The Eleventh Ring (Bartholomew the Adventurer Trilogy Book 1)

by Tom Hoffman

  “You’re not worried about this evening’s activities?”

  “Worrying will not make the digger go faster or the trip any safer. What I do know is one way or another I will soon be free of this place.”

  “You’re right, of course, but let’s hope it’s one way and not the other way that frees us.”

  Their plan was to meet Oliver and Fen at the tier two worksite. Oliver would have the digger in position and ready to go. They would arrive at midnight and be inside the digger within three minutes. Two minutes later Oliver would start the duplonium engines. The Grymmorian guards would be unable to stop the digger once it was boring into the rock. There was always the possibility they could resort to duplonium projectiles, but Bartholomew didn’t think they would waste their valuable duplonium on a few escaping prisoners.

  Well before midnight Bartholomew and R74 slid out of their beds and padded quietly down the length of the bunkhouse. It was not unusual for rabbits to get up in the night to use the latrine, so even if they were seen walking in the bunkhouse it would not arouse much suspicion. Once they were out in the yard it would be a very different story. Simon was snoring loudly when they slipped past him. Bartholomew gingerly opened the door to avoid squeaks, then carefully closed it behind them. They kept to the shadows, silently threading their way between the dark buildings, ever on the alert for Grymmorian guards. This was the most dangerous part of the plan. If they were caught trying to escape it meant certain death. At last they reached the road which led up to tier two and the digger. They kept to the edge of the pathway, being careful not to dislodge any rocks which might roll down the hill and alert the guards. When the digger was in view, Bartholomew reached into his pocket and pulled out the small bottle of orange liquid, showing it to R74.

  He whispered, “Fen gave this to me. It’s what they use to remove the shaper masks. A drop or two on the mask and a few seconds later it can be removed.”

  R74 stopped abruptly, staring at Bartholomew.

  “What??”

  “This is what they use to remove the shaper masks.”

  “Open it.”

  “We still have several minutes until–”

  “Open it now.”

  Bartholomew took the lid off the bottle, dripping a small amount of the viscous liquid on his paw. He touched R74’s mask and then his own. Seconds later he felt the mask relax its hold and he pulled it off his head. R74 did the same.

  “We don’t need the digger.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just what I said. With my mask off we don’t need the digger.”

  Before R74 could fully explain they had reached the site. Two figures stood silhouetted in front of the digger. Oliver and Fen had arrived before them.

  Oliver hurried over and whispered, “The doors on the other side of the digger are open. Climb in and–”

  He was interrupted by clanging alarm bells from tier one. A cluster of glowing spheres high in the cavern flared brilliantly and shot down towards them. The entire area was as bright as a summer afternoon. They heard shouting and the sound of Grymmorian guards frantically running up the hill, some blowing whistles. Fear shot through Bartholomew’s entire body.

  R74 turned and faced them. “Form a circle and hold paws. Do it now!” He grabbed Bartholomew’s paw. In less than a second the circle was closed.

  “Over by the digger! Seize them!”

  There was a blinding flash of light followed by a violent whirling motion.

  Chapter 17

  Morthram

  When the whirling stopped Bartholomew found himself standing on a busy village street. Oliver, Fen, and R74 were standing next to him. Wagons and carts were clattering by as rabbits strolled down the walkways talking and laughing. The sky was a beautiful clear blue and a warm summer sun shone down from above.

  R74 turned to them. It was the first time Bartholomew had seen him smile.

  “Welcome to Penrith, my friends. I am Morthram, Guild Master of the Penrith Shapers Guild. Follow me and I’ll take you to the Guild hall. You’re welcome to stay there as long as you want.”

  Bartholomew couldn’t stop staring at the sky as they walked behind Morthram. He had forgotten how blue it was.

  “You will surely run into a lamppost if you keep gazing up to the heavens like that.”

  “Oliver, my friend, that is a risk worth taking. It is far too pleasant to see blue sky over my head instead of rocks.”

