by Nichelle Rae
The Rocksheloc Humounts had separate rooms carved from the stone of the mountain that each person stayed in, like an enormous inn. It was the only Humount realm that housed its people that way. The more vast Humount realms, like Triple Peaks and Godel, actually carved hundreds or thousands of houses out of the stone for people and families. Mountains that size also had roads and market squares and shops carved inside.
Rocksheloc was large enough to house 120,000 Humounts more than adequately, and it had housed that many in ancient days. But 119,700 of those rooms only housed spiders now. Rocksheloc used to be very heavily populated and wealthy because of the vast quantities of steel other metals mined there. A magma creek even used to flow in the depths of the mountain in ancient days. Back then, the Humounts had been masterful weapon and metal craft smiths. Rocksheloc used to be the primary distributor of weapons and warfare. The steel goods produced there had rivaled even those of full Salynn realms.
When the mountain had threatened to explode in those ancient days, it was my father who’d cooled the lava into hard stone. While saving the Humounts, however, he’d destroyed their way of life and main income. Many Humounts left the mountain—out of 120,000 only 300 now remained.
I sighed as I looked up at Rocksheloc. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Beldorn right now, though I really had no choice. I just wanted to get the maps and go, but the Gods knew he’d want an explanation as to why we were two days late. We had quite the story to tell him too, considering we were heavy four Salynns.
I had yet to get a sufficient amount of rest from my sudden exhaustion after curing Cairikson’s disease, but I’d still insisted we only sleep for three hours last night so we wouldn’t make ourselves later than we already were. Cairikson had been very agreeable and brave about getting so little rest. He said he’d rested enough over the past few years and liked having an excuse not to. It made me laugh. He’d sleep like the dead tonight though.
“How come we’ve got to stop here, Azrel?” he asked in a yawn as he sat in front of me in the saddle.
I smiled and wrapped my arm tighter around his belly and kissed the top of his head. “We’ve got to get recent maps of the land so we can travel safely over it and not get lost or run into some evil realm.”
“Makes sense to me.”
I smiled down at his head. “I’m so glad you approve.” I started to tickle his tummy. He squirmed and laughed hysterically in the saddle. I had absolutely fallen head over heels in love with this boy. I couldn’t deny it even if I wanted to. In a lot of ways he reminded me of Rabryn when I first met him, only smaller in stature.
I looked back at the Salynns, who rode faithfully with me, and gave them a smile. “For once, you’ll be bowed to.” They all smiled back. Then I looked from Ortheldo to Rabryn. “Time to face the music, boys.” I looked up at the mountain. “Beldorn is going to be pissed.”
“Two days late? Two?” he bellowed even before we had dismounted. He’d been waiting for us just inside the stone gates that surrounded the entire base of the monstrous mountain, making for the largest common area in Casdanarus. “I expected more from you three! You had me worried into madness, you little truants!” Rabryn, Ortheldo and I all glanced at each other. “And what have you brought with you?” he said, seeing Cairikson tucked into my right hip.
“Beldorn,” I sighed in exhausted, “a lot has happened since we last saw you. A lot!”
“You tell me in a nutshell what has happened and I’ll be the judge of whether it’s enough to make me forgive you!”
“Alright,” I said with false brightness, but clearly letting him know I was annoyed with him. “Let’s start with the fact that about sixty people from Narcatertus are all dead by our hands. A gang called the Dirty Thirty are also dead. About forty Gibirs dead. And umm, a Fayithjen Forrest sorcerer from Tribeltwel was killed in battle helping us. Eight Legan’dirs have been destroyed and… Oh, let’s not forget two of Hathum’s White Warrior hunters are dead, one of them high ranking enough to invoke a Black Storm from the Light Gods when I got too close to him. And to top it all off, I found out that my White Fire magic has become a separate person inside my mind.”
Beldorn’s face was as white as his beard, and his voice was softer than ever. “Come inside, children. We will talk.”
