“Kalvin, you know better than to sneak up on us!” Dresdia scolded, irritated at her brother for embarrassing Lynol. “What are you doing here anyway? You’re supposed to be helping father repair the fence in the hay pasture.”
“I was, but we got through early and I wanted to come over to go swimming to cool off,” he replied, crestfallen, feeling guilty and defensive.
He hoped Lynol wasn’t too upset with him, even though he knew she was. He could tell by the upset and aggravated look on her face. “I heard your voices, but I didn’t know you were swimming nude until I came around the big tree. Anyway, our parents are going to Galvin early in the morning to visit the Mystols, and they won’t be back until late in the evening. I thought it might be a good opportunity for us to go to Firestorm Mountain.”
He could tell by the glaring flushed look, which Lynol was still giving him that he was in deep trouble. Damn, he thought, I should have looked first before yelling! I could have turned around and gotten safely away without either of the girls being the wiser. He knew that his sister would make him pay for embarrassing Lynol, and who knows what Lynol would expect out of him to make up for this. He knew he was in a lot of trouble with them.
“Turn your back for a moment,” Lynol ordered threateningly, her face still a bright scarlet, the heated blush running down to the swell of her breasts. “Next time you get the urge to go swimming, Kalvin, start hollering a little sooner,” she admonished, it was all she could do just to face Kalvin.
Kalvin turned around obediently as the two girls hurried out of the water, drying off and putting their clothes quickly back on. Satisfied they looked decent, Lynol told Kalvin he could turn back around.
“Father’s going to be putting up hay tomorrow. I could tell him I’m going over to your place for the day,” Lynol said hesitantly, wondering if they were doing the right thing.
That inner voice was still encouraging her to go to the mountain. She wondered if it was the hidden abilities she possessed doing the urging. Was there something drawing her to Firestorm Mountain? Something she was supposed to find? There was so much about her powers she just didn’t understand. The more she learned, the more she became confused.
“I guess we’re going to Firestorm Mountain,” Dresdia reluctantly acquiesced. “I just hope we won’t regret it later.” She could tell that Kalvin and Lynol had already made up their minds. Even though she still felt hesitant about going, she wasn’t going to be left behind.
“I will pack some food and hiking supplies,” Kalvin went on, his face glowing with excitement. “I can have everything ready by first light. We can meet here at the pond.” Kalvin, his eyes wide, looked at Lynol, hoping for approval of his plan.
Lynol looked at him and nodded. Dresdia just stood between the two, frowning.
“All right, Kalvin,” replied Lynol, deciding to take the risk. “Let’s just hope we don’t get into too much trouble over this. Come on, Dresdia, I’ll walk you part of the way back home.”
With that, the two girls left. Kalvin watched them disappear into the trees. When the girls were safely out of sight, he shrugged out of his clothes and dove into the water head first. Kalvin sputtered and shivered in the cool water as he rose to the surface and stood relaxing in water nearly up to his chin. After working in the heat all day, the pond felt great!
He couldn’t get the enticing sight of Lynol’s nude body floating so captivatingly in the water out of his mind. God, she was beautiful! A sudden giggle behind him caused Kalvin to quickly turn and look back toward the shore. The two girls were standing on the bank with his clothes clutched firmly in their hands, mischievous smiles on their faces.
“This will teach you to sneak up on us,” said Lynol impishly with a teasing grin. Lynol giggled and stepped forward toward Kalvin, stopping at the water’s edge. “Maybe we should stay here and wait for you to come out of the water. After all, you can’t stay in there all day.” Lynol continued giggling at the surprised and concerned look that suddenly appeared on Kalvin’s stunned face.
Kalvin stepped cautiously backwards into deeper water, eyeing the two girls and wondering what he could do to extricate himself out of this mess. “You could come back in,” Kalvin replied challengingly, his eyes coming to a stop on the swell of Lynol’s breasts with a grinning leer that he couldn’t help, knowing that he was only getting into deeper trouble.
