Chapter 3: Raiding the Castle
Even after they had been driving for one-and-a-half hours, there was still quite a way to go before the group of dogs got to the front gate of the huge castle.
After another half-hour of driving along a winding country road, Riley Jr. finally pulled up in front of the gate.
"This is as far as we can go," he said, as he opened the nearside door, and climbed out of the car. "We're going to have to climb over the gate."
The others climbed out after him, and they all stood in front of the gate, which was heavily rusted. At the top, there was what was supposed to be the name of the castle, but, unfortunately, most of the letters had been broken off by corrosion.
The dogs climbed up the fence at the side of the gate, and, once they were over the top, jumped down on to the wet soil on the other side.
After another five minutes of slow walking, the group finally reached the front drawbridge of the castle.
"Darn," said Charlie, "it's closed. We're going to have to find another way in."
He and Itchy then stepped around to the side wall of the colossal building, where they found a small archway. They then beckoned for Sasha and Riley to come over, and they walked under the arch. At first, it appeared to lead to a dead end, but the dogs noticed a crawl space in the bottom of the wall. The space was designed for humans, so the larger male dogs had to lower themselves down a bit to fit through. Sasha could fit in just by lowering her head and bending her hind legs slightly, and Itchy, being the smallest dog, was able to simply walk through without a change in posture, so he went in front.
When the group came out at the other side, they found themselves in a large courtyard. At this time of year, sunset was quite early in the evening. The time now was just past four o'clock, so it was starting to get quite dark.
The dogs followed the wall until they found a rotting wooden door. Its iron reinforcement was badly rusted, which greatly compromised the sureness of the door.
"This'll be easy," said Itchy, as he unsheathed his swords. He then slashed at the rotten wood, and it splintered with a loud crack. After a few more slashes, the door had been knocked down, and the group passed through the doorway and into the castle.
For several minutes after that, the dogs had been walking cautiously through the many corridors of the castle. Whenever they found a door, they would open it ever so slightly, and peep through it. Every time, however, all they could see was just an empty room.
"That's strange," said Charlie. "There are so many rooms, but there's nothing in them."
That was, until they got to a large pair of double doors.
"A-ha," he continued. "Perhaps this is what we're looking for."
He then tried to open the doors, but they were secured with a large padlock.
"Stand back, Charl," said Itchy, before he struck the lock with one of his swords. The lock made a thump as it crashed to the floor.
Once the doors were opened, the dogs walked in, and found that they were now in a large front room. The walls were adorned with shields and animal trophies, and suits of armour stood in a line at the back of the room. The fireplace was burning fiercely, despite the appearance that there was no-one else there.
Suddenly, there was a loud sound which startled the group of dogs. They looked around in a panic, and saw that there was now a portcullis in front of the double doors.
"Quick!" said Sasha. "There's got to be a way out of here."
Each of the dogs then ran in a different direction. There was one door in each corner of the room, but before any of the dogs could get to a door, they were all blocked off by solid metal shutters.
"We're trapped!" said Charlie.
He then looked at one of the shutters for a second, and tapped it with his paw.
"Wait a minute... this seems to be made of steel. I don't think they had doors like these in the Middle Ages..."
"That's 'cause someone put them in there," Itchy replied. "You know... to trap us!"
Suddenly, the group heard a strange hissing sound.
"What's that?" Riley asked.
"I don't know..." said Sasha, as she sniffed the air. "I can't smell anything."
"Then it's probably an odourless gas," said Itchy. "I think we should get in the centre."
However, the gas was not just coming from one place. The gas was being sprayed from several hidden nozzles, many of them being concealed in the furniture.
The dogs were now all crouching in the centre of the room, and holding their breaths. However, they couldn't hold on forever...
Itchy was the first to let go, because he had the smallest lungs. As soon as the gas entered his respiratory system, he began to laugh uncontrollably.
Before long, the other dogs had run out of breath as well, and had started to breathe in the gas. Now, everyone was laughing.
But, after another thirty seconds, they were all unconscious. The gas had been nitrous oxide - a notorious anaesthetic.
A whole hour later, the group finally regained consciousness. This time, however, they were no longer in the front room of the castle...
That's the end of this week's pair of chapters. Chapters 4 and 5 should be up next Sunday.