by Allan Joyal
“At least we can rest in peace,” Victoria mumbled. She had finished eating. Her head rested, pillowed on her hands as she dozed at the table.
A loud crack echoing in the room startled everyone. I glanced around in time to watch the single door swing into the room. It was impossible to see what was there, but everyone could hear a metallic thunk ring out periodically.
As the thunks slowly became louder, I began to her a guttural voice speaking. It was an unfamiliar language, and I glanced over at Cimbra to see if she recognized it.
The dark elven woman had a puzzled expression on her face. “It’s similar to the language most of the underworld races use in trade,” she said.
Shaylin was leaning over the table trying to hear the voice. “I’d almost say it’s the language of the old Empire, but it’s being spoken so quickly. I can’t make out most of the words.”
The rhythmic thunks came near. Everyone glanced over as a clawed hand covered in white fur reached out and planted a staff on the ground. The metallic thunk rang out again as the metal end of the staff struck the floor. A glittering purple jewel crowned the other end. Beams of light fanned from it as the hand lifted the staff again.
This time when the staff struck the ground a robe became visible as a humanoid followed the advancing staff. The same guttural voice called something out. We waited in confusion as the staff was lifted to advance again.
The figure holding the staff finally came fully into view. I heard Thom take a huge intake of breath. Whatever he was about to shout was smothered as Mary reached out and covered his mouth. “Quiet” she hissed.
The figure looked more like an ape than a human. The arms were too long. The body and legs were hidden under a robe of some glittery material, but the being seemed to be leaning forward as it continued into the room.
The face was even more striking. It was too rounded to be human, but the mouth had lips that were a bit more human than simian. The final surprise was the conical head covered with the same white fur as the hands. The creature looked around and then pointed at our table.
The language became even less comprehensible. Everyone at the table was shaking our heads as this strange ape man shouted at us.
The ape man appeared to examine everyone. It paused for a moment. Then it noticed Cimbra. It straightened up and stomped over to stand next to her and again started to speak rapidly. It was a new, more musical language, but not one I recognized.
“What’s he saying?” I asked.
Cimbra looked at me with a smirk on her face. “It sounds elven, but he’s got a horrible accent. The problem is I don’t speak elven. It’s not used in the underworld.”
“I so wish I knew a spell that would let me understand him,” Shaylin said.
“Can’t you cast one?” Lenoir asked.
“I don’t have one in the few books I have. Speaking in tongues was never something a family of farmers would need. And I haven’t had an opportunity to learn them elsewhere. If I had learned them before Ron accepted me into the group, the wizards would have imprisoned me and then stripped me of my magic. Since then I’ve tried to concentrate on spells that would help us as we move. I’ve been mostly working on spells to help someone who got too hot or cold,” Shaylin explained.
“Esme?” I asked our medic.
“Oh, she works with me on those,” Esme said. “Unfortunately the spells really depend on a firm understanding of how the body works. I’m trying to teach what I know, but we aren’t sure it will be enough.”
The ape man was now standing and looking at me. He raised the staff and muttered something before slamming it into the floor. Light burst from the crystal, momentarily blinding all of us.
“What heathen language do you speak? How could you defile this conservatory of magic and maturation?” the ape man asked.
“The what?” Heather asked.
“It’s a place where young would be schooled in magic and the responsibilities of adulthood,” I replied. “As for the language I speak, I’m sorry that it offends you, but it’s the only language I know.”
“Then why are you here? You are too old to be a student, and you are not dressed as a professor. Not that any scholar would be so ignorant as you appear to be,” the ape man challenged me.
“We are here because we were trying to escape some Minotaurs, and this building appeared to be the only safe refuge,” I said.
“Minotaurs?” the ape man said with a snort. “Those creations of Mad Forinthal are few and could hardly threaten any decent wizard of the Empire. Wait! If you were taking refuge here, where were you? Which entrance did you use?”
“We didn’t get a chance to look for any markings that might have identified it,” I said.
The ape man waved a hand negligently. “Never mind, the aether will show me which entrance you used, so I can alert others to properly punish the guards. There is no way one such as you should have been allowed to foul this place of learning with your ignorance.”
“Ron,” Heather hissed. “What happens when he finds.”
“What?” the ape man shouted. “Why are the guard posts not responding? What evil is this that I cannot view the entrances?”
The ape man was looking into the crystal on top his staff. The deep purple had faded as he stared, but he appeared agitated by what he was seeing.
“You!” he said as he looked away from the staff. “Who is Emperor? Tell me the name of the Emperor!”
I sighed. “There hasn’t been an emperor for a hundred generations. There was a civil war and the Empire fell.”
“That cannot be!” the creature moaned. “The Empire was to last forever. We had found the perfect family. Even the omens said that the family would dominate and rule the lands until no human town existed east of the River of Living Blood.”
I glanced over at Krysbain. “Krys, during the flood season does the Elfwall river turn red?”
