Leona chapter 3 [rough draft]
“Follow me!” King Jacob called to Chase after they appeared outside the castle. Chase had taken them to the garden behind the castle. Half of the once great fortress was rubble. In the skies were a dozen of what appeared to be glowing, purple, hot air balloons, some with turrets attached to the bottom, some with baskets and spotlights. Chase followed King Jacob to a broken down door leading into the castle. None of the lights were lit and debris scattered about the hallway. It was silent and still in the castle. They picked their way down the hallway and turned down another. They heard voices as they continued down the hall. King Jacob pulled Chase into a nearby linen closet the size of a small bedroom and looked out the key hole. Two dwarves with rifles in hand and swords at their side turned down the hallway and stopped directly in front of the closet door.
“So much for taking the castle for ourselves, now it’s just a pile of junk!” One said to the other, pushing over a large brick to pull out a tapestry under it.
“We can rebuild it, make it bigger even.”
“Yeah but think of how valuable this would have been if that stupid Khrii hadn’t blown up the place?” The first dwarf handed the ripped tapestry to the other. “Who put him in charge anyways? He didn’t even say anything about the royal family’s treasure!”
“Well, after rounds we can search for the treasury, I’d bet they have enough treasures to build three castles, even bigger than this one!”
“How about this room?” He kicked the door of the closet. “For all we know we could be standing right outside the treasury and not be doing anything about it!” The other dwarf looked at the door for a while, a hungry spark in his eyes, and then shook his head.
“After our rounds, we’ll check this one first.” And he walked off followed by the other. King Jacob slowly opened the door and watched the two dwarves turn the corner.
“Come on.” He said to Chase and led him away from the closet. “We need to get to the throne room.” They passed a stairway leading down. “If I can contact my brother we might be able to do an attack from the inside out.”
“Wait!” Chase said, standing at the top of the stairs. “There are people down there, listen!” They fell silent as King Jacob moved over next to Chase.
“They’re calling for help!”
“I’ll go and help them, you head to the throne room, we need all the help we can get!” They nodded to each other and as Jacob continued down the hall Chase went silently down the steps. He might not have all the power of a Khrii, but he could run at an unbelievable speed, and walk without being heard or even seen, in any environment, and, what he was most proud of, he could fight.
As he approached the bottom of the stairs he heard another voice interrupt the cries for help, a female voice.
“Shut-it! All of you!” He drew a long, thin dagger from its sheath as she spoke. “If you don’t cooperate we might not be so forgiving of your sins! Just be good little prisoners and we’ll let you be our servants instead of statues!” She laughed a cold, wicked, laugh. He turned the corner into the room and saw another Khrii, no older than he. Her hair was long and pulled into a ponytail. She was slightly taller than Leona, but that didn’t exactly say much. She approached the bars which the prisoners were behind. “Now then,” she said, “one of you will tell me where the king went with his little Khrii for a protector or else all of you will die!” Chase saw several people look nervously at each other; there were maids, servants, chefs and anybody else who worked in the castle and happened to get caught. “Any volunteers?” She asked. Chase walked up behind her and grabbed her with his blade straight across her throat.
“Sorry” he said, “if I interrupted anything.”
“Oh contraire,” she said before flickering out of his grasp. “So glad you could join us.” Her voice came from behind. He moved before she could land a killing spell and sliced the back of her arm with his dagger. She was too powerful for him, he could sense it, but he was too fast for her. She spun around and sent a violent wave of magic towards him. He ran around and before she could find where he went he made for a stab but she sensed him just as Leona had sensed the snipers. She leapt aside and swiped at his head with a flaming hand but missed by inches. The smell of burnt hair was in the air and Chase had vanished. “Ha!” She called. “You’re good, no doubt about that, your just not good enough!” She sent a bolt of pink magic apparently at the wall and Chase immediately became visible again. He was on the ground, clutching his left arm which was bleeding freely. “Now,” she said, “time to finish you. Adieu, mon ami!” She raised her arm into the air and brought it down. Green flames flew towards him. He squeezed his eyes shut, preparing for the worst, but it never came. He heard an angry yell from this unknown Khrii and opened his eyes. Leona’s father was standing over Chase; he had blocked the blast with a shield of magic. The prison doors were swinging open. Sam was now crouching near Chase. The Khrii looked around her, she could kill all of them but then they’d never find out where the king went. “You win this time.” She sneered and vanished.
