Berlina's Quest (13 page)

The prince was sitting in what was obviously his personal chair in one of the clusters, and waved Berlina and the others to seats opposite him. When they sat , he asked, “Now, who are you really?”

Berlina pulled the golden medallion and silver key out of her dress and displayed it to Prince Quince. “This should tell you, Your Highness.”

The prince nodded and said, “Ah, yes. The royal family of Jylyria. So, you must be Princess Berlina. I suppose that means our speculations that the prisoner being held in my castle is Crown Prince Darvid must be correct?”

“Yes, correct, and I am here to rescue him.”

The prince looked at her. “You are here to rescue him? You're just a young girl. How do you propose to do that?”

Berlina pulled out her wand and pointed it at the desk, which rose into the air, spun around, and returned to its place on the floor. “What do you think of that, Your Highness? What do you think of your impenetrable front door opening to let us in?”

The prince sat for a moment, a shocked look on his face. “You are a princess and also a witch? Will that do any good? I consulted with a witch, Madam Clotilde, down in the village, and she told me she couldn't do anything.”

“Madam Clotilde, hah! A poorer excuse for a witch I have never seen. I can do many things that will prove useful in this venture. From what I've seen, I'm stronger magically, much stronger, than the sorcerer who cast the wards around the castle. Though, magic alone is not likely to be enough. With my magic and your soldiers working together, we should be able to retake your castle and rescue my brother. What do you say?”

“I say yes, of course!” The prince reached out a hand, and they shook on it. “I suggest, since we are to be allies and both of noble blood, that we address each other as equals…Quince, Berlina.”

“Good idea, Quince.”

“Now, why do you say the tunnel can't be used?” asked Berlina.

“Several of my men went in there and ran into the ‘invisible wall', the wards,” said Quince. “They could see that just beyond, the tunnel was blocked by rocks and debris. Someone deliberately caved in the ceiling.”

“Too bad. That might have been a good place to break in. We have to find someplace where there is open space both outside and inside the wards, both out of sight of the castle. How many men do you plan to go in with?”

“As far as we know, they have about twenty soldiers plus their sorcerer. I want to go in with at least forty, more if we can manage it. Does that sound good?”

“It sounds reasonable to me,” said Berlina. “So, I have to have forty men in a place out of sight of the castle, open a passage through the wards, and let the men go through one at a time. There has to be enough room on the other side for them to gather again out of sight of the castle, until all of them are through and ready.”

“I think I know of a couple of places behind the castle. There are a number of rocky crags back there. I used to play there as a boy.”

“That sounds good, as long as the wards happen to be in the right place. Face it. Their sorcerer didn't position the wards for our convenience.”

“True enough, Berlina. I have some men out there looking, now. We'll see what they find. In the meantime, I'll start getting the troops ready. The main attack force will be almost all my men, with a few from the village militia. The standby group, ready to go in if you can get the wards
completely
down, will be all militiamen.”

“Quince, the easiest way to get the wards completely down is to kill the sorcerer who cast them. Brutal, but effective. So, make sure your men know that the sorcerer is a prime target, to be taken out at all costs. Getting him is almost a guarantee of victory for us.”

Quince shivered a little at this bloodthirsty assessment but nodded his head in agreement.

A few hours later, the men surveying the castle and the wards came back in with their findings shown on a map. “There are two likely spots, Your Highness,” said one of the men, pointing to where black circles were drawn.

The prince looked at the spots, then turned to Berlina and asked, “From the viewpoint of using magic to get in, do you see any reason why one of those would be better or worse than the other?”

Berlina studied the map and finally said, “From my perspective, the two look about the same. I'm pretty sure we can get forty or so men inside the wards at either of those spots.”

Quince looked again and pointed to one of the locations. “If they are the same to you, we will use this one. After we are inside, this is closer to an old entrance where we can break in. There is better cover, both getting to that area before we go through the wards and getting to that entrance after we get through.”

One of the officers of the prince's troops spoke up. “Your Highness, I know that old entrance. It is bricked up. It won't be that easy to get through.”

“Perhaps not, but getting through a bricked up door has got to be easier than getting through a solid wall, don't you think?”

The officer nodded in agreement.

“I agree,” interrupted Berlina. “There are spells for that sort of thing—blasting spells—and they do work better on closed up doorways than on solid walls.”

The prince turned and looked at her. “Spells, Berlina? That would mean you would have to be in there with the troops. Do you really plan to do that?”

“Of course,” she said. “I have to go in. Who else would be able to deal with the sorcerer? I will be in there for the battle, and my companions, Felistia and Lathan, will be in there, too.”

Quince still looked doubtful. “Are you sure…?”

