The stable hands had set aside two mares for Jamie and John, who could hardly hide their envy when Peter led Argent from her stall. While Peter saddled the silvery-white pony, one of the stable hands helped Jamie and John to prepare the mares and soon they were clopping their way across the stable yard to the forest, with Dreyfus running alongside Argent.
"We'll go to the Christmas tree plantation,” Peter said. “There could be other people riding, but the bridle path doesn't go through that part and we should be able to talk without being overheard."
They rode in impatient silence until Peter felt they were far enough into the Christmas tree plantation to be out of earshot of other riders. Peter brought Argent to a halt and the others followed suit. They all dismounted and tethered their mounts to one of the larger trees. Peter looked at his watch.
"We might as well have our lunch while we're talking, even though it's a bit early,” he said, handing each of the twins a generous-looking package. “We can always leave something to eat later if we get hungry."
Jamie and John helped Peter spread a tarpaulin on the damp ground and they settled down on either side of him and eagerly opened their lunches. They weren't disappointed. Susan Brown was a generous and imaginative hostess and the sandwiches were spread with unusual but delicious fillings. There was even a flask of hot soup as well as one of tea. Jamie and John tucked in while Peter told them what had happened to him during the previous two days. The twins were full of envy.
"It wasn't so great at the time,” Peter reminded them. “If you thought Sujad was nasty last Christmas you'll find he's even worse now."
"I think I'd rather not see him again,” said John fervently.
"You don't have any say in the matter,” Peter said with that adult-like grimness he had unconsciously copied from Merlin.
"What about this wax doll that looks like you?” Jamie asked. “Isn't the victim supposed to feel pain in the areas where the pins are jabbed?"
Peter chewed his pinwheel sandwich thoughtfully. “I don't think Sujad intended it to be like that—or Morgause for that matter. As you know, the Absolute Law decrees that Sujad's life is forfeit to me because he tried to kill me with something made from obsidian. The Essence of Obsidian says Morgause and Sujad may have reversed the Absolute Law so that the Obsidian Dagger can be used against me. But Sujad doesn't have the dagger. The Essence of Obsidian told me to give it to the Evil One himself. So if the dagger is used to destroy me it will be the Evil One himself who uses it—unless Sujad is able to persuade his master to give it to him."
"Why on earth did the Spirit of Obsidian tell you to give the dagger to the Evil One and not to Sujad?” John asked, looking very puzzled.
"Yes. What difference does it make?” Jamie said. “After all, the Evil One wants you destroyed just as much as Sujad does, so if he can't use the dagger himself he can always give it to Sujad to use. I can't understand why the Essence of Obsidian didn't do something to keep it safe for you."
"The Power of Obsidian knows best,” Peter said quietly. He stood up. “You two finished feeding your faces or are you going to stay here all day?"
Jamie and John leapt to their feet and helped him to pack up the remains of their picnic. Peter led the way back to the bridle track.
"I'd like to go back to the City of Light,” Jamie said wistfully. “I often think about it."
Peter laughed. “Yes. I suppose it's not quite so bad for me. I spent the rest of the summer holidays on Thaddeus Carter's farm. Merlin and I visited the City of Light while we were there."
Two pairs of eyes fixed themselves enviously on Peter. He laughed. There was, he reflected, a certain amount of boyish pleasure in being the object of your friends’ envy, especially when you weren't accustomed to it.
"Don't worry; you'll see it again,” he assured them with complete confidence. “We've a long way to go before our task is finished."
They ambled on until they reached a fork in the track. Argent came to an abrupt halt. “Come on, old girl, you should know the way by now,” Peter urged. But Argent refused to move. “She's not normally like this.” His face felt pink with embarrassment. Like most boys, he was very much averse to being made to feel a fool in front of his peers.
"Well, it doesn't matter which way we go, so let's go this way,” Jamie said decisively, urging his horse forward and passing Argent and Peter to take the right-hand path.
Peter urged Argent to follow and this time she meekly obeyed. Dreyfus ran happily alongside.
