 |
  |
 |
|
|
|
Back to the previous chapter: Obligations
First Draft
The party finished moving their belongings to the third floor of the apartments. Kasey and Eric donned their plate armors while Sturm sat on the back of one of the couches, wearing his stiff leather armor while running a sharpening stone along his sword. Breanna fidgeted nervously on one of the other couches while Bilbus paced from the common room to one of the bedrooms to check on traffic in the inner bailey. Rishala adjusted his great kilt, checking the lay of the aprons in front to be sure they were even and smooth. Meridaun sat quietly on one chair, her eyes closed as she meditated.
The Church Knight and the explorer returned to the common room, their well-kept armors a dull silver-gray in the morning light shining through windows on either end of the room.
Meridaun opened her eyes and regarded the Church Knight. "Are you ready, Kasey?"
Kasey fussed with his armor uncomfortably. "I guess so."
The priestess stood quickly and smiled. "Great! Let's go talk to the king."
Kasey opened the door to the stairwell, standing aside so Meridaun could pass through the doorway. The rest of the party followed Kasey out the door and down the stairs.
The travelers crossed the inner bailey, priestess in a regal deep red silk dress and Church Knight in his metal armor followed by a motley assortment: Breanna in a forest green silk dress with the thread-of-gold piping fitting of a minor noble, Rishala in the formal great kilt of the highland Caledonians, Sturm in his heavy leather armor, Eric in his exotic plate, and Bilbus dressed as he almost always dressed, in black leather.
They entered the antechamber of the Great Hall. The room was again devoid of any other people. The lanterns in the antechamber burned brightly, adding to the already bright sunlight shining through the high windows.
Meridaun bowed her head and prayed, quietly asking Cu Chulainn, the Kelltic god of prowess in battle, to help her and her companions. She also channeled Heka to place an invisible magickal shield around her. After completing her channeling, Meridaun rocked slowly from her heels to her toes.
Several minutes later, Ezeka, the High Chamberlain, opened one of the double doors opposite the entrance. His eyebrows raised in surprise when he saw the large crowd of people waiting in the antechamber, but he made no immediate comment.
Instead, he quietly cleared his throat and said imperiously, "King Seamus, Defender of Caledonia, Duke of Fearn Valley, Baron of Caelioradh, Seeker of Caladbolg, will now see you."
Ezeka opened the door completely, hand on the latch as he stood to one side. Meridaun, head held regally, walked past him into the Great Hall. Kasey followed, eyes guarded as he scanned the Great Hall. As soon as the Church Knight had passed, Ezeka stepped into the doorway, blocking the rest of the party from entering.
Disdainfully, he said, "This meeting is official business of the King of Caledonia and the Church of Kells. You will stay here." He shut the door in front of them.
Inside the Great Hall, Meridaun waited until Ezeka had resumed his position just behind and to the side of the king's throne. When the chamberlain reached that position, Meridaun curtsied briefly to the king, pointedly not using the long, formal curtsy of the previous day. King Seamus and Ezeka both raised eyebrows, almost in unison.
After an uncomfortably long pause, Seamus spoke. "So, priestess..."
"Meridaun," she interrupted.
"You seek an audience with Us to discuss Our directive."
"Yes, your Highness. You have ordered the Church to remove not only Her own guards, but the very priests and priestesses of the Church. This Church is of the people. We are here because the people of Caledonia wish to worship in the Church of Kells."
"Pah. The people worship there because they have no choice. The Church of Kells has spent centuries controlling people and denying them any place to question the Church's policies."
Undaunted, Meridaun continued. "And the Knights of Kells are merely the Shield of the Church. They are charged to defend the Church and Her holdings, not to seize power."
Seamus shifted in his seat, leaning against one arm of the gaudy throne as he rested his chin on a fist. "Enough of this talk. This discussion is over."
Meridaun nearly shouted, "Wait! I wish only to discuss your order!"
Bored, Seamus replied, "Why? Is it not clear? The deadline is long passed, and the Church has not complied with my orders."
"But Sire, as a Duke you were a strong supporter of the Church. You hosted Church Knights in your own stronghold."
"Yes. That was before I saw the control and corruption."
"But the Knights serve only to defend the Church and her people."
"So they claim, while they wait for any weakness as an excuse to steal a nation for their Church masters."
"But the Church is the people's. The people of Caledonia have not asked us to leave!"
"Enough. Guards, remove the Church from my lands."
The six guards on the sides of the hall walked forward grimly, their long greatswords held at ready. Three other guards stepped in front of the dais, forming a wall of plate armor and large swords.
Kasey stepped forward as he drew his hand-and-a-half sword. Holding the sword in his left hand, he smoothly but forcefully pushed Meridaun behind him as he slowly backstepped towards the door.
While the knight focused his attention on the six guards closing with him, Meridaun stepped to one side to give herself a clear view of the dais.
Her pulse had quickened substantially. Her breathing was fast, almost gasping, as she realized that Seamus intended for her to die. Years of special training within the Church's schools had prepared her academically for combat, but the Sword of the Church had no way to prepare its students for the reality of battle.
Centuries ago, the Knights of Kells and the Church of Kells had realized that circumstances would arise that the pure military prowess of the knights would be unable to control. People skilled in the use of Heka -- both the supernatural powers of the priests and the direct powers of dweomercraefters -- would be needed someday to defend the Church and Her people.
