do to him next, and I have had a revelation. All this time, I have avoided leaving any lasting marks - looks better at the trial you see - but men don't look twice at a missing tooth or two." He grabbed Elrond by the hair with one hand and forced him onto his knees. With the other, he brandished a pair of pliers. "The inside of a tooth is so sensitive."
Elrond's face was impassive, but his breathing quickened in fear.
"I will still tell them you were the poisoner," Teti warned, "and so will the queen."
"And how much weight do you think that will hold with you down here?" Zigûr asked. "Still," he paused, considering, the pliers hovering inches away from Elrond's face, "it would be best to get ahead of it. The first accusation appears the most credible." He looked down at Elrond and smiled. "I'm afraid I shall have to postpone this."
He disappeared down the hallway and we were left in darkness.
Elrond made a sound somewhere between relief and despair. "I am sorry to have drawn you into this," he said from the next cell, before trailing off into a stream of muttered Elvish. "Il certh-nin cerir ogol - All my actions bring about ill," was all I discerned, though I believe it was all in a similar vein.
"Abrazîr, how are you?" Teti asked.
"I am wondering how one identifies a broken rib," I groaned, holding my side.
"Ah, my friend, I am sorry," he told me. "That is one of two things that did not go according to plan."
Despite the circumstances and the pain it sent through my ribs, I had to laugh at the absurdity of his statement. "Only two?" I asked. "And what was the second one?"
"I expected to be put in the cell on the other side. The surprise is rather ruined now." He turned away. "Elrond," he called, "there should be a ring of keys in the far front corner of your cell. Would you pass them to me? I can't reach them from here."
Elrond's murmured self-recriminations suddenly stopped. "Keys?" he asked.
"Didn't Zigûr take the keys?" I added.
"Really, Abrazîr, you see but you do not observe. How many sets of keys did I pick up at the top of the stairs?"
"Two!" I exclaimed. "I had forgotten that."
"The second I placed in a corner of Elrond's cell. You probably heard me drop it there. I thought Sauron might search us, but would neglect to search the floor of a locked cell."
The ring of keys was quickly found, and soon all three of us stood together in the hallway.
"What now?" asked Elrond. "The way up is certainly guarded."
"Luckily, we are not going that way." Teti said. "Follow me further inside. I have found where your nephew got his fish."
My first ever attempt at Elvish in a story. Hope I did ok.
