They trudged the dark empty hallway like the spiders and ants that kept on passing through them. They only had one torch which Qlisaira held. Carysse lost track of the time but she figured they had been cramping in the passageway for more than an hour.
“Are you sure it’s safe to use the torch? The enemy might see us from the outside,” Liblei whispered. Even if they were in front and Carysse was at the back to make sure no one was being left behind, she could hear their conversation because the others were awfully silent.
“No, it’s fine. This hallway has no windows. We are walking through an abandoned section of the castle which only the Adreic family knows. Now I realize that father was right when he said that there will and always will be emergencies like now.” Qlisaira was calm-headed.
“Is this your first time to experience such an emergency, then?” Liblei asked.
“Yes, it is.”
“You’re quite calm. Your father seems to have taught you.”
They turned a corner and the passage was getting smaller and smaller that the tall women in front of Carysse were already crouching. But at least they weren’t complaining.
“Yes, he did. And we will be meeting him in one of the rooms below. It was where I saw the Mahan put him while we were being ushered to the second floor. I just hope he is in a good condition. If worse comes to worse, we can’t rely on your servant girl to bring down all of the enemies. We would need the expertise of my father.”
She had a point. Carysse was only able to reduce five of them. That was nothing if there were more inside and outside the castle.
After walking for a while on a downward slope, Qlisaira stopped.
Carysse thought they saw something in front and she rushed to their direction with her dagger already in her hand.
“Is something wrong?” she asked Liblei.
But it was Qlisaira who answered. “I think this is it.” She tapped on the wall. Dust came off it with that one simple soft knock.
“This is the room where they held my father. All rooms on the first floor have a section of the wall that is easy to destroy which would immediately lead them here in the secret passage. Miss, can you?”
Carysse tapped the wall with her dagger. More dust fell, caking the ground.
“Step back, all of you,” she said and they did, falling a few steps behind to give her space although they were already crowded in that small passage.
Carysse breathed, stretched her leg, turned her body and released her kick on the wall with the momentum gained from twisting her body. The wall easily gave way and crumbled, the women coughing as dust and debris covered their eyes. In Thalisse, this was nothing. Now that she was thinking about it, only now was she appreciating their hard training.
Back then, she actually believed that they were just being abused but thanks to Ashki’s encouragement, she still gritted her teeth while enduring. But now, she was grateful more than ever to those elders who trained them. Sadly, only Elder Shimar was left. The other elders perished in the attack two years ago. When Carysse returns, she will make sure to build them proper graves.
Carysse was not yet done. She went in first with her weapon ready to take on anyone but there was only one man inside. Qlisaira and the others entered, making the torch fill the room and lighting the man sprawled on the ground.
“Father!” Qlisaira cried out, gave the torch to Liblei, and ran straight to Lord Adreic. She put his head on her lap and shook him gently trying to wake him up. The Lord squinted his eyes and groaned before finally opening his eyelids.
“Qlisaira?” he asked softly and Qlisaira breathed a sigh of relief. “How are you here? Where is the enemy?”
“We were able to escape from them. Father, what should we do? Can we hold out?”
The man groggily sat. Upon taking a look at his body, Carysse already knew that they wouldn’t be able to use his expertise in fighting. The man was stripped off his armor. His clothes were ripped, one of his eyes was swollen and there were bruises all over his visible skin. He was beaten horribly.
“The one with the broadsword at his back was their leader and they were with you. If you were able to escape from them, they might already be searching the castle.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Qlisaira said and looked at Carysse. “That servant killed him and the other four that were in the room with us.”
Carysse didn’t know why but Qlisaira sounded like she was accusing her of something. Looks like despite her being calm and bright, she was also scared of Carysse, though Carysse didn’t expect her not to be.
“She saved us,” Liblei quickly added. That was totally unnecessary. Carysse was not looking for any approval. She just knew that she was doing her job and responsibility as she was the only one there who could fight.
Lord Adreic looked at the blood on her drawn dagger and on her hands and clothes. He seemed to be convinced.
“What is your name?” he asked, maybe curious as to how someone small and a servant like her knew how to kill the Mahan.
“Carysse,” she answered. If only Liblei wasn’t there, she would have given a make-up name.
“Well, then, Carysse, since I assume that you know your way with the sword, listen carefully. Lead my daughter and these noble ladies outside of the castle. Continue on to the secret passage down to the basement. My daughter knows the way out. Go to the forest and continue until you are on the main road where the people are. That is the safest route that you can take. We can’t just wait here until the reinforcements come.” He was talking fast but the seriousness in his tone made Carysse admire the lord. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to go with them.
“Father, you will come with us,” Qlisaira insisted, sensing the meaning in his words.
“No, my dear. I don’t know how but they know that I am a commander of the king’s army. The reason why they locked and beat me here is to keep me from calling out to my men or asking for reinforcements. And they come every hour to check on me to make sure I am still here. Once they find out that I am gone, it will do all of us no good,” he said.
“But sir, the wall has already been destroyed. Won’t it be obvious?” Liblei asked. At that, Lord Adreic smiled.
“I didn’t say I was going to pretend like you didn’t come here. They already broke my legs but I can still take them on with my fists. I won’t let anyone pass through me.”
Carysse looked at his feet and saw that they were indeed bent in a different way. Qlisaira was already wiping her tears, realizing the fate of her father.
