Trials

by Pedro Urvi

  “Have no fear, my friend, pick it up,” Aliana repeated sweetly, and went to the Usik to give her comfort.

  Kendas looked on with a shrinking heart as the two girls came up to the sarcophagus. Aliana nodded encouragingly at Asti. The Usik looked at the Healer, decided to trust her and grasped the medallion with her right hand. They all held their breaths expectantly.

  Nothing happened.

  “No hurt…” said Asti. The faces of the others relaxed at once, and they smiled.

  Aliana cried out: “It’s her! Asti is the bearer!”

  Kendas felt enormous relief; the young Usik was unharmed. But a shadow darkened the moment, for he was aware that Asti’s life would never be the same again. She was now a Bearer, and the Ilenian Magic would now be part of her. Nothing would be the same for her again. Nothing.

  Komir collapsed on to the floor.

  “It wasn’t all for nothing…” he said from where he was huddled on the polished rock surface. “It wasn’t all for nothing.”

  Kendas understood the reason for that comment, the heavy weight had vanished from his shoulders. Komir had led them all there, taking them with him on a journey filled with danger and suffering, a journey on which they had nearly died. Finding a reason to justify all that must mean an enormous relief for him. Clearly it was a huge responsibility he was shouldering.

  Aliana ran to Komir’s side,

  “We were right! The medallions led us here for a reason, and one which I think is actually two in one: to find the lost Medallion of Fire and to reveal its bearer.” She looked at Asti, who was hanging the medallion around her neck with trembling hands. Kayti helped her fasten it. The magnificent ruby-red jewel gave out a gleam so vivid that it filled the entire chamber.

  Asti opened her eyes wide, surprised and fearful.

  “Feel magic inside chest… fear…” she said

  “Relax, Asti,” Aliana hurried to say. “Nothing bad is going to happen to you. The medallion must be interacting with your own inner energy… and that means…”

  “That you also have the Gift,” Komir finished for her.

  Kendas was stunned. He had not thought of that, but Komir was right. According to what Aliana had told him, in order to interact with the medallion one had to have the Gift. Otherwise the medallions could not invoke the Ilenian magic, or at least that was what she had gathered from her experience and Komir’s. Asti had been blessed with the Gift… that frightened, fragile creature… It made Kendas worry even more. Komir was an exceptional warrior and could face any danger; Aliana was a Healer, brave and also an expert archer. But Asti… She was no more than a frail doe, helpless before the power of evil and the dangers it brought with it. And that medallion could bring her nothing good… He must protect her, now more than ever…

  Aliana stretched her arms out to Asti with a calming smile. The Usik looked at her and took her hands straight away, smiling back timidly. At that moment both medallions shone brightly.

  “Here we go again…” protested Hartz, shaking his head.

  Aliana freed her right hand and offered it to Komir. The young Norriel walked up to them and took it. Asti offered him hers, and the three held hands forming a circle. When the circle was made the three medallions shone simultaneously, each with its own particular quality: Aliana’s brown, Komir’s crystalline and Asti’s ruby red. They all watched, hypnotized. The medallions began to flash at different intervals; to Kendas it seemed they were… communicating… talking to each other… But that could not be—or perhaps it could—; the Lancer did not know what to think. Suddenly the flashes ceased, and in the middle of the circle of three a mist began to rise. The mist gave way to an image which became steadily clearer, like a summer dream. Kendas could now make out two women, and his attention was caught because…

  Both wore Ilenian medallions round their necks!

  One was a beautiful Masig, unmistakable because of her red skin and air of wildness; in contrast the other’s skin was pale, she was smaller and wore her hair short, and since she wore a tunic with an enormous eye on the front she seemed to belong to some kind of Order.

  “It’s the Masig we’ve communicated with before,” Aliana said.

  “Yes,” Komir said, puzzled, “but who’s that with her?”

  Kayti took a step toward the circle. Looking at the image, she said:

  “Their two medallions plus the three here make five. The five elements: Earth, Fire and Ether are here, so they must be bearing the medallions of Water and Air. I think it’s fair to assume that the medallions are showing us this image of the other bearers because they want to join their brothers.” She pointed at the image in the mist.

