Castle Raiders by Max Anthony

Author:Max Anthony [Anthony, Max]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-06-30T04:00:00+00:00

13

The steps were in a spiral arrangement and wide enough for two, as long as the person on the outer edge of the tread walked fast enough to keep up. They reached the top without encountering any wandering creatures and found themselves on a short landing that took them to a corridor. The stairs continued on and while they’d have been tempted to skip this new floor entirely, the stairwell had been sealed off with mortared blocks of stone.

“I wonder why they’d do a thing like that,” said Rasmus, pressing his palms against the solid wall.

“Do you have any more stone dissolving spells?” Viddo asked him. “The best loot is always at the top, unless you’re in a dungeon, in which case it’s always at the bottom.” Nobody bothered to correct him by saying that they were here primarily to investigate the possible evils that persisted within the castle. They were all feeling a bit robbed since many of their magical items had been recently destroyed.

“None left, I’m afraid. They were very useful, I must admit.”

With no alternative route, they looked into the corridor beyond the landing. It was wide and with much greater care taken in its decoration. The ceiling was high and supported by a series of stone arches. A carpet ran along the middle of the passage, faded and discoloured, though it had clearly once been expensive. Light entered sporadically, finding its way through deep, slitted windows here and there. One or two tapestries hung, limp and forgotten. Doors appeared regularly in the right-hand wall.

“You can tell this is only the first floor,” whispered Viddo. “Higher up there may be tables to each side, with ornaments on them and these cheap tapestries will be replaced by portraits and other paintings to reflect the magnificence of the Baron’s achievements. There must have been a lot of guard patrols here and they wouldn’t be trusted to walk past a load of hideous family heirlooms without stealing them or accidentally breaking a few.”

“Which way shall we go?” asked Jera.

“This corridor will almost certainly follow the perimeter of the castle. If we follow it, there is a high chance that we will eventually reach a staircase to take us to the second floor. These other doors might take us anywhere. Who knows what secrets have been stored in these rooms for us to uncover?”

“You’re saying we should burgle this floor of the castle?”

“That is exactly what I’m saying.”

With that, Viddo strode across to the sturdy door opposite and studied it for a moment. He grasped the handle and pushed, whereupon it opened with a judder and a screech. He looked anxiously around. Rasmus and Jera crossed over the corridor and they swiftly entered the room beyond the door.

There was nothing obviously hazardous to been seen – it was simply a grey-walled room of a slightly irregular shape that one might expect to see in a castle anywhere. There were no windows and no fireplace, their lack speaking of lonely nights and coldness.

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