Wandering Fortunes

Chapter 33: Dungeon Duel

One, two, three . . . Was it three halls? Four? No, three. Third door on the . . . left.

At the end of Ropak's directions Alden turned a corner then doubled back. A couple castle sentries guarded a steel door. The dungeon, no doubt.

How am I going to get in–?

Alden looked around the corner. The guards sat slumped next to the door as if taking a snooze. He crept forward but the guards lay sprawled as if something had knocked them out. Alden creaked open the heavy dungeon door and peered inside.

A stone staircase spiraled into darkness. Alden crawled down, taking each step only when he knew he wouldn't fall. He could hardly see his hand in front of his face.

At the bottom Alden gasped and was cut short by a cough. The musty air caught in his lungs. It was the dungeon, all right—scalagos in chains sat on the floor and hung on the wall. Many looked malnourished, either from lack of food or lack of hope. Alden thought he'd left atrocities like this behind on Zhop.

He crouched to a prisoner and asked, "Are you all right? Are you—This is—How long . . ." The prisoner remained still. All his hair was gone, though judging by the clumps of hair on the floor not necessarily missing.

Alden heard a tiny cough and rustling, followed by a mutter of, "Who are you?"

He turned to a scalago on the floor, her arm chained to the wall. Her dirty skin looked like pond scum and she wore a ratty towel. She appeared shrinking and her face repeatedly winced. Alden couldn't tell if she was young or old, but had she not been in the dungeon she might have looked his age. He started wincing with her, his eyes wet.

Alden crept to her as if she were a small animal he didn't want to frighten. He glanced at her skin then stared, her body covered in cuts, before looking away to her sunken eyes.

"My name's Alden." He wondered what else he could say. He asked for her name.

"I'm"—she coughed—"Olivia. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here . . ." Without thinking Alden said, "I'm here to set you free."

Olivia's eyes glistened. "Really?"

No, that's not really why I'm here. But then, why not? Why not set them all free now that I'm here?

Because he didn't know who they were. They may not have even been Salenthian. Why would he stop to free them?

Because Salenth or Thraundlus, no one should have to live in such squalid conditions. If they were from the Thraundlus Kingdom they could start a new life in the Salenth.

There was the problem of him being just one scalago. Saving one person was one thing; a whole dungeon was another.

Alden shook his head. "Do you know where Princess Serani is?"

"Her Royal Highness!" A wrinkled prisoner looked up. His leathery skin was colored like chewed bubblegum. Alden stared, shocked that anyone so old could survive in such a decrepit place. "I can't express my astonishment when I realized who that vision of beauty was." He looked at Alden. "I hadn't seen her since she was but a toddler. I couldn't be prouder of our royalty."

The prisoner groaned and clenched his toothless mouth. "That selfish, dastardly Eintandus! You won't find the princess here anymore, I'm afraid. She's been brought to the throne room. Eintandus plans to force her into a marriage with him."

"What?" Alden asked. "That's ridiculous."

"I know it is," the prisoner said. "But that's his plan. Marry her and become the rightful heir to the Salenth throne. Will anyone believe the wedding was real? I wouldn't, not if I saw it with my own eyes, but he seems to think he can pass it off as legitimate."