Owen held up his hand in protest. “It’s my father and—”
“Exactly,” said Audun. “I don’t want to be the one to tell your father that you died trying to rescue him. Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”
“You won’t have any light,” said Owen. “How will you see where you’re going? I have another candle, but it won’t do you a bit of good underwater.”
“I can see in the dark better than you can,” said Audun. “There is one thing, though. I’ve never met your father or seen what he looks like. How will I know who to bring back? From what I’ve heard, Dolon has been collecting prisoners in the dungeon since the day he took over the castle.”
“Here,” said Jim, reaching into the neck of his tunic. “I have this.” A jeweled locket lay on his palm and when he pressed a tiny knob on the top it split in half, revealing a miniature picture on each side. “That’s my father,” Jim said, pointing to the picture on the right. The man was dressed in heavy robes with a jeweled chain around his neck. Jim tapped his finger against the other picture. “And that’s King Cadmus. He and my father were friends.” The king was a distinguished man with hair as blond as Owen’s.
The prince glanced up and gave Jim a searching look. “Your father was the gem merchant, wasn’t he? My father counted him as a good friend.”
“This should help,” said Audun, examining the miniature portrait of the king closely. “There is one other thing that might be useful. Would you happen to have something of your father’s, Owen? Perhaps a piece of clothing that you took with you when you left?”
Owen looked thoughtful but shook his head. “The only thing I have of my father’s is this ring,” he said, holding up his hand. “He gave it to me for safekeeping just before Dolon’s men took him away.”
“That might work,” said Audun. He pulled Owen’s hand closer as if to get a better look, and quickly sniffed the ring. When he had a good sense of its owner, Audun turned and lowered his legs into the water before anyone could stop him. It was warm, with a strong current that Audun hadn’t anticipated.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” asked Jim. “I mean, you’re the first friend I’ve made since I got here and I really don’t want to lose you.”
Audun grinned. “I don’t want to lose me, either. Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it.” The last thing he saw before the current carried him away were the worried faces of his two new friends.
As the water swept Audun under the castle, he considered changing into a dragon, but the space was narrow, and he didn’t know how wide it would be up ahead. He’d never taken off the amulet that allowed him to breathe underwater, so he wasn’t worried about air. However, his human body was far more fragile than his true dragon self, a fact he’d forgotten when he had said that he would go. The current was fast, and if it hadn’t been for his dragon strength he would have been hurled into the wall. As it was, it took all of his efforts to stay in the center of the channel while avoiding the debris that churned in the water around him.
After what seemed like hours, Audun finally saw a glimmer of light ahead. He was swimming toward it, hoping that it was an opening into the dungeon, when he sensed a change in the current. Something big was coming.
Even with the eyesight of a dragon, Audun couldn’t see more than a few feet away in the darkened water. He was turning in a circle, trying to see what was coming up behind him when a tentacle wrapped itself around his neck and jerked. Audun flailed his arms as the tentacle dragged him backward. There was a loud sucking sound and he slid down the gullet of a river monster.
The tentacle let go with a slurp and Audun slid on his back down a bumpy surface. He was stunned. He’d never been swallowed before and it wasn’t at all what he would have expected: he hadn’t been chewed into bits, nor was he dissolving in a vat of stomach acid. Instead, he floated in water that smelled faintly of rotting fish and was warmer than the water he’d just come from. The light he’d been trying to reach was still visible, although it was wavery, as if he were looking through a thick layer of ice. The roar of the underground river was muted.
Audun twisted his body around until he felt footing below him. Using his hands and feet, he tried to climb up the bumpy surface, but it gave too easily under pressure; he felt like he was climbing in old fish pudding. He could always turn into a dragon if he had to, but the thought of doing it inside another living creature made his stomach turn. There had to be another way out.
Water sloshed around him every time the creature moved. With his hand touching the inside of the beast, Audun could feel its body slosh, too, which made him realize just how much of the monster was made of water. It seemed more like a water-filled bladder armed with a tentacle than like the sea monsters Audun had met near the islands. And if it really was mostly water . . .
Audun reached into the satchel where he’d hidden the objects he usually carried in the pouch under his wing. The piece of ice felt colder in his human hand than it had in his dragon talons and he dropped it sooner than he’d intended. It fell into the water which instantly turned slushy with the cold. The monster shivered and Audun’s human body shivered with it.
A groaning sound filled Audun’s ears and he looked up as a wave of warm water washed over him. It took only moments before this water had turned slushy as well. Hoping that the monster would groan again, Audun doubled his efforts as he fought his way to its mouth. He was ready when the creature’s jaws gaped open. Grabbing hold of the creature’s lip, he somersaulted out of the beast and into the underground river which was already turning colder. Although he kept his head down, he grazed his back on the ceiling of the tunnel, cutting through his clothes and scraping away skin.
With powerful thrusts of his legs and arms, Audun swam away from the monster toward the light in the ceiling. It was another wide hole covered with a metal grate. Audun struggled against the current, trying to stay under the opening long enough to grab hold of the grate. It took all his strength, but Audun was able to push it aside and pull himself out of the river with a whoosh!
