“What of the Possessed?” Alemar asked.
“Outside of Sedahar they can exert themselves. Within the boundaries of this horrid place, no power is effective except his own unless he so wills it,” the Weloh replied.
“Lucky for us, I guess,” Giles said.
Alemar spurred her mount forward and left the custody of her friends in order to ride beside Teetoo for a while.
“Can it be…” she asked, “…that he has left Premoran unguarded?”
“Anything is possible, Princess. We will not know how he keeps him captive until the moment we find him. What we do know is that he is alive and that he is a prisoner.”
“It is hard to imagine that a Lalas once grew somewhere near here. It all looks so hopeless.”
“And when one dies, what emotions are evoked?” Teetoo asked.
“Hopelessness,” Alemar replied immediately. “Does that mean we are nearing where it once was?”
“Perhaps, Princess. All here is hopeless beyond measure. We must examine the map closely for the signs if we are to find the opening,” Teetoo said and he turned his sharp eyes upon the ancient map. “There are symbols of power upon it. We will not be able to find anything that remains from before, so we must find the locus of this power if we wish to find the entrance.”
“Do you think that Premoran can sense the bracelet that you wear?”
“I do not know, Alemar. If he can, then he will know already that we approach. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing, I cannot determine.”
“Hush, you two!” Clovis admonished them as he rode to catch up. “Something is afoot. I see movement ahead.”
An eddy of dust rose in the distance and they all stopped advancing in order to try and determine its origin.
“Another!” Teetoo pointed to the left of the first one they spotted.
“And yet another!” Alemar remarked.
“What are they?” Giles asked.
They stared at the puffs and swirls, and before their very eyes the shapeless mists began to coagulate into hideous forms.
“What do you see?” Teetoo asked Alemar in a strange tone of voice.
The Princess stared ahead and tears flooded her eyes.
“I see my brother,” she replied. “He is in agony. I must help him!”
“And you, Clovis? What do you see there ahead?” and he pointed to the same swirling fog that Alemar had just described.
“My mother! She crying out to me. Can you not hear her too? She calls my name,” he said pleadingly.
Alemar restrained him with her hand as she quickly realized that it was a chimera that she saw. Kalon was dead. She forced the sorrow away and focused upon her companions.
“Hold, Clovis. Abide with me. What you see is not real,” she reassured him.
While she comforted Clovis, Giles leapt forward on his horse before she had a chance to detain him.
“Ariel? Is that you?” Giles asked as he swiftly broke away from the group. “Can it be you?”
“Stop, Giles!” Teetoo ordered him while reaching out with lightning speed and grasping the reins of his horse out of his hands.
“I must go to her! She needs me!” he replied and he tried to snap the leather straps away from the Weloh.
“It is illusion, Giles. There is nothing there! Take hold of yourself!” Teetoo said. “All of you! Listen to me! We have crossed into Sedahar. Nothing is real. Come closer to me!” Teetoo ordered them and he raised both of his graceful arms. “Take hold of me. Touch me!” he instructed them. “The power of the bracelet will help you to see through this deception.”
Alemar was the first to obey. She sidled up next to the Weloh and placed her palm atop his right forearm.
“Dust!” she exclaimed. “It is no more than a cloud of dust!”
Clovis followed suit immediately after and he too took hold of Teetoo’s extended arm, but Giles was too captivated by the semblance of his young lover to break free of the compelling urge to touch her. He walked forward in a daze.
“Giles, no!” Alemar shouted.
He turned his face to the Princess briefly, but the look upon it was confused and uncomprehending.
“She is dead, Giles!” Clovis yelled. “It is not Ariel that you see!”
“Ariel?” Giles said again, and he ignored his friends. “I am coming, Ariel.”
“Stop, Giles! Stop!” Alemar screamed.
Giles turned toward her quickly, and she saw in his eyes that he was totally lost. Without hesitating any further, she leapt forward, letting go of Teetoo’s arm. Images of painful and hurtful things appeared everywhere. Long lost friends, dead relatives and sorrowful visions began to form in the inky mists that swirled all around, but she ignored them. With determination, she reached her friend’s side, and then she quickly and tenderly took his hand in her own.
“Come, Giles. What you see is untrue. You must ignore it. Ariel is dead, Giles. She cannot be here!” Alemar said.
“Ariel? But she is there right in front of us. You see her too, don’t you? Tell me you see her too!” he pleaded.
“I see only evil and delusion, Giles,” the Princess said, as she stroked his arm.
While Alemar was gently guiding Giles away from this vile seduction, Teetoo and Clovis joined them.
“What you long for the most and can never have is what Colton wishes you to see. That is what Sedahar is about, Giles; longing and pain, illusion and disappointment,” Teetoo said. “And cruelty!”
“Come, friend!” Clovis said. “Ariel was a good and loving woman, but she is gone, Giles. What you see here will only rekindle the fire that burns your soul still.”
Giles shook his head back and forth as if he was trying to clear it.
“Concentrate, Giles. See this place for what it really is,” Alemar said.
Looking distraught and confused, he rubbed his eyes hard with the knuckles of his hands and squinted at the images before him.
