Black wizards - Douglas Niles [30]
"This place is amazing!" commented Daryth, looking around at the high balconies, ornate columns, and sweeping stairways that surrounded the small courtyard before them. "What is it?"
"I remember a legend I heard once. I was just a child, so I can't vouch for the details," Pontswain said slowly, his voice unusually subdued. "It was about a young queen, bride of Cymrych Hugh. I think her name was Allisynn.
"The king erected a mighty castle, full of wondrous towers and lofty balconies, for her as his wedding gift. But she died soon after they were married. This was why Cymrych Hugh did not leave an heir.
"The king was so distraught by her death," Pontswain continued, "that he ordered the castle to become her tomb. It stood upon a tiny island between Gwynneth and Alaron, and, with the aid of the Great Druids of all the isles, he commanded the castle to sink below the waves, forever hiding and preserving the resting place of his beloved."
"The very stone feels sacred," said Daryth. "Like a shrine."
"Legends tell of fishermen and sailors occasionally sighting a castle here in the strait, but none have been verified. I don't recall hearing about it happening during my lifetime." Pontswain still spoke with quiet reverence.
"How do you know so much about this?" asked the prince, surprised at Ponstwain's knowledge.
"I listen to the bards," said the lord simply.
"That's fascinating. I've only heard vague stories about a castle in the sea – never the details."
"What good will it do us?" snapped Pontswain. "If the legends are true, the castle will stay here for a few hours and then sink. We'll be right back in the water"
"Let's find something to float on, then," suggested Daryth, pragmatically turning to look around them.
Shallow pools of water covered most of the surface, and strands of seaweed lay everywhere. Here and there a fish lay still, gills widespread, or flopped out its last strength on the hard stones. Across the courtyard, a mist-enshrouded stairway rose toward a balcony or entryway. The fog parted enough to give them a look at a pair of huge doors.
"Let's check inside," suggested the Calishite. "We might find something we can use as a raft."
"Or a weapon."
They reached the balcony and saw a pair of huge doors made of solid oak, strapped with gleaming bronze, and uncorroded by their immersion in the brine.
"We might as well try these first," muttered the Calishite, looking pessimistically at the massive portals.
A whirling blur of green was Tristan's first warning of attack. A savage shape slashed outward from the shadow of one of the columns.
"Look out!" cried the prince, bounding backward.
Daryth dove forward and somersaulted out of the creature's path. Tristan saw that the attacker was a humanlike creature covered with green scales. Wide gills gaped like wounds in its neck, and on the top of its head, trailing in a line down its backbone, was an array of barbed spikes. Wide, white eyes hung open like some ghastly blinding affliction, but the creature leaped after Daryth as if it could see very well. Its wide mouth gaped, displaying row after row of needlelike teeth. Webbed hands, studded with long, curving claws, sought the flesh of the Calishite, while similar feet slapped across the wet stone.
It wore only an oiled belt, and several silver bracelets lined its arms. Carrying a spearlike weapon, it moved haltingly, as if unaccustomed to movement outside of the sea.
A second monster moved forward on the heels of its companion, but Canthus lunged at this one and carried it to the floor. Clawed, webbed hands sank into the moorhound's flanks, but Canthus's white fangs drove toward the throat of the thing.
The first attacker whirled around, turning suddenly to strike at Tristan with a long trident. The three-pronged fork nearly cut the prince's chest, but at the last