Ch6-3: The Secret Places
“Here they come, boys!” Captain Silver’s voice rang clear through the night air. Even from so far away, it was easy to understand her words. “Ready yerselves!”
Cecil watched as the stream of pale blue lights flickered out from the gates of the Troian castle in the distance. It was an eerie, soundless procession. Like watching a ripple of ghostly fire flies make their way over the base of the surrounding hillsides. Something about it made his hair stand on end, even under all the padded armor.
The Daear…
Edge was juggling his weight from one foot to the other, the motion just at the corner of the Paladin’s eye. He was also watching the Daear’s charge, his face grim under down-pressed brows. “It feels like we’re cheating death or something, Cecil. We should be down there in that battle with the rest of them.”
I know… I feel the same way. But this is the plan. We can’t go back on it now.
And because it was the plan, Cecil couldn’t allow himself to admit aloud that what they were doing went against every soldierly instinct in his body. Where there was a battle, that’s where his sword should be. Where his men were putting their life on the line, he should be leading them.
But I’m not there. I’m here on this hillside… about to do something just as dangerous.
Despite the fact it probably all equaled out, it still didn’t make him feel any better.
“We’ve got to infiltrate the castle, Edge,” Cecil turned his level tone toward the fidgeting Ninja. “Golbez’s sensors indicated that Incrytan was being held within. If we can get a hold of that Crystal… then not just the battle, but the entire war can be won. Besides, if this is the Daear headquarters, it’s very likely that we’ll find–”
“Rydia,” Edge intercepted quickly. There was a strained look to his face. “Yes… I know. We might find Rydia…”
Cecil nodded slowly. Encouraging. “We’ll find her, Edge. No matter what. And this might just put us closer to doing it. Right?”
“Yeah,” the Ninja frowned. “I just hate waiting. Especially with…”
Edge’s words trailed off as the sound of battle rose in the distance. Metal on metal. War cries. The snarls of the Daear beasts. The anguish of death.
A nearby shout caused Opal to leap to her feet. The young Cleric stared with horror into the darkening forest until the Paladin caught her by the shoulder and shook his head in warning.
She took in a sharp breath, frightened eyes flickering up to Cecil’s face. Searching for comfort.
She’s still just a child… these are probably the first battles she’s ever seen. Yet, she was able to muster the people of Troia and lead them here with the will of her charisma alone.
He offered her a quiet smile.
The girl reminds me of me when I was younger…
“Don’t worry,” the Paladin told her. “There are many able warriors leading the battle on our side. Captain Silver… my Red Wings… the Ranger Deric… and some of your own Captains as well. They will do their part. We must do ours.”
Opal blinked, “Yes… Yes, I know. Just… so many could get hurt. Some of them are just townspeople.”
“That’s why we must not linger here,” he nodded. “We may be able to cut the battle short if all goes well.”
She was searching his face again, her throat working to swallow the tension that seemed to be choking her. When she spoke next, her words were more solid, “Okay… I’m ready.”
Cecil turned to peer across the glade to where his brother stood, keeping watch over the thicket of trees. “What does it look like, Golbez? Is it time for us to move out?”
“Nearly,” his brother’s deep voice rumbled in answer. Sharp green eyes scanned the lands below as if seeing more than just the battle. “Almost all the Daear troops left for the engagement. I don’t sense many in the city. We may have a clearer shot to the castle than we thought.”
“Left the city unguarded? Why would they do something stupid like that?” Edge muttered.
“Overconfident, maybe?” Opal suggested. “They did defeat us terribly the first time.”
“Possibly…” Cecil’s voice spoke his skepticism.
The Ninja caught the tone of voice and built on it, “A trap?”
“I don’t know. It makes me uneasy,” the Paladin admitted.
“Cecil,” Golbez interrupted quietly, “The battle is progressing deeper into the forest. We should make our move.”
“All right,” the Paladin pursed his lips. “What do you need us to do, Golbez?”
