The Way of Ancient Power

by Ben Wolf

  “My only concern is how to open it,” Calum said. “In my dream, it sort of just… did.”

  “And you are certain this is the exact spot?” Magnus stepped next to him.

  “This is where General Regelle said it would be,” Condor said. “The map was drawn to General Regelle’s specifications, and only he and I knew the truth about it. Even Avian didn’t know the map was wrong.”

  “Why wasn’t he told?” Lilly asked, her eyebrows arched down.

  Condor shrugged. “General Regelle trusted him about as much as I do.”

  Calum stepped toward the rock, his body centered in front of the spot from his dream. He waved his hand in front of it, but nothing happened.

  “That’s your plan? Just waving your hand in front of it?” Axel scoffed. “Good luck with that. I doubt it’s gonna—”

  CRACK.

  A fissure split a section of the rock into two even sections. Red dust billowed from the rift, and hung in the air in front of the wall. The sound of heavy rocks scraping and grinding against each other echoed throughout the valley until the last of the red dust settled to the ground and the rocks fully separated.

  A dark rectangle-shaped opening beckoned Calum to enter.

  He turned back and stared at Axel with a grin and one eyebrow raised.

  “Whatever.” Axel folded his arms and rolled his eyes.

  After almost an entire year of traveling, fighting, struggling, starving, and more fighting, they had made it.

  They had found the Arcanum.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Calum had always envisioned himself taking that first step into the Arcanum, regardless of who was with him at the time. This had been his quest, his journey. That monumental step was his to take before anyone else.

  But even though Calum wanted to enter first, he yielded to Magnus’s suggestion that Riley take the lead since he could see so well in the dark. That way, Magnus had reasoned, Riley could identify any booby traps or other perils potentially concealed within the cave’s deep shadows. It made good sense, so Calum had agreed to it.

  Magnus followed Riley in next, and then Calum went in third. Condor, Lilly, and Falcroné came next, and Axel brought up the rear while Kanton and the Wolves guarded the entrance. Riley had instructed them to obey to Kanton’s orders should any trouble arise, and he also told them to behave themselves around the supplies the rest of the party had left behind.

  The Arcanum plunged them into perfect darkness within a matter of a few sharp turns, so much so that Calum resorted to holding near the tip of Magnus’s spiked tail as a guide while they walked. With each step they descended deeper into the mountain, farther into subterranean depths of unending dark.

  The whole scenario reminded him of their time in the tunnels under Trader’s Pass, of the Gronyxes they had defeated there, and of Nicolai, who had saved Calum once and then given his life to save them all.

  Calum hadn’t known Nicolai for long, and Nicolai had certainly done some terrible things before Calum added him to the group, but in the end he’d chosen a better path, one that ensured Calum and his friends could move on. With Lumen freed, his sacrifice—and those of everyone else in the group—would no longer be in vain.

  “Stop.” Riley’s whisper bounced off the walls a half-dozen times.

  Calum released his grip on Magnus’s tail and felt his way up to Riley. “What is it?”

  “The tunnel ends here,” he replied. “We’re about to walk into a cavern. I can’t see how big it is, but it’s huge and too dark, even for me to see. The darkness here is… different. Thicker, somehow. I can’t explain why, but I won’t be able to tell if there’s danger ahead unless it’s right in front of me.”

  “Strange that the ‘General of Light’ would have anything to do with a place this dark,” Axel muttered from behind Calum.

  “I’ll go in first,” Calum said, ignoring him. “I’m the one with the dreams that led us to this place. I’ll go.”

  Magnus’s heavy hand found Calum’s shoulder before he could step forward. “Better not.”

  Calum turned to face Magnus, even though he couldn’t see him. “We didn’t come this far for me to get killed while on the cusp of learning how to set Lumen free. I have to do this.”

  Magnus sighed. “Do as you will. We’re with you.”

  Calum exhaled a long breath and brushed his fingertips against the pommel of his sword as a reminder that it was there if he needed it. He calmed his bristling nerves and stepped past Riley into the darkness.

