Robin Many Feathers

Chapter 8

Dick followed Wally's lead as they ran down the hallway into the castle. Dick had not spent as much time with Wally as he had with Roy, but he had seemed a good man and one that Garth trusted. If a bit hyper. The passage they were following soon began to twist and turn leading them down as the rock of the walls became coarser. The doors changed from finely crafted to roughly hewn, bound with iron and having hasps and locks. Wally did not slow down until they had gone down several more floors and even the rough doors were far behind them. He stopped at what appeared to a dead end to the long and winding passage they had just taken. Dick was confused.

"My Lord? Is this where you expected to find Garth?" Dick turned back towards the unfinished doors they had passed. "I thought maybe those dungeon doors we had passed was our goal, but…"

Wally was looking at Dick with a determined gaze and a set to his mouth that meant business. "Who are you? And what allows you the temerity to speak of my king in such familiar terms? You seem familiar, but I am unwilling to endanger Garth by bringing a stranger with me with unknown loyalties. For all I know, you are one of the Laughing King's men and will stick a dagger in my back. You were with the Lord Marshall of Haly which buys you some trust, but I must know who you are and what you represent before we go any further." Wally looked at Dick expectantly.

The heat from Dick's blush felt hot enough to melt the stone walls. He felt like an idiot. "My apologies my Lord, I should have introduced myself earlier. My name is Richard John Grayson, I come from the Kingdom of Haly. I'm a member of the ruling family and it is truly in Haly's best interests to find Garth and help Atlantan…" Dick's introduction stumbled to a stop at the incredulous look on Wally's face and when he began to sink down on one knee.

Wally couldn't believe it. The Heir to the Haly Throne, here? "My apologies, your Highness. You have been missing for so long and no one was sure of your whereabouts. Please…."

Dick hastily pulled Wally to his feet. "Really, that's not necessary and we don't have time for it right now. We've got to find Garth and get the upper hand on the Laughing King. We can do the entire bowing and scraping and apologizing later, okay? I really, really want an alliance with Atlantan, but I'd prefer it with Garth, not some white-faced maniac. So we need to find him. Will this lead us there?" Dick began looking at the solid wall of rock before them, hoping for a clue to get past it.

Wally shook his head. Royalty was so weird, at least the members that he kept running into. He'd take this man's and Garth's weirdness over the Laughing King's however. Wally stepped up to the black haired youth who looked ready to start scaling the rock out of sheer frustration. Pulling out a small conch shell with a sea-green gem embedded into its tip, he placed it into what appeared to be a natural crevice in the rock face. The rock began to slowly open. "This is one of several entrances to the caves below, although the others are not as secure as this one. It would be very easy to get lost in the caves and this entrance takes out some of the turns to the area we're headed for." Wally looked a bit pensive as he picked up a lantern just past the door and lit it before heading deeper into the opening. "If my hunch is correct, Garth is being held in the 'footholds'." A grim look settled on Wally's features. "And that we have a traitor to Alantan."

Dick threw a startled look at Wally, but quickly followed him into the tunnel system as the rock door slowly closed behind them.

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The Master of the Hunt brought Lord Wayne and Donna to an intersection in the west wing of the castle. They had passed many men wearing the colors of the Laughing King. Some they had subdued, others they had to let pass by or risk being overwhelmed by their sheer numbers.

There were many more thugs in the Laughing King's colors than had been in the original entourage. Roy looked at his two companions. "We've passed two, three score men in the wrong tabards. Where the hell are they all coming from? I know the Laughing King brought people with him, every member of royalty does that, but this is beyond the bounds even for royalty!"

Lord Wayne looked disturbed. "It far exceeds the bounds of accepted hospitality in any country. It would seem that someone is collaborating with that maniac in the ballroom."

Donna glanced back and forth between the two men before adding in her observation. "Did either of you notice the lack of guards once we left the ballroom? They were present there and fought against the Laughing King's men, but we haven't passed any since we've started moving through the castle."

