"Oie, we're getting closer to the mainland, do you have a place we can dock?" Harry asked.
"There's a royal outpost not far from here," Jay said, "Head eastwards,"
"Is it wise to be rolling up to the royal docks with these guys here?" Carlos asked out loud.
"Good point," Evie checked her phone, "We have reception again so I'll let Ben know about the new additions to the party,"
"We're part of the party?" Gil perked up.
"She doesn't mean a party with dancing and drinks Gil," Uma said.
"Oh, what kind of party then?"
"Think a group of people with alike goals,"
"Huh… isn't that like a party with dancing?"
Uma snickered under her breath at the question.
A frown was slowly growing on Evie's face.
"What is it?" Mal asked.
"No answer," She said, looking at her phone.
"Call his office,"
"That was the office I called,"
"Debra always answers. Try again, I'll try his cell," Mal said, taking out her own phone.
Mal wished she could say she remained calm, but there was something about hearing the voicemail kick in right away that chilled her. Ben's cell was never off. Let alone be off while the country was the middle of crisis.
"There's no need to panic yet," Carlos said.
"Are we sure about that?" Jay said as she stood on the bow of the boat, cupping his hands over his eyes as they pulled towards the dock. "Because I don't see anyone,"
Mal stood too, joining him at the bow. She looked back at Evie, who gave a small shake of her head.
"Everyone be on guard," Mal said, as the approached the docks. She pulled herself up and off and the boat as soon as they were close enough. "I'm going to take a quick fly around," She said, taking off at a jog and quickly picking up the pace. Her form vanished in a familiar fog, her wings bursting out first before the rest of her went barrelling into the air.
Uma huffed as she watched her, jumping to the docks and tying off the boat. "Scale of one to ten, how bad is it there aren't any guards here,"
"Nothing less than a five," Evie said, "This is one of the closest outposts to the castle. In case of an emergency, this is where they'll call for reinforcements,"
"I don't see any statues," Carlos said.
"Or anyone taking a nap," Jay said.
"Yeah, I haven't decided if that's a good or bad thing yet," Evie said.
"What are the chances of the kingdom being conquered while you were on the Isle?" Gil asked.
"That's impossible," Carlos said.
"Is it?" Evie asked, "If something happened to Ben, things are going to be in a bad way,"
"So the sooner we find your pretty king, the better," Uma said.
Mal landed next to them as they walking up the main building on the compound.
"Nothing from the sky," She said, "Anything response from his office?"
Evie shook her head.
"There has to be something," Jay said
The building was clear, or so it seemed. Uma and Harry were moving down a corridor when Harry held up a hand. Uma stopped, tilting her head curiously. He held a finger to his lips, taking a slow step forward. He quirked his head to the side, closing his eyes. A moment or two passes and he nodded to a door a few feet ahead of them. Uma nodded once, flanking the door with him.
He tried the handle, finding it locked. Without warning he kicked the handle off, pulling the door open and grabbing inside. He pulled out a lanky young man, who gave a loud shout.
"No sudden movements," He said, holding his hook under the man's chin.
"If you'd be so kind as to fill us in as to what happened here, that would be great," Uma said, leaning against Harry.
"Doubly so, because if you tell us I won't have to clean my hook later,"
"Please, don't hurt me!"
"What are you doing?" Mal rushed in, pulling the guy away from him.
"We found a suspicious induvial," Harry said, practically preening.
"He's part of the national guard you dickwards. Didn't you see his uniform?"
Uma bristled, "How are we meant to know what the uniform looks like?"
"Use your eyes and see that it looks like a uniform,"
"Is that what you do? Is that hard without common sense?"
Mal rounded Uma, eyes glowing. Uma stepped up, a low vibration sound buzzing faintly in the air around her.
Evie placed her in-between them, hands up, "Stop!"
Mal backed down with a huff, eyes still searing into Uma.
"Uma, please," Evie said, voice softening.
Uma held her ground a moment more, but when Jay, Carlos and Gil came running up she stepped back. Evie lowered her guard too, turning to the young officer who'd fallen after Mal pulled him away from Harry.
She held out a hand, "Are you okay?"
He looked around nervously, "I-I, what's happening?"
"We were hoping you could tell us that," She said, "We just came into port and no one was here, but you,"
"There, there was an emergency. Came in as Code Silver. Per protocol everyone but a Skelton crew responded. I'm the skeleton crew,"
Mal's face paled, she and Evie exchanging a dire look.
