"So, I climbed through the window and into the room," said Kelv. He paused for a moment, and grinned, "I made it." The three Knights of Enaerai, sitting with Kelv in the passenger cabin of the three-masted ship, were all listening intently. Korchanja nodded slowly, and Dust chuckled softly. Above them, the muffled sounds of the crew preparing to set sail--the captain shouting and the sailors bustling about the deck--could be heard through the planking.
Kelv rubbed a hand down his jaw, the three-days' stubble feeling rough on his palm. He hadn't shaved since the day he left The Trader's Blessing with the Knights, and began his second attempt to enter the tower.
"And?" questioned Korchanja.
"In the room, it was dark. It was some kind of office; just a desk, chairs, and scrolls. A doorway led out into a long stone hall, and I walked down it for a ways. There were a few more offices, and I looked around in them a little bit. But the scrolls and papers were about Jh'ten city affairs--tariffs, street repairs, that kind of thing. The rooms were just minor city offices, nothing special.
"Then I went back out into the hallway. I was still being stealthy, even though I didn't see anyone. Good thing too, because a patrol--six or seven ch'tarens in white-colored armor--came down the corridor. I didn't hear them coming. It was like they appeared from nowhere. But the corridor was wide enough that I just hid along the wall, and they never saw me.
"They started checking in the rooms, and though I didn't understand a bit of what they were saying in their language, I could tell they were worried about something. That's when I figured out that I somehow set off the guardian alarm. And then another big patrol appeared, at least ten or so, with a few scholars. I started to get pretty damned nervous--the hallway was filling up fast!
"They kept looking down the hallway, and searching the rooms. It was like they knew I was there somehow, but they just couldn't see me. So, I started to sneak away, to follow the hallway to see where it led. After about twenty feet, it turned, and then ran smack into a dead end.
"I didn't want to go back down where the guards were searching, so I decided to stay put there in the niche where the hallway turned. I relaxed for a second--I was getting a cramp from all that hiding and sneaking, and stretched a little--when I get bowled over from behind! The dead end wasn't a dead end, it was a solid doorway just for ch'tarens!
Korchanja stood up, and began pacing. "You should have thought of that," he said after a moment, in a disapproving tone. "By the Lady! You saw how their outer doors worked, didn't you?"
"Yes, Kelv--a critical mistake, that was," Dust added..
"Yeah, so I noticed," replied Kelv. "But how was I to know they'd guard their halls like their front door? Anyway..." Kelv paused, and ran a hand through his thin brown hair. "...I got knocked over by four more of the white-armored guards, and they were as surprised as I was, but I was too quick for them. I scrambled back around the corner before they could grab me."
Korchanja again took a seat on one of the bunks.
"None of the others were watching, so I had time to slip into my hiding mode, and made for one of the offices. Then those guards started shouting, and another ch'taren--this one wearing a full suit of polished silver armor--he started waving around a longsword with a torch marked on it, and casting a spell.
"By the time he finished the spell, I was almost in one of the offices, but I felt this strange tingling all over me. I looked over at the guards, and they were all glowing pink--some kind of faerie fire, I guess. Then I looked down at me, and I was glowing too. That's when the guards saw me. I didn't have anywhere to run, and there were at least a dozen of them--so I just surrendered.
Korchanja slammed his fist down, and muttered darkly. Dust and Falandil glanced over at him, and then at each other. Falandil shrugged.
"Kelv," said Falandil, "That seemed the wisest choice to me, given the situation."
"Yes, most definitely," agreed Dust. "The warrior with the torch-marked sword, a Champion of Avendar was. Power they have, to surround all about them with the magical revealing glow."
"At least you can claim what no other non-ch'taren can, that I know of. That you entered Shelratha," said Falandil consolingly.
"Bah, Falandil," growled Korchanja, and then mimicked the ethron's higher-pitched voice-- "That you entered Shelratha." Korchanja glowered at Kelv, his words accompanied by angry gestures. "So you entered the tower--and can tell us about what? Jh'ten street repairs and tariffs? Wonderful! What a boon to our cause!"
The room was quiet for a moment, and the sounds of the ship above could again be heard. Kelv had looked flustered at Korchanja's disapproval, at first, but an impatient and angry look was kindling in his eyes.
"I did learn something useful, I think. I'd be glad to share it if you'll let me finish, Knight Korchanja," said Kelv stiffly.
"We're listening," replied the swordmaster.
"So, I surrendered. They grabbed me and took all my daggers--took everything I had. Then a scholar gave me a potion, and said I had to drink it. I wasn't going to, but he told me that it wouldn't hurt me, and he motioned to the others, like he wanted them to force me to drink it. I thought--what am I worried about, he is a ch'taren and everybody knows they don't like to hurt people--so I drank it. Sure enough, I felt fine--it just made me translucent.
"They took me over to the dead end, with those white-armored guards still holding my arms. Instead of walking through the wall, we just kind of sunk down into the floor. It gave me the creeps, going through the stone like that, but it didn't hurt at all. Once we were through the floor, I saw that we were on some kind of staircase. We walked down the stairs and passed another hallway, and then we went through the floor again.
"We must have gone down and through four or five stairways and floors. Then they walked me down a corridor--I could tell this was a dungeon, we passed doors with iron bars. At last, we stopped at a barred door and all the guards just waited, still holding me, till the translucence from the potion faded. Then they put me in the cell.
"A scholar told two guards to stay at the door, because I'd just pick the lock and be up to more mischief. Then the rest of them left. That was the last I saw of anyone else, besides those guards, till this morning...".
Korchanja interrupted, "You said you learned something? What was it? How to sit around in a..."
"Quiet, you! Let the boy finish!" interrupted Falandil in turn. Falandil and Korchanja glared coldly at each other, and Korchanja's lips began to draw back in a half-snarl. Dust was slowly shaking his head.
Kelv had noticed the rivalry between Falandil and Korchanja before, and it had seemed like nothing very unusual--just their particular fashion of comraderie. But now Kelv had the distinct feeling that something wasn't right. This tension, Korchanja's irritableness--he hadn't been like this on their journey to the island.
"Uh, anyway..." Kelv began hesitantly, "someone came to my cell this morning. A spiritlord. He was an old ch'taren, the oldest one I've ever seen, with hair that was more dull gray than silver. He looked friendly--even more than most ch'tarens.
"'So, young follower of Enaerai,' he said, 'you have come to spy out Shelratha.' I didn't say anything back. 'Oh, you needn't deny,' he said. 'We watch the docks carefully, and knew of the arrival of Knights within the half-hour of your landing.'
"'What are you going to do with me?' I asked him."
Kelv thought for a moment, and decided not to share with the Knights his next question to the spiritlord, which was that they weren't going to torture him, were they?
