I love
the sea. The vast expanse of it always
makes me feel like the universe belongs to me rather than I belong to the
universe. I like that I am small against
it but the might of it fills me and makes me feel colossal. So it was an injustice of nature that my
equilibrium only operated properly on land.
The vast undulating expanse made me feel like the universe had just
parked in my belly and needed a way out.
I was small all right— a tiny speck of retching life on a constantly bobbing
boat that was itself a speck upon the water.
And that speck was a day’s sail from our destination and we were only
two hours out from Sandhitch.
A further injustice was that Andreas who
only tolerated nature felt no ill effects at all. He stood on the deck with the wind in his
hair and his hands clasped behind his back taking it all in. I would have thought he looked majestic
against such a backdrop, if his very presence hadn’t been opposing the dip of
the boat upon the water against the rise and fall of the never-ending sea. I had no time to tell him that he should stand
else where for sake of my weakness before my weakness overtook me and I was
again hanging over the starboard rail.
I was sure that Andreas was analyzing the
potential energy he could draw from the sea and use as a spell of magic. I was equally sure that his analysis had
nothing to do with making me feel better.
If I had been able to speak I would have told him what a callous cad I
thought he was.
I don’t know how long we stayed that way,
but the beast I called a partner finally came over to see about me. “Is there anything I can do?” He asked in a
quiet tone.
“Uhn,” I replied, which meant: “About time
you heartless bastard!”
“A blanket maybe?”
I shook my head positively and groaned,
which meant: “That’s the least you can
do after swaying in front of me all day.”
He went below to the small cabin we shared
with Egidio and returned quickly with not one but two blankets. He wrapped one around me and put the other on
the deck so that he could sit upon it.
“Maybe you’ll be better off sleeping on
deck tonight where at least you’ll have fresh air. I’ll sleep right here in case you need me.”
My partner is such a sweet man.
***
By daybreak I was feeling better. I was shaky and tired, but my stomach was
settling down and my equilibrium was straightening out. I did not sleep well for obvious reasons, and
Andreas did no better for looking after me.
Egidio informed us that we were making good time on what he called calm
seas. We would make Winter Top by mid day. Andreas and Egidio ate on the deck and we
watched for land. Knowing where to look,
Egidio called out first. All we saw was
a white swirl of cloud, but as we came in closer we could see the mountain
peaks that ringed the island. When we
moved closer still, an ancient cinder cone became visible at the center of the
island. It towered above the rest and
the cloud that veiled the island emanated from it.
Egidio steered the ship toward the southern
end of the island and found a place to anchor.
We let the loading ramp out into the water, unloaded the horses, and
waded together to the shore. The animals
went across the sand to the grasses that grew there and ate heartily. Andreas gave them fresh water from a small
cask while I looked for a way into the mountains. I followed a trail for a couple of miles and
when it still looked good for as far as I could see, I returned to Andreas. We lead the horses up the trail to the point
at which I had left it. The trail there
opened up over a landscape of scrub and rock. We mounted and rode slowly side-by-side. The way wound through the juts of rock and
over the steep sloping shoulders of the mountains. Winter Top towered above it all and the clouds
were in a swirl above her. The snow swept
off the clouds in veils of soft white and the air grew icy. We stopped long enough to wrap ourselves in
fur-lined gear and then we moved on.
We wound up through the mountains and
stopped to take in the scenery that surrounded Winter Top. We sat astride Grey Aria and Dark Corydon
looking across a wide valley between the ring of mountains on which we rested
and the crater called Winter Top. The
stark grey lines of cold stone, black shadows, and white sky was overwhelming
beautiful against the soft violet backdrop of the surrounding mountains. I’d never seen mountains so magnificent. The clouds below us in the valley swirled
gradually up the sides of Winter Top and then spun in a flourish before being
sucked down into the crater. In the
center of the crater a tower of cloud shot up with the force of a cyclone to
crash into the ceiling of the atmosphere and spread out into the cloud
cover. The clouds were in turn sucked
back down into the whirl of winds in the valley. The scene repeated perpetually.
We made our way down the mountain ring
until we were just above the valley winds.