A group of priests and priestesses known unofficially as the Sword of the Church started studying long-forbidden books on the dweomer crafts, learning Heka channeling skills mostly forgotten in the Kelltic lands. Over hundreds of years, the Sword started grooming people to join its ranks, urging the best priests and priestesses to marry and have children in the hopes that the children would be innately powerful in Heka use.
The Sword of the Church initially existed solely as a Heka-wielding group of priests who supported the Shield of the Church (the Church Knights). Over time, however, they gained additional duties, such as keeping safe the Church's own prophecies. The Sword also became skilled in espionage -- for who better to spy on potential enemies than someone who is able to use Heka? The organization gradually became more secretive, until few people save the Church's highest members knew it existed. Those in the Church hierarchy referred to it as "the Sword", its original name having been lost in antiquity.
Meridaun was one of the newer members of the Sword. She had completed the military aspects of her training just weeks before being sent to Londoun. She had always been excited about the prospects of fighting the Dark One's forces, enough so that she had received sharp reprimands during training for failing to remain aware of her surroundings as she sparred with a trainer or shaped a powerful Heka casting.
Such was Meridaun's excitement about the nascent fight that she almost failed to feel the sudden surge of dark Heka coming from the dais. A sizzling bolt of energy streaked from Ezeka's outstretched fingers, splashing harmlessly in front of Meridaun as her own protective Heka dissipated Ezeka's attack.
Drawing sharply on Heka herself, she quickly formed a prayer to Cu Chulainn. In her haste, she formed it badly. A surge of Heka forming near Ezeka quickly unraveled, and the sundog she had tried to summon never materialized, its pure positive Heka form never completed.
Meridaun cursed to herself quietly, a minor invective passing between her lips as she felt Ezeka start shaping another casting.
Outside the Great Hall, in the antechamber, the rest of the party had drifted towards the western wall, where they could watch both the outer door to the south and the door to the Great Hall to the north. None of them spoke, but they were all quietly agitated.
The sudden rattling of maille armor was the only warning they had before the outer doors flew open and several guards rushed into the room. In a flash, Sturm drew his bastard sword and took a half step forward, sword at ready. The guards closed on him, their own weapons drawn.
Bilbus violently grabbed Heka, shaping the dark energies into a convoluted weave that quickly ensnared most of the guards. Other than the first guard through the door, the attackers seemed befuddled. What had been an organized rush through the doors became a confused mob.
Rishala shouted over the sudden rush of noise, "Everyone stay close to me!"
Bilbus felt the surge of Heka surround the party. The confused attackers looked around as if they didn't see anything in the room.
Rishala noticed Eric readying his bow. The storyteller reached out and put a hand on the bow to get Eric's attention. "Don't shoot! They can't see us until something passes outside of our area. Everyone within a rod of me is invisible to them."
Sturm parried a blow from the nearest guard -- the only one who was still doing anything. The Sun Knight counter-attacked with a fast slash that the guard only just managed to deflect.
Eric tilted his head towards the attacker. "What about him?"
"He's within the area. As long as he stays close, we're safe."
As if in answer, the guard swung his sword at Sturm. Sturm easily blocked the swing with his own sword. The guard's sword snapped in two, the last six inches of the blade flying in an arc away from the combatants. Rishala cursed loudly as he felt the invisibility weave collapse.
Eric leaned his bow against a wall and drew his sword. When he realized the guards had noticed the party once again, he took a couple of steps forward and attacked. Three paces to his side, Sturm did likewise.
Bilbus ran to the door to the Great Hall. Lifting the latch, he found it would not move. "Locked!" he shouted as he quickly weaved a minor casting.
With a second lift of the latch and a shove, the door flew open. Bilbus had time to glance around the Great Hall briefly before a flash of lightning and a thunderclap filled the antechamber.
Bilbus took an unsteady step back, his ears ringing and his eyes dancing with light. He blinked a few times as the purple afterimage filled his field of vision.
When his view cleared, Bilbus saw Kasey and Meridaun standing near the middle of the room, the Church Knight fighting two of King Seamus's throne room guards. Another guard lay on the ground, a vicious cut completely through his midsection. Three more guards circled around behind the knight to close with the priestess. Three guards stood at the foot of the dais, protecting their king and his advisor.
Bilbus realized that the lightning flash had struck Ezeka, but the chamberlain seemed uninjured. The guards protecting him and the king all seemed fazed, and Bilbus thought he saw a little smoke rising from one of them.
The thief stepped several paces to the side of the door as Sturm rushed through, charging towards the five throne room guards surrounding the Church Knight and priestess. Eric came through a moment later, his long bow once more in hand and the sword in its scabbard. Breanna and Rishala followed immediately behind the Azirian explorer.
Bilbus pushed the door shut, risking one glance back into the antechamber to make sure the guards were still disorganized. Once Bilbus dropped the lock back in place across the latch, he drew additional Heka to help reinforce the lock. He then turned around to take stock of the fight.
Sturm and Kasey each were engaged in two-on-one fights with the guards in the middle of the throne room, swords clashing noisily amidst the grunts and snarls of effort. Eric had taken a step to the side so he had a clear shot to the throne's dais. Rishala and Breanna were on the side of the doorway, not wanting to charge into the melee in front of them. Breanna was working on a casting of some sort -- Bilbus could feel her shaping the Heka. Meridaun had turned towards Bilbus and the door in time to see the fifth, unoccupied, guard swing his mighty great sword at her.
