by L. EE
“You musta made Razen mad,” came a low voice. “It’s gonna take you the rest of the day to chop all this.”
Andy jumped and then turned to see a burly man with an imposing axe resting on his shoulder and a patch over his right eye. “Name’s Trevig. You played that Oscray match rather well the other night,” he said, grinning.
“Thanks,” Andy replied, smiling back.
Then, as if the man suddenly remembered his orders, he cleared his throat and assumed a serious expression. “Razen told me I’m to show you how to chop wood.”
Andy nodded.
Trevig demonstrated how to properly hold the axe to get the greatest leverage and then chopped a few wood cores to show how to swing the tool. The wood splintered apart without hesitation.
“You ready to give it a try?”
“No, but—” Andy replied.
“I think you’ll want to put that pouch someplace so it doesn’t get in your way,” Trevig suggested.
Andy removed the pouch from around his neck, laying it next to the water barrel.
Trevig handed him the axe and he nearly dropped it on his foot. It weighs as much as a dragon’s egg!
Andy lined up as he had been shown. Holding the axe with both hands, he clumsily swung it around his back, over his head, and down toward the wood. The blade stuck firm in the block.
“You need more oomph,” critiqued Trevig.
After wrestling the axe free, Andy lined up and tried again, giving it more “oomph.” While the blade made more progress into the grain of the core, it again stuck firm. Trevig helped extricate it this time.
“You’re gettin’ it,” encouraged his teacher. “Try again. Give it all you got.”
After wiping sweat from his brow onto his sleeve, Andy lined up and gave it another try. He swung with all his might and the core broke in half.
“Yes!” exclaimed Andy, smiling.
“Good job!” cheered Trevig.
“That’s not easy.”
“You didn’t expect it to be, coming from Razen, did you?”
Andy’s smile faded. The question did not need answering.
“Okay then, you’ll need to chop each core into eighths. Unless you have any other questions, I’ll be in the stables cleaning out stalls if you need me. Be thankful Razen didn’t assign you that task,” the burly man joked.
Andy nodded and watched Trevig walk away, then stood up the half core he had just split and brought the axe down hard. It gave way. This is so bogus, he fumed. Making me chop all this wood! Andy’s anger boiled as he continued working. With each crushing blow he dealt to the core, his frustration built. He was so incensed, he didn’t notice the blisters beginning to sprout on his hands.
Why does Razen get me so torqued? I can’t stand him. He hates me and I hate him. This and other grumblings filled Andy’s mind. He started pretending each core was Razen’s head. This thought egged him on. I’m not gonna let him get to me.
Sometime later, exhausted from his anger-induced efforts, he paused to catch his breath. Wiping sweat from his streaming brow, he examined his hands. In his fury, his blisters had popped and some were bleeding. He walked over to the water barrel and plunged his head in, taking great gulps before adding his hands into its cool depths. He came up for air but kept his hands there for several minutes. When he finally brought them up again, he muttered yet another complaint about his situation. He looked across the vast field of wood cores yet to be cut. He had hardly made a dent.
“This is gonna take forever!” he grumbled to no one and kicked the side of the water barrel.
“Are you done?” came a voice in his head.
He rolled his eyes. Does it look like I’m done?
“With your temper tantrum,” his inneru clarified.
It’s not fair! Razen’s worse than my dad.
“Okay, I’ll come back later.”
Don’t bother!
Andy wrestled with his task for the next several hours, every so often plunging his wounded hands into the barrel of cool water. The sun began casting longer shadows, although the temperature remained uncomfortably warm. He sat down and rested his tired back against the barrel.
His thoughts turned to the King and Mermin. How he missed them. Andy could hear the King’s voice in his head: “Responsibility, diligence, and dignity are the keys to success.” He wanted to succeed in saving them, but Razen made it difficult.
Failure is not an option, so I need to practice. I guess I just need to be willing to take my lumps, he reasoned. Razen’s not going to stop me. And for that matter, I’m not gonna get sidetracked retrieving the next ingredient until the King and Mermin are better. I won’t do it! I love them too much!
At that instant, a perfectly round, highly polished amethyst sphere smashed into the ground next to him, causing him to jump.
“Hey, you almost hit me in the head again!” he called out, remembering the near miss the last time he’d received a message sphere. He hesitated to dislodge the stone from the ground, knowing that as soon as he touched it a message would begin, one he speculated he did not want to hear.
After staring at it for several minutes, he finally resolved to listen, although he reserved judgment as to whether he would obey. As expected, the moment he touched the ball, it began pulsing and he heard a trumpet blast that originated from its core, announcing a royal message.
“Standing for principle and belief is honorable in the light of obstacles. Stubbornness in the light of what is not understood is foolishness. You know not the story from beginning to end, and so a grievous error is in the making. Trust you must for an end that is well.”
Its message completed, the sphere disappeared. As before, it gave no indication of who had sent it. The quickness of the message surprised Andy. The two he’d received a year ago went on longer. The King had speculated that the purple orbs came from his father, from beyond the grave. Andy’s gut told him not to take the message lightly.
