by Tony Corden
“If we do nothing then I doubt it. I imagine he will try and keep her and then look to exchange me for her. He’ll try and get us both so he can boast he won. But that isn’t going to happen. We will take precautions, and she should be home after lunch on Thursday, whatever happens.”
“She won’t let herself be swapped for you, and you know that.”
“I know she won’t. I’m going to head back into the Pod, what are you going to do?”
“Can I borrow some money?”
“Sure, how much and what for?”
“Enough for a PAI and chip. I won’t let Lin feel bad or different. We’ve always done things together, and this is just one more thing.”
Leah hugged her dad and said she would have Gèng transfer the money and arrange for two more Pods.
Leah opened her eyes and found herself back in the spherical Cavern and sat up. Almost immediately she was pushed back onto the stone as Zarif crashed into her. “Where have you been? You’ve been lying dead for hours and hours. Taskin wanted to drop you down the hole for dead Elfauns, but I wouldn’t let him. You didn’t smell like you were dead. You didn’t breathe.”
Slowly Leah sat up and repositioned Zarif on her lap. She took some more bread from her bag and said, “I’m sorry I worried you, I did tell you I wouldn’t move. I was somewhere else, and it took a long time. I’m back for a while but will go away again after it gets dark.”
“What do you want to do? We can go get food. You distract them, and I’ll take it. They’ll all look at you, and I bet I could take anything and they won’t notice.”
“That is one idea, but I don’t want people to see me just yet. What I need to do is to look for a bell.”
“There are bells in the market. How big a bell do you want? I can’t carry one but Taskin can. So can Cesur.”
“This is a special bell. It will be where there are lots of the straight-horns.”
“We should ask Cesur; he knows lots of things.”
Zarif grabbed Leah by the hand, and together they walked over to a small group of young Elfauns who were looking at the big stranger with a little trepidation. Leah sat down so she was closer to their height. Zarif said, “Atherleah wants to find a special bell. It’s where the straight horns live. I said you might know, Cesur.”
Zarif looked and acted like she was young, maybe five years old. Cesur was one of the older ones and looked to be about nine. He puffed his chest out a little and said, “I might, I might know about a bell in the Mage area. But what is in it for me?”
Leah said, “Nothing Cesur. I don’t promise anything for the information. If the bell is the one I want and the Mages catch me I don’t want to be forced to say something like, ‘Cesur, he is the one who told me, he made me pay him for the information.’ That would be no good for you at all. I will give you some coin right now, not for the information but because Zarif says that you and Taskin help her so I will give it to you so you can keep helping her.”
Leah took two silver coins Elfaun coins from her bag and handed one to Cesur and one to Taskin who she remembered from the night before.
Cesur was quick to grab the coin, but after a few seconds, he said, “I don’t know where the bell is. But one of the bigger boys, he sneaks around the rich areas, I once heard him say he once found a hole that’s near the place where the Mages meet.”
“Could you take me to him?”
“For another silver!”
Leah just stared at him steadily until he said, “I can take you, but you won’t fit in the hole, you are too big.”
“That’s ok; I can also disappear and follow you through the small places. If you promise not to be too frightened, then I can show you.”
“I’m not scared.”
Leah held out her hand and Misted from the elbow down. A couple of the younger ones squealed, but most just stared. Leah let her arm reform. She said, “I can do that with my whole body.”
Taskin said, “You’d make a great thief. You could sneak anywhere and get all the food you wanted.”
Leah said, “I could, couldn’t I? But stealing isn’t always the best way. I know why you do it when you’re hungry, but when you aren’t hungry then it is better to work for money or food.”
“Why?”
“Because what you are taking belongs to someone else. How would you feel if someone took what belonged to you?”