Bilbus winced as the sword savagely cleaved at her, but he realized with a start that the blade stopped short of the priestess's body as it encountered her Heka-powered defenses. Of course she has magickal armor. If someone like I can do it, certainly a Church-trained priestess knows how to do it.
The thief smiled grimly as Sturm dispatched one of his opponents and took two blindingly-fast steps towards Meridaun. With a quick sweep of his sword, Sturm sliced a deep cut into Meridaun's opponent. The guard stumbled and turned towards the Sun Knight, who had shifted his position to deflect a cut from the other guard he fought.
Arrows streaked into the fight in the middle of the room as Rishala and Eric both selected guards for targets. A glowing bolt of energy shot from Ezeka's outstretched hand towards Meridaun, splashing harmlessly off of her Heka shield. The priestess quickly summoned a tremendous charge of Heka, causing another lightning bolt to crash deafeningly in the Great Hall. All three guards at the front of the room fell to the ground, twitching and smoking, as did Ezeka. The King, still seated in his gaudy throne, looked about wildly as he rubbed a red burn on his forearm through a torn shirt sleeve.
The remaining guards quickly fell to a barrage of arrows, a jet of acid that Breanna was able to create magickally, and the powerful sword blows of the knights. The last guard was slain as he tried to flee the throne room, his greatsword discarded after the tang of the blade had broken within the two-foot-long hilt.
After a few confused seconds, the party realized that they were the only ones still standing. King Seamus whimpered in his throne, trying to curl into a fetal position as he looked at the party with fearful eyes.
Breanna started walking slowly forward. She looked at her comrades, then said, "We should check Ezeka, to make sure he isn't going to get up. And we should check on the King. He's wounded."
Eric nodded but said nothing, his longbow drawn and readied, the arrow leveled towards the King's midsection.
The sound of bells ringing within the castle gradually filled the Great Hall. Sturm looked towards the high windows of the hall. "This will make leaving the castle interesting."
Someone started pounding on the door to the hall.
"We may want to hurry," Rishala said when no one else seemed to notice the ringing alarm.
Breanna jogged to the dais, checking each of the guards for signs of life. Finding none, she then checked Ezeka. The Heka-wielding Chamberlain was dead as well. Breanna untied his coin purse and looked inside it, curious.
As Bilbus trotted across the hall towards a different door, he noticed Breanna rifling through Ezeka's purse. "Oh, look," he said, a half-hearted grin on his face. "Bree's learning well. She's looting a body."
Pulling a folded sheet of paper out of the purse, Breanna looked over her shoulder at the thief, an expression of puzzlement clear on her face. Bilbus shook his head in amusement as he reached the door.
Tuning out the pounding behind him, Bilbus listened at the door. Hearing nothing, he slowly pushed it open until he could see between the door and the frame.
The pounding at the main doors to the Great Hall changed in nature. The sound of fists beating at the door and rattling the magickally-bound latch gave way to a steady thumping of a heavy, blunt object battering against the stout oaken doors.
"A little faster, Bilbus!" Sturm growled as he ran towards Bilbus and the side-door.
Shrugging to himself, Bilbus shoved the door open and glanced about.
The door led to a hallway. Along the right side of the hallway were half a dozen doorways with curtains in lieu of doors. Bilbus glanced into the first one, already knowing what to expect.
A simple wooden seat with a hole in the middle of it occupied a ledge on the far side of the small vestibule beyond the doorway. The unpleasant stench of human waste wafted out of the lavabo, causing Bilbus to crinkle his nose.
Behind the thief, Sturm muttered, "Well done, Bilbus. You found the latrine."
Bilbus turned to look back at the Sun Knight. "Ha, ha. Why don't you go find someone to clobber."
Behind Sturm, still in the Great Hall, Eric finished binding the wounded King Seamus. He tore a long strip of material from one of the dead guards' tabards to use as a gag, and a length of rope that had been supporting one of the royal tapestries on the wall served to bind the king's arms and legs. Eric then tore one last stretch of material, forming an erstwhile hood to cover Seamus's head.
"It's time to leave," Kasey shouted as he lifted the immobilized Seamus and started running towards the lavabo.
The rest of the party followed suit as the main hall doors started to creak and splinter from the battering.
Eric stopped suddenly and drew one of his arrows. Looking at the windows high above the floor of the hall, he nodded to himself in satisfaction. Eric grabbed another piece of rope from the tapestry he had cut down and tied it to an arrow. Quickly drawing and firing his bow, Eric sent the arrow and rope through the colored glass of one of the high windows. The rope stayed in place, giving the impression of an escape to the roof of the Great Hall.
The explorer then ran to catch his comrades. As soon as Eric was through the doorway into the lavabo hall, Sturm slammed the door shut behind him. Bilbus quickly channeled a dweomer into the door latch to jam it and buy the party time to plan an escape.
Eric lowered his voice and spoke. "Well, now what? We can't keep running through doors and buying time. We're going to run out of doors sooner or later."
Sturm nodded. "I don't want to try to fight our way out of a castle. We are too heavily outnumbered."
Bilbus walked away from the group, into one of the lavatories.
