Chapter 54
They took lightweight packs and set out for their ultimate goal. Alexander led them into the central tunnel that cut right into the heart of the mountain. The floors were not made of stone block but of smooth black granite. The walls were not brick or plaster but more of the same cleanly cut, seamless black stone.
The light faded when they moved farther inside the twenty-foot-wide, twenty-foot-high arched tunnel.
“Ah, I was hoping for an opportunity to try my latest acquisition.” Lucky rummaged around in his new bag and pulled out a small pouch. Bright, clean white light spilled out when he opened it. He removed three heavy glass vials filled with a brightly luminescent substance. “These are the remains of the night wisps we killed in the forest. If you let the gelatinous goop that’s left over when they die dry out in the sunlight, it turns into a brightly glowing powder that’s ideal for producing light in dark places. It’s almost as if it absorbs the sunlight for later use,” he said with a satisfied smile as he handed one vial to Alexander and another to Jack. The vials cast a bright yet soft light that filled the tunnel with illumination for several dozen feet in every direction.
The tunnel ran straight and level into the side of the mountain for several hundred feet without any hint of a door or passage until it opened into a giant room, five hundred feet square and at least two hundred feet tall. Huge support pillars stood every fifty feet or so, and a maze of bridges and stairways ran all through the chamber. On every wall were numerous doors and hallways, some opening onto the main floor while others opened onto the many bridges that crisscrossed overhead. Some of the passages looked big enough to carry wagon traffic, while others were clearly meant for foot traffic alone.
“This is the entry hall. Each passage takes you to a different part of the Keep. We need to go this way,” Alexander said, pointing off across the giant room. Each step sent eerie echoes bouncing around in the ancient, abandoned Keep.
He stopped abruptly at the sight of a skeleton lying on the floor. Its owner was long dead. What remained of his clothing was just a dusty stain on the floor. The man’s staff had rotted into nothing more than a line of color on the black stone where it had fallen. The bones looked brittle and desiccated and no flesh remained, not even scraps of dried sinew. Alexander knew that wizards had tried to enter the Keep over the years and none had ever returned. He wondered if he was looking at one of those who had tried and failed. More importantly, he wondered what killed him. There was no sign of a struggle and no apparent reason for his death. Alexander reminded himself that caution was still in order.
The place was dark, foreboding, and ominous while at the same time it was the most magnificent achievement Alexander had ever seen. The walls and floors were so precise and exacting that he was convinced that the construction tool of choice was magic. No hammer or chisel had cut these halls. The stonework was simple, clean, and utilitarian.
Alexander led them across the giant entry hall and took a staircase up to the first level of bridges, then found an open passageway along one wall. He led them through passages, halls, and chambers on his way to his destination. They moved steadily upward through the belly of the mountain-sized Keep. Once deep inside, the silence was almost oppressive.
Abigail whispered, “Are you sure you know where you’re going?”
Alexander chuckled, “Why are you whispering?”
She frowned a little and spoke in a voice just above a whisper. “It’s so quiet. It doesn’t feel right to disturb the silence.”
“I guess I can see what you mean.” He pointed down the hall. “We’re almost there, just a few more minutes.”
They walked on. When they rounded a corner, Alexander suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He could see the colors of a plane of magical force that guarded the hall. Even if he couldn’t have seen it, he could feel the hair on his arms standing on end.
“Can you see that?” he asked no one in particular.
“See what?” Abigail said.
“Do you feel any kind of magic? Like the air just became dangerous?” he asked.
Jack spoke up this time. “Now that you mention it, I did feel a bit of strangeness just after we turned this corner.”
“I believe it’s a magical shield,” Lucky said. “We should be cautious.”
Alexander closed his eyes and touched the magic of the ring. He could see the whole Keep floating before him but it was so complex and huge that he couldn’t see the detail he needed. With an effort of will he focused on the place where he stood, and that area became clear and magnified while the rest faded out of view. In the vision of the hallway created by the Keep Master’s ring, there was a shield barring the path because it led to the area reserved for the wizard’s laboratories, libraries, and workrooms. It was a low-level shield meant to protect the inner chambers from those without magic. He focused on the shield for a moment before he understood the nature of its operation and then approached slowly, hand outstretched. At first touch he felt a little thrill of magic race through him like the shield was testing him. It offered only faint resistance before allowing him to push through.
“Anatoly, I’d like you to try and pass,” Alexander said. “Approach slowly with your hand out.”
Anatoly frowned a little but did as requested. His hand met the shield and stopped. He pushed harder but still couldn’t pass. He shook his head in wonder.
“It’s like there’s a solid stone wall right here that I can’t see,” Anatoly said with his hand on the invisible barrier. “Except, I did feel a little tingle the moment I touched it, and then the thought that I wouldn’t be able to pass came immediately into my head. I’m not sure I like this, Alexander.”
“I’m just trying to figure this place out,” Alexander said. “I think I can lower the shield but I want to try something first. Lucky, see if you can pass.”
