by R A Oakes
Raven took several additional steps away from the Sacred Cave, deeply grateful and seeking nothing more. But the wall of energy, the energy that had at first kept her from the entrance, reached out and embraced the ghost whisperer, gently drawing her back inside.
Immediately, Raven braced herself, wondering what else the Sacred Cave might want with her. Then, as if having been silently instructed to do so, she lifted her hands, palms upward, and felt something being placed upon them. When she looked down, it was blazing with such intensity that she couldn’t tell what it was. And when Raven stepped back out of the Sacred Cave, no one else could see what she was holding either, at least not right away.
To Raven’s surprise, everyone backed away from her, even though the ghost whisperer was no longer engulfed in flames, for they found the incredible brilliance unbearable. Gradually, however, the blinding light diminished, and they could see what was in her hands. A large block of golden metal, megentum metal. And it was enough to create a sword, enough to create Baelfire.
As Aldwen said, the College of Wizards had determined that there was enough megentum metal to create a magic sword, and that it was located deep beneath Gratuga. But what the wizards hadn’t known was that the metal was in a Sacred Cave, a tabernacle made of such hard rock that even Zorya’s flames couldn’t have melted it. The megentum had been untouchable, stored away within the impenetrable walls of the Sacred Cave, and it had to be offered by the shrine, not taken. And it had been offered to Raven.
The monks stared at the megentum metal, and they looked at Raven, and though some resented that a human had been chosen over a vegetarian troll, the evidence was indisputable. The Sacred Cave had embraced Raven and had given up the megentum metal to her. And so the crowd backed away and parted, allowing her through, and she was followed closely by Rothena and Vangalaya, whom the monks now revered for their incredible wisdom and leadership. The abbot and the spiritual master, whom Xankar had vilified as being akin to demons, had been proven right by the Sacred Cave. It had been the correct thing to bring this human, to bring Raven, to the Cave. The monks didn’t understand, but they accepted the reality of what they’d witnessed.
None of them had ever seen megentum before, but the monks knew that the block of metal gave off the same aura as the light from the Sacred Cave. And they knew the Cave’s golden glow was megentum light. So what else could the metal be but megentum itself? Not in dust form, but an actual block of metal.
Some monks ran ahead of Raven, and more quickly followed, but not to harm her in any way. They ran ahead so as to line both sides of the tunnel, providing her with an honor guard. And, somewhat selfishly, to feel the aura of the megentum and to be refreshed, renewed and restored by it.
After walking three miles back along the horizontal tunnel, Raven reached the stairway. Standing at the very bottom and looking upward, she could see no light from above. All she saw was darkness, darkness pierced by the light pouring from the megentum metal, but darkness nonetheless. The walls and the stairway were not enriched by megentum dust and were unable to glow. This crevasse, this natural tunnel, was made of ordinary rock. It wasn’t like the horizontal tunnel which was brimming with glittering light.
When Raven began climbing the staircase, she was also taking her first steps back into the real world. Yet Raven was at peace with herself and at peace with the stairway in front of her.
Leading her friends and over 100 monks who were behind her, Raven started the long journey upward. And though she was sad to be heading away from the Sacred Cave, Raven realized that she couldn’t remain there. In her hands was the megentum the College of Wizards had been seeking for decades, and she was thankful that she would soon be able to give it to Aldwen.
Much later, when Raven had reached the top of the stairway, she would be even more grateful to the Sacred Cave for the sense of renewal it had bestowed upon her. Two vegetarian-troll scouts were making their way back to the monastery with devastating information. Xankar had not been idle, and if his secret involvement in what they’d witnessed was any indication, he’d also gone quite mad.
Chapter 19
When Raven reached the top of the tunnel’s stairway, the megentum metal was no longer shining with such brilliance. Instead, it was giving off a soft golden light, one the monks had traditionally associated with the Sacred Cave until today when the Cave had become a raging inferno. Yet more than just megentum was glowing in the darkness on this moonless night. Raven was giving off the same golden radiance. After hours of being in the direct presence of the golden metal, the ghost whisperer had absorbed so much megentum energy that she was literally glowing in the dark.
When Raven left the crevasse, the effect became even more dramatic for the golden glow began reflecting off the ever-present snow. And as the ghost whisperer proceeded along the mountain ridge, the trail of golden light became longer, stretching all the way back to the tunnel’s entrance. Xao-Lin monks nearest the windows on the north side of the monastery were the first to notice the light and, to them, it looked like a thin golden thread being sewn into the very fabric of the mountain.
“Look at the ridge, the top of the ridge is all aglow!” one monk shouted to others in an adjoining hallway, and the monks ran to witness the miraculous beauty. All were wide-eyed with child-like wonder, except for a few of Xankar’s associates who’d been trying to stir up trouble for Vangalaya, Rothena and, especially, for Raven.
When Xankar’s monks saw the golden thread of light, they were shocked and frightened, suddenly worried that this unprecedented radiance would somehow mean their doom and the doom of their mentor. As Xankar’s friends raced down a stairwell, they began shouting in alarm about the thread of light while their hopes for supplanting Vangalaya were falling into shreds.
