The Shards

by Gary Alan Wassner

  “Have we put the fear of the First in her, do you think?” Angeline whispered hopefully.

  “I doubt she fears anything other than Colton’s retribution, sister. She wishes only not to be caught off guard again, I presume,” Tamara replied. “Hush now. She approaches. Stay close to me,” she said under her breath.

  Tamara extinguished the light, and both women crouched down low against the wall and drew their capes over them in an effort to conceal their location. She felt the scroll pressing against her body and it seemed to throb in anticipation. In response, Tamara quietly slid it out of its case and placed it in the nearest hollow in the wall where her hand had just been only moments before.

  Leaving the scroll down here might serve the same purpose as dropping it down the well in Odelot anyway. Who would ever find it in this pit? At least if we are captured Colton will gain only our lives.

  In the darkness, even Angeline could not see her movements though she was right beside her. Tamara concealed the empty case in her robe once again, and backed away from the wall a pace or so. As the noise grew louder she thought she heard a very slight grating or scraping sound coming from somewhere behind her, but it was impossible to focus upon everything at once, and she needed to concentrate upon the descending enemy. She scanned the surfaces once again with her mind, but it was hard to find anything that responded to her touch.

  What can these holes be for? she wondered, as her awareness continued to brush over them.

  She probed the one nearest them as deeply as she could, but her examination yielded nothing, so she shifted her attention to what she hoped would be more productive. Tamara focused her thoughts upon her friend and herself, seeking only to conceal their position, but she really did not know what to do. Her experience was so limited, despite the fact that her power was strong. The only things that responded to her manipulations were the dust and debris that covered the soft surface, and they served only to make her want to sneeze as they rose from the ground in small swirls and zephyrs.

  Suddenly an image of a woman whom she did not recognize appeared in her head, and an idea came to her almost simultaneous with the appearance of the vision. She manipulated the flurry of dust until it coagulated into a domed shaped, rock-like substance. Though it looked heavy, it was as light as the eddies of dust, and she willed it to settle down around them with its broadest side resting flat against the cavern wall. It was not perfect, but it served its purpose. They were now concealed from the enemy to some extent. Margot would see through the ruse eventually, but it would give them a little more time to think and plan.

  Whose face was that I saw. She looked so sweet, but so full of anguish. Was it she who planted this idea for a shelter in my mind?

  Tamara had not another moment to wonder, for as soon as the rock surface settled around them, so did the enemy. She could hear movement outside of the covering and both she and Angeline held their breaths so as not to make the slightest sound. The noises were muffled by the overlay, but sounds could still be heard nonetheless.

  “Sweep the area!” Margot ordered. “They must be here somewhere. There is no place for them to go!”

  The sisters could feel the surface pounding with the footsteps of those who accompanied Margot. It was no small number that had descended with her in order to find them.

  “Whoever finds them will have the privilege of killing them!” they heard her shout.

  Tamara was tiring from the effort of maintaining the illusion that was protecting them. She knew that she could not keep them hidden forever. Fortunately, there were many rocks strewn all around and the one she had created looked no different than any of the others. The odds of them discovering this one were slim, and they had not even begun to suspect the deception yet. They would search the chamber from top to bottom first, and then maybe consider the other options. Nevertheless, they could not remain hidden here indefinitely, and the prospect of Margot giving up before she found them was not likely.

  Angeline tapped Tamara softly on the shoulder and tried to get her attention without making her lose her concentration, but she was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she ignored her completely. After another attempt and another rebuff from Tamara, Angeline grew more persistent.

  “Sister!” she whispered. “I have something to tell you. You must listen to me.”

  “Hush now, Angeline. It must wait. I cannot waver in my attention to what I am doing,” she replied, and she continued her focus upon the shield and the enemy.

  “It cannot wait,” Angeline said, and with both hands she physically turned Tamara’s head toward her.

  Tamara gasped as she found herself gazing into the eyes of a being, the likes of which she had never seen before. It took all of her strength to not drop the shield completely and expose them all to the enemy. Behind the glowing, bulbous eyes of this odd looking creature was a tunnel that seemed to wind endlessly outward from the cavern.

  In a high pitched though tender voice, the creature spoke, “Come! Quickly!” It beckoned for them to follow it, and it reached out one incredibly thin and almost opalescent arm to Angeline and another to Tamara. The tips of its exceedingly long, knobby fingers ended in round suction cups, and Tamara felt one adhere to her skin upon contact. “You have nothing to fear,” it said in a sweet, convincing though very strange voice. “It is the others who should beware,” it continued, though this time the tone of voice was totally different than just a moment before, and frighteningly malevolent. The creature was as tall as they were, though much, much thinner. Its clothing fit it so close to its pale skin, with the exception of a colorless, filament-like flapping cape, that it could have been wearing nothing at all, and even so, it was almost amorphous to their eyes.

  In a bit less light, it would be practically invisible, Tamara thought in wonder.

  As they shuffled their way to the opening in the wall, half bent over and half on their knees, Tamara remembered the scroll.

  “I must go back for a moment!” she said, and she tried to pull her arm away from the visitor’s grasp.

