Chapter Four
“Wake up,” a voice said. “Wake up, Rudlin.” The voice sounded familiar. I opened my eyes and realized that it was Averna.
“Why are you here?” I asked sitting up. My head hurt. “What happened?”
“I have been looking for you,” she said.
“How did you find us?” I asked.
“Us? Who else was with you?” she asked, looking around.
“Ector and Cloud,” I said. “Aren’t they here?”
“Nope; I looked all over around here,” she said. I quickly got up. I reached for my sword, but it was gone.
“They must have been kidnapped,” I observed. “We have to find them.”
“How are we going to find them?” she asked. I pointed at the foot prints heading into the forest.
“We follow the tracks,” I said. That’s exactly what we did.
The tracks led to a cave deep in the forest. As we neared the cave I grabbed a branch as a weapon. We walked into the cave and continued following the tracks until they stopped at a wall.
“It must be a secret door,” I whispered to Averna. “There has to be a way to open it.”
I felt along the wall, hoping to feel something to press.
“Rudlin, look at this,” she whispered, pointing at a lever on the wall. I walked over to it and pulled it. I heard gears turning, and then the floor gave way and we fell down into the darkness.
I opened my eyes.
“Where am I?” I asked.
“You are in the Denaria castle dungeon,” a voice said.
“Who are you?” I asked. It was too dark to tell.
“Rudlin focus. It’s me, Cloud,” the voice said.
“Cloud?” I asked.
“Yeah, your friend from Avalon,” the voice said. I couldn’t keep my eyes opened any more. I fell asleep again.
I woke up again and saw Cloud standing behind some bars.
“Cloud what are you doing behind those bars?” I asked him.
“Finally you’re back!” he exclaimed.
“Back from where?” I asked.
“Nowhere, you just were kind of unconscious for a while,” he said.
“Oh… where are we?” I asked.
“In Denaria’s dungeon,” he said.
“What? How?” I demanded.
“Me and Ector were kidnapped, and you and Averna where brought here after you fell in the trap,” he explained.
“We have to escape,” I said.
“I know,” he said. “The real evil is not in this castle.”
“I thought that the real evil was Morcant,” I said, Morcant Denaria's king.
“Nope it’s actually”- he was cut off by some one who came down the steps. He opened my cell door and put chains on me.
“Come on you. It’s time for the beating. Ha ha ha!” He had an evil laugh. He pulled me out of the cell and started bringing me up the stairs.
“Rudlin, run!” Cloud shouted. I pulled away from the evil guard and ran up the stairs.
As I ran through the castle, the guards tried to stop me. They never did though. Just as I was about to run through the gate, someone ran into me.
“Rudlin!” Ector exclaimed. “How did you escape?”
“I’ll tell you later,” I said.
We kept running out of the castle. We ran about two miles away, and then we stopped.
“So huff how did you huff escape?” he asked again, catching his breath.
“Well I ended up in the cell next to Cloud and when the guard opened the door, I escaped,” I explained. “How did you escape?”
“It was about the same for both of us,” he said.
“We have to think of a way to get Cloud and Averna out of there,” I said.
“You’re right, but we can’t just walk in there and open their cells and walk out of there without being noticed,” he said.
“That’s right what are we going to do,” I said.
“We have to get our hands on a good cover to be hidden from the guards,” he said.
“Let’s find some then,” I said.
I was a bit nerves when we walked up to the guard in front of the gate in our trading uniforms.
“Halt!” the guard commanded. “What is your business here?”
“Trading and selling items from countries around here,” I said.
“OK you may pass in peace,” He said.
“Thank you sir,” Ector said. Then we passed by him into the castle.
Once inside I said to Ector. “You go and trade and try to get some weapons.”
“OK, you go and free Cloud and Averna,” he said.
“OK, I will be back soon,” I said as I went down in the direction of the dungeon.
As I creped quietly down the steps my heart was thumping in my chest. When I finally reached the bottom I looked around. I saw two different ways to go. I decided to go right, because, after all, I am right handed. I started down the hall and was about a hundred steps into the hall when I heard voices. As the voices got closer, I decided on what to do.
“What is you business down here?” one of the men asked.
“Well, I have come down here to see what prisoners you have to trade for slaves,” I said.
“I can show you our prisoners if you would like,” the other man said.
“Yes, I would love for you to show me them,” I said.
“Follow me then,” he said, and he led me down the hall.
Stay tuned for chapter five and don't forget to upvote and follow.
(Photo of Denaria castle at night)
