Chapter 84 (2/2)

When Mayne stepped through the door into the castle’sdefense force There were five soldiers called Judges, who guarded every entryway – the Judges were the Church’s roup and started their work, they would forever live in the castle, never able to return to the surface

In fact, only he and the pope were able to enter and later exit the castle, even the two archbishops Heather and Tayfun weren’t allowed to enter here

But even Mayne didn’t kno many channels the castle had In addition to thesouth, there wereaway fro this side channels, they would split again into many more branches Some were used by the Church, while others were sealed He had heard, that during the construction of the castle, a few artisans strayed into those channels notlost, never able to find their way back

The vertical main channel led directly to the depths of the mountain, around every three hundred feet (about 100 meters), Mayne had to cross a checkpoint He knew that the Church was using each segment between two checkpoints for a different task Thearea for the warriors who had to stay their whole life in the castle The second sege of instruments of ancient books The third section was the jail area, where prisoners were housed eren’t allowed to see the light ever again… innocents included

After crossing through the third checkpoint, Mayne stopped Further in, was the castle’s secret area All of the Church’s research inated from this place, and without the Pope’s authorization, no one was allowed to enter Since he becao, he had only stepped into this area once before

When Mayne walked closer he took the left path

After a short walk, the as ended by a door, with a plate at the height of the chest on it on which read “Elders!”

Mayne nodded to the guards and ordered, “Open the door”

Behind the door the corridor continued, there were burning torches hanging on the wall, like s along the path until the end On both sides of the road werea plate with a number on it

One of the Judges who followed Mayne raised a torch to illu down the channel, Mayne looked all the while at the numbers on the plates When he finally saw the number 35 mottled into the plate, he stopped and pulled a key out of one of his pockets and inserted it into the keyhole, turning it lightly At the botto the lock was especially harsh, and its echo could be heard even at the end of the channel As if it was a signal flare, suddenly h the doors, there were calls fro carefully, Mayne could understand some of them! “Quickly save me!” “Help me!” “Please, kill me!” and the like

But Mayne was un beside the door to i the chaos of screams outside

Behind iron rails the bishop saw an oldon his bed – perhaps he was not so old, but now his hair had already turned white, and his face was covered by wrinkles His beard looked like he hadn’t groo up to his neck Since he hadn’t seen the sun for a long time, his skin had become terribly pale, and his hands and feet were as thin as bamboo

Mayne glanced at the food plate behind the rails, which looked like it hadn’t been touched, registering this he sighed, “You should treat yourself better, the Church doesn’t lack for food And the ’s standard, except for the wine Even the fish, it’s first-rate Cod co from Port of Bluewater You should be fa Wimbledon?”