Chapter Thirteen
Homegoing
The room shuddered again, this time more powerfully. A chair beside Jack was knocked to the ground, though it was made of heavy oak. Mary Jane grabbed Godrick and held him tightly against her chest lest he be thrown from the table entirely. Alcide cried, "It's an attack! For some reason Mirrin's army is attacking the city."
"How long can the walls hold?" Mary Jane asked. "It feels as though they'll topple any moment."
"No," Aldair said. "This castle has withstood many sieges during its history. The walls will hold for many hours more. However, they will not last forever, and without any other defense, I do not think the castle can withstand the battering of catapults for more than a day. We will leave at once, through an underground tunnel that will take us beyond the walls of the city. Come, we must go now."
"What about Maude?" Jack asked.
"Alcide will find and protect her."
The leopard streaked out of the room, a blur of dirty white. The barrage continued and the two children clung to the table and to each other for balance, and also out of fear. Aldair, however, acted as though he could not feel or hear the heavy stones striking the castle. He walked quickly from the room, and Jack and Mary Jane scrambled to follow. Mary Jane still held Godrick in one hand, and she could feel his tiny heart beating quickly beneath his ribs. The stag led them through various passageways in the castle, never slackening his pace. As they moved deeper into the castle, the rattling and shaking of the walls became less noticeable. At last they reached a stairwell that only went down. Mary Jane subconsciously thought it fortunate that Aldair's horns grew more vertically than horizontally or else he would not have been able to fit in the narrow space.
She paused when she reached the top of the stairs. The staircase spiraled down for many dozens of feet into complete darkness. Without lit torches or windows to light the way, Aldair and Jack had been immediately swallowed up by the inky blackness, leaving her feeling alone and scared. Godrick, forgotten in her hand, urged, "Go on then, Miss."
Mary Jane shook her head and bravely started down. She quickly found she had to put Godrick on her shoulder, as the only way she could go down was by feeling the way with her hands and feet and following the rhythmic clicking of Aldair's hooves against the stone in front of her. The stairwell seemed to continue forever. They went so deep under the castle that eventually they could hear nothing at all of the siege above them. The air became damp, and slightly cold. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Mary Jane gently set Godrick down.
"This way," Aldair's voice commanded from the darkness.
Jack reached out and felt for Mary Jane in the darkness. His hand bumped into her arm, and he took it. He then walked with her behind him, following in the direction of Aldair's voice. Although they could not see it, the stag led them along a tunnel carved out of the ground beneath the castle. They walked several dozen feet, then came to a turn. Jack almost walked into the wall; he did not expect to find a corner in the tunnel. After making the turn, however, Jack saw a faint glow of light coming from further ahead in the tunnel. They moved closer and he saw its source: it came from a small room that connected to the tunnel, and in that room they found Alcide, Maude, Archipel, and Timab waiting for them. Maude held a lit torch, whose flames fought valiantly against the swallowing blackness of the tunnel. The room appeared to be a store room, albeit a small one. Its walls were lined with shelves bursting with various knickknacks. On the ground next to Maude were three small satchels. Jack opened one and saw that it contained dried fruits and berries, and nuts.
"Maude!" Mary Jane exclaimed, giving her sister a hug.
"Timab brought us here," Maude said. "Alcide said the monsters are attacking the castle."
"It would seem so," Mary Jane replied, "although I can't imagine why."
"In any case, we must leave this place quickly. Mirrin must be near," Alcide said.
"It seems we've come to a parting," Timab said. "You'll see I have little to give you, but at least it is something. Safe journeys. May you find your way home. It was an honor to see humans once more in Tarah."
"Thank you," Mary Jane said graciously.
"May you also be safe," Alcide told the little white mouse kindly. "You should leave now. Leave Tarah and make your way to the woods."
"No," the mouse replied heroically. "I am the guardian of Tarah. It is my duty to remain here, so remain I will."
Alcide nodded her great head, and in that moment the brave mouse was as great as the magical beast herself. Then he turned and disappeared into the tunnel, returning to his post in the crumbling castle. When he was gone, Maude and Mary Jane each took a satchel, and Jack took the torch from Maude. Wordlessly, Alcide led them from the room, followed by Jack, Maude, Archipel, Mary Jane, and Aldair.
