The Secrets of Starpoint Mountain

by Bill Albert

  THE SECRETS OF

  STARPOINT MOUNTAIN

  By Bill Albert

  First in the Starpoint Series

  For more info go to

  www.starpointmountain.com

  For Mom and Dad above all

  Special thanks to:

  Molly, for comments and corrections

  Jesse for the cover

  Mandy who gave her a voice

  the Doctors

  …and the storytellers who taught me.

  Copyright 2008 by Bill Albert

  ISBN 978-1-9758-1705-3

  Third Edition

  Old Armory Entertainment

  12-08-05 to 12-01-07

  PROLOGUE: THE CHANGE 1

  BOOK ONE:

  THE TERRA FIRLA FOREST

  ONE:LIFE WITH SHADOWS 3

  TWO:CHALLENGES 6

  THREE:SNOW 12

  FOUR: FESTIVAL DAY 18

  FIVE: HARD RIDE HOME 29

  SIX: THE MORNING AFTER 35

  SEVEN: TRIPS AND TRAPS 39

  EIGHT: DOORS 45

  NINE: HONOR CODE 51

  TEN: THE FIRST GOODBYE 56

  ELEVEN: REFLECTIONS IN THE CAGE 61

  INTERLUDE ONE:

  TWELVE:PURE DARK88

  BOOK TWO:

  THE STACK BLACK MOUNTAINS

  AND THE NORTHERN ICE FIELDS

  THIRTEEN: NIGHT TRAVELERS93

  FOURTEEN:OFF THE MAIN ROAD 100

  FIFTEEN:PRIMOR111

  SIXTEEN:TOME’S TOMB 121

  SEVENTEEN: END OF THE LANE 127

  EIGHTEEN: SHADOWS 134

  NINETEEN:WAVES 141

  TWENTY:COLD PLACES150TWENTY-ONE: FRENZY 160

  TWENTY-TWO: DEPARTURES169

  TWENTY-THREE: SPIRITS OF NATURE186

  TWENTY-FOUR: RED ICE191

  TWENTY-FIVE: ARRIVAL205

  TWENTY-SIX: DARK CHILDREN 212

  TWENTY-SEVEN: FREEZE 221

  TWENTY-EIGHT: VISITATION227

  TWENTY-NINE: TOWARDS THE STORM 239

  INTERLUDE TWO:

  THIRTY:PURE LIGHT246

  BOOK THREE:

  STARPOINT MOUNTAIN

  THIRTY-ONE: DARK HEARTS250

  A DIFFERENT TIME...

  A DIFFERENT PLACE...

  WITH A MAGIC ALL ITS OWN…

  PROLOGUE:

  THE CHANGE

  He cast the spell again and waited to see if something would change even though he knew nothing would. It was the same spell he’d cast an impossible number of times, one of the few he was allowed to cast and, as always, there was no difference. Even with his exceptional intellect he could not count the true number.

  He looked up at the small hole and saw that night had fallen. There were a few stars that he could see from this angle and he knew them well. They were the only things he could count on to change in this place. Sure, it took them a hundred years or more, but it was still change. Change was something he valued. He rolled over to look at the stars for a while. The move was difficult, and the chains and braces scraped against his skin, but it was worth it. The pain would go away quickly, and he would get to see the slight changes as night went on.

  He remembered the change that happened to him when Zaslow came. Even after all this time there was still some hope that he would be rescued, but Zaslow had not been his savior. Zaslow had allowed him to cast a few more spells but it always came back to the same one. Zaslow was like the others that had imprisoned him. Zaslow wanted control. Complete, and total, control.

  He cast the spell again and sighed slowly. His hot breath kicked up some dust around him, but it soon settled.

  As he lay there, unmoving, he cast another spell. This one was different, it was special, and was the one that Zaslow didn’t know about. It was his very own casting that had taken him decades to create and that he had kept secret. It was the casting that had shown him Zaslow was approaching. The casting that had shown him the incredible stroke of luck that had brought Zaslow. The luck that had not been his.

  This time he saw someone different approaching. He held the image and studied the figure as it became clear to him. After a few moments it faded into white nothing. Another casting could expose his secret powers, but he risked it and closed out all other thoughts.

  What he saw seemed very odd and he started to doubt his casting. The image faded slightly but he managed to control his wild thoughts and keep it clear. It really didn’t look like much at first. It was a woman, no, it was just a girl, and there didn’t seem to be anything special about her. He concentrated on the person instead of the image and looked inside her, looked beyond her.

  For the first time in a thousand years he smiled.

  BOOK ONE:

  THE TERRA FIRLA

  FOREST

  ONE:

  LIFE WITH SHADOWS

  Several large and small communities have sprung up in the shadow of Starpoint Mountain. Churches, businesses, schools, and dozens of farms are scattered across the immediate area. All of them are at some point touched by the shadows of the massive mountain. Long, short, thin and wide shadows cross the landscape daily. The businesses and homes are used to the natural shadows and eagerly await the light. All but one.

