Cassandra

X. Rise Of the Second Rebellion

"Get your sword..." Silas's voice commanded in my mind, recalling me back to reality, standing frozen with Mother's armor in my hands. "You've still got that toothpick of yours tucked away somewhere, don't you? I want you to get it, and come back to me. Quickly you hear?"
    I gave myself a shake, pushing those events from my mind. That had been hours ago, several long slow hours in which Delilah had done nothing but chant unceasingly, and the gray morning had faded away into the shadows of a long gray afternoon. But time was pressing, and there were other things to think about.
    Briskly I changed into the functional clothes within my pack, pulling on the boots, strapping Traitor around my waist, and fixing the dagger to my belt. This done, I carefully replaced Mother's armor back in the bundle, and slid back under the bed to deposit it in the corner. Safe and out of sight, exactly where it should be.
    I pulled the blanket down, hiding the space under my bed, and pushed out of the room, jogging down the hallway towards the foyer. Silas was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs, and seized my wrist as soon as I reached the bottom. Moving quickly, without speaking, he dragged me towards the back of the castle. I felt my stomach drop as we stepped into the main hall of the servant's wing, moving resolutely towards its end, and when we stopped at the top of the stairs that led down into the dungeons I glanced at Lord Briarwood apprehensively.
    "This is simple." Silas said, taking me by the arms and speaking to my face. I cast my eyes downwards as he spoke, unable to look him in the eye. "A band of your rebel compatriots is on its way from the city, and they're going to be sneaking into the castle through this entrance. All you've got to do is get them all well inside the tunnel, without them suspecting any danger, we'll do the rest."
    I tried to pull away, but as usual Lord Briarwood was far stronger than me, and he kept a firm grip on my arms, regarding me calculatingly. He was measuring me in his mind, deciding the exact total of my worth, and I shivered as he examined me.
    "You're a liar Cassandra." Silas said gently, his face almost pitying. "And we both know that, you and I. But those men out there, foolish as they are, they trust you anyway, and that is something that you can use to your advantage. I'm choosing to trust you with this Cassandra. This is a chance to redeem yourself, efface the past, repair your broken confidence, prove yourself worthy of trust in my eyes. I want to put faith in you, show me that you are worthy of it."
    I nodded silently, eyes downcast, and stood shoulders hunched waiting to be dismissed. Silas smiled, tilting my head up until my eyes met his, and he laid his hands on my shoulders.
    "Now tell me." He said, as if he were my teacher, asking me to review a lesson "What would you do, to protect me and my wife?"
    "I would do anything, sir." I said simply. I didn't need to say anything other than that, for it was true. It was a truth that defined me. Silas and Delilah were my family, I would do what ever it took to keep them safe, even if it meant fighting for them to the bitter end.
    "That's right." Lord Briarwood answered. "I ask no more of you than that."
    He gave my shoulders a last squeeze, gently turning me to face down towards the dungeon, giving me a gentle push forwards.
    "Prove your faith." He said, as his hands released my shoulders.
    Moving now out of my own volition, I descended the stairs, slowly, and running my hand cautiously across the stonework. The walls felt cold and and almost wet against my fingertips, the fine gaps between the stonework little more than a whisper against my hand. As I descended downwards, the air grew colder, taking on the clammy chill of being underground, and it was pleasantly cold. For a short space light filtered down the stairs from the hallway above, then it curved left, and the light was cut off.
    In the dim light I continued down, only vaguely able to make out the steps before me, then the stair took another turn, leaving me in complete darkness. This time I had to rely on touch alone, and I hugged close to the wall, running my hand along the smooth stonework. At last, after another short descent, I felt the stair ahead of me curve a final time, and I followed the bend. Spilling around the corner I could see flickering torchlight, and as I stepped out into it I was able to make out the last stretch of stair, then smooth stone floor where the descent came to an end.
    Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I found myself in the same low dungeon where Percy had been imprisoned all those years ago. The cells opening in front of me, the hallway to the left, and the second room full of cells, even the same torch flickering in a steel ring on the wall. It was a place full of memories. They whispered in the walls, every shadow held its phantoms, and as I looked in the cells there was a veiled pile of bodies in every one.
    When I reached the back of the dungeon, I scrambled over the piled boxes and crates that hid the tunnel's entrance, and dropped down next to the whitestone statue that barred entry. It was in the exact same place it had been resting before, with a dark gap just wide enough to squeeze through. Gracefully I slipped through the gap, hugging my legs up close to my chest, and supporting myself with my arms. It felt like those games years ago, when I was only a child playing hide and seek, and I could still manage to squeeze myself into the most godforsaken places.
