Chapter Twenty-Three - Ilvesa

They were shackled and robbed of their possessions before they were led from the library and out into the public streets. Gaden assumed they wanted to make a show of their work because they were led straight through the city center and paraded in front of large crowds. It was apparent the Lorlean guards cared little about discretion. The guards directed them past bakeries that smelled much like Eladin, making Gaden not only hungry but very homesick. He could have been with his friends at Cuthbert’s pub tonight. Instead, he was a prisoner of the Lorlean government, and what made it all worse was the knowledge that Lorlea had every right to arrest him. They had indeed stolen, they had indeed assaulted an individual, or at least he had, and they had indeed plotted treachery with other Lorlean citizens. Thale had told them when they left, Alldel could not come to their aid if they were caught.

Gaden wasn’t sure about theft and assault, but treachery was a crime punishable by hanging until dead in Lorlea. The other offenses could only serve to solidify that sentence. He thought of his wife. He thought of his child. He knew Alldel would not abandon his family, but she wouldn’t care about that. Alldel was the reason they may never see him again. Haela had been right after all. Gaden had been foolish.

Soon they were crossing a large bridge, and they found themselves facing the palace they had observed from a distance; The Temple of Lorlea. Had he not been shackled and on his way to prison, he would have been very pleased to stop and admire its wondrous beauty. It was a masterpiece of engineering and architecture. It stood at least three hundred feet tall. Each window was hand carved with ornate trimming. Each tower was topped with cone roofs and spires stretching upward into the heavens with the Lorlean flag mounted proudly on top.

For a moment, Gaden wondered if they were going to be led through the main entrance. This surprised him. He didn’t expect they would lead prisoners through the main halls of a temple this grand. But he was wrong. They were led to a side entrance. The old door opened to reveal a stone stairwell that descended below ground level. They were nudged in their backs, and they walked forward into the basement below.

The air down here was surprisingly stale. Clearly neglected, there was no doubt this was where the prisoners were held. Little care and concern were given to them and their comforts. What did it matter how clean it was in this place? Its inhabitants had lost the privilege of Lorlean luxuries.

The stairs leveled out onto a stone floor. The jail cells were large and held many people. They were open from floor to ceiling, blocked in only by iron bars two inches in diameter which stood only six inches apart from one another. The floor was so nasty there were mounds of dirt piled against the walls and you could see the heavily traveled paths in the center of the hall, like worn paths in the snow, though Gaden observed that snow did not smell so vile. Rats scampered across the floor in search of food. They would be out of luck. The prisoners behind the iron bars looked so starved, they would be more likely to finish off any dropped crumbs than a rat would.

Gaden noticed small holes, almost like wells, dug into the back corners of each of the cells. For a brief period, he wondered what the purpose of these would be, but was repulsed when they walked past a cell, and he saw a prisoner relieving himself over one of them, not troubling to keep himself hidden. Now he knew where the smell was coming from. He wondered if there was an outlet beneath those places.

Some of the prisoners looked as though they hadn’t seen the sun for decades. Their skin was so pale they looked dead. Many of them didn’t seem to be in their right minds any longer. He wondered how long they would be down here, and what they would look like if they ever got out. As beautiful and impressive as the city of Ilgard had been, this place was the exact opposite. It was equal in its ability to impress you, but it was vile and repulsive. Gaden was surprised such a place could exist inside a city so wealthy and beautiful.

They reached the end of the hallway, and the guard in front stopped. He pulled a long, heavy key from his waistband, unlocked the door, and opened it. They were ushered inside. Gaden was surprised at who they would be joining. Findhar sat in a corner, alone. He stood quickly when he saw who was being brought to join him. There was a loud screech, a groan of iron hinges, and a deafening clang as the iron bars were slammed shut. They were locked in.

“What are you doing here?” Findhar asked in a low whisper.

“Oh, you know, we thought we would just drop in to check on your accommodations. Are you comfortable, is there anything we can bring you?” Gaden said sarcastically, and he shoved Findhar in anger and threw himself against the wall. Findhar rolled his eyes and turned to Elric.