Roy shot a troubled look at Donna. "Yeah, I'd noticed. I'm just hoping that Atlantan's general has already given the orders and dispersed them to where they will be of the most use. If they had remained in these hallways, they would have been slaughtered." Roy cast a quick glance at Lord Wayne. "Speaking of, we need some sort of plan to get through the next intersection. It's the last one before the rooms designated for the military. Unfortunately, it is also a very wide open intersection where guards are usually posted. The guards may not be on our side now." Roy looked to his two companions hoping they might have a plan.

The Lord Marshall could think of several ways to get through if it was only one person. Three was going to be a bit trickier… Lord Wayne looked to Donna. "Can you scream?"

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The steady light of the lantern cast a pale beam across the stone floor that Wally and Dick were walking on. Dick could have used the Mask of Twilight, but preferred the golden light. The last time that he had used the mask in such darkness still held too many memories. Dick looked at his traveling companion who was watching their surroundings with a practiced eye. "How far down are these 'footholds?" His curiosity was getting the better of him and he didn't like going into any situation unprepared if he could help it.

Wally spared a quick glance for the young man pacing beside him. He hoped that the heir to the Haly throne was up for the task before them. Getting Garth out wouldn't be easy, especially if he had been there for any length of time. Wally had taken an instant liking to the prince and hoped his instincts ran true. "The 'footholds' are at the very edge of the cavern system on the side of the castle facing the sea. When the moontide comes in, the cavern that has the footholds is completely submerged. They were used long ago to hold dangerous prisoners or to torture information out of people." Wally's face was grim. "I wanted to seal the cavern off when King Garth ascended the throne, putting that piece of our sordid national history behind us. Garth wouldn't let me, stating that they were a reminder of what we had risen above and hopefully what we would never descend to again. Most of the palace knows about them and if there is a traitor helping the Laughing King, then I'm fairly certain that is where they would take him." Wally looked again at his companion. "The footholds are difficult to get to and get out of. They're cells with no doors but anyone put into them is…." Wally's monologue ceased abruptly when the sound of voices reached the two men.

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The men standing guard in the intersection of hallways looked up when they heard the piercing scream. Their wary alertness segued into leers and laughter when a woman, her dress of deep blue torn and showing too much leg and only held over her chest by her own hands, stumbled into their midst. Right behind her came two men wearing the tabards of the Laughing King.

"Ere now, that's our bit. Get yer 'ands off 'er!" The smaller one with redish hair demanded when he saw the girl held by one of the guards.

A leer and coarse laughter met his demands as the guard tightened his hold on the struggling woman. "C'mon now, don't you want to share? I'm sure there's enough of her for all of us." The man let go of the brunette's arm and started to fondle her breast.

Getting into the face of the guard, green eyes sparked in anger. "No. I don't share." A fist on the end of an arm used to pulling a hundred and fifty pound bow smashed into the man's face, sending him sailing backwards while the woman he had been holding booted the guard standing next to him into oblivion. The other man had already used his tabard to blind and disable two of the other guards. The trio made quick work of the remaining four guards, before heading down the hallway to their destination. Donna left behind the blue curtain that she had used to simulate a torn dress, despite Roy's pleas to bring it along for later. She didn't mind fun and games, but now was not the time.

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Wally shielded the lantern. He did not want to give away their position and hoped whoever was behind the voices were either friendly or too distracted to have noticed the light or conversation.

Slowly, the two young men crept up to the bend in the cavern. Cautiously looking around the edge, they saw a natural cavern in which a score or more of the Laughing King's men were camped out. On the far side of the cavern, several tunnels continued on. Wally put a hand on Dick's arm to pull him back from the bend. "We've got to get to the other side of that cavern." Talking quietly, hoping the cavern wouldn't send their voices any further with the cavern's acoustics, Wally tried to convey his urgency to the young prince. "That's the path to the footholds. It goes through several more caverns, but this is the only one with multiple tunnels coming off of it. Some intersect, some don't. If you look low on the left-hand wall, there is a sea-green vein of quartz. This vein runs all the way to the footholds. If we get separated, just follow it and I'll be able to meet back up with you. Alright?"