  “What’s their intention?” Kendas asked, trying to make some sense of it all.

  Komir’s face twisted.

  “We don’t know, but it’s linked to my destiny… something which Amtoko, my tribe’s witch, warned me about a while ago… my destiny is linked to a deeply important event. It’s a destiny I can’t refuse or escape, as it would mean the end of my Tribe. Amtoko believes an evil of immense proportions is near, and that it will sink all Tremia in abysmal pain and suffering, the like of which has never been known before. Thousands of people will perish. Death, destruction and suffering are riding towards us and a devastating darkness will settle on all Tremia for more than a hundred years. That’s what she foretold to me. That’s the terrible destiny I must fight against ceaselessly. That’s why we must go on. We must reunite all five medallions before the darkness and pain reach us and there’s no way of turning them back.”

  “I believe that too,” Aliana agreed without taking her eyes off the image.

  “Then we have very little choice,” said Kayti.

  “That is, if we believe the Norriel witch and her catastrophic vision…” Kendas said, rather skeptical.

  “Nobody hates magic and everything connected with it more than me,” said Hartz, jabbing his thumb at himself, “but let me assure you that when Amtoko the Silver Witch guesses something, she’s never wrong.”

  “What more proof do you need, Kendas?” Kayti asked. “It’s enough for me. I agree with Komir and Aliana. Something is brewing, something of apocalyptic proportions and fateful consequences. My intuition tells me so, and the fact that these medallions have awoken confirms it.”

  Kendas hesitated briefly, trying to put his thoughts in order and make sense of all the information he had been given. “You’re right, we must go on and find the other two bearers. Whether the Witch is right or not in her prophecy, we must at least reunite the five medallions and see what happens when they meet.”

  “Everyone agreed, then?” Komir asked.

  Gradually the image in the mist began to fade, and with it the two bearers, as if they belonged to an intangible other-world, distant and alien. After a moment there was emptiness inside the circle formed by Asti, Aliana and Komir.

  “The vision is over… So now how do we get out of here?” Kendas said as he studied the walls of the funerary chamber. “There’s no way out of this hall except through the door we came in, and out there the furious volcano is waiting for us. It would be madness, we’d all die.”

  “There must be a way out somewhere,” said Hartz, looking around him. He went up to one of the walls and began to feel the polished surface with his enormous hands. “Surely there must be some crack or hidden spring that would open up a way out. We can’t be trapped here forever in this tomb with that dried-up mummy and the corpse of its evil-smelling Guardian.”

  Kendas imitated the big Norriel and began investigating another wall. His feeling was the same as Hartz’s: they could not be trapped there, there had to be some escape from that sinister place. Somehow they had to find it. Following the two men’s example, Kayti began to examine the farthest wall. They searched carefully along all the walls until they had to give up. The chamber was airtight. The only way out gave directly on to the volcano, which was still roaring outside like a badly-wounded warrior god.

&nbs
p; “Let’s use the medallions,” suggested Komir. “Perhaps with Ilenian magic they might show us a way out. We’re inside an Ilenian Temple, so here the power of the medallions should be absolute.”

  “We’ve nothing to lose by trying,” Aliana said, smiling faintly.

  They formed the circle once again, joining their hands together.

  “What do now?” Asti asked unsurely, looking at the other two.

  “Close your eyes and think of a way of getting out of here,” said Aliana.

  The three bearers concentrated and the whole group remained silent, expectant. Kendas had the feeling that the attempt had a touch of desperation about it, but now was the time for drastic, desperate solutions; they had already used up all the realistic ones. He trusted his friends would work a miracle that would get them out of there, although to the eyes of a soldier like himself it was a lot to ask for. Critical situations did not get solved by magic but by intelligence, courage and daring. Even so, he wished his friends the best of luck in the attempt.

  A cavernous silence filled the hall.

  Nothing happened.

