The Jewel of Nirune (The Sword of Time Book 1)

by William Smart

  “I guess he doesn’t like you!” Billy couldn’t resist saying.

  The commotion in the hall had stopped, there was a noise by the door. More fumbling with keys. Then the door slammed open. Several men ran in as Billy was dragged into a dimly lit corner, a smelly big hand over his mouth. There was no way, they were well enough hidden! His heart was pumping so hard he was sure the guard running around the room frantically looking for them must hear it as well.

  One guard stopped in front of him close enough to touch, yet he did seem to see them. The smelly man held him tightly.

  The other guards ran out yelling “He’s escaped!”

  This one seemed to look straight at them, after a moment he turned and walked away.

  When the door slammed shut the man released him and he almost fell.

  “What the hell?” Billy said “You used some kind of concealment spell right? What’s your name anyway?”

  “Ming.” The man said

  "Just-Ming?" Billy said as they scurried to the door "Don't you have like three names in this country?”

  “We must go!” Ming said, Ignoring Billy's questions.

  The slipped over to the door listening as they went. Oddly, it was unlocked. Billy's nerves were jangling. Something did not feel right. The man looked out the door, then closed it and slid the inside lock home. This was weird! Then going to a corner the man started hitting the blocks that made up the wall. There was a hollow sound on one massive block and the man pushed on that block it slid smoothly out of the way to reveal a tunnel. They bent down and began to crawl. It was a short crawl maybe ten minutes. Soon he could smell the fresh air. Then a light. They were out in a courtyard, but still in the compound.

  He was surprised at this “Why in hell would you have an escape route that didn't lead outside the compound?” He hissed. The man glared at him, but did not respond. They ran past a door and along a wall and into what must have been some kind of drain behind a bush. Someone had obviously taken the time to cut out the stones around the drain. Ming easily removed them and they crawled through to the other side and maneuvered into a street.

  “You've done this before?” Billy ventured breathlessly.

  “Ha!” Ming said, his favorite subject was himself “I am embarrassed to say.” He whispered. “Emperors sometimes do not last that long. A smart man can often outlive the most elegant emperor. It is good to prepare for...” He hesitated, trying to find the right word. “Times of need. This escape route has been here many, many years. Few know of it. I, only because once upon a time was in the service of an emperor.”

  “Ok, so you were working for the king. How is it you are here?”

  "As I said" Ming responded, "many times a servant can outlast even the mightiest emperor."

  “Uneasy is the head that wears the crown,” Billy ventured.

  "Ha, yes well put," Ming said; he was beginning to warm to this boy. "I have outlived several would be emperors they are always in some drama. I have an aunt who claims to have lived to over 100 years old she has lost track of a number of emperors rulers and governors she has outlived. One emperor's enemy is the next emperor's friend. Is it not so?"

  "Yeah well, we don't have much in the way of emperors in my culture."

  We have more like crazy megalomaniacs trying to take over the world and killing people, just because they have a different religion or color, kind of thing. A crazy guy named Hitler comes to mind, took over most of Europe I guess. It was my Dads war."

  “Oh and how long did this…Hitler last?”

  “Ha! About four years.” Billy laughed.

  “He had enemies?”

  “Yeah, about several million I guess.”

  “Odd I haven’t heard of this war?”

  “Uh yeah. I guess you wouldn’t have heard of it, seeing it's in the future…..oh crap. I mean it's a story of the future…” Billy realized he had said too much. “Darn it!” He said under his breath. How was one supposed to keep from damaging a timeline if one couldn't say three sentences without revealing something about the future? He thought.

  They had finally come to a Main Street, they could still hear the guards yelling, looking for them in the distance. They scampered across into the shadows again.

  “How far?” Billy said.

  “Not very.”

  “Then what?”

  “I am not sure. I assume you will rejoin with your friends and continue on whatever adventure you are all about,” Ming said.

  “I have no idea where they are,” Billy said.