Sam had ripped off Chase’s sleeve in order to see the wound. It was a deep gash going from his shoulder to the back of his elbow.
“Hang in there, Chase.” Sam’s deep voice spoke as he swiftly took off his apron and tore the wide ties off.
“Chase,” Dave asked, “have you seen Leona?”
“Yeah,” Chase winced as Sam wrapped the ties around his upper arm. “She’s okay, a little beat up but, alive.” He spoke through gritted teeth.
“Oh thank goodness,” Dave sighed, messaging his forehead with thumb and forefinger.
“How’s that feel?” Sam asked after finishing tying it off. He then went on to rip a large portion of cloth from his apron.
“Man it hurts!” He said, letting his head fall back and hit the wall he was leaning against.
“Here,” Sam gently took his arm, “you should have a sling. This is the best I can do for you I’m afraid, I don’t exactly have the correct medical equipment to be doing this kind of thing, if I did you’d have stitches.”
“I can’t fight with my right hand.” Chase said as Dave helped him to his feet.
“Hopefully you won’ have to.” He had the same eyes as Leona. The others that were being held captive had all come out and seemed to be waiting for one of them to take charge; there were about twenty of them overall. “What are you doing here?”
“I brought the king, Leona’s with the queen and princess taking them to the secret base.”
“You brought the king here? There are guards all over the place who’ll kill him on sight!”
“Yeah but he said that he needs to go to the throne room to contact his brother for some help. We’re headed to the base afterwards as well.”
“I’ll come with you. Sam, could you help get everybody out of here?”
“Of course. All right everybody, there’s a backdoor to the gardens not far from here, just stay together and keep quiet, that Khrii would’ve alerted somebody by now.” As everybody began climbing the stairs Sam turned to Dave. “Keep safe.”
“You too.” As Sam left with the others, Dave went back into the small cell, never used before now but kept mostly incase they need to keep someone locked up until the proper authorities arrive. He went to the very back corner and brushed aside some dirt. He came back with a small, silver key in his hand. “I managed to get this off of her while she was forcing everybody into the cell, I’m not sure what it’s for, but I imagine it’ll come in handy sooner or later. Can you still run okay?”
“Yeah, I think so. I’m a little weak but,” he shrugged his right shoulder, “I’ll be fine.”
“Do you know the way?”
“I…can’t say that I do, no.”
“Okay, you run and I’ll steer?”
“Sounds good.” Which is what they did. They went through the castle, unseen by the many guards which slowly increased in number. They were just beginning to wonder how King Jacob managed to get by when they reached the throne room. The female Khrii was standing outside the door trying to explain to the guards what had happened. Dwarves were never for equal rights among men and women and it seemed they were having a hard time trying to follow her orders. As her frustration rose Chase and Dave took their chance and went through the slightly opened doors. The room they entered was massive to say the least, extending in each direction with several pillars all throughout. They saw to the right a small room surrounded by curtains and from underneath was a deep green glow. They canceled the invisibility spell as they could both sense King Jacob was the only one behind the curtains. They went around and entered the small room. Jacob was standing with his back turned to them and his hands on a large, green crystal ball. His head was down causing his blonde hair to partly cover his face. Chase moved to talk to him but Dave caught him before he could, shaking his head. After looking at the king again, Chase sat down in one of the chairs scattered about the room.