We stayed the night there, and in the morning we made a sling for the
scroll. I wore it across my left
shoulder so that it hung tight against my waist just behind the sword at my
right side. We left the four horses to
graze in the valley.
We tied back our hair so that we could see,
and tied down everything we carried, to keep it from blowing away or hindering
our movement. The winds beat at us from
the first moment that we broke through the swirling clouds to continue our
descent into the valley and they were relentless. Even tied down everything was pulled by the
wind. We allowed ourselves to be
propelled by it, but as we came closer to the singular mass of Winter Top the
winds grew stronger and we were at risk of being blown over. We tied together and exchanged our warm
mittens for leather gloves and pickaxes to hold onto the rock as we prepared to
make our ascent of Winter Top. We were
battered by the wind so when at last we crawled to the edge of the crater rim
and peered over we were badly bruised and beaten.
The iron rich walls of the crater were worn
smooth from ages of erosive winds. The
way down would be slick and treacherous; pickaxes would do little to slow a fall
on so hard and smooth a surface. Fierce tempest winds tossed the clouds around
the walls in a frenzied race to the central column that would toss them back
into the atmosphere. I smiled at how
like children at play the clouds seemed— relentlessly returning to be tossed
into the sky again and again. The rush
of wind was the cloud’s laughter.
We were in awe of the place, and yet it
filled us with fear. Any unprepared
descent into the winds and the crater would be met with certain death. If we were fortunate enough to make it to the
bottom intact we would be shot up into the sky.
Our deaths would be the plaything of the elements, either we would be
tossed about for eternity in the tempest, or flung free of their force to crash
upon the rocks of the valley. We could
think of no good plan, so naturally we went with a bad one.
We untied ourselves from each other, but
left our gear tied down. We tied the
corner of my cloak to my right wrist and Andreas’s left ankle. We would slide
on our backsides along the craters surface, allowing the wind to carry us
toward the central whirlwind. We sat
with Andreas in front of me and I wrapped my legs around him. That way he was free to concentrate on his
spell and the scroll was protected, while I attempted to use my cloak as a
sail. Andreas would use his new
spell. He promised to name it if it
worked. The idea was to borrow force
from the winds to create enough counterforce against them so that we could move
through the whirlwind and discover the hiding place for the scroll, grab it and
get out. On our return Andreas’s spell
would be used again to soften the propulsion of the whirlwind, navigate to the
edge of the winds, and jump clear of them, hopefully at an un-deadly height.
We shoved off moving awkwardly at first. We
had to lean against the wind to avoid being turned over until I got the hang of
our make shift sail. I found that I had
to use my left arm as a gaff to secure the sail and capture the wind. Andreas’s leg worked just fine as a boom. The wind would suck our voices away so
conversation was impossible. I could see
that Andreas was carefully muttering his spell as we made our second lap around
and deeper into the crater. We were
picking up speed and my arms burned from the pressure the wind was putting on
them. As we came closer to the column of
wind I had to use all my weight against Andreas to keep us from going airborne.
Andreas’s spell did not have the effect we
had expected, but it was a success nonetheless.
Instead of giving us a pocket in the wind we rebounded between it and
the wall of the crater, which was much closer at the bottom. I didn’t know how long Andreas could keep the
spell going, but I did know it was all that was keeping us from certain
death. I lost control of the sail and wrapped
one arm around Andreas while using the other as a rudder to keep us from
slamming into the rocks. Sheer strength
and will kept us upright.
I saw an opening in the crater wall, and
steered for it, but missed. Andreas was
struggling under the elemental energy being channeled through his body, but he
was still working. I watched for the
opening as we were tossed about the crater and steered for it twice more as it
came up, and missed twice more, but the fourth time we blew in and slammed into
the back wall of what amounted to no more than a tall grotto. An old lava conduit partially revealed. There
was no wind in the grotto, but it still spun ferociously just outside.
We untangled ourselves from each other and
our makeshift sail. Andreas caught his breath
while I inspected our surroundings. The
only feature of the little cave was a huge slab of stone centered in the floor
of the room. The mass of it should have
been impossible for me to move, but I could not resist a try at it. When I did it slid back easily to reveal a
set of stone stairs leading down to a circular room. In the center of that room was another stone
slab, but upon this slab was a scroll wrapped in a finely wrought mesh net
which was in turn wrapped in chains secured to the stone by an iron loop on
each side.