He stood for a moment, trying to get his bearings as water sluiced off his clothes. Squelching with every step, he began to search for Owen’s father.
The only light in the otherwise dark dungeon came from smoking torches that sputtered at the slightest puff of air. At first, Audun caught only a faint whiff of the king’s presence, and thought it might have been left from visits in times past. That changed, however, when Audun reached the intersection of two corridors and the scent became much stronger.
Although he tried to be as quiet as possible, even the small sounds he made drew the prisoners to the doors of their cells. A few of them watched him walk by in silence while others cried out, asking for his help, yet each time he tried to talk to one of them, they were too frightened and distrustful to listen to what he had to say.
Finally, he noticed a man who pressed his face against the bars in the square window of his door and didn’t hide when Audun approached. “Be quiet, you idiots!” the man shouted, making his long, scruffy beard bob up and down. “Can’t you tell—that’s a dead man walking there. You don’t want the kind of help he can give you!”
“Pardon me,” said Audun, “but I was wondering if you know where the king is being kept.”
“Why?” asked the man. “Do you want to drag him off to drown him so you’ll have company in your watery grave?”
“Not at all,” Audun replied. “I’m not dead and I don’t want to hurt anyone. I’m here to help the king escape.”
“Really? In that case, I’m the king. Which one are you looking for?”
“King Cadmus,” said Audun.
“Well, then, I’m King Cadmus! Let me out.”
Audun sighed. “I can’t take everyone in the dungeon, and if I let you out they’ll all want to go. I’m here to rescue the king. Once I get him out, I’m sure he’ll do his best to come back and free the rest of his subjects.”
“Why would he want to do that
? There are murderers and cutthroats down here. Most of these men deserve to be right where they are. I’m different, though, so let me out.”
“Why are you in here?”
“Because I’m King Cadmus, remember? You have a very short memory, don’t you, boy?”
Audun peered at the man. He was old and wrinkled and his beard must have taken years to grow. The man in front of him didn’t look anything like the clean-shaven man in the picture and he smelled so awful that Audun’s eyes teared. “Never mind,” Audun said, as he turned away. “I’ll just have to keep looking.”
“Don’t be a dunderhead!” yelled the man. “I’m Cad-mus and you have to get me out.”
“No!” shouted a prisoner on the other side of the corridor. “I’m Cadmus. Take me with you!” Audun glanced at him, but he was much too young to be the king.
While voices up and down the corridor clamored that they, too, were Cadmus, Audun went from window to window, trying to find the prisoner who looked like the man in the picture. None of them were right, however. Some were too young, some too old, some had eyes too far apart or noses too small, yet now that they knew that Audun was there to free the king, every one of them claimed to be King Cadmus. Unfortunately, they all smelled horrible.
Reaching the end of the row, Audun closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he tried to sort out the awful smells. There, that was it. It was true, Cadmus was here, but he was behind him. Audun retraced his steps all the way back to . . . Audun groaned. The crazy old man he’d been talking to was Cadmus after all.
“I told you so,” said the king.
“Why don’t you look anything like the picture you gave the gem merchant?” asked Audun.
“Is that the picture you saw? I must have given that to him six or seven years ago. I pass out so many of those things that it’s hard to keep track. I’ve had a beard for the last five years at least. Now, how about letting me out?”
“I’m doing this on your son’s behalf,” Audun said, wrapping his fingers around the window bars. With one powerful jerk, he yanked the bars from the window, but left the door still in place.
“Is that the best you can do?” asked the king. “I can’t fit through that little hole. I may have lost weight, but I’m not a skeleton like that guy.” Audun peered behind the king at the skeleton sitting in the corner. Someone had rearranged his bones so that he was in a sitting position, with one knee resting on the other and his hands palm up beside him. An old metal cup had been placed on one of his hands so that he looked as if he’d been drinking.
“I’m not finished,” said Audun. Bracing his feet against the wall on either side of the doorway, he gripped the door through the window hole and pulled. The top of the door broke free, leaving the bottom intact.
“You’re not very good at this, are you?” said Cadmus. “Why, if it were up to me—”
“Pardon me, Your Majesty,” Audun said, as he reached through the opening and picked up the king. “We don’t have time for criticism.”
Slinging the king over his shoulder, he turned and started down the corridor while prisoners shouted and pleaded for him to take them, too. He really would have taken them with him if he could have, but he knew that the return trip wasn’t going to be easy. In view of what had happened on his way in, he was already considering how he was going to carry the king back with him. It had been difficult enough to fight the current when he was by himself, but carrying this old man would make it that much harder . . . unless, of course, Audun was a dragon.
Putting aside the concerns that had made him refrain from changing into a dragon earlier, Audun resolved that he would have to return to his normal shape if he were to have any chance of reaching the outside world. He had even thought of a way to keep the king from seeing his true form. He hoped the old man wouldn’t be able to feel the difference between human and dragon once they were in the water.
