by Sharon Gibbs
‘What do you mean the Guardians of the Keep? I’ve never heard of such things,’ Albert said. His brow wrinkled as he pried at his memory.
Clarence overheard them talking and stopped to scratch his head, thinking how best to explain something he’d never seen before. ‘The Guardians,’ he interrupted as he stepped forward, ‘were designed by the wizards of old, a thousand years ago, in the time of the Great War. Apparently back then we were losing the fight against the Dark Lord and in their desperation the wizards created a weapon of sorts to protect the people and the Keep. Somehow they created a new type of magic, one that once enacted could power itself indefinitely. I’m not really sure how it all happened but they managed to create an army from the mountain. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more,’ he said. ‘Elle, dear, we must go.’
She nodded and followed Clarence past the great hall and down the back stairs by the kitchen. He led her deep into the catacombs of the mountain through passages she’d never ventured before. The eeriness of the place loomed in to surround her and at the bottom of the stairs they turned down the hallway which led to the wizard’s enclave. Elle watched with fascination as Clarence moved his hands over the symbols on the wall and the door popped open a fraction. She followed him in as he pushed it open and entered the dark room. As the torches burst to life, Elle’s eyes lit up seeing the secret room where the wizards’ practised their magic. Inside was a mess. Pieces of the Scrynne lay scattered about the room and small piles of ash could be seen on the floor. ‘Darn it,’ Clarence said.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked as she stood by his side.
‘I’m afraid with the tree seeking to regenerate, its sparks have impacted here also. The pieces of the tree Henry had stored in the Scrynne have been destroyed. We’ll have to deal with it later,’ he said and then he went to look at the book upon the easel. As he flicked through the pages he searched for the incantation to resurrect the Guardians. Elle wandered around the room and ran her fingers over the relics of a world that she’d known nothing about until she’d met Christopher. This was his world. The part that made them different.
As Clarence flicked through the book he came to the pages which depicted the time of the Guardians. The information told of their creation and the purpose they’d once served, where to locate the hidden stones and how to place them in the Incliptor. But nowhere on the page could he find the incantation to enact the magic and bring life back to these once stoic creations of the mountain.
‘It’s not here,’ Elle heard Clarence mumble. She came over to the easel and looked at the page he read.
‘What are you looking for?’
‘I can’t seem to find the incantation to ignite the Incliptor to cause it to spin.’
‘Oh,’ Elle said. ‘Well does the page say where to find this Incliptor?’
‘I know where that is,’ Clarence said. ‘It’s in the room over there,’ he said and pointed to the wall next to the fire place.
‘What room?’
‘Over there between the bookcase and the hearth.’
‘I see the wall between the two, but I don’t see a door.’
‘Argh, dear. That’s because there is no door.’
‘So how do we access the room then?’
‘Just through there,’ he said, pointing to the wall again.
‘So we walk through the wall. Is that what you’re saying?’
‘Exactly.’
Elle frowned.
‘Lass, you see the wall because that’s what you believe is there,’ Clarence said. ‘I know there is a room over there because it says so right here on this page,’ he said as he stabbed his finger at the passage he referred to.
Elle scanned the words and from what she could make out the book stated there was an entrance through the wall. ‘I still don’t see it.’
‘Well if we can’t find the spell to rotate the stones there’s no point to the room at all.’
‘So it says nothing about the activation at all?’
‘There is this one line at the bottom. ‘The Guardians can be called by those of the sect who choose to look within the pages.’ Clarence scanned the two pages again to no avail. If the words were written there, he just couldn’t find them. ‘There’s nothing here that looks to be a spell.’
Elle scanned the page he had open, trying to pick out any words she could decipher. Many of the words she had never seen before and there seemed to be strange marks on the page. ‘I don’t know how you can read it at all, with all those marks dotted here and there.’
‘What marks?’
‘Here, on the page, and that one has them too,’ she said, pointing to the small open marks shaped as arrows.