He shrugged. “Usually only for a day or two. The wizards at the academy seem to set a great store by it, and many will come to collect the waters.”
Aine looked surprised. She was sitting at the other table, but stood up to walk over. “Ron, didn’t the Nile River run red according to legend.”
I nodded. “There are a couple of ways it can happen. I’m not sure why it happens here, but I’m guessing the prophecy our friend here is talking about does refer to the Elfwall River.”
“The Elfwall? Why would any human give a river that ridiculous name? The elves swore to adhere to the Empire’s peace,” the ape man said.
“Because there are no human settlements east of the Elfwall River,” I replied. “There have not been any for two thousand years.”
The ape man’s body flickered. As it vanished and reappeared the creature’s eyes rolled back as if it was suffering from a seizure.
It put both hands on the staff and seemed to solidify as it looked at the crystal. It muttered something in the guttural language we had heard when it first entered the chamber. The crystal flashed and the eyes of the ape man became blank. It stood there motionless.
“It’s not breathing,” Lydia hissed. “In fact, I’m not sure I’ve seen it take a breath since it appeared.”
“Let’s not give in to anger or fear,” I said calmly. “So far we haven’t been threatened, and I’m guessing that this being was here to help admit new students to the school. That would be of great importance to an empire that was founded on magic.”
“It was not founded on magic,” the ape man said as it slowly pulled its gaze from the crystal. “But magic did allow us to expand. Being able to send a message from the capital to any point in the empire in a fortnight allowed high levels of control. But that took magic.”
“I’m sorry we have trod where we are not wanted,” I said quietly.
“Is it really all gone?” the ape man asked. “Have the golden towers of Allun, the crystal spire in Valorda, and the great temple of Impia been destroyed?”
“I would be unable to say,” I sai
d.
“Unable?” the ape man shrieked. “How could you not know of the Great Temple? Thousands of the best craftsmen in the Empire devoted their lives to building the temple.”
“Let me guess,” Al said quietly. “It was on a bluff overlooking the capital.”
“Never!” the ape man shouted. “Such would be blasphemy. One shows humility when speaking to the spirits of magic. It was placed in a shadowed valley that never saw sunlight.”
“Well, we had never heard about such a place,” I admitted. “I get a feeling the wizards who run the Wizard’s Academy might have heard about it, but they are sure to tell no one. And we are the first humans in centuries to travel this far east of the river we believe you knew as River of Living Blood.”
“Centuries?” the ape man asked.
Krysbain sighed. “There was a time that humans crossed to hunt, but too many men attempted to cut down trees that were part of the forests the elves claimed. Eventually they started killing any humans who set foot on the east side of the river.”
“Elves killing humans? But in the time of the empire they were a peaceful people. Well, except for the exiles,” the ape man said again.
The creature seemed to flicker in and out of view again. He looked at the crystal. We all watched him, waiting to see what he would say.
When his attention returned to the room he looked at me. “You brought this group?” he asked.
“I’m the one everyone looks to when there is a question about what to do,” I admitted. “And it was my idea to attempt this journey.”
“Why?” the creature asked.
“Some of us come from very far away,” I began.
The ape man looked right at me. “That statement isn’t the complete truth,” it hissed. “Where are you from?”
“Another world,” I replied firmly. “A wizard failed in casting a spell to help a village, and they refused to pay him. In his anger he attempted to curse the village. From what we have been able to gather, that spell failed when a dragon attacked him in the middle of casting. I have no idea what he wanted to bring to Jord, but he pulled seventy people from my world to this one.”
“Seventy?” Krysbain said. “But I thought only ten of you were from that world.”
“We never got a full count,” Lydia said. “But the group Ron led from the start started with fifteen members. We’ve lost so many.”
“You have?” Joelia asked. “How?”
I sighed. “One man wanted to lead and left when we refused. We ran into him again when the slavers ambushed us. I’m not sure if he died or was enslaved, but we left him behind. One woman tried to talk to a general during a battle and was executed. Two women decided they couldn’t continue to travel. One man upset a sorceress and was turned into a pig.”
“And then we lost one more woman when some archers fired at us and finally Jennifer and Steve in the slaver ambush the day we arrived at Saraloncto,” Natalie finished. “We started with fifteen, but only eight of us have been together since that first day when we arrived on Jord.”
Lawus looked puzzled. “Mary told me she arrived with you.”
“Not with,” Mary said. “I was on the New York elevator. Most of the original group was on the elevator from Daytona. But all three elevators arrived at the same time and in the same meadow.”
“Why did you not all stay together?” the ape man asked.
“None of us knew what had happened,” I replied. “I asked my friends to let others know I had an idea, but another man did the same thing. In the end only a few were willing to follow me. We also only had a short time to organize.”
“Why?” Lawus asked.
“Some really ugly…. Things appeared,” Aine said. “They started clubbing anyone who did not run away. At that, point the two groups being organized left and the remaining people scattered.”
The ape man muttered something. Glows settled around Heather, Esme, Natalie, and Shaylin.
