Chapter 6
The small party hid behind a natural wall of rocks as the shimmering emerald walls of Negathor towered above them on the other side of the cliff. Between the cliffs, connecting both sides, was a wooden bridge guarded by the party of kingsmen that had been trailing them for the last four days. The kingsmen were determined to catch the travelers, and the travelers were determined to keep themselves uncaught. As such, neither the hunters nor the hunted stopped to rest, they both kept going forward until the hunters lost the trail of their prey, and decided, quite wisly, to stake out the only bridge connecting the two massive cliffs. Barring the only entry point into the city and trapping the party behind the rock wall.
"I don't suppose there are any handy invisibility spells that could be useful right about now?" Yokig sighed To Dresmael.
"Nope, Grenalda never taught me any, so we're shit outta luck ." She answered, searching the bag hanging from her thin shoulders.
"I think i can take them!" Redbeard rolled his sleeves up his burly arm and punched the air.
"Five armed kingsmen against one unarmed giant? You don't stand a chance. Even if you could get past them, we would still have to deal with the kingsmen at the gates of the city." Blackpaw reasoned with Redbeard.
Blackpaw was right. Yokig knew it, Dresmael knew it; hell, even Redbeard knew it. It would be virtually impossible to get into the city, short of a miracle. And even if by some infinitely small chance they did manage to get in, there would surely be posters with their faces plastered on every wall and in every square of that city boasting with a hefty bounty placed on their heads for all to see. Yokig was beginning to doubt that they would even be able to continue with their plan and from a quick glance he saw that, even though nobody said it outloud, everyone else felt the same exact way.
"So what do you think we should do now? Turn back?" Redbeard huffed, crossing his arms and trying to hold back the anger and disappointment he felt at the bitter reality of their situation. "There must be another way in, I feel it. Something we haven't thought of, just yet."
Blackpaw was lost in thought, her little black fur arm raised to her mouth in a gesture that reminded Yokig of a man lost in thought.
"Well, we can't just stay here forever, can we? Night will come and the kingsmen will be crawling all over this place." Dresmael sounded worried. She kept searching the contents of her bag frantically. Finally, she pulled out a small deep green leather bound book and thumbed quickly through its pages, searching for something, anything, that could help them get out of the misfortunate bind they found themselves in.
Yokig glanced over her shoulder at the pages as they flew by. They were filled with neatly penned words and diagrams and pictures of plants and fauna with detailed inscriptions etched next to each one with notes on how they could be used for good, or for ill. Dresmael slammed the book shut in defeat and slumped down, trying her best to hold back tears.
"Couldn't we use that redirection spell from last time?" Yokig queried, pointing to her book.
"No, they would be wise to the spell. They would send men to search out the noise, sure. But they would also keep a few men to continue guarding that bridge. just in case we showed up."
"You're right, but there sure would be a hell of a lot less of them to beat up!" Redbeard pipped up, his enthusiasm to fight returning, filling the giant with a more than adequate dose of adrenaline.
"It's too much of a risk, like I said before, we would still have to get past the kingsmen at the gates." Blackpaw interjected. "You know, I bet there are alot of cats in that city who know the place inside and out." She mused. They all gave Blackpaw their undivided attention. They wanted something they could hang on to, any plan they could put into action. Blackpaw scanned the group with her green cat eyes. "They would know if any other way to get into the city existed"
Yokig knew this was their best chance of finding a way in, it was risky but it could work.
"Alright, let's take a vote on it! Everybody in favor say 'Ay'" Redbeard put it to a democratic vote and all the group agreed with a simple and unanimous "AY!". Yokig could tell that the giant still wanted to bash the kingsmen's heads in but knew that they were right about the consequence of it.
"Great, I'll try to be back before nightfall," Blackpaw stood up on all four of her tiny black paws and hopped from one rock to the next, scaling the rocky wall and jumping from view. Everyone rushed to the edge of the wall to get a view of the black cat as she crossed the bridge.
Blackpaw pranced up to the guards with her tail held high, purring and rubbing her face on the kingsmen's heels. The kingsmen were overjoyed, and cooed softly at her, reaching down to give her a few friendly pets before she walked away, past the bridge and out of sight toward the city of Negathor.
To Y,okig it seemed like they waited for an eternity. The first few hours were spent in silence. Nobody dared speak, and nobody knew why nobody dared to speak.