  “Do you know why the sky appears to be blue and not another color?”

  “Shall we save that scintillating conversation for another day?”

  Oliver laughed. “Very well then, perhaps tomorrow.”

  Bartholomew snorted, turning to Morthram. “How did you do it? How did you bring us to Penrith? I’ve never seen such shaping before.”

  “I will teach you if you wish, R75. I am in your debt. Without your help we would not have made it out alive.”

  “It was Fen who gave me the vial of orange liquid. Oh, my name is Bartholomew by the way. I left R75 back in the mine.”

  “Forgive me, it’s the only name I have known you by, Bartholomew. Ahh, here we are.”

  Turning down a narrow alleyway, they stopped alongside a long, low brick building. Morthram flicked his paw and a blue liquid splashed onto the wall. It spread out rapidly, taking on a rectangular shape. Seconds later a large wooden door appeared. Morthram twisted the knob and swung it open.

  “Welcome to the Penrith Shapers Guild, my friends.”

  Fen remained outside. He was cautiously touching the door, his eyes fixed on Morthram.

  Morthram looked at Fen curiously. “You’ve never seen shaping before?”

  “The Grymmorian King banned shapers from the kingdom when I was young. The guards took the shapers away and they were never heard from again. I have not seen shaping until now. Would you teach me to do these things?”

  “You would not be safe in Grymmore, not with King Oberon in power.”

  “No, I would not be, but I feel drawn to it in a way that is beyond my understanding.”

  Morthram looked closely at Fen. “I will teach you. I will provide room and board and in return I ask that you perform any needed repairs or maintenance to the Guild hall. You will agree to follow the rules of the Guild?”

  “I will.”

  “We can start whenever you wish.”

  Morthram showed everyone to their rooms, which seemed luxurious in comparison to their recent accommodations. After a bath and a clean change of clothes, Bartholomew decided to talk to Morthram about Clara. He found him in the dining hall.

  “Morthram, I told you we were on our way to Penrith to find a lost friend, but what I didn’t say was that you may be the only one who knows where she is. We were coming to Penrith to talk to you. As so many things are, being taken captive in the mine was a great blessing in disguise. If Theodore Rabbit hadn’t ensnared us, we never would have found you. I am reminded of words I once heard from a very close friend of mine.

  “Every atom, every molecule, and every bouncing marble is exactly where it should be at every moment in time.”

  A look of realization flashed across Morthram’s face. “Clara Rabbit spoke those very words to me. You’re looking for Clara, and you are the Bartholomew she talked so much about. You’re quite right, this is far more than a coincidence.” He pursed his lips, studying Bartholomew carefully for several long moments. “This puts everything in a new light. You will need to stay here for at least a month or more. Your time here will not affect Clara’s safety, but the skills you learn will be of immeasurable value to you later on.”

  “You know where she is?”

  “I know where she is. She is safe, but I won’t tell you where to find her now. I will tell you when the time is right. To have any chance of bringing her back unharmed, your shaping abilities must be far superior to what they are now.”

  “I will stay until you say it’s time to go, and I would be more than grateful for anything you can t
each me.”

  “Excellent. We start tomorrow morning. There is one more thing. You must agree to certain Guild laws and guidelines regarding the ethical use of shaping. Shaping brings with it great power, and it goes without saying you bear the personal responsibility of using that power wisely. The general intent of the Guild laws are twofold. First, you may cause no harm to any living creature. All living things have the sacred life force within them. You will come to understand that the physical form of a creature makes no difference, and their behavior, whether you perceive it as good or bad, makes no difference either. Killing another creature means permanent expulsion from the Guild, unless it is under the most dire of circumstances.

  “Secondly, you may not shape items for your personal enrichment. There are times when such actions may be necessary, but the general intent is as I stated. Can you abide by these guidelines? I assure you there have been shapers who could not.”

  “These sentiments echo my own.”

