As the sun slipped lower in the sky, the Inquisitor made haste from the tournament grounds. The fields were some distance away from the castle and the light was fading fast. His robes flew about him as he hurried along. People in the crowd made way for him as he passed, whispers of "Lord High Executioner", "fiend" and "Gods protect us" swirling about.
He paid them no heed, but carried on along his single-minded course. With each step, the sun sank lower and lower in the evening sky. His mind raced and willed his feet faster, but he dared not run. Too obvious a display would bring suspicion, and he could not afford a mistake.
After what seemed an eternity, he entered through the portcullis gate and into the courtyard. He mounted the stairs two at a time, guards gave unreturned salute as he passed. At last he reached the upper walk, and made for the tunnel running through the golden tower.
- - -
As the Queen looked on, the princess attended to the armour of Lord Tymrill, and the in turn the two champions. Each piece of plate and mail she took off and laid very carefully in precise stacks, careful not to cause even the slightest scratch. At last all three men stood in the tunics and animal furs, as she'd seen them in their camp. She preferred their rugged clothes to the bright and shining armour, and dazzled each with the sweetest smile.
As for the men, though they had been promised a worthy prize, each felt a bit awkward as they allowed her to undress them before the Queen. But the princess paid them extra care and attention, putting each at ease.
At last, she began to undress herself. She undid her lacings very slowly, allowing her hands and fingertips to run across her body, to softly touch her breasts and nipples through their fine gown. Out came a lacing, followed by another, until her breasts hung free of their confinement. Slow, slow she arched her shoulders back, and her gown slipped from them, sliding down her smooth skin in a delicious rustle of fabric. There, before the chieftain and his champions, before the Queen, before anyone who chose to gaze up toward the Queen's viewing balcony above the tournament field, the princess stood naked in the gathering cool. As she felt her nipples harden in the chill air, she watched as the sun at last slipped past the tallest tree, and down below the horizon. Casting a quick glance, she desperately relieved to find the Queen gave the sun no heed, but instead filled her eyes with the sight of the princess and her beautiful body.
- - -
Within the tunnel passageway, the Inquisitor noted an eerie change to the runes and ribbons which scrolled and spiraled throughout the walls, ceiling and floor. To his eyes, they appeared almost alive. They coursed with a strange golden light, like a pulse running through veins and arteries. As he watched, he discerned this pulsing was in fact the last rays of the sun, their light and heat coursing through the golden ribbons like a current. They flowed from the direction of the setting sun, under his feet, over his head, all around. He watched the light and followed its course.
As the sun was only the tiniest speck of crimson dancing above the western treetops, a thin beam of light, dazzlingly bright, shot through a tiny chink in the stonework of a western battlement. So bright was the beam, that the Inquisitor nearly dove out of its path as it blazed through the tunnel, shining directly upon a single point in the far wall of the courtyard below. Only a moment it remained, and then the sun slipped below the trees and the eerie glowing, pulsing light was gone.
All pretense of subterfuge abandoned, the Inquisitor raced across the battlement, down the stone stairs, to the very spot where the ray of sun had alighted.
