by Pedro Urvi
“What’s happening? Are we alive, Yakumo?”
“Yes, we’re alive. I don’t know how but alive we are, although we should be dead. Nothing could survive such a whirlwind, nothing. All the same, here we are. I can only assume it’s because of the magic of the Ilenian medallion.”
“And what about them?” she asked uneasily, pointing at the other two.
“Unconscious but alive. I just checked. I thought it best not to wake them for now, until we know where we are and what happened.”
Iruki looked around the unusual cave and felt glad that the priest and the librarian were also safe. “They seem to be kind-hearted people. I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to them. Yakumo, what is this place?”
“I don’t know, Iruki, I’m absolutely at a loss. It looks like the inside of a cave, but I have no idea where we are. I do suspect… let me check…”
Yakumo walked to the water’s edge. With a look at Iruki, he said: “I’ll be back presently, don’t worry.” Then he dived head first into the water.
“Be careful!” she cried.
Moments that seemed endless passed before Yakumo resurfaced. Iruki’s heart beat faster as worry cramped her stomach.
Nimbly as a cat, Yakumo emerged from the water. “I was right after all. I know this will sound crazy to you, but we’re at the bottom of the lake, in a cave in the deep…”
“But… that’s impossible. The spirit of air dwells in this cavern. That’s why we can breathe. If the spirit of air wasn’t present we’d die. Those are the laws of Mother Steppes and they always apply. But the water does not flood the cave. That’s against Nature’s teachings. It shouldn’t be like that, should it?”
Lindaro and Sonea woke up with the explanations.
“Not necessarily…” said Sonea, massaging the back of her neck.
“No? How can we be at the bottom of the lake and still breathe? It should all be submerged. The spirit of air should have left this place, to be replaced by the spirit of water. This goes against nature. The laws of Mother Nature have been violated in this cave.”
Lindaro looked at Sonea in some surprise.
“I’m totally with Iruki on this. This place defies the laws of nature and the teaching of the Light. The water should have submerged and covered this cave if, as Yakumo says, we’re at the bottom of the lake!”
Sonea stood up. When she had composed herself somewhat, she explained:
“It might be just that the cave has a great bubble of air in it, and because of that the water can’t penetrate. The pressure of the water can’t overcome that of the air bubble.”
They all looked at her in puzzlement.
“When a boat capsizes, if it’s well built it can sink with a certain amount of air inside. That air can’t escape because of the pressure of the water around the boat. In some cases, men have been able to save themselves by breathing this air under water. They study this at the Great Library.”
“I shan’t oppose you in this,” said Lindaro, sounding extremely doubtful. “You’re the scholar, and you have more knowledge of advanced sciences than this humble man of faith.”
“Or it could be due to some powerful Ilenian magic,” said Yakumo.
“That might be…” admitted Sonea.
“Whatever the case, we’re alive, we’re breathing air under water and we have to find a way out,” said Iruki, rather more calmly.
The four adventurers composed themselves as best they could and prepared to go into the cave. They went along a narrow corridor of curved walls, white as lime, with encrustations of strange luminous minerals.
“Let’s go on very carefully,” warned Yakumo. “I don’t have a very good feeling about this place.”
“The way we’ve reached it makes me think of magic,” said Lindaro.
“I agree with Lindaro. I guess the reasons and the means point to some very powerful kind of magic,” said Sonea.
Somewhat fearfully, they went on until they reached a great oval chamber. Walls, floor and ceiling were of a polished lime-white, as if the whole chamber had been smoothed with infinite care. In the middle of the hall several mysterious symbols had been etched on the floor. Iruki and Yakumo went to look closer.
“Those strange symbols again,” said Iruki.
Yakumo knelt and stretched out his hand. “Yes, I can feel the power emanating from them.”
Sonea and Lindaro came to stand by the symbols. They studied them carefully in silence.
“Do I gather from your comments that you’ve come across symbols like this before?” said Lindaro nonchalantly.
