Chapter 37 - Z
I'd only been in the dungeon for a few hours, but it seemed longer. It was cold and dank and I was already feeling hungry and dehydrated on top of the overwhelming pain my mind was in. Seeing Yurick was a relief. I'd been so worried. I didn't want to let go of him, but Dagran had requested a moment so we exchanged glances one last time before he slowly walked away.
"How are you doing?" he spoke carefully, examining my expression, like he was walking on nails.
I didn't have any words for how I felt. I figured it was as plain as day just by looking at me so I changed the subject. "Forget about it. What about the General?"
He frowned. "They've carried out the funeral," his voice was low and saddened. "I can't believe he's gone." Wait… his funeral is over? How long had I been down here? More confusion was added to my mess of a mind.
"If only I'd gotten there just a little bit sooner… this might never have happened!" I put a hand to my face, squeezing at my forehead. I tried not to crush the bread any more than I already had. Yurick was right. I needed to eat. Especially if I'd been here for that long.
"Hey," Dagran snapped at me, "don't blame yourself." His eyes were serious and stern when I met them. "Right now we have to focus on your current predicament." He looked at the bars like he was thinking of a way to break me out, but then looked a bit defeated, though it was hard to see. The only way to tell what he was feeling was to see it in his eyes. Otherwise he just looked like a hardened warrior with no tolerance for petty emotion. "Jiral's really got it in for you. He's looking to make you a scapegoat."
The mention of that guy's name made my skin crawl. "I don't care what happens to me. I just want to get revenge on whoever did this…," my tone was harsh, but I didn't care.
"Take it easy," he tilted his head to redirect my eyes from the floor to him. "I'll get you out, you don't need to worry about that. Just keep a low profile for the moment. Don't do anything stupid," he normally would have smirked when telling me to stop being an idiot, but this time he was serious.
"Take it easy? And how am I supposed to do that?" I snapped. I looked at the wall. "I'm just wasting time here." Doesn't he know how hard this is for me? This entire trip had been one horror after the next with very little to show for it.
He put his hand loosely on one of the horizontal bars. He was quiet, but I could feel his concern. Of course he knew… he was my brother. He could read me better than anyone, even Yurick. "Just… don't make it harder for yourself, understand?" I looked back towards him, but he had already started walking away.
So now what? I looked down at my hands and sighed then walked over to the wall and slid down to the cold stone floor. I stared at the bread for a while, deep in thought, replaying all that had happened these past few days through my mind. "You have to eat something," Yurick's words suddenly broke my concentration. I raised it slowly to my mouth. The smell reminded me of how hungry I really was.
It seemed like I'd been locked up for over a day. I hadn't slept at all and I was starting to feel crazy. Random noises startled me and the distorted echoes from the guards sounded like a foreign language. There was no light and my eyes had started to betray me. Shadows looked like monsters and contorted bodies.
"Who's there?" I jumped after hearing a loud clank.
"Sshh," a dark figure stood on the other side of the bars.
I stumbled to my feet and staggered over to investigate. It was the green hooded mage from the ambush in the courtyard. "It's you." The hooded figure opened the cell and gestured for me to follow, which I did hesitantly. We walked in utter silence to the entrance of the dungeon. I noticed very quickly that all of the guards on that floor were gone. "I'm grateful, but who are you and why do you keep helping me?" I whispered. Once we got to the top of the stares, the figure turned around and removed his hood. It took my eyes a second to understand what I was seeing in the torch light. "Calista," I was surprised, but only for a moment. I had suspected that it might be her after seeing her using Shining in the courtyard.
"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you," she hung her head for a moment.
I took a few steps forward. "No it's fine. I really appreciate it. After all, I completely ignored what you told me. That's a fact."
She looked up at me and put her hand to her chest. "No… No, it was me that was in the wrong. I spoke to the General about you. He told me all kinds of things. He told me how worried you've been and how hard you're working to become a true knight," we shared looks of despair at his mention. "Thanks to him, I think I finally understand how you feel a little better… And yet… because of me… the General… he…," she looked as though she was about to cry. "You see, General Asthar was investigating the castle's deepest secret, but someone discovered that and so they had him killed."
"What secret?" I asked quickly, thinking about his last words. The key to the castle's secrets.