It took us a long time to tell Beldorn everything that had happened—hours actually, because he wanted every detail from almost every point of view. Surprisingly, Beldorn took the news of Norka’s death rather hard, even shedding a tear. When I asked him if he knew Norka, he just said now wasn’t the time to discuss it.
He had led us into a back door that was just next to the stables of Rocksheloc on the north face of the mountain. Halfway up the stone flight of stairs he took us into a door on the left of the stone hall and into the humble room the Humounts had given him temporarily. While we’d told our story, Addredoc, Meddyn and Thrawyn exchanged unsettling looks and whispered in Ancient Salynnian too softly for me to make out words.
“So what do you think?” Rabryn asked. “Interesting story, huh?”
Beldorn sighed and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger of his right hand. “It’s…involved certainly, but to tell you the truth I knew most it already.”
“What?” I asked. “Then why did you have us sit here and blab to you about it? All of us would have preferred sleeping for the past few hours, thank you very much!” Cairikson, thankfully, had fallen asleep in Ortheldo’s lap ten minutes into the tale.
“Because I gave the Humounts the option of whether to let the White Warrior into their home after they heard your tale.”
My eyes went wide and my heart stopped. “They heard all of that?”
“They’re all gathered in the throne room and have been listening in since you arrived.”
I jumped out of my chair. “Are you insane, old man?” I cried. “Were you not listening? Hathum has hunters looking for me! He could have hunters in that room! You may have just sentenced me to death, Beldorn! You want to go dig my grave while you’re at it?”
“Have you no faith in me, Azrel?” he asked, genuinely hurt. “Of course I blocked those potentially harmful Humounts from hearing your tale. However, the ones that did not hear are not completely clueless. They have a hunch of who is visiting and who is causing such a commotion. Evil is awakening in the world and the world knows it. The world also knows you are bound to return because of this. It could be now, or when Evil has reached the level of power It did in your father’s time—but they all know the White Warrior is bound to be back eventually.”
My mouth went dry and rage pounded in my temples. The world that hated me was waiting for me to save their sorry asses? Maybe they were just waiting to find me and have me endure the thousand years of torture they said my father deserved. It took me a couple of times to swallow and make myself calm down. How I hated these people. All of them!
“All the people here have mouths that can be opened to an enemy,” I said, glaring.
“They will not speak of your tale to anyone. The ones I let listen may not like the White Warrior, but they are not evil. What they heard was for them to privately contemplate.”
I narrowed my eyes as I studied his, but he looked away too quickly. “What are you not telling me?”
He sighed. “Curse that ability of yours.” He met my eyes again. He didn’t even have to say anything and I saw it.
I rubbed my forehead with the heel of my hand in annoyance. “So the king hasn’t even decided whether he wants me here at all or not?”
“It’s a very dangerous business as you know, to even think highly of the White Warrior. So giving her aid…” He shook his head, which said it all. “The king may grant us a stay though.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
He looked at me with regret. “Then we can assume he will get aggressive and we’ll have three hundred Humounts to worry about.” I could practically feel the Redians’ ears perking up as the threat to me presented itself.
<
br /> “You must be joking,” I said flatly, too shocked to even yell. “You had the people of Rocksheloc hear our story with the possibility that they still might get aggressive?”
“Yes.”
I threw my arms up in the air and slapped them against my thighs. “Well great! Now if they decide to get hostile we’ll be forced to kill three hundred Humounts, completely wiping out the entire race of Blue-Violet Salynns! Not to mention if one of them opens his or her mouth about me, we’ll have more powerful lands to fight off when we leave here. As if we don’t have enough to worry about, Beldorn! All this because you wanted to take a chance on the fact the world might suddenly forgive my father, who has been hated for an age.”
He suddenly and unexpectedly smiled then. “Very well done, Azrel,” he nearly whispered. “I didn’t particularly see it being said like that, but I think they’re wise enough to let the sarcasm go.”
