Strangers in a Strange Land--A Pawns & Queens era novella--Chapter Five

[Evie]

Previous chapter: https://www.rhemuthcastle.com/index.php/topic,3290.0.html


Strangers in a Strange Land


Chapter Five

August 10, 1457
Rhemuth Castle
The secret passages
Night

Sebastian and Saoirse had not had opportunity to explore the secret passages again since their discovery that someone else knew of their existence, but they knew Lord Geoffrey was planning to be out very late on this particular night, assisting the King in some sort of work that had only been spoken of in hushed whispers and perhaps Mind-Speech. Therefore, the two children were unaware of exactly what was in the works, just that it was something of the utmost importance and secrecy and that it would be taking place well after the two of them were meant to be in bed and sound asleep. Perhaps it was the potential-setting they had also overheard a few whispers about, though they weren't entirely certain what that was meant to entail either.

To forestall their slumber being enforced, the two children had gone readily enough to their beds after the evening meal, not arguing too strenuously against going to bed and even stifling a few yawns, though as Saoirse had sensibly pointed out, it might have raised Lord Geoffrey's suspicions had they simply gone meekly to bed with no protest altogether, so a feeble argument or two had been raised against it before they had allowed themselves to be tucked in with apparent reluctance. On mutual agreement, the two had decided to sink into a very deep but timed slumber upon settling into their beds, the sleep state to be interrupted by the sound of the Basilica clock chiming the eleven o'clock hour, by which time Lord Geoffrey ought certainly to be gone from the chamber until some unspecified hour before dawn. It was a calculated risk, but both children believed that if they were seen to be already deeply asleep, no further measures would be taken to ensure that they remained so throughout the night.

The risk had paid off. Sebastian and Saoirse both woke up on the eleventh stroke of the clock to find the apartment otherwise vacant. They waited a few minutes, discreetly casting out their senses to ensure Lord Geoffrey was not somewhere nearby before hastily dressing in the near darkness and entering the secret passage, not lighting handfire until the door had safely slid shut behind them.

Previously, they had considered taking the passage down to the known exit just outside the Basilica grounds, but now they reconsidered whether to try exploring the other end of the passage instead, going towards the Great Hall and possibly even beyond it, for the map showed there might be a section of corridor that went around the back of the Hall and led to the upper gallery of the Royal Chapel. Neither of them had ever been in the upper portion of the Chapel, for that was the level generally reserved for the Royal Family. Sometimes if the nave was especially crowded on the ground level, the ladies of the court were permitted entrance to the side galleries, but the two young aspiring intelligencers decided they wanted a bird's eye view of the Chapel from the best possible vantage point. So they continued down the corridor in the opposite direction from the one they had taken two days earlier, bypassing the temptation to check the other potential entrances to the corridor for fear of walking into someone's occupied bedchamber or sitting room in the process. If they were interpreting the map diagram correctly, the very end of the passage ought to open out onto the Royal Chapel Gallery.

There was a very subtle sense of wrongness as they got to the far end of the corridor. It wasn't even anything that they sensed on a psychic level, but more just the physical awareness that as they rounded the corner of the secret passage that had led them around the back of the Hall, they realized that the short stretch of remaining corridor was not as dark as it ought to have been. Even accounting for the faint handfire they had summoned up to see their way through the hidden passage, it should have been nearly pitch black at the very end of the corridor. Instead, at the far end of the passage appeared a tall, narrow, dark gray rectangle, or at least a vertical line of faint light perhaps two small fingers wide against the greater darkness to suggest the edges of a partially open doorway, though why the doorway should have been left slightly open, neither child could guess. Normally the door should have slid silently shut behind the last person to go through it.

They nearly fled back the way they came, but by mutual silent agreement, they both reached the conclusion that a proper intelligencer would summon up the courage to investigate further.

