(A/N: Well, so far I've been having inconsistent update times. Blame it all on college but don't worry, I haven't given up on this story yet and I plan not to. I hope you guys are the same. Anyways, I got a review from this Zero guy and says that he thinks my story is going too slow. Well, I've also been thinking about that and thanks for letting me know that someone else does to. Don't worry, I'll try to speed it up a little and no need to worry about me skinning you for pointing that out. It's not just that it's messy but also because I don't skin honest critics who point out my mistakes, I appreciate their effort and time spent in taking notice of my story though. Okay… so much for that. Here comes chapter eleven. Moving on…)
Chapter Eleven: To the Ruins!
I woke up with someone gently tapping my right shoulder followed by Sir Vey whispering, "We're here."
I then sat up and stretched a bit, feeling slightly rejuvenated. I never thought it would be such a hard day. By now, we were already going through Oaklore's gates. It was past dark and the whole fort was brightly lit with blazing braziers on both sides of the gates and on top of guard towers while dozens of torches lined its stone walls. There were only a couple of knights on patrol and a pair of them greeted us as we made our way to the Keep. The others were either positioned on top of the towers or patrolling the fort's vicinity.
The wagon pulled to a halt a few meters in front of the large double doors of the Keep. There was a slight creaking noise as it was abruptly opened and Captain Rolith emerged followed by Maya and Sir Valence. The three seemed to have been in a serious conversation judging by their expressions. Sir Vey hopped out from the side of the wagon and saluted Rolith who simply nodded while I stayed behind. Sir Valence stepped forward and clasped hands with the former. They seem to be very good friends. Maya was about to greet him as well but stopped abruptly when she saw me sitting at the back of the wagon. Apparently, they didn't notice me at first.
"Oh goodness! What happened to you?" She exclaimed, her gray eyes wide.
"Vincent? Is that you my boy?" Sir Valence called out as the group rushed towards me. "My word, I told you to raid a box-fort, not a rat-hole!"
I was wondering what they were talking about when Rolith spoke up. "Indeed. By all means, you look terrible. See for yourself." He suddenly produced a small square object by his belt pocket and handed it to me. It was a mirror and when I glanced at my reflection, it made my skin jump. I did look terrible. I had several cuts and bruises in my face along with probably a handful of sooth and grime on my cheeks and chin, my hair was singed on the ends and were sticking in almost every direction sprinkled with ashes that made it look like a miniature winter wonderland.
" I don't mean to be rude Captain," Sir Vey interrupted. "But I think that mirror belongs to my sister Alina. How come it is in your possession?"
Rolith suddenly looked alarmed and became sweaty as he nervously replied. "Err… She-She left it in the Keep during her last visit here and I happened to retrieve it. Yes, that's it! I was um- about to return it to her once she finds time to visit again and I hope that would be soon-so I can return it to her as soon as possible!"
Sir Vey didn't look so convinced at that. Who would be? I've never seen him lose his cool like this and he gave such a poor excuse. He really must have feelings for that Alina, whoever she is. Maya ,meanwhile, stifled a giggle while Sir Valence cleared his throat, he always seemed to be all business, and reminded them of my situation which the Captain seemed pretty relieved about. I handed the mirror back to Rolith who quickly put it away muttering indistinct words.
"It seems like we put our rogue in quite a predicament here." Sir Valence continued. "Tell us , my boy, everything to the smallest detail and how did you even end up with Sir Vey here? ."
I was about to answer but just then, a trio of knights passed by murmuring among themselves and giving me curious looks before saluting to Rolith and resuming their walking. I was suddenly reminded of the spy. It could be anyone here and he might be listening right now. "I think we should talk about this somewhere more private." I replied.
"We are inside the gates of Oaklore. I don't see any reason why we shouldn't discuss it here." Rolith countered, Sir Valence and Maya nodding in unison while Sir Vey placed a hand on my shoulder and said " I think these boy has found out some things that really should be discussed behind closed doors and just among the five of us."
