by K. M. Bonde
Elora looks at Arddun. “Stay where you are,” she says with a firm but kind voice. “Wait for me.”
Arddun frowns. “We should tell the rest of the team that you plan on doing this now.”
“Arddun, I can do this, and we have little time. It’s better that I do this now without the rest of the team here. It will take hours to get them all up here.” She looks at the opening again, then turns back to Arddun, smiling. “Besides, this way I only need to hear protests from one person.”
Arddun sighs. “Keep an open mind. I’ll be here, meditating, in case you need me.” She sits down on a rock near the entrance and nods to the young queen.
Elora takes a deep breath, then enters the cave and follows the narrow tunnel until she comes to a large room with a big hole in the middle. It’s hot in here, and she forms some ice in her hands to cool her down. Around the edges of the hole, there’s a spiral, stone staircase descending into the darkness. This must be the Pit, Elora thinks as she peers down.
She waves her hand, conjuring a magical ward to protect her. Then, she descends the staircase, venturing deeper into the Pit. The hole is an almost perfect cylinder, and it looks like it has been drilled. But that’s impossible, Elora thinks. There’s no way they ever fit something so large in the cave.
The further down she goes, the hotter it gets, and sweat drops down Elora’s back. “Guess I should’ve expected this,” she mutters, “considering I’m searching for the fire stone.” She wipes her forehead and creates more ice to cool her, periodically refreshing the spell. It takes her a long time, but eventually, she makes it to the bottom of the Pit.
Down here, the heat thickens around her, and her lungs struggle for the air they desperately need. Maybe this was a bad idea, she thinks, looking back at the stairs. But that’s when she notices a change. It’s like her body is becoming resistant to the effects of the heat, so she focuses on calming her body, remembering Arddun’s advice to focus on the elements present. She can almost feel the fire connecting with her, and it feels good.
She walks forward into another small tunnel, and soon, she stands before another hole in the ground in a circular room. Large flames dance around this hole, in the middle is a small bridge going straight into the flames.
Elora looks around to see if there is a stone here or the ancient beast from the tale. She doesn’t see either. She looks at the flames again and slowly makes her way closer, as if drawn to them. As she walks out on the bridge, she puts her hand close to the flame. It doesn’t hurt her, and it feels strange, like a tingle in her fingers. It tickles, she thinks. Slowly, Elora walks into the flames, and as they engulf her, power surges through her. She thinks about her friends still sleeping in their beds not knowing what she is doing, and about Arddun waiting dutifully outside the cave.
The flames completely engulf Elora, and she disappears into an ocean of fire.
Chapter 43: The Oracle
On the second floor of the house in the city, Ryan wakes up, sweating profusely. Gasping for air, he looks around and realizes he’s back in the house, not with Elora. Taking one last look around, he shouts, “Where is Elora?”
His shouts wake everyone up, and Drake and Kvenalon begin to panic with Ryan. They struggle to get dressed, then run downstairs and burst outside.
“Have you seen Elora?” Drake asks one citizen passing by. The man shakes his head.
Eadric comes out of the house. “Please, be calm,” he says. “Arddun is not here either so she is probably protecting Elora.”
“Where would she have gone?” Drake asks.
Ryan sighs, and everyone looks to him. “What?” he asks.
“You know her best,” Eadric says. “Where would she have gone without telling us?”
Ryan looks toward the houses on the mountain path, trying to push the images of his nightmare from his head. “Probably for a sightseeing trip; she really likes the architecture here. Or, if she was feeling really adventurous this morning, to that place called the Pit. I had a nightmare that I couldn’t save her. Do you think it’s connected?”
Eadric shrugs. “It might be, or maybe it was just a dream. How can we check the Pit? Do you know where it is?”
Drake calls out to another person on the street, his voice heavy with stress. “Where is the Pit?”
The person points to the mountain. “Up there, near the end of the main road.”