“You are the students?” the ape man asked.
Heather actually blushed. “I wasn’t a student of magic. But on the world we came from, I was attending a university.”
“What is that?” the ape man said. “That came out as some kind of school for those who have reached adulthood, but are not adults.”
Lydia giggled. “Some would say that you described it exactly. The reality is that our home had become very complex. If you wanted to contribute you needed a vast amount of knowledge. The university system was created to take young adults and give them a chance to obtain the advanced knowledge they would need to find an occupation.”
“And what did you expect to become?” the ape man asked Heather.
My wife blushed deeper. “I did not know. I was just exploring the basic classes in several subjects before I committed.”
The ape man snorted. His body faded away and then came back.
“Why do you keep fading?” Haydee asked as she came over and sat in her father’s lap.
The ape man looked at his crystal for a moment. Somehow his presence seemed to become deeper. He slammed the butt of the staff against the ground generating a loud clang that echoed in the chamber. “Are any of the students you brought studying magic?”
Esme and Shaylin raised their hands. I looked over at Esme in surprise. “Esme?”
“I’ve been trying to learn to read, so I can decipher the one book on potions that Shaylin has. We tried to have her work on a couple of simple mixtures and discovered that she doesn’t have the right skills,” Esme said.
The ape man looked at her. “Are you a wizard then? Or just studying alchemy?”
“Alchemy,” Esme said. “My studies before I was dragged to this world were on how to help someone heal faster and recover from disease and injury. There were alchemical compounds I used, but I was not involved in making them. Now I need to know how to make them.”
“Hey!” Natalie hissed. “I help, and I’m better than you are at mixing.”
“Then why did you not raise your hand?” the ape man asked.
“Because I’m worse than she is at reading the books,” Natalie admitted. “We were going to rewrite them in our own language when we had an opportunity, but can’t while we travel.”
The creature snorted. “Travel to where? If the empire has been completely destroyed as you say, what could be out here for the likes of you?”
I sighed. “My friends and I come from a free society, where all people are equal and work together to make everyone’s life better. If we had stayed where we had arrived, we would have been vulnerable to others who might try to take the fruits of our labor. We seek a sheltered valley where we can live in peace.”
The creature looked at me. His body flickered out several times as he stood there breathlessly watching me. “You do believe that this might work. And there are valleys to the east that could provide for a small village if the people are industrious. Or at least there were. But they are far from here. Even if I allowed you to use the exit leading to Prevolt Canyon, the nearest valleys would be forty days journey away if you plan on taking the herds with you.”
I heard everyone sigh happily. “Forty days?” Lydia said. “We can do that in our sleep. And just knowing that this journey might have an ending.”
The creature frowned. “But first,” he commanded pointing at Esme and Shaylin. “You are students. You are here. You must come with me!”
The two women stood. I stood as well causing the creature to glare at me. “I did not tell you to come!”
“They are under my protection,” I replied firmly. “I must see where you are taking them.”
The creature turned and started walking back the way it had come. It moved spryly after appearing to be half crippled during its journey to our table. “Then come, I must set up to administer the entry examination.”
I followed the creature through the doorway. As we entered a narrow hallway I could hear Shaylin and Esme running to catch up. The creature led us past two doors before stopping. H
e looked at me and then at the girls behind me.
“You can look around their room. There will be one shelf with books. They will be a mix of alchemy and magic. The books are not for you to keep. Students are expected to maintain journals of the spells and potions they learn. There should be starter journals on the table inside,” the being said formally. “Enter and view.”
He did not move to touch the door, so I reached out and placed my hand against the wood. It swung away from me slowly. The hinges groaned as the door opened halfway and then came to a halt.
The being stared at the now stuck door. “That should not have happened,” it muttered.
I glanced at the hinges as I stepped into the room. The top hinge was broken. Flakes of red rust were falling to the floor as I stepped into the room.
Before I could look around, Shaylin gasped. “What happened here?” she asked.
I looked back at her and noticed she was pointing into the room. When I turned to see what had her attention I found a rotted pile of wood and bedding covering a section of the floor. I stepped inside to check the rest of the room and found that on the other side of the room there was a matching pile of debris. Only a single small table stood. Two books sat on it, glowing slightly.
“Those must be your journals,” I said absently as I looked around the room one more time. It appeared to have been closed up for years.
“Our guide appears upset,” Esme said as she stepped inside. “It looked at the dust and turned to look at its crystal. What could be the problem?”
There was a flickering on the far wall. We all paused to look. A single shelf containing eight books slowly materialized into being. I looked over for the being and found that it was still standing in the doorway staring at the staff it held.
Shaylin rushed over and started pulling books off the shelf. “Shay?” Esme asked.
“I want to see the books and they might vanish,” Shaylin said as she pulled the eight books and piled them on top of the small table. “Let’s see what we have.”
Shaylin carefully picked up the first book. I watched as she turned the book over and examined the binding and cover carefully.