by N. Saraven
“What’s happening?” demanded Halgor, when Neila appeared again from behind the tribal, who gave her way.
“We’ve been brought before the Council of Elders,” she answered firmly. Halgor’s eyes flared up, hearing the tone.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he snapped angrily, mixed with astonishment.
“You disappeared,” said Neila, gazing sternly into his eyes. “You just disappeared, doing who knows what, but you seemingly enjoyed yourself, and I didn’t want to interfere. So go, enjoy yourself while you can.” She finished so coldly, ice looked warm compared to her mood. Then, because the elven did not say a thing, she went inside again.
Halgor felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He just stared at the dark entrance where Eteryon disappeared also. He could not do or say anything in his astonishment. He got furious about Neila’s cold rejection and terribly grim at the same time. Colliding, these two emotions put out each other. As a result, the elven felt nothing inside, only a deep abyss forming in his soul.
Then he heard a call, but it felt distant, like saying things behind a thick curtain. He recognised Nighthunter’s voice, so he slowly turned around and joined the dragon. At the moment, Halgor could not comprehend the numbness inside. He could not even imagine what was going on in the hut.
Neila felt blind when she stepped inside the hut. She waited a few moments for her eyes to get used to the darkness, although the holes functioning as windows were not covered with anything. She could straighten up and there were still a few inches until the ‘ceiling’. As she breathed, the air felt heavy with some kind of smoke. Eteryon joined her, whose head almost grazed the ceiling, as did Veilon’s. As for Enargit, even in his dragonman form he had to lower his head deeply all the time.
The first, fairly big room was empty, when Neila could finally look around in the dim light. Eteryon motioned them to the other room. He put his hands on the small of her back, but he never actually touched her. Nevertheless, she felt his arm just enough.
The other, somewhat smaller room contained a big, sunken fireplace, surrounded by stones. Ember shone in it, being the only light source, yet somehow it only made everything gloomier. Three figures sat around it on the ground, since there was no furniture at all anywhere. One of them dropped something on the smouldering wood, thickening the smoke in the room. A hole was cut above in the ceiling, where some of the fumes left.
“We welcome you all. Please sit.” A figure broke the silence. He spoke fluent paragon, although with a heavy accent. His voice seemed hoarse.
All of their features were lost in the smoke.
“We thank you for having us, Elders,” answered Eteryon, kneeling on the ground and bowing deeply towards the Elders. His forehead touched the leaf-covered floor.
Veilon snorted in irritation, although nobody reacted.
“We heard that the map interests you,” said the Elder sitting in the middle.
“Yes, it does. How do you know that the three worlds are actually one?” asked Neila. She felt the men’s gaze on her, which made her uneasy. They shortly discussed something amongst them.
“So the time has come,” announced the third Elder solemnly, so the man in the middle threw another handful of those peculiar leaves on the ember.
The spiralling smoke thickened and got everywhere, including Neila’s nostrils. She felt her throat becoming sour and hoarse, which made her cough. At the same time, she became out of breath, so she took deep gulps, what made even more smoke get into her system. Her eyes watered as the fumes stung it. The air felt too thin, yet she needed to breathe more and more.
Her mind suddenly felt lighter somehow, as if it wanted to fly away somewhere, or as if it wanted to take a walk for itself. Neila tried to take control of these feelings, but there was nothing she could do. Her thoughts swirled around; she could not get hold of any of them.
Slowly everything became blurry before her eyes, as her body turned numb.
She felt terribly dizzy, as never before in her life. Suddenly, all of her senses turned upside down, then from one moment to another they ceased to work. Everything went black before her eyes, and Neila felt that she was flying higher and higher into the darkness.
30. Life in the Tower
Rita awoke to a loud bird’s chirping when light just broke the darkness at the horizon. The window was not open, yet it sounded as if the bird nested on the sill. It started every day at the same time, like clockwork. It functioned as an alarm, as if to say it was time to start the day for the ones who needed it.
The girl stretched under the blanket and rubbed her eyes to get rid of the last morsel of sleep. As she got ready, she mused on her two seasons in Varomor.
After Rita closed the Gate behind her, she had felt lost and useless for a long time. She knew things about this new world, of course, but theory and reality often had its differences. She had no clue about things which were considered ordinary for the ‘original’ inhabitants. She had to befriend everything around her—plants, animals, even mushrooms. Not to mention the other ‘intelligent’ species with whom she now lived.
Rita scrambled out of her bed, then stepped forwards to poke Kira up. The shade had a habit of never getting up on time, so she was always late. As a result, she had to act in haste, which made the others annoyed. So Rita tried to wake the shade every single morning, and so far almost always failed.
Meanwhile, she mused further as she got ready.
Despite never feeling better, she could not erase the memories of Earth easily from her mind. She never knew why because she did not long to be back. She felt perfectly happy, as never before. Sure, she missed her father in a way, or Indi. But she had made the right choice by coming here, which filled her with peace.
Regardless, when she saw a thing that almost seemed identical to something on Earth, her heart ached. She could not solve why.
