by Pedro Urvi
“Did they discover many benign objects of power?” Lindaro asked.
“Not really… Unfortunately, in all the long life she dedicated to the search they only managed to find a few objects, which turned out to be weapons of destruction, of evil. To be exact, they found two: the Midnight Dagger and Torgreson’s Axe, both with the power to bring about death. The danger these weapons contained within them strengthened the Brotherhood’s determination, and from that moment, more than two hundred years ago, our Order has searched for objects of power all over Tremia. But they are very scarce. It’s practically a miracle to come across one. When a reference is found the Brotherhood studies it and follows up the lead, and if it finally leads to the discovery of one of these precious objects, then we take it back for study. If it turns out to be a destructive one, it’s then hidden in a secret place so that it doesn’t fall into the hands of evil.”
“Your order has an interesting point of view…” said Lindaro, fixing his eyes on the redhead. “I don’t think it’s entirely correct, but it’s interesting… I had no knowledge of its existence, although since you’re from far-away lands it’s not really so surprising. How many Objects of Power has your Order found, if you’re free to tell us?”
“Very few. It’s extremely difficult to find them. Most of the hints we follow lead us to a dead end, or else are elaborate legends or myths. In all the years of existence of the Brotherhood only half a dozen objects have been found in all Tremia, most of them deadly.”
“I see. It’s a dedicated life, that of your Brotherhood, with very little reward. Is it possible that those objects might be originally Ilenian? Like the sword Hartz carries?”
“It’s possible. To my knowledge I can confirm that the hypothesis has been taken into consideration by our scholars, but it’s never been verified. The truth is, we don’t know where those objects originated.”
“Well, well, I see your tongue is finally loosening up, huh?” said Hartz. He looked at her ironically, and she returned his gaze with fury.
Kayti took a couple of steps forward. She breathed deeply, then let the air out as if with it she was getting rid of her anger.
“That sword is a weapon of power and therefore of interest to my Order, that’s why I mentioned it. It mustn’t fall into the hands of evil. I’m also not sure that it’ll be completely safe in your hands,” she told Hartz defiantly.
“In my hands is where it’ll stay, safe or not. And you can keep any idea of taking the sword away from me and carrying it to your fortress out of your pretty little red head, because I won’t allow it,” said the big Norriel. He shook his finger at her.
“Don’t be such a brute! The safest thing would be for my order to protect the sword and study it. It’s an armed Order, we’re all soldiers and we have an impregnable fortress to the east, a long way from here, in the kingdom of Irinel. It’ll be safe and well looked-after. It’ll never be used for evil. I swear it on my life!”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Kayti, not that I do actually, but I trust your Brotherhood even less. And after seeing your Brothers killed in that ambush I don’t believe your fortress is as impregnable as you say.”
“How dare you sully the name of my dead Brothers! They died defending their beliefs and the Brotherhood, you ignorant dirty swine from the mountains!” shouted Kayti, beside herself with anger. Her hand was on her sword.
Komir jumped up and tried to calm the young redhead.
“Let’s all calm down, please, and not get carried away by our emotions. Kayti, sit down, please.”
She looked at him with fiery eyes, her hand still on the pommel of her sword.
“Come on…Kayti, please…”
She looked at him long as she fought within herself. At last the flames in her eyes died down. She sat down slowly, but did not let go of her sword.
“Let’s all take a moment to calm down,” said Lindaro in a soothing voice. He turned thoughtfully back to the window. “I think tonight’s intense events have affected all of us. I’m with Kayti, I don’t believe the sword is what they’re looking for. It has to be something more powerful. I’m not saying that the sword is not valuable, because it is, as Kayti has pointed out, but they must be looking for something else. Think about it… From what you’ve told me these past days ‒ correct me if I’m wrong ‒ some foreigners from a distant land nobody’s ever heard of appeared in Norriel territory and attacked a family in the high and remote mountains. An attack destined to kill Komir, no doubt about that. But why kill a young Norriel who’d never left his territory? He wasn’t a threat to anybody… Unless for some reason those foreigners believed he was. He, or else something in his possession… If the only unusual thing you had was that medallion, it stands to reason that there’s a link between that medallion and the fact they want to kill you. If we analyze the events, the medallion has led us to the Lost Civilization. So, I guess the mystery of your past and the reason for killing you must have something to do with the Lost Civilization, the Ilenians. Do you agree?”
Komir’s thoughts turned back to the medallion of the Ilenian King which hung hidden within his clothes. There had to be a link, although he could see none. His instinct told him that the medallion was very important and was linked in some way to the death of his parents.
“I got lost in all that a long while ago,” said Hartz with a grin.
“I’m not surprised,” said Kayti. She let go of her sword at last and poured out more wine for everyone. “You have a brain the size of an acorn!”
“Enlighten us with your wisdom, redhead of the east,” replied Hartz with an exaggerated bow towards the young warrior.
