by P R Glazier
Chapter 11. Master Amndo Comes Clean
Nar’Allia was almost beside herself with anxiety, where had Minervar gone? One minute she was there the next she had disappeared, it was as if her inserting the key had whisked her off to some unknown destination, in fact that is what must have happened. She was certainly not here in this room any more. Why had she called out the name of her old friend Serinae just before she disappeared? Nar’Allia remembered the figure that had walked forward and seemed to pass right through her. Was that Serinae? Was the ranger something to do with Minervar’s disappearance? Had she taken her somewhere? Nar’Allia was shaking uncontrollably she looked this way and that; she didn’t know what to do. She cried out in dismay and was about to turn and try searching the house for Minervar when she heard Jonas cry out, “look milady, look.”
Nar’Allia followed his pointing finger. There where the key hole had been a little panel lay open, far too small to be a door, at least one that Minervar would easily pass through. She bent down and looked inside. There was just a little alcove, a cupboard perhaps, but there was something in there. She reached in slowly afraid that she too may be whisked off to some other place. But her fingers clasped around something circular, she grasped it and withdrew it. She stood and looked at what she had found; Jonas came over to see what she had found. It was a disk, golden in colour. It had that same slant eyed face etched upon it and words written beneath in some ancient language that neither of them could understand. There was a gentle click and looking down Nar’Allia saw that the small door had closed. Almost immediately the key hole stopped glowing and within a few seconds the wall returned to just that, a wall where no key hole or cupboard door to be seen.
Nar’Allia thought the small disk was some kind of coin, so she pocketed it and thought no more of it. The priority now was to find out what had happened to her step mother.
Jonas said he would search the house, Nar’Allia said she would do the same. But search as they may high and low no trace of Minervar could be found. Nar’Allia had become sick with worry and frustrated at not being able to do anything more. She had heard through Minervar’s story telling the ways of travel through the portals, especially those commanded by the keepers. Her suspicions that this is what had happened were growing and she longed for Amndo to return to ask him, to seek from him even perhaps to accuse him, but he was not here.
Days of frustration followed, no clue could be found as to the whereabouts of Minervar or where she could have gone and how. So at last Nar’Allia was forced to try a different tack so she took to spending long hours in the library trying to find some clue in the many books that were there. She slept little, preferring not to waste her time, when she could be searching for answers.
A number of days passed by and Nar’Allia remained no nearer to finding out what had happened, it seemed that the house held all the questions but was sadly and frustratingly low on answers. But one day when Nar’Allia was again in the library Jonas walked in and announced excitedly that Amndo had returned to the house. Nar’Allia got up from the desk she was sitting at and knocking the book she had been reading to the floor ran out to the entrance hall of the house to speak with Amndo.
By this time reasoning had returned and Nar’Allia despite her suspicions was determined to be civil to Amndo in an effort to get answers from him as quickly as possible. “Master Amndo something terrible has happened.” She went on to explain the recent events culminating in the disappearance of Minervar. Amndo listened intently and did not interrupt her telling of the tale. When she had finished tears shone in her eyes as she made her appeal. “Master Amndo, I beg you. Is there something you know? Is there something you can do?”
Amndo looked intently at her as if digesting what he had been told, or as if trying to find the best way to answer her. But eventually he said, “Nar’Allia, please prepare yourself, for what I am about to say may distress you greatly.”
This was not what Nar’Allia was expecting Amndo to say at all. She felt shocked, weak at the knees, in deed she started to crumple to the ground, but Jonas had walked into the room and stood by Nar’Allia side, he grabbed her and supported her. He gently coaxed her over to a chair and made sure she sat upon it safely. Then they were both looking at the Keeper in anticipation of what he was about to say.
