“It wouldn’t be the same sleeping here, not without any sky to see,” she reflected to herself.
“Ithought weweregoingto bein themountains bytonight!” Mista whined.
“We won’t be there until tomorrow,” Fiera replied over her shoulder though she didn’t actually know when they would arrive. Nevertheless, she made the assumption. Cam did not know how far the Gnosi was either. “If only our guide would hurry up and meet us,” Fiera said despite the fact that Cam could tell she was dreading meeting Caleb again. Cam predicted that Mista, with her flirty manner, would entertain him. Mista complained for what seemed an eternity. When she finally lapsed into silence, they were left to Terra’s comments on how beautiful the nature was. Adria rode in silence.
“Cam, I have the feeling you’re holding something back,” Fiera remarked suddenly.
"What do you mean?" Cam certainly felt that now was not the time to tell Fiera what was really bothering her. She shrugged. She made an effort to seem more cheerful despite the shuddering feeling the forest emitted. She wondered to herself if that by the time she finished training, it would be winter, for the trees seemed dead.
A rustle in the nearby brush startled Cam.
“Is it a bear?”
“No, Mista,” Terra sighed despite her ignorance of what the sound truly was.
The next instant Mista released a shrilling scream. Cam ignored it until the noise was cut off sharply and Terra shrieked, “Fiera! Robbers!” Cam and Fiera jerked their horses to a halt and swung around. Four figures clad in filthy rags were dragging Mista off her horse.
“Stop where ye at, and she’ll not be harmed,” demanded a burly looking man with an unshaven face. His mouth was set in a crooked grin as he pressed his blade to Mista’s throat. His other hand clamped tightly over her mouth. Cam stood as if she was frozen. Her attention darted towards Fiera to see if she was taking action, but her bow was not in her hand, for if she were to raise her weapon Mista’s throat would be sliced. Terra and Adria sat on their horses in transfixed horror. Two men grasped their steeds’ bridles.
“Give us allyourvalues,” ordereda talldarkmanwitha deep voice. The man was younger and far leaner with a refined voice.
“Wedon’t have any,”Terrarepliedhonestlyin a shaky voice.
“We’ll see about that,” he said, jerking Fiera off her horse. He threw her to the mucky ground as if she was nothing but a rag doll. He placed his boot on her stomach with a jolt, causing her to lose her breath and wince. “Check the bags.” A third man who seemed as though he hardly possessed a brain opened the saddle and luggage bags, emptying their contents on the ground. Clothing scattered in a sudden spine-tingling breeze.
“There ain’t notin’ here,” he remarked to his companions in a stupefied sounding tone. The boot of their brooding leader kept Fiera pinned to the ground.
“What about this here necklace?” suggested the man who was holding Mista hostage with the knife. The other man reached out to touch Cam’s necklace. His rough fingers brushed across her skin and the stone. She shuddered.
“It is only a stone.”
"But dat other girls got a jewel in hers," said a short man holding the bridle of Terra's horse. Cam's heart sank and anger arose. They couldn't take Terra's necklace! Without it, she would be powerless. The realm inhabitants would not allow her to participate in the annual Magic Ceremony without proof she had passed training. Terra's necklace was ripped ruthlessly from her neck.
“Such a pretty jewel,” one man murmured, fingering the emerald in the stone. Cam could discern by the boiling expression in Fiera’s face that her hands itched to wrap around the man’s throat until he slumped to her feet. For Fiera, it was sickening to be utterly powerless. “Where’d you get such a purty necklace?”
“That’s none of your business,” Fiera grunted, glaring in his direction.
Thepoint ofa man’sboot collidedwith herjaw. Shebut back a cry. “That’ll teach you to shut up. Stupid girl, why you think I’d give this necklace here back to”
An arrow whizzed from the underbrush nearby and plunged deep into his chest, ending his string of insults. He plummeted to the ground with a thud. Fiera rolled to the side, narrowly missing his falling corpse. She jumped to her feet and snatched her weapon. The man holding Mista was so surprised he dropped his knife. Terra, from her higher place, kicked him square in the nose, knocking him over. Cam scrambled for the knife at Mista's feet. In a moment all four men were sprawled across the road, blood pouring from open arrow wounds. The sight stirred Cam's stomach, having never seen a dead man. Bile rose in her throat.