For the next few minutes Leah had to listen to all the things the kids had had taken from them; parents, homes, brothers, sisters, clothes, food, and even some who had stories they wouldn’t share, but she could see the suffering in their eyes. Finally, she said, “Nobody likes having their stuff taken, even people who don’t need or even use it. They don’t like it being taken even more. I took something from someone like that. They are horrible people, and when I took their stuff, they got so mad at me they even stole my mum to make me give it back. I think if you are hungry and need something to live, then I can understand why you might take something from someone who has more than they need. But never take from people who are the same as you. If you take their stuff, then they suffer just like you.”
All the kids nodded in understanding.
Leah shared her remaining food with them and said goodbye to Zarif. Leah promised to come and visit her at least one more time. Then Leah Misted and followed Cesur through the tunnels. The trip to the older boys’ cavern took thirty minutes, and when he got close, Cesur said, “I’ll go warn them, they can be mean.”
Leah followed and listened as Cesur explained why he was there. Although the bigger boys didn’t believe him, they said they would not try and kill the person he had brought. Leah didn’t want them to know of her Mist ability, so she moved to the hole entrance and when called out by Cesur she un-Misted her body slowly starting with one leg. It looked like Leah stepped out of the hole.
The boys all grabbed for their weapons. Leah raised her hands and said, “Careful; I don’t want anyone to get hurt here, especially not Cesur or you guys. Look, I just want to say that I am happy to reward the person who can help me find that bell.”
“Why do you reward them and not me?”
“I never said I wouldn’t reward you. I only said I wouldn’t pay you because you asked. Let’s see if we can find it first.”
One of the older boys stepped forward. Leah guessed he was only a few years younger than her, maybe Conner’s age. She knew she would never want Conner to be forced to live in a place like this. He said, “There is a hole that goes over the top of the mages’ main hall. There is a small crack that you can just see through. I haven’t been there for a few years because I’m too heavy these days and I was worried I could fall through. When I used to look through the hole, I could see most of the room. In the centre is a bell that's taller than a mage standing straight. No one goes near it.”
Leah said, “Will you lead me most of the way?”
“You're too big. You’d fall through the roof.”
“I'm sure I'll be okay, but I’ll pay you when we get close just in case.”
“Deal.”
Leah led Cesur back to the hole they had come from. Giving him another silver, she said, “You go back to the others. I know the way now, and I’ll come and visit you in a few days if I can.”
After he’d left she said to the one who knew the way, “So, what’s your name?”
“I’d prefer not to tell you. I don't want my name ever to reach the mages ears.”
Leah nodded and said, “Fine, you go first, and I’ll follow. You won’t be able to see me, but I will be there. When you get close, you point out the direction, and then I’ll pay you. Deal?”
“Deal. Except I want to know how I’m supposed to let you squeeze past me. I’m almost too big to fit in the tunnels by myself.”
“Leave it to me. I promise it’ll be all right.”
He turned and wriggled into one of the holes. He'd spoken the truth as he was almost too big, but he’d been doing this for years and was able to move e
ven faster than Cesur had. Leah Misted as she stepped into the hole. This journey was much longer and complicated than either of the other times she'd travelled through the tunnels. Several times they passed through the strange spherical caverns and once they had to turn back because a small rockfall had closed the way. The boy seemed to know all the tunnels, and he quickly backtracked and changed tunnels. Altogether it was over an hour and a half before he stopped and said in a whisper, “The hole in the roof is up ahead. It's about thirty paces from here.”
Leah Misted past him and un-Misted her face and arms in front of him and said, “Thanks, here are two silver pieces. If I can, I’ll give you another two when I return to see a friend in the tunnels. You have been brave and truthful. Thank you for helping me.”
As she Misted away, she heard him say quietly, “My name is Mirasçi.”
She moved toward the small ray of light which shone through a small crack in the tunnel wall. Below her was a large reception hall. At one end was a large throne with two smaller ones on either side. Several paces in front of them was a replica of the throne, but it had four chairs on either side. Three of these had mages sitting in them. They were talking to several of the big enforcers. Various groups of Elfaun Lords and Ladies watched from the edges of the room.