The silence was interrupted as the group burst into a low whispered chatter about all sorts of things from spells to wilderness survival, evento how to bake the perfect loaf of bread. They had to remain as quiet as possible, each of them knew that the slightest loud outburst would be enough to give away their position to the guards posted on the nearby crossing.
It was near sunset when Redbeard, the lookout at the time, spotted Blackpaw strolling down the bridge with a grey and white cat in tow. They circled the guards and vocalized with meows for a few minutes before walking away, their tails held high, making their way to the group's rocky hideout.
The guards spoke amongst themselves but it was nothing any of the group could hear. From what Redbeard said he saw, they seemed to be confused as to why they would see the same black cat twice. Redbeard assumed that it was just a passing thought and after the passing of the thought the guards didn't think anything else about it, and considered it just a random rare coincidence at best.
The two cats first appeared on the uppermost rock of the hideout, they effortlessly jumped down and landed softly, expertly and silently on the ground below.
Blackpaw wasted no time with introductions. "Sorry to keep you waiting, it was tough finding a fellow cat that still knew how to speak."
The cat that had joined them was grey, with a white underbelly, darker grey stripes ran from its ears all the way to the base of its bushy tail. The cat's fur was long and looked unbelievably smooth and soft.
"Go on Piddlesneak, tell them what you told me!" Blackpaw gave the grey cat a gentle nudge with her tiny paw.
"I...ugh...um..ok" The cat stammered, trying to find the right words to use."You must….um...excuse...I...um, well...haven't talked in...um...human speak for...ugh...quite some time."
The group waited for his next words.
"Is this...um...how you say it...ugh...the boy with the dreams?"Piddlesneak used his head to point to the boy standing in front of him.
Yokig grinned at the grey cat. "The very same!"
"well ...um...its...ugh...and honor to ..ugh...um..meet you" Piddlesneak gave Yokig a welcoming nod.
Blackpaw was getting visibly annoyed, they needed to get into the city or somewhere safe before nightfall and that was only a few hours away. They didn't have any time to waste on such pleasantries. "Out with it piddlesneak!" She pressured the grey cat.
"Oh..um...right. Blackpaw here...um...told me about the….um...ugh...what's the word...the...predicament you all are...ugh...in. There's ugh...another way into Negathor ...there are...ugh...secret tunnels" Piddlesneak revealed, albeit slowly. "About...half a...um...a mile you'll see ugh...um...a large single...ugh..stone. Next to the stone there's...ugh...a staircase that's...um...hidden to everyone um...except to those who know where it is. Um...it will lead you down to the..ugh..river. Yes, river. On the...ugh..riverbank, on the ugh...other side of the river you'll find...um...um…"The grey cat searched for words. "A rock with an..in..inscription. Behind this rock there's a..a...passageway that takes you directly u...under the..um city. Be...ugh...c..careful to um...stick to the...right of the...um..passageway or you...wi..will get lost. "
This was welcomed news to the travelers.
"Can you lead us there?" Redbeard was fired up.
"I um...I cant. I ugh...have to get back and...um..soon before my ugh...humans get t..too worried about me." Piddlesneak stood up and stretched, letting out a stressed yawn. "It was...um...nice meeting you..ugh boy with dreams!" And with that piddlesneak excused himself and wished them luck, and jumped the tower of rocks in a couple of bounds, returning to Negathor the way he came.
"Well?" Blackpaw addressed the quiet group.
"What other option do we have?" Dresmael spoke up. "This is the only one," she answered her own question. "Does anybody have any better ideas?" She gave the group a chance to speak but nobody said a word. "Alright," she said after giving the group enough time, "Let's get going then."
The group followed the road from the safety of the forest as quickly and as quietly as they possibly could. They made sure to watch where they were stepping so they could avoid any sound that might give them away to any kingsmen who might be nearby.
It didn't take them long to find the tall rock Peddlesneak mentioned. The rock was more of a huge granite jagged slab that rose high above the greenery on the ground below. Yokig marveled at the lonely stone, its surface rugged, but seemingly unweathered.
They spread out to look for the hidden staircase but to no avail. No staircase could be found. Desperately, they continued searching, turning and returning over rocks, pulling up grass, looking and looking again at the side of the cliff near the road and the rock formation. But the hidden staircase was nowhere to be found. It eluded them like a phantom. They eventually turned their attention to the lonely stone and examined every inch and crevice of the supernatural installation. And still, yet again, nothing was found.