Rolith seemed to reconsider. "Alright then, if that's the case, let's all adjourn to my quarters and we shall discuss it there. We shall have dinner there as well."
The word 'dinner' made my stomach erupt with roars and grumbles. I realized that I haven't eaten anything since last night. I simply woke up, volunteered for a quest and off I go. Never even stopping for a wee morsel of bread. I mentally slapped my face on that one.
We all followed the Captain inside the Keep. I've never been inside and I looked around. It was just like what a regular castle would look like. Smooth, white stone walls and red carpeted floors. Suits of armor on display and shield and swords and some banners hung in the walls. Wooden twelve candle chandeliers on the ceilings.
The Captain led us up three flights and I heard Sir Valence muttered to himself between gasps, "Whew! I ain't getting any younger." We turned around a corner and the Captain stopped in front of a wooden door with the word's Captain's Quarters engraved in it. He opened the door to let us in.
His quarters consisted of a large desk cluttered with books, papers and many other stuff with two lit candles on either side, a small shelf at the far corner and a suit of armor similar to the one he's wearing by the doorstep. He shook his head at the sight but continued to lead us to another room which opened to a small dining area that could fit about eight people at most. There was another door to our right which might have been his bedroom. I was about to sit down but the captain pulled me aside and said, "I suggest you pay a visit at my wash room first. I won't mind. You seriously needed it anyway."
He led me to the door on the right which was his sleeping quarters while the others settled in the dining area. He tossed me a dark brown cotton shirt since my upper body was only covered with a blanket. I thanked him and he told me to join them once I was done. After that, I took a quick bath. I made sure there were no traces of ash or grime in my face. I quickly put on the shirt, combed my hair and went on my way to the dining area.
We were all settled, with the captain and me sitting at the opposite ends of the table while the others on the sides. Rolith cleared his throat and said "I've already informed Sir Loin that we will have a small feast for Sir Vey's safe return and about well-" he cleared his throat and blushed a little. "-to celebrate some personal matter."
Sir Vey looked at the Captain suspiciously and I didn't know why but I didn't dwell on that thought either. My mind kept drifting to the food. I mentally pictured juicy meat loaves falling and bouncing in slow motion. I quickly pushed the thought away since my mouth started to become really watery.
"So rogue, should we discuss about that matter?" Rolith asked. I was a little disappointed since I thought the food would come first. I guess it would have to wait.
And so, I reported everything. From my journey to the box-fort and how I burned it down to the time I was poisoned and rescued by Sir Vey. When I mentioned about the spy, everyone gave me incredulous looks, all except for Sir Vey who heard about it already.
"That's impossible!" Sir Valence said. "Are you believing any of this captain?"
"I believe him." Maya interjected giving me a worried look. "Who would do such a thing! Poisoning you like that."
Rolith seemed to be deep in thought and was silent for a long while. He had a troubled expression and was staring intently at the table. When he finally spoke up, it was an order. "Valence, I want you to suspend all surveillance operations on the Sneevils and I want you and your men to focus on finding any information about that spy. Maya, you could help too. I want you and Vey to research on the nearest possible sources for basilisk blood, where it can be obtained, how they made those potions, and if possible, what kind of shops actually sells them. And Vincent."
He fixed me a stare, this was the first time he called me by my name. Sir Valence was still in utter disbelief about the captain's actions but decided not to keep his mouth shut. "I want you to continue your efforts in finding Sir Jing's weapons."
This made Sir Valence rise from his chair, absolutely aghast. "Are you out of your mind Rolith! You believe in that fairy tale now? I though Vivor and Castic were the only ones to be foolish enough to believe such preposterous tale!"
"We are in desperate times. The Hydra is getting more out of control with each passing day. It's time we take desperate measures and for all I know Sir Jing IS real." Rolith declared. Briefly glaring at Valence before staring back to me. I'm his-"
"12th straight descendant." Maya finished. We all looked at her with stunned expressions.