Dick nodded his assent, glad to have a marker that he could follow. The garb of Undermountain could help him find trails and caverns, but not any particular one. And 'that way' never seemed to work at all. Dick looked to his red-haired companion. He wondered briefly if Wally and Roy were related or if it was just coincidence that they were both red-heads. Shaking himself mentally, Dick pulled his mind back to the task at hand. "How do you want to get across the cavern?"

"I'm hoping we can skirt around the edges and slip by in the shadows." Wally rubbed his chin briefly. "They had several lanterns and a few torches. The smoke should help us as well as the flickering shadows. There's a weapons cache about a hundred yards up the tunnel that we can use on our return trip. Once past here, hopefully it will be smooth sailing. The Laughing King would have no reason to post further guards with such a large contingent here."

Dick agreed with Wally's plan, if not his estimation of the Laughing King. He would remain on guard until Garth was safely back on his throne.

Easing around the bend, both men moved silently and carefully along the edges of the large cavern. While the center of the cavern had grown smooth with the tread of countless feet, the edges were still uneven and covered in sharp rocks and stalagmites. The two youths had to move slowly and carefully so they could pass undetected. Cold shivers went down the spines of both men as they listened to the coarse laughter and conversation of the men in the cavern. If they had their way, Atlantan would be raped and gutted in six months, both the land and the people.

Wally's anger was beginning to mount with the abusive and derogatory comments being heaped on his country. He gritted his teeth and kept moving, knowing that finding and rescuing Garth was of the utmost importance. Not to mention keeping the Haly heir safe. The Batman would have his kidneys for dinner if he didn't… Wally's temper flashed and flared when he heard the thugs comparing the 'assets of the Atlantan female nobility. He was across the floor and beating a man before he realized it when his fiancée, the Lady Linda Parker was brought into the conversation and what these thugs would do to her.

Dick had no idea how Wally had crossed the cavern so fast, only that it was in the wrong direction and weren't they suppose to take these guys out after they got Garth back? Willing to roll with the change in plans, Dick flipped himself over the rock he had been starting to move around and kicked one of the thugs in the stomach, knocking the wind out him and taking him out of commission. Dick grabbed two of the discarded cloaks and used them to blind his opponents to his attack. As they began tearing at the cloth on top of them, Dick moved in and with a several quick hits, sent them to the land of the unconscious.

He looked around for his next opponent. Half a dozen were looking back at him.

Wally looked up from beating the man who had threatened his fiancée. What he saw was the prince of Haly standing over the unconscious forms of almost a dozen men. Four more of the Laughing King's thugs were trying vainly to hit the young man as he tumbled and wove his path of destruction. His eyes were bright with a light of exertion and a strange half grin played upon his lips.

Wally could see the pleasure Dick received from moving so effortlessly among his foes, exacting a measure of revenge for all that he had suffered. But Wally could also see that the ease with which violence came to him disturbed Dick on some level.

But not for long. Dick was once again using what the guards had set down to take make their camp, using their own packs as clubs to knock them unconscious as he leapt cleanly over their heads. As the four men were falling to the Young Prince's attacks, another dozen were moving in on the handsome heir.

Wally realized that his temper may have cost them everything. He had carelessly dropped his rapier in his incredible dash across the cavern so there was no way for him to help Prince Richard. Unless…

Wally checked his surroundings before grabbing a lantern and cloak, heading for one of the tunnel mouths.

"Keep them busy Dick! I've got the King and we'll be back with reinforcements! You'll be knighted for this!" Wally moved off into the gloom of the tunnel, hoping, praying…

"He's got the King. Get him or the Laughing King will have our kidneys!" The men who had been about to attack Dick changed course and headed into the tunnel after Wally. They could see him just ahead with a lantern held low on one side and an indistinct figure on the other going around a bend in the tunnel. The men pelted after Wally.

