The Enchanted Emerald (The Enchanted Stones Book 1)

by Donald Craghead

  Michael looked around him at the darkness beyond the magical light. “I think that may be the reason there are no torches, Thomas. The magicians that made this tunnel didn’t want it to be easy.”

  “That’s exactly right,” Everett answered. “The whole purpose of this was an escape route. The magicians could travel through here with their own light, as we are doing. Whoever was pursuing them would have to stop and make torches. The magicians would be out of the tunnel and gone before their enemies got a good start.

  “Here are the steps, be careful.”

  They were soon puffing and panting because of the exertion spent in climbing the steps. They had not rested since flying all day in Oliver’s air-boat, and then the mad run from the beach to the foot of the hill.

  “I’m glad you got your strength back, Everett,” Sarah said, “but I think I need to rest. These steps are about to wear me out.”

  “We’re almost to the top; just a little farther, then we’ll rest.”

  She put her hands on the tops of her knees and pushed, trying to make the climb easier.

  * * * * * “Damn, where did they go?” Acantha had watched the progress of her wretched creations as they had charged down the hill toward where she had thought Michael was hiding. When she saw the earth exploding around her beasts, she knew the invaders were on the move. Try as she might though, she could not see any sign of them in her crystal bowl.

  “They must still be under that spell of concealment.” She turned to Croom, who was standing just inside the doorway to her laboratory. “It looks as though you will not get your chance to fulfill my demands tonight. You will stay beside me from now on, until I give you directions otherwise.” She looked at the scowling man across the room. “Such anger. Save it for them when they come, do you understand?”

  Croom continued to stare at her with malice in his cold dead heart. As they continued to glare at each other, neither speaking, Milo began to make his retreat from the room. He had been too weak to make escape before now, but seeing the beginnings of rebellion from Croom, Milo felt it would be safer if he could somehow escape from the room before Acantha lost her temper.

  As Acantha considered the open rebellion from Croom, she caught Milo’s movement as he crawled toward the door. Raising her hand and straightening her arm, she gestured to Milo with open palm. He was stopped in his tracks, unable to move further.

  “It seems, Croom, as though you have forgotten who is in charge here.” She raised her hand and Milo was lifted from the floor. He was now in control of his muscles once again, but suspended from the floor, in mid-air, he was unable to do anything to help himself other than flail about.

  The growing terror was reflected in his eyes as Acantha spoke. “You need to be reminded, Croom, of what happens to those that oppose me.” She slowly began closing her hand, and Milo expelled a great breath of air, totally clearing his lungs.

  With all of the air pushed out of him, he was unable to plead for mercy. His wild thrashing was slowing, and he was beginning to lose consciousness. With a final jerk, Acantha closed her hand into a fist. Milo’s tortured body visibly compressed, bones could be heard breaking in the quiet room. Finally blood began spewing from his mouth and nose as his nearly lifeless body began shuddering in shock.

  Acantha opened her hand and allowed the empty husk that had been Milo to drop to the floor. “Of course it would be useless to threaten you with death, Croom, since you already have that; but do not forget my power. If you do not wish to walk the earth for eternity, you will stop your useless balking when I give you an order.

  “Now, clean up this mess,” she said smiling, pointing at what had been Milo, “and get back here as quickly as possible. I need to call my hoard back from the beaches to have them ready when I locate Michael again.” She turned her back on Croom and stalked back to her crystal bowl.

  Croom, with a resigned sigh, moved to gather the dead body of Milo. He dragged the limp form down the hall and steps leading to the lower reaches of the castle. Reaching the ground floor, he spotted two of the slaves silently making their way toward the main door.

  “Stop!” he ordered. The two men, startled by the sudden order, stopped and backed against the wall. “Damn,” one whispered to the other, “you see, every time we start to make a break for it, that ghoul catches us.”

