by Brad Clark
The waves knocked the rowboat around pretty good, but elves had constructed the boat as well as a boat could be built and it held up much longer than Conner would have expected. They did an admirable job of guiding the rowboat away from the largest of the rocks, but in the end, the waves were too strong and their oars just couldn’t steer them away fast enough. As they neared the base of the cliff, the boat rose and dipped with the waves. They were bearing down upon a large rock and the boat was not moving away from it; it was heading right for it. Conner tried to anticipate when the boat would come down, so he could try and use his oar to steer them away from the rock. But he wasn’t strong enough. The strongest man in the world wouldn’t have been strong enough to steer the boat away.
The front center of the boat crashed right down upon the rock, splintering the bottom of the boat. Instantly water exploded through and the boat was lost. Conner leapt forward towards the cliff, hoping he could get close enough to touch the rocky bottom. But he landed in water deep enough that he couldn’t touch his feet on the bottom.
The cold water shocked him and he let out a shout, which surprised him. He kicked his legs and paddled his arms furiously as the water rose and lifted him towards the rocky beach. He rode the waves between two large rocks, but he was close enough to touch one. He put his feet on the rock as he passed and kicked as hard as he could. He propelled himself far enough away that when the water pulled him under, his feet were on rocky ground. With another kick, he pushed off the bottom and propelled himself farther through the water. As soon as he reached waist-high water, he let out the air he had held in and started to breathe again.
***
“It is them,” Sergeant Farrus declared. “I am sure of it.”
The captain of the merchant trader ship let out a grunt of uncertainty. “I don’t know. That boat is small and rides low in the water. It looks more like a fishing boat that would stay close to shore, hardly the type to be out in the seas in winter.”
“I was there,” Farrus said. “That is the same boat I saw leaving Iseron.”
The captain turned and looked at the centurion who had commandeered his vessel, wondering if he was truly as crazy as he seemed. He was a grizzled navy man, having served in the Taran Navy for many years before settling down to the docile life of a merchant trader. In his time in the navy, he had met and dealt with many centurions, and he did not have a favorable view of them. Soldiers always acted first, usually with the sharp tip of their sword. This centurion, who wore the mark of a sergeant on his surcoat, did nothing to change his mind.
Farrus squinted, trying to force his eyes to focus on the figures moving about the deck of the boat. “I cannot see any of them. They are still too far off.”
“A mile, at least,” the captain said. He handed an expanding looking glass to the centurion.
Farrus took it and looked at it as if it were the strangest thing he had ever held.
“It is a looking glass,” the captain said with a laugh. “You pull it apart like this. And then look through the small end.”
Farrus lifted it up to eyes, but instantly pulled it away. He had pointed it at the castle that sat atop the cliff and was startled when the entirety of the stone structure filled his vision. “What is this magic?”
“Magic!” the captain laughed. “There is no magic. The glass is a special glass that makes things far away easier to see.”
Farrus put the looking glass back up to eye. Now knowing what to expect, the sight that he saw through the looking glass no longer startled him. He moved it around until he found the boat, but the movement of their own ship made it difficult to see anything for more than a brief second. He handed it back to the captain.
“I cannot hold it still enough to see anyone. I cannot see them onboard.”
The captain held it up to his eyes, and expertly moved the looking glass up and down with the rock of the boat. “There are at least ten sailors. All tall and thin. There is an odd one, though, who is just standing at the deck. Long, gray hair. Big bushy beard.”
“That would be one of them,” Farrus said. “Any others.”
The captain pulled the looking glass back down and said, “They are raising their sails and heading out. Whatever they were doing, they are now done.”
He put the looking glass back up to his eyes and instead of following the boat, he kept it on the cliff face where the boat had just been. Movement caught his eye, but as soon as was able to focus his eyes on where the movement came from, he could no longer see anything.
“I think they dropped off someone. I am sure I saw movement along the cliff face.”
“A secret back entrance into the castle. I am sure of it! Surely then, they are spies from Karmon, returning in secret to their castle. They committed an act of war against the empire. Karmon will pay for this.”
The captain said nothing, hoping to stay out of any such conflict. He had spent most of his life on the sea in one conflict after another. He was happy to not have to ever get into another battle again. Plus, much of his trading was with Karmon merchants. The last thing he wanted to do was to cut off the hand that was feeding him.
“We must follow whoever they dropped off!” Farrus said, pointing at the cliffs ahead of them.
“It would be some time before we would even get to the cliffs. Maybe half an hour with this wind.” The captain lifted the looking glass back up to his eyes and continued. “There are many rocks at the base of the cliff. I could never get close enough to drop you off.”
“They did,” Farrus argued.
The captain shook his head. “I will not risk my ship.”
“Karmon spies slaughtered seventeen of my men!” Farrus replied, trying to hold back his anger. “We will chase them down and I will have my vengeance.”
The captain was not fazed by the centurion’s anger. Through his years on the Taran Navy, he had been on the receiving end of much worse verbal abuse. There was little that could be said to him anymore that would affect him. “I will not risk the safety of my ship and crew for your personal vendetta.”