"H-how?" Rolith was about to ask but Maya went on.
"Sir Jing von Keiser, also know as 'Sparktacus' by his friends back then, and after all this time it was shortened to Sparky. Seriously, Sir Jing would have been fine." Maya brushed a stray hair strand from her eye. "He was said to wield twin daggers that bare the power of a hundred lightning elementals since those very elementals were used to forge the blade itself. He led an army of Pactagonal knights from Oaklore to battle against the forces of a rogue lightning elemental clan who would stop at nothing to avenge their fallen brethren who were sacrificed in the making of the blades. In the said battle, he was slain by his own weapons when he tried to absorb the avatar of lightning. It was just too much energy for his body to handle and he disintegrated into dust. The avatar was already too weak and perished a few moments as well. His weapons became feared and the people enshrined his blades in a secret temple where no one was suppose to ever find it again."
"How did you acquire any knowledge about this?" Rolith asked, still stunned by what she just said.
"Vincent, you've successfully retrieved my chest right?" She glanced at me expectantly.
"Umm… yeah. But it's a little damaged by the fire and all."
"It's a small matter." Maya replied. "What I need is its content."
"Oh sure." I said the word and the bag grew and grew until it was its huge normal size. I pulled out a battered and slightly burned chest with the crimson paint almost peeling completely and the locks melted away. I handed it over to her.
"Thank you very much." She then opened the chest. "Ah, here we go." She pulled out a thick, and I mean really thick, dusty old tome that's probably thousands and thousands of pages long. 'The Pactagonal Legacies', it read in faded letters on its spine.
"This book has been in possession of every Loremaster from the Second Age up to the present." Maya explained as she flipped carefully over the brown pages. "Now where were we? Ah yes, here is the answer." She took out a small piece of paper and unfolded it. It showed some kind of map and Oaklore was in it. We all bent forward to take a closer look on the map. There were words scribbled on the bottom part. It read: To Loremaster Rochefort, from Sir Luther von Keiser. Son of the late Sir Jing von Keiser. I entrust my father's secret unto you.
"Well, I'll be darned!" Sir Valence exclaimed. "It is real!"
"The ruins are closer than we all think." Maya explained, ignoring Valence's comment. "It's not even a mile away from here." She then pointed on one part of the valley a little west of Oaklore were the clouds were thick. The words Fogpeak Heights were labeled below it and someone encircled it as if marking it for some important reason. "Fogpeak Heights is were the ruins are. No one dared to venture there since the thick year-round fog made it impossible to navigate and its steep terrain adds to the danger. I've known this all these time and the main reason why I never showed it to those two adventurous knights is well, they'll only meet their certain deaths. I have to wait for the right moment where it shall be useful and there's someone that I think has what it takes to retrieve it. And that person is you Vincent." She flashed me an amused smile.
"So he'll just climb it and hope that he gets lucky and stumbles upon the ruins and not some craggy slope?" Sir Vey questioned, being skeptical. "If it's impossible to navigate safely though it and no one has ever managed to return from there, I suggest we shift to another solution to the Hydra problem. One that does not require him to stumble blindly and fall to his death."
Rolith and Valence nodded in agreement, even me. The whole plan seemed to spell the words suicide in capital letters. Maya just gave us a knowing look.
"I did not mention that Vincent should scale the mountains. He would fly into it." She said a matter-of-factly.
"What!" We all said in unison.
"Sir Boumbard is due to return from his bombing routines tomorrow right?" She patiently explained. "We convince him to take Vincent into Fogpeak Heights, once he has retrieved the weapons, he should give out some sort signal to let Sir Boumbard know when he should pick him up. Pretty simple actually."