"Godrick, aren't you coming?" Mary Jane asked, stopping.
The round black and white rat stood still in the storeroom, watching them go.
"I think not, Miss," he said. "I'm all for adventure, but this one is yours, not mine. Besides, the forest's no place for a castle rat like me."
"Well in that case, thank you for all your help," Mary Jane said. "I won't forget you."
"It's been a pleasure," Godrick replied. "Good luck to you. I hope you get out of here and old bag o' bones has a right fit about it."
Aldair nudged Mary Jane with his nose and they continued down the passageway, leaving Godrick behind. Mary Jane felt wetness on her cheeks and realized that she was crying. Although she hadn't known the rat long, he had been a friend to her. Alcide explained as they walked, "These tunnels were built so that if Tarah came under siege, food and other supplies could still be brought into the city. So long as the supply tunnel wasn't discovered, the city could hold out for years. The tunnel is very long so that the enemy wouldn't find its entrance; it's far away from the city, where the enemy wouldn't think to look. Even though you cannot hear them, right now we're walking beneath the feet of Mirrin's monster army, a dozen feet below the surface. The tunnels go for hundreds of yards past the city walls, so we should be well clear of the monsters when we reach the surface."
They walked for another half a mile, not speaking and the children hardly daring to breathe lest they somehow be heard by the monsters above them. The tunnel was small and cramped, the ceiling a mere six feet from the floor and the walls six feet apart. The feeling of being slowly crushed was made worse by the fact that the torch in Jack's hand illuminated only a small area in front of and behind them, leaving everything else in blackness. Eventually, the tunnel began to slant up toward the surface, then abruptly it came to an end. At the end of the tunnel, which by that time was a mere five feet tall, was a short wooden ladder leading to a wooden door in the ceiling.
"It has been many years since this door was last opened," Alcide murmured. "I hope time and nature have not sealed it shut. Jack, see if you are able to push the door open."
Jack handed Mary Jane the torch and then moved the ladder away from the door. He was tall enough that he could easily touch the door without having to climb the ladder, although he could not have climbed out without the use of the ladder. He began to push on the door with both hands. The door stubbornly refused to budge. Even with all his strength, Jack could not move the door an inch. He grunted, "It's stuck."
He dropped his arms and wiped his hands on his tunic, leaving a smear of gray dust across it. He shrugged at Alcide, and the three children looked at her expectantly. It was such a narrow space that they could not all stand together, so they stood more or less in a line along the tunnel wall in the same order that they had been walking, with Archipel sitting at Maude's feet. Maude, who had been next in line after Jack, walked past him and peered up at the door, frowning. Although the light provided by the torch was dim, she realized that what from a distance had seemed to be a plank reinforcing the bottom of door was actually a bar that was slotted into shelves on each side of the door. She exclaimed, "The door doesn't open out, it open
s in!"
Jack and Mary Jane crowded around her to look and confirmed that Maude was right. It was a clever design, for while an enemy could easily pull open a door that opened outward, he would struggle to break through the bar keeping the door shut from the inside. Jack moved his sisters out of the way, then pushed on the bar. It slipped reluctantly from its place, falling to the floor with a solid thump. The door above immediately swung open and bright daylight poured into the tunnel, along with clods of dirt, plants, rocks, and grass. Jack jumped to the side, coughing and spitting, his black hair covered with brown soil.
"Quickly now," Alcide urged. "Mirrin will have set spies throughout the woods, and the appearance of a new door will not go unnoticed for long."
"Can't we just close it again?" Mary Jane asked.
"No. Only someone standing on the inside can close it," Aldair reminded her in his deep, grave voice.
"But that means the tunnel will be wide open for Mirrin's army!" Mary Jane protested.
"If they choose to use it, yes" Aldair agreed.
"What about Timab and Godrick?" Mary Jane asked, aghast.
"There are many places in a castle for a small rodent to hide," Alcide said gently.
Mary Jane did not like that answer, but there was little else to be done. Jack repositioned the ladder so that it leaned against the mouth of the hole and was the first to climb through. He was followed immediately by Maude, then Archipel, who slinked up slowly, his gray body pressed flat against the rungs, carefully picking his way up the ladder meant for human, not animal, feet. Mary Jane went up next. As soon as she was clear of the ladder, rough hands yanked her to the side and a knife, sharp enough that she could feel its edge when she swallowed, was held against her throat.