Andreas crawled to the opening and peered
down while I carefully checked the opening and then the stairs for mechanical
traps. I proceeded down the stairs as I
checked and arrived at the floor of the hidden room intact. It was only a few feet to the slab and the
scroll but I was leery of my situation and I checked every inch of floor
leading to the slab. Again I arrived
safely. Certain that the slab, chains,
and scroll could and would be trapped I continued, tediously checking every
inch of each of them in turn. I found
nothing. I was faced with the fact that there were no locks securing the
chains. Each loop had been passed
through several random links of the mesh net as it had been wrapped around the
scroll and then the loops were passed into the stone by what must have been
magical means, because there were no signs of damage to the stone or the
loops. I tugged the loops by hand and
pried them with a dagger, and then my spare sword, but nothing budged. I tried to untangle the scroll from the
chains, but it was too thick for me to pry apart and no space was large enough
to pass the scroll through. The chain
and the slab of stone did not give. They
were one solid piece with the stone floor.
I was out of ideas and went to rest on the
stairs and to converse with Andreas. As
you know by now, he had a way with the elements and I thought he might be able
to manipulate the stone or the metal. Of
course I wasn’t asking anything he wasn’t already considering. He rose and moved around me and down the
stairs. I watched quietly as he walked
once around the small chamber and then once around the slab. He knelt and reached out to grasp one of the
loops. He pulled but nothing happened
and my mind raced in search of other options, until I saw motion at the base of
the loop. Andreas’s muscles strained and
the veins at his temples bulged, but one end of the loop eased out of the
stone. Andreas let the links of chain
slip off the twisted piece of metal, and then he pulled the net wrapped scroll
out from the chains. He uncovered the
scroll and delivered it to me, but a smile crossed his lips and he turned back. He replaced the metal net on the stone,
slipped the chains back over the net, and once again his muscles strained and
metal turned in his hand. He manipulated
it with his mind until it was once again a loop, and then he held it to the
stone and pushed. Until it was set as it was when we entered. He was flushed and sweating, but his eyes were
bright and his smile was exuberant.
“I had to,” he said. “I realized how vexing it would be for Polk if
he does follow us.” He bent to take the
scroll from me again and joined me on the stairs.
The title of this composition was The One
King. We knew it must be authentic. The design works of the borders were done by
the same hand that had produced the Scroll we already possessed. We spent a few hours perusing the second
scroll, and comparing it to the one we had, noting differences in the
score. We looked long and hard to find
two that after wards seemed so obvious.
We found one in an octave transition.
Three stanzas down the first scroll fought a great battle between cellos
and mandolins, while the other was a more harmonious blend. It was a dark piece; the cellos deep toned
flourishes juxtaposed with the bright lilting fingerings of the mandolin. I was reminded of minions of darkness and
great warriors who sought to drive them back to the abyss.
In the first scroll; The Valkyries Lament
composition, the music was epic and suspenseful and in the end triumphant. I remembered the old songs of the Montar
legend. I could almost see King Montar
pushing the fallen demons back behind the gate and locking the gate that had
once sealed them in. In The One King the
first two stanzas were identical but the third was swarming with rolling
percussion crescendos. Again the old
stories were recalled from my memory. I
could see the trio of evil’s minions, running Montar through, and locking him
in chains. Then they left him to the
scavengers. The legend varies about what
happened next, and the music made no impression on me about it.
Father Gan thought that if we obtained this
scroll, we would be able to decipher the notes that were the second key. If Polk knew the first key he could lower the
seal that kept three levels of the underworld from spilling out onto the
surface with mortal men.
We were sure there would be other clues,
but we wanted to get back to the ship. Andreas
was feeling rested and capable of another spell. He had decided to name it Wind Devil. It was an all right name, but it didn’t give
justice to the power it unleashed. We adjusted the sling to accommodate both
scrolls, this time I hung them at my left side, and we went across the room to
the entrance and the wind. Andreas began
his spell and I climbed onto his back.
