The Scrolls of Skava

The Ruby Keep - Part 3

     Thomas’s forehead furrowed in perplexity. “But why...” he began.

     He fell silent as the door opened again. They gathered fearfully in the middle of the room, the soldiers reaching for their weapons, the trog raising his scimitar and the wizard bringing the words of an attack spell to his mind, but they relaxed a little when it was only two elderly men who entered. Grey haired, stooped, wrinkled and dressed entirely in red.

     “Hold yer weapons, lads!” said the first old man, raising his hands and backing away fearfully. “Twas not us who put yer to sleep! Spare us!”

     “Who was it then?” demanded Shaun, pulling them into the room and checking the corridor outside. It was empty.

     “It was the castle,” replied the other. “This castle once belonged to a mighty wizard and contains all kinds of magics for its defence and the comfort of its occupants. It puts everyone to sleep who crosses the drawbridge. Everyone! Why, it even put us to sleep the first time we came here, didn’t it Jasper, me old fellow?”

     “Aye, so it did, Garnet me old mate,” replied the first. “We just picked ye up and brought ye in here so’s ye’d be comfortable till ye woke up.”

     The teamsters stared at the two old men suspiciously. It was on the tip of Arroc’s tongue to challenge them, to tell them that he knew they were lying, but he changed his mind at the last moment. He was going to assume that they didn’t know he'd been awake all along, and if that was true then they knew something that the two old men didn’t know they knew, and that gave them something of an advantage. Not much of one, it was true, but it was all they had. Best to play ignorant then, at least until they had a better idea what was going on.

     “Okay, we believe you,” said Thomas, who must have had the same idea. Arroc gave the others a warning glance. They took the hint and bit their tongues as well.

     “So, who’s in charge here?” asked Thomas.

     “Nobody, young’un,” said Jasper with a toothy grin. “The place is empty as a Lydian’s purse. We came across it, what, was it twenty years ago, Garnet me old mate?”

     “Twenty two years if it were a day, Jasper me old feller,” replied the other. “Thought we’d found our fortunes, so we did. What, a whole castle made of solid ruby? Till we found out we couldn’t break any of it off and there were nothing inside to steal. Full o’ magic it is, though, so we decided to move in permanent like, seeing as there were no-one to claim the place for themselves.”

     “There must be someone here,” protested Shaun. “Someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to bring us here. For the past few weeks someone’s been interfering in our business time and time again so that we’d have no choice but to come here. Now who was it? Was it you?”

     “Us?” laughed Garnet. “Nay lad, tweren’t us. Maybe it were the castle itself that brought ye here.”

     “The castle?” exclaimed Dennis scornfully.

     “Why not?” agreed Jasper. “We’ve heard of some devices so magical they had a mind and soul all their own. Could not the castle be such a place?”

     “Or maybe ‘tis haunted by the ghosts of its former occupants and 'twas they who brought yer here,” added Garnet.

     We’re getting nowhere, thought Arroc impatiently. “We came here looking for something,” he said. “The Scrolls of Skava. Have ya heard o' them?”

     “Scrolls?” said Jasper, shaking his head negatively. “No, never heard of them. Don’t have a lot o’ use for scrolls, Garnet and me.”