“Look on the ground, there are marks and scratches as if the bookshelf was moved.”
“You are right,” said Golmuth, “I will push the bookshelf from this side.”
Golmuth put his hands on the bookshelf and put his strength into moving it. Behind it was a trapdoor, which Golmuth managed to open without too much difficulty. He lit a torch in the fireplace and began his descent.
“What do you see?”
“Stairs cut into the rock going down, but I cannot see where they end. I will keep going.”
The torchlight and Golmuth soon disappeared around the meandering path through the stone.
“Golmuth!” Alexander cried.
He heard the sound of approaching footsteps and Golmuth reappeared on the stairs, breathless. He could hardly get his words out.
“Incredible! Come and have a look. I do not think Silmaril chose to live in this place without reason.”
The children entered into a cavern and Golmuth lit all the torches.
“Children, this is the place that all the rock dwarfs have been searching for for so long: the tomb of Theodoril.”
Water, no doubt from the town just above them, was flowing down the walls on all sides. The water was running so quickly that it did not carry any nauseating odour. On the contrary, it seemed pure and cleaned the rock in the cavern as it passed. In the middle of the space, on an island surrounded by water, was a stone sarcophagus surrounded by four dwarf skeletons. The water was shallow and Golmuth waded across. He pushed the lid of the sarcophagus and let it fall it to the ground. Inside was Theodoril’s skeleton, his armour and his weapons, both of them partly rusted. The skeleton held a book between its hands, a book that was far too new in comparison to the other objects in the room and in the tomb.
“Odd, this book is in perfect condition,” said Golmuth.
“Someone must have put it here recently,” said Alexander. He picked it up an started to read: The Cartography of Arboria, by Silmaril. Alexander leafed through the book and stopped at the name Gravenstein. “I met Werner Gravenstein in my study at Rocaille. The Sorceress was on his heels, and it was difficult ... He was amazed by the tomb of Theodoril and was surprised to find the symbol engraved on his shield. He told me he had previously come across it in Arboria, but he refused to tell me where. I thought that it was just a simple design, but Werner did not share my opinion. Those two trees with their intertwining branches that form an archway have never appeared in any of the lands of Arboria that I have visited. He ordered me not to speak to anyone of my discovery. He did not say why, but I suspect it has something to do with the Sorceress. For now, the discovery of the tomb must remain a secret, to my great regret ... I saw him again several months later at the Quilar Ravine. He told me that he wanted to reach the other side to avoid being found by the Sorceress. I thought he was mad, nobody had ever crossed that gulf, but he told me he had found a way ... I think the Queen will send her spies to Rocaille. I have decided to hide the records of my discoveries in the tomb where nobody will find them for many years to come. It is the safest place I know. I know I should destroy them, but these records are my whole life, and I do not have the courage...”
The children finished their reading, Golmuth replaced the lid of the sarcophagus to where it had been resting for centuries. They climbed back up the stairs and sat down in the living room.
“In the end, the dwarfs did manage to finish the construction of the tomb,” said Hope.
“The Quilar Ravine,” said Golmuth, sitting down in an armchair.
“What is it?” asked Alexander.
“It is an impassable gulf. Nobody can cross it. There is no bridge, and beyond it lies a land that has never been explored.”
“But we have to get there somehow,” said Hope.
“And this book?” said Alexander. “Should I destroy it so that nobody finds out where Werner is?”
“Yes,” said Golmuth.
With a flick of his wrist, Alexander tossed the book into the fireplace and watched the flames consume it.
“That symbol, I wonder what Werner discovered that was so important,” said Alexander.
“Hard to say. I have never seen that symbol,” said Golmuth.
“And you, Dongo?”
“I have never seen anything like it, but if it was on Theodoril’s shield then it must be of some importance.”
Meanwhile, in the dungeons of Avengard, Silmaril found himself a prisoner in an iron cage suspended above a void. He did not dare to look down; the pit seemed to be of an abyssal depth. He was surrounded by red coloured rock. He saw a light moving towards him along the inside of a tunnel. A woman appeared from the darkness, illuminated by a purple light which swirled magically around her.
“Silmaril, we meet at last. I hope this place pleases you because you are going to spend the rest of your miserable life here.”
“So you are the Sorceress that everybody fears. I know what you want, but you will never get it.”
“If you believe that, poor fool, then you have no idea what I am capable of.”
The Sorceress incanted a magic spell, the cage detached and started floating above the abyss. With a wave of her hand, it began to fall. Silmaril let out a shrill cry at the sight of his end. With another wave, the Sorceress stopped the descent and the cage started to rise once more and return to its original position.
“Now that I have your complete attention, will you tell me where to find Werner Gravenstein?”
Silmaril did not answer.
“You might as well kill me now. I will not talk.”
“I see. I will find a way to make you talk. I have other plans for you while we wait. Your time has not yet come.”
“I will never help you, Sorceress!”
“Very soon you will be calling me your Queen. If you refuse to talk, Rocaille will fall. I have left that town in peace for long enough. I will transform all of those rock dwarfs into pigs or rats,” the Sorceress said with a grin. For the first time, Silmaril was overcome by fear.
