Chapter 31

"But what is more reckless than to cover lies and hope against the revelation of the truth?

It is as the vast night sky that is hoped to be unseen and secretive from the victims placed in the containment of chamber and roof."

~

Sepulchre of the Under-Ground Dungeons,

Kingdom of Tristendyre,

The first Phrinight of the Second month,

XXI Year of Regency

As the thoughts of Imogen's potential value and salience in prophecy enwreathed Jaycob's mind, he strode out the Sepulchre.

With the place being highly secretive grounds, the Archer ensured to be soundless, for in the perception of any breathful soul, these under-ground quarters were no more than impenetrable earth and stone beneath the Under-Ground Dungeons.

However, whilst passing the threshold, he heard faint sweeps like some cloth brushing over the floor, where there should have been an ill and prescenceless silence.

The light from the torches (of the corridors ahead) that was shed upon the stone floor wrote moving shadows of unforeseen figures.

When the fall of the sole of his boot sounded against the stone of the ground, the same voice was abridged to the sound of mice scampering past as the ripples of shadows upon the ground began to move hastily.

Jaycob drew his caramel hood over his head to cover his identity. He lifted the fabric of his cape and held it against his nose and mouth, lest his breath delates his presence to whomsoever or whatsoever it was that seemed to be causing the shifting sound, before noiselessly walking to stand against wall.

The said wall was of those that bent to align with the side of another dark hallway. The tall Archer peered to find a few men in hooded garments quietly scurrying, the noise of their tread dressed as the sound of running mice.

Their cloaks were dark to blend with the nightly shadows of their surroundings that they would be camouflaged from the naked eye. He could hardly have spotted them, had he not noticed their shadows.

Jaycob knew that there were various issues that the Regent and the Arch Eccleissor seemed to have concealed from him despite the fact that he was their most secret Deputy in faithful service.

In the present case, he was aware that the floor he stood on was not to be known to any men; but the ones that darted about in the darkness were presumably those assigned by the Regent himself, withheld even from Jaycob's knowledge.

The olive-haired man remembered their hesitance in showing the annex that wrote a path to the Secret Cell of the Under Ground Dungeons straight from the Princess's chambers.

It was odd occurrence that there were affairs held specifically hidden from him; affairs that inspired a burning and zealous need for Jaycob to inspect them till he probed into the very depths of the matter, undetected.

As his mind began to plot various means of achieving the mysteries, he watched silently till the hooded figures made their ways without his eyeshot.

For some reason, the tall man felt the strangling urge to remain in hiding till such persons suspected not that he was also aware of the passages.

In the case of any other person, besides Jaycob Israel, standing there on authorised commission, such man would have posed immediate inquiry to gain cognisance of such unaccounted people treading these premises.

But this Archer was artful and knew of the subtlest means of proceeding.

Although it was established that the hooded men were the persons to have been careful of his gaze, Jaycob knew that he needed to conceal from them his awareness.

It was so be-cause if the Regent discerns that he is holding knowledge of such untoward existence that was consciously concealed from him, Jaycob could be in danger of death. This was obvious, given Jehoram's lack of reception and grace towards him.

There were various dark secrets entrusted with the Head Archer that could not dare meet the knowledge of the people, for the deeds were grave and wicked.

Thus, if even Jaycob himself, who was in possession of dark knowledge, had not been informed of these happenings and sinister persons granted access and work there-under, there was no question in knowing that there was dirty business wrought.

The hooded men seemed to have resided therein longer than his perception of recentness, for they made no hassles in distinguishing their paths through the complex structure of the passages.

Jaycob could not discern the faces of these men by reason of shadows and their cowls. If he could acquire recognition, he could have used his power of Grand Sight to understand their motions and destinations.

He waited in the shadows till the few men had completely dispersed into the darkness and the alleys leading to Imogen's containment seemed vacant.

He let the cloth of his cape that had been covering his face cascade down, his hood still covering his head, and closed his eyes.