“No way, Kalvin,” interjected Dresdia, holding some of Kalvin’s clothes in her left hand. “You’ve seen more than enough for today! If you want these, they will be on the porch back home.” With that, the two girls turned and bounded through the trees to disappear quickly from sight, their carefree giggles fading in the distance.
Kalvin stood taken aback in the water. It was nearly a mile home. He would have to sneak up to the back porch making sure his mother didn’t see him through the kitchen window. If she did, he would have a lot of explaining to do. Oh well, he thought, turning on his back and using a backstroke to move easily across the water. I guess I asked for it.
Chapter Five
Lynol was up early the following morning. She stepped out onto the porch, shutting the door quietly so as not to wake her father. It would still be several more hours before he got up to begin the day’s chores. She had a small pack nestled comfortably on her back for the day's planned adventure.
It was just moments before dawn with the sun just about to peek over the distant softly glowing horizon. The early morning air held a slight chill. The sky was a soft pink and gentle purple, and a few of the brighter stars were still visible. A low, white mist clung close to the ground in the distant meadows. Firestorm Mountain beckoned peacefully in the distance. Lynol took a deep fortifying breath as she gazed at the mountain. No point delaying this any longer, she thought.
Going down the steps from the porch, Lynol was soon walking briskly down the narrow path toward the rendezvous site at the pond. Birds sang in nearby pines, and the crisp mountain air carried the refreshing smell of the nearby water. Lynol had told her father the night before that Dresdia, Kalvin, and she had plans for the entire day. Damon had only nodded, telling Lynol to be careful and to be back before dark. She felt guilty about misleading her father, but she knew that he would be very worried if he knew what her actual plans were.
She still wasn’t sure why she had let Kalvin talk her into this hair-brained idea. She just had an unexplained feeling that she needed to go to the mountain. Even though it was Kalvin’s idea, she knew that, at some point in time, she would have done it anyway. At least this way she wasn’t going alone. She just hoped she wasn’t placing herself and her best friends in any type of imminent danger.
Shaking off her concerns, Lynol thought about the lessons she had practiced the night before. She had been working extremely hard at mastering some of the spells in the sorcery book. Many of her lessons consisted of nothing more than learning how to concentrate and focusing her mind on the task at hand. The early sections of the book spent a lot of time on stressing the importance of being able to focus her mind and thoughts clearly.
So far she had only managed to master a few of the simpler spells. As thick as the book was and as complicated as the later spells in the book were, Lynol knew it would be years before she even made a dent in what the book contained. Of course, she had only had the book for a few days.
Lynol wished she had someone who could teach her. There were times when she wasn’t quite sure what the instructions wanted. She just had to try and then repeat the spell again until she got it right. Another sorcerer who could make sense of all this, to guide her through her studies, and answer some of her many questions would be a God send, but she knew that hope was non-existent. The only other sorcerer she knew of was the evil one across the mountains, the one she felt was trying to disturb Gilmreth. No, she would have to learn this on her own. It might be slow, aggravating, and even tedious at times, but there was no other way.
Lynol felt nervous and apprehensive about going to search for t
he sacrificial altar at the base of Firestorm Mountain. She had never been in such close proximity to the mountain as she would be today and what she knew slept malevolently beneath it.
The sluggishly rising sun was just peeking over the distant horizon casting a pale, luminous glow upon the mountaintops. Much of the land was still encompassed by the fading darkness that was rapidly losing its battle with the increasing light. Lynol adjusted the twin straps on her backpack slightly, wriggling her shoulders until it felt more comfortable.
Her thoughts turned towards the day’s planned journey. Assuming they could even find the altar, they knew where it was supposed to be, or at least Kalvin claimed he did, but whether anything was still there after all this time was questionable. After nearly one thousand years what could possibly have survived? Surely rain and the elements would have long since erased any traces of ancient artifacts. Lynol knew that it was doubtful they could even find the place. She had never heard it mentioned by anyone other than her father and Kalvin.
“Why am I doing this?” she asked herself quietly as she walked through the dew-covered grass in the meadow. She knew part of it was curiosity and the desire to spend the day with her friends, but there was an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, which seemed to be coaxing her toward the mountain.