  "Oh," Ming said. "Where were they going?"

  “I don't remember saying I had friends”

  Ming stopped and looked at him. “An interesting problem, then isn’t it? If you can’t tell me anything, I wager we'll both be lost, surely you saw some landmark.”

  "Oh, right there was some big tea house, on a bridge in the river and some kind of market.

  That's where they grabbed me.”

  "Ah, the Anshun Bridge on the river Jin. Yes, I know it well. There are many hotels in that area. But I wonder will they remain there, or go to your destination. Do you know where they were planning to go?”

  Billy really wanted to ditch this guy, but it was true, he didn't know where to go. He was completely lost.

  “Someplace called sang ching gway I guess.” Trying to shrug it off. He had no idea really where they were going, or if they would wait for him.

  Ming looked surprised “sang ching gway?”

  “Yeah, something like that. Have you heard of it?” Just then, guards came around a corner, and they had to hide

  “Can you take me there?” He asked tentatively.

  Ming looked at him, “What? Sang ching gway? I have never heard of such place. Are you certain?”

  “Well, something like that I am not Chinese. Xang xing something it was some old civilization that got lost, somehow, you know san xin dui? No that doesn't sound right.”

  Ming looked confused for a moment, then the light dawned. "You mean Sanxingdui? Why would you want to go there, you won't survive? There are things there magic's; no one returns from there. No, you mustn't go there."

  “I think I have no choice,” Billy said. “There’s some kind of a jewel there or something.” He let slip, then realizing what he had done, quickly added. “Can you at least tell me where it is? I’m sure we could pay you.”

  “I can tell you this much.” Laughed Ming. “There is a legend that long ago there was a wizard’s war and in this war was a mighty jewel. A jewel that could turn men to stone.”

  "Turned to Stone?" Billy said incredulously. "That's impossible!"

  “The legend says that a great emperor and his army attacked the magician, but he and his army were all turned to stone and the wizard disappeared. The people buried them all right where they stood. I think that was from Xi’an”

  "Wow!" Billy said laughing. "Come on! Stone?" Then he thought for a moment. "Well, there's a story of a woman being turned to salt. In the Bible. Then there's this woman with a snakes head, turns people to stone. But really? Stone? I don't know sounds fishy to me." Oddly though he remembered how strongly his grandfather and Dad who were not into fairy tales believed in that whole pillar of salt thing.

  "Laugh if you will," Ming said. "But according to the legend, the magician fled to Sanxingdui never to be seen again, and the city was lost in time, no one can find it.”

  “Wait a minute. A jewel? That’s what Uncle said, there was a jewel we had to get. We're supposed to pick up this jewel and go to some lost city and but they're supposed to be sending me back to my own….world?”

  “Grab that thing,” he heard someone say. Something hit him on the head.

  He staggered and fell, dazed.

  A rough hand grabbed the stunned Geezer from Billy’s shoulder.

  The little creature tried to struggle but the hand that held him was once again inside an iron-bound glove.

  Geezer’s claws skittered off.

  Billy sa
t up coughing, and spitting water, as he was unceremoniously soaked from a bucket. He was feeling a little nauseous as well. It took a minute but he realized that his nausea was in part due to what was happening to Geezer. The symbiotic relationship had gotten much stronger of late and he had even at one point during a dream woke up panicked after dreaming he was seeing through the creature's eyes.

  The man who held Geezer, he was pretty sure it was the same one from the dungeon pulled out a long silver dagger ran his finger along the blade.

  “I am anxious to see if the stories are true.”

  He took the knife and stabbed Geezer.

  Billy cried out, as stabbing pain ripped through his side.

  “Well, well, this is going to be interesting.” The man said as he yanked the blade out again and Billy and Geezer cried out in unison.

  “Very interesting. I am so surprised you were so easy to fool I have heard such tales of your bravery. And so easy to capture.”

