Chapter 11
With a loud crash Or'acke and the guard finally broke through the barricaded door, they both tumbled to the ground on the other side with many curses. Standing up quickly Or’acke charged up the corridor to the waiting stairs leading up to the guard chamber. He quickly entered and the guards on the other side came to attention hastily, Or’acke looking very irritated nearly growled at them, “No one has come this way!”
“N-no sir” the nearest guard managed to say in response.
“There are two escaped prisoners on the loose, the stupid elven scout and he has taken with him our newest prisoner the Princess Lunansa!” Or’acke barked at the guards assembled, just then the other guard, who had been with Or’acke during the discovery, came bursting into the room!
“Captain Or’acke, I think the prisoners have escaped to the forbidden zone! The door leading to that area is now open!” he exclaimed to the guard captain.
Or’acke reacted immediately by blowing past the stunned guard and running head long back down the stairs! He made the swift turn at the crossroads and came to a screeching halt as he approached the now closed, but un-barred door in front of him, the door that he himself had placed the bar across those many years before, the door to the only part of their fortress dungeon that they dare not go into. He stared in disbelief, and then began to chuckle to himself.
“If that is where they went, then they can stay there!” the dwarf captain said as his men came storming up behind him. “Bar the door again and then post a guard. Make sure no one comes back through that door!” He said to the gathered guards and then stormed away, for he had to speak to the king and quickly!
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Davkas shrugged when he looked at his arm for he knew that this would be the result of being bitten by the beast. He looked at the Princess and smiled, then said “Well it could be worse, for I could be dead or dying.” He then took her by the hand and lead her away from the stinking corpse and back out to the corridor.
Soon they found there way to a decision point, to keep going straight along the path they were now on, or take a turn to the left, which seemed to be slanting down slightly, they decided to take the path to their left and descend down. The way became steeper still as they continued onward, plus there was moisture in the air around them, they could feel the dampness and hear the constant dripping of water down the rock walls around them. Soon they were starting to hear noises from up ahead of them, something that neither of them could identify.
“I’m not sure what that is Princess.” Davkas said to her over his shoulder as he led them down the tunnel path. The size of the tunnel they were in was roughly 6 or 7 feet across, with the ceiling being around 10 to 12 feet high n most places. Just enough room for something large to be heading their way Davkas thought to himself grimly! But he didn’t say anything like that to the Princess, for he was just determined to get her as far away from the evil dark dwarves as possible.
“Please don’t worry about me Davkas for we need to keep going so that we can find someone to help you with your wound!” the Princess responded to him with a look of concern.
Davkas had all but forgotten about the bite and as he glanced down to look at his arm, to his horror he saw that the color around the bite had grown darker still and now the poison was creeping along towards his shoulder! He knew that it was only a matter of time before he would start feeling the affects and grow too weak to continue on. But for now he just wanted to keep pushing and hope for the best…regardless of what may be ahead of them, he knew they couldn’t go back!
The sounds became even louder now, it was a constant thumping sound, but different, like multiple weapons striking each other or something like that is about all that Davkas could guess at. He just hoped that he wasn’t leading the Princess into even greater danger! The tunnel they were trudging along started to widen, and now up ahead they could see that it was growing visibly brighter, they could actually see some sort of light coming from further on!
“We need to approach cautiously Princess and with great stealth!” Davkas whispered to Princess Lunansa as they grew closer to the source of the light. Davkas started to feel funny however and his head began to spin, he started to stumble, but the Princess caught him before he fell.
“Davkas! What is wrong? It’s the bite from that creature isn’t it?” the Princess asked Davkas as he ended up slumping to the ground. The Princess helped him down and set him up along the wall of the tunnel, she looked at his arm and gasped when she saw how it looked! “It is getting worse Davkas! You need help! What are we going to do?” She all but sobbed in his ear.
