It was almost another thirty minutes before Faylen brought them before a set of ornate, wide double-doors. The white oak had been crafted with two trees on each door that met and entwined in the middle. A dozen elves in white armour lay scattered in the hall, each of them long dead. Their blood decorated the walls and most wore expressions of pure horror and agony.
Faylen stopped at the door. “This is the Hall of Life.” She gripped her scimitar tightly.
The heavy doors creaked as the elf parted them. The companions cautiously entered the large chamber, circular in shape and lined with thick pillars. The ceiling was high and domed with shafts of lights poking through the windows and jagged holes. On the far side of the hall was an open balcony, as wide as the chamber, with an archway big enough to fit the tallest of giants through. Asher looked up, though his jaw remained where it was when he realised what the giant entrance and balcony was really for. Curling around the circular hall was a dragon of tremendous size, covered in stone. Its mammoth head curled around one of the pillars and hung over the centre of the hall, where an empty podium sat. Surrounding the podium was six elven statues, each pointing a staff towards nothing.
“Garganafan...” Reyna looked up at the dragon with tears in her eyes.
Faylen was not so concerned with the stone dragon. “Where is Valanis?” She ran into the centre of the hall and rapidly circled the stone elves.
Asher felt a pit open in his stomach as her words sunk in. He tore his gaze from the dragon and strode into the middle of the hall. Faylen was right. The six elves were clearly aiming at something that had been in front of the podium, but there was nothing there now. Bar the statues, the entire Hall of Life was… lifeless.
“He’s not here...” Reyna whispered, wide eyed.
“It cannot be!” Faylen cried. “Every account has him right here! The elders and Garganafan were turned to stone in their effort to enact the Amber spell. They wouldn’t have sacrificed so much if he wasn’t right here!”
“Maybe he’s in another room?” Nathaniel offered.
A familiar, yet menacing, voice echoed from behind one of the pillars. “You could look in every room in every tower,” Alidyr slithered into view, dressed in his white robes, “but you would never find Valanis in this wretched tomb.” The dark elf smiled arrogantly, but Asher’s experienced eyes immediately found that the elf was favouring one leg over the other.
“What have you done with him, snake?” Faylen crouched into an attacking stance, like an animal ready to pounce.
“For a thousand years he stood right there.” Alidyr looked to the spot by the podium. “Freeing him became hopeless when the years turned into decades, and the decades turned into centuries... I knew that without Paldora’s gem, he would never be free to serve the gods, for only the gem could break through the Amber spell. I blame myself for having missed it all those years, under my nose.” Alidyr looked at Asher. “But the gods act in mysterious ways do they not? And their timescale is not our own. While I scoured the land and did my best to see the master’s plans fulfilled, the gods were already seeing to his freedom.”
“Speak plainly Alidyr, or lose your head!” Faylen was filling with rage.
“Did you not see it?” Alidyr gestured to the white doors behind them, but Asher noticed the flicker of pain that crossed the elf’s face. How had Alidyr come by so many injuries? “The Amber spell has been ruptured. It took a thousand years but Paldora’s gem found a way.” The dark elf turned to Asher and flashed a grin of brilliant, white teeth. “In the hands of a small human child, it pushed against the Amber spell for a millennium, until the spell cracked. Of course by that point the world had changed and the boy was a stranger in his own lands. How does it feel to be over a thousand years old?” Alidyr tilted his head, still smiling. “The immortal man, as it were...”
Asher fought the world that tried to spin out of his control. The memory of being found by Nasta Nal-Aket outside Elethiah came rushing back. He had been chased by Gobbers after fleeing Elethiah...
Nalana!
The ranger remembered the beautiful elf and his lessons in the tower. She had given him the gem after her brother Elym, now the lord of the elves, had retrieved it from this very hall. He had been born over a thousand years ago in The Wild Moores... His clan had been hunters. The faces of his family were still featureless in his mind, but he remembered them running from the citadel with him. They must have abandoned him when they saw that he was frozen in the doorway.
Frozen for a millennium.