“All right, as you ask, you dope! I’ll enlighten you a little, even though I’m not sure it’ll do you any good. I agree with Lindaro. I believe there’s a connection between the Lost Civilization, Komir and the foreign warriors, even though we can’t see it at the moment. That’s why I think the best thing to do is to go one step ahead and try to find out what the connection is. That’ll help us to be better prepared for the next danger. If we know what they’re after, we can anticipate their movements and defeat them.”
“One thing is clear: they want me dead,” said Komir. He sat down on the stool again. “We don’t have any other clues at the moment. But I agree that we should look for them and get some answers that might help us foresee our enemy’s next move. There’s one thing that surprises me, though, Kayti. Why are you saying we? This fight isn’t your concern, you needn’t stay with us.”
“As long as you’re in possession of an Object of Power, it’s my duty as a member of the Custodial Brotherhood to ensure it doesn’t fall into the hands of evil. ¡Although to be honest, the hands it’s in now don’t pose any danger, seeing that if it’s going to be used, either for good or ill, a brain is needed, and your friend clearly doesn’t have one.” She looked fiercely at the big Norriel.
Silence fell on the little room. None of the four uttered a sound.
All of a sudden Hartz’s strong, contagious laughter burst out like an explosion which filled the cell. It was so loud that Lindaro took a step back in fear. He recovered, then began to laugh as well. Soon they were all laughing as hard as their aching bodies would allow. Tears began to stream down Komir’s face, and he nearly fell off his stool. Like a healing balm, the laughter dispelled all the tension which had built up after the attack and the tense conversation.
When they were able to breathe normally again, Komir stood up and stretched.
“There’s one more thing we have to deal with,” he said, looking firmly into Kayti’s eyes.
“Go ahead,” she said. “I’m listening.”
“You have your reasons for coming with us, I understand that. But in order to allow you to do so, I need you to give me your word that you won’t turn against us. Swear on your honor that you’ll accept my decisions and those of Hartz without question, or else I won’t let you come. Whatever the decisions may be, and even though they might affect th
e future of this sword or any other object of power we might find. Think well before you say anything. You’ll have to do what we say, whether you agree or not. This isn’t up for negotiation.”
Kayti looked at him thoughtfully, weighing his words and their consequences. At last she said: “You have my word, as a Knight of the Custodial Brotherhood.”
“Knight? What do you mean knight,” thundered Hartz. “You said you were only an Initiate, the lowest rank of the order! By the Mother Iram! What else are you hiding?”
“Whatever I may or may not be inside my Brotherhood is no concern of yours. I’ll accept your decisions as long as I’m with you, but my privacy is mine and I won’t answer for it to anyone.”
“That’s enough for me,” said Komir. “Remember your word, woman, because I won’t forget.”
“Don’t you worry, Norriel, I’ll remember it. Let’s hope your decisions are the right ones…”
“If they aren’t I’ll see you on the other side,” replied Komir gravely.
“What about me?” asked Lindaro, coming close to Komir. His eyes were expectant.
“What about you, my friend?” said Komir, not understanding.
“Do you want me to give you my word as well?
“I don’t see the need. You’re not coming with us, it’s too dangerous.”
“Nonsense! If you’re going to find some other secret of the Lost Civilization I’m going to be there! By the Light that guides us all along the straight path of Good!” protested the man of faith.
“But you’ll die, you don’t even know how to use a weapon,” said Komir uneasily.
“If Kayti’s going so that she can keep the future Objects of Power safe in your hands, then I’m coming to keep the remains of a Lost Civilization safe, whether they’re objects of power or not. This is the greatest discovery this kingdom has ever seen, and I’m not going to let a couple of savage Norriel go trampling over valuable documents and treasures like a stampede of wild buffalo, with all respect to you.”
“All right, all right, calm down, Lindaro. If you insist on coming with us of your own free will, I won’t stop you. But I have to ask the same oath I required of Kayti.
“I shan’t disobey your orders. You have my word, as a Priest of the Light.”
“Very well, then. We’re all set,” said Komir.
“So now what?” asked Kayti.
“Now we’ll rest and get our strength back. My head is killing me, and you’re all making it worse with your talking. Tomorrow we’ll go and ask our friend Lotas, as kindly as possible, who it is that wants us dead.”
“That’s the way to talk, mate! Tomorrow we crush some skulls!” thundered Hartz.
“Shut up and finish stitching up my head, for the Sun and the Moon’s sake!”
No Return
Iruki and the Assassin went on warily into the dark depths of the cave. This soon began to narrow, as if that gigantic being of granite and black rock were trying to devour them. They found themselves in a tight, sinister corridor molded into granite, eroded with time, which went on and on seemingly swallowing them up in all their daring. Before them was impenetrable darkness, silent and threatening, without any apparent end. Around them their silhouetted shadows, projected by the light of the improvised torch, moved in a ghostly dance on the rocky walls.
With each step, Iruki felt a mixture of fear and remorse for having dared to enter that forbidden place. Her father would be deeply disappointed. She could imagine his stern face looking at her with disapproval, hurt in his pride as a father who loved her more than he loved the prairies themselves. She was breaking the sacred rules of her people, those ancestral beliefs passed down through generations. How was she going to justify her actions to her people, her father…? She was walking on accursed ground.
