The room was dark as Sidra tried to see what was in the room above her. She could hear the sounds of water droplets hitting the ground and the air smelled of must and mold. It seemed like she was in a dungeon. She tried to look to her right, and she could make out the bars of a cell in that direction. She had been right, this did look like a dungeon.
She could see someone in the cell closest to the grate but their back was to Sidra.
"Hello," Sidra whispered as she tried to get the person's attention.
"Who are you talking to?" Baron asked from down below.
"There's someone in a cell up here," she looked down at him.
"Maybe don't bother them, you'll get caught," Baron chided. Sidra ignored him.
"Hello, over here," she whispered again toward the person. She watched as the person began to turn out as it looked for the source of the voice.
She realized the person was an older man. His back had a hunch in it, and she could see through the shadows that where his feet should be were cloven hooves. His long beard obscured most of his face but she could make out a look of surprise as he noticed her peeking out of the grate.
"Who are you?" the man asked her.
"That's not important. What is this place?" Sidra asked him.
"It's a dungeon. What are you doing down there?"
"Who are you talking to?" she heard Baron ask from down below. She ignored him.
"Is it safe to come up? Are there guards?" she asked the man.
"There is a guard. He should be coming down soon," the man answered. "But it's just us right now."
"Us?" Sidra asked. She tried to look further into the room.
"There are five of us here," the man told her.
"Five Mystics?" she asked.
"Yes. Who are you?"
"Seriously, Sidra. Who are you talking to?" Baron shouted up at her again. The man seemed to hear Baron at that time.
"Is there someone else with you?" the man asked her. Sidra didn't reply to him, instead, she ducked her head back down the grate and looked toward Baron.
"I'm going up," she said to him before she climbed further up the ladder and pushed the grate up and out of her way. She pulled herself through the hole in the ground and looked back into the darkness below where Baron waited. She noticed that at some point her hand had stopped glowing.
He followed after her and poked his head out of the hole in the ground. He had an unreadable expression on his face as he looked at the dungeon before him. Sidra watched as Baron climbed the rest of the way out of the ground and stood next to her in the gloom of the dungeon.
"A dungeon," he said aloud.
Sidra was about to say something when she heard heavy footsteps coming toward them. She motioned for Baron to stay quiet and then inched forward. There was a spot near the furthermost cell where it turned into a hallway, and she pulled her knife from her belt loop and waited. A guard rounded the corner and caught sight of Baron, but before he could move forward, Sidra slammed the hilt of her knife into the side of the guard's head and he crumpled to the ground unconscious.
The man in the cell let out a surprised gasp as she watched what Sidra was doing but he didn't say more.
"What are you doing?" Baron hissed as he looked at the unconscious guard on the floor.
"Just help me," Sidra said as she motioned for Baron to come closer. As he walked over Sidra started to look over the guard's clothing for where a loop of keys would be. She found it on the belt loop and pulled it off. When she was done she walked over to one of the empty cells and unlocked the door with the large skeleton key that hung from the metal loop. Sidra walked back over to the guard and picked up one of his feet.
"Grab the other foot," Sidra instructed Baron.
"Just what are you doing?" he asked but he complied. The two of them dragged the guard into the now open cell.
"You should take his clothes so we can blend in," Sidra said. She looked down at the guard on the floor. She didn't want to kill anyone else if she didn't have to. He'd wake up in the cell and seeing the neglect of the prisoners, it would take some time for someone to find him.
"That's your first good idea," Baron said to her. He started to take off the guard's shoes so he could remove his pants. "A little privacy?" he asked her when he noticed she was still watching.
"Okay," she said and turned in the other direction. There were thick walls between each cell in the dungeon.
"Alright, I'm done," Baron said and Sidra turned back around. She didn't like to see him dressed the same way as the men that had tried to hurt her twice now. The thick cloak hung around his body.
"Great," she said and motioned for him to step out of the cell alongside her. She shut the door of the cell with a resounding click. The guard was still out, she didn't realize how hard she'd hit him.
Sidra shut the door of the cell with a resounding click. She'd locked up the guard.
"Excuse me?" Sidra heard from behind her. She looked over to see a woman in the cell across from the one they had just locked. She tried to get a better look at the woman through the gloom of the dungeon. The woman's skin seemed to give off a blue sheen as she shifted her body in the cell to face Sidra better. Her clothing was filthy and ripped and Sidra watched as the woman tried to pull the collar of her shirt over her neck, she had three sharp gashes on each side, and it took Sidra a moment to realize they reminded her of the gills she had seen in some of the ocean books Selene had.
As Sidra looked her over she tried to remember what Mythic from her childhood stories matched that description. There were mermaids, but they had long tails and died outside of the water and there were river spirits but they were supposed to be ghostly pale with deep red eyes. Maybe a water nymph, Sidra thought as she looked over at the girl, she had feet and looked mostly human and that sounds about right.