    On the other side of the statue I dropped down into a low crouch, hands splayed on the ground. I was totally blind, sitting coiled in the dark, listening for the slightest sound with my head bowed. Only velvety silence greeted me, and my shoulders relaxed. Carefully I made my way downwards, staying low to the ground, and slinking along like a wary animal.
    The journey downwards felt like an age. Moving in complete darkness, with nothing to mark the time. The smell of cool dry earth hung in my nose, and the dirt floor of the tunnel felt pleasantly cool, fine silky dirt brushing against my hands. Impenetrable darkness blanketed the air, pressing against my eyes like a blindfold, and as I moved it almost felt like I was passing through something solid, like the air was filled with a kind of insubstantial water.
    Any light, even half light, was blinding after such darkness, and as I rounded the last curve of the tunnel I blinked, stepping out into it. Faint illumination was spilling through the bushes that obscured the tunnel entrance, providing enough light to see by, and as I looked around I could make out faint objects around me. The stone walls were smooth, half remembered footprints smeared in the loose earth of the tunnel, and the bushes at the tunnel's entrance looked almost black against the light.
    It was a dreary day, heavy dark storm clouds blanketing the sky, and as I stepped out of the tunnel and looked up, it was impossible to make out where the sun was through their mass. Snow lay in piles over the ground, the trees looking dark and threatening against the pureness of the color. A strong wind was blowing, shaking the snowy mantles from the tree's branches, and the clouds overhead swirled darkly. There would be a storm tonight.
    Early evening shadows were beginning to close in, by the time I sensed any change. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled instinctively, and looking up I saw the dark shapes of men, slinking toward the tunnel entrance. I stood up, raising a hand in greeting, and one of the shapes broke off from the rest, raising their hand as they came.
    He was an impressively tall man, with dark green hooded eyes, scruffy day old stubble on a strongly defined jaw, and unkempt greasy brown hair that fell past his shoulders. Most of his finer features were obscured by the shadows of a deep hood pulled up over his head, and his gear was muffled by a long thick dusty green cloak, but even through the cloak I could make out the shape of a longsword strapped to his belt. All of his gear looked rough, and he himself looked weathered.
    "Greetings." I said as he reached me.
    "Greetings." He answered grimly, giving me a sober nod of recognition. Though we had never met before, I could tell that he already knew who I was: after all I was Cassandra de Rolo the last of my bloodline, he couldn't avoid knowing me at least by name.
    "Are these all your men?" I said as the others came creeping out of the forest to join us.
    They were far from being an army, but most of them seemed to have decent gear, if not better than their leader's, and they all had good weapons. Most of them were men, of varying hight and respectability, but among them I could pick out the slimmer build of two women. Probably they were sisters, for they were both similar to each other, and both had Shortbows.
    "These are all we could gather." The leader said. "All the best fighters we could muster, we're few but fearsome, it will be enough. Geru is my name."
    "I must admit, I had hoped for more..." I said soberly, shaking the hand he silently offered me.
    "We were the best to be found."
    "And the bravest I hope? You'll need a sturdy pair of legs, to face what's waiting for us up there."
    "All of us here have done our fair share, fought out battles, and proved our hardy hood. It's no joke, living the way some of us have lived. If sturdy men is what you ask for, than you'll find no better men than these, --saving those two of course." Geru said, with a dark smile, and a nod at the two women.
    "Good." I replied with a dark smile of my own. "The best is what I need."
    It was frightening how easy I found it to converse with him. How quickly I slipped into my role, played my part, and pulled the blindfold over his eyes. Here I was, standing in the midst of my family's enemies, and yet none of them sensed something wrong. I was far too good at this.
    "Quickly, we must move now." I said, beckoning the others, and moving towards the tunnel entrance. "I've been watching the signs all day, and there's some devilry at work with Lady Briarwood, up in the east tower."
    The men silently passed me, pushing into the darkness of the tunnel, and I followed last. At the entrance I paused, looking back over the empty woodlands. Lord Briarwood said to lead them inside, and he would take care of the rest, but the trees were empty, and there was no sixth sense warning me of danger.
    Geru kindled one small torch, and carried it in front, leading the others up the darkened pathway. Quietly I retreated after them, moving stealthily, with my hand to the wall, taking advantage of the shadows at the back of the group. I felt safer in the shelter of the darkness, made deeper by the contrasting torchlight.
    The deep echo of a familiar explosion trembled in the stones overhead, and I froze, knowing exactly what had made the sound. Ripley had set off such explosions in the garden more times than I could remember, and this was exactly the same. The sound of falling rock, like a miniature avalanche rumbled in the passage behind us, earth shuddered, dust drifted down from the ceiling.
