FORTY - Riordan

Thaddeus takes control of the situation.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you all right now,” Thaddeus said.

Well, this couldn’t possibly look any worse.  Riordan sighed and crossed to the bed.  “Stop!” Thaddeus said.  Riordan kept walking.  “Take another step and�"”

“What am I going to do?  I’m twice your age.  You could kill me before I sat down.  But if I’m about to die, I want to be comfortable.”

Thaddeus nodded, as if giving permission for Riordan to continue.  I don’t need your permission, you self-righteous bucket of ditchwater…  He sat down and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Which one of you is going to tell me what you’re all doing here?  This room is forbidden.”

“Well, I didn’t know it was forbidden,” Draven said.  “I haven’t been in the castle since Xanthus VII exiled me.  As far as I knew, it was still the King’s Chambers.”

“So what are you doing here?”

“We came here to speak to Xanthus.  We have important information about the future of Xantom,” Draven said.  “Everybody who lives in the city is in very serious danger.  But if you kill us, you’ll never hear it.”

He’s quick.  That, or he had that story planned in case they got caught.  Either way, it’s a very convincing lie.  He’s come a long way in the last eighteen years.

“How convenient.  What is it?  Tell me about this danger.”

Draven laughed aloud, which didn’t appear to make Thaddeus very happy.  “You don’t think I’m going to tell you, do you?  It’s important enough that I broke into the city to speak with the King.  I’m not saying anything until I’ve spoken with him.  I won’t settle for anyone else.”

“Unfortunately, the King isn’t in the castle right now.  Or even in the city.  But you already know that, don’t you?  Otherwise you wouldn’t still be in this room.  You’d have left as soon as you saw he wasn’t here.  Tell me the truth�"what are you actually doing here?”

“I’ve already told you.”

“You’re a liar.”  Well, Thaddeus is smarter than I’ve ever given him credit for.  If I were still a member of the King’s Guard I would be honored to be his brother.

“I resent that.”

“What were you doing over there?” Thaddeus gestured toward the secret chamber.  “What’s down there?”  That’s right… he wouldn’t know about that!  This room was closed and sealed as soon as Seven died.  Thaddeus wasn’t promoted until years later.  He’s probably never stepped foot inside this room.

“Looking for the King,” Draven said calmly.  “But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

“Lying again.  You’re the ones who caused the quake, aren’t you?  The whole castle shook.  And the sound I heard came from inside this room.”

“We heard that, too,” Ecclesia said.

“Quiet, Ecclesia!” Draven snapped.  “I’ve got this.”

Thaddeus’s eyes darted to Ecclesia.  “Got a soft spot for this one, do you?”

“She’s one of my people.  I respect all my people equally.  A quality all good leaders should have.”

“What are you implying?”

“Nothing.  It’s just a fact.  But Ecclesia was right�"we heard the noise, we felt the quake.  We had nothing to do with it.  Honestly, we thought the King might be in danger.  We were almost glad that we didn’t find him down there.  Except now we still haven’t warned him about the ensuing danger.”

“But you aren’t going to tell me about that.”

“No.”

“We’ll see about that.  And if you outlive your usefulness to me, I’ll just have to have you executed.”

“I don’t think the King will be happy about you killing us without letting him question us first.”

“I don’t think King Xanthus is going to have anything to say about what I do from now on.  I’m not confident he’s going to return from his journey into the Barelands.”

Oh… Vanderford was right.  Thaddeus is planning to take over for Xanthus.  He probably planned for something to “accidentally” happen to him on the Hunt… I was dead wrong about him.  He’s dangerous.

“Guards!” Thaddeus called.  His mouth twisted into a slimy grin as Zultan, Castiel, and a few of the city guards rushed forward and apprehended Wulfric, Draven, Ecclesia, and Hadrian.

Riordan didn’t move from the bed.  The last guard approached him confidently.  “Be gentle… I’m an old man,” Riordan said.  The guard raised his armored hand and slammed it into the side of Riordan’s face.  That hurt.

“Oops,” the guard said.  Another guard laughed loudly.  Things have changed a great deal since I left the Guard… We were never violent with our prisoners.  The world is a changed place… and not for the better.

