Waiting for Spring - Part I

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Strange, no guards. The city is totally empty." Theron took a brief pause. "Though I do not expect any peasants to be outside at this hour. And the thieves and burglars are kind of hard to catch sight of."

It was a quite scary thought, to know that a whole city lay asleep when two armies were waiting at their doorstep, ready to clash at any time.

Theron carefully crossed the large arched bridge and went through an opening in the overgrown wall before entering the moonlit front yard. April came right after him and stared at the large stone building. She had been here once before but it didn't look as gloomy back then. With rapid steps Theron went over to the large set of doors inside the decorated arch of the castle's outer walls. He tried to push the door but nothing happened. He then proceeded to trail the fortification and April followed him in silence.

Finally they crossed a large garden filled with small pines with snowy tops. It smelled of home. They looked a bit funny to April, small white hats and all. She navigated the small maze of vegetation and finally found Theron standing in the darkness bent over a small wooden door that she probably never would have noticed herself. For a moment she turned around a looked at the green garden.

Home. She took a deep breath and let all the smells carry her away. It was a pleasant feeling that came shivering down her spine. With closed eyes she tried to keep the feeling trapped inside. Eventually it subsided and left was only the cold and snowy wind. She though no more of the past and turned around.

"We need to tread carefully here. There are probably some guards; Archibald would not be so stupid as to go alone. Just follow me and you should be fine," said Theron when he was done picking the lock.

It was easier said than done though. How Theron was able to walk so noiselessly over the coloured marble was a total mystery to April. He was a mouse and she felt more of a cow. Every step she took felt like a drumbeat that echoed through the large hall they passed. She couldn't hear any other footsteps however so at least something was good. The silence bothered her however. Last time the castle had been full of servants and guards and nobles running around. Now there was not even a trace of a single soul.

The last time she hadn't had much time to look at well-decorated interior of the immense castle either. They had just hastily walked straight to the waiting hall outside the throne room in the centre. This time April took her time to actually look around despite the fact that she should be focusing on other things. Large banners and tapestries in shiny colours, mostly crimson and teal, decorated the halls. In the corridors crimson carpets lay upon the stones and on the walls small torches and paintings hung.

The first hall they reached was the entrance lobby. The enormous foyer had a rather wide carpet that stretched all the way from the large set of double doors in one end to the set of stairs in the other. The ceiling and its many beams were located twenty feet above the floor. Huge chandeliers hung ever still up there, unlit. Pretentious portraits decorated the walls in between the many columns that emerged from the wall. They looked like important nobles, probably previous kings and queens. Near the stairs two stone sentries stood still, the sapphire details shining in the dim light.

They stole through the halls and Theron helped April across the large marble floor on top of the staircase. Afterwards they quickly ran to a well-lit corridor that to April seemed to go on forever. There were so many doors that she couldn't even begin to count them. The mat under their feet helped reduce the noise and they passed a small foyer.

A moment later a corner appeared and the hallway turned left. Theron halted and April almost bumped into him. He hushed at her and leaned around the bend. The hallway split into one way forward and one way to the right. Theron stood still for a long while.