Through Time 3
We followed the flashing orbs down the passageway, and Kody was fascinated. I have never seen him so interested in something but those orbs had made him forget that we had been being chased just a moment ago. My heart, meanwhile, was galloping in the next town somewhere. We continued following the glow of the orbs on the slight downward angle until we were once again in the huge domed chamber. Kody stood in awe as he tried to take it all in at once, the jeweled keystones and the gold gilt reflecting a mellow glow as the orbs lighted the room.
I began looking around for some kind of weapon to defend with in case Michael somehow figured out how to get in. As I searched I figured that he probably hadn't found the note, more likely he had seen us leaving somehow and decided to follow. More than likely he thought we had the knife and were going to hide it as a blackmail tool or something. I figured he was panicking up there but the chances of his finding the stone were small. Just the same I didn't want to die, and now I was responsible for Kody as well.
Kody had wandered to the mural that had enchanted me less than 12 hours ago and was staring at the image. If you ask me I think he was staring at the kid with the satchel, but that was probably just my imagination running away with things.
"Who do you think these people are? Do you think they were real people?" Kody asked.
"I don't know Kody. They look too real to me to be made up." I replied distractedly. There seemed to be no weapons. In the distance I heard a rumble and realized that Michael had found the flagstone and had opened the door. I was seized with the thought to defend myself with an orb, don't ask me why. I reached into the nearest sconce containing a blue orb and tested its weight in my hand. The soft gel feel gave it the heft of a baseball, more or less. I moved nearer the doorway he'd come from. Again I was seized with an idea, and I was beginning to feel as though they were being suggested to me rather than me thinking them up all by myself. Almost like I was getting help. I took the orb and stepped about a foot into the passageway and threw it on the floor with as much strength as I could muster. What happened next was like out of a movie. The orb split open on the floor like an overripe pomegranate and the blue seemed to spread on the floor to the walls, and then started to climb the walls, finally snapping in place as it stretched across the passageway to join solidly in sealing the passageway.
Michael screamed as he caught sight of me and aimed the pistol. The report was deafening in the small passageway. I no sooner had the gun been fired than I saw the slug in front of me, surrounded by a blue aura, and slowly dissolving into small round pellets, and they in turn dissipating again into yet smaller pellets. I stood in amazement. I heard the pistol dry fire once, twice and then Michael bellowed and charged down the passageway, I could only assume that he didn't see what happened and I yelled to him to stop. He threw the pistol at me and before our eyes the gun disintegrated as the bullet had. He slowed his approach and stood on the opposite side of the blue splotch on the floor that was joining itself on the ceiling, having completed its journey up the walls of the passage. He stood in amazement of the wall, and I have to say I was pretty impressed myself. Or would have been if I wasn't ready to piss myself.
"How'd you do that?" He asked cautiously.
"Magic." I replied, and turned to walk back to the chamber. Inside I was shaking and wondering what just happened. Kody stood open-mouthed in the doorway of the chamber. I tugged his sleeve and told him to help me gather the remaining orbs into our bags. It looks like they could come in handy. Strangely enough, as we gathered the orbs, the light didn't fade away, as I thought it would.
"Hey, look!" Kody said, "The sun came out over there!"
I turned to look at the giant mural and sure enough he sun was shining brightly in the blue sky behind the two riders and the boy, and the sunlight was illuminating the room. I was dumbfounded. I wondered how long the blue wall would hold.
"The portal is fickle. But the one thing it cannot ignore is need."
I whirled to look for the voice but found just Kody and I. Our eyes locked and we realized there had to be someone else here. We scoured the room silently until we came back to stand in front of the mural. I heard Michael grunting and went to see what he was up to. The blue light was fading and he was throwing small pebbles at it to test its integrity. One got through the middle. I wheeled quickly and tried to head for the exit but I found that the door that had been hiding in plain sight the last time I was here was gone.
In desperation I pulled Kody onto the blue disc with me and I began to sound the words again that were written on the edge of the disc, desperately hoping my need was strong enough to activate the portal. The portal shimmered to life. And Kody and I ran into it, stepping into the barn.
Michael thrust into he room to find it laced with shadows, almost as if the sun were setting. Two silver poles sparkled for a moment in the fading light and he saw a door standing open across the room. They must be there! He hurried through and found himself in a stone passageway that slowly arched upward towards the surface. He came to the doorway Aaron had seen less than twelve hours before, with ornate leaf carvings so realistic they seemed to move in the breeze. He pressed all about the doorway and one leaf sunk into the foliage and the door swung open, and a few minutes later found himself on the grass near the school. They must still be inside, tricked me he thought to himself. He raced back to the stone floor of the keep, and found the stone that would let him in, but it refused to budge. He threw his head back and screamed in utter rage and frustration.
