Kastali Dun

Saffra shifted the basket she carried, readjusting the cloth that disguised its contents. Hidden within was a generous selection of dainties and a rare bottle of wine. Today was a rest day. The afternoon sun was high in the sky, bringing many out of doors. She passed sunbathers in various courtyards, each enjoying time away from monotonous duties.

As she ventured through the keep, she smiled. Soon she would be relishing in the company of friends, enjoying the finer aspects of life. She was growing to love Claire and Desaree's company. They were slowly filling the hole that Cyrus left in her heart; she was healing. Better still, in eight weeks she would be married to the man she loved. The king himself was to marry them in the throne room. She thought of all the plans to be made, and of her gown, which still needed designing. There was so much to do! That was the reason for her basket of goodies: this afternoon, they were to begin wedding plans.

It was almost difficult to believe that somewhere on the fringes of Dragonwall, an evil Asarlaí lurked, intent upon destroying the kingdom. The harrowing fact was always present in Saffra's mind. She had made it her job to help in whatever way possible, to prepare Claire for what she would one day face (whenever that might be). But during times like these, when her happiness freely overflowed, she struggled to believe reality.

Claire's quarters were in the Hall of Kings, two stories above hers. The Hall of Kings occupied the top floor of the southernmost wing of the keep. These rooms were reserved for royalty, distinguished guests, the king's Shields, and the people who served them.

Saffra knocked at Claire's door and heard a giggle from within. Desaree's face appeared, flushed with excitement. "Come quickly!" Desaree whispered, glancing out into the corridor both ways. "We have something to tell you."

She rushed in, depositing her basket upon a nearby table. The first thing she noticed was that both Claire and Desaree were beside themselves with excitement. "You are not going to believe this," Claire said, rushing over.

Saffra's brow furrowed as she looked between both women. "What is it?"

"I think it's best if we show her," Claire said, glancing at Desaree for confirmation. Wicked grins spread across their faces.

"Show me what?"

"Come here." Claire took Saffra's arm and led her to a wall near the fireplace. Desaree pulled back the wall's covering.

For several moments Saffra stared at the castle wall, eyeing the stonework with a frown. "I am afraid I do not understand the fuss, perhaps I have missed some joke?" She looked at Claire and Desaree, waiting for an answer.

Claire's grin turned triumphant as she cried, "Hinga!"

Saffra recognized a familiar power seeping through the air. A loud grinding noise alarmed her. She jumped backwards with a yelp as the patch of wall before her disappeared into the darkness. All that was left was a gaping, square hole. She opened her mouth several times but could find no words to fill her breathlessness.

Desaree giggled. "Impressive, huh? A secret passageway! Claire showed me earlier. She found it last night. I still cannot understand why you did not fetch me, Claire. There could have been something dangerous inside."

"And could you have protected me?" Claire's teasing tone was gentle.

"Well...no. But that is beside the point."

"You have been inside, then?" Saffra asked, turning to look at both Claire and Desaree. "You have seen what lies within?"

Claire nodded. "I spent hours down there last night. I got lost, actually. When I finally found my way out, I found myself in none other than Lord Glover's chambers!"

"Lord Glover's?" Saffra glanced between them. "And you did not get caught?"

"Ha! He was snoring way too loud to hear me." Claire did an impression that sounded more like a congested pig.

They all started laughing until Saffra's worry was forgotten. "Well, it was a close call; I am glad you weren't discovered." She turned from Claire to Desaree and asked, "Have you been inside too?"

"No!" Desaree crossed her arms in feigned frustration. "I wanted Claire to show me, but she said we had to wait for you."

Saffra smiled gleefully and glanced back at the entryway. "I can hardly believe it," she whispered, more to herself than the others. "The entire time I have lived here...I never knew."

Saffra's wedding plans were forgotten. The mere fact that a network of secret passages could lay disguised within the Great Keep consumed her with curiosity. How many passages were there? Did her living quarters have a secret door too?

Claire broke the silence by asking, "Do you think anyone else knows about this?"

Saffra turned to her. "If they do, they have kept the secret well."

"Des said the same thing." Claire's eyes danced. "I suppose that's why they're secret. But, enough talk! Shall we?" She held forth a lamp, illuminating the blackened doorway before plunging herself into the darkness. Saffra and Desaree exchanged a final glance before following.