When Rita arrived, Varomor was surrounded with what seemed to be a perfect deciduous forest, then, after the Move, it felt just like an ordinary rainforest. Some trees looked almost the same, so she could only discover the differences when she got close enough. As far as she could tell, most of them filled the same niche as well as back home.
However, the most astonishing thing for Rita was when she learned about a plant that was used the same way as the one she knew. For example, some spices in the garden looked very similar to the ones on Earth, and they had the same qualities as well. This fascinating thing made Rita’s life that much easier, although not her friends’.
She kept calling these plants by their Earth names, which made everybody else confused. She had always liked cooking, so she became familiar with spices; furthermore, she loved tea. Yet, whenever she tried to discuss a meal she liked, she was talking about ‘basil’ or ‘pepper’ or ‘garlic’ which nobody else understood.
It happened with similar animals too. Although as it also turned out, some animals proved to be the same. How that could happen, Rita never worked out so far, nor did she really care.
As she kept an eye on Kira, not letting the shade fall back to sleep under her blanket, she wandered further on the path of thoughts.
There were horses, as on Earth, or dogs, and who knows what else. And, of course, those huge wolves of the werewolves. Regardless that Rita had never actually met a horse here, nor a wolf, from what the others told her, they ought to be the same.
The girl watched the dim light becoming brighter by the moment in the room. Her thoughts now wondered about the others who lived in Varomor. But she could not muse for much longer because she was disrupted by a knock on the door. Rita knew it could only be their neighbours—Agony and Talek.
This made Kira suddenly alive as well. The shade gave a whimper, pulling her blanket over her head. She always slept naked, so whenever she refused to wake up on time, she had to hurriedly get clothes on. Albeit Agony and Talek always arrived punctually, she never learned.
The four of them had become good friends since Rita came here. They took her
, ‘the new kid in town’, under their wings. They taught her, looked after her, kept her in line. At first, they most probably took care of her because Neila said so. But now it did not mean a thing.
“Good morning!” Agony stepped in after Rita invited them in, when Kira became decent enough to do so. The two men got in the habit of coming over to the girls every morning, so they could have breakfast together in the common lunchroom.
Rita answered with a smile, excusing themselves for being tardy. The warrior just growled something that made Kira blush. She probably did not hear the actual words, but it was the same every morning, so she had a clue.
Meanwhile, Rita sat on her bed, smiling about the situation. Agony and Kira reminded her of a brother-sister pair she knew on Earth. Her gaze became foggy at the memory as she packed her bow, which she always carried with her. That was one of the things Talek insisted at all times.
“You could wake up when I poke you.” Rita sided with Agony when the warrior confronted the shade. Again.
“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” whimpered Kira as she scrambled to put her shoes on. Then she stood in the middle of the room as if she wanted to face the End of the Worlds.
“Can we go now?” asked Talek from the door, who leaned against the wall at the entrance. This too was part of their little morning ritual. Everybody knew that the kobold loathed tardiness. Not that they would be actually late for anything …
“Finally,” he murmured when the girls joined them at the door. They started forwards in the corridor, silently.
It struck Rita every single morning how difficult it was for her to get used to the logic of the Tower, although it had no ‘magical’ characteristics, like what she had read in other books. Luckily she did not live in a typical enchanted castle, where every staircase leads in other directions, heading to another place on Fridays, or something like that. Varomor had clear logic, if anybody could say that about Neila’s and Halgor’s reasoning.
Back in the day, the two strongest mages in the worlds created Varomor from their feelings and thoughts with pure magic. They imagined their home, then almost literally erected it from the ground. They formed its stones from the earth itself, making them as they pleased, merging them together. As a result, not even a little crack could be seen anywhere on the walls, as if it were carved from one, huge black ore.
Of course, this needed an enormous amount of power, but even more to conceal it from Indrek and his minions. The Masters wanted the identity of the Tower to be a secret as long as possible.
At this point though, Rita always frowned. She had heard this story in several versions so far, but nobody could answer the most obvious question: why did the two Masters put the Tower where they did? It was just calling for trouble, nothing more in her eyes.
Once the Tower itself was created, they started to design the subtle interior details. They created levels which were connected with corridors and stairs. A hole stretched through the building from top to bottom, containing the waterfall, and was surrounded by a magical shield. Around it spiralled the Main Stairs, as the inhabitants called it. From it diverged the many smaller stairs, or corridors, leading to other rooms.
Then the Masters segmented it. At the top of the Tower lay the rooms, which became off limits to most. These contained the most valuable spell-books, scrolls, vials, and other magical things. Some of them could really hurt a less qualified person, so nobody could just walk in to look around. Furthermore, there could be found a specially designed chamber, in which one could experiment with new spells or perform the most dangerous ones. As with which they moved away Varomor.
Only the most skilled ones could go there, or in the company of the allowed ones.
At the ‘bottom’ of this highly secured part was Neila’s room, who normally shared it with Halgor. Just under this room stretched a shield, which prevented unauthorised persons from entering the higher part. Only the ones who knew how could get through it with or without magic.
