“Go on.”
Rion hesitated. His grip tightened. The recounting was giving him much distress. “And then, and then, things became truly dire. We were both engulfed in a strange darkness. I could not see you, yet I cried out and I could hear you. I tried to reach out but I could not feel my arms.”
Miri sent a calming wave of thought into his mind. “Worry not, it was but a dream.”
Rion blinked rapidly. She could see the misery in his eyes. “I-I … do not think it is but a dream. It is … more than a dream.”
Miri was intrigued. “What else could it be, Rion?”
The boy hesitated for a bit before answering her. “It felt like a … foreknowledge of some sort. It seemed like it would happen in the future. Do you remember the time when we were traveling to the Black Redoubt? I had other strange dreams as well.”
“I do,” Miri said softly. She had not told him about her encounter with the last Gorgon, Neth. During their time in the wastes while journeying to Lethe, they all had dreams of someone in a red robe, calling out to them. Upon her encounter with the Gorgon, Neth had revealed she had been sending out thoughtwaves in order to guide them to her. It was these very dreams that enabled them to subconsciously find the proper direction to traverse the wastes, for without it they would have all surely perished. Could these dreams they were experiencing now be the same sort of psychic message that had occurred before?
“What happened in my dreams was even worse,” Rion said. “The next thing I knew, you and I were in a strange white room. We were engulfed in a monstrous cloud of reddish dust that seemed to swirl around us. It all felt so vivid I actually thought I was about to die when the fumes entered my mouth and I could feel tiny things digging into my body, causing me great pain.”
“A white room?”
“Yes, it seemed to be made of glass or of metal,” Rion said. “You were screaming and on your knees as you were forced to breathe in the cloud, like me. And then… and then…”
“And what?”
Tears began to form on the boy’s eyelids once more. “It seemed like the cloud was eating you alive. I could see your flesh being stripped away until your bloody insides were showing, and … it went on until you were but a crimson skeleton.”
Miri kissed him on the forehead. “Do not fear. Whatever this adversary of ours is, I am confident we could defeat it. This dream may be bit of a symbol for things yet to come, but it may yet end differently, for the future is malleable. Was that when your dream ended?”
“Y-yes,” Rion said. “But there is more. It seems my distant memories are slowly returning to me the more days we spend in this land. It is another reason why we have not talked much lately.”
“Tell me of your recollections, Rion,” Miri said. “Was it from the time you spent in the citadel of Doss?”
The boy shook his head. “No, it seems even more distant than that. My earliest memory is of sitting in another white room, quite different than the dream I had just now. This room had a window of thickened transparent crystal along its side, and when I stared into it, the opening revealed an eventide full of stars.”
“So you were in another place then? Perhaps a land beyond the citadel?”
“No,” Rion said. “What I mean is this window revealed the place I was in was part of the eventide. It was as if I was alongside those stars. I believe I was not in a room of this world, but rather in the heavens above.”
“You were traveling in the sky?”
The boy was concentrating hard, trying desperately to remember the finer details of his memories. “Not quite, it seems I was in a place beyond the sky and I could see the whole world below me. It was shaped like a sphere, an orange sphere.”
Miri was trying her best to understand it all, but she could hardly discern what he meant. “Was there anything else about this remembrance you can tell me?”
“There was a woman in the room with me,” Rion said. “She had very kind eyes, much like yours, only she had dark brown hair, while yours is a fiery red. She gave me a smile and told me all is well, and everything will be alright.”
Miri’s eyes narrowed. “This woman in your dream, could she be your mother?”
Rion thought about it for a brief moment before answering. “No, I do not think so. She seemed … more like a caretaker. There were other children in the room with me, and we all wore these strange white robes. It was as if we were being prepared for something.”
“What do you think the preparations were for?”
“For a journey of some sort, just like what we are doing now,” Rion said. “I remember the woman’s words. She told us we would be the final hope.”
