The Tree and the Tablet (The St. James Chronicles Book 1)

by Kathryn O'Brien

“Maggie, you don’t know what you’re asking.” Looking at me, his face seemed to harden under my scrutiny.

  Fine, if that’s the way he wanted to play it, then two could play this game. “If you can’t bring yourself to let your guard down, then I can’t tell you what you want to know.” My response was cold but necessary.

  His expression was surprised and then became guarded again. “Alright, Maggie. Have it your way.” He set me away from him and looking at the door, he asked, “Well? What’s next?”

  The anger was still coiled around in my belly mixed with the hurt of his refusal to give in, but I needed to save Kelsey and there was no harm in sharing the riddle of the doorway with him. Reciting the riddle, I asked him what he thought.

  “Hmmm. Did you find anything in the journal?” He reached for the book in my hands. Turning my body away from him put the journal out of his reach. He dropped his hands in surrender.

  “No, only one passage that tells about how to access alternate lands using the tablet but not how to use it.” He glanced up at me, his expression seemed sad, but noticing that I was intently watching him, he smiled and focused his attention on the door. “Anything about this particular door or these carvings other than the riddle?”

  Shrugging my shoulder, I ran my hand over the smooth stone that was devoid of writing, “I don’t even know anymore.” As I held the glowing tablet up next to the door knob, I fumed, “This stupid thing seems useless! It can’t even tell me how to open a damned door!” At that moment, it felt as though the tablet had developed a magnet and pulling my hand to the right next to the door knob there was a depression in the wall. Almost like a key card slot only it was a flat indentation that allowed me to still see it. Excited, a small laugh bubbled forth. It couldn’t be that simple. I put the tablet into the slot. Stepping back and watching it intently, the tablet glowed even more fiercely. Words began to appear on the surface of the stone which were illuminated in a brighter light. Reading the words, I said, “By the power of the One, I claim entrance to this door.”

  The glowing became fiercer than it had and the words surrounding the door lit up like fire was shooting from behind them. My hand flew up to shield my eyes, it was so bright. As the door slid open it screeched and growled as if it hadn’t been open for a million years. My heart was ready to beat out of my chest. Was it fear, excitement, happiness? I couldn’t say, but I knew it meant I was one step closer to getting Kelsey. The door came to a screeching halt and was laying open to view the interior. Swiftly, I grabbed the tablet out of the alcove it was in and put both it and the journal into my pack, slinging it over my shoulder.

  Daniel placed his hand on my arm to stop me as I began to pass through the open doorway. “We don’t know what’s on the other side of the door. We should be cautious.”

  Laughing and feeling a little cocky, I said, “I’m ready for it. Bring it on.” No sooner had I stepped forward than I instantly regretted my rash decision. Standing in front of me was a massive black creature like nothing I’d ever seen before. It resembled a large dog but had two heads and a lion’s mane on one. The rest of the body reminded me of a gryphon. Wings stretched out of its sides to span the distance of the room.

  Not sure how I knew, but I could understand it’s language. Maybe it was speaking English and I just assumed it was speaking a different language. It sounded sort of like an instructor I’d had in college with a thick accent and an annoying voice. The voice was extremely nasally and shrill to the ear. “Go away!” It screeched at me. “You are not welcome in my sanctuary.”

  Instinctively, I bowed, my voice filled with what I hoped was the utmost respect and calm, I asked, “Oh, lord of the great room, I beg your forgiveness, but one so powerful as yourself could surely assist me to find my way?”

  The beast literally glowed under my praise. He lifted his heads and licked himself as if one of his heads were subservient to the other. “You really think I’m powerful and great?” It asked inquisitively while continuing to preen its own feathers and stretch its wings.

  “Oh, definitely.” I soothed. Daniel chuckled behind me which caused the bird creature to flinch and growl low. My elbow swiftly found purchase in his ribs and I attempted to calm the beast by cooing softly, “Please, forgive, don’t mind him, he is but my lowly servant,” At Daniels dark scowl, I glared back at him, silently motioning for him to play along.

  Bowing low, Daniel said, “I aim to please.” He looked at me sideways and smirked for only me to see.