  Kendas shook his head; they were doomed…

  Suddenly Komir’s medallion shone with a whitish flash. A brown one followed from Aliana’s, and a moment later the ruby-red flash of Asti’s medallion joined the other two. None of the three bearers opened their eyes, but instead remained focused. Kendas was in awe at seeing the Ilenian magic at work once more. He had no idea what was going on, but he was sure something was now happening. The medallions flashed again simultaneously, three times in succession, lighting up the whole chamber with an indeterminate color which was a mixture of all three.

  There came a loud hollow crack in the center of the chamber, under the altar.

  The grating sound of rock shifting against rock filled the chamber.

  Kendas, aghast, saw the whole altar slide to the right, revealing a secret passage carved out of the ground.

  “I can’t believe it!” cried Hartz. His cry broke the concentration of the three bearers, who opened their eyes at once. Without a second thought, sword in hand, Hartz ran down the stone stairs of the passage. Kendas followed close after him in case the giant found himself in trouble.

  But what they found beneath the funerary chamber left Kendas struck dumb with amazement. They had come down into a small hall whose walls shone with a golden gleam which lit up the whole room, as if they were made of gold mineral. Hartz’s jaw dropped at the sight of something so unusual and at the same time spectacularly beautiful.

  On the furthest wall a huge magical artifact, like a giant ring of gold carved on to the rock wall, shone intensely.

  It was bigger than Hartz himself. That fabulous ring had been carved into the rock and was covered with hundreds of strange Ilenian symbols. But what really left Kendas speechless was the inside of the ring. At first he thought it was an enormous mirror, since it was bright silver. But when he looked at it more closely he realized that there was no image reflected on its surface. And the most baffling thing of all was a wave moving on the surface of the inner ring, as if it were a silver lake.

  “I’ll be damned if I know what all this is about…” said Hartz.

  The rest of the group came to join them, and they all looked in wonder at the strange Ilenian artifact. The waves rose in the middle and expanded as far as the rim of the golden ring.

  “Can’t be, lake on wall,” Asti said, putting into words what they were all thinking.

  “What do you think it is?” Komir asked.

  “It has to be a way out of some sort,” Aliana said. “That’s what we’ve been asking the medallions to show us.”

  “It’s certainly not a mirror, although it looks like one,” said Kayti. She was looking at the silver surface from a prudent distance, as if afraid the thing might swallow her.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” said Hartz. Without wasting any more time thinking about it, and to everybody’s astonishment, he put his hand into the undulating silver surface.

  “Hartz! What are you doing!” shouted Kayti, desperately worried.

  “Finding out what this is,” said the giant calmly. He drew back his hand and looked at it to check it was still attached to his arm.

  “Don’t be stupid!” Kayti scolded him furiously.

  “What do you mean, stupid?” Hartz said, and a moment later put his head through the silver surface.

  His head vanished, as if he had submerged it in the slimy water of a silver pool, while the rest of his body stayed there in the same place, to everybody’s amazement.

  “Hartz!” Kayti cried, losing all restraint, and pulled him back. Her face was white with fear. The big man stepped back and his head reappeared intact, joined to his body. Kayti passed her hands over his face as though making sure everything was still there where it should be.

  Hartz smiled.

  At the Norriel’s smile Kendas breathed out in relief. He was unscathed.

  A furious red spread across Kayti’s cheeks. She raised her hand to slap the giant, but held back at the last minute.

  Hartz smiled again and threw her a kiss. He turned to the group and explained cheerfully:

  “I saw another chamber… like this one, or very similar… with another artifact like this, on the other side. It’s there… but it’s not there… it’s weird, I don’t know how to explain it. I think this artifact is really a way out, a tunnel, to another chamber, somewhere long away but connected to this… That’s the impression I got.”

  “What do you think?” Komir asked the group. “Do we risk crossing to the other side I don’t want to lead you into some new danger and risk your lives. Tell me what you think, freely.”

  Aliana went to stand beside Komir. Looking into his eyes, she said:

  “I’m coming with you. My destiny is linked to yours. Wherever you go, I’ll come with you and see our destinies through.”

