The Shadows of Starpoint Mountain

by Bill Albert

  Luvin looked at the floor and hoped no one was watching him.

  “I do have a job to finish,” she said.

  Jakobus nodded and was about to stand but froze when Blinks asked a question. “How did they get in her system?”

  “What do you mean?” Luvin asked.

  “How did they get in her stomach? You have to ingest them; you don’t just suddenly have them. I doubt, with her natural talents, she accidently swallowed the eggs in the forest like wild animals do.”

  Jakobus put a hand to his own stomach and asked, “Do any of us have them?”

  There was a terrible moment as Blinks and Luvin took a deep breath and felt their stomachs. Even Acrufix patted his metal armor several times before the three men shook their heads and indicated they felt fine.

  Gallif looked at Marassa who simply said she felt fine.

  “We all ate at the outpost,” Jakobus figured aloud as he stood and started pacing. “We all ate from the same kettles in the line in the kitchen. Did you eat anything when you were outside?” he asked Gallif. “Anything from your backpack?”

  “No,” she shook her head slowly. “I don’t carry any food on me, and I haven’t had anything to eat since the outpost.”

  “She did drink something, though,” Blinks said clearly. They all looked at him and he turned and diverted their attention to Marassa, who was standing at the edge of the group watching them. “She was wounded before,” he added, “and she drank a potion to help her heal.”

  “You’re suggesting that she got them from me?” Marassa asked calmly.

  “You’re the one with all the connections,” Jakobus said and narrowed his eyes as he looked at her.

  “No, no, no, no,” Gallif said and slowly climbed to her feet. She pointedly made her way over to stand next to Marassa. “That is not how it happened,” she said with confidence.

  “Before, when we were following her at that intersection,” Luvin spoke up despite the look to stay quiet from Gallif. “Where did you go?” he asked as his hand rested on his hammer.

  “I told you,” Marassa said moving a step closer to Gallif. “I just followed the tunnel to the end and then returned.”

  “You couldn’t have,” Luvin said boldly. “We followed that route, too. There wasn’t enough room in there for us to have missed you, but we got back before you did,” he claimed glancing at Acrufix for confirmation.

  “Unless you were trying to hide,” Acrufix added.

  “I was checking out something I thought I saw higher up,” she said shuffling slightly. “You must have just walked underneath me and didn’t see me.”

  “You told us before you had no levitation casts,” Jakobus said coldly.

  Gallif felt a twist in her stomach and knew it was not from the tarna eggs. She turned and pleaded with Marassa, “Prove them wrong.”

  “I remember when we were attacked by the dragon golems,” Blinks said looking at Gallif. “When I came around the corner and saw Luvin about to touch one of the mounds there she was off to one side with wand in hand.”

  “I was trying to detect any signs of casting on the mound,” she said avoiding Gallif’s look.

  “On the mound in Luvin’s direction,” Blinks continued with his hand on his sword handle.

  “I saw Gallif’s name on the mound,” Luvin said.

  “Or thought you did,” Jakobus said. “What is the one thing that would have made you risk touching the mound?”

  Gallif felt a shiver down her side as Jakobus’ words sunk in. She knew, deep inside, what Luvin’s weakness would be. She also could only think of one way she could have ingested the eggs. “They’re right aren’t they?” she asked sadly.

  There was a long pause as Marassa looked at Gallif and nodded. “The boy was so easy to mislead,” she said. “It was a simple casting, make you see something important, and that was all it took to disrupt this group and make you distrust him.”

  “Keep us divided,” Jakobus realized. “If we ever found anything it’d be easier for you to get it from us, of course.”

  “Of course,” Marassa said proudly.

  “I don’t understand how,” Gallif shook her head with her thoughts in chaos. “How did you even know we would be here? The Third Minister only told his agents who would help us. How did you overpower them? Did you kill them?”