Meridaun glanced at the thief as he walked away, then turned to the rest of the party. "I can lift everyone out of here. The south wall of the inner bailey is over a cliff; we would be outside the castle easily if we go that way."
From the lavatory, Bilbus called out, "No, I've tried something like that before. I got shot by archers."
Meridaun looked back to the thief. Bilbus had stuck his head close to the hole in the seat, looking into the pit underneath.
"Bilbus?" she asked.
Bilbus glanced back at her. "I see light down there. It's a thin sliver, like sunlight underneath a door." He paused for a moment, squinting. "If I remember the layout of the castle right, the outer bailey is adjacent to the inner bailey to the north, but about fifty feet lower."
Sturm groaned. "Bilbus, you are joking, right? This is some of your humor..."
Rishala moaned as he realized what the two were thinking. "Bilbus, do you really want to climb down the pit of a lavabo?"
Bilbus stood and looked at the Caledonian. "Want to? Hells, no! But I really don't have many other ideas for how we are going to get out of the inner bailey of the royal castle of Caledonia. At least not alive, I don't. I don't care how good the knights are, or how much lightning Meri can call down from the heavens. We are not going to be able to just waltz out the..."
He stopped and put his ear next to the hole in the seat.
"I hear fighting. I think there's fighting in the outer bailey."
Kasey, who had furrowed his eyebrows as he listened to the discussion, decided on what he wanted to say. "We can't possibly have the ladies climb into the lavabo! That's just not right!"
Bilbus unfolded his grappling hook. "Do you have a better idea, Kase? Did you want to leave them here for the guards?"
"Of course not," the Church Knight replied.
Bilbus started pushing the wooden seat of the lavabo. "Well, then, they need to go with us. And we are going down here." Bilbus finally resorted to kicking the seat. It came loose readily, and the thief lifted it out of the way, revealing a pace square hole in the bench.
Bilbus fixed his grappling hook on the side of the hole, hooking two of the tines over the narrow stone wall that formed the front of the bench. With a lopsided grin towards his friends, Bilbus climbed into the hole and disappeared down the latrine.
Kasey carried Seamus into one of the other vestibules. He removed the seat from its pit as well. He glanced down and spotted Bilbus climbing -- all the individual stalls emptied into the same pit.
Checking Seamus's bonds, Kasey tied a length of rope around the king. He lifted the man and dropped him into the hole. Quickly passing hand over hand, Kasey lowered the king down the hole.
Grinning evilly to himself, Kasey let the rope slip a couple of feet. "Woops!" he yelled down the hole. "I slipped!"
The king squirmed a little and yelled as loudly as he could with the gag in his mouth.
"Woops!" Kasey yelled again. "All that squirming made me slip again! Clumsy me!"
The king gingerly stopped struggling.
The king was soon close to the bottom of the pit, several paces below Bilbus. When Seamus was about a foot above the muck at the bottom, Kasey let go of the rope as he shouted "Ooops!" once more, then giggled quietly to himself.
Seamus landed in the dark, warm ooze at the bottom of the pit face first.
From his vantage point a couple paces above the muck, Bilbus noticed that the light he had seen was indeed coming from the large gap below a door. The light illuminated a relatively clean stone slab, about a pace in each direction, that served as a ledge above the muck pit. Bilbus gently started swinging his rope as he continued climbing down, until he could confidently drop onto the ledge.
He shouted up the pit, "There is a ledge by the door, big enough for about two people!"
The sounds of battle on the other side of the door grew louder. Bilbus lifted the latch on the door and pushed it open. He blinked his eyes several times at the sudden bright light of the outer bailey. When he could see again, he saw dozens of men fighting in the open grounds of the bailey. A sizeable number of the men wore the tabards of the Knights of Kells.
Looking up the pit again, Bilbus shouted, "We got Church Knights down here!"
Kasey leaned over one of the open holes. "Where?!?" he asked as he looked around at the now-illuminated bottom of the pit.
Bilbus looked back out the door, watching the fight. He glanced up again after a minute and saw Kasey climbing down the rope he had used to lower Seamus. Eric was climbing down Bilbus's rope.
In the bailey, one of the Church Knights noticed Bilbus at the open muck pit door. Bilbus raised a fist in the air and shouted, "Long live the Church!"
Close above him in the pit, Kasey echoed, "Long live the Church!"
The knight hurried down the rope and dropped the last foot to land close to Bilbus.
The thief winced and doubled over. "The Church is on my foot!"
Kasey moved his foot. "Oh. Sorry, Bilbus. I heard the fight out there."
Bilbus stepped aside to let the Church Knight through. Kasey drew his sword and charged the nearest castle guard, an archer. Kasey cut the man down before the archer could shoot one of Kasey's fellow knights in the back.
The loud cry of an agitated stallion echoed from the stables on the far side of the bailey. Soon, Farran charged out of the stables, nostrils flaring and ears laid back as he attacked the nearest castle guard.
Eric landed next to Bilbus and glanced out at the battle. He stepped through the doorway and started selecting targets on the walls of the bailey. Within moments, castle archers who had been picking off Church Knights were seeking cover as Eric's deadly longbow quickly sent arrows downrange. Several archers fell off the castle walls, serious arrow wounds compounded with falls of ten paces.