Carysse heard incoming footsteps and she turned to the direction of the door.
“They’re coming, aren’t they?” Lord Adreic asked. Carysse nodded.
“You don’t have anything to worry about me. I don’t plan on dying. Now go!” Lord Adreic pushed his daughter away. Liblei grabbed Qlisaira by the hand. The other women were quick on their feet and ran towards the hole in the wall. Carysse was the last to walk and before disappearing, she made a gesture of her right hand punching the palm of her left and she bowed.
The lord nodded, acknowledging her salute.
Carysse caught up with the women who were already far away. They seemed agitated to get out of the castle. But then they were stopped when there were two hallways forked in front of them. One led down further while the other went up, as if back to the ground floor.
Qlisaira walked towards the one that led down. Just as the others were about to follow, a horde of bats suddenly rushed towards them, making the women scream. At that point, Carysse knew their location was compromised.
Carysse shouted and grabbed whoever she could towards the hallway that led up. When the bats finally went away, Qlisaira looked at her with her brows raised.
“What do you mean? Father specifically told us that we should go to the basement!”
Just as Carysse was about to respond, somebody answered for them.
“There! Over there!” The voice came from the direction where they came from. How incredulous for her to expect that Lord Adreic could really keep his word in his sorry condition.
“I heard something up there,” another one came from the hallway that led down.
“Oh no,” Liblei whimpered. Carysse took hold of Liblei and Qlisaira and shouted “Hurry! Go up!”
And they ran. Carysse could not tell the women to not keep on shouting while running but she knew that they couldn’t help it. Their feet didn’t stop moving until they were back to the main hallway where they had their supposed-to-be meeting.
“Oh my goodness,” was all Liblei could say. In front of them were the Mahan people in their masks. Their torch died but there were lots of candles and lamps in the hallway so it provided a lot of light. The ones that were chasing after them now surrounded their backs.
The big Mahan man earlier was right. They were only around thirty and Carysse was looking at only twenty.
“Did you really think you could escape? We already knew that there was a passage that would lead you out of the forest. We just didn’t expect that you would be able to escape,” one of them chuckled. “By the way, you did a pretty good job to our leader. I guess it’s about time that we pay back your kindness.”
They grabbed the women and made them sit on the floor.
“Don’t touch me!” one of them shouted but she was just pushed to the ground brutally. Carysse could still do something before they were all killed. She looked towards the big hole in front of them where the giant doors which they bombed once stood. And she saw hope in the skies.
If she could correctly remember, the Mahan’s demands were that the gold should be here before the rising of the sun. Much time has passed since then. And Carysse could feel that it was only a matter of minutes before dawn would break, before they would arrive. She could buy them those minutes. She had this hope that the king not only brought gold but reinforcements as well. He had to or else he will haunt that king with her ghost when she dies.
“Good sirs,” Carysse spoke amidst the thrashing of the noble ladies behind her. “I believe it is I whom you ought to be showing your gratitude.”
They saw her dagger. “So it was you,” one said as he gritted his teeth and approached her.
He wasn’t able to touch her because Carysse raised her weapon swiftly, the man’s hands already severed and dropped to the floor. The man screamed, prompting the others to attack her.
Five came at once. She had to get away from the ladies first or else they would get caught. Carysse ran as if to get out through the large broken door.
“You will not get past us!” shouted the ones that were positioned there. However, Carysse had other plans. She jumped on the wall, confusing them and when she turned around, she let herself fall while spinning wildly with her weapon, instantly slashing at the mob around her.
“Get her! Get her!”
Now she was reassured that all the attention of the Mahan was directed at her. In the corner of her eyes, she saw Liblei and the others taking cover. That was good. She saw Liblei about to go out as if to help her but Qlisaira pulled her back.
Just a few more minutes, Liblei, Carysse said in her mind.
That one second of distraction created a dozen openings for her enemies. She felt a crash on her back. She stumbled on her feet but she quickly moved sideways, missing the huge wood.
“One more enemy,” Carysse whispered to encourage herself. She brought herself back to her knees and was able to cut the belly of another huge man that held the wood. Good thing they weren’t armed with swords although Carysse’s Thalisse silver could hold them off. But Carysse could feel her consciousness going out. She had been hit hard to the core.
She wasn’t aware that she was already weaponless. She didn’t even hear her weapon drop to the ground. She just found out that she was holding nothing and that her dagger was already at her feet.
She saw more masked men about to approach her. She forced her body to pay attention but she felt burned out. She saw wood, iron rods, and knives ready to pierce her body but all of them were blocked by a horse.
Carysse squinted her eyes to make sure. She wasn’t going nuts. A cavalryman showed himself in front of her. She had seen cavalrymen where the riders were donned in full armor from head to toe and that they were armed with spears or bows. But this one just had a breastplate and wielded a sword which parried all attempts of attacking her. His dark blue cape that was trimmed with gold made Carysse assume that he was a prince. More men in golden horses appeared and started to chase the Mahan away.
But when the light of dawn broke through the skies, making the face of the man clear, Carysse thought she was dreaming.
But she recognized the unconventional way he slashed and twirled his sword and she gasped when she confirmed his face.
Carysse felt her legs giving up. The man hopped off his horse and caught Carysse by her waist just in time. He was breathing heavily, like he had been riding the horse for how many hours. Carysse mustered all her voice but only a whisper came out from her lips.
“Chaos.”