“Ha! Do not, I repeat do not underestimate the might of Mirabelle’s greatest hunter!” chanteda voiceinmocklaughter. Cam turned to see Caleb Opados standing with a bow and arrow of his own. A wide grin played across his face as he withdrew his arrow from the dead man’s chest. “Good thing I came to your rescue, huh?” He glanced at Fiera.
“Youhave ourimmensegratitude,” Terrapantedas sheeyed the young man. “You look familiar…”
“Is that all? No promise that you are now indebted to me for life?” Caleb asked.
Terra’s brow furrowed. “I beg your pardon, but who are you?”
“Oh? Fiera didn’t tell you?”
“You know him Fiera?” asked Terra in surprise.
“She sure does. I was at your sister’s ball for her birthday. Your parents invited me to meet Fiera.”
“Oh, I see,” replied Terra with a slight smirk. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to,” Fiera returned dryly. “I’m guessing you’re our guide.”
“Yes, I am. This means we’ll be on this journey together for a while.” There was an awkward pause, and Fiera’s cheeks flamed both from exertion and embarrassment.
“How far is Gnosi from here?” Adria inquired.
“Not very far. We’ll spendthenight just outsideofthis forest and head up into the mountains tomorrow. We should arrive there by tomorrow afternoon.”
“Okay, then,” said Terra. “But younever told us your name.”
“Oh, my name is Caleb. My citizenship is placed in Cinis Lumen, andI am oneofthemost skilledhunters in thevicinity.” He smiled broadly. Fiera looked disgusted. He leaned on the handle of his sword.
“Careful there,” Terra told him.
“What do youmean?” askedthepuzzledCaleb. Just then his sword gave way under him, and his hand landed flat in a pile of deer dung at the side of the road. Mista giggled. Cam, Fiera, and even Terra suppressed smiles.
“Need help there?” Cam asked, grinning wryly.
“Very funny. Ewwwww.” Caleb examined his hand and wiped the result of his clumsiness on a patch of clean grass.
“Let’s get going,” Fiera ordered. The six travelers mounted their steeds and Caleb resumed the lead.
“Special that one is,” Terra commented, riding up next to Cam.
"Why do. . . well did those robbers live here? I never heard of there being any other inhabited part of Mirabelle besides the realms." Cam asked, changing the subject as she handed Terra her necklace. "Those men did not wear necklaces nor did they seem to know what the jewel represents."
Terra's brow furrowed. "They must have lived in this forest so long that they never really knew about the rest of Mirabelle. I've heard before in one of Grandfather's stories that there are such forests that if you reside long enough in them you will lose memory of the real world and will slowly be driven mad. The forests were once enchanted so this could happen and was used as a means of punishment for criminals. At one point, the enchantments were lifted, but those dwelling inside have not regained memory." A shuddering sensation pulsed through Cam. "I think we'll be safe with Fiera's friend, though," Terra added.
“He’s not my friend,” Fiera retorted. She stared after Caleb and Mista who were having a lively conversation.
It was nearly dark when they emerged from the forest. The sun was drifting beyond the distant mountains. The sky was a breathtaking sight, and Cam was
glad to be out of the forest before dark. To stay in the forest longer would drive her mad with fear. Caleb built a fire, and they were settled around it when the stars started to appear in the night sky. Cam huddled between Adria and Mista. Fiera and Caleb were on opposite sides of the fire, Fiera clearly trying to avoid him. “Tell us about Cinis Lumen, Caleb,” Terra suggested as he plopped onto the log beside Fiera. Fiera’s mouth was set in a thin line as she stared into the fire.
He smiled. “I couldn’t ask for a better home. The people are the steadiest of comrades and make for the best company and time spent.”
“Spent doing what?” Mista leaned forward in interest.
“Oh you know, climbing inside the volcanos and such.”
“Volcanos?” Cam jabbed Mista in the ribs with her elbow. Mista knew full well there were volcanoes in Cinis Lumen. She just pretended not to so Caleb would speak of them.