The guards violently shoved Riordan and the others out of the room and down the hall.  They’re taking us to the dungeons, Riordan realized.  Before they were out of sight of the Passing of the Seventh, Riordan managed to turn around to get a look at what Thaddeus was doing.  He closed the doors and followed his guards down the hallway.

I can’t believe it�"Draven managed to say everything exactly the way it needed to be said to stop Thaddeus from going down the secret passage.  If he had let on even for a second that there was something down there, Thaddeus would have discovered the water, and we wouldn’t have any leverage at all.  Well played, Draven.  Thank you.

The group was shoved and manhandled down another flight of stairs towards the dungeons.

“I know where you’re taking me,” Riordan said.  “I used to be one of you.  I can find my way to the dungeons without you shoving me.”  The guard rammed the butt of his spear into Riordan’s lower back.  Okay, that was stupid.  “I don’t think Thaddeus is going to be too pleased if you kill me on the way to the dungeons,” he said, which led to another blow to his back.  I just can’t shut my mouth, can I?

“You’re wrong about that,” Thaddeus’s voice came from behind him.  “If you die, it just means the others will know I’m serious.”  Draven didn’t say another word for the remainder of the march.

Castiel took the keys off a hook on the wall beside the door that led into the dungeons.  He unlocked the door and everyone was funneled through into the dungeon.  Apart from the Passing of the Seventh, this is the only place in the entire city that uses locks, Riordan remembered.  Then, that’s an odd thing to be thinking about.

Each of them was put into a separate cell.  Large, flat, thick metal bars kept them from doing anything more than shaking hands with one another.  The worst part about the dungeons was the darkness.  It wasn’t as cold here as in other parts of the castle, but there wasn’t a single torch to be found.

“Take the girl first,” Thaddeus said.  Two of the guards took went to her cell and opened the door.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked.

“I swear, if you harm one hair on her head�"” Hadrian started.

“Now isn’t a good time to be making threats,” Thaddeus warned.  “You’re locked up in here, and the rest of us will be upstairs.  You won’t know what we’ve done to her unless I tell you what we’ve done to her.  If I were you, I’d shut up and let us go about our business, or I might decide to kill her right here in front of you.”

Hadrian remained silent.  I could not have been more wrong about Thaddeus.  He’s a monster.

“That’s what I thought.  Guards, bring her upstairs.”

And then they were gone.

“They’re going to question each one of us individually,” Draven said.  “Don’t panic.  As long as none of us says anything, they’ll have to keep us alive.  Nobody say a word about…” he stopped.  He’s listening to see if any of the guards are standing just outside the door.  “You know what,” he finished.

“At a certain point, he’s going to give up,” Riordan said.  “He’ll kill us one at a time until someone tells him the truth.  You’re a fool if you think otherwise.”

“He wont,” Draven said.

“He will.  He’s just testing our weaknesses.  Once he knows which of us is the most likely to give in, he’ll start killing the others in front of her.”

“You think Ecclesia is the weakest?” Hadrian asked.  “You’re dead wrong.  She’s stronger than any of us.  It’ll be me.  I know it.  I can’t�"I won’t live without her.”

“You have to stay strong,” Draven said.  “For all of us.”

“There’s no point trying to keep it a secret,” Riordan said.  “At a certain point he can just go back into the Passing of the Seventh and figure it out on his own.”

“You’d better not screw this up for us, old man,” Draven said.

“Why not?  I’m not a part of your team.  I don’t agree with a single thing you stand for!  I just got lumped into this for being in the wrong place at the wrong time!”

He heard Draven slam into the side of his cell.  The clanging metal echoed through the small dungeon.  “If you dare�"” he started, fuming.

“I won’t.  But not because of you,” Riordan spat.  “As much of a monster as I think you are, Thaddeus is worse.  I’m not going to give that man any advantage in his quest to take over control of the city.”

“Is that what’s happening here?” Hadrian asked.

“I’m not positive.  But it certainly seems that way.”

“I may have to rethink our strategy,” Draven said.  “If Thaddeus is going to be in control…”

From the other side of the room, Wulfric screamed.  “Stop it!  I can’t handle this anymore!”  He jumped around his cell, slamming his body into the bars and the stone wall.  “None of this matters!  Just shut up!  We need to be figuring out how to get out of here!”

