Post by Moon_Song on Jan 9, 2012 0:44:51 GMT -6
((OoC: I haven't finished it, but I thought I'd post at least what I have done so that it doesn't seem like I'm not doing anything. Again, forgive the time I'm taking. I will finish soon.))
The castle's lord seemed pleased. Jalen as well. The lord applauded the performance and offered them a room. She bowed and thanked him before being led away by a servant woman.
The woman that Nikita could only describe as tiny led them to room after room. Nikita pretended to be interested in each one, then politely decline. After a while, the woman leading them grew more visibly frustrated. She had been showing all of the best rooms, and not one was accepted. She probably thought the dancing girl odd, even more so anyway, that she would not take a room that she only dreamed of sleeping in.
In reality, Nikita was making a mental map of the layout of the castle. She was highly attentive now, and noticed much. Because of this, she noticed an abnormality in the wall in the hallway adjacent to the gilded double doors that likely led to a very important chamber. It was a passageway that led to who-knows-where. It was odd, but too obvious. She still wanted to see what was down there, but if it were her, she would not hide something so valuable in so obvious a place.
They went on room searching for a while. The woman was exasperated by the time they reached the last room available, but Nikita had also gained a good amount of knowledge of how the castle was set up. At first, it seemed like a labyrinth, but it had a pattern. She should have no trouble finding her way out should she need to.
Nikita chose the final room. It was modestly decorated, but still ornate. She smiled at the young woman. "Thank you." She slipped a gold piece into the woman's hand before she turned and explored the room further. "I will need nothing else for now." She said out loud, dismissing the woman. She head the slow march of footsteps that soon sped up.
The boys had told her to tell them if she needed anything, but she doubted any help was necessary. She was content in her room. The bed was a queen size, with dark blue satin sheets embroidered with a scene of a full moon harvest dance. The people danced, surrounded by wheat, a round orange moon above them. The pillows were of the same blue fabric, and edged in the same shades as the other covers.
There was a window that looked over the wall of the city here. Beyond there was a dark forest. It seemed inviting to her. She ignored the mahogany dresser and vanity table, the beautifully hand carved chairs, the small fire place, all of it, for the view.
A few days went by in this room. She was waited on, hand and foot, by the servants. She hated seeing the woman in such lowly positions as these, but she knew there was little she could do. At first, it seemed they all wanted handouts (word must have spread), but a long absence of any such charity silenced any suggestion of it.
Twice a day, at varying times of the day, she was called to the lord. She was offered clothing of such fabrics she had never seen before, and of designs she would have coveted had she been more inclined to want. The first few days, she declined all of the gifts, and only gave short performances. Gradually, though, she pretended to give in, accepting a few outfits here and there, dancing longer and more sensually. She hated the look in his eyes. Every time, she wanted to run him through, but she kept going. She knew she had to continue to pretend. How much longer?
Luckily, she did not have to wait long. In the very early morning, Jalen came to her door. She swung the door open (she knew it to be him by the foot steps) and demanded to know what was going on. The look on his face was word enough. It was finally time.
He told her everything, well, what she seemed to be everything. He told her the plan, what they were after, the dangers, everything. After all this time, all this effort, she still considered saying to hell with it, but that was unrealistic. Instead, she stood, straight, calm, and confident. "Lets get this over with."
~*~
She left the room at time when no one would be out and about. He sword was safely tucked under her skirts and her jewelry was safely tucked in a pouch on her side where they wouldn't make noise and give her away. She was in her usual outfit (it was not freshly clean thanks to the maids) and she was easily able to move silently through the castle.
Jalen had said he would guide the entrance to where ever the ring was, so she assumed he would be following her. Up until now, she had not exactly been confined to her room, so even if they were seen, it was unlikely to rouse much suspicion.
At first, it might seem she was wondering, but she had an idea of where the ring was, thanks to the king speaking too loudly one day while she was dancing.
((flashback ))
She had been dancing in one of her new outfits, a purple number that let her legs show through with each step and the top crossed over her chest. Some kind of high ranking messenger walked in, much to the displeasure of the king for he preferred these performances to be private.
She focused her sense of hearing in the direction of the king on the page while simultaneously dancing closer...closer. She could just make out a few words from the page. "Room....secure.....ring...." The lord nodded and spoke back in whispers, but he was too confident that the strum of the sitar would mask his words. "Move it...other chamber...gold..."
The golden door room? Oh this would be too easy.
Remembering that, she headed for the abnormal wall and the golden double doors. As she approached, she could hear movement in front of her. She slowed her pace and pressed against the wall. Peering around the corner, she saw a few heavily armed guards closing golden double doors behind someone-the lord?- and promptly take up guard positions.
Only two stayed outside, and it was highly likely that two more were on the inside. How would she get past these two? She took a deep breath. No magic yet. Instead she pulled the fabric off of one of her legs and stuck it around the corner. Her hand she also made visible to the guards. She accented her voice to sound more like a native and invited them over, beckoning them with voice and motion.
