Many Hidden Rooms (Cerah of Quadar Book 2)

by S. J. Varengo

  Finally, the day of departure came. Cerah wrapped her arms around Slurr’s neck, and he held her tightly for a long time. Finally, he released her and said, “Hurry, now. The beast is out there, and only you can stop him. I will be back by your side as soon as I possibly can be. I love you with every fiber of my being.”

  “Oh, you stupid, stupid Lug!” she said.

  “Ah, sweet music to my ears!” he laughed. Then he kissed her with a passion such as Quadar had never seen.

  Cerah tore herself from his arms and, without another look behind her, mounted Tressida and began the journey to Niliph.

  The continent of Niliph was the smallest, and most austral, of the ten. It had been untouched during the period when cities were vanishing elsewhere on Quadar and its two major population centers, Roo and Armethia, both lay on the southern coast. In spite of the fact that nothing had happened to either city, the wizards were able to recruit a significant number of people to join the army. However, because the Chosen One had brought so many to attack Surok, only about twenty-five thousand warriors had been left to defend the green lands. And as Niliph was the smallest, a force of only about fifteen hundred had been left to defend it in the off chance that something unexpected occurred.

  The leader of the division was a man named Targus Whil. He had been identified by the wizards early on as a man who could lead others. Nearly fifty years of age, Targus was still in excellent physical condition, and he was not only a quick study in military tactics but was a fair and compassionate commander as well. He had risen early, as was his custom. He looked over the many tents pitched on the large field near Armethia. The majority of his men were still asleep. Good, he thought, let them rest. We have been drilling non-stop for days. It is not a smart idea to tire them out, although I need to keep them sharp.

  He knelt in the short grass and said his morning prayers, also a habit from which he never deviated. He asked Ma’uzzi to grant him the wisdom to lead and to give victory to the forces of the Chosen One. By the time he had finished his second in command, a stout woman named Helotha Fureen, was walking to greet him. “Good morning, Helotha,” he called to her as he rose.

  “Good morning. Another brisk day dawns.”

  “Yes. It is only a matter of time until the snows come.” They looked to the southern horizon. Indeed, far in the distance they could see dark clouds gathering. Targus pointed to them. “Maybe sooner than later,” he said.

  They walked together to where a group of men and women were preparing food. Both poured themselves tall mugs of the strong jakta that was brewing. As they drank, they discussed the day’s plans. The previous few had been spent drilling the swordsmen, and Targus wanted to work with the archers today. He pulled his collar up around his neck as a cold wind blew across the field.

  “That’s odd,” said Helotha.

  “What?” asked the division leader.

  “Look,” she said, pointing to the south. He turned and saw that the clouds, which moments ago had been far off, were growing much darker and were spreading rapidly across the sky. He frowned.

  “I’ve never seen a storm advance so quickly,” he said.

  Soon others around the camp were watching as well. Eventually, as more and more people emerged from their tents, almost the entire division stood facing the south. The clouds hurled themselves nearer and nearer, spreading out toward the east and west as well as continuing to move north. An uncomfortable murmuring gradually rose in volume as the troops watched.

  “This is not normal. It’s not natural,” said Helotha.

  “What do you think it means?” asked Targus.

  “Nothing good.”

  In less than an hour the entire sky was covered with thick, boiling clouds. What had started as a cold but bright day was now almost as dark as night as the sun was blotted out from view. The temperature had dropped even further as freezing winds blew across the open space, causing the tents to lean, the fabric straining to remain on its framework. Lightning began to flash, thunder to boom. Targus shouted to his platoon leaders to keep order over their men, as they were clearly beginning to panic.

  The wind was blowing so fiercely now that it was hard to hear what was being said. Targus watched helplessly as the clouds grew darker still. They began to move lower in the sky. Helotha grabbed the sleeve of his tunic and shouted into his ear, “Something evil heads this way!”