“I can’t believe we’re going,” Lynol murmured aloud, seeing the canopy of green trees in the distance, which marked the outskirts of the pond. “If father ever finds out I will be in all kinds of trouble.” That really worried Lynol. She was very close to her father, and it seemed that recently she was keeping too many secrets from him.
As she walked, Lynol pondered over the spells she had been practicing for the last several nights. In the distance, she could hear a small calf hollering for its mother, and a scattering of early morning birds crying out sharply as the sun rose slowly above the distant horizon. Lighting candles and lamps she could do almost nonchalantly now that she had learned to focus better using the amulet her father had entrusted her.
Touching her thick sweater absently with her hand, Lynol could feel the amulet resting securely between her breasts. She felt a warm, comforting glow inside at the remembrance of the special person to whom it had belonged. The necklace was the only thing she possessed that had belonged to her mother.
Arriving at the pond, she found Kalvin and Dresdia dressed in hiking clothes waiting impatiently for her. Dresdia had a small pack similar to Lynol’s, and Kalvin had a long, wicked looking hunting knife strapped to his waist. He also had a large pack setting at his feet containing whatever he had decided they might need for the day.
“Lynol, we were beginning to think you weren’t going to come,” said Dresdia, rushing up, looking excited, and giving Lynol a swift, comforting hug, her face tinged pink in the cool morning air.
“I see you found your clothes,” commented Lynol, looking at Kalvin with a straight face, recalling their antics from the day before and still feeling slightly embarrassed that Kalvin had seen her so exposed. She would definitely be careful about swimming in the nude in the future.
“At least I was covered up by the water and not on display,” countered Kalvin, recalling the previous day with a mischievous grin.
He still couldn’t get the captivating mental picture of Lynol floating totally naked in the small pond out of his mind. She was just as beautiful as he had imagined, as the tantalizing memory played across his mind once more, causing him to breathe a little heavier.
“Kalvin, behave!” spoke Dresdia, feeling exasperated at her brother, guessing at what he was thinking. Mother was certainly right about his hormones, they were totally out of control!
Lynol felt her face redden with embarrassment, realizing she wouldn’t be able to come out on top in this conversation. Turning to Dresdia, she asked. “Are you positive you want to do this? No one from our village has gone near this section of the mountain for a very long time. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”
“I’m sure,” Dresdia replied, tentatively, then with growing enthusiasm. “It’ll be exciting and different. Besides, what harm can it do? Nothing lives there, and hardly anything grows that close to the mountain. We’re not actually going up high on the mountain itself. This sacrificial altar that Kalvin keeps talking about is supposedly on the lower slopes.”
“Just what do you know about this sacrificial altar?” Lynol asked, curiously, looking at Kalvin with her light blue eyes.
“Father said the villagers used to bring specially chosen young people to the altar to be sacrificed to Gilmreth,” Kalvin replied slowly. “This supposedly went on for years until it ended when Malcon Sylvar put Gilmreth to sleep in his lair.”
“It was virgin girls that were sacrificed,” corrected Lynol, recalling her father’s stories from several nights previously. “But I have never heard where this altar might be, my father never mentioned its location.”
“Virgin girls were sacrificed at this altar!” Dresdia exclaimed, her emerald green eyes flashing with disbelief. “This just gets worse all the time. Are you two sure this is safe? Are we actually sure we want to do this?”
“Don’t worry, sis,” replied Kalvin, feeling annoyed at his sister. It had been hard enough to talk her into this to begin with. “We will be quite safe; there’s nothing there that can harm us. All this happened nearly a thousand years ago. Besides, it’s a good excuse to spend the day together and who knows, we just might find something interesting.”
“Maybe,” Dresdia replied with obvious doubt in her voice. She knew what they were doing was wrong. Their parents, particularly their father, had always warned them to stay away from the mountain.