“Yes, we’ve seen this type of symbol in another cave,” said Iruki.
“And, was it in that cave that you found the medallion?” Sonea asked, also nonchalantly.
“That’s right…”
“Why all these questions about the symbols and the medallion?” asked Yakumo, with suspicion.
Sonea and Lindaro exchanged nervous looks.
The Assassin put his hands on his daggers: “You’d better tell me all you know right away.”
“All right, don’t get upset… There’s no need to resort to violence, we’ll tell you everything,” said Lindaro now very nervous. “Sonea and I are here for a very concrete reason. We’re looking to solve a great mystery. We’re trying to decipher the Enigma of the Ilenians.”
“What do you mean, you’re here? Were you looking for this place?” Iruki was looking at both scholars with her brow furrowed.
“Well, not exactly… we didn’t know the exact location but we knew it was in the lake…” stuttered Lindaro apologetically.
“How could you even know of the existence of this place?” said Yakumo, with a threatening voice. His gaze was distrustful.
“I can explain. Calm down, we’re not hiding anything,” Sonea said in a soothing tone. “The strange symbols you see on the floor and the hieroglyphs they make up belong to a very advanced civilization which disappeared mysteriously more than three thousand years ago: The Ilenians, the Lost Civilization. Both Lindaro and I have spent most of our lives studying them, the few remnants they left behind.”
“Did this civilization you speak of use ancient, powerful magic?” asked Yakumo, as if this was something he wanted to check.
“That’s right, extremely powerful magic,” said Sonea. Lindaro nodded in corroboration.
Iruki was very interested in what she was hearing. It fitted perfectly with the dramatic events she had lived through in the Temple of Water.
“What brought you here?” she asked.
Sonea looked at Lindaro, who nodded. The Librarian came to stand in front of Iruki and Yakumo and without omitting a single detail, told them the strange things which had happened in the Great Library when she had unwittingly activated the Ilenian grimoire, and the decision they had reached when they found the place the ancient mysterious book had shown them.
Yakumo and Iruki remained silent, digesting what Sonea had told them. After a moment Iruki asked: “And where did the grimoire Lindaro sent you come from?”
Sonea looked at the priest, who smiled back at her.
“We’d better sit down. The story I have to tell is a long one, and the details are very important.”
They sat down on the floor around the Ilenian symbols, and Lindaro told them about his incredible adventure in the Temple of Ether, under the great Lighthouse of Egia. He told them about his companions, Komir, Hartz and Kayti, of the monsters with the body of a man and the head of an animal, of the Ilenian magic, of the Guardian Mage and the sarcophagus containing the King of the lost civilization. When he had finished his tale, Iruki gave Yakumo a look of understanding. Here were answers to a puzzle whose pieces were beginning to fit together.
“And what did you find in the Ilenian King’s sarcophagus?” she wanted to know.
“Some very valuable jewels and a great two-handed sword, bewitched with Ilenian magic,” said Lindaro.
Iruki unsheathed her Ilenian sword and showed it to the pr
iest, holding it out with extended palms.
“Were the engravings at all similar to these?”
Lindaro examined it carefully. Sonea stretched her neck to look at the sword curiously.
“The symbols are the same as those on Hartz’s sword. There’s no doubt it’s Ilenian, is there, Sonea?” Lindaro looked at the small scholar as she scratched her dark hair with an intrigued expression on her face.
“Definitely Ilenian… I recognize a couple of symbols which are very curious. On the one hand the symbol of the Soul, and also one I think represents a Great Warrior or Fighter.”
Iruki was amazed that it fitted so perfectly what her sword represented.
“Didn’t you find anything else in the sarcophagus?” Iruki went on, with a touch of suspicion in her voice.
“Well, I think it was Komir who looked inside the sarcophagus, but I don’t remember him finding anything else.”
“Tell me, Lindaro, does this Komir have eyes of an intense emerald green and long brown hair?”
