The Map Maker's Quest

by Matthew J. Krengel

  Jane recited them:

  “The grandest of homes, built from iron,

  Fire and stone, call it home,

  Ghosts rise up and sadly watch,

  Down the tunnel, a rod of iron

  Take this shard, to light your path.

  Four markers wait, to find the treasure.”

  The words were burned into her brain and she recalled them easily. She fingered the glass shard in her pocket as they hurried across the manicured lawn to where the front doors of the grand structure hung ajar. “We have the first, now we need the next three.”

  They ran up the stone steps and skidded to a halt just inside the doors, suddenly Jacob heard a tremendous roar and something struck his shield with the force of a sledge hammer.

  “STOP!” Jane shouted. She saw a scared woman in a green dress step out from behind a partially open door and point a handgun at them. The next moment a finger of fire erupted from the muzzle and Jacob shouted in surprise. Jane heard Bella gasp and the weight from her shoulder vanished as Bella sought cover somewhere else.

  “You’re not looting this place!” the woman yelled.

  “We don’t want to loot,” Jane started to shout back, then paused. “Karen?” she said. She looked hard at the woman facing them.

  The woman stared back. “Jane?”

  The gun sagged to the ground, and Jacob stumbled back to his feet. “Wow, that felt like a really big hammer,” Jacob muttered. He turned his shield over and looked at the dragon scale—not even a mark on the material. “Probably will leave a bruise on my shoulder.” Jacob rolled his shoulders around and tried to stretch the muscles of his neck, which were now very tight.

  Jane ran over and gave Karen a huge hug. She heard the gun drop to the ground with a thud, and the Adherent musket she also had been carrying followed it.

  “What happened?” Jane asked. She looked around the entrance. It looked like someone had come in and started smashing holes in the walls.

  “Some men came by and tried to steal from us,” Karen said. She carefully picked up the pistol. “I fired a warning shot, and they ran away. Only three of us stayed and we were trying to lock all the windows and doors when you came. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. I thought it was the same people coming back.”

  “Well, I’m glad you’re a good shot,” Jacob muttered. He walked over, trying to stop his hands from shaking.

  “Oh, I’ve never fired a gun in my life,” Karen replied. “I was aiming lower.” She smiled at him sheepishly. As she moved, the gun barrel swung by where Jackie was standing, and she yelped and ducked behind a nearby wall.

  Jacob pushed the big front doors shut and turned the locks to secure the portal.

  “What’s going on?” Karen asked. “I heard there was a ship in the harbor firing a cannon. Is it terrorists?”

  “Terrorists don’t use cannons, Karen,” Jane replied. The expression that crossed her friend’s face was priceless. It was a look only a blonde could pull off perfectly. Karen was one of the highlights of Jane’s visiting her grandparents every summer. She lived a few streets north of them, and Jane used to play with Karen every summer.

  “So what are you guys doing here?” Karen asked. “You do realize the museum is closed.”

  “We figured that out,” Jacob quipped with a short laugh. “We’re here looking for something.”

  There was a gasp from the end of the hall, and they all turned to see an elderly man jogging towards them. He puffed and gasped for air like he had seen too little exercise in his life.

  “Karen, what’s going on down here. You’re supposed to be locking the windows and doors?”

  “Look, Mr. Leads,” Karen said. She smiled at the old man and pointed to them. “It’s my friends. That’s Jacob from school. He plays on the football team. And this is Jane, who comes to visit her grandparents every summer, and this is Jackie . . .” Karen paused for a moment staring at Jackie. “I thought you were lost or dead or something?”

  Jane might have been irritated with Karen, but they were all too busy ducking and gasping because each time she pointed to one of them, it was with the loaded pistol in her hand. Finally the fourth time Jane jumped away from the front of the gun Jacob managed to get to Karen’s side and carefully remove the pistol from her hand.

