The Vault of Kings

by Matt Taylor

  “One slice of herb and cheese bread coming up.” She said, turning around and heading towards the back section of the store. She returned a few moments later with a small slice of bread on a flat silver plate. As she handed the plate to Torren, he made sure brush his fingers against hers as he grabbed the plate from her hands, a move he had used many times before. She blushed and looked at the floor after handing him the plate, “I hope you like it.”

  Usually, Torren wasn’t super into shy girls, but she was really cute when she was shy. He sent her his devilish smile, then placed the piece of bread in his mouth. His taste buds instantly rejoiced, as if the heavens had opened up and sent all of their goodness straight into his mouth. The warm cheese melted in his mouth, sending pure happiness into his brain. The herbs gave the bread a slight bitter taste that complimented the cheese beautifully. The bread was soft and chewy and a delight to consume. Torren stared at her as he chewed the food until he gladly swallowed it, realizing that it had been the most fantastic thing he had ever eaten.

  “That was… incredible…” He said softly. “That was so good!” Louder this time. “Did you make that yourself? It’s so amazing, you have to tell me how you did it!”

  She smiled again and brushed her hair behind her ear as she spoke. “Thank you, it’s my father’s bakery, so he usually makes all of the recipes, but yeah, this one is one that I made. I’m glad you liked it.”

  “Liked it? I loved it! It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever eaten to be completely honest.” He said, then paused for a moment and waited for her to look back up at him.

  As her dark brown eyes met his, he continued in a slightly softer tone. “So hey, what time do you guys usually close up shop? Maybe after you’re done working you could show me around the city a bit? I’m new here, and would love to see more of Gelendor before we have to leave, what do you say?”

  She bit her bottom lip, her cheeks turning bright red as she spoke. “We close about an hour before sunset usually. I don’t know if we would have very much time to see the city.”

  A bit of a fight, hu? Torren thought to himself smugly. Good, I like it when I have to work for it.

  “Hmmm…” He said thoughtfully. “What if you were able to get off a bit early? Then we would have plenty of time to see the city.

  “I don’t know.” She replied, her cheeks still blushing. “I’ve never asked to get off early before… My father might not like the idea.”

  “What if you told him you were doing a great service to a guy that was desperately wanting to see more of the great city of Gelendor before he had to leave? You could tell him that you are just doing it to be nice and that it would really mean a lot to him.”

  She thought for a moment, then looked at the floor as she pulled her hair behind her ear again. “I guess I could ask him… We weren’t very busy last night, so he might let me leave a little early.”

  Now to set the hook, he thought. “If you can’t, then it’s fine, I guess. I can get someone else to show me around if you are going to be too busy. I just don’t know how much longer I’m actually going to be here.”

  Looking up off the floor, she quickly responded with a, “no, it’s okay. I think he will be fine with it actually. I would love to show you around.”

  Torren grinned, “Awesome, that sounds great. So, what time should I meet you? And where?”

  She paused for a moment, then asked, “Have you seen the fountain that’s next to the tree that leads to this part of the second level?”

  Torren thought about the tree with the stairs that he had climbed to get here. He didn’t give it too much attention but definitely remembered seeing one.

  “Yeah, I think so. It has streams of water spraying out of the top right?” He asked.

  “Yeah,” she responded, “the fountain sprays one additional stream of water into the air for each hour that has passed since sunrise, starting at one and going up to six when it’s midday. As soon as it has been spraying all six for one hour, it goes back down, one at each hour, until there are none spraying anymore.”

  “So, when the sun rises, the fountain sprays one stream. Then each hour, an additional one starts spraying?” He asked.

  “Yep, then as soon as they are all full, it will go backward until there aren’t any spraying anymore.”

  “How does the fountain know when the sun has come up?” He asked, genuinely curious.

  “I’m not entirely sure.” She responded. “I just know that it was built long ago using Magick, and that’s what the city has gone by for basically forever. It’s a way we keep track of time, and when shops need to be opened and closed. They are placed at many different key points of the city so that people can easily see them.”

  “Alright, cool. So meet by the fountain then?” Torren asked.

  “Yes, meet me by that fountain when there are only two streams of water left spraying, that should be about four hours from now.”

  “Perfect, sounds like a date.” He said, giving her another warm smile.

  She blushed again, tucking her hair once more behind her ear. “Is there anything else I can get for you today?”

  “I think I’m good for now, just one thing… I don’t know your name.”

  “Ahrina, but you can call me Ahri if you want.”

  “Ahri, that’s a pretty name. My name is Torren.” He said, sticking out his hand. She placed her hand in his, which he raised up to his lips, giving her a soft kiss on the back of the hand. Her hand was soft and warm to the touch like most girls’ hands were, but hers was different. Sparks were sent into his head as he kissed her hand, making his heart beat faster than normal.

  “It was nice to meet you, Ahri. I look forward to our date tonight.”

  “Nice to meet you too, Torren. I also look forward to it.”

  He let go of her hand and walked towards the door to the bakery. He turned back one last time and gave a kind wave which she happily returned.

  Stepping out of the door and away from the bakery, Torren pumped his fist and let out a whispered but enthusiastic “Yes!”