  Targus stared hard into the heart of the growing darkness. I have only fifteen hundred fighters. If this is indeed a harbinger of some diabolism, what can they do against power such as this? he thought. I hope the Chosen One moves quickly.

  Chapter 10

  Hunting Parties

  Once the last ship had disappeared over the horizon and the final trace of dragon wings had vanished from the sky, Slurr immediately began to organize hunting parties. It was obvious that they would need food, but Slurr also reckoned that keeping the men active would prevent their minds from pondering the worst. “We will have to hike back in the direction of the mountain,” he said to Yarren, one of the ten wizards who had volunteered to remain with the unit. “The snow beasts clearly do not venture this far out, but I think we should only have to go as far as the hills.”

  “I’m afraid you’re right,” the handsome young wizard said. Yarren could see that in spite of the façade Slurr was putting forward, he was leading his men with a heavy heart. He had not been separated from Cerah for any length of time since they had left Kamara. Yarren could relate to the general’s anguish, as he had insisted that Russa head to Niliph. She had argued vehemently with him, but in the end Cerah had stepped in, saying that Russa would be needed to help keep the recently freed humans healthy on the voyage. Like Kern, the young woman was exceptionally gifted in the casting of healing spells.

  “If we take about a thousand of the men with us we can form parties large enough to overpower the monsters, as well as haul their hairy carcasses back here. Cerah left enough provisions with us to last a week, if we ration carefully. That means we should only need to hunt enough food to feed us for seven additional days or so. Renton said the voyage to Niliph would take five days. Once there, they will have to re-provision the ships before they can head back. It will be at least two weeks before we will see them again. But one of those big carcasses will feed fifty men for a couple of days. Hopefully we can hunt up a bevy of them.”

  “Let’s organize the men and get started. I don’t relish the thought of just lingering around on this endless sheet of ice for the next fortnight,” said Yarren. Next to him, Valosa, his massive green dragon, gave a chirp. “Valosa doesn’t want to wait here either,” he said.

  Slurr patted the dragon’s neck and said, “I shall need you both on this hunt. Please choose four other wizards to come with us as well. I will gather the men.”

  Because the majority of the soldiers would not be involved with the quest, Slurr set those that would remain on the coast the task of actively patrolling the shoreline. He instructed them to keep their eyes keenly focused upon the ocean. “We do not know that some of the evil forces may not return. Be diligent. And should they appear, be ferocious. Give no quarter. Remember what they did to our kin left in the Ice Cavern.” This task too, he thought, would keep the men sharp. The horror they had witnessed in Surok’s lair had completely solidified the resolve of the Army of Quadar to prevail. Even soldiers who had only possessed an unclear picture of what they were up against before witnessing that gruesome scene came away with real hatred burning in their bellies. They welcomed a chance to face Surok and his cronies, though Slurr realized that if they returned en masse, his forces would be greatly outnumbered.

  It took about an hour to organize the hunting parties. It was agreed that they would march as a single unit toward the mountain but would split into five groups of two hundred men each, with a wizard and dragon rounding out the unit. Slurr, knowing that hunting the snow beasts would be crucial, had kept mostly spear-carriers with him when the remainder of the army sailed away
. Being able to strike the monsters from the longer distance that the spear afforded would make this precarious task a tiny bit less dangerous. But only a tiny bit. Their past experience had taught them that these creatures were not to be taken lightly. Even with two hundred hunters swarming the hulking beasts, there were going to be casualties.

  As Slurr had said to Yarren, he did not believe that they would have to march all the way to the mountain. Although the creatures were first encountered at the base of Mount Opatta, Cerah had told him that she had sensed something in the hilly area that surrounded the mammoth peak. They did not see any then, but he was confident they would be able to find some now that they were actively seeking them out.

  Even marching only to the hills, however, was a grueling task. “If it is possible,” Slurr said to Yarren, who was hiking beside him, “I would say it’s even colder than the first time we came this way.”