  “Oh, sorry,” Karen muttered when she realized why they were all scrambling around. Still a moment later a smile filled her face again, and she turned to Mr. Leads. “Downstairs windows and doors are all locked, sir.”

  “Good . . . good,” Mr. Leads replied. “And why are the rest of you here?”

  Before Jane could reply, Karen piped up, “They’re looking for something.”

  “Looters!” Mr. Leads exclaimed.

  Jane and Jackie groaned, “No!” they both shouted at once.

  “Look, Mr. Leads, do you remember my great uncle Ernie,” Jane asked.

  “Oh, yes,” Mr. Leads replied. “I worked with Ernie for years on Canal Park improvements and some other projects.”

  “We believe he hid something here,” Jane explained as quickly as she could.

  “Here in Duluth?”

  “No . . . well, yes, but I mean right here in Glensheen Mansion,” Jackie interjected. “We found a clue hidden in Split Rock Lighthouse we think refers to the Glensheen.”

  “Hmmm,” Mr. Leads hummed as he listened and waited for them to continue.

  “It has to do with this ship in the harbor,” Jacob burst in when he could take it no longer. He wanted to just get to the point as fast as possible. “There is a book hidden in Duluth, and we have to find it.”

  “What book?” Mr. Leads asked. He had been around the mansion for decades and had never seen any secret hiding places for books.

  “Can we look around the mansion?” Jane asked. She glanced at Jacob and gave him that “shut up now” look. “Karen can stay with us to make sure we don’t touch anything we shouldn’t.”

  The old man looked at them and sighed. “I guess it doesn’t make a difference now,” Mr. Leads replied. “Half of the city’s running away and whoever’s causing trouble in the harbor isn’t likely to come here. Anyway, I need to keep watch on the grounds as best I can.”

  Jane realized Mr. Leads was holding an older side-by-side shotgun. As he turned to walk away, he was stuffing shells from a battered box into his coat pocket.

  “So, what are you looking for?” Karen asked.

  Once again Jane repeated the poem they had found.

  The grandest of homes, built from iron,

  Fire and stone, call it home,

  Ghosts rise up and sadly watch,

  Down the tunnel, a rod of iron

  Take this shard, to light your path.

  Four markers wait, to find the treasure.

  “Well, this really is the grandest of all the houses in Duluth,” Karen replied with a tour guide smile and inclusive wave of her hand.

  “Yes, and even though it’s not built of iron,” Jackie said. “It was built with iron wealth so the first line fits nicely.” It had been a long time since she had been to the old mansion, and the beauty of it still took her breath away. Intricate wood working covered the trim and the grand stairs. Dozens of beautiful works of art hung from every wall and the decorations were opulent.

  “What about the second line?” Jacob asked. “It seems to me that it could be anything to with fireplaces or lanterns.”

  “What rooms have fireplaces in them?” Jane asked Karen.

  “Fireplaces?” Karen said with a smile. “We have a ton of them. Most of the rooms have one.”

  “What about the third line?” Jackie asked. “Should we start with the room where Elizabeth Congdon was murdered?”

  “Seems like a logical spot,” Jane replied. She turned to Karen, “
Can you take us to the room where Elizabeth was when she died?”

  “Sure,” Karen turned and walked towards the grand stairs that led up into the massive thirty-eight room mansion.

  They climbed one sets of stairs and reached the second floor of the structure. If anything the second floor seemed more amazing then the first floor. The furniture they saw was inlaid with a material that Jane didn’t recognize and when she asked Karen about it she got a full, tour-guide description.

  “It’s an ebony inlaid motif repeated throughout the molding,” Karen said.

  Jane was about to ask her another question when an explosion shook the building, and they all dove for cover. Jane and Jacob sprinted to a nearby window that faced south and looked out. Across the lawn and in a gap between the trees they saw a fresh plume of smoke and flames rising over the city.

  “We better hurry,” Jane said. She could not see any black-robed Adherents yet, but she felt sure they would be searching for the small group. How Cain still seemed to know where they were heading was beyond her and troubling.

