by J C Maynard
Kyan spoke quickly. “Benja. He knew. The last thing he told Prince Eston was to go in his room and burn a piece of paper that was beneath his pillow..” Kyan continued to feel under the desk, seeming to look for something. “It’s eleven letters. I don’t know what it means but it has to be that code.”
“Well what it is then?” asked Fillian.
Kyan looked around. “It’s not safe to say here.”
“Okay, but why are you groping the desk?”
Kyan’s finger slid across a tiny lever beneath the desk and a drawer popped out. “Ombern wouldn’t keep the key on his person.” Kyan pulled out a giant rusty key from the drawer. “He would keep the key where he thinks the Great Mother would protect it; in the Great Cathedral.”
Fillian smiled. “I can get you into the Palace. I know an entrance.”
Somewhat reluctant about stealing the key, Kyan laughed, “So do I.”
“You still have it, right?” whispered Fillian, holding a torch. Kyan nodded and slid the key out of his pocket. He could hear the ticking from within the room, and his heart seemed to sink with the rhythm. He turned the lock, and the two slid into the room. On the far wall of the stone room were eleven wheels, each four feet in diameter, embedded in the wall, turning one after another. “Now that’s what I call a lock.”
“It’s massive.” said Kyan, stepping close to it.
“Don’t touch it! Not yet. See those pegs on the bottom? We have to stop each wheel on its letter once it turns to it, and it will jam if we stop it on the wrong one. Are you sure Silverbrook will work?”
Kyan paused. “I trust Benja.” He nodded at Fillian and they put their hands on the first wheel’s stop, waiting for it to cycle through the alphabet. Q, R, “Now!” They pulled it and it stopped on S, while the others kept spinning. “Ten more to go.”
I, L, V, E, R, B, R, O, O, “Now!” They stopped it on a K, and the room went silent. Not two seconds later, an enormous crack shot through the stone, and the wall began to slide open. The two looked at each other, and then down the endless flight of stairs that dove far beneath the Palace and the city. An icy cold air blasted up at them and rustled their cloaks as the wall closed behind them. Fillian put his hand on his sword. “You can go first.”
For minutes, they walked down the staircase. “Great Mother,” whispered Fillian, “how long has this been here? It goes on forever.” A giant door appeared ahead, illuminated by his torch. A gigantic engraving lay embedded in the wood, and Kyan traced his hand along it. Fillian grabbed the door handle and pulled.
A giant crack echoed as the enormous door opened and a gust of cold air blew out Fillian’s torch. A very faint light came from inside. Kyan looked to Fillian. “You want to go first?”
“I would.” said a voice from behind both of them. The dim, dark figure of Senator An’Drui appeared as she walked down the last steps of the staircase.
“You were following us?” said Fillian.
Senator An’Drui smiled. “I’ve been trying, like you, to get in this chamber for months. Silverbrook. I overlooked that simple word.” Looking at Kyan, she asked Fillian, “Who is this?”
Fillian responded nervously. “Eston’s . . . spy; personal assistant.”
Kyan gave a short bow to Senator An’Drui.
“And you trust him?” asked the Senator.
Fillian nodded.
The Senator smiled. “I’m sure you are desiring to see what’s beyond these doors.” She silently stepped passed Fillian and Kyan and through the doorway.
“What’s that light?” said Kyan. “It’s coming from all around.” He extinguished his torch. Taking a second for their eyes to adjust, the three saw that they stood in a gigantic domed room nearly a hundred feet high which included both manmade masonry and natural stalactites. A pile of scorched scientific instruments lay in the center, blackened and broke; ash from burned paper coated the floor. The wall around them looked like a liquidy glass, radiating a soft, white glow. The wall of soft light was divided by five enormous columns. The tall panels of Taurimous were unlike anything Kyan had seen . . . except, they reminded him of something. That light, I’ve seen it . . . The stone I stole from the vault.
“What’s behind those?” said Fillian as he walked up to touch the cavern’s walls of light.