  Yarren nodded. “It certainly isn’t any warmer!” he said, bringing a smile to Slurr’s frozen face. Valosa, though still fully-phased, also was walking. His keen eyes constantly scanned the distant horizon.

  “I am sorry that you had to be separated from Russa,” Slurr said, placing a hand on the young wizard’s shoulder. “I know how hard that must have been. Thank you for offering to stay with me and the men.”

  “Your pain is no less than mine,” Yarren replied. “And I’m sure Cerah is suffering as well. She draws great strength from you.”

  “As I do from her,” the general said. “I hope the voyage to Niliph is without consequence.”

  “I’m sure they will be fine, although not knowing what might be waiting for them there makes me uneasy.”

  “I cannot guess where Surok went,” Slurr said. “His hatred of wizard-kind might have led him to start his conquest with Melsa. Or he may have chosen to head to the place with the greatest concentration of humans, which would mean Illyria.”

  “In any case,” Yarren said, “Niliph is a good place for the army to regroup. The time spent on this forsaken brick of ice was as bad as if we had actually engaged in battle. Maybe worse, because there was no enemy to defeat, and no opportunity for victory.”

  “The cold is the enemy now. It would have all been worth it if we had marched into Surok’s lair and wiped him and his army out before they had a chance to raise a single weapon against the Green Lands. But as it is we lost many good men and women and didn’t kill anything.”

  It took them four days to begin seeing hills. Slurr separated the soldiers into the hunting groups. He sent Yarren with the group he considered the weakest, staying with the other himself. Both of these units were made up of the older fighters, most of whom had volunteered to remain on the Frozen South when the ships had sailed. They had also asked to join the hunting party. As a citizen of Quadar, it inspired Slurr that so many mature warriors had chosen to leave their comfortable homes to battle Surok. Likewise, many young people had joined. But as General of the Army, he had to use these forces tactfully. When the day came for total war, all would be called to action regardless of age. But for the time being Slurr had sent the youngest fighters with Cerah and had chosen only the most fit of the elder warriors to hunt the snow beasts. Thus, he sent his strongest wizard with one such platoon and personally led the other.

  “Good luck and good hunting, Yarren,” he said, as the wizard moved his group into a stand of hills farthest to the west. Another group headed west as well, while Slurr’s unit headed to the central hills. The other two parties moved east. The standing order was for each group to hunt as many snow beasts as possible over the next two days. They would then reunite on the plain where they now stood. A red banner was affixed to an extra pike which was stuck deep into the ice to mark the rally point.

  “The same to you, General,” said Yarren as he climbed onto Valosa’s back. As the five groups spread out, Yarren headed his unit toward the western hills which he had selected. He kept an eye on the other groups for as long as possible, but gradually lost sight of them as they made their way into the higher terrain.

  Cerah once again flew as near to the Marta as she could. Although Slurr was no longer on board, she still wanted to remain in contact with Renton during the voyage to Niliph. Even knowing he was not there, she had still caught herself looking for her husband on the deck of the ship several times during the first three days of the return trip. “I feel pain in your heart,” Tressida said as they flew ever farther away from the frozen continent.

  “Leaving Slurr behind was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” Cerah said. “Why is he such a stubborn man?”

  “He is steadfast and true,” replied the queen. “You love those qualities in him. It is those same qualities that meant he could not leave his men behind. You know all of this, Cerah.”

  Cerah let out a frustrated growl. “You’re right, of course. But that does not make this any easier.”

  “If it seemed easy to you I would question your character.”

  “Sometimes it is difficult having the wisest of all dragons for my match-mate,” she said.

  “Try being matched to the Chosen One of Ma’uzzi!” replied Tressida. “Do you want to talk about difficult?”

  Cerah laughed for the first time since they had left the Frozen South. “Poor Tressida!” she said.

  From the deck of the Marta she saw Renton wave to her. She flew Tressida down until she hovered mere feet from the starboard side of the ship. “What do you need, Admiral?” she asked him.