“I will leave you to think about my proposition, I am in no hurry.”
The Sorceress walked towards the tunnel and the purple light faded.
“You will never be my Queen or the Queen of anything else!” cried Silmaril between the bars of his cage.
The Queen climbed the steps leading out of the dungeons deep inside Avengard. A few moments later, she entered a large room and sat down on a throne of stone. She started to consider the whole situation when, suddenly, she called out for her servant.
“Tobias!”
A hideous, hunchbacked man appeared from behind one of the numerous stone columns.
“Yes, my Queen.”
“Summon Zgard at once. I am going to Aronia to fix a problem that requires my immediate attention.”
The Sorceress approached an octagonal mirror lying on the ground near the throne. She put one foot on the glass and disappeared instantly.
“My Queen,” said a man clothed in a blue toga, kneeling. “You are here. We were not expecting you in Aronia.”
“Rise, Melvar. I have come to make sure you have completed the task I entrusted to you.”
“I have not been able to finish the potion yet, my Queen. Forgive me, it is a very complicated potion that has to work on tree roots.”
“It is imperative that the trees come under my command and become our allies.”
“I know, my Queen.”
“And my army of mages?”
“We have recruited all of the male human children in Arboria with magical capabilities. Training is going wonderfully, they are growing and will soon be ready to rally to your cause.”
“Do not forget that their powers must never be allowed to exceed my own, otherwise I will not fail to make you regret it.”
“No, my Queen. Have no fear, I am in control of the situation.”
“When will my potion be ready?”
“I still need some rare ingredients. My men are actively seeking out Elwin
gs, they alone will be able to complete the final potion.”
“There used to be a community of Elwings living in a forest called Acaya.”
“I will investigate, my Queen.”
“No need. I have already sent one of my most trusted soldiers after them. I imagine that he will have already captured these Elwings by now.”
CHAPTER 6: KRATOA, THE UNTRACEABLE CITY
The next morning, Alexander set about searching the study for clues once more. He unearthed a map of Arboria which he slipped into his pocket just in case. The children left the house without being noticed by the dwarfs that were going about their daily chores as usual. Dongo healed a small plant which had been crushed under the foot of a dwarf rushing by. They left the town in the same way they had arrived. They climbed into the wooden cage and travelled down the enormous rock, Dongo clinging to Golmuth’s back. This time, the descent went by without mishap and they were on the ground within a few minutes. The children greeted the dwarf who was turning the mechanism at the base of the rock.
“I wish you a fair journey,” he said.
“He seems nicer than the one which welcomed us,” said Amy.
“Yes, he does,” said Dongo. “Follow me and I will lead you to the ravine.”
The journey was quite long and difficult. The rain hammered and the children were soaked. They took shelter in a cave and Golmuth lit a fire.
“You must have a travelled a lot if you know all these roads, Dongo,” said Golmuth.
“Yes, I covered a very large part of Arboria once upon a time.”
“What is your favourite place?” asked Meredith.
“Lumenzia is a wonderful human town, everything is very beautiful there, including the flowers. I also very much like a little clearing called Acaya. We Elwings are very solitary creatures, but there is a new community that formed at Acaya not long ago. It is tiny, barely ten Elwings live there, but it is growing day by day. The grass there is very green. The future of our kind will certainly depend on that place. That is why I am going there. We will arrive tomorrow.”
The children stretched out on the ground near the fire and fell asleep.
The next day, the sun was still asleep peacefully when the children began their march towards the ravine. They also decided to accompany Dongo to Acaya and they entered the little town after a few hours’ walk.
“My God, what happened here? Everything is burned!” said Amy.
“This is not possible,” Dongo repeated several times.
The little straw houses were still smoking. The ground all around still burned. The trees all around appeared sick.
“This has to be the work of the Queen,” said Golmuth.
“The village must have been attacked recently,” said Alexander.
“Over here,” said a tiny voice.
An Elwing was lying on the ground and gesturing with its hand. Dongo ran to its side at once.
“What happened here?” he asked.
“Zago... Zago...”
“He burned the village?”
The Elwing nodded.
“Why?”
“Potion... trees... army... Elwings imprisoned.”
Those were the little Elwing’s final words.
“What does that mean?” asked Hope.
“If I understood correctly, Zago came here and destroyed the village in search of a potion.”
“A potion?” said Alexander.
“Years ago there was a terrible war between humans and trees. The trees became fixed in place and left Arboria to the humans. I imagine that the Queen wants the trees to march again and obey her. She would be in command of an unstoppable army. But I don’t understand why nobody in Arboria is able to overthrow her. There is no army and the humans are already in her pay.”
“I believe she wants to invade the world of these children,” said Golmuth. “She would reign over two worlds and nobody would be able to withstand such a force.”
“Children, I will go with you on your quest. There is nothing to keep me here anymore,” said Dongo.
“Thank you, Dongo,” said Alexander.
They arrived at the edge of the ravine several hours later.