Bilbus watched the carnage for a moment, then glanced back up the rope. Meridaun was lowering herself down the rope, her skirt billowing slightly and giving Bilbus an excellent view of her legs. I'm married! the thief reminded himself. And she's a priestess.
From above Meridaun, Breanna called out, "Meridaun, you might want to tie off your skirt." The apothecary then glanced down the pit and realized that Meridaun had already started climbing down the rope.
Meridaun landed next to Bilbus, who gave her a slightly embarrassed grin. Meridaun returned the grin uncomprehendingly, then slipped past the thief to survey the fight.
Breanna quickly dropped down the rope, her skirt tied off high, exposing her legs to the knees. She landed next to Bilbus and quickly untied the skirt, letting it drop back to ankle length. When she glanced up at Bilbus, the thief grinned and winked. Breanna blushed as she stepped out of the muck pit.
Sturm slid down the rope, his leather-covered hands slowing him only slightly. The Sun Knight started to walk into the bailey, then realized that some of the castle archers had started returning fire on Eric.
Bilbus glanced up the rope again. Rishala was dropping down the rope, his kilt flaring as he did.
"For the gods' sake, Rishala!" Bilbus cried as he averted his eyes. "Could you please tie off your skirt next time?"
As Rishala neared the bottom of the rope, he shouted down to Bilbus, "It's nae a skirt!"
As soon as the Caledonia was out of the way, Bilbus shook his rope several times. The grapple released and dropped down. Bilbus quickly hauled it in, catching it just before it hit the muck. He folded the hooks and tucked it away in a bag on his belt.
Rishala watched Bilbus fold the grappling hook. "I ought to get a grapple for myself." He paused as he thought about the possibilities. "No, then everyone else would expect me to use it."
Eric took cover in the pit. "You might want to invest in trousers, too."
Rishala sighed. "I wear trousers when I'm with ye most of the time!"
Eric grinned for a moment as the Caledonian's accent thickened. His grin quickly faded. "I'm out of arrows. Can I take yours?"
Rishala nodded and unlatched his quiver from his belt. Eric took the quiver and dropped it on the ground just outside the door. He quickly transferred the arrows into his own quiver and stepped back out into the fight.
The Azirian archer soon ran out of arrows again. He ran close alongside the wall, directly below the few archers who were still willing to fight. After a couple of dozen paces, Eric was next to a castle archer who had been killed several minutes earlier when he had fallen off the wall. Eric sorted through the arrows on the archer, discarding a few that had broken when the archer hit the hard ground at the bottom of the wall.
Once more rearmed, Eric started trying to hit the archers on the wall above him. He had little luck, since he could not get a good angle on his opponents without walking into the middle of the bailey and exposing himself to return fire.
The rest of the fighting in the bailey was quickly subsiding. The few surviving castle guards had retreated to the middle gatehouse and dropped the portcullis. Church Knights quickly moved through the outer bailey, pulling wounded comrades to cover and binding wounded and dying opponents.
From his position near the wall, Sturm looked up at the wall above. Every now and again he could see the tip of an arrow poking past the edge of the wall as an archer took aim at one of the knights in the bailey.
"Good thing there are no murder holes up there. We wouldn't last another minute."
Rishala glanced up at the high wall, then looked at Sturm. "This castle is very old. They have murder holes in the gatehouses, but that's it."
Sturm nodded to himself and continued to watch the archers high overhead.
Bilbus peered out from the muck pit. He waved towards Eric. The Azirian trotted over to the doorway, keeping close to the wall.
"Hey, Eric. Think you can land an arrow on the wall next to the archers?"
Eric looked at the thief quizzically. "Why?"
Bilbus carefully unwrapped a bundle of cloth he pulled from a pouch. Inside it was a glass arrowhead.
Eric picked up the arrowhead and examined it.
Bilbus asked the explorer, "Remember that experiment you helped me with when we were with the centaurs?"
Eric nodded. A smile crossed his face as he pulled one of his remaining arrows from his quiver. He quickly removed the head of the arrow and carefully fitted the glass head onto the shaft in its stead. Once the arrow was reassembled, Eric took a couple of steps away from the wall.
"Just remember," Bilbus said. "When you draw back the bowstring, that glass arrowhead becomes very dangerous."
Eric nodded as he looked up the wall. He drew the arrow back as he raised the bow high, then let the arrow fly. It arced several tens of paces past the top of the wall and turned over, falling to the wide stone walk atop the wall.
A thunderous roar echoed in the outer bailey. Eric backpedaled away from the wall, shouting "Watch out!" as he did.
One of the archers flew out from the wall, falling limply to the ground. One entire block of the battlements crumbled, sending hundreds of pounds of stone down the side of the wall to the outer bailey. Smaller pieces fell for a minute afterwards, and Eric could see the bodies of two more archers where the section of the battlement had been.
Eric nodded with satisfaction when no more archers peered out from cover.
Bilbus glanced back into the muck pit. Seamus still lay in the muck, his body quivering slightly. The rope Kasey had tied him with still snaked away to the lavabo overhead. Bilbus drew his dagger and cut the rope about a pace above the muck, leaving a short rope attached to the king to lead him around.
Bilbus held the lead rope as he started stammering. "We ... we just ... we just kidnapped a king!"
Meridaun looked at the thief, then glanced at Sturm. "What odd nobility you have in the Kingdom of the Five Crowns."