“Ariel?” he said once more with a heavy heart, but even as he did so, the illusion began to fade away. He looked at the others standing beside him, and he smiled the half smile of a realization reaffirmed. “I thought for a moment it was really her,” he said dolefully. “Stupid me,” he said, and the others sighed with relief.
“The power here is strong, and your love for her must also have been exceedingly strong. Do not fault yourself. Had your love not been true, these visions would not be haunting you,” Teetoo said. “Come now. We must continue on. Though the bracelet may conceal our movements, it obviously cannot protect us from the traps that death and yearning have prepared for us.”
They walked through the visions of pain and suffering, across the barren plain that sustained no life; a precursor to dissolution. Their heads hung low from the weight of the emptiness that surrounded them. In the distance, the tower of Sedahar loomed, but it was still blurred and indistinct. The sky flickered and pulsed with errant energy. The air was odorless, and no matter how deeply they breathed it in, it did not refresh them nor satisfy their need. They found themselves constantly gasping for more. It seemed almost as if they had entered a tomb that had never been breached before, and they felt as if they were being violated with each step that they took.
“What shall we do with the horses?” Clovis asked. “We cannot leave them outside once we find the entrance,” he said.
“What choice have we?” Giles asked. “They can forage here whilst we find Premoran.”
“There is nothing here for them to forage,” Teetoo commented. “We must direct them back toward the woods.”
“They will understand,” Alemar said. “I will send them on their way when the time comes.”
“How will we return then if they are not here for us when we come back?” Giles questioned. “After we free the old man it will be hard for us to hide.”
“They will not survive here anyway even if we bade them stay. Besides, once we have left them, the bracelet will no longer keep their presence secret. Not only will they gi
ve us away if they remain outside the gates, but they will surely meet an even swifter demise,” Teetoo said.
“Their chances are best if we let them try to return to the forest,” Alemar agreed.
“We are almost there. Do you see the symbol glowing more brightly?” the Weloh asked, and he held the map up before them.
They all looked ahead at the massive white tower that still seemed so unclear and ill-defined. It seemed enormous, far larger than they had ever imagined, and it looked so impregnable and daunting from their vantage point. The walls were sheer and smooth, and no windows interrupted the imposing surfaces. It was a forbidding place and it nearly sucked what little breath they still had remaining within them out of their tired lungs.
“Over there!” Teetoo shouted. “There is a mark upon the ground,” he said, while pointing to the right of them. He folded the parchment and carefully put it inside the folds of his clothing. “We will need this once we descend,” he said to Alemar.
She nodded to him and strained her eyes in order to see what he was referring to.
“The place that is not blurry? Yes, I see it. It is all that I can see clearly,” Alemar said.
“Follow me,” Teetoo instructed them, and he dismounted from his horse. “Send them away now, Princess. Firstspeed!” Teetoo said as he handed his reins to Alemar who had already slid gracefully from her saddle.
Alemar spoke into the ear of her horse and it whinnied in response. She removed its bridle and saddle and motioned to the others to do the same. Then she carefully took them from Teetoo’s mount as well.
“Bury these as best you can,” she said to Giles and Clovis.
She whispered to each of the animals. They looked as if they understood while pawing the ground expectantly.
“Go now!” she said aloud. “Stop for no one or nothing!”
The horses bolted off in the direction that they had come, raising clouds of dust and debris behind them as they ran.
“Will they be safe?” she asked Teetoo.
“We can only hope,” the Weloh replied. “But we have no time to worry about them now. That is most definitely the entrance,” he said as he pointed ahead. “Follow me quickly. If the horses are noticed, it will not be hard to trace their movements back to us.”
They all ran behind Teetoo for the one patch of clarity that distinguished itself in the distance, as the sky above churned and seethed violently. They could see the hole in the surface of the earth. It was difficult to tell which seemed more menacing to them; the tower of Sedahar or the passage that led beneath it.
“Brace yourselves!” he warned as they approached. “The instant you step down into one of the Forbidden Places you will feel like you have never felt before! Are you ready?” he asked.
They nodded in response.
“Go then, Alemar. Enter!” he said to her.
She immediately descended and disappeared into the darkness below. Giles followed quickly, not wanting to leave Alemar alone for even a moment, and Clovis scrambled down behind him. Teetoo scanned the horizon for one final moment with a sad and faraway look in his eyes. He took a deep breath that rippled across his slender back, and then he stepped deliberately into the gaping orifice.
Chapter Thirty-five
The snow was still falling and the air was so cold that they had to cover their noses and mouths to stop the moisture in their breath from freezing as they exhaled. They had draped their horses in heavy blankets and made sure that they rested them as often as necessary so that they would not collapse from hypothermia. Thick puffs of cloudy air blew from the horses nostrils in rhythmic bursts. They stopped frequently and warmed a few cups of water over a small flame. Then they drank it slowly and deliberately while letting the animals partake of it as well.
“It is unbearably cold!” Conrad said, as he rubbed his gloved hands together briskly. “I cannot remember a time when this waterway froze over completely like this,” he said, indicating the rocky terrain ahead. “The falls always kept the water flowing no matter what the temperature.”