  They entered the bedroom where Karen said Elizabeth Congdon had been killed and found a small fireplace built into the wall. Jane leaned over and looked around the stones inside the chimney while the others pushed and prodded and pried on every bit of brick they could find. The inside of the chimney had been scrubbed clean, and she could not believe that her great uncle would have hidden it inside the chimney.

  “Anything in there?” Jackie asked. Her hand rested on the bricks as she ran through the poem in her mind again. “It says down the tunnel a rod of iron, I don’t think a fire place is the key. The chimneys all go up not down.”

  “What about a rod of iron?” Jacob asked. “Where would a rod of iron be hidden around here?”

  Jane felt Bella shuffled around on her shoulder and suddenly the fairy whispered in her ear, “I checked up the chimney. It’s empty.”

  “What about a candle?” Karen asked. “And a candle snuffer?”

  Jane stopped and stared at her.

  “There’s a closet in the basement where they used to store candles,” Karen explained. “Come, I’ll show you.”

  “That would fit,” Jackie replied. She hurried after Karen and followed her back to the steps leading back downstairs.

  The steps led them back down to the main floor, and then Karen led them to where another set of stairs brought them to the basement. They hurried along the hallway at the bottom of the steps until they reached a small closet set in one of the outer walls. The door was locked, but Karen pulled a thick set of keys from her pocket. She fiddled with them for so long Jacob was about to take them away when she finally found one that fit the padlock and pulled it free. The cabinet was only a foot deep and about two feet wide but it stretched from floor to ceiling.

  “It’s empty!” Jane exclaimed in frustration. She felt Bella flutter free of her shoulder and so she wiggled inside the small door and looked around.

  “Do you see anything?” Jane whispered lightly to the fairy.

  “In the back corner,” Bella replied. “It looks like the paneling will move.” Jane lowered a hand to the bottom of the paneling and pushed on it. Sure enough a small section moved. Carefully she brought Bella back to her shoulder, trying to hide the movements so that the others did not see them.

  Jane turned around carefully as Bella settled back on her shoulder and examined the oak paneling. It was all weathered the same and stained a deep rich mahogany .

  “Do you see anything?” Jackie asked from outside the door. A moment later Jacob’s face appeared in the opening and he glanced around before vanishing and being replaced by Jackie again.

  “I’m not sure,” Jane replied. She ran her fingers up and down the back section of paneling that Bella had indicated looked different. At first she thought it looked the same . . . then she spotted it, a small marking where someone had pried the wood piece out at some point. It was only a small indentation where the hammer had rested against the wood but it was enough to focus her attention. There was a knot in the wood near the top of the wall, and Jane reached up and pressed hard against it.

  Click

  “What happened?”

  Once again there was a scramble of faces in the door as Jacob, Karen, and Jackie all vied to get a look. The spot in the wood pressed in smoothly. A moment later the piece of oak paneling slipped loose of the trim and settled into her hands. Inside was a tunnel that led away from the house, and Jane was forced to remove two more panels in order to slip inside.

  “I found a tunnel!” Jane exclaimed. The passage was damp but it was lined with stone and seemed sturdy enough so she stepped all the way inside and looked around. A few old candles lay scattered around the edge of the tunnel, and Jane picked up one of them. She saw a small indent in the wall. Sitting inside it was an ancient box of matches. Carefully Jane struck one of the remaining matches, and it flared briefly before immediately going out.

  “Anyone have a lighter?” Jane called. When everyone said no she turned and struck another one of the matches. This time it stayed lit just long enough for her to hold it to the wick of the candle. Seconds later the candle flared to life and remained that way. “Come on, let’s see where it leads.”

  Jacob and Jackie worked their way into the tunnel and joined her in lighting a candle each. However Karen remained outside the closet in the hallway.

  “Are you coming?” Jane asked her.

  “I’m not climbing in there,” Karen replied.