The Master Wizard stepped down from his post above the thicket, walking towards the group. “Everyone gather in real close. I need to make sure this spell includes everyone… and that I get it right the first time. Flashing this kind of magic around too much might call unwanted attention.”
Cecil waved the others to come in close. Chase and Porom darted to stand next to Edge as Opal positioned herself just behind the Paladin.
“Are you sure you trust Golbez to do this?” the Ninja muttered over his shoulder with a scowl.
“Edge…” Cecil’s tone was flat with warning. “Not now.”
“Just asking,” the Eblanian gave a sharp huff, eyeing the Wizard with dubious aloofness.
The plan was a simple one. Straightforward – as plans should be.
The Troian “army” would meet in battle with the Daear forces, hopefully drawing a large number of them back into the forests. Meanwhile, their group would be using the battle as a distraction to breach the walls of the city. Under the cloaking spell that Golbez claimed he could cast, Opal would lead them through the back access of the castle. Once inside, their goals were to find and claim Incrytan, release Rydia and apprehend the leader of the Daear operation.
Easy enough… right?
Cecil took in a deep breath, focusing on his brother’s face. Golbez was concentrating, beginning to spin the first threads of the magic. Something about the thought of being on the receiving end of one of the Master Wizard’s spell still tied Cecil’s stomach in knots. The Paladin fought to keep his expression composed as the pale light gathered around them.
As the spell was released, the world was bathed in a rippling curtain of green liquidity. For a moment, Cecil’s breath choked in, as if his mind reeled at the thought of breathing the strange atmosphere. A strange lightness tingled over his limbs as motion became slow and exaggerated. Even a blink of an eye seemed both effortless and extremely difficult all at the same time.
What sort of magic is this..? I thought he was casting some kind of cloaking spell!?
Cecil opened his mouth, attempting to choke out his brother’s name. But sound did not come – as if it could not exist in the thickness of the air.
Golbez’s voice came to him, contradicting the assumption. “Relax, now…”
Or perhaps it was not sound at all. Rather words spoken within his mind. Cecil couldn’t tell.
“This is what is known as a dimensional pocketing,” the Master Wizard informed them. “It works much like the shielding that the Daear use in battle. Except ours will keep us from being seen – unless they have a very good illusionist down there that I don’t know about. The spell also has a limited rage. So everyone stay close to me as we move.”
Dimensional pocketing? Is that some sort of Black Mage spell? I’ve never seen something like this before…
Golbez’s eyes fell upon him with a knowing look. “At your command, Cecil.”
Still unable to figure out how to work his voice, the Paladin settled for a slow nod and meticulous point forward. In response, the group moved ahead, sheltered under the strange waver of green-domed magic. Their descent down the hill seemed to take so much longer than walking normally would. Like moving through jelly.
Shiva… at this rate, the battle is going to be over with before we can even get to the gates.
Then, taking a nervous glance out into the clearing, Cecil realized… that everything in the world around them was moving twice as slow as they seemed to be. Taking a choked breath in, his mind reeled again, fighting to find some sense of logic in the impossible.
Okay, Cecil, that’s it. Don’t even think about it. Just let Golbez do his thing. You’ll only get a headache trying to figure out all this crazy hand-waving stuff.
Pulling his attention back to the task at hand, the Paladin fixed his gaze on the hazy image of Troia. His skin ran with pin-prickles as his senses screamed at the insanity – they were marching straight through the battlefield, right out in the open, toward the gates of a city occupied by the enemy.
Can they really not see us?
Tension grew heavy as the group crept closer. The gates were within a few yards now. And still, no sound of enemy alarm. No rush of guards. They went undetected.
I don’t believe it…
Cecil’s sense of wonder swelled around him. He peered back over his shoulder at the tall form of his brother who strode only a few paces behind. The Master Wizard’s hands were still upraised in concentration on the spell.
As the group passed between the crumbled stones of the gate, the Paladin’s amazement was replaced by the sweeping clouds of dismay. The city of Troia lay at his feet in ruins – just as his dreams predicted.
