Rising and stepping over to the fireplace in his stocking feet, James reached up and took down his pipe from the stone mantel. He knocked it gently against the hearth, letting the ash fall into the grate below. A soft sigh escaped his mouth, as he felt the quiet of the night settle about him, bringing with it a measure of relaxation. Taking the rolled tobacco pouch from his breast pocket he filled and lit the pipe.
Trouble
Briok hugged the coastline, flying close to the waters’ edge, using his natural coloring of bluish green to hide himself; for once he was grateful to not have been awakened yet. His skin and wings were a flat color, giving off no shine as yet and he hoped that would help hide him from prying eyes as he flew along the shoreline towards the cavern entrance. A tremor ran through him. He was late already; taking time to leave Gwenth food might arouse suspicion. His fear propelled him to fly faster. Something didn’t feel right this morning, but what could he do, but keep moving forward. His parents were convinced that the end of their world was at hand, and were even now readying things for his first awakening tonight. The beautiful day began to slip into his thoughts, until at last he heard the surf pounding below, and felt the salty spray flinging itself high in the air. Briok laughed. He looked all about his world as he flew along the coast line, the vibrant life all around him seemed to glow even more than usual. He filled his lungs with the damp sea air and let himself revel in his world’s beauty. It was hard to fathom that this all might end. Briok felt his mood shifting, turning into sadness and defeat. Taking his father’s advice he let a tear slide its way down his cheek falling into the sea below. In that moment a single wave rose up from the sea and thoroughly doused him. Briok tumbled wing over foot from the sky and fell landward. He landed hard on the sand at the foot of the cliff that held the journeying cavern.
Briok sat up slowly, the air had been knocked from his lungs, and he felt dizzy as he stood and shook the water from himself. Turning his head gently, he looked over his shoulder; all he could see were the tips of his bedraggled wings sagging with the weight of the water. He tried to open them, but they clung damp and useless to his back. If he had already had his awakening it would be nothing for him to dry out his wings with magic, but as he had not yet been awakened he would have to wait for them to air dry. Briok dusted himself off and turned to stare at the ocean waves, he saw they were once again small innocent looking waves making their way into shore. Well that was something new, wasn’t it; a wave reaching up for the likes of him. He didn’t know what to make of it, but it would have to wait. Briok groaned, as he turned back toward the cliff and saw just how steep the cliff really was. Fey didn’t like to walk much and often would rather not engage in any activities that required any amount of it. Brush and boulders were strewn all along the face of the cliff. It clearly was going to take some time to climb, and would only cause more delay, and was now the only way up. Scouting along the water’s edge, he hoped to find the old path used by other non-winged tribes. He knew there was a trail for he had seen it many times from the air. Finally after what felt like an eternity, he stumbled at last upon a break in the rocks and began following the trail up the steep slope. The climbing was rough; the sandy ground was strewn with loose stones that caused him to slide in his bare feet. Branches of the young saplings slapped at his face, and cut his arms when he wasn’t careful enough. Once he even had to double back, after he realized he had gotten off on a smaller trail that just petered out. Still he climbed onward. Briok grew exhausted, yet was too afraid to take the time to rest. He finally remembered at his side hung the small bag of fruit, his mother had packed for Gwenth. Taking out a Boga fruit, he struggled in his exhaustion to peel the juicy fruit. Greedily he pressed large sections into his mouth and sucked on the pulp, trying to extract every last drop of juice before chewing and swallowing the eviscerated fruit. He climbed onward, and at last came upon a long wide stone, set deep into the hillside; he knew he was close now. He had seen the great white stone every day of his flying life. Forgoing the trail he decided to climb straight up the steep cliff, the cavern opening was visible from where he stood.
All at once he heard a crash and looked up in time to see a boulder rolling down the cliff face from the headland above. Briok froze with fear, staring upward, as the stone made its way crashing down the slope. Transfixed he watched, as if things were happening in slow motion, as the huge boulder bounced once, then leapt high in the air, and began its decent, heading right for him. Something inside his head snapped, and he threw his body against the ground. The air pressure changed and he heard a great whoosh, as the stone narrowly passed by, missing him. Briok lay on the ground shaking, he forced himself to stay where he was, while other stones loosened by the great stones’ trail blazing, continued to rain down all around him. Finally it grew quiet and he slowly stood up. Turning he looked down the trail and shivered, for he saw that much of where he had been climbing now lay in ruins. The boulder had torn through the very heart of the trail, smashing all that had lain in its path. As the dust settled he saw where the stone had come to rest, just short of the water’s edge. Shakily he began to climb the last 100 feet to the cave’s entrance.
***
Gwenth heard a noise outside and ran to the entrance. “Wow, you look awful! What happened?” She caught the exhausted Fey, as he fell. She struggled to half drag; half carry him through the cavern, over to the healing warm sands.
“Water, please.”
Gwenth hurried to retrieve the flask and handed it to Briok. “Pit brought me some more this morning.”
“Who?”
“Me lad, the keeper of the well,” Pit’s gravelly voice called out. “If you ask me that weren’t no regular landslide. I think it was more like what you would call an unnatural occurrence.”