  “Look, I am just a kid from a farm in Canada! I am no warrior. My dad works on the railway and my mom cleans the local hospital. We’re just regular people. I was dragged into this by some kind of creature called a Wolver. It was after me and this Brother Dog guy saved me then we fell into this green light then I was here. And that is it, it’s everything. I don’t know what is going on and who said I was the leader. I just turned 10 whose gonna follow me? I don't know anything!” He said desperately. He truly didn’t know anything and was terrified of the idea of torture.

  "Ah, you do speak the Kings tongue." The sorcerer responded. "For a moment there we thought it was all a lie." The man slapped Billy hard on the mouth and he cried out.

  "Now you will tell me everything or we will see that you get more of that. I am not accustomed to torturing people, but I assure you there are many in the emperor's employ who would love to do wonderfully horrible things to such a boy as you." The man smiled at a particularly unsavory looking man standing in the corner. The man in the corner was carrying a well-worn leather bag. Billy could see shiny bits of metal and pointy things through some of the cracks and holes in the bag.

  “Tell me about your creature.”

  “What? I don't know what you mean.”

  “We have a great deal of knowledge about you already, young one. What we don't know is, what is your reason for being in our kingdom and what sort of evil this creature of yours brings.”

  “I told you I didn't come here on my own, I was chased.”

  “Yes, we have seen your Brother Dog, he is impressive. Where is he from?”

  “That's not what I meant, I meant I was chased by a monster.”

  “Yes, through a green light. I heard you, but if you are so innocent, then how is it, your arrival heralded the death of not only a troop of the guardsman but the disappearance of one of our greatest scholars and magicians, the destruction of a magic fountain, from time immemorial? The death and defeat of the emperor's elite guards not to mention two dogs of war and two of the most magnificent dragons ever bread and trained for war? The last 2 living dragons in the world, I should mention. The emperor is not happy.”

  "Hey, you can't blame all that on me. I was only aware of maybe half of it. I was really sick when I got here, so I wasn't even fighting till your men attacked us in the... the field of the dead? Is that what you called it? Anyway, the field of the dead!" He thought for a moment and couldn't resist saying. "Isn't naming as place something like that, kind of asking for it anyway? Like tempting fate."

  “It only became known as such very recently!” the man replied slapping Billy across the head.

  “OH!” Billy chuckled before he could stop himself and said. “I’m sorry.” Too late.

  Someone hit him in the stomach very hard, and he lost his breath for a moment. He realized it was Ming who hit him.

  “You are far too familiar with your betters little man,” Ming said.

  "Enough Ming!" the bearded man said "take your silver and leave. We have no further need of you."

  “But my lord? The man gave him a threatening look, “Of course my lord.”

  "This is all very interesting," The man holding Geezer said, to someone out of Billy’s somewhat restricted line of sight "I wonder why the wizard chose such a useless little boy to further his cause. The Brother Dog is an excellent warrior, the girl a wonderful little thief, even the brigands who are so skilled in the archery are worthwhile, but this one? "He shoved the blade into Billy's throat drawing blood.

  Geezer screamed and struggled in the iron grip of his capture. “Ah so interesting,” the man purred.

  "Well boy, you, we are going to have some interesting times before you die!" He again stabbed geezer, and Billy curled up in pain sobbing.

  "You see, the glove which holds your little friend is not only made of metal but magic as well. Your little friend cannot escape nor can he change form while he is in my grasp." The man chuckled oh and I have this. He drew out what at first looked like simple chain mail, but it turns out to be a chainmail bag. He unceremoniously dropped Geezer into the bag. All of a sudden Billy felt like his skin was on fire. "A magic bag, bring him!"

  Billy was unceremoniously dragged back to the cell from which they had just escaped. And shoved against the wall. They didn’t bother with shackles this time but a coarse rope that bit deep into his skin. He was beaten again and again.

  19 San Xing What?

  A

  rriving at a river late in the evening, Uncle wandered around the area as the others made camp.

  “It has been frighteningly easy to arrive here don’t you think?” Brother Dog said to Longstrider.