  The sounds of his footsteps and his deep breathing accompanied his progress, but he neither heard nor saw anything else around him. His dreams with Lumen ended just after entering the Arcanum, so he had no idea what he was supposed to do now that he’d made it inside.

  Nothing tugged at his chest, no instincts directed his movements, no ethereal light guided his steps. Instead, he wore a shroud of uncertainty.

  Was he doing something wrong? Was he supposed to have brought something along with him? All Lumen had said was to go to the Arcanum. Did Calum need to sleep to have another dream?

  Something twinkled above him, then it disappeared into the darkness. He stopped and stared up, but after a moment, he wasn’t even sure he’d locked on to the right spot anymore. Maybe he’d imagined it in the first place.

  Another light flickered, this time lower, and off to his left. He’d only caught it in the corner of his eye, but it looked as if a small tongue of fire had ignited then extinguished the next instant. Instead of the traditional yellow-orange color of fire, it had burned a vibrant blue. It returned a third time, off to his right, then it vanished again.

  He stood there, motionless for a long time, just waiting to see what would happen, but nothing did. He still wasn’t fully convinced that he’d actually seen the lights. Had any of the rest of his group seen them? He glanced back but saw only darkness.

  With no better options, Calum took another step forward.

  A column of blue fire burst from the floor in front of him and swirled upward. Calum staggered back and dropped to his rear-end as a dozen more fiery columns erupted all around him in a circle. Above him, the columns spiraled together into a single massive firestorm of blue flames.

  Only then did Calum realize he was trapped in a cage made of blue fire.

  The churning conflagration above him began to change shape. Parts of it separated, leaving black holes where the fire had once been. Other areas of the flames became shallower and more transparent, and the color of the fire paled to white, but the flames remained, nonetheless.

  It didn’t take Calum long to recognize the image of two eyes and a white armored mask that covered the face’s mouth and nose.

  It was an image of Lumen.

  “Rise, Calum, son of Wilhelm,” Lumen’s voice boomed all around Calum, “you have proven yourself worthy, brave warrior. The location of my prison, the Hidden Abyss, is now made plain to you.”

  Calum pushed himself up to his feet and stared up at Lumen’s face, his eyes wide and mouth open, but he didn’t dare say a word. The blue fire around him continued to blaze, but it didn’t cause him any harm.

  “Behold the Tri-Lakes.” The fire seemed to pulse with each syllable of Lumen’s words. His face disappeared into the flames but gave way to an image of the Valley of the Tri-Lakes. The image closed in on the Central Lake then sharpened even more on the point where the lake bent at an angle and curved toward the north.

  Calum knew that bend. He’d seen it on maps of the lake before.

  “Deep within the waters you will find a submerged cavern.”

  The image plunged into the lake water adjacent to the bend. It dove down to an opening in the rocks that formed the lake’s underwater perimeter, but the view did not venture inside the opening.

  “The Hidden Abyss resides within that cavern. Access it and release me so that I may liberate Kanarah once and for all. One soul from each of Kanarah’s four people groups must unite with that of yours; a
Saurian, a Wolf, and a Windgale must accompany you in order to release me.”

  Lumen’s face resurfaced in the flames.

  “The portal ahead will take you to Trader’s Pass, and then this place will close to the world forever. Time is short. Go, and know that I am with you, brave warrior.”

  Calum started to ask a question, but Lumen’s face and the firestorm dissipated into nothing, and the columns of blue fire receded into the floor, all within a matter of seconds. The cavern plunged into darkness again as if it had never been illuminated in the first place, and silence enveloped the space.

  A clawed hand gripped Calum’s shoulder, and Riley’s voice broke the quiet darkness. “You alright, Calum?”

  “I—I’m fine.” He turned back but still couldn’t see Riley. “Did you see it?”

  “I saw nothing except you falling backward. I came after you to make sure you were alright. What did you see?”

  They hadn’t seen it? They hadn’t seen the towering blue flames or Lumen’s face coming down and speaking to him? They hadn’t heard Lumen’s loud voice? How could they have missed it?

