An Unlikely Group of Heroes: Part Five

     "Yeah, well, it's still a problem. It's floating, remember? We can't all fly like Norbert," he retorted.

     "Not a problem, chaps. I can fly you up there, one by one." Norbert grabbed Callista and me by the arms, flapped his way up there, and was about to come down for Jared when he discovered that the Soup Faerie had graciously carried the Lupe up there.

     Lord Darigan's castle was an ominous beast, with spikes protruding from every tower, and flickering yellow lights shining from random windows. It was completely stone, a dark grey color, and the path leading up to it was lined with sharp, jagged, claw-like rocks. I timidly approached the large wooden doors. I gave them a weak push. They creaked loudly, causing me to jump back and bump into Callista.

     "Ow!" she complained. "That hurt!"

     "Maybe we shouldn't try the front doors," the Soup Faerie suggested. "They're much too loud."

     "Yeah," Jared agreed. "There's a smaller pathway off to the side."

     I looked at the path he was indicating. It was a cobblestone road, wide enough for one, maybe two, Neopets. On either side were scraggly black trees, leafless things with foreboding silhouettes. Attached to every other tree was a small lantern, inside of which flickered a dying candle. I was about to protest, but Jared and Callista had already headed down the road and I didn't think I had voice enough left to shout.

     * * * * *

     "We've got her." Remhart grinned. The Darigan Kyrii brandished a wooden staff, and fingered the glowing silver orb. "Shall I put her with the others?"

     The cloaked figure smiled his wicked, toothy smile. "Yes, I should think so."

     Remhart limped his way over to an empty cell, tapped the silver orb gently, and murmured an incantation of some sorts. The sphere began to grow until the silver became a slightly less opaque hue. Inside the vague outline of a struggling air faerie was visible.

     "Well done, Remhart. You have served me well. Let us hope that Noit has had such success."

     * * * * *

     Perched atop one of the higher towers of Lord Darigan's castle, a black cape fluttered in the wind. The silent figure moved stealthily along, leaping from one tower spire to another, following the movements of a small group traveling below him. Five heads moved together, four Neopets and one faerie. The figure grinned. He had failed once today, but would not fail again. He gripped his right hand tighter around his staff and muttered a single word: "Luminescera." At first, nothing. The word was so soft it could've been nothing more than the soft murmurs of the wind. But then, a light shone from his orb.

     The figure smiled. Yes, the end was near....

     * * * * *

     "We've been walking for an awfully long time," I complained.

     The trees seemed to be speaking, whispering secrets to each other. Their branches looked like threatening arms, about to grab us and hold us prisoner. I'd told the others this, and they'd simply dismissed my worries as a rather odd case of superstition and paranoia combined. "Relax," Callista had told me, "don't get an anxiety attack."

     I eyed the dark silhouettes to either side of us and shivered. Then I heard something. It sounded like a spell, but I couldn't be sure. "Guys," I hissed, "did you hear that?"

     "Hear what?" Jared answered distractedly. He wasn't really listening, I presumed, and only answered so I didn't start to whine.

     "That word! It was like a chant, or an incantation, or something."

     Jared rolled his eyes. "No, Shirley, I didn't hear anyth—"

     Suddenly, a bright flash of light blinded us. When it disappeared, so did the Soup Faerie. Somewhere up above us, I heard a deep chuckle. A shadowed figure leaped down onto the path above us, his piercing eyes glowing faintly in the dark. In his hand was a familiar staff, glowing with a soft silver light. He smirked at us, turned, and then fled.

     "Come on. Let's go after him," Jared breathed, sprinting after the shape into the darkness.

     * * * * *

     We followed the shadow on a long, tortuous journey. We began to tire; he did not. He was like a phantom, a spirit, a ghostly being taunting us with his unrelenting speed. But still, we persisted.

     Eventually the silhouette vanished, leading us to a pair of dark, black doors. Norbert had decided to fly around the castle and look for an alternate entrance, leaving Callista, Jared and me to approach the doors cautiously.

     These doors were smaller than the main doors at the front of the castle, maybe five or six feet tall. There were two rows of polished silver spikes, one towards the top and one towards the bottom. I gulped, gently pressed the doors, and was quite relieved to find that they slid open almost effortlessly.

     "Do you think it's safe to go in?" I peeked inside and eyed the dark purple tiles, the gothic-style archways and columns, the stone statues carved like Darigan Eyries, and the flickering torches suspended from the walls.

     "Of course it is," Jared snapped, marching ahead of me down a dark, foreboding tunnel. Reluctantly, Callista and I went after him.

     * * * * *

     "You what?" The voice did not yell, was not loud. In fact, it was almost unnaturally soft, but still harsh. The cloaked figure trembled from rage, the glass cup in his hand shattering. "You led them to the entrance of our lair?"

     The voice rose at the end, even broke slightly. "Do you know what you have risked?" the dark outline continued. "You have jeopardized our whole plan."

     "No, Sire," pleaded the Shadow Kyrii. "They won't do us any harm—they're just a bunch of little schoolchildren! Nothing when compared to you, Sire." The Kyrii bowed down, his nose almost touching the ground.

     The cloaked figure drummed his fingers on the arm of his stone throne. In his other hand rested his chin. "Do you know how long I have waited for this moment, Noit? No, you cannot possibly begin to imagine. You have served me—not well, mind you, but at least you have completed your task." One long-nailed finger extended towards the twelfth and final cell in the chamber, no filled and no longer empty. "But I cannot tolerate another mistake on your part. You are excused from your duties. Remhart can take care of them."

