The Eight

Chapter 13 - The Castle

When the friends woke up - although they couldn't remember falling asleep - they were all together in a strange cell. There was stone all around them save for the front, where they could see right over to the opposite cell through grimy glass. Breanna heaved herself over and gave it an experimental boot, but the glass didn't even reverberate. Quickly joined by her confused but fully awake friends, they tried all they could to destroy the glass, but still it didn't break. All they got were cuts and bruises - made short work of by Chloe - and tired bodies. Then Sofia had an idea. She told everyone to cover their ears. She opened opened her mouth. And she screamed.

The scream echoed around the cell and went on and on, bouncing off the walls and creating hairlines in the glass.

Eventually she stopped but there was a new sound of cracking, and then tinkling glass as the barrier shattered.

All the glass along the corridors shattered too, but those cells were clearly vacant as nothing came out them to see what the hell was going on. The others stared at Sofia in amazement and she held herself proudly as she sauntered through the slimy corridor to a set of stone steps leading to a heavy oaken door.

The clink of armour and rattle of keys could be heard behind it, indicating the presence of a guard.

The friends looked at each other.

"Should I draw something?" Abbie whispered but Sofia shook her head. She much preferred verbal abuse.
Still fired up from getting them out of their cell she leaned against the door, motioned for the others to stand back and pressed her mouth to the keyhole.

"Hey, wake up, you fat bastard!" she shouted - true Sofia style - and skittered backwards, pressing herself with the others against a wall.

There was a grunt and that jingle of keys again, this time mixed with the sound of metal against metal and heavy shuffling. At last the door was flung open and an enormous cyclops burst into the room. He was dressed head to foot in armour with his fat belly bulging outwards. The armour was clearly specially made or else the huge creature would never have been able to fit.

He lumbered up to the end of the corridor, where the friends had been kept, and went into their cell. They made their escape.

***

"So many stairs!" Abbie panted. The others nodded their heads in agreement as the steep, narrow stone stairs spiralled ever upwards. When at last they ended, a heavy wooden door blocked the way. The wood was warped and dulled with age, so it wasn't hard to locate a knothole and check if the coast was clear. It was.

It was surprisingly easy to sneak along the outside wall to the second of the four turrets that stood at each corner of a broad stone courtyard.

Everything was made of gleaming black stone, basalt from the mines the dragon and phoenix came from.

At the north end of the courtyard there was a giant door that must lead to the rooms inside the huge towers behind it that seemed to pierce the sky.

The weather-beaten walls were very rough and easily scaled, but on top were the sounds of many footsteps. Elven archers. They didn't speak, only patrolled the wide walls constantly, ensuring no entry or escape. This would be impossible.

Then Abbie had a brilliant idea. She fished in the bag round her waist and, producing a pencil and paper, drew a huge round hole, noting on the spare gaps of paper around it the depth and width. Then she placed it against the wall as high as she could reach and willed it to existence. Instantly the hole became real and the extra paper around it vanished. Everyone climbed in and Abbie sealed them in, remembering how the wall had looked from the outside and copying it, but leaving a few almost unnoticeable spaces for air. Chloe soon felt claustrophobic and curled up into a tight ball.

"This is great and all," Cera said after a while. "But what are we going to do now?"

"I could go out as a spider and have a look around," Jodie joked, grinning as she saw Abbie recoil in horror. "Don't worry, I'm kidding."

"Wait," Cherry hushed them. The clack of heels filtered through the gaps in the thick wall and stopped right outside the hiding place. An unusually high-pitched voice reached their ears.
"The master is waiting," it squeaked, and there was an answering mutter.

"Listen, fairy," it growled. "Tell the master that I'm not going. I've been the jester for too long and I'm sick of it. Just because I look weird and can do tricks doesn't mean I should dance and juggle for him. I'm out."

The jester's footsteps faded and the fairy drew a sharp breath. "Stupid goblin, doesn't know what he's got himself into," she muttered and walked off. The friends looked at each other. "What was that all about?" Sofia whispered and the others shook their heads. Abbie was just about to erase the wall when a roar shook the castle, sending flying eyeballs shooting from the trees. The stone reverberated and the elves' footsteps no longer sounded from above. Then a voice boomed out across the courtyard, a harsh raspy voice that the friends knew well. The Shadowmage shouted orders from somewhere to their right, and many sounds filled the air.

"Send the spider-women after him!" the Mage rasped and there was the clack-clack of many legs on the shining stone. Chloe put a hand over Abbie's mouth to stop her crying out.

Someone was dragged, kicking and screaming, across the courtyard, desperate pleas drowning out everything else. It must be the goblin.

"Please," he sobbed, "Spare me. I'm so sorry, so sorry, I'll do anything, please don't hurt me!"

There was silence for a while, and the friends could almost hear the Shadowmage grin. "Fetch the gorgons," he ordered to a waiting fairy.

The goblin broke down into racking sobs, still begging for mercy. In the hiding spot, everyone curled up as tight as they could, making themselves as small as possible so they could get away from the front of the wall. They could hear everyone scuttling away, with only the two guards holding the goblin in front of the ShadowMage, who was apparently starting a speech.

"Goblin," he hissed and the jester cowered. "Do you know why you were fortunate enough to get a place at my castle? It was because I had watched you since you were small, and I was astonished at your abilities. Out of all your tricksy species you were the most mischievous, the most talented. I took you in, and this is how you repaid me? How DARE you!" The Mage's voice had become a roar and the goblin was whimpering to himself. The slither of the gorgons could be heard, and the Mage worked a quick chant on himself and the two cyclops guards so they wouldn't be turned to stone. Once more the jester begged for mercy, and then it became a shriek that abruptly cut off as he drew his last breath.

***

The friends bit their lips to stop themselves crying out. It was then, too, that they realised the animals were not with them. All had the same thought: Farai must have somehow brought them to safety after the tempt-people struck.

And then a tremor reverberated the castle, and a thin crack opened up in the seal that Abbie had made. As they all watched in horror, one glittering eye returned their terrified stares.