“I have to tell you both,” began Amndo, “I have not been totally honest with you as to the true nature of my being here in Amentura and more precisely in this house. The true reason for my being sent here was to recover the key that Minervar found, I have been here looking for it these past months. However, I did not know that what I sort was a key, I only sort the means of access to the portal of which you describe. I didn’t even know where the access panel to the portal was situated until you just told me of your discovery. I am sorely distressed that I was not here when she did recover the key, for I could perhaps have prevented the resulting disappearance of Minervar.”
He was silent for a while thinking. Then he took a deep breath and began. “Many years ago we suffered an infiltration of our order, Minervar was aware of what happened for she was witness to it first hand, or at least part of it. A T’Iea by the name of Tezrin had formulated a plan to access the voids and take control of the Ancient Father’s great machine for evil purposes, for Tezrin had already sworn allegiances to the race of the Dark T’Iea, the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran as you would call them in your own tongue. I believe Nar’Allia that you may know more of this story. I am sure that the Lady Minervar who experienced much of this tale first hand may have told you much of what had happened in those dark days.”
Nar’Allia nodded and said, “yes, yes, it is a story I have heard many times, Minervar used to regularly relate the tale to my younger brother and sister. But what has all this got to do with her disappearance?”
Amndo continued, “Please listen and hopefully together we may find out. We long suspected that the T’Iea called Tezrin first made his allegiance with the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran whilst he was staying here in this house along with the ranger warrior Serinae, maybe even before that. We had our suspicions even then; we had been following and keeping an eye on Tezrin for some time, for he was deeply interested in a number of things that raised our suspicions. Long have we the Keepers, sort the realm of the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, but it remains well hidden, its location a deeply guarded secret that only a few of their most trusted alliances know of. One day our suspicions were confirmed, we knew then for sure that one of those trusted alliances included Tezrin. We had long suspected that he freely had access to the realm of the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran. Yet still to this day we do not know where this realm is, such is the nature of its careful hiding. Whether it resides in a planar void, or is hidden behind great arcane shrouds, we do not know. In truth for all or searching, for all our applications of knowledge we still have not been able to locate it. We have long suspected that a portal into that place used by the one called Tezrin was sited here, hidden in this house. I don’t believe either Solin or Serinae suspected such, at least I hope not for if they did then suspicion must also full upon them.
For his part Tezrin wanted to gain any useful knowledge that this house may harbour, for it does in fact hold much, both those things that are immediately apparent and many hidden things not so obvious. Tezrin had one downfall, he was somewhat blinded by his own ambitions and failed to take note of much of the wealth of knowledge within these walls. He did however discover the story of the missing biplextor devices from the Ancient Fathers great machine, he did manage to recover two of these devices and from these begin to discover how to recreate an army of beings called the Startmektoken.
Originally the Startmektoken were an army of unstoppable force that fought a great war upon this planet in ancient times, many ages in the past. But his lack of knowledge and the fact that he was missing two of the biplextor devices limited his experiments. The result was that he only managed to create a perverse sub-creation of life. However hard he tried he was u
nable to perfect his discovery, for he never achieved the skills or knowledge necessary to recreate the original design and create them in sufficient number for them to become a formidable force. His creations were limited by the marriage of flesh to machine; they were flawed and had weaknesses due in main to their biological parts. Whereas the original creations where nearly wholly machine and did not require any biological parts apart from the neural centre and spinal cord of a dead donor. These creatures were much stronger and more robust than the poor copies that Tezrin tried to make.”
Some of what Amndo had said so far Nar’Allia recognised. She encouraged him to continue by saying, “Master Amndo, go on please?”