Briok’s head swung to the left and there sat the squat stone elder. “How did you get here?”
“Oh aye, I know you young ones think you are the only ones in the know, but we elders do have long memories too. When you took water twice yesterday I figured you were up to no good, of course,” Pit shrugged. “I never would have guessed that you would be in collusion with the enemy.” His voice was rough as he chuckled.
Briok hands shook as he dribbled water on his abrasions; the torn skin instantly healed itself. Briok used the moments to steal several glances at the reclining Pit. His fear grew, reaching epic proportions; for if an elder knew, then they would not be free much longer, and no one would be save, not Lillith, not the girl, and surely not his world.
Gwenth sat down beside Briok and taking the water from him, she poured out drops of the sacred waters onto the rest of his many injuries. Gwenth stared in disbelief, at the crumpled ruined wings that hung lifelessly from his back. “Oh God, what’s happened to your wings?”
“It’s nothing they are nearly dry now. I guess the waves just felt I needed a wetting,” he tried to laugh casually.
Gwenth, who had longed to touch the silky looking wings, looked in disbelief from the wings to Briok. There was nothing silky about the crumpled mass that hung limp against his back.
“Hey I almost forgot to tell you,” Gwenth said excitedly. Sitting the flask down in the sand, she fished out the stone from her skirt’s pocket and handed it to him. “Pit was here when I made friends with this,” she said.
Briok looked down at her open palm and gasped. “How did you get a translator stone?”
“Aye, I know what you are thinking, boyo,” Pit’s craggy voice broke in, “but the wee lass didn’t hammer it from the wall. She came by it honestly. I was hiding there yonder by the old stalagmites,” he said. His squat frame nodded toward the back of the cave, “I saw her make the ritual that freed the stone from the wall’s clutches. It was almost more than my old heart could bear, I don’t mind telling you.”
Briok stared in wonder at Gwenth. “Is what Pit says true? Did you free the stone?”
Gwenth nodded smiling, “She told me, their name is Dembys.”
“Briok ad
mired the stone in Gwenth’s hand. The brilliant glow flared up when its name was mentioned. “She is a beauty, but what do you mean, their name is Dembys?”
“Lad, don’t you know any of the old stories?”
“Briok turned back to Pit, “Yes of course I know many of the old stories, but I don’t remember any involving the translator stones.”
Pit chuckled, “So you young ones don’t know everything after all. Well I’d tell you the story meself, if only I could be sure that you aren’t here to harm the girl?”
“What?” Briok screeched, as he stood, turning his wraith, on the squat elder. “Knowing you, the elders and keepers are probably bearing down on us as we sit here lazily speaking of the past. In fact this is probably just a ploy to hold us up, till they arrive.”
At first Pit’s laughter was just a tinkling bit of sound but then the old meteorite’s body began rocking back and forth, as his laughter rang out in the great cavern. “You think I’ve turned you in do you,” he hooted? “Well if that isn’t funny. No lad I’ve not turned you in. Oh aye I was thinking on it, till the wee girl here freed the translator stone, then I saw she was the one that had been prophesied would come. No one can remove a translator stone without its permission.”
Briok watched Pit and sensed that the meteorite man was telling the truth. “So you are going to help us then?”
Pit settled deeper into the warm black sand and leaned back to look Briok in the eye. “Aye I am. I have waited many lifetimes for this and I have powers that may come in useful to you on this adventure.”
“What powers are those,” Gwenth asked?
Pit turned his heavy body towards Gwenth, “Well young miss, I’m not from this land. I’m from a different world and when it broke up I traveled through space a long, long time before getting caught in this planet’s orbit and falling here. Most of my body was burned away in the fire of landing, what you see here before you is all that is left of my world, but I am a strong meteorite with many powers. It’s why I was made keeper over the well. I can repel or draw energy and use it to protect whatever I desire.”
“Wait a minute, you aren’t originally from this world,” Briok asked?
“No, I’m not and if you had another hundred years on you and done some of your studies with the Rowan, you’d know that,” Pit grumbled belligerently.
Briok hung his head in shame, but just then the walls flared up brightly and they all turned to see why. Gwenth who was still holding the translator stone felt a jolt coursing through her hand and arm, just as the energy became a hum loud enough for them all to hear. Briok and Pit turned back to look at the translator stone.
“I don’t like the looks of this,” Pit said.
Briok though he agreed kept it to himself. “Gwenth, do you have any idea of what’s happening?”
Gwenth looked from Pit to Briok and shrugged her shoulders. “No idea, but my hand is warming up and tingling. You don’t think, it will burn me do you,” she asked nervously?
“I’ve seen this before,” Pit said excitedly. “Long ago there was a visitor that came by way of the journeying cave and he also could bring the walls to life. He left and the caverns haven’t lit up like this since then.”
“Be still young ones,” the translator stone said. “My people are talking over great distances, gathering important news, from one who has duties in a faraway time. I will not harm you child, you can be sure of that. There is trouble in that land that affects us here and could turn the tide against us, but the piece of us that is there is very strong and will do what it can. Please sprinkle some of the sacred water on me so that my people might restore themselves. The work we do now is wearing even on our great strength.”
