Once Upon a Castle - Jill Gregory [131]
She stripped off her cloak, and the others did the same, revealing their own costumes, which Cador had obtained from God only knew where. One soldier wore a fool’s motley, two others the court dress of a strange and foreign land. A third had a wizard’s silver stars sewn to his dark robe and a turban set with a glittering paste jewel. The rest wore the livery of Lector’s men, taken from the soldiers they had slain.
The castle walls enclosed many acres. There were two separate tunnels behind the entrance hidden here, part of the maze of castle escape routes that her mad great-grandfather had planned in case of siege. Who would have expected them to prove useful in a kingdom that had been at peace with its neighbors for two centuries? One led to the main courtyard in the shadow of the stables. The rebels dressed in Lector’s livery would exit there. Once inside they would subdue the guards at the entrance, then let Cador’s troops in at the main gate and Brand’s through the water gate on the river.
The second tunnel ran deeper, to the opposite side of the huge castle complex. Those in costume, under command of Kegi’s son Zonel, would continue along it with Tressalara, with orders to infiltrate the great hall and cut off Lector before he could make good his escape. It split off near its end, with one arm running to an alcove near the minstrel’s gallery above the great hall, the other into the royal apartments that had belonged to her father. Unknown to the rest, this last was Tressalara’s true destination.
Leading this group to a portion of ruined wall, Tressalara felt between the mortar of the giant blocks until she found the hidden pivot point. She pushed against it. The blocks held fast. She tried again and failed. Fear shot through her. The entire plan had been based on her assertion that she could get herself and these men within the walls unseen. If Lector had found the entry and barred it from the other side, Cador and Brand were doomed.
She tried once more, this time putting her shoulder to the stone. It groaned and swung inward. A blast of dank, musty air blew past them, like the breath of some monstrous subterranean creature. Fanglike stalactites hung down from the passageway.
“Follow closely,” she warned. “Beneath the castle is a maze of tunnels and natural caves. Many are built to turn back upon themselves. Others are blind ends to trick and isolate any enemy who might penetrate them. If you become lost, your bones might be found a hundred years from now.”
The men huddled closer. If they had any doubts about following the princess into the hellish maze, they didn’t speak them aloud. “From here on,” she said, “there must be complete silence among us.”
Zonel nodded and followed her into the black maw with his men, shivering as the block of stone fell back into place behind them. Their unquestioning trust buoyed her up as the darkness engulfed them. Water dripped slowly, echoing through the corridors hewn from living rock.
Tressalara struck a flint. The spark bloomed to flame in the cobwebbed lantern set into a niche. A film of crystals frosted the stone walls, attesting to their great age. Two small creatures, furry and sleek with long pink tails, squeaked and scurried into the darkness ahead. One was white, the other black.
After lighting the tapers that Zonel had brought for each of them, she led on. The way was mossy underfoot, where water had dripped from the rocky ceiling. With every step she wondered if she had made a grave error of judgment and if her stubbornness would prove to be Cador’s death sentence. The die was cast. She could only go forward with their plan and pray to God that he might come through unscathed. The alternative was unthinkable. Tressalara shivered. A victory without Cador would save her kingdom, but it would shatter her heart. She would never love any man but Cador, so long as she lived.
At the first branching of the tunnels, the rebels in Lector’s livery turned off on their mission. When she finally reached the second branching with the costumed group, Tressalara stopped. “That