‘Well done, my girl! You’ve found the clue.’
‘Clue?’
‘The Guardians can be called by those of the sect who choose to look within the pages. The small marks on the page. If you’re right, this could be the answer.’
‘What do the marks have to do with the spell?’
‘Who are the sect, Elle?’
‘Christopher, Henry and yourself.’
‘Exactly, but another name for sect is fold. It states to look within the pages. There within the words are the marks you found. We need to fold the pages to reveal the spell,’ Clarence said with a chuckle. He matched up the marks as best as he could and when he bent the page to see if it fit, there were more of the squiggly marks on the back. Carefully he folded the paper to fit exactly within the arrow shapes and after folding the pages the words to the spell were revealed.
‘We still need to find the stones,’ Elle said.
‘They’re lodged in the bottom of the torches,’ Clarence said as he reached up and pulled out the end of the wooden handle to reveal a blue elongated stone. Elle did the same to the torches on the far side of the room and retrieved another two stones while Clarence removed the final two from the torches not far away.
‘Right, I think we have what we need,’ he said as he picked up the book and carried it across the room. ‘After you, my dear.’ Elle stood in front of the wall between the hearth and the bookcase seeing only the wall before her. ‘Go on, walk through,’ he urged her.
She took a step closer and while she felt as if she was standing with her face close to the wall she couldn’t feel the cold the stone would normally retain. Stretching her hand forward, it breached the rationalities of her mind and as she extended her hand further she could still see the wall behind it. Hesitant to take a step forward, she urged herself to do so and found herself standing in a narrow hallway.
‘Right then, this way,’ Clarence said as he entered the passage and set off carrying a torch in one hand and the stones balanced on the book in the other.
The passage weaved its way through the mountain until it opened up into a large cave. Moisture seeped through the stone from the snow-covered peaks high above them and trickled down the many cracks and crevices of the walls. The torches inside the place were from a time long ago and needed to be lit. When Clarence thrust his magic to set them alight the tapers remained lifeless. Mumbling his frustration, he set about lighting them with his torch. Elle stood in awe as she waited for the rest of the cave to be revealed. As the darkness abated, hollows appeared in the walls. Clarence made his way over to a large flat rock positioned in the centre of the room.
‘Over here,’ he called to Elle.
She carried the stones towards him, wondering where the Incliptor was housed. Reaching the large tablet, Clarence placed the three stones into the openings carved in the face of rock and then Elle handed him the last two. Each stone was long and their edges varied in size and shape and he had to try them in the various slots to see where they would all fit. When all five were in place, they formed a circle around a centre opening.
‘Where’s the sixth stone?’ Elle asked.
‘That is the beauty of this machine,’ Clarence said. ‘Watch and you will be amazed.’ The book had shown him a diagram of the centre stone.
‘Move back, lass. It would probably be best if you stood back in the passage. I don’t know how it all happens.’
Elle made her way back to where they’d entered the cavern and took shelter in the walkway.
Clarence ran his finger over the words to check them, before he called to the Guardians of the mountain.
Montes lapidosos, rotae illius.
Rursus ut ea, ad custodiendam domum,
Et conversus rotam.
The words slid from his tongue as honey would drip from a hive and then the runes they had placed in the slots began to glow. The ground rumbled and groaned as the Incliptor of stone shifted on its axis. The great hulk of rock grated against its base and as it turned it released a puff of dust that tainted the air and caused Clarence to cough. A runnel of sand that had gathered over the years the contraption had remained still, trickled out from the crevice of the two enormous slabs.