He took a step forward and we shot backwards to land in a heap on the
floor.
I waited for Andreas to get up off of me,
but as he did he was flung across the room by a creature of wind coming in from
the whirlwind outside. I had heard
horror stories about such things, but I never believed in them until that
moment. I scrambled back quickly from
the towering creature, but not fast enough.
A massive hand of white cloud grabbed me around the neck and I was picked
up to look the swirling white elemental straight in his stormy dark eye. I struggled, but my flailing was useless
against him. His billowy softness
cushioned my blows and I was too small to get my hands around him. I struggled to stay conscious, as he squeezed
my neck. I could feel my heart beating
in my eyes and my head ached with the pounding of it. I heard Andreas shouting something from
somewhere in the small room. I remember
thinking, ‘Save yourself world’. As I fought for consciousness I was thrown
against the cold stone floor and I could hear Andreas still shouting. I felt a blast of searing heat and then it
was raining inside the cave as I fell back into black unconsciousness.
The next thing that came to me out of the
darkness was Andreas’s soft voice and gentle prodding. I was alive!
It took me some long moments to gather my senses before I could sit up
with Andreas’s help. The room was soaked
and dripping with water. Andreas had
improvised yet again and pulled heat from deep within the earth to blast
against the creature and dissipate it into a shower of rain. He seemed none the worse for it as he checked
me for injuries. My throat hurt like the
worst illness I’d ever had and my eyes ached just being in my head. Other than that Andreas pronounced me fit to
continue.
We were ready this time should another
creature attack as we stepped out of the grotto. Could we prevent it? Could we survive attack after attack? How many were there? We could not answer any of these things, of
course, so we did not dwell long on them.
We chose instead to walk boldly forward.
I would carry Andreas on my back and the scrolls within the sling. He would be free to cast whatever incantations
or elemental manipulations he could come up with for whatever situation we
faced. He climbed on and I stepped
out. Another wind creature never
materialized but our anticipation caused a crucial delay in our plan. We were pulled toward the swirling tower of
wind. Andreas held on but I heard his
words of incantation and his strained grunts as the elemental powers funneled
through him. There was nothing I could
do but hold onto Andreas and dear life.
My feet went out from under me and we slid along on our rumps and then
on our backs and then side by side.
The tip of the vortex was mere feet in
front of us when I felt a tangible release of power from Andreas. He channeled it into his hands and directed
it straight ahead into the swirl of clouds.
This time he successfully created a seam and we passed into the vortex. He immediately put his hands down at his
sides and directed the force he was calling upon behind us. I did not repeat his actions quickly
enough. We shot up through the center of
the vortex eye. Where Andreas rode the
force he had created, I was bounced and tumbled across it. My heart raced. I was completely at the mercy of circumstance. This situation made all those previous to it
fade in comparison. When we shot out of
the column Andreas snagged me out of the air, pulled me to him and wrapped himself
around me. I could still feel the power
emanating from his hands. He
somersaulted us around in mid air to maneuver us toward the outer ring of
clouds with the power he controlled. I
would have screamed in fear had I not been in such awe. He was laughing with glee. There would be no living with him now that he
had learned to fly.
We hit the second draft from the
surrounding ring at an angle that skipped us across the top and we were free of
their influence. We fell quickly, but Andreas
still controlled our descent. I actually
began to enjoy the sensation of flight but we were nearing the top of the
mountains that surround Winter Top and we needed to find somewhere to land,
before Andreas tired. I pointed out a
suitable spot and he steered us toward it.
It was a landing to behold, we tried to position ourselves for a smooth
transition to the ground, but we each had our own ideas and we became a
twisted, mangled heap, even before we hit the side of the mountain.
We sorted ourselves out, brushed ourselves
off, assessed our injuries, cracked our aching joints, and danced. I danced because I was happy to be
alive. Andreas danced because he was
drunk with the power he had discovered in himself on that day. I was happy for him too, but I wondered if my
friend would be able to keep his perspective.
If he began to lose it I would have to attempt to rein him in,
remembering that he wielded a weapon I could not. His ability to control the elements could
kill me. I looked at him. He was frolicking—actually frolicking like a
pony on an early spring day. I knew that
he would be high on this for quite awhile.