#

August 10, 1457
Rhemuth Castle
The Royal Chapel
Several minutes earlier

Madame Dardenay sat in the shadows at the very end of the secret passageway, listening intently. She had ventured out onto the gallery of the Royal Chapel earlier, peering down from the end where the Royal Family normally sat or stood to view the Mass, looking down into the nave with a direct straight line view of the altar beyond it. She had been glad to see she had arrived just in time, for in the nave below, she could see several of the castle's occupants cleansing the space for a ritual working. Such sights were rare in Joux, at least at the Court of Trebaçeaux, for King Renier's training in ritual magic was merely on the most basic of levels, and much of that gained from reading and understanding it on a theoretical level rather than from actual practice, for as much as he desired to know more about it, he was also leery of allowing better trained Deryni than himself too close to his person. But Madame Dardenay had witnessed such things a time or two in her day, both in her childhood home and in her marital one, though she had not been permitted to participate in them directly, merely to guard the door at the very most. But that scant experience allowed her to recognize what was happening now as the preparation for a magical working to come.

Then, just as she was getting ready to settle into a shadowy corner of the dark gallery (for the candlelight from below did not extend far enough to light the space so high above the gathered Deryni making preparations on the lower floor), she heard the sound of footsteps ascending the spiral staircase from the nave to the gallery. Madame hastily retreated into the secret passage, the entrance silently sliding shut to conceal her just in time.

She waited in the darkness, hardly daring to breathe, hearing the footfalls recede only to return a short time later. At last they seemed to have faded altogether, but she still waited, not daring yet to come out again until at last she heard the sound of voices below. She tentatively opened the door, reassured by finding the gallery only dimly lit from the faint glow rising from the space below. No one else appeared to be on the gallery level besides herself, which made sense, since normally only the Deryni working the ritual and whoever was chosen to guard the entrances would be in the ritual space, and if it was not common knowledge that there was an upstairs entrance from some secret passage into the gallery, then no one would think to guard it.

Still, it would hardly do to leave herself without an easy means of escape should someone think to venture up the stairs again, and attempting to trace the glyph in the air with shaky hands while maintaining the necessary focus might waste a precious second or two. She had nearly been caught out once already. So this time, Madame Dardenay removed her veil, folding it repeatedly until the layers of fabric were thick enough that she thought it would serve to prevent the sliding door from closing up completely. Hopefully that might shave a precious moment or two off the time she needed to gain re-entry to the dark passage again. She figured it was worth trying, at least.

That feat accomplished, she entered the gallery as silently as she could, hiding herself in the darker shadows behind one of the support columns that she could lean against while peering down into the light-filled nave below.

#

August 10, 1457
Rhemuth Castle
The secret passages
Shortly after midnight

Sebastian quietly tiptoed towards the light-colored slit in the wall ahead, listening intently. From below, he could hear the sounds of voices, sometimes reciting Scripture phrases in Latin, other times speaking in Gwyneddan. But he could see no reason for this passage entrance to be left partially open. Surely his father and King Uthyr hadn't entered the Chapel from the secret passage rather than simply walking through the main door?

As he drew closer, he saw what appeared to be a folded piece of fabric jammed between the door and the wall opening. He started to remove it, but stayed his hand as the thought occurred to him that if someone had meant to leave the door ajar, they might still be upstairs in the gallery. If so, they might notice if the door were suddenly to close, or worse, slide fully open to expose him and Saoirse, who had crept up behind him while he deliberated.

He turned to her, not daring to relight the handfire he had doused before approaching the mysterious opening, hoping his foster-sister was relying on her Deryni senses to see in the near-total gloom. Hoping that the faint light filtering through the small space was enough for her to see him by, he gestured for her to be quiet with a finger on his lips before pointing at the folded fabric holding the door open. The person who left that might still be in the upper gallery, he Mind-Spoke to her.

Do you think it's the same person whose footprint we found a couple of days ago? Saoirse asked.

I don't know. It might be. He tried to peek through the crack into the larger space beyond it. I can't quite tell if that's a person next to that column or just a weird shadow, can you?

Step back and let me look, Saoirse replied. After a moment, she asked, Do you mean by that right side column about midway down the side gallery?

Yes. I thought I saw a darker form there pressed against the column.

I see it too.

