[Belisarius]
"I'd rather not split the group apart too much,
however. Given the circumstances, only one person is mobile enough
to do this without great risk, and that's Silver."
Silver looked up at her name, slightly surprised
at the amount of trust Parsnip was placing in her. She said nothing,
merely nodded her head, acknowledging the gravity of the situation.
She was at the least risk, but if something did happen, there was no one
to help her.
Parsnip continued, "We'll go up Belisarius's rope.
Silver, you'll scout that window first to let us know if anybody's present,
then continue inside. At that point, your job will be to find Belisarius.
Ours will be to find Marley. We must act quickly. Though Neo
may have a number of knights out training, they'll be returning before
too long. Okay. I suppose this is it."
Silver concentrated for a moment, and assumed her
raven form. She flew up, perching on the window with the rope hanging
out of it. She returned to the group momentarily, reporting that
there was a single guard in the room. She flew off just as rapidly,
realizing the importance of time. The rest of the group organized
themselves to climb the rope. Parsnip led, followed immediately by
Roland, Dhsu, Spyder, and the rest. Silver couldn't help but feel
a little smug as she watched them straining and sweating as they ascended
the long rope.
Parsnip leapt into the room, blade flashing as he
did so. Without any idea where the guard was, his first blow missed,
but startled the guard sufficiently that he went down with just a quick
pommel blow to the jaw. The rest entered rapidly, and recovered the
rope. On one end was a fine spray of grayish-silver dust with a family
insignia on it. Roland, recognizing the emblem, coiled the rope carefully
and placed it in a pocket inside his cloak. Parsnip carefully opened
the door, and seeing nobody, led the group into the hallway.
Silver, in raven form, stopped occassionally at windows
to examine the rooms behind them. Though she learned a considerable
amount of court gossip, nothing led her to the missing companion.
At one window, however, she heard a knight speaking to someone.
"This isn't right. I've heard of Belisarius from
Neo. I thought he was a man of honor. It doesn't make any sense
that he planned to commit any of the things Marley accused him of.
It doesn't make sense," said the knight.
The other man, most likely his superior, looked at him
with a hard stare. "Maybe not, but his majesty has asked us to keep an
eye on him. You're on watch in fifteen minutes. If you're not
there, I will hold you for treason, and you can share his fate."
With that, the superior turned and walked away.
Silver considered this for a moment. She could trust
him, as he'd prove a valuable ally, or she could just follow him down to
the cell. She didn't have fifteen minutes. It was a risk, she
knew, but there was little other choice. Once Neo returned with the
knights, their task would become considerably more difficult. She
decided to take a gamble and trust him. Flying into the room, she
watched as his eyes followed her down to a chair.
He gasped slightly as she returned to the form of a girl,
and managed to stutter out, "W--who are y--you?"
Silver turned to him. "Look, I need your help.
We have to get Belisarius freed before Marley does whatever he's planning.
Where is he?" she demanded. The knight looked at her carefully, piecing
together exactly what he had just witnessed. When he finally did
speak, it was carefully.
"Marley moved him deeper into the dungeons. Something
about a rescue attempt. Looks like he was right. I could take
you to Marley, you know. He'd reward me for bringing him one of the
rebels," responded the knight. Silver stared at him in disbelief.
"You honestly think you could catch me? And assuming
you could, that you could hold me?"
"No, I suppose not." The knight sat down.
"Okay, if we're going to free him, you'll need to become that bird again.
Then, we can get down there with you hiding behind my cloak. The
guards shouldn't be too much trouble. We have surprise on our side."
Silver nodded.
Silver and the knight reached the cell, located deep in
the heart of the castle, far beyond the breezy upper layers. The
knight walked up to the first guard, and, without a word plunged his sword
deep into the guard's stomach. At that moment, Silver burst from
his cloak with a shriek, flapping and biting at the second, giving the
knight time to run the second guard through. The guards dispatched,
he turned his attention to Belisarius, now standing at the door of the
cell.
Belisarius did the same, looking at the unfamiliar faces,
then did a double take as Silver returned to her human form. The
knight turned to Belisarius.
"Sir Belisarius, I have heard of your deeds. My
name is Maverick, a knight whose honor demands that I oppose Marley.
He has become corrupt, and will only destroy us." That said, he extended
an arm, which Belisarius clasped in the Knight's Grasp.
Belisarius then turned his attention to Silver, a rather
unlikely savior. "And you?" he asked. Silver smiled slightly
at his disbelief, then responded.
"I'm Silver. Would you mind not being quite so incredulous?
I just saved you, you know." Belisarius contemplated this for a moment.
"I'm still in the cell, though. I hope you have
a key?"
Silver looked now at Maverick. He looked back at
her. They both grinned sort of sheepishly, then searched the bodies
of the guards. No key. Belisarius sighed softly.
"Why don't we just force the door?" Silver asked. "You
could probably do it." Belisarius shook the door slightly.
"Stand back," were his only words as he ran at the door.
