Chronos and the Rogue Hunters

by Edward Eck

  He smiled with the knowledge his ring had protected him from her powers. “One other thing,” Malcolm called as she started to walk away. “Stop by the dungeon level and pick up the two earth automatons and their control bracelet, just in case you need some muscle in dealing with these three young sorcerers.”

  She didn’t respond or even turn around to acknowledge his comments. She continued on her way to the doors, glancing at the notes. “Why couldn’t this Fenrir be imprisoned somewhere like the Caribbean or the Bahamas?”

  13 This Is A Bad Idea

  Arriving in the library of Ravenicon castle, Vincent was met by his old friend Gollnick who was still using a cane to get around. The wound from the demon attack at the warehouse in New York City wasn’t healing as well as he had hoped, but Gollnick was determined not to let that slow him down. He had a job to do and it was to mentor the New Circle, but right now it was a more distasteful job he had to perform. His chief pain in the neck and leader of the dark sorcerers was asking for his help.

  “Nick, I’m telling you, this is a trap,” Vincent said, displeased with the situation. “I say let them have him. Even if we end up with ten new dark sorcerer lords in New York, it will still be better than Malcolm.”

  “And what about all the innocent bystanders who will be caught in the crossfire? The dark sorcerers are not playing by the same rules anymore. They’re openly displaying their magic in broad daylight.”

  “Okay, I’ll admit I don’t want to see anyone get hurt, but this is a trap! As soon as we get there and start trying to stop this civil war, they’ll turn on us and we’ll be outnumbered.”

  “I know, which is why we’re not going up there alone. I’m calling in every favor I can think of. If we go to New York City, I plan on taking an army with me.”

  Marching into New York with their own army appealed to Vincent. Wiping out all the dark sorcerers at once would make the world a better place. They wouldn’t need to worry about protecting the remaining prisons around the world continuing to entomb the great monsters of myth. Unfortunately, he knew it wouldn’t solve anything. Other dark sorcerers would rise up to take their place. With a quick shake of his head, he brushed the sneer from his face and snapped back to reality.

  “Wait a minute, you want to take another army? I know the place is big, but how many armies do you think that city can hold? The more sorcerers, the greater the risk to the innocents.”

  “What do you suggest?” Gollnick responded, clearly frustrated.

  Vincent raised a question. “What do we know about these sorcerers who are attacking Malcolm? Would they be willing to talk to us? Maybe we can reach an agreement with one or more of them.”

  With a sigh, Gollnick seemed to calm down to consider Vincent’s suggestion. If they could talk their way out of a civil war then fewer people would be at risk. Perhaps some research into who was attacking Malcolm was worthwhile, but time was against them.

  “Vincent, none of this is making sense. You worked for the dark sorcerers for a time, albeit against your will,” Gollnick challenged. “You must have some idea why they’re doing all of this. The civil war, releasing the monsters of myth, what are they trying to accomplish?”

  Vincent paused to gather his thoughts. “The general idea is to remake the world as they see fit. They’re not just interested in controlling the countries of the world, they want to wipe everything out, civilization as we know it. Start the world over with maybe a hundred thousand people across the entire planet, less than one percent of the world’s current population. Each and every one of the survivors would be sorcerers. Magic would once again rule the world. Of course with the dark sorcerers in charge of everything, the monsters of myth would be their pets… slaves to control the remaining masses. They’d reset everything back to the dark ages. It’s their version of population control.”

  “Not the most entertaining thought,” replied Gollnick. “Okay, Malcolm said the opposing forces were Deustoff Von Woonst and Francois LeRain. Let’s see what we can find out about these dark sorcerers, but we can’t spend too much time doing it. The longer we wait, the more people might get hurt. Agreed?”

  Vincent smiled as he took Gollnick’s hand and nodded approval.

  “We’ll do this together. I may no longer work for Malcolm, but I still have contacts in both New York and Miami who will talk with me. Maybe we can find an alternative to this war.”

