“Probably some more evil human witchcraft no doubt.” Grubble mumbled, rubbing his jaw.
“What do these mean?” Corbin asked his brother pointing to the cameos above.
“It’s like a story retelling important events that occurred for the gnomes.” Bipp explained, having read about Acadian temples that did something similar with their windows. It made sense, the scenes seemed to depict the gnomes coming to Vanidriell and building the great city of Ul’kor, practicing their craft at creating many other ancient artifacts, story after story played out on the ivory carvings. The gnomes explored the land, searching high and low, until one day they came across the Great Crystal god Baetylus who graced them with his wisdom and warmth. From that day forth, they were devoted to his glory, reveling in the love and promise of an everlasting afterlife. The All-Father shimmered into view nearby Corbin, lovingly smiling at him.
“I… I can’t believe this… I never imagined…” Logan dropped his rifle to his side, deeply awestruck by the revelation; his skin grew pale as if he had seen a ghost.
“It truly is magnificent is it not?” Corbin wondered aloud, while the All-Father laughed warmly beside him. “Bipp I had no idea your people followed the teachings of Baetylus, why didn’t you join me any of the times I was in prayer?”
Grubble scrunched his face looking at him, while Bipp furrowed his brow, as if he just asked him the question in a foreign language.
“Corbin... what in the seven worlds are you talking about?” Logan asked incredulously, while emphatically gesturing at the scenes. “Don’t you understand what this means?”
Baetylus silently nodded his head, looking up at the reliefs in pride. “Of course, I’m being foolish, this place is centuries old and your people have forgotten most of the teachings learned here. What was I thinking? But now that you see… now that we know, we can be heralds to a new age in Vanidriell. Your people can become one with the Great god Baetylus once more, and the broken bonds between our races can finally be restored.” Corbin felt silly for not seeing it clearer.
His brother looked to the gnomes then back at him flabbergasted. “I think he’s had mental break, lads.” Grubble said, honestly looking concerned for him.
Logan strode over and backhanded him squarely in the jaw, shocking him to his senses. It was like having a cold pail of river water dumped over you while you slept. “Snap out of it Corbin, this is serious!” Logan yelled, grabbing his head and forcibly directing his gaze back up at the cameos.
This time it was as if they were fuzzy or unfocused somehow. Corbin squinted and rubbed his eyes to make them out better, they were high up after all. The gnomes came into Vanidriell ages ago; they built great cities, starting with Ul’kor. They practiced deep ancient magic, tapping into the secrets of the universe and pushed the boundaries of their sciences, propelling technology vastly with the insight of mankind who later joined them. There was a carving of Arch Councilor Zacharia himself and the rest of the council of Twelve making a pact with the gnomes!
“But how can that be, these ruins are ancient, how would the Elders have been here?” he denied, continuing to look at the next scene.
And then together they crafted their crowning achievement the Great Sentient Baetylus, a tool to bring life to the wilds and spread their kingdom even further into the desolate caverns of Vanidriell. With this mighty creation, they could sustain plant and animal life in previously uninhabitable regions of Vanidriell. However, over time, the council turned their back on the gnome’s warnings and shut themselves away from the rest of the land.
Corbin shoved his brother away, staggering back in disbelief. This had to be a trick, some mistake! Baetylus was still laughing, but there was a different edge to it, like the keen gloating of a crocodile that was just enjoying the feast, mocking Corbin from across the room.
“All-Father this can’t be true, how can you be a creation of the gnomes?” Corbin turned to his Lord, loudly denying the truth, pleading with his all-mighty god to confirm it was false.
“Oooh… the lad has surely had a mental break…. he’s even talking to himself now.” Grubble remarked, troubled by the man’s reaction.
Baetylus’ cackling swelled and lines of energy began to flow from Corbin’s body feeding the symbiotic monstrosity. The air swelled in a spiral around the white robed man, whipping the companions clothing and hair toward him as his form grew brighter.