I knew that I would be too. We
flew! I danced over to him and we
frolicked together a few moments until we laughed at our own
outrageousness. We settled into a walk
and made our way back to the horses.
When we arrived we collapsed and fell asleep.
It was night when I woke but the moons were
bright, I attributed that to my brighter attitude. I judged from their phases that I had slept for
the better part of two days. Andreas
snored softly and I did not disturb him. Fighting the elements was exhausting for both
of us, but especially Andreas. I went to
check on the horses and found them sleeping nearby. It was a good thing. We had a lot of time to make up after so long
a rest.
I went hunting and shot a hare. I had it prepared, wrapped in salt pork
strips and on a spit before first light. The smell of it roused Andreas. I told him about the moons and he recognized
our increased sense of urgency as well.
We ate and broke camp. We went to
the horses and saw that they got oats and took them to drink at a nearby brook.
When they had their fill of both we
saddled up and made our return trip as quickly as terrain and mount would
allow.
Egidio was waiting as promised and we were
under way shortly after boarding. I was
not happy to be on a ship again, but there was nothing to do for it and I
resigned myself to another agonizing voyage.
I began to wish I hadn’t slept so much while on the island.
While I suffered, Andreas studied the two
scrolls that we had in our possession.
He played each piece on his harp note-by-note, stanza-by-stanza
comparing each piece that he played with the other in his mind. He was unable to crack a code that would
reveal the melody of any keys, but we were more than half way back to Sandhitch
when he came to me with a theory.
Andreas was well educated and he had been
looking over the pictographs along the borders of the scrolls. He believed that they referred to another island
amongst a cluster of islands. It was
called Thunder Head. It was uncharted,
but he believed that he and Egidio had collated the location from an
illustration of a starlit night sky.
Egidio knew the stars of course, being a sailor and we believed we had a
good heading to set off on. If we were
right it would be three to four days voyage on that heading. The island was formed by ancient ice flows
and was rife with horned spires of rock.
Andreas believed from the emotions of the music near that illustration
that there was a devastating event; some sad ancient cataclysm that the rest of
the world knew nothing about. He said it
was as if he saw an ancient people dying in a dream as he played the music upon
his harp. He believed it was some
function of magic within the scroll. We
discussed the images that I had seen, but dismissed until then.
Music invokes magic as simple images that
all people feel when enchanted by it. It
was possible that we had stumbled on a valuable tool to aid us in the deciphering
of the scrolls. The element that we
expected to deal with next was Earth, but after our experience on Winter Top that
was the least of my fears.
If we had three scrolls we could learn the
location of the master from clues within the beautifully drawn borders of each
scroll. The musical keys to opening the
gates were still hidden somehow within the individual scores. The gate locations were encrypted in the
Master Scroll along with the words of power that could lock or unlock the Evil
One.
I offered a theory, “If Polk was able to
predict where the first key is then there must be something else about the
scroll that the good father and his sect have been unable to extrapolate.”
“Yes, I know that. Polk still needs all three scrolls to unseal
the binds at the gates, when he realizes that he will be back after us for the
scrolls. If he does seek the master,
then the location of that must be given within each of the three scrolls,
contrary to what Gan believes. He cannot
free the Dark One from the binds that King Montar placed on him so long ago
unless he has the words to do so, and that is only revealed in the master
scroll. He cannot get to the Dark One;
even if he knows the keys, unless he has the locations, and the locations are
in the master. So if the Master Scroll
tells us where the gates are, even though the keys are revealed in the three
scrolls, the three scrolls must tell us where the master is. It would seem that we need all four scrolls,
and in the end we will, but to beat Polk we may need only the three.”
I acknowledged the possibility, “Then if we
have the scrolls he must come to us either way, either for clues to the gates,
or to open the master scroll. And while
he searches for us we can unravel the key codes. Kapit or Gan will certainly be willing to
sponsor us. Perhaps we can even stay in
one place and let Polk come to us while under their protection.”
“We already know that we must follow the
scrolls to the the gates, but perhaps the scrolls, even just one can take us to
the master. It seems as simple as that.”