Stubbornness in the light of what is not understood is foolishness. You know not the story from beginning to end. The words echoed through his consciousness. Uncertainty. Doubt. Buried insecurities. They all began cresting the surface of his thoughts at the strong rebuke.
Tears welled up as Andy wrestled between obeying the sphere and his love for the King and Mermin. Getting the next ingredient can’t be more important than their lives. It can’t. Why would the King’s father demand this of me? I don’t want to see them die. Please don’t make me choose. These and similar thoughts ricocheted around his brain.
After several minutes of resisting, he finally took a bold step and resolved to trust the sender of the sphere, hoping it had the King and Mermin’s best interests at heart. It all worked out before. Let’s hope it does this time, too.
With that decided, Andy wiped his face on his clothes and took several deep breaths. His hands were in agony and his arms felt as if they might fall off, yet he stood with renewed strength, the strength that conviction brings. As he turned, his foot brushed against the pouch he’d dropped beside the water barrel.
Hey, wait a minute!
He pulled Methuselah out and its blade extended.
I wonder...
He walked over to a core he had not yet split. Holding Methuselah with both hands, he raised the blade above his head and brought it down fast. Startled, he leaped out of the way as the blade unexpectedly exited the wood and nearly grazed his leg. He took a step forward to inspect. The sword had made a clean, smooth slice as if it were cutting warm butter.
“Awesome!”
Andy found Razen in the dining hall just as dinner began and reported that he had finished. Razen cast a questioning look, then asked to see his hands. He nodded and seemed satisfied.
This guy’s a masochist. Who’s happy seeing someone’s pain?
“What did you learn?” Razen queried.
After a brief hesitation, Andy dutifully replied in a monotone, “I should obey when you tell me not to do something.” In his
head he added, Or be willing to take my lumps when what you tell me goes against what I believe.
Razen raised an eyebrow, questioning Andy’s sincerity. But with no contempt displayed in Andy’s eyes, Razen dismissed him with a final comment, “Very good. You may eat.”
As he turned to walk to his seat, Andy thought he saw the corner of Razen’s mouth turn upward, but in the instant it took to register, it was gone.
Really?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Secret Plans
The following morning Alden found Andy as he left breakfast. Apparently Alden had not slept well, feeling guilty because he thought he’d abandoned his best friend. Andy reassured him that he didn’t feel the same about what happened and told him about the letter concerning the second ingredient and message sphere. So instead of heading to the dungeon to practice their swordsmanship or explore the tunnels, the boys headed up to Mermin’s library.
Andy picked up the note he had discarded the day before and read aloud to Alden:
With you I have been
From your beginning till your end.
To trust me you must learn
My ways not to spurn.
Preserving those you love,
Is a promise from above.
For lo, the time has come,
Even though you’re feeling glum.
Collection of ingredients,
Requires diligence, obedience.
Of the second, by you pursued,
Nectar of guile from whence it spewed.
In a land, lush, forbidden,
Lies your objective, hidden.
Upon an Isle, now and again,
That appeareth at times to all seamen.
Now eleven years you have striven,
A new skill to you is given.
Slowing of motion as needed,
To win a contest unimpeded.
When he finished, he looked up to see Alden listening intently, his eyes closed. “Is that it?”
“Yes,” Andy replied.
“But what about the stone?”
Andy shook his head. “I don’t know.” He sighed. “Somehow we’re supposed to trust that everything will work out. I don’t understand it, but I know that message sphere was serious and I can’t ignore it. We have to find the next ingredient.”
Alden nodded, then added, “So what is the next ingredient, and where are we supposed to go to get it?”
“‘Nectar of guile from whence it spewed.’ I have no idea what that means, do you?”
Alden thought for a minute. At last he replied, “Well, guile is like cunning or crafty, sly.”
“We’re supposed to collect nectar of slyness?” Andy questioned. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Well, you know what spew means, right?”
Andy nodded and replied, “Yeah, like spitting.”
Alden thought a bit more, but nothing made sense.
Making no progress there, Andy turned his thoughts to the next part of the message. “‘Upon an isle, now and again, that appeareth at times to all seamen.’ Well, it sounds like it’s talking about Sometimes Island.” He remembered the earlier conversation with Mermin, particularly the part where he mentioned the reason it was named Sometimes Island. Sometimes you could see it and sometimes you couldn’t. No one knew why. And it was surrounded by water where seamen would see it.
“Wait a minute!” exclaimed Andy. “No way!”
“What?” begged Alden.
Andy shook his head, a grin on his face.
“Oh, come on, tell me.”
“And I was so sure.”
“Sure of what?” Alden begged.
“Earlier, both the King and Mermin mentioned that Abaddon recently took over Sometimes Island.”
“Yeah…and?”
“I’ve been trying to figure out where Abaddon is so we could go get the stone back, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Boy, this will teach me to be so sure. Alden, I might have cost us time getting the stone back,” he said, frustration beginning to settle over him. “Why did I dismiss it so quickly? Urgh!”
“Dismiss what?”
