He didn't open the door. The shadow disappeared and I heard him go through one of the outer doors. It slammed shut.
I wiped the sweat from my brow. I prepared to open the door and escape, half-expecting a trap.
“Hey!” a ragged, coarse voice called from behind me.
I spun around. There was another door with a small barred window set into it. The handle was chained and padlocked. I crept cautiously up to the door, despite my better judgment screaming at me to leave. If Premier kept an ogre, perhaps he kept some other kind of dangerous creature in this room that he planned to unleash upon the land. I peeked inside the room.
“You must help me!” the voice said. A hairy face popped up from nowhere, in front of the little window.
I stumbled backwards. My feet became tangled, and I fell to the floor. I mumbled a curse, hoping Premier or Baal hadn’t heard me fall. I got up, composed myself, and held my fire mana ready.
I moved closer and looked in the window. The prisoner was small, about the size of an elf, yet broad and muscular. His bushy, gray beard hung down to his waist. Through the rents in his ragged clothing, I saw his skin was scarred and bruised. He smelt like Marlese and the others, though not as bad as the ogre. Astonished, I finally realized what he was—a dwarf.
“Quickly!” he said. “You must get me out of here! We’re in grave danger and we haven’t much time!”
I wasn't sure whether to trust him. Then I realized that any prisoner of Premier was probably a friend of mine.
“I will set you free, but you must stand back,” I said, looking over my shoulder. The spell I had ready was going to be fast, but crude. It was also going to hurt.
I grabbed the lock and heated it, forcing it to pop open. I had to bite my tongue; the lock scorched my hand when I yanked it off the chain. The dwarf shot from the room and grabbed me with iron strength.
“Thank the gods you rescued me, lad,” he said. “I’m grateful you did while there’s still time.”
“Time for what?”
“I'll explain later. We must make haste and flee the city.”
I nodded. I didn't want to stay down here longer than I had to.
I took the lead. When we got to the door, I put a finger to my lips. The dwarf nodded in understanding. I opened the door and peered out. No one was there. We walked quietly but quickly.
As we passed through the door that held the crimson web, I heard a slight sound behind me. I whirled, mana at the ready, and saw Premier at the top of the stairs, the ogre right behind him. Premier’s dark eyes met mine, and he smiled.
CHAPTER 16
As soon as I met Premier’s gaze, I reacted without thinking. I performed a quick spell, releasing my fire mana at Premier in a funnel of flame. He caught the fire with his hand and absorbed it. He moved closer. Confident. Not hurrying. I had to think of something to distract him. I looked at the door and came up with an idea.
I pushed the dwarf through the opening, and used wind mana to yank the door off its hinges and send it across the room, smacking into the ogre and Premier. The pair staggered.
“Run!” I yelled to the dwarf.
We ran up the stairs and through the second door. I paused, hearing heavy footsteps behind us. I summoned more mana to shatter the door, and the pieces spiraled at the approaching ogre. He crossed his arms in front of his head as the wooden shards struck like arrows, embedding themselves deep in his flesh. He roared with anger and pain. I didn't wait for Premier to catch up. I ran up the remaining stairs. The dwarf waited for me at the top.
“I'll lead,” he said.
I followed him through the castle. He didn't go straight for the main entrance like I would have done. He seemed to know the castle well, and took a route that avoided most of the guards. I kept listening behind us for the ogre and Premier, but we seemed to have lost them. However, we couldn't avoid the people starting to rise for their daily business. We didn't give them time to ask questions as we ran by.
I thought we would have to contend with the guards at the keep’s entrance, but there weren't any. Their unconscious bodies were off to the side. The elves must have taken care of them. We dashed out of the keep into the dim morning light. We slowed to a fast walk as we headed down the hill, so as not to attract too much attention.
We just had to pass the portcullis, and we would be out of the castle grounds where I could breathe easier. I prayed that Prastian and the others had taken care of the guards, because I had no idea what we were going to do if they hadn’t. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. Unfortunately, when we got near the entrance, we could see the guards were on full alert. They lined the entrance, weapons at the ready, and unconscious and possibly dead guards were being carried away on stretchers.