Darwin rode slowly through the forest, looking for anything resembling a pathway, and wishing once again that he had some sort of map of this dismal place.
Then he heard the clip-clop of horses' hooves, and the creaking of wagon wheels, up ahead. "Ah, finally, someone who can give me directions," he said to himself.
He nudged his horse to a canter, and soon found himself at the closest thing there was to a road up on this mountain. A long train of horses and wagons was passing by.
A rider split off from the group and came out to meet him. "You there!" the elderly rider called commandingly. "State your business!"
"I'm just trying to find my way to the top of the mountain," Darwin said. "There are some people there that I need to catch up to."
The rider narrowed his eyes appraisingly. "And what is the nature of your interest?"
"They're trying to become Paladins," Darwin said. "I want to stop them."
The rider arched his eyebrows. "So this has nothing to do with the Lady Gisella?"
"What? No, nothing. Why, is she here?" Darwin said, puzzled. "I thought she was way back on the other side of the Badlands, with Erik the Goth."
"You mean him?" the rider said, gesturing at one of the two bound and gagged figures in one of the wagons that was creaking past.
"Oh," said Darwin in blank surprise. "Ah. I take it you're with Sir Hugo, then?"
"Yes," said the rider, puffing out his chest. "I am his chancellor."
"Uh-huh," said Darwin. "So the Lady Gisella is here on Mount Paladin, eh? That's very interesting. I wonder if she's in the company of the ones I'm looking for."
"If so," said the chancellor, "then Sir Hugo has probably already caught up with them. We're following after him."
Darwin's eyes widened in alarm. "Oh," he said. "Uh. You know, in that case, I'd better hurry on ahead and see if I can catch up with these people, too. They have something I need, you see." Something I'd hate to see Sir Hugo get his hands on, he added silently.
The chancellor shrugged and pointed. "We're following his trail. It looks like he's on his way to the top of the mountain."
"Uh, very good," Darwin said, hastily spurring his horse down the road. "Thank you, my good man!"
A small, furry face poked out of Darwin's saddlebags as he hurried up the mountain.
"Well," said Roderick, "I guess we'll just have to do the best we can without the map. I wish I'd spent more time reading ahead," he added ruefully.
Gisella shrugged. "No time to worry about that. You'll be fine, my hero," she said, giving him a winning smile. His cheeks turned red again. Barbara turned angrily away and busied herself with something in her horse's saddlebags.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of a horse, approaching at a gallop.
"Uh, let's get moving," said Roderick hastily. "No telling who that might --"
A sleek, black, expensive-looking horse burst out of the trees. A ruggedly handsome young man leapt from the saddle, landed gracefully on his feet, and drew his sword. "Unhand this fair maiden, you foul betrayers!" he cried.
"Huh?" said Stan, looking around. "Which maiden are you talking about?"
Caught off guard, their visitor hesitated, then pointed at Gisella. "That one."
"Me?" Gisella said. "What are they unhanding me for? If they unhand me, I'll just have to go back home to my overprotective father!"
The visitor blinked. "Overprotective, eh?" he said with a grin. "Well, I like the sound of that. So? Are you going to unhand her?"
"What are you talking about?" Barbara said irritably. "We never handed her in the first place." She cast a half-glare at Roderick. "At least I didn't," she added.
"Me neither," Roderick added hastily. Barbara relaxed slightly.
"Who are you, anyway?" Gisella asked angrily. "Charging in here and demanding that people unhand me."
"Ah. Sorry," he said, looking embarrassed. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Calvin the Bold."
"Uh, hi, Calvin," said Roderick.
"My dear boy," said Calvin the Bold acidly, "I must beg you not to mangle my name. It's 'Calvin the Bold'."
"Oh," said Roderick. "Sorry."
"Now," said Calvin the Bold, "are you going to stand aside so that I may take the lady with me?"
Barbara frowned. "Hey, now wait just a minute, you. Are you saying you're going to kidnap the girl?"
"Oh, no, no," Calvin the Bold said hastily. "Not kidnap. That's such a nasty word. It's the kind of word you would use for the things Evil Overlords would do, you know. I simply intend to take her away."