It shuddered but held. He tried again. Again, it held.
He gave it a third try, and the door burst open, missing Silver by inches.
She looked daggers at Belisarius, who was rubbing his shoulder, but tossed
him a sword from one of the guards.
"You'll need this. Our next task is to find everybody
else and get into Marley's throne room," she said.
[Dhsu]
"How long has it been since you started searching
for me?" asked Belisarius.
"Hmmmm...I'd say about half an hour," Silver replied.
"Then we must hurry," Belisarius said quickly.
"Something about the king doesn't seem right."
"You're telling me."
"No, not just that! Something...eerie...demonic."
"H--hey there now, no need to spook me right in
the middle of the mission."
"Trust me, Silver, there's no time to be scared.
Follow me!"
The rescuers and rescuee met no resistance as they
backtracked to Belisarius' quarters, and continued towards Marley's throne
room. They had gotten fairly far with Belisarius' guidance when he
suddenly stumbled over large object in a dimly lit corridor. As he
sat on the floor and rubbed the point of contact on his foot, he felt a
wet and slightly sticky substance. As Belisarius looked more closely,
squinting in the flickering torch-light, he felt his jaw drop as he slowly
came to the sickening realization that his boot, and now his hand, was
dripping with blood. His stare moved from his hand to his foot, then
to the obstacle that had caused his fall. It was a dead soldier,
crimson fluid pouring out from a wound in his side. He felt almost
responsible for the man's death for a reason he could not explain, as though
he had been caught in the act, his red hands as evidence.
"Ugh, looks like Parsnip and company are already
on the warpath," Silver remarked.
"Well, at least they left a trail of bread crumbs...very
bloody bread crumbs," said Belisarius in a disgusted tone, quickly wiping
himself off.
"Ummmm....yeah..."
It didn't take long for them to reach the hall in
front of Marley's throne room (only three more dead guards; an arrow from
Eldaron's bow stuck in one's chest, the glowing ashes of another, and the
third seemed to have been pummelled to death). On each side of the
large, ornately-carved double doors leading into the chamber stood a lifelike
guard statue, spears drawn and fierce expressions carved into their faces.
"Marley must be dumber than we thought if he thinks
he can fool us with those," Silver smirked.
Belisarius went up to one and began to examine it.
"This has far greater detail than I've seen among even the king's sculptors.
They even have fingerprints." After a few moments, he slowly removed
the long spear from its stone grasp. "Just as I thought," he said
as he rested the end on the floor. "Petrified."
"No duh," Maverick said.
"No, I mean as in literally Petrified.
It looks like Roland found the Break spell in the book."
"Oh...Petrified," Maverick said as he, too, gave
the "statue" a closer inspection. "Whoa..." He didn't feel
like touching it, afraid it might suddenly reach out and grab him.
"Hey..." he suddenly realized. "I knew this guy. A guy named
Crippy, if I remember right. Always bragging about how he used to
be a member of some resistance. Poor wretch."
"Come on, we've got to hurry," Belisarius urged,
paying little attention to Maverick's comments. "They're already
inside. I just hope we're not too late." Taking a deep breath,
he burst into the throne room.
"Belisarius!" Parsnip cried.
"Silver!" exclaimed Roland.
"Look out behind you!" Eldaron shouted, drawing
an arrow.
"Behind me--?" Silver asked as she whirled around.
"Oh, don't shoot him, he's a friend!"
"What?!" asked Eldaron, his bowstring still taut.
"My name is Maverick," he replied. "I've realized
Marley's corruption and have decided to join your cause. I was the
one who helped Belisarius escape."
"He speaks the truth," Belisarius confirmed.
"Ha, your tyranny is coming to an end, Marley!"
Parsnip said, turning to address the king. "Even your own soldiers
are turning against you!"
"Your Majesty!!" a voice suddenly shouted as Neo
and his knights charged in from the room's backdoor, their adrenalin already
rushing from the morning's training session. "Forgive me, your highness,
I will dispatch these intruders immediately!"
"No, Neo, that will not be necessary."
"My lord?"
"You and your men are tired from this morning's
exercise. It is time for you to rest."
"Your Majesty, we will defend you even if we have
to use the last ounce of our strength!"
"I said no, Neo."
"Y--yes, my lord."
Marley turned to the band of rebels standing before
him, their weapons drawn and bodies tense, ready to strike.
"Hahaha, well done, warriors," Marley said.
"I must admit that I expected you to arrive a little sooner, but I hope
this battle will be worth the wait."
"Save yourself the trouble," Parsnip spat.
"There is absolutely no way you're going to be able to stop us now."
"Is that so? Did you seriously think
that I left the castle virtually undefended, imprisoned one of your men,
and expected you to just leave me alone?"
"You--you mean you captured Belisarius to make sure
we went after him?"
"Very perceptive," Marley said with a sly smile
that Parsnip would have given anything to remove. "My, you disappoint
me even more by the minute. Well, no matter, I will assure you a
quick death."