“Well, let’s go,” Ryan says. They all take their weapons and run up the hill, following the same cobblestone path that Elora and Arddun walked earlier. It takes them a while, but as they reach the cave opening, they see Arddun sitting on a rock nearby.
“Where is Elora?” Drake asks as he runs up to Arddun, short of breath.
Arddun nods with her head toward the cave entrance. “She went in. No one else can go in; you would not be able to survive in there.”
“Why did Elora do this?” asks Ryan. “Why didn’t she tell us she was going to the trial this morning?”
Arddun shrugs. “She didn’t tell me until we got here. Elora wished to do this, and her wishes are our orders. She is the queen, and she decides when and what to do. I was in contact with her through meditation, but lost contact as she entered the final chamber below.”
“So, what does that mean?” asks Eadric.
“It means we wait.”
* * *
Far below the worrying team and the city, Elora finds herself hovering mid-air among the flames. She plays with the flames as they dance around her like children, playing and laughing. Elora spins around in the air, creating flame tornadoes that reaches for the ceiling. She slowly lowers herself and stands on the bridge once more.
“I accept the test. Prove me worthy,” she says, holding her hand out to the fire.
The flames plummets on her from all angles and penetrate her body. But she doesn’t feel any pain, and her eyes light up red as she absorbs the flames. Soon, she stands alone on the bridge. There are no more flames, and the mountain is quiet and calm. She walks lightly toward the tunnel and before leaving she looks back and tells the mountain, “Flames, come back. Never let the flame die, and never let anyone in here but me.”
She puts her hands on both sides of the wall at the tunnel entrance, and an imprint of her hands burns into the wall. The tunnel seals, protecting the flames from anyone but her. As she leaves the room, the flames burn in the Pit once more, moving as if waving goodbye to their queen and master.
Elora makes her way up the spiral staircase and out of the cave. As she steps outside, her whole team greets her, looking nervously at her.
Ryan runs up to hug her, his voice heavy with worry. “How are you doing? I had a nightmare and…”
As he touches her, though, he burns his hands. He pulls back, shouting out in pain.
Elora takes a step back from everyone, just as surprised as Ryan. As she looks down at his burnt hands, the skin angry and puckered, she nearly bursts into tears. “Ryan! Are you… are you ok?” She looks up at Arddun, then Drake, then the others. “I didn’t mean… I don’t… The heat must still be raging within me, the fire from the mountain.”
Kvenalon quickly comes to his aid. “Here, boy, let me see your hands,” he says gently. Without looking up, he asks, “Are you alright, Elora?”
“I’m ok,” she says. “Can you help Ryan?”
“It’s just a burn,” the old healer says. “Keep your distance from each other for now.”
“I’m sorry,” she says to Ryan again.
He smiles at her, not watching Kvenalon work. “It’s ok. You didn’t mean to. I was just… surprised.” She smiles back at him.
The others keep their distance, but Arddun approaches the young queen. “The fire is strong within you, Elora. You have tamed it. If you focus on your water and ice magic, you may be able to cool your body down.”
Elora holds out her staff and focuses on water, smoke coming off her body as the water inside of her cools the fire. When she feels like herself again, she looks back a
t her team. “Arddun’s right. Both water and fire live within me now.” She pauses. “But please, don’t fear me. This is who I am. The mountain has showed me more of myself and what I must do. The Stream is strong within this mountain.”
Elora looks back at the mountain, watching it for a few moments before turning back to her friends. “I saw visions of Cornelia and great places in this kingdom, places we must travel once we have found Winterhaven. I saw a great ocean with beautiful and powerful waves hitting sharp cliffs. Cornelia was standing there, waving to me, and talking. I couldn’t hear what she was saying… the noise from the waves was too loud. I also saw poisonous clouds hovering above green waters... I think it was some sort of marshlands.”
Arddun watches the young queen and smiles. “You have become more than just a magic dabbler, Elora. You have honed your feelings and your connection to the Stream. Those visions are the way of the Stream. They will guide you. Did you defeat the ancient beast and receive the stone?”
