DragonKnight - Donita K. Paul [121]
Regidor jumped down, and Bardon climbed back into the window. The water still cascaded over the rocks and part of the castle.
“What did you do?” asked Bardon, without having to shout.
“I just repaired a sound barrier. I got to thinking that the people who lived here surely didn’t listen to that noise constantly.” Regidor gestured toward the window. “When I looked outside, I could see the fragmented barrier. It was a simple thing to bind up the loose ends.”
He flashed his large and charming smile. “I have a great deal of practice with sound barriers. Smaller ones than this one, of course. But they came in handy with Toopka’s constant jabbering, Wizard Fenworth’s tendency to fuss, and Librettowit’s courting of Taylaminkadot.”
“As I said before, old friend, you come in handy.” Bardon lowered the window and jumped down. “Our exploration of this oddity will be much more pleasant now that we can hear each other.”
Bardon looked at the statuelike knights. “I wonder if they are aware we’re here.”
“No, I wouldn’t think so.”
“Do you think any of them resemble Kale?”
Regidor’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, I, too, thought perhaps her missing father could be here.” He looked carefully at each o’rant’s face. “No, I can’t say that one looks like our Kale.”
“We’d best get busy. We can’t do anything for the knights right now.”
Over and over again, the empty rooms and the signs of neglect proved their assumption that the castle was deserted. They explored the upper floors and those below. The building consisted of seven floors and three turrets that extended two stories above the seventh floor.
They thought it odd that the chambers seemed to be mostly for entertaining. On the ground floor, a grand ballroom stretched from one end of the structure to the other. A raised platform would have accommodated a small orchestra.
A few smaller, out-of-the-way rooms might have been servant stations where maids and footmen stored supplies and prepared teacarts. But they saw no kitchen, no bedchambers, no laundry, nothing practical or designed for the background functioning of such a huge establishment.
A storage basement sprawled under the entire structure, but aside from a few pieces of furniture, nothing was stored there. Large-leafed, rope-thick vines covered all the windows. Regidor called this lush ivy heirdosh and said it was poisonous if consumed.
The doors to the outside would not open, even with Regidor’s wizardly help.
“Warded, I suspect,” said the meech after another unsuccessful attempt to get out of the building and explore the grounds.
“Isn’t it more customary to place a spell on the entryways to keep people out rather than to keep them in?” asked Bardon.
Regidor raised both ridges over his eyes. “This whole setup is rather unusual.” He waved his forefeet at the area surrounding them. “Elaborate dining rooms, but no kitchen. Elegant soiree chambers, drawing rooms, salons, music rooms, and grand halls for entertaining hundreds of guests, but no bedchambers. No library, no study, no housekeeper’s quarters. It’s almost as if part of the castle is missing.” He furrowed his brow as he continued his list. “No stables, no wine cellar, no armory. As it is, this establishment could not function.”
After exploring the part of the castle where the air was relatively dry, they ventured into the rooms where moisture clung to the walls and furnishings. Their feet slipped on a marble floor slick with a thin sheen of mud. Plants grew along the walls and cascaded across the floor as if nature had decided to take over the décor.
When they came to what they thought would be the last wall of the castle, they found massive doors. Opening this giant portal revealed another section of castle directly behind the waterfall.
Here they found servants’ quarters. Upon further exploration, they identified many different craft rooms where obviously things had been made to accommodate the needs of the people living in the castle. At one time, these halls had produced everything from