  In her anxiousness to regain the parchment, she relinquished her focus and the rock surface that still concealed them began quickly to dissolve into dust once again.

  “Oh!” she gasped as she realized their hiding place had rapidly crumbled around them. Before she had a chance to attempt anything more, the strange creature pulled her sharply into the gaping hole.

  She struggled against it but it was extraordinarily strong, and the suction was impossible to break. Headlong, both she and Angeline were hauled through the space. As soon as they stepped off of the spongy surface and onto the stone floor of this newly exposed tunnel, the chimera that had hidden them in the cavern disappeared completely. Margot spun toward them and caught Tamara’s eye with her own vicious gaze a scant moment before the sister vanished into the darkness beyond. Instantly, Margot charged after them, maddened by the realization that she had been fooled once again. But, before she could take even three steps, dozens of round, shiny shafts shot out from the holes in the cavern walls at an amazingly high speed, the ends of which were sharpened to fine points and glistened menacingly. They extended from one side of the chamber all the way to the other, and instantly thrust themselves neatly into the holes on the opposite sides.

  “Jump!” Margot yelled when she saw what was happening. Deftly, she leapt and grabbed a root sticking out of the wall above her head, thus saving herself from being savagely impaled on the end of one of these deadly beams. Her troops were not as quick as she was, nor were they as agile or as lucky. At least ten of the ponderous ogres were skewered like pigs on spits by the thrusting rods. The remaining seven escaped this initial attack only to find themselves trapped beneath the bars upon all fours as if they were behind a prison gate. They were crouched down awkwardly under this impenetrable maze of obstacles, and to add to their predicament, the spongy surface cover beneath their heavy feet was giving way rapidly around them, rising over their thick ankles and coating t
heir legs as their great weight drew them deeper and deeper into it. They growled and grunted loudly and thrashed around, banging frenziedly on the obstructions above them.

  Margot was furious. She screamed at her men to break the bars, but they could barely budge them no matter how hard they tried. She hurled yellow fire at the rods, but it only served to ignite the soft, pulpy matter beneath them. Rapidly, the fire spread, and it sent a caustic, green smoke upward toward the angry woman perched precariously above it. The ogres screamed in fear and pain as the fire gained in intensity all around them. In the limited space within which they were trapped, they could barely reach to their own feet in order to snuff out the mounting flames. The sounds that Tamara and Angeline heard from within the safety of their newly found shelter were monstrous and gruesome.

  Without another thought for her troops trapped below, Margot raised her free arm and began to ascend toward the surface above. Thwarted once again, she sought to abandon this failed gambit as quickly as she could, and well before the smoke engulfed her as well. The sounds of the ogres burning to death in their prison below did not bother her in the least. Her only concern was for her own escape and for the reaction this failure would engender in Colton, her unforgiving master. She had no grief for the dead and dying that she left behind in her haste to escape. She barely heard their ghastly cries as she rose out of the pit. Her thoughts were immediately consumed by an overwhelming dread at the prospect of facing the Dark Lord once more.

  Tamara leaned close to Angeline’s ear and whispered, “I left the scroll in one of those holes that the posts came out of.”

  “Oh my!” Angeline replied, coveringt her mouth with her hand. “Why did you do that? What are we to do now?”

  “I thought it would be better if we were not captured with it in our possession. When this creature appeared, I had no time to retrieve it,” she replied.

  “Maybe it will burn up in the fire,” Angeline said.

  “Our instructions were to drop it in the well at the world’s end,” Tamara said.

  “Do you think it will matter? It will be destroyed either way.”

  “I thought that before when I placed it there. It seemed the better alternative than to have it make its way back to Colton if it was discovered on me. But now I do not feel quite the same about it,” Tamara replied.

  The strange creature was leading them carefully down a dark passage. They were so relieved to have escaped Margot once again that they barely considered where they were going and who was leading them. He or she, they could not tell for certain, was not listening to their conversation and seemed to have little interest in anything other than getting to where it wanted to go.

  “I must go back, Angeline,” she said. “I cannot leave without knowing what has happened to the map. It was my responsibility.”

  “The place is in flames! Besides, the smoke itself would disable you before you even got there. I can smell it from here and my eyes are burning. Maybe you can go back later after the fires the out.”

  Tamara considered her options.

  “Do you think it is safe to follow him?” Angeline asked.

  “He saved us for certain,” she replied. “Besides, I get a good feeling from him. Do you have a name?” Tamara said to their host. “Mine is Tamara, and this is Angeline,” she said, pointing to the other sister. “We did not mean to trespass,” she explained before it even had a chance to answer. “Where are you taking us?”

  The creature turned its face toward Tamara, and its eyes were so deep in color and so lovely that a smile crossed her face unbidden.

  “I am Etuah. I am taking you to our home,” it replied softly.

  “Are there others of you down here?” Tamara asked.

  “Many.”

  “Do your people have a name?” she continued.

  “We are the Drue.”

  “Drue? I have not heard of you. You are quite different from us in appearance,” she said.

  “As we expected.”

  “You knew we were coming?” Tamara responded, surprised.

  “The moment you entered the hills, we followed you. Your charge is a crucial one. Our assistance was necessary.”