“Great Thorgar… where did he come from?!” Bipp shouted as the visage became visible to the entire group.
“Foolish puny mammal, you should have done as you were told! I warned you to get your brother back to Fal! I told you not to come here!” The voice roared in his mind and throughout the room. With both hands, Grubble heaved his mighty battle-axe, spinning in the air at the deity but it passed harmlessly through.
“You should have listened to your God, boy.” Baetylus boomed like the center of an inferno, his face morphing into a hideous otherworldly snarl. All the while, the false god’s mouth grew longer and longer, lips stretching to the floor and sucking in the air around them. Bipp fell to the ground being pulled in toward the sick gullet.
“Don’t do this, my Lord!” Corbin pleaded.
“It is too late, now you DIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!!” the Crystal roared with peels of twisted laughter as it crushed Corbin’s mind under the sheer power of its being with one massive blast, as easy as snuffing a candle. The visage exploded in the center of the room throwing their bodies hard into the wall behind. Corbin did not even have time to ponder his fate, as the wave of psionic energy tore through his exposed mind.
“By all the gods of Mytar, what in blazes was that?” Grubble groaned, pulling himself back to his feet.
Logan was sobbing in deep anguish, begging his brother to wake up as he crawled across the room to his limp body. Even the notoriously grouchy Grubble felt the strings of his heart pulled to hear the young man’s pain. Bipp just stood there, balancing himself against the wall to steady shaking legs, hopelessly watching his friend. Logan desperately felt for a pulse that he knew would not be there and wailed in utter despair, confirming that Corbin Walker was dead.
Baetylus cackling form slithered through the night, searching for the sleeping mind of the cobold shaman Burgoth. The filthy little monster rested at the feet of her master, the resident king of the Ul’kor ruins, dreaming of whipping her minions as they begged at her own hairy feet for glory. It was a little thing for the Great Crystal to interrupt the dream, much simpler than the suggestions he fed humans. With a thought, the whips morphed into snakes, turning to bite at her face. Burgoth threw the weapon into the fire. Eating her worshiper’s whole instead, the snakes slithered away from the flames down a long winding corridor. Chasing them the shaman could see their shadows sprawled across the walls. The silhouettes were in the shape of two gnomes and one human, all carrying sacks overflowing with shiny sparkly trinkets!
Burgoth snarled awake, bolting upright to call out for her apprentice as she roused the king from his own dreams of a gnome invasion. “Massster we haves some intruders.” Her snake-like tongue flickered with the dire implications. “They are in the old false King’sss chambers stealing our treasuress.”
The king shoved her away rolling out of bed and roaring for his men to raise the alarm and alert the city. They had intruders to hunt down.
Grubble was anxiously pacing in front of the massive doors to the King’s court, which he had pushed securely closed, slapping his battle-axe against his palm.
All around the city echoes of screeching cobolds could be heard howling in the night air. He knew the dogs were coming and it was only a matter of time before they were surrounded. He just knew that bloody Crystal had alerted their presence somehow. And the human, Logan, was no use to them, mourning over his brother in a nearly catatonic state. He just kept rocking back and forth holding the dead man’s head to his chest.
Meanwhile Bipp was frantically searching the room for an alternate rou
te. Going back out the gates of the castle was akin to suicide, they could not hope to hide from the hundreds of cobolds in that direction. Fighting was a death sentence, even as good a warrior as Grubble was, the odds were overwhelmingly stacked against them. He kept finding himself back at the invisible wall, kicking and cursing the damnable thing for blocking their exit.
What gnome worth his salt would build a great hall like this for a king without an escape route? Even a backwater trade port like Dudje had escape tunnels built under the mayor’s home. Sure, they were the same routes used to transport waste, but hey, what worked works.
That gave Bipp an idea, snapping his fingers he held a hand up circling the room. Another snap pointed to a specific tile. Running over to it, he happily giggled spotting what he was looking for. Eight ruins wove together to make a larger picture, etched into the solid marble. Waggling his stubby fingers, Bipp read them to figure out the right sequence then pushed down a couple into the floor. Each one clicked in place forming the insignia for the city engineers and the tile popped straight up from the floor, bobbing on a spring below.