  Croom, unaware that the two were attempting an escape, continued, “Take this worthless lump of garbage to the basements and dispose of it.” He casually threw the body at the two men, turned on his heel, and left.

  “We had better do as he says. He looked like he was in a real bad mood. If he comes down and finds us missing now, we would be in real trouble.”

  They bent down to roll the body over to get a better hold. “Hey, isn’t this that weasel that was always buttering up to the witch?”

  “Yeah, that’s him. Looks like it don’t pay to try to lick her boots, does it?”

  “No, I reckon not. Let’s get him down to the basements like we’re supposed to.”

  Each grabbed an arm and began dragging Milo’s body down the hall, then down to the basements. Upon reaching the bottom floors and disposing of the body, the two slaves lit a candle and sat down on the cold bare floor to think over new plans for escaping from their captivity.

  * * * * *

  After having rested nearly an hour, Michael and his friends had once again begun moving through the dark narrow tunnel. “It won’t be much further,” Everett assured them. “Just one more set of steps, and then another hundred yards or so, and we’ll be at the entrance.”

  “So what are we going to do once we get there?” Thomas asked. “Then it’s up to Michael,” Everett replied as he casually pointed over his shoulder at Michael.

  Michael continued walking without speaking. With his head tilted down, looking at the floor, he was thinking about the coming battle, wishing things had been different so that he would not be pitted against his sister. Finally, deciding that it was too late to worry about things he could not change, he looked over and smiled at Sarah.

  “What will you do when the time comes, Michael?”

  “Whatever I am called to do. I’m afraid I won’t know what that is until the time arrives.”

  His answer satisfied no one but they knew he didn’t have a better one. They continued their passage through the darkness, climbing the last set of steps, and finally, they came upon a blank wall where the tunnel suddenly stopped.

  “This is it,” whispered Everett in near reverence. “On the other side of this wall is the basement to Acantha’s keep. Perhaps I should begin calling it the Magician’s Enclave once again, if we are to wrest it and the ruby away from her.”

  “How do we get to the other side?” Oliver inquired.

  “We just need a little magic is all,” Everett replied. “But not just yet, we need to rest before the final battle. Michael will need all the power he can call upon to best Acantha.”

  After setting down the weapons and supplies that they had brought along with them, they all sank to the rock floor in near exhaustion. Knowing that the ultimate day was at hand, there was very little talk. They all sat quietly, lost in their own private thoughts. It had been a long arduous trek from the Cruz Mountains to where they were now. At least the first part had been, until Oliver, with a stroke of brilliance, had conceived of the flying air-boat.

  Thomas was quite pleased with the entire venture, and looked forward with relish to the coming conflict. To him a friendly brawl was a way of celebrating life. What he failed to recognize now, was that this was not to be a friendly brawl. Acantha meant it to be a battle to the death.

  Oliver’s only concern, as it had been from the very first night when Michael and Sarah surprised him at the door of his shack, was to protect Sarah from harm. He had made his promise to old Gus years before. He meant to fulfill his promise, or die trying.

  Michael and Sarah, holding each other, leaning against a wall of the tunnel, silently sharing the thought that per
haps they would be able to return to their old life once this was over; if they survived.

  Michael released Sarah from his embrace and slowly climbed to his feet. “I’m going to go back down the tunnel a little way and prepare myself by meditating. You’ll be all right here till I get back.”

  Sarah replied, “Oh...I had hoped we would be able to spend this bit of time together! I mean, we don’t know what is going to happen when we break through into the keep.”

  “Yes, and that is why I need go off by myself for a while. I want to end this as much as you do, but if we are to be successful I must be as prepared as possible.”

  He leaned down to give Sarah a tender kiss. “I know that, Michael,” she said. “I was just being selfish. It’s not such a bad thing to be a little selfish at a time like this.”

  She stood and gave him a gentle push back in the direction from which they had come. “Go now. Prepare yourself. I will be waiting here for you when you return.”

