by T. K. Chapin
“Someone stole them. Don’t get in my face Amon. We might be friends, but I’ll squash you like a bug if you ever get in my face like that again. However, on your way to Eken, stop along the Dustwallow Pass where you see a triangular rock laying on top of a round rock along the side of the path. It’s rather big and hard to miss. I marked the entrance into the cavern I have been picking the black diamonds.” Amon sighed with relief and a smile.
“It’s not time to relax yet my friend,” Haden said lending Amon a hand as he pulled him up off the floor. “I had to take a high powered wizard with me to clean out that place. Chances are there are even more spiders in there.”
“We should get going so we can get out of here before all the guards return in the morning to patrol,” Katlynn said.
“You will be fine to leave right before dawn,” Haden said insistently.
“Why can’t you come with us to the mine?” Amon asked curiously.
“Those pesky guards have me on logging duty. They think because I’m a giant they can just make me carry logs from the mountain,” Haden grunted.
“Sounds like they are making you,” Amon laughed.
“That is true, but not for much longer. I have plans to leave Elvark and head to New Haven just outside of Silvermeer.” Amon’s eyes lit up at the sound of the city of Silvermeer.
“Really? Are you going to try out for the New Haven arena and get into a guild within Silvermeer?” Amon asked. Katlynn had no idea what they were talking about, but listened closely.
“Yeah, I think I have a good shot going up against the cave bear.”
“Cave bear?” Katlynn asked.
“The cave bear is a magical bear that guards the treasure room of the New Haven arena. It can never be killed permanently; it will just respawn a few hours later to protect the new treasure. It’s rumored that Omad put the bear there to protect the treasure room.”
“What’s in the treasure room?” Katlynn asked intrigued.
“A shimmering black flag, along with a few random helpful items. The flag is the key to getting a shot at the Guild try-outs.”
“Wow…” Katlynn said in amazement.
“You two must be hungry, let me prepare you some food,” Haden said leading them into the kitchen. As they sat down at the table, Katlynn noticed a bow in the table and her chair was squeaky. This must be wormwood wood… Turning back to Amon and Katlynn as they sat, Haden said, “Sorry about the crappy table and chairs, it’s the only type of wood that will support my weight.”
“No need to apologize,” Amon said smiling.
After eating a hearty helping of grimly turtle soup, they retired for the evening to the spare room Haden had prepared for them. Katlynn sat on the bed and pulled out her mandolin and song sheets. Reading the different songs, she found a Song of Mana Regeneration. I wonder if that means Amon wouldn’t need a black diamond? Katlynn began practicing the song as Amon stayed out talking to Haden in the main area of the home. After a few practices, she went to another song sheet. Song of Discord was the one she began to try next, I wonder what this one does. She practiced for a short time before Amon came into the room.
“There’s a song sheet here that’s called Song of Mana Regeneration… Does that mean I could regenerate your mana without you needing a black diamond?” Katlynn asked as Amon set his pouch down on the table.
“Yep, it regenerates a bit slower than with a black diamond, but it still works! Pretty neat spell. I’ve had it cast once on me when I was up in Khazar for a Curo festival.”
“That’s exciting!” Katlynn said. They laid their heads down to rest and found slumber rather quickly from exhaustion of their travels.
Chapter 12
Just before day-break, Amon woke Katlynn up with a kiss on the cheek. Smiling, she turned over and their lips met. Pulling him down next to her, she kissed his cheek and then his ear. “I love you,” she whispered smiling. Standing up from the bed as she tried to pull him back down, Amon laughed.
“I love you also!” He said chuckling.
“Shhh!” Katlynn said smiling as she got up from the bed. “We don’t want to wake Haden… He has a long day of logging ahead of him.” Amon nodded as they gathered their supplies and headed for the back door.
Peering out through the crystalline window, Amon saw nobody in sight in the low light of the early morning. Sneaking out, they shut the door quietly and proceeded up over the ridge out of town that led into the canyon pass of Dustwallow.
Journeying through the canyon as the sun rose behind them; they searched along the sides of the Dustwallow Pass for the rocks that Haden had mentioned. Deep within the pass they traveled until they were able to find them.
“Here!” Amon said excitedly. Katlynn rushed over and helped him attempt to push the boulder out of the way. “It’s too heavy,” Amon said out of breath. Glancing at his lone black diamond in his pouch, he looked to Katlynn. “Should I recharge my mana? I can cast a Might spell on both of us if I recharge my mana otherwise we aren’t going to get into that cavern…”
“Yeah, you better do it. Otherwise we would only have one black diamond for the rest of the trip.”
“Which doesn’t bode well for the Darkwood Forest that lies beyond this pass, it would surely kill us without me having mana.” Amon set his pouch down and pulled out the black diamond. Drawing the energy from it, he recharged all his mana. Raising both his hands up into the air, Amon spoke a few words of a prayer and brought his hands together in front of his face. As his fingers touched, a beaming light shot from between his hands and surrounded them both in a golden shimmer of flakes that rained down. Katlynn’s muscles began to swell in strength and the power surged through her veins.
