by Garry Spoor
He led her farther into the forest until she stepped out from the trees and stood in a large field of wildflowers. The clearing was circular, much like the room above, but instead of stone walls, she was surrounded by a forest, and instead of a pit, there was a cylindrical stone altar.
Off to one side, the black wolf sat.
-This way,- he called.
Kile carefully approached. She expected him to disappear again, but he didn’t.
“Who are you?”
-Nilak-
“Your name is Nilak?”
-Take it.-
“Take what?”
The wolf looked at the stone altar.
-Take it,- he said again, and from his words, Kile knew the stone was hollowed out, much like a large bowl. She even knew what she would find when she looked inside.
When she reached the altar, she hesitated before taking her eyes off the wolf. She did not trust him. Turning away from Nilak, she looked into the bowl and, sure enough, found a small metal box.
“Is this it? The Heart of Nilak? Is this your heart?”
-Take it,- the wolf said, turning to smoke and floating away.
Since Kile wasn’t going to get any more answers from the wolf, she turned to the stone altar. She knew this was wrong. Everything about it seemed wrong. Taking a deep breath, she reached into the bowl and pulled out the small metal box. It was a plain-looking box, almost crude in appearance as if it was crafted by inexperienced hands. When she removed it from its resting place, she expected something spectacular to happen, but nothing did.
“Kind of anticlimactic.” She held the box close to her chest. “Now all I have to do is find my way back.”
It shouldn’t be too hard. She was a trained Hunter after all. All she had to do was trace her steps back to the where she left the rope, which, hopefully, was still hanging from nothing. She was almost at the meadow’s edge when she heard a noise behind her. Stopping, she slowly turned around. The wolf was back and was now sitting on top of the altar. Maybe he had something more to tell her. Kile walked toward him, but something didn’t feel right.
As the wolf jumped down from the stone altar, it melted into the form of a man. He was an abnormally thin man with a sallow complexion and long, unkempt, matted black hair. When he looked up, his eyes widened and he grinned, exposing crooked yellow teeth. He laughed. It wasn’t a merry laugh, nor was it a hearty one; it was one brought on by madness.
At first, he didn’t notice her and seemed more interested in the wildflowers. Kile slowly started backing up, making for the tree line. She wanted to turn and run, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. She had seen him before, in the visions, in the shadows. Now he had a name. This was Nilak.
Stretching out his arms, he lifted his head to the sky, and all around his naked feet, the grass shriveled up and turn black. The blight spread, slowly at first, creeping out across the clearing. The lush green meadows were turning to dust right before Kile’s eyes. Even the trees around her were affected and began to wither and decay. Staying was no longer a choice. She ran, and the sickness chased her. All she knew was she had to stay ahead of it. She couldn’t stop, couldn’t let it catch up to her. She wasn’t sure what would happen if it did, but she didn’t want to find out either. The forest was dying around her.
Kile wasn’t sure how she found her way back. With all the twists and turns the wolf had led her on, she was sure she would get lost, but the rope was right there, in front of her, still hanging in midair. Grabbing it, she quickly tied it around her waist and tugged on it three times.
Nothing happened.
The sky was growing darker, the forest was decaying, and the blight was closing in on her.
She tugged on the rope again. This time it suddenly went taut and she was yanked off the ground. Rising in the air, she watched as the lush green forest was no more. It had become a barren wasteland.
~~~***~~~
Her ascent was faster than she expected. At the speed at which they pulled her up, she figured she would be out of the pit in no time—until her head met the underside of the wall. After that, everything became a little fuzzy. The impact rattled her skull and she almost dropped the small metal box she had come so far to find.
Shaking off the dizziness she found herself sitting at the bottom of the pit. The solid ground, which wasn’t solid before, was now solid. Looking up, she could see the opening thirty feet above her. She staggered to her feet, bracing herself against the wall. It only stood to reason, if she had to climb down, she would have to climb up to get out. It was either that or be dragged up the side of the wall.
“Can ya hear me?” came a voice from above. It was Master Heaney, and he sounded a lot clearer than he had before, not to mention desperate.
“Yeah, I’m still here,” Kile shouted back and regretted it as her voice echoed in the pit, causing her head to throb even more. She leaned up against the wall, and while waiting for the pain to subside, examined the small metal box.
It was fitting in a way. Although it wasn’t an official mission, her first assignment as a would-be cadet during the entry examination was to get a small ebony box to its destination. Now, her last assignment as a Hunter was to get a small metal box to its destination. Her career had somehow come full circle.
“Are ya all right?” Heaney called down.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m coming up.”
Slipping the small metal box into her tunic, she looked up at her destination. It was still a long way to go, but she couldn’t put it off any longer. Running her hands over the surface of the wall, she felt for fingerholds that were deep enough to support her weight. Coming down was a lot easier than climbing up. It was a slow process, and once she began, she felt light-headed with each foot she rose. If it wasn’t for the aid of the rope, she might have found herself back at the bottom of the pit again. Right when she thought she couldn’t go any farther, somebody grabbed her hand and pulled her up over the edge. She rolled over and stared up at the ceiling. A small white furry creature leaped onto her chest.