"Take me away where?" said Gisella warily.
"Oh, away to my condo, of course," he replied, flashing his gleaming smile. "Then I can have some leverage to apply to your father, and help to eliminate his evil from the world. Including, my dear lady, the evil that it seems he has done to you with his overprotectiveness."
"And why would you need to take me away to do that?" Gisella said crossly. "I'm perfectly able to take care of myself. And I'm well out of his reach at the moment, thank you."
"Oh?" Calvin the Bold said politely. "Are you sure? I just left him not ten minutes ago."
Gisella turned pale. "What? Are you serious?"
"And when he arrives, milady, you will need a protector," he went on, flashing his smile again. Roderick frowned irritably. Calvin the Bold continued, "I'm a Hero-in-training, soon to pass my Hero exams. You need better than a mere guard to protect you, milady."
"Hey, now," said Roderick crossly, "this 'mere guard' is here to become a Paladin, I'll have you know."
Calvin the Bold blinked. "What?" he cried. "A Paladin? Are you saying the way to Castle Paladin has been reopened?"
"What do you think that is?" Roderick said, pointing to the huge silver door in the mountainside.
Calvin the Bold blinked at the door. "My word," he said. Then he flashed his smile at Gisella yet again. "Ah, but milady, don't you think a Paladin would look much more dashing atop an expensive horse such as my own?"
"Huh?" Gisella looked at his horse for the first time, and her mouth fell open. "Oh, wow," she said reverently. "That is a really nice horse."
"Hey," said Roderick. "What happened to your 'hero'?"
Gisella looked back at him. "Oh, that," she said. "I just needed to get you to help me get away from my father. And I am an Evil Overlord's daughter, you know. Manipulation is second nature." She shrugged at his hurt look. "Nothing personal."
"Why, you little --"
"Roderick!" Barbara cut in, with a tone of voice and a facial expression that were somewhere between smugness and pity.
"Hey, you!" cried Sir Hugo, bursting out of the trees about a hundred yards down the mountain.
"Oh boy," said Gisella, turning paler. "Here it goes. Bet you I'm grounded for at least six months."
"Such injustice!" cried Calvin the Bold.
"You dirty kidnappers!" shouted Sir Hugo as he galloped closer. "I'll string you all up by your toenails!"
Calvin the Bold darted toward Gisella. "Forgive me, my dear lady, but I'm afraid some subterfuge is in order," he said. "Play along." Then he grabbed her from behind and put a dagger to her throat.
"Stop right there!" he cried to Sir Hugo.
Sir Hugo stopped. So did the mounted soldiers who had begun to stream out of the woods behind him.
"What the deuce is going on here?" cried a tall man in a flowing cloak, who had just ridden out of the trees next to Calvin the Bold's horse.
"Stay back!" shouted Calvin the Bold.
"You!" cried Sir Hugo, fixing Calvin the Bold with a suddenly bloodshot glare. "You rode with me, you shared my food, and this is how you repay me? I'll string you up by your own dried blood!"
"You'll do nothing," said Calvin the Bold, his voice quavering slightly. "You'll stay right there until we are out of sight into this cave."
"What do you think you are, an Evil Overlord?" said von Himmel. "Because if you are, you're doing a very poor job of it."
"I'm no Evil Overlord! I'm a Hero!" Calvin the Bold said indignantly.
"Oh? Then why are you holding an innocent girl hostage?" countered von Himmel.
"She's not innocent!" retorted Calvin the Bold. "She's the daughter of an Evil Overlord!"
"Then why are you --" began von Himmel, then stopped. He looked curiously at Gisella, who was looking longingly at a very expensive horse. He put two and two together.
"So anyway," Calvin the Bold said loudly, "we're going to go into this cave, and you're going to let us go. Or else I'll kill her."
"Oh, please," said von Himmel. "You won't kill her. This is just a ruse so you can escape into the cave." He frowned. "But isn't that the cave leading into Castle -- oh, now don't tell me there's another person trying to --"
"Stay back!" warned Calvin the Bold.