Other mages wandered in and out of several doors. At the opposite end to the thrones, Leah could just make out an open doorway easily six times larger than average. Ten Elfaun Warriors stood in a row across the open doorway, preventing anyone from entering. As she watched, the mages and enforcers finished their conversation, and a mage sent a small ball of light across the room. It crashed into the lintel of the doorway and dissolved in smoke and a sound of bells ringing. The warriors gestured to someone beyond the door, and a well dressed Common Elfaun made his way toward the three mages.
He was careful to walk along the edge of the room, for in the middle stood the bell. It was bronze and mounted on a gold-plated wooden frame. The stand was engraved with intricate designs of flowers, fruit, birds and other forest scenes. The bell itself was inscribed with text that began at the crown and extended two-thirds of the way toward the lip. The lower third was unmarked. If the Elfaun had decided to walk through the centre of the room he could have done so without any trouble. The bell was suspended well above head height. Leah estimated its diameter to be just over three paces.
Leah pondered the right course of action but decided that ringing the bell had precedence over reconnoitring, talking, or fighting. The mage the previous day had sensed her presence, and she wanted to ring the bell before anyone could stop her. She Misted through the hole and dropped straight toward the bell. When she was a few metres from the ground, she began to un-Mist and landed one step from the bell. Before any of the Elfauns had even registered her presence, she reached into the bell’s mouth, but her plan came unstuck when she discovered there was no clapper attached.
Several to the Lords and Ladies must have seen her because she heard loud cries coming from the edges of the room. Ignoring the cries, she stood still for a moment, thinking. Then, bringing her hands low down near her knees, she equipped Merdiven. She remained like this for a few seconds and reflected on all she knew of sound and its production. Calming herself, she pushed her mana out through her hands and into Merdiven as she used all her strength to bring the staff up in an arc over her head, so that the Morningstar came crashing down on the sound-bow at the base of the bell.
The resulting sound drove her to her knees; it was an intense, pure, low note that continued on and on. Rather than fading as she expected, the sound slowly increased as the spell extended and amplified the sound, her Mana and Merdiven’s combining with the inherent magic of the Bell. Leah could feel the vibrations pummel her and slowly her knees gave way. Gradually, she was driven to lie prone on the ground. She clapped her hands over her ears, but it achieved nothing as her body began to vibrate in resonance with the bell as it began to absorb the power and magic which were embedded in the note.
The effect on the hall was no less dramatic. Every Elfaun reeled from the physical wave of sound that rolled over them. As the note became louder, most grasped their ears and attempted to crawl into a ball to hide from the noise. Some fled, or they tried to. The sound outpaced them as it rushed through the building and into the valley. Like a flood it swept away everything in its path; nothing was left untouched. No Elfaun in the valley was left standing, even Zarif deep in the mountain curled into a ball to keep out the sound. Even further under the ground the ‘worms’ felt the vibration and began to rock in synchrony. In the largest and deepest of the wormholes, Büyük, the progenitor of all worms, stirred as its body began to move in harmony; then it began to hum.
The note raced through the tunnel, shredding the wards and filled the Dryad Valley. Mìng felt Leah’s anguish just moments before the sound washed over her. The valley acted like a giant gramophone horn and the Royal Bell of Ascension’s greatest ever note of power echoed across the mountains and spilled over into the lowlands. In the whole of the Elfaun valley, only Mirasçi was able to resist the pressure of the bell’s toll for a moment; he stood resolute, the sound breaking against his will. But it was too powerful and finally, after several seconds, he too succumbed to the overwhelming vibration and fell to his knees.