Bilbus glared at the priestess. "I'm not a ... Oh, wait." He shut up.
"Bilbus," Sturm began threateningly. "That is no way to speak to a priestess."
Bilbus lowered his head. "I know. Sorry, m'Lady."
Meridaun glared at the thief levelly. "Mother."
Bilbus's wrist flinched involuntarily as he remembered the times he had been reprimanded in the Church-controlled orphanage for addressing priestesses inappropriately.
Sturm took the lead rope from Bilbus and used it to hoist Seamus to his feet. "Walk," the Sun Knight said in a growl. The king took some stumbling steps towards the doorway, bouncing against it once since his head was still covered with the makeshift hood.
The party gathered in the bailey.
"Well, we can get out of the castle, now," Bilbus said. "Now what?"
Rishala glanced up at the sun still creeping towards midday. "Is King Donaidh out of the city yet? Perhaps we can catch him and bring him here."
Meridaun shrugged. "I don't know what route the agent was going to use."
Kasey glanced around the bailey. "Maybe he would know?" He pointed towards one of the Church Knights. Meridaun recognized the knight as the one who had been baking in the agent's shop.
"Sir Knight!" Meridaun called out. The knight recognized her and ran over to the party.
"Mother," he said in greeting.
"Do you know what route King Donaidh is using to leave town?"
The knight nodded.
"Excellent. Describe it to me."
The knight gave Meridaun directions to use to catch the wagon and column of ponies that were heading out of town with the king. Meridaun nodded as she carefully memorized the route.
She turned to the rest of the party. "Let's get some horses."
She ran across the bailey towards the stables. Inside, she spotted the royal carriage. She glanced back out. "Sir Knight!" The knight turned to face her. "Can you drive a carriage?"
He nodded.
"Come here! Get the carriage ready!" She called to her companions. "Eric, Rishala, help him out. You can escort King Donaidh back here in the carriage. Sturm? You, Kasey, and I should ride ahead to stop the king from leaving the city. The carriage can catch up with us."
Breanna looked around at the wounded knights. "I can stay here to help heal the wounded."
Bilbus looked at the young noblewoman, then looked at Meridaun. "I can help her."
"Good," Meridaun said. She then turned to get a horse ready to ride.
Sturm, Kasey, and Meridaun discovered that the fighting was not contained simply inside the castle walls. Several buildings burned, and a plume of smoke wafted over the docks. Groups of Church Knights skirmished with King Seamus's footmen, and most of the civilian traffic had disappeared in the chaos.
As a fight spilled onto the main avenue from a side street, Meridaun started to lean back on her horse. "Let's ride faster! They'll get out of the way."
With a quick kick, her horse sprang into motion. Sturm and Kasey kept pace with her easily on their large warhorses.
As the three charged through the middle of the surprised fighters, Farran quickly turned his head and snapped at one of the soldiers -- Meridaun could not tell if it were a Church Knight or one of Seamus's men, but he fell to the ground, clutching a messy wound on his arm.
After several minutes of fast riding, weaving past bunches of fighting men and sidestepping abandoned wagons, Meridaun and her escorts found several ponies and a wagon traveling slowly towards the edge of Caelioradh. As she slowed her horse next to the wagon, Meridaun recognized the agent from the bakery.
Looking around quickly to make sure no one else was on the streets, Meridaun brought her horse along side the seat of the wagon. "King Seamus is no longer in control. Adam does not need to leave the city any longer."
The agent nodded, but kept the wagon moving.
Meridaun glanced at the riders on the ponies. She recognized Donaidh on the one immediately behind the wagon. Meridaun waited until Donaidh's pony was alongside her horse.
"Your Majesty. We have Seamus in custody. Would you like to return to your throne?"
Donaidh stopped his pony. "Yes."
"Excellent. Your carriage will be along shortly."
The Church agent and the rest of the riders continued on towards the edge of town as the king and his new escorts waited for his royal carriage. Ten minutes later, the carriage caught up with them. The Church Knight driving it brought it to a fast stop on the street and looked around cautiously. Rishala and Eric stood in the open carriage and looked about, both holding bows with nocked arrows.
Kasey and Sturm likewise started looking about for any threats.
After a few confused minutes, Rishala had pulled on some trousers and had removed his great kilt. King Donaidh quickly put it on, then took a tabard Kasey offered him. Looking far more regal in the kilt than he did in the plain clothing of his disguise, Donaidh took his seat in the carriage.
The driver turned the carriage around and started back towards the castle. Kasey rode in front, with Sturm and Meridaun behind the carriage.
Kasey turned in his saddle to address the rest of the people. "Keep a watch out for people not happy with the Bonnie King Donnie's return."
The fighting in town was already dying out. Civilians were cautiously peering out of homes and businesses, watching the carriage and its escorts as it wended its way back to the Auld Castle.
Kasey stayed ahead of the carriage, shouting every now and then, "Make way for King Donaidh, the Rightful King of Caledonia!"
By the time the procession reached the gates of the castle, many of the city folk had returned to the streets.
The carriage stopped in front of the open gates of the outer bailey. Kasey rode his horse back to join Meridaun and Sturm. "What we need," Kasey started. He paused for a moment to think. "What we need is something to get the people's attention. They need to know that King Donaidh is here, and that he is supposed to be the king."
