“Well, it has become evident which course was correct, hasn’t it?” spat Michael, his irritation finally getting the better of him.
Everett threw his arms in the air in a helpless gesture. “I still believe we were right. Yes, it went badly, but that was because the stones were given to the wrong person. We had only you or your sister to choose from. You didn’t seem to take magic seriously, so we chose your sister.” Everett stopped his pacing and turned to Michael, “We should have chosen you.”
“How dare you think you could have chosen either of us without telling us what you were up to!” exploded Michael. “Did you tell Acantha the dangers of the stones, did you tell her the trouble it could cause, and did you tell her of the evil history of the stones?”
“We thought we were right!”
“Well, you weren’t!” returned Michael in anger as he stood.
“Perhaps, as I said, we chose the wrong sibling. But now we have a chance to put things right! When you regain the ruby you can lead the people to a higher level!”
“My God, man, wake up!” shouted Michael in his fury. “If…and I repeat if…I can regain the ruby, I’ll either lock them up for eternity, or drop them in the deepest part of the ocean!”
As Michael started back toward the others, Everett reached out, grasping his shirt to halt his progress. “Don’t you see the good that we could do with both of the stones in concert?”
Michael whirled on the old magician. “All I see is the great harm that just one of these stones has caused. No...if I succeed I will do my best to see to it that they never see the light of day again!” He paused and then continued, “I don’t know that I can trust you anymore. You have caused great destruction, hidden the truth from me, and even lied straight out. Even now I do not know whether you are working for what is best, or just for what you want.”
Everett straightened his short pudgy frame as much as possible, showing what pride he could. “I am working for the betterment of the people as a whole.”
“And you are the only one to decide how that should be thrust upon them?”
“I am doing what no other is in a position to do!” replied Everett testily.
“That is not a decision for you to make.” Michael expelled a deep sigh. “I will be going to Acantha’s laboratory alone. We will stay together until then, in case we need to fight our way there. When this is over...”
Michael turned on his heel and strode up to where his friends waited. Everett visibly shrunk in upon himself when he heard Michael words of damnation. He stood for some time with head bowed in sorrow before he slowly made his way back. By the time Everett returned to the end of the tunnel where the others were, they were already on their feet, having been roused by Michael.
He said nothing as he watched them prepare for battle. They would be needing little now, only the axes for Oliver and Thomas, and the pitchfork for Sarah. Michael and Everett would carry no weapons.
As Michael quietly strode to the wall at the end of the tunnel, Thomas gave Everett a curious glance. He was obviously aware that something was wrong. Everett consciously pulled up his slouched shoulders, and forced a confident smile. He would have to act as though everything was as it should be if his friends were to be successful. The last thing they needed at this point was them to be aware of a rift between him and Michael.
Everett still wanted Michael to regain the ruby, no matter what happened to it in the future. His original intentions in giving the stones to Acantha had been good. He honestly believed that he and his supporters would be able to guide the people of the world back to the glory that their ancestors had known before the Magicians’ War. But now that all of his good intentions had come crashing down around him, he was only too aware that the ruby could no longer be allowed to be controlled by Acantha.
Michael had his eyes closed and was making strange passes with his hands. Before the others could understand what he was doing, the great wall in front of them began to move to the side with a loud rumbling and groaning noise. The stone floor they stood on seemed to vibrate and shake with the movement of the wall.
When the wall had moved completely to the side, the travelers looked into a large room in the basement of the old castle. All but Michael were surprised to see two men, mouths open and huddled together, staring back at them. Thomas and Oliver made ready with their axes, expecting the two men to charge at them once their surprise was past.
“No! No!” one of the two men protested when they saw the axes brought to the ready. “We have no quarrel with you!” Raising his hands in a forestalling motion, he hastily continued, “The sorceress of this place stole us from our home in the woods. If you have come to do battle with her, we assure you that we will not try to stop you.”
“A fat lotta good it would do you to try to stop us.” replied Thomas as he stood over the two.
“Wait!” said Michael hastily. Speaking to the two men, he added, “You said you were taken from your home in the woods, are you the husband of Esther, and Brian’s father?”
“Yes!” answered one of the men. Standing quickly he continued, “Have you seen them? Are they all right?”
“Yes. In fact we just left them a couple of days ago. They are quite anxious to see you safely home.”
The other man jumped to his feet, clasping the first by the shoulders. “Did you hear that, Marcus? We’re going to get out of here!”
Michael pointed behind him at the still open doorway into the tunnel. “Just go into that tunnel, it will lead you to the outside, near the bottom of this hill. You’ll need to take your candle with you.”
“What about you?” asked Marcus as his brother went for the candle.
“We’ll be staying behind. We have a score to settle with Acantha.”
Marcus’ brother was at the opening of the tunnel now, motioning him to hurry and join him.
“Do you have a chance of beating her?” Marcus asked with real concern in his voice.
“I believe so,” answered Michael. “At least we’re going to give it our best try.”
“What are you waiting for, Marcus?” his brother asked. “We have our freedom given to us, let’s take it before it’s too late.”