“Don’t touch those!” whispered Senator An’Drui. Fillian jumped back. “You do not know what those shields stop.” She walked to the pile of burnt flasks and desks and grabbed a bell which sat on top of it. “Get back,” she said and then rang the bell with a giant reverberating clang. Immediately, thundering roars shook the air and the stone that held up the cavern. The deafening sound drove them to their knees and through Kyan’s mind coursed an image of Endlebarr and a giant scaled tail and claws. The roars increased in intensity, seeming to come from behind the walls of ice-like Taurimous. Senator An’Drui’s eyes widened, and her breathing quickened. “This is it.” she said.
Fillian stood, shaking. “What in the bloody he-”
“It’s Ferramoor’s greatest secret.” said An’Drui. She walked in a circle around the enormous chamber, looking at the five shimmering walls. “Your father regrets it to this day, but I swear it will win us the war. Just a few years before Prince Eston was born, Tronum anticipated his father’s death and also Xandria’s plot to take the Empire for herself. Knowing he would need to defend Ferramoor, he found a young sorceress and hired her for protection. But we’ve now proven that he also convinced her to make creatures — monsters — to defend Ferramoor.
“From what I know, near the time Eston was born, the young sorceress fled the Palace, not wanting to be a part of your father’s mad science. Miss Silverbrook. Few people had ever learned her name, and her files were destroyed. How did you know?”
“Benja told Prince Eston.” said Kyan with a frog in his throat. “He must have found something with her name and history in his days as the Palace Overseer.”
“I see.” said Senator An’Drui. “But Recently, I have been trying to find this place. When she fled, she set fire to everything she had created, including this pile of books and scientific instruments here,” she touched what remained of an ash-covered book. Another deafening roar came from beyond the walls. “She must have permanently put up these walls of her . . . I guess you could say magic. They’re the only thing holding those monsters back.”
Kyan immediately recognized what the glowing walls of light were — Taurimous.
Fillian pointed at one of the five walls. “Why is that one dimmer than the rest?”
“Prophet Ombern believes one of the five escaped before she left; it fled to Endlebarr and made a nest there. One of our generals found where it was and ordered the construction of Camp Stoneheart near it to ensure the Cerebrians would never capture it and use it against us.”
Endlebarr and Stoneheart . . . Silverbrook’s monster paralyzed my platoon, thought Kyan.
Fillian spoke. “Miss An’Drui, you want to unleash the rest of them to decimate the Cerebrian army.”
“To rid the world of your aunt’s evil? Yes, I do.” From behind the walls of Silverbrook’s Taurimous, a roar like a crack of thunder shook the earth beneath Aunestauna.
The Great Cerebrian Gate
Chapter Twenty Four
~Morning, November 4th
Tayben reached forward to touch the glowing white flower, but before his hands could caress its petals, his eyes shot open.
Albeire Harkil, sitting crossed-legged in a meditative position, looked up at Tayben. “What did you see?” he said in a melodic, soothing voice.
“I don’t know, it was just a lot of dark and light.”
“It was the dark and light.”
“. . . I saw a flower.” said Tayben. “It was radiating light.”
“I cannot explain what you see when you meditate like this with me,” said Harkil, looking far into Tayben’s soul “being connected gives you the ability to see strange visions.”
“Connected with what?”
&nb
sp; “Everything.” said Harkil. “The nymphs gave us the ability to see everything, to merge our souls into the universe.”
“Then why didn’t we feel that monster at Stoneheart?” said Tayben, finally knowing what the monster was.
“That’s what concerns me. This thing we encountered hid in the shadows of energy.” Harkil closed his eyes. “And it’s what we can’t see that motivates us. This monster . . . it terrifies me, yes. It’s an evil in the world. But know that it’s not the only thing that hides in the shadows.”
From behind them, Thephern walked up. “Harkil, you should try spending as much time with your own platoon as you do with mine.”
Harkil smiled. “My apologies. We were only meditating.”
“And telling stories about shadow and light.” chuckled Thephern.
Harkil stood up and spoke politely, but close to Thephern’s face. “Do not take the nymphs’ gift for granted. I advise you to open your eyes. Have a good one, brother.” Harkil walked off through the brush to train with his platoon.
Tayben turned to his platoon commander, still apprehensive after Thephern had lashed out for Tayben’s hesitation to kill a Ferr. But after the encounter with the beast, Thephern’s memory of the encounter seemed blank, and his attitude toward Tayben was unchanged. He remembered the claws slashing at his head. After the other platoons arrived, Tayben passed out, his next memory being in the trees once more, answering General Lekshane’s questions on what had happened.