Just below this shield were the other dorm rooms, starting with Agony and Talek’s. These occupied the Tower’s middle section.
Under this part, at the bottom of the Tower, lay all the open chambers and rooms, like the library, training rooms, and so on.
Furthermore, the lunchroom, where the friends were now heading.
As they descended, more and more mages and apprentices joined them. They whispered amongst themselves, discussing spells, studies, or a strange animal they saw near the Tower. The two wraiths, who strolled in front of the friends, argued about the amount of water that seethed down beside them.
“I wonder what the breakfast will be?” mused Rita, breaking the silence between them. Her stomach rumbled loudly as she walked, which made her blush. Nowadays she always wanted to munch something because she felt hungry all the time. However, she rarely could, since she practised with Talek.
The kobold promised he would turn her into an ‘acceptable archeress’, although she never had a clue what that would mean …
“Good question … I wouldn’t mind some smoked meat,” longed Agony and he swallowed.
Sadly, they all knew that this remained only wishful thinking. Even though there were some discoveries about animals which could function as a good meat source, danger always lurked around the corner. Once they accidentally cooked, as it turned out, a very poisonous animal. Only luck, or maybe one of the Gods, saved that poor student.
And even if the animals could be harmless to eat, many proved to be very difficult to catch and kill or were simply venomous. So overall, meat turned to something of a delicacy in the Tower.
Furthermore, what the hunters could actually bring in was too small or big. Neither of them were desirable in the eyes of the cooks. They never used magic for cooking, so the preparations could take too much effort, which they often did not want to put in.
Reaching the bottom of the Tower, the companions changed direction and headed to the back of it, where the lunchroom lay. They went around the huge pool, in which the waterfall ended. Even though it was a formidable cascade, the shield around it did not let its noise out, nor let anybody get wet. It also served as the walls of the pool, which had no other ledge of any kind. It stretched there like a huge mirror, made from water. It did not even ripple much.
It was strictly for the sirens only; nobody else was allowed in the water. Although some liked to joke about taking a swim, nobody ever dared to actually do so …
“Maybe it’s obvious, but where the heck are the sirens? Allegedly the Big Guys teach a few in the Tower. This whole waterfall was created for them. So where are they? I haven’t seen one, have you?” asked Rita, regarding the falling water as they walked around it. They also passed a few doors—entrances to the library and the practice room.
A few apprentices hurried by them, almost trotting, trying not to toss them too much.
Rita always tried to measure in her head how big the pool was. She bet its diameter was around thirty feet, but she never had the chance to look it up.
“I saw one, once, for only a moment,” mused Kira, “but you are right. They can be hardly seen.”
“Somebody ought to deal with them,” continued Rita, but the others just shrugged.
“I, for one, don’t mind at all not seeing them. They are so full of themselves, like no other species. But for what, I don’t know,” murmured Talek. Rita glanced at Agony, then Kira, who shrugged again.
Rita knew that the companions had met sirens before, when they were shipwrecked in the ocean in Caracen. They became rescued by the sirens. Yet they never talked about that encounter, not even Agony, who was never short of amusing stories.
“As if a paragon would do otherwise,” rumbled the warrior, just loud enough for everybody to hear.
Before an argument could burst out between the men, they reached the entrance of the lunchroom. They stopped at the double door because it seemed that every inhabitant wanted to eat at that very same time, forming a line.
Rita was always
astonished how many actually lived in Varomor. She did not know the exact number, but as far as she could tell, there were around fifty, including them. She knew all of them by face, although she was never good with names.
“From the smell, I’ll bet it will be some kind of egg.” Agony sniffed around as they stepped forwards.
“I will never get used to canteens.” Rita sighed absently, although her stomach grumbled even more when the spicy air hit her.
This whole system was too similar to the real canteen back on Earth. There was a counter, from where they could get their tray with full plates. However, anything Rita had ever eaten in Varomor was far better than any school. Still, it was difficult to get rid of the grim feelings accompanied by the memories.
“To what?” asked Talek, who was uncharacteristically curious about whatever Rita said or did.
She often merged her style, phrases, and words into the common tongue; sometimes the companions did not truly understand her. Usually they got the meaning, so after a while they could associate words with meanings. On the other hand, whenever the kobold was around, he always asked for clarification.
“Canteen,” repeated the girl as she took a step forwards again. Even if everybody wanted to eat at the same time, the line moved swiftly.
“What’s that?” asked Talek, while he took the tray handed to him, saying thank you. He waited for the others to get theirs, then they headed for the back door, to the garden. There stood several tables with benches. They took a seat at a shady one.
“In the schools are always canteens like this. Basically they are the same as here, only less comfortable, the food is barely edible, and the company is terrible.”
“You don’t like eating in company?”
Agony exchanged knowing glances with Kira, who sat in front of him, as they listened to the others’ conversation. The shade and the warrior suspected that the paragon probably was not interested in Rita just because he had nothing better to do. However, they would rather rip out their tongues before saying this out loud, or asking.