  “I’ve already alerted Elisa and Hank. Hank won’t be much help in a battle until his leg heals completely, but he’s already able to walk without crutches. Apparently magical healing works better on a broken leg than one speared by a demon like mine. Regardless, he may be able to round up some other sorcerers in Cairo who might be willing to help if it comes to a fight.”

  Vincent had another thought. “I’ll also contact the Muses and see what they can tell us about the situation in New York.”

  “Fine, but first I need you to do something else. Right now I need you to look through the Tablets of Destiny. We need to find a way to re-imprison Fenrir. You’re the only one I know who can read the cuneiform. Cyrus and the others are going to need ideas on how to stop that monster.”

  14 Gioll

  After a long day’s walk, Cyrus, Amber and Meagan found themselves camping in a clearing not far from tracks made by Fenrir. The sun had set and a light snow was falling, along with their hopes of finding the giant wolf’s prison. The ghostly glow of moonlight behind a patch of clouds gave a cold light to their surroundings. They had pitched tents for each of them and built a campfire in the center of the clearing. Flames danced among the logs, causing shadows along the tree line, giving a false sense of movement. They were constantly on edge as each sound sent their senses whirling, looking for danger.

  They endeavored to stay warm and dared to relax. Meagan, the only one to study any kind of magic other than combat, had set a series of magical crystals around the camp’s perimeter. “The crystals are enchanted to emit a high-pitched tone if anyone or anything comes near.” No one made any comment as she took a seat near the fire to warm herself.

  Cyrus sat on the cold hard ground with his arms wrapped around himself, staring at the fire. His gaze drifted up until it came to rest on his sister. He could see Amber staring into the flames, lost in thought. Still concerned for her mental state, he got up and walked over to her.

  “I’m fine,” she said as he sat down next to her.

  “I didn’t say a thing, did I?”

  Cyrus glanced at Meagan meaningfully, and she stood and stretched. “I think I’m going to turn in for the night. I’ll see you two in the morning.” She went into her tent and closed the flap.

  “Sis, I know you’re still troubled by the nightmares,” Cyrus consoled. “I can’t pretend to know what happened in the dark chamber, but you can’t dwell on it. Tiamat has fled south. She won’t bother you anymore.”

  “She’ll be back,” said Amber with a straight face and determined look in her eyes. “She haunts my dreams, I’m afraid to fall asleep. I know I’ll see her again.” A tear slid down the side of her face, but she quickly wiped it away.

  “If she ever does come back, we’ll face her together,” Cyrus reassured. “We’ll have our Circle and together we’ll find a way to destroy that dragon, for good this time.” He was doing his best to sound confident, but knew what he was proposing was impossible. Their best bet was to search the Tablets of Destiny to find a way to re-imprison her.

  Cyrus put his arm around Amber and she placed her head on his shoulder as she closed her eyes, daring to fall asleep and hoping not to dream.

  * * *

  A little later, Meagan stepped out of her tent and noticed the two of them sitting by the fire with their eyes shut. She walked over and pulled a blanket over Amber. As she started to do the same for Cyrus, his eyes popped open.

  “I’m fine.” He looked down at his sister’s face then gently kissed her on the forehead.

  Cyrus picked up his sister and carried her to
her tent. Meagan held the tent flap open as he laid Amber inside and re-covered her with the blanket. Afterward, Cyrus and Meagan returned to the fire still burning at the center of their campsite.

  Cyrus added another log. “I’m concerned about Amber.”

  Meagan sat down opposite him as she watched him stare into the flames. “She’s stronger than either you or she realizes. She willingly went into the dark chamber in Babylon to save you and Taryn. She’s done some amazing things with her air elemental powers. Air is a difficult element to control and she’s doing as well as any air sorceress I’ve ever met. I knew a druid in California with air elemental powers and it was always a struggle for him to keep them under control.”

  “I believe in my sister and I know she’s strong.” Cyrus sounded confident. “The problem is, she doesn’t seem to realize it.”

