Sapphire of the Fairies soh-1

by Richard S. Tuttle

  Tanya laughed and turned to see Garthshaking his head and grinning. The atmosphere of the campsiteturned to one of enthusiasm and the Rangers spent the rest of themorning roaming the orchard and observing the way the fairieslived. Individual fairy guides were assigned to each Ranger toanswer their questions and explain the ways of the fairies to thehumans.

  Excitement spread through the orchardas the fairies learned of the journey to Kantor to recover theCrown of Light. Fairy families brought their children out to seethe humans, especially Arik who was treated with awe and respectabove the other Rangers. Fairies started coming up to the Rangersto offer good luck charms or supplies for the journey and all ofthe Rangers’ spare clothing disappeared and was returned later,freshly washed and mended where mending was needed.

  Queen Mita presented each Ranger with asmall sapphire bar to pin on their blacksuits to signify theirunity with the fairies of the Sagina Universe. Arik noticed aneighth sapphire bar that was much smaller than the rest, butdismissed it as another group of fairies came along to introducetheir children to the Bringer. Prince Midge’s words came back toArik and he smiled as he thought of his irrational fear of being anoutcast because of his branding.

  Eventually, the Rangers broke from thepandemonium and returned to their campsite for the midday meal. Themeal was quiet as each Ranger pondered the strange people who hadopened their homes and heart to the humans. The smiles on the facesof the Rangers proved it was a beneficial experience.

  Tanya moved and sat down next toKalina. “Did you really attend Prince Oscar’s wedding?” Tanyaasked.

  “Yes,” Kalina answered as shewatched Tanya with her peripheral vision.

  “You must have been friendswith Prince Oscar to have been invited to his wedding,” Tanyaprobed.

  “He was not Prince Oscarthen,” Kalina remembered. “He was Duke Dalek at the time and he hadmany friends.”

  “You must have met many of theother guests as well,” Tanya continued. “I understand AlexanderTork and Jenneva were in the wedding. Did you get to meetthem?”

  “Ah, yes,” Kalina nodded. “Theyoung Lieutenant who was best man and the beautiful woman whoaccompanied him. Of course I remember them. Who could forget such afine looking couple? There was always such a crowd around them thatmost people couldn’t get close. And all that attention with so manyother celebrities present. They were a special couple.”

  Garth stepped up behind Kalina and puthis hands on her shoulders. “Kalina, there are some things we needto discuss with Queen Mita and I would prefer to do that sooner,rather than later,” interrupted Garth. “Tanya, I’m afraid ourlittle session for this afternoon will have to wait for anothertime. I hope you don’t mind, but the opportunity to speak with theQueen of the Fairies is not one to be wasted. Why don’t youorganize the practice rounds for this afternoon and make itsomething that will entertain the fairy watchers as well as providea good workout for the Rangers?”

  Kalina quickly rose with a smile toTanya and escorted Garth towards the Father Tree. Tanya bit her lipand wondered if she could beat Arik with a staff.

  The rest of the day was spent inpractice and the Rangers took pride in showing off their skills.Tanya made sure that the practice rounds included archery, swords,staffs, knives, and of course, Lanoirian Stars. The archeryimpressed the fairies the most and they marveled at the accuracy ofArik’s longbow. Each of the Rangers was given an ovation after eachperformance and soon the warriors started trying to outdo theperformance directly before theirs.

  Niki, however, felt left out. Kalinahad disappeared with Garth and she did not possess any demonstrablewarrior skills. Halfway through the practice sessions, Nikiwandered off into the orchard. Before she got very far, she raninto Garth and Kalina returning to the campsite and they corralledher into returning with them.

  When the practice sessions were over, along parade of fairies swarmed into the campsite and spread longstrips of cloth along the ground. Family after family came andplaced a food dish on the strips until there were several longlines of small dishes from end to end. Queen Mita explained thatthis was a traditional sendoff for an army marching to war and theRangers were being honored as a fairy army.

  The servings were extremely small, butthe potpourri of tastes was exciting. No one was sure what theywere eating, and even the explanations of the fairy host did notoften clarify the dish, but each was savored as a delicacy. Tedithought with amusement that while there were only seven Rangersmarching off to war, they probably devoured the equivalent of awhole fairy army during the festival.