At first the heavy rock ground against the resistance, until it had churned out all of the sand clearing the space between the two huge stones. Without friction the wheel spun faster and as it gathered momentum it emitted a hum. The force of the rotation was so great that the runes crackled and glowed as their power emerged and sparks shot from the outer stones in the Incliptor to dart towards the vacant centre slot. The residual space now crackled with blue light as it pooled the energy to power up the vacant hole. As the Incliptor whirled and reached its full speed, the shards of light cast by the runes converged and the sixth stone was illuminated in the vacant slot. The sixth stone, full of brilliant blue light, reflected on the walls throughout the cavern and as it did the walls around them vibrated as segments of the stone cave broke away from the face of the wall.
‘What’s happening, Clarence? Are the walls caving in?’
‘I’m not sure,’ he yelled back as the sound of cracking rock echoed through the room. ‘But we’re about to find out!’
The whole mountain shook from its depths. It rumbled and the vibration rose up through the earth to shake the Keep above. Large chunks of rock broke away from the walls inside the cave but instead of falling to the floor they floated, lingering, as other pieces close by came away. Then Clarence realised what was happening. The Guardians had awoken. The Incliptor had drawn them from their sleep and now the stoic Guardians of the Keep were breaking away. Some emerged from inside the cave while others erupted from the face of the mountain. A gaping hole marred the grounds out front of the Keep as one of the Guardians rose from beneath the soil, while another broke away from the side of the building, tearing off a corner.
They rose from their sleep, these stone creatures created back in the Old Time during the war, and rising with a mace, axe or sword they returned to their places of watch. Up the sides of the Keep four of them climbed to the platforms where they had last stood guard. Their eyes glowed a brilliant blue illuminated by the power of the stones, and they took up their posts to once again survey the lay of the land. A land they hadn’t seen for the past thousand years.
Deep in the bowels of the mountain Clarence watched in awe as the Guardians broke free from their resting place to take their first steps. The mountain ceased its shaking and Clarence watched as the Guardians stretched their stony forms and rose to their full height which was twice that of a man.
Back when these custodians were created they were formed into a recognisable image, much like a man, and the wizards of old had enabled the watchers to gather knowledge from the world around them. They transmitted information to each other through the force that powered them, enabling them to communicate. They could report whatever they saw and then take appropriate action. Their link to each other was phenomenal, and from one Guardian at the Keep a message could be sent in an instant to another miles away.
Elle peered into the room from the safety of the passage and watched the beings emerge from their rest. After the stony creatures had checked themselves, the one who took charge of the others nodded, and the rest of them scaled the walls to disappear through a tunnel in the roof of the cavern. Elle hadn’t noticed the dark hole which towered above the room. The one Guardian who remained walked towards Clarence and he loomed above the wizard as he measured the worth of the man. He then dropped to one knee.
‘Wizard, I am Jorath, Leader of the Guardians,’ he said in a gruff voice. ‘The Guardians are now at watch.’
‘Rise, Jorath, there is no need to kneel.’
‘You are a wizard of the fold. Are you not?’
‘Yes, but I am one of the few who remains. Many ways from the Old Time are now gone,’ he said. ‘You have rested since the Great War a thousand years ago. But we now need your help again.’
‘It is my duty to serve, That is why I was created.’
‘The enemy you fought long ago has returned to this land. Zute, the Dark Lord, is free.’
‘I thought he was enslaved to another world. One he could not escape from,’ Jorath said as he rose to his feet.
‘We did too, but he has been released from his bondage and with him he brings an army of resurrected dead. Creatures brought back to this realm by his dark magic. He’s cloaked them in the elements of nature. As we speak two other wizards are headed this way and not far, on the other side of the mountain, our army is making its way home. I need you to have your men watch for them and assist them any way necessary.’
‘It will be done, wizard. So you say there are only three of you left, but I sense another. One who is small like a bird. Maybe a boy?’
‘Ooh, I never thought of that.’
‘Are there no others?’
‘Possibly, but none that we know of. There could be some out in the wilderness too afraid to return.’
Jorath sniffed. ‘You have also let evil into this place. I can smell it.’