The smell was awful. A cow pie mingled with mud does not a pretty fragrance make. We moved carefully to get deep into an empty stall, so as not to catch anyone's attention. As we slowly adjusted to our environment I realized our clothing had changed. I was wearing what appeared to be leather breeches, as was Kody. I had a green tunic and he had a red one of similar cut. Weren't we christmasy? Our backpacks had turned into leather pouches with drawstrings at the top. Kody said something and at first I thought that I hadn't heard him, but then I realized that I had, it was just that he was speaking the same language as the boy I had seen in the portal yesterday. What's more, I understood him.
"It looks like were in a barn, Kode." I said, hearing the fluid tongue come from my mouth.
"Yeah, but where's here?" Kody asked.
"I don't know, but we better be careful and stick together." I said. Kody nodded his head in agreement. We shouldered our bags so that they could not be easily stolen from us, and we left enough room to reach an orb for protection. So doing we stepped into the sunlight in front of the barn.
The sight was breathtaking. We were inside the keep, as it had been hundreds of years ago. Tall stonewalls rose around us, and the main tower stood about two hundred feet or so away from us. People bustled in and out of the main gate, which was off to our left, and an open-air market teemed with people on our right. We slowly walked through the crowd threading our way along the booths with people selling their wares. Hot meat sizzled on open pit fires and fresh vegetables were stacked high on covered carts. I wasn't exactly sure what to do, so I headed for the tower, maybe I could find that flagstone and access the chamber that was hopefully to be found with it. As we approached the tower there was a set of guards on either side of the doorway questioning and examining credentials. Before we could turn away the guard on the left spoke.
"You two are the kitchen boys?" He asked gruffly.
"Yes," I replied before Kody could speak. The guard grunted and motioned to a servant inside the doorway and spoke roughly to him. "William, take them to the kitchen, and bring me drink on your return." The boy nodded and gestured for them to follow. They were led into the tower and then through it, past a courtyard of swordsmen sparring with one another, and then down a flight of stairs. As they descended the temperature rose and they were deposited in the kitchen. A great oaf of a woman was tending pots and screaming at three other women to mind their work. She wheeled abruptly and eyed us while addressing William. "And what's this about, eh? You better have a good reason to be in my kitchen, I've no need of freeloaders, and I haven't any scraps."
William gave a small nod of his head at us and nudged us in her direction, and then pointed at the clay mug on the oven and indicated that it should go upstairs.
"A drink, that fat cow wants a drink from me? I'll piss in a flagon for him, and he'll be happy with that!" She cackled and poured wine into a clay mug and set it in William's hands.
"Now you fetch me that cup right back, you hear what I tell you?" She waggled a fat finger at William, who lowered his head demurely before beating a retreat. The ox woman turned on us and seemed to be weighing and measuring us with her eyes.
"You two have parents? Any family at all?" She inquired, not unkindly.
"No mum." I murmured, mimicking William's lowered head. Kody followed suit a moment later.
"Well, at least you have manners, you remember them and you'll be fine. I'll feed you first, gorry you look hungry, and then you can start. The pigs will get slopped after the evening meal, William will show you where all that is when he returns from playing guard with the master at bloody arms." She laughed uproariously, and set about filling a clay plates with food. It smelled delicious and we set to them ravenously.
"Poor dears probably haven't eaten in days. Well, you'll be well fed while in the kitchen, that's for sure." She smiled and went back to her pots. After eating we were put to work as promised, although truth be told it wasn't bad. We went out as our last chore to slop the pigs, escorted by William, who seemed to be very quiet. We talked quietly between us about what to do about our predicament. We had to get to the main tower, but we were bone tired. We agreed we'd look the following day. We carried our buckets, but as we walked Kody nudged me and said, "Aaron, look! It's him! The one from the picture!"
I looked up quickly to see the lone figure enter the barn and disappear. We slopped the pigs and tried to wait for the boy to reemerge, but William urged us back and we followed.
That night we bedded down next to the hearth and slept solidly, as we had no energy left. William lay with us, and as the night grew longer and the heat of the hearth faded, we clustered tighter together for warmth.
The next day was strange, to say the least. We were woken roughly and the ox woman seemed not to know us, although she softened just as she had the day before and put us to work. The guard that was on the front gate the day before came down and took William for his first day of training. First day? What the hell happened to yesterday? Everyone seemed to have forgotten we were here and working! The day progressed and we slept again by the hearth when the day was done. We awoke the same way the next morning. What the hell was going on?
