by Noah Layton
It was a clue to the challenge that would have to be confronted by anyone that dared to try and acquire the agrarium.
Three challenges, and this was just the first.
As the night began to approach and fresh logs were cast into the hearths that warmed the land, I found myself restless.
My wives were preparing for sleep, but there was no way that I could bring myself to drift off tonight. Already I could hear the call of this mythical substance on the wind.
Was it real? I was always learning new things about the secrets of Agraria, but for it to be so rare that many even doubted its existence?
All the same, why would anyone go to so much trouble to hide something like this if it wasn’t valuable or powerful?
I had so many questions, not the least of which revolved around the properties of agrarium.
Blacksmith Kalgunri’s eccentricities aside, whatever properties he had found that the agrarium possessed must have driven him to hide it.
The myths and legends told that it was the substance used to create the weapons of the gods.
And only the man who could best the challenges that stood before it would be able to acquire it.
Could it all really be true?
As the sun moved towards the horizon I stood on the steps to my treehouse, my wives having already turned into bed; there was little that could be done on the land when darkness came, and it was much better inside than it was out.
The snowfall and the breeze had quelled, and the land was quiet and still, blanketed with whiteness as smoke rose from the chimneys of the houses.
I didn’t have a second to waist.
My wives were all formidable warriors, but on this occasion, I had no desire to bring them with me. I valued them more than anything.
Right now I needed warriors who had lived that life since they had first come into this world, especially when confronting the triple threat of the untamed wilds, Garrison’s roaming forces, and whatever dangerous challenge awaited on the path to the prize.
I returned to my treehouse and found my women already asleep.
It was the sight of paradise.
One day I would have them all at the same time, indulge in pleasures that I had only ever dreamed of.
But not yet.
I was many different things to the many people that needed me.
But right now I was one thing; a warrior.
And being a warrior meant that I had to confront the threat head-on.
I arrived at the warriors’ homes in the north-east of the land and greeted them.
All five of them immediately saluted me, straightening their backs and looking ahead like well-trained soldiers, but I raised a hand to put them at ease.
‘One day we might have a chain of command so formal that it means you have to do that,’ I said, ‘but that can wait for another day. Just knowing that you warriors have got my back and are loyal to me is enough.’
‘Of course, Master Jack.’
‘Good. We’ve translated the map, and I need three of you to accompany me in following it to our first destination. Can I rely on you?’
‘Yes, Master Jack.’
Warmly wrapped and well-armed, I made to the gates with three of the warriors. The two remaining warriors removed the wooden barrier and set it aside.
‘Darkness is coming, Master Jack,’ Alorion spoke from the watchtower. ‘You must move quickly.’
‘The cold might not be our friend,’ I replied to him, ‘but darkness is an ally at a time like this. We can move unseen. You sure you don’t want to come with? Or are you still unconvinced?’
‘I have never seen agrarium before, so you will forgive me for being a sceptic. But with regards to this treasure… I shall hold the cards of my beliefs close to my chest.’
‘So you’re not going to try and talk me out of hunting this thing down?’ I smiled. ‘Tell me that I’m throwing my life away? You’re one of my closest advisors.’
‘Even if I do not believe in its existence, there are two important things that we must consider. First, I am not sure of anything in this world. I have seen many things since you became a tribe master that have shocked me. I may yet be shocked again on this occasion.’
‘And the second?’
‘I am your advisor. I advise. But if you wish to decide against my advice, that is your place as tribe master to do so, and my place to accept your decision.’
I looked to the ground and nodded.
‘Still got my back, huh?’
‘Always,’ he smiled. ‘People are often reluctant to hear the truth about who it is they really are. Perhaps that is why you were always so uncomfortable with being referred to as master. Although lately I see a change in that pattern.’
I saluted him casually, and he saluted me in return.
Two of the five warriors were remaining upon the land – they heaved the gates open, and the three accompanying me followed as I headed out into the wilderness.
***
We jogged to the end of the path and found the route we had made through the snow-covered jungle to the waterfall, climbing the rocks just as darkness fell completely.
Instead of making our way north-east towards the land of the dwarves we proceeded north along the river’s edge.
The tracker amongst my warriors glanced periodically over the treetops to the east and into the woods themselves.
Several miles along the river he drew us to a halt.
‘The land of the dwarves now stands directly east,’ he said, holding a flat, open hand into the woods across the river.
‘Which means we’re headed directly west from here,’ I said, producing the map from my inventory and unfolding it in the light of the moon.
I could just about make out the markings drawn however many years ago as I looked between it and the sky.
It took several minutes of searching before I finally found what I was looking for.
Seven stars arranged in a clear arcing pattern, as if they were framing our way.