  Gallif had trusted Marassa so completely that she hadn’t really noticed the blur casting on her cloak for some time. She was reminded just how effective it was as Marassa spun in her direction and produced a silver tipped wand from underneath. She spoke a few words and stepped forward as she cast. There was a flash of light from the tip that connected with a snap on Gallif’s face. Caught completely off guard she twisted away and fell to the ground.

  Jakobus was the first to leap forward and swing his axe to strike back at the traitor. She took a step back out of his reach, but he was successful in disrupting another cast. Marassa’s left hand disappeared briefly under the robe and returned clutching a short dagger. She threw it with such force that had Jakobus been just a step to one side it would have been completely embedded in his throat. The dagger caught him on one side of the neck and he cringed in pain putting a hand across his throat to stop the bleeding.

  Marassa watched him dodge and saw a reflection on his chest plate. She knew Luvin had circled around and was coming at her from her right side. Not having enough time for another light cast she flicked the wand at him to try and throw him off stride. He saw her turning, rolled to avoid the strike, then stood and swung low with the hammer. He was successful and smacked her hip. She howled in pain and made another quick cast at her nearby enemy. This time she was on target and Luvin suddenly dropped with a cast rope tangled around his legs. He struggled desperately to free himself.

  Marassa prepared to cast again at Luvin when Acrufix barreled at her with his long sword slicing from side to side. His frontal attack caught her off guard and disrupted her cast. She was also forced to take several quick steps back and didn’t realize until too late that someone was behind her.

  The cast on Gallif had been bright, but not hot, so there had been no damage to her eyes. She had spent several minutes blinking until her sight was clear and then rose and took up a stance on the opposite side of Marassa from Acrufix. She saw the older woman draw a hand back to make a cast and brought the flame sword up under her arm. The flat side of the sword seared against her skin and Marassa howled in anger and surprise. As she turned her arm disappeared under the blurred robe and returned with her sword ready to fight. She cursed and with one hand holding the sword and the other holding the wand she struck at Gallif. Gallif countered the attack but Marassa made several long leaps to the side so she was no longer between two opponents.

  Gallif saw that Luvin, his legs still tangled, had crawled to aid Jakobus and try to prevent more bleeding. In turn Jakobus was trying to untangle Luvin’s legs from the rope. Gallif decided to concentrate on going after the woman she had trusted.

  Marassa made a quick move and spoke a few words as she cast on herself. There was a brief shimmer and a flash of light and suddenly there were two of her. Each was identical, each was armed, and each was willing and ready to fight. One went to engage Acrufix and the other confronted Gallif.

  Gallif’s first thought was that one of them was merely an illusion. “I deny this!” she called but was unsurprised when nothing changed. Denying an illusion wasn’t as simple as that and she had no specific reasoning to support her thoughts. She raised both of her weapons to defend herself against Marassa’s sword and managed to parry her away. She tried hitting back at the woman, but her frost sword was countered, and her flame sword missed its target. Her head was clearer than it had been in combat for a long time and she suddenly realized Marassa had been sabotaging her in more ways than just the tarna eggs. Though her head was clear and she managed to control every move she was still hampered by the trembling in her right hand.

  Marassa zigzagged and struck Gallif’s bare
arm. She had disrupted the attack with her frost sword enough that the blade struck her broadside. Though there was a sharp sting she knew that her skin had not been cut.

  Gallif looped the frost sword to distract the other’s attention and then jabbed in with the flame sword. Despite the blur of the robe she could feel the resistance as she contacted the body and saw her face grimace in pain.

  “Not so easy without your casting tricks,” Gallif spat at her.

  “More tricks,” Marassa laughed and stretched out her arm with the wand to try another cast.

  Gallif stepped forward and focused all of her strength to scissor the swords together. Marassa withdrew her arm but the move was fast and strong and Gallif struck the target she had intended. The power of the frost and flame casts was enough to snap the wood of the wand and it fell to the ground in splinters. She tried to hit again but Marassa was now too far on one side; the trembling in her right hand sent the flame sword wide.