“Of course,” Alidyr continued, “when the spell was fractured it didn’t just release you. Anomalies appeared throughout the city. The spell began to break down. My master had already started to repel the Amber before it was cast, but when the spell weakened... he broke free. How long have you been free, Asher? Ah yes, forty years...”
A lone tear streaked down Faylen’s cheek. “Valanis has been free... for forty years?”
“Do you see now? Your plans and schemes are worthless. Valanis has been a step ahead of you since before you even decided to invade.” Alidyr laughed. “Who do you think had the idea planted in your king’s mind in the first place. The Dark War saw our forces depleted, but your army will suffice, and that of man’s.”
Faylen’s eye widened with revelation. The entire elven nation had been manipulated and was going to be used as fodder. In one strike, Valanis would weaken both man and elf. Faylen’s shoulders visibly sagged.
“Now,” Alidyr continued, full of confidence. “Give me the ring and tell me what you did with the rest of it. If your answer pleases me, I will consider letting you all leave this place.”
Asher clenched his jaw and squeezed the hilt of his silvyr blade. The ranger wanted for nothing more than to wipe that smug grin of his old mentor’s face.
“Hmm, I’ve seen that look before,” the dark elf said. “Nasta Nal-Aket had it, right before I pushed him into the pit.”
Asher’s resolve faltered. He hated and loved Nasta like a father. The man had been hard on him and disciplined him severely, but he had also been the only friend Asher had. Nasta had not only saved him, but made him strong, giving him the skills to survive. The thought of him dead stirred the ranger in ways he hadn’t expected. A lot had been left unsaid between the men, and now it would remain so. Not that Asher expected to live should he ever meet Nasta again. Despite everything between them, Asher was still a traitor.
“Kill him.” Asher’s words were meant for Reyna, who had slowly slinked around the pillars, until she had a clear shot with Adellum’s bow.
The arrow flew from the weapon with magically enhanced speed. But it still wasn’t enough. Alidyr twisted his body and deflected the arrow with one of his short-swords, a weapon equally as powerful as Adellum’s bow. The arrow drove into the nearest pillar with the force of a hurricane. The marble column exploded near the base and sent devastating cracks that reached the ceiling. Asher and Nathaniel managed to dive and roll out of the way, before the pillar flattened them. The ground shook and the elven statues were shattered into a thousand pieces, as well as a large portion of Garganafan’s tail.
A thick fog of dust and debris quickly settled over the large chamber, creating the perfect screen for Alidyr to slip away. Faylen dashed to the spot where he had been standing, but the elf was already gone. Asher came up from his dive with his blade out, ready for the next attack. Nathaniel swivelled on the ball of his foot, his sword out in front of him.
“Where is he?” Elaith shouted.
Asher cursed, but it was too late. Elaith had given away her position in the dust cloud, and Alidyr’s blade found her before Asher could react. The short-sword span through the air, inches from his face, and continued past him, into Elaith’s chest.
The young knight experienced a single moment of shock, with tears filling her eyes and a faint gasp escaping her lips. In the next moment, Elaith fell to the floor, dead.
“NO!” Nathaniel ran to her, but Asher never saw him reach Ela
ith’s body. A fist, as strong as any hammer, slammed into the ranger’s face and dropped him to the floor.
The Hall of Life took on a hazy visage when Asher tried to make sense of his surroundings. Reyna and Faylen screamed somewhere in the distance. Lightning erupted between the pillars, blinding Asher momentarily. Steel clashed and spells exploded against stone and marble.
The ranger was on his hands and knees, blinking hard to regain and sharpen his vision. Elaith was dead and lying several feet to his left and Nathaniel was rolling around on the floor next to her, fresh blood dripping from his shoulder and head. Reyna slid to the floor, at his side, and the two crouched over Elaith. The elf removed the powerful short-sword from her chest and dropped it to the floor in disgust. As Asher rose to his feet, Faylen was thrown across the hall, until her body collapsed in a heap at Nathaniel’s feet.
Asher was too slow.