The two children pondered the implications. Do you think it's one of Father's guards? Sebastian asked.

Maybe? He could sense Saoirse's indecision. But I can't think of any of his men or among the King's guards who are that large. An unwelcome thought occurred to her. Do you think it's someone else's intelligencer? Maybe your father should be warned about this.

In the middle of a ritual working, breaking their focus?!  Even given Sebastian's limited training, that sounded very risky to him. But allowing some stranger to spy on a secret Haldane ritual seemed potentially riskier. Would his father be actively participating in the ritual right now, or would he be one of the guards assigned to the chapel entrance? It would be less risky to alert one of the door guards, he surmised, but from this vantage point he could not see who was doing what below.

He thought they might be doing the potential-setting he had heard his father discussing with King Uthyr recently. Sebastian did not know exactly what that was, but he gathered it had something to do with Prince Cinhil and the Haldane powers. So it was likely that the King and Queen were part of the ritual circle. If his guess was correct, that meant Prince Cinhil was at the center of the ritual. Who else would they trust to participate in something this private? Prince Colin was away from Rhemuth at Candor Rhea, so unless he had been asked to return for this, he probably wasn't part of the circle, and Prince Camber, although considered a young adult, was not quite old enough to have completed advanced Deryni training yet, Sebastian didn't think. So what other Deryni were at Court right now and likely to be trusted enough to assist in the ritual?

Healer James was almost certainly present, whether or not he was in the ritual circle. Duke Alain was the King's Champion. He was almost certainly helping in some way also. Who else might that leave?

I wonder if Aidan is down there? Saoirse asked.

Of course! Aidan, King Uthyr's squire and also a trained Deryni, was almost certainly assisting them! And in addition to being Uthyr's squire, he was also one of Prince Cinhil's closest friends. And by joyous happenstance, he–or rather she–happened to also be Saoirse's big sister.

Aidan, as the junior-most of the likely participants in the night's events, would almost certainly not be participating in the ritual itself, but was likely standing somewhere in the narthex below them, guarding the entrance. Can you check? Sebastian asked Saoirse, knowing Aidan/Aoife was more likely to recognize and respond quickly to a sister's mind-touch than his own.

Working on it, Saoirse replied, sounding distracted. I'm Showing her what we are seeing from up here.

A moment later, Sebastian heard his father's voice in his own mind. Sebastian, show me that shape you saw by the column. He complied. His father's voice returned, sounding grimmer than Sebastian had ever heard it. All right. We will take care of it. You and Saoirse need to back up very quietly away from that opening, and as soon as you are out of earshot from it and preferably around the corner from that passage, at least as far as where it meets the corner of the Great Hall, use the dimmest handfire possible and get the hell back to your beds where you belong! We will discuss this in the morning.

But....

NOW!

Sebastian knew better than to argue. He briefly conveyed the message to Saoirse in a flurry of shared memory, and the two children fled back to the safety of their bedchamber as quietly and as quickly as they could.

#

August 10, 1457
Rhemuth Castle
The secret passages
Half an hour after midnight

The children had nearly made it back to their bedchamber safely when they saw someone else heading swiftly up the secret passage towards them. Sebastian quickly doused his handfire, wondering what to do next, since they were still nearly a hundred feet short of their bedchamber entrance, when it dawned on him that the quickly approaching Deryni heading towards them was Saoirse's older sibling, recognizable by the familiar green handfire that Saoirse also favored zipping down the corridor ahead of him, even though Aidan's features were still mostly cast in shadow

As soon as the King's squire saw them, both children heard a sharp order in their minds, Get in your beds NOW! He continued past them without pausing, concerned more with speed than stealth. Sebastian and Saoirse, eyes wide, needed no further urging to continue on their way back to the safety of their chambers, Sebastian reigniting his violet handfire to light their way back to their apartment.

#

August 10, 1457
Rhemuth Castle
The Royal Chapel
A few minutes later

The potential setting ritual had continued without interruption, the floor of the gallery above concealing the frantic flurry of silent activity going on directly underneath it from the watchful eyes in the darkness above.

