Valley of the Ancients: Book Three of the Restoration Series

by Williams, Christopher

  Dagan shook his head and leaned forward in his chair. "No. The dragon was imprisoned in that valley long before Osturlius. The only way that Flare could have released him was if the dragon recognized his authority as a member of the Dragon Order." It was the first thing he had said since Atock began telling his tale.

  "What about that?" Aaron asked from his place on the floor. "Has he really claimed the sword? Is the Order re-established?"

  "He has claimed the sword," Dagan answered quietly, "but the Order has not been established yet."

  "But he's trying?" Mikela asked. She spoke so quietly that it was almost impossible to hear.

  Dagan sighed, "And we get to it at last. Yes, he is trying to restore the Dragon Order, but I for one do not think that's a bad thing."

  "How can you say that?" Heather exclaimed, "Haven't you read Kelcer?"

  &height="0" width="48">"I read Kelcer before you were ever born, so watch your tongue." Dagan's tone had gone rather sharp. "We are stuck with a rather poor translation of Kelcer and not everyone who reads it believes that the restoration of the Dragon Order is our doom." The common tongue had been around for millennia, but it hadn't always been the exclusive language. Once, different kingdoms had spoken their own language in addition to common. The Kelcer prophecy had been written in one such language and then translated into common.

  "Poor translation!" Heather shouted, popping to her feet. "How can you say that?"

  Dagan also got to his feet and suddenly he didn't look quite so old or frail, actually he looked rather menacing. His eyes shown with an intensity. "The church has done a very good job of hiding the truth here. The translation that we have into the common tongue is very poor and many of the meanings have been changed. Believe me when I say that if I suspected Flare of being a monster, I would have cut his throat myself. But I got to know the boy and I respect him. That is why I taught him sorcery."

  There was a moment of shocked silence in the room. Shock both at the revelation that Dagan had taught Flare sorcery and his sudden bold and animated display. Heather stood opposite Dagan, her mouth moving but no sounds coming out. Atock looked like he was about to swallow his tongue.

  "You taught him?" Mikela finally managed to get out. "But that's against all of our laws. How could you do it?"

  "All of our laws?" Dagan repeated quietly, some of the fire draining away from his demeanor. "What laws? The laws imposed on us by the church of Adel." He snorted rather loudly, "Laws that are not made to protect us but to keep us under control."

  "How long has Flare been learning sorcery?" Atock asked quietly. "When did you start teaching him?"

  "Shortly after you returned from Mul-Dune."

  Mikela turned her gaze towards Cassandra. "If I remember correctly, you also spent a lot of time with Flare. Were you also teaching him?"

  There was another shocked silence and every eye in the room watched Cassandra. After a moment, she nodded her head once. "But I started teaching him before you ever left for Mul-Dune."

  The words had a varied affect on the other Guardians. Both Aaron and Atock looked grim, but both Heather and Mikela looked like they were about to explode. Atock could certainly understand their anger. All this time, Flare had been practicing magic and sorcery and none of them had known.

  "It's not as bad as you think," Dagan's quiet words seemed to reverberate in the small room. "In my years I have learned to be a pretty good judge of character. That boy's not a monster."

  Heather seemed to have regained her voice, "Then how do you explain Kelcer?"

  Dagan snorted again. "Prophecies are hard to explain and prophecies by madmen are even worse." He shook his head, looking around. "You all know Flare. Do you think him an evil person?"

  "I'm not so sure that we knew him as well as we thought we did." Aaron said. "I had no idea he was learning magic or sorcery."

  Dagan s Fn fod. miled. "True enough. But you do know him. Oh, maybe not all of his secrets, and we all have secrets, but you know him deep down. Do you think he could kill the innocent?"

  "No," Atock said. Maybe the question wasn't supposed to be answered out loud, maybe Dagan meant for each of them to answer it silently, but he did know Flare and the man he knew was a good man.