She wished her grandmother was here for her to ask, now that she knew they weren't just silly stories of the past that her grandmother had been telling her. The girl's eyes were red and puffy, it seemed like it was from crying, and she looked to be around the same age Sidra was. That made Sidra feel a certain way, what if this had been her? Her grandmother had said that the cloaked men had originally come for her. She swallowed a knot in her throat as she thought about it.
"Who are you?" The girl stared at Sidra as she spoke and Sidra could see that her eyes were the same blue color as her skin. She had freckles across her nose and hair that was cut short around her face in a deep green. It was rare to see a Mythic that stood out this much and Sidra found herself staring a little too long at how the girl looked.
"I'm Sidra, what's your name?"
"Kaephei."
"That's a nice name. Do you mind answering a few questions for me?"
"I-I guess," Kaephei said. She lifted one of her hands back up to the collar of her shirt and Sidra noticed that she had webbing between her fingers. She wondered if being so far away from the water hurt the girl.
"Do you know where we are?"
"This is the dungeon at the base of the castle. The Queen imprisoned us here."
"Have you seen a girl, ten years old, that looks a bit like me? She'd have lighter hair though," Sidra asked her.
The girl shook her head. Sidra sighed.
"Are you going to hurt us?" Kaephei asked her. Sidra saw the fear in her eyes as she asked this.
"No, of course not," Sidra answered honestly. She looked around the dungeon at the other creatures that had been locked away here. They all looked so sad and scared. She felt her anger bubble up from her stomach as she looked around. There were five in total, the tree she had spoken two, and two very quiet ones. The two quiet ones looked related, with the same shock of red hair and green eyes that refused to look at her or Baron.
"Did any of you do anything wrong?" Sidra asked as she looked around the dungeon at the imprisoned Mythics. They all gave her that wide-eyed stare that reminded her of a scared animal but all said nothing. Sidra saw that one of them was a little boy, not much older than Selene was, and she felt that familiar wave of anger wash over her.
"I just can't accept this. This isn't right. That's a child," Sidra said to Baron as she looked at the boy. Other than the two little nubbed horns that protruded out of his forehead he looked like a normal child in every way. He looked away as Sidra stared him down and curled in on himself, she could see bruises on his arms and legs.
Sidra walked forward before Baron could say anything and unlocked the door holding the little boy. She then moved forward and began to unlock all the doors. The Mystics began to murmur as they stood up and looked at the doors of the cells.
"You can escape through the waterways. Do you see that grate we came out of? If you follow the water, it will take you to the cliff overlooking the ocean. The tide might be in by now so be careful," she said as she pulled one of the cell doors open.
"Thank you," the woman she had been talking to just moments before said. The woman grabbed the hand of the little boy and motioned for the other Mystics to follow her. Sidra felt some of the anger leave her as she watched them all carefully climb down into the grate and disappear from sight.
"You might have jeopardized this whole rescue mission," Baron said angrily once the last Mystic had gone down into the tunnels and Sidra closed the grate over them.
"I couldn't just let them sit in there doing nothing wrong," Sidra snapped back. "We're still going to get Selene. Come on let's go."
Sidra had no idea where they were. She had never stepped foot into a castle before, but she knew the dungeon had to be the lowest level. As they turned around the corner of the dungeons they were greeted with a long hallway, probably what she had heard the guard walking down earlier, and a long set of stairs that led up to a higher floor.
Sidra took a tentative step onto the first step of the stairs and looked up towards the door at the top. It was an old, wooden door with bars over a small window in the center of it. She had been brave, even stupid, up to the point but now she felt as scared as helpless as the small child she had found in the cell as she looked up at that door.
"Are you going to move?" Baron asked her. He stood behind her as she hesitated on the step. She tried to shake off the feeling of dread that had bubbled inside of her. She wished she felt angry right now, she liked the way the anger made her brave, made her forget that she could be hurt, even if she didn't like the way it made her treat people.
"Yeah," she said after a minute more of hesitation. She went up the steps slowly and then looked through the window in the center. She didn't see anyone in the hallway beyond, so she turned the handle and pushed the door open.
She looked down the hallway. It looked much nicer than the area she had just left, it didn't smell of must and mold. Several doors lined the length of the hallway and Sidra wondered where they led. She saw a window down on the far right and decided that was the best place to get an idea of where they were at.
Through the window, Sidra was able to make out that they were on the first floor. There were several ornate bushes below her and she could see the massive gates that she had been on the other side of just hours before. She turned to tell Baron what she saw when she heard the hound of footsteps coming down the hallway. Before she could think it through she opened the door on the right and pulled Baron in next to her. She shut the door quietly and listened for the footsteps.
"What was that about?" he asked her.