Meridaun smiled. "Attention? I can do that..." She leaned forward on her horse. "Your Majesty, does one of these estates belong to Seamus?"
The king nodded and pointed towards one of the noble mansions near the gatehouse.
Drawing upon Heka, Meridaun fashioned a quiet prayer as she directed the magickal energies at a fountain in front of the house. A bright flash of lightning seared the clear sky; the sharp crash of thunder brought an eerie silence to the crowd of citizens as fragments of the stone fountain exploded outwards.
Drawing again, Meridaun tried to start a second lightning strike. She felt something go awry during her channeling, and a sudden feedback of Heka smashed invisibly into her. She swooned for a moment and clutched her head as a severe headache crept up on her.
Kasey made a grand announcement to the crowd, calling on them to join King Donaidh in retaking his rightful place on the throne. Meridaun hardly heard a word as the throbbing pain pulsed through her skull. When she finally was able to reopen her eyes, she saw that the crowd was thoroughly agitated, and many of the citizens were grabbing improvised weapons of some sort.
Kasey yelled something to his companions, and they raced towards the open gates. Meridaun quickly urged her horse to chase them, just keeping ahead of the mob of angry people.
The royal carriage rushed past the Church Knights guarding the lower gatehouse. In the outer bailey, it skidded to a stop close to the middle gatehouse. Kasey directed Farran towards Bilbus and Breanna, who stood in the center of the bailey with the bound Seamus.
Bilbus looked at the mob of people pouring through the gatehouse. "What did you do, Kase? Bring the whole city along?"
"Yeah! We're going to get the guards to open the gates."
Bilbus looked at Eric on the nearby carriage. "We need to stop the looting; there may be evidence in Ezeka's rooms that could help us."
Eric looked at the thief. "We can't just leave Seamus unattended."
The Church Knight looked at the former king. "I can take him. It may help. Toss me the rope."
Eric tossed the rope up to the mounted knight. Kasey hauled the rope in, lifting Seamus off the ground. He lay the king across Farran just behind the saddle, then steered the horse-kelpie, using his knees, towards the middle gatehouse.
Bilbus and Eric ran towards the wall between the outer bailey and the inner bailey.
The Azirian called ahead to his friend. "How do you plan on beating the mobs into the inner bailey?"
Bilbus yelled over his shoulder. "The same way we got out of there. Up the loo!"
Eric immediately regretted asking.
Bilbus disappeared into the access door at the bottom of the latrine pit and started climbing the rope.
Meanwhile, Kasey stopped in front of the middle gatehouse. He dropped Seamus from Farran, holding the rope to keep the bound man standing. He looked up at the guards watching warily from behind the high battlements.
"Seamus the Usurper is no more!" Kasey waved his free hand towards Seamus. "Stand to for the rightful and true King of Caledonia, Donaidh!"
The carriage slowly approached the gate with Donaidh standing in the back. A murmur began amongst the guards overhead. After a few moments, the stout oak doors behind the portcullis opened and the heavy iron gate itself began to rise. A handful of guards stood along the walls of the gatehouse, surprise and disbelief on many of their faces.
Kasey lifted Seamus again and started walking Farran forward. He half-turned in his saddle and shouted to the Church Knights keeping watch nearby, "Royal honor guard, form up!"
The knights formed a double column of troops, forty in total, that followed Kasey and the King's carriage through the gatehouse into the middle bailey.
The middle bailey was nearly empty, the troops bunked within it standing in two tightly-packed formations with commanders in front, kneeling. King Donaidh took little notice of them as his carriage followed Kasey and Farran to the formidable inner gatehouse. The mob of commoners followed behind the king's honor guard, many of them trying to organize into an orderly formation.
At the inner gatehouse, Kasey repeated the presentation of King Donaidh and the bound Seamus. Again, the guards relented and opened the gates. Kasey walked Farran through the gatehouse into the inner bailey.
The Church Knight dismounted as King Donaidh's carriage stopped next to Farran. Kasey led Seamus by the rope, following the King and Rishala towards the Great Hall.
Kasey remembered the bodies within the hall. "Rishala! Hold onto Seamus."
The storyteller took the rope.
"Knights! Twenty men for cleaning detail in the Great Hall! The rest form honor guard!"
A number of Church Knights broke free of the columns and ran towards the Great Hall, following Kasey.
Rishala looked about the inner bailey. "Someone really should ring the bell."
"What was that?" Sturm asked from behind him.
Rishala turned around. "Someone should ring the bell, to signal the return of the Bonnie King Donnie."
"Where is it?" Sturm asked.
"I don't know. I think it's in that tower." Rishala pointed towards the large tower that formed a junction between the inner, middle, and outer baileys.
Sturm trotted towards a door at the base of the tower.
Meridaun and Breanna walked towards the Great Hall, following King Donaidh and his retinue of Church Knight guards. Rishala tugged on Seamus's rope and followed everyone else.
Inside the Great Hall, Kasey and the other knights stood at attention. Other than the bloodstains on the ground and the scorch marks around the throne, there was no sign of the violence that had ensued that morning.
Rishala stopped next to Kasey and asked in a low voice, "Where are the bodies?"
Kasey grinned. "We tossed them down the lavabo."
Rishala shook his head.
King Donaidh took his seat on the throne.
Meridaun approached the throne. "Your Majesty, is there anything you need?"