  Tamara and Angeline looked at each other in shock. The last thing that they expected to hear was that their fall into this horrid pit was anticipated by anyone. What if they had not survived the initial plunge? What if Margot had captured them before Etuah rescued them? So many things could have happened. Besides, Etuah knew why they were traveling in the first place. Who could possibly have given this creature that information?

  “Are you friends of the trees?” Tamara asked boldly.

  “Friends? Yes, in a manner of speaking we are friends. We maintain the hollows.”

  “The hollows?” Angeline asked. “What are the hollows?”

  “The spaces that they have abandoned after the shards have been removed.”

  “Shards?” Tamara repeated. These words were unfamiliar to her, and she was becoming more and more confused by the moment. It also disturbed her that Etuah did not proclaim her allegiance to the Lalas when she had the opportunity. “You speak of things that I do not understand. But do you not revere the trees nonetheless?”

  “Revere? Most certainly!” she replied as if the question itself need not even have been asked. “You have much to learn, sister. But first, we must reach our destination. We are almost there,” it said sweetly.

  “May I ask you one more question?” Tamara reluctantly found the courage to say.

  “Certainly.”

  “I do not wish to offend you in any way. You have been so helpful to us. The First knows what would have happened to us had you not arrived when you did and had that chamber not been equipped as it was.” She hesitated again.

  “I am a female, if that is what you were wondering,” she replied nonchalantly.

  “How did you guess?” Tamara asked.

  “Female intuition,” she said, and they all laughed heartily.

  It felt like a tiel has passed since they had smiled, let alone laughed out loud, and this moment served to break the ice between them all. Etuah’s large mouth and thin lips opened nearly as wide as her entire face as she continued to chuckle, and her suction tipped fingers grasped the two sisters more tightly and tenderly than before. With her free hand, Tamara reached forward and squeezed Etuah’s incredibly thin arm in response.

  “Thank you, Etuah,” she said earnestly as the Drue led them further into the depths of the mountain.

  “It was my pleasure,” she replied. Etuah reached behind her and grasped the unusual cape that now hung limply at her back. She seemed to wring it in her hand as if she was squeezing liquid out of a rag. Something fell upon the ground at her coaxing and she lifted it up and handed it to Tamara. “I retrieved it before the conflagration,” Etuah said.

  “The map!” Tamara and Angeline cried at once.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Is there more you can tell us father, about this beast of legend?” Beolan asked his father, King Bristar.

  Beolan, Bristar and Maringar sat around a beautiful table of polished Noban that had been gifted to them many tiels ago by his brother, King Treestar. Alongside of Bristar sat his wife, Queen Aliya, an elf whose beauty rivaled that of Queen Elsinestra herself, though it was quite different to gaze upon. Her hair was strawberry blonde, streaked with a silvery white, and it hung nearly to the ground behind her in a thick, woven braid. She was rather diminutive in stature, though she did not give the appearance that she was frail in any way. Her eyes, uncharacteristic for an elf, were green and they sparkled and shone against her whiter than white skin. Aliya’s gown was made of a pale white silk, woven with silver threads, and it draped her body loosely. It was cinched at her midsection by a solid braid of silver. Her waist was so small that it appeared as if a single one of her husband’s hands could have encircled it entirely.

  Other than these four, the room was empty. After having spent the previous evening acquaintin
g their guest with the marvels of Crispen late into the night and then relaxing as best they could, they each met the new dawn with a sober and dedicated demeanor, and they each arrived here as planned, exactly at the appointed hour. Beolan closed the door and set the seals at his father’s request after they had all entered. Bristar did not feel it was prudent to alarm the people of Crispen with rumors and tales about the beast yet. It would do no good for the citizens to lose sleep over something that they could do no more than anguish over at this point, so they talked until the moon was high in the evening sky and gave the citizens the impression that they were relaxed and confident.

  “So much is changing all around us. Monsters of legend return to plague and torment us. The Lalas die and we cannot understand why. What is even more disconcerting is that they provide us with no explanation of their own,” the King began, finally able to express his true concerns behind these closed doors.

  Bristar reached out and grasped his wife’s tiny palm in his own before continuing. He was sadder than usual, and his normally confident voice was slightly weaker and less robust in tone. Aliya noticed it immediately, and she looked at him with consternation marring her delicate features. No one else interrupted the King as he spoke. They waited patiently for the older man to complete his thoughts.

  “The races have united,” Bristar said, and he tipped his head to Maringar who acknowledged the comment by saluting him with a hand upon his heart. “And, furthermore, my brothers and I have overcome the obstacles that kept us from recognizing our mutual interests for so long. Our kingdoms are now open to one another, and we welcome any and all advice and assistance. Colton has made many attempts to thwart us, and we must harbor no illusions that his setbacks of late will deter him from continuing his efforts to destroy us. But, for all that has occurred, for all that has been lost, much has also been gained. The heir is awake! And he has a twin whose impact upon the fabric of our lives has already been significant. We can assume that in time his influence will grow concurrent with his power. On the other hand, Premoran’s fate is as yet unknown. As the last of his kind, the last of the guardians, his loss, should that be the case, will be significant to us all.”