  As she followed Marassa she glanced over to see that Acrufix was still fighting his version of her. He was still fairly close to where Jakobus and Luvin were but Gallif had moved away from them in combat.

  Out of the corner of her eyes Gallif saw Jakobus pull the cast rope from Luvin’s legs. Jakobus, holding a ragged cloth from Luvin over his bleeding neck, rolled off to one side and left Luvin free. The boy stood with his hammer ready and rushed to fight the nearest Marassa. Gallif exchanged blows with her own but saw that, real or not, the two of them were more than a match for one. They both made successful hits and both versions of Marassa howled in pain, shuddered, then shimmered into nothing.

  Gallif, Acrufix and Luvin stood steady holding their weapons waiting for another attack. The silence was broken by a moan of pain from Jakobus and they all rushed to aid him.

  “Keep the pressure on,” Gallif said as she dropped to her knees next to the dwarf. She held the blood-stained cloth tight to his neck. “Put direct pressure on it. It’ll slow the bleeding.”

  As Acrufix and Luvin stayed ready in case Marassa returned Gallif carefully monitored the wound in his neck. As it slowed, she was relieved to finally see that the cut was long and not deep and would heal quickly. She wondered if she had any healing potions in her backpack but a rumbling in her stomach made her doubt Jakobus would drink it.

  SEVENTEEN: LINCILARA

  After several minutes the bleeding had slowed considerably and, despite Gallif’s protests that they wait until it completely stopped, Jakobus insisted they get moving again. He pointed out to them that it was more than just the unknown that they would have to deal with now and the sooner they got moving the better.

  They continued much more cautiously; not only were they keeping aware of possible attacks from their former companion, but the tunnel walls were getting jagged. There were more and more intersections and keeping on any main path was becoming difficult.

  At one point they heard something moving in the distance and feared another quake but Gallif assured them it was the pack, or anther pack, of tarsiers moving. At another they heard more rumbling and this time Gallif warned them to be prepared for another quake but this one faded before it reached their location.

  Gallif’s stomach was still making her uncomfortable but her head was clear and sharp.

  After passing two more intersections and hearing nothing the third crossing caught their attention. There was no noise coming from any of the off-shoot tunnels, but a slight breeze caught Gallif’s notice. She held the flame sword up and showed them how the flames were being slightly pushed away from the cave. They were all aware that wind, even a light one, was unusual deep inside the mountains.

  With Jakobus, Blinks, Acrufix and Luvin behind her Gallif led them slowly through this off-shoot cave. It soon took an upward slant but not at enough of an angle to make moving difficult. After a hundred yards the caves turned to the left and then opened up into a cavern. Each of them stood in awe at the remains of the building inside.

  They had seen many temples and churches before and despite the differences in the details of the deities there was a certain resemblance that they all had. Carved from natural colored stone there was a grandness about the main doors and, almost always, a symbol of some kind carved into them. The door that remained, though broken in half, had a symbol of Starpoint Mountain in the center. The other door was shattered into piles of splinters but the archway that had held them remained intact. The opening was well over twenty-five feet tall and thirty feet wide; big enough that a dragon could easily pass through them.

  Most of the cavern had collapsed around the temple and if there had been anything further off to the sides it was now demolished, but there was still light from inside and the breeze was coming from the same direction.

  Gallif walked carefully up the crooked door keeping an eye on the roof of the cavern and the cracked walls of the temple. Just outside she paused and brushed her red hair back. Despite the damage and mystery, it was still, she was sure, a temple and there were certain protocols she felt they must observe. She put her swords away and ordered the rest to either sheath or hook their weapons to their belts. Reluctantly they did as they were told, and she stepped inside.

  The front half of the temple had remained intact. There had been four dragon statues, twice Gallif’s height, at this end. Two of them had been knocked over and broken at some point but the other two remained unscathed. They were beautifully sculpted replicas of dragons, but the stone was a neutral color and there was no way to tell if they represented the red or blue dragons of old.