Miri was still confused. “The final hope for what?”
Rion looked down. “I do not know. It is all I can remember for now.”
Miri smiled faintly at him. “You can remember far more these days than when I first met you. It is apparent you are getting better. Do not worry too much, all your memories will return to you in time.”
Rion sighed and hugged her. The boy knew she was right. But there was a part of him that feared the return of his full memories would come too late to save them both.
Chapter 7
The next day, Miri and Rion asked for and were able to get permission to visit the tellers of the united tribes. The teller’s abode was in a shallow cavern at one of the outlying hills, a full day’s walk along the bare rock base. It was where the local chieftains would gather to and seek answers in response to unusual occurrences. The place also contained the largest collection of telling stones in the Sea of Dunes, but since the tellers no longer knew how to read the etchings on them, they were looked at as nothing more than traditional ornaments, to be displayed at ceremonies before being returned back to their shelves.
Fiok was the head teller and a hairy one, his once brownish fur had now aged and faded into a pale silver coat around his body. He opened the entrance flap and bade them to come inside. “Enter and be welcome, travelers.”
Miri smiled and thanked him as she helped usher the boy inside. She had left her spear at their quarters, but she retained a dagger hidden beneath her cloak. Her mindsense told her these people were not hostile, she wouldn’t need a weapon. Nevertheless, the dreams she had the night before made her feel uneasy, so it was better to be prudent in case of any eventuality.
Rion looked around. The cavern seemed to have been carved out by the winds and time. All along the sides were recesses containing hundreds of telling stones. He turned to the teller and pointed to them. “May I look at those glyphs?”
Fiok was somewhat surprised. “Do you know how to read them?”
Rion nodded eagerly. “I do.”
“Well then,” Fiok said as he spread his arms out wide. “You may have the full run of this place, young child.”
As Rion made his way to the mounds of telling stones and began to go through them, Miri turned and looked at the teller. “We would also wish to see the Maker, how do we go about this?”
Fiok stroked the whiskers in his neck, it was a habit he would do every time something perplexed him. “I am afraid neither I nor the Khanate has the power to do that, only the Exalted may give that sort of permission.”
Miri’s instincts were proven right. During the initial encounter with Vorconis and Lorrt, the latter made a drunken remark about the Exalted as being the true rulers of the land. She needed to know more. “These people, these Exalted, what tribe are they from?”
“Oh, the Exalted are not a tribe,” Fiok said. “They are the servants of the Maker.”
“Yes, but what kind of people are they?”
“We do not know,” Fiok said. “They always wear their masks in public, and no one has ever seen them unmasked. They only venture forth to trade in goods, or when conducting official business with the Khanate.”
Miri nodded. “I see. Are there any Exalted children that have been noticed?”
“The Khanate regularly bequeaths a batch of their stronges
t male newborns to the Exalted, and these younglings are raised in their mountain sanctuary, far from prying eyes,” Fiok said. “No one except the sacrifices are ever allowed to venture into the temple, for the ancient pacts forbid it.”
Miri pursed her lips. So the Exalted apparently replenished their ranks with male youths taken from the tribes. “Could you tell me more of the stories behind these ancient pacts the tribes have with the Maker?”
Fiok smiled. Telling stories were his life’s work, and he was pleased by the request. “Long ago, the Sea of Dunes was in utter chaos. Tribes would continually make war against one another, and wholesale slaughter would ensue in order to achieve control over the precious caves that had the springs of life giving water everyone needed. The carnage was so great, and if it had continued then everyone would have eventually drowned in rivers of blood. But hope came upon the horizon when the Oracle appeared.”
Miri narrowed her eyes. “Who is this Oracle you speak of?”
“A woman of exquisite beauty,” Fiok said. “She came upon the warring tribes of the desert and delivered a message to them.”
Although he was busy sorting through a pile of telling stones, Rion kept one ear open while he listened to the teller speak.
“Where did she come from?” Miri asked.