     "Oh, no, no, no," sobbed the Kyrii. "No, Sire. Please."

     "I'm afraid, Noit, that you are out of chances..."

     * * * * *

     We made our way down the dark tunnel, with Jared in the lead. At the end of the tunnel, illuminated by a two massive flaming lamps, was a staircase.

     "Sweet, a tower! This is great. This is just like Jeran, battling Lord Kass and the invading army of the Citadel. Except I don't reckon Jeran ever came all the way down here. I think he just fought outside the castle." Jared raced up the steps, his footsteps reverberating off the wall. "This is great! Real action! Wait till I tell Tommy about this. He's my older brother. Always showing off. Well, wait until he hears about this...."

     Jared rambled on and on, telling us of the various exploits of the noble and chivalrous Jeran, of the evil doings of the dastardly Lord Kass, and so on until we had reached the end of the stairwell and the hallway to which it led.

     "Dead end?" I panted.

     I stared at the floor in disbelief. The shadow had led us to those black doors, that was for certain. I recalled seeing the familiar cloak stand in front of them before inexplicably vanishing. From the doors there was only one way to go: down the tunnel, up the stairs, down the hallway, and to this dead end. I frowned. A dead end seemed unlikely.

     "Maybe there's a trap door, or a secret lever, or something," exclaimed Jared, his hands pressing on various stones on the walls. "That always happens to heroes. They're at a dead end, and then they pull a book off of a bookshelf or something and enter a secret chamber."

     "Yeah, well, I don't see any bookshelves here," muttered Callista, slouching against the wall and rubbing her stomach wistfully. "I can't believe you guys didn't let me go to the Food Shop. I could've bought a snack."

     She sighed mournfully, collapsed melodramatically on the floor, and accidentally kicked over a torch.

     "Nice going, Callista." I rolled my eyes at her and turned to pick up the torch, only to discover that it hadn't fallen at all. Instead, it had simply bent slightly, forming an awkward angle with the wall.

     "Hey, look!" Jared was eagerly pointing at a gap that had magically appeared in the wall. "I think that happened when Callista hit the torch! Come on!"

     * * * * *

     Secret passages, as Jared so proudly narrated, were in all the great hero stories. They often led to the secret lair of the evil villain. Then, at the climax, the hero would burst in, brandishing a sword and shield, and triumph over all. This passageway, I thought, seemed likely to end in doom for we three unlikely heroes. I grimaced at a particularly dusty corner, covered with cobwebs and stray Spyders.

     "This place needs some dusting," I muttered, racing to keep up with Jared's fast pace.

     After a few more turns, we began to hear a deep voice. Jared stopped suddenly, causing Callista and me to knock into him.

     "Hey, that was—"

     "Shh!" Jeran put his finger over his mouth, told me to keep my voice down low, and then snuck forward. He positioned himself behind a particularly large stone column, gestured for Callista and me to do likewise, and crouched down low to the ground.

     "Hmm. Remhart, we have done quite well," a deep voice murmured. "We have managed to capture the twelve of them, and now we need only wait until sunrise."

     "Yes indeed, Sire," a gruff voice replied. A pause. Then, "Sire, your dinner."

     "Mmm. Very well, Remhart. Lead the way!"

     Footsteps sounded, died out, and then all was quiet. Jared rushed out first, then Callista, and finally me. The chamber was circular, dark and dimly lit by flames. The walls were formed from column after column of steel bars, giving a prison-like impression. Jared strolled to the center of the room to study what appeared to be a map on the center of the table. Callista joined him. I, on the other hand, began peering through the bars. They apparently led to different rooms, each one housing a large shimmering bubble with a vague blob inside. I squinted carefully at each one. The blobs appeared to be moving, and of different colors. One was blue, as were the next two, but the next was green, and the following purple. I circled the room once this way, before a familiar voice called out to me.

     "Shirley? Is that you?"

     "... S-s-soup Faerie?" I stammered. I looked around me. There was no sign of her. Where could she be? "Is that you?"

     "Yes. I'm in here, in the twelfth chamber. In the silver orb!"

     "Which one's the twelfth cell?" I whispered to Callista and Jared, who had looked up from their map. Callista pointed a finger to a cell with twelve stone stars embedded above it.

     Warily, I approached the cell. "Soup Faerie? How do I get you out?"

     "I... I don't know," she sobbed. "But you have to! Please, save us. You have until dawn. If you don't... oh, it'll be horrible!"

     "How do we save you, if you don't even know?" Jared asked incredulously. He was fidgeting nervously with his Jeran doll—I mean, action figure—apparently too nervous to care whether Callista and I poked fun at him. "After all, you can't really expect three Neopets who aren't even out of grade school yet to figure all this out. I mean, it'd take us years!"

     "Oh, it's hopeless," the Soup Faerie wept. I wanted to put my hand on her shoulder, to comfort her and promise her that everything would be alright, but the silvery orbs were hard as glass, and my short little arms could barely reach them through the bars.

     "All hope's not lost yet," an unfamiliar voice whispered. "There is one way to save us, but it might be dangerous."

     "We can do it!" Callista was back at Jared's side, carefully rolling up the map on the table and placing it in Jared's backpack. "Just tell us what to do."

     "Come closer," the soft voice beckoned, "quickly before they return."

To be continued...