"One word and I'll slice you ear to ear, I will," an unpleasant voice rasped in her ear.
Mary Jane could not see the speaker, but when she looked up she saw that around the hole, but well out of the sight of those still within the tunnel, Maude and Jack were also standing with weapons held to their throats. The dwarf that held Maude had his hand over her mouth as well. Judging by his angry expression, Mary Jane suspected that her sister had already tried to bite his fat little hand.
Jack was guarded by a fierce looking centaur. Set within its dirt-streaked face were bright yellow eyes with a black, oval pupil. It had long, greasy black hair that fell midway down its back, and its reddish horse coat was caked with dust and mud. The curved scimitar it held was scratched and dull, but long and wickedly sharp and held by powerfully muscular hands. Archipel had been bound with rope, his front and back legs tied together with a single knot and the tail end of the rope used to muzzle his mouth. His blue eyes rolling with fear, he lay at the centaur's hooves, his tail thrashing wildly as he struggled to free his feet.
"Come out, the last of you. We knows you're in there," the voice behind Mary Jane commanded into the hole.
"Who is that?" Alcide's voice demanded from inside the tunnel.
Her head emerged slowly from the hole as she climbed the ladder with the same care Archipel had taken. As soon as her pale blue eyes locked upon the scene in front of her, however, she gave a loud, fierce scream and lunged onto the grass, dropping into the coiled crouch of a cat preparing to strike. Her head swung quickly from left to right, keeping all of their assailants in view.
"Careful, kitten," Mary Jane's captor warned, at the same time dragging Mary Jane slightly backward so that the knife pressed into her throat without drawing blood.
Alcide growled so deeply that Mary Jane could feel it vibrate in her ribs, but the leopard did not attack.
"And the other one," the voice ordered.
Everyone looked to the hole once more. They heard the scrape of the ladder's wooden feet against the floor, then heard it clatter loudly to the floor. The sound of Aldair's hooves against stone as he walked could be heard clearly. Alcide moved away from the hole to give him space, keeping her eyes on the person or creature behind Mary Jane, her ears flat to her head and her teeth bared.
Below, Aldair backed away from the hole, then galloped toward it and sprang through, his golden body flashing in the sun like a fish leaping out of a stream. The stag reacted to the scene as Alcide had. His nostrils flared and he lowered his head to charge with his sharp horns. The knife in front of Mary Jane waved and her captor clicked its tongue disapprovingly.
"Not so fast," it growled in its sandpaper voice.
"Halfbreeds," Aldair spat.
"Now, now, be nice," the voice mocked lightly. Dropping lower, it added, "Or I'll cut one of her fingers off."
A gnarled, calloused hand grabbed Mary Jane's left hand, jerking it near to her face, and held the pinkie out with the blade to the first joint. Mary Jane whimpered. The hair on Alcide's twitching tail puffed in alarm and she growled more loudly. She snarled, "How did you know to find us here?"
"What says we did? We wasn't expecting any surprises like this. Our lucky day. You'll fetch a nice reward from Mirrin, you will. She might even make me a captain. She's been looking for you humans, and word is she'll pay a pretty penny for it, too. But you," the voice said, indicating Alcide, "I dunno what you are. Mirrin didn't say nothing about a cat and a deer."
Tension left Alcide's body. Mary Jane noticed that even Aldair seemed to relax. Alcide repeated carefully, "You don't know what I am?"
"You're a big white cat, innit?" the voice grunted without interest. "That's all. What do I care about some talking animal?"
The forest began to shimmer. Mary Jane thought it was a trick of her eyes, at first, but it shimmered even after she blinked. It seemed as though the very air itself was moving in waves, and she could feel the waves softly lapping against her eardrums. At the same time, she felt unbearably weary. She struggled to keep her eyes open. She heard, as though whispered from a great distance and at the same time into her ears alone, Alcide's voice command, "You will drop your weapons and let the children go."