As soon as Saoirse's warning had reached the King's squire, Aidan had warned Lord Geoffrey of the intruder upstairs. From the visual impression that Sebastian had sent, they were able to determine the intruder's approximate location. Lord Geoffrey remained near the main entrance, although he summoned Uthyr's other squires with a swift mental call, deciding having human entrance guards would be better than leaving the nave entirely unguarded while Aidan rushed to the other end of the secret corridor so they could hopefully prevent the intruder from being able to escape in that direction once they made their move.

In the meantime, while Aidan was maneuvering himself into position, the ritual continued on without interruption. All participants were at least somewhat aware of what was happening outside of the wards, but by necessity they were focused on bringing the ritual to a swift but safe conclusion.

Several extremely tense minutes later, Lord Geoffrey felt the return of Aidan's mind touch. I'm here, the Llyrian informed him. I'm just inside the passage entrance, ready to intercept the intruder if he tries to slip back out this way.

Perfect. I'm on my way up now, said the chief intelligencer, making his silent way up the stairs to the gallery on cat feet, sword drawn in readiness for a fight.

#

Madame Dardenay was so transfixed by the ritual taking place below, trying to absorb every riveting detail, that she failed to realize someone was slipping quietly up the staircase until it was nearly too late to escape.

Drawing her belt knife, she ran as lightly as she could manage towards the secret passage door, her feet thudding dully against the marble flooring as she reached it just as the man ascending the stairs began to lunge for her. Desperately, unable to focus on forming the glyph or willing the door to open, she squeezed her fingertips into the crack and began trying to tug the door open. It sprang open suddenly, causing her to lose her balance and fall backwards onto her ample backside. To her extreme consternation, she found two men looming over her. The younger, she thought she recognized as one of the King's squires. The older one, she had also seen frequently in the King's presence. From the look of him, she thought he might be the father of the boy she had encountered in the passages two days earlier.  It was possible the squire was the little girl's shape-changing sibling that the two children had discussed.

She backed away from them both, scooting across the floor, her mind racing. She merely needed to evade them long enough to run, and while that was hardly her strong suit, she was certain desperation would lend her the necessary wings. She had what she needed now, and merely had to find a Transfer Portal to get home to Joux with the information Renier had sent her to obtain. She could not return by means of the one she had come through from Corwyn, for that would require her to take a Haldane hostage in order to access the secret room, and that was time she couldn't spare. But surely Gwynedd had to have a Transfer Portal in its cathedral, most likely in the sacristy, since so many other older cathedrals had them. Even if not, she could claim sanctuary once in the Cathedral, and the monks would be required to feed her for forty days before turning her out. By then, surely she could get a message to King Renier to inform him she had the information he requested but needed rescue in order to deliver it. The Haldanes would be forced to turn her over to Renier if they wished to avoid a diplomatic incident, which they surely would be eager to do if they had valued an alliance with him enough to have wed their heir to Renier's wayward eldest daughter.

Her dilemma neatly sorted in her mind, she merely had to implement her plan now. Madame Dardenay, knowing that attempting to fight two trained swordsmen with only her eating dagger would be useless, summoned up her energy and cast a bolt of deadly energy in their direction instead, not bothering with raising wards first, for there was no time to waste and she didn't really care who else around them might live or die, just so long as she herself escaped unharmed.

#

The Quarters had been thanked and the circle cut, but the Archangels appeared to be going nowhere, somewhat to the trepidation of the ritual participants uncertain about leaving the now unwarded circle. Instead, these august Presences appeared to be watching something with great interest, their attention focused on a portion of the gallery floor above, or more likely on something happening beyond it that mere mortals in the nave were unable to see from their vantage point.

For that matter, King Uthyr was greatly interested in what was happening too. He had vaguely noticed that at some point in the proceedings, his Chief Intelligencer had slipped away from his post to make his way upstairs, one of Uthyr's junior squires nervously taking his place guarding the main entrance to the chapel. The younger squire appeared slightly more relaxed now that the Deryni ritual was over, looking to his King for further direction. Being human and therefore lacking the heightened Deryni senses his other companions shared, he didn't appear to have noticed the presence of four immense supernatural beings looming over them all, which was likely for the best. He would prefer for his squires not to piss themselves in the narthex.

