Rylek was quiet for a moment, and then slowly nodded. “Okay,” he finally said, “as long as we don’t stay gone for too long. I feel a little uncomfortable about leaving them alone.”
“With the Aesid?” Tresten asked incredulously. “What has you so worked up and bent out of shape? Is there something I need to know?”
“No, I don’t know,” Rylek said after a pause. “I guess I’m just a little on edge. I’m sure you’re right - they should be fine. But we come back here when I say we do, alright?”
“Sure, whatever you say,” Tresten said, shrugging. “Let’s just go. Take me to the cave.”
“Let me grab my starpod torch first,” Rylek said. “We’re going to need it in that darkness.”
He softly went back into the room, found the torch sitting by Faldrahil, and silently crept back out into the Great Room. After testing the torch to make sure it still lit, he looked at Tresten. “Alright, I’m ready,” he said.
As they walked to the left towards the waterfall room, Rylek noticed they appeared to be alone in the Great Room. “It looks like everyone’s asleep,” he said. “We need to be extra careful since it will be more difficult if we run into any trouble.”
Tresten turned towards him, and there was a certain light in his eye that took Rylek by surprise. He did not know how to explain it, except that there was something unusual there.
“Quit worrying, will you?” Tresten said. “We’re not looking for danger. We’re looking for answers to our riddles.”
They walked a few steps. “So, what did you think of the baths?” Rylek asked.
“You know, I have to say, in strictest confidence of course, they were incredibly pleasing,” Tresten said.
“Absolutely,” Rylek said, nodding his head. “At first it was a little intimidating, what with all of the options for the soaps and flowery stuff, but now I want to go back and try different combinations.”
“That is precisely what I was thinking. The quenchal root has effervescent qualities, and I can only imagine how that would feel when…”
Suddenly he stopped, as though they were breaking an unspoken agreement between them. Rylek coughed. They walked in an awkward silence for a few seconds.
“So, the cave, right?” Rylek asked.
“Yes, that sounds good. That sounds very good.”
They passed through the gate and came into the waterfall room. Tresten allowed himself a few minutes to look around before they moved along. Rylek showed him the spot where he had collapsed and Ryaskoreid had found him. Then it was down the hallway until they came to the area where the secret wall was. Rylek had been relating the story as they walked along, but when he put his hand out to find the door, nothing met his hand but solid rock.
“That’s strange,” he muttered. “I know it was somewhere in this area.” He began to run both of his hands along the wall, but could discover no opening. Tresten even joined him, but to no avail.
“Are you sure this is the right spot?” he asked. “Could it be further down the hallway or behind us?”
“No, this is it,” Rylek said, crossing his arms and shaking his head. “I’ve been in and out of it three times, and I know the look of the hallway. Besides, the torch that Ryaskoreid used to mark the other side is still missing.”
“What is at the other end of the hallway?” Tresten asked.
“I honestly don’t know,” Rylek said. “I haven’t been down there.”
“Come on then,” Tresten said.
Not knowing what else to do, Rylek followed him down the hallway. It wound around a few more corners until it came upon a sudden dead end.
“That seems pointless,” Rylek said as he turned around to walk the other way.
“Wait a minute,” Tresten said, examining the wall. “Something is not right here. I feel a draft at my feet.”
Rylek turned back around and they both got down on their hands and knees. Sure enough there was a small space between the floor and the wall that ran across the wall’s length from which was coming cooler air.
“You know, there was a secret door like this in the second cave,” Rylek said. “The door that led us out of the first cave looked like a rock wall on the other side. Maybe this is similar.”
Tresten ran his hands along the wall. “There has to be some way to open it,” he said softly. “What are the Aesid hiding?”
Suddenly, as if it willingly wanted to share its secrets, the wall swung slowly out towards them.
“What did you do?” Rylek asked in surprise.
“Nothing that I know of!” Tresten said as they backed away to give the door some space. After it stopped moving, they peered into the darkness. It smelled musty and felt cold and empty.
