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"Oh, alright, I'll call you Andra, but it's going to be
weird for me the first few times," Oldraik said with one of his joyous chuckles
which sent another pang of guilt into my heart for putting such a light-hearted
Draik like this into such a dreary place. As this guilt started to settle upon
me, crazy thoughts started to overcome my mind, and an idea started to form within
my head. It was then that a true smile actually came onto me, and I would've laughed
if I hadn't known better.
"You know, you're the first..." I said, and
each word which exited my mouth became softer as I waited in eager excitement
to explain my plan to Oldraik.
"First? What do you mean first?" Oldraik said
in confusion. "What did I do first?"
I smiled, once again forgetting that he wasn't
able to see my smile. I reached out and clasped his hand in mines, and placed
my head as close as possible to his ear so that no other prisoner would be able
to eavesdrop.
"You're going to be the first to escape out
of the Erodaire dungeons, for I am going to help you," I whispered in glee.
It has been a few hours since I promised Oldraik
that I shall help him seek fresh air, and I was laying upon my bed, pretending
that I was asleep. I heard the occasional rufflings of dresses as maids passed
by the closed doorway of my room, and I sometimes heard a loud CLANK
as a soldier noisily rushed by. I turned and laid upon the bed on my side and
gripped the blade even tighter. I had kept the D.o.E. blade, for Oldraik said
that I might need it during our-or his-escape, and it was currently hidden beneath
my pretty pink pillow. A breath of cold air rushed over me from the open window,
and I closed my eyes as I ran through the plan in my head once again.
"Stairs...lies...run...over...stay calm..."
I whispered to myself and withdrew the blade from under the pillow. I held it
up and it met the full moon's rays which shone through the window. The silver
of the dagger glowed magnificently in the darkness, and it nearly took my breath
away. The hilt felt warm beneath my grip, but the aura which seemed to surround
this deadly dagger felt cold and bitter, so I hastily shoved it beneath my pillow
once again, for that algid feeling sent shivers up my spine.
A hoot of a Weewoo outside caught my attention
for a few seconds until I heard another noisy soldier walk past my doorway once
again, mumbling something about 'darn dungeons' and 'dark air'. I grinned after
hearing these remarks and quickly hopped out of my bed as lightly as possible.
I silently crept to my doorway and took my deep, black cloak off the hook on
the wall and wrapped it around me. I stood for a few moments and stared at the
deep blackness of the velvet wrapped around me. It was than that I realized
the resemblance between my cloak and Oldraik's skin. Both of these seemed as
if they were deeper than what meets the eye, and that it held much more than
what is revealed to the onlooker. With a wavering hand, I gently touched the
cloak, and partly expected it to reach out and touch my hand back as if it were
alive, but that didn't happen. Taking in another deep breath, I abandoned the
resemblance thought and opened my door as silently as possible.
I stepped out into the carpeted hallway and
stared at both sides, sighing in relief when I realized that the hallway was
empty. I walked along the left passageway as quietly as possible, taking careful
steps whenever I passed one of the maids bedroom doors. Whenever I heard even
a faint hint of noise, I quickly jumped towards the wall and hid myself in the
shadows, but all these quiet noises were created by my mind at the fear of being
caught.
After I went through numerous amounts of corridors,
and traversed many rooms and bends, I soon found myself in the room which held
the stairs to the dungeons. The guard's chair lay empty outside the door, and
I grinned, for I knew that this was the time when all guards take a few minutes
off just to relieve themselves. I approached the door and tried it's doorknob,
cursing in frustration when I discovered that it was locked. Even though this
was a flaw in the plan, I came prepared and reached into my cloak and withdrew
a small pin. I used this pin to unlock the door, and hid it in my sash once
again. Opening the door, I stared down into the dark abyss, and it was then
that I realized how fearful I was of the dungeons. Looking down, I saw my hand
shake slightly as it tightly clenched the handle of the door, but I took in
a deep breath and reassured myself that all shall be well. With these words
in mind, I descended down a few steps, turned around to shut the door, and then
I was flooded in absolute darkness.
I kept my hands on the wall as walked downwards.
This time, my journey down the stairs went by slowly, for I always balanced
my foot in the air before I cautiously dropped it onto the next step. I did
not want to find myself tumbling down the stairs and into the dungeons filled
with prisoners. That would be an awful situation, so I took my time in descending.