Gah, this is no use!" Redbeard punched the jagged rock and threw his burly hands into the air, sinkinground with a thump.
Yokig could not believe what he was seeing. The giant that was so adamant about pushing forward had now given up completely. There had to be something there, otherwise Pddlesneak was lying. Yokig stood on the edge of the cliff and let the flowing river below pull him into a thoughtful trance. Was the giant right? He pondered. Was this useless?
"I,for one, don't understand. Peddlesneak said it would be here!" Blackpaw vocalized what the group was thinking. "Why would he tell the truth about the rock but lie about the stairs, this doesn't make any sense!"
"I'm sure we'll figure something else out." Dresmaels voice cheered.
The sun had almost finished sinking below the horizon, Yokig watched the water flow past the sandy banks at the bottom of the cliffs. He glanced up to look at the shimmering green walls of Negathor in the dimly lit moonlight, wondering if they would ever get inside. He always wanted to see Negathor, but not like this. Not with a bounty on his head, having to constantly look over his shoulder, being afraid of being seen by the wrong people at the wrong time. Deep inside of him he knew that even under these conditions this might be his only chance.his thought meandered to the kingsmen at the bridge, and he pondered the meeting of the grey cat.
Next to the stones there's...ugh...a staircase that's...um...hidden to everyone um...except to those who know where it is. Yokigs mind ran over Peddlesneaks words.
A staircase hidden to everyone except those who know where it is, he mused. Maybe this was some sort of riddle. He looked down at the cliffs edge, hoping to catch a glimpse of anything that might give away the location of a hidden staircase. He examined the rook directly under his feet for any unnatural seams that could indicate a trap door or anything to help the weary party.
Hidden to those who don't know where it is. He racked his brain, trying his hardest to pull meaning from the words, searching for the riddle's answer.
"I'll just go back to Negathor tomorrow and get Peddlesneak to come show us." Blackpaw was in the middle of explaining to the group behind Yokig.
Maybe we have to already know where the staircase is. Yokig thought, before a lightbulb suddenly went off with his head. He started jumping up and down with glee. "Guys!" Everyone gave him their attention. "We have to know where the staircase is!"
Blackpaw rolled her eyes. "what do you think we've been doing this whole time, genius. twiddling our thumbs? Idling the time by? Sitting on our asses, trying our hardest NOT to find this staircase?" The black cat turned back to examining the large stone.
Yokig could here disappointed murmurs amongst the travelers.
"No!" He shouted, "You don't understand!" He pointed to his forehead like a madman. "The staircase is hidden to everyone except those who know where it is!" His voice had reached dangerous levels of ferocity and sound, but to no avail, the group simply didn't understand what he was trying to say as they looked at each other in confusion.
"Are you feeling alright? I have a spell that can cure a fever, if that's what you have?" Dresmael searched her bag for her little green spell book.
"No, I don't have a fever!" Yokig knew that it was an intuitive thing. He knew he couldn't overthink about it, he just had to know, and know he knew. "Give me a few more minutes!" Yokig turned to face the cliffs again. And the group behind him returned to their anxious chatter.
Yokig cleared his mind and tried to block out his thoughts. His grandfather taught him this trick when the dreams first started. He would wake up in cold sweats from the nightmare, screaming his lungs out, calling into the darkness for help. His grandfather taught him how to clear his mind after the nightmare and how to control at least a little bit of his anxiety. He was rusty from not using this technique for quite some time, but it was worth a shot. He focused on his breath until his thoughts and worries faded out of existence, like the rays of the setting sun, until he was surrounded by the silent darkness between his eyelids. He focused on knowing where the staircase was until he felt the need to open his eyes and look down. It was a strong need, a need that demanded his complete and unfailing cooperation and he willingly gave into it. When he opened his eyes, a beautifully cut stone staircase, connecting the top of the cliff to the banks of the river below, waited for him.
"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!" His body started shaking , his eyes started watering and tears started flowing. "I found it! I know where it is!"
Everyone ran to his side and looked down as Yokig pointed the staircase out to them.
"You did it my boy!" Redbeard embraced Yokig swinging him around in his sturdy arms. The giant's smile spanned the length of his face. He dropped Yokig back to the ground and went to gather his pack. "Quickly, there's not any time to waste!" He instructed the group. The last rays of the sun were starting to fade into the starry night as the group rushed to descend the staircase.
They reached the bottom of the staircase and the steps disappeared from view.