The stairway was narrow, forcing them to go one before the other. When they reached the bottom, they found themselves in a small chamber with three different hallways leading away into darkness. "I think we need more light," Saffra said, examining the little room. "Dagar," she muttered, holding her hand forward. A silvery orb appeared, lighting the room more brilliantly than the lamp. She released it to follow in their wake.

The room was rather plain, and seemingly forgotten in time, evidenced by the thick layer of dust on the ground. Saffra thought of all the critters that might live in a place like this and shuddered. A little squeak caught her attention, faint like a mouse's. Perhaps she had imagined it. Still, she glanced about the shadowy corners looking for a pair of eyes. What was this place?

A musky scent permeated the air. Saffra inhaled deeply, as if trying to glean answers through smell alone.

Before long, Claire explained that she had taken the middle hallway option, which had led her on an adventure. "If you follow it long enough, you'll find yourself in a maze of passages. That's when I got lost."

"You did not think to follow your own footsteps?" Desaree asked. Saffra grinned, amused as Claire's eyes widened then narrowed. Clearly, she had not thought of it. "It is okay," Desaree said all too quickly. "I probably would not have thought to either. My excitement would have been too much." Then she added, "Perhaps we should take one of the other hallways?"

In the end they decided to take the hallway on the right. They stuck to their path, following its twists and turns. Sometimes there was a stairwell up or down. Some of the stairwells spiraled while others were straight. A few went down so far that they dared not take them all the way.

As they progressed, they spoke in whispers. It felt like the right thing to do in such a place. Sometimes the lack of noise created a suffocating silence that pressed in on them. Other times, they heard voices on the opposite side of the walls. One could hear entire conversations in this way.

"What is that light?!" Desaree cried, bringing their little group to a stop. By this time, they had wandered for at least an hour.

"I see it too," Saffra said.

Up ahead there was a faint green glow as little patterns of light danced upon the floor at the end the narrow passageway. With no room for fear, the three of them rushed forward. They came to a small room—the oddest chamber imaginable.

"It looks like a shrine," Claire said, who was the first to speak.

The room was circular, indicating that it might lay hidden within one of the many turrets of the Great Keep. It also had a high, pointed ceiling. There were no other visible entrances besides the one they came through.

Saffra agreed with Claire; the room looked like a long-forgotten shrine. There were four pews facing the front, which was differentiated by a large, stained glass window set into the wall.

"Well, that explains the dancing light," said Claire. "Do you think anyone still comes here?" There was obvious amazement in her voice.

"I...I don't think so," Saffra whispered, moving forward in awe. There was no dust in this room, as if protected by the ravages of time.

Glowing, green light emanated from the stained-glass mural towering above them. Its brilliant colors looked as though they had been freshly stained. The panes made up an image of a majestic, lordly tree. There were pin pricks of light fluttering and dancing about it, as if in celebration. Simply looking upon the art left Saffra feeling warm and happy inside, creating a desire to linger and admire.

Together, they sat down shoulder-to-shoulder in the nearest pew. As they gazed upon it, several of the branches moved, swaying as if caught by invisible wind. The panes of glass danced and rearranged themselves, creating a light show upon the walls.

"Did it just..." Desaree failed to finish her sentence.

"It did," Claire said, sounding just as awed.

"How?" Saffra asked.

Claire spoke, "You know, now that I see it, I know exactly what this reminds me of!" She smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand. "I should have realized it sooner. I think it's a special tree in the Gable forest, don't you?"

Neither Desaree nor Saffra could confirm Claire's suspicions, for neither had been to the Gable Forest. At length, Saffra said, "I suppose it would make sense. Queen Isabella was responsible for much of the magic in this castle. Perhaps she built this room as a way to remember her home, as a way to reflect?"

"I bet you're right," said Claire.

They fell silent. It was hard to talk in a place so awe-inspiring without first paying it proper respect. After a while, they spent a good deal of time speculating over the purpose for the mysterious chamber. As they did, they watched the branches on the window-tree dance and wave.

"Shall we go back?" Desaree said at last, when the light behind the window had faded. The window had taken on a bluish glow.

They left in good spirits, feeling renewed and rejuvenated. There was strange magic in the castle, of that Saffra was sure. As they made their way, they talked and joked, discussing how surprising the turn of events had become. They returned the way they had come, trying to closely follow their footsteps in the dust. This was fine at first, but soon they realized that they had been following another, much older set of footprints.

"We're lost!" Desaree cried, allowing her frustration to show at last. "We are not even following our own footsteps anymore. See? Those are boots."

