Immediately the Troll stood up and walked forward, clutching the bone like a weapon. His arms and chest were massive, his skin deep grey in hue and almost scaly. He gazed at the Squires with his black eyes, and raised the bone menacingly. But Garndon stopped him with a motion of his hand.
"Not too close, Graxnul."
The Troll continued to stand there motionless. Then slowly he lifted the bone to his fang-filled mouth and started gnawing again.
"He's like your pet!" Timlin remarked. The skinny lad was still shaking, but he managed a smile.
"Old Graxnul isn't so bad," said Garndon. "He won't attack me, because I keep him fed and I'm good to him. I'd get him to fight for me if the Sacred Laws didn't forbid it. But come, now. I have other sights to show you."
Garndon moved down to the third cell on the right.
"See, Timlin, that wasn't so bad," whispered Vorden. "Now come on."
The Squires followed him to the cell, and what they saw within made their hearts freeze. Timlin tried to flee, but this time Garndon grabbed him.
"None of that, boy," the Dark Knight said gruffly.
Inside the cell was vaguely humanoid shape. It had crooked arms twice as long as a man's legs that ended in clusters of barbed claws. Its flesh was brown and slimy, and wormy things seemed to crawl upon the surface of it. Its head was rodent-like in shape, with bat-like ears and two huge, curved yellow fangs that hung down from its mouth. Its nose was a wolf-like, wrinkled snout that dripped fluid. Hanging from its arms were folds of bony skin like half-developed bat wings.
When it saw the Squires, it went insane, hurling itself against the bars of Glaetherin and trying to rip them apart. Its mouth opened wide and pressed against the bars, its fangs seeking fruitlessly to dig into the metal. Its stench was unbearable-not its physical stench (which was quite bad in its own right) but the stench of evil and despair that radiated from it. The monster had no eyes, just leathery skin where the eyes should have been.
The four Squires shrank back. The other Knight, Saferus, ran over and helped hold them in place.
"Get a good look!" muttered Garndon. "And be thankful you met a starving Ogre and not one of these Bloodfangs. They'd tear the flesh from your bones before you knew what hit you, and leave you drained of blood. It took five Knights to get a net over this thing and hold it, and one lost his arm in the process!"
Garndon and Saferus yanked the Squires away and herded them to the last cell on the left. Inside this one was dark shape with sickly yellow eyes. It was a black serpent-like thing that slithered around inside the cell and hissed, yet its head was disturbingly humanoid in shape. It pressed that head against the bars, trying to squeeze through, revealing two stark-white fangs and a pink, forked tongue.
"A Pit Crawler," said Garndon, shaking his head. "If it were up to me, I'd put my sword to its skull and be done with it. These horrors lurk in the dark places, and their bite is deadly poison. I've seen good men-stout Knights of Dremlock-die in unbelievable agony from a single bite because they blundered into the wrong places. We're trying to find an antidote to that poison, but we're not having much luck."
Tears rolled down Timlin's cheeks. "Get us out of here, Garndon. We've learned our lesson. I promise!"
"And have you learned yours?" said Garndon, gazing sternly at Vorden from beneath his helm. "I can tell you're a hard one-like I was at your age."
"I have," said Vorden. "But tell me one thing-where is the Divine Essence? That's the only reason we came down here. I have to see it!"
"I suspected as much," said Garndon. "But the Divine Essence can't be reached from here anymore. It's been sealed off permanently. There is another way to get to it, but I won't tell you how. Now it's time to be going."
Garndon led them back through the tunnels to the door with the wheel lock. "Do your thing, boy," he said to Lannon.
With his nerves so badly on edge and the Knight looking on, it took Lannon a lot of effort to summon the Eye of Divinity, but with the help of his friends he finally managed it. Once Lannon had unlocked the door, Garndon motioned them onward. "Now get going and don't come back here-ever. And keep your mouths shut about what you saw down here. If word gets out-and goodness knows there are enough rumors floating around up there from what I hear-I'll have you all banished from Dremlock forever."
The Squires nodded and hurried through.
"And that especially goes for you!" He pointed a finger at Timlin. "I know your kind. Keep your mouth shut, or it will be the worse for you!"
Meekly, Timlin avoided the Knight's gaze, keeping his sight fixed on the floor. "I promise I'll never say a word to anyone."
Garndon slammed the bars shut behind them. "Good riddance!"
Lannon licked his fingers and cleaned dried blood from his forehead. Surely they were going to get caught, he thought to himself. They'd been gone too long, and they still had to sneak back to their quarters without being seen. Yet if they could just make it out of Old Keep and lock the door, no one might ever suspect they'd gone this way. That, at least, could save them from being banished.
The horror of what they'd experienced clung to them like icy fingers. It seemed to reach forth from the mines beneath Old Keep, desiring to yank them back into the dark places below. They trembled-even Vorden-as they raced ahead, determined never to return here as long as they lived.
They locked the door to Old Keep again, and placed the Birlote torch back in its holder on the wall. Then they crept upstairs.
Aldreya assured the boys that she often returned this late from her training and the other girls she bunked with would think nothing of it. "Grey Squires have lots of freedom," she whispered. "And we train at odd hours. Sometimes I stay up later than this in the Library or the Dark Rooms."
"What are the Dark Rooms?" the boys questioned.
"Never mind," she said. "There are many secrets in this tower-like the Watcher. Even now I wonder if he saw us. It seems unlikely he could have missed us-or at least missed you three. Actually, I guess I shouldn't have mentioned him, either. But what's done is done, I suppose."
"Who is the Watcher?" the boys asked.
"Goodnight!" said Aldreya. "That was wretched, and I hope I never go anywhere with you three again." With that, she entered her quarters.
Chapter 10: Child of Winter
On the following day, the Squires said little to each other, with Lannon and Vorden spending most of their time meditating on healing their minor injuries inflicted by the Ogre. By using that Knightly healing technique, which was drawn from the power locked within their own minds rather than from any type of sorcery, they were able to make the injuries fade very quickly.
Later, Garrin joined them for dinner in the Hall, and they had to struggle to act natural around him-something Vorden excelled at, while Lannon and Timlin seemed rigid and quiet. But Garrin appeared to take little notice of them, as he was busy chatting with some of the other Squires-except at one point when he looked up, gave them a strange, piercing stare that made their hearts lurch, and then resumed his conversations. They gulped down dinner and headed back to their room.
When training began the next day, Lannon and Timlin felt fine, but Vorden was still a bit sore in the ribs-indicating the damage had been more severe than he'd thought. But he was able to compensate for it and give a fair effort. At one point Cartlan asked about the small bump and cut on Lannon's head (barely noticeable though it was) and Lannon replied that he'd suffered an accident and left it at that. Cartlan didn't press the issue, and by the end of the day, things looked like they would turn out fine.