“I think Mista’s a little taken with Caleb,” whispered Adria who was leaning on Cam’s shoulder. Her body was pressed close to Cam’s to keep warm. “What if my sisters hadn’t come with me?” Cam wondered silently. “To think of how dull and dreadful the journey would be without them.” It is in these sorts of moments that she was happy for her sisters; happy they were her family, even if they did not share the same blood.
“Gnosi claims to value freedom above all else. I find Gnosi to be the most suffocating realm of all. They preach freedom, and yet, one is always held under threat that if you were to object to the excessive privileges and liberties that they call ‘freedom,’ you are breaking the rules. Gnosi teaches freedom, but is at the same time, a means of trapping gullible persons into a frivolous lifestyle. To prove our viewpoint, Shael wished to dump all the wine into the river and claim that he took such actions because he wanted too. I warned him this would bring the entire Gnosi population down upon his head.”
-From the writings of Daniel Adriel on his travels in Mirabelle, written during the Third Age.
Nine
The green dipped at various areas into lush valleys peppered with
trees and other vegetation. Though Summer had nearly faded into Autumn, flowers were still swaying in the wind. Meadowlarks swooped in and out of the fingers of the earth. Cam did not discover where the homes of the Gnosi Realm inhabitants could be found until Caleb indicated small doorways leading into the sides of hills and valley walls.
Thetravelers’ rounded a twist in theridge oncemore, passing the valleys of most citizens and breaking through the forest. Cam gasped. When she was no longer blinded by the penetrating sunlight, the sight before her stole her breath. The path they had been trotting upon now broke from the trees and trailed on the edge of a cliff for several yards until it reached a suspended staircase made of stone and adorned with moss. The staircase wound around the mountain’s waist until it met with the courtyard of a castle.
The Castle in the Air was what Grandfather had called it. He had described it as being erected of glass. This glass was dazzling against the sun and shimmering with the river rushing far below it. Cam knew the structure to be more than just pretty. It had proven impossible to penetrate with weaponry. The castle, which rose in narrow stature and a pointed crown of towers, resembled a diamond before Cam’s eyes. Beyond it, the colors danced. Persons, figures, whatever they may be were blurred beneath the layers of polished substance.
Twisted vines crawled over and around the walls of the castle, infesting it with its color. Gardens surrounded the exterior, serving as a footstool for the structure. Cam did not realize that she had halted her horse until she heard Fiera’s beckoning shout from far ahead. She set the steed at a trotting pace once more. Presently, she was drawn up to the castle which overlooked the valleys and rivers at its prestigious point.
“Most, the Royals included, appoint this as the most beautiful of the realms. Their leader and those who have succeeded him have taken great pains to ensure tranquil, beautiful architecture,” Caleb said.
“Do you consider is as such?” Adria queried, tiltingher head to one side. “How truthful is the glass? It is clear, yet I cannot see very well beyond it.”
Terra chuckled. “It is not the substance which deceives, if deception be an aspect. It is the one whom has built with such a Fiera, tiring of what was soon to become a highly “intellectual” conversation between her two younger sisters, galloped ahead of their company until she had nearly collided with the front door. She slid off her horse just as Caleb and Cam arrived on her tail.
“The door is open,” Fiera said, her brows knitting together. “The door is nearly always open here,” Caleb replied. He pushed aside the moss blanket that hung over the doorway and through the glass until he broke into the main hall of the castle. When Cam emerged, she found herself surrounded by marble pillars, glass walls and ceilings, exotic plants, and a slight breeze which drifted through open windows. She was reminded of the temples Grandfather had spoken of in other nations. He spoke of them being places of prayer and quiet interludes from the everyday pandemonium life offered.
“Newcomers, have we?” The voice was pleasant and rung with charm. Cam glanced towards a marble staircase which wound out of sight towards the copious amount of other levels the castle held. The young woman who had spoken was slouched over the railing, observing the newcomers with interest. As the woman’s doe eyes swept over them, recognition crossed her countenance, and she straightened. “Caleb! Your return is unexpected! What has brought you here?”