"What does Code Silver mean?" Gil asked, "And why do I feel it doesn't involve anyone finding treasure?"
"It means the royal family is under threat," Evie said.
"We need to get to the castle," Mal said.
"Do you think you have in you for another teleport?" Jay asked.
"Not with all of us. Not again."
"We'll borrow one of the vehicles," Carlos said, "Where are the keys?"
The guard just pointed to the front of the office with a shaky hand. They didn't hesitate Carlos taking off first.
"Are you going to be okay?" Evie asked, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Is he going to be okay?" Uma snorted, "He's going back to hide the closet as soon as we leave."
"Uma," Mal snapped.
"You think I'm wrong?"
"I think you could be quiet."
"You're the one who wanted my help."
"Your help. Not your opinion."
"Guys," Evie cut in again, "We don't have time for this."
"I got the keys," Carlos called.
"Let's go guys," Uma said, Gil and Harry falling into step with her.
Mal held back a growl, "Are we really sure this is a good idea?"
"Have some faith. And maybe try not to pick a fight about everything," Evie said.
"Me?"
"Mal, you got to be the bigger person," Jay said.
"I'll be the bigger dragon and torch her."
"You can do that after we save the day," He said.
As they stepped outside, Carlos used the alarm to find the vehicle and threw the keys at Jay. They all piled into the van, an uneasy tension clearly in the air. It was a silent drive, no one speaking until they were pulling up the road to the castle.
At first, there was a collective inhale as they saw the mangled gates to the castle. The metal was bent and deformed one side bowed inwards. The other lay on the ground about thirty feet from where it had been originally.
"Statues, on the gate towers," Harry pointed out.
"Those aren't part of the décor," Mal swallowed.
"I didn't think so," Uma said, no biting edge to her voice now. She sounded horrified.
"Jay stop here," Mal said, "Too risky to go in the front way. We'll go on the foot to the underground entrance,"
"We're going in there?" Harry asked.
"Why else would we come?" Jay looked at him incredulously.
"That was before we saw large, heavy metal gates looking a crimpled up crew toy." He pointed at the gates.
"If you're scared Harry you can stay. Look after Celia for us," Mal said to him.
"Oh no way, I'm staying wherever Mal, Evie and Uma are," Celia said instantly. The others looked at her, "They're the one with the magic. No offence guys," She said with a little shrug.
"Then let's go," Mal said, taking the lead.
Harry looked to Uma who nodded in Mal's direction. They all fell in behind her, Evie at her side, followed by Uma, Gil, Celia. Harry came after them and Jay and Carlos brought up the rear. Instead of leading into the castle grounds, Mal followed along the walls. She stopped when they came to a section of the wall and she traced her hands along it until she found a small royal crest engraved into one of the stone. She counted out her steps from that point, twenty paces.
"Help me look," She called, "There's a trap door hidden around this area." She got down, pulling at the dirt. The others didn't hesitate to follow, not even Uma or Harry. Gil was the one who found something first.
"There's like a chain here," He called, pulling up an interlocked set of rings that were obviously connected to something under the dirt. Jay joined him, together, they pulled open the doorway, displacing all the dirt as they did. A set of stone stairways descended down into the darkness.
Mal and Evie pulled out their phones, using them as flashlights as they pushed forward.
"Secret tunnel," Uma mused, running her hand over the walls. They were crude, but still obviously crafted with some level of care. As thought someone had rushed through making the tunnel at first and someone had come afterwards to smoothen out the rough edges, "How do you know about it?"
"At one point I thought this was going to be my home. This isn't the only secret I know off."
"Oh yeah, what else did your king share with the mistress of evil's daughter."
Mal's jaw clenched not responding. Evie glanced at her out of the corner of her eyes.
"Uma, give it a rest," Jay said.
"I'm just curious," Uma smirked, "I mean this is mysterious and speaks of history. Must be hard to go from all this to, well I don't know what you have now."
"Wasn't that hard," Mal said simply.
Eventually, the tunnel started to slope up and the stones shifted from the rough walls to a more polished and structured composure. The tunnel ended suddenly in a large wooden wall. Mal inclined her head to Jay.