-Kile alive?- the yarrow asked, sticking his nose in her face.
She scratched his head. “Yes, Vesper, I’m alive.”
Daniel knelt beside her. “Are you all right?” He placed his hand on her forehead. She could smell the magic as he fell into his Edge.
“I’m fine.” She knocked his hand aside and tried to sit up.
“You shouldn’t move around too much, not yet.”
“Why, what’s wrong?”
“You have a nasty cut on your head, probably from the fall.”
“I didn’t fall.” She pushed his hand away again. “It was when I was being pulled up out of the forest.”
There was a moment of silence as the company stood around looking at one another.
“Did she say forest?” Heaney asked.
“That’s what it sounded like,” Daniel said.
“Yeah, there was this huge forest down there with trees and grass and the sun was shining… well, it was shining for a while. But everything… disintegrated and the wolf turned to smoke and then into this skinny man and…”
There was a worried look on Heaney’s face. “Is she going to be okay?”
“She should be fine as soon as the swelling goes down,” Daniel said.
“I’m fine now.” Kile batted her friend’s hand away again. “I know what I saw.”
“I’m sure ya think ya did.” Heaney smiled and nodded slowly.
She looked at the Hunter, then at Daniel and knew there was no way she was going to convince them.
Elmac suddenly appeared. “Did you find it? Did you find the Heart of Nilak?”
“Give her a moment,” Daniel protested.
Reaching into her tunic, Kile pulled out the small metal box and handed it to the mystic. He quickly took it from her.
“Is that it? Is that what we came all this way for?” Boraro asked.
“Yes. Yes. I think it is,” Elmac answered.
The myst
ic moved off to one side of the room and set the small metal box on the ground.
“Well, come on. Open it up. Let’s see it,” Boraro said.
When Elmac reached for the box, Galan grabbed his arm. “Don’t you think Kile should open it?”
The two exchanged a look before the mystic nodded. “Yes. Yes, of course you’re right.”
“What difference does it make who opens the box?” Creech asked.
“Well… it… it only seems right, she is the one who recovered it after all,” Elmac said. “Don’t you agree, Master Heaney?”
Heaney said nothing at first. He simply looked at the box, at Kile, and back at the box. She could tell he was trying to figure something out, trying to come to a decision, a decision he didn’t feel comfortable making.
“Master Heaney, don’t you agree?” Elmac asked again, this time a little more forcefully.
“Yes. Yes of course.” Heaney didn’t sound confident.
“Well, get on with it, girl,” Boraro demanded.
“Give her a moment, Garret.”
“No, it’s fine, Master Heaney.” Kile got to her feet. “I guess I’m as eager to see this Heart as anyone.”
She was uneasy when she approached the small metal box, mainly because everyone else stepped away from it. Taking a deep breath, she knelt down and carefully picked it up. She turned it over in her hands a few times, looking for the catch or the latch or even a hinge to suggest how the box should be open, but found nothing.
“I’m clueless.” She held the box out to the others. “Anybody else want to give it a try?”
“Give it to me.” Boraro reached for the box.
Darfin quickly stopped him. “It is not for you to open,” he said. “You couldn’t, even if you tried.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean, elf.”
“He means it can only be opened by an Orceen,” Galan answered.
Kile looked at the dark-haired Alva, then at Elmac, and finally at Heaney.
“Did you know?” she asked the Hunter. “Is this why I’m here? Because I’m the only one who can open this box?”
“I’m afraid so,” Heaney said and looked genuinely sorry about it.
“Well, the joke’s on you. I have no idea how to open it.”
Galan stepped forward, closing Kile’s fingers around the box. “You must speak to it.” He told her.
“And what am I supposed to say to it? Do I ask it to open?”
“Only an Orceen would know.”
“Yeah, well, that’s where we have a little problem. Because I don’t know.”
“Maybe if you… connected with it,” Daniel suggested. “You know, like what you do with the animals.”
Kile wasn’t sure how she was supposed to connect, let alone communicate with a box, but it was worth a try. Closing her eyes and falling into her Edge, she reached out with her consciousness, seeking the box. Much to her surprise, she found it. The box, or what was inside, was aware.
Her first instinct was to hurl the box across the room or possibly down into the pit to get it as far away from her as she could. There was something wrong about the whole thing, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Her curiosity outweighed her fear.
“Who are you?” she asked.
There was no reply.
“What do you want?”
The box remained silent.
“Please, tell me what you want,” she demanded and quickly dropped the box.
Heaney stepped forward. “Kile, what is it?”
“It… it spoke to me… I think.”
“What did it say?”
“It didn’t say anything. Not exactly. It showed me images of trees and lakes, open fields, and rivers. I think it wants to be free. I think it actually wants to go back to the wastelands.”
Elmac carefully picked up the box and held it out to Kile. “Then you should set it free,” he told her.
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Heaney protested. “Maybe we should wait…”
“No, we cannot wait. It must be here,” Galan insisted.
“What’s the rush?” Heaney asked.