Caleb granted the woman a dip of his head as she traipsed down the stairs and met him with an embrace. “Saffira,” hesaid, his eyes twinkling. “Do not be alarmed. All is well.” Thegirl’s brow rose at him before she tossed the light brown hair from her shoulders and gleefully planted a kiss upon his cheek. “I have brought the newly appointed Royal of Mirabelle,” Caleb said when the girl had pulled away.
Saffira’s eyes turned to view the girls he had brought with him. “Which one? And why, dear Caleb, did you bring a whole company of women? What have you to prove?” She laughed at her own jest. Caleb only smiled and shook his head before placing a hand in the small of Cam’s back and drawing her forward.
“Camaria Briar: Previous dweller in the Medulla Realm. These are her sisters.” Saffira stuck out her hand which Cam soon discovered she was expected to shake. Saffira’s hold was firm while Cam’s was not, for women seldom offered one another such a greeting within her home realm. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I will petition that our leader allow me the pleasure of being appointed your trainer.”
“Since when did you become trainer?” Caleb asked with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Since I passed the trials this spring. Apollyon chose nine other than myself.” “Speaking of your leader, when are we to meet him?” It was Fiera who spoke at this turn, diverting Saffira’s attention Saffira shrugged. “Now, if you wish. Whatever he is currently doing he will most likely set aside. He is a generous host.” With these words, the girl twirled, her tan, thin tunic fluttering above the trousers she had donned. “This way.” Saffira ledthem from thehall into an adjoining room which was much like the hall but far more expansive and further occupied.
Numerous persons sat at harps and other stringed instruments, strumming quietly in the sunny afternoon. At the other end of the room was set a throne. Not one like a king’s but more a seat of comfort that a host might occupy at a dinner.
Apollyon appeared as a man in his late forties with white hair framing his narrow face. Kind, twinkling, brown eyes were set below his wrinkling brow. A short, trimmed beard appeared below a set of pale, thin lips. Cam knew him to be the leader of Gnosi at once. As they approached, Apollyon ceased his conversation which he was holding with a young man.
“Saffira, my dear, good -afternoon,” Apollyon greeted the girl while his eyes roved the guests now before him. Ira returned the greeting before nodding towards Cam who stepped forward.
“Lord Apollyon, my name is Camaria Briar, and I am the newly appointe
d Royal of our nation, in your presence at this time to ask permission to abide and train within your realm until I have learned the art of your magic.”
“You are quite young,” Apollyon said, stroking his jaw. “We welcome the young as well as the old. You have no need to ask permission for anything here. We are all equal in my realm. Your stay is welcomed as long as you intend. Please accept my apologies for not attending your ball. I am afraid the invitation arrived too late.” Apollyon’s throat rung with contagious laughter.
“I am grateful, Sir to be in your realm.”
“It is beautiful isn’t it? The people seem to believe as such.” “Indeed. I find it to be quite breathtaking.” Apollyon’s eyes twinkled. “Ah, so is our music, jest, and drinks. You will discover that soon enough. My son…” At this point, Apollyon motioned towards the dark-haired young man to his right. “Is hosting a party in honor of his twentieth birthday this evening. Please do make yourselves present.”
The young man stepped forward and nodded at Cam. His lips tugged upward into a smile as a mop of dark curls fell into his eyes. “I am called Riah…Prince Riah though I am not a prince.”
“Perhaps because you act like one. A spoiled one,” Saffira added dryly.
Riah attempted to glare at his friend, but the smile in his eyes remained. “Call me Riah then.”
“Can you dance like a prince?” Mista asked suddenly, bouncing on her toes before the young man.
Riah laughed and scratched the back of his neck. “Perhaps when he has had nothing to drink.” It was Saffira who had spoken again. Cam could not suppress the smile that rose to her lips. Caleb laughed outright while Fiera rolled her eyes, and Adria seemed to have wandered off into her own world.
“In the meantime,” Apollyon’s resonating voice rose above theyoungpeople’s nowstreamingchatter. “In themeantime, please make yourselves comfortable. Take time to explore the castle and the grounds as well. There is plenty available to indulge in. Though, I would not touch the wine until tonight.”
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