  “Excellent. I expected as much after my conversations with Clara. She is of the same mind as you. Are there any questions I can answer for you?”

  “The World Glasses I showed you in the mine – do you know more about them than you already told me?”

  “Not much. Dare I ask where you got them?”

  “In the Swamp of Lost Things. Oliver and I were held captive by the Skeezle brothers, a pair of Grymmorians who waylay visitors and steal their possessions. We managed to escape using a piece of duplonium I had found, and on the way out I picked the glasses up. I had no idea of their value at the time, I simply needed a pair of dark glasses to protect my eyes from the glaring sun.”

  “You had mentioned you saw one of the World Doors with these glasses?”

  “I did, but when I entered the hallway only one door would open. It led to a place I call The Most Beautiful Island. It was there I got to know my secret inner voice and found my Great Gem.”

  “I’m assuming you are referring to the Isle of Mandora. It’s a gateway area outside of time and space. Did time seem to act differently there?”

  “There was no time.”

  “Then you were on the Isle of Mandora. Did you stay on the island the whole time?”

  “I never left it.”

  “A wise decision. The island is the entrance to a world created by creatures who are very different from us, creatures who have evolved beyond our understanding. It would have been impossible for you to even see them.”

  “Do you know anything about something called the Tree of Eyes?”

  Morthram looked surprised. “How did you hear about that? Clara spoke of this tree also.”

  “My inner voice told me to seek it out.”

  “Indeed. You were able to locate it?”

  “Yes, I discovered a journal under my sofa titled Dr. Mazlow’s Guide to Unusual Trees. There was a map in the book which led me to the Tree of Eyes. Have you ever heard of this Dr. Mazlow?”

  “I can truthfully say I have not. You have no idea how the book came to be under your sofa?”

  “No, it’s still a mystery to me.”

  “There is the possibility it was shaped by someone who wanted you to find the tree.”

  “I never thought of that. Who would do such a thing?”

  “Who indeed. What did the Tree of Eyes say to you?”

  “It showed me how to read thought clouds. To be entirely accurate, it was the Great Tree who taught me.”

  “You spoke with the Great Tree? What did he say?”

  “Mostly that he doesn’t like being pestered by the Tree of Eyes.”

  “No, he does not like to be pestered.”

  “What is the Great Tree?”

  “I’m not altogether certain, but I can tell you very few shapers have ever talked to him. I’ve heard stories, but it’s hard to know what to believe. Bartholomew, it’s remarkable that your inner voice told you to seek out the Tree of Eyes. More than ever I believe you to be a very special rabbit, as is Clara. The forces at work here are beyond me, but I will do my best to be guided by them. Having said that, it’s time we move on to other tasks at hand. If you like, you may keep your World Glasses in the Guild vault. They are of extraordinary value and every precaution must be taken not to lose them.”

  Bartholomew handed him the glasses. Morthram waved one paw and a massive black vault appeared in front of him. He pulled a brass lever in the center of the door and it swung silently open, revealing hundreds of doors of every shape and size inside the vault. Flipping open a small round door, he slid the glasses into a velvet lined compartment.

  “They will be safe here. Just let me know if you need them.”

  Several guild members entered the hall and appeared to be waiting for Morthram, so Bartholomew excused himself and went off in search of Oliver. Following the delightful aroma of baking, he tracked Oliver to the kitchen and found him standing next to a tray of pastries.

  “Laugh if you will, but no shaped éclair can compare to the quality of my own freshly baked pastries.”

  “You know, Oliver, éclairs are fine, but what I would really like is a pie. Would you dash back to the Ferillium Inn and get that apple pie recipe from Theodore Rabbit? I know he would be happy to share it with you.”

  Oliver snorted loudly.

  After a wonderful dinner, Morthram introduced Bartholomew and Oliver to a group of Guild members who had stopped by to visit. Bartholomew thoroughly enjoyed talking with the other shapers and listening to them swap adventure stories. Fen sat spellbound, soaking up every word of the shapers’ tales.