Occasionally, I would draw my left hand in and place it on the blade hidden
in my sash as a sort of encouragement to help me go on.
By the time I reached the bottom of the floor,
it felt as if many days had already passed, but I knew that this was not so
or else I would've became hungry hours ago. I once again reached out to the
left wall and read the names imprinted on them, reading each word carefully
so that I won't make a mistake and pass Oldraik by accident. The cold air still
felt very pressing and the air still made it hard to breathe; I don't think
that I shall ever get used to this peculiar oxygen, and I once again felt pained
as images of Oldraik being stuck in this forsaken place forced itself into my
mind. Hastily, I erased these thoughts and continued on with much more determination
than before.
"Finally..." I whispered when I reached the
familiar letters of Oldraik's name. I took the same amount of steps forward
and stopped after twenty-five, taking in short and deep breaths. I waited patiently
for Oldraik to make some sort of sign which signaled that he was there, but
nothing came out of the darkness.
"Oldraik..." I said softly into the darkness,
but empty air met my call. I awkwardly stepped forward a few more steps, my
hand placed over the hilt of my blade in caution. "Oldraik...are you there?"
I called out to the air once again. As I stepped forward once more, I suddenly
heard a faint mumble, as if someone was trying to talk with something covering
their mouth. I took another awkward step forward when I heard that same mumble
once again; this time, much more clearer.
"Oldraik... is that you? Quit playing games
and answer me," I said. I withdrew my blade and used it to at least light one
part of this dark place, and I saw two glimmering eyes side by side before me,
staring. I took in a deep, but fortunately silent, gasp, and recognized the
blood red eyes of Oldraik on the left. But the eyes on the right troubled me
deeply, for not only did they seem familiar, but I recognized them. The owner
of these eyes was someone whom I wished to never see again... someone whom I
wished never met me nor my father.
"You..." I whispered softly.
"Yes, my princess. It is I, the Lupe whom you
had banished just hours before, and now look at how drastically I changed during
that short amount of time! And I am meant to stay here for all eternity!" the
Lupe said, his voice still filled with anguish and pain. "How dare you take
my life away from me... how dare you take away the comforting sight of light
in my eyes... you are no being, for a sane person shall not send one whom they
promised to protect into darkness..."
"I'm sorry..." I said. I know that those pair
of words are an understatement of how sorry I truly was, I simply couldn't put
my sorrow for the particular Lupe into words. "I'm... sorry..." I said once
again, this time I said it in a more whispery voice.
"Mmph! Mmph mumph moomph umph!" Oldraik mumbled
through the Lupe's paw clamped over his mouth. "Umpph! Muph!"
"I am truly sorry for what my fath-- I mean,
my King--did to you earlier this day, but please find the just and mercy in
your heart to release Oldraik. Please, Sir," I pleaded and dropped my blade
upon the floor to further emphasize how badly I wanted him to listen to me.
"Why should I show you mercy or just when you
barely showed the least bit of thought before you sent me down here?"
the Lupe growled between gritted teeth. "Someone of my stature does not belong
here! I do not belong here!"
I sighed to myself when I realized that this
particular Lupe wasn't going to give in that easily. In a compromising tone,
I took in a deep breath and said, "Since you shall not abide to my terms, please
allow me to try my best to abide to your terms, Sir. What is it that you want
me to do so that you shall release my imprisoned friend here?"
"Oomph! Numph Wumph!" Oldraik mumbled once again,
and I heard the sound of his chains fling about, as if he was trying to warn
me about something, but I simply ignored it.
"What are your demands, Sir...?"
"Sir Barick, Princess Andra... and my demand
is..." Sir Barick took in a deep breath, as if he was nervous about what he
was about to say,"my demand is that you tell King Alastare, you tell your father,
that I have served him, his father, and his grandfather, for many years... and
none of them had ever sent me to the dungeons. If it wasn't for me... His Royal
Highness would've never been born..."
I stood there in shock while I tried my best
to comprehend Sir Barick's words. "Pardon?" I asked in complete surprise, for
I was both confused and shocked. "What are you trying to say, Sir Barick?"
"I would reveal it to you, my Lady," Sir Barick
said, "but true knights never reveal a secret which they promise to keep to
themselves." And with those words, he released Oldraik.
"Finally!" Oldraik gasped silently as he took
in a deep breath of air. "I was wondering when you were going to release me.