  The silence continued for several moments and once again Dagan seemed to be reading their thoughts. "Just because you accept him as a good person for now does not mean that you can't change your mind later. If he gives you a reason to doubt him, then by all means doubt him, but don't be afraid of him for no reason."

  Biting his tongue, it occurred to Atock that a warrior keeping secret the fact that he was learning magic and sorcery might be a reason to doubt that person.

  Mikela leaned forward and put her face in her hands, but Heather watched Dagan like a hawk. "So what is it that you want us to do?"

  Smiling now, Dagan walked slowly back over to the old rickety chair. The dangerous and powerful looking man was gone and in his place was the old frail man again. Sitting down, he turned his attention back to the faces that were impatiently waiting on him. "I mentioned earlier about how poor a translation of Kelcer we have access to. I need to see a copy of the prophecy in the old tongue. A copy that has not been edited to agree with the Church's views."

  "And where are we going to find such a copy?" Mikela asked, her head still in her hands.

  Dagan's grin grew even wider and with a certainty, Atock knew the answer.

  "I was rather surprised to find out that you were in Eled Aminor. It just so happens that one of the three copies, not in the hands of the church, is here."

  "What?" Heather demanded, her eyes wide. "There's an original copy of Kelcer here?"

  Dagan nodded. "Eled Aminor is rather uninteresting in most regards, but the library here is famous. A long time ago, the city was it's own kingdom and the royal family built the library. Housed within that library is a copy of Kelcer in the old tongue."

  "I'm surprised the church didn't ask for it," Heather said, still looking surprised.

  "Oh they did ask for it. When that didn't work, they demanded it, and then they started threatening."

  Dagan paused and Atock pushed ahead, "The church tried to take it and was rebuffed, and then they just gave up?"

  "Well, the inner workings of the Church aren't exactly well known, especially when they fail in something. Rumor has it that they tried to have several other kingdoms conquer Eled Aminor and take the translation. The other kings refused," Dagan grinned again, "Kings don't like to overthrow other kings just because the Church tells them to. That puts a certain fear into a king. If they can overthrow a king on the Church's orders, then what's to stop the Church from deciding to overthrow their kingdom?"

  Mikela shook her head looking confused. "Okay, so you want to take a look at this copy of Kelcer. How do we do that?"

  The smile disappeared from Dagan's face. "That does present a certain challenge. If I was still a C F. Theigouncilor to the King of Telur, then I'm sure that I would be given a chance to inspect the document. However," the grin reappeared but it was rather sardonic now, "given my current alienation from the throne, I don't think I should advertise who I am."

  "Do we think that they will know about your current situation?" Heather asked. "Maybe word hasn't reached Eled Aminor yet."

  "I'm quite sure that they will know. Undoubtedly, King Darion has offered a reward for my capture, so I'm rather inclined to believe that they will know about my flight from Telur."

  "So how do we get you in to see it?" Aaron asked.

  "I have been giving this a lot of thought since leaving Telur," Dagan sighed deeply. "And I must admit that I'm no closer to an answer than when I started."

  Silence engulfed the small room, the only sounds were of shuffling feet.

  "Do you even have the beginnings of a plan?" Cassandra finally said. It was the first thing she had said in a while and she looked less than pleased with the old man.

  "Actually, I do." Dagan answered. "But it's just the be
ginning. We need more information and to that goal, here's how I think we should proceed. First, Aaron and Mikela will visit the library and study the interior of the buildings."

  "Buildings?" Aaron asked.

  "Yes, the library has been around for several millennia and has grown out into other multiple buildings. We'll need to locate which building actually contains the treasure room. The rumor is that when the king of Aramonia conquered Eled Aminor, they were so impressed by the construction of the royal treasure room at the library that they continued to use it. The royal family of Aramonia deny this, of course, but the treasure room is supposed to include some amazing treasures. There is rumored to be a necklace that contains the ruby from the hilt of Gennosse, one of the divine blades and sister blade to Ossendar. Also, a spell book of the famous enchanter Pellum of Carcon and the golden helmet called Ashteroth, which once belonged to one of the last princes of the faerum." He paused, and looked around. The faces of those assembled had gone rather blank and they just stared at him. He cleared his throat, "Anyway, we need to find the treasure room that is located in the library."