“Personal vendetta? I serve the empire. It was the soldiers of the empire that were slaughtered. This is not a personal vendetta. This is the empire’s justice! You will proceed after them.”
“I am not one of your soldiers,” the captain said calmly. “You cannot order me around, nor do I have to follow your orders. I am as loyal to the empire as any, and I will do whatever I can to help. But I will not put my ship or my crew at risk.”
Farrus took a moment to calm down. He knew the captain was right. He was doing the one thing his commanders had always told him not to do in the face of obstacles: panic. His overreaction to his men being slaughtered was a purely emotional response and not one of sound military discipline. Indeed, chasing the spies right into the castle would be futile. Even if he were able to find the secret back entrance, he would be just one soldier against an entire castle.
But he was not going to give up. “Their ship. Turn and chase after it.”
“And then what?” the captain asked. “This is not a warship, nor do we have soldiers on board. If we were to catch them, what would we do?”
“If this is a merchant ship, then that is what we shall be. I will hide my armor and weapons, and I will take on the guise of a sailor. When we catch them, we will have a surprise for them.”
The captain called back to the sailor manning the tiller, “Forty degrees to starboard!”
The ship immediately started turning. Farrus gripped the deck railing to keep from falling down. The choppy waves rocked the boat until it finished its slow turn.
The captain pointed to a spot straight ahead, about a mile down the shoreline from the castle. “The river that cuts through the middle of their kingdom empties there. We have a stronger wind out here than near the shore. If it holds, we will catch them there.”
***
Conner flopped onto the rocky outcropping that he called a beach. It wasn’t very wide and was probabl
y covered by water at high tide. But fortunately for them, the tide was low. Glaerion was already on the beach and pulled him up onto his feet.
“I really think you should have used that invisible bridge spell,” Conner said between gasps of air.
“Like I said before, magic is not to be used lightly. And we survived without it.”
Conner looked back at the waves that pounded the rocks behind them. “This should have been one of those times. We were lucky to survive.”
“Our survival validates my decision not use magic,” Glaerion retorted. “You are shivering.”
“It is cold,” Conner said. “And you are not shivering!”
“I am not cold,” Glaerion replied. “The elf body works differently than the human. Is that the cave?” He pointed to an opening in the cliff face.
Conner rubbed his hands across his wet arms, trying to generate heat. “Yes, Master Goshin’s chambers are inside the cave. There will be blankets.”
He stood and walked into the cave. With no light coming from the outside, the cave was as dark as night. Glaerion stepped forward and drew his dagger. Instantly, it lit up as if it were on fire. But instead of the yellow light of torch flames, this light was a bright whitish-blue light. The light from the blade extended far into the distance, almost to the far walls.
“I thought you said no magic?” Conner asked.
“The blade is enchanted. Only at the time of enchantment is the web of magic affected. When it is used, the touch on the web of magic is virtually negligible. Only the most powerful of wizards would feel it. And even then, they wouldn’t know who or where it was happening. We are safe.”
Now that he could see the cave clearly, a sadness came over him. Once again, he thought of Master Goshin and how he died. But he knew he couldn’t dwell on those thoughts as he had a more important job to do. Since Master Goshin had not taken all his belongings when he left, Conner hoped that there were still some clothes of his to be found. In a small chamber off the side of the main cave, Conner found several chests full of clothes. He pulled off his cold, wet clothes and put on the dry clothes. It didn’t help much now, but having dry clothes on would help him warm up that much more quickly.
“There are some for you, too.”
“I am fine. I am not cold.” Glaerion looked around the cave, as if he were searching for something.
“Do you feel it, yet?” Conner asked.
“I feel the Ark of Life. It is here. It is close. But were are not yet close enough. Those stairs, do they lead to the castle?”
“The lower levels of the castle,” Conner said.
Glaerion started walking briskly towards the stairs. “This is not a well-protected area. An invading force could easily take advantage of this lack of security.”
“The Karmons are not at war,” Conner said. “We had this small fight with our northern neighbors, but that is over. We don’t have to be afraid of anyone.”
“You are so naïve,” Glaerion replied with a shake of his head. “Put one guard down here, and we would have already been discovered. He wouldn’t even have to fight us. He would just go up into the castle and raise an alarm. Lucky for us, your rulers are as naïve as their subjects.”
“Well, Master Goshin lived down here. If anyone tried to invade the castle from this cave, he would be the first to see them.”
“A permanent guard would be better,” Glaerion said. The elf gave a slight wave of his hand towards the double doors. “Lead on.”
Conner led the elf up the rough-hewn steps to the large double doors that led into the castle. He gave a slight push, but they wouldn’t budge. He pushed again, this time harder. The doors did not move.
Glaerion stepped forward and touched the doors. He gave a slight push and then a firmer one. “How were the doors locked before?”
“I never knew them to be locked,” Conner replied. “Is there even a lock?”