“I do not know,” Fiok said. “There had been tales saying she might have descended down from the heavens while other stories told of her coming forth from beneath the lowest caverns of the mountains that jut out of the sands. Once she had made her presence felt, the warring tribes put down their weapons and began to negotiate the terms of peace. The two most powerful tribes eventually united and formed the Khanate. The family of the Great Khan is the direct descendants of this union. In time, the ancient pacts were laid down, along with the needed sacrifices that were required. The Exalted were created in order to serve as attendants to the Oracle, and she chose the last and tallest mountain at the edges of the sand sea to serve as the temple of her god. We call it the Mountain of Entropy.”
Miri crossed her arms. “Has anyone seen the Oracle recently?”
Fiok shook his head. “Ever since the pacts were laid down, the Oracle has stayed in her temple. Only the Exalted may now speak with her, and her message is carried by them to the Khanate and the other tribes.”
“But if what you say is true,” Miri said. “Then this Oracle must be eons in age. She may have already died a long time ago.”
“We believe she still lives,” the hairy teller said. “The treaties have held, and we continue to abide by her words as the Exalted continue to make their presence felt.”
“These sacrifices you mentioned,” Miri said. “Do you mean the Maker demands you send tribesmen to its temple as well?”
“Yes,” Fiok said. “Once every twelve moons, the Maker demands two dozen youths to be brought over to his temple for sacrifice. Each tribe takes it turn, with the exception of the Khanate. Since there are dozens of tribes, there is enough young blood to be born to replace the ones undergoing the ritual. The tribes do not despair over it, for it is not a loss. The Maker decrees the comeliest of youths would become its servants in the afterlife, there to live on in eternal splendor, so it is an honor rather than a tragedy.”
Miri rubbed her chin. “Why does the Maker demand such a ritual? What is the purpose of it?”
“We do not question the Maker, for it is all powerful, and the creator of all life and of this world,” Fiok said. “We are thankful peace reigns in this land and we continue to live our lives as best we could.”
“Is there a way to contact the Exalted so that we may meet this Oracle?”
“No,” Fiok said. “The Exalted are not called upon. They shall reveal themselves upon you if they wish it.”
“If I were to venture to the Mountain of Entropy to seek audience with the Oracle, will it be allowed?” Miri asked.
“You must not do that,” Fiok said. “None may approach the Mountain of Entropy without the express wishes of the Exalted. To do otherwise would risk their wrath. The Khanate would turn hostile if you attempted such a feat.”
Rion stood up. In his hands were several telling stones. “What about the ones from outside of this valley, such as us? Would we not be exempted from such pacts?”
Fiok looked at the boy. He had not expected one so young to have such a sharp mind. “You are a clever little one. I am afraid I do not know the answer. You may both wish to ask the Khanate and see if they can pass the message on to the Exalted. I have never heard of anyone from within and from beyond these lands to be ever allowed to see the Oracle.”
Miri nodded. She would need to speak to Orilion to devise a plan. “How did the Maker come about?”
“When the ancestors first met the Oracle, she had already proclaimed herself as the harbinger of the Maker,” Fiok said. “When she had chosen the mountain to serve as the temple, she had said the Maker had already been residing beneath its stones. The succeeding sacrifices apparently strengthened the Maker, and this continues the blessings it bestows upon the people here.”
“Are there any stories as to how the youths are sacrificed?” Rion asked.
“No,” Fiok said tersely. He didn’t like to talk about such things, especially to an outsider.
The boy held up a handful of telling stones. “Could you tell me about the Keeper of the Lost?”
Fiok’s eyes narrowed. “How did you know of such a being?”
Rion smiled. “I read the glyphs on these stones. They tell a story of someone named the Keeper.”
“The Keeper is supposedly the wisest of all tellers,” Fiok said. “His knowledge of the past and present is said to be unmatched. Like the Maker, he is as old as time. He is but a legend, and I doubt he exists anymore.”