  Toward the end of the festivities thefairy crowd roared with approval and suddenly parted as a smallblacksuited fairy marched towards the seated Rangers. With a leapand a fluttering of wings, Prince Midge landed on Arik’s upraisedknee and posed in his miniature version of a Ranger blacksuit,complete with pouches and pockets and wide leather belt. The onlydeviation from the Rangers’ uniforms was the holes in the back toaccommodate the fairy’s wings. Pinned to the shoulder of Midge’suniform was the small sapphire pin that Arik had seenearlier.

  Chapter 25

  Kantor

  The fairy festival lasted into thedarkness, but the Rangers still chose to leave before first light.When the fairy village learned the Rangers were setting out ontheir journey, the entire village assembled with thousands of tinyfairy lanterns and lined the path out of the orchards, singing asong about a coming battle and the glorious fairy army. Arik tookthe lead with Midge perched upon his shoulder talking nonstop intohis ear. Midge told Arik that he was witnessing the proper sendofffor a fairy army marching off to war and signified that it was thegreatest honor, which could be bestowed on anyone leaving the fairyvillage. After leaving the orchard and waving farewell to thefairies, the Rangers angled southward to pick up the trail that ranalong the Black River and followed it westward.

  The terrain grew less mountainous eachday as they headed downstream towards the western coast of what hadbeen Cordonia. Kantor lay at the mouth of the Black River and wasthe capital of Cordonia before the Collapse. The only major townbetween the fairy village and Kantor was Paso and the Rangers gaveit a wide berth, keeping well to the north side of theriver.

  When they got within a day’s ride ofKantor, a large mountain loomed over the flat coastal terrain.Garth recognized it as the mountain that he mentioned to the groupduring their discussion of Kantor, the mountain that had replacedthe Presidential Palace. For the first time on their journey, theRangers began to see other travelers. Most of them had been on thesouth side of the Black River and were ignored, but occasionallythey passed travelers on the north side and drew strange looksbecause of their blacksuits. Midge usually hid in one of Arik’spockets whenever anyone got close.

  When they got close enough to see thewalls of Kantor, they started to see roving army patrols andavoided them. Garth suspected that there were not many armed groupsof travelers in the area and the soldiers would want to know whothey were and where they were going. The questions would have to beanswered sooner or later, but Garth hoped to enter the city withoutincident.

  They arrived at the city gates late inthe day and were immediately surrounded by several dozen soldiers.An officer approached Tedi, who was in the lead, and started askingquestions. Garth immediately rode to the front of the group andassumed the leadership position for the Rangers.

  “Officer,” Garth greeted, “weseek entrance to your fine city and wish to do sopeacefully.”

  “We do not like bandits orarmed groups within the walls of Kantor,” the officer stated. “Youcan leave your weapons here and retrieve them upon your exit or youcan turn around now. It is your choice.”

  “We can do neither,” Garthdeclared. “We seek passage to the Isles of the Sea from a ship inthe port of Kantor and we wish to take our weapons with us when weleave the city.”

  The officer hesitated and Garthrealized that there were no firm orders to back up the officer’srequest to leave their weapons at the gate. The soldier was merelytrying to keep a band of bandits f
rom entering and causingtrouble.

  “We also will require lodgingfor the evening,” Garth suggested. “Perhaps we could check ourweapons with the innkeeper until passage is booked. We wish noaltercations during our short stay in Kantor.”

  The offer did not seem to convince theofficer as he looked at the blacksuited party. “You will beescorted to the General’s office by my men and he will determineyour fate. If one of you even touches a weapon, my men will slayyou all. We give little advantage to the likes of you and youneedn’t worry about a trial.”

  Garth nodded to the officer and allowedthe soldiers to escort them to the General. The escort of severaldozen soldiers led them through town to a large mansion with a gatefacing the street. Soldiers manning the gate opened it and admittedthe Rangers and their large escort. When they had ridden down thewide pathway that led from the street to the front of the mansion,the column halted and the officer disappeared inside the mansion.Within a few moments, the officer reappeared followed by an olderofficer with short, gray hair cut in a military fashion. The manwas distinguished looking, but sported a thin scar running from histemple to behind his ear, probably a sword scar. The man wasobviously the General and Garth smiled when he recognizedhim.

