The Stone Sorceress

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The decayed fortress was all but waiting for a final gust of wind to blow away what remained of it: the ramparts had crumbled, and were covered in ivy; the timber on the portcullis and gates was rotten; and all the structures within the walls had been raised to the ground. Aurora imagined that she could hear the banshee's cry while she was walking through the rubble; her hair stood on end against a rotting fort.

Eros, Typhon and Sabriel led the party on; Astraea customarily skulked at the rear. They moved through the ruin, until at last they came to what was formerly the captain of the guards' chamber. The exterior wall was undamaged, the oak door looked worn but still functioning, and all the panes of glass were still in the windows. Then the princess screamed.

"What was that for your highness?" Sabriel said, "There is nothing here but ourselves."

"I saw someone looking at us from the window."

Eros looked in the direction that Aurora pointed, but there was nobody there. Then he felt a foreboding in the air. He moved his sword hand closer to his weapon. It was a feeling that had swept through the whole party. They all felt that danger was imminent. In the courtyard, surrounded by crumbling ramparts, and a captain's keep, they readied themselves for combat. When they realised what the great creaking noise that reverberated around the courtyard was, they had already been swallowed by it.

"Queen Vega will come!" Aurora said looking around the pit which they had all fallen into.

"There's no ghost," Astraea scorned while she got to her feet.

Daylight poured in through the trapdoor before it closed, and the only light they had was a flickering torch mounted on the granite wall.

"You're captured," an aristocratic voice, said, "I will ask you questions. Know that your survival is dependant upon how satisfactorily I deem your answers to be." The tenor of the voice was elderly, and it contained a mixture of madness and play. It swept in through a grating at the far end of the dungeon.

The voice queried in its eccentric tone, "Who are you?"

"We're soldiers of Hyperion, and Lemuria."

The mysterious voice feigned alarm, "Soldiers! What business could soldiers possibly have here?"

"We come seeking information."

"Information about?"

"Ancient stones containing potent sorcery."

A prolonged silence followed. Eros looked at the others, fearful that he'd strayed into error.

"None but the vita obscura know of the sorceress's stones." More silence. "The truth is you are of their order and have come here to assassinate me. It's true isn't it?"

The old man had a certain finality in his voice, which Eros sensed.

"I don't know who I am addressing, but recently a man retrieved Uroboros, he pulled a stone from a mad king's skeleton, and raided the Temple of Kafka. It was there we encountered him, and he mentioned the sorceress's stones. We are of Hyperion, and Lemuria charged by our king, Ixion III, to seek out this crusader, and to arrest him."

The old man didn't respond.

"We don't know who he is, or what his designs are. We don't know of ancient lore, and seek out someone who does. We are no threat to you unless you are the unknown that we pursue."

Once more silence descended, and there remained. At last the grating of metal sounded, the bars receded, and passage could be gained to where the voice had originated from.