by Ritu Ghosh
He took the pendent of Sicil stone that hung around his neck out of his shirt. He grabbed onto it. ‘You didn’t die in vain Mother; I know you were fighting for a bigger reason’ Then he pulled out his Father’s sword that was resting on the table. “I know what you wanted, I will complete what you have started, I will solve the riddle and find a way to stop Zorath at any cost”
He put on his jacket and belt. Fixed the sword in the belt and equipped himself with as many knifes as he could possibly carry. He also grabbed a dragger and his sling from his bag. He put on his leather boots and cloak and pulled his hood up. With his bag on his back, he came out of the room. Flynn saw him and came to him, he was trying to say something.
‘Not now Flynn, I am leaving.” He walked faster to find Jane.
Aaron entered the common room, everyone was sitting around. They were astonished to see him all geared up.
“I am leaving!” he said and everyone was shocked.
“Where are you going?” asked Ony.
“I have to save my Brother” said Aaron.
“And you think you can save him on your own” Dan said as he got up from his seat.
“I don’t know that but I can’t put any of your lives in danger for me” Aaron said in a low voice.
“Aaron, we are in this together. We are Defenders, we always stick together” Jane said keeping her hand on Aaron’s shoulder.
“We are not letting you go alone to find your brother. We are coming with you.” said Ony.
Flynn was also standing among the others and nodding.
Aaron didn’t resist anymore, he knew that he really needed their help. He felt grateful.
“Jane, could your mother find anything about Brandon’s location?” Aaron asked.
“Yes. We were waiting to tell you. I think you should come with me immediately” Jane said and walked out of the common room.
Jane walked to her Mother’s room and Aaron followed silently.
“Mother! Aaron is here” she said as her mother opened the door. Analda looked at Aaron, she was looking tensed.
“Come in!” she said.
“Do you know where my brother is?” Aaron asked as soon as Analda closed the door behind them. Jane and her mother exchanged glances.
“Aaron, I think you should sit down for this” Jane signaled Aaron.
“Aaron your brother is in grave danger. He is taken to a dangerous dungeon where the Dark Lord keeps his prisoners”
“Are the wolves guarding the dungeon?” Aaron asked disappointed.
“No, the wolves are just mere soldiers who do the dirty work for the Dark Lord. But the prisoners are handed over to the Lurgs who drag them into the Troll Dungeons, where the mountain Trolls guard the prisons. But, these Trolls are not the only things that guard these prisons. I have heard of menacing creatures that are especially brought from deep dark lands to keep the prisoners from escaping. You have to be very careful Aaron, you could lose your life if something goes wrong” she was worried.
Aaron thought for a moment and asked Analda “How do you know all this?”
“Well, I have the powers of healing and psychic vision. I can see things that are happening far away. But I don’t get them all the time. Your mother was gifted too Aaron. But, she could see the future. We learnt to better out skills under the guidance of Alfadon” she said.
Aaron took his pendent out.
“Bella’s Sicil! Do you know Aaron?, only a powerful witch or a wizard can make one of these.” Analda gasped.
“My mother could see future and that’s why she left me this. Because she knew it will save my life one day” Aaron said.
“Yes Aaron, she knew” Analda Smiled.
“We need to leave now. Do you know the way to the Troll dungeons?” asked Aaron.
Reluctantly, Analda got up and walked up to a cupboard. She drew a blank page out and dipped her quill in the ink. She dropped the ink onto the blank paper. Under her breath, she murmured “Troll Mountains” The moment the ink touched the paper, a map appeared. The path to the Troll Mountains from the Witch Valley was clearly depicted in it.
“Remember, this map will take you to the Troll Mountains. But as you go forward, the roads you have travelled until then, will disappear on the map” Analda said as she handed the map over to Aaron.
“We will take leave now Analda. Thanks so much for your help” Aaron got up and signed Jane to come with him.
Analda hugged Jane tight and cried for some time.
“Mother, I will be fine” Jane consoled her. “I better get ready soon” Jane said and left.
As Jane left the room, Analda stopped Aaron. “Wait Aaron. There is something I want to give you” She took out a very old sealed envelope from her cupboard and kept it in Aaron’s hand. “This is something your mother wanted me to give you. She had written it before you were even born.”
Aaron took the dirty old envelop which had a very neat handwriting on it. It read “To my special boy, Aaron. Love Mama.”
He looked at the envelop for some time. Then he folded it and kept it in his pocket.
Analda threw her arms around him and hugged him like he was her own son.
“Please be careful and please come back safely” she was all teary.
Aaron understood how difficult it must have been for her to lose her only son.
“I will, I promise” he said and hugged her back. He walked away quickly as parting was becoming extremely difficult. He didn’t look back. He came right out of the house.
The horses were ready and everyone was waiting for him.
“So, where do we start looking?” Dan asked.
“We start with the Troll Mountains.” Aaron said and showed the Map to Dan.