Now, come here Andra and cut my chains. We've wasted enough time talking down
here in this forboding place to that Sir Barish over there."
"It's Sir Barick to you, young lad. Respect
your elders," Sir Barick said in a dignified tone.
"Yeah... whatever," Oldraik said. "Hurry up,
Andra, cut my chains."
I shook myself awake, and bent down to pick
up the blade which I dropped. With one quick swish, I broke through the chains
which bound Oldraik to the cold floor. "Let's go," I said and helped my new
friend up to his feet.
"Alright...well...good-bye darkness," Oldraik
said cheerfully and was about to walk off before I placed one stopping hand
upon his shoulder.
"Wait..." I said softly, and turned my head
towards the direction of Sir Barick. "Thank you, Noble Knight...you don't know
how much your assistance has helped me..."
"Your welcome, Princess Andra... I always try
my best to aide the royal family," Sir Barick said in a glad tone. "And you,
you scoundrel," he said, directing this insult to Oldraik. "You take care of
this fine lady over here... she'll become a great Queen and a heroine... just
like her mother..."
My eyes widened in shock once again, and I opened
my mouth once more to question him about this strange comment when Oldraik clamped
his hand over my mouth and started to half-lead, half-drag me towards the door.
"Sorry for ruining your nice conversation there,
Andra, but we have to get going if we ever plan to get me out alive," Oldraik
said and released me from his grip. "Now, we're at the wall...now the only thing
left to do is just follow it to the...right?"
"Yes..." I replied back, and looked longingly
into the darkness once more. "But what did Oldraik mean by that..."
"Oh, it's just a bunch of nonsense...even in
the darkness I could sense how poor his rags were, and how musty he smelled.
Do you honestly believe that a noble knight would dress his noble self in that
attire?" Oldraik said and started to follow the wall towards it's left, one
hand placed securely on my shoulder, and another hand tracing the wall as we
walked past.
"Well... no... but he sounded so convincing,"
I said as I took hurried steps and tried to keep up with Oldraik's quick pace.
"It sounded so believable."
"Pah...maybe he was just a good actor and such,"
Oldraik scoffed and increased his pace once more, much to my dislike.
"Why do you hate him so after you barely met
him, Oldraik?" I asked. "What did he ever do to you?"
"You mean besides grab me from behind, drag
me to the ground, and use his hand to disable my speech? Why, other than that,
he's been awful kind to me," Oldraik said sarcastically. "I thought a princess
would know better."
"Yes, a princess does know better, and I know
for a fact that Sir Barick was not lying... there was something about his voice..."
I whispered back. "There was something about his voice which just felt so...
truthful... to me."
"Andra... listen to me... I know that Sir Barick
may seem innocent to you now... but the information which he holds is not innocent...
it is not at all kind, and I do not think that you are ready to hear it just
yet," Oldraik said with downcast eyes. "But something tells me that his role
in your life is not yet over, my Princess, for they shall be another escape
from within the dungeons of Erodaire. Now, please, let us go on."
At first, I hesitated, for these were just predictions
which came from a person whom I barely met. But so far, he's trusted me, and
I've trusted him, so I simply nodded and continued to follow his guiding hand.
Although he was strange, he was the first true friend I've ever had, and I might
as well try to keep him as my companion for as long as possible, for it comforted
me knowing that there was one other person besides my father whom I could confide
to.
We continued to traverse the darkness with only
the wall to our right to guide us. As we walked on, I heard the steady breathings
of the prisoners occasionally, and it suddenly struck me how peculiar it was
that Oldraik and I were able to speak normally without their eavesdropping.
I continued to ponder on this, for I knew for a fact that darkness only makes
you nearly blind, but not nearly deaf, and curiosity started to prick at me
with it's enticing needle. But, before I was allowed the chance to ask Oldraik
about it, he released my hand and made a noise which signaled me to hush. I
stopped dead in my tracks and started to listen carefully. At first, I only
heard the regular breaths of the dungeon's dwellers, but eventually, I heard
faint footsteps upon the ground. At first, it sounded ghostly and faint, but
as time passed, it started to become more detailed. As each shadowy footstep
came on, I heard a rustle of chain mail and metal.
Suddenly, I recognized the sound and hastily
reached out one arm to grab Oldraik. But my hand met empty air; my eyes widened
in shock and I reached out both hands this time, desperately trying to see where
Oldraik was, but my efforts were in vain.
To be continued...
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