Elora sits down on the rock nearby and sighs. “No, there was no stone down there. No beast either.”
“No beast?” asks Eadric. “We can’t go to Winterhaven without the stone.” They all sit down around Elora, and Drake asks her, “what do we do now? The stone was supposed to be here in the mountain.”
Elora shrugs. “The stone is here somewhere, somewhere in the city or the mountain. I feel it, and it’s calling for me, but something is blocking the exact position. Probably the ancient beast.”
As Kvenalon finishes patching up Ryan’s injured hands, the rest of the team sits in silence, pondering their new dilemma. Suddenly, the Elder comes by. “Elora, did you venture into the Pit yet? The guard said you were up here.”
“I did,” Elora says, her voice steady. “But there was no ancient beast down there.”
The Elder’s eyebrows shoot up. “That cannot be, the story tells of the great ancient beast that dwells within these mountains, in a hole of fire.”
“Well... it’s not in that hole,” she retorts, pointing toward the cave.
The Elder looks toward the horizon as if he’s trying to gather his thoughts and find a solution. Finally, he turns back to Elora. “You have to come with me. We must visit the city’s oracle.”
Elora looks at him warily. “The oracle?”
The Elder nods. “She is an old woman who can see many things that others cannot. She lives a little remotely, and we need to go there now if you want to find the beast.”
Nobody mentioned an oracle before, Elora thinks. She turns to Arddun, and the mage nods at her. “Alright, let’s go,” Elora says to the Elder.
The Elder motions for the group to follow him. A moment later, they arrive at the end of the road near the edge of the mountain. There’s a small stone bridge leading over a gap to a huge boulder, and the walkway is part of the mountain, not man-made. The path is as amazing as it is scary; there’s nothing below as far as they can see. The thin mountain in front of them, on the other side of the walkway, is standing up all by itself and on the edge of it is a small platform. On the small platform is a small hut.
You just passed the fire’s test, Elora tells herself as she focuses on the path ahead. You are a queen. Act like one.
The Elder starts walking over the walkway, and Elora follows without hesitation. She is acting much like a queen, fearless and bold and ready to face whatever she needs to reach her goal. The rest of her team is more hesitant to what lies before them, and Elora can sense it. She looks over her shoulder and sees the team struggling before the walkway.
“You can wait there if you want, I'll handle this,” she calls to them. “I’ll find the stone, and we will continue this journey to our goal at Winterhaven.”
Felan sits down, refusing to walk out on the walkway. Ryan smiles at Felan and sits down next to him. “Just be careful, Elora!” he calls back to her.
The only one following Elora and the Elder is Arddun, and she looks back at the rest of the team. “Cowards! Are you afraid of heights?”
Drake makes a gesture with his hands and shouts to her as she walks over the walkway, “Not on an empty stomach!” The thief sits down with the rest of the team and waits, carefully watching the trio as they make their way over the walkway.
Before they reach the door, it opens and out comes an old woman with a walking stick. Her back is bent, and she looks up from the ground at the trio in front of her. “I have been expecting you, young queen. Come in, come in.”
She walks back into the hut, and Elora follows her. When the Elder and Arddun try to enter, however, the old woman holds up her hand. “You are not welcome here. What I have to say is only for the young queen and her alone.”
Then, the Oracle slams the door shut, leaving the Elder and Arddun no choice but to wait outside.
Chapter 44: The Mine
Inside the hut, there’s not much to see. The place is quite small and damp. For furniture, there’s a small table and a couple of chairs, and a fire has a big pot on top. Something is boiling and bubbling in it, though Elora can’t tell what. When she looks up, the ceiling has all kinds of herbs and animals hanging from it... animals? There are dead animals hanging from the ceiling. Elora sighs and focuses here attention on the ground again.
The old woman moves some potions and herbs from a chair. “Please sit, child.”