“I feel…” Katlynn looked, at both of her arms as they bulged, “Amazing!” she shouted. Amon chuckled softly at her as she flexed for a moment. “Let’s do this!” she said grabbing hold of a side of the boulder. Amon joined her and they pushed the boulder off the entrance of the cavern with ease.
A musky earthen smell mixed with a scent of something dead rose from the hole in the ground beneath the rock. The stench overwhelmed Katlynn for a moment causing her to step a few paces back. “That smell is rancid,” Amon said looking back at Katlynn. “Come on Katlynn,” he said as he climbed into the hole. Katlynn slowly walked back over to the hole and climbed in.
“Amon! There’s no light! Come on!” Katlynn said trying to get her footing on the soft mysterious mound to climb back out. “Something just crawled up my arm! I’m out of here!” Katlynn said climbing back out of the hole. Katlynn looked down through the hole trying to see Amon. The glow from his mysterious item gave Katlynn a visualization of Amon about twenty feet away. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m feeling the wall for a switch. There’s usually a switch or lever in these caverns to light torches.” Listening as Amon felt the walls, he continued, “It’s not like Haden has the ability to cast a light spell, he has very few spells he can cast.”
“Could he bring a lantern though?” Katlynn asked.
“I suppose that’s an option too,” Amon laughed. The sound of hissing could faintly be heard in the distance.
“That doesn’t sound like a good sound Amon!” Katlynn whispered loudly. Suddenly a clicking sound of something locking into place could be heard followed by torches lighting in the far reaching distance of the cavern. Torches along the sides of the tunnel lit one after another on each of the sides towards the direction of Amon.
Then the torches near Amon lit revealing a spider hissing only a few feet from him. With a face that met Amon’s eye level and fangs that dripped spidery juices, Amon screamed running back towards the exit. Katlynn held out her hand as he scampered up the pile of dirt. Reaching out to grab hold of Katlynn’s hand his fingers were just to Katlynn’s when the spider raised one of its legs and drove the sharp end into Amon’s calf pulling him back. Screaming as the spider pulled him, he reached out scratching at the cavern floor digging into the d
irt as the spider dragged him off around a corner and out of sight.
Katlynn jumped into the hole and began chasing after the spider and Amon. Whipping around the corner, she saw the spider climb into another hole that went deeper into the ground. “Stop!” Katlynn screamed darting down the cavern’s tunnel towards the spider. The disgusting smell of the cavern and the fear of spiders she had was left behind at the entrance as she feared for the life of her beloved Amon. As she came to the hole she leaped through the air and jumped straight down without any hesitation.
Falling flat on her butt, Katlynn jumped up and found herself in a dimly lit room within the cavern. “Amon!” She shouted, her voice echoed off the cavern walls as she reached out into the darkness trying to feel for a wall or anything to help her identify her surroundings. Finding a wall, she touched it as she moved. The faint screams of her love Amon could be heard off in the distance but they fell silent. Running as fast as she could, she ran in the direction from which the screams were coming. Turning another corner, she spotted Amon in the center of a cavern room that had the sunshine shining down on him from above. Glancing up as she approached, Katlynn could see green moss lining the cavern walls leading to the opening in the earth’s crust. The sound of water dripping echoed throughout the cavern.
Amon was not moving as she approached him. Is he dead? Katlynn wondered as she hurried closer to him. The spider appeared on the cavern wall up above hissing at Katlynn as she approached Amon’s motionless body. Running to him the rest of the way, Katlynn collapsed on her knees and turned Amon onto his back.
“Amon!” Katlynn shouted picking up his head from the moist cavern floor. “Wake up!” she screamed shaking him. Looking up at the spider she saw it spinning a web across the cavern’s opening. Glancing back down at Amon, Katlynn realized Amon was going to be the spider’s breakfast. Searching Amon for anything that might help her, she opened the pouch where he had been holding the secret item. Pulling it out, she discovered it was a oval stone of some sort. The stone was a yellowish goldish color as a red fire burned inside swirling in a vortex. What is it? Katlynn thought. Pushing it out of her mind, she continued looking for anything helpful. Looking up, she saw the spider was almost finished with the web.
Screaming in frustration as she ran out of options, she sat back on the wet cavern floor and heard her mandolin scrap against the rock beneath her. My mandolin… Pulling her mandolin to her front side, she blazed through the Song of Fusion, triggering the notes to echo through the cavern as they traveled upwards. As the song finished, as she strummed the final note, her essence fused with Mel’oki and a neon blue stream of magic surged through her mandolin and traveled through her fingers engulfing her in Bardic magic. An explosion shot through her as bolts of energy shot from every part of her body.
Pulling out the Song of Discord as the spider traveled down the cavern wall. Katlynn began to play the song. Red notes traveled from her mandolin and floated through the cavern towards the spider. As she played faster, she played through the entirety of the song, and the final note played that was red infused with gold. As it struck the spider, the spider dropped from the cavern wall and fell onto its back in the cavern. Sighing in relief, she began to flip to the Song of Purification and play it. Noticing the spider turn right side up, Katlynn fudged a note and broke the harmony.