Shiva… the Crystal of Earth did all this?
Pale stone was scattered and crumbled over the dark, upturned soil. A mountain of dried mud hunched over a full block of the city’s residential area. The ground had split itself, long oozing gashes sliced over what had once been green, friendly cityscape. The waterways had been displaced, streaming off into the streets in unplanned pools of grey.
At first, Cecil could only stand there stunned, and take it all in. The nation of Troia had been one of great beauty, boasting some of the most wondrous old-style stone architecture and vast hanging gardens. Even during the Crystal Wars, the city had remained a beacon of purity, untouched by the destruction that many of the other nations had fallen to.
This is the one place… I never thought I’d see like this.
Opal’s face reflected in absolute shock. It was the pain of one returning home only to find home no longer existed — at least, not in the way it did in memory.
The Paladin’s hand lifted through the silent liquidity. Then with a gentle touch, his fingers alighted on the Cleric’s shoulder, offering what sympathy that he could give.
Golbez’s eyes were upon the girl, vastly green within their hooded depths. By the expression on his face, he seemed to almost share a sense of the girl’s pain. As if he had experienced the same thing once before in his own life.
“We must keep moving,” the Master Wizard’s tone was soft and reluctant. It was obvious he didn’t want to push Opal. But the success of their mission relied upon the girl’s ability to navigate the secret places within the Troian fortress. “Don’t forget why we are here.”
The Cleric gave a weak nod. One hand rose silently as she pointed into the wreckage of the city, motioning to the road on their far left. Without hesitation, the group followed the indication, weaving through the broken pillars and jagged stone.
The castle itself gave the appearance of a structure off balance and bearing far too much weight. As if it might cave in upon itself any moment. The closer they came, the more it seemed to lean. Cecil gave an involuntary shudder as they crept into the shadows of the stone. The moat that had once pooled the feet of the fortress had migrated away into the city streets.
I hope that the secret passages have survived this destruction.
Opal pressed her back against the wall of the nearest tower and scaled along the edge of the overhang. Carefully, the Paladin copied her actions, eyes fixed on his feet and the long drop into the empty moat below. The others followed, looking less enthusiastic – especially Golbez. But the nature of the cloaking spell forced them to stay near to each other.
On the far side of the tower, the overhang broadened out, giving them room to stand, if only shoulder to shoulder. The Cleric raised her hands, palms flat against the old stone of the castle wall, searching. Finally, a soft click was heard. A part of the wall shivered, pushing inward like a door.
So this will lead us directly into the heart of the fortress… as long as it is still intact?
It was a passage only known to the Clerics and some of the higher members of the noble council. Opal explained that it was an emergency escape route that was built from the main chambers to the outside – just in case the castle ever fell under siege and the Clerics needed to be moved to safety.
The passage was narrow and low-built — only Porom and Chase could stand inside without needing to stoop. The smell of must and undisturbed spider webs filled Cecil’s senses as the shimmer of Golbez’s spell faded away.
The Paladin peered back at his brother with a glance of alarm.
“We won’t need it in here,” Golbez explained. “Besides, it’s tough to maintain an area spell in a place like this… since we’ve got to crawl through it and all.”
Crawl?
Cecil eyed the big Half-Lunar with a moment of internal-amusement.
I suppose for someone his stature, it is like crawling…
Edge was taking in deep, gasping breaths. As if he had forgotten what it was like to breathe unenchanted air. “Let’s get on with this — before the troops come back, remember?”
“Just follow me,” Opal waved to them. Pulling her hair back with one hand and sending a small shimmer of magic light in front of her with the other, the girl began to press into the darkness of the passageway.
The advance through the tunnel was a long, ponderously blind one. Only the scuffing of feet ahead of him and the touch of a groping hand from behind told Cecil where his companions were. Every now and then as they turned a corner, he caught a glimpse of the soft white light in the Cleric’s hands. The rest of the time there was nothing but darkness, stale air and the pressure of the stone castle leaning above them.
