Chapter 7 - The Voices Beneath the Chapel
"What do you mean?" Cassian asked, looking at Elara in confusion.
"The bell system," Elara said, her eyes bright with a dangerous idea. "The silver wires from every tomb in the royal catacombs connect to the central soundboard beneath the chapel floor directly adjacent to this hall. If we activate the resonant chiming mechanism, the sound echoes through the stone flues and emerges through the castle's grand air chimneys."
"It creates a sound that can be heard across the entire city," Aurelia realized, her breath catching. "The Great Alarm!"
"Precisely," Elara said. "The common people of this city know the legend of the burial bells. They think it's a ghost story. If the bells ring at full volume in the middle of the night, thousands of citizens will swarm the castle gates to see what is happening. Vane won't be able to hide his treason in the dark."
"Where is the central soundboard?" Vance asked.
"Beneath the altar in the royal chapel," Aurelia said. "But the passage is locked from the inside."
"I know how to pick old church locks," Elara said simply. "My father didn't just teach me how to dig graves; he taught me how heavy iron works."
Another violent thud shook the main doors. The heavy oak beam began to crack under the relentless pressure of the battering ram.
"Vance, take four guards and hold the main doors as long as you can," Cassian ordered. "Aurelia, Elara, come with me to the chapel!"
They sprinted down the echoing marble corridor toward the grand chapel at the rear of the keep. High stained-glass windows depicted ancient kings, but tonight, illuminated by lightning flashes, they looked like somber guardians watching over a doom-laden trial.
At the front of the chapel stood a massive wooden altar carved from dark oak. Beneath it sat an intricate iron door reinforced with bronze bands—the entry to the acoustic chamber connecting the bell network.
Elara dropped to her knees in front of the lock. She reached into her belt pouch, pulling out a thin iron tension wrench and a small pick she used for adjusting coffin latches.
Behind them, the distant sound of splintering wood echoed through the castle. Vane’s men had breached the main doors. Shouts, clashing steel, and the screams of dying men filled the grand hall.
"Hurry, Elara!" Cassian urged, standing over her with his sword drawn, watching the chapel doors.
Elara’s fingers were trembling, slippery with blood and rain. She inserted the iron tools into the ancient lock. Click. One tumbler set.
Click. Second tumbler.
"They're through the barricade!" Aurelia called out from the doorway, holding a heavy iron candelabra as a weapon. "Vance is retreating toward the chapel!"
Click... Click.
"Come on..." Elara whispered, sweat dripping from her nose onto the cold stone floor.
BANG!
The chapel doors were thrown open. Captain Vance stumbled inside, bleeding heavily from a wound in his side, parrying a sword blow from a masked mercenary. Behind the mercenary came Lord Vane, his sword dripping with blood, flanked by a dozen heavily armed men.
"Cornered like rats!" Vane sneered, wiping blood from his cheek. "End them! Leave the princess for last!"
CLACK!
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The heavy iron lock on the altar door finally snapped open.
"Now!" Elara screamed, hurling the iron door wide open.
