Shadows of Wychering

Chapter Fourteen - Lost and Found

Following the tunnel she came to a crossroad of sorts, one path went straight one went left. Not knowing which one to take she assumed the straight path should go somewhere. After several minutes her palm and amulet became cooler. Sighing she turned around and came back, the other way she had come. Now the path lay to the right, she took that path and her amulet warmed up again. Guided by the dim light of her spell she wound her way through the cave until at last a torch flickered in the distance. Hesitant, Ameline took slow steps trying assess what, if anything, was happening at the moment. Extinguishing her light she edged closer. She could see no movement, could hear no sounds. The master must not be there.

Ameline walked into the main chamber, a large cavern lit by torches that circled the entire room, opened before her. She had found them at last. A table and chair sat over to one side, and what seemed like a small alchemist set adorned the tabletop. A small drip of water plinked into a wooden bowl near another opening, a tunnel that led to another exit, she guessed. Ameline glanced up, followed several long thin cracks to a narrow opening where the cracks met and the water dripped. Small pieces of scree lay along the floor where it had dropped from the ceiling. Swords and other weapons lay in a pile against the wall near the table.

Morgan hung limp, chained to the wall, along with the others. His face gaunt and bruised, lips dry and cracked. Henry beside him, Guard's Alton, Teodor, and Kharl as well. All of them beat beyond cruelty. Guard Beck was not there. Several sets of shackles separated Jame from the others. Caution aside, she rushed to him, leaned her staff up against the stone wall, near the bowl of water, and held his face in her hands. Jame's eyes were swollen, his lips caked with blood, his nose perched crooked on his face.

"What have they done to you?" she cried. "Jame, Jame, wake up Jame. We have to get out of here." Ameline tried to wake him.

Jame's eyes fluttered open and he seemed to not know where he was. His eyes focused, and he saw her. "Ames? That ya? Is this a dream?"

"It is not a dream, Jame, we have to get you and the others out of here. How do I undo these shackles?"

"How did ya get in here? Ames, ya has to leave. Go get the guards, come back with help. Ya needs to leave."

"No, I am not leaving. No one is coming and no one believes me. I found you, I have to get you out of here. By the time I came back with help, you all might be dead. I cannot leave. I will not leave. Has Morgan not fought him, magic against magic?"

"He tried, but every time he has his servants beat him senseless. Bad business this, Ames ya better go while you can. Leave me. He—he fed Beck to his lizards." Jame nodded, "Look behind ya."

Ameline turned, jumped and stifled a scream. Bloody lumps of meat and bones lay in a heap of clothes. The gray wolf of the livery of Havenfurst lay smeared with blood.

"Says he does not need any of the guards. Keeps them alive to feed to the lizards." Jame hung his head and tears flowed. "He wounded Beck, and let the lizards have at him. I can still hear his screams, Ames. Leave, I could not bear to hear ya doin' the same. Poor Beck. He says I will make a good worker. Says I will be like his—his damned slaves."

"I am not leaving you." Ameline plucked up a spear and dug into the wall holding the shackles trying to pry it out.

Morgan Lasair stirred, his voice a hoarse whisper, "Ameline? What are you—you need to leave." His breathing labored and he coughed. Blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth.

"We are all leaving," Ameline said as she pried at Jame's shackles.

"None of you are leaving," said a voice from behind her.