“I think we were betrayed. The librarian must have been a double agent.”

“What librarian?” Findhar asked.

“After you were caught, we met back together at the library like we had planned to do. There was a librarian there who said he had been instructed to show us to a row of books. He gave us a map and told us to take it to the house of one of the rebels.”

“And?” Findhar pressed.

“We never made it out of the library. There was a squad of Lorlean soldiers waiting for us at the front door.” Findhar sighed, heavily.

“I was counting on you to get out of town and come back for me.” Nobody said anything for several minutes. They heard someone in a cell down the hall coughing violently. It sounded as though he were coughing up an organ.

“Gaden, if you have a way to communicate with Adric, now would be an excellent time do it,” Elric said. Elric had said this one other time before. That time, Gaden was able to use the whisper stone in private. He didn’t think he was going to be so fortunate this time. Everyone looked up at him. Gaden, of course, did have a way of communicating with Adric. The whisper stone in his jacket pocket had been one thing he was able to hide from the Lorlean guards.

“Do you have a way to communicate with Adric?” Elric asked again. Gaden decided that keeping the stone a secret to this degree was taking the effort a bit too far. He stood and nodded.

“Yes, I can get a message to Adric.”

“Do it.”

“What should it say?” Gaden asked.

“Anything to indicate that we have been captured. If he takes it to Thale, then maybe there’s a chance something can be done. I doubt it, but what else do we have?” Gaden pulled the whisper stone from his pocket, and he etched two words across its surface.

“Lorlea. Prison.”

“What is it?” Avan asked him. Gaden took one more look at the whisper stone, and he handed it to Avan.

“We think it’s a soul stone. It’s one of two, Adric has the other half.”

“What?” Elric said in shock, and he walked over to examine it.

“What do you do with it?”

“He’s able to see any message I write onto the stone’s surface.”

“Genius,” Elric said as Avan passed him the stone. “So, this is how he knew you were in trouble that day Karina came back. No wonder he didn’t want to share.”

“Well, it doesn’t really matter anymore, does it? If we never get out…” Gaden let his thought trail off.

“On the other hand, this is probably the most foolish thing you could have brought,” Elric chided, suddenly cold.

“What?” Gaden asked, taken aback.

“In the event you’re right, and we don’t ever get out, you have just given Lorlea a soul stone.” Silence followed Elric’s statement.

“Well it’s not like she doesn’t already have one, and she doesn’t have a clue what to do with the one she has,” Gaden sighed. Elric was right, what had he been thinking? For a very long time, they sat in silence, listening to the sounds from the other prisoners. Some of them sobbing, some were moaning, not in their right minds. They could hear rats scuttling across the stone floors. Not even Gaila was making any noise. His usual humming to pass the time was finally silenced. He sat in a corner, alone.

“Ilvesa,” Elric said, breaking the silence.

“Who?” Gaden asked.

“Ilvesa, wife of Edwin, a field marshal at the time,” he said. Gaden noticed that Avan had looked up at him. “Several years ago, before Avan was old enough to join the Alldelan military, I was assigned to a scout unit lead by Edwin. He had so much going for him. He had just been married. He was rising in command of Alldel. I was his right-hand man,” Elric said the last sentence in such a way that Gaden assumed he must have been proud when this had happened.

“We had been ordered to a scouting mission at a cave near the Tulusbian Forest. Thale suspected the Rhodhinians were mining this cave, and he wanted to know if it was true. So we set out for the cave, just the two of us. We had done a lot of missions together on our own, it wasn’t uncommon back then for only two to go out like that. When we got to the cave, we first thought we were going to be fortunate and that there would be nothing there, and therefore no opposition. So we entered. We had made the mistake of letting down our guard.

Just inside the cave, we were met by three polgers. Now, these polgers had been chained down, so at first, we thought we would simply be able to avoid them. We had never heard of polgers, we had no idea what they were. I still never learned what they were until this morning when we fought the one with Gaila. But, undoubtedly, whoever chained them down had underestimated their strength. One of the polgers easily broke himself free from his chain. The metal just snapped like splintered wood. The polger charged me down so fast I didn’t have time to react. It pounced and tackled me to the ground.

