by Randal Sloan
Mid-morning Kynin stopped in an area that looked out over the trail behind them. From a ledge on the side of the trail, they were able to look back over the area they’d traveled so far.
Jailyn stared at it in disbelief. From there they could see a long, long way. “Have we traveled that far?” she asked Kynin.
“Yes,” he told her. “If you’ll look just slightly to your left, which is east, way off in the distance you’ll see the little bay where we started from.” He pointed back to the west a little bit. “That’s where we spent the night last night and just beyond that you can see the area of ravines where we found the deer.”
Following his finger, Jailyn could indeed see exactly what he was showing her. Then she frowned. “What is that further to the west? Is that smoke? Does that mean they’ve found us already?”
“No, that’s probably just a small band of trappers. They’re on a completely different trail and they can’t reach us here. That section of ravines where we were yesterday only gets worse to the point it becomes impassable. No, our enemies, when they do find us, I suspect they’ll find another way to reach us.” He shook his head.
“What do you mean?” Jailyn asked, afraid to hear the answer, but realizing she really needed to know.
“We’ve always heard rumors that those of the Dark are able to travel by means of some sort of portal system. Something that was here in the land before we came to live here. Something whereby they would be able to enter and reappear many miles away, perhaps even across vast distances.”
Jailyn just stared. “If that’s true, why haven’t they used such in the past to wipe us out?”
“It requires tremendous magic to operate, such that they can only send a few through at a time. Nevertheless, in the present circumstance, it does present a problem for us. They could easily slip a sorcerer and a small assassin team through. That’s why I told you we needed to be diligent even when we think the hounds have cleared an area.”
Jailyn nodded. “I’ll have to think on it some more. There may be a way we could spot their portals from their magical signature. Unfortunately, they’ll probably have to use it at least once before I can recognize it. That means we’ve still got to worry about your assassin team.”
Kynin knew she was right. “Like I said, we need to be ever vigilant, although I think we have some time yet.” He pointed to her amulet. “That still seems to be working, so they shouldn’t be able to spot us yet, but we have no idea how long it will be effective. These mountains do strange things with magic.”
He pointed to the view before them. “They say, the valley that leads to the Land Between the Worlds is even more beautiful. Just think, we’ll be the first to see it in our generation.”
“We’ve got to get there first,” Jailyn told him. “What you told me a few moments ago has me a little worried. If our enemies have a way to use the portals to move incredible distances, I believe that means they have use of null magic. We need to be prepared for that in our defense. It was rather stupid of us to assume they didn’t have it, just because we just discovered it.”
Kynin nodded. “Our defense needs to handle either possibility. Now, using your trick of combining two magics together will work despite that risk.”
“Pass it on to the others and we’ll talk about it tonight. I think tonight’s going to be harder anyway. We won’t be able to depend on the hounds. We need to rethink our camp a little, although being in a cave will help, since we only have to defend the front.”
He nodded. “We’d best be on our way.”
As they continued their climb, Jailyn’s mind worked on the problem. Definitely something to do with null magic, she was certain. Still, she had no idea what to do about it. At least the thought process distracted her enough that it seemed like no time before they reached the top of the climb. The group had once more stopped to look, so she did too.
She was talking quietly with Jesse when their conversation was interrupted by a message to her from Big Boy. “Mistress, we’ve found the perfect place for you to rest. I’ll show it to you when you get here.”
“That would be great, Big Boy. I’ll let you know when we’re getting close. Your pack, you should run while you can.”
“We are, Mistress. This is a great place to run.”
Jesse had long ago gotten used to her face turning just a little blank when she was talking to the hounds. It wasn’t something you would notice unless you knew her well.
She smiled at him. “Sorry about that. Big Boy says he’s found the perfect spot for us to stop for our break. Pass that on to Kynin when you get a chance. I’m still planning to stay in the rear of the group until we reach the valley where the hounds are.”
Jesse nodded. Their conversation would just have to wait, as the others had already started moving again. He hurried to catch up with Kynin, turning around briefly to tell her, “I’ll see you at the camp. I’m going to try to move up. This section doesn’t look too bad.”
The rest of the morning went quickly. After the earlier trail, the path down into the valley was almost easy. Everyone knew the hard part remained ahead, so they moved relatively quickly. That meant it was late morning when they reached the stream at the center of the valley, the spot where Kynin had told them they would stop for the midday meal.
“We’re here,” Jailyn sent to Big Boy. “Where do we go next?”
“Best I just show you,” he sent back. “It’s not easy to find.”
Big Boy and a couple of the hounds appeared in front of her. They had to have taken a shortcut through hell. Jailyn had at times been a little jealous of their ability to do that, at least until she thought it through. No, I’ll just let them have that one over me, she’d quickly decided.
The hounds led the way toward the waterfall that dropped from a section of the valley wall that protruded out over the valley. It formed a large pool that led off to the stream they would follow for some distance before making their climb in the afternoon. It appeared that nothing was behind it, but suddenly the hounds disappeared.