"We're going to need a boat" Blackpaw stood next to the edge of the flowing water, dipping her paw in and quickly pulling it back out, giving it a violent shake to dry its fur.
"Hohohohoho" The giant laughed. "It doesn't look like it's too far to cross Blackpaw. The giant scanned the river. "The water is only a slow stream, let me check its depth."
Redbeard set his pack down and entered the icy moon lit water. Halfway across the river the water reached his shoulders. He ran his hand across its surface creating a playful wave of water before returning to the shore to rejoin the group. "The waters are a bit too cold for my liking. But nothing that can't be easily crossed. You're not gonna like me for a bit Blackpaw'' Redbeard picked the black cat up by the skin on her neck. The cat let out an annoyed hiss but didn't try to wriggle out of the giant's iron grip. "Everyone grab as much as you can carry, I'll lift you all across when I get back!"
Redbeard entered the water again, his reflection slowly sunk lower and lower into the gentle waves until the water almost enveloped him. As he reached the other side he let go of the cat, dropping Blackpaw to the ground, the cat landing squarely on her feet. Yokig could see the giant and the cat have a short dialogue but couldn't hear what they were saying. When the unheard conversation ended, the black cat walked over to the cliff wall and started examining the rocks.
The giant returned to the group and effortlessly swung Yokig, Dresmael and all the gear they brought onto his shoulders. Yokig admired how strong this giant was, he would never be able to lift this much weight, even if he tried. Yokig tried to focus on holding the packs above the icy water, taking careful caution to avoid accidentally dipping them in. Dresmael held onto her bag tightly to and clutched the giants neck to keep herself from falling. The giants face turned a bright pink from lack of oxygen, from her grip.
As they reached the other side of the river, Blackpaw met them at the shore. Blackpaw had gone in search of the rock with the inscription during their short trip, and had returned.
The black cat led them to the rock. The entrance to the tunnels looked like any other stone on the cliff's wall except for a small, almost indistinguishable, marking on its lower left side. The markings were three circles, one inside of the other inside of another. They looked like they had been etched into the rocky surface with a sharp knife long ago and had faded to their current state with age.
The giant gently put his hands on the rock and pushed causing the inscribed stone to recede into the entrance from the pressure, swinging open to reveal a spacious cavern as if on an invisible hinge.
Everyone piled into the space and the stone swung by itself back into place sealing the group into the earth.
"Luminette" Dresmael commanded, waving her hand in the darkness. In a matter of seconds after she spoke, a bright orb of light appeared, illuminating the cavern they found themselves inside.
"There's great magick here, I feel it" Dresmael looked around, her eyes wide open examining the newly lit space.
Yokig could see towers of natural sediment rising and falling from the ceiling in spiky displays of dangerous grandeur, while some of these pyres of sediment met to form pillars holding up the roof of the cave above them. Yokig shivered a little from fear. He imagined for a brief second one of the deadly earthen spikes crashing down on the group.
Ahead of the party were two entrances on the back wall of the cavern that, without a doubt, led further into the earth's depths. They kept to the right tunnel, and made their way through the passageway. The walls of the passageway had faded markings on them from a language long forgotten. Yokig ran his hand over the inscriptions as he passed them. They gave off a faint blue glow as his fingers brushed against them sending tingles up the curious boy's arm.
The tunnel let out into another grand earthen hall of rock and stone. The giant dropped his pack to the ground and surveyed his surroundings.
"Well I'm tired. I don't know about the rest of you but i need some sleep!" Redbeard proclaimed. "This is as good of a place as any down here to get a little shut-eye. It's nice, cozy. I feel pretty safe in these tunnels."
Yokig didn't need to be told twice. As with the rest of the group he hadn't had a wink of sleep since they left Grenlov. He slid his bag off his back and thought about how he missed the bakery. He missed having his own bed in the safety of a house. He missed the smell of freshly baked bread, and the warmth of a fire in the herth. He missed warm food, and, as much as he hated to admit it he missed the people of his small little town. But that was in the past. He had to keep reminding himself of that. He couldn't go back, the only direction he could go in now was forward. He noticed how light he felt after relieving his back of its heavy burden.
Everyone made themselves comfortable within the safety of the cavern. The giant was right, the path looked like it was untraveled for centuries, and they all needed to catch up on sleep. One by one, the chatter around the campfire beneath the ground faded, as the travelers slowly drifted off to sleep.