“It's my brother in there we are trying to rescue. Besides…” She drew her sword and said, “Anyone want to try a little practice swordsmanship?”

Several of the soldiers looked at her, and one said, “Your Highness, we could not. We would be afraid of harming you.”

Berlina laughed. “Come on. Just a little fancy bladework. You may be as careful as you like so you don't harm me, and I will likewise be careful not to harm you. One of you, two of you. Let's make it a real challenge. Three of you.”

Finally, three of the men stepped forward, their swords held in front of them in a purely defensive posture. Berlina stood there for a moment, then swung her sword around so fast, it was merely a blur. One man's sword went flying out of his hand and across the room, followed by a second man's sword. Berlina moved in on the third man, who suddenly found himself holding an unattached hilt as his blade fell clanging to the floor.

There was a stunned silence in the room. Berlina dug out a couple of gold pieces and tossed them to the man whose sword she had just cut in half. “Here, buy yourself a new sword,” she said. She looked around and saw everyone staring at her. “Well, this is an enchanted sword, you know. The famous—or infamous—Black Sword. I've been getting a lot of practice, but I couldn't do nearly as well with an ordinary weapon. Now, back to the topic at hand. When do we attack? Prince Drailsen, his sorcerer Zatarra, and more of his men will arrive in a few more days, so we can't afford to wait too long. Oh, one more thing. Bring along Madam Clotilde, the village witch.”

“Why do you want her? You said she was useless,” said Quince.

“I may have a use for her. Just bring her.”

“Tomorrow night is the dark of the moon. I think that is the time to strike,” said Quince. “Everyone be ready then.”

It was a little more than an hour before dawn. Prince Quince and his men, as well as Berlina, Felistia, and Lathan, stood in front of the wards in the carefully chosen spot. The prince gave the signal.

Berlina stepped up and felt with her wand for the joint between the magic force lines. Once she had a good spot, she said, “
Terebro”
, and the wand sank into the wards. When she felt her knuckles touch the wards, she uttered additional spells and started to move the wand around in a circle…a small circle at first, but increasing in size as she worked at it. Finally, she had an opening over six feet across. She stepped back out of the way, leaving the wand still in the opening but far to one side, and gestured to those waiting.

Everyone went through the opening, and Berlina went last. She pulled out a second wand, and then muttered a spell that let the opening close in until the spare wand was hanging in mid-air. “It marks where we came in, and makes it easier if we need to exit hurriedly in an emergency,” she told the prince.

The prince led everyone through a patch of trees and other cover to the back wall of the castle, halting in front of a discolored area where the old doorway was before being bricked up. He turned to Berlina and asked, “How far from the door must we stay to remain safe?”

“Fifteen or twenty feet will do. Most of the force of the blast will be directed inward.” When everyone was far enough back, she pointed her wand and said, “
Portalis deleo.
” There was a thunderous crash. A hole opened in the wall, large enough for four men to pass through side-by-side.

The soldiers poured in as quickly as they could and found themselves in a long corridor that ran off to the left and right. The corridor looked empty. Suddenly, someone—or something he couldn't see—cut down one of the men on the right.

Berlina looked and cursed under her breath, “There's that damned invisibility spell again.” She waved her wand and cast the dust and ashes spell to the right, then to the left. Now, the prince's troops could see Drailsen's men, even if only faintly, and they were able to start cutting them down. Soon, over half of Drailsen's men were down, and only a few of Quince's men were injured.

The sorcerer appeared out of nowhere. He pointed his wand at one of Quince's men, and said “
Af-dauthjan.”
There was a flash of violet light and the man dropped dead. He repeated this and a second man died.

Berlina saw this and quickly cast a shield spell. The third flash of violet light dissipated in the air without causing any harm. She pointed her wand at the sorcerer and said, “
Af-dauthjan,”
but
it did nothing but bounce off his shield spell. For the next several minutes, Berlina and the sorcerer stood there throwing spells at each other. Berlina's spells were proving more effective, but not enough to give her a quick victory. Finally, she muttered to herself, “There must be some way to deal with this meadow muffin.” She flipped her wand from her right hand to her left, drew her sword, and stepped forward toward the sorcerer. The sorcerer's shield spell, designed only to protect from magic, did nothing to impede her physical progress, and she thrust her blade right through the sorcerer's heart. He sank to the ground, fountaining blood from his chest. As his life ebbed, Berlina suddenly realized she could feel the wards around the castle starting to collapse. She waved her wand, casting a warding spell, and was able to take over the wards, restoring them to full effectiveness but now under her control.
Just in case we need them when Drailsen arrives
, she thought.

While this magical—and non-magical—battle was going on, Quince's troops decimated the defenders. When there was no more opposition, Quince said, “How many have we taken out? How many more are there left somewhere in the castle?”