“What did it look like?” asked the general.
“I- I don’t know sir. It was black . . . and- and big. I don’t know why we couldn’t hear it or even sense it . . . it’s like it hijacked our minds until it could strike us.”
“It paralyzed you?”
Tayben froze, remembering the feeling of helplessness. “Yes, sir. I was the only one not fully immobilized after it hit us — I don’t know why . . . after a minute of fighting it, I lost consciousness.”
The general put his hands out and squeezed Tayben’s shoulders. “What did you feel, Shae?”
Tayben had stared blankly into the canopy as he answered. “I felt . . . cold . . . my body felt cold and weak . . . I- I felt like the clarity and light I’ve had since the nymphs made me a Phantom . . . it faded. I felt . . . human again.”
Tayben shook his head to rid the memory.
When the galloping of hooves echoed far in the distance, Thephern ordered, “Grab your spear, Tayben . . . Now!”
The sixteen Phantoms quickly gathered in the trees as the sound of the solitary horse and rider drew near. Many of the leaves in the canopy were beginning to change color, as Endlebarr never really experienced winter, but only autumn. A familiar whistle rang through the forest. General Lekshane sheathed his sword. “It’s Ms. Irroy. But what she is doing on this side of the Taurbeir-Krons I do not know.” The Phantoms jumped down to the forest floor as Vaya Irroy, Xandria’s messenger, came speeding through on her horse. Her lips were cracked and bleeding, and the horse’s legs shook as it brought her to a halt. The strawberry blonde dismounted and fell limp on the ground, followed by a thud of her horse collapsing. “What happened Ms. Irroy?” said Lekshane as he ran up to her.
The fastest horse in Cerebria lay collapsed on the ground. “Th- The Queen found- I road for five days straight to get here- Zarranc, my horse, is he dead? — There wasn’t”
“Irroy!” yelled Lekshane. “We can’t understand you. What happened?”
“I- I got an order- ran out here as fast as I could.” she tried to swallow, but her mouth was bone dry. Gallien quickly handed her his container of water, and she chugged it down, thanking him with her eyes. Breathless, she continued. “The Queen’s spies . . . they suspect our army is going to be sabotaged.” Tayben’s stomach dropped, knowing exactly what Vaya spoke of. The Evertauri’s plans had begun; his conversation with Mordvitch started it all. Vaya gasped for air. “Our forces are shipping a great deal of . . . explosive weapons . . . through our Great Gate. There are r- rebels that are going to attack the shipment.”
Thephern shook his head. “There is no way any civilians could come all this way into Endlebarr just to attack a supply shipment.” Tayben shook his head. They went under Endlebarr.
Vaya coughed on the ground. “These are no civilians, General — they are sorcerers — ‘call themselves the Evertauri . . . and they are going to destroy the Gate . . . tonight.” Lekshane stood still. “Go now!” she said.
“Your horse is dead, miss; you cannot survive in this forest.” said Harkil.
“Go!” she screamed, “For the sake of goodness and peace, go!”
Lekshane scanned the fifteen cloaked figures behind him. “It’s thirty miles to the Gate. We can make it by nightfall. Sorcerers you say? We’ll show them the might of Xandria. Phantoms, follow me East.” In a blur of black, Vaya was left in the underbrush of Endlebarr.
The sun had set, but beneath the twilight sky, Tayben could easily see where the snowy peaks of the Taurbeir-Krons dipped down to form a pass between the two halves of Endlebarr. Between the two lowest peaks sat a three hundred foot high wall of black stone, with multiple turrets and an enormous metal gate in its center. “Marvellous, isn’t it?” said Gallien next to Tayben. “This has been protecting Cerebria for twenty years.” Xandria’s Gate had allowed no Ferramish forces to ever pass. For an army with supplies, it was the only way through the treacherous mountains. Lekshane called the Phantoms forward. They climbed up above the Gate, leaving the lush forest and stepping into the snow of the mountains. The Phantoms watched from the snowy mountainside just above the Gate, on top of which fifty Cerebrian soldiers stood.