“CALM DOWN, WULFRIC!” Draven boomed.  The sounds stopped.  “Thank you.  You aren’t going to do us any good if you wear yourself out.  You’re right.  We have to figure out a way out of here�"but figuring out our captor may be the best way to do that.  Riordan, what else can you tell us about Thaddeus?”

“I barely know the man.  That girl you found in the water earlier though, she told me he’s been having sex with the King’s wife.”

“How does she know that?”

“She walked in on it earlier today.  Just a random coincidence.  She didn’t even know what was happening.  But what she described…”

“So it’s true,” Draven said.  “Thaddeus wants Xanthus out of the way so he can rule the city.  We may very well be looking at the next king, Xanthus IX.”

“With all the problems the city is facing right now, I can’t believe he would be so stupid as to try to rule this mess.”

“Maybe his motivations are simpler than that.  Maybe he just wants the woman,” Hadrian said.

“So now Xantom has a worse King than the last one,” Draven said.

“I didn’t think it was possible,” Riordan said.

“I know you don’t agree with our methods, Riordan, but you have to admit… this city is getting worse every day.”

He sighed.  “I know it is.  I’ve been watching it happen for eighteen years… But there are people here worth saving, and now you’ve pretty much guaranteed that they’re going to go homeless.”

“Again, that was you,” Draven said.

I’m not going to argue with him on that.  Vanderford was the one to open the tunnel… but at least our intentions were good.  “Fine.  You win.  So what are we supposed to do now?”

“Let me think,” Draven said.

At that moment, the door to the dungeons burst open and Ecclesia flew through, slamming into the metal bars and collapsing onto the floor in a fit of tears.  She lay in a crumpled heap, sobbing.

“Ecclesia!” Hadrian yelled.  “What did they do to you?!”

“Hadrian!” Draven snapped.  “Quiet!”

“Put her back in her cell,” came Thaddeus’s voice as he stepped through the doorway into the dungeon.

The guards shoved Ecclesia back into her cell and locked it behind her.  She remained on the group, weeping.  What did they do to you?  And more importantly… what did you tell them?

“Who wants to be next?” Thaddeus asked.  “I’m thinking I definitely want to talk to the beastly looking man in the back, but we might have to save him for later.  Let’s go with someone a little more familiar… Riordan?”

“Then take me,” Riordan said with confidence.  “You don’t have to use your scare tactics, I know every trick you have.  If you don’t remember… I used to be on the King’s Guard.  Maybe that doesn’t mean anything anymore, but when I was your age, that came with some respect!”

“Bring him,” Thaddeus said.

“Go ahead!  Beat up on an old man,” Riordan called.  “There’s nothing cowardly about that.  I hope you can all manage to sleep after curfew.”  The cell door opened and three guards came in, grabbing Riordan tightly by the arms.  “You’re pretty tough when you have the rest of the guards around, aren’t you Thaddeus?  I bet if you sent them away this would be playing out quite a bit differently.”

“We’ll just have to find out upstairs,” Thaddeus said.

Just then, a guard ran panting into the dungeons.  He tripped over himself as he entered the room, sliding on the stone and nearly slamming into the bars of one of the cells.

“Th-Thaddeus!” he stammered.  “They’re back.”

“Who’s back?” Thaddeus barked.  “This had better be important.  We’re right in the middle of something.”

“The Hunt!  They’ve returned.”  The room went completely silent.  Thaddeus walked over to the young guard.

“Is Xanthus with them?” he whispered.

“I�"I don’t know.  I just saw that they were returning, and the people in the Outskirts starting chanting something and I didn’t�"I couldn’t make out what it was, but I think it had to do with Xanthus.  I didn’t stay to find out, you said to come to you as soon as they returned.”

Thaddeus stepped to the bars of Riordan’s cell.  “Guards.  With me.”  The guards let go of Riordan and left the cell, locking it behind them.  “You got lucky.”  Thaddeus spat on the ground at Riordan’s feet.

He spun and stormed out of the room, the rest of the guards following closely behind him.  The dungeon door slammed shut, temporarily postponing any sort of questioning or torture that Riordan was about to receive.

“Whatever happens now,” Draven said, “this can’t mean anything good for us.”