  Sylas and Samara both gave Torren a hard time when they all returned to the tavern that night. Samara had been out exploring the waterfalls around the Great Tree they had talked to Nydria in, and Sylas had spent most of the day with Sky on the second and third levels of the city. He mentioned it looked like there were some spots he saw that even went to a fourth level, but he couldn’t find any way to get up there.

  Torren spent the remainder of his day pacing back and forth, taking walks to the fountain he was going to meet Ahri at, and looking at himself in the mirror. After looking in the mirror for about the hundredth time, he came to the unfortunate conclusion that he didn’t look as amazing as he always thought he did.

  Something about this girl was different than any other girl that he had been out with before; it made him nervous, made him lose his cool. He was used to being confident and having them be head over heels for him. Ahri seemed to like him, at least that’s what he thought and hoped the signals showed when he was in the bakery. Still, something about her made him nervous. Was it just how pretty she was? Was it that she made that fantastic bread? Was there a love potion in the bread? Can Magick make you fall in love? Questions continued to swim through his head as he stood up out of his chair.

  “Torren, you really need to calm down, she’s going to see how nervous you are, and she won’t want to go out with you again,” Samara said, taking another bite of stew.

  Goede and Uthren had joined the three of them for dinner at the tavern, and although the stew smelled delicious, Torren just couldn’t get his stomach to cooperate with him, and he didn’t touch much of his food.

  “You don’t strike me as a boy who gets this nervous about going on a date,” Uthren said, placing a spoonful of stew into his mouth. “She must really be something else to get you all twitterpated like this.”

  “I’m not like this, ever! It’s making me go crazy, I don’t know what’s wrong wit
h me. Something is up… Geode!” Torren pointed a finger towards him as if accusing him of something. “Is there such thing as Magick that makes someone fall in love with you? I think she could have put some in the bread… or maybe she did it before then, and I just didn’t notice... well? Is there?”

  Geode took another bite of stew then placed his spoon on the table. “Even if there were such a spell, I doubt that you would be able to enchant it into a slice of bread. Magick needs more precious and durable items to be bound in. Bread just wouldn’t cut it.”

  Torren sat back down in his chair and took in a deep breath. He looked out the window and noticed that the position of the sun had dropped some since he last looked. “I think it’s about time.” He said, standing up again, “I’d better get going. Sylas, how do I look?”

  “Besides the massive stain on your shirt, you look fine.”

  Torren gasped and looked down at his shirt. He didn’t see anything there and looked back at Sylas for help, only to find him choking in laughter on a piece of meat he had just placed in his mouth.”

  Torren scowled, “Don’t die, buddy. You wouldn’t want to go out on a note like that.” He said, patting Sylas on the back a bit harder than he needed to.

  “Whatever, I’m going. I’ll be fine, I just need to be cool, smooth, just be me.”

  He headed towards the door with a nervous energy in his step. He heard Samara say something but mentally blocked out the words, he knew that she was just saying something to make him more nervous.

  Torren took in several deep breaths as he walked towards the fountain. He placed a sweaty palm over his rapidly beating heart and focused on inhaling and exhaling. His heart began to slow down as he cleared his mind and focused on the breathing exercise.

  He turned around a corner and noticed a large flowerpot full of yellow and purple flowers. Assuring himself that the owner wouldn’t mind if he had just one of them, Torren picked one of the larger purple flowers and held it to his nose. It smelled sweet and reminded him of the flowers that his father used to bring home for his mother, which always sat on the dining room table as they ate.

  He continued walking until the fountain came into view. He was just a bit early, there were two streams of water flowing upwards into the air before gravity pulled it back into an arching waterfall into a lower basin, as well as one smaller stream of water that just barely had enough pressure to push it about a handsbreadth into the air before it fell. Judging by the smaller of the streams, he guessed that he was only a couple of minutes early and sat down on the edge of the fountain to wait. He watched as the third stream of water got smaller and smaller until it was just a trickle of water and then heard a voice behind him.

  “Hi, Torren.”

  He spun around excitedly and saw Ahri standing several feet behind him. Her black dress flowed gently across her body, making her appear even more delicate and beautiful than before. Her dark black shoes shined slightly in the lowering sun. A silver bracelet sparkled above her nervously intertwined hands as she looked down towards Torrens feet. Her long black hair had been put up into a bun, similar to the way that Samara had hers, with the same silver emerald encrusted pin poking out of it. Torrens heart jumped as his eyes surveyed the very personage of beauty in front of him.

  “You look incredible….” He said in a slightly stunned tone. “I don’t have any fancy clothes here… so this is the best I’ve got.”

  Smiling, she looked up at him and responded, “I think you look great just as you are.”

  Torren looked at the flower in his hand, then back into her eyes, “Here, this is for you.”

  She took the flower from his hand and placed it next to her nose, closing her eyes and taking in a slow breath she smiled, “It smells lovely, thank you.”

  Torren stuck out his arm, gesturing for her to grab it, his usual confidence finally returning to him. “Well then, my lady, shall we be off? I’m excited to see whatever it is you have planned to show me tonight.”