She heard on of them leave his post, to the protest of the other. Slowly retrieving her limbs she waited until he came around the corner. Once he was out of sight, she would move quick as lightening, coving his mouth and hitting the right pressure points to cause him to pass out cold. The dead weight was almost too much, but she managed to set him down quietly.
The other soon followed and met the same fate. If one of the boys was with her, she would have him carry the bodies away where they were unlikely to be noticed for long. If not, she would do so herself.
Now with the area clear, she made her way to the door and put her ear to the cold golden mass and closed her eyes. Two, maybe three on the other side. Knocking would get their attention, but she didn't think the same trick would work with no corner to hide behind.
She knocked hard and quickly pressed herself against the wall nearest the door. A moment later, a young guard peeked through an opening in the door. Not seeing her right away, he opened the door more and stuck his neck out, to the protests of an older man inside. It was too late though. She leapt forward, still out of sight of the other men, and knocked out the young man.
There was sounds of alarm came from the other side, but when they came to investigate, they too were knocked out. Nikita waited a moment, listening for any other sounds. There were none. She let out her breath and had these bodies pushed back inside. She closed the great golden doors behind her and scanned the room.
It was dimly lit; only a few scattered torches provided light enough to see that there were a few doors, each no doubt leading to either death, or the prize. She would have to choose carefully.
There was no sign of life here, so she took a careful step away from the door. One more step. One more...the tile below her foot depressed. She jumped back and pressed against the door. She only barely made it as part of the floor pulled away and huge iron spikes shot up with enough force to impale. She glared at the tile she had stepped on. There was almost nothing to tell it apart from the others, except for a slightly wider space between it and the tiles around it. She would have to be very careful of such traps. It was unlikely that it would be the only one.
The spikes did not recede and she doubted the would anytime soon. She could make out old blood stains on these spikes. It send a shiver down her spine. How many had accidentally stepped in the wrong place and met their end?
She pushed the thought aside. The spikes were too close together to squeeze through and too high to jump over. They just about caged her too the door. She looked around and noticed a rope that hung from a tapestry just out of reach. She searched her person for anything she could use to get at the rope. She had her sword, her jewelry, her detachable skirt…she looked around again. Perhaps if she used one of the spikes as leverage to reach the rope she might be able to climb up.
-
She nodded to herself and considered the physics of it. In a very ninja-esk way, she pushed off from a spike and jumped for the rope. She only barely made it. As soon as she had it though, she felt it slack a little. She had to move quickly. With the momentum she already had, she swung on the line. It only took a few tries until she was far enough over the spikes to try to jump. At the peak of her swing, she released the rope. Her flight was made more perilous by the fact that as she let go, the rope unwound and the whole huge tapestry fell, blocking the door.
Somehow she managed to land just beyond the farthest spike. A soft sight of relief left her as she looked back. That tapestry would be helpful, and a hinderance. It would keep other out for that much longer, but it would also take longer for her to escape.
Shrugging it off for now, she turned toward the rest of the room and looked around. The doors that stood indiscriminate around the room taunted her. Each door was exactly the same. The carvings that adorned them were identical. They even had the same...the rugs before each door were, in design, identical, but one, the farthest one, had a flipped corner. That was the door.
A devious smile lifted the corners of her lips. As she made her way over to the door though, she was far more careful.
-
Each step was calculated and planned out. When she did finally reach the door, she let out her breath. She hadn't realized she had been holding it in the whole time. She was too nervous. She needed to calm down.
She was wasting time. Any minute now, the knocked out guards could be spotted and her position and intentions given away. With no more time to waste, she reached out for the polished silver door knob.
To her relief, it didn't explode, burn her, or seem to set off any number of possible things...yet. She hoped sheer power of will would prevent any further boobie-traps, but she doubted she would be so lucks.
Tentatively she turned the knob, ears perked for any sound, but there was none. In fact, it was silent. Neither the turn of the know nor the opening of the door made even the tiniest creak. This was, after all, a rich mans castle.
The next room was far less ornate. In fact, it was little more than a hallway. The tiles on the floor were large-about three feet across-hexagonal pieces that were laid in a seemingly haphazard formation. Along the walls of the short yet narrow hallway were statues of young beautiful women in various poses of death and pain. At the end of the hallway was a single male statue. In his hands he held a crossbow, armed with a suspiciously real looking bow...in fact the bow looked more real than statue-esque.
This room was more brightly lit than the last, for a reason she was sure. She studied the near by pain-stricken maids around her. Their posses looked almost...purposeful. Nikita stepped forward to get a closer look at one, and the tile below her depressed.
A low, grinding rumbled sounded throughout the hall. Nikita jumped back immediately, remembering the last tile. This time though, spikes did not jolt from the ground, but the statue at the end of the hall moved. It faced Nikita directly, as if it had suddenly come alive. It's movement appeared too fast for stone to move, but nonetheless it was lightening quick. Perhaps an enchantment?