Amndo sighed, “I am afraid that the original science that enabled the creation of these beings originated from the race of mankind. For it was man’s war in ages past that was fought using these abominations. At another time many ages later my own race fell from the true path and through our own arrogance we discovered how these monstrosities may be made again. Long ago during the darkest hour of my race, one in our number created these beings of destruction; married the mechanical soldiers of mankind with biological brains and neural systems. The Keeper, the one that betrayed all of us was called Borhran. It is with utter sadness that I see Borhran’s evil legacy living on even now. It is for this reason that we, the Keepers, seek to stop our darkest failing from again rising upon the world, for it was our failure that allowed Borhran to operate unhindered and bring about these monsters in the first place. Borhran discovered the bio-mechanical science and introduced biological intelligence within the mechanical soldiers that mankind had constructed in ancient times, making them far more powerful. Now we fear greatly that this knowledge has been made available to the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran through the efforts of Tezrin, although incomplete. We do not want a repeat of what has already occurred in history. We would dearly like to discover the full extent of that knowledge, for alas, we have every reason to believe that the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran can far surpassed the skills of their pawn Tezrin.” Here Amndo sighed.
Nar’Allia greatly feared what he would say next, she had a horrible thought it made her go cold. “So Minervar may have inadvertently transported herself to that place, you suspect that now she is with the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran in their realm wherever it may be.” She placed her head in her hands in despair; she didn’t see Amndo nodding his head in confirmation of what she had just said as he whispered with downcast eyes, “I believe that is a distinct possibility, yes.”
After a pause Amndo spoke again. “I am sorry Nar’Allia. I would not normally hold out hope for her in that place, for the dark T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran would not suffer intruders into the realm, for they would be viewed as spies.”
Nar’Allia started to weep.
“But, take comfort, for I believe they will not harm her, not immediately anyway, for they would rather view her as an ally.”
Nar’Allia looked up into Amndo’s face, hope was written there on her features, but she also felt some trepidation at his words. “What do you mean?”
“Well, she is there, if that is where she is, by the forces that the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran themselves put in place. Neither Tezrin or his masters, would have made the mistake of allowing such a gateway to be discovered by accidental means, at least I don’t think so. This gateway that Minervar discovered is more likely a personal door into the realm of the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, it would have only been used by Tezrin ….. or his successor.”
Nar’Allia shook her head. “My mother would never side with the dark brethren, how could she be his successor?”
Amndo pursed his lips and dropped his gaze from Nar’Allia’s eyes. “The T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran must now know that Tezrin is dead, the fact that Minervar has appeared in his place, using methods only he could have known about or used, may mean that they believe that Tezrin had passed the knowledge and capability onto another in his stead, his chosen successor. Someone of his choosing and therefore someone they would initially believe were in a trusted alliance with them.”
“You mean that they may actually believe that Minervar is one of them? That she is Tezrin’s chosen replacement, an heir to his position?”
“Amndo smiled encouragingly and said, “yes Nar’Allia, I mean exactly that.”
Nar’Allia dried her eyes on the sleeve of her jerkin and thought for a while. “But that would be impossible, it would be obvious from her ignorance of where she was and her total misunderstanding as to what happened to her. They would see through her guise immediately!”
Amndo nodded slowly, “yes, I agree that is a possibility. But Minervar is a clever woman, she will I hope detect the mistaken belief they, that is the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran may have fallen into. She may yet be safe, if she is clever and can maintain such a deception. She may even work this to her favour.” He paused for a little thinking perhaps whether or not he should say the next thing on his mind. But he continued, “We may, Nar’Allia, we just may, have a distinct advantage in this accident. We may for the first time ever, actually have infiltrated the city of the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, the city they call R’Iggorr’Thegoran.” Here he smiled broadly and taking Nar’Allia’s hand a little awkwardly he said, “Nar’Allia, we may have a spy right in their camp.”
There followed a few minutes of silence whilst Nar’Allia took all of this, “but how will she make contact with us, how will she return?”
“I will not pretend Nar’Allia, for that knowledge I do not have. But the one called Tezrin returned so there must be a way, whether it has anything to do with the key you found or some other device I cannot pretend to have knowledge of, but there must be a way. We can but hope that Minervar may yet be able to find out and return to us here.” He reached over and placing his hand gently under Nar’Allia’s chin, raised her tear stained face up so that he could look into her eyes and said, “we will find out Nar’Allia, do not fear, that is the reason I came here, so I promise you, we will find a way.”
