Locked away

[obligatoryass]

The door closes behind Meg with an ominous 'thud.' It sounds like doom, and it echoes even more ominously.

"Hey!" Logan yells, startled by this unexpected turn of events. He bangs on the door loudly and yells again, with little hope of an answer. It was a very deliberate action on the part of Lord Julius, and from the condition of that room, it's unlikely that anyone else has been there for a long, long time.

Still, the banging relieves Logan's feelings. When his hand is sore, he turns back to Meg. "So. I guess we're captured."

He takes a moment to survey the room. There's a long, thin window far above them, giving enough light to show the room's contents. A desk and chair, free of dust, with a few papers, a quill and a candle on it. Some boxes. And, luckily, a box of matches.

Comments

[noteful]

Meg watches this display of testosterone with what would be amusement under almost any other circumstances.

"Looks like," she agrees, when he's done.

[obligatoryass]

"Sorry," he says, abashed. A little, anyway. "I feel like an idiot. Acting like an idiot doesn't actually improve anything, but I do feel better."

Walking over to the desk, he rifles through the papers. "I think we can put Lord Julius at the top of our list of suspects for the role of inside man."

[noteful]

"Unless you hurt your hand," she says, practically.

The door doesn't look like it's been all that troubled by Logan's beating.

"I think that's a safe bet."

Meg opens one of the boxes on the table and half-smiles. "Candles. So at least we don't have to worry about being stuck in the dark."

[obligatoryass]

Logan ignores her practical remark about his hand and moves on to her practical remark about the candles.

"Hopefully we won't be here that long."

He surveys the room again, but doesn't see anything that looks promising for getting out of the room.

Sighing, he looks down at the papers on the desk and flips through them absently, in hopes of finding evidence against Julius.

[noteful]

"I assume someone will notice we're missing . . ."

Meg lights one of the candles and holds it up to get a better look at the room.

There's something odd in the corner.

"Logan? I think someone was burning papers over here."

She finds one remnant on which the word dragon is still legible.

[obligatoryass]

Logan's eyes widen. "That's...well. Hiding us here may have seemed clever on the part of Lord Julius, but I think he's made a really big mistake."

Assuming they get out of here, that is. Someone might notice they're missing, but the palace is very large. It's entirely possible it would take months for anyone to track down the right hidden chamber.

He looks through the papers, paying more attention this time. Nothing suspicious out in the open.

In the desk, however, it's another story. Wedged in the back of the drawer is a very incriminating letter. It bears Maxilimian's seal and is addressed to Lord Julius.

"Meg, I think we've found our smoking gun."

[noteful]

"I rather think he was improvising," Meg says.

A lot of things have gone wrong for Lord Julius.

Meg looks at the paper Logan has found, eyes widening.

"Of all the careless papers to miss. More like a smoking cannon."

[obligatoryass]

"Well, he isn't very good at it," says Logan, who is very good at improvising when the occasion requires it. It makes him judgmental.

"At least we've managed that much. When we get out of here, it will be really helpful."

Logan is refusing to talk about the possibility that they might be trapped permanently. It doesn't bear thinking about.

[noteful]

"I suspect this is not a country with a grand tradition of overthrowing its kings. He did manage to lock us in a secret room, so he's not doing all badly."

To give the devil his due.

"Is there anything else worth taking?"

[obligatoryass]

Logan sniffs, but does not otherwise acknowledge that Lord Julius is not a total bonehead.

"The rest of these papers seem harmless enough."

He offers them to her anyway. Meg's got good eyes, and he doesn't want to run the risk that he's missed something.

[noteful]

Meg flips through them.

"They might be important later, some of them, when they can be matched to details, but I don't think it's going to take more than that one to prove the guilt of the relevant parties.

"That one we should keep, though, and keep hidden, in case Lord Julius comes back."

[obligatoryass]

He nods. "And I think you should hold onto it."

Clearing his throat, he adds, "Um. Julius would be less likely to um. Search you. Than me."

[noteful]

"Also, even if he did, he'd never find it in all this fabric?" Meg asks, drily.

She takes the letter and it vanishes into the folds and layers of the dress.

"Right. Let's see if there's another way out of here. That door looks . . . stubborn."

[obligatoryass]

"That too," Logan says. "It would buy us time, anyway."

Logan looks at the door and smiles wryly. "I can attest to that," he says, shaking his hand. "It's really thick, too."

[noteful]

Meg lights a second candle and starts to hand it to him, then stops.

"You didn't actually hurt yourself, did you?" she asks.

[obligatoryass]

Logan reaches for the candle and pauses as Meg does, surprised by the actual concern. "No, no," he says hastily. "I'm fine. I mean, it'll be sore and all, but it's nothing I don't deserve."

[noteful]

"Well, if it starts swelling or anything, let me know. There's not a lot we can do with the supplies available to us here, but we'll figure out something."

Simple medicine and common sense. Meg has never encountered any situation in which they weren't helpful.