  He smiled at her and gave her pale face a gentle caress. “I won’t be long.”

  Turning to leave he spoke to Everett. “I’ll be back shortly, Everett.”

  “What?” Everett replied with a start. He was lost in his own private thoughts and had not heard what had been exchanged between Michael and Sarah. “What?” he repeated.

  “I said I will return shortly. I am going to meditate for a bit before we attack Acantha’s stronghold.”

  “Attack? Yes, that’s what we’ll be doing, I suppose. It would do you well to prepare yourself. We will all get some much needed rest while you are gone.”

  He waved Michael away and once again became lost in his own thoughts about how this evil had come into the world, and the integral part that he had played in its coming.

  When Michael reached a part of the tunnel where he felt that he was completely alone, he sat down on the floor and extinguished the globe of light that he had produced to guide him. It was very easy for him now to slip into the trance, and out of his body. He meant to make one final trip to Acantha’s side before they attempted to regain the ruby.

  Moving with his mind’s eye alone, he traveled back through the tunnel, past where his friends sat in silence, waiting for the time to do battle. He moved up to and then through the wall at the end of the tunnel, seeing and understanding the magic that it would take to open the secret door into the castle. He saw the two men sitting on the hard stone floor of the basement. Michael idly noticed them as he passed, vaguely remembering them as the two men he had seen on his last trip, then gave them no further thought.

  Rather than cutting through walls, floors, or closed doors, he took the route he would have to take by foot. He wanted to see who or what may be around to stop him from reaching Acantha. He was surprised to see the stairs and hallways leading up from the basements and into the upper reaches of the old castle deserted. Perhaps Acantha did not realize how close they were to achieving their goal. Perhaps she was able to overcome the evil of the ruby, and was even now waiting for Michael’s help.

  “Maybe more than I should expect,” thought Michael ruefully. It was obvious that she had lost track of them because of Michael’s cloaking spell, and believed that they were still outside in the open. Her defenses would be outside, on the grounds of her keep, watching all of the known entrances.

  He was nearly to the top of the tower and still did not see any defenses. He couldn’t understand why there was nothing up here to stop them from an attack. Surely Acantha was at least concerned enough about the threat from Michael that she would have some protection by her side.

  When he entered her laboratory he finally saw Acantha’s protector. Croom was standing morosely, just inside the door, glaring at Acantha’s back. Michael stopped in surprise, it had been so long since he had seen Croom that he had failed to consider him as a problem. If he was to meet Croom away from Acantha, he felt that he now had enough power to destroy him. But if he had to contend with Acantha and Croom at the same time, he wasn’t sure.

  As Michael paused, Acantha turned toward him. “Michael, how nice of you to visit me,” she said sarcastically. “Croom, aren’t you going to speak to our guest?”

  Croom looked about the room, searching for Michael, knowing for sure that Acantha had finally gone totally insane. The room was empty except for the two of them, and the assorted vile paraphernalia that she needed to work her black magic.

  “If you’re here to try one final time to dissuade me from destroying you and your friends,” she spat, “you can forget it! You are wasting time for both of us.”

  “Then you would rather that we do battle?”

  “No Michael, I would rather that you and your stinking friends do me the service of coming out of hiding, and then dying on the spot. Then I could take what belongs to me without all of this trouble.”

  Michael flinched from her scornful words, but continued to attempt reason. “I have nothing that belongs to you, Acantha. Neither the emerald nor the ruby belongs to either of us.”

  Acantha gave a sharp bark of derisive laughter. “You’re wrong, brother. These rings were given to me, they are mine to control.”

  “Given to you?” Michael recoiled in disbelief. “They weren’t given to you, you stole them!”

  “Not so, brother,” she answered. She could sense Michael’s discomfort, and relished in it. “Our foolish teachers kept the key to the box that held the stones safe. I could not have gotten it. Someone else used the key and took the stones, then gave them to me.”