“Let’s hope so.” His conclusion to my half-baked theory seemed sensible. We were close to the third scroll, and from
there we would go to unscramble the melodies of the keys, and perhaps even
decipher the location of the master. All
of that gave Polk time to worry about the master scroll. If we did not beat him to it he would still
have to come to us for the gate keys, and then we would take the master from
him. Andreas made financial arrangements
with Egidio to take us beyond our previous arrangement. He paid him with gems from the chest provided
by Kapit and it wasn’t long before we were turned about and under way to
Thunder Head.
I endured two additional days of misery
before my body adjusted to the sea.
There were still momentary lapses of balance, but they were no longer
accompanied by nausea. I actually
enjoyed the third day aboard and spent it on deck searching the horizon for
Thunder Head. It was nearing dark when
we spotted a cluster of islands off our portside. Egidio did not want to go into unfamiliar
waters at night, with the risk of unseen rocks or reefs below us. We made preparation and let go the
anchor. We spent the night on deck and
watched the suns set on the starboard horizon. In the morning we watched the suns rise behind
the islands. We were unsure which one
was Thunder Head so we watched carefully as the sun lit them up. Egidio sailed around each of them at a
distance that gave us a view of the entire island. We watched and waited for some glint of glass
or metal, but none came—that is until high suns when we saw a large glint so
sleek and tall that we had great hopes it had been manmade.
Egidio maneuvered us around the island. We watched the spot to get a bearing on it and
we became certain that it was a man made obelisk. It was the same rock as the island, but the
shape of it was certainly constructed.
Egidio lent us his spyglass and the structure was brought in closer for
our eyes to see. We could see only a
portion of the top, but that was enough.
Exquisite sculptures of god-like warriors crowned the pinnacle of the
structure which appeared to be fluted along the entire length of it.
We made our way around again looking for a
suitable landing area. Egidio slipped in
masterfully between the rocks and got us close enough that we could wade in
amongst the smaller rocks, but there seemed no way up. The island shot straight up out of the
sea. The stone was not without
handholds, but they were minimal. We
considered employing Andreas’s new found flying ability, but Egidio warned us
off of that. He pointed out the raptors
gliding on the winds, and we watched the sudden ascents and descents that they
made. The birds were safe because they
had wings with which to catch themselves upon the changing winds. If we shot straight up, and made it to the
top we could not be certain that the wind would allow us to turn to land on the
island with Andreas’s still somewhat unpredictable control of his spell. We had climbed before without ropes, but this
time Andreas had seen to it that we had plenty in our storage chest. We took several lengths of thin silk rope two
pick-hammers and thin spikes with eyehooks for anchoring the ropes to the
cliff. We put all of our weapons and armor into a leather sack that would be
hoisted behind us. We wanted no odd protrusions that would jam upon the wall
and make our climb even more dangerous.
We fashioned harnesses from two lengths of
thick jute rope and tied it all together with a hook at the middle so that when
worn, the ropes encircled our legs, ran up our backs and around our shoulders
to join again at the inverted hook at our midsections. The whole contraption was uncomfortable, but
it was less confining than other configurations we had tried. We made a loop in the end of the rope, slid
it over the hook and tightened it. Along
this loop we strung numerous spikes so they were ready as I let out the
rope. We folded this length of rope and
I hung it over the hook so that I could let it out as I climbed, at the end Andreas
attached the leather gear bag. I put an
additional coil of rope around my body and each shoulder. We guessed the cliffs at two hundred
feet. We had three hundred feet of
rope. If we could ascend in a generally
straight up climb we would be fine, but we knew that often that was not the
case and a crooked path was more usual.
If we ran out of rope Andreas would have to climb up to meet me,
removing the rope I had already set.
The boat rocked between two lines of
rock. I was not sure that was safe, but
Egidio assured me we had tied off properly.
I climbed over the ship railing and let myself into the frigid
waves. Andreas followed and we made our
way to the base of the cliff.