  The creature moved its heads back and forth and wiggled its tail, reminding me of a cat getting ready to pounce. Seeking to calm the creature further, I asked, “If I may, oh great one, my name is Maggie and this is, Daniel.” Pulling my pack forward and fishing inside, I soon held up the tablet and asked, “The great spirit has sent us to find our way out of this place and seek a small child, can you help us?”

  His eyes snapped together, and one head said to the other in a whisper, “Do not tell her what she wishes. Maybe we can convince her to give us the Tablet of Power.” I listened intently to their banter and the other head with the mane said, “But if she is truly sent by the One, then we will offend and it will turn us into something more appalling than this.” It visibly shivered. The other head said, “This Maggie is a liar. I can smell it on her.” He sniffed the air as if to exaggerate his words. The maned headed one sniffed and replied, “Bah, your sniffer is broken. I say we trust her.”

  Choosing the break in their discussion to interrupt I asked, “I’m sorry to interrupt such a truly important discussion, but may I ask your names?”

  The one with the mane and brown eyes stopped, proudly raised his head and said regally, “I am Phenryr and this,”— he motioned his head toward his companion, who had beautiful blue eyes — “is Falomere.” They both bowed.

  At that moment, I heard this horrendous noise like a great screech from outside of the doorway and a large splashing sound. I spun on my heel just in time to see a large rocky scaled looking dragon’s tail streaking toward the ledge and with a great effort, the end of the tail which was shaped like a grappling hook was caught in the earth. “Help!” Came the cry and forgetting the predicament I was in, I ran past Daniel toward the opening.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  As I streaked past Daniel, I couldn’t help but think that Duck was face first in the water and drowning while it was taking what felt like forever to get to him. Dropping my head low on my way through the doorway, I reached his tail embedded in the dirt and looking over the edge, I saw Duck, standing upright in the water, looking sheepishly up at me.

  The relief I felt was tangible as I leaned over and asked, “What the heck were you thinking?”

  Smiling up at me, “Well, I heard the other creature fighting and I thought I could help so I tried to lower myself down, but I lost my grip and fell.” He shrugged his massive shoulders and smiling broader said, “Well, at least now we know the water isn’t too deep.”

  Not being able to hold it in, I laughed so hard, I felt like my side would burst. Daniel tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned to see his stern gaze. He motioned his head toward where we had left the odd dog/lion looking creature and said, “Sorry to interrupt, but I think we have more pressing issues to attend to.”

  Looking past him to the two headed Phenryr and Falomere, I was instantly concerned. They appeared to be arguing again and slowly advancing toward the doorway. Of course, they wouldn’t be able to get out of it, but they did make a menacing vision. Turning serious again, I turned back and spoke quickly to Duck and Daniel, “You two wait here!”

  Crouching myself down to fit back through the doorway, I entered cautiously and spoke softly, “My friends, it appears that I have a problem and need your assistance.”

  At that, they stopped bickering or advancing and asked simultaneously, “What is the problem?”

  Briefly, I explained that my friend, the dragon, was stuck in the water below the opening to the cavern and that I needed a very str
ong creature to lift him up. They were very excited to know that there was a dragon close by as they could be considered lucky. After a lengthy back and forth between the two, they agreed to try.

  Returning to Daniel, I said, “Well, here goes nothing,” as I made a loop and dropped it down to Duck. “Duck, put this in your mouth and hold on.” He nodded and took the rope between his teeth. Turning to the boys in the cavern, I said, “Go ahead, you can pull now.”

  They grunted and groaned but they were not moving Duck at all. As a matter of fact, the rope was actually starting to tear in his mouth due to the sharpness of his teeth. After several minutes, the two stopped and started to argue about who was pulling more, which I thought was actually pretty funny since they shared a body. Finally, I asked, “Do you have any other ideas?”

  Phenryr stopped and looked at me with a dawning expression. “But, you have the Tablet of Power. You only need to speak the words and your friend will be shrunk small enough for you to pick him up yourself.”

  Holding the marbled surface up in front of me, I said, “Oh, great tablet, shrink my dragon into the size of a peach.”