  "Yes but perhaps they have realized our destination already; after all, we can assume they have Billy."

  “I fail to see what good they think having him will do them,” Brother Dog said. “He knows nothing of this world, this country. He is less than useful.”

  “Useful or not he seems to be the fulcrum on which this whole adventure pivots,” Uncle came back interrupting the conversation.

  “Well,” Dog said. “What is your opinion? I see nothing of any great empire city or even a battlement. Perhaps we are misled.”

  “It was a city of magic I can assume it is still. I am not an expert but the claim of being a lost city as our young friend pointed out, is a misnomer. If it was lost. It was lost on purpose I can only imagine why. It was a capital for a perhaps a hundred years. And then it was gone. How is such a thing possible? It can only be from some great calamity, don't you think?

  Some unseen forces at work have hidden the path or destroyed the city or both. But there is no record of any such thing. The Han people are very adept at keeping records. A country of shopkeepers and merchants. Every day is marked and written about but here in the center of the whole land is a thing completely unknown, rumors and innuendo only. It is not possible.

  “Perhaps the records were destroyed or hidden.”

  "Yes, but by whom, and for what purpose. It is hard to hide a civilization that lasted so long and was such an influence. Have you no such civilization in your time?"

  “Aye,” Longstrider said, as Brother Dog translated. “Rome was the most famous it ruled half the world.’

  "Yes, I have heard of this Rome. How much power would be required to make the history of Rome disappear? The empire of Shu was as that of Rome. Yet we know little of the Shu

  Kingdom. Only Sanxingdui remains.” They had begun to make a small camp but the old wizard was restless. “Come we must to the three mountains. I think we have little time. Just leave everything here we might or might not return.”

  With that, they left the little meadow and walked into the subtropical forest. It was already getting dark and it was rough going as there was no path. They just stumbled on through bamboo trees mixed with huge banyan, maples, and thickets. It was mostly uphill and slippery going. They were all scratched and cut from bumping into things.

  "Can we at least have a small torch?" Will said. "There's not even any moon
light I can't see a bloody thing."

  There was a flash of green light and the area was lit like day.

  “My Lord!” Will protested. “Now I’m bloody blind!”

  Brother Dog stood in the eerie light that was coming from Uncles staff.

  "I think we are close," "Uncle said.”I am doing nothing! The staff is reacting to something near."

  “Well so much for the advantage of stealth.”

  “Yes if anyone is looking we are surely undone.”

  They followed Uncle deeper into the bamboo forest it was getting almost impossible to walk as they squeezed between huge old Bamboo trees.

  “I have never seen Bamboo such as this.” Uncle said “they must be hundreds of years old. Something is certainly amiss here.”

  “Why what do you mean? I see these trees everywhere,” Brother Dog said.

  “Bamboo only grows for several years maybe but once it reaches a certain size it will not grow any bigger I am no expert but these are massive they seem ancient. I think it is impossible for bamboo to live so long as this there is some strange magic here,” Uncle said.

  The light from Uncles staff was brighter and brighter as they progressed guiding them dimming if they changed course.

  "I suspect it's not only guiding us," Brother Dog said. “Can’t you turn it down somehow? Here cover it.” He threw a cloth over the glowing staff. It dimmed the light somewhat but it still glowed through the rough fabric. Just then they heard an eerie howl from somewhere behind. “Ah, too late,” He said.

  They stepped out into a small open space. Before them was a huge stone. They looked at it for a moment it was massive, covered in some ancient text,

  “More gibberish,” Will said dismissively.

  “Touch the gem upon the end, time will swirl and bend,” Zhoulin read.

  “How did you read that?” Uncle said in shock. “It is an ancient script.”

  "I don't know," she said, surprised as he. "It just came out of me. I recognized it instantly. But I am sure I have never seen it before.” There was a sound near them Brother Dog stood up and drew his sword “They come! Do what you must do but do it now!”