Now, Jaycob's intellect was cunning and keen to grasp: there was no conference with the Chiefs to be held this eventide, be-cause Jaycob, a prestigious one amongst them, had not seen any of such invitation. And such conference was the pretext beneath which Jehoram and Devland had left.

There seemed to be urgency in their departure and he was aware that it truly was important business upon their agenda, but one at such late hour could mean no further that malicious dealings.

His mind, using the power of Grand Sight, began to seek the recognition of the Regent and his Eccleissor: he had expected them to have ascended to the Imperial Castle and present attendance at the Throne room or some other regal Quarters.

But the perception of his Auspice dictated that they were still lingering about in the deep secret sectors of the Under-Ground Dungeons.

He probed deep, rousing the charge of his power, until his senses began drawing to his conscious understanding: upon the blindness of his closed eyes, there arose figures akin to crystalline statues in the shape of the two men that manipulated the States of Tristendyre, whose presence he was seeking.

These glass sculptures that marked their presences descended to be placed upon the stone atlas (that his mind conceived) where the grounds of the map were carved in the shape of secretive chambers beyond the boundaries that Jaycob had been aware of.

So it was truth that there were some treacherous deeds escaping his knowledge.

Jaycob opened his eyes and his body could sense the location and motion of the Regent and the Arch Eccleissor's presences north-ward and not much farther than where he presently stood.

There appeared to be compartments and cells there where the men seemed to be holding a meeting. He presumed they were these persons attired in hooded garments with whom this odd conference was convened.

As the Chief Archer walked through the paths and climbed the stairs to reach the layer where Imogen's cell was, he devised plans to execute in order to uncover these freshly found secrets.

The thought of such mysteries withheld even from his own faithful service meant derogatory to Jaycob. There was a splitting rupture between him and the Regent in the shape of Devland Zephaniah.

As much as the Archer knew that there was no means of bridging this gap of contempt between him and the man nearest the throne, there must have been some suspicion in the helm of affairs that has caused Jehoram to bow his judgement in the Eccleissor's favour against Jaycob.

He needed to distinguish wherefore the man with whom he had a fealty was mistrusting him. And that was the moment when the most ill of all his fears began beating the seas of his mind.

In the beginning, during the dawn of his youth, when he had discovered that his powers were that akin to the ancestral Jael Zephaniah, virago of his race, he had been disheartened to be born as the one of historical consequence, for the prophecy had spelt initial dishonour to the warriors, and further, there were naught of concrete hopes to survive from the war against the Dragons.

"The scarlet ink of their heritage shall write their prologues tainted with disgrace as that of outlawed and exiled fugitives, but epilogues bearing honour, the visitation of death being held words reserved and as uncertain as tide"

Jaycob knew that he would inevitably taste disrepute, but he had worked everything in his power and sweat to evade it. Howsoever, it seemed to be so that the words of the prediction were coming alive.

As he walked up the dark and stone stairway towards the secret cell, he paid note that the room where Imogen had been given privacy for a change of garments was closed.

It was odd for he had not sealed the doors thereof and the damsel herself did not know how the system of these concealed walls and portals functioned, for the fashion of these were as portions of the very block of wall opening forth as doors.

Jaycob walked down the darkness, his mind and gift partially attuned to gauging the presence of the Regents in their secretive council. It seemed to be a part of the chambers where he had not known was even construction.

But it appeared to be a path betwixt the present cell and the Imperial Castle, as a place where he presumed he was not allowed access.

After having ascertained the situation thereof, he relieved himself of considering their location. He mapped in his mind to invade the area in secrecy some time about the dead of the night.

There was still a great way down the straight corridor leading to the cell wherein Imogen awaited.

Just as the Archer strode, he realised that there was no more the sound of silence. The hair upon his arms stood upright as wheat fields when he felt the presence of a breathing person standing behind him in the darkness.

~