Many Hidden Rooms

by S. J. Varengo

  From that point forward, their work with the riderless dragons went much better. By not trying to force them to perform duties that did not fit into their personalities, they began to excel. Instead of bringing up mixed groups, Cerah and Tressida would lead a flight of forty reds on attack runs. Cerah eventually created larger and more formidable targets for them to assail. She made them look as much like Silestra as she could, and the dragons delighted in destroying them. She also built sturdy walls, which they battered with their tails, smashing them to pieces. All the while their crimson eyes blazed with relish.

  They took groups of fifteen to twenty greens, letting one take turns being the protected, while the others perfected their defensive skills. Cerah thought this would be an excellent way to protect a group of wizards should they encounter hostile forces while airborne. She had Slurr and Beru construct a rude catapult with which to loft missiles at them, and the greens happily batted them away with their tales.

  And they flew with smaller parties of blues, usually no more than four or five, scanning the coastline for any sign of intruders.

  In each case, they brought along a black dragon. As Tressida had observed, they quickly showed skill at leading and encouraging whichever flight they accompanied.

  After the blue dragons had learned how to patrol an assigned area, they began sending a red up with them, also as Tressida had suggested. It was quickly apparent that flying along the coastline was not something the reds enjoyed, but the black dragons kept them in line and alert. In time, they showed less resistance to the task, although it never gave them the joy that attacking did. On one occasion, as Cerah and the queen shadowed a patrol group, the lead blue blasted out a loud trumpet. In the water, Cerah spotted a familiar form that caused a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was a thorrian. Cerah discerned that it was much smaller than the one that had attacked the Marta, guessing that it might be an immature creature.

  Before she sent a single thought to Tressida, however, the flight tore into action. As the four blues flew down toward the water, keeping the thorrian directly under them, the black moved alongside the red and nipped at him, stirring him to action. The ruby beast tilted into a blinding dive, and actually plunged into the water. For a moment, Cerah could not see where dragon ended and thorrian began. But a moment later, the dragon broke the surface, holding the sea monster’s severed head in its mouth. It circled around the spreading stain of blood in the water, making sure that its target was indeed quite dead, then flew up to where Tressida and Cerah hovered, still carrying its trophy. Tressida trumpeted a congratulatory blast, and the red dragon arched its neck and sent the gruesome spoil flying. At the last second, he turned and struck the head with its tail, sending it soaring out of sight.

  “That went well, I thought,” Tressida said as red flew off to rejoin the patrol.

  Cerah was speechless. “Really? Do you think?” she said sarcastically and joyfully at once.

  After a while, Cerah said, “When the wizards first found the riderless dragons, some were left behind to help patrol. I doubt they are all blues. It’s possible these flights are less effective than they could be.”

  “There are certainly far more blue dragons here than are needed to keep Melsa safe,” Tressida answered. “When we are confident these riderless are trained up, it might not be a bad idea to replace any dragons currently on patrol with our graduates.”

  After another few weeks of working with the dragons, both Cerah and Tressida felt they had learned as much as they were likely to. “Until they face actual combat, we will not really know how good a job we’ve done in training them,” Cerah said.

  “No matter how well we’ve done, there is still one thing we will not be able to overcome,” the queen said.

  “What is that, Tress?”

  “They have all come to love and respect you, and I, but they will always miss their match-mates. Nothing gives a dragon greater pleasure than to respond to the direction of the one they were born to serve. We spoke of this briefly the night before we began working with them. You know how strong our connection is,” she said.

  “Its intensity is only surpassed by the love I feel for my husband,” Cerah answered.

  “So it was for each and every one of the riderless. On the day their match-mates fell they lost a part of their own spirit. The love and nurturing you’ve shown them has done a world of good, but it will never completely take away the sadness they feel.”