An arrow whizzed a hair past Nikita's face. She had just barely avoided it when she jumped back. Her heart pounded in her ears. She crouched down now, in an attempt to avoid any further shots.
From this lower position she reexamined the maiden she had just been looking at. her hands were covering her face and she seemed to be staggering backward. So that was what they were. Each one was a foreshadow of how one would die were they to step on the specific tiles. Oh joy.
The tiles were still haphazard and no obvious pattern was discernible even with the new revelation. Perhaps if she stayed low, she would be ok. With a steady hand, she pushed down on the tile next to her. It remained solid. Still moving slowly, she set her whole weight onto it. Nothing happened. She tried the tile to the left of her. It remained steady so she did the same.
She moved this way for about three tiles before she found another trap. This time, however, the armed statue lowered his crossbow and aimed straight for her heart. She rolled to the right, in turn setting off two more tiles, which brought more arrows flying towards her. By some stroke of luck she managed to avoid them.
She was still a few yards from the end of the hall at this point. It was obvious now that no matter where she was, she would be targeted. She was sure now that some sort of enchantment had been used on the statue.
She weighed the options she had. She could either make a mad dash for the end of the hall, chancing any number of arrows and other possible traps, all while saving the precious time she was wasting, or she could carefully find her way tile by tile.
Screw it. She would run. She stood, facing down her stoney opponent, and drew her sword. One breath and she sped toward the end of the hall. She felt numerous tiles dip under her weight and in turn arrows shot at dizzying speeds towards her. She tilted , side-stepped and pivoted to avoid them, and what she couldn't avoid she either blocked or cut down with her sword.
By some miracle she made it to the end of the hall with only a few scratches. One swipe of her blade cut the crossbow of the stone warrior in half, forever ceasing his barrage of arrows.
Sweat trickled down the side of her face, more from the stress than the exertion. She sheathed her blade and moved on, circling the statue to find a door.
-
She was beginning to wonder how much more there would be. These traps were quite elaborate, and by no means were they produced by a purely physical medium. She was also surprised that she had not yet run into anyone, or that no one had come after her. Surely some one has heard something.
She did not push the thoughts aside, but rather kept them in check, as she opened the simple oak door before her and peeked inside. This third room was very still. She felt that if she breathed she might upset dome ancient balance. It seemed as though no one had set foot in the room for years, but she knew better. She knew the king had come through this way. She felt it t her core.
There was no one in this small room, and there was but one door opposite the one she entered. There were no windows, no ventilation holes, nothing but the two doors, and a pedestal in the very center of the room, and upon that, a small golden box. It looked so inviting, and she wondered if it contained the ring.
Nikita did not rush over too it, though. Something seemed wrong. Granted the two previous traps were complex, but there were only two. She was certain that there was more, especially if they were guarding something so precious.
She was suddenly very wary of the box. It was likely a decoy. Going on this assumption, she avoided the box all together, and went straight for the other door. Unfortunately, when she went to turn it's silver handle, it would not budge. It was locked, and far too heavy a door to break down. Besides, she did not know if anyone was on the other side.
She walked back to the box, to see if there was any other clues. She noticed now that the box's lock was open. There was nothing else to do, so she placed her hand upon the lid and slowly lifted it.
She was met with a furious hiss. She jumped back and the box slapped shut. There was some kind of serpent inside the box. A decoy, just as she predicted. A fool would have opened it right away and been bitten.
She had to be sure, though that there was nothing else inside. She silently crept to the back side of the box and flicked it open, being sure to jump back right away. Another angry hiss and a black mamba rose steadily from inside. It turned and eyed her viciously, hissing and trying a nip in her direction. Nikita circled to the front of the box, always keeping eye contact with the serpent as it kept eye contact with her.
She was fond of snakes, and did not wish to kill the beast, but a quick glance at the contents of the box revealed a shining silver key. She did not think the snake would move away, and she was as good as dead if she reached for it. She would have to control it then.
She drew a breath, and concentrated on her voice. "Please, dear snake, allow me to have the key, and I will not harm you, or move you. I only ask for the key." She spoke softly to the snake, using her gift to sooth it. After a bit, it seemed to work as he snake lost some of the fire in it's eyes and it began to drift downward.
_
Nikita took a few slow, measured steps towards it. When it did not react, she reached into the box with lightly fast reflexes and took hold of the key. The snake did not so much as flinch. She nodded, satisfied, and returned to the door which readily accepted the key.
On the other, the room was pitch black. She took a hesitant step forward, and the door slammed behind her with a loud bang. Instinctively she took a fighting stance, her sword held out in front of her. After the echo of the door and unsheathing of her blade died away, the silence in the room filled her ears. Her heart beat seemed to be louder than a tribal drum in her ears.
She was beginning to feel nervous about this place.
(WIP)