“Save your breath, father,” Caroline said. “If we cannot find shelter soon, we will need all the body heat we have.”
“We have not come this far to die of exposure!” Dalloway said. “We will find a place to rest,” he said, gritting his teeth.
They rode in silence for another hour or so, hoping that the sun would break free of the dense clouds that obscured it. Soon, it would be setting altogether and then they would really feel the worst of the cold, particularly as the evening winds began to sweep across the riverbed.
“Look, Caroline!” her father shouted, and he shattered the silence with his exclamation. “Is that not a footprint?”
“By the First, it is!” Dalloway said.
“It is a fresh one too,” Caroline said.
“What type of animal left it?” Conrad asked.
“A cat of some kind I think, by the looks of it,” she replied. “That would be good, Father. The cats speak more clearly than some of the less intelligent beasts.”
“Should we follow the prints then?” Dalloway asked excitedly.
“We do not want to scare it further away, though it could barely hear us coming in this storm. The cold will dull its senses. Besides, our smell will not travel on this wind,” Caroline said.
“I hope those paw prints are not just frozen in the ice and the feline is long gone by now,” Dalloway said.
“No. The snow would have covered them if they had been here for more than a few minutes. It has been falling unflaggingly for a while now,” Caroline observed. “The animal must be nearby. I will try to find it,” she said, and she urged her tired horse forward by whispering in his ear.
“Do not stray too far, daughter. If you get lost in this storm, we may never find you again!” Conrad warned.
“Rest the horses for a moment then. I will find my way back if you do not move,” she said to them and then she disappeared under the cloaking snow before either of them could respond.
“Be careful!” Conrad shouted into the blowing flakes, but his voice was swallowed up by the blistering wind and muffled by the blowing snow.
The two men dismounted and laid a heavy blanket upon the cold, cold ground. Dalloway pulled a pouch from his saddle bag, untied the strings and sprinkled a small amount of a fine powder around the edges of the cloth. It glowed subtly in the gloom of the afternoon and quickly generated enough heat to melt a small amount of snow on either side of it. The two thirsty travelers greedily scooped up the warm water and sucked it from their cupped hands. Dalloway filled a small flask with more of it and walked to the horses so that they could partake as well. As quickly as he could, he returned to the blanket and languished in the little bit of warmth that the particles he distributed were generating.
“Enjoy it whilst you can,” he said to Conrad, who had joined him on the blanket. “It will not last for long before this abominable cold extinguishes it.”
“I hope Caroline does not chase that bloody cat too far. It will be darned difficult for her to find us in this storm if she loses her way.”
“She will find us. Our thoughts travel despite the coldness,” Dalloway said confidently.
“Yes, I suppose she will. But the First knows what else she may encounter out there! These parts are uncharted and I have a very bad feeling about them,” Conrad shivered.
“I think she is safe for the time being. What would be out and about in this storm anyway?”
“That is exactly what I am a feared of,” Conrad replied.
As if his worries had come to life by virtue of his words, a startling wail shattered the monotony of the storm’s cadence. Both men jumped to their feet and drew their weapons, though they could see but a few feet into the blowing storm.
“Caroline?” Conrad shouted. “Are you near?”
“Your voice will not penetrate the denseness. Waste not your breath. She will return,” Dalloway said in a calming voice.
“What was that, do
you think?” he asked the elf.
“An animal lost to the storm, I hope.”
“‘Twas not the cat whose prints we saw here. It must be larger than that for us to have heard its scream,” Conrad said.
“Aye. So it must.”
They stood vigilantly, but there was nothing they could do. They could not leave the spot that they agreed to meet at, and neither of them would fare better than Caroline if only one of them ventured out to find her. The minutes felt like hours as they waited.
“There it goes again!” Dalloway said. “Did it sound further away to you?”
“Yes. Maybe it is lost too. Just as long as it does not find Caroline before she finds it!”
“I doubt it could take her by surprise, Conrad,” Dalloway reassured.
The wind was blowing harder now and the snow rose in gusting spirals everywhere. They could barely see their horses who stood only a few feet from them.
“We had best hold onto their reins, or we may lose them,” Dalloway shouted over the mounting clamor of the storm.
He stepped off of the blanket and reached for the leather straps that were by then standing almost straight out from the side of his horse, having gotten caught in the blowing wind. Conrad did the same, but with their weight no longer securing the cloth that they had been standing upon, the wind lifted it and carried it away before either of them could reclaim it. The phosphorescent particles sparkled and died, their light and warmth snuffed out quickly under the new snow, and they found themselves standing beside one another and struggling to maintain their own footing.
“We will miss that blanket!” the elf yelled.
“My thoughts are on my daughter, Dalloway, not some bloody blanket!” Conrad replied.
As if she heard him, at that very moment Caroline came bounding through the blowing snow and nearly crashed into the men and their animals.
“Thank the First!” Conrad yelled.
“Follow me! Quickly!” Caroline shouted at them without another word. She turned her mount abruptly and waited anxiously. Once they had jumped into their saddles she leapt away and they bolted off after her without waiting for an explanation.
The Shards Page 38