"Someone was coming," she said as she pressed her ear to the door. She could no longer hear the sound of footsteps.
"I know you're terrible at planning ahead but please tell me you have some kind of plan," Baron said to her.
Sidra tried to get her bearings in the small room they had found themselves in. There was a small window across from the door that let some light into the small room. There was a sink in one corner and a small wardrobe. Sidra stepped around the bed in the middle of the room and pulled open the wardrobe. If they were going to walk around the castle she needed to blend in as well. There were some clothes hung in it that looked to be servant's clothes, gray-colored dresses with aprons next to them.
"Can you turn around for a second?" she asked Baron as she pulled the frumpy dress off the hanger. She made quick work of undressing and pulled the dress on before clasping the back of it. She looked sadly at her pants crumpled on the floor feeling uncomfortable in the dress that hung poorly on her thin body.
"Okay, you can turn around," she says after a minute. She stuffed her clothing into her bag as Baron turned around.
"Wow, you look..." Baron stifled a laugh.
"Oh, shut up," Sidra said as she flattened down the front of the dress.
"It's not your best look," he adds with a cheeky grin.
"I'm gonna hit you," Sidra threatened as she slung her bag over her shoulders.
"Okay, okay," he said, still grinning.
"You stay here for a second, I'm gonna go look around," Sidra changed the subject.
"Alright," Baron said as he flopped onto the bed.
Sidra slipped out of the room and back into the hallway. She steps into the room on the left of the one she had left Baron in and looked through the wardrobe. Women's clothing again. She does the same with the next room over. They must be on the women's wing of the servant's area. Sidra walked down the length of the hallway keeping an eye out for people before she walked back to the first room.
Baron jumped off the bed as she opened the door.
"It's just me," she said as she shut the door behind her.
"Did you see anything?" Baron relaxed and sat down on the edge of the bed again.
"From what I can tell we're in the women's servant wing. I'm not sure, the first time in a castle, you know."
"That sounds about right. We should probably go look around more. Hand me that too, the bag raises suspicion. I should have noticed earlier," he motioned for the bag on her bag.
Sidra didn't want to give up her bag but she handed it over. She watched as Baron loosened the straps a bit and put it on. It did make more sense for the guard to have a bag.
"We should head out now," Sidra says.
"Yeah, let's go."
Sidra steps out into the hallway first and looks down the length of it before opening the door wider for Baron to follow after her. The two of them walk with speed down the length of the hallway and up a flight of stairs on the far right. When they rounded the corner of the next floor a man was walking toward them. He was dressed in that same gray as Sidra.
"What are you two doing here?" the man asked them.
"Had some questions for the lady," Baron said.
"Oh, alright," the man said. "We'll need her in the kitchen after."
"I'll take her there when I'm done. It won't be very long."
"What did you do?" the servant asked Sidra.
"Oh, I'm just new. Made a mistake," Sidra said trying to sound as meek as possible.
"It happens," the man shrugged.
"We'll be on our way then," Baron said.
The man nods and continues on his way down the hallway, Sidra let out a sigh of relief when he was no longer in sight.
"Do you know where the kitchen is?" Sidra asked Baron.
"Not a clue," he answered, "but if I had to guess it would be close to here."
The two of them walk down the hallway and take another right, at the end was a wooden door and Sidra could hear a clamor of noise coming from within. As they walked closer Sidra realized it sounded like pots clanking together.
"Looks like you were right," Sidra said.
"We might be able to figure out more from the kitchen servants too," Baron said.
"It's worth a shot," Sidra said.
"Just try not to raise suspicion," Baron adds.
Sidra opened the door of the kitchen and walked in. She immediately felt the heat of the place, multiple people were running about in clothing that matched hers and an assortment of cooks working over the heat of the fire.
"Girl, over here," one of the cooks shouted at her. Sidra walked over and Baron followed just behind her.
"Why is there a guard with you?" the cook asked.
"Oh, um," Sidra tried to come up with an excuse.
"We're told to take food to the girl. She needs an escort," Baron chimes in.
"The girl?"
"You know? The little one that's being kept here?"
"Are you sure? She had a meal sent up not too long ago," the cook raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, Queen's orders," Sidra sputtered out.
"Alright, hold on. I'll have something made up quick," the chef said. Sidra and Baron wait. The cook makes up something and hands it off to Sidra.
"Also, I'm quite new. Can you remind me how to get there?" Sidra asked.
"Uh, yeah," the cook said, already not paying attention. "Pretty sure she's up on the fourth floor, last room. That's where they've been sending the food."
"Okay, thank you," Sidra says.
"Uh-huh," the cook said as he chopped some carrots.
The two of them walk away and pass a few more people running around as they step back out into the hallway. Sidra felt tense, she was one step closer to finding Selene, but the directions had been handed to her on a silver platter. Literally. It felt too easy.