“Here we are!” said Dongo, exhausted. “The Quilar Ravine.” Alexander leaned over the edge of the cliff to examine its depth.
“Careful,” said Meredith, grabbing hold of him, “you might fall in.”
“Nobody can cross this,” said Golmuth.
“Well, Gravenstein made it to the other side according to Silmaril,” said Hope.
The ravine was at least a hundred metres deep and the cliff on the other side was at least fifty metres away.
“Nobody can get across such a distance,” said Alexander. He recalled his favourite hero Indiana Jones and the scene from the film ‘The Last Crusade’ when Indy stepped out into the void in order to reach the cavern which held the Holy Grail. It was at that moment that Dongo brought him out of his daydreaming.
“This ravine is a rift which fully encircles the place we are trying to reach. If we cannot go over, perhaps there is a way to under?”
“But how?”
“Well, through the city of gnomes, Kratoa.”
“Kratoa?” said Golmuth. “Nobody has ever discovered how to get in there.”
“There is nothing easier. It is hidden from the eyes of men and dwarfs, but we Elwings know how to get in. According to the legend, there was a tunnel several kilometres long which connected this part of Arboria with its easternmost extremity and served as a passage underneath the ravine.”
“And are the gnomes friendly in general?” asked Alexander.
“Of course, if you know how to pay your passage,” said Dongo.
“But we don’t have any money with us,” said Amy, turning out her pockets.
“Just because something is valuable to you, doesn’t mean that it will be valuable for the gnomes. We will see when we get there.”
The companions set off and walked for many long hours. They followed the ravine for a whole day.
“Does this hole never end?” said Meredith.
They slept in a deodar cedar, a kind of very tall pine tree that can be easily climbed, and made themselves comfortable in its branches. Very early the next morning, they set off once more in the direction of Kratoa. Several more hours had passed when Dongo finally stopped in front of three stones: two small and an enormous one nearly three metres tall in the middle.
“Here we are,” said Dongo happily.
“But I do not see anything,” said Golmuth.
“Because you are not paying attention.”
Dongo crouched down and tickled one of the two smaller rocks and it quickly transformed into a little, yellow-coloured being.
“Stop, please, stop it!” said the creature.
“By the great stone of Rocaille, a gnome!”
The second rock also transformed.
“Well done, Geum, you gave us away,” he said.
“It’s not my fault, Gom. This Elwing tickled me.”
“That’s a gnome?” asked Alexander.
“My name is Geum, and this is Gom. We are standing guard to make sure nobody enters Kratoa.”
“May we enter your city? We have to get to the other side of the Quilar Ravine.”
“Hmm. Humans are not authorised to enter Kratoa.”
“Could you make an exception? Please?”
“I am sorry, but we cannot let you pass.”
“But we’re not from Arboria. We’re from the other side and we’re looking for Werner Gravenstein.”
The two gnomes looked at each other.
“Do you think we could take them to see Gamar?”
“I am not sure, Geum...’
“You could pay your passage?”
“What do you want exactly?” asked Alexander.
“You will see,” said Gom.
The gnomes turned towards the large rock and it transformed into a tunnel entrance with its edges decorated in crystals of e
very colour.
“Hold on, children, there is no small amount of stairs to climb down to the underground depths; nearly two thousand steps.”
Geum and Gom each lit their torches and descended the first steps. The cave was grey and it reflected a bluish light.
“I feel all strange,” said Amy, “like I’ve got ants in my pants.”
“That is quite normal,” said Gom, “it is because of the gravity. The further we drop into the bowels of the earth the stronger the gravity becomes.”
“We gnomes have become accustomed to it,” said Geum.
“How did you manage to turn into stones?” asked Alexander curiously.
“Not only into stones, young man, we can turn into anything we want in order to remain unseen. It is very useful for hiding from our enemies.”
“Who are your enemies?” asked Meredith.
“Mostly the Sorceress and her army.”
“Will the way down take long?” asked Hope.
“Have no dear, just one more hour.”
“And you do this every day?” said Golmuth.
“Of course.”
A weak, orange-coloured glow seemed to emerge from the depths of the earth. From where they were, the children could not make out just how deep Kratoa was. Here and there, strange constructions were drawn out in blue and orange reflections.
“The orange colour comes from the fireflies we keep in amber cages,” Gom explained. “Nothing is more valuable to us, they provide us with the light we need. Amber is used to make a whole host of objects to keep fireflies in. You will see, there are many artisans in Kratoa. A firefly is equal to five amber pieces, so you know.”
“Where do you find these fireflies?” asked Alexander.
“In the marsh,” said Geum.
They arrived at an archway that towered nearly five metres above them.
“Impressive,” Golmuth whispered in Alexander’s ear.
Houses of bluish stone cropped up on all sides of the town, forming streets with angles that a mathematician would have difficulty calculating. The smell of food was drifting from the windows of the houses, but the gnomes did not seem particularly interested in the arrival of the newcomers.
“This place is incredible,” said Hope, enthralled.
Arboria Page 6