Roland's Castle (28 page)

“That must be it,” said Oliver.

At the doorway hordes of screaming
of flames waited to greet them. As they were pushed aside by the
shadows they clamoured at their edges, filled with murderous fury.
The Adventurers passed through the great doorway to be confronted
by another doorway, even larger, then another. Beyond that they
found themselves faced by the greatest and whitest light of all,
scorching and intense, the heat almost unbearable to them. Now the
adventurers found that they needed to shield their eyes despite the
protection of the flowers. They were sweating with the heat.

In front of them was a circle of
flames, the brightest and whitest that could be imagined. They were
each at least a hundred feet tall, although it was difficult to
judge in the surroundings. There were seven of them, Roland
thought, though he could never be sure as he could not see properly
with the tears streaming down his face.

For a few moments there was
silence. Roland wondered what to say. What do you say to the great
grand flames at the very centre of the solar system? Good morning?
Hello, how are you doing
me old mucker
? Nothing Roland could
think of seemed right.

He was spared the effort of
speaking first by a booming voice that was as loud and stern as the
heat and light were intense. All the great, grand flames were
speaking at once. “
Who are you
?” they demanded to know.

Roland took another deep breath, “I
am Roland, from Earth, Lord – in my father’s absence — of the great
tower that holds together the earth and the sky…”

There was mumbling amongst them,
then each took it in turns to speak a part of a sentence, all in
the same booming whisper as Lumenfarge only much louder, “We have a
memory —“

“— from long ago —“

— of this —

—which is —

—which was —

— but a small part —

— of our great war.”

“Well, we need help,” Roland
continued, “the Spirus have control of the castle, we had sun
warriors that we sent into battle but they were old, and
weary…”

“You have
ordered
brethren
of ours into battle?” Inquired one for the flames, fiercely.

“Used them as mere pawns!” demanded
another.

“Sacrificed them before yourself!”
roared another.

“Yes,” Roland admitted, boldly, “I
understood they were mine to command.”

“Impudent!” roared another flame,
and they chanted : “Impudent! Impudent!”

“ — And you have
failed,
despite misusing our brothers!” one said.

And together they chanted,
accusingly, “Failed! Failed! Failed! Failed!”

Again they shared a sentence
between them,

“You allowed the enemy —

“— a victory —“

“— to defeat you —

“ —Despite sacrificing our
brethren.”

“It could not be helped,” Roland
protested, weakly.

The flames took it in turns to
choose words they thought described it all best,

“Disrespectful!”

“Disgraceful!”

“Disreputable!”

“Dishonourable!”

“Impudent!”

“Impure!”

“You are impurity!”

“Impurity must be expunged!”

“What do you mean impure?” Oliver
demanded.

“Yeah! Who are you calling…?”
Savitri said.

Roland raised his hand to suggest
that they tone down their objections.

The flames continued, “Have you
—

“ — no respect — “

“ — for your betters?”

It didn’t seem to be going well.
Roland decided on another tack.

The Great Mistress of the
Lighthouse, on the moon —“

“We know of he r—”

“Well, she said you created us to
help you in your struggle. We were helping you when we deployed
your brethren. We are fighting the darkness too.”

“In a small way.” One flame
said.

“In a small place,” another flame
added.

“Every little bit helps,” Oliver
put in.

Roland took a deep breath and tried
to summon all his powers of speech and persuasion, as advised by
the Lighthouse Mistress, “We have come a long way seeking your
help, knowing of your strength and of the great battle that you
fight. We wish to fight that battle with you, to take up arms with
you, to join you… But first… — but first we must win our own
battle. The unfinished tower is a resource of great strength – I am
told – that cannot be — must not be surrendered to the enemy. If we
lose the tower, we may lose the Earth, and the Earth is close to
the sun, is it not? Therefore allowing it to fall into enemy hands
is a risk to you.”

“A small risk.”

“Very small.”

“ Alright, a small risk. But the
tower may be just what you need one day. You never know. You never
know what allies you might need.”

“Maybe,” the flames said.

“Why would we need you?” one
asked.