Several minutes passed and nothing happened. Chase was growing restless and Dave was getting rather nervous, they shouldn’t be staying this long. Finally King Jacob lifted his head and looked around at them.
“We are to go to the city.” He said. “You must be Leona’s father, Dave. Call me Jake.” They shook hands briefly before Jake turned his gaze to Chase. “What happened?” he asked, “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I got into a little fight with another Khrii, a girl about mine and Leona’s age. I can’t fight with my right hand, but Dave is more powerful than I, so I’m sure we’ll be fine.” Suddenly they heard a bang and click from behind the curtain; it was the unmistakable sound if the large doors being shut and locked. They rushed out from the small room and over to the door. Dave placed his hand to the door and Jake realized where Leona learned that trick.
“They’re leaving.” Dave said. “The corridor is completely empty.”
“But why would they leave?” Chase asked.
“They wouldn’t,” Jake answered. “They know we’re here. It’s a trap!” no sooner had he said this that they heard the same, vicious laugh as before, the Khrii.
“Of course it’s a trap, did you expect anything else?” She said as she appeared twenty feet behind them. “Really,” she sighed, “I would have expected more from you. Now, I’ve got my three least favorite people standing hopelessly in front of me, hmm, whatever shall I do?” With one swift movement of her hands they were all thrown across the room in separate directions. She appeared in front of Chase. “I’ll take care of you first, mon ami.”
“Beau essayer,” he said as he vanished. “Mais il faut travailler sur votre français.” He appeared behind her and made to trip her. “Je ne suis pas votre ami.” She dodged him and attempted to slash at his face with her own nails. “Désolé de vous décevoir.” She was frustrated and let her guard down, just what he was waiting for her to do, after all, he’s been speaking French since he was born. He grabbed her arm with his right hand and twisted down and around so fast that she did a flip before even realizing what was going on. She slammed hard onto the ground and had obviously hit her head hard enough to knock her unconscious. Chase fell into a sitting position almost immediately, after losing so much blood and then using that much energy he was ready for a break, unfortunately this was no place to nap. Dave had been on his way to help in the fight but Chase finished it so quickly that there was nothing to do. He turned to King Jacob to find him lying on the ground about fifteen feet away. He rushed over to Jake as Chase recovered.
“Change of plans,” Jake said, sitting up with the help of Dave. “They’re in trouble.”
“Who’re in trouble?”
“Karolyn, Ann, your daughter,”
“Leona…”
Jake rubbed his head, slightly dazed; “there’s something wrong, I’m not sure what, I just...I can feel it. We have to go.”
“What do we do with her?” Chase called from where he was sitting. “It may sound strange, but I kind of have a thing against killing people when they’re defenseless.”
“No, you’re right. Dave, Leona said there was a spell to keep enemies out, is there one to keep them in?”
“Yes, it’s often used in jails but, since she’s a Khrii, I can’t guarantee how long it will last.”
“Let’s keep her in here for now then.”
Chase had gotten up and was standing by the door. He inspected the keyhole for a second before taking something small and thin out of his pocket. He stuck it in the hole and awkwardly fumbled with it in his right hand as the king and Leona’s father walked over to him.
“Hang on.” He said. “Almost got it…” there was a click and he stuck it back in his pocket.
“Chase,” King Jake said, “I need you to get us out of the castle and I need you to go to the city. Find somebody in charge and tell them that my brother, King Malik of the city Theran, is bringing his army to help. It may be a few days but they will arrive as soon as possible. Until then they must hold their ground, we cannot defeat this enemy without help.”
“Right,” Chase nodded and opened the door. They all stepped out and then turned and closed it again. As Chase and King Jake stepped back Dave put both his hands on the door, one hand on each door, and closed his eyes. A moment later and he backed away as well, watching as a purple ripple went over the door and then vanished. Chase held out his hand to Dave who in turn held out his to Jake. Anybody watching would’ve seen three people standing for a moment, all bruised and tired, and then vanish.
Leona is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.