She paused and looked up at me again. "The true nature of the Outsider. Apparently the General suspected that it might somehow be connected to the death of the land." That's what Mirania was researching.
"The Outsider's true nature," I mumbled. I thought about his words again. "Oh, yeah," I reached into my belt pocket and pulled out the medal he'd given me after the Tower of Trials. "He said this was the key to the castle's secrets," I held it out to her.
She stared closely at it in my hand. "This emblem! I've seen it before. It was in those ancient texts that Mirania and the General were studying together," she stood up straight and put a hand to her mouth, looking very regal as she thought.
"Right, so Mirania probably knows something then," I pocketed the medal and flinched when I heard a sound echo. "We should probably get going if you're going to successfully break me out of here."
She nodded. "Let's go look for her," she peeked down the stairway before waving me over. I nodded and followed.
We snuck from the dungeon staircase to the closest pillar of the courtyard. There were knights on patrol all around us.
"How are we both going to get back into the castle?" I asked, looking around the corner at, at least, 3 soldiers that would easily catch us if we moved from that one spot. If it were just me, I could sneak back in, but with Calista, too…
"If I use sleep arrows, we should be able to get through unnoticed," she said bluntly.
"You have sleep arrows?" I looked back at her in shock. How cool! Where can I get some of those?
She nodded. "Security is higher than ever since the General was…," she tried to swallow her pain. "But here we are, running away from soldiers again," she giggled.
"I see, but this time you're trying to sneak me out," I managed to let out a silent chuckle. "Or in, I suppose. We should probably check the library first."
She nodded again and took out the guards a lot quicker than I had expected. I was impressed. We made it to the second floor without any complications. I snuck around the railing to the hallway.
"Calista, I think the area's clear. Let's go," I motioned for her to follow me to the library door. We walked as softly as we could into the room. I looked around to see if it was clear and saw a shadow in the corner. Mirania stepped forward.
"They're after you, right? Over here, quickly!" she whispered and gestured to the large desk that was usually surrounded by young mages during the day.
Just as we got settled, two knights entered through the large doors.
"I swear I heard something. Did you hear it?" one asked the other.
"You must be hearing things, good Sir," he joked.
"Quite," the first trailed off. "Oh yeah, I finally spoke with that barmaid…," they turned and left, laughing at their conversation.
As soon as the doors were closed, Mirania came out from her dark corner. "Right, it looks like the coast is clear." She walked over to the desk as Calista and I stood cautiously. "I suppose there's a reason you came here instead of leaving the castle right away. Were you perhaps looking for me?"
I nodded. "Mirania," I took the medal out of my pocket again, "I want you to take a look at this." I set it on the table.
"This is the emblem from the ancient texts! Where did you get this?" she traced it with her fingers.
"General Asthar gave it to me. There's more, too. He told me it was the key to the castle's secrets," I closed my eyes and looked away as the image of him dying in my arms flashed through my mind.
Mirania looked down at her hands. "So the General had already managed to find it," she spoke even softer than she usually did.
"But… what are we supposed to do with it?" Calista asked.
"I'm not entirely sure," she started, staring back down at the medal. "Some of the texts have magical seals in them that I still can't break. But… I do have a theory. I believe it's literally the key to a forbidden place deep within the bowels of the castle."
"And no doubt the secret is hidden there," Calista added.
Mirania nodded. "Yes. Perhaps it's the secrets of the founder of the House of Arganan," she would have said more but a loud banging came from outside the door. "Anyhow, let us return to the tavern. It isn't safe here."
"You're right about that," I whispered, dreading the trip back. If we got caught, it'd all be over.
Luckily, I had the Devil's luck and we returned to Ariella's safely. However, it was only a matter of time before the guards came looking for me. We flew in through the doors, causing everyone to stop and look at us, which probably wasn't the best way to go about it.
"What the?!" Lowell stood up quickly. "Zeal! Calista!"
"Save the reunion for later!" Mirania startled everyone by raising her voice. "Guards will be here any second. Hide, you two!" she pointed towards the stairs, but only one of us could fit there, so I jumped over the counter and hid behind the bar.
"Sorry about this," I apologised to Ariella and her father.
She gave me a nervous smile. "Don't worry about it."
Sure enough, soldiers came in as if on que. I couldn't see what was going on, but it sounded hilarious.