Hiding from Cerebrian soldiers behind a snowdrift, Tayben scanned the massive wall, which held rooms of weapons for the hundreds of Cerebrian guards it housed. Chent pointed out into the Eastern forest, something was there. From the snow drift, Tayben could see a massive line of horses and covered wagons coming slowly up the Cerebrian slope to the Gate. The seemingly endless brigade of weapons finally stopped emerging from the forest and was pulled up to the Gate, ready to be used on the other side to attack Ferramish troops. The Cerebrian guards began to let their army’s supply wagons through.
“Keep your eyes open.” said Lekshane. As each of the wagons passed through the Gate, they stopped on the opposite, Ferramish, side. Soldiers began stepping off their covered wagons and tying up the reins to their horses. “Why are they stopping?” whispered Lekshane to himself, resting a hand on his thick, reddish brown beard. The next cart was stopped by a guard and before he could ask the wagon for identification, a flash of yellow light emerged from the hands of a soldier and engulfed the bottom of the gate. Instantly, a hundred cloaked figures appeared from within the wagons on either side of the gate.
“The rebels are driving the carts!” said Lekshane. The Phantoms bolted down the mountain toward the wall, to which the crowd of disguised rebels were running. A rainbow of color rocketed from their bodies toward the side doors of the Gate, from which Cerebrian soldiers were emerging. A chorus of bells sounded from the top of the wall as Cerebrian guards shot arrows from the top. “First and Third Platoon, follow me to the bottom and engage the rebels! Second Platoon, go to the top of the Gate ”
Tayben’s Platoon rushed atop the wall, passing real Cerebrian soldiers in a blur of black and flew through a door to the interior of the wall. As they descended down staircases toward the clamor, Tayben shouted out, “They’re going to try and blow the gate! Guard the structural supports.” The Phantoms turned around a bend onto a balcony which looked over the eastern forest and the mountains. Snow had begun to fall heavily, and the wind threatened to blow them off the balcony two hundred feet down to the snowy hills below.
A group of cloaked men and Evertauri disguised in Cerebrain armor turned onto the balcony. The Phantoms ducked under a rocketing plane of green light. In that second, Tayben saw the fearful faces of his platoon, not knowing how to fight against sorcery . . . but how much could he tell them?
“Don’t touch the light!” he yelled as he pounced forward at the group of Evertauri before him. Hurling his spear at them, he stopped in his tracks as an Evertauri produced a shower of embers that vaporized the shaft in mid-flight.
Tayben drew his sword and jumped over the Evertauri, flipping himself in the air to dodge the beams of Taurimous shot at him. From the opposite side, he kicked the knees of a sorcerer and jammed his spear through his head. Chent loosed an arrow at the sorcerers but it was shattered in the air by a ball of sapphire fire. Gallien sprung forward bringing his sword down on a shield of grey Taurimous. His sword rebounded off the light and cut him on his shoulder. An Evertauri disguised as a Cerebrian soldier threw a knife at Thephern, whom he just saw as a blur of shadow. Thephern caught the knife and swung it back at the Evertauri at five times the speed, piercing straight through the Evertauri’s armor. Ferron ripped a door from its hinges and chucked it at the group, sending four men flying off the balcony to their deaths. As the last Evertauri sent a fireball at Chent, Tayben snapped the attacker’s neck. The group looked over the balcony to the ground far below, where Evertauri were beginning to remove boxes out of the covered wagons and toward the doors. “We’ll each take a central staircase.” said Thephern. “That’s where we’ll find the rebels.”
Hearing more and more swords, yelling, and the shimmering sound of Taurimous as he bounded down a stone staircase, Tayben was blown back by a wave of red light. Feeling burns up and down his front, he quickly sprang up and grabbed his sword. Seeming to already know Tayben’s move, the Evertauri coated his arm in false fire as a shock absorber, and as Tayben heaved his sword down, the Evertauri caught the blade in his flaming hand. The Evertauri squeezed the blade, turning it red hot. Tayben looked in horror at the Evertauri’s face in the cloak, and Calleneck stared back at him with animalistic intensity. With his face shaking Calleneck yelled, “TRAITOR!” Tayben’s sword melted in Calleneck’s crimson hand, and Calleneck’s fist, covered in a ball of energy, soared into his chest. But as soon as Tayben felt himself knocked off the staircase, his eyes flashed open in the body of Calleneck, who sat up after sleeping on a tunnel floor of the Network beneath Endlebarr.