Chapter 16
Travel to the Troll Mountains
With the map as their guide, the Defenders moved towards the east. Analda and the rest of the witches stood there till they were out of sight. Aaron led the way for the first time and the rest followed. He stopped from time to time and consulted Dan and Belster about the roads and the shortcuts with the help of the map. Soon, they came out of the Witch Valley. The beautiful town roads came to an end and the rough roads began.
The moment all of them stepped out of the town, Flynn looked back. The town vanished in front of his eyes and there was nothing but a cliff, just like the one they had come across before. Aaron and the others rode through the uneven paths of the forest for many hours. Sometimes they had to climb up the slopes and sometimes they had to come down the hills. Aaron didn’t slow down a bit during the journey. He seem to notice nothing much, his attention was set on the map and the path ahead. In the map, the roads they had crossed so far were continuously disappearing.
The evening was upon them, it was getting darker. The way ahead was not clearly visible.
“We should stop and camp soon” said Belster.
“No, we are almost there, I am not stopping now” said Aaron.
“What about a short rest then?” Ony sounded tired.
Aaron halted.
“Here is good!” said Ony, getting down from his horse and stretching his legs.
“But we must start again soon” Aaron said as he examined the map again. He looked around to make sure that the place was safe. Aaron had only the Defenders to call his friends now, he didn’t want to drag them along with him. But he knew that the only way to keep them safe now was to keep them together.
“I have never seen you like this before, what happened to you? Aren’t you afraid Aaron?” asked Flynn.
“I am afraid Flynn. Afraid of what is coming for me. But I have no choice, I have to stop the Evil Force. And if I don’t, it is going to destroy the world and everything I have. I will not lose Brandon at any cost” He looked at all the defenders around him “I don’t’ think we should be afraid Flynn, we have the best of men and women here to fight with us” Aaron looked at the horizon; the sun was slowly drifting away into the west.
Flynn patted Aaron’s back
and gave a familiar smile. Aaron was so happy that Flynn stuck with him in his hour of need. Aaron returned the smile.
With Jane’s help, Aaron found a shortcut to reach the mountains in no time.
“Aaron, the shortcut is also a long way. There is no way we can reach there before three days” Jane said.
“No! Three days is too long. I don’t know if Brandon will be safe until then. We have to get there faster. Don’t you have some magic that can help us reach there faster?” Aaron was beginning to get impatient.
“I cannot walk around with all kind of magic supplies Aaron. We can effectively do magic only in the Witch Valley with the appropriate things we need” Jane said grumpily.
“May be this will help “Flynn was holding a big glass bottle in his hands. It was filled with a mucus green liquid.
“Ew.. What is that thing?” Sandra wrinkled her nose in disgust. But Jane seemed very happy, she jumped at the sight of it.
“Where did you get this from?" Jane asked.
“From the underground market of course” Flynn said with a smirk.
“Awesome! We can use this to get to the mountains in no time” Jane planted a kiss on Flynn’s cheeks. Flynn was purple with shame as everybody watched.
“What is this?” Aaron asked.
“This is Transcending gel, this gives a person spiritual powers to go to higher planes of existence. But it can be also used to travel long distances in no time. But I have never used it. It is a very ancient magic” she replied.
“There is no way I am going to drink that stuff” Sandra said as she stepped back.
“You do not have to drink it. I will show you how to use this. Who wants to go first” she looked up at all the faces that surrounded her. Nobody said anything.
“I can try” Ony stepped up bravely.
“Ok then, everybody else get back. Here Ony, take some of this liquid in your hand and throw it upwards. When you do so it will become a ball of gel and will wait in the air. Then you say the name of the place you want to go. The ball will split into many tinier balls and cover you. It will then transport you to the place of your choice”
Flynn opened the cap of the bottle and Ony dipped his hands in the thick green gel. The gel was icy cold. Ony grabbed a handful of it and threw it upwards just like Jane had asked him to. But instead of becoming a flying ball, the gel exploded in his face. Ony’s hair and beard were standing up and his face was all green with the gel.
Flynn and Aaron couldn’t hold their laugher. Jane watched in horror.
“Oh dear! Something must have gone wrong” she said turning towards Flynn. “Are you sure you brought the right thing Flynn?”
Everyone was staring at Flynn now. Ony was furious, he had his jaws clenched.
“I guess so” Flynn was scared. “The man I bought this from said that I can travel great distances with this.”
“Did he tell you how to use it?” asked Jane.
“Hmm.. He said shake the bottle and then open it. Then say the name of the place you want to go to and you will go there.”
Flynn shook the bottle briskly and popped it open. The green gel came running out of the bottle and surrounded everybody in the form of gel balls. The balls began to jump up and down in the air and soon no one could not see anything except for the green jelly blobs. There was a sudden thunder and many flashes of light. They held on to their bags and weapons tightly. The balls then fell to the ground.
They could see the surroundings now. They realized that they were not in the same jungle anymore.
“Where are we?” asked Ony.
“Did we travel?” Aaron asked.
“Look, it’s the Troll Mountains!” Sandra pointed towards the tall mountains and the watch towers behind them.
“Wow, we did travel! This stuff works!” Flynn looked at the empty bottle that he held in his hands.