Upon reaching the monastery’s great hall, Xankar’s associates threw themselves to the ground, kneeling before their mentor with their foreheads touching the wooden floor. Xankar had been railing at Galaxen for the abbot’s seemingly traitorous behavior and for his duplicity in allowing the Sacred Cave to be befouled by a human. One monk lifted his head and exclaimed in an anguished voice, “Master Xankar, the golden glow of the Sacred Cave is threading itself along the top of the mountain. Surely it will make its way to the monastery and burn it, and us, to the ground.”
“What are you saying?” Xankar asked.
“The Sacred Cave has come to punish us for our transgressions, Master. We failed the Cave, and its radiance is coming to wreak its vengeance upon us,” the monk wailed. Xankar had worked hard to condition these monks for they were his elite, those most loyal to him, the ones he’d chosen to help rule the monastery upon Vangalaya’s demise. And now, they thought the golden light meant the end to everything, for their master had told them to expect the worst, to expect the Sacred Cave to strike back at the monastery because of its wickedness and negligence.
Xankar and Galaxen glanced at each other, and the abbot sighed deeply and said, “Well, let’s go investigate this golden retribution, though I doubt the Sacred Cave would ever destroy us. In times when we’ve been at our worst, the Cave and its forgiveness and understanding have always been at its best.”
Looking at the abbot, Xankar felt both fear and apprehension, suspecting that he’d overplayed his hand. The ghost monk had branded Vangalaya a disgrace and had said the same of Galaxen, and it appeared that he’d been wrong.
What worried Xankar the most was little Starlight, the abbot’s six-year-old daughter who’d come back to the monastery earlier that day in a state of shock. The child hadn’t spoken a word, and her eyes seemed vacant, as if looking into nothingness, her mind having closed itself off to whatever traumatizing incident had befallen her.
But Xankar knew what had happened for he’d orchestrated the incident personally. And no one at the monastery had been able to locate Renivy or Brianuk who’d been playing on the mountain trail with little Starlight. Galaxen had looked for them hoping that they could shed some light on what had fr
ightened his daughter. However, there had been no sign of them.
Little Starlight had fallen into an exhausted slumber on a large cushion next to Galaxen, and so the abbot picked up the sleeping child and took her with him as he left the great hall. Galaxen wasn’t going to let his traumatized daughter out of his sight, especially if Rothena was returning from her pilgrimage. And he wondered what he was going to tell his wife about their daughter’s condition. All Galaxen knew was that Rothena had gone on a pilgrimage, and that he hadn’t been able to keep their daughter safe in his wife’s absence. What also concerned Galaxen was the look of fear that had crossed Xankar’s face when he decided to bring little Starlight along. The abbot wondered what the senior monk had to be frightened about.
Focusing on the task at hand, Galaxen headed towards the monastery’s front entrance so he could witness the thread of golden light for himself. Xankar followed close behind, watching little Starlight and worrying about what the child might say when she woke up.
Once Galaxen had reached the main entrance, he went outside into the darkness, looked up at the mountain ridge and marveled at what was before him. He saw the golden light Xankar’s associates had spoken about, and he realized it was moving. Also, he recognized immediately that the golden radiance was identical to the aura of the Sacred Cave. To his amazement, the soft golden glow began to make its way down from the mountain ridge, moving slowly along the steep trail that led back to the monastery.
As the soft light came closer and closer, Galaxen and Xankar and his associates realized it was Raven who was giving off the golden aura, Raven and something she was holding in the palms of her hands. As the golden glow came even closer, Galaxen felt the reassuring warmth of the light, a feeling he’d experienced every time he’d made a pilgrimage to the Sacred Cave. But Xankar realized the golden radiance meant danger to himself personally, for he’d gambled heavily on the Sacred Cave rejecting Raven, only to discover that the exact opposite had happened.
Xankar had risked everything when he endangered the lives of little Starlight, Renivy and Brianuk earlier that day, assuming that the adult humans would have been killed by the monks for desecrating the Sacred Cave, leaving none the wiser about his getting rid of the children as well. That little Starlight’s life had also been put at risk was to him acceptable since Rothena had, in his mind, betrayed the monastery by siding with Vangalaya and the humans. Slowly and unnoticed, Xankar and his followers slunk away into the darkness.
Galaxen was transfixed by the thread of golden light as it lit the path, and he couldn’t remember any time in his life when he’d felt so at peace and fulfilled. Megentum light had come to the monastery, something that had never happened since the spiritual refuge had been founded centuries ago. And it had happened during the time that he and his wife were the abbots. If Galaxen’s life had ended at that very moment, he would have died happy, at peace with himself and the world around him.
When Raven stood before him, Galaxen realized the ghost whisperer was holding megentum metal, enough of it to make the magic sword which Raven, Zorya, Aldwen and the other travelers had been desperately hoping for. Galaxen had thought the quest was nonsense from the very first moment Vangalaya had told him and Rothena the real reason for the travelers coming to the monastery. Had it not been so tragically hopeless, Galaxen knew he would have laughed outright. But he hadn’t done so because he was saddened that the travelers had linked their hopes for the survival of the entire region on something that was never going to happen, and yet it had.
