CORE

Chapter III - The Dungeon

The castle rose from the forest floor to the now exposed blue sky above in an imposing manner. He had heard of the Barrabas Castle a long time ago, back when it was a proper castle and not some bandit stronghold. 

Castles had always intrigued Acel from when he was but a boy, and this castle was no exception. He learned in his youth of its noble beginnings, where it protected the country from an enemy now long gone. As well as a refuge for those lost in the twisting forest of pale green leaves. He too learned of its mysterious downfall, where it was abruptly abandoned for unknown reasons. In time rumours spread of the forest being home to Sixth worshippers and other unholy forces. The sheer history in this one place astounded him.

Which made Acel all the angrier to see what it had become with his own eyes.

Sourno was still staring at the old castle, chest puffed, and with the same look in his eyes as a child looking at their hero. Acel, right behind Sourno, fought back the urge to kick him and snap that look off his face.

Sourno turned around and said, "Well, we can't marvel all day, let's get moving!" The bandits pushed, the bound stumbled and the line was moving.

As the line got closer and closer to the wooden gate of the outer walls one of the bandit guards spotted them and yelled "Oi! Sourno! Is that you?"

Acel looked behind him and saw one of the bandits, the one guarding  The Driver, broke formation and ran to the front of the line beside Sourno and yelled in response

"Aye! It's us, and we got quite the haul!"

The Driver, realizing that his guard just left, quickly sprinted into the forest to his left. The bandit who just left turned around, saw him running, and immediately began to sprint after him. A bandit guarding the gate saw it and pulled out a horn at his belt and blew it.

The horn made a loud low pitched sound like a man yelling from the depths of his throat. Acel's ears were ringing and he could feel vibrations in the ground. The bandit who had his sword at Acel's neck released it and Acel could finally breathe properly.

Some 30 bandits, weapons in hand and fearsome expressions on their faces, rushed out of the wooden gate and ran towards whatever they perceived as the threat.

The bound passengers attempted to make use of the panic and tried to escape but their guards managed to get a hold of them before any could get any far. Sourno got the attention of the 30 bandits with a yell and told them "A prisoner has escaped into the forest!" Sourno pointed to the left "Make sure he doesn't escape the forest, do whatever you must to make it happen."

The bandits turned towards where Sourno pointed and ran full speed into the darkness of the forest. Sourno sighed and turned towards the bandits holding Acel and the passengers. "You guys bring them in and put them into the cells" he then pointed at Acel, "Don't forget he goes in priority with that foreign guy". The bandits prodded Acel and the other passengers into continuing forward towards the gate.

Acel passed through the gate to find himself inside Barrabas proper, it's deterioration more noticeable than ever with rotten walkways and crumbling stone walls. Men were coming out of the woodwork at the sound the horn, some dazed and confused, others battle ready. However, Acel did not get to see much else as he was whisked away toward a door at the base of the keep at the side near the outer wall.

When the door opened a foul stench filled Acel's nose, the smell of urine and feces both animal and human. Acel could tell that neither were in good condition. A torch-lit staircase awaited them heading beneath the central keep. Acel began to be escorted down the stairs followed by the rest of the passengers. After several minutes and tens of meters below ground, the stairs ended and they came into a room with several other bandits leaning on the walls. 

The room was just tall enough for Acel to stand in. It had a room on one side of this main large area and a corridor which split into a "T" on the opposite side. It was cold and hard to breathe in the cramped room with few holes to the surface.

The room was pretty bare with the exception of a large cage in the middle of the room that went from the floor to the roof. The cage had what appeared to be dry blood everywhere on the bottom of it. The door to the side room was slightly open and Acel could see what appeared to be a storage room but before he could get a good look at it he was pushed forward by one of the bandits onto the ground. The bandit escorting him cut his bindings then began to strip Acel of his jerkin, shirt, shoes, and the chain-mail he always kept under his clothes at all times leaving him with only his pants on. Acel did not resist as the bandits that were leaning against the walls moved to block the exit and would cut him down in an instant if he even made it that far.

Acel watched as one of the bandits standing to the side picked up his possessions like they were worth nothing and brought them into the room that Acel now knew was a storage room. The bandit guarding Acel did not leave him much time to think as he was dragged him through the corridor on the other side and took a left. The corridor was pitch black without any torches, he could hear the jingle of keys as he assumed his guard took some off the wall.

After walking some distance in pitch blad, the man dragging Acel stopped in front of what appeared to be a rusty iron bar door. While keeping a hold on Acel he fumbled with his keys for a time before finding the one he needed and opened the iron door throwing Acel inside before locking it back up right behind him. Acel stumbled on a jutting cobblestone on the dungeon floor into the cell. He looked up and saw that the cell was surprisingly large and noticed there was more air here.

"I suppose this is a priority cell after all"  thought Acel as he inspected the rest of the space he had been thrown into.

There was sunlight coming down through a grate in the middle of the ceiling which illuminated most of the cell. The walls were made of stone but unlike the outer walls, this stone appeared completely intact.

Acel looked at the back of the cell furthest from the jail door, he could see two benches on opposing walls one of which had a man sitting on it. He looked around 25 years old, he had wavy dark brown hair slicked back, a small goatee, and caramel coloured skin that Acel had never seen before in his life. He too was stiped off all but his pants. 

The man was slumped over on the bench, his arms folded, and his eyes staring at Acel with an intensity that caused a chill to run down his spine.