They went on for some time, laughing and chatting together like three normal boys out for a day's recreation. So engrossed did they become in their conversation that it was some time before Peter noticed his surroundings again. He abruptly brought Argent to a halt.
"Hey!” he said in apprehension. “This isn't the pine forest! Where on earth are we?"
The change had been so gradual Peter couldn't work out how long it was since the orderly planting of the pine forest had given way to natural bush. He looked around, now thoroughly alarmed.
"We'd better go back!” he said, pulling on Argent's rein to turn her head.
He and Argent were now back in the lead. As the pony turned, he saw something rushing towards them through the trees. Like a black tornado, the black cloud of the Evil One bore down on them. The twins’ horses took fright and bolted. As there was only one way for Argent to get out of their way, she too bolted.
Something black loomed up. It looked like the mouth of a vast natural tunnel. The path they were following went straight into it. Within a second of entering this tunnel-like opening they were plunged into darkness. The horses immediately came to a standstill. Peter tried to turn Argent's head back but she refused to move. He could feel her trembling right down the length of his legs. He turned his own head to look back at the daylight, but there was only pitch blackness all around.
"Has anyone got a light?” John's voice came from somewhere behind him. “I don't like the dark. This place is terrifying."
The quaver in John's voice sent Peter's mind back to their first entry into the City of the Reborn when John had said something similar. Peter himself had been afraid then. Now he was beset by sheer terror.
He groped in his saddlebag for the torch he knew was there. Relief surged through him when his hand closed over it. He snapped it on and flashed its beam around.
The light revealed two white-faced boys and one cringing dog. Dreyfus immediately perked up, but the twins remained shaken for some time.
Peter turned his attention to their surroundings. To his surprise, they weren't in a tunnel as he'd expected. It appeared to be a large almost cave-like room. The walls were black and still rough-hewn in parts. Here and there holes gaped, showing up only as the torch shone directly on them. The walls ruthlessly absorbed most of the light from the torch. Horror flooded Peter’ as he realised where they were.
"We're in the domain of Sujad the Great.” His throat felt so dry his voice came out hoarse. “This must be one of the rooms off his great hall. And I know now why the walls are black. They're made of obsidian."
"If the hall's anything like this it's not exactly a palace; more like a dungeon.” Jamie quipped nervously, trying hard to sound brave.
Peter dismounted and started leading Argent across the cave. The floor appeared to be relatively smooth.
"It's difficult to know which of these openings might lead outside,” he said.
"I don't think any of them do,” Jamie said quietly as he and Jamie also dismounted. “If Sujad the Great has lured us here you can be sure he's cut off all avenues of escape."
Peter sighed. “I'm afraid you're probably right. And there's something else you should know. It's the reason why the Essence of Obsidian didn't allow itself to be taken prisoner by Sujad when Sujad took the Book of Obsidian from me. Sujad has locked the Book of Obsidian in a box made of obsidian. The box doesn't need keys or combination locks. And only Sujad can open it. The Essence of Obsidian would have been Sujad's pris
oner forever, with only Sujad able to set it free."
He drew a deep breath, his mind reeling under the impact of the knowledge he had obtained from the Book of Obsidian—things he was only now discovering he knew. He had to think hard before he could continue. Jamie and John waited patiently.
"This—” he swept their surroundings with the torch “—is a prison—a dungeon—made of obsidian. Sujad now has us all prisoner. Even the Lady herself can't rescue us. Both Merlin and the Lady at the height of their powers couldn't free us. Even Sujad's death wouldn't do so. Only Sujad, Lord of Obsidian, himself can set us free."
Almost as though on cue, Sujad's cackling laughter came out of the black void. It echoed obscenely around the obsidian dungeon. “Excellent, young Chosen One. You learnt your lessons from the Book of Obsidian very well."
Peter went hot and cold all over. How much did Sujad hear? If he heard what I said about the Essence of Obsidian ... I couldn't bear to be responsible for the destruction of the Spirit of Obsidian as well as myself and Jamie and John....