  Cerah imagined the loss they must have experienced. Just the thought of not being with Tressida filled her with sorrow. She felt proud of each and every one as they soldiered on in their various duties. As the patrol of blues circled their assigned area, accompanied by a black to spur them on, and a red who hoped he might see something to swoop down upon, Cerah and Tressida turned and flew home.

  As they approached the Elders’ Village, Cerah saw Slurr waiting for her. Since the day she had seen Surok he did not let her out of his sight unless she was flying with the riderless. Even when she trained with Parnasus, he was generally nearby. He had shown her the gift that Parnasus and Kern had given him. It had quickly become his most prized possession, never out of reach. It had, in fact, replaced his notorious floppy hat as the only thing he always made sure to wear, though indeed the green felt cap still made an appearance from time to time.

  As she and Tress touched down, Cerah asked Slurr the same question she asked each time she returned to him: “Has your dagger done any singing today?”

  “All quiet,” he replied. Slurr walked over to Tressida and took time to show her some affection. She always responded warmly to his attention, cooing and rubbing her head and neck against him. Cerah was glad to see that they got along so well and that each appreciated the other’s devotion to her. Slurr trusted Tressida completely when she had Cerah on her back, and Tressida knew that as long as the young man had breath within his body no one would touch Cerah.

  As they walked into the village, Cerah discussed the plans that she and Tressida had devised concerning sending groups of blues with their red attack units and their black lieutenants to begin watching over the inhabited lands of Quadar. As the armies were forming across the planet, the watchful blues would have eyes where the humans could not.

  “It is a very good idea,” Slurr told her. “You should discuss it with Kern and Parnasus when they return.”

  “Where have they gone?” Cerah asked.

  “They left soon after you and Tressida left Dragon’s Walk. Kern said that he needed to Go Within, and Parnasus wished to spend the day in the Hall of Whispers, so they went together to Onesperus.”

  “I wonder what they hope to learn,” Cerah said.

  “I know Kern has been feeling the need to sit with the Sarquahn for a while, although he did not tell me why. And I think that Parnasus may have actually just wanted to be close by when he did. I’m sure he will seek the counsel of the departed while he’s there, but I get the feeling that since you had your…experience…he trusts the Sarquahn less than ever, and I have heard him tell you many times that it is not to be approached without great caution. Even though Kern is a great wizard, I feel Parnasus does not want him to be alone.”

  They sat together by the Central Flame. It felt good as it chased the cool of the early evening. “The seasons are changing,” Cerah said. “Soon the cold will come.”

  “It is my least favorite time of year,” said Slurr, “although Szalmi loves it. Kern used to take me on the far side of Arnon during the snows and he’d let Szalmi phase. The crazy fellow would flop on his back and roll around in the drifts for hours on end!” Cerah laughed at the thought of the huge dragon playing in the snow.

  “I used to look forward to the cold back in Kamara, because the agorrah didn’t stink quite so bad in the frosty air as they did during the hot nights of summer. Also, the predators were less active.”

  “Yes, but you were always so cold when I came to get the milk. I remember how you bundled yourself in layers of heav
y clothing and stayed as close to your fire as you could. I always felt bad for you.”

  “Ha! I felt bad for myself no matter what the season. Poor Cerah, the chosen one. How different the meaning of those words now. When my father called me that and sent me away to the mountain, it was a curse.”

  “And now you are the Chosen One again. But your responsibility is for far more than a pod of agorrah,” Slurr said.

  “Indeed. So much has changed. To be called by the same name, and have it mean so vastly different things! I still struggle to understand it all.”

  “Well, you don’t have to figure it all out at once. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing. Learn from Parnasus and from Tressida. Practice your skills. Help who you can help. Train the riderless dragons. Keep intent on the First-Elder’s lessons in the evening. Take it all one day at a time. The great sweeping climax will come at its own pace, whatever it may be.”

  “‘The great sweeping climax!’ That is an ominous phrase, Lug.”

  “When it comes, you will be ready for it. And your lug will be by your side. Of that you can be sure.”