Following behind, Jailyn stared in disbelief. The solid rock that appeared to be behind the waterfall was just an illusion. The rock was split with an opening into another section of the valley. A second branch of the waterfall flowed on that side, with its own pool and stream that wound across that section of the valley floor. Everything appeared pristine and untouched, and something told her it was a special place.
“Come on, everyone. See what the hounds have found.”
No one could believe it. It was almost as beautiful as the other Hidden Valley was rumored to be. Because they were ahead of schedule, they decided to spend a couple of hours exploring and resting in the valley. The valley had its own magic about it, a healing magic both for the physical and the mental, something they all really needed. Unknown to the young people, it had one other special property; it was absolutely invisible to scrying.
They had no idea how fortunate that was going to be for them or how valuable the time they spent there was going to be.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Dark Clouds Gathering
LORD MELTHEVIS WAS furious. He screamed in frustration, throwing the message ring across the room. The fool should have awakened him. It had already been days since the Ones from the Prophecy had left the island and now he’d lost even more time. If he had the time to deal with him, he would have flailed the skin off the back of the man, but there was just no time.
Vipero had noted the information had to be in error, but Melthevis knew exactly what it meant. We were wrong. They’re going after the talismans now, this eclipse. I should have seen it; I know how those wizards think. He shook his head. They have to be stopped. We’re not ready yet.
Melthevis had one advantage over Vipero. He knew where they would be going, so he gathered his scrying tools. In moments he was looking at the trail into the mountains watching for the signs of them. Nothing! They should have been there. If they’d traveled by ship, they should be somew
here along the trail by now. Nothing! That made absolutely no sense. How could they already have gotten beyond there? He could continue looking but once they passed those mountains, the scrying would be blocked.
Of course, the Dark Ones had the portals. If he didn’t spot them in the next few hours, he’d dispatch the assassin team anyway, sending them out to the furtherest portal, almost at the hidden valley entrance. He smiled. Once they’re there, I’ll block that portal off so they can’t return. That portal is useless anyway. They’ll never make it back without the portal; there are things in those mountains that feed off the Dark. At least I’ll be rid of that meddlesome Ulrik.
His smile grew bigger.
The little group eventually gathered themselves and continued their trek, blissfully unaware of what had taken place while they were in the little valley. That extra hour had done wonders for the group and had another unforeseen benefit. By the time they left, Lord Melthevis had given up on his scrying for the day.
As Kynin had warned them, the last part for the day was a rather difficult climb. At times the trail crossed into rocky areas, forcing them to move back and forth in time-consuming switchbacks that had been cut into the side of the mountain. Obviously manmade, Jailyn could appreciate what the Ancestors had to have done to build this. But it would have been the only way, especially with little children.
That meant that while difficult, the trail never got so bad that they couldn’t handle it despite their struggles. Sometimes Jailyn looked out to the side to see nearly sheer rock walls. If they’d had to climb those, it would have been impossible for a group of novices like them. She felt an even stronger appreciation of what the Ancestors had done.
As they drew near the top, the wind picked up, making travel more difficult and the limited conversations they’d attempted before then impossible. It didn’t help that everyone was tired by the time they had reached this point. It didn’t matter — they could only continue upward.
There was no place where the entire group could stop to rest, so when they would occasionally reach a more stable section, each would rest a few moments in turn until the next one caught up with them. They could only keep going and so they did, although gradually the magic from the valley wore off as they began to tire, the group growing slower and slower. Although Kynin would have tried to set a faster pace, he wasn’t really able to as he had to stop and let the others catch up.
Jailyn had grown so tired, she could only concentrate on the next steps in front of her. She was surprised when she topped a rise and everyone was stopped in front of her. Wide-eyed, she looked beyond them to realize where they were. They’d made it! They were at the top.
Kynin came over to speak, even though the wind was so loud it made hearing difficult. “The caves are just ahead. We need you to send your hounds in to check them out.”
Nodding, Jailyn called them and sent them in. She knew something was wrong when they came back out much too quickly.
Mistress, Big Boy sent. The caves are very bad. Something that hurts our ears. We cannot do this task; you may punish us as you will.
They all came to lie down in front of her, their ears laid back in shame. “There is no punishment,” she told them, speaking out loud so Kynin could hear. “You have never let me down and if it’s something you can’t do, you can’t do it.”
But Mistress, we cannot make it safe for you. Surely there is somewhere else you can go.
She turned to Kynin. “Is there nowhere else we can go? They can’t check it for us; something is hurting their ears so badly they can’t do it.”
Kynin shook his head. “If I had to guess, it’s something to do with the wind blowing through the rocks, probably making sounds too high for us to hear, but the hounds can. But we can’t stay out here; the wind is only going to get worse as the night falls. I suspect there are creatures that come out at night. It wouldn’t be safe even if we could manage it.”