  "And how do we do that?" Mikela asked, looking flabbergasted.

  Dagan was beginning to look a little grumpy as well. "You're halfway intelligent people. You should be able to figure something out. Look for the highest concentration of guards, that kind of thing." The others just stared at him so he kept talking, "Atock and Heather will study the outside of the buildings. Look for guard assignments and weaknesses. Try to get an understanding of exactly what we're up against."

  "What about Enton?" Heather demanded.

  "What? Oh, sorry I forgot about him. I think he should help you and Atock. He does tend to stand out in a crowd doesn't he? He should be less noticeable on the outside of the library than on the inside."

  "And what will you and I be doing?" Cassandra asked coolly. She looked unhappy and was busy bouncing her foot.

  "We will be preparing a fake copy of Kelc Fm Mutheer. Nothing that would fool someone who actually knows the original, just something that will fool the most casual observer."

  Cassandra's foot had quit bouncing. "Why do we need a fake copy?"

  Dagan looked puzzled. "Well, we will need to steal the original, of course."

  Chapter 7

  Walking slowly through the main floor of the library, Aaron casually glanced around. Today was the fifth day in a row that he and Mikela had been wandering the inside of the library buildings. So far they hadn't found anything that would indicate the hiding place of the Kelcer prophecy.

  The royal library was made up of five buildings. The center most building was far and away the largest, having been the original library structure. It was simply huge, taking up a large square area in the more affluent section of the city. The building itself was rectangular and made of white marble. Weathered reliefs covered the top of the building, wrapping all the way around. What the reliefs depicted was unclear as they were far too worn to make out the scenes. The front of the building had an overhang that was supported by a row of immense columns.

  To the left of the main building were three smaller library buildings that looked like replicas of the main structure. They appeared identical to the main structure except in size, being much smaller than the primary building.

  The fifth building was to the right of the main structure and was rather unadorned. It was as long as the main building, but much narrower.

  Aaron sighed and pushed the edge of the expensive looking cloak away from the side of his face. This disguise was stupid in his opinion but he was simply following orders. In all honesty, it wasn't much of a disguise. A person cloaked and with the hood pulled up might draw eyes more quickly than a person without a cloak. Spring had definitely arrived in Eled Aminor and the temperature was warming up.

  Over the past several days, both Mikela and Cassandra had used magic to alter his appearance. His hair color had changed as well as facial characteristics. This morning, though, neither woman had been in the best of moods and Mikela had simply thrown the cloak at him.

  So far, none of them had spotted anything that led them to think they had discovered the hiding place of the prophecy. All five buildings had a large number of guards stationed at the exits and at various posts throughout the library, but there wasn't one spot where the guards were highly concentrated, like would be expected if they were guarding a high value location. Furthermore, they didn't seem overly inquisitive about the patrons of the library. The only occasions where they seemed to pay more attention than normal had been when several unscrupulous looking individuals had entered the library. The individuals had looked grimy and had acted nervously. The guards had chased them out right quick.

  The three Guardians who were watching the outside of the building had, likewise, reported nothing out of the ordinary. A normal complement of soldiers and guards were stationed around the buildings. Even at night there hadn't been any special considerations given to the buildings.

  It appeared that the library, while certainly housing some old and valuable manuscripts, did not house something as important as the Kelcer prophecy. Mikela had even cast some rather minor spells trying to d Fal fad a etect any magically hidden or protected areas. So far, she hadn't found anything.

  There were some rooms that were off limits to the library patrons but Aaron had managed to sneak inside two such rooms and had been disappointed with what he found. The first room was a simple store room with old tattered books piled on shelves. The second room had been some sort of restoration room and quite a few books were scattered along the empty tables; apparently in the process of being restored.