Sujad had brought some light with him. At the sound of his voice, torches had sprung into life on the walls. Peter had enough presence of mind to snap off the electric torch. No sense wasting power, he thought.
With Sujad's appearance the horses became more nervous and the boys had trouble keeping them still.
"I don't really want your horses,” Sujad said smoothly. “I'll be generous and set them free. They can return home without you and no one will ever find you."
As he spoke, all three horses disappeared. Peter's heart calmed on realizing Sujad couldn't have heard what he'd said about the Spirit of Obsidian. He wasn't the type to keep silent about it.
Peter forced himself to stare steadily into Sujad's black eyes, which glittered with triumph in a way that was becoming painfully familiar to Peter. The Lord of Obsidian was dressed in black as suited his title and—as Peter would have said—his nature. The costume seemed designed expressly to add to his bulk. He looked both broader and taller than Peter remembered him on their first meeting. The personality and character of the Lord of Obsidian had now fully submerged the pleasant, friendly man whose hand Peter had shaken.
Peter realised in dismay that Sujad could divine his thoughts merely by looking at his face. “Ah yes! Sujad the Great is indeed also Sujad the Magnificent. Sujad the Great will also be Sujad the Magnanimous and Sujad the Merciful, for he is going to leave the torches for you so that you may watch each other die."
His voice was no more merciful than his words; its tone was harder than the obsidian surrounding them. He looked from one boy to another and chuckled as though he had just made an amusing joke. Then abruptly he turned on his heel, and the swirl of his cloak seemed to summon the black cloud that attended him everywhere. It swallowed him up and then slowly dispersed.
Jamie broke the brief silence. “What are we going to do now? We've got no food and water—it's still with the horses. Sujad obviously doesn't intend to feed us."
"Well, I'm not just sitting down and waiting for death,” Peter said. “If we must die let's go down fighting."
"What with?” said John bitterly.
"He's left us light. We can at least explore.” Peter dug into his pockets. He pulled out a piece of chalk.
As neither Jamie nor John could think of anything better, they followed their leader. Peter chose one of the gaping holes in the wall and made a mark in the obsidian close to one of the torches. The opening led into a corridor. This in turn twisted at right angles to left and right until they began to feel lost. There were no flares on the walls here. Peter was obliged to use his torch.
Suddenly the corridor branched to the left. But Peter didn't need to decide which way to go. Something reached out of the branching corridor to him, beckoning. His heart seemed to stop still for a moment. He probed ahead. The magnetism streaming out at him felt neither good nor bad. Whether good or bad, he was unable to resist its pull. It drew him down the new corridor. He even forgot to mark the wall at the turning point. Jamie and John followed, unquestioning.
Ahead another hole yawned. Light poured through it, but not the light of Sujad's smoking torches.
Peter's heart started hammering, not just with trepidation. What was in there that made him so afraid and yet gave him hope? He switched off his torch and ran the last few yards, stopping on the threshold, momentarily blinded. Then something moved in the cave beyond. Two figures seated on a crude bench rose to face him: Merlin and the Lady.
Apprehension swamped the hope in Peter's heart. “Are—are you Sujad's prisoners too?"
"Yes, Peter,” the Lady answered. “It has taken Sujad some time to make these dungeons. We've been working hard to garner enough power to thwart his plans but have failed. He still managed to complete his building."
Peter stared, aghast. Sujad has five of the People of Earthlight—six counting Dreyfus—imprisoned in obsidian. And only he can set us free.
Chapter 12
Power from Obsidian
AS JAMIE, John and Dreyfus entered the cave, Merlin and the Lady moved to meet them. Such was their bearing they might have been king and queen greeting honored guests. In the soft light, whose source Peter couldn't trace, their faces looked to have aged. The upright, royal bearing of their figures failed to hide their physical exhaustion. To Peter's anguished eyes, defeat was stamped heavily on the faces of two of the three people dearest in the world to him.