Elora appreciates the gesture and sits down.
The old woman is acting strange and comes very close to Elora, checking her face and eyes and feeling the skin on her arms. “Very nice, very nice, indeed the Chosen One,” the oracle murmurs as she goes to get something from a cupboard.
When she comes back, she hands Elora a small pouch. “Place all your stones in this, and they will be protected from evil. Only the Chosen One, a descendant of old Queen Cornelia, can open this pouch. It is imbued with magic of the old.”
Elora takes the green stone from her pocket and puts it in the pouch. It falls in gently, and the pouch closes itself.
The old woman sits down in front of Elora. “As you collect your powers, the ones residing in the stones, place them in the pouch until you have them all. Then, you must find the Sacred Table of Ultimate Power. It is a table created by Cornelia to forge the stones as one power greater than anything else. It is hidden, and only you can find it. The Stream will show you the way once you are ready.”
Elora asks curiously, “Where are the other stones?”
The old woman sighs and shakes her head. “Even with my vision, I cannot see that far. The stones have been gone for so long that they have become like a dream, a fairytale that people tell their children before bedtime. It is just a whisper so frail that if you speak it too much... it is gone.”
Elora holds up her staff and the blue stone shines in front of her, “I have two stones, the blue and the green.”
The old woman lights up at the sight of the blue stone. “And soon you will have the third, because it resides in these mountains.”
Elora puts the staff down next to her and looks at the old woman. “That’s why I am here. I didn’t find the stone in the pit. Where is it? Do you know?”
The old woman gets one of her potions and holds it close to her face, then shakes it. “I cannot see it; the ancient beast must have moved it. He is testing you, Elora, and you must be wary of his power. Search and you will find. Use your instincts and the power of the Stream to guide you as you search. The answer lays somewhere in this city.”
She pauses and continues. “I give you what information I have from the tales that have been told and books that I have read. They speak of a great power deep in the Poisonous Marsh. Go there and find the truth. They also speak about trees taller than the sky; these trees hold the clue to another stone. I have had vision of great white plains; there is a stone somewhere in the snow, far beyond the mountains of this city.”
“Thank you. Oracle. First, I will search the city for answers.” Elora takes her staff and walks toward the door.
The old woman puts her
hand on Elora's shoulder. “Be strong out there, young queen. I have seen what you are up against, and it will be a challenge. You will face your worst nightmare out in the snow. It will be the worst time of your life and it will change you, for better or worse, depending on how strong and pure you are. Don't surrender to the darkness; even in your worst moment, there is always light inside of you.”
The old woman pushes Elora out and closes the door behind her. Elora hears the door locking and sighs. I knew I would be faced with challenges, but what monster or creature can cause such a nightmare? Time will tell, I suppose.
Arddun and the Elder follow Elora as she walks back over the walkway. On the other side, she sits down and tells everyone about the challenges up ahead. Elora doesn’t share the part concerning a great nightmare, deciding it’s best if they don’t know that threat.
“We should split up and search for clues in the city,” Eadric says.
“Right. We’ll spend the rest of the day searching and meet back at the house. Felan, come with me.” Drake motions for the wolf to follow him. Felan looks at Elora, who nods, and then he takes off down the mountain with the master thief.
Eadric puts a hand on Elof’s shoulder. “We’ll search the upper portions of the city.”
“I can search the lower parts,” Ryan says. “Being this high up is making me a bit dizzy.”
“And I’ll go with you,” Kvenalon says. “You’ll need your hands re-bandaged at some point.”
“Ok, don’t forget to meet back at the house tonight!” Elora calls after her party as they split off. Then, she looks at Arddun and the Elder. “Please come with me. We can search the entrance to the city and the nearby areas where we first entered.”
The day is warm, the sun climbing higher in the blue sky as Elora and Arddun talk to people and search for the stone.
“It’s amazing how life just continues here even when a great evil faces them so close,” Elora says when she and Arddun are far away from anyone else.