Leah body absorbed the full force of the bell’s power, absorbing more energy than it could safely hold. After several minutes she opened her eyes and by sheer determination slowly took control of her muscles and stopped herself vibrating in time with the bell. As she slowly achieved control, the excess energy was pushed from her body. It exited in waves that were out-of-phase with the ringing bell. As the energy was released, so was the pain, and Leah slowly stood. The out-of-sync pulses crashed into the bell and began to reduce the amplitude of the vibrations until the sound finally tapered off and there was silence. Leah looked around the room — every Elfaun, even the Magi, when they saw her standing beneath the bell dropped to their knees and bowed their heads when they saw her standing beneath the bell.
Before she could step out from under the now silent bell, everything froze. Looking around she saw Emil striding toward her, and he looked more angry and frustrated than she had ever seen him. His voice was almost a shout. “You! Are! A! Bloody! Catastrophe! And I don’t care one little bit about what has happened in the past. I just want to know if you have any idea what you have just done.”
“I rang a bell.”
“You rang a bell. You! Rang! A! Bell! When you say it, it sounds so normal, so everyday. You say it as if you haven’t just caused the biggest world-rewrite I’ve ever seen. You say that as if you hadn’t unravelled a storyline that’s been in the works for over ten years. You say that as if you haven’t a bloody clue what you have done.”
“I don’t. The quest said to ring a bell, so, I rang the bell.”
“Did you read the clues?”
“What clues?”
“The ones on the Merkize disc. The ones that explain this quest.”
“I read them, but I haven’t had the time to have a good look.”
“Well then, when you do have the time, you should read them. One of the first things you’ll discover is that you are supposed to have the Sceptre of Ascension to be able to ring the Bell of Ascension. You can get this, you’ll learn, from the heir to the throne, because his line has been waiting for this moment for centuries, no sorry, they have been waiting for millennia. You’ll also find out, if you read them, that your coming is the fulfilment of a prophecy which speaks of the return of the rightful rulers. And you’ll figure out that if you ring this bell as his champion, then you can claim the throne for the rightful king. All this you’ll become aware of when you read the clues.”
“To be honest, it sounds much easier just to whack it with my staff.”
“Oh, I forgot. You will also learn that nothing except the Sceptre of Ascension will ever ring the bell.”
“But it rang.”
“Yes, it rang. It ran
g when you whacked it with your staff. Oh, wait, but you didn’t, did you? You didn’t just whack it with your staff, did you? No! You used your skill of Mana Manipulation to cast a spell of sound with the intent of claiming the city, not for the heir, but for yourself. And you didn’t limit the spell in any way? Did you? No! Instead, you first activated your Ki and then you emptied both your considerable store of mana and your considerable store of Ki into that spell. Which, by the way, you have never done before, so kudos to you. And then, just to make sure, you cast the spell through one of the most powerful artefacts on the continent, thereby amplifying the effect beyond all measure. And still, you’re not done, you don’t just cast the spell, you don’t just toss it out. No, you use your full strength to smash the aforementioned powerful artefact into another powerful artefact, one that has been waiting the same number of aforementioned millennia to ring out in all of its 'not so insignificant' power. All of which means, that although we set limits on every restriction because we want people to be able to do what you just did, that we didn’t set them high enough. Except, in our defence, we set this limit so high because we never imagined in our wildest dreams, or in your case, our wildest nightmares, that anyone would be able to break that limit.”
“So. At least it worked. I reckon I’d be dead if it hadn’t.”
“If I had my way you would be.”
“Ha, you know deep down that that’s not true. But seriously, what happened?”
“Atherleah, I have been serious. Your actions destroyed years of work and planning. And I think I could live with that if that were all, but it’s not. Look, we want people to play their own game, and we know they won’t always do what we expect. The constant stream of small inconsistencies we deal with using some very powerful overwatch algorithms, they are AI really, and they watch for these inconsistencies, and they have the power to rewrite history if necessary. We purposefully use one of these in the Road of Kings trial. After every step, it changed what every single NPC desert-elf understood of history. It took their knowledge of a war and added your part in it. It was seamless. The desert elves really do have a racial hatred of you. These AI oversee every event and make sure the small things are dealt with.