I climbed about twenty feet, letting rope
trail out behind me. I set a spike and
made my way again. When I set the second
spike Andreas began his climb. He always
stayed at least two spikes behind. If
one gave way we hoped the upper spikes would hold and stop a fall. We soon found that wasn’t enough. We were on the second length of rope; Andreas
was climbing six spikes behind me. I was
about to start the third rope when the spike that Andreas was at came free and
he fell. The weight took out the next
three spikes until he stopped on the fourth with only two more spikes above him
to hold him fast. He swung, secured by
the harness, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Each spike pulled free came closer to yanking
us both from the cliff to crash onto the rocks below. My relief was felt too soon; the motion of
his swinging and the tension of his weight coupled with that of the gear bag
strained on two more spikes and he fell again. I quickly set two more spikes on
either side of the one I’d already set and wrapped what rope I could between
the three spikes as swiftly as I could in an attempt to stop Andreas’s
momentum. I braced myself and pulled up on the rope below me in an attempt to
take tension off of the spikes. One more
spike went before my efforts paid off and only my hastily placed anchor
remained in place.
My efforts were too late to save Andreas. He hit his head hard upon the rocks and I
could see his body sag at the end of the rope.
I called out several times to try to waken him, but it was useless. My heart sank. He was too far up for Egidio to be any assistance,
so I would have to climb down to him. I
needed to reach him quickly for my sake as well as his, but I was impeded by my
lack of a mastered skill. I often
dangled my life and his at the end of my fingers, gripping some thin crack or
ledge, in a defiant act against gravity and death. The process seemed unending. I could not be sure what constriction was
tearing into Andreas’s body as he swayed to and fro with the weight of gear
below him. Egidio continued to call to
him from below as I made my way at a snail's pace, but Andreas just swung
there.
I had gone back down another fifty feet and
three spikes when I looked down and saw Andreas open his eyes. He struggled at the end of his tether and I
could hear his cries of pain. I had to
scream at him to break through his terrified flailing. He snapped out of his senseless fog of fear
and pulled up the weight of the gear bag.
His position was awkward but he was able to right himself eventually and
he tied the gear off to the first length of rope and removed the constriction
from himself. I still had a fifty-foot
climb to get to him, but by the time I got to him he had performed some healing
upon himself and pronounced that, aside from a throbbing lump on his head, he
was fit to continue.
We left the gear bag attached to the first
rope and Andreas hoisted it behind us as I continued ahead, finding another
route up and began to set the spikes and ropes again. I used two spikes at each tie off and laced
the rope around them both. This made our
climb slower, but safer. We made it
finally, as the sun was about to set. We
pulled up our gear, and climbed down into the shelter of the rocks before outfitting
ourselves. We were tired, battered and
torn, from our strenuous climb and we needed rest.
Andreas was in more need than I so I took
what little gear I needed to act as sentry.
I checked the area to be sure Andreas would be safe and then I moved
amongst the rocks to afford myself a better view of the mysterious construction
and found a perch above our tiny camp and sat to watch. I could see only the violets and pinks of the
suns’ set, and wished that I could see them reflected on the sea. The sky eventually dimmed from blue to purple
to black. The stars twinkled in and
heavy moons moved slowly across the sky.
The light of them allowed me to see between the rocks.
An obelisk had caused the glint of light
that we had seen from the ship. Now I
could barely make it out against the dark sky.
I saw no light from windows or doors, no torch or lantern guttered or
moved. It was too dark from that
distance to see if anyone moved about without the benefit of a light source,
but I watched for shadows to play upon the walls under such bright moons. No shadow showed, and still no flicker of
light at window or door caught my eye, and I watched for a long while. I became drowsy and to avoid sleep I moved
again about the rocks, first to check again on Andreas. He was wrapped snuggly in his sleeping roll
and snoring enough to scare any animals away.
I went in search of another perch with another view of the obelisk.
I found it and saw no more than I had from
my other vantage point; that is until the light of morning began to make a way
through the jagged angles of rock. I was
nearly straight across from the point where I had watched earlier during the
night, and as the sun beamed through the rocks I was allowed a view of two
flights of stairs emerging from behind a wide spire of rock. The stairs emerged from the same point and
they both led down in a sweeping arc as if they mirrored each other, so precise
was their construction. They ended on
opposite sides of what had once been a pool, or a fountain, but now it held no
water at all. It was of the same fine
construction as the obelisk and the stairs. I expected to see water spray forth at any
second, but none came. I followed the
length of the pool with my eyes, across a long courtyard to what appeared from
this distance to be a wall of bronze.