He was pressing me down so hard, it was forcing mud and snow into my mouth. I could taste it. I could feel the grainy, earthy taste of mud that had been under cover of snow for too long. He had me completely pinned down, there was nothing I could do. Well, as you know, polgers don’t go down easily, and they certainly don’t go down unless you can attack their underside. Edwin wasn’t able to attack him to kill him. So, instead he tackled the polger, and I was freed. Edwin …” Elric paused for a moment, but Gaden didn’t need him to finish.

“It should have been me. It almost was me.”

“It shouldn’t have been anyone, Elric,” Gaden said. “It shouldn’t have been Edwin, but it shouldn’t have been you either.”

“Edwin knew it was going to kill me, and he paid the price for me.”

“There was nothing you could have done,” Avan said. “You couldn’t have stopped Edwin any more than you were able to stop the polger.”

“I did stop the polger,” Elric said. “I just wasn’t fast enough, and Edwin died for it.”

“You killed a polger unassisted?” Gaila had looked up at last and was stunned by this part of Elric’s tale.

“Yes. I had to. I couldn’t just leave him.”

“But that would have taken an incredible amount of skill. I do not think I have ever known of anyone to kill a polger alone.” This level of praise seemed to matter very little to Elric. He didn’t acknowledge it.

“Who is Ilvesa?” Gaden said, feeling like he knew what the answer would be.

“Ilvesa was his newlywed bride.” They had been married just two days before his death.” More silence followed this statement. “I did not scout the cave. I was so emotionally compromised, that I mutilated the polger’s body. I wanted him to be as unrecognizable as he had made Edwin. I wanted the cave walls to be colored by its blood. I finished the job, and then I went to Edwin’s body. As I said, he wasn’t recognizable. But I wanted to bring him home, anyway. I picked him up, and I carried him all the way back to Aelwynn. I can still feel his blood running up my arm, and down my side. I still dream of Thale’s face when I walked into his office a full day ahead of schedule with Edwin’s remains in my arms. I can still hear the screams of Ilvesa as she entered the infirmary to pay her respects to her dead husband. She had been single, married, and widowed all in the same week. Wedding flowers were still decorating her hair.

She screamed at Thale. She bellowed how it was all his fault. What man would send only two to investigate Rhodhinian territory? She punched him repeatedly across the face. Blood ran from Thale’s lip. He didn’t even try to stop her. He let her carry on until she was winded and couldn’t stand anymore. Then she rounded on me, and I knew why Thale had let her hit him. I wanted her to hit me. I wanted to feel some element of the pain that had cost Edwin his life. But she didn’t do it.

We held a memorial service for him the next day. I was asked to light the fire that would eliminate his remains. Three days later, Ilvesa disappeared. We sent scout parties out for her. She was never found.”

“It must have been hard for her to stay there,” Gaden said. “I can understand that.”

“Yes, surely, but we at least expected to locate where she had gone. We never have. My wife speaks of her often. She tells me all the time that I’m going to make her the next Ilvesa. Maybe she was right.” Gaden didn’t say anything. He knew precisely how Elric felt about this. His wife, too, had warned him that something like this would happen. Now he sat here, likely condemned to death, and she had no idea where he was.

Gaden looked once more at the whisper stone, but there was still no response from Adric. He suddenly became outraged. Was his message not clear enough? Did Adric even care? He knew Thale had said there was nothing he could do, but he at least expected Adric to care about his best friend. Gaden threw the whisper stone across the cell as hard as he could. It clattered loudly against the wall and nearly hit Gaila. Gaden stared at the whisper stone lying on the floor at the other end of the cell. Gaila finally stood up and retrieved the stone. He handed it back to Gaden.

“I think you would be unhappy if you lost this,” he said.

“Thanks, Gaila.”

“All of you, stand against the wall, now.” They all looked up, wondering who had spoken. It was another Lorlean guard. He was fumbling with a ring of keys. “I said, stand against the wall, do it, now!” He barked. They all lined up together, their backs against the wall. The guard found the key, inserted it into the lock, and turned. The door slid open noisily.