  They sat and made conversation for another hour before they heard the dragons trumpet a greeting as Kern and Parnasus touched down. Cerah and Slurr went to the field to meet them. Both of the wizards were happy to see them, but Cerah sensed something in their bearing that was different.

  “So, Cerah of Quadar, how did it go today with the riderless?” Parnasus asked.

  “It goes better each day, especially since Tressida suggested cultivating the skills that the different colored dragons seem to take to naturally. In fact, I think that some are ready to begin their service. We’ve trained several groups of blues to police, accompanied by a black to lead and a red to attack, if need be. I think we should send these units out to begin patrolling the continents. Each will require a wizard to put them in place, but once they are shown the area they are to cover, they can do so on their own. Then the wizards can bring back the dragons that had been left behind to be trained in the areas they are more inclined toward.”

  “A sound plan. That queen of yours is an amazing creature. To have realized the strengths of the different dragons and to help you nurture them...such a gift! I would not say that wizards have been completely oblivious to the individual traits over the eons, but before you and Tressida we certainly never used this phenomenon to its fullest measure,” the First-Elder said.

  “But now...tell me of your day. Slurr said you were off to Onesperus today.”

  Immediately both wizards’ faces darkened. “What’s wrong?” asked Slurr.

  “I will let Kern tell you his tale,” said Parnasus, “then I will add mine.”

  Cerah and Slurr turned to face Kern. Their friend took a deep breath and said, “I have been having dreams. I have been dreaming of the days yet to come for the Chosen One, and I have seen her facing great danger. But each time I’ve seen you in my dream, Cerah, you have been clad in garments unlike any I’ve seen before. You are dressed in some form of armor, but it is flexible and affords you great mobility. It is not chain or any other variety of mail. Neither is it leather. At first, I thought it might be something magical that someone on Melsa would prepare for you.

  “Even more impressive was the weapon you carried. It was not unlike your podstaff in some ways, but it was made of metal. A strange metal, again not something I was familiar with. Upon waking I reasoned that this, too, might be something crafted by a wizard.

  “As the dreams recurred, however, I came to sense that these items would not be found on this island. I don’t know if it was their foreign appearance or some other clue, but I was sure they were to be found elsewhere. After much consideration, I decided that I needed to Go Within and seek the answer to this enigma.

  “Unlike you, Cerah, I have done this thousands of times over my three centuries of life, although I only sat with the Sarquahn during my first century. After leaving Melsa, I connected with it remotely. Parnasus has explained this to you, I’m sure. Still, I have learned to approach the Sarquahn with authority, and have been able to keep it at bay and learn from it what I needed to know. But today I found that connecting with it was more difficult than it ever had been before. I feel as though it has been changed by your encounter as much as you were. It seems less inclined to show what is sought. I was determined, however, to seek out the answers to the things I’d seen in my dreams, and after an hour or so of wrestling with the reluctant entity, it finally began to cooperate with me.

  “I asked it to show me where I could find the craftsman that made the things I had seen in my dream. At first the images were confusing. I saw a blanket of thick trees from above, as though I was on Szalmi’s back flying over them. It was far denser than any forest I have seen, and I eventually realized that I was looking at a jungle.

  “There are two places on Quadar where jungles grow. One is Frezza, near the center of the planet, and the other is Ceekas, further south. As I flew in my vision, I looked for Buhtar, the main population center on Frezza, but after much effort I did not see it. This led me to believe I was in fact looking at Ceekas. Although it is a considerably smaller landmass than Frezza, its jungle canopy is unbroken. Any people who live there dwell in the depth of the trees, not in any place more populated than by the smallest of gatherings.