  “She will soon enough. Depending on what we find at Gioll, we may need her powers sooner than you or she realizes.” She looked to the north toward the nearest mountain. “We’re not far away from a fissure in the mountain and the tracks seem to be leading right to it.”

  “Can you tell how deep it is?” Cyrus must have realized Meagan’s earth elemental powers could allow her to sense the fissure some distance away.

  “Not at this distance. It’s deep, but I can’t be sure how deep.” She could tell they were thinking the same thing. The fissure might be the pit they were looking for and at the bottom of the pit would be the Gioll rock where Fenrir was previously chained.

  Meagan continued, “If it is the pit of Fenrir, legend says it’s one whole mile to the bottom.”

  “Can you create some way down?” Cyrus almost begged.

  Meagan realized he would not want to force Amber to use her powers in a similar manner as she had in Babylon when she descended into the dark room to find Tiamat. “What? No hot air balloon in one of your packs?”

  Cyrus just chuckled.

  She grew more serious as she pursed her lips and stared into the fire. “It will depend on the structure of the pit. If the walls are fairly flat, I might be able to make some stairs. But if it really is a mile deep, that’s going to be a lot of stairs… and I’ll only be able to make about ten to fifteen at a time. I’d be exhausted by the time we reach bottom, assuming we don’t take the express way down and fall to our deaths.”

  “Encouraging thought. We may need to come up with some other options. Let’s just get to the fissure first.”

  “We’ll also need to consider a way out.”

  Cyrus sat silently for a few seconds. “There’s no way a giant wolf could climb out of a one-mile pit. Fenrir must’ve had help from the dark sorcerers. We may find there’s already another way out.”

  Meagan nodded. She could only imagine what the next day would bring. Stairs or not, they would eventually need Amber and her powers. Cyrus and Meagan said nothing more as they each went to their tents for the night.

  * * *

  The next morning, Cyrus and Amber awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking on the fire. As always Meagan had prepared the morning meal. They all had a bite to eat before packing up camp and getting ready for their journey to the Gioll rock.

  As they neared the fissure, Meagan began to describe the size and depth of the crack in the earth. “This must be the pit where Fenrir was chained,” she said. “I lost the tracks at the base of the mountain, but this must be it. Even standing next to it, it’s hard to tell the exact depth of the fissure, but I’d estimate it’s at least a mile down.”

  Cyrus examined the jagged rock walls and knew it would be difficult to climb up or down. “What do you think?”

  Meagan looked over the side. “The walls are too irregular. The stairs idea won’t work, at least not here. Maybe further down.”

  He figured there had to be another way down, then it hit him. “Amber,” called Cyrus, but she never gave him the chance to finish his statement.

  “No!” said Amber in a raspy voice. “I had a hard enough time keeping myself aloft in the dark chamber in Babylon. There is no way I can float the three of us down there without killing us all.” She wrapped her arms around herself and backed away from the edge of the fissure. The color had drained from her face and she stood there staring at the great crack in the earth.

  “Amber, we need to get down there,” Cyrus pleaded. “Once we get deep enough, maybe Meagan could create stairs or something, but it would be a long and dangerous way down. And an even slower, more dangerous climb getting back up. You can do this, I know you can.”

  “What if I try and fail? One or both of you could fall to your death.” Tears were already beginning to well up in Amber’s eyes. “I can’t risk it.”

  Cyrus reevaluated the pit for a moment. “Meagan, have you ever heard of base jumping?”

  Meagan raised a single eyebrow as she looked out of the corner of her eye at Cyrus. “You’re kidding, right? Even if you have parachutes in that pack of yours, I’m not about to go jumping freefall into a giant pit and hope I don’t impale myself on a rock or outcropping somewhere in that deep dark hole. I don’t know the skill level of you and Amber, but that’s dangerous even for professional sky divers.”

  “It was just a thought.” Cyrus returned his attention to the pit for a while then another idea hit him. “Well then, do you know a levitation spell?”