Lucky shrugged and walked through the shield like it wasn’t even there. “Ah … it appears to be keyed to the magic within a person.”
Alexander nodded. “This is the core of the Keep where the wizards studied, experimented, and created their spells. Looks like it was off-limits to everyone else.”
He closed his eyes and found the shield again in his mind and willed it away. There was a shimmer along the plane where it had stood only a moment before, and Anatoly’s hand, which was still resting on the barrier, fell forward.
“Huh,” Anatoly said, stepping through quickly, as though that place in the hall was dangerous.
They passed many stout, ironbound oak doors spaced at long intervals along the hall. Surprisingly, the wood of the doors looked solid and sturdy. There was no hint of decay, although they did look old and well used.
Lucky looked around with excitement. “What’s behind these doors?” he asked.
“I think they’re libraries and laboratories. Most of the rooms are pretty big.” Alexander didn’t stop.
Lucky smiled with anticipation. He stood in the home of the wizards of old and was eager to explore, but he kept up with Alexander and the others just the same.
There were many side halls that jutted off the main corridor, but Alexander stayed his course. The passage was long and straight, driving through the heart of the mountain. The ceiling was high overhead and the walls were bare. If there had ever been any ornamentation or decoration in this part of the ancient Keep, it had long since turned to dust. The long hall that formed the backbone of the instruction, training, and research area ran perfectly straight and level for a mile or more. With the magic of the ring, Alexander could see the end nearing even though his sight was limited to the few dozen feet of light cast by the glow of the night wisp dust.
Once they reached the last remaining steps of the hall, they found something they didn’t expect. There was a line drawn straight across the hall from wall to wall, but that wasn’t what stopped them all in their tracks. At the edge of their light, they could see the end of the hallway. An archway was sculpted into the wall with a protrusion of the same black
stone but there was no passage beneath, only a stone wall where there should have been an entryway.
Standing in the middle of the hallway was a six-foot stone statue of a man in armor with both hands resting on the pommel of an oversized black stone sword. The statue was formed of the same black granite as the walls of the Keep, but it had a finely carved quality about it that made it look almost alive. The remnants of more than a dozen long-dead corpses were scattered carelessly around its feet.
Alexander knew instinctively that the line before him was a warning, that crossing it would awaken the sentinel. He could see the likely result of such an action scattered about the floor. Some of the skeletons were broken and dismembered. Others were intact, yet seemed to have crumpled to the floor, most likely after the length of a sword had been withdrawn from their bodies, leaving them where they fell in a carelessly discarded heap.
The Keep Master’s tower lay beyond the stone sentinel. Alexander reached into the ring with his mind and looked for this place. The vast complexity of the Keep blurred past his mind’s eye until he saw the place where he was standing. He saw nothing except the end of the passageway and a secure portal leading to the central tower. There wasn’t a sentinel or a line on the floor or any indication of a guardian.
He stood at the threshold, looking at the sentinel. He’d traveled so far and endured so much to bring him to this place. The simple choice that lay before him was to cross the line or turn back. He knew even as the thought formed that he wouldn’t turn back. The only course he could choose was forward. To turn back was to abandon reason, life, and the future. With the calm certainty of a decision made, he turned to Isabel and smiled.
“I love you,” he said and then stepped over the line.
The line on the ground shimmered and the plane it described across the hallway solidified into a shield of invisible magical force enclosing Alexander with the sentinel in a battlefield every bit as inescapable as a gladiator’s arena. He could hear his friends gasp and Anatoly curse when the sentinel came to life.
Its sword whirled up into its hand and its eyes began to glow behind its carved stone helmet, faintly at first, then more brightly until they resembled the fall of sunlight on fresh snow. The sentinel didn’t advance but stood its ground, regarding Alexander with newly awakened awareness.
Alexander didn’t waver or show any threat. He stood and waited. He could hear Lucky curse from beyond the shield at being denied entry. Alexander was alone, but then he knew he would be. This was a test. A final guardian set by Mage Cedric to ensure that only an acceptable champion would be able to proceed.
The sentinel spoke with a hollow-sounding voice devoid of inflection or emotion that seemed to come from a great distance away. “You face three tests.”
Alexander held the brightly glowing eyes without faltering. “Proceed.” He could feel the silence of his companions behind him.
“Touch the stone of Mage Cedric’s ring to the stone of wall or floor.”
Alexander lowered himself slowly to the floor without letting go of the sentinel’s gaze and gently but firmly rested the ring against the stone of the floor. A moment passed before he felt a tingle of magic in the air. With his second sight, he saw a wave of color expand from the point that the ring was touching and race up the walls and down the hall as if awakening the entire Keep to his presence. He stood slowly, his gaze never wavering.
There was a long pause. “The ring is recognized. You have passed the first test.” Still the sentinel did not move, its sword held high and ready.
“You must forfeit the life of one of your companions. Choose.”
Thinblade (Sovereign of the Seven Isles: Book One) Page 56