  “Have you noticed the sky?” He pointed in the direction they were headed. While the sky was clear in their current location, Cerah could see that to the northwest it appeared darker.

  “Clouds? Do you think we’re sailing into a storm?” she asked.

  “It is possible that the clouds are moving faster than we are. Perhaps we will not,” he said, but Cerah could see he was concerned.

  “I do not relish the idea of getting caught. The storm we passed through when you brought us to Melsa was more than sufficient to check that item off my list of things to do before I die.”

  “Storms are part of life at sea,” Renton said. “They are far from my favorite part, however.”

  “Well you’ve brought us safely thus far. I trust you to get us to Niliph. We have good wind. The sooner we get there the sooner you can send ships back for Slu...for the men left behind.”

  “Unless things go very badly very fast, we will arrive in the harbor of Roo early the day after tomorrow.”

  “Excellent. Thank you, Admiral.”

  “You are most welcome. And Cerah?”

  “Yes?”

  “Once everyone is offloaded and the ships are restocked, I will hurry to retrieve the men, and the General. I will not make you wait.”

  “You are a good friend.”

  “My motives are not totally unselfish. I am quite fond of my former deckhand as well!”

  “He is easy to care for, isn’t he?” asked Cerah as she regained altitude, leaving the admiral to look once again at the dark sky ahead of them.

  In addition to speaking with Renton, Cerah also flew close often to another ship; none other than Captain Fairharbor’s Artoine, the ship that the wizard Kerval had threatened to burn to the waterline. For it was aboard this vessel that the remaining Passels sailed. She had called to her family from Tressida’s back as they assembled on deck, much to the delight of Laran. Now she actually hopped from the queen’s back and stood with her father, asking Tress to stay near until she called for her.

  “Captain Renton is concerned about the sky in the direction we’re headed,” she told him, pointing to the dreary vista. “But he also said it may move on before we reach Niliph.”

  Her father’s brow furrowed. “That darkness stirs ill feelings inside of me,” Jerund said. “Until those filthy karvats let the forge go out, it was always light in our prison. But at the same time there was darkness. It was a darkness that drilled its way into your soul. I never believed much in evil, although your great-papa us
ed to try to frighten me with stories of Surok when I was a boy. But he also told me he’d once eaten an entire ektari by himself.”

  Cerah laughed, remembering old Drago’s flair for exaggeration.

  “That changed quickly for me. I do not understand the mechanics of what was done to us. Your description of seeing the bright light and the burning wind from Arnon is completely removed from what I experienced. For me it was an instantaneous transportation from my desk in our home to the cage in which you found me. I went from my normal state of fretting over money to a horrible sense of black oppression such as I could never have imagined. The first time I looked up and saw Surok, I knew what evil truly was, and I knew it not only in my understanding, but in the depths of my being. I could feel it penetrate my skin and burrow into my bones.

  “That is what those clouds are making me feel,” he said, looking again to the northwest.

  “Not that I wish this upon you, Father, but I hope that feeling is nothing more than a remnant of the trauma you’ve been through. Let’s change the subject. I actually came to ask you a question. When Surok marched his forces out of the lair, did you get any inkling of how he would move them from the Frozen South? Was there talk of ships?”

  “No. There was no talk at all, aside from Surok speaking a single word. One day he stood from his throne and kicked away the last trace of the blue rock that held him. The foul beasts that worshiped him saw too, and they let out a ferocious cheer. When Surok lifted his hand, they fell silent. That’s when he spoke. He simply said, ‘Now.’ And with that they began to file out of the Ice Cavern, leaving us behind without regard. Within an hour we were alone, living and dead alike. I, like all the others who remained, harbored no thoughts of being rescued. That was another effect of the palpable evil: it sapped any trace of hope within us. We expected we would die of thirst and starvation in that wicked dungeon.”