Marcus turned to answer his brother’s plea. “If these people are not successful, then the witch will just pull us back, and it will be harder for us since we tried to escape. No, I’m going to stay and give what help I can. If we are to be truly free, we need to be safe from the threat of being pulled back.”
The second man groaned and walked back to Marcus. “We don’t even have any weapons, what good are we going to be in a fight?”
“There’s plenty of wood down here we can use as clubs. We’ll make do.”
All conversation stopped as from the upper reaches of the castle they could hear the wild frantic baying of Acantha’s beasts. As they listened, they could hear the awful sound coming closer.
“I believe it is too late for decisions, woodsmen,” said Everett. “Acantha has sensed our presence and set her beasts upon us. Grab anything available for use as a weapon and prepare to do battle.”
Michael and his friends stood and listened to the sounds coming ever closer as Marcus and his brother scrabbled for the strongest pieces of wood they could find in the rubble of the basement room.
“What happened to your spell of concealment, Michael?” asked Sarah. “She could not locate us before, why now?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps she has her own spells already in place here to counteract mine. But no matter, the time is at hand. Everett, come to the front. We will use our magic as the first line of defense. If we are lucky, none will pass us and the others will not need to face those razor claws.”
Marcus and his brother turned to the tunnel as they heard the strange baying echoing up from the depths. “I think our escape has been cut off. She has sent those beasts you spoke of through the tunnel.”
“I thought she didn’t know about the tunnel,” said Oliver as he looked from th
e stairs leading up to the main floors over to the tunnel entrance.
“She must have seen us come out on this side, and traced it back.
“No more talk, here they come!”
Down the narrow stairs rushed the charging hoard of Acantha’s beasts. Blood-red hairless skin bulged and pulsated in the scant candlelight. Their evil eyes glinted with hate and rage as they fought one another to be the first down the stairs. Tumbling over one another in their haste, they soon reached the bottom of the stairs, some thirty feet from Michael and his friends.
Immediately Michael and Everett lashed out with their magic, and the beasts were exploding in great blobs of flesh and blood before they could mount a charge. Michael and Everett would have been able to destroy all of the beasts if that had been the only point of attack. But as the numbers that were spilling down the stairwell began to diminish, the beasts that were traveling through the tunnel reached the entrance to the basements.
“Here they come!” yelled Marcus as he swung his club, bringing down the first beast coming through the door.
Almost immediately all of the defenders were swinging ax or club, with Sarah stabbing with her pitch-fork to keep the beasts from rending her apart.
“Everett,” called Michael, “see if you can get that door closed with your magic! I’m going up the stairs to Acantha. If I can stop her, these abhorrent creatures will disappear.”
Without waiting for response, Michael raced for the stairs leading up to Acantha’s tower laboratory. Slipping and sliding in the spilled blood of the beasts, Michael reached the steps and began running up as quickly as possible.
The sound of the raging battle was soon lost to him, and he could only hope that his friends would be as lucky as they were valiant.
It took only a couple of minutes to reach the upper floors, but he was frightfully aware that a couple of minutes may be more than his friends could hold out against the invading hoard.
He was still running at full speed when he reached the door to Acantha’s laboratory. Without slowing, he threw a ball of green lightning, shattering the door into splinters. Rushing into the room, he saw Acantha, casually standing by her beautiful crystal bowl. Next to her was Croom, standing with no expression on his face, but eyes boring into Michael.
“Well, Michael,” she said slowly, “it’s been quite some time since I have seen you in the flesh. It seems you have not heeded my warnings.”
“I have no time to talk, or to reason with you Acantha. Stop your attack in the basements and give over the ruby.”
“And if not?”
“Then I will be forced to destroy you, and take the ruby by force!”
Acantha raised her head back and howled with laughter. In an instant she stopped laughing, and jerked her head down to glare at Michael. Throwing her hands up, she unleashed a lightning bolt of fiery red.
Michael barely had time to erect a shield and dodge to the side. The bolt of lightning seared into his shield, then bounced off and sizzled harmlessly into the wall.
Quickly recovering, Michael raised his hands and threw his own emerald bolt of magic at Acantha. Over the past few weeks of Michael’s travels, Acantha had been doing all of the attacking, and had never been attacked herself. She was momentarily surprised by the strength and rage of Michael’s magic, and was seared on her left shoulder before she was able to erect her own shield.
They stood facing each other from opposite sides of the room now, both encased in their magical bubbles; Michael’s green, Acantha’s red. Glaring at each other, they began the attack anew. Soon the room was ablaze with the blinding light of their magic. Chairs and tables were overturned; paper, ancient tapestries, and other lightweight objects flew through the air as the powers roiled and lashed through the room.
Both of their shields had started out as pristine green and red bubbles, now both of them were shot through with cracks of the opposing color. It was now a race to see which magician would tire first, and weaken to the point that they would no longer be able to keep their shield erected.
“Now! Damn you, Croom. Now!” shrieked Acantha.