Lindaro was surprised.
“That’s right. How… how did you know? Do you know him perhaps?”
Iruki smiled. “Let’s say I’ve seen him… that we’ve been… connected…” she emphasized the element of mystery in her words. “But your friend Komir hasn’t told you everything, Lindaro.”
“What do you mean?” asked the good priest nervously.
“I mean this,” replied Iruki. She took out the Medallion from the Temple of Water she wore round her neck and showed it to him.
“A medallion, I don’t see…”
“You’d better listen carefully, because the story I’m going to tell you now equals the one you’ve just told us. Only the spirits of the steppes know how we managed to survive. It must have been they who protected us when we were on Masig sacred land.”
Iruki told them then how she and Yakumo had escaped from their tireless Norghanian pursuers, the climb to the Fountain of Life, the traps inside the Temple of Water, the sea snakes of the abyss, the Guardian Mage they had had to confront, and the medallion of the King she had found in the sarcophagus.
Lindaro and Sonea listened open-mouthed, speechless, riveted by the story the young Masig was sharing with them. Sonea was the first to react.
“That Temple of Water has to be an Ilenian Temple!” she said excitedly, waving her arms enthusiastically. “It has too many things in common with the Temple of Ether to be just a coincidence. The odds that these two temples aren’t related are, in my humble opinion, practically non-existent. That sword and the medallion prove it. Their origin is Ilenian, which means that both temples must be the same, and what’s more, there must be a connection between them. There’s still more that I can’t manage to see, even though it’s right here in front of us…”
Lindaro had astonishment written all over his face.
“By the Light that guides us and illuminates us! I agree with Sonea. This is wonderful news! Two Ilenian temples, in two distant points of Tremia, related. It’s amazing. We must find out what else is behind the temples and the mystery they hide.”
“The temple of Water and the Temple of Ether…” said Yakumo thoughtfully. “My master taught me the Way of the Five Elements. This is a doctrine that gives the power to survive under the most extreme conditions, and to make use of the five elements when using the Gift…”
“Have you been blessed with the Gift?” Lindaro asked, impressed.
Yakumo nodded in silence.
Sonea broke the silence: “He’s right. In our culture the basic elements are four: Earth, Water, Fire and Air, and we don’t include Ether as a fifth element. But because of my studies at the Great Library, I know that some cultures do.”
“Then do you think the Ilenian temples are related to the five elements of nature?” said Iruki.
“No doubt of it!” said Sonea and Lindaro at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed.
“And what about this place we find ourselves in?” asked Yakumo, looking around him. “My Gift warns me there’s a powerful magic here. A magic that exudes antiquity, together with something else I can’t grasp. But its essence is very similar to what I felt at the Temple of Water.”
“The grimoire of the Temple of Ether showed me this place. That’s why we came here intending to find out what it hides.”
“My medallion showed me the way to this place too,” said Iruki.” That can’t be a coincidence either.”
“No, I’m sure it’s no coincidence,” said Sonea. “This place was built by Ilenians. The symbols and runes engraved on the floor show that.
Lindaro looked round warily. “So we must assume that we really are in an Ilenian temple.”
He fixed his eyes on Iruki’s medallion, and his expression became thoughtful.
“You said before that Komir hadn’t told me everything. What did you mean?”
Iruki smiled at the man of faith. “Your friend didn’t tell you that he found a medallion in the sarcophagus, around the neck of the King who was resting there in his eternal sleep”
“No… but I don’t see. How do you know that was the case?”
“I’ll tell you, man who serves the Light.”
Calmly, the Masig told them of her encounters with Komir and the girl with the golden hair, by means of the link provided by the medallions they carried.
Sonea clapped her hands in delight.
“Three medallions! That means… three Ilenian temples!”
“We can surmise so…” said Lindaro.