“Why would we ever need you?”
another pressed.

“We are mighty!” said another.

“You are small and weak,” yet
another said, and with an insulting tone to boot.

They began to chant, “Small! Weak!
Small! Weak!”

“We are mighty!” they all said.

“Well, if you are that mighty, you
can afford to help us a bit then can’t you,” Roland said, feeling
he had them.

“Good going!” Savitri said, “You
got them!”

“Yeah! Send some of that might our
way if you have so much of it!” Oliver said.

The flames seemed to reflect on
this. They huddled together for a minute, their edges merging.

“Fifty,” they said.

“Fifty what?” Roland asked, “Fifty
regiments?”

“Fifty warriors,” was the
reply.

“What!” Oliver cried, “That isn’t
enough!”

“You cannot do this!” Roland cried,
“You cannot betray us like this!”

“Betray?” queried one of the
flames, reddening with anger and shaking alarmingly.

“Impudent!” Said another.

“Outrageous!” said another.

“Get out!” Said another one.

“Get out!” repeated another.

“Alright! Alright! We’ll take it!”
said Roland, “Fifty will be enough – I hope they will be enough.
They will have to be enough.”

The flames seemed to calm down, but
also started to flex and change shape as if they were doing some
sort of weird exercise. They all spoke again, taking it in turns as
before, “Now go! —“

“The warriors will follow you —
“

“— Return to Lumenfarge —“

“— He will carry them –

“ — as well as you.“

“Now go—

“ — away from here — “

“ Leave now—”

“ — quickly!”

“ Quickly!”

“ Quickly!”

“Go!”

“Go!”

“Go! Go! Go!” They all started to
chant.

“Leave us!”

“Be gone!”

Roland felt there was more to be
lost than gained now so the adventurers quickly left the hall. As
they headed down the passage they heard the sound of marching
behind them. They looked back to see that indeed a column of sun
warriors was following them.

“They look like more than fifty
when in columns like that,” Oliver said, trying to find some cause
for hope.

“They are not enough,” Roland
cursed.

“Not nearly enough,” Savitri said,
with rage in her voice.

They held up their gentians to
repel the heat and light but the walk back to Lumenfarge was more
peaceful than their journey inwards. Flames no longer screamed at
them with rage or tried to block their path. The intruders were
leaving, and that at least was appreciated.

“At least we don’t have to fight
our way out,” Oliver said.

“They are glad we are going,”
Roland said, “It’s good riddance to us.”

“Disgraceful, “ said Savitri,
quietly.

“Careful, they might hear you!”
Oliver said.

Even Goodwill seemed subdued.

“I am sorry,” said Lumenfarge, upon
hearing of the disappointment.

“We will manage,” Roland said, with
determination.

“But how?” Oliver asked.

“There are ways,” Savitri said,
waving her sword about like a determined person.

“Yes, there are ways,” Roland
repeated, as if he were trying to convince himself.

He asked Lumenfarge, “Can you take
us back to the moon as quickly as possible? We have a long journey
ahead of us and we really must get back to the earth as soon as we
can, however much good we can or can’t do when we get there.”

“I could take you all the way if
you like,” Lumenfarge said.

“What!!!???” Roland said, “All the
way to Earth, to the tower?”

“Of course,” said Lumenfarge, I can
go anywhere, except for The Very Hearth. Would you like me to take
you all the way?”

“Yes! I would like that very much!
Very much indeed! Yes please! This at least is good news – thank
you Lumenfarge. Can you find the Hall of the Knights
Fortressers?

“Indeed I can,” said
Lumenfarge.

“You will have to fight off an
attack by the storm lords,” Roland warned.

“Huh!” Lumenfarge scoffed, “They
will scurry away and hide at the sight of me!”

With that they quickly left the sun
far behind them.

The journey back to earth was long
and the adventurers slept most of the way. As they approached the
Earth Lumenfarge woke them and for the first time they looked down
upon their home planet.

“Its beautiful!” Oliver said, “I
didn’t know it would be so….blue!”