  It didn’t matter whether they’d seen it or not. Calum had, and he knew what they needed to do. “Not now. We need to—”

  A shaft of golden light pierced through the shadows, and an opening across the cavern spread wide. The portal?

  When Calum looked back, he saw Riley’s lupine face aglow with golden light. “Tell me you see that, at least?”

  Riley nodded. “That, I see.”

  “That’s where we’re going.” Calum pointed at it. “Get your pack and everyone else. And hurry. We’re going now.”

  Pillars of blue flames? A firestorm that spoke and gave Calum instructions on how to free Lumen? A prison in a secret cave under one of the Tri-Lakes? A “portal?”

  To Axel, it all sounded like vivid hallucinations. Had the Arcanum not opened on its own, and had that shaft of light at the far end of the cavern not started shining out of nowhere, Axel wouldn’t have believed a single word out of Calum’s mouth.

  Even so, when the group reached the portal, Axel waved his hand. “There’s no way I’m walking into that thing.”

  In place of an opening in the rocks, a glowing wall stretched ten feet high and half as wide. Shaped like a circle, it wavered as if wind rippled its surface, sort of like fire, but also like water.

  Whatever it was, Axel wanted nothing to do with it.

  Calum began, “Lumen said it would—”

  “I don’t care what Lumen said,” Axel interrupted. “I said I’m not walking into that thing, and I meant it.”

  “Then get used to dark places with no food or water.” Riley emerged from the shadows behind them, and Axel still had to marvel at his size increase since the fight with the Wolves. “After Kanton and the last of my Wolves entered the Arcanum, it shut on itself again. If this portal isn’t the way out, we gotta find another one, because we can’t get out that way.”

  “How many different ways do I have to say it?” Axel glared at Riley. “I’m. Not. Walking. Into. That. Thing.”

  “Good. Maybe we’ll finally get rid of you.” Riley folded his arms, but he didn’t conceal the faint smirk curling the edge of his mouth.

  Axel scoffed. “You’re lucky to have me around, and you know it.”

  “Yes, Farm Boy,” Condor said. “You’re quite useful when it comes to obnoxious commentary.”

  “I’m going,” Calum cut in before the conversation could devolve further. “Lumen said it will take us directly to Trader’s Pass.”

  “How is that possible?” Lilly asked. “We’re a month’s travel away, at least.”

  “It is not possible,” Magnus said. “But neither is solid rock supposed to open and close on its own, nor do shimmering portals appear out of nowhere. Calum has led us this far. I will not give up on him now.”

  “Maybe we should throw something into it. Test it out first?” Falcroné shrugged.

  “Yeah,” Axel said, “let’s throw the Wolves who stole my last piece of venison in it. See what happens to them.”

  “No one’s testing anything. Lumen said to go through it, so I’m going through it.” Calum eyed Axel and Falcroné. “You don’t want to go through it, then don’t. Stay here if you like. Lumen said we need one Saurian, one Wolf, one Windgale, and one human to set him free. As long as we have who we need to free him, I’m satisfied.”

  Calum walked toward the wavering wall and stopped only inches away. He sucked in a deep breath, then he stepped into the golden light.

  The portal warped as his body entered it, sending dramatic ripples throughout as if he were walking into a suspended pool of illuminated water. Calum’s face and chest disappeared first, then his arms, shoulders, and finally the rest of his body.

  Wherever he was, he wasn’t inside the Arcanum anymore. The portal had at least succeeded in that, if nothing else. But Axel had no way of knowing that Calum wasn’t dead, perhaps shredded into a million tiny pieces or segmented into seven big bloody chunks on the other end of that portal. It just wasn’t worth the risk.

  Without so much as another word, Magnus stepped into the portal after Calum. The last Axel saw of him was his tail, which snaked into the portal after him.

  “I’m going too.” Lilly started forward, but Falcroné grabbed her by her wrist.

  “Princess—”

  She pulled free from his grasp. “Don’t you dare try to stop me, Fal. I thought I made it clear that—”

  “Lilly.” Falcroné clamped his hands on her shoulders. “I was going to say you should let me go first. If I make it, I can ensure the area is safe for you in advance.”