“If the Oracle is as old as you claim,” Miri said. “Then surely you could believe that a similar being could exist as well?”
Rion held up one particular stone. The etchings on its surface were lined with green dust, giving it a strange glow. The boy pulled out another stone from beneath his tunic with his other hand. This second telling stone was made of gold. “This is another stone I have kept with me during our travels. When I read them together they tell of a very interesting story. It proclaims the Keeper of the Lost resides in the Valley of Shadow, but deep in the bowels of the land. It is said he knows the answers to everything.”
Fiok gave him an incredulous look. “The Oracle’s voice through the Exalted has only mentioned such a being once. The only stories I recall about the Keeper was when brave, or even perhaps foolhardy men would seek it for information, and the truths the Keeper bestowed upon them ultimately drove them mad. The knowledge the Keeper retains is forbidden, and it would be wise never to pursue such a quest.”
Miri was instantly suspicious. It seemed this teller was hiding something. “Why would the Oracle forbid the search for such a being if it claimed the Keeper was but a mere legend?”
“Because the Keeper and all the forbidden knowledge it has access to is considered taboo,” Fiok said. “Legends state the Keeper is an enemy of the Maker, and strives to undo all the good things the Maker has done for the people of this world. A number of foolish ones from the distant past attempted to search for this Keeper for selfish reasons, and it always ended with their doom.”
Rion shrugged. “But what if the Keeper is actually telling the truth as opposed to the Maker?”
The old teller was stunned. He looked around nervously, even though it was only three of them in the yurt. “You must not say such things out loud,” he whispered. “If the Exalted were within earshot, they would have drawn weapons and taken your head.”
Miri clasped the boy’s elbow. “My apologies, teller. Sometimes my young friend here says things he later regrets.”
Fiok’s head was suddenly spinning and he could barely stand. “Very well, it seems I have grown tired as of late. Could we perhaps continue this at another time?”
“Of course,” Miri said as he took R
ion by the arm and led him to the entryway. “A pleasant day to you, teller.”
“And a pleasant one to you as well,” Fiok said as he sat down on a stone chair. His head was on fire and he could barely remember what they had just spoken about. Did it have something to do with cultivating shrooms?
Miri continued to pull the boy along as they made it out of the cavern and into the sun bleached rock face. She kept on moving while turning towards the direction of the Khanate holdings, several leagues away. “We need to be more subtle with our questions, Rion.”
Rion was almost at a trot as he kept up with her relentless pace. “We seemed to have gleaned much from that teller. It is a pity we have gone, I could have asked more questions about this Keeper.”
She turned to look at him. “How important is this Keeper?”
“I believe he may be the key to everything,” the boy said. “We must find someone who has knowledge on how to reach him.”
“I think we already have the answer to that,” Miri said confidently.
The boy gave her a surprised look. “What? How did that come about?”
Miri smirked. “The teller knew more than what he was telling.”
Rion was perplexed for a moment until he realized what had happened. “You used your mindsense on him?”
“I did,” Miri said. “I normally don't so such things, but I could see he was deceiving us by hiding the truth.”
“What kind of information did you take from his mind?”
“Deep in his thoughts was a tale of a foolish chief and his tribe who wanted to usurp the Khan,” Miri said. “It was said that they all entered through a forbidden cave and ventured into a forgotten city deep in the bowels of the world. After a harrowing ordeal they finally met the Keeper. The knowledge was shared by this being proved to be so accursed they were transformed into orlas.”
Rion shuddered. He remembered the orlas, ravenous monsters who were once men until they adapted to a sightless, underground existence. The orlas were poisonous cannibals, and he had lost a friend named Jinn when they came under attack from those monsters while on their journey to Lethe. He put away the sudden bad memory and focused on what Miri said about the Keeper. “So what you are saying is the way to reach this Keeper is to find the entry to a forbidden cave?”
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