Return To Sky Raven (Book 2) (12 page)

Winya joined in, her voice in my head carrying a trace of humor at our exchange, “
If I
may interrupt
…
You would be correct. The mechanism to open the gate is very large and takes up a large amount of room underground. I would stand back, the gate should be opening soon.”

Cautiously, we did as Winya suggested and took several steps back. Finally, the gate shook violently like it was just dealt a massive blow, sending dust falling from the wall above. Slowly, and surprisingly quietly, the gate parted down the middle, revealing a short tunnel with several portcullises in the raised position.

“Wow, ten-foot thick gate and there are still three more. I would have to say ‘our’ fortress is pretty safe, at least from the outside,” Maya smirked.

We both looked back at the stunned faces behind us. Maya hooked her arm in mine and started leading me down the passageway. “They will get over it eventually. Now, come in, Magic Boy, I have a feeling something important is waiting for us.”

We walked through the heavily fortified gatehouse and past a few small stone buildings that had the look of armories into a large open courtyard with an ornate red paver brick floor, which had roads branching out in three directions. The courtyard was more than large enough to accommodate our entire group, including the donkey carts. Scattered haphazardly about was the first evidence of a bombardment of any kind. Large boulders had left deep craters in the cobblestone roads, and there were a number of collapsed roofs, down either from war action or just the ravages of time.

“
This is the principia, or central courtyard, if you prefer. The road ahead of you leads past the curtain wall and into the keep’s courtyard. The roads to your left and right lead to the outbuildings such as barracks, dining halls and blacksmiths, as well as a surprisingly large number of civilian shops and housing.”

“You had civilians here during the attack?” asked Maya.

“
Yes, they helped out where they could - bucket brigades, helping in the infirmary, arrow recovery and such. After the battle, most of them were still alive, but decided to leave and start their lives over again someplace without all the bad memories.”

Slowly, the other members of the party entered the courtyard behind us. Once everyone was safely inside, Maya, with Winya’s guidance, ducked into a small guardroom off the main gatehouse. A few moments later, the heavy main gates slammed shut with a dull boom. On this side of the wall, the sound of the waterfall outside was muted to the point where, after a few minutes, you really didn’t hear it anymore.

Both captains approached Maya as she came out the guardroom, dusting off her hands with a satisfied grin. Snapping into formal salutes, they requested the orders of the day. I felt my chest swell with pride as my amazing dark elf was more than up to the challenge, and in fact, seemed to relish it. In just the few days since the Portia incident, her self-confidence had grown immensely; I suppose always having the nagging suspicion that you were borderline insane would have kept you second guessing yourself. But now it seemed that those ghosts of self-doubt were forever banished and it showed. Instead of just issuing orders to the captains, she jumped up on the nearest large boulder sticking halfway out of the courtyard, and addressed the entire group.

“Listen up, people, I’m only going to go over this once. It’s been a long, arduous trip from the portal; and frankly, I couldn’t be more proud of any of you. I know you are cold, tired, and hungry, but we still have some work to do. To start with, Captain Higs, I need guards and sentries up on these walls as soon as possible; preferably in sets of twos until we find out if we are really alone in this place. Then I need well-armed patrols sent into all the remaining buildings for the same reason - we don’t need to be surprised by unwanted guests. My source tells me that there is a very large underground network below the citadel that will need to be checked as soon as possible as well.

Higs saluted her with a smile. “Yes, ma’am, right away!” Then he raced off and started barking orders to the troopers who were lounging around the perimeter of the crowd.

Maya returned the salute with a flourish and turned back to the crowd. “Next, I need the earth wizards to start clearing away the rubble and fixing what structural damage to the buildings they can. No one wants to be sleeping in a wet bed at night.”

Hons stepped forward and performed a clumsy imitation of the salute, after which he smiled apologetically. “You’ve got it, we’ll have this place fixed up in short order, ma’am.” Just like the guards, the green-robed folks broke off into their own groups and started organizing themselves into work teams. I reflected that perhaps being forced to march many miles across the wilderness and encounter obstacles to be overcome had really been a boon to many of the assembled wizards. It taught them how to function as a unit rather than individuals, as well as giving them a sense of purpose, all of which I’m pretty sure would become increasingly valuable in the coming days.