  Meagan’s eyebrows shot up. “Yes, but just a basic one. It’s only good for one person and wasn’t meant for descending a mile into a giant pit. It’ll take over an hour to get to the bottom using that spell. And it will only last as long as the caster maintains their concentration. I don’t know about you… but maintaining concentration on one spell for over an hour would be a daunting task.”

  “Do you think you can teach it to me?”

  “Well, it’s better than any other option we’ve come up with so far. I think I can, but it won’t be easy.”

  Cyrus lowered his pack then reached inside and pulled out what looked like a small coil of string. “We’ll tie this rope to each of us and each cast the levitation spell. Amber can use her air elemental powers to control our descent. That way as long as we don’t all lose concentration at the same time, we won’t fall to our deaths. It might work.”

  Cyrus could see Meagan was thinking out the problem as he explained what to do. After a moment, she nodded her acceptance.

  “Amber?” asked Cyrus, hoping this would satisfy her concerns. With this option, she would only need to support her own weight using her elemental powers and she’d have Cyrus and Meagan to help if she lost concentration.

  “Okay,” she said. Cyrus could tell she still wasn’t happy about the idea, but at least it provided a safety net of sorts.

  They did as Cyrus had suggested. Once they returned the rope to normal size, they tied it from Meagan to Amber to Cyrus. With Amber in the middle, she would be able to control their descent into the fissure while relying on the other two to catch her if she failed.

  Once the ropes were attached, they moved to the edge and cast their spells. Cyrus and Meagan began to float just a few inches off the ground. Amber took a deep breath then raised her arms outward as the gentle breeze began to pick up. The wind continued to increase as it moved them out over the great crack and slowly began their descent. As they lowered into the fissure, the winds died away and each was left to concentrate on their spells.

  “Amber, we’re getting too close to the side,” called Cyrus as he noticed himself dangerously close to the rock face. He could see the concentration on Amber’s face. A sudden burst of wind pushed them out to the center of the rocky and jagged fissure once again where they continued their descent.

  After about fifteen minutes, they had lowered only a quarter of the total distance. They were all tired and Amber’s control of air currents was becoming shaky and erratic.

  “Meagan,” called Cyrus.

  She merely looked at him without a word. The strain on her face made it obvious she was totally focused on her levitation spell.

&
nbsp; He too needed to maintain concentration so he made a motion like his right hand was coming out of his left wrist perpendicular to his arm. Though a little crude, Meagan seemed to get the idea and she nodded her head to confirm the suggestion.

  She looked down and just below their position, the rock face started growing out toward them. Meagan’s concentration was now split between her elemental powers and the levitation spell. Ultimately, the levitation spell failed, and she dropped, landing on the newly formed ledge a little harder than she would’ve liked, twisting her left ankle in the process. “Ow!”

  The little ledge was just large enough for the three of them to stand. Amber saw the ledge and gently lowered herself then collapsed. She was exhausted and in need of a rest.

  Cyrus too landed then lowered to his knees to catch his breath. Looking around he could see they had further to go than they had already travelled.

  Meagan held her hand over her left ankle and cast a healing spell, “Hema toe-zie fume.” By the look on her face, the pain in the ankle quickly faded.

  “We’ve gone about a quarter mile so far…” said Meagan as she looked up. Then looking down into the darkness, she continued, “…and I estimate at least three quarters of a mile to go. There’s a fairly large cavern at the bottom. That’s probably where we’ll find the Gioll rock.”

  Cyrus could see the other two were tired and so was he, but they had made good progress with few incidents so far. After a five-minute break, Cyrus and Meagan cast their levitation spells again. Amber seemed reluctant to continue, but had few options. She motioned for the wind to pick up and they resumed their descent.

  They made another rest stop around the half-mile mark. A tiny speck of light from the top of the fissure was barely noticeable. The darkness was taking over. They could see Amber looking quickly from side to side, up and down. Her breathing grew more rapid and the wind became more erratic.