‘Let’s light torches once we get into the forest,’ I said to the warriors. ‘It’s going to be way too dark to see once the canopy gets thick, but I want to be clear of anywhere near to the dwarven land before we run the risk of drawing attention to ourselves. The dark-elves could have scouting patrols in the area, but the further away we get the less risk we run.’
‘Yes, tribe master.’
I looked into the thick jungle that awaited us. A few yards beyond the tree line it looked like a sea of nothingness.
Just the dark, waiting for us to misstep so that we could fall endlessly into the abyss that awaited hungrily.
I thought back to the famous explorers of Earth that my father had told me about as a kid – Robert Falcon Scott, Percy Fawcett, George Bass, Daniel Houghton.
They had all ventured into the unknown, into the uncharted parts of the world where no one had ever set foot, where nobody had ever chronicled.
And they had all faced terrible challenges that had claimed their lives.
Maybe this was a little different – I had been given a map to my destination.
A map created by a psychotic ancient blacksmith shrouded in mystery, hiding an item with unknown but allegedly powerful properties, who had built a mechanism that had nearly cut my hand off.
I nodded to my warriors who nodded in return, showing their loyalty, then started on into the unknown.
We lit our torches around a hundred yards into the forest. Firelight fell upon the thick, snowy undergrowth and the even denser shrubbery ahead.
‘This is a haunted place,’ one of the warriors said as we slowed our pace, using our swords to cut a path between the frozen trees.
‘I don’t know much about your people,’ I said to the warriors. ‘Do you believe in ghosts?’
‘That depends, tribe master. What is a ghost?’
‘You don’t have ghosts in Agraria? You know, ghosts – the spirits of people who have died.’
‘We
know what ghosts are,’ another of the warriors said. ‘But it means different things to different tribes. Some believe that they are the spirits of those left behind upon the land, as you say. We do not believe such things.’
‘So what makes you think it’s haunted?’ I asked.
‘The dead must not be present in order for a place to be haunted, tribe master,’ the third warrior spoke. ‘A place can be haunted simply because no beings have walked there in some time.’
‘Doesn’t that defeat the point of it being haunted?’
‘Our people believe that we are not only haunted by beings that have fallen in the past, but by those that may fall in the future. More warriors than not fall to a blade rather than the grip of old age.
‘This forces us to ask ourselves; where will we fall? When will be the last time that we swing a blade or fire an arrow? That moment is different for all of us, and it awaits us somewhere out there in the darkness of the time to come. We who walk the land at this very moment do not only look upon the works of the past, but those to come. Make no mistake, a man can be haunted by his own future.’
‘Haunted by your future…’ I repeated, digesting the words.
Despite the strangeness of the statement, it made sense in its own weird way.
I had been haunted by one small part of my future ever since I had returned to the Morelian tribal land after our run-in with the wood-elves.
Princess Mariana and I had descended into the well-protected chambers and corridors beneath her tribal land where the most valuable possessions of the sun-elves resided.
Behind a heavily-locked door that Mariana had only just gained access to, one that had never been looked behind for years, we had found a stone slab created by the Oracle, prophesizing some event to occur in the future of Agraria.
This world was filled with monsters, creatures, supernatural building mechanics and magic, meaning that I could stretch my beliefs pretty damn far.
But predicting the future?
I had to draw a line somewhere.
And I did – right up until I saw myself clearly depicted in the prophecy, standing upon my tribal land and holding my gun as I had done when I had first arrived.
But the prophecy had been incomplete. Running panel by panel like a comic book, the sections completing it at its base were missing, chipped off from the original slab.
The thing must have weighed hundreds upon hundreds of pounds – whoever had removed its base had done it for a reason.
Whatever it was, it depicted my future.
And it was out there somewhere.
It seemed that all tribes possessed secrets.
I was yet to possess one, save for the countless bodies that were buried in the forest around my land, a record of those who had attempted to take what was mine.
They each received the same treatment.
‘Wait,’ one of the warriors suddenly said. We all immediately halted and waited in silence.
I looked to the warrior; he gazed at the ground before his eyes flitted up to meet mine.
‘We are not alone here,’ he uttered ominously. ‘We must keep our wits about us.’
At that very moment, a rustling sounded in the bushes ahead.
I raised my torch and looked ahead in an arc.
In the minimal depth of field that the light spilled upon through the thick undergrowth, I caught sight of a small shape moving swiftly through the trees before disappearing.
It was visible only for a fraction of a second, but I knew that I had seen something.
‘Did you see that?’ I asked the warrior closest to me.
He nodded as a concerned expression washed across his face.
We continued onwards through the bushes, cutting down frozen vines and jutting twigs in our path until the obstacles in our path began to thin out.
They became thinner and thinner until I saw a clearing up ahead, around forty yards in diameter. At its center stood a single large structure looming above us in the dark.
