The Castle Guard

A Knight in the dungeon

‘I stopped the dagger!’ Darien stared at Dracenstark feeling incredlous  at the thought; Up until that moment Darien had assumed it was the mage who did it to save him, he hadn’t really assessed the whole situation since  ‘I stopped the dagger?’ confusion invaded his mind. Dracenstark noticing the surprised expression on Darien’s face “You didn’t know?” he asked curiously Darien remained quiet trying to process the information “Hmmm..”  The mage genuinely looked intrigued “What is your name again?”

“Darien Estrin of Haslet my lord.” Darien almost stuttered giving a slight bow,  “go I will summon you later” the mage exclaimed Darien barely heard anything Dracenstark said  he was lost in his own thoughts turning he found the door wide open. Stepping into the hallway he almost bumped into someone else heading into the mage’s chamber; he was about 5’9 tall handsome face with menacing blue eyes long blonde hair tied to form a sort of ponytail; he wore a long black coat the royal seal embroidered in gold on his left breast and a white shirt beneath the coat. Darien Quickly bowed “Apologies my lord!” not wanting to aggravate any of the royals, the man gave Darien a cold glare and continued walking beside him entering the mage’s room.

Darien decided not to use the way they came from not wanting to walk through a crowd of noisy busy women instead he went the way he was used to leading to the dungeons ‘how many ways are there?’ he asked himself the door to the laundry room was a new one for him ‘if there are other ways my job just got way harder.’. As he walked down the throne room he couldn’t help it admire the monarchs’ portraits the newest ones depicting king Walren on the right and Queen Garda Mickan on the left both wearing immaculate clothing embedded with royal seals. He’d seen them only once when he came to the castle yet it felt like they were looking at him from the walls.

He had reached the great hall when a thought started nagging at him ‘Why would someone attack me unless they wanted whatever lay in that dungeon?’ a even more terrifying thought crept into his head ‘What if whoever attacked came back!’ his legs seemed to quicken imagining getting there to find the door wide open the mercenary holding some kind of powerful object or a human heart smiling from behind his mask then disappearing into the shadows. The arch-duke would probably turn him into a frog or worse force my family to pay a huge debt over 800 gold coins that is after killing him. ‘My mother would probably commit suicide and my sister condemned to be a maid in this castle forever.’ Darien found the original way he’d used on the far end of the castle near the prisons where those bold or stupid enough to oppose the king in his own court were temporarily kept before either being executed for some farce crime they hadn’t committed or transferred to another permanent prison, they were quiet which was eerie Darien glided past them towards the deeper darker recesses where there was a single door with a lighted torch on either side.

At that point Darien was more sprinting than walking he almost sighed when he found the door still closed untouched, carrying a torch in one hand he entered into the familiar stair case leading to the dungeons. Going down skipping one step at a time he rushed towards the door enclosing the archway it was like he’d left it with its torches still burning bright he heaved a sigh feeling his heartbeat slowing down.

Instantly it spiked up again Darien’s instincts kicked in some how he knew he wasn’t alone. He had stayed in that room long enough to know when something’s not right. Instinctively he placed his right hand around the hilt of his sword ready to strike he sensed someone move behind him knowing his opponent was bigger and faster Darien decided to act fast; unsheathing his sword in almost a lightning quick strike he attacked turning at a 180 degree angle the sword aimed at the darkness behind him. A sound of metal hitting metal resonated Darien dropped the torch to get a proper grip of his sword not wanting to let his opponent attack Darien charged. His eyes had gotten accustomed to the dark so he could see the figure’s outline though it seemed different earlier now it was shorter with less body mass ‘A trick of the light’ Darien grumbled inwardly flying into action calling onto all his sword skills. Despite a decrease in speed and lack of arrows shot by his opponent Darien barely landed any effective blow although he really wasn’t sure mainly he just threw his sword into the darkness hoping he’d strike an important organ, he employed skills his father had taught him after recovery though he hadn’t practiced in a long time they all came back to him.

The figure stepped into the light it wasn’t the mercenary as he’d hoped, the person standing before him wore official armor, had fierce black eyes with black hair tied in a strong bun. Immediately Darien recognized her he had seen her a couple of times in the castle Darien instantly regretted his attack. Seeing a light of recognition in the guard’s eyes the knight did not retreat instead increased her attacks once Darien began stepping back. ‘One does not start a fight if one doesn’t aim to win’ she sneered inwardly.

Seeing the knight not accepting his surrender Darien continued fighting deflecting her attacks successfully landing some of his own not that it made any difference, she was strong and fast. They found each other in a sword lock struggling against one another, each one waiting for the other change tactic, the woman’s hair had loosened a bit letting few strands fall down her face. Darien prepared to maneuver and slip the sword off her hands by pushing himself sideways putting himself between her and the sword then pulling at the hilt while using his body to knock her backwards he felt optimistic for once since the fight begun. Whatever hope he had disappeared when the woman clearly anticipating his moves broke off the sword lock clutched Darien’s hand kicked him with her boot knocking off his balance then grabbed his sword, Darien fell down like a sack of rocks. The woman held his own sword at his throat for a moment Darien thought that was it for him; instead she threw the sword into the ground She extended her hand toward Darien to help him off the ground. Her face remained expressionless “I am Erska” she said to Darien ‘As if everyone in the kingdom didn’t know the king’s knights.’ Darien wanted to point out they’d met once but he decided to keep that to himself.

“I am…”

“Darien Estrin!” a rough voice came from behind them “The arch-duke wishes to see you.” Darien wandered how long he’d been standing there…..