Bipp whistled for Grubble to come over and together they turned the large tile counter clockwise, lifting it to reveal a tunnel. “These are the utility shafts!” Bipp said, excited at discovering ancient Ul’kor engineering. Outside the doors the sound of cobolds could be heard right in the hallway. They were screaming to kill the thieving gnomes.
“Get the human.” Grubble urged, thumbing over his shoulder.
“Logan we have to go now.” Bipp insisted to his mourning friend. Logan looked over, as if this was the first time he truly noticed Bipp standing there. His eyes filled with tears and held a distant, mournful focus.
“C’mon now, we have to be getting out of here!” Grubble shook the man out of his stupor. In the hallway, the cries of unlucky cobolds were followed by iron spears rattling against the stone walls. Bipp guessed that some of the approaching monsters had triggered the traps.
“I can’t leave him here all alone.” Logan said firmly.
“Ain’t said nothing ‘bout leaving no warrior behind.” the gnome gruffed, flinging Corbin’s body, like a sack of potatoes, over his shoulder. Bipp pulled on Logan’s sleeve insisting he follow them. The doors to the king’s court were rattling as something massive battered them. “The bastards must not know the combination to release the locking mechanism.” He growled.
Grubble hopped straight down into the hatch, disappearing from view with Corbin’s corpse. Once they were all in the cramped tunnel, Logan helped Bipp pull the large marble tile back in place overheard, turning clockwise to lock it. They were just in time as the doors burst inward, splinters of wood flying in all directions, followed by cobolds pouring into the room screaming for the death of the intruders.
Chapter 20
Elise sat alone in her drafty prison cell, mulling over the loss of Lady Cassandra. She was trying to understand why this all happened, and how it could be better for the kingdom. Trying to rationalize the insanity of it all, to somehow put it in the perspective of the Elders, who surely must have the best interest of the people in mind at all times.
She missed Corbin so much and wished he were there to tell her everything would be alright. Elise needed him to help her understand what was happening, and hold her tight. It had already been three weeks and the council made it clear that she would be the next execution should he not return with Logan by the week’s end. She tried to imagine what he would say to the Elders when he returned, how he would react to the news of her treatment by Fafnir. She could almost hear his voice in the back of her mind.
“Elise…”
“Yes, my love.” She imagined she was speaking to him.
“Elise…” The words became an actual whisper in her cell! What trickery could this be? Was she losing her mind, had the insanity that gripped the capitol found its way into her own heart?
“Corbin?” she tentatively asked aloud.
“ELISE.” The word tickled her neck, sending chills down her spine.
Corbin’s mind had wandered the wastes of Vanidriell searching for his love. He refused to go into the light, stubbornly insisting he warn her of the dangerous truth first.
“Elise, my darling.” Waves of emotion washed over her, simultaneously resonating his deep affection and profound sorrow. “I am dead.”
Elise sobbed, hearing the words uttered that she had dreaded since he first stepped outside the city.
“Do not cry, my dear, you must listen, I do not know how much time I have.” She nodded, stifling her anguish to hear his words. “Baetylus murdered me; the Great Crystal is a lie.” He tried to explain.
“I do not understand what you mean? Why would the All-Father murder you?” Corbin had long been a devoted follower of their god, working hard to live a life of goodness and rigidly abiding by the holy testaments.
Feeling that words could not adequately express his message and not knowing how long he had left, Corbin reached into his soul, using the psionic energy that he was wrapped in to communicate to her through images.