    "What was that?" One of the men whispered warily.
    Geru pushed through then men to the back of the group, holding out the torch into the darkness behind us.
    "I can't feel the air moving anymore." One of the two women said, voice heavy with apprehension, and she tilted her head to the side, as if she were listening to something the rest of us couldn't hear. "The flow at the end of the tunnel's been blocked..."
    "I don't like this." Geru muttered, his eyes glinting dangerously, and he took a step away from the rest.
    A shout of alarm at the front of the group broke the silence, followed by the unmistakable cry of a dying man.
    "Geru!" A voice shouted urgently, and the ringing clash of swords filled the passage. Dark shadows were leaping out of the blackness, and the pressing voice was overwhelmed. Geru ripped his sword from its sheath, a ringing sound filling the tunnel as he did, and he charged back up the slope of the tunnel. The shadows writhed with the half formed shapes of men, struggling desperately, and I slithered into the fray, dancing to the front of the group.
    "Come on!" I shouted over my shoulder, dodging under the heavy mace of a half formed assailant. "We can't stay here, follow me to the courtyard."
    With the desperation of trapped animals, the men pushed forward, forcing through the ambush, and pouring out of the tunnel into the dungeon. It was utter chaos, and it the confusion I could only keep track of Geru, his lanky figure standing out among the rest, and together we pushed forward, struggling through the thickest of the fray and heading for the dungeon stairs.
    It was much easier to see in the servants wing, and as soon as we reached the top of the stairs, the ragged men left broke into a dead sprint. Desperate to to reach the courtyard and open air. By this time it was no longer a fight, but clearly a retreat, and nobody paused long enough to exchange blows.
    Dull sounds of shouting reached me through the thick stone walls of the castle. The servant's wing was completely deserted, the living corpses that guarded the halls, or stupidly followed one monotonous order, had all abandoned their posts. Nobody molested our escape.
    I pushed through one of the doors into the kitchens, dodging around the tables and places for preparing food. Through a door at the far end of the room I knew there was a side door that communicated with the dinning room, and after the dinning room the only thing that stood between us and the courtyard was the spacious foyer where I had first met Silas and Delilah all those years ago.
    The sounds of distant conflict grew much more distinct as I shouldered through the small back door, bursting into the empty dining room, vaulting the corner of the table. Long windows of thick glass stood at one end of the hall, and through them I could see the wild motion of battle in the courtyard.
    "Where now?" One of the men asked as we reached the foyer, and burst through the double doors of the dining room, stumbling onto the wide open floor.
    As soon as we entered the foyer, and overwhelming wave of noise and confusion washed over us. Sound was pouring in through the double doors into the castle, which had been flung back, and through them I could see out into the castle courtyard.
    The castle gates had been torn from their hinges, the splintered wood, torn, burned, and scored with the grooves of blades. Guards peppered the wall tops, raining arrows down into the courtyard, and more battled on the stairs trying to hold the tide of enemies back from the wall. Through the broken twisted wreckage of the gate, reckless men were flooding in, brandishing axes, sharpened pitch forks, and any other makeshift weapons they had. Clearly these men were not as well equipped as Geru's had been, and many of them were totally unarmored. Nothing more than simple peasants fighting for their lives, with the little they had.
    A stiflingly hot wind was blowing, flooding through the doors of the castle, ripping at hair and clothes, howling over the stones. Through all the confusion I could just barely make out the sky, which was overcast with roiling black clouds, and the darkness of the weather, combined with the deepening shadows of evening, made it almost oppressively dark.
    Strangely enough the castle's front hall was completely empty, and nobody followed us through the door we had entered. It was as if the chase had suddenly been completely abandoned. We all braced ourselves, waiting to meet our pursuers, and when nobody came Geru and I glanced at each other. Neither of us had any idea what was going on.
    Silas had instructed me to trick the men, and I had done as I was commanded. Instinct told me to stay close to Geru and the others, and I couldn't decide if I was trying to protect them or not. But even if I wanted to help them, there was nothing I could do, for I had no idea what Lord Briarwood might be planning.
    "Everybody stick together..." Geru commanded, setting himself back to back with me.
    "You couldn't have chosen a better time to appear, my friends. " A suave voice echoed out, filling the entire hall, and a shiver of pleasure rippled over me in response. "Everything is ready for you..."
    Silas was standing at the top of the grand staircase, smiling down at us. His cloak was thrown back, revealing a wine red waistcoat, and I could see the hilt of his sword behind his right shoulder. All the men looked up at him, Geru next to me gripping his sword more tightly.