Alidyr was already in front of him. Asher managed to bring his silvyr sword up before the elf could cut him in half. The ranger twirled and spun to avoid Alidyr’s blade, always making the dark elf turn on his injured leg and swing with his wounded arm. The pain gave Asher the precious moments he needed to evade a death delivering blow. Their short-swords rang out in the hall, but only for a minute. Even with his apparent injuries, it seemed that Alidyr was only playing with Asher. A swift open-palm attack caught the ranger across the throat, stopping the air from reaching his lungs. The elf followed up his attack with a gut punch and an elbow to Asher’s chest. All three attacks pushed him back, until Alidyr caught his right wrist in an iron grip. Slender fingers wrapped around the silver ring and pulled the gem free of his finger. A quick push-kick sent Asher flying into his friends, creating a tangled mess of limbs.
Alidyr laughed with the backdrop of the balcony behind him. The dust settled and the dark elf span on them, with Asher’s ring on his finger. The ranger waited for the same reaction as Faylen’s, upon touching the crystal, but the elf stood proud, unaffected.
“Where is the rest of it?” Alidyr asked with shining gold eyes.
Asher spat blood on the floor between them. “I threw it into The Adean!” he lied. The ranger had abandoned the gem in a far worse place than than the ocean.
Alidyr snarled and swept his hand across the fallen pillar. With his powers amplified, the marble column flew into the air and snapped in half, sending more debris in every direction.
“Fool!” Alidyr’s anger subsided quickly and he turned on them with a wicked smile. “An especially big fool if you think the depths of The Adean are beyond my master’s grasp.” The dark elf surveyed the broken companions, sheltering Elaith’s dead body. “It seems to me that this city has stood for too long as a monument to Valanis’s defeat. I think it’s time to move on. After all, a new age is upon us...” Alidyr raised his hands dramatically and unleashed his magic.
The dome cracked and the city’s very foundations shook. Giant slabs of stone fell all around, threatening to crush them. The pillars split and wobbled and dust rained down in the great hall. Alidyr laughed throughout it all, before he stepped into a portal and vanished from sight.
Asher cursed the elf and turned to his friends with a new look of determination. They wouldn’t die in here! Nathaniel and Reyna had tears running down their faces and Faylen looked a broken elf. Elaith lay between them all, so very still.
“Follow me!” Asher picked up Alidyr’s short-sword and hooked an arm under Faylen to bring her with him.
With his life in the balance, Asher’s mind found it easier to recall the memories he needed to save his friends. They ran through the corridors and halls without saying a word. Nathaniel followed behind them all with Elaith in his arms.
The city crumbled around them, as pillars fell and staircases split down the middle. Those frozen in the Amber spell were buried under the rubble. Asher kicked the door to the kitchens open and charged in, searching the floor for the hidden trap. His heart thundered in his chest when the hatch opened into a darkened tunnel.
“This way!” The ranger huddled them all down the hatch, until he took Elaith from Nathaniel’s arms. Once the knight was down, Asher carefully lowered her body.
The ground shook, knocking the ranger aside while he climbed down. Faylen picked him up and offered her own expression of resolve. The companions ran down the tunnel, where a familiar wooden door with a small window at the top waited for them. Reyna kicked the door off its hinges and they ran into the swamp.
“Quickly!” the princess urged.
The four of them ran for what felt like an age, until they found hard ground on the edge of The Wild Moores. Exhausted and out of breath, Nathaniel dropped to his knees with Elaith still in his arms. Through laboured breaths, they looked back, witnessing the destruction of Elethiah, as it was razed to the ground in a cloud of dust and rubble.
Asher hefted Alidyr’s hour-glass blade and stared at the blood that stained the steel. Elaith’s blood.
“He’s alive... Valanis is alive,” Reyna said in disbelief.
“And he has the gem...” Faylen added in dismay.
Asher threw the sword into the ground and continued to watch Elethiah fall into the earth in a great plume of smoke and dust. If Alidyr was capable of collapsing an entire city with the gem, what was Valanis capable of?