  Nothing happened. Except divine, shrill laughter. Falomere was guffawing so hard, I thought his head would explode. Cocking my head to the side, I stated, “Oh, that’s helpful.” Seeing that he wasn’t going to stop laughing anytime soon, I looked to Phenryr and asked, “What’s so funny?”

  However, it was Falomere that answered, “You silly girl-woman.”—Falomere was taking great gulps of air in an attempt to stop his uproarious laughter while his blue eyes appeared to be filled with tears,—“You have the most powerful tool in your incompetent hands and know not how to use it.” His renewed peals of humor rolled out of him like waves and washed over me sobering my mood quite drastically.

  Bristling at the two for having fun at my expense, I exclaimed, “I’ve had enough!” As I stomped my foot, the tablet flared to life a brilliant shade of turquoise blue. Noticing the flare of the tablet’s power in response to my seemingly unpleasant mood, he stopped laughing. Looking at me speculatively and gauging my anger, he must have decided to take me seriously and asked instead, “How did you come by the tablet?”

  Wondering for a moment if I should tell them, I decided on the truth. It didn’t matter anymore that Daniel knew. The need to get to Kelsey trumped everything else and this creature held a key of some sort to help me achieve my goal. “I travelled through my thoughts to the land of Valor and fought my way through the pool of the maiden’s tears to pull it out from behind the veil.”

  Glancing over my shoulder at Daniel, his eyes widened but that was his only reaction.

  Nodding and cooing as if he suddenly believed me, Falomere asked, “What is your purpose for taking the tablet?”

  “My niece, Kelsey, is being held captive by the creature who is the Trickster’s henchman. He’s taken her and I must bring the tablet to him or he’ll hurt her.”

  “I know the one you speak of. He is very evil and driven mad with his desire for power. He will indeed use her to gain what he desires, but we cannot allow you to give it to him.”

  Deflated, I sighed. “How am I supposed to do what I need to do, if you won’t help me?”

  Phenryr spoke up, “Maggie, you obviously know enough about how to use the tablet as you were able to gain entrance to this sanctum.” He smiled reassuringly, “Have you not guessed it?” At the slight shaking of my head and pleading look, he stated, “You must wish with your heart and visualize your friend getting smaller for the words to appear on the tablet. Once they appear, you only need to speak the words aloud to have it happen.” Smiling, “Go ahead, give it a try.”

  Holding it firmly in my hands , I closed my eyes and visualized Duck the size of a kitten in my hands. Opening my eyes to the sound of Falomere’s whistle, the tablet was now glowing a bright white in my hands. The characters started to appear, and I spoke the words,

  A mighty foe so strong and bold

  Soon so small that one might hold

  Duck screeched outside of the opening and I heard the tiniest voice as he ran into the room the size of a miniature chihuahua grunting, growling, and spitting fire. He was so cute, I picked him up laughing and said, “Awe, now I can take you with me wherever I go.” He blew fire on me and singed my fingers. “Ouch! Stop that! Is that any way to treat someone who helped you,” I scolded as I set him back on the ground. Daniel laughed from behind him.

  He stopped and stood still for a moment. His squeaky voice said, “Thank you mistress, but can you put me back to my prior glory?”

  Looking around the room, I gauged his original size to be much too tight for him to fit as the ceiling was only about seven and a half feet tall and from wall to wall was no more than five feet wide. “I’m sorry, Duck, but that won’t work. You’re much too large for this room. We would all be squashed under you.” Making eye contact with Phenryr and Falomere. “How can I thank you?”

  They looked at each other and smiled a hopeful smile. “You can release us from our prison.”

  Slightly surprised, I asked, “But why are you imprisoned here? What did you do and who put you here?”

  Falomere, seeming to have let go of his earlier surliness, spoke first, “We were accused of a deed we did not do. We were wronged by the Mistress of Doane, Serena. She sent word to our master that we were the ones who falsely convinced the maiden to go to the Glenn.”

  At my look of comprehension, Phenryr said, “We were lied to as well. A shapeshifter approached us and told us that we were to find lord Alkard and alert him to the plot. We did what we thought was right.” He snorted, “How were we to know?” He moaned, “Our master was frozen because of us. We didn’t mean to take our eyes off Valoria. She told us to go get something to eat while she was at the altar.”