    With one slow elegant movement Lord Briarwood drew his blade, its surface dully catching the light, and dark smoke swirled from the hilt. I felt the same thrill of fear run over me as my eyes ran down the impossibly long blade, and I recoiled from the memory of the last time I had seen it. The long scar across my chest throbbed with remembered pain. He set the point in front of him on the carpet, and black smoke lazily spilled downwards, drifting towards the ground like a thick mist, and began to creep down the staircase.
    "However, as much as I've enjoyed your unwanted little visit, I have other more important things to attend to than a skulking band of thieves who break into my basement." Silas said, and his voice, which had been welcoming, hardened. "I've arranged proper entertainment for you..."
    A drop of water hit my arm, and I looked down at it, smearing it away with my finger. It was more slimy than water, spreading a thick sheen of clear liquid over my skin. I looked up to see where it had come from, and froze, petrified.
    Clinging to the ceiling, impossibly, horribly, grinning down at us, were human beings. They looked so totally wrong, the way they were clinging to the roof like twisted spiders, and their splayed arms and legs looked unnatural. Every one of them had a beast like look of craving shining in their eyes, glittering in the semi darkness of the hall, and it was clear to see that these things couldn't be human. As I looked up another drop hit my arm, and my stomach twisted as I realized what it was.
    It was drool...
    "Consider this a proper reward for unwelcome guests." Silas said, and a cruel smile lit up his face.
    "Go!" I screamed, backing away towards the castle doors, pure instinct forcing me to try and save the men. "Get out of here."
    Like a small stone dislodging from the ceiling, one of the creatures let go, plummeting through the air, and landing on the stone floor with a twisted thud. Another let go, and another. The one that had fallen first, flipped over onto its hands and knees, like some kind of agile lizard, eyes alight with feral instinct.
    "RUN!!!" Geru roared, his voice tearing through the terrified tumult of the men, and the feral screams of the half human beasts. "FUCKING RUN."
    Following his own advice, Geru seized my arm, dragging me after him. I wasn't in danger, but he didn't know that, and he pulled me after him as he carved a path through the fray with his sword. All around us men were fleeing, falling, struggling desperately to reach the courtyard.
    A heavy weight suddenly slammed into me, ripping me from Geru's grip, and I toppled backwards. Aching pain throbbed in my shoulder blades as my back was slammed into the stone floor, the wind escaping from me in a gasp, and I struggled, bruised and disoriented. One of the things was crouching on top of me, bony fingers, with long impossibly sharp clawlike fingernails, slicing into my shoulders. It hissed, fangs dripping with saliva, and I tried to escape its horribly clinging grip.
    The thing tried to bite me, striking at the air like a snake, and I shielded myself with an arm, closing my eyes. I heard it let out a shriek of pain, its weight vanishing from my chest, and Lord Briarwood's strong arms suddenly gripped me, dragging me backwards. I desperately clung to his arm, breathing hard. Insatiable desire blazed in the creature's eyes, and for a moment it looked like it was going to pounce on me again. Then he hissed at it, fangs fully bared, and it backed away like a beaten cur, terror in its blinking eyes.
    Geru had turned to help me up, and had seen the whole thing. For a moment I saw confusion on his face, his eyes flicking up to Lord Briarwood, who had his arms wrapped around me protectively. Then his eyes hardened, confusion replaced by silent understanding. He knew exactly what I was, and he turned away, pushing out through the double doors into the courtyard. I shivered, twisting in Silas's arms and supporting my forehead against his shoulder.
    "You've proved your faith." He said in my ear, allowing me to cling to him. "You've done well."
    It was small praise, but I glowed at the words.
    "Now get up." Lord Briarwood said. "The battle isn't over yet, there's still work to be done."
    He released me, the moment of reward past, and his brief approval vanished. I felt a twist of pain as he pulled away, craving more. But one embrace was all I could have, and I silently understood that I must please him again, if I wanted to earn another.
    "Follow me," Silas commanded. "I want to have you near, in case I should want something, and this is hardly a time for you to be roaming around by yourself."
    "Yes sir."
    Slowly Lord Briarwood stood up, his form towering over me, and looked around the hall. The frenzied activity was over by this time, all the men dead or fleeing into the courtyard, and the twisted creatures crouched over the fallen, squabbling over their prizes. As Silas rose, they all fell silent, looking up at him, as if by unspoken command. For a moment all was dreadfully still, and they gazed up at him with widely staring eyes. Then he raised his arm, pointing out at the courtyard where the battle still raged.
    The creatures leapt across the stones, rushing to obey his silent command. Languidly, completely unconcerned, Lord Briarwood walked down the castle steps, his minions flooding past him into the battle. I followed him, gripping Traitor tightly, and plunged after him into the fray.