Uthyr buckled his sword belt back on, and with a wave of his hand, he beckoned the squire to follow him up the staircase to the Royal Gallery, the King fully shielded against whatever danger might await them there. Behind him, he heard rather than saw his Queen swiftly taking charge of the situation below and urging the Royal Healer and their heir to return quickly to the safety of Cinhil's quarters. There was no sense in both the King and Heir remaining in the same location, both subject to whatever danger might be lurking overhead. Duke Alain followed his King, as Uthyr had suspected he would, being the King's Champion.

Whether Soraya would decide to follow husband or son, Uthyr couldn't guess, but under the circumstances, he wasn't going to argue with her over whichever decision she made. He had reached the top of the staircase now and saw his senior squire Aidan holding someone vaguely familiar down while Lord Geoffrey appeared to be attempting to read his mind.

No, on second glance, her mind. As Geoffrey leaned forward slightly, the King recognized the woman lying on the floor, her hair askew and her face rather scorched. She was the extremely annoying chaperone King Renier had sent to Gwynedd along with Cinhil's bride.

Uthyr swiftly decided the woman was redundant to needs. But before he could open his mouth to issue any orders to that effect, she slumped in Aidan's arms. Lord Geoffrey leaned back on his haunches with a snort of disgust, although he kept probing her mind a few moments longer before standing to face Uthyr.

#

That, Lord Geoffrey decided, was one of the foulest minds it had ever been his dubious privilege to go wandering through! She had clearly been sent by King Renier to learn what she could about the Haldane potential setting and Empowerment rituals, as well as any other secrets the Haldane Court might have to offer. That much he had managed to discover, as well as a few other disturbing details about the sort of restrictions the King's new daughter-by-marriage had had to live under in recent years, before his probe of the chaperone's mind had managed to trip a death trigger that had been inexpertly set by King Renier, but which was no less effective for all that once it had been tripped.

He had remained in the woman's mind after that only long enough to do a hasty Death Reading, but the only other detail of interest he had been able to glean from it was that she had evidently not managed to make any contact with Joux's King since her arrival in Rhemuth, not even by such mundane means as sending a letter back to Trebaçeaux, so whatever secrets the woman had managed to discover had died with her. Geoffrey managed to mentally convey this information in one quick burst to his sovereign before Aidan's widening gaze drew his attention towards where a shimmering presence was beginning to emerge through the gallery floor.

Geoffrey and Aidan did not need the being to state its intentions in order to know they needed to back away hastily. They had already crossed half the distance back towards the staircase by the time it made its leisurely way towards Madame Dardenay's corpse, lingering over it with dispassionate interest before sundering soul from body, both spiritual entities suddenly disappearing back through the floor in a swirl of energies plunging downwards. Geoffrey, having seen inside the woman's mind, surmised that the Archangel Uriel's trajectory was unlikely to change directions.

#

August 11, 1457
Rhemuth Castle
The King's Study
Mid-morning

Two very nervous children found themselves summoned before the King, escorted by the Chief Intelligencer and King Uthyr's senior squire.

His keen gray eyes studied them both from the other side of his desk. "I am given to understand that you two young urchins both fancy yourselves as intelligencers in training," he greeted them without preamble once they had made their swift obeisances to their sovereign.

Sebastian gave Saoirse a swift, anxious glance before replying. "We were only playing at it, Your Majesty," he admitted sheepishly. Beside him, Saoirse nodded, biting her lip and hoping she wouldn't be banished from Gwynedd for what had seemed a harmless enough game at the time.

