Quest of the Dark Lands

Chapter Ten

They bolted down the corridor

'where do we go now?' Evangeline asked

'take the stairs' Seleina yelled 'that way.'

They ran down the stairway two at a time.

Evangeline stopped 'it's not the same route we came from.'

Seleina nodded 'I know it's not, but let's just get going.'

A servant ran past 'plums for the king and grapes for the queen.'he mumbled in a musical tone, failing to notice who stood in his way.

'we'd better be quick!' Evangeline said once the servant was out of earshot, 'they'll notice there's something wrong with the queen, and we've escaped'

'right.' Seleina panted 'ah, here we are.'

Stretching out in front of them was the Midoleam rivers, but on the other side, instead of a looming cliff, there was a village. Dawn was breaking, and the first rays of sunlight colored the skies. It was peaceful, and beautiful.

'how do we get there?' Evangeline thought for a possible solution.

'I was wondering the exact same thing!' Seleina exclaimed, then she rolled her eyes, 'can't you see?'

'first, stop being like that. Second, I can't see.' Evangeline crossed her arms

'hm, maybe you should go and see the eye doctor when we get back, if we do.' Seleina said with mild amusement.

'haha.' Evangeline said 'how very funny.'

'well anyway,'seleina pointed, and Evangeline gasped in amazement. There was a trap door leading upstairs. The door was shut.

'how on earth will we be able to get there?!' Evangeline said with frustration. Then she blinked 'oh, look！' There were letters carved into the wooden handle.

'not another riddle of some kind.' Seleina groaned

'not another riddle.'Evangeline said 'but it's asking for your password'

'my password?'seleina scoffed 'I'll be sure to supervise Queeny about her indoor security code problem.'

'there's a village on the other shore, that means more hope, so I guess we can't turn back now.'

'you're right.' Seleina staid 'the fairies should be on our tails by now, if we turn back, we'd probably get caught, and I don't know if I'll be able to escape once more.'

'got it. Why don't we stay here for a couple of hours to rest?'

'agreed.'

Seleina turned the pages of her book absent-mindedly, browsing each page.

Evangeline leaned over the railing, staring numbly at the town ahead.

The minutes ticked away slowly, as you might have experienced when you don't know what to do and maybe doomed the next second.

Seleina flipped to page 698, and found herself staring at chapter 101. She read the title glumly. The Midoleam castle—the heart of the city.

She read the following paragraph.

Situated in the heart of Midoleam City of magic, there is a castle, constructed entirely out of fine gold. Built by the legendary Fritzzen Fritza –first high king in the 12th century, it was originally designed as a grand cathedral. However, as mighty kings and queens ruled from the 14th century onwards, it has mostly become a home and fortress for the monarchs. Covering an area of almost tree million square meters (more than one quarter of the city's total area) this magnificent building consists of 2019 elegantly decorated rooms in total.