The dark-haired Alva held up his hands and stepped back. “My apologies, Master Heaney. I did not mean to overstep my authority. It is that we have waited so long for this moment…”
“Then I don’t see what a few more days will matter.”
“You must understand, this is a place of the Orceen. It is where their power is the greatest. It may be she can only open it here.”
“He may have a point,” Elmac added. “It would be a shame to go all the way back to the king with a prize he could not use, or worse yet, a prize he did not want.”
“For someone who didn’t have much faith in this artifact, ya seem to have changed ya tune pretty fast, Mystic.”
Elmac laughed. “You misunderstand me, Hunter. As a scholar, I often approach my research with a touch of skepticism. That way, I do not find answers where there are none. For example, we still do not know if this is truly the Heart of Nilak.”
“What do ya think, Kile? Do ya want to give it a try?”
Too many questions, not enough answers, such as why did the Orceen lock the Heart away in the first place? Why did they hide it on an island surrounded by a storm? What exactly is the Heart and who is Nilak? The questions kept rolling around inside her head, and there was no one to help her with the answers because no one understood.
Kile stared at the small metal box in Elmac’s hands. She didn’t feel any malice in it, nor did she feel any benevolence—it was simply there. It was the entry examination all over again when she held the small ebony box and wondered what was inside. What would they entrust to a bunch of would-be cadets? Back then, the rules were clear. Do not open the box or you fail the test. Unfortunately, there were no such rules out here, clear or otherwise.
“I’ll open it,” she said, taking the box from Elmac’s outstretched hands.
Closing her eyes and falling into her Edge, Kile reached out to the box, and without a word, gave it freedom. The box twitched in her hand and slowly opened. Like a metal flower, the sides peeled away, revealing a small purple stone. Kile only managed to get a glimpse of it before Elmac snapped it away. From what she saw of it, it was quite unremarkable.
“Well, that was rather anticlimactic,” Boraro grumbled, and Kile found herself agreeing with her old weapon’s master for the second time.
13
Kile sat on the beach, staring, not at the ocean like everyone else, but into the dark malevolent forest. All the questions were still bouncing around in her head, and she believed some of the answers may have been right in front of them, written on the walls of the temple. The problem was, nobody stopped to read them. They cared only about the Heart and nothing else. No sooner did they arrived back at camp, when Elmac and Heaney took the artifact back to the ship. Kile never even had an opportunity to get a closer look at it, not that she wanted to. Since releasing it, she had this nagging feeling it was not the right thing to do.
What surprised her most was the Alvas’ reaction, or, more to the point, their lack of reaction. Galan and Darfin sailed across the ocean to seek an audience with the king. They begged for aid from the vir to help them find their most sacred of artifacts. This item, this Heart of Nilak was supposed to bring back their ancestral home, and yet they never asked to hold it or even look at it. They were content to allow a vir mystic to spirit it away. They didn’t even escort Elmac back to the ship; instead they chose to stay on the island. It didn’t make any sense. Everyone else wanted to leave. Why not the Alva? It was almost as if they had some unfinished business to take care of.
Leaving wasn’t even an option, at least not at the moment. Everyone was eager to set sail and put the dead island behind them as fast as they could, however, repairs to the ship were slow. A lack of wood caused the delay. Imagine standing in the middle of a forest and not having enough wood. The trees proved to be as decayed as they looked, often crumbling w
hen the sailors tried to cut them down. What lumber they did acquire had no true structural value and was therefore useless. Other means of repairing the mizzenmast were underway, but it would take a few days. That meant they were stranded on the island until the ship was ready to sail.
Kile had mixed feelings about the extended stay. On one hand, she was happy to be on dry land, on the other, she would have preferred land be anywhere but Shenataesi.
“What’s bothering you now?” Daniel asked, sitting down beside her on the beach. He had been keeping an eye on her the entire trip back.
“I think we might have made a mistake,” she said.
“What are you talking about?”
“The Heart, I think we should have left it in the clearing.”
“What clearing?”
“The one in the forest, the one… never mind. Let say we should have left it in the pit and leave it at that.”
“I don’t get you. I’d think you, of all people, would want to see an end to this war. If this artifact, this Heart is what they say it is, it could end the war and bring peace to the kingdom. How can that be wrong?”
“It can’t be that easy. We don’t want this war. The valrik don’t want the war, and yet the war goes on. Something’s not right. I don’t think introducing this… this thing is going to make a difference, or if it does, not one we anticipated.”
Daniel laughed. “Do you hear yourself? You’re being paranoid again.”
“Maybe, but I can’t help thinking each time I have been paranoid, I was usually right.”
“Look, Ki, this is way over our heads. It doesn’t even concern us. Besides, after this is all over, you’re leaving the Guild, right? Why trouble yourself with it?”
“I thought you were trying to talk me out of leaving.”
“Maybe it’s the right thing for you.”
“What about you?”
“What about me? After this, I’m going back to the Hospital, where I belong.”
“So, you’re staying?”
“Well, yeah… I guess.”
What was it Sir Oblum said? Daniel would always have a place in the Guild. Could the Sons have gotten to him already? She quickly dismissed that thought. She knew Daniel far too long to even consider he would take that path.