  “Be careful, Karen,” Jane warned. “The people who are down in the harbor may come searching for a book. They are not nice people. You should find a spot to hide and stay there.

  “I will,” Karen said earnestly. “This is not the only hidden place in the mansion. I’ll go find a good spot to hide.”

  Jane hoped the seriousness of what was happening was sinking into her friend as she turned and hurried away from the closet opening.

  “Pull the door shut and let’s see where this tunnel leads,” Jane said when Karen was gone from view. She watched the artificial light from the mansion as it disappeared behind the door. When it was gone completely she held her candle high. Jacob and Jackie followed her down the tunnel. The thing that struck her was how rough the walls seemed. The passage generally moved lower in the ground but at times they were forced to scramble over ledges and climb steep slopes. After about two hundred yards, the passage split in two. One tunnel lead up towards the city and Jane heard the lapping of water against stone. Small trickles of lake water came over the top of the upper passage and ran down the lower passage where it vanished into the darkness.

  “Can’t be up,” Jane said. “It’s got to be in the lower passage.”

  “You’re probably right,” Jackie responded. She held her candle up a bit higher and edged down into the darkness. Jane was right behind her and Jacob brought up the rear as he tried to juggle holding a candle, his shield, and sword.

  The downward tunnel was slippery and Jane nearly fell twice before they reached the bottom. The second fall doused her candle and got the wick so wet that it refused to light again.

  “Keep going,” Jane said.

  “Here take mine,” Jacob said. “I’ll stick close.” He grinned at her. “Besides I can’t carry all three at the same time.”

  Jane blushed.

  With the two remaining candles, they finally found the bottom of the tunnel and a narrow chamber filled with water up to their knees.

  “Brr,” Jane muttered. She had dipped her hand in the water and it was cold.

  “If Uncle Ernie was still around I would give him a piece of my mind,” Jackie said when she entered the water. Goose bumps erupted up and down her legs, and she shivered as the cold lake water slowly rose the further they walked.

  “Wait!” Jane shouted suddenly. She grabbed Jack
ie and pulled back on her. The tunnel came to a suddenly halt, and they had been so distracted by the cold that they failed to see the flow of the water suddenly increase. It was no wonder the cave did not flood completely, a step in from of them a round drop off opened up and the water fell over the edge and vanished. There was no sound of it landing anywhere close by and Jane wondered exactly how deep a drop was before them.

  “How in the world,” Jacob muttered. He looked out across the opening and across the water from them was a ledge carved into the wall. Set inside the ledge was what looked like an iron rod, the end of the staff flared out, and he was certain that the shard of glass from Split Rock Lighthouse would fit inside it.

  “How did he get that over there?” Jane agreed. The water tugged at her legs just enough to keep her free hand firmly attached to a rough spot in the wall. Jane knew if she lost her grip who knows how far she would fall.

  “I know how he did it,” Jackie replied. Her eyes had searched the place and been drawn to the only passage across or around the obstacle.

  “How?” Jacob said. He leaned forward and looked down again. Despite the falling water there was no thunder of a waterfall, it simply vanished into the ground. He had seen these round holes in the ground before, hiking many of the local rivers. The almost perfectly round holes could be found in many places, some were places where the water swirled but others simply just seemed to be there. This one though was deeper than anything he had ever seen before.

  “Look up,” Jackie said. She held her candle higher and pointed with her free hand before returning it to its place on the wall.

  Jane looked up and there was a thick iron rod that ran ten feet from side to side. Her great uncle had somehow hung four pinions in the ceiling and slid the rod into place. Then he had crossed over holding the staff and placed it in the hollowed out ledge.

  Chapter Eleven

  The Riddle Comes Together

  Eriunia and her force slipped south through the trees quietly as only elves and goblins could move, without the slightest of sounds. It was late afternoon and the sun would be in the Adherents’ eyes. She could hear the shouts and cries of the battle down the hill before them and she motioned to the goblins around her to push forward.