Maya thanked Hons with a nod and continued, “Healers, once the earth wizards have fixed up appropriate quarters for you, make the wounded comfortable and start unpacking the med kits and other equipment you salvaged from Xarparion. We need to begin setting up for possible action. If we get attacked in the coming days, I do not want to be without a hospital. You’ll find the original infirmary was the white low-roofed building just inside the second curtain wall straight up this main road. I’m not really sure what shape it is in now, but I don’t think it was hit by the siege engines that far inside the walls. Previously, it was well-equipped with clean water, and the entire building was heated by the water from underground, so I would concentrate your efforts there. As for your auxiliaries, the fire, water, and air students assigned to your towers, you can assign them using your discretion, I might suggest some of the more reliable fire wizards be assigned to the guard patrols until we are certain we have full, uncontested control of this fortress.”

Alera nodded eagerly, and Hons looked over from where he was still issuing orders and gave an acknowledging wave. As expected, Alera calmly and efficiently rounded up her second tier supervisors and began making assignments.

This left a large group of confused staff and servants, some of them whole families with children. One of the women whom I recognized as a cook from the school, stepped forward. “Ma’am, what should we do? We have no skills that would help win a war.”

Maya just smiled, “Yes, you do. This place is bigger than it looks and we will need staff to get it up and going again. I ask you just to do the jobs you had when we were still at the academy. If you were a cook, then go down the road behind you and you’ll find the dining hall. I’m not sure what condition it’s in so there may be a lot of work to do there. Be warned that with the earth wizards casting spells all afternoon, they will be hungry. Captain Jarsin will act as supply master and coordinate the functions of those of you who are neither guards nor wizards. If you have any questions, refer to him and he will help you find work.”

Several of them broke off and headed down the road toward the dining hall. Maya gave out jobs to a few others who didn’t seem to fall into a set category, leaving just the Enchanters Hall. Darroth dusted off his hands. “Might as well make myself useful, there’s bound to be a bloody forge around here somewhere! Maybe I can take a look at those fancy ballistae up on the wall and see if I can get a pattern off them. It might be with some new wood and a few repairs, we can get one or two working.”

That was pretty much it, almost everyone heading off to work. I helped Maya down off her rock pedestal and gave her a proud hug. “Well, I guess that leaves…” I started to say, but there was a tug on the cuff of my armor.

“Excuse us, Mister Alex, sir, and Miss Pretty Elf, what about us?” We looked down at two young, slightly scruffy-looking boys who were looking back up at us. The youngest had his arm in a makeshift sling. “We came with our mothers, but we would like to help out if we can; we’re good workers...”

They both looked like they were on the verge of tears. Maya dropped down to a knee and smiled warmly at them. “What were you before coming here then?”

The first one was slightly taller than the other and looked to be a little bit older as well. “We were stable boys, Miss, but with no horses, there is nothing for us to do.”

Smiling even brighter, she wrapped an arm around each of them and turned them around to face the gate area. “I don’t know about you two, but I see two big horses by the gate over there.”

Their eyes widened. “But those are your horses and you are our leaders! We’re just stable boys, that honor is for your squires!”

“Is that so? Well, then look who just got promoted. Take good care of them, they are very special and very smart. Oh, and there are some donkeys around here that will need to be fed and watered, too.” She leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “Just one thing, though; keep the warhorses and the donkeys apart. See, the horses think they’re better than the donkeys, and we have to humor them.”

Astonished, they both nodded with great gravity as if taking every word she spoke to heart. Finally, they tore themselves away from her laughing green eyes, and the older boy led the younger away to get started. Captain Jarsin followed them quickly and explained where the stables were. I had a feeling they would be alright once the Maya effect wore off.

Maya stood back up to her full height and leaned into my shoulder. “Well, as I was saying, I think we should make a sweep of the keep; we might find something useful.”

“
Indeed, from the looks of things, I would say no one ever got past the wall. So it would be safe to say the royal armory should still have some equipment left. There were so few of us left at the end that there was no way we could take all of it, and I doubt the civilians would have touched weapons, either.”

Rosa placed a hand on the twins’ shoulders. “Sounds like a plan; take these two with you. I have to talk to Captain Jarsin about some things, but I’ll join up with you soon.” She smiled brightly and walked off in the opposite direction as the captain, humming as she went.

“I don’t think she could have made it anymore obvious that she is up to something,” said Maya to the nodding approval of the twins and Nia.