“It is beautiful,” Roland
agreed.

“What a pity creatures like the
Spirus have to spoil it,” said Savitri.

“Where are the plains of the sky,”
Oliver asked, “How come we can see through them?”

“They are not visible from here,”
Said Lumenfarge,” they are on a different … plain!”

Lumenfarge was right about the
storm lords. They had no trouble from them and didn’t even see a
single one. As they got lower they could see the landscape of the
castle, and then they saw a wonder; Lumenfarge’s approach made the
great,
finished
tower sparkle and gleam in all its glory, as
if it were welcoming long lost kin. They saw it’s whole marvellous,
intricate design, fully illuminated, as they dropped down through
it and entered the Hall of the Knights Fortressers.

“We are here,” Lumenfarge said, and
the doorway in his side appeared again. Goodwill led the way out
with Oliver and Savitri following and Botherworth bringing up the
rear. But Roland remained behind and after the others were gone
spoke to Lumenfarge, "Lumenfarge, there is more I wish you to do,
if you are willing…”

“I will help you gladly if I can,”
said the flame, “You have been good company to me, and have tried
to help me…”

“Good. I am most grateful to you
too. You have helped us immensely and the behaviour of your masters
is no fault of yours – no fault of yours at all. I do not want the
others to know about this as I don’t want their hopes dashed again
if it should fail. They are demoralised enough already. Listen now,
this is what I want you to do….”

At the head of only fifty sun
warriors Roland stepped out of Lumenfarge to rapturous applause
from all around him. The warriors did indeed look more than they
were when marching in a column. Roland was embarrassed by it. He
hadn’t achieved nearly what was expected of him. What he expected
of himself. He held up his hands to deflect the applause.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome back!”
said Goodwill profusely, rushing forwards and vigorously shaking
Roland’s hand.

“You came with us you twit!” Oliver
said, laughing.

“Yes, but it doesn’t hurt to offer
a hearty welcome back!”

“Welcome back indeed!” said Brother
Stalwart, taking Roland’s hand from Goodwill’s.

“They were all here waiting for
us,” explained Oliver, “Seems like they knew we were coming!”

“A Sun Sentinel is seen long before
its arrival,” said Brother Stalwart. “It’s one of those mysterious
things,” and he arched his eyebrows mysteriously. “It is possible
to know they are coming before they actually are! We knew it had to
be good news when we heard of it!”

“Not good, I am afraid,” said
Roland. “We bring only fifty sun warriors.”

“Only fifty! Stalwart said, aghast,
“They look more! I hoped this was just the first tranche…”

“There are words for their
lordships up in the sun that aren’t suitable for printing in a
kids’ book,” said Botherworth.

“At least you are back safe,” said
Stalwart.

“How long have we been gone? Roland
asked.

“Only two days — barely that,”
Stalwart said.

“It felt like weeks,” said
Oliver.

Roland then remembered what the
Ogleforth team captain had said about time not being the time you
think it is.

“Anyway,” said Stalwart, “You are
safely returned to earth, thank goodness. What next?”

“First we must rescue Firebrace,”
Roland said, “His rescue is now imperative as our chances of
winning a victory are smaller than we hoped. At the same time as we
are rescuing him we can scout the defences. Has Dagarth managed to
repair the latest damage yet?”

“No one has been out of the tower
since you left, but I doubt it. I don’t mean to be boastful but
without our skills…”

“Sounds right,” Roland said, “but
we will have a look. Can you bring us some food, Brother Stalwart,
then we will get to it…..”

Roland, Oliver and Savitri slipped
out of the base of the tower into darkness. They looked around but
could see no sign of guards. Roland looked up at the battlements.
There were no sentries on duty – none that he could see. It was
very mysterious. It seemed that they could wander about as they
pleased. Nevertheless Roland told the others, in a whisper, “Let’s
go careful and keep a watch out – and keep our voices down!”

The courtyard had become a lot more
cluttered since they last saw it. There wasn’t just uncle Dagarth’s
torture equipment and other bric-a-brac any more. For starters
There were now
five
scuttlers.