  “Don’t be foolish,” snapped Michael. “Who would do such a thing?”

  “Think about it, Michael. I didn’t understand at the time why they were given to me. But later when Everett told you only those of our bloodline could use it, I understood.”

  “You were watching us even then!” exclaimed Michael.

  “Of course I was! That’s trivial. Think about what I just told you. Who knew the stones could only be used by our bloodline?”

  Michael thought for a moment before answering. “I don’t know, our parents I suppose...Everett obviously.”

  Acantha threw her arms out to her sides with palms up, as though she were bestowing a great truth upon him.

  “Now, there is some knowledge for you to deal with! Go away now, I have work to do.” She abruptly turned her back on Michael, acting as though she was no longer aware of his presence. Croom continued to look at her as though she had lost her mind.

  “What are you playing at, Acantha?” demanded Michael. “Do you really expect me to believe that Everett gave you the stones to use?”

  Acantha spun back around to face Michael. Pointing a threatening finger at where she sensed him to be, she answered, “I don’t care what you believe! Everett wanted power. He thought he could get it through me.” She made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “What do I care if you are too stupid to believe me? Ask him. See if he has the courage to tell you the truth. You have power now, you can sense if he lies to you.”

  Michael was furious with the implication that his old friend would have done something such as this. He began to move away from the room. He left one final thought with Acantha as he left. “You will regret telling me this lie. I finally see there is no other way to stop you...and I will stop you!”

  As he fled the room, he could hear Acantha’s insane laughter chasing him down the hall.

  CHAPTER 25

  It took Michael just a moment to return to his body. He was seething with anger. He did not know where to direct his anger yet. If Acantha had lied to him, his anger would be well directed at her, but if she was telling the truth, what did that mean? Everett had tried repeatedly to get Michael to help him recover the ruby. Was it just because he wanted both of the stones together; and with someone he could control? Or was he truly concerned about the damage the two stones could cause in the wrong hands?

  There was only one way Michael would ever know the truth. He would have to question Everett, and not be swayed by friendship when consideri
ng the answers. Gathering his resolve, Michael climbed to his feet. He sent his thoughts to Everett. They entered Everett’s mind much in the way Acantha’s thoughts had entered Croom’s; but without the feeling of rape that was present with Acantha’s probing.

  “Everett, can you hear me?” Everett jumped from the alien invasion. He looked around at the others to see if they had heard the voice in his head. The other three showed no response, and did not stir from their resting spots.

  “Michael, is that you?” Everett answered within his own mind. “Yes. Come to where I am meditating, Everett.”

  “Why, Michael. What’s wrong?”

  “We will discuss that when we are face to face. I will wait here

  for you.” Everett took one last look at his fellow travelers to insure they were still resting quietly. They had not moved since before his strange conversation with Michael. Everett rose quietly to his feet and began the short walk down the tunnel to Michael.

  He carried two globes of light, one in each hand. In a very short time, Everett saw Michael outlined by the far reaches of the glow. He was still sitting on the floor, as though meditating. Everett walked up to him and sat beside him without saying a word.

  A couple of minutes passed before Michael stirred and recognized Everett’s presence. He turned to the old magician and looked deeply into his eyes for some time before speaking.

  “I have been up to Acantha’s laboratory. She said some disturbing things.”

  “Everything she has said or done for the last number of months have been disturbing,” replied Everett.

  “Yes, well – this was one of the worst.” Michael leaned forward to get closer to his old friend. “She says that you took the talismans. She says that you gave them to her.”

  Everett said nothing. He just sat in the near darkness, staring into the gloom.

  “Well, did you?” Michael inquired.

  “It’s not the way you make it sound.” He got up and began to pace in front of Michael. “There were two beliefs at the enclave. One was that the talismans should be kept under lock and key. The other was that the stones could be used for the greater benefit of society. That we could help to bring the people up from fear and superstition, and approach the high level of life that our ancestors knew.”