‘There is no evil here. You must be mistaken.’ Then Clarence thought of Foreman and Athena’s grasp on him. ‘There is a man who carries the taint of a Sorceress. When the others return we shall remove it. It is nothing to worry about.’
‘There is a glimmer of magic in the room,’ Jorath said and looked towards the passage were Elle waited.
‘She is the betrothed of a wizard, but she holds no magic of her own.’
‘Yes, she does, I see it on her hand.’
‘Oh, the ring. Yes, it contains a small amount of magic but it is not hers.’
‘Then why does she have it?’
‘It was a gift.’
‘A powerful gift it is. She must be important.’
‘Yes, she is.’
‘I see. Well if there is nothing else I will take up my station.’
‘No, nothing I can think of right now.’
Jorath nodded and then he too scaled the walls of the cave and disappeared through the tunnel in the ceiling.
<><><>
Goodwin strode the grounds of the common, assisting those who were making their way up to the Keep, when the earth began to tremble. A roar erupt from within the mountain and the screams of villagers drifted down from the plateau to echo through the settlement below.
Elle! he thought and raced towards the road leading to the Keep. The soldiers in the common stopped what they were doing and sped after him. Goodwin’s strong muscular thighs pounded the steep incline as he pushed himself towards the plateau. Passing through the gates, he came to an abrupt halt as the earth in the Keep’s gardens exploded before his eyes and a creature made of stone landed and shook the dirt away. Standing taller than a man, it turned to look at him and nodded. Then he watched in awe as it climbed up the outside of the Keep and up the closest turret. It entered the platform and gazed out surveying the horizon.
Goodwin saw another creature make its way on all fours down the side of the mountain and crawl along the Keep’s roof, reaching the turret furthest away from where he stood. He gazed in awe as it scaled up the tower and climbed onto the platform. Its eyes glowed as it stood in the shadows cast by the cone-shaped roof and began its watch.
The soldiers who had raced after Good
win up the path to the Keep gathered around him and they too watched these majestic rock men take up their stations.
‘The Guardians have risen, and not a moment too soon,’ Goodwin said.
Chapter Fifty-one
With his boot resting on the wooden rail of the box seat, Merek slapped the reins to drive the team forward. The carriage lurched and then stopped as Merek hauled on the reins again and waited for the creature to move out of his way. Slapping the leathers on the steeds’ back the conveyance surged forward again until he hauled on the reins and pulled the steeds to a stop once more.
‘What you doin’, Merek?’ Terrin asked, looking at his companion. ‘Just keep drivin’, they’ll get out of the way. An’ if they don’t just run ‘em down. They’re dead anyways.’
‘I can’t, Terrin’ It just doesn’t seem right.’
‘Gawd, we’ll never get there if ya don’t.’
Athena pulled the shutter open behind the driver’s seat. ‘What are you two up to? Why aren’t we moving ahead?’
‘It’s those creatures,’ Merek said. ‘They keep gettin’ in the way, and I have to stop or I’ll run them over.’
Athena slumped back against the leather seat, her blonde locks splayed out against the black hide. ‘Your army is blocking the road, my love, and that stupid driver keeps stopping so he doesn’t run them down. At this rate it will be months before we arrive.’
‘Why doesn’t he just tell them to move?’
‘I don’t know why. Why don’t you ask him?’ Athena snapped at her lover.
Zute slid open the hatch in the roof and stood on the seat in the carriage. Looking out over the top he realized what Merek said was true. The valley before them was cluttered with his army and they marched in unison in front of the carriage.
Zute roared at the top of his lungs, ‘Move out the way!’ And within a minute a path cleared before the conveyance as the bewitched army veered out of the way. ‘See,’ Zute said, ‘all you have to do is ask.’ He ducked back down inside and returned to his seat just as the carriage lurched forward again and set off at a steady pace. As they left the valley via the rickety track through the forest, they travelled around the mountain range and it wasn’t long before they came to the East road that would take them through the city of Canameer and from there on to the Keep.