Nar’Allia felt drained of emotion and decided to return to her room and try to get some sleep, or at the very least rest for a while in solitude and contemplate upon all she had heard. Amndo went to the library and Jonas back to going about his business running the household. Nar’Allia’s fitful sleep was spent in dreams of Minervar trying to break out of some kind of prison or dungeon, she was screaming in great fear. Often Nar’Allia would awake a sweat upon her brow for these dreams were so vivid.
Nar’Allia and Amndo met up again later in the evening for a meal. Jonas was invited to eat with them as he was party to a lot of the events that happened recently within the house. Much of the discussions during the meal centred around Minervar’s disappearance and what could be done to help her return, it was becoming increasingly urgent in Nar’Allia’s mind that some action should be taken, she became more and more convinced that they should not just wait to see if Minervar returned they should go out and do something, look for her, at least occupy themselves doing something to help. Staying here and waiting was not an option she would choose lightly, she knew it would probably drive her mad. But she was frustrated at the lack of knowledge they possessed to allow them even to begin to formulate a plan. This was doubly worrying for what they did know was based on speculation mostly on Amndo’s part. They were going over the events that led to Minervar’s disappearance once more when all of a sudden Nar’Allia remembered the disk that Jonas had discovered and she had pulled from the little alcove. She mentioned this to Amndo, he immediately asked to see it, so Nar’Allia went back to her room to fetch it. Returning to the table she handed it to Amndo who spent several minutes inspecting it closely.
“This is a ‘Dolan’ Nar’Allia, a gate seal,” said Amndo after inspecting the disk, “it has an inscription written in an ancient form of the human language upon it.” He read slowly as he translated:
“The seal of the Leviathan.”
He then explained that these Dolans were used by the anci
ent humans to lock and open secret places where great treasures where kept. “I have no idea what this one is for, but this one has upon it the emblem of the Startmektoken. That alone fills me with dread, for if it is a gate seal and something to do with the Startmektoken, then I am sorely grieved at what its purpose may be and what it may open.”
At this revelation both Nar’Allia and Jonas stood. Nar’Allia said, “that little slant eyed face is the emblem of the Startmektoken?”
Amndo nodded. “Yes, I know this from old.”
“Why did you not tell us this before? If you had we may have been able to save Minervar.” Nar’Allia stood knocking her chair over behind her. “The same emblem was on the key that I found, the one that caused her to disappear; it also appeared in that book you were reading the first day we met with you. That’s another thing, I looked for that book, I could not find it.”
Amndo lowered his eyes and said, “I am sorry Nar’Allia, but I did not want to share the knowledge with others I did not know. You are T’Iea, forgive me, but I had no way of knowing what kind of T’Iea you may be. Also my own knowledge was, still is incomplete, I wanted to be sure of what I was saying before involving anyone else.”
“You thought that my mother and me were dark brethren?”
“Please understand Nar’Allia. I could not be sure, you being T’Iea, you may well have been T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran. After all the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran had infiltrated this place before, they may well have the knowledge and reason to do so again. Anyway, you were less than trusting with me in turn, for you did not show me the key you had found.”
Nar’Allia was angry, this whole discussion was crazy. She clenched her fists, her anger overflowed, “no we would not trust you, how do we know what you are saying is right, how do we know you are not in league with the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran yourself eh? It sounds suspicious to me why you sought the key we found and you know what that disk is. Another thing, how are the key and the disk linked, whoever placed the disk in that little cupboard knew that using the key would activate a portal. Portals are the main domain and understanding of the Keepers!”
Amndo also stood. “you think that we the Keepers would contrive such a thing, you think us capable of an alliance with the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran. It was more likely that the T’Iea called Tezrin on knowing that the lady Serinae kept the disk hidden in that cupboard placed his portal entrance there. He probably thought it an amusing joke, should she ever attempt to recover the disk she would find herself ported to the realm of the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran. It was just luck that you found the key and Minervar used it.