Donaidh looked past her, towards Rishala and Seamus. "I want Seamus and a sword."
Rishala said quietly, "A public execution would be more fitting."
Seamus shivered, but King Donaidh did not seem to hear Rishala's recommendation as his advisors and aides started rushing into the room to acknowledge his return and to update him on events in the kingdom.
Somewhere overhead, a bell started ringing. Others in the city followed suit, first one nearby, then two farther away, and finally a cacophony of bells from all directions.
Bilbus and Eric raced back into the throne room. They stopped next to their comrades near the front of the Hall, opposite the throne.
Rishala gave Seamus's rope to one of the Church Knights, who hauled the deposed man away.
"Did you find anything?" Rishala asked.
Bilbus shook his head. "No. I expected something in Ezeka's room, but we couldn't find anything that pointed at who was directing him."
Eric added, "We even searched the King's room."
Breanna blushed. "I found something on his body when I was checking to see if he were really dead." She fished a folded and crumpled sheet of paper from her belt pouch.
Bilbus took the page and skimmed through it.
Sturm walked into the Great Hall. Spotting everyone else standing around Bilbus, he walked up to them. "What do you have?"
Bilbus read the note aloud.
Trusty Ezeka,The Baroness Eclavdra requires all Agents operating in the Northern Area to report directly to her representative, Lord Ayarmis Silverthorn. Lord Silverthorn will be in Londoun on 2nd Ngetal. The meeting will be held at the Carved Tusk in the Private Room. You will say that you are here for Lord Silverthorn's party.
Lord Silverthorn will be providing new orders to all Agents. He will also expect complete updates so that the Lady Baroness can know how her plans are executing.
If you are unable to attend, send someone who can speak for you.
Your Master,
Josacal the Younger,
Clomon of Griffon's Beak
Commander of Northern Area Anlor Balsil Agralem
Rishala looked at his companions. "Well, I guess we know where we're going next. The second of Ngetal is almost three weeks away."
Meridaun approached the group. She glanced curiously at the paper Bilbus was now folding, then spotted the black medallion hanging from its black chain around Bilbus's neck.
Bilbus noticed Meridaun looking at him. He slowly grabbed the small adamantine medallion and tried to tuck it away.
Meridaun quickly stepped close to him and pulled it back out. She looked closely at the fine black chain and the equally dark medallion with its horrific tentacle-covered visage.
"Very interesting jewelry you wear, Bilbus. This one, however... Perhaps I should hold on to it?"
Bilbus gently removed her hand from the pendant. "No, Meri, this one is useful."
"Really?" She lowered her voice. "What's really going on? Rishala told me his story on the trip from Londoun, but you've never said much about it. He also won't tell me why he's following a thief-turned-noble."
"That's his own business. As for me... It was all an accident. I went to the Beltane Festival with Eric and helped stop the bandits. Since it looked like a lot of coin may be involved, I decided to go with them. Then we wound up in Hillsdale and saved those villagers from the orcs... It seemed like everywhere we turned there was something going on to help the Great Lord's return. Cadell's bandits, the witch's orcs, the town in the crater valley..."
"Great Lord?" Meridaun asked sweetly.
Kuso, Bilbus thought. Grinning, and hoping it didn't look nervous, Bilbus replied, "That's what they call him. We've been translating some orc poetry we found..."
"Oh? Orc poetry. Tell me about it..."
"Yeah. Sturm is really good at it. He could tell you about it." Bilbus started walking away.
One more time, Meridaun asked, "Great Lord?"
Bilbus pretended he didn't hear her.
King Seamus's advisors finally had stopped swarming about him on the throne. Meridaun watched Bilbus walk away for a moment, then approached the throne.
"Your Majesty," she began, curtsying.
"Yes, Mother Meridaun?"
"May I have a moment of your time?"
"For the priestess who rescued me? Of course."
"Your Majesty, I would implore that you do not execute the traitor Seamus by your own hand. I know he deserves it, but it would make more sense to hold the execution in public. Treat him as no better than any other criminal."
"The Church is recommending an execution?"
"The Church is pragmatic, Your Majesty. We do not condone killing, but we also realize that certain things must be done to ensure the stability of the monarchy. It would be far worse for the people of the Church if anarchy were to reign. A quick and merciful execution, fitting for a common criminal, would be enough to defuse any sympathizers of Seamus. Follow the execution with a traditional distribution of food and drink, and the people will soon forget that Seamus ever had any political support."
King Donaidh nodded his head as he thought. "I can not fault your argument, Mother. I will order it immediately. He will be executed two hours after first light on the morrow."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I would like to take my leave now."
"You may leave, Mother."
Meridaun curtsied again and turned towards the door. She walked slowly, rubbing her temples as she did. Breanna intercepted the priestess.
"Meri? I can mix a tea that will help with the headache. It'll be a lot easier for you to rest."
Meridaun glanced at the apothecary. "That would be wonderful, Breanna. Thank you."
Meridaun and Breanna left the Great Hall for the state apartments. The rest of the party followed soon after as exhaustion from the long and stressful day sapped the remainder of their energies.
Back to the previous chapter: Obligations
Continue to the next chapter: Networks
Back to the Book II Index.
Back to the Dark Mysteries Campaign Chapter Index.
Original Draft 23 July 2001
Contact for this page: JourneyMaster@BabylonByCandlelight.com