"Sounds like you've figured everything out. You're plan makes perfect sense" Rolith said, amused. I, on the other hand, was well, uncertain. This quest could go wrong in so many ways, especially since its my first time riding a dragon. So that bearded knight I saw when I first came here was Sir Baumbard. I wonder if he would agree to this? He doesn't look friendly at all.
My stomach growled for the hundredth time and as if on cue, there was a knock on the door with someone announcing that dinner has arrived. Rolith stood up and opened the door as three knights stepped inside carrying trays of food which they set down at the table before leaving abruptly.
There were meat loaves, exactly as I pictured them a while ago. There was soup and some bread too. Just looking at them made my stomach go berserk. "We shall talk about this later, for now, we eat!" Rolith declared.
In the course of two minutes, I've devoured five loaves of bread, two bowls of chickencow soup and seven slices of meat loaf. I tried to eat slowly but my hands and mouth were moving by themselves. Sir Vey chuckled along Maya, amused, while the other two just ate quietly but they also flash quick glances at me and suppresses their smiles.
Finally, after we finished dinner, we discussed Maya's plan further. Her strategy seems accurate enough and it's the only idea we have, if we don't count the stumbling-blindly-until-I-reach-the-ruins idea.
It was about midnight when we came up with the finalized plan. Rolith decided to call it a day and we were all dismissed. Maya went to her chambers with a proud smile, probably because of how her strategy was accepted. Sir Valence stayed with Captain Rolith to discuss on some more matters while Sir Vey gestured for me to come with him and told me that he will show my very own sleeping quarters.
We went down one floor and walked across a dimly lit corridor with numerous doors left and right. The moonlight was shining though the windows. We finally stopped by a door which looked identical with the others. He opened the door while explaining that I would be sharing the room with him and Sir Ano like almost all Pactagonal knights do. Sir Ano was still on field duty guarding the vicinities of the bridge along with most of the knights so he won't be spending the night here.
He removed his armor and it revealed a middle aged man with unusual short purple hair and blue eyes. He was lean and looked like he's not that much combat worthy. He wore a kind expression and a friendly smile. We each laid on our own bunk beds and chatted while waiting for sleep to come. I laid on my back so I was facing the ceiling with my hands under my head. The room was in a shade of dark blue from the moonlight flowing from the side window. It was quiet except for some nighttime insect chirps and the wind.
"Someone sure was hungry." Sir Vey teased.
"Well, I haven't eaten anything the whole day and the food was delicious." I replied, slightly embarrassed.
Sir Vey chuckled. "You should always remember to eat first before doing anything. No food no fight was always one of my mottos."
"I'll keep that in mind." I replied but then I remembered Rolith's expression when Sir Vey mentioned his sister. "What's with Rolith earlier?"
Sir Vey sighed. "That Rolith... Hitting on my sister again. I just don't think he's up for this right now. With all the Captain' duty and all, however, sometimes I think I'm just too overprotective since she's twenty-five and not getting any younger. Hey, that's what big brothers do, don't you agree? Do you have a sister as well?"
"Well, yeah…" I said in a wavering tone, I'm not sure I wanted to continue this conversation.
"You do? That's great! Then you understand right?" He said, delighted. "What's her name? How is she?"
I turned to the side, so he won't see my pained expression. His every question was like a dagger is being stabbed into my chest. "Her name's Rebecca and well she's um… gone, along with the rest of my family." I managed to say while keeping my voice from cracking.
"Oh, oh… I'm sorry about that. I didn't know." His voice gloomy and sympathetic.
"It's alright. I just don't want to talk about it."
"Okay. Well, it's getting late. I suggest with rest up. We have a one heck of a day tomorrow."
"And Vincent," he added. "You're a good kid and I just know somehow that your sister felt lucky to have a brother like you."
"Thanks" I muttered. If only he knew what really happened, he wouldn't be saying any of these.
I closed my eyes, feeling even more miserable and somehow, sleep came in seconds.
