Beyond the Flagstones

A Story by Riley Justine

Beyond the Flagstones

It was dark and Payton’s boots clacked quietly on the flagstones. She was near the castle in the middle of the city. Huge, thick walls surrounded the castle and a large iron gate assured the true safety of the royal mansion. It was a full moon, but right now its brightness was veiled with solid grey clouds. As Payton continued to walk up the pathway an owl hooted and, as if it were on cue, a mouse darted around her feet. The black castle loomed closer and closer. Payton was close enough now to see the edge of the cliff on which the castle was set. She jogged a little further through the grass to avoid the guards who were dressed in armor almost as black as the night sky. The guards were quietly talking to each other, observing the courtyard carefully. Payton threw a rock past them and it bounced on the flagstones, ringing in the silent night and ceasing the guard’s whispers. They strung their bows and tiptoed over to where the rock had hit the ground. Payton stealthily crept up behind them. She knocked them out with the hilt of her dagger and casually strutted into the castle thinking to herself about how easy it was going to be to get what she needed.

Payton entered the castle and looked around. Hundreds of gigantic iron doors lined the dark and narrow hallway. As she stepped forward her footfall echoed loudly down the hallway. She took off her boots to evade the echoing, but now there was just an eerie silence. It seemed that as she passed them, the lanterns on the walls lit themselves and soon the hallway was bright. Payton examined each of the huge doors looking for one specific notch. She felt frustrated before arrived at the end of the hallway and there she found what she was looking for. The door in front of her emerged out of the darkness and appeared different than any of the others. She examined the door knob and there found a small scratch in the shape of a triangle. Payton took out her black leather satchel and pulled out a triangular stone which appeared to have a faint red glow around it. She placed the stone over the notch and it clicked, swinging the iron door open for her to enter. Much easier than I expected she thought.

She crossed the threshold of the old creaking door and therefore entered a large garden. Clippings of plant specimens were everywhere, shrouding the floor in a dark green shadow. Payton continued across the large greenhouse and found a very old looking bird to her left. She looked at it and crept away quietly, as if it was another guard. Of course they have a phoenix in here, one mistake and I’m dead she thought forbiddingly. Although the night was grim, butterflies fluttered across the room and around Payton. She waved them away and kept walking. She soon saw a small trap door leading out of the dark castle walls. But she overlooked it and sneaked along. After about a minute of looking in the glass greenhouse she found what she was looking for and gave a satisfied smile. She lightly picked up the strange plant which seemed to have the same glow as the stone she used to open the iron door leading to the garden. Right as she picked it up the phoenix shuffled his feathers and looked right at her and uttered a short squawk,

“Of course, now you had to see me,” Payton said in a hushed but angered voice.

Footsteps were heard soon after the fiery red bird had flown out of an unseen skylight in the glass roof. She took the potted plant, quickly shoved her boots back on, and ran out the trap door she saw earlier into the darkness once again. As she ran back her boots clacked quickly on the flagstones.