Remmaline couldn’t hear much as she walked slowly through the dimly-lit hallways, following the silent figure of Fred. Mitch was beside her, a sullen expression on his long face. She thought she could hear a bustle of activity in the distance, and she figured those were the sounds of 10,000 men preparing for battle. But the sounds seemed far away. And as they slowly plodded down the grim corridors of Dor-ko’s castle, all signs of life seemed to become , more and more distant. The only sound was a strange jingling from Fred’s pocket. She was thankful for the odd sound, which helped make the oppresive quietude more bearable.
At length they came to a spiral staircase. Fred’s voice pierced the darkness. “Uh, we’ve got a few steps to climb now. Try and be careful, because there isn’t any railing, and it’s a long way up. If you fall, you’ll land on some rocks that will probably split your body into a million pieces. And even though I work for Dor-ko, I really wouldn’t want that. So like I said, be careful.”
Remma appreciated the warning and started up the stairs. This was just another miserable obstacle to overcome on a journey that had already had many grim moments. She wasn’t terribly afraid of heights anyway. However, as she tried to scoot up the stairs, she felt something tug at her cloak. She nearly slipped and fell as she turned around and declared, “Hey! Knock it off!”
When she regained her footing, she saw Mitch behind her. His eyes were closed, and tears seemed to be rolling down his cheeks. In a hoarse whisper he muttered, “I’m terrified of heights. Please let me hold on to you.”
Remma couldn’t help but feel sorry for Mitch. He seemed to be shaken by the meeting with Slumbutter. Of course, she didn’t feel too sorry for him, since he was the reason they were in this mess to begin with. But Remmaline had a big heart, and there was even room in it for a trembling kidnapper. So she replied, “All right, but don’t pull me down! All right?” She saw Mitch nod, and they continued. She knew very well that there was nothing she could do if Mitch pulled her down, but she tried to put up a strong front.
Up and up they went. The staircase seemed interminable. Remma could hear Mitch behind her, breathing heavily. She wasn’t too winded. She’d spent enough time racing the boys that her lungs were pretty strong. But Mitch--well, his activity was pretty much limited to walking around telling other people what to do. Physical activity wasn’t really his thing. After a couple of minutes of climbing, Remma heard Mitch’s voice behind her plead, “Could we just stop and rest, please?”
Fred replied as he continued to move. “No, sir, I think we’d better keep moving. You see, if we stop, your legs will cramp up. The air in here is so bad that you won’t be able to catch your breath anyway. So you’ll just end up spending the night on the steps. As you fall asleep, you will undoubtedly lose your balance and tumble over the edge. Then...well, then you won’t wake up again. So I would suggest that we keep moving if you want to stand any chance of getting off this stairway alive.” Mitch didn’t object, and the group continued the ascent.
Stairs have a way of turning minutes into hours. Remma’s legs and lungs were burning after what must have been five minutes of constant climbing. But finally they reached a landing and turned off to the right, heading down another hallway with high stone arches. A few torches were positioned on the walls, but they were so dim that Remma couldn’t even see her feet. After going another 20 paces or so, Fred stopped. To the right was a large door that Fred pushed open. The hinges creaked as they entered a new, sparsely furnished room. “Welcome to Chamber Alpha,” said Fred.
The room was filled with light, courtesy of a large window at one end of the room. Remma rushed over to it. She didn’t run because she wanted to see the view; she just went because she needed light. She closed her eyes and soaked in the light as a pilgrim in the desert would gulp down water from an oasis. She found the light strangely comforting.
Mitch, however, didn’t move. He just went over to a bench and sat down. “I can’t believe this!” he declared indignantly. “Is this the thanks I get for delivering the king’s daughter?”
“Actually, no,” replied Fred. “This is the thanks you get.” Then he grabbed some leg-irons that were attached to the wall near the bench and fastened Mitch’s right leg to them.
“What is going on?” Mitch bellowed. “Slumbutter promised that he would elevate me to one of the highest positions in the kingdom!”
Fred replied quietly. “You see, Slumbutter always promises great things, but he never really delivers on his promises. Well, I take that back...he does deliver. But not in a way that is satisfying. He always leaves you feeling empty.”
Fred walk toward the window, then stopped and stared. After a brief pause, he continued. “If you could look out this window, you’d see that you now occupy the highest room in the kingdom. You can see everything from here. But it doesn’t matter, because you are a prisoner. Don’t you see? He fulfilled his promise to put you in the highest position. But it’s not what you expected. You surrendered everything, and you gave him everything you had. He has taken it...and returned nothing.”
Fred walked back toward the bench where Mitch sat, speechless. Fred pulled a bag out of his pocket. “Here is a bag of gold coins. I know that Slumbutter promised you great riches if you would but serve him. Well, he has once again kept his word. There is more gold in this bag than I have ever owned in my entire life. But what does it profit you?”
Fred walked back toward the door. He turned and spoke once again. “Look, I know the feeling. I used to just be a simple farmer in these lands before Slumbutter and Dor-ko arrived. Then one day I came home from the fields, and one of Dor-ko’s minions was sitting in my small little house. My family was gone. The slimy, wretched little wisp of a man said to me, ‘Look, Fred...you’ve got two choices. You can stay here and never see you family again. Or you can come serve His Majesty Lord Slumbutter. If you want to serve, follow me back to the castle. I’m leaving now.’ Then the pathetic little figure walked out of my house and got on his horse.