  As Bartholomew sat in his chair watching Fen, something very unusual happened. A ghostly second image of Fen gradually appeared over the first one. This veiled second image was of an older Fen who was standing in front of a cheering crowd. The image grew clearer and sharper and more solid while the present image of Fen and the Guild hall faded away. Bartholomew was standing in the midst of Fen’s future. In a single moment he knew Fen would become the King of Grymmore, and it would be Fen who ushered in the return of shaping to his kingdom. Bartholomew had no idea how or when this would happen, but he knew it would. The future image gradually faded away and was replaced by the present. Bartholomew found himself back in the Guild hall, watching young Fen listen to the shapers. It was the first time Bartholomew had experienced anything like this. In the past, such information always came to him through the Cavern of Silence, never directly to him. It was a subtle difference, but a meaningful one. It dawned on him that his inner self was gradually merging with his outer self.

  Chapter 18

  Blinking

  Bartholomew woke early the next morning, his mind filled with thoughts of the rabbits still held captive in the ferillium mine. It was a helpless feeling knowing there was nothing he could do, but he had high hopes these circumstances would change. He rose and dressed, entering the Guild hall where he Morthram waiting for him.

  “Ah, there you are. Are you ready to begin your training?”

  “I am.”

  “Excellent, follow me and we’ll find an empty practice room.”

  Morthram led him to a large room, empty except for two chairs facing each other about ten feet apart. Morthram took a seat in one and Bartholomew took the other.

  “I know you are capable of shaping objects which exist, and objects solely of your own invention. This is more than most shapers will learn in their lifetime. That being said, we can move on. The next step is to reverse the process – to convert a physical object into a thought cloud.” A wooden block appeared on the floor between them. “How would you convert this block back to a thought cloud?”

  Bartholomew shook his head. “I had wondered if that was even possible. I have no idea how to do it.”

  “All right, let’s back up and I’ll explain exactly what shaping is. All things that exist are made solely of energy. A wooden block, an apple, a rabbit, a planet; all made of nothing but compressed energy. In truth, physical matter does not actually exist, only energy ex
ists. The physical matter we love so much is more or less an illusion. When we touch an object it is actually one energy field pushing against another energy field. Now, Bartholomew Rabbit is made up of two parts – there is your physical self and your mind. Your physical self is no different from a chair, or an apple, or a bird. Your mind, and I am not talking about your physical brain, is very different. Your mind exists outside of space and time, like the Most Beautiful Island you spoke of.

  Your mind can exist without your physical body, but obviously to interact in this world of ours you need a physical presence. When you create a thought cloud, you are simply creating an energy field with your mind. When you shape something, you are using the infinite power of your mind to compress an energy field into a physical object. To reverse that process you use the power of your mind to decompress the energy which makes up the physical object, converting it back into a thought cloud. Shapers refer to these two different states of energy as thought clouds and thought forms. Thought clouds can be turned into thought forms and vice versa. Does all this make sense to you?”

  “It does. I can see I have been shaping without any real understanding of what I was doing.”

  “You are not the first rabbit to do that, I assure you. Do you want to try again?”

  Bartholomew studied the wooden block on the floor. Closing his eyes he spun the block around in his mind. When it had become almost real to him, he imagined all the atoms and molecules breaking apart and returning to their original state as a cloud of energy. When he opened his eyes, half the block was gone and there was a small blue cloud floating nearby.

  “A good first attempt. Now, try it again and see the block clearly changing back to an energy field. Don’t forget to release that thought into your inner self.”

  By the end of the day Bartholomew was able to convert the block into a thought cloud. He spent the next two days switching the block back and forth between a thought cloud and a thought form.

  “You must make your conversions faster. In a life and death situation you will not have the luxury of time. Practice this over and over until you can make the block rapidly blink in and out of its physical state.”