"I see." Uthyr steepled his fingers, resting them lightly against his lips as he watched the two downcast faces of the children awaiting their fates. He glanced at their guardians, standing behind them to either side. "Well, I suppose if you are going to take it upon yourselves to act as junior intelligencers, then there's no help for it, I guess I'm going to have to make it official." As they both looked up sharply, he added, "Which will mean you will both need to be sworn into the service of your respective guardians, and since both are in direct fealty to me, that means you will be in my service as well. And as junior intelligencers in my service, you will be bound to strict obedience to those you are swearing to serve. Do you think it is in your ability to be obedient?" He raised a raven eyebrow at them both.

Sebastian was excited, even though he sensed some sort of trap as well. But he wanted to be an intelligencer like his father, and he also wanted to serve his King, so he nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty!"

Beside him, Saoirse looked questioningly at Aidan. Am I allowed to? she asked via Mind-Speech.

As if hearing the question, even though Saoirse was well aware that he couldn't, the King added, "In your case, Saoirse, I realize that as a Banfhlaith of Llyr, your first and foremost loyalty must be to the Crown of Llyr. I would only ask for the same level of homage that I have required of your sister." At Aidan's swiftly concealed surprise, he added with a faint smile, "No, Aoife, I have not forgotten that 'Aidan of Llyr' is actually Llyr's Banoidhre. I am not quite yet in my dotage."

Saoirse suppressed a giggle at her sister's inward surge of chagrin. "I would be honored, Your Majesty."

"All right," Uthyr said with a satisfied smile. "You will both be junior intelligencers in training, under the condition that you will both wait until you have reached an appropriate level of supervised training in your new roles before you will undertake any more missions for the Crown. And by 'appropriate level of training,' I mean what your trainers consider to be sufficient training, not what you yourselves have taken it upon yourselves to decide is sufficient before launching yourselves at an unsuspecting world. In other words, until such time as they tell you that you are ready to take on a mission and what mission it is that you are to take on, you will not just go wandering about looking for adventures to go on, and risk getting in over your heads! You will learn the skills you are given to learn in the order that you are given them, and you will obey what your trainers tell you to do. Should you happen to overhear something or stumble across another situation in future that needs to be brought to their or my attention, you will do so immediately and not attempt to investigate it yourselves. If you aren't able to manage that much adherence to the rules that have been set for you, then you will be of no use to me as intelligencers, because of all the skills in an intelligencer's arsenal, the ability to exercise self-discipline and restraint is primary. Do you both understand me?"

Yup. There was that trap! Sebastian sighed. When he'd said he wanted to be a junior intelligencer, book learning and boring training exercises weren't exactly what he'd had in mind, much less having to obey his father's boring rules, but on the other hand, he supposed he could understand where the King was coming from.

"Yes, Sire," he replied with an air of resignation. At least if he was being accepted and formally trained as a junior intelligencer, maybe that would mean he would get to go on real adventures all the sooner once he got the boring stuff out of the way.

Uthyr looked at Saoirse. She curtseyed. "We'll be obedient, Sire. Even if it kills us."

The King's lips twitched. "I am rather hoping that your obedience will reduce the chances of either of you getting killed." Looking back up at Lord Geoffrey and Aidan, he added, "You are all dismissed. Go start these little hellions on their formal training."

Next chapter: https://www.rhemuthcastle.com/index.php/topic,3296.0.html

[DerynifanK]

This was fascinating. Perhaps the king and Lord Geoffrey will need to re-explore,  map and guard these old passages and how they are accessed and who knows about them to prevent such intrusions in the future.I loved the part where Uriel removes Madame's soul and takes it away. I do wonder how they will explain her disappearance but am glad she is gone. Loved the two new intelligencers in training.

[Evie]

I definitely see re-exploring and re-mapping as a possibility. I think the Royal Family themselves have always passed down the knowledge of the tunnels to their children (they were mostly likely originally designed to provide a secret escape route in case of a major emergency, after all), and a few very trusted retainers like the Arilans and the Morgans would have been told about them as well. Besides that, in theory no one else should be aware of the secret, but in actuality there are likely some descendants of previous generations of trusted retainers who at least are aware that the secret passages exist, even if they have no idea how to get into them. (For instance, if a Morgan daughter married a Jouvian prince two-hundred years earlier, she might have happened to let slip that Rhemuth Castle has secret passages just like le Palais de Trebaçeaux does. Even if she never knew or showed him the secret glyph that allows you to enter them, the knowledge of their existence may have been passed down to subsequent generations via rumor.) So it's likely that the passages have been an openly acknowledged secret, or at least the subject of rumors past and present, but as long as no one knew how to enter them, there was no problem with people speculating about their existence. After all, Rhemuth is hardly the only castle to have them, so even if they didn't have secret passages, others might still speculate that they might have some.