“Sometimes, I think she forgets that I can be in her head now.”

Leaping off my shoulder, Nia flew out in front of us with some animation. “Who cares what she is up to? I want to go see what’s inside!” I grinned and seconded that thought; it was good to see Nia returning to a semblance of her normal bubbly personality.

The twins spoke up, their voices mirroring each other as they sometimes did; I found it kind of eerie. “For once, we would have to agree with the pixie. We, too, are very anxious to look around inside. ”

Chapter 6

Maya and I both laughed as we were almost dragged down the road. From the courtyard, the keep was blocked from view by the curtain wall, but once we passed through it, we could finally see the keep in all its splendor. Large, cut-marble steps led up to a ornately arched stone door inset several feet into the walled center of the massive keep. Looking up, we could distinctly see what would have to be the great hall, as well as what looked like a wing on either side. The central wing looked to hold the great hall and must have had at least two floors built over and above even the high ceilings of that large room. As viewed previously, the arched windows skillfully showed off the crafted stained glass in each cove. The other two wings looked exactly alike but only seemed to have two floors. Each of the four corners held a guard tower as well as two very large and very ornate towers at the back of the fortress overlooking the cliffs and the lowlands far down the valley.

“Wow.”

We all stood there for a bit, taking in the sights. Having apparently had enough sightseeing, Dawn grabbed our hands and giggled, much to the dismay of her sister, as she pulled us up the stairs. Once at the top of the steps , Maya and I placed our hands on the door, hoping that it operated like the main gate, and it did so smoothly and with much less noise.

As expected, the door opened majestically into the great hall, but that was about the only thing that we were correct in assuming. Instead of old, rotted tables and spider webs everywhere, the place was sparkling clean! Not only was it clean, but it all looked new. In front of us was a blue carpet that rolled down the center of the hall, flanked on each side by a row of polished marble pillars topped with magic-orbed wall sconces and chandeliers. All that led up to a small landing which split and continued as two serpentine curved flights of stairs. A stained glass window that took up the entire back wall depicted a blue and gold image that was an exact duplicate of the crest on the outside door.

The most prominent feature of the very elegant hall were the two matching thrones that sat on the raised platform between the two stairs. Above the thrones, floated an eight-point spherical object with a lighted core that broadcast a startling star field display onto all the upper walls of the place. The effect was like walking out and looking up into the night sky when the stars were shining their brightest and experiencing the awe of the universe. The thrones themselves were strange, just like you would expect a royal throne to look, expensively decorated and decadent, except for the back. The back of the chair started off very thick at the base and then narrowed to about four inches wide where your shoulders would rest. My only thought was how uncomfortable they would have to be for normal people; but then I suspected there was very little that was normal about this place.

Silently, we all walked forward taking in the elegance of the structure. At the outer edges of the throne room were polished coats of arms with shields and actual swords attached, as if waiting for some valiant knights to rush up and take them down for a final battle. Filling in the wall space between the armor and weapons were various-sized tapestries. Most of the closest ones depicted celestial events; exploding suns, the creation of moons, and comets roaring through space. As otherworldly and incredible as it was, nothing could have prepared us for what we saw next. As we stumbled forward gawking, there were several different scenes that caught my eyes and held them, my mind steadfastly refusing to accept the images they provided. They were scenes of me, of my life! Each tapestry was a startlingly accurate depiction of significant events in my life - my foster parents holding me as a baby, enchanting the cooking pot, entering the walls of Xarparion for the first time, a amazingly accurate depiction of me kissing Maya at the First Day dance. Strangely, in this view, she was accurately portrayed in her dark elf glory and not the persona that Rosa’s magical dress provided. Maya blushed slightly see the artwork and squeezed my hand slightly as we passed. I’m pretty sure I heard Dawn and Dusk utter soft longing sighs as they watched us. The next scene was of Winya and me fighting the vampire in Maya’s burning room. Maya stopped and gazed at that one for a short while as she had been unconscious when it occurred and was seeing the depiction in graphic form for the first time. Moving along, the next tapestry showed me constructing the very armor that I was wearing, sitting cross-legged and forging the breast plate with just my thoughts; it also showed a very distraught dwarf watching in the background. The seventh and final weaving was a graphic depiction of the fall of Xarparion, complete with skeletons, zombies, falling walls and fear-filled faces…no one lingered long at that tapestry.