  When she heard herself say it out loud, Aliana realized that there was something more, that she did not wish to be separated from the Norriel, and that made her think about Gerart. She felt ashamed and guilty in her heart at this small betrayal of the one she had longed for. She thought of the handsome Prince: what might have happened to him? She recalled his chivalrousness and honesty: where might he be now?

  And while these thoughts occupied her mind, her Ilenian medallion flashed suddenly with a strong brown light.

  The golden ring of the artifact began to turn; the runes it bore turned with it, and three of them moved up to the top.

  They all stared at the arcane artifact in puzzlement.

  Komir looked at Aliana, but she could only shrug her shoulders since she had no idea what had happened.

  “You seem to have activated it, Aliana,” said Kendas.

  “It seems that way. I think we should go in. If there’s danger, we’ll face it together, just as we have till now. We must go on, and this Ilenian portal is the only way out of this chamber. We can’t go back. That’s why… I’m sure of it, we have to cross it.”

  Aliana looked at Kendas, who nodded. Then her eyes turned to the others, one by one, and they all nodded.

  “Then that’s decided. We’ll go into the artifact. May Our Founding Mother Helaun protect us from what might be waiting for us in the shadows on the other side.”

  Betrayal

  Lasgol woke with a start and tried to get to his feet. A terrible dizziness came over him, and as he was getting up he fell back to the ground. He had no idea where he was, and looked around him in puzzlement. The young librarian was lying beside him, and next to her the Priest of the Light. They were unconscious but alive. He scanned his surroundings uncertainly, in some confusion. They were on the eastern shore of the Great Lake… At the sight of the great mass of blue water, memories came flooding back into his mind.

  The great whirlwind! The underwater cavern! The funerary chamber of the Lord of Air! But where were the Assassin and Iruki? Damn, they had escaped! There was no trace of their pr
esence.

  “What’s going on?” Lindaro asked from the ground, looking sick.

  Lasgol tried to explain in the midst of his own confusion. “Somehow… we’ve appeared on the shore of the lake…”

  “It’s a true miracle of the Light” said the man of faith, looking at the sky.

  “I’d say Ilenian magic,” said Sonea, who was coming to at the same moment.

  “Well, yes, that too,” Lindaro said, smiling as he stood up and shaking the dust and mud off his tunic.

  “I have to go on with the chase,” said Lasgol, picking up his bow and slinging it over his shoulder. “Duty awaits me, so you’re free to go on your way.”

  Lindaro looked at Sonea, and she looked back at him uncertainly.

  “If it’s not asking too much… we’d like to go with you, Tracker. You see… neither Sonea nor I are any good at exploring… and without supplies, and surrounded by soldiers and other natural dangers… I don’t think we’d survive very long, to be honest.”

  Lasgol frowned.

  “You can’t come with me, you’d get in my way, and what’s even worse, you’d put the three of us in danger. I must hunt the Assassin, and he’s an extremely dangerous man. I can’t have you tagging along. I’m sorry.”

  “But you can’t just leave us here!” Sonea protested. “You’re condemning us to certain death. We won’t make it without your help, we’re scholars, not warriors or explorers.”

  “That’s none of my concern. I have more than enough with my own problems.”

  “Help us, please, just till we come out of the Thousand Lakes,” Lindaro implored. “This is a maze of forests and lakes. We’ll get lost. Besides, we won’t be able to avoid the patrols that are bound to be searching for us.”

  “What kind of a human being abandons two helpless people to their fate?” Sonea said with a look of bitter reproach.

  The last thing Lasgol wanted was those two traveling with him. They would only hinder him in his pursuit, and they would put his life in danger. But once again his wretched conscience was playing tricks on him. It would not allow him to leave them to their fate. A fate which Lasgol knew would certainly be the death of them, I’m the silliest of men. I can’t understand why I’ve been cursed with this conscience that won’t let me do what any rational person would in this situation: leave them here and go. But no, I’d never forgive myself, their deaths would haunt me for the rest of my days. The gods of the Snow have decided to make my life into something they can mock and ridicule. I must be the most laughable dope in all Norghana, and the gods must be laughing themselves sick.