Nethermost Realm: Prisoner of Arlunn

Chapter 48

Please note: I am updating this draft of The Prisoner of Arlunn. The most important change is that the main character's name has been changed from Philip to Rian.

48

With Arryk resting after his failed attempt to see the Infinite inside the paravescea, Rian and Quince went downstairs. Rhana joined them.

"You got him out?" she asked.

"Yes," said Rian. She nodded. Quince summoned some bread and water for Rian, who was still exhausted from his efforts to rescue Arryk. The group waited silently. Rian went ahead and ate.

Soon Braejeunné came down and joined them.

"Is he all right?" asked Rhana.

"He seems to be," said Braejeunné. The others relaxed some at this news.

"Now that we have nearly unlimited energy," said Quince, "we should go through and tighten our defenses."

"And," said Rhana with a grin, "we need to redecorate!" This drew a smile from Braejeunné and the two walked off talking about color schemes.

Quince stared at Rian. "I guess it's just you and me, then."

For over a month, Rian had been a prisoner at this fortress, being held by Arryk,who wanted to win the Challenge. Rian noticed that they didn't put him back in his cell.

Rian followed Quince and began the long, laborious process of shoring up the walls with protective spells—one of which would prevent them from being dispelled again, which seemed a wise precaution considering the past.

The spell for this was a simple low-level spell that wasn't difficult to learn, however; it involved a much more complicated spell where they set an energy point every 10 to 12 feet along the wall which drew power from the paravescea to power the protective spells.

They spent hours on this tedious work. Meanwhile, Rhana and Braejeunné added beautiful carpets, decorative wall paint, more fireplaces and chandeliers. They seemed to be going with a black, burgundy, and gold theme. Once they finished with that, they started a whole new wing to the fortress—a huge formal dinning room as big as the rest of the fortress combined. Past that, they began a tower even larger and higher than the paravescea tower.

"Great, more walls that need protective spells," muttered Quince to Rian, but he said nothing to the girls.

In the early evening, Arryk come downstairs to survey the activity. Even though he'd rested, he still looked pale and gaunt. Braejeunné saw him and came over.

"Do you feel any better?" she asked him.

"Yes," said Arryk vaguely.

"Rhana and I want to have a big banquet tonight. I want to invite Azure and Barris."

Arryk gave a slight nod. "Fine."

Happy, Braejeunné flitted off to find Rhana. Both of them left to find Azure, leaving the fortress additions half finished.

Meanwhile, Arryk spent a half an hour carefully inspecting their protection spells.

"So?" asked Rian when Arryk remained unusually silent.

He looked at Rian. "They look fine." It didn't feel like praise, since Arryk frowned rather than smiled. Still, coming from his worst critic—Rian took it as a compliment. Quince and Rian continued the work, moving into the large dining room.