"Do you mind if we sit down?” the Lady asked. Peter could only shake his head. The Lady seated herself at one end of the bench like a queen taking her throne. Merlin took the other end. Dreyfus sat beside him and he absently stroked the dog's head.
The Lady beckoned Peter to sit between them. “I'm sorry there's not room for everyone,” she apologized to the others.
Jamie and John stood and stared, tongue-tied. This was the first time they had seen the Lady, except when she lay, apparently dead, in her stone coffin in the City of the Dead. To both it was like seeing the statue in the sacred grotto come to life. She smiled and, sensing their discomfort, beckoned them to her side.
Peter, busy thinking, hadn't even noticed the twins’ confusion.
"The Spirit of Obsidian hasn't been taken prisoner by Sujad, although Sujad thinks it's locked up with the Book of Obsidian. Maybe it can help us?"
This idea seemed to do nothing to improve Merlin's bearing. If anything, his face fell into more lines of exhaustion; his tall upright figure sagged. “Sujad has taken the Book of Obsidian?"
Peter nodded, taken aback by Merlin's ignorance of Sujad's invasion of the forest to demand the book from Peter. Somehow Peter had expected Bart would have informed him. Only later did he realise both Merlin and the Lady had been preoccupied in garnering power that they had been forced to spend as fast as they gathered it for their fight against the Evil One.
"Is there no end to his powers?” Merlin said bitterly. He turned to Peter. “You said he didn't manage to imprison the Power of Obsidian. How come? The Power of Obsidian is the Book of Obsidian."
"Well the Power of Obsidian actually told me it wanted Sujad to have the book. Obviously the Spirit of Obsidian must have known Sujad intended to put the book in a box made of obsidian so it made sure Sujad didn't take it prisoner as well. I don't know how."
Merlin looked thoughtful. “Where is the Power of Obsidian then?"
"Here, oh Great One,” said that familiar slow, deep voice that Peter instantly recognized. The sound echoed back from the hard walls of the dungeon.
Peter looked around anxiously, acutely aware of Jamie and John's excitement. “Spirit of Obsidian! Are you also a prisoner now?"
The Power of Obsidian laughed—a big, booming sound. Peter collapsed with relief. He needed no verbal answer. “Oh, thank goodness! I feared that when Sujad took me prisoner he also trapped you."
The Essence of Obsidian chuckled. “He would have been able to if he'd known I was with you."
"Can you help us escape?"
The Essence of Obsidian made no immediate answer. Peter waited with thumping heart as the Power of Obsidian pondered the question.
"Hmm!” The bass sound echoed around the walls. “You could all help yourselves if you weren't so drained, you know. The three great figures of the Earthlight are all here. Two of you would stand no chance, no matter how strong your power, but three powerful people cannot be imprisoned together, simply because they have too much power. Sujad must have been quite sure of your helplessness before placing you together. In his place I would have separated you."
Merlin interrupted wearily. “Originally the Lady and I were sealed off in this room. We knew Sujad had succeeded in lulling Peter through his friends and had managed to capture him, because we were instrumental in the capture. We knew Peter's presence here was our only hope of escape, so we made it easy for Sujad. Since we knew where Sujad had taken him, we spent what power we had left in demolishing the sealed doorway of our prison. That meant Peter stood a good chance of finding us, and we would then be three. Unfortunately, it's possible we will all die of thirst and starvation before we manage to garner enough power to get out."
Peter addressed the Spirit of Obsidian. “Why can't we see you?” He sorely missed the pulsing light that made him feel one with the Power of Obsidian. He might as well be talking to it over the telephone.
The Power of Obsidian chuckled. “Because only my voice is here. Yes, it is something like talking over the telephone, Peter. It's not a good idea for me to join you until it's necessary. My presence may be detected by Sujad the Great. He can't hear my voice, but if he wasn't so preoccupied at the moment he might detect that something is communicating with you."
The Lord of Obsidian [Quest for Earthlight Trilogy Book 2] Page 13