“If it looks dangerous, we’ll turn around,” spoke Lynol, reassuring Dresdia. She hoped that her fledgling powers would warn her of any impending danger. She should be able to keep all three of them safe. If she sensed any danger, she would insist they turn around and come home.
“Let’s go,” said Kalvin, picking up his large pack and sliding it easily over his shoulders, watching the two girls impatiently and wanting to be off before they changed their minds. “We have a long morning ahead of us, especially if we have to spend part of the day searching for the sacrificial altar.”
Turning, he headed down the grassy path that led to the far boundary of the lush green Sylvar meadow in the direction of Firestorm Mountain, taking point. He was afraid if he waited much longer the two girls might talk themselves out of this trip.
Lynol and Dresdia fell in behind him, chattering about how nice the morning was and glad they had dressed warmly for the early morning chill. If Kalvin wanted to play the adventurous muscular trail breaker, that was fine with them.
-
For hours, the three walked briskly toward the towering mountain, with Kalvin setting a rapid pace as he pushed the two girls wanting to get there as quickly as possible. The path had long since vanished, the grassy pasture giving way gradually to a sparse, more desolate countryside. Once past the Gor and Sylvar farms, the land had taken a quick turn for the worse. The lush plant growth vanished, to be replaced by other less worthy vegetation. The dry countryside stretched away to the very slopes of Firestorm Mountain. The morning wind blew swirls of dust and occasional wayward tumbleweeds across their path.
“The ground looks so dead,” commented Dresdia, looking around despondently at the desolate countryside surrounding them. She could see very few living plants and she hadn’t seen a bird in over an hour. “Even the animals and birds stay away.”
It’s the result of the Worldfire poison and Gilmreth,” replied Kalvin, looking grimly around at the sparse plants and the few trees that were visible. He estimated they had only traveled about five miles from the boundaries of the Gor and Sylvar farms and it was hard to believe how quickly the landscape had changed. This was much closer than he had ever been to Firestorm Mountain. “There’s nothing here for the animals to eat.”
“Is it safe for us to be here if the ground is poisoned?” Dre
sdia asked, concerned, looking around at the dead soil. “I don’t want us to become sick or anything.”
“It’s safe,” Kalvin replied briskly, trying to keep the uncertainty out of his own voice. He didn’t like the look of the countryside either.
Lynol brushed a strand of brown hair back from her eyes and turned her attention to the forsaken countryside around them. The occasional tufts of thin yellow grass and the few clumps of brush and scrawny trees that grew in isolated pockets were strong reminders of just where they were. The trees looked stunted and were an unhealthy color, barely eking out their meager existence in the arid and denuded soil. Small hills rose around them, marking the beginning outskirts of Firestorm Mountain; stones and a few larger boulders dotted the desolate landscape. Up ahead the mountain towered above them, its snow covered summit almost too bright to look at in the dazzling midmorning sunlight. Shading her eyes, Lynol stared up quizzically toward the mountain.
“Are you sure you know where we’re going, Kalvin?” asked Lynol, scanning the slope of the mountain up ahead. So far, their walk had almost been pleasant. Dresdia and she had been talking the entire time. “We’re not going to have a lot of time once we get there before we have to start back for home.”
“That cleft up ahead, which cuts into the base of the mountain, is where the sacrificial altar is supposed to have been,” stated Kalvin, pointing toward what looked like a small canyon. Coming to a stop, he peered long and hard at the shadowy V-shaped passage that cut deep into the mountain lying up slope several miles away. “That’s what I’ve heard from the stories father told me. I hope the altar won’t be too difficult to locate.”
“It’s been a long time since anyone has come this way, Kalvin,” replied Lynol, placing her hands on her shapely hips and gazing at where Kalvin pointed. She could see the V shape in the side of the mountain. It didn’t look as if it was much farther. She was surprised that Kalvin actually had a good idea of where to look. She had thought they would probably spend a few hours walking along the lower slopes and after not finding anything, turn around and go back home. “The wind and the rain could easily have erased all evidence of the altar. We shouldn’t get our hopes up too much for finding anything.”
Gilmreth the Awakening Page 13