“There is no locking mechanism. And if the doors were simply barred shut, there would be some give to them. No, these doors are sealed tight. Probably permanently. Maybe your rulers aren’t quite as naïve as I thought.”
“Well, that’s probably my fault,” Conner said. “Last summer, the guards saw me jump off the cliff and sneak back into the castle this way. After Master Goshin left, I guess they realized that it was dangerous to have this as an open back door into the castle. What now?”
Glaerion looked back at the cave entrance. “There is no way back. Even if we could swim out, Captain Janari is long gone. Maybe I could climb the cliff.”
“It is steep and sheer.”
The elf turned back to the door and touched it. He closed his eyes and put his ear to it.
“Do you hear something?”
“No. I just hope there is no one on the other side of this door.”
“It’s unlikely,” Conner said. “It’s the basement of the castle.”
“If they took the time to seal the door, maybe they decided to also post a guard here as well. Just in case.”
“Maybe they sealed the door so that they didn’t have to post a guard,” Conner suggested. “Now what are we going to do?”
“I fear we have no other choice,” Glaerion said. He took a deep breath. “The easy way would be the loud way and our presence would be discovered. So it must be the hard way. It is an old spell, one that I have not used in thousands of years, not since the war with your kind. It is very powerful and it will drain me to complete exhaustion. I will need to rest afterwards. Stay close, and do exactly as I say, when I say. Understand?” He stepped towards Conner and said more firmly. “Exactly as I say, when I say it. If you don’t, you will die.”
“What about not using magic? Won’t we risk being discovered?”
“We have run out of options so we’ll have to risk it. With luck, the guardian of the Ark is not a wizard, so he won’t discover us.”
Glaerion turned to the door and closed his eyes. He repeated the words of the spell in his head, just to be sure that he remembered them. It was not only the words that were important, it was also the inflection and force in which they were said. Normally, he did not need to waste such time, but in this case, with so powerful of a spell, he needed to be sure. The spell he intended to use was just within the limits of his power. But even if he did tap into the web of magic more deeply than his powers allowed, his elven senses would protect his life. He would be incapacitated for a long time, but at least he would still be alive.
Reaching out to the web of magic was practically instinctual for him. He could do it with just a passing thought. But it wasn’t always that way. Thousands of years ago, when he was just a little elfling, it took much time, practice, and patience to connect his mind to the web. Now though, with just barely a thought, he could feel himself connected to the web. The electricity of the power flowed through his body, a tingling sensation that set all his hairs on end. Even the ends of his long hair curled upwards. The power needed to be released, and as the worlds of the spell came off his lips, that power exploded through him. He was accustomed to the power flow, but at a much lesser level. This spell brought forth a flow of a level that he had almost forgotten about. It had been so long since he had used a spell of this magnitude, that it caught him off guard. But his instincts kicked in and he was able to quickly gain control. As the last word was spoken, the power lit up inside of him, giving him tremendous energy and focus. He grabbed Conner’s arm with a force that he didn’t know. When Conner tried to pull away, his grip became even stronger.
“Now!” Glaerion shouted. “Step now!”
Conner was not sure what the elf meant, so he did not move. Glaerion took a step forward, one hand still gripping Conner on the upper arm. But there was a doorway directly in front of him. Conner wanted to tell Glaerion that there was a door there, but the elf disappeared right through the closed door. He felt a sharp tug on his arm, and he stepped forward, suddenly reminded that he was to do whatever the elf said. And then he was walking through the door.
Conner was sure that there was nothing else in the world that could ever surprise him. He had seen good friends die for no reason. He had seen brave men fall in battle. Magic was real. Elves from scary bedtime stories were real. And now he could walk through solid oak doors. He kept walking, through the door, and then through the rock that was on the other side of the door.
As soon as they were past the rock, Glaerion let Conner’s arm go. A coldness covered him, causing him to shiver uncontrollably. He turned as he heard the thud of Glaerion’s body hitting the ground. He dropped to one knee as a dizziness swept over him. Pulling his arms around his body, he tried to quickly warm up. Then he tried to wake the elf up, but he did not move. His chest moved up and down, showing that he wasn’t dead. But his eyes were glassy and stuck high in his head.
There really would have been no other option to get through the door. Long timbers had been piled in front of the door to keep it from opening. Large rocks, probably cut from inside the cave, had also been placed in front of the timbers. With the door opening into the castle, there was no way the doors would ever be opened, even with a large battering ram. Master Goshin’s chamber was officially sealed off from the castle. Conner knew it made sense, as it was an open back door that anyone could have gotten through. But he didn’t have to like it. It was a reminder that Master Goshin was never coming back.
Conner looked down at the still form of the elf, hoping that Glaerion would not need too much time to rest. But he couldn’t just sit here and wait for him to wake up. He might not be able to find the Ark, but at least he could scout out the lower levels of the castle to see if they were as empty as they sounded.
***
It happened again, but this time it was much stronger, and it caused him to pause mid-sentence. He stood staring at Queen Elissa, his thoughts suddenly interrupted by the strange feeling. He could think of nothing else, especially what he had been telling her.