The knife at Mary Jane's throat wavered, then dropped to the ground. The arm around her shoulder pinning her to the being behind her went slack, too. She pushed it away, and when she felt no resistance, and ran to Aldair. As she watched, the centaur, too, dropped his scimitar, and the dwarf let go of the small dagger he had held unseen to Maude's back. Maude, who was the same height as the dwarf, spun and gave him a kick in the shin before running away. Jack stopped only to untie Archipel, then all three joined Mary Jane beside Aldair. Neither the dwarf nor the centaur moved. Their eyes were dazed and unfocused.
Mary Jane risked a look back at her captor. It was no creature she had ever seen before. That it had some sort of blood relationship to humans was barely evident, in that it walked on two legs and had two arms and a head, but there the resemblance ended. Its skin was yellow, and what hair it had was long and stringy and black. It had a hideously ugly face, with bulging eyes and a heavy jaw so long that it went past the upper part of the creature's mouth, revealing four yellow, broken teeth. The creature's face was covered with warts, and patches of its skull were hairless. Its eyes were a crusty yellow shot through with blood. For clothing, it wore black pants that reached barely to the knee and were held up by a rope for a belt. Its once white shirt was far too small, revealing a potbelly. Mary Jane was glad to be far away from the creature.
"You did not see anyone today," Alcide told the creatures. "You did not find a tunnel, you did not see the human children. You fought amongst yourselves the whole day and then you slept."
Mary Jane's captor did not blink. Mary Jane wondered if he had heard Alcide's words. The leopard turned to the children and growled, "Let us leave now. If there is one patrol in the area, there may be others."
"But…" Mary Jane protested, confused.
She did not understand what was happening. Surely, the abominable creatures would try to follow them. They must tie them up to prevent it. She tried to tell the others, but Aldair shushed her.
"They will not remember we were ever here," he explained.
Mary Jane glanced once more at the monsters. They remained still as statues, their eyes vacant. Aldair now took the lead, guiding them north away from the tunnel entrance with Alcide in the rear. When they were several dozen yards away and out of sight of the three creatures, Mary Jane felt the forest shimmer again. A moment later, she heard the raspy voice quarreling with a deep, angry voice that she imagined belonged to the centaur. The two continued arguing until she could hear them no longer.
"What happened and what was that awful creature?" Mary Jane exclaimed once she was certain that they were not being followed.
"It was a spell," Maude said matter-of-factly.
She was now riding happily on Aldair's back, her short legs falling only halfway down his golden sides. Jack had put her there so that she could keep pace with the rest of the group, her legs being so much shorter. Aldair slowed to walk beside Mary Jane, and Maude was taller than her older sister while riding on the magical beast.
"Was it?" Mary Jane asked the stag.
"Yes. Those who do not stuff their ears with cotton around Alcide too often find themselves doing whatever she commands. What king would not have given his fortune to have had such a pet?" Aldair mused.
"She's like a siren!" Maude exclaimed.
"Sirens call men to their death and can do nothing else," Aldair said in gentle reproof. "They are creatures of evil."
"The creature you speak of," Alcide said, addressing Mary Jane, "was a hobgoblin. Normally they, like dwarves, live below the ground. They are smarter than they appear, and cruel. Luckily, they were very rare even when they were at their fullest strength in Devorian."
"And that was a centaur, right?" Jack asked.
"Yes, it was."
"Are there many of those?" Jack asked.
"The centaurs used to live in herds that would roam the Western Plains and attack villages. There were perhaps several hundred, no more. Those that have returned to Devorian since being chased out centuries ago have come alone. Perhaps herds still can be found far south of Devorian; I do not know. Centaurs are very strong, but only semi-intelligent," Alcide said.
"And the dwarf?" Mary Jane asked.
"Dwarves are neither good nor evil, for the most part. There once were many of them, and they lived in vast systems of tunnels under the mountains, mining for metals and precious gems. However, there are far more males than females, and because of this their population dwindled. Now there remain only a few hundred in all of Devorian. They are not often seen, for they live deep within the heart of the mountains and have no use for the world outside. If I had to guess, I would say that dwarf was one of the bad dwarves, acting as a mercenary with Mirrin's army."
"Well, I hope we don't cross paths with more monsters like those," Mary Jane said.
"Unfortunately, I am quite certain that we will," Aldair replied solemnly.