Jailyn looked him in the eyes. “Then if we have no choice, we best be about doing it and making it as safe as we can.” She sent a message to Big Boy. Go for now. I’ll call you in the morning. We’ll need you on the trail for us.
She still didn’t like it. “I know it’s too late now; we’d never make it back down the path before dark, but we should have stayed in the valley and waited until morning to come up. Then we could have avoided this spot at night.”
Kynin nodded. “I’m sorry. I can see you’re right, but there was nothing in the travel journals to tell me otherwise and I worried that we’d be too tired to make the trip down the other side.”
Jailyn knew he was right about their lack of information. “It’s not your fault. You can’t help what you don’t know and it seemed the right course at the time. Plus, we’re on a tight schedule, so we didn’t think we could spare the time.”
She shook her head. “Something doesn’t feel right about this cave, but we have no choice. We’re just going to have to make the best of it.”
“As you say, we need to do this as best we can.” Kynin motioned for everyone to come closer. “The hounds are not able to check the caves for us, so we’re going to have to do it ourselves. We’re going to have to stay together as a group and everyone needs to have their weapons close at hand at all times.”
The light was already beginning to grow weaker, the rock walls on both sides of the pass draped with shadows, so they had little time to work it all out. But the team had worked on the strategy for this very thing, so they each took their place. A glowing ball of fire in front of them, Jailyn and Carisa each took a side, the others in between them with their weapons drawn. Two in the center looked ahead and two others kept a close watch on their rear.
With this strategy they quickly cleared the main entrance, and finding a large chamber just inside, they cleared it. A small chamber was found on each side and easily cleared; both were dead-ends. The cave continued to the rear, and they looked briefly beyond, but it opened into a labyrinth of paths and chambers, so they quickly realized to go further was impossible. Everyone returned to the main chamber.
“This place feels evil,” Jailyn said. She turned to Corrie. “What do you see? Is it safe?”
Corrie shook his head. “No, it’s not, but I don’t see another alternative. I sense danger here but it would be even more dangerous outside.”
“I guess it’s going to have to do,” Jailyn told them, “but I don’t like it.” She pointed back into the depths they had just come out of. “Whatever’s back there, it doesn’t feel right; something evil, old and twisted. Let’s just hope it stays back there.”
She shook her head. Whatever it was, it didn’t feel like it was completely awake. “We need to be very quiet. Only use defensive magic, only enough fire to see. Perhaps it will continue to sleep.”
“Everyone stay together. We’re going to have to stay alert, with only a couple of us grabbing a few minutes of shut-eye at a time.”
“I’m afraid it’s going to be a long night.”
The Beast was ancient. He’d lived for many centuries, the mountains with their magic sustaining him, if not at a price. He barely remembered his previous existence, before he’d been changed. His body was twisted and horrific, and his mind wasn’t much better. Once he’d been a man and ate a normal human diet. Then he came here.
At first he killed small animals, living off their flesh like most other beasts. But gradually he changed, becoming what he was now and living by devouring magic. He was always so hungry for more. A side effect of his affliction, he found that he was impervious to magical attacks; instead he was able to consume any magic used against him until he’d emptied the attacker of his magic. That and to kill; his distorted mind now wanted the kill not only for sustenance but also for the thrill of it. He always killed once he’d devoured the magic.
Since the mountains were seldom traveled, that meant sleeping for long periods of time until something disturbed his peace with magic. The Beast had just been awakened, the delicious smell of magic dr
awing him from his deep sleep and it sent him creeping out of his hiding place deep within the caves of the mountain pass. Despite his belief that he could survive any magical attack, something told him to use cunning and not brute force in this attack.
As he drew nearer to the magical source, one beacon of magic drew him more than the others, so he crept slowly toward that magic, hiding in the shadows. He would drink his fill of that magic and then he would kill, kill, kill.
Jailyn had insisted that either she or Carisa, as the strongest fire wizards, needed to be awake at any given time, and since Carisa had been even more tired than her, she’d let her sleep first. That had been several hours ago, so she’d awakened the girl and left her in her place. Curled up on her sleeping roll, she quickly dropped off to sleep, but it was a fitful sleep. She kept dreaming something was after her and it wanted to consume her magic.
Suddenly she snapped awake. A strong sense of danger enfolded her, but before she could react, something grabbed at her. Somehow, she dodged the main attack, but the attacker managed to grasp the amulet hanging around her neck, breaking the chain and pulling it free.
“No!” She exclaimed, grabbing for it and catching it by the loose end of the chain. She looked up to see something hideous had been stalking her and she could sense somehow it was consuming her magic.
The others had started to react, quickly moving toward her, especially Carisa with a flaming spear in her hand ready to attack. Somehow Jailyn knew that would be a mistake. “No magic!” she yelled. “The thing consumes it.”
Jesse had been on the second watch too, so he came running forth, thrusting his sword at the monster. In his excitement, he missed delivering a killing blow, but still he was able to stab the thing through with his sword. It screamed, trying to pull the sword free, but Jesse thrust the sword into it again.