As we approached the structure and more of our firelight spilled upon its edges, the shape became clear.
It was a skull.
It stood at least twelve-feet high, its peak missing among the middling reaches of the forest.
From a distance of twenty yards we surveyed the scene before us silently, watching and listening for any signs of danger.
From the structure to the forest it measured twenty yards on all sides – a constant, open radius.
It was as if this construction had killed the forest that directly surrounded it.
This was a defenseless open space surrounded by obstacles.
Anybody walking into the vicinity would be totally exposed to threats.
‘We’re wide open to attack,’ I said, glancing about.
‘That skull does not bode well,’ one of the warriors spoke.
‘I’m guessing skulls mean the same thing in every culture?’
‘If you mean death, then yes.’
‘That’s the one.’
Death surely awaits the warrior without strength.
This had to be the place.
Each of us covered a direction as we started forwards, I facing ahead while the three warriors covered right, left and directly behind us.
With every passing footstep approaching the skull I expected an arrow to come flying in our direction, but as it loomed gigantically overhead and we entered its shadow, we remained unaccompanied by unwanted guests.
In the light of the torches the sight of the skull’s strange shape became clearer.
It resembled the kind that might belong to a dwarf.
The strangest part was the mouth; it stood open and wide, a six-foot opening that stretched from the ground to halfway up, guarded by iron teeth that shone in the flames.
There was little room within to contain much, but the skull’s innards didn’t simply comprise a small space.
Because as I looked into its gaping maw, I saw it; a series of stone steps descending below the earth, a mystery awaiting down there in the unseen space beneath the forest.
‘I guess that’s where I’m headed,’ I said, looking as far as I could down the steps but seeing only a few yards ahead. ‘Wait here.’
‘Are you sure, Master Jack?’ One of the warriors said. ‘Who knows what perils await down there in the darkness?’
‘I’m sure. I brought us here, and it’s my job to take on the risk.’
‘We would be loyal to you no matter what the threat.’
‘I know, and you don’t know how much I appreciate that. But you have partners, and families. I’m not leading you down there unless I need to.’
‘We will be but a stone’s throw away.’
‘Thanks,’ I said, readying my sword. ‘If I need you, I’ll give you a signal.’
‘What signal?’
‘Probably me screaming for help,’ I shrugged.
‘Indeed.’
Any attempt at humor fell flat with these guys, but I didn’t judge them for it. Not even close. They knew who they were, and they had my back no matter what.
That was loyalty that you couldn’t buy.
… Unless you were Garrison, I guess.
I checked the teeth for any sign of a trap before I entered. If High Blacksmith Kalgunri had built a contraption that could cut a hand off based around a single fault in a complex chain of commands, God knew what else was awaiting me along this trail.
The iron teeth were welded securely into the skull, seamless but strong.
There was no way they were coming down on me.
I took a deep breath, my heart pounding fearfully, and stepped forward.
Beds of dried leaves crunched beneath my feet, the product of the many years that the skull had stood open to the elements.
The stench of mulch struck me immediately. I leaned forwards and pushed the fire over the descending stairs.
They moved further than I could see.
‘Be on the watch,’ I said back to the
warriors, before taking my first step forward - and making my first mistake.
The first step lowered sharply, descending a few inches into the ground.
I caught my balance quickly. A scraping sound of stone upon stone came from the entrance.
I spun and dropped, waiting for some spiked booby-trap to come swinging over my head.
Instead, two huge stone slabs closed upon the entrance, one from below, the other from above.
Cogs whirred invisibly in a hidden place.
The sight of the warriors quickly began to disappear.
They looked over their shoulders at me swiftly.
‘Master Jack!’
But it was too late.
The stone slabs clunked together heavily, sending a plume of dust into my face and locking me in.
Shit.
There was no getting back through the door outside.
‘Master Jack! Are you all right?’
‘I’m fine!’ I called back. ‘Are you?’
No reply. I suddenly heard the screeching of the warrior’s swords against their metal sheaths.
‘Master Jack! There is something out here!’
My men were out there facing off against whatever threat was approaching.
They could look after themselves, of that I had no doubt.
But I had no idea how severe the threat was.
I had the power stones; I could stave off whatever was attacking with a wider range of effect.
They couldn’t.
I had to get back out there.
And the only way to do that was by moving in the opposite direction.
My torch in one hand and my sword in the other, I descended the steps and into the darkness that awaited.
Chapter Seven
I had seen too many movies not to check the walls for hidden holes from which arrows would come flying out and impale me in the neck, or slits below that spinning razorblades would emerge from to cut me in two.
As I descended the steps awkwardly, I checked every single stone block that I stood upon and every single section of the walls.
Every inch I moved forward I expected some unseen mechanism to send a blade swinging at me.