  “Once I was satisfied that it was Ceekas I was seeing, the vision shifted. I came down through the trees to the jungle floor. For quite some time there was no sign of any human life, although I saw many exotic and often quite frightening animals. Even the plant life appeared unfriendly. But after a while I began to see some landmarks that should I come across them again I’m sure I would recognize. In particular, I saw a place where two rivers came together to form a great waterway, containing imposing rapids. They formed a ‘Y’ shape where they joined and then drained off. Near the point formed by the two rivers was a tiny dwelling, no more than the rudest hut. I saw it clearly. As I stood before it, a man came from within. He was dressed only in a loincloth made from an animal skin, but in his hands was the weapon I had seen in my dream. And by his feet lay the armor.”

  “Do you have any idea who this person is?” Cerah asked.

  “None,” said Kern. “I have never been to Ceekas and have never seen this man before.”

  “And so now we come to my tale,” said Parnasus. “While Kern was in Ma’uzzi’s Rest, I sat with the spirits in the Hall of Whispers. Kern had told me of his dreams and so I sought out Opatta, as I always do when I need guidance. When he came, before I could ask him anything, he inquired after your well-being, Cerah. It seems our ancestors were most concerned about you after your episode with the Sarquahn. Once I assured him that you had survived the encounter, he allowed me to ask my questions. I asked him if he knew anything about a craftsman at large on Quadar who was capable of manufacturing the things my student had seen in his dreams.

  “My mentor’s answer was not promising. ‘There is a race of men who long ago chose to walk away from human society,’ he told me. ‘Indeed, they chose to dwell with even one another as little as possible, living in small family units rather than in any larger grouping. They call themselves the Riddue.’ I said that I had never heard the name before. ‘That is as they would wish it to be,’ Opatta told me. ‘They neither seek nor welcome encounters with those outside their own family.’

  “I asked how such anti-social beings would have come to be great craftsmen, and he told me, ‘They developed their armor and their weapons for the sole purpose of self-preservation. They live on mountain tops, in jungles, and on the remotest islands that exist.’ I asked how one would go about finding one of the Riddue, and he said, ‘It would require a vision from the Sarquahn and the guidance of Ma’uzzi himself. And even if one were to succeed in finding one of these elusive men, it is not very likely that he would be inclined to offer any assistance. Far more likely, he would offer a swift death for one’s efforts.’”

  “So,” said Kern, “between what I sa
w when I Went Within and what Parnasus was able to tell me, I realized that I must leave Melsa at once and seek this man of the Riddue that is dwelling somewhere in the jungles of Ceekas. I must go to him and somehow convince him to make for me the things I saw in my dream, so that I can bring them back to you. I am convinced they will be vital to you when the conflict begins.”

  “Leave?” Slurr asked. He was clearly devastated by the news.

  Kern looked at the boy, and his face showed great love and affection. “Yes, Slurr. It is the only way.”

  “But ever since I was small, you’ve always been there. I’ve never passed a day when you didn’t spend at least a little time with me.”

  “I know, my boy, I know. I will miss you terribly. But you will be alright. You have the love of your life with you now, as well as all the wizards of Melsa, who have come to view you as something of a hero. You are the first human to have won such admiration. And, I might add, you were never small!”

  “Surely they care for Beru as well,” said Slurr, ever deferring to another.

  “Indeed they do, but you have earned a special place in their hearts, as seems to be the case wherever you go. You, the Champion of Harundy, and the mighty sailor aboard the Marta!”

  “Stop teasing, Kern,” the boy said.

  “I speak with the utmost earnestness. You are an exceptional young man, Slurr Jacasta. You will survive without your old friend until I return.” Kern held out his arms and Slurr walked to him and accepted his embrace. When he stepped away, Cerah could see that he was crying.

  “I am loath to see Kern go as well,” she said to her husband. “It seems like a dangerous quest, and I feel guilty that it must be made on my behalf. But this is old Kern we’re talking about! Surely a veteran of the Stygian War will make his way back to us. And while he is away, I will just have to love you all the harder to soften the pain you’ll feel in his absence.”

  Slurr smiled at her as she wiped the tears from his eyes. “I am not worthy of you, Cerah Jacasta,” he said.