  “General Fernandez,” Garthgreeted, “your hair has grayed since we last met.”

  The General stopped and focused hispiercing eyes on Garth and it took a few moments before his eyeslit up with recognition. “Colonel!” General Fernandez announced. “Inever expected to lay eyes on you again. Dismount so I don’t haveto break my neck looking up at you, and I’ve told you before thatyou can call me Julio.”

  “As you wish, Julio,” Garthsmiled, “and you can call me Garth. I am no longer aColonel.”

  The General switched his gaze to therest of Garth’s party with a suspicious look as Garth wasdismounting. He turned to the officer and said, “Keep a close eyeon the rest of them while I talk privately with thisman.”

  The General turned and walked into themansion with Garth on his heels. The General did not break hismilitary stride until he reached an office with two guards postedoutside. He opened the door and entered the office, allowing Garthentry before he closed the door, and then sat at his desk, wavingGarth to a chair.

  “The years have not been badto you,” General Fernandez smiled.

  “The color of your hairappears to be the only change you have suffered,” Garth smiledback. “I assume that you are the control behind Kantor thesedays?”

  “There was no one else I couldtrust,” laughed Julio. “Speaking of trust, I notice that you do nottrust your own party. Are they a threat here in Kantor?”

  “They are not a threat to youor me,” Garth answered. “Your men can safely standdown.”

  “Then why do you hide thingsfrom them?” quizzed Julio.

  “Habit, mostly,” Garthadmitted. “The years since we last met have not been peaceful onesfor Kalina and myself. We have been hunted for years and I am surethe hunt still continues today. It is safer this way.”

  General Fernandez shouted for his doorguard and the door opened to admit one of the men. “Sergeant,”Julio ordered, “bring me the papers we found on the Black Devillast week. Also, dismiss the escort and invite our guests into thesitting room where they will be more comfortable and see to theirhorses.”

  The Sergeant disappeared and returnedalmost immediately. He handed some papers to the General and closedthe door behind him as he left. Julio rifled through the papers andwithdrew two that he handed to Garth. Garth accepted the papers andlooked at them. His eyes widened, as he looked at pictures ofKalina and himself, complete with physical descriptions andnotations about Arik and Tedi. The description of the boys wasincomplete, as if made by someone who had heard about them but hadnever seen them. The Dark Rider, Klarg, immediately came tomind.

  “What else did you find onthis Black Devil?” Garth asked.

  The General passed over the rest of thepapers and Garth flipped through them. Most of them meant nothingto Garth, but he stopped at one sheet that mentioned Lord Wason.Reading the sheet thoroughly, Garth picked out the descriptions ofthe five Children as they had appeared in Tagaret, including Niki’sred dress, which she had worn only during the prison break inTagaret. Oddly, there was no mention about General Gregor orSergeant Trank, which led Garth to believe that someone in theRoyal Palace was serving two masters.

  “You always were good atgathering intelligence,” complimented Garth. “I can see now thatGarth Shado will have to disappear.”

  The General took the papers back andlooked at the one, which had interested Garth. “This does appear tobe your party,” noticed General Fernandez. “You have been travelinga great deal. Why have you come to Kantor?”

  “We are on a fool’s mission,”sighed Garth. “There is an artifact which was in the PresidentialPalace when Oscar Dalek got married. I need to recoverit.”

  “A fool’s mission, indeed,”agreed General Fernandez. “What is the artifact?”

  “It is called the Crown ofLight,” Garth answered. “It is a crown small enough to be a ring ona woman’s finger. It belongs to the fairies and has been missingfor hundreds of years at least.”

  “I doubt that you have becomea jewelry merchant since we last met,” Julio stated. “Why do youneed this crown?”

  “Julio,” Garth admitted, “theAncient Prophecy has begun. I do not know if you are aware of theProphecy, but it foretells of the death of the Dark One. The Crownof Light is needed to help fulfill that Prophecy. I need to find iteven if I have to take the mountain apart grain bygrain.”