It was all the old elf could do to keep his eyes open at the moment. He looked up at the Princess and smiled, “Don’t worry about me my Princess, here you may need this.” He said then handed her the mace from the dead dwarven guard. The Princess reluctantly took the mace and laid it down next to her. She was scared but didn’t want to let Davkas know, so she just smiled back at him and then took his hand n hers and said “Don’t worry about me, friend Davkas. I can take care of myself, you just rest now.” She wasn’t really sure about what to do, yet she knew deep down inside that everything would be alright.
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Or’acke ran as fast as his stubby legs could carry him, straight to King It’tor and his court. He entered the court and came to an abrupt halt, knowing full well that he wasn’t suppose to just run up the King. Or’acke paused as he entered and glance nervously at the court chamberlain, he was an imposing figure and he looked over at the guard captain and motioned for him to wait, then with his eyes turning back to the King he soon knew why.
There on the throne sat the King of the Dhag’arii, King It’tor, son of the recently late Queen Ar’ina. He was speaking to another dark dwarf, the royal mage Tin’ther, so the guard captain quietly moved a little closer so that he could hear what was transpiring.
“If what you say is true, Tin’ther, then this is very serious indeed! I was counting on the artifact to help bolster our offenses against the Kingdom of Lijissa. Without it in our possession it will make it very difficult for us to prevail!” King It’tor said to the mage standing at the front of the dais.
“Yes I agree my King, but we have an advantage if I may remind the King that we have recently captured the daughter of their king!” Tin’ther the mage responded.
“Yes, yes I remember, so we just need to use this to our advantage then and press King Lonthonis to withdraw his troops so that we and our allies can stake our claim to the Misty Mountains like we have always desired. That or his daughter dies a cruel death!” The King laughed wickedly.
Or’acke who had been listening began to fidget, so he went over to the chamberlain and whispered in his ear. Soon the chamberlain’s eyes were widening, and then suddenly he turned from the dwarf captain and hurried towards the throne and the King. When he got to the foot of the dais he stopped and cleared his throat.
The King looked very irritated, then looked at the chamberlain and said, “Yes what is it that you feel the need to interrupt us during this very important discussion?”
“Sire, excuse me sire, but it has just come to my attention that the Princess Lunansa is missing from her cell my Lord!” the visibly shaken chamberlain declared to the King.
“What!” the King cried as he stood up and glared down at the chamberlain who was now actually shaking. “What do you mean missing?” he cried.
“Well Captain Or’acke is here to explain your majesty!” the chamberlain responded to King It’tor. The chamberlain then motioned for the guard captain to approach the throne.
Or’acke walked over to stand in front of the King, he bowed briefly and then stood up straight and true. There wasn’t much that Or’acke feared, except standing in front of his King with bad news, he then went into his speech, “My King just recently this very morning the Princess Lunansa and another prisoner, an elf warrior and spy named Davkas, killed one of the guards and escaped from their cells. I have personally tracked them and have determined that they entered the forbidden zone through one of the barred doorways.”
“The forbidden zone? That’s not good, for you know that we can’t follow them into that area without a massive use of force, which I cannot afford at this time for I am assembling my troops on the surface to prepare for our initial assault.” The King responded to the guard captain, then turning to the mage he added, “What do you think we should do Tin’ther?”
“I believe your majesty that we should close and bar the door, but we should not allow King Brightwater to know his daughter has escaped, we can still use her as leverage. I myself will concentrate on finding the artifact.” Tin’ther replied to the King.
“Yes well that may just work!” the King said, and then turning back to Or’acke he added, “You must go and seal this door they used and leave them to their fate! Do it now Captain Or’acke!”
So with that Or’acke bowed again, then he turned and sprinted back the way that he had come, back through the guard room, with his guards all staring at him and back down to the door where Davkas and Princess Lunansa had used to enter the forbidden zone, where he made sure that the door had been barred again, and he doubled his guard.
The King then turned to Tin’ther the mage and said “Contact our agent in Castitrona it’s time he earned the coins we have sent him.”