Briok retrieved the water flask and carefully poured out several drops onto the crystal lying on Gwenth’s palm. “How is it you are connected to another, even with such distance between you,” he asked?
“Ah, Master Briok, the water is satisfying. We thank you, for your generosity. Our mind is one and our body is one, even when we work away from the bulk of ourselves we are connected still. By the way, I am sorry that you will not complete your awakening tonight, but do not fear you will still awaken but it will come by a different means. We would advise you when the time comes, do not fear, for though at the time it may seem all is lost, those who don’t give up hope often succeed in the end.”
Briok had just settled himself in the warm sand and was tipping the flask into his own mouth, but when he heard what the crystal said, he sputtered, nearly choking on the water. “What do you mean I will not complete my awakening? I must complete it. I need the powers that come with true adulthood. It is the only way to survive all this.” He angrily wiped the water from his skin.
Gwenth went and sat down next to Briok, so that he and the stone could communicate more easily.
“Holy one, how can you know such things that have not come to pass yet? Even our elders must spend much time trying to unravel time and it seems for you it is an easy thing.”
“Briok you are correct, it is an easy thing because I just allow myself to be in all time at once, not just the present or looking back at the past, but truly be in present, past, and future as easily as you breathe air. Can you tell me how you know to breathe each time?”
Briok considered the stone’s question. “No, I cannot say how breathing works at all, just that I can do it.”
“That is our dilemma also,” the Dembys said, flaring up. “We cannot say how we live in all time, just that we do. Though I do believe it may be a skill that can be learned and someday you Briok may take it upon yourself to learn how to be in all streams of time at once, but for now you must be satisfied with my answer. Now Pit I believe trouble is on its way, don’t you?”
“Yes my lady, trouble is on its way. I can feel someone with strong energy moving down the trail from the cliff head. Should we move farther into the Rowan, do you think?”
“Nay, I think even that would not help our young hero and heroine at this juncture. Instead I suggest you and I put up an energy blockade, for I fear the Rowan’s blockade will not be enough to stop them from entering. Perhaps all together we can delay them, at least for a bit.”
“What! Someone is coming? We must leave now,” Briok said. He stood and tried to spread his wings to fly but found each wings was sore in an unusual way, so sore that he could not spread them without crying out. “Ah, what is wrong with my wings?”
“Master Briok I believe that boulder was carrying a spell, so that if the boulder didn’t out right squash you, it would at least keep you grounded,” Pit said.
“Pit is correct. I can see the spell now that I’m looking closely. It may wear off eventually, but your wings won’t be freed in time to take you out of here.”
Pit eyed the others and pulling up his legs, he rolled quickly to the crystal covered wall. “With your leave my lady, I shall touch the wall, and you may use my energy to build up a slowing spell.”
“Yes by all means Pit,” Dembys said.
Pit reached out his blocky hand and gently touched the stone wall. Instantly the room began to glow brighter, and where he touched the wall seemed to fuse directly to him. Even he began to glow a bit.
Dembys used her voice to sing out a song of slowing, which made its way outside the cavern for several feet. The wall received the same song and began to sing it outward as well. Pit’s energy magnified the spell. In an instant, the spell was set. Pit stepped away, bowing slowly first to the wall, and then turning he bowed again to the translator stone.
“You honor us, old one.”
Gwenth stood up and ran lightly across the black sand to where the staff from the Rowan lay. She picked up the staff, and picked up also the food bag and slipped the net bag of fruit over her shoulder. “I think that Briok and I should perhaps disappear for a bit, don’t you Pit?”
Suddenly the walls rang out, reverberating with a loud clanging sound.
Pit looked quickly from Gwenth to Briok. “Yes m
y lady I do believe it would help if you weren’t here when they arrive, but where will you go that they won’t follow you?”
“I was thinking home.” She smiled sheepishly.
Again the walls rang out. Then the sound came again. The clanging was growing louder with each passing moment.
“What home? Are you out of your mind? You can’t leave! You came to save Lillith!”
Gwenth turned to Briok, “We will come back, of course, when it’s safe. We might be gone only a few hours or a day at the most, but we can’t leave the cave, and we can’t stay without being caught. I think that means we have to go home. It’s the only place I might be able to get us too.”
“Might be able to get us too; Gwenth what if you can’t get us there, then what?”
“I believe I can help in that,” the Dembys’ voice, said clearly. “I have seen the energetic signature that Gwenth carries in her heart for her home, and can use that energy signature to take us there.”
“What, now you want to go too?”Briok’s fear and frustration carried through in his voice.
“Well yes it would be better for you both if I go along and then I can make the way back clear, so you don’t wonder lost on the sea of time. I’m not sure how many times the Rowan thought the staff would have to guide you.”
Another clang rang out, this time it was accompanied by a great cracking sound near the entrance. The cavern began to shake and the stalactites began to wobble dangerously overhead. The sound was now piercing, and both Gwenth and Briok cringed, covering their sensitive ears.
REALM'S END (BOOK OF FEY 1) Page 14
