“We need to go through the gardens within the next ten minutes. The courtyard is the largest area to travel over. It’s barren of life so we wouldn’t have to worry about any bushes or weeds or trees. Right beyond that is the castle.”
“You’ve explained this before”
“Ok then, we only have thirty minutes to get inside before the sun rises from the horizon.”
“From now!?”
“Yes, from now. I’m tired too, but after this we should be able to rest for a while.”
“Okay”, Sapphire agreed with malcontent.
We quickly approached the Gate that was knocked down earlier. The gate was now up, on its hinges.
“Whoa, what!?”
“What’s wrong Onyx?”
“This gate wasn’t here, like this, before.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was all rusted and dented….it was laying on the ground over there”, I pointed to the spot, “I don’t feel good about this…”
“Let’s keep going, the sooner we get to the castle, the sooner I can sleep”, Sapphire yawned.
That being said, I tried opening the gate. It was locked. I turned to Sapphire to state the obvious.
“It’s locked”
“Ugh! Move!”, Sapphire shoved me aside. She stood in front of the gate and turned around. She cranked her hind legs back and, with full brute force, bucked the gates open and off the hinges.
“Uhh, oh okay?”
We walked through the Inner Gardens at a greater speed, keeping ourselves awake.
“I can see the next gate to the Courtyard”, we moved in unison and kept pace with one another. As we approached the gates they eerily opened by themselves; creaking as if they weren’t oiled or lubricated in decades.
“Oh ha ha brain.”
“What?”
“My brain is playing tricks on me, trying to scare me since I haven’t had sleep in a while”
“If you’re talking about the gate; it did open by itself”
“Ummm, let’s get inside the castle before we pass out of lack of sleep”
We moved along the large, open courtyard quickly; nearing the big doors to the entrance of the castle. Here we stand, at last. The doors of the castle are right there in front of us, taunting us with its presence. There were two colossal statues standing on the left and right of the double doors. They stood erect; the left was a darker looking guard, probably made of obsidian, in black steel armor with tribal symbols and markings covering the breastplate. Its helmet showed it being more of a Royal Legion Warrior than a Royal Guard; it looked very aggressive. The one on the right was made of an elegant white marble. It too was wearing armor. This one had a gold breastplate lined with silver in angelic and nature-like markings. This one was missing its helmet.
“Here it is…”, I spoke in awe.
I pushed on the doors hard. They didn’t budge. I tried again. The same result. Sapphire stepped up to try. She pushed and pushed, but without success, the doors stayed shut.
“I don’t get it. What’s wrong with this door? Is it broken or something?”, Sapphire asked.
“There must be a way to get them open…”, I pondered.
“Could it be a puzzle?”
“Maybe…you got anything?”
“Nope”
“Hrmmm, got it! You see how that statue has a helmet, but the other one doesn’t?”
“Yeah? What are you getting at?”, Sapphire responded.
“Are you kidding? The helmet is the key!”
“Where would we find it?”
“You remember the fountain in the Inner Garden?”
“Yeah…no….”
“Whatever, follow me, I’ll need help”
We walked back to the fountain at the center of the Inner Garden.
“Shine some light on that please” I gestured towards the fountain.
“Ugh”
Sapphire shined brighter to shed some light on the fountain. A golden dome-like structure sat atop the fountain.
“We need to move this to the head of the marble guard.”
“You can…I’m going to wait for you back at the doors.”
“Sapphire! Stay and help me!”
“This is your problem! You fix it by yourself!” Sapphire spouted and started towards the doors.
“Then go! I’ll figure this out by myself.”
I pointed my horn to the golden dome; my horn started to glow. I focused the rest of my energy to lifting the helmet. I slowly brought the artifact off of the fountain. I levitated it to the colossuses. Sapphire was not amused by me keeping her awake any longer. I raised the gold head piece atop the marble statue. As the helmet was lowering onto the statue’s head, I felt something pull on the helmet and I couldn’t hold it anymore. The head piece crashed down on the head of the colossus. A noise, like wood falling down, came from behind the doors. I heard giant gears turning, and then they stopped. There was nothing for the next few seconds. The doors slowly opened, but not all the way. There was enough room for a single-file line to walk through. I started off first. I entered the castle and looked around. It was in pretty good condition inside besides some walls being cracked and the craters in the floor and roof.
“Sapphire, come on in, it’s safe.”
“Just point me to a bed…”
I lead Sapphire over to where the barracks should be and found some beds. Sapphire ran in joy of the sight of the bed and plopped onto it, passing out once she touched the mattress. I walked over and lay on my back looking up through the crater in the wall at the stars.
“They look nice”, I whispered to myself, dozing off.