"You go left, I'll go right?"

[obligatoryass]

"Will do," Logan promises.

He certainly doesn't want a major hand injury coming out of this misadventure. He'll let her know.

Nodding, he heads left and begins to explore the outer edges of the room.

[noteful]

Stone walls. One window, out of reach and too thin to be useful, anyway.

Less and less light coming through the window all the time, and almost none by the time Meg and Logan meet on the opposite side from their starting point.

"Maybe . . . maybe we just need to sit down, and rest, and one of us will think of something."

[obligatoryass]

Logan nods, then yawns. "At least, if we get some rest, we'll be fresher. My brain's pretty well tapped out. S'been a long day."

He yawns again and sits on the floor. "Plus, we can't get much done in the dark."

It's not going to be a very comfortable night's sleep, but Logan's so tired he doesn't even care.

[noteful]

Meg settles into the desk chair. She's not at all certain it's going to be any more comfortable than the floor, and it might even be less so, but if he's going to be gallant enough to leave it for her, she's going to be gracious enough to accept it.

And no, it doesn't make for a very comfortable night's sleep, but there is some fitful dozing, and that's better than nothing.

It lightens slowly, until suddenly the sun reaches the long narrow window at the top of the room, and a bright band of sunlight hits the opposite wall.

[obligatoryass]

It's just enough that Logan feels refreshed, although it would be hard not to, after how tired he had been the night before.

Still, he's been watching for that light to start coming in for some time now, and he's glad to see it, if only because it makes their situation seem slightly less dire.

Peering over at Meg, he sees she's stirring but not quite awake.

He takes the opportunity to pace the room. The light is...well. Not better, really, but at least different. Maybe he missed something last night.

[noteful]

Meg wakes up a little stiff tries to rub the crick out of her neck.

"See anything?" she asks, watching Logan pace.

She'll get up in a second. Just as soon as she gets feeling back into her feet.

[obligatoryass]

"No," Logan says, sounding frustrated but managing not to hit anything this time. "Noth-"

He pauses, then steps back. "Maybe."

He steps slightly further back, cocks his head, and then grins. "I see a door, that's what."

[noteful]

Meg looks at the wall.

"You do?"

She gets up and comes over, but she mostly still just sees . . . a wall.

[obligatoryass]

"There's an edge, right there," he says stepping forward and tracing it slightly. "Do you see? Now, how to open it..."

He leans into the door, trying to see if simple pressure will open it.

No dice.

[noteful]

Meg frowns.

"Try . . . maybe try the stones around it? I mean, that works in books, sometimes, but this whole place is . . ."

She trails off, pushing her hand into one of the stones next to the outline she can see now that Logan has pointed it out.

And then another.

And another.

[obligatoryass]

"This could take forever," Logan mutters, still pressing on stones.

And then, one of them gives. "I've got it," he cries out, applying a little more pressure.

The door slides open and Logan peers inside.

"Having no idea where that goes, I am pretty sure I can say with certainty that it's better than here."

[noteful]

"Candles," is all Meg says.

It's probably an agreement.

Does Logan want to go first?

[obligatoryass]

Logan nods and collects the candles, lighting one for himself and handing another to Meg.

"Let's get outta here."

He leads the way.

[noteful]

It's not a terribly long passageway. It's probably not even as long as it feels.

"Do you have any idea where this might be going?" Meg asks. "Old story you heard on a previous visit? Anything?"

She's not terribly hopeful, but she has to ask.

[obligatoryass]

"Not the slightest," Logan says, sounding slightly worried but not overly so.

Luckily, they are not be in suspense for very long. The passage ends in a large door, although there is still no handle.

Logan bangs on the door. "Hello? HELLO? Anybody over there?" he calls.

[ordinary_sorts]

The calls cannot be heard on the other side of the door. (It's a very thick and very strong door.)

But the banging? That gets attention. And as the room on the other side of the wall is the so-called War Room, into which the Prince and Princess have been moved for safe keeping? The attention is not necessarily the sort Logan will like.

It's a long moment -- this door, like the first, is secreted behind a set of shelves and Lord Terence has to figure out how to open it.

And then the door opens quite suddenly, and Logan will find Lord Terence's wand leveled at his heart. "Who the blazes are you?"

Things could get very messy indeed, here, given that Lord Terence's orders from the Queen were to kill anyone who threatened her children, or at least to turn them into frogs.

Fortunately, he is not the only person there, and his daughter recognizes the people in the passageway.

"For heaven's sake, Father, point that somewhere else before someone gets hurt," Lady Rosalind says. "It's Logan. One of the Queen's friends. You remember."

Lord Terence lowers the wand slightly and squints at Logan.

"Good heavens, so it is," he says. "Half the palace staff is looking for you, boy. Where have you been?"

[obligatoryass]

"It's a long story," Logan says swiftly, stepping around Terrence. "We need to see the Queen immediately."

No one argues, and they're whisked off to see Amy posthaste.