A final low-crawl led them out of the passage and into a dim-lit back corner of a small corridor. Cecil was never so relieved to see the inside of Troian castle.
Anything to get out of that underground suffocation chamber… I swear.
The Paladin emerged from the small hole, turning on his heel to offer his help to those that still had yet to emerge from the tunnel. “Here, you’re almost out. Just a little bit more.”
A soil-stained hand reached out to grasp his own. A moment later, Edge’s face appeared, smudge with a look of panicked horror, cobwebs strung up throughout his hair. As the ninja dragged himself from the hole he gave a sharp gasp for air, “Let’s never.. do that.. again… ‘right?”
“I’m with you on this one,” Cecil murmured, hoisting the Ninja up from the gaping hollow.
The rest followed, one by one. Golbez brought up the rear, only to find his broad shoulders stuck at the exit. It took the combined efforts of Cecil, Chase and a disgruntled Edge ten minutes to finally dislodge the big Half-Lunar.
“No one told me I’d have to be haulin’ Golbez’s big arse around on this mission,” the Ninja grumbled, unsuccessfully trying to brush the grime out of his grey hair.
Golbez simply flopped out on the floor, shivering a little as he attempted to catch his breath. It was obvious by the scuffs and scrapes along his shoulders and back that the trip through the narrow passageway had been the least comfortable for him.
“Sometimes it’s a real pain to be tall,” Golbez murmured, eyes fixing on Cecil as if sensing the Paladin’s line of thought.
“Well, it’s over with now,” the Paladin tried to offer a shred of optimism.
“I’m really sorry,” Opal’s tone was abashed. “I didn’t think it would be such trouble…”
“No, no. It’s nothing to be sorry for. Just let me catch my breath,” Golbez waved a hand sheepishly, his awkward expression catching Cecil off guard.
Well, that’s strange – Golbez… is shy?
Not one to hold still for longer than a minute, Edge was already making his rounds. Slipping into the shadows along the wall, he vanished around the corner, cloaked in absolute silence.
Opal’s head turned just in time to see the glimmer of grey disappear, “Wait… where is he–”
“It’s okay,” Cecil told her, adjusting the neck of his cloak. “It might not seem like it, but he’s a self-acclaimed master at stealth. He can scout this place faster and with less trouble than the whole group of us could.”
A doubtful expression flickered across the Cleric’s face.
“Look at it this way,” Golbez’s voice was droll. “If he doesn’t come back, that’s one less thing we have to worry about?”
“Golbez!” Cecil turned, a hint of surprised amusement spoiling his reprimand.
The Master Wizard gave a deep-throated chuckle and an easy, lopsided smile. Both rarities up until now.
Maybe it’s all the stress of the journey… but he really is starting to act strange.
When Edge finally reappeared, he gave them a solemn nod, “Looks like everything’s clear. Those Daear really did strip the castle of troops. And it’s just not making any sense to me.”
“Agreed,” Cecil frowned slowly. “All the more reason to be on the lookout for anything strange.”
The Ninja turned his attention to the Cleric, “Take us to the prisons.”
Opal blinked at him, taken aback by the sudden order. Then she peered at Cecil, questioningly. As if not sure who she should be taking commands from.
“What’s the hold-up?” the Eblanian demanded, glaring at the Cleric and the Paladin, “They’ve got Rydia captive and I damn well know we’re going to go and find her first. Before they realize we’re here and things get sticky. Right?”
Cecil drew in a thoughtful breath.
“Right!?” Edge’s voice held a hint of warning.
He’s going to go after Rydia no matter what I say…
“Of course…” Cecil nodded finally. He turned a gentle look towards Opal. “Please take us to the prisons?”
The girl pushed her shoulders back, straightening under the Paladin King’s request. No further prompting needed, she headed down the corridor, leading them into the depths of the crumbling castle.