Nar’Allia was fuming, “luck? You call this luck?” She was about to say something else when Jonas stood and said, “please be at peace, what’s done is done, be encouraged that at least we are now working together to find the lady Minervar, arguments between us now will not promote that alliance, neither will they help plan our next move?”
Amndo and Nar’Allia went quiet, but it was clear they still fumed.
Jonas again spoke. “we need to work together, we need to locate and rescue the lady Minervar, that should be our first priority.”
Nar’Allia heard these words and sat back down heavily.
Amndo sighed, some kind of realisation dawning on his face. “I am sorry Nar’Allia, I was wrong to lose my temper. That was unforgivable. Once our races enjoyed complete harmony. The Keepers were partly responsible for the elder races growing apart; we at least should make amends for that act.” He took a deep breath, “I will now be nothing but open with you. I took the book; I wanted to show it to the Grand Master, it was the first piece of evidence I had found that may be of any use to my investigations. I have returned the book though; it is back in the library.”
Nar’Allia nodded, she still felt a little angered at Amndo’s action in taking the book and his secrecy and suggested mistrust of her and Minervar. She asked, “why then did Solin leave cryptic messages aimed at giving the location of the key, surely she is, not involved with the dark T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran?”
“No, I am sure she does not have any involvement, I think it is pure coincidence that she left that perceived trail to the key. She probably had no knowledge that Tezrin had linked the key to his trap. Rather I think that the Lady Serinae herself wanted someone to find the Dolan, for what purpose I do not know, maybe she wished a fellow T’Iea to make the discovery, carry on some work that she had started, maybe she didn’t even know what the Dolan was for, but just suspected that it should remain hidden and only discovered by someone trustworthy in her eyes. Who knows.” Amndo shrugged and sat back on his chair. “Of one thing I am sure though, she did not intend that whoever used the key would be ported into such grave danger.”
Nar’Allia sat back down and nodded. She remembered the book that Amndo said he had returned. “Does the reference in the book to the Startmektoken hold any significance Amndo?”
Amndo thought for a while, “It may well do. The book or the original manuscripts seem to have been written by the Pnook. It is about the Rust desert and the nomadic tribes of humans that roam the place. It does not have a lot of detail, I know these human peoples are shy and reserved. But it does show the sketch of the emblem, the only reference is that it was seen by the author on a piece of metal that the nomads had salvaged from the Desert. But the book does remark that on seeing the emblem the nomads became very excited and agitated for some reason. The text simply goes on to say that many such finds are made from time to time as the wind blows the dust away in certain places, thus occasionally uncovering such salvageable items as this. The human nomads collect these and sell them, or trade them with the wandering merchants in the desert, for anything they need, water mainly, but also weapons and other things.”
Nar’Allia remembered something. “I remember Minervar told us about the nomads; the Pnook outcasts from the sky city who also wander the desert, one in particular an individual who was embroiled in her tales of the place.”
Jonas had remained quiet for most of this but now he felt a compulsion to speak, “Master Amndo, milady Nar’Allia, perhaps the Rust Desert is a good place to start our search for the lady Minervar. I mean, after all if she is within the realm of the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, the location of which we have no idea of, then perhaps with all these coincidental findings of the Startmektoken emblem we should start there, hopefully finding a clue, or some firm evidence pointing us in the right direction?”
Nar’Allia nodded her agreement she was excited that something positive in the search for Minervar had been said, “yes, it makes sense, there is definitely a link between all these things, this emblem means something I am sure of it, it is the only clue we have. If we are going to find out any more about it then it is to the human nomads in the Rust Desert we must go.”
Amndo smiled at seeing some hope in Nar’Allia face, “I agree, maybe answers can be found there. At the very least we may find out what this Dolan seal is for, we may even find the domain of the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran and find out what happened to Minervar, then all our goals will be satisfied.”