I eyed him suspiciously. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re not angry at Rocksheloc for not being loyal to your father, which is just what they were waiting to hear. You’re willing to kill in your own defense if you must, but you mean them no harm, am I right?”
“Of course not!” I said, as if he were thick. “I’m not a murderer! As long as they leave me alone, I’ll leave them alone.”
He smiled and nodded with approval. “The king has decided to meet with you, but only on the condition that you will protect Rocksheloc should your visit here reach more powerful ears that may seek to retaliate against its residents for letting you survive.”
I slowly sunk back into my chair, staring at him in disbelief. I didn’t recall making that deal, but I couldn’t disagree now because I needed those maps. I slumped over the table, propping my head up against the heels of my hands. So now if Dwellingpath, or someone else, attacked Rocksheloc, I was responsible for it.
Beldorn lightly patted my shoulder. “No one is going to find out Rocksheloc let you live.”
I looked up at him and stared quietly for a moment, hoping that was true. “Why did you have to tell them who I was?”
“Azrel,” he said gently, “it’s time to slowly reintroduce yourself into the world and into hearts of the good people who once followed your father. Rocksheloc is a good start.”
“Beldorn,” I said a little desperately and stood up. “Hathum is looking for me! Now it’s more critical than ever to keep who I am a secret. Isn’t hiding who I am what you’ve been telling me to do my whole life? Isn’t that why you and Rabryn had to make the barrier stronger around The Pitt? All of that was so no one could find me!”
“That is true; but I also told you you’d know when to reveal yourself and to whom.”
I chuckled without mirth. “Once again, Old Man, telling the Humounts of Rocksheloc who I am was your decision, not mine. Just like it was your decision—not mine—to tell my brother who I was.”
He glanced downward. I wanted to keep hammering into him. I wanted to keep begging him to take back what he’d done. But what was the point? He had yet to make himself useful by giving us advice about what we had told him—for instance, about my alter ego. I needed to know how to end the separation. I needed to know a lot of things.
Instead of bothering to ask right now, I just shook my head in defeat and sat back down. I knew he’d tell me when he felt he needed to. Maybe he didn’t know what to say. Either way, asking about it would do no good. Neither would fretting about it.
“So what have the deafened ones been told about the situation?” I asked miserably.
“You’ve been announced as a famed warrior visiting from a land across the sea. They are aware that you are being escorted by some Casdanarus dwellers across our lands and that you need maps in order to explore our vast land thoroughly.”
“That’s original,” I said and rolled my eyes. “And not far from the truth I might add. Couldn’t you have come up with something a little better? I thought you were old and wise.”
“I am old, Azrel, and according to you, my wisdom is waning.”
I allowed myself a smile for a moment. Then it vanished as I shook my head and stood again. “Can we get this over with, please? I want to get the maps and get out of here.”
“Let me lead the way, Azrel, so I might announce you properly.”
I massaged my forehead with my thumb and index finger and let him pass me. Ortheldo and Rabryn were soon on each side of me, with the Redians behind. I sighed as I watched Beldorn head out the door and turn left to continue up the stairway of the stone hallway. He stopped on the top step just before a fifteen-foot tall doorway that allowed a lot of light in. All of us waited on the steps as Beldorn went through to what I could only assume was the throne room.
“Lord Elraramir, I trust you and your company have decided to meet peacefully with the lady.”
“We have, Beldorn. Please allow her to come forth with no fear.”
“No fear? Please,” I muttered to myself, which earned me an elbow in the ribs from my brother.
“I present to you then, Azrel, the Lady From Beyond the Sea.”
The Lady From Beyond the Sea? I rolled my eyes as I stepped past Beldorn into the light of the throne room.
It was so huge that I actually stopped in my tracks for a moment and looked around, wide eyed, before I slowly continued on. The three hundred beings that stood in the middle of the round room, standing about a quarter mile away from me, looked like a drop of water in the ocean. It was at least half a mile, if not more, across from wall to wall.