  The second half of the temple had been completely caved in when the roof collapsed and there was no sign of more statures other than a few crushed pieces. There was also no sign of any kind of pulpit or other religious artifacts. There was, however, light and wind coming from something near the center mound. There were a few cracks that pure white light broke through, but it was impossible to see what exactly was underneath. This close they could also hear a distant whirlwind.

  Gallif approached the pile and searched for a crack to look through. She was very careful not to touch any part of the pile for fear that pressure would cause an avalanche. She finally found one that, if she leaned to one side and stood on her toes, she could barely see through.

  She gasped in surprise when she realized there was something looking back. She stepped away with a hand to her mouth and the others came forward to join her.

  Blinks was the tallest and it was easy for him to peek inside. “What is that?” he asked as he looked at Gallif.

  “What did you see?” she asked uncertainly.

  While Acrufix looked in one of the upper cracks Jakobus and Luvin searched for an opening further down the mound. Jakobus carefully brushed away a small mound of rocks and made a spot wide enough to look through. He signaled Luvin to join him and they peered into the abyss together.

  “It’s like looking up a tornado,” Jakobus said as he sat back. “The twirling winds and clouds twisting round and round, but on its side instead of into the sky.”

  “Much brighter than any tornado,” Blinks said. “Many more colors as well.”

  “Where does the light come from?” Acrufix asked and they all looked again through the cracks. The tornado tunnels seemed to stretch on forever, but there was definitely a source of blue white light at the far end.

  Gallif looked inside a crack, blinked several times, and then turned to them. “What else did you see?” she asked.

  “Just clouds, colors, light,” Jakobus reported. “Did you see something more?”

  “No,” she said after a deep breath. “Let’s get back to the main tunnel and keep going,” she said and ushered them towards the broken door. She glanced back quickly at the cracks knowing that there had been something watching them.

  They returned to the main tunnel but soon found that it came to another puzzle. There was a flat, blank wall with six tiles on the floor. Three were square shaped and three were triangular. Luvin cut ahead to examine the pile and sto
od to tell them there were no traps in the mound.

  “I’m not sure what we are supposed to do,” Gallif admitted after looking at the tiles.

  “Obviously they must be placed in the correct order,” Acrufix said impatiently.

  Gallif rolled her eyes and stood to face him. “Yes, figured on that. Now you can tell us what order they should go in,” she challenged him and waited for a response. She stared at the blank face of the mask for several seconds and then turned away as Jakobus approached the wall.

  Jakobus kneeled over and picked up one of the square tiles and examined it closely on all sides. Finding nothing he laid it down on the floor. “There are no markings at all. No numbers or letters that would indicate a code.”

  Gallif joined him and picked up one of the triangular tiles. She inspected it as and found no clues as well. Gingerly she set the tile down on the floor.

  Almost immediately an intense red beam of light arced across the floor from the triangular tile to the square. Gallif, Jakobus and Luvin all took several steps back and readied their weapons for some kind of attack. They held tight but nothing changed and the light stream looked almost like a solid bar.

  Once they believed there was no new danger Gallif stepped forward being careful enough to plant her feet in her original steps. She sheathed her frost sword and used her left hand to pick a square tile up from the pile, examined it, then laid it down on the ground next to the others.

  “We have to arrange them in the right order?” Blinks asked with his eyelids closing regularly. “It’s a children’s game? They want us to make a pretty decoration?”

  “I think there’s much more to it than that,” Gallif said looking at the collection. “Remember, these puzzles are tests of skill and thought.”

  “Thank goddess you guys are here or I’d be stuck. Well, I mean you guys and a girl. “Well, I mean a shiny guy, a shiny guy, two guys and a girl. Well, I should say a shiny guy, a guy, a dwarf guy and a girl.”