Morgruse Kay, A Time Warden Story

Chapter 2

When Hedrick led her into the lower bailey, it was dark. He had chastised her on the way back.

A roasted duck with glazed pears and some soft bread had been saved by the cook for Morgruse before she left the kitchen.

Could Astrud really have a Dragonstone, as her brother had said?

Most people thought they were just stories. Magic stones that gave its owner vast knowledge. Understanding of scholar's minds past and future. Maybe the royal tutor would know more. A dwarf from the south, Tomus Groundfoot studied in St Andrew. It was late and she should not disturb him.

Morgruse passed the tower entrance. An eerie draft flickered the oil lamps, making the steps seem eerie. Mirtis would be upstairs. The queen had ordered Mirtis to remain in the south tower until she returned from her travels. As Morgruse searched for the Stone, she wouldn't have to worry about Mirtis.

A series of steps led to the dungeon. Morgruse pushed the large wooden door, which was shod with iron. It silently swung open, filling her nostrils with the smell of mold and mildew. The air was frigid compared to the kitchen. A lamp sat on a small stand next to a folded newspaper and a guard's chair. Iron bars surrounded two cells past a second wooden door.

Someone whimpered behind the oak door, which startled Morgruse. She stood on her toes to peer through the saucer sized opening, one lone bar preventing anything from being passed through it. A woman moved from the shadows.

"Help me," the woman said in Creethian. The light shone through the opening, showing her face. The woman might have been around Mirtis' age, seventeen. Her pitiful dark brown eyes peered at Morgruse.

In Creethian Morgruse asked why she was there.

"They have kidnapped me," the accented voice replied.

"Where are you from?" Morgruse knew many of the countries in the coalition, spoke Creethian. She went and grabbed the lamp from the table. Shining the light through the grate, the young woman squinted.

In a mournful tone, the woman said, "I have been chased my whole life. As long as I can remember."

The queen had to have known that she was in the dungeon, or was it Lilith who was responsible? Maybe this woman had committed a crime that caused her to be in the dungeon?

"My name is Morgruse Kay," she said through the door.

"Talitha," was the reply.

Morgruse asked what crime she committed. The answer was the same. They had kidnapped Talitha. She stated slavers took from a ship. Come to find out it wasn't some river ship but an ocean galleon. They took her from Miniatura Bay near Creeth. No wonder she spoke Creethian. That was thousands of miles away. Morgruse found it hard to believe slavers would take someone from so far away.

Are you familiar with time disruptions?" Talitha asked.

The scholars debated time disruptions. Some believed it, others didn't. They claimed that people from different times would appear out of nowhere. Some witnesses said some kind of vortex would appear, a whirlpool, bending light and scenery as if a painting on the water was twisted around and a person appeared or a person would be taken. Morgruse had never seen it herself and thought it to be an old wives' tale.

A man's voice startled Morgruse, "your Highness. You ought not be down here." An old guard said.

Morgruse had not heard the man coming. She made her excuses and quickly exited to the stone hallway.

She would try to find out more about Talitha and why she was here. Morgruse was supposed to be finding more information about the Dragonstone. Maybe she could ask one of the Dragonite priestesses on the morrow.

Morgruse walked past a room that Lilith called her lab and went down some stairs. She found a wooden door with a bolt on the outside, which made her think it was a cell or prison. She listened, but there was no sound. Morgruse took a lamp from the wall bracket and threw open the door.

The smell was terrible. Lime had been thrown over dead bodies, but it didn't stop the smell as well as it should have. Morgruse felt sick and saw that some of the bodies were torn apart. Limbs and organs were scattered throughout the room. She quickly closed the door and bolted it again.

Morgruse took the lamp with her and rushed up the stairs, past the kitchen. Guards asked her questions, but she didn't stop to answer. She traveled as fast as she could without running until she was in her bedchamber.