"Ooh," Gisella said softly to him. "This is kind of exciting."
"You won't hurt her," von Himmel said, starting his horse forward again. "And I can't let any of you go into that --"
"Stop right there," roared Sir Hugo. Von Himmel turned to see that Sir Hugo had a loaded crossbow aimed directly at him.
"Oh, now this I must protest," said von Himmel. "This man is not holding your daughter hostange. It's just an act, a ploy. They're --" He gestured at Gisella and Calvin the Bold, who were no longer there.
"Stay there," Sir Hugo warned.
"What? They're already gone," von Himmel protested. "And I can't possibly let any of these others go in there after them. You don't understand what's at stake."
"What's at stake is my only daughter," Sir Hugo growled. He jerked his head, and two burly soldiers rode toward von Himmel. "I'm going in there after her, and you're staying here until I'm well inside."
"You really don't know what you're dealing with," von Himmel said as the guards took him by the arms. "These individuals are planning to go into the castle so they can become Paladins!"
"I don't care if they're going in there to become goat-milkers," Sir Hugo growled, riding forward to the gates and lowering himself from his horse. "You're staying out here until I've gone." He cast a quick glare at Roderick, Stan, Johnson, and Barbara. "As for you," he said, "I would deal with you personally, but I have more urgent business to attend to."
He disappeared into the shadows of the cave.
"Gee," said Stan. "Maybe we should send this Calvin the Bold a holiday card next Christmas."
"If he lives that long," Barbara added.
"Hey," Roderick said suddenly. "Isn't he the guy from the inn? The one who had the job of tracking us down?"
Barbara looked at von Himmel. "Oh," she said. "Yes, he is. Maybe we'd better hurry along before those guards let him go, yes?"
"What?" cried von Himmel. "Let me go! I must stop them!"
"But wait a minute," said the huntsmaster. "Aren't you four the ones we've been tracking? The ones who kidnapped Lady Gisella?"
"Well, not kidnapped exactly," said Johnson.
The huntsmaster glanced at the other soldiers and nodded. They all spurred their horses toward the gate. The soldiers holding von Himmel let him go and started forward themselves, and von Himmel quickly followed.
"Uh, yeah, I think hurrying would be good," said Roderick, and the four of them fled into the cave.
Darwin arrived just in time to see the last of a group of soldiers disappearing into the gate, amidst a large, wandering group of horses.
"Silver gate," he murmured. "Now I remember. Hidden by an illusion." He rode forward warily, watching for the soldiers, but none reemerged. He dismounted next to the gates and peered inside, but the cave twisted and turned, and he couldn't see anyone -- although the sounds of battle were already beginning to break out from deeper inside the cave.
He stopped next to the gate and sniffed the air, wrinkling his nose at the odor. "Imps," he said softly. "Now who the heck would be summoning imps around here?"
He stepped into the shadows, and found himself in a huge cavern. The other end was almost two hundred yards away, and was covered with a large number of people locked in battle. He saw the tall barbarian parrying a blow from von Himmel, almost as tall; but the others were lost in a dimly-lit riot.
"Hmm, maybe I'd be better off if I didn't go straight," he murmured to himself. He glanced around. Two side tunnels led away from the main cavern; the one to his left angled downward, and the one to his right angled upward. The right-hand one was also the one with the imp smell.
Well, he reasoned, Castle Paladin was where the Paladin Sword was kept, and it was upward. He grabbed a lit torch from the wall, wondering briefly who had left it there, and disappeared down the side tunnel.
A quiet shadow detached from the side of the tunnel and followed him. The bright blue of Barbara's dress caught the sunlight for a brief instant. Then she paused. "Well, hello, little one," she said to the little white bundle of fur just inside the cave entrance. "You may want to hurry out of here. It's not exactly a good place for us non-fighters to be."
Noel the Not-So-Bold as Calvin the Bold blinked up at Barbara, then yawned, stretched, and twitched her nose. Then the kitten turned and trotted off down the downward-sloping tunnel.
Barbara shrugged, adjusted the weight of her harp on her back, and followed after Darwin.
| < Chapter 17 | Chapter 19 > |