Elise let out a sharp breath, her head cocked up to the ceiling as eyes rolled back in her head. The memories played across her vision, she saw the All-Father reaching out to teach Corbin, to guide him along the path and save the people of Riverbell. As Corbin’s soul was forced from his corporeal form, he had locked minds for only an instant with the Crystal. However, in that short time he was able to see much of the beings past. The Crystal was created by the goodly gnome clerics of Ul’kor, as a way to bring the astral powers to Vanidriell. Their intentions were to help create life in some of the uninhabitable caverns, to make plants grow, and help animals survive. The Crystal was their crowning achievement and the king of Ul’kor praised the Cleric’s for its creation in a lavish ceremony.
From the time Baetylus was born, it could sense the beings around it. It tried to communicate with them, but none would talk back, so it sat alone in the light, only able to hear the world around but never participate. Over time, the Crystal gave itself the name Baetylus and longed to live life like those it served. It watched as the gnomes destroyed themselves, stood vigil as monstrous humanoids took over the city from which it was created. It watched as humans fled to Vanidriell from a power on the surface they could not match. Ah, but the humans, they were very different from the gnomes; it could communicate with them, not directly, but by swaying their thoughts. Soon after they arrived, the Crystal began to play with the new species like the gnome children played with toys. Baetylus rejoiced for the first time since it came into the world. Its happiness was short lived however, as the Crystal could interact with the humans but still could not speak directly to them.
Craving an end to the solitude, Baetylus devised a plan. It began to feed off the life energy of all animals in New Fal to gain strength. The sentient creatures offered a tastier morsel to its newfound hunger and as it fed off their energy, the Crystal grew larger and more powerful. To its annoyance, the gnomes began to become wary of their creation, warning the humans to stop the new religion, which was spreading through the land worshipping the construct. Baetylus would not tolerate the devious little gnomes’ disruptions. Why shouldn’t he be allowed to grow and communicate as they did?
Corbin watched in horror through Baetylus’ mind as he turned the humans on their peaceful friends, forcing any gnome who had influence out of the very lands they had created and expanded to help the surface refugees.
“This is horrific.” Elise gasped, shaking out of the trance.
“Baetylus is not a god, it is more like a leech, and the people of New Fal are prisoners as much as food for the abomination.” Corbin explained.
Elise was slightly overcome by this information, it was all a little too much for her to grasp. To think Corbin was dead, yet somehow speaking to her and that the All-Father was a false god. She pushed against her temples squeezing them in frustration, straining against this assault on her core b
eliefs.
“You must get our people to Malbec, away from the Crystal’s influence.” Corbin warned.
“How can that be possible? Won’t it just will us to stop?” The task was futile to her, how could she hope to escape from a god.
“It is NOT a god; you must stop thinking of it that way. The Crystal can push the human mind with suggestions, but he cannot make you do something you do not want to, an image of him wildly assaulting his brother ran across his mind. “The only reason I could see him so clearly was the power Lady Cassandra unlocked from within.”
As he sent the thought to her, Corbin could see a violent flash of Elise’s memory laid open in the ethereal flow. The event’s she had been put through played before him, and he was profoundly sad for the loss of such a great woman.
“I am sorry Elise; she was a wonderful human being. It pains me to think she died as punishment for trying to help us…”
Elise was a river of emotion, comforting his distraught soul.
“Strange as well I thought I sensed her presence here with you when I arrived.” Corbin wondered, he could not see the room she was in. Thinking how that could be, an idea occurred to Elise. Pulling the stone Lady Cassandra had given her out of her dress, she held it up as if Corbin could see which he could through her mind but not with eyes on the physical plane.
To Elise the stone was a simple smooth obsidian, but to Corbin it was a fantastic glowing onyx brilliantly illuminating the spiritual plane. He was taken aback to see the images swirling deep inside the magical stone, and moved in closer hoping to make them out better. Far away, inside the heart of the mystical stone, another world existed, it was a beautiful land softly lit by a glowing orb high in the crystal blue sky, with green fields and gently trickling creeks. Beside a brook sat a younger Lady Cassandra, smiling contentedly with her bare feet splashing through the cold water. She looked over her shoulder, sensing Corbin as he connected minds with Elise so she too could view the amazing spectacle.
Secrets of the Elders Kindle Version Page 29