  Lilly’s frown and arched eyebrows relaxed, and a smile curled the corners of her mouth. She nodded. “By all means.”

  Falcroné stepped toward the portal, but Lilly clamped her hand on his wrist.

  “Wait.”

  “Yes?”

  She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “I love you. Be safe.”

  The gesture twisted Axel’s stomach, and he hoped all the more that Falcroné wouldn’t make it on the other end.

  Falcroné grinned at her. “I will. See you soon, one way or another.”

  He vanished into the portal, and Condor stepped up to Lilly next.

  “Do I get a kiss, too?” He winked at her, then he darted into the portal before Lilly could respond, but she stood there with her mouth hanging open and a look of disdain on her face.

  Axel grinned and started to say something, but she held up her hand.

  “Don’t even think about it.” Lilly turned and entered the portal as well, followed by Kanton.

  Only Axel, Riley, and the Wolves remained. “You wanna go first? It’s gonna take awhile to get my whole pack through there.”

  Axel scowled at him and rolled his eyes.

  Riley motioned toward the way they’d come in with a nod of his head. “I saw the entrance seal up with my own eyes, but if you want, I can leave a pair of Wolves with you to help you try to find a way out.”

  “No. Not interested.” Axel waved his hand and shook his head.

  Riley’s generous offer had surprised him, but the idea of wandering around in the dark with two hungry Wolves didn’t sit well with him. If, in fact, they were trapped inside, they’d soon be fighting each other over who would get eaten first.

  “So you’re going through, then?”

  Axel sighed. He didn’t want to, but… “Whatever.”

  He charged forward into the glowing waves.

  Axel’s body spiraled and rotated end-over-end in a tunnel made of rippling, waving water-fire, but the experience ended as quickly as it had begun. The next thing he knew he found himself skidding across a patch gray dirt on his chest. When he finally came to a stop, that same gray dirt caked the surface of his tongue and his teeth.

  He dug a dollop of dirt out of his mouth and expelled the rest in half a dozen sputters, regretting that he’d kept his mouth open while jumping through. />
  Then his stomach lurched, and his sputtering became vomiting, and suddenly he no longer minded that the Wolves had stolen his last chomp of dried venison.

  Two pairs of strong hands helped him to his feet once the last of his lunch cleared his stomach.

  “Rough ride, Farm Boy?” Condor asked.

  Axel moaned and wiped his mouth with the back of his left gauntlet. “I’m never doing that again.”

  Falcroné patted him on the back. “I doubt you’ll have a chance. Look around.”

  The morning sun shone through the crystal blue skies above. In the distance, a large body of water shimmered against the dead gray terrain surrounding it.

  Axel recognized his surroundings immediately—they were on Trader’s Pass near where they had decided to head toward the lake to go fishing.

  It was right where Calum had claimed the portal led. Axel couldn’t deny it.

  “Yeah. I guess you’re right.” Axel brushed the dirt from his chin and his breastplate and shot a glare at Calum. He’d been right, but so what? Axel had thrown up because of his stupid portal.

  A howl sounded behind him, and Riley emerged out of nowhere—literally—followed by Wolf, after Wolf, after Wolf, until his entire pack appeared on Trader’s Pack. They nipped at each other amid growls and snarls, but all of them fell silent with one sharp bark from Riley.

  “See?” Axel pointed at the Wolves. “I’m not the only one who didn’t like it.”

  “They’re not reacting to the trip through the portal,” Riley said. “They smell Dactyls. So do I. Probably only a few miles away, and getting closer.”

  “We need to get to Sharkville right away,” Magnus said. “I do not care how many of us there are now. We still cannot risk running into them.”

  “Then let’s go.” Calum started north, toward the Central Lake.

  To Calum’s relief, they reached Sharkville in little more than half a day. The same dinky wooden sign, still stuck in the arid ground in front of the town, bore its name, and the dismal gray buildings still stood like weathered gravestones.