So there is actually no way for anyone to know exactly who is aware that the secret passages at Rhemuth Castle exist. They can only figure out who in the present generation is supposed to know they exist, which hopefully would also be the very short list of people who also know how to enter them. Even Madame and Renier didn't have that information, and had Madame simply discovered a second- or third-hand copy of Sophie's original map, she might never have discovered that part of the secret.

So what about guarding the passages? Sure, that's possible, but it's unlikely to happen for the simple reason that adding guards to the passages would actually increase the number of people who both know about their existence and how to enter them, which over time would also increase the security risk, unless none of those guards happened to have family members or close friends they might mention the existence of those passages to. ("What do you do at the Castle, Dad?" "I would tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.") Or even if they were super tight-lipped and told no one, a Deryni who is intent on gaining the knowledge might just Mind-Rip it from their minds, and the more people who know a secret, the more target-rich the environment is if you happen to be a bad guy ruthless enough to go hunting down people who might know the secret you are searching for. Plus, that would be an incredibly boring job--standing around for hours in a dark and empty passage that the Royal Family only uses every so often, mostly to avoid having to go outside in the rain when traveling from the Castle to the Basilica and back, just on the off-chance someone else might figure out a way to get into the passage. And all those incredibly bored guards would need to be paid for their time.

It would be much simpler in future to add some sort of wards to each family member's bedchamber (or increase the warding in future), and/or possibly add a ward to the Basilica entrance and the Chapel entrance to keep out anyone not specifically approved to enter it. I doubt there is much interest in trying to keep unapproved people from getting out. Imagine if there was a Castle fire or some anti-Haldane/anti-Deryni revolution in future, and some poor prince or princess got stuck in the passage unable to get out just because Dad forgot to specifically attune the ward to them when he was teaching them about the passages and the glyph to enter them! 

[Evie]

I loved the part where Uriel removes Madame's soul and takes it away. I do wonder how they will explain her disappearance but am glad she is gone. Loved the two new intelligencers in training.

Since only her soul was taken and not her body, it would be easy enough to just tell people the old bat died, which is the truth after all. They needn't go into details about how it happened or what she was doing at the time, where her body was found, etc. Lots of people die suddenly for lots of different reasons--heart attacks, strokes, aneurisms, etc.

I figured if anyone would know how to find trouble even if they weren't specifically looking for it, it would be Sebastian and Saoirse. 

[DerynifanK]

I love the image of the archangels remaining after the ceremony staring curiously at what was going on in the secret passage. Makes them seem almost human.

[Jerusha]

Oh well done, Evie!  Well done!

[Evie]

If you want a similar view to what Sebastian and Saoirse might have seen from their upper level vantage point, here is the second level gallery in the Royal Chapel at Versailles: Gallery view

(I can replace that with an embedded image once I'm back on a computer rather than on my phone.)

Imagine the chapel being completely dark and empty aside from the glow of a few candles and the wards on the lower level, and the upper level being shrouded in almost total darkness. Madame would be hiding behind one of the pillars on the right. The children would be in the secret passage peeking through the small crack in the wedged-open door and witnessing Madame's darker silhouette in the very dim light coming from below, but unable to venture any closer to actually see what is happening below their level.

[Evie]

I love the image of the archangels remaining after the ceremony staring curiously at what was going on in the secret passage. Makes them seem almost human.

Oddly enough, I was thinking of very curious cats staring up at a bug on the wall. 

[Evie]

Oh well done, Evie!  Well done!

Mercy buttercups! 