"I guess we know that others have used this place," Claire said. "I hope we don't run into them."

"These footprints could be thousands of years old," Saffra pointed out. "Now, is there a trick to getting out?" Her voice was shriller than intended.

"Surely we are close," Desaree added.

"I think there is a way," Claire said. "Let me try something." She stopped and placed her palm upon the wall beside her. For a moment, all was silent. Then her face broke into a radiant smile. "We are close. I am quite certain."

"Which way?" Desaree and Saffra whispered.

"A door—just above. Not far from us," Claire said before opening her eyes. She glanced around then nodded. "Up the stairs ahead on our right. This way."

They followed Claire forward and then up a staircase that ended at a closed door. Claire placed her hand upon another stretch of wall. There she commanded the unseen door to open. They were greeted by darkness. After waiting for several minutes, they each stepped through. Their arrival illuminated what looked like a private accommodation.

"Whose room is this, do you reckon?" Claire asked. "It seems familiar, but I can't explain why...There's warmth..."

"It looks quite nice," said Desaree, squinting to see better in the dimly illuminated space. "I have never cleaned this accommodation before."

Saffra faltered, sending her orb of light higher, bathing the entire room in illumination. Her shoulders tensed; she recognized this space. She had been here once when she was much younger. There was no mistaking the painting above the fireplace—that of three large Drengr breathing flame upon an ice giant. "We should leave," she whispered. "We should leave now."

"What is it, Saffra?" Desaree turned to her with frightened eyes.

Claire was the only one who did not respond. She stood motionless, a strange look of recognition upon her face. Then she stepped away from the others and gravitated towards the painting.

Saffra cleared her throat and turned to answer Desaree, wetting her lips before she spoke, "This—this room belonged to Cyrus. I think we should leave at once. The pain of his loss is still too heavy." Her chest recoiled, and she tensed in response.

"Of course, as you wish." Desaree grabbed Claire's arm and they fled at once, returning to Claire's quarters. After they calmed down, which took quite a while, they did what they had initially planned to do: Saffra's wedding preparations.

The excitement of discovering the secret passages continued over the next several days. Each day they explored more of the tunnels and narrow hallways. They familiarized themselves with the doors they might use as exits and entrances, which was especially important.

Saffra's eyes were now trained on the walls of the keep no matter where she went. She looked for seams—cracks in the stonework that might suggest hidden doors. Each time she found one, she investigated it. The others did the same as they went about their day-to-day activities. Desaree was the only one who couldn't open the doors she found, so she relayed her information to Claire and Saffra whenever she did.

True excitement struck when Claire found a way into the king's tower. She was overcome with excitement as she explained the chain of events. "I was traveling from my room," she said, speaking rapidly, "and I knew the left-most corridor at the bottom of the stairs ought to go beneath the Hall of Kings. We had already evaluated the other two. So, I followed it. What did I find, you might wonder?" At this, she smirked. "I found none other than a door into a private parlor! You will never guess who it belongs to."

"The king?!"

"Yes!" Claire's face radiated with mischief. "Well, no! But technically, yes. What I mean is, I do not think he uses it. There are other rooms in the tower—a lot of other rooms. I had no idea until I found them...Anyway, I think this one belonged to his mother. It is a queen's parlor, a place for the queen to entertain her handmaidens, ladies of the court. The furnishings were feminine."

"Oh!" Desaree clapped her hands together, a look of longing written upon her features. "I should dearly love to see it."

"How did you slip past the tower's guards?" Saffra was worried. Claire could have gotten in a great deal of trouble sneaking around.

"I was lucky," Claire said, acknowledging the danger of her actions.

They had started a collection of sketched maps detailing where they believed certain passages led. They kept these locked away in Claire's writing desk. After Claire found the king's tower, she picked through the leaves of parchment to present a freshly drawn map. It wasn't easy drawing these maps. They had to create them from memory and combine them with a significant amount of extrapolation. The extrapolating often got them in trouble, but it was worth it. They discovered a number of different chambers such as living accommodations, storerooms, and parlors, all integrated into the network of secret passageways.

"Soon, we will know the castle inside and out," Claire said, an odd gleam to her eyes.

"Perhaps one day our knowledge will come in handy," Saffra added, hoping it was so.