  He was walking along the southernmost part of the building, a section that he had walked along many times. About twenty yards ahead of him, a guard stood at attention alongside a door. There were several areas that were off limits and he routinely checked around those areas, hoping for an indication as to how the area was used. So far, the only luck he had had was all bad.

  The guard seemed bored. He stood at attention, but his eyes were fixed on the bookshelves directly in front of him.

  Not wanting to draw the guard's eyes, Aaron ducked in between some of the long bookcases. He was considering going back the way he had come, when he spotted something off to his right. An old man sat at a table gingerly turning the pages of an old book. The man and table were placed amongst the shelves and for the most part were hidden from sight. The interesting thing, though, was that the old man was sucking on an old pipe. The pipe was unlit, as he surely would have been kicked out for having a fire source so close to the books. Aaron suspected the old man sucked on the pipe out of habit but it did give him an idea.

  After the first day of moving around inside the library, Aaron had asked the magicians for a way to cause a scene; something that would create a diversion and let him move without being watched. Cassandra and Mikela had come through for him; each giving him several small packages with detailed instructions on how to and how not to use the items. This was the first opportunity where he felt one of the items might be put to use.

  Gingerly, he pulled out one of the small packages from an inner pocket. Moving as quietly as he could, he moved up behind the little old man. The old fellow was thoroughly engrossed in his book and seemed oblivious to his surroundings. A stack of books sat on the floor next to the old man's chair and Aaron silently hoped that none of the books were irreplaceable.

  The man was still moving the pipe around in his mouth and every now and then it made a clopping sound.

  Swallowing hard but silently, Aaron set the little bag down on the stack of books, untied the string that held it closed, and then, holding his breath, he ran silently as fast as he could. He didn't stop until he was three aisles over and there was a sudden exclamation from back the way he had come. A huge cloud of smoke was billowing up over the bookshelves.

  He waited in the shadow of the bookshelf until the guard rushed past and then he moved out into the open. Swallowing hard, he
walked casually towards the door. From behind him, he could hear the guard berating the little old man for smoking his pipe in the library and setting the books on fire.

  Aaron grinned. Cassandra had said the package would burn up completely in just a moment, leaving no evidence except for an enormous amount of smoke. She certainly knew her craft.

  Almost immediately the grin disappeared from his face. He had framed the old man and he sincerely hoped that the old fellow didn't get in to too much trouble.

  Nuereuld bu Several more voices joined the guard's and Aaron's anxiety for the old man grew. How much trouble would he be in? Hating himself, he decided there was nothing he could do about it now.

  He crossed the open area in front of the door with his heart beating wildly. He still could hear the raised voices from the aisles behind him but Aaron still gave a small nonchalant glance around the space to confirm that no one had spotted him. To his relief, he was completely alone. Without a hesitation, he strode to the door, opened it, and stepped through.

  Mikela was not in a good mood. She was in the process of making one last circuit around the interior edge of one of the three smaller library buildings. In her opinion, this whole Kelcer copy quest was a colossal waste of time. Although, on the several occasions when she had thought about suggesting to Heather that they leave Eled Aminor, she had been completely unable to come up with a place to go. That alone had caused her to hold her tongue. Better to stay here and waste time than to leave and be arrested by the army of Telur.

  She sighed, continuing her walk around the inside perimeter of the southernmost of the three small library buildings. It was small only in relation to the monster just next door. Each of the three "small" library buildings would have been sufficient for the royal library in most capital cities, but not here. In Eled Aminor the royal library was enormous. It was surprising and rather impressive.

  She knew some places did not allow the common citizenry access to the royal libraries, but commoners came and went as they pleased in Eled Aminor. She had the sneaking suspicion that the guards watched the poorer sort closer than those in better clothes, but still the poor had access to an amazing collection of books.