“I had no choice. I quickly mounted my own horse and followed him without a word. At one point, I drew close to him on horseback and prepared to beat him to a pulp. But as I drew my fist back, he said in his calm little evil voice, ‘If you harm me in the slightest, the guards have orders to inflict the same pain on your family. I’d suggest you keep your anger in check.’
“So I’ve kept my anger in check ever since. That was almost four years ago. And I’ve still not seen my wife and my children.
“I wish I could have told you this before you did this foolish thing, Mitch. But I fear it is too late.”
Remma had been sitting by the window this entire time, listening in rapt silence. As she stared at Fred, the guard slowly walked toward her. He put his arms around her and gave her a gentle hug. Then he said, “Remmaline, I’m awfully sorry about this. You see, I’ve got a little girl that’s hidden away somewhere in this awful place, and she looks a lot like you...well, at least she used to. I don’t really know what she looks like now. Her name...her name...” Fred choked as he tried to speak. “Her name is Calinda. So I’m not going to lock you up, like I did Mitch. You didn’t do anything to deserve this. I...I hope you will forgive me...”
Remma looked up at Fred, and she saw him staring right back at her. Tears were springing forth from his small, dark eyes and were bubbling over his pudgy cheeks. Without another word, he slowly turned and left the room. Remma then heard the sounds of a key turning and a door locking. Instinctively, she ran over to the door and tried to open it. As she expected, it wouldn’t budge.
Remmaline was a prisoner.
All at once, the brave facade that she’d been putting up came crashing down. She once again felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness and separation from her father. She once again felt a wave of hopelessness wash over her. But she wasn’t only thinking about herself. She was now thinking of poor Fred, who was just living his own simple life when Slumbutter came in and ruined it. That poor man--who would have thought that such a nice, humble man could be working in the midst of such evil?
Then Remma starting thinking of Fred’s daughter Calinda, who was probably crying in some remote corner of this dreadful castle. She, like Remma, was probably wondering if she’d ever see her father again. Only for her, it was worse. Remma knew her father would at least try to find her; poor Calinda didn’t even know if her father was alive. Remma didn’t even know her, but she figured they’d probably be good friends if they ever met.
Then Remma turned and looked at Mitch. She wanted to hate him for what he’d done. They were both locked up in a putrid, despicable fortress of evil, and it was all his fault. She wanted nothing more than to walk up to him and kick him in the shins. But then, as she pondered how she might conduct such a sneak attack on her captor, her big heart grew some more. She now realized that she just couldn’t hate this pitiable man. He had been deceived by Slumbutter’s lies, and now all that he had was lost. All he could do was stare at his useless bag of money that still lay on the floor. Remmaline realized something that her father had taught her years ago--she must never delight in the misfortune of others. It is better to see a bad soul become good than to see a bad soul be judged. Judgment can be satisfying, and certainly Mitch deserved every miserable moment that he’d experienced. But it was no cause for joy or celebration.
As Remmaline felt the weight of her own sorrow, and as she felt the burdens of Fred, of Calinda, and of even Mitch, her tears began to flow like a springtime river. She paced around the room, trying in vain to flee from the despair that surrounded her. But she was powerless to do anything.
And that brings us back to the point where we saw Remma earlier, before we began this extensive review of the events that led her to Dor-ko’s castle.
************************************************
As Remma continued to pace around the room, she glanced out the window and paused. For the first time, she actually saw some movement off in the distance. It seemed to be two riders on horseback, and they were moving rapidly. She stopped her pacing and stared intently. She didn’t know why she was so intrigued by these two horses, but she just couldn’t yank her eyes away. She felt like a camper, unable to turn her eyes from a crackling fire.
As they drew closer, she could see that one of the figures was enormously fat. Her heart went out to the poor horse that was forced to carry him. She didn’t know how he was able to move so fast, but she figured the horse probably was in a hurry to get him off his back. Remma was also struck by the smallness of the man’s head. She closed one eye, extended her arm, and lined up the rider in her sights. “His head is smaller than the width of my fingernail!” she exclaimed to herself. She grabbed an imaginary needle from her cloak and pretended to pop his head.
Then she got a better glimpse of the second horse and rider. This man looked like a real warrior--strong and muscular. His face looked stern, but not unpleasant. Then she noticed that there was a rider behind him. It wasn’t big enough to be a man. Oddly enough, the rider had a hood on his head. He must be a prisoner! And there was something strangely familiar about this boy. He wasn’t exactly trying to get free, but he just couldn’t sit still. He shifted and moved and twisted and turned and did everything he could to agitate the poor horse.
Then Remmaline realized something. There was only one boy she knew of that could be so active while actually doing nothing. That boy must be Andres!
Normally, a sister would feel a sense of despair at the sight of a sibling being taken to jail. But Remmaline felt a strange sense of encouragement. Her brother was here! And if she knew her brother at all, she knew that he wouldn’t be a prisoner for long. He hated being alone, and he knew how to make things miserable for his captors. A smile slowly returned to Remma’s face. She didn’t know how it would work out, but she knew that things would eventually take a turn for the better.
Her father would make sure of it.
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