“In my dream I’m walking through a jungle before I see the bellicose hand Abaddon the stone. It’s got to be Sometimes Island! The clue says ‘a land lush,’ and it’s forbidding, that’s for sure. Mermin says everyone’s afraid of it because people think it’s possessed by dark magic.”
Alden nodded as a shudder rippled through his body. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“We may be killing two birds with one stone,” Andy remarked.
“Huh? But I thought you said we’re getting the stone and the next ingredient. What does that have to do with killing birds?”
Andy clarified, “It’s an expression where I come from, ‘Killing two birds with one stone.’”
“Well, sounds efficient,” Alden responded, trying to lighten Andy’s mood.
“But still! We might already have the stone back if I hadn’t been so sure,” Andy fumed.
“Hey, you didn’t know. Don’t beat yourself up.”
While Andy said no more, inside he felt responsible, as if he had let down the King and Mermin and everyone who depended on them.
Sorry, Andy silently apologized to whoever had sent the message sphere.
Walking over to the map still spread on the table, Andy pointed to the huge sea serpent drawn in the Sea of Mystery surrounding the island.
“This isn’t going to be easy,” Alden murmured.
Andy picked up the note again. “Lies your objective, hidden,” he read aloud. Then he softly pondered, “I wonder if it’s talking about the library of Oomaldee.”
Overhearing, Alden queried, “Library? I thought Abaddon was our objective.”
“There’s more to the clue than Abaddon. Think about it. Abaddon wouldn’t hide. He’s strong. No, he wouldn’t hide. Mermin told me about a library on Sometimes Island that houses all the history of the land of Oomaldee for thousands of years. He said it’s much larger than this one. Apparently it’s well hidden, and the only way to find it is to find someone who knows the way and have them show you.”
While we’re there, maybe I can also find out what the scrolls in my attic say.
Alden interrupted his thoughts. “But how do a library and nectar of slyness, whatever that means, fit together? And if it’s so well hidden, how are we going to find this library the clue is supposedly talking about?”
“I don’t know, but it’s clear where we need to head. We’ll figure the rest out on the way. Let’s plan to leave in the morning.”
Alden nodded.
Andy took a final look around the library. His eyes stopped at the book that was invisible to all but him. Remembering all it had given him previously, he strolled over to the shelf, pulled it out, and brought it back to the table.
“What are you doing?” Alden queried.
“I hold in my hands a book that only I can see,” Andy explained. “This is where Methuselah and the golden key first showed up.”
Alden raised his eyebrows, not sure if Andy was pulling his leg.
Andy opened the book. On the first page, a short message read, “Apology accepted.” He couldn’t help but smile.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
He turned the page and opened the compartment behind. Two stoppered vials—one empty, the other filled with a bright pink liquid—lay side by side. Looks like that stuff my mom gives me when I have an upset stomach. He picked them up and for the first time Alden saw.
“What? But how?” he gasped.
Andy couldn’t help laughing. “I told you, no one can see this book but me. And until I take out whatever’s inside, no one can see that either.”
“That’s amazing! But what are they for?”
“No idea, but I’m sure we’ll need them.” He closed the book and replaced it on the shelf.
“Do you want to explore the tunnels before we leave?” Alden inquired.
“No time. We’ve got lots to do to get ready. We’ll explore when we get back.” Andy stressed the when as he spoke.
Alden caught his meaning. “Yeah, there’s that bellicose…”
The following morning, Andy met up with Alden in the cozy room he and Marta called home. They hoped to keep their trip secret from all but the few who needed to know, but especially from Razen. To avoid raising suspicions as they sought help crossing the Sea of Mystery, the boys had decided it would be best to try and blend in with the locals in the town of Ooggy, which is where they were headed first. So the adventurers donned gently used tunics, leggings, and sandals fit for an Ooggy fashion runway. Andy wore a muted gold tunic with scratchy brown leggings. He’d tucked his pouch inside. Alden had on a hunter green tunic with matching leggings. Combined with his neon green hair, Andy thought he looked like a sprout of broccoli or an asparagus. To help disguise his Cartesian features, Alden also packed a wide-brimmed, brown leather hat.
“You both definitely look the part,” Marta crowed, trying to cover her nervousness.
Andy bent over and scratched the back of his leg for the umpteenth time. I didn’t miss these scratchy leggings.
Two backpacks lay on one of the beds. One contained the two vials from the invisible book, as well as a blanket and a few changes of clothes. The other held their food and a dozen time candles to help them manage their shifts as they took turns keeping watch at night. Two practice swords and Alden’s sheathed steel blade lay on the bed. A quiet knock came at the door. Alden took two steps and opened it. Cadfael, filling a good amount of the hallway with his mass, held up two polished pieces of leather. Hannah stood next to him. Alden motioned them in.
Ducking under the doorframe, the craftsman announced, “Thought you two could use these. They’re holsters for your weapons. Made ‘em myself. Try ‘em on. Let’s see how they fit.”
The boys slung the belts around their waists and did up the black iron buckles. A leather loop hung from each side of Alden’s. Andy’s had a loop on one side and a narrow pouch measuring about seven inches on the other side.