In the end, it took slightly over thirty minutes for Rachana and her maid to get ready to head to the dungeon. Once they appeared in front of the stable were a horse and pony were waiting for them together with Amondo and his squire they quickly mounted the animals and in no time the whole party were on their way. The short trip to the dungeon mound was without incident other than Elean at one point nearly losing control of her pony.
Once again Amondo’s squire stayed behind in the old guard shack with the animals. He wasn’t entirely happy with this state of affairs, especially as he had quite taken a liking to Elean who while in no way the prettiest female he had ever met had a certain charm to him. This was in no way reciprocate mainly because she was already smitten with Amondo’s valet, Kerem Nedal and in any case, he was in her opinion much too young for her, would one day become a knight and was thus too far above her station in life. This meant all they could be to each other was a quick roll in the hay and she wanted more than this.
Rachana and her maid had no problem walking down the first ramp inside the dungeon and once the three of them reached the first door Amondo handed Elean two earplugs fashioned from beeswax and instructed her to insert them into her ears. When questioned by Rachana as to the necessity for them he informed her that while he trusted the maid, he felt it a reasonable precaution. Since Elean in no way objected to them Rachana conceded this point and the earplugs were promptly inserted.
Once he was sure they were properly in place he recited the password, the door opened and they preceded through it, Elean lack of hearing not causing any problems. Upon reaching the second door he recited the second password and then the same thing happened. Before taking care of the third door he paused for a while to consider one last time whether to proceed as intended. In the end, he decided to go ahead as planned and hope for the best.
Once he recited the password and the door opened they once again proceeded through it and then the greenish light appeared as Amondo expected. When it did so Elean fainted but Rachana didn’t at least not immediately it took the light beginning to move for that to happen. Amondo hadn’t been sure how either of them would react to it but he had considered fainting to be a possibility if not the most likely one. Once they both had done so he did not quickly try to help them Instead he asked the dungeon if there was any way to keep Elean unconscious for longer or mess with her memory.
“Amondo I did not expect you until tomorrow but in answer to your question I could instruct one of my guard units to shoot her with a dart that would cause her to lose consciousness once more after the scan is complete and the door opens. She would not regain consciousness for an hour after that, do you wish me to do so, answer quickly since they both will no doubt wake soon.”
“Yes as long as it will not harm her then please do so”
“It will not.”
It was at this point that Rachana began showing signs that she would soon be awake and shortly thereafter so did Elean. While he talked to the dungeon the scan had continued and when they were both fully conscious Amondo apologised to them both and quickly explained what was happening. Thankfully neither of them fainted again not even when the greenish light was replaced by the reddish one. When the door opened there was no sign of any guard units just the ramp and so they all walked down it. Amondo expected that a guard unit would have appeared at some point before they reached the end of the ramp but none appeared.
When they reached the door with the strange carvings he explained that this was the last one and it was at this point when they were all facing the door and he was about to talk to the dungeon that Elean once more collapsed to the floor. When this occurred, he quickly searched all around for signs of a guard unit, but none could be found. Rachana on the other hand immediately went to help her maid and unsuccessfully tried to wake her.
“Amondo what pray tell is going on here and don’t you dare try to shrug it off as you did earlier.”
“Rachana it is a long story but it basically boils down to the fact that dungeons aren’t exactly what everyone thinks they are or at least that is what I have been told.”
“By whom?”
“By me actually.”, the voice of the dungeon said.”
“And who might you be exactly and why can’t I see you.”
“As I told your guardian earlier today I am the Membe Dungeon or to be more accurate the Mutnep zoological garden.”
“Sorry, your what?”
“The Mutnep zoological garden or to be more precise its main computer and I need your help.”
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