That night the three of us walked out to slop the pigs. Let me tell you walking behind William is no chore, he's absolutely gorgeous. I tried to engage him in conversation and he didn't seem to hear me. I spoke again, louder this time. He continued on as if nothing had happened. I was getting frustrated when Kody burst out, "Aaron, look it's the boy from the picture!"
I looked up quickly to find he was correct, it was the boy from the picture. He went into the barn with a pitchfork over his shoulder. William looked at the retreating boy and shivered a bit. We proceeded to the slop pens, just next to the barn doors and began pouring out the contents for the smelly animals. We lingered and waited and presently were rewarded with the sight of the boy reemerging from the barn. He walked with his shoulders slumped and was almost on top of us when William whistled lowly and the boy's head whipped up.
"William! Oh, William how are you?" He cried out softly, embracing our escort. William just nodded ands smiled at the other. The boy noticed us just then and his eyes went wide.
"You, you're from the portal. I saw you."
I opened my mouth to reply, but we were cut off by the emergence of the man I had seen in the portal the other day. He growled angrily at the boy we had just met and he spoke to us quickly.
"William, they were sent to help me, come find me in the keep... William, show them the way, they will help us."
William nodded and seemed to regard us a bit differently. I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing, but it happened nonetheless. The large man had reached us and cuffed the boy hard on the shoulders and pushed him into motion ahead of him.
After we had lain near the hearth for about an hour, William woke us. He beckoned us to follow him and we crept cautiously to the keep's tower. We came to an intersection in the passageway William chose the right hand passage and headed down the windowed passage with Kody and I in tow. As we reached the end of the passage there was another hallway and two sets of stairs, one going up and one down. We followed the stone stairs up. As we reached the second level we found ourselves in a deserted passageway. Walking slowly in the curved space we made a slow circle whereupon we came on another set of stairs leading up. We ascended again into a hallway with three doors. We walked down the passage testing the first door, which was locked fast. We walked to the second door and before I could push the third door opened and a guard emerged cinching his waistcoat. I decided it would be bad to be caught here and pushed on the second door, which opened quickly and we ducked in unobserved.
We were in a largish chamber with a desk on one wall and a chair and couch near the leaded window. If I had to guess I would say it was a sitting room. There was another door that looked as if it might lead to the first room, which had been locked. We headed to that door and pushed, and found ourselves in a sleeping chamber with a huge, elevated four post bed. It looked as though someone important lived here and I thought it best we leave. I turned on my heel and the door wouldn't budge. I went to the door leading to the passageway, and it too was shut tight. We were trapped.
We inspected the room in order to just keep busy, mostly but curiously enough William seemed completely at ease. The doors were solid hard wood and seemed to have some kind of catch so that the one leading to the sitting room could be opened from one side, but not the other. Curious, I wonder if there was a way to see what was holding it? I scanned the door but didn't see anything, and then we started to take stock of the room, looking for likely hiding spots. From the looks of things, under the bed was about it. Something rattled heavily off the door leading to the hallway, followed by a rattle of a key sliding home in a lock, William, Kody and I slid under the bed quickly. By tucking back into the shadows we could see the door opening, but be lost in the folds of darkness under the bed. The heavy door swung open and several sets of feet were visible. One smaller set stumbled into the room followed by a much larger pair. The door slammed shut and the two sets of feet stood toe to toe.
"You realize your mother is dead." An older voice said slowly, and the large set of feet turned and began to pace slowly on the stone floor, "She dies screaming for more from the men that took her, repeatedly, like a common whore." The feet paused and the voice continued, "But that was weeks ago and your father did nothing. By this time in a fortnight your father will receive word of you having a living death, that will surely break him." The voice paused as if to grind a point home, " And when I take him on the battle field I will cut your throat in front of his face, just before I slit his."
"Asmodean will stop you." Came a much younger voice, apparently belonging to the owner of the smaller set of feet.
"Asmodean? He has broken; convinced I have killed you already. Stupid boy, don't you hear his cries of anguish and failure from his cell?" the voice continued contemptuously.
"You lie!" The smaller feet charged forward and the sound of a stinging slap could be heard as the challenger fell to the stone floor.
"Listen and you shall hear him late at night, it is most amusing." Sneered the first as he exited the room and the tumblers could be heard in the door.
The one that hit the floor lay there, and slowly began to shake as sobs wracked his body. Slowly we extracted ourselves from our hiding space. I could see right away it was the stable boy that I had seen before, and I have to admit it was really getting to me that he was crying. Even more so since I knew why. I went to him and knelt down to his shuddering form and placed a hand softly on his shoulder. He jumped and scrambled away from me. His eyes were wide with fear and his face was smeared with tears, eyes puffing out with a red tinge at the edges.