Rylek turned on the starpod torch and they stepped inside. They were on a small stone platform at the end of which began a roughly-hewn stairway leading down into the depths of the earth.
Tresten’s eyes lit up. “And what are we hiding down here?” he mumbled to himself.
The door suddenly closed behind them. Looking at each other without a word, they began the descent. With careful steps they made their way down further and further. It ran mostly straight, with the exception of two sudden turns to the side. The air grew colder as they descended, until they were able to easily see their breath.
“I wish I were wearing my long underwear,” Tresten said.
Rylek smiled as he said, “I miss Aunt Penni.”
After what seemed a very long time, the stairway finally ended. Rylek felt a little dizzy from the knowledge of the weight of the earth crowding down above them. The starpod torch’s light reflected off two unlit lantern posts, both of which were covered in thick dust. Between the posts was a large door that dimly glowed in the dark. As they approached it, they could see that the deathly yellow-green glow came from hundreds and possibly thousands of runes carved intricately into the stone. Rylek held the torch up closer to the door.
“They look similar to the ones I saw in the first cave,” Tresten said, lightly tracing his fingers along the etchings. “I would love to know what they mean.”
As they had stepped closer to the door, Rylek noticed the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up straight. “Tresten,” he said slowly, “do you feel some really strange form of energy?”
“Like something is buzzing wildly all over your skin?” Tresten asked excitedly. “Fascinating, isn’t it? What do you think is behind the door?”
“There doesn’t seem to be any way of opening it,” Rylek said, an inexplicable fear quickly growing in the pit of his stomach. He suddenly wanted to turn and run. “There’s no handle, just like the other doors.”
“And yet we opened them,” Tresten said thoughtfully, slowly reaching his hand out to touch the door, “as though someone wants us to be here.” When he placed his open palm upon the center of the door, the runes suddenly flashed in a blinding white before going dark, and the door slowly opened inwards away from them. A painful brightness of light came piercing through the opening, forcing them to cover their eyes until they had adapted. When they were finally able to look inside, their breaths were taken away and instinctively they almost ran back up the stairs.
The room was large hollowed rock, and though filled with light, they could see no source that could justify that powerful a luminance. There were five human figures: four had their backs to Rylek and Tresten, and the other was further back, facing the door. But it was what stood on the right side of the furthest figure that made both their skins crawl. Three, possibly four times larger than the humans stood a nightmare, a terror, an impossibility of nature. Its head was shaped like some twisted form of a horse’s, bony with large bulbous black eyes on the side. Row upon row of small razor teeth lined its gaping mouth. Arching backwards from its neck ran its spine and torso, thin and skeletal. Its arms were raised above its head as though calling upon fire from the sky, with outstretched long thin hands and fingers ending in huge curved claws. Two enormous leathery wings were sp
read as though the monstrosity were ready to fly. Its skin was a gray-splotched black, though there was a pale yellow area centered on its chest.
There were no words for it, and they had only taken a moment to see everything. Rylek drew back quickly, but Tresten grabbed his wrist.
“Wait!” he said softly. “Look - nothing’s moving.”
Rylek allowed his eyes to reexamine everything and realized Tresten was correct. Even the human figures stood frozen in what looked to be the middle of some respective forms of action. The unusual energy field that Rylek had felt before the door opened had grown tremendously since. Every hair on his body was standing, and he noticed it was the same with Tresten.
Tresten walked in, and not wanting to appear cowardly, Rylek reluctantly followed. Immediately, and shockingly, a frigid blast of icy cold air enveloped him. Whenever he moved, it felt like that respective body part was constantly being bombarded with pinpricks.
“Why is it so cold? And what in the world is hitting me?” he exclaimed.
“It doesn’t matter and I don’t care at the moment,” Tresten said, grimacing and evidently experiencing the same physical circumstances. “Nothing is going to stop me from exploring this room. We can figure it out later.”