  A school directly south of the mountain, several hundred yards inside the forest, has been passed, unnoticed, by countless people. With the forest on one side and the massive height and scale of Starpoint Mountain on the other most travelers’ eyes automatically drift toward the sky. On the rare occasion that someone has ventured into the forest certain defenses lead them off. It is a rare individual who is invited to even see the school, and a few of those don’t remember being there. It has thrived in the cast of the behemoth and even created unnatural shadows of its own.

  There were three main buildings at the school. One was the student dorm with two dozen occupied rooms on the middle floor. The windows at each end of the hallway were closed and covered at night and the only light came from lanterns placed one on each end and two on each side. All of the doors were closed except the one at the end of the hall that was furthest from the stairs. Inside the room was almost completely dark except for a few shafts of yellow light pushed against the far wall.

  A shadow slipped out of the room. Absolutely silent it moved towards the stairs. Its shape and size changed to adjust to the uneven floor and occasional flicker from the lanterns in the hall. After several very long minutes it stopped near a door and listened to the movement inside. When it was sure that the occupant wouldn’t soon be leaving the room, it crossed the threshold to the next door. It was directly across the hall from one of the flickering lanterns.

  As the shadow started to stretch to cross from one side of the hall to the other there was a sudden creak in the stairs. The shadow stopped its forward motion and melted back towards the wall. After a brief hesitation, the one on the stairs proceeded back down the creaky staircase. Finally, the shadow made a careful trip across the hall.

  A tendril of the shadow spread slowly up the door until it covered the bottom metal hinge then withdrew leaving a trace of a sparkly powder in the joints. Another tendril reached up and released the wooden latch that held the door closed. With very little pressure the door swung open without making a sound. The shadow moved in.

  Sliding along a pale shaft of light the shadow soundlessly moved to the small dresser. Near the bed now the shadow slowed so as not to disturb the occupant. A tendril rose to the top drawer of three and again there was a hint of sparkling powder along the trim as it withdrew. It was replaced by a second tendril that took hold of the handle and pulled the drawer open. The occupant in the bed stirred slightly and the tendril froze in place until complete silence returned to the r
oom. Then the entire shadow hunched up and reached inside. There were a few brief movements until it found its target and then slowly started to withdraw.

  At startling speed a hand shot from the bed and grabbed the tendril tight. The shadow jumped slightly when it realized it was caught and the silence was broken by a heavy sigh.

  “I know you’d like to be known as Luvin Five Fingers,” the girl in the bed said. “If you don’t improve you’ll be Luvin Four Fingers before you get out. Even here Pate or Anton would surely punish you for stealing from them.”

  “I’m sure about Pate, but Anton may be different,” Luvin whispered and with his free hand showed her a small necklace that she recognized.

  “You’ll give it back tomorrow,” she said with a sigh.

  “How did you catch me?”

  “Think it through,” the female challenged him. She still held his wrist tight and he soon released the small red velvet bag with a black string he held.

  “I was absolutely silent,” Luvin said.

  “Were you?” she asked.

  “Door hinge was quieted, no creaking floor boards, no squeak of wood on wood from the drawer.”

  “Correct,” the girl, Gallif, rewarded him by letting go of his wrist.

  “I don’t get it,” Luvin said as he slid from the shadow. It was much to his credit that at his size he had managed to hide in such small shadows. He was fifteen with sandy brown hair and a few remaining freckles. He stayed healthy and though he rarely missed a meal he had the energy of youth on his side to keep him thin. He sat cross legged with his back against the wall and thought for a moment.

  “What else did you do?”

  “I stayed in shadow form the whole time.”

  “Yes, you did, and why was that wrong?”

  Luvin sat quietly and thought for a moment on why that was a failure. It seemed like a contradiction to have successfully failed and he glanced out at the hall candle before the answer came to him. He looked back at Gallif and said flatly, “I should have closed the door.”

  “Exactly,” Gallif said as she pulled down the blanket and pushed her tussled bright red hair away from her face. “You didn’t cover your tracks. You were so intent on staying in shadow form that you didn’t realize you shouldn’t need to be in shadow form.” She closed the drawer and even in the darkness he could feel her green eyes piercing him.

  “Close Day,” he said.

  “Yes, very close. The closest you’ve come,” she admitted with a slight smile. “If you are going to shadow form more you’d better get going. It’ll be sunrise soon.”

  “Yeah, I suppose so,” he tried not to seem as disappointed as he was. “Want to know who’s up tonight?”

  “No,” Gallif said as she rolled onto her back and closed her eyes.

  “Anamita’s been walking around in her room,” Luvin told her.

  “I suppose that’s become natural for her,” Gallif said after a breath.

  “Tomorrow is Festival Day in Atrexia. Can I go with you?”

  “Only if I get some more sleep,” she said and rolled to her side facing away from him.

  He took a long look at her figure and then his eyes slid back to the drawer. He started to shadow form again and paused for a moment.

  “The door’s still open,” she teased him without looking.

  “Close Day,” he said again as he admitted defeat and moved out into the hall. With an audible squeak from the bottom hinge he closed the door behind him.

  Gallif lay silent and tried to get back to sleep. Luvin had gotten close to stealing the bag and she was very proud of him. She was a few years older than he and they had grown quite close in just a few months.