“Could you communicate with Komir now?” Lindaro asked excitedly. “They left before I’d recovered from the wound I got in Ocorum, and I haven’t heard from them since then. I pray to the Light to protect them and I hope they’re well. Is it possible for you to find out?”
Iruki shook her head.
“I’m sorry, man of faith. The visions are not called upon by this daughter of the prairies. I believe they are created by your friend Komir, whom I mistook for an evil spirit sent to steal my soul. The medallion round my neck,” —she said caressing it lightly ̶ “acts of its own accord. I’m nothing but a means for its magic. I can’t activate it or control it. Perhaps Oni Black Cloud, the shaman of my tribe might be able to…”
Yakumo stood up and unsheathed his daggers. “If we’re in an Ilenian temple, we’re in danger. We must prepare ourselves and be ready. Remember the traps, remember the Guardian Mage. It’s time for extreme caution.”
Not far away, in another limestone cave, Lasgol awoke, bruised and bewildered. He looked at the blue water around him, only a part of the ground was solid rock. Beside him, undaunted, Morksen was sharpening his hunting knife.
“Where are we…?” Lasgol asked.
“I haven’t the least idea, but it’s time to hunt the Assassin.”
Risky Mission
The night was perfect for the risky mission.
At last.
Gerart looked at the sky, searching for the moon, but did not see it. He looked for a star shining above, but there were none to be seen either. On that dark night the clouds covered the whole firmament and not the least sparkle came through to reach the damp earth. In that blinding darkness the forest rose threateningly like a nightmare monster waiting to devour anyone who dared go into it. Gerart turned cautiously. He could see nothing behind him, but at the same time no one would discover them.
“Look for the Nocean watchmen. None of them are to escape alive, or else the mission will fail. And get rid of the bodies,” he whispered to the three officers who followed him. The officers saluted, and a few moments later three dozen men left stealthily to carry out the orders of the Prince of Rogdon. In the blink of an eye they had disappeared, swallowed up by the dense forest and the reigning darkness.
Two scouts came back to Gerart. Their faces and clothes were camouflaged and they were barely discernible, they looked like forest shadows. One of them was bleeding from a cut on his forehead. Gerart did not see the wound at first, but when he noticed
it he looked at the soldier’s eyes and in a muffled whisper asked him what had happened.
“A Nocean watchman, your Highness.”
“Is he dead?”
“Yes, your Highness.”
“Good. Is the way clear?”
“Yes, your Highness. We found another watchman a little further on, but we took care of him before he could run and alert the rest.”
“Good, excellent job, soldiers. Now take us to the hermitage.”
“At your command, your Highness,” said the scout. He and his companion turned round to lead the way.
How those men could see within the forest on such a dark night was something Gerart did not understand. He was unable to identify anything more than two hand’s-breadths away from his nose. He had asked for the best scouts of the realm, and that was what he had got. The mission was critical for the survival of Rogdon. The kingdom’s fate was hanging by a thread. If the mission failed, the thread would break and Rogdon would perish. But Gerart preferred not to think about such a possibility at that moment. They had been preparing the mission for weeks, and now it was vitally important that everything went according to plan.
He glanced back. A dozen Royal Swords, all in black, followed closely. Their faces were painted black so that only their eyes, filled with courage and loyalty, could be seen. They were dressed like his own guard: black chain-mail and doublet, black tanned-leather gloves, reinforced black pants and high black riding-boots. On their backs they wore a long black woolen cloak with a hood that covered their blond heads completely. Even the swords and daggers they carried were black. He touched his own cheek and put his finger in his mouth. The black paint which covered his face tasted of rust.
A wolf howled in the distance. Gerart could not help the thought: if a single Nocean watchman discovered them, everything would be lost. They went on deeper into the forest, which was growing thicker and steeper as they advanced, making the silent incursion more difficult.
“This way, your Highness,” whispered the experienced scout as he turned east, circling a group of moss-covered rocks. Gerart followed him to what looked like the edge of the forest. The second scout came up to them.