They approached the first four figures and saw they were men. “These are the most realistic statues I’ve ever seen,” Rylek said. “What are they doing down here where no one can see them?”
“I have no idea,” Tresten said, not taking his eyes off the gruesome creature. “It seems like someone was recreating some fantastical battle. The detail is amazing. Everything feels very old - even the air smells old, almost as if time hasn’t had the luxury of debilitating everything down with its usual curse of decay. There is a kind of timelessness here that fills me with curiosity. Do you know what I mean?”
Rylek shrugged. “Do you mean to say that you think time doesn’t pass in here?” he asked.
“The Room of No Time,” Tresten said. “Sounds interesting, but I don’t know about that,” Tresten said. “It was just an impression, you know?”
He walked off towards the fifth human and the creature. Rylek stayed where he was and studied the four men. They were garbed in exotic clothing, and the ends of their short robes and sleeves were perfectly frozen in a swaying motion. The first figure was large and muscular, tightly holding onto a fearsome sword. Its hair was light and long enough to cover its shoulders, which were draped in a dark blue mantle. A fury was lit in its eyes, but Rylek sensed the sculptor had also managed to portray a feeling of inevitable doom on its face.
The second figure had a drawn bow and arrow aimed towards the fifth human figure. It stood tall and erect, and its face was drawn into intense focus and concentration. It was clothed in a deep forest green tunic and pants.
The third figure was crouched low as if it were about to run, arms crossed at its waist ready to draw curved daggers from belts on its hips. This body was thin and gangly, with long stringy black hair pulled into a tight tail. It wore a dark gray tight-fitting bodysuit. Rylek thought the face looked a little wild.
But it was the fourth figure that drew his curiosity the most. It was clothed in a crimson red tunic with black pants, and its arms were outstretched in front of its body, palms out, as though they were holding up an invisible wall. Its head was lowered, eyes closed, and mouth open like it was speaking.
As he took a step towards the figure, something caught his eye. Suspended in the air not far off the ground was a small crystalline orb, similar to the ones Caenar and Faltir had shown to him. Stooping down, he picked it up and quickly put it in his pocket. Then he turned back to look at Tresten who had not seen what he had done, but was busy examining the fifth figure. Rylek joined him, but could not take his eyes off the statue of the winged creature for the duration. The sensation of constantly walking into needle-points never stopped. And now his nose, ears, toes, and fingers were numb from the intense cold.
The last human figure stood roughly fifteen yards away from the other four. It was clothed in a long black robe, and its head was covered with the robe’s hood so that Rylek could not see the figure’s face. Both of its arms stood out erect on each side, and black hands were exposed out of the ends of the robe’s sleeves. Rylek shivered, but this time not from the cold.
“I wonder who or what this is supposed to be,” Tresten said.
“You can search me,” Rylek said, looking back and forth between the human and the creature. “Nothing that I’ve ever learned or read has told me about this. But you’ve read a lot more than I have. None of this looks familiar to anything you’ve come across?”
Tresten reached out and almost touched the hem of the figure’s robe. “No,” he said. “Though now I want to search our library a little better. Maybe Caenar has something in his office that would tell the tale.” His hand moved towards the right hand of the figure and lightly touched it. He abruptly withdrew his hand.
“What’s wrong?” Rylek asked.
“So strange,” Tresten answered. “It shocked me.” He began to suck on his fingertips.
Rylek looked at the demonic creature, and whether from fear or reality felt that it was looking directly at him. Then he looked back at the robed figure and suddenly sensed an evil presence. “Let’s get out of here,” he said abruptly. “I’ve got a really bad feeling about everything, and it’s growing.”
Tresten nodded his head while looking at the figure. “For once I think you’re right,” he said.