  The General nodded and stared out thewindow at the mountain for a period. “I have read about the AncientProphecy,” declared the General. “Of course, I am not sure if Ibelieve it. I suppose that the young men you have with you are theChildren of the Prophecy?”

  “Yes,” confided Garth. “Wealso have the Sword of Heavens which will be used to kill Sarac.The Prophecy is true, Julio, and it has fallen to me to see thatthese Children succeed.”

  “There is a chance, Colonel,”General Fernandez suggested. “Most of the Palace no longer exists,but there is a section of the ground floor still accessible. Moreimportantly, the section contains the library and the treasureroom. The library has been gutted and the contents removed, but thetreasure room has been inaccessible because no one could enter it.If President Suarez kept this crown in the treasure room, you havea chance. If not, you will have to dismantle the mountain and youwill not live that long.”

  “How is it possible that thetreasure room survived and yet has never been opened?” Garthinquired.

  “It is amazing,” granted theGeneral. “I watched the mountain appear myself. It didn’t grow orfall into place; it sort of materialized from nothing. One cornerof the Palace was left sticking out. When we went to search forsurvivors, we found that it extended into the mountain like a cave.In fact, that is what we think it is. Wherever the mountain camefrom, the cave was already in it and so was a dragon. I watched thedragon fly out of the cone of the mountain. I suppose the cave mayhave been his other entrance and that is why he never returned. Youmay be able to get in through the cone.”

  “Has no one ever triedbefore?” Garth asked.

  “Oh, yes, some have tried,”sighed Julio. “And they died trying. No one has gone into the coneand come out alive. Treasure does you no good when you aredead.”

  “Is the treasure vaultaccessible from this cave?” Garth queried.

  “If my theory about the cavemeeting the cone is valid, it must be,” Julio suggested. “Theproblem with that approach is that the vault was built of solidstone many feet thick. A bunch of dwarf miners would take years toget through it.”

  “I haven’t given my people anylessons in mountain climbing yet,” confided Garth. “It looks like Iwill have to go in alone.”

  “We don’t train for mountainterrain in Kantor,” admitted the General. “With the exception ofthis one mountain, Kantor is as flat as a calm sea. Let me hostyour group for this ev
ening and I will take you into the cavetomorrow so you can see for yourself.”

  General Fernandez escorted Garth intothe sitting room and was introduced to the Alcea Rangers. AfterGeneral Fernandez explained the situation, the Rangers discussedthe various approaches. After a lengthy discussion, they decidedthat General Fernandez would escort them into the cave in themorning so that they could assess the possibility of using magic tobreak through the stonewall. At the same time, Midge would fly intothe cone and see if there was an opening through the center of themountain. By the time the discussions were done, the hour had grownquite late and the Rangers opted to retire. Garth stayed up withGeneral Fernandez for several additional hours discussing theevents of the last seventeen years.

  In the morning, the group assembled forthe trip to the cave. Niki professed to not feeling well anddecided to stay in town. Actually, Niki was depressed again. If theRangers were going to use magic to open the vault, it would beeither Kalina or Fredrik that would wield the magic. They certainlywould not need to heal the cave, so Niki felt useless once again.Everyone else was too excited about gaining the Crown of Light toworry about Niki’s feelings.

  Midge was sent on his way and the restof the group proceeded to the cave entrance. After they left, Nikidecided to leave the mansion and do some shopping in the city. TheGeneral’s men had been told that Garth’s party were guests, so noone stopped Niki from leaving the mansion. Niki changed into a reddress and donned her cloak before strolling towards the waterfrontand finding an open market with dozens of shops and stalls. Niki’sspirits immediately lifted. Niki’s red dress and red hair drew alot of attention, which lifted her spirits even higher. She wasdrawing so much attention, as a matter of fact, that she did notnotice the man with long black hair and black eyes who wasfollowing her.

  * * * *

  The Rangers stood and stared at themassive rock wall. “I can certainly shatter the vault wall,” Kalinasaid absently, “but the force necessary would probably bring themountain down on top of us. It’s not going to work.”