“Dang it!” Katlynn said looking over at the spider, which she saw was still confused from the Song of Discord, crawling around in circles. As Katlynn finished playing the Song of Purification, a green note came from the mandolin that was fused with blue and purple and as it danced across Amon’s body, blackness surfaced from Amon’s body and into the note. The note floated up and out of the cavern out of sight. Dropping her mandolin, she grabbed Amon as he coughed and woke up. “Amon!” she shouted.
“Katlynn…” Amon said looking up at her with a weak voice. “What happened?”
“There’s no time to chat, I need you to cast a spiritual hammer at the spider!” Katlynn yelled pointing over the confused spider. Leaning over on his side, he shook his head.
“I don’t have any mana…” Amon dropped his head back to the ground. Katlynn slapped Amon in the face to try to get him to wake up but he was non-responsive. Fumbling through her songs, she thought I could do the Song of Regeneration for Amon… but wait, it’s not going to regenerate him quick enough! She then tried to find one that was offensive but couldn’t find any. Frustration boiled inside her veins as she growled from declining success. Glancing down at the Song of Might she wondered if she was strong enough to hurt the spider with both her might and Amon’s might spell that was still active on her.
Standing up with her mandolin in hand, she played the Song of Might. Musical notes danced around her and moved with the beat of the music circling her faster and faster until the final note played. The note was white and charged with gold as it touched the stream of the other golden notes. The circle spun faster and exploded raining a dusting of white that absorbed into her skin infusing her muscles with strength.
Katlynn bent down and kissed Amon’s cheek. “I love you,” she said softly as she arose. Looking at the spider as the confusion wore off, a little bit of fear shook through her body. Pushing it aside for the sake of her own life and that of her lover, she approached the spider with mandolin in hand.
The spider began to sprint towards Katlynn and leaped into the air. Looking up as if it were in slow motion, Katlynn could see the massive span of the spiders legs reach at least twelve feet in diameter as he came towards her. As it descended within inches of her, Katlynn with all of her strength shoved the mandolin’s head upwards into the underside of the spider, jumping as she pushed; she ripped the spider in half.
Landing on her feet, Katlynn was covered in spider guts. Feeling faint from the spell casting, she collapsed in exhaustion.
Chapter 13
Opening her eyes, Katlynn saw Amon sitting next to her holding her hand that had the ring on it. Smiling, she looked up and met his eyes. “You’re okay,” she said as she started to sit up.
“Only because of you my love,” he said smiling. Katlynn saw his smile fall away as his eyes looked over at the mandolin. “I sure hope the world didn’t need you to cast that spell to prevent a dragon egg.”
“It doesn’t matter Amon, I wouldn’t have let you die,” Katlynn said with a shortness of breath. Amon reached into his pouch and pulled out a black diamond.
“Here, let me show you how to draw the power from one of these,” Amon said taking her hand and resting it on top of the black diamond. “I gathered these while you were still unconscious.” Using his hand as a guide, he moved her fingers to grip the grooves in the diamond. His touch was delicate and warmed Katlynn’s heart. “Close your eyes and try to let the energy flow from the diamond into you.”
Katlynn closed her eyes and tried, but failed. “I don’t get…” Katlynn said.
“You have to relax your entire mind. It can be difficult. Just let everything go,” Amon said pressing her fingers back against the diamond. Closing her eyes again, Katlynn tried to relax her mind. She let every worry, concern and bothersome thoughts leave her until there was nothing left.
Opening her eyes, she found the black diamond to be partially depleted. “I did it!” Katlynn said. “Partially I suppose…” She looked at Amon, with disappointment in herself.
“You did great. It takes time and practice, I’d just use your Song of Mana Regeneration to heal your mana the rest of the way,” Amon said grabbing her mandolin and handing it to her.
Katlynn grabbed the song sheet and played the song. Blue notes hummed from the mandolin and circled around the both of them. With the last note, it fused with electricity and sizzled before exploding over them a dusting of white sparkles that shimmered in the light of the opening of the cavern. Katlynn could feel her mana energy levels return to her and she arose to her feet.
“I saw your… secret… I don’t really understand what it is,” Katlynn said. Amon loo
ked down shaking his head.
“That’s why I didn’t want to show it to you… Seeing the stone is not the issue, it’s the explaining part I didn’t want to do.”
“What do you mean?” Katlynn asked grabbing his hand. “You can tell me anything Amon, you know that…”
“That stone is not just any stone… It’s a very rare stone that is only found up in the Fireblade Mountains. They are rather hard to come by.”
“So? Why would that matter?”
“It was my father’s stone. When I was given to the priests as an infant, it was the only thing I came with along with a note from my father saying that the stone shall remain in my possession at all times.”
“…Ok?”
“I’m using the stone as a gift offering to the Elders of Eken for admittance into the city.”
“What, why? I thought you said we could go there regardless?” Katlynn said angered.
“That’s usually the case… but I worry with the king being involved, we won’t be able to get them to go against his order unless we can sway them… thus the reason for the stone.”