They found themselves just short of running back towards the door. Rylek had a sudden fear that the door would maliciously shut and lock before they could reach it. Then a voice in his head said, You’re being watched! Looking back over his shoulder, he saw the black robed figure and swore there was an unseen piercing stare in their direction coming from under the hood. Panic rose in his stomach, and evidently in Tresten’s also, for without a word they were both now sprinting towards the door. Their faces, arms, and legs were red and swollen from the cold and whatever was causing the tiny sharp pricks of pain on their skin. Rylek found it difficult to draw adequate air into his lungs. It took less than half a minute, though it felt like an eternity, before they reached the door.
“How do we close this thing?” Rylek asked, alarmed at how strained his voice sounded.
“I presume the same way I opened it,” Tresten said in a pinched tone. He placed his open palm on the center of the door, but nothing happened. “Oh, come on you worthless pile of taukish!” he yelled.
Rylek looked back at the robed figure, and in a moment of pure terror, saw that it was walking stiffly towards the door, one of its arms raised out to them. They tried to move towards the stairs, but their legs gave out as a sudden wave of nausea hit their stomachs. Collapsing on the ground, they helplessly watched as the robed figure continued to walk closer. Silently Rylek crawled to the door and pulled with all the strength he could muster to close it, but it was not enough. Tresten vomited and then pitifully tried to help him, but precious seconds were ticking away.
“SHUT!” Tresten yelled, and miraculously the door began to move.
As hope was rekindled in their hearts, a new strength was granted their bodies and they moved the door faster than it moved on its own. Soon the sound of the door closing echoed in the cavernous hallway, and the only light remaining in the room was coming from the starpod torch.
Rylek did not know whether to flee or to remain in order to regain his composure. Though his nausea was suddenly gone, the fear that had saturated his entire being was still running through his veins, and his heart continued to pound within his chest. However, he did find it odd that it felt like his lungs had suddenly opened up much wider than before and he could breathe far easier.
“What just happened?” Tresten asked. “How in the name of all logic was that statue moving?”
Rylek just shook his head.
“You did see it moving, right?”
This time Rylek nodded. “Oh yeah,” he said.
“I saw it! How could I have missed it?”
“I can’t move. Totally exhausted,” Tresten panted.
“I know the feeling.”
Tresten looked at the door. “Why aren’t the runes lit up?”
Rylek followed his stare and saw the completely dark door. “No idea,” he said. “What does it mean?”
Tresten shrugged.
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, doing their best to recover and wondering if the figure would reopen the door. But nothing happened.
“We can’t stay here forever,” Rylek said, slowly standing and brushing the dust off his shaky legs. He quickly realized that it felt much warmer than it had earlier, though his breath was still visible in the starpod torch light. “Let’s go back to the girls. I’ve had enough excitement for a month.”
Tresten took his time standing up. “Did you have the same sensation of complete panic that I did?” he asked.
Rylek slowly nodded. “Yeah, and I think I’m just now starting to shake it off,” he said.
Tresten stared at the door again for awhile. “Odd, since neither of us scares very easily,” he finally said. “That room is an evil place, but I feel strangely drawn to it.”
“Look, I’m not going back in there,” Rylek said. “Not without knowing more about what just happened.”
But Tresten seemed to be deep in thought. After a silence he finally turned away from the door. “We came looking for answers and instead found only more questions,” he said gloomily.
“It’s not like we can go ask anyone what exactly is in there,” Rylek said. “I don’t think they would appreciate knowing we’ve been snooping around in sealed-away areas.”
“True,” Tresten said. “Maybe we can ask Altan about it tomorrow.”
The Oathbinder suddenly flashed before Rylek’s eyes, as well as images of Selenor, Calm, and things he did not recognize. “Something tells me we should keep quiet about this,” he found himself saying. “At least for the time being.”
Tresten looked at him in shock. “Why?”
But Rylek’s fingers had now slipped into his pocket and were fingering the crystalline orb he had found. Maybe there are answers here, he thought to himself. I’ll find out when the time is right.
The Children of Calm Page 19