There were no visible holds, hinges or handles, from my line of sight. On either side of the wall was another set of
wide stairs that led up to a stone niche from which a winged beast was
carved. I could see that they were
masterful depictions of hippogriffs.
Hippogriffs were great and noble beasts of
long ago who served only masters of honor.
So, the inhabitants of this place had held the hippogriff in some
esteem, I reasoned that they must have had good encounters with the beasts and
must then be honorable people. The
beasts were depicted with their heads bowed under a great wing laid across
their faces. I was unsure what that
symbolized, submission possibly. At the
feet of the statues a stone porch spread between them and in the center of the
porch the obelisk rose straight and true.
I still saw no one about. I waited
a bit longer, but when nothing changed, I made my way back to Andreas to wake
him and to report what I had seen.
He had been taught that a hippogriff with
head hidden under one wing meant war. If
it was at rest with both wings unfurled it meant peace. So we theorized that these honorable people
had been at war. Perhaps their absence
indicated defeat, though the place was not sacked. We had no conclusions, just rough
theories. We consulted the scrolls. The
compositions showed two subtle differences that we nearly missed, but nothing
made sense. We closed the scrolls, none the wiser for having looked
inside. We ate cold tack and outfitted
ourselves for battle, though it seemed none would come. We were still unaware of Polk’s location and
we had no doubt he would resurface at some time to attempt to stop us.
Our way lay amongst tall rocks with no
trail. We gave up on the rope and spikes
and depended upon our own strength and agility to carry us to a spot above the
double stairs I had seen by dawn’s light.
We had done this type of climbing many times before, although this was
the most difficult so far. We came over
the stairs near midday and settled into a spot where we felt hidden and watched
while we ate again of our hard tack and drank warm water. We still saw no one about, nor any sign of
door or window. We made our way to the
landing that came in just behind the great spire of stone. Together we
descended to the bottom of the stairs.
The condition of the place was
immaculate. No stone had fallen anywhere
within the compound, how this could be after ages of disuse and no one to
maintain it we did not know, but we attributed it to magic. There were no leaves to skitter through the
courtyard or to fill the empty pool on this treeless isle. No wind blew this deep in the valley of
stones. It was eerie and the feel of the
place, put me on edge. I drew my
sword. When I did an audible groan went
through the very stone of the place. Andreas
held my wrist and I saw in his eyes a fear I’d never seen from him before. I followed his eyes to my scabbard and I
sheathed my blade. Then he nodded and
understanding I drew my sword again. The
place groaned again and we were taken by the sorrow of it. I replaced the blade this time without
prompting and moved alone into the courtyard.
“We mean no harm.” I said
aloud. “We have need of your knowledge
and assistance in a grave matter that faces the world.” I waited some sign, some word. When none came I repeated myself, shouting
the words this time.
Andreas came to stand beside me. “Don’t
anger them.” He whispered.
“Anger who?
There is no one here to anger.”
“Oh, but there is. This place holds great elemental power. The rocks are only a small part of it. They have force; even the building feels
alive. Should we enter— it might swallow
us whole. Do you not feel the greater
aspect? Do you not feel— the death?”
I stood in the silence assessing Andreas’s
words. I felt anticipation but not
unlike I’d felt at the beginning of other adventures. I was more intense of course, because there
was so much more at stake. There was
something though, at the back of my brain, some primal urge that was begging me
to run. It was that thing that had made
me draw sword. Now that I’d found it
again I laid my hand upon the hilt of my best blade, but I fought the urge to
draw. Was it death I felt, or just the
fear of my own dying. I could not
discern. Andreas though, he had a great
ability with things elemental as I’ve said many times, and if he sensed an
element of death I would respect that and let it guide my actions.
“I feel intensity.” I responded at last. “I do not think my greeting would offend them
though. It carries no malicious threat. It is more a plea for help really.”
“It is that which frightens me. What help will death bring us without a
price, and what price?”
“You speak the word death as if it is a
name.”
“I will not yet rule out that possibility.”
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