I woke up the following morning a little relieved that I didn't have any dreams and all. Sir Vey was already up and was looking out into the window, he already has his armor on. " Had a good sleep?" He asked.
"Uh, yeah." I said stretching my arms and brushing off the laziness. There was a sudden whoosh sound that came from above followed by a high-pitched screech in the distance.
"Well, he's early. C'mon Vince. Sir Baumbard doesn't like waiting. Especially when he's given an assignment on his day off."
"Okay." I got up, fixed myself and hurried along with Sir Vey outside the Keep. We were greeted by sunlight as we opened the double doors. We noticed the captain was waiting for us along with Sir Valence and Sir Baumbard with his ink black dragon looming over him. He looked different than the last time I saw him, maybe more grumpier. Maya was nowhere to be seen.
Captain Rolith nodded before introducing us to each other. "Sir Baumbard, this is Vincent. He's the one you're suppose carry to Fogpeak Heights and Vincent, this is Sir Baumbard, the only dragonlord in permanent service on Oaklore."
"Dragonlord?" I asked.
Sir Baumbard grunted. "Yes. A dragonlord. One fit for retirement as they say. This is where they throw all the old-timers. Well met ,boy, now let's make this nice and simple. I take you there, you get those daggers, I take you here end of story. I've already agreed on this quest, sacrificing my day-off in the process, so I'm expecting you NOT to screw things up and make this situation more complicated. Understood?" He narrowed his eyes on me and the dragon gave me a glare with its piercing red eyes. I gulped. So far, I'm thinking that I'll be dead even before we arrive at Fogpeak Heights.
"Now, now Baumbard. Don't be so harsh to the kid." Sir Vey intervened. "He can do more than what you think he can."
"You can take the week off after this Baumbard." Rolith said. "Just make sure that both of you gets back here safe."
"Alright. I think you people have yourselves a deal. We're leaving in a moment's notice."
"You mean now?" I asked.
"In a few minutes." Sir Baumbard replied impatiently though he doesn't seem to be that mad anymore.
"Better get everything you need now Vincent." Sir Valence said. "You could at least visit the armory. Maya has prepared you provisions and she's already waiting for you in there."
"Okay." With that said, I went to the armory and surely Maya was there along with Sir Lee.
"Here are the potions, don't worry I made sure that nobody got near them." Maya said as she handed the potions to me.
"And here's a pair of curved daggers, I see that you still have the Magma ones but you can have it for free anyway. And I've repaired your body plate as well!" Sir Lee said as he gave me a pair of viciously curved daggers and a newly-polished black metal body plate.
"Thanks a lot!" I hurriedly stuffed the potions in the bag and put on the body plate. I bid them goodbye and left the armory. I was making my way back into the gates when Maya called from behind. "Hey! I forgot to tell you something."
I turned and saw her running before pulling a stop in front of me panting a little. "Good luck and be careful! I'm sorry about the last time. If I had given you both of those potions, you would be dead right now."
She looked close to crying as she spoke. "Hey it's not your fault." I said trying to comfort her. "You've done what you need to do and the stuff with the potions wasn't an accident. Someone did it on purpose so you're not the one to be blamed. Don't worry about this time. Your plan will work. I promise that."
She looked at me and smiled. "That's good to hear. Come back in one piece okay?"
"Sure I will!" I said as I turned back and ran towards the gates where Sir Baumbard was already fixing the straps of his dragon's saddle. When I came up to him, he nodded and climbed at the dragon's back. Once there, he reached his hand down for me and I took it. Once we were both sitting at the its back, the dragon slightly reared and prepared for take off.
"Ever ridden a dragon before?" he asked.
"No, I haven't" I said honestly.
"Well then, hold on tight!" He pulled on the reins, the dragon roared and we shot up to the sky.
(A/N: Whew! Whatever I do, I just can't make it short and simple! I guess I put in too much detail. I'll try to speed it up in the next chapter. Iron Raven out…)