The Assassin turned and motioned her to stop. Instinctively Iruki put her hand on the handle of the hunting machete she wore at her side, a gift from one of her uncle’s warriors. She listened, holding her breath, but could only hear the crackling of the torch. The Assassin remained still, frozen for a moment, holding the torch aloft and looking intently ahead of him as if he were trying to see through a veil which hung in front of them.
“There’s something strange in this cavern,” he told Iruki. His attention was fixed on the torch he was carrying.
“What do you mean? I don’t feel anything strange.” She looked around nervously. “I just notice that the walls are damp and I can feel the darkness around us. Make sure the torch is safe, please, I don’t even want to imagine how horrible it would be to lose this light,” she begged. There was a knot in her throat.
“There’s something unusual about the air in here, something unnatural,” explained the Assassin. “When the torch burns, the color it gives out is too bluish. Besides, there’s barely any smoke, and I made it with dry timber and cloth. It should burn with a reddish flame and black smoke.”
“Could it be the humidity? I notice a lot of saturation in here, come to think about it. It seems to be getting worse with each step we take along this corridor. The walls seem to be weeping.”
The Assassin touched one of the walls. “It’s true, they seem to be sweating. But that’s not what I sense, it’s something else, not the effect of the climate or the natural formation of the mountain rocks. My instinct is warning me that there’s something arcane at work here… some power I can’t identify. I don’t like it at all, we’d better be even more careful.”
“All right, but the only option we have is to go on. Those stinking Norghanian pigs will soon be in here. Whatever’s lying in wait for us ahead can’t be any worse than those twenty hyenas from the frozen north behind us.”
“Let’s hope you’re right,” replied the Assassin, and smiled. On seeing that wide smile Iruki calmed down at once. She could not have said why, but the stranger had the ability to calm her fears. A single smile from him and for a few moments her troubles would evaporate as if a southern breeze had wafted them away, leaving in their place a feeling of wellbeing and joy.
For several hours they went on down the tight stone passage. They moved as fast as they could, knowing that danger was close behind. At last they came out into an enormous cavern, and immediately felt free from the oppression and darkness of the narrow tunnel. Looking up, they saw with astonishment that the lofty dome let in a whitish light, which bathed the whole space. They stared at it in awe, speechless. The transparent rock surface which formed the dome allowed them to see something impossible, something that broke all the rules of nature: they saw, above their heads, the bottom of a clear lake.
They were looking at the Fountain of Life.
From inside the cave.
The whole dome of the cavern, from wall to wall as far as the end, was completely translucent, it allowed them to see the inside of the great lake above their heads. Schools of small silver fish zigzagged rapidly in the depths of the sky-blue waters of the lake, reflecting the light of the sun. Silver flashes revealed the abundant vegetation which covered parts of the dome, with small groups of fish of varied colors hiding from other, bigger kinds. On the underside of the dome, plants and algae formed patches of intense green, creating a complete natural waterscape. The spectacle before their eyes, suspended above their heads, was so beautiful that they both stared and stared in disbelief.
“What… what is this place where the laws of Mother Nature aren’t respected? H…how is it possible that we can see the sacred lake through the rock ceiling of the cavern?” muttered Iruki. She was completely overwhelmed, her eyes staring wide.
The Assassin leaned the torch against a projection in the rock and looked from one end of the place to the other with deep attention. His dark, slanted eyes went carefully over the whole unlikely scene, looking for some possible rational explanation for what they were witnessing.
Very softly he said, “Truly intriguing… I can’t tell whether it’s a natural phenomenon, an anomaly in the composition of the rock itself, or if there’s some other
hidden factor involved.”
Iruki dragged her eyes away from the ceiling with an effort and looked at the rest of the cavern. A natural spring issued from a pile of red rocks, forming a stream which meandered past her feet, running from one end of the hall to the other. Small ochre-yellow plants and strangely-shaped green water lilies sprouted on both sides of the narrow, winding stream. In the center of the great cavern was a pool of quiet water which shone peacefully in the filtered light from the dome. More water lilies in soft shades of pink, together with other plants of unknown origin, spread around and over the water, floating on the gentle, scarcely-perceptible current.
On the west side of the cavern, at the far end, two waterfalls separated by a rocky outcrop fed a steady influx of white spray. Both waterfalls came together in the center of the hall, forming a stream which disappeared amid golden rocks. Splashing the ground with color, a range of plants in many shades grew in small clumps all over the cavern, competing in intensity with one another: reds, oranges and strong greens caught the observer’s attention.
“Do you think there’s some hidden power behind this mysterious place?” said Iruki, unable to find any explanation for the wonderful spectacle before her. “I’m sure this is not natural.”
“There probably is…”
The Assassin pointed to his right, to the spring, and walked towards it. Iruki followed, intrigued by the dreamlike beauty around them. As she came closer, she saw what he was trying to show her: a long line of strange golden markings etched on the wall, hidden by the spring.