The captain of the troops said, “Your Highness, we count eighteen bodies. If the original count was twenty, as we think, there must be two left somewhere. It would be my guess that they are down in the dungeon, guarding the prisoner. I sent two men down there to check.”

“Yes, very likely,” said Quince. “Send squads to make sure the rest of the castle is secure. I will go down to the dungeons with a few men. Berlina, I think you ought to come along, since we may find your brother down there.”

“Yes, and I want Clotilde along on this, too.”

Clotilde looked at Berlina and Quince before asking, “What am I doing here? I don't understand.”

Berlina replied, “You are here because your prince bade you be here. Is that not enough?”

Clotilde looked very flustered but nodded her head.

As the group approached the dungeon cell holding the prisoner, one of the ones sent down earlier came back to report. “Your Highness, there are two men in Drailsen's colors. They have locked themselves in the cell with the prisoner, and when they saw us, they threatened to kill him if we didn't let the three of them get out and go free. It sounded like they meant it.”

Quince brought all of them to a halt, then turned to Berlina and said, “What can we do about this? If it is your brother, we don't want him killed, but we also don't want him taken off somewhere else.”

Berlina thought for a moment. “Let me check and see if it is really him. A magic mirror will let me look around the corner and see them without being seen.” She waved her wand, and a misty patch formed in the air, then floated down the corridor until it was in front of the cell. She looked carefully, then said, “Yes, that is Darvid. Everybody stay back. We don't want to panic them into carrying out their death threat.”

Everyone stayed in place while Berlina moved slowly and carefully up to the corner, still keeping an eye on the magic mirror. Finally reaching the corner, she let just the tip of her wand poke out, and muttered a spell…twice.

There were two flashes of green light that bounced off the mirror and struck Drailsen's two soldiers. They instantly collapsed to the floor, unconscious. “There,” she said, “I bounced stunning spells off the mirror, so they couldn't see me casting them. Let's go.”

Berlina, Quince, and the others rushed to the cell door, but it remained locked. “They must have locked it from inside,” said Quince. “Darvid—you are Darvid, are you not?—search them. See if one of them has the keys.”

Darvid checked the two and quickly found the keys, which he tossed out between the bars. Quince unlocked the cell and let Darvid out, while several of his men went in to take Drailsen's men captive. As Darvid exited the cell, Berlina went over and hugged him. “Darvid, my brother. I am so glad to see you. We were all so worried when you were kidnapped.”

Darvid looked at her in surprise. “Berlina? What are you doing here?”

“I came to rescue you, silly. What else do you think I would be here for?”

“But, but…I thought if I was ever going to be rescued, it would be by a large army, not my baby sister. Are you alone?”

“Of course not. I came with my faithful companion Felistia, and Lathan…you remember Lathan, don't you? Then, when we got here, we made an alliance with Prince Quince. They took his castle to use as your prison, and he wanted it back, so we agreed to work together.”

Darvid stood there shaking his head. “I don't believe it. I don't see how Mother would let you go out on something like this. I know her. With me gone, she'd want to lock you up somewhere safe.”

“Oh…well, yes. She tried that. Didn't work. Felistia and I broke out, got Lathan to join us, and came looking for you. Mother is probably dithering around right now, not sure what to do. It doesn't help that Court Sorcerer Zatarra, that misbegotten son of a wombat, is secretly aiding Prince Drailsen—the one who wants to usurp the throne. Nope, I just decided that the best thing to do was for me to come and rescue you, so that's what I did.”

“I don't understand any of this,” said Darvid. “What were those flashes of green light I saw just before my captors passed out?”

Before anyone else could answer, Berlina said, “Those were stun spells cast by Madam Clotilde, the village witch.” She waved a hand toward her. “She has been very helpful.”

A few minutes later, Quince drew Berlina over to a private corner and said, “I saw you cast those stun spells. What is this about Clotilde doing it?”

“Darvid does not know I am a witch. If he found out, he would probably tell our mother, the Queen Regent. Then, the cats would be in the chowder. She would cause a ruckus like you have never seen. That's why I brought along another witch. She can't do much, but she can take all the credit—or blame—for spells I cast.”

Quince laughed. “You are the sneaky one, aren't you?”

Eventually, after a few hours, the castle was secure, and the prince sent word to those who normally resided there to return. When everything was ready, Berlina allowed the opening she had made in the wards to close. “We don't need that opening, anymore,” she told Quince. “Now that I control the wards, I can open a portal anywhere, anywhen we need one. For the meantime, I prefer to keep things closed, since I expect Drailsen, Zatarra, and an unknown number of troops to arrive soon.”