“The Trolls could be anywhere, we cannot be seen.” Dan said anxiously.
“But our horses? They are gone!” Belster was looking around now.
“There is no need of horses here, lets finds a place to hide before we are seen” Dan hurried everybody.
They found a small cave next to the mountains and quickly hid in them. Ony, was still grumpy from the explosion, but his hair came back to normal now.
Aaron looked outside the cave. Far up in the mountains, he saw some movements. Somebody was holding up a torch and walking up and down. As the darkness grew, the number of torches went up and the towers were lit from the inside.
“Are these the Troll dungeons?” Aaron pointed toward the towers.
“Yes! The towers are built on the dungeons. But the prisoners are kept underground” Dan replied in a hushed voice.
“It’s practically impossible to get inside without getting noticed. There are Trolls everywhere” said Belster.
“There has to be a way, a secret entrance or something”’ Aaron said “Let’s look at the map, Jane some light please”
Jane took out the same small metal device from her pouch that she had used earlier to light torches in the ghost town and ‘flick’, a small flame appeared on it. Everyone admired the device for a while.
In the map, they found three entrances to the Troll Mountains.
“The front entrance is too risky to go in, let’s look at the other two entrances” Dan said “Aaron will lead Flynn, Jane and Sandra through the small entrance at the back and the rest of us will go with me through the third entrance in the west. I have all the faith that we will find Brandon”
Aaron folded the map and kept it in his pocket. They separated into two groups and headed in different directions. Aaron, Flynn, Jane and Sandra slowly walked towards the small entrance towards the back of the towers in the east. They did not make any sounds and watched out for any trolls coming their way.
Suddenly, they heard heavy footsteps coming towards them. They hid behind a big rock. Two very large creatures came near the entrance and stood there.
They were human like, but with grey skin and red patches all over them. Their faces were like someone had drawn eyes and a mouth on a stone. The Trolls lingered around for a while.
Chapter 17
Troll Dungeons
“I smell something” one Troll said.
“Smell what?” the other asked in a grumpy voice.
“Something like humans” the first one replied.
“Of course you can smell humans you idiot, this place is full of human prisoners” the second one said and gave out a snort.
“You call me an idiot? How dare you?” said the first one and hit the second Troll with his club. The second one got angry and knocked the first one over with a heavy stone.
“You are the idiot!” The second one said as the first Troll fell unconscious. Then he gave out another snort and left.
“Thank god they didn’t see us or we would have been like this fallen Troll” Flynn whispered looking at the big Troll who had fallen flat on his face.
“Let’s get inside before it wakes up!” said Aaron as he walked towards the entrance looking at the map. He stopped to look at the fallen Troll. The Troll made a grunt. Aaron ran away from it. They reached the entrance shown in the map, but there was no visible door or opening. All they could see was a stone wall.
“Aaron, where is the entrance?” asked Jane. She was not able to see much in the dark.
“It has to be somewhere here, the map shows it to be right here” Aaron said as he searched the wall.
“But there is nothing here!” Sandra said irritated.
“Look at the map again” Flynn suggested.
Aaron pulled out the map from his pocket. Jane clicked on her small device again and in the light, Aaron saw that the entrance to the dungeon had disappeared from the map.
“It won’t show the entrance anymore, that means we have reached it” Aaron said with disappointment.
“That also means that we are at the right place” Jane said “I guess the doorway is hidden”
“Hidden?” asked Flynn.
“Yes, many doors and entrances are enchanted by the Dark Wizard so that outsiders cannot get in” said Jane.
“How do we get in then?” Aaron asked.
“There has to be some way, some hint hidden somewhere to open this door. We just have to find it” Jane replied.
“But it is so dark, how do we find anything” Sandra was annoyed. “If we had come here in the morning, we could have found it” Sandra was giving Aaron a sharp look.
“No Sandra, Trolls are afraid of the sunlight. They are dark creatures and turn into stones if they come out in the sun. They are all inside the towers and dungeons in the daylight and going inside will be extremely dangerous in the morning. I think it is good that we are here in the evening, when most of them are outside” said Jane.
All the time they were talking, the tiny light in Jane’s hand was lit and it could be seen from far away. Suddenly, they felt as if the earth was moving.
“What’s happening?!” asked Sandra.
“Trolls!” screamed Flynn “The Trolls have found us!”
“Find the entrance soon, there is no way to escape now” Aaron shouted and started to search for the door frantically.
The sound of the Trolls grew louder and nearer.
“Who’s there?” came the loud voice of one of the Trolls.
“Invaders!!” They heard the Troll saying, he was holding a torch in his hands and coming towards them with three other trolls.
“Catch them!” the Trolls said together.
Flynn gave out a cry of dismay. Suddenly, Jane remembered something.
“Look for any kind of handles that may be sticking out of the wall, that is how the doors of dungeons usually work.” Said Jane.
“You mean this handle of the dagger that’s been poking me ever since we got here?” said Flynn showing them a red wooden handle that was sticking out of the wall under a protruded rock.
The Trolls were now only a few feet away from them. They all stood petrified against the wall.