The left wall was almost entirely made of two-hundred-foot-high glass windows that faced East. There was a small thin break between the two sets of windows that was barely wide enough for five men to stand shoulder to shoulder in front of. At least thirty fifteen-foot-tall wooden doors encircled the room, all opened inward towards the throne room. Some allowed glimpses of elaborately decorated hallways that were just as tall and wide as the doors. Some revealed only stone stairways that curved out of sight. Others across the way were too far away for me to see much beyond them. The doors were placed around the room evenly except for on the left wall with the windows.
A beautiful stone balcony circled the top of the throne room. It had tapestries and stone arches and glass display cases of ancient weaponry made by the Rocksheloc Humounts of old. Splashes of gold, silver and crystal flashed in the overcast daylight that poured in from the windows. The balcony also had fifteen-foot wooden doorways encircling it that led off to various areas of this massive mountain. Stone columns supported the balcony underneath, giving this room the air of majesty it deserved.
I was finally able to bring my eyes to the floor and my jaw nearly went slack. It was the prettiest, most elaborate floor I’d ever seen. It was a glossy pale blue and white marble with a little bit of purple quartz mixed in. The colors swirled around each other as if it were a lake of ink that had suddenly frozen over. I could not believe this floor! I’d never seen anything like it.
As we approached, I realized that the crowd stood in front of their king’s throne. It was made of the same white, blue and purple glossy mix of marble as the floor was and perched proudly atop a short flight of stairs, just in front of the stone break in the two sets of windows. A blue velvet carpet trimmed in violet tassels rolled down these steps and out across the floor for about thirty feet. A human sat upon that throne, an elder human with thin, short white hair and a stout friendly face. He looked like some toddler’s grandfather rather than a king. He didn’t wear a crown but he was donned in heavy blue and purple silk robes. He rose to his feet as we approached, and though he had a slightly hunched back, he held himself with pride and dignity as he smiled at me.
I panned my eyes over the crowd as we approached. I could pretty much identify those who had been weeded out from hearing our story and kept from discovering that the White Warrior was back. A few faces looked upon me with such cold hatred that I had to shake off a shiver that ran down my spine. The rest were smiling warmly. All o
f the Humounts were elegantly dressed in their best silks and velvets.
As we stood in front of them, the Salynns in the room bowed in formal fashion to the Redians and my brother. Rocksheloc’s residents were the lowest ranking Salynns in Casdanarus. Their powers were very limited compared to those of other Salynns.
“Let it be known,” my brother suddenly called out, “that those that stand before you are beings with more power than your large numbers can overcome. Should any of you advance at any time in a threatening manner”—his eyes narrowed at the cold group I’d noticed upon entering—“you will taste the wrath of five sword masters, three wizards, three Redians, and a Goldian.” All of them glanced around at each other nervously. Rabryn looked up the stairs at the king. “The warning is no less aimed at you.”
“Oh calm yourself, my boy,” the king said, waving his hand dismissively as he made his way down the stairs. “We mean her no harm.” He stood in front of me and dipped his head in acknowledgement. “My lady.”
“King Elraramir, I thank you for allowing me a peaceful meeting, but the Goldian’s warning stands true. I am only here to collect recent maps of your land so I might have a safe and productive journey.”
“Of course dear, but will you not open your mind to us, as we have for you?”
“I will open my mind, but will not be blinded by potential dangers.”
“Fair enough, my lady warrior. Now, we are all grateful for your presence.” My eyes flicked over to the angry Humounts, mostly concentrated to the right side of the crowd. “But Beldorn says you have not slept well in days. We would be relieved if you all would take rest as we prepare the maps. Then allow us the great honor of your company with a feast tonight.”
“How long will it take to get the maps?”
“Oh, just a few days. We must consult other maps and history books to draw up recent ones that are accurate.”
My eyes widened. “Draw up?”