[JudithR]

Didn't see that coming.  The children are a right pair.  I do like the Arilans in your writing. And the Haldanes.  Very well done.

[Demercia]

I love the image of the archangels remaining after the ceremony staring curiously at what was going on in the secret passage. Makes them seem almost human.

Oddly enough, I was thinking of very curious cats staring up at a bug on the wall. 

Cats would think the analogy very appropriate.  Another great chapter thank you

[Nezz]

I was hoping for a slightly more painful fate for Madame, but I guess we take what we can get.

[revanne]

I was hoping for a slightly more painful fate for Madame, but I guess we take what we can get.

GIven that it is strongly implied that her soul is NOT on the way to heaven I imagine she has an unpleasant fate in store off camera.

[Nezz]

I was hoping for a slightly more painful fate for Madame, but I guess we take what we can get.

GIven that it is strongly implied that her soul is NOT on the way to heaven I imagine she has an unpleasant fate in store off camera.

"off camera"? I wanted to see it! stamps her little foot

[DerynifanK]

I definitely see re-exploring and re-mapping as a possibility. I think the Royal Family themselves have always passed down the knowledge of the tunnels to their children (they were mostly likely originally designed to provide a secret escape route in case of a major emergency, after all), and a few very trusted retainers like the Arilans and the Morgans would have been told about them as well. Besides that, in theory no one else should be aware of the secret, but in actuality there are likely some descendants of previous generations of trusted retainers who at least are aware that the secret passages exist, even if they have no idea how to get into them. (For instance, if a Morgan daughter married a Jouvian prince two-hundred years earlier, she might have happened to let slip that Rhemuth Castle has secret passages just like le Palais de Trebaçeaux does. Even if she never knew or showed him the secret glyph that allows you to enter them, the knowledge of their existence may have been passed down to subsequent generations via rumor.) So it's likely that the passages have been an openly acknowledged secret, or at least the subject of rumors past and present, but as long as no one knew how to enter them, there was no problem with people speculating about their existence. After all, Rhemuth is hardly the only castle to have them, so even if they didn't have secret passages, others might still speculate that they might have some.

So there is actually no way for anyone to know exactly who is aware that the secret passages at Rhemuth Castle exist. They can only figure out who in the present generation is supposed to know they exist, which hopefully would also be the very short list of people who also know how to enter them. Even Madame and Renier didn't have that information, and had Madame simply discovered a second- or third-hand copy of Sophie's original map, she might never have discovered that part of the secret.

So what about guarding the passages? Sure, that's possible, but it's unlikely to happen for the simple reason that adding guards to the passages would actually increase the number of people who both know about their existence and how to enter them, which over time would also increase the security risk, unless none of those guards happened to have family members or close friends they might mention the existence of those passages to. ("What do you do at the Castle, Dad?" "I would tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.") Or even if they were super tight-lipped and told no one, a Deryni who is intent on gaining the knowledge might just Mind-Rip it from their minds, and the more people who know a secret, the more target-rich the environment is if you happen to be a bad guy ruthless enough to go hunting down people who might know the secret you are searching for. Plus, that would be an incredibly boring job--standing around for hours in a dark and empty passage that the Royal Family only uses every so often, mostly to avoid having to go outside in the rain when traveling from the Castle to the Basilica and back, just on the off-chance someone else might figure out a way to get into the passage. And all those incredibly bored guards would need to be paid for their time.

It would be much simpler in future to add some sort of wards to each family member's bedchamber (or increase the warding in future), and/or possibly add a ward to the Basilica entrance and the Chapel entrance to keep out anyone not specifically approved to enter it. I doubt there is much interest in trying to keep unapproved people from getting out. Imagine if there was a Castle fire or some anti-Haldane/anti-Deryni revolution in future, and some poor prince or princess got stuck in the passage unable to get out just because Dad forgot to specifically attune the ward to them when he was teaching them about the passages and the glyph to enter them! 

They certainly couldn't guard all the entrances all the time but if they had been aware of the entrance of the gallery they would have guarded it during the ritual. Warding sounds like a good idea.