Dick knocked a thug out with a tent stake to the back of the head. Dick shook his head. Why would they have tent stakes in a cavern? Crouching down, waiting for his next assailant, Dick found himself to be the only one standing amidst the pile of bodies. He had heard Wally's words and realized that he had lured them off so Dick could go and find Garth. Wincing a bit as he reached for a water sack, Dick acknowledged that several of the blows that he had taken hurt like hell. Aches and pain were going to be his close companions for awhile.

As Dick looked around to get his bearings and find the tunnel that would lead to Garth, he noticed a green glitter. Close to the mouth of the tunnel he needed, sitting on a broken topped stalagmite, was a small green gem. Dick picked it up and looked at it for a moment, curious as to why a precious stone would be in such an odd place and wondering how the Laughing King's men had overlooked it in their greed. Shrugging, Dick pocketed the gem and using the Mask of Twilight, headed down the tunnel to find the man who had taken over his dreams and fantasies.

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The cup fell to the ground with a hollow clang.

"Poison."

Lord Marshall Wayne and his companions had finally made it to the chambers of Atlantan's general after playing cat and mouse with several groups of the Laughing King's men.

They had made it only to find the man dead - a rictus grin disfiguring his face. Obviously the handiwork of the laughing maniac who had taken over the castle. And without this man, they had no way of knowing where the army was, much less commanding it. Roy might be able to persuade the leaders of the army into following Batman, but only after long arguments and too many compromises.

But even that would be impossible if they didn't know where to find it.

An army was needed or the country of Atlantan would become a subjugated land and its people little more than slaves. The three traveled deeper into the officers' quarters only to find similar fates for the entire command staff of the Atlantan army.

"Roy, where are the barracks?" Roy had been shocked to see so many officers sprawled on the floor in death.

He had hoped to turn this entire situation over to the general, so that he could gather his huntsmen and go after the goons that had already invaded his home. Defending the country was a distant threat to the men already in the castle. Roy liked his targets where he could see them. He was startled out of his reverie by Lord Wayne's hand on his shoulder.

"Roy, the barracks?"

"Uhm, near the fields where we had the competitions. It's normally a practice field and our parade ground, but was modified for the events of the last few days." His mind began wandering again. Roy couldn't believe it. There was still one more day of the competitions. Whether it ever happened or not was now a question for the fates.

Roy was sliding deeper into the shock of finding the command staff dead and Donna was becoming more worried more about him than the situation surrounding them.

"Alright." Lord Wayne looked at the warriors "We've got to find out if there are any fighting men still in Atlantan. Roy, find your huntsmen and bring them to the competition fields. Donna, if you can find any of the palace guard or their officers, bring them as well."

Donna looked at the Lord Marshall, not happy about the separation from Roy, but she understood that they needed to gather all the men who could possibly help defend Atlantan from an invading army. Donna turned to Roy and kissed him fiercely. "Don't you dare get dead on me." She turned and left the room, heading for the posts of the palace guard.

Roy shook his head to clear it as he watched the woman who had stolen his heart head out into dangerous territory, confidant and strong in her ability to carry out her goals. He shook his head again. Life was never going to be dull.

Not that it had been dull before. As the wheels in Roy's mind began turning again, he faced the other man in the room. Lord Wayne was studying a map of the castle and city of Atlantan. The city wall would have held again most attackers. But with the Laughing King holding the castle and all of its weapons and supplies, it could mean a death trap for the city defenders. But to keep the city open would allow the invading army an easy conquest with untold civilian casualties.

Fortunately, the Laughing King's army was still many days out. There was a chance that they could win the castle back and the army would become a moot point. The Laughing King, the mercenary army's source of payment, would no longer be able to pay or promise anything. And a raving psychotic engenders very little loyalty.

Roy walked up to the older man, knowing how he must be torn between fighting for a kingdom that was not his own and worrying about the young prince he had just found. A prince whose safety depended on the Lord Marshall successfully defeating an army of unknown strength with little to no troops. Roy intended to even the odds as best he could.

"I'll meet you at the fields in half an hour. Good luck." Roy took one last look at the tall, dark man before heading out to find his own band of merry men.

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