After setting the king beside the opening to the tunnel, Audun took Frostweaver’s fabric from his satchel and held it up so King Cadmus could see it. “We’re about to go into some very cold water. This magic fabric will keep you warm, but you have to keep it over your head, so you won’t be able to see anything. Don’t struggle while I carry you, or I might lose my grip and drop you. Do you understand?”
“Of course I understand,” grumped the king. “What kind of idiot do you think I am? You’re going to carry me to who knows where and I won’t be able to see where we’re going until we get there. And if I try to get away, you’re going to drop me.” King Cadmus peered over the edge into the ink-black water where chunks of ice floated by. “I see what you mean by cold. I thought you were making up excuses for wrapping me in a blanket so I couldn’t see where we were going. Who would have thought there’d be ice in the desert? So how am I going to breathe down there?”
Audun didn’t think he had any choice; he had to tell the king about his amulet. “I’m wearing something that lets me breathe underwater. I believe you’ll be able to breathe, too, as long as I’m carrying you. It’s an—”
“You believe? You mean you don’t know? Now, isn’t that a fine kettle of fish! I’m supposed to trust you with my life and you don’t even know what you’re doing! And this is all on my son’s behalf? Which son is it? I have three, you know. Do they know what you’re up to? Maybe they’re out to kill me, too. Never mind. They’re all good boys. We’d better get out of here before those fool guards wander down this way in one of their drunken stupors and trip over us. Hand me that fabric. I’ll do it myself. I don’t trust you not to . . . There, that’s it,” King Cadmus said through the fabric. “I’m trussed up like a goose and ready to go. I don’t care how you get me out of here. Just do it! Hey, are you going somewhere? You’re not going to leave me here!”
Audun had slipped into the river feet first and was treading water. While the king flopped around like a blindfolded fish, Audun changed back into a dragon. It was a relief to be himself again, and the current that had felt so strong and cold before now seemed gentle and refreshing. Because the hole was too small for him to fit through as a dragon, he reached up with both forelegs and plucked the king off the floor. Careful not to poke the man through the fabric with his talons, Audun dove into the river and swam upstream, easily maneuvering around the debris.
The king had begun to struggle as soon as he entered the water. Audun worried at first, but the old man continued to shout and thrash around long after he would have drowned if the magic hadn’t been working. Satisfied that the king was all right, the dragon sped through the water, reaching the hole in the ceiling near the outer wall in minutes.
With a powerful heave, Audun tossed the king through the opening onto the floor of the tunnel. He heard Jim and Owen shout, but by then he was so busy focusing on turning back into a human that he missed whatever they were saying. A moment later he pulled himself out of the water, landing on his stomach beside the partly unwrapped king with an oof!
“You got him!” Owen shouted, pounding Audun on the back.
“You shouldn’t have doubted me,” Audun said, although he’d had moments when he’d doubted he could do it himself.
“Your friend swims like a fish,” said the king, as he kicked the cloth off his feet. “I wouldn’t have thought he was human if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes. Didn’t feel like a human, though.” He rubbed his chest where Audun’s talons had pressed against him. “Strongest grip I ever felt.”
Owen put his arm around his father’s shoulders. “Thank goodness for that. But now we have to get you out of here, Father. I have a horse waiting in the city. You two should come with us,” he added, glancing from Jim to Audun. “This is no life for you here, Jim. And I can use your help, Audun. My father and I are going to get his throne back.”
“Jim should go,” Audun said. “But I have to stay here. I came to Desidaria to find someone and I’m not leaving until I do.”
Twenty
The sun was coming up as Audun helped Owen hide King Cadmus
in a wagon that would take him off the castle grounds. After wishing his friends well, Audun sneaked through the back door of the kitchen behind a yawning scullery maid and trudged down the corridor to the Great Hall. His clothes still damp, he sat on a bench to wait until it was time to see Smugsby.
Exhausted from the sleepless night, Audun dreaded all the tasks the steward was bound to have waiting for him. He thought about abandoning the job altogether so he could focus on looking for the girl, but then he would probably be kicked out of the castle. Perhaps he could hunt for the girl while he was working, provided he wasn’t too obvious about it. He’d already decided that he would talk to every girl in the castle if he had to, in order to find the one he was meant to rescue. After that, he would go straight to Greater Greensward and tell Millie how much she meant to him, and this time nothing was going to get in his way.
Audun was about to get off the bench and go see Smugsby when four guards approached him. The big man who’d been made a guard just the day before was among them. Audun thought they were headed for the next table, and was surprised when they stopped beside his.
“You’re coming with us,” said one of the men. Audun recognized him as a guard from the orphans’ tower.
“What’s this about?” Audun asked, getting to his feet.
“Treason,” the guard answered. He refused to say anything more, even as they hustled Audun through the Great Hall, along the corridor, and down the steep stairs to the dungeon.
Audun wasn’t worried when they marched him into an empty cell and manacled him to the wall. He knew he could get out at any time: he was sure that the chains couldn’t withstand a dragon’s strength, but he was curious enough to want to know why he was being named a traitor. They couldn’t know of his actions during the night, unless . . .