Without any warning, as though he had planned to do it all along, Elric kicked himself away from the wall so fast, there was no way the guard had time to react. Elric pummeled the guard across the face again, and again. Too stunned by the Elric’s reaction, they just stood there, wasting their only time to get away. But it was all over before they would have had time to make an escape, anyway. The guard had unsheathed a sword and pinned Elric against the wall with it. He looked as though he were about to run Elric through.

“No! Stop! Please!” Gaden yelled. Everyone stood still, including the guard.

“Turn around.” The guard finally said to Elric. “Turn around, now,” he said firmly. Elric turned obediently. The guard bound Elric by the wrists, his hands behind his back. The guard had a bloody nose, a bloody lip, and two black eyes. Elric had really done a number on him.

“Now…” The guard said, as though he had single-handedly restored order to the world. “You’ll all do as I say when I say to do it, or this man dies. Do you understand me?” They halfway nodded. “Answer me!”

“We understand!” Findhar called back.

“I want you all to walk out of here. I will follow you. If you try to escape, this man is dead. Walk,” he said. They began to file out of the cell and walk back the direction they had entered. Findhar brought up the rear, just before Elric and the guard.

“Do you mind if I ask where we are going?” He asked the guard.

“Keep quiet.” The guard answered.

“How are we supposed to lead the way, if we don’t know where we are going.”

“I said, keep quiet!”

“Findhar!” Elric snapped. They reached the tunnel where they had first entered, and Gaden started to make his way toward the staircase.

“No, keep going straight ahead.” The guard told him. Gaden froze for a split second and then changed course to keep walking. More cells lined the walls down this wing of the prison. Prisoners stared through the bars at them. Some of the sneered, some hissed, others looked as though all reason had gone from them.

“Turn right.” The guard said. Gaden took the next right and met another staircase. They began to ascend the stairs. They walked up until they came to a doorway.

“Put your backs against the wall.” The guard said, and then he walked forward and unlocked the door. Immediately, they shielded their eyes. The windowless door had opened onto a vast field. The sunlight beamed down on them. They had stayed the night in prison without realizing it. Gaden wondered why they were being led out here. The guard guided them outside, and over to a barn. They entered the barn and were greeted by four horses.

“Listen to me carefully, we don’t have time for questions, nonsense, or anything else.” The guard said quickly. He handed a thickly folded piece of old paper to Elric. “This is a map of Lorlea, including the one you tried to steal from the library. You’ll find Alldel on one of them, as well as the Tulusbian Forest. Many years ago, Narda had a clearing made inside the forest. It allows her to travel between Lorlea and Alldel in a fraction of the time it took you to get here.”

“What is going on?” Elric asked.

“I don’t have time to answer questions!” The guard snapped. “You take these horses and get back to Alldel as fast as you can. You’ll find your belongings in the cabinet over there,” he pointed across the room to a tall wooden cabinet standing half open. Findhar opened it as the guard was talking.

“Take the pass, you can make it by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Tomorrow?” Elric yelled in shock.

“Be quiet!” The guard hissed again. He glanced behind him as though to check they were still alone and undetected.

“Seevus has deployed his troops. They are officially moving against Alldel. War is coming. Alldel needs you.

“Why are you helping us?” Elric asked.

“I hope one day to see the fall of Lady Narda.” The guard told him.

“And what will you tell your superiors?”

“I’ll tell them you ambushed me as I came to bring your daily meal. I have the scars to back it up. You saved me a great deal of pain. I don’t have to do it myself, now. I thank you. And it will be more convincing because there were a great number of witnesses who saw you attack me.”

“They also saw you win the fight,” Avan said.

“They’ll probably think you attacked me again after I led you away. Now, really, you have to get going.”

“Why should we trust you?” Elric asked.

“Your only other option is to get back downstairs and let me lock you back up.” They couldn’t think of any other answer to that.

“Get going. War is marching to Alldel.” Elric, Avan, Gaden, Findhar, and Gaila mounted the four horses, Gaila rode with Gaden, and they took off as quickly as they could for Alldel.