"Help me with this," She said throwing her back against it. He stood next to her, pushing with her. With a low groan the entire panel shifted sideways, revealing a room in the castle. The whole section turned out to be a bookshelf. They stepped out of the tunnel and pushed the bookshelf back into place.
"Everyone stay close," Mal said. She peeked out the doorway, checking the coast was clear before signalling to the others.
"Isn't this too quiet for a place that was under attack," Carlos voiced as they moved down the hallway.
"That's the thing that worries me," Jay said.
Celia was the first one to take a corner and her eyes went wide. Her hands flinched up to protect her face and Evie barely got her hand over her mouth before she could scream.
Poised just around the corner was another stone person, a guard, a pike extended in front of them mid-strike.
"Guess we know why it's so quiet," Gil said, trying to take the pike from the guy, but it had turned to stone with him. There were more statues in the hall, not all in guard armour. Some had the simple uniform of the castle staff. Mal stopped in front of a face she recognised. Mary, one of the ladies who attended to her when she was here, helping her dress for royal events or bringing late-night snacks when she couldn't stomach the style of food they had at said events.
Her stomach turned and she fought down the urge to retch. Evie caught sight of her expression, stepping up behind her.
"The best thing we can do for them now is getting the sceptre back."
"Right," Mal replied, her voice thick with emotion.
Two more hallways and they all stopped dead in their tracks. Mal felt so sick she had to look away.
"Hey, I know his face," Gil said, pointing at the statue they'd just come across. "He's on posters."
"That's the former king," Uma said.
Adam was frozen mid-swing of his sword, his free arm thrown out like he'd been shielding something. Or someone.
"If they got to him… do you think Ben…" Jay started to ask, but he didn't finish his statement. He didn't need too. Everyone was already thinking it.
"We keep looking," Mal insisted, "Until we find some sign of him. No matter the state he's in."
Their search took them to a large ballroom up on a second-story level looking down at the main floor. That's where they caught their first look of the masked intruders. Unfortunately, this was also true the other way around, one pointing up in their direction before they could take cover.
"More guards!"
"No, it's the VK brats,"
Celia grabbed Mal's arm, "Look," She said, pointing past the closest persons who'd spotted them. Just beyond the room, in a hallway to the far side from them was one masked induvial carrying someone on their shoulder.
"Ben," Mal whispered.
He still looked flesh and blood, but his consciousness was difficult to discern from here.
Not even taking a moment to think on it, Mal was on the move tearing down the stairs. She heard another set of footfalls right behind her. There was a boom. Deafening. It left her stunned. Mal felt like she'd been hit with all the air in the room. Her vision blurred. She tried to breathe, but for a few moments, nothing happened. When her vision refocused she saw she hadn't been the only thing hit. The stairs around her, wooden, looked like a giant hammer had hit right where she was standing. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Uma clutching onto the railing, clearly reeling from the impact same as Mal.
The Sceptre bearer stepped forward brandishing the staff over their head. They called back to their companions, "We'll have to forget about the other one. We fall back, we have what we came for," They turned their attention to Mal fully. "Mal, you don't have to be on the wrong side in this fight."
"I'm not the one on the wrong side."
"And you've gone and dragged more people in. Who'd you con into this death mission?"
"Ha, laughable, Mal being able to con anyone," Uma spat.
"Is that the daughter of Ursula? Mal really, did you go to the Isle for back up? I didn't think you were so weak. Well, I did, but I didn't think you knew you were that weak."
Mal reached into her pocket, grasping the emerald. Her hold hand felt like she'd been shocked as she tapped into the magic and it was creeping up her arm. As she moved to pull it out her senses were assaulted by another boom.
The stairs under her and Uma collapsed, sending them crashing to the floor, the wreckage falling down on them. She was knocked ragged, left on the floor, struggling to breathe with a large wooden beam on her chest. She turned her head, watching Uma manage to push herself up on her forearms.
"I'd love to stay and kill you all personally but I must go before more guests arrive. I have an important meeting with the king. Much to discuss," He slammed the staff down, lightning arcing from the gem to the suits of armour encircling the room.
"I hope I don't see you again Mal," They said, turning with a swish of their cloak as the armour began to move. Joints groaning and squeezing as they shifted for the first time in years. The heavy clashes of metals plates against each other. Heavy, hollow, echoing thumps of footfalls getting closer to Mal and Uma. The slow, grating drag of a mace against the floor, going right for Mal.
Nardragon- until the next page.