Epilogue
The dark halls of Kaliban were frozen and covered in several sheets of ice. Snow blew through most of the corridors, having breached the paneless windows and broken doors. Set high in the Vengora Mountains, to the north, the fortress was virtually inaccessible to any who weren’t masters in the art of magic, though Alidyr was confident that even Korkanath’s Magikar would struggle to find a way inside.
The stone and masonry soon gave way to jagged rock, as the dark elf entered the depths of his master’s home. It wasn’t long before he left Kaliban far behind and entered a series of cave networks that would confuse any human. The magic that ebbed within these caves distorted Verda’s pull, making up become down. To untrained eyes it would appear as if the elf was walking up the walls and along the roof of the caves.
A sweet smell found his nostrils and Alidyr knew he was home. A cavern the size of the Hall of Life lay before him, shimmering with the thirteen pools of Naius. The water looked to be made from the purest of crystals, setting the cavern alight. The pools surrounded him, with some on the roof of the cavern and others climbing the walls.
Thallan stepped out from behind a glittering stalagmite, his shoulder healed. The dark elf said nothing, but simply stared at Alidyr and his clenched fist, sensing what was within his grasp. Samandriel and Nakir appeared from behind another stalagmite, on the other side of the central and largest pool. The three of them had offered their power to Valanis, helping to fuel the mighty storm that they had dragged across the land, guiding their enemies. Seeing his brothers and sister only reminded him of the blade he had lost. The twin to his gifted set now lay under the rubble of Elethiah. In his joy to wield the power of the gem, he had simply forgotten to retrieve the short-sword: an oversight he now greatly regretted. It had felt satisfying however, to kill the young knight who had stabbed him at West Fellion.
The Hand bowed their heads out of respect for their leader, finally restored to his rightful position after Valanis had stripped him of it, upon his return to the living. The master had been upset with Alidyr for his failure to find the gem in his absence, but that was about to change.
Alidyr strode to the edge of the shimmering pool and genuflected, with his head bowed low. The pain in his leg was beginning to fade, as Reaver’s magic finally lost its bite. He offered out his hand and revealed the ranger’s silver ring.
“I have returned it, as promised, Master. Paldora’s gem is finally yours...”
The pool of pure magic rippled, giving way to the greatest elf who ever lived. His naked body sparkled and hummed with the magic that he contained. Flowing blond hair fell over his muscled back, as he lifted his head and locked two brilliant, purple eyes with Ali
dyr, before shifting to the ring. Without any sign of gratitude, as none was required, Valanis held out his hand and commanded the ring to jump from the General’s hand and onto his finger. The master clenched his fist and marvelled at the black crystal. The constant hum surrounding his body died down, while his skin lost its glow and returned to its normal shade.
Alidyr quickly backed away, as Valanis took his first step outside of the pool in forty years. The Hand dropped to their knees and bowed their heads in awe. For the first time in over a thousand years, Alidyr saw his master’s wicked smile.
Coming Soon...
ECHOES
OF
FATE
BOOK TWO
EMPIRE OF DIRT
By
Philip C. Quaintrell
Read on for Prologue
PROLOGUE
The battle of Elethiah could be heard for miles around. The clash of elven steel resounded on both sides of the city walls, while ballista hurled giant flaming stones into the towering spires, creating chaos and raining debris on the citizens below. The cries of death and rage filled the cool night air, as dragons swarmed the sky and set the battlefield alight with their deadly breath.
But Valanis couldn’t hear any of it.
The king of elves, Gorvandil Sevari, lay dead at Valanis’s feet, his queen not three feet away, having met a similar fate. The dark elf paid them no heed, but instead looked long and hard into the startling blue eyes of Lady Syla, who gasped for breath in his merciless grip. The elven hero had caused Valanis’s campaign many set-backs with her tenacity and legendary skill. It pleased the dark elf to feel her life ebb away, her eyes pleading to live. It only served to amuse Valanis all the more, to know that in their final moments, even the greatest of warriors feared death. Feared him.
“You cannot fight fate. The gods have already written the end of this story,” Valanis whispered into her ear. Before she could gasp her last breath, the dark elf broke her neck and dropped her to the cold floor.
Rise of the Ranger (Echoes of Fate: Book 1) Page 49