Chapter 30 Castle meeting
Approaching the castle took some time as they made their way to the entrance of the walkway. From there they would still need to circle 3 times around the hill to reach the top. Just a bit before the start of the walkway, a tall dark guy in even darker clothing approached them from a building. He had his gun ready in his arms.
"Where do you come from, say your name and intentions." He commanded in a scary tone. He wasn't afraid to use violence or force to keep the rest safe.
"We come from the southeastern shelter, we are part of Follin's and Brady's group. I'm Britta and this is Fiora, Ntombi, Ragnar, Leslie, Rohan and Jan. Follin informed the people in the castle." Britta pointed at each of us as she answered the tall guy.
"I have heard enough, you may move on. At the gate you need to ask for Q3. That's all" The tall dude said as he disappeared again in the building he came from.
We were free to pass on to the castle as we made our way up alongside the edge of the hill.
At the main castle entrance two more people were waiting for us, Rohan couldn't determine much about them from the outside, but they looked very serious.
"We were let through on the bottom and had to ask for Q3." Britta talked to them as Fiora stood behind her.
"Indeed so we have been expecting you, you may keep following around the edge and enter the large blue building on the other side. Follin will be there." One of the guards answered as they pointed out a general direction. Leslie would take them to the place.
It was very quiet in the castle, almost no one was outside on the streets except for people standing on the walls looking over the city. They looked somewhat anxious and were way more one guard than the mall shelter was.
It took ten minutes to reach the blue building, it was an ancient ore trading hall for lapis lazuli found nearby. It used to be an expensive stone until too many people mined it and became as common as any other mineral in Duran. The whole building was build from either lapis lazuli or a stone that looked similar. The door had the emblem of a rough blue stone in an open hand.
The building looked completely empty from the outside, but it was one of the bigger buildings in the castle with a large underground area as well. Fiora had tried to find someone from the mall shelter that might be around the building but she couldn't find anyone.
Britta knocked on the door and after a few seconds it opened. The first person they saw was someone Rohan recognized as well, Lynn opened the door and jumped enthusiastically into Britta, who clearly didn't like it as much.
"Lynn stop, I need to speak to Follin so leave it." She raised her hand as if she was about to hit Lynn as she quickly let go.
"Sorry Britta I will lead you to him, welcome back everyone, good to see you all made it. Nidea is here as well." She said as she pointed at Nidea who was standing in the shadow of the door. She nodded to the group as a greeting.
"Bring us to Folling." Britta continued before Lynn would take too much time.
Lynn led them through the dark blue hallway that ended at the empty center of the building. It resembled old wooden halls from the Vikings. Having wooden pillars support the second floor and long tables while having little light.
All the people were either on the 2nd floor with Follin, or in the private rooms next to the central hall or on the 2nd floor. The main hall wasn't used much, it served as a waiting area for the traders back in the day but now the building lost most of its function.
All the pillars were deep dark blue, just like lapis lazuli. Even some ambient lights gave dark blue light, while in the important areas normal lights were used.
Lynn led the group to the blue stairs and on to the 2nd floor. Again everything was lapis lazuli blue colored. Rohan was getting sick of it.
"They couldn't have done any matching colors or something?" he sighed softly but no one responded to it.
They reached a double door that Lynn opened, and bright light shone on them. The room was very bright from the windows and lights. Follin was sitting behind a desk made from lapis lazuli, already enjoying the new place as he saw them enter.
"Ah it is good to see you Fiora, Britta and the whole team. Sit down, I will go quickly through the new info and plans. It's going to be hectic the next couple of days."
Rohan and the rest all took a seat a bit from the desk. The seat where dark blue cushioned with slightly lighter blue wooden frame, not matching the desk or surrounding that well.
Follin put his elbows on the table, leaned forward and clasped his hands. He looked dead serious at Rohan and then at every other member of the team before he started to speak.
"The both survivor groups from the other areas have made important discoveries. The barrier is held up by the Duran's cross, which we expected. But it is very well protected as you probably have seen in the inner city. Each and every bridge is guarded and the deeper you go into the city the stronger and more alert the satyr's become. They are even all working together to build something which we do not know why. And lastly the horn sound that everyone heard was a rally call for all the satyr's and other enemies that are in the city to assemble in the inner city. We do not know why." Follin explained crudely without many details. He looked very tired as he must have spend a good amount of time working everything out.
"The next thing is that the only possible option we see to leave the barrier… is to take down Duran's cross. Which means going into the inner city with everything we have and taking all the satyr's down."