"It's ok, it only me. Aaron, remember?" I said in the most soothing, calming voice I could muster.
He looked at me through bleary eyes and slowly seemed to find some recognition. "You...you can speak as I do?" He stated in a questioning tone. "You were...sent by Asmodean?"
I was about to answer no when Kody interrupted.
"Aaron, the orbs. Dude, they're glowing really bright!"
"You were sent by Asmodean!" The boy exclaimed. The orbs seemed to intensify their light at the mention of the wizards' name.
"No, I don't even know him, I have never met him before. We came through..." I began.
"You came through the portal because it sensed need." He finished for me, confidently now recovering himself and wiping his face clear.
"Well, yes. I guess it did open because of need, but I heard some one say that. I mean, we did, but I have no idea who."
"Asmodean." He replied as he got to his feet, sniffling a bit. "He promised he would come for me, but I haven't seen him in almost two months. He cast a spell, and we are stuck in this day again and again. Each day my Uncle Orund tells me of my mother's death, and each day I am forced to work in the stables, doing the same chores, the same dirt gets removed from the same places, and the bastard ostler hit me day after day. Until yesterday that is, when you showed up." He stopped and stared at me for a minute before continuing, "He was so scared he wet himself. Ruined his leggings. Please, are you here to help me?"
I looked at Kody who had a pleading in his eyes, and then I looked back at his strange boy who had a very similar look in his eyes and to William who showed a spark of hope in his deep eyes. Why did these people trust me so much? And just what was I supposed to do to help them? I needed for Kody to be safe and now this guy wants me to save him or something? Kody surprised me by throwing us in on the whole thing.
"Yes, how can we help you?"
Now, again it could be my imagination running wild, but I think Kody was in love. I had never wondered about his sexuality. Ok, that's a lie; I guess I should say he never indicated anything that would give away his sexuality. But the look he had on his face was of pure adoration. It was so cute. Anyway, back to reality.
"Hold on, I'd love to help you out, but we are pretty new around here and know nothing about this place or even how to get home." I said, trying to be practical. Kody grabbed my sleeve and turned me in to face him. He glared at me in a way I have never seen Kody look at anyone before.
"Didn't you hear what they did to his mother? What that guy plans to do to him?" He hissed.
"Kody, it's awful, but what can we do about it?" I asked in exasperation.
"What if she was a good mom, huh? Maybe he misses her like I missed mine even if she wasn't so great. What if his dad is a good dad? It's not right; Aaron, and you always do the right thing. Please? We have to help him."
I was pinned in between Kody's point and my good sense. Who do you think won? I sighed and turned to face the boy and William.
"Ok, look, I just want to ask a few questions first, ok? Like, who are you and what's the deal with Asmodean?" I asked.
He straightened a bit and spoke with pride, instantly becoming royalty in pauper's clothes. "My name is Roland, Crown Prince of the Demetralli people. My father is Demetral Corvan; he built this keep the way it is now. My mother and I came here for the summer months, with my father's wizard and champion, Asmodean. He is also my friend. He was sworn to protect me, and I thought him dead." He hesitated and then continued, "The keep was betrayed internally. A group of Orundians opened the gates at night and allowed the invaders free reign. Asmodean was only able to cast one spell, and that spell keeps this day one step out of time. It keeps us from any real harm, because the day will start over again tomorrow, but the Orundians don'r know that. I only know Asmodean cast the spell because I felt him cast it; it was in my bones. Whenever he works magic near me my bones go cold. " He looked up at us fixedly, "There has to be a way out, and Asmodean knows what it is. Please help me."
"What exactly do you want us to do?" I asked.
"You have to go to Asmodean, he holds our way out. He can probably send you home as well." He replied.
"And just how do I do that?" I asked.
"William will help you, and there are a few secrets about this castle that they don't know about, and if they found them they would forget tomorrow anyway."
I regarded William and was once again struck by his simple beauty and was intensely curious as to why he refused to talk to me.
"Look, William hasn't said a word in the three days that I have known him for one thing, and how will I know Asmodean when I see him?"
"William cannot speak." Roland said quietly, gesturing to William who obeyed and pulled down the front of his tunic. He had a scar running low on his throat, probably had destroyed his voice box. I looked at the floor ashamed of myself. William placed a hand on my chin and lifted my gaze to his smile. Damn, he has a great smile too.
I heard a door opening and Roland gestured at a gaping hole in the wall that had been solid only moments ago.
"There is no time to waste, Asmodean must be found."