Three days after discovering the passages, Saffra decided that they were becoming experts at locating secret doors. "I found another today." Her voice was proud when she said this to Claire and Desaree. They happened to be sitting out on Claire's balcony, gazing at the sea beyond. "I found it beside the coat of armor near the royal library, just this morning." As she spoke, her gaze followed a small colony of seagulls that had taken flight from the rocks below. They often roosted in the cliffside beneath the keep.

The storm from earlier that week had long since departed, taking its clouds and leaving behind a brilliant, blue sky. With its departure, the first days of fall were particularly warm. Fortunately, the sun was nearing the horizon, offering a spectacular sunset for their amusement.

The three of them sat sharing a bottle of wine, celebrating their superior knowledge of the keep's secrets. While they had spent some time planning for Saffra's wedding, their plans had quickly given way to more conversations about the secret passages.

"We should sneak over to the library later tonight and see where your door leads." Desaree practically bounced up and down in her seat.

"Oh yes, let's," Claire said, nodding and smiling as she sipped her wine.

"Why not?" Saffra shrugged. "I, for one..." She trailed off, forgetting what she was about to say; a strange feeling came over her—strange but familiar. The ocean faded from view, darkening at the edges of her vision as if the sunset had come early. "Oh no!" she whispered. She was plunged into darkness. The blackness engulfed her. In those last moments, she felt her wineglass slip from her hands. She heard shattering glass, and then nothing as she was plunged unwillingly into a vision.

The blackness cleared, giving way to twilight. Saffra gazed upon the world beneath her. The Great Keep of Kastali Dun towered above its city. How spectacular it looked from the sky. Like a pendant of a million diamonds, it glittered in the darkness. She looked up at the sky again; there she saw a thin crescent moon rising, but still low upon the horizon. Her heart tightened in fear as a score of black shapes soared across her line of sight. These were cloaked in shadow and smoke, flying without wings as they made their way across the sky. It couldn't be! These were creatures of terror, and they were heading straight for the keep, oozing evil and malcontent. They had come for one thing...a single purpose...

Saffra gasped, coughing and nearly choking as she opened her eyes. She felt comforting hands present themselves against her face. "There now," a voice said.

"It must have been one of her visions," another voice whispered.

"I think you're right," said the first. "Saffra?"

"Claire?" Her mind was foggy as she came back. Claire's worried face gazed down at her. "I—I must have fallen from my chair," she mumbled.

"Are you okay?" Desaree bent down to look at her, feeling her forehead as Claire helped her to her feet. When she did not answer, Desaree spoke again, "I think she has taken ill. Shall I send for the healer?"

"No, not yet. Saffra? Was it a vision?"

"Y—yes," Saffra croaked. "A most horrid vision." They helped her regain her chair.

"Might I get you some water?" Desaree asked, bustling about.

"Yes, water would be welcome." Saffra felt flushed. Her hands shook violently, so she tucked them in her lap, trying to hold still.

Desaree scurried away, back into Claire's room.

"What did you see?" Claire whispered; her voice was colored with worry.

"I saw them..." Saffra hissed. "The Vodar."

Claire sucked in a sharp breath, "No! You—you're sure?"

"I am certain. They were here—here at the keep. But...how silly. Why would they be here?" Saffra looked out over the sea. The sun was nearly beneath the horizon now. The moon had not yet come up.

"I...I don't know? Maybe Kane...?"

"Your water, Saffra." Desaree returned, handing Saffra a cup of water. She then resumed her seat.

"Thank you." Saffra took a long drink. The water settled into the pit of her stomach like rocks. Something was wrong. Even though the vision had ended, her insides churned. Her instincts were driving her into fear.

"What else did you see?" Claire asked. Her voice wavered.

"I saw them flying straight here. They were—" Her eyes widened. "Gods above! What moon is it tonight?" She looked at Desaree.

"Tonight? It has not yet risen—but a crescent. The new moon was not but six days ago."

Saffra jumped to her feet. Claire and Desaree gave startled cries. "They are coming!" Saffra hissed as terror seeped into her chest.

"What?" Claire shrieked, also jumping to her feet in alarm.

"We must warn the others." Saffra grabbed their arms, pulling them back into Claire's chambers.

Both Claire and Desaree bombarded her with frightened inquires. "Who is coming? The Vodar?" they shouted. "What is going on?"

"Yes! The Vodar," Saffra cried. "The Vodar are coming for the Stones." Without another word, the three of them raced through Claire's chambers and burst into the Hall of Kings. The keep had to be warned!

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