  Falomere grouched, “We were hungry and there were the most amazing foods for us to eat.” He sighed, “Alkard’s father, Opi-Chee begged the Great Spirit to punish us. We were sent here until a time that we could right the wrong.”

  “Wow!” It was all beginning to make sense. This was the guard that had told Alkard to go to Valoria and they weren’t henchmen but were also tricked. Feeling that there was much more to learn about this duo, I asked, “What can you do to help me get to my niece?”

  “Look into the back of this cavern, there is a riddle that you must solve in order to move beyond this area. Once you are out, you will speak the words, The wrong is right, what was done is undone.” He smiled, “This will undo our curse and release us to go home.”

  Well, what was there to lose? Looking at Daniel, he simply shrugged his shoulders and said, “It’s up to you.”

  Squaring my shoulders, I walked toward the back of the cavern. Duck tagged along. Looking down at his cute little miniature stature, I couldn’t help but smile. He was just too adorable. He tilted his head sideways at me and indignantly huffed, “Stop it! I can still hear you in my head sometimes.”

  Lifting my eyebrows at him, I laughed softly, “Sorry.”

  He swished his tail and let out a puff of smoke that circled around his tiny head. “It’s just difficult for me to be this small. I feel so helpless,” he grumbled.

  “I guess I never thought of it that way.” I leaned down and stroked his pebbly exterior, “As soon as it’s possible, I’ll return you to your glorious self.”

  He almost was purring like a kitten. “Thank you.”

  As I stood in front of the wall, I could see there were several areas indented into the wall in the shape of a rectangle that I could place the tablet into and each of them had a different symbol inscribed within it. Above them all was a single phrase—Life is the key.

  That was it. Looking at the tablet that softly glowed in my hands, I stroked it gently, willing it to give me the answer. The color fluctuated from a bright green to a purple and back to white, but no words magically appeared. Sighing heavily, I looked at the wall again. There were eight different options. From top left to right, A bird
that looked like a raven, a sun, a tree, a dog, what looked to be a dragon, a man, a woman, and a flying saucer. Well, I wasn’t quite sure what the last one was, but it sure looked like a flying saucer and I let loose a small giggle at the thought. Daniel stepped up next to me. I could feel him next to me as an invisible force bounced between us and I shivered. Mistaking me for being cold, he put his jacket around my shoulders, holding me for a minute. He must’ve sensed that I needed his strength right then.

  “Do you have any idea what the right choice is?” He asked gently. His fingers played with the side of my neck as his hand rested gently on my shoulder. It felt so good. As my pulse started to race under his gentle touch, I almost forgot what I was supposed to be doing. Suddenly, as if to remind me, the tablet turned bright pink and started to pulsate. My attention was instantly drawn back to it and the task at hand. Within seconds, my vision blurred, and everything went dark. My last thought was, “Oh, no. Not now!”

  Before I knew it, I was standing in a great castle, looking at a frail woman standing next to a throne. She looked as though she had been very beautiful at one time, but now, she appeared worn, like a beautiful rug that had been trampled on for years. The room was void of people and I approached her slowly. It was her and I. She looked up from her musings and I saw that in her hand she had the most luscious, red rose. As she held out her hand to me with the beautiful flower, it transformed into a pink dogwood. She smiled softly and I held out my hand to take it from her. As she released the bloom, she said, “Remember.” Then she vanished into thin air. Looking at the beautiful dogwood flower, I suddenly knew the answer that was right in front of my face the entire time. My world turned upside down and I opened my eyes to find Daniel was looking down at me with a slightly worried expression.

  Determinedly, I walked to the wall and lifted the tablet to place it in the slot that contained the picture of the tree. The room was so quiet, I could hear a pin drop. It seemed that everyone was holding their breath in anticipation of what may happen. Looking over my shoulder at Daniel, I hoped for some sign that he thought I was right. He shrugged his shoulders, concern creeped into his voice as he gently spoke, “Maggie, please make sure you’re right.”