  She looped her arm inside of his and placed her hand on his forearm. Then matching his exaggerated formality, she responded, “We shall. Let us be off.”

  It was the best night of Torren’s life. He and Ahri took a stroll through the streets admiring the natural beauty of the city, Ahri explaining to him the purpose of each building. They later went to a lake where you could ride in a small boat for two. They stopped at her favorite dessert store and had an incredible dish called Posori that Torren vowed to eat again, then just sat and talked to each other until the owner finally kicked them out at closing time.

  Ahri gained more confidence around him and started to show her true personality as well. She had a bit of a wild side that Torren absolutely loved. She almost tipped the boat over on the way back just to make a point that she was sure she was a faster swimmer than he was.

  The pinnacle of the night, though, came at the moment when Torren took her back to her house. She lived on the ground floor of the city, not too far away from the fountain where they met. Her home was very large, and Torren could tell that her family had a lot of money. He assumed that it was due to the bakery and put together that there must have been something extra special about the bakery for it to be on the second level of the city, as basically all other ordinary merchants had their stores on the ground level, while her fathers sat on the second level.

  They sat on her front porch for a long time, looking into the night and attempting to count the stars. Eventually, the time came when he needed to let her go, and he walked her up to her front door.

  “Tonight was… incredible Ahri, thank you for showing me the city. You live in an amazing place. I hope that maybe we can do this again sometime? I know I already said it, but I have to have some more of that Posori!”

  She laughed, then touched his hand, and gleefully replied, “Yes, I would like that. Thank you for asking me to show you around, I also had a wonderful time.”

  As the moment of truth approached, Torren’s heart thumped in his chest so hard that he worried Ahri might see it bouncing in his shirt. He decided that he would play it cool though, and embraced her in a hug. Her body met his, and he felt her heartbeat against his chest, matching the speed of his own.

  They embraced for several minutes, neither one of them willing to let go. Torren finally pulled away slowly, allowing his cheek to brush against hers. She looked up at him with her dark brown eyes only halfway opened and leaned in towards him, placing her lips upon his.

  Torren floated back to the Tavern. His head felt so light that it seemed to carry him back as if he were weightless. He didn’t even remember taking any of the turns or passing the landmarks he used to get back to the tavern, his body traveled there purely by instinct, while his mind danced with the memories of his newfound love. It was late into the night when he finally made it to the tavern, so he ascended the stairs as quietly as one could while being almost completely incapacitated in the brain. He opened the door to his and Sylas’s room and saw Sylas sitting up in his bed, waiting for his return.

  “So, how did it go?” He asked.

  Torren ignored his friend and plopped himself down on his bed, letting out a sigh.

  “That good huh? Well, good thing I stayed up so I could hear that.”

  Without lifting his head Torren responded in a tone that Sylas had never heard before, “I think I’m in love, Sylas… Ahri is so… I think she might be the one.”

  Surprised, Sylas leaned over his bed and looked at Torren, still laying there.

  “Don’t you think it’s a bit early to tell? I mean, you’ve only been with her for one night.”

  Torren sat up in his bed and gave Sylas a twitterpated smile, “Maybe you will understand when you’re older Sylas, sometimes you can just tell when you have found someone special. Ahri is that, she’s really special. I can’t stop thinking about her, it’s different than any way I’ve ever felt about anyone.”

  Sylas chuckled, “You’re only one year older than I am, you know. But hey, if yo
u feel like she might be the one, then I hope things continue to work out.”

  He refrained from reminding Torren that they would be leaving for Shilvrst soon; he didn’t want to break his friend’s heart on his best night ever.

  “Thanks, buddy,” Torren said smiling. “I hope so too.”

  chapter 12

  Army of the Dead

  Iwill ask you once more, Aracorn, did you find it?”

  “No, my lord. I was only able to obtain the stone, and after you did your bidding with it, I hid it away in the shadows, just as you commanded.”

  “At least you aren’t completely useless. I will need it to be in a safe place, where only you or I can retrieve it when the time is right. However, I hope you realize the fate you will face if I find out that you have not been loyal to me.”

  Maelos turned his back and peered at the map hanging on the wall in front of him. Several sharp pins with ribbons wrapped around their heads poked out of the parchment where several cities were depicted.

  “Thanks to the stone, I was able to unlock the secret of the fabled Living Darkness spell, and it’s secret will live with me and me alone for the eternities. My quest is almost complete Aracorn, soon all will bow down before me in fear. However, I’m still missing a key piece to assure my victory and immortality. A piece that you have been assigned to take care of and have continued to disappoint me with.”

  “Perhaps it really is a myth, my lord, and it truly doesn’t exist. Besides, if even you can’t find it, what are the chances someone else will?”

  A dark aura flowed around Maelos as he turned around, his hands radiating artificial darkness. An inescapable fear gripped at Aracorn as he peered into the void of darkness that had replaced the once humanoid eyes in front of him. Aracorn fell to his knees, then heard the painfully familiar and terrifying whisper that he was all too familiar with entering into his mind, “I know it exists, and for your sake, you had better find it and bring it to me before my window has passed. Otherwise, I will gladly find a use for your corpse in the front line…”