  She heard a creak in a floorboard and tried to sense which direction it had come from. There was a heavy thumping as someone came up the stairs and pounded down the hall. From the loudness of the steps she could tell it was someone large. From the rudeness of not even trying to be quiet she knew it was Pate. The oldest of all the students lived across the hall from her and noisily opened his door and closed it with an even louder bang. No one had ever managed to understand the rhyme and reason Rayjen, the founder of the school, used to pick the students he invited to attend. They were from all different backgrounds and studying many different specialties. Most were young and excited and eager to learn. Pate was a bully with very few friends and Gallif had wondered if Rayjen had just felt sorry for him and hoped being here would help.

  She rolled to her back and looked up at the wall above the bed. Luvin hadn’t closed the door completely and there was a pale shaft of orange torchlight that came through the crack in the door. It landed as a thin strip on the wall. She tried to deny it but there was one thing about Pate that she was jealous of. His room had a window in it and she badly wished she had one in hers. It would make her feel closer to nature. She had always slept better that way.

  It was quiet for a few minutes and she heard another creak in the floorboards nearby. She realized that it was not from Luvin in the hall but had come from Anamita pacing next door. She let her hand rest against the wall and wished that she could help her restless neighbor. She could barely hear the girl next door speaking but it was so muffled she couldn’t understand the words. She fell asleep before the pacing stopped.

  TWO:

  CHALLENGES

  The students and staff awoke every morning to the sounds and smells of Brilla and Forto cooking just as the first rays of the sun could be seen over the horizon. By the time the sun itself appeared the halfling siblings had great pots of eggs, meat and fresh bread already lining the counter and just as the sun had finally shown its complete face the plates and cups were already being picked up. Rayjen would joke that the smell of their cooking was so good even the natural, manmade, and magically cast defenses that the school had wouldn’t be enough to hold back a hungry traveler.

  Dressed in a pair of cloth pants and a loose shirt Gallif joined the line and started to collect her breakfast. The cafeteria was big enough for the students and staff to eat at the same time and there was extra room. There were three long tables where the students sat in the middle of the room and two round tables where the staff sat near the windowed wall.

  She saw Rayjen and Taril sitting together at the staff table nearest the window. Taril, a dwarf, taught math and science in addition to healing and Gallif had a few classes with her. Dawb, an unusually large hobgoblin who taught physical development, Jun, a human, taught history, and Finella, also a human who taught language and the forest arts, all sat at a second table chatting lively as they ate.

  Finella was a large man with broad shoulders and a laugh the shook the rafters. He looked at Gallif and waved good morning to her. He taught the crafts of tracking, weapons making, and forest survival that Gallif specialized in. She smiled back at him and he indicated by pointing to her and then himself that he wanted to meet with her after breakfast. She nodded just as a large helping of eggs was offered to her from Forto. She rubbed her stomach and smiled thanks.

  With a plate full of eggs, bacon, fresh bread and a cup of hot tea she scanned the room for a place to sit. Most of the students were here and there was a great deal of chatter as people ate and planned their days. Anamita was at the middle table sitting away from a group of students and Gallif quietly walked over. Anamita looked up from her notebooks in surprise as she approached.

  “Can I sit here?” Gallif asked.

  Anamita shrugged and pointed to the empty seat across from her so Gallif tentatively sat down. Anamita was smaller than Gallif by almost a head but was much stronger and more muscular. She had wavy blonde hair that was always disheveled and needed cleaning. Though there were no visible or current bruises on her Anamita looked as if she had many in the past. She rarely moved and kept her hands close to herself.

  “How did you sleep last night?” Gallif asked as she brushed her shoulder length red hair away from her face so she could eat.

  “You know,” she looked past Gallif with cle
ar blue eyes. “You heard me.”

  “Yes, I did,” Gallif admitted. “I was just hoping that before or after I woke up you might have slept well.”

  “I never sleep well,” she said and took a gulp of tea before returning to her studying. In addition to regular schooling, they had taken the same dwarven language class; Anamita was studying magic casting which was the most difficult of specialties. The level of concentration it took was astounding and required a great deal of time to master.

  Gallif took a slow sip of her tea and reminded herself just how clairvoyant Anamita always seemed to be. No one had ever been sure if she was truly clairvoyant or simply could observe the signs from whomever she was talking to. “There’s a festival today in Atrexia. Are you going?” Gallif smiled.

  “No, too much studying to do,” Anamita said as she looked down. “Must study.”

  “If you need any help, I could work something out with you.”

  “Just how advanced is your casting?” Anamita asked.

  Gallif fell silent. She had talent in special healing but knew that her abilities were limited compared to Anamita. She knew there was very little she could do to help and felt foolish for offering.

  As Gallif chewed on her bacon she did her thoughts went back to the day she’d first met Anamita. That look of distrust had been there on that cold wintery day just as it had every day since. As far as she was aware she had never done anything to offend the girl, yet there always seemed to be some sort of animosity from the other student.

  The silence was broken as they were joined at the table by Luvin and Alek. They knew not to move to close to Anamita.

  “Good morning, Gallif,” Alek said. “I hope your god is with you.”

  “Thank you,” Gallif said.