The Cave - Chapter VI - Breaking Into the Castle

     Once Julia recovered, she sprinted alongside her friends. Gabriel’s cloak hit his heels as he ran, until he reached the edge. He stopped, his chest heaving. “Excellent.”

      Julia looked to see what was so interesting, but she could only see potted brown shrubs placed in a line around the fence.

      Gabriel held out his pointer finger, which moved along the shrubberies. “Four, five, six, seven.” He stepped in front of the shrub, and scooted the shrub to the side. Behind it, was a hand crank. He wiped his sweaty palms on his breeches, then he grasped the handle and turned it around in a circle. A section of fence moved to the side. It scooted across the stone until the section disappeared behind the other side. “Quick, go!”

      The four bolted through the empty space. The removed section of fence could be seen there. Gabriel let go of the crank. It started spinning clockwise, and the fence began to slowly slide back into place. He barely slid through a crack, but his cloak got caught in the fence. “My word.” He muttered. He tried to pull the cloak out of the fence, but it stayed stuck. He sighed, and unfastened it from around his shoulders. “It’s a shame, too.” He said, walking towards the four. “It’s my favorite cloak.”

      “We’ll be back for it,” Lee assured, putting a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder.

      Gabriel looked down at Lee’s hand before she pulled it away. “Yes, I suppose so.” He looked toward the castle. “Follow me.”

      Gabriel led the four across the lawn. Julia tried to stay focused, though she froze when she heard a sound like sneakers on a freshly cleaned gym floor above her head. She looked up, and saw small squids swimming in the air. One opened up its beak, and let out another one of those noises.

      “Julia!” Oliver whisper yelled.

      Julia darted over to them. “Did anyone else see those?”

      “What?” Gabriel asked. “Oh. Piccolo Calamaro?”

      “Come again?” Luke said.

      “Piccolo Calamaro. Italian for ‘small squid’.”

      Lee frowned. “Why Italian? Aren’t things supposed to be named in Latin or something?”

      “Usually,” Gabriel answered. “Though we think that whoever forged this kingdom must have   been Italian, because the Piccolo Calamaro have had the same name for centuries.”

      The five continued to run across the lawn. They passed a small hut, a dusty pit, a stable, and even a lake with a bench. Whoever lived here, lived in style. Finally, they stopped at a large door.

      Gabriel turned to the others. “This is heavy. Oliver, little help please?”

      Oliver nodded and stepped forward. He wrapped two hands around the handle of the door with Gabriel. Oliver grunted and pulled open the door just enough for them to slip through. Oliver and Gabriel pulled the door shut behind them. Oliver took a second to lean against a wall and breathe. “That was… difficult.”

      Gabriel was panting too, but not nearly as much as Oliver. “Agreed.”

      Julia looked around. They were in a large chamber carved out of the quarts. The longest rug that Julia had ever seen had been rolled out on the ground. There were tapestries and oil paintings hanging on the wall from stakes driven into the walls. Large doors from quarts interrupted the smooth surface of the walls. Flickering torches were attached to the walls every three yards or so. “Gee whiz.” Julia muttered.

      Gabriel looked at her. “Looks fine, doesn’t it?”

      Luke nodded. “Definitely.”

      “I’m afraid that this is where we must part.” Gabriel said, frowning. “My grandfather will need me at home. I have never been into the castle personally.”

      “Thank you anyhow.” Lee stated.

      Gabriel nodded. “Come by if you need anything.” He opened the door and slid out, and pushed it behind him with an echoing thud.

      “I like him,” Julia decided. “He’s nice.”

      “I agree,” Oliver added.

      “Come on, guys. Let’s just find our way home. How long do we have, Julia?” Lee asked.

      Julia looked down at her right wrist. “I don’t know, remember? I gave it to Jason to pay for Oliver’s healing.”

      Oliver frowned. “Sorry about that,”

      Julia smiled and began walking down the chamber. “It’s fine. Let’s go.”

      They walked down the chamber silently. Julia wished that somebody would say something, anything to break the silence, though she was too scared to do it herself. There was something foreboding about this place. Like there was once great joy and happiness inside it, but now there was nothing but a shadow of what once was there. It creeped her out.

      Julia didn’t have the faintest clue how long they had been walking, when they came across a door. It was about tall enough for a grown man to comfortably pass through it. Without a second thought, Julia pulled it open.

     They were in the largest chamber of all. It was probably thirty feet tall, and twenty feet wide. There was a large silver and gold rug. There were torches along the walls, but on the ceiling were several glass balls hanging from chains on alternate levels of air. Each ball was about the width of a one car garage, and was just as tall. Each was filled with weird fish. They looked like catfish, but instead of fins they had fingers with stretches of skin between them. Their wings and stomachs glowed, casting their yellow light down onto the ground.

     “Holy mother.” Luke murmured.

     “Uh, yeah.” Julia added. She stepped forward.

     “What in heaven’s name are you doing here? I told the guards to keep the citizens out!” A grown man’s voice said.

     Julia looked around. At the front of the room was an old man sitting on a throne of gold with red velvet cushions.