Galaxen’s lack of faith now made him feel ashamed, and as Galaxen watched Rothena walking in back of Raven, side-by-side with Vangalaya, he realized his wife was the real abbot of the monastery. He was little more than her student, a humble student with little or no right to claim to be a leader.
However, it was about to get much worse.
Galaxen was also about to learn the full extent of how badly he’d failed as a father. Having heard Rothena’s and Vangalaya’s warning about Xankar’s boundless ambitions, he should have had the senior ghost monk watched more carefully. In fact, Galaxen should never have allowed little Starlight out of his sight, and he should have kept a closer watch on Renivy and Brianuk as well.
To his great relief, little Starlight awoke and was no longer hysterical. Now, with Raven standing directly in front of little Starlight and himself, the healing golden glow of the megentum had brought the child back from the brink, and little Starlight was calm, reassured and at peace.
Carefully, Galaxen handed little Starlight to her mother, and Rothena hugged the child tightly and said, “I hope you were a good girl while I was away.”
Rothena and everyone around her expected the little girl to smile and say that she’d been good, but instead, little Starlight said, “No Mommy, I’ve been a bad girl. Renivy, Brianuk and I have all been very bad.”
At first, no one took her seriously. Rothena smiled and ran her fingers through her daughter’s hair and asked, “And what has my little girl done that’s so very bad?”
By now, all the monks who had followed Vangalaya, Rothena, Raven and the others were surrounding the mother and child, smiling with gentle indulgence as the little girl was about to tell them some simple, harmless transgression.
However, Aldwen, the wizard, and Zorya, Renivy’s mother, had also joined the group, and Zorya was anything but reassured by the little girl’s words. Both Renivy and Brianuk had been missing since late in the afternoon when little Starlight had returned to the monastery in a state of shock. And still, Zorya’s daughter and Brianuk were nowhere to be found. To make matters worse, the only source of information about their whereabouts, little Starlight, had been in no shape to be probed and prodded with questions. When little Starlight answered Rothena for a second time, the child’s response was beyond Zorya’s wildest fears.
“Renivy and Brianuk were captured by meat- eating trolls,” Little Starlight informed them, speaking in a megentum-energy induced calm which affected them all. Nevertheless, Zorya, who was no stranger to adversity, almost fainted from shock. Even with the golden light’s serenity flowing all around her, the only thing that kept Zorya from screaming out in terror was knowing that, if she did so, she’d diminish her ability to act clearly and logically in an extreme crisis. Her instincts for survival, her instincts as a mother, took over and she was outwardly the picture of self-control. Her heart had gone cold with fear, but her mind had never been more clear and coherent in her entire life.
“Where did this happen?” Zorya asked calmly.
“Renivy, Brianuk and I were playing on the trail earlier this afternoon,” Little Starlight said with the quiet calm of a child who might be telling someone what she’d had for lunch that day.
“How far down the trail did you children go?” Rothena asked gently.
“All the way to the bottom.”
“All the way to the bottom?” Rothena asked, hiding the surprise and shock at hearing such an explanation.
“Yes, Mommy. I’m sorry. Are you mad at me?” Little Starlight asked, her eyes brimming with tears.
“No, of course I’m not mad at you. And I’m so proud of you for telling me the truth.”
“I’m sorry,” Little Starlight said as she started to cry.
“You are a good girl for telling me what you did. A very good girl,” Rothena reassured her daughter, knowing that much depended upon learning whatever information little Starlight could provide them with.
“I’m a good girl?”
“A very good girl,” Rothena said, kissing her daughter’s tears.
“We were playing in the field at the bottom of the trail,” Little Starlight said, and Rothena was so surprised that she’d almost stumbled backwards but quickly regained her balance.
“How did you get down that far? I thought there were monks guarding the bottom of the trail. Were the monks being naughty?”
“Yes, they were very naughty,” Little Starlight said, relieved to be able to place the
blame on someone. “Yes, very naughty.”
“How did you get past them?”
“Oh, Xankar helped us get past them.”
“Xankar?”
“Yes, he met us when we were halfway down the trail and walked the rest of the way to the bottom with us. He held my hand the whole time.”
“My but that was very nice of him,” Rothena said happily, though she scanned the crowd with her eyes to see if the senior monk was present. With Raven being here, Xankar could never have remained in the form of a ghost and would have been clearly visible. But he wasn’t in the crowd.
Spotting one of Xankar’s associates, a living male monk named Denrat, Rothena signaled to the adult Starlight and Andylan to apprehend him quietly, and they quickly stood on either side of him.
“I’m sorry,” Little Starlight said once more.
“Oh, there’s nothing to be sorry about.”
“I’m worried about Renivy and Brianuk.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get them back, and they’ll be fine.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, Mommy, I’ve been so frightened.”
“Mommy’s here now, and there’s nothing for you to be afraid of.”
“Renivy and Brianuk will be okay?”
“Of course they’ll be okay.”
“Oh, Mommy, thank you,” Little Starlight said, wrapping both arms around her mother’s neck and squeezing with all her might. Then, feeling greatly reassured, she added, “I like this pretty golden light, Mommy. It feels good.”