Croom immediately raced across the room and began clawing at the cracks in Michael’s shield. Michael was afraid that if he diverted any power from his attack on Acantha to deal with Croom, his lapse would give her the upper hand and he would be destroyed. Yet he could not ignore Croom, for if he did, the maniacal man would succeed in tearing Michael’s weakened shield apart.
As he was worrying about what to do, Croom flew from the shield in front of him to crash headlong against the far wall. Through the maelstrom in the room charged Everett. The thin wisps of white hair on his head stood on end, and the brown robe swirled violently about him, showing his pale spindly legs.
In an instant he was upon the injured Croom, sending the full force of his magic into the dead man. Acantha saw what was happening and realized that if the old man managed to destroy Croom, she would have to deal with both of the magicians.
She momentarily diverted some of her power, throwing a bolt at the old magician now grappling on the floor with Croom. Everett arched his back in a spasm from the pain as the bolt of power reached him.
Seeing this, Michael went deep into himself for all the power that he could gain from the fully-awakened emerald. The room blazed with green light, momentarily blinding even Michael. When he was finally able to see again, he saw Acantha still standing, staring at him from across the room. But the room was still. The paper and tapestries that were flying around the room were now slowly fluttering to the floor.
On second look, he could see that Acantha was not moving and the red shield that she had erected had changed to a hazy green, surrounding her like an aura. The aura extended from Acantha, down her arm and across to encompass Everett and Croom, where they were locked in unmoving battle.
After a couple of minutes of watching, and seeing no movement from either of the three, Michael slowly let his defensive shield down. He walked through the clutter of the room until he reached the still, aura- enshrouded form of Acantha. He felt the emerald green haze surrounding her and was surprised to find it hard and unyielding. He moved over to kneel where Everett and Croom were locked in battle, and felt that the enveloping haze was just the same there.
He looked at the pain frozen on the face of the old magician and felt remorse for all that he had said when he had learned how Acantha had gained control of the ruby. “Oh, old man. What has become of you?” he asked while tears freely tracked down his cheeks.
The three people were trapped in a state of stasis created by Michael’s unfettered spell. He could not know how long the spell would last, but he was sure it would not decay anytime soon. Acantha, Croom, and Everett would remain gripped in this moment of battle while time passed unnoticed around them.
Gathering his courage, Michael rose and left the laboratory. Once he was away from the scene of the battle, he remembered the danger that the others had been in when he left, and hurried down the stairs to the basements once again.
Reaching the basement, he found his friends huddled around a fallen body by the now closed doorway into the tunnel. The mangled bodies of the beasts were lying around them. Some were completely unmarked; all were unmoving. They had died when Acantha had become trapped in stasis.
“What happened here?” asked Michael as he rushed to the group.
Sarah looked up with tears in her eyes. “It’s Big Thomas. He was laying waste to these beasts when one of them got inside his swinging axe. Thomas fell with chest and stomach slashed open. Just then all of the beasts just fell down dead.” She looked back down at Thomas who was lying near death.
“We’re going to lose him, Michael,” said Oliver from where he knelt by Thomas’ head.
“No! I won’t allow it!” raged Michael. “There has been too much death already.” Michael fell to his knees, and then lay across Thomas’ body, covering it as near as possible with his own. Both men were instantly covered by the shimmering green light
that Michael had released earlier in Acantha’s laboratory. The light was so bright, the others were forced to turn their heads in pain.
When the light finally died down, they turned back to see where Thomas was lying. Michael was just pulling himself from the big man, and they could see that Thomas’ wounds had healed. In fact the big man was beginning to groan and regain consciousness.
“What the hell happened?” he asked as he rose to a sitting position.
“Oh, Thomas!” cried Sarah as she rushed to him.
After a brief hug, Thomas lurched to his feet. “Well, we had best get to battling this witch sister of yours! It looks like we’re done down here.”
Michael chuckled at Thomas sudden zest. The mountain man seemed to not realize that moments ago he had been near death.
“Relax, Thomas,” he said. “All of you, our quest has come to an end. Although not dead, Acantha is no longer able to do harm. Walk with me up to her laboratory and I will tell you of the battle that you slept through.”
Although puzzlement was evident on his face, Thomas and the others followed Michael up the stairs and listened while he told of the battle with Acantha.
EPILOGUE
When the dawn finally arrived, Michael and Sarah were standing by the low wall surrounding the gardens outside the castle. The peacefulness of the morning belied the violence of the previous night. The early morning birds in the gardens sang their salute to the rising sun. The very air was crystalline in its purity. They stood with hands linked, looking out over the landscape that descended to the ocean, as it brightened with each passing moment of the sun’s ascension.
Michael had made the decision to stay and reopen the magician’s enclave. Since he could not get past the aura surrounding Acantha to retrieve the ruby ring, he felt it was necessary to train future magicians should the spell decay after his days. Never again would he allow the cursed power of the ruby to be loosed on the people.
The Enchanted Emerald (The Enchanted Stones Book 1) Page 21