The Obsidian Quest [Search for Earthlight Trilogy Book 1]

by Laraine Anne Barker

  Peter led the way back to the darkened grotto and relit the candle. By its poor light he rowed them across the black pool to the steps leading to the outside world. Halfway up the stairs he held the candle out over the grotto and looked sadly toward where the statue had once stood. He couldn't see the broken plinth from that distance. The candlelight wasn't strong enough to pierce the gloom. With another sigh he walked up the rest of the steps. When they arrived at the top, they saw the reason for the grotto's darkness: the sun was fast setting and the western sky was ablaze with crimson and gold. The glory of it took their breath away.

  "The Westlight!” With sudden joy Peter spread his arms as though to embrace it to himself. To the others’ astonishment he stayed spread-eagled until the last vestige of color had faded from the sky.

  What Peter saw and felt was lost on the twins, who saw merely a boy in tramper's clothing with his arms outstretched to the sky and his face lifted to the sunset, reflecting its crimson-and-gold glory. To Peter, the blessed Westlight descended from the heavens to enter both his heart and his mind. The light poured downward in twin streams, one washing over his face and filling his whole head and the other driving straight into his chest and sending warmth radiating from his heart right through the rest of his body until even his fingertips pulsed. It was a peculiar sensation, but at the same time extremely pleasant. While to Jamie and John the glory of the sunset faded from the sky in its usual way, to Peter the glow ended only when the Westlight had poured what was surely its whole being into him—First Chosen of the Earthlight.

  As the last traces of color disappeared, Peter lowered his arms and brought his attention back down to earth. The expression on his face told his friends he had experienced an extraordinary event from which they had been excluded. They said nothing but waited to see if Peter would tell them of his own accord.

  However, Peter merely said, “We can't search for Sujad in the dark—if it's possible for us to find him at all with that evil black cloud of protection around him. I suppose we'd better find somewhere to eat and get some sleep."

  "Do you think Sujad will be eating and sleeping?” Jamie asked seriously. “Or will he be poring over the Book of Obsidian all night?"

  "The latter, I suspect,” said Peter with that grim terseness that reminded them of Merlin. “And because we can't trust that he won't use the powers of the book during the hours of darkness, I think we should divide the night into three watches."

  "Won't Dreyfus do as a night watchman?” Jamie asked. “Dogs wake up very easily and have better hearing than humans."

  Peter looked dubiously at Dreyfus. “It might be easier for Sujad to put some sort of sleeping spell on him than on us. I don't know whether having someone stay awake will be of help. Sujad could perhaps as easily cast a spell on all of us."

  "Perhaps we should sleep in the—the City of the Dead by the Lady's tomb,” Jamie suggested uncertainly. “Even though she's asleep and therefore not really with us, her presence might stop Sujad from harming us."

  Peter shrugged. “Might as well, I suppose. It's as good a place as anywhere in these mountains—and it's getting chilly out here."

  Silently he led the way back into the grotto, pausing at the top of the steps to light the candle. They climbed into the little boat and, with John holding the candle, Peter rowed to the other end of the pool, which appeared black and bottomless without the fountain that had poured from the statue's hand and the play of sunlight slanting down on the figure. The place felt sinister without the statue and the precious book she had guarded. It no longer magnetized Peter, who felt the Enemy had defiled it beyond restoration and who would have preferred to stay away from it altogether.

  They walked as quietly as possible into the lower cavern of the City of the Dead and on up to the main chamber, where the torches still burned, apparently untended. Peter's senses had strengthened and he could only assume he had received them from the Westlight. Sniffing the air, he could smell dampness he hadn't noticed before. At the same time, he could sense no evil. All was well with the Lady and the Reborn. A faint twinge at his heart reminded him all was not well with Merlin—but the comfort Giddeon had brought him from the Earthlight quickly soothed the hurt. The respite from overwhelming grief was, he suspected, probably a temporary numbness provided by the Earthlight for the duration of the battle against the Evil One, but it was better than nothing.

  Peter cast his new senses out to Giddeon's tomb, and was relieved to find all was well. He tried the Lady, but a gentle web of invisible light around her denied him. Around Merlin extended a wall of forbidding that curtly rejected all—whether friend or foe.

  They sat at the foot of the platform and silently brought out some of the special food with which Merlin had provided them. No one felt much like eating, and their surroundings didn't encourage conversation. The only noise for the next few minutes was the rustle of food wrappings and the steady munching of their jaws. This was followed by the clatter of tin mugs and the sound of water being poured. Then, with as little fuss as possible, they laid their sleeping bags on the cold ground and climbed inside.

  Young though they were, they slept little that night. Peter spent most of the night wondering what Sujad was doing and where the next challenge would come from. Dreyfus sensed his master's uneasiness and stayed close at Peter's side.

  Toward dawn when his term of watch was over Peter, noting that the others had drifted into deep slumber, decided he might as well leave them sleeping and sit out the rest of the night by himself. As time passed, he noticed the cavern was slowly getting lighter—and yet the torches burned no higher. Finally, sure the light wasn't coming from the torches, he stood up, with Dreyfus immediately following. To his surprise the huge pair of doors leading to the wide passage through which they had first entered the City of the Reborn stood open. The light was coming through the opening, which meant the pivoting rock leading to the mountainside, where the grim circle of figures stood guard, was also open.

  And something out there beckoned to Peter. The magnetism of its call was overwhelming. Slowly, involuntarily, he moved toward the doors. Dreyfus padded along beside him on silent paws.

  The huge stone, worked by a mechanism they couldn't see, pointed at them like a short, fat finger. Peter and Dreyfus passed between the doors, which this time remained open. Boy and dog proceeded toward the soft flush of light pouring into the entrance—and walked out to a brilliant Christmas Eve dawn on the flanks of the Southern Alps. The grotesque statues were on his right, but Peter was hardly aware of their presence.

  Far above his head he saw the capping of snow on the mountain tops turn silvery-pink. As the glow spread over the sky, adding soft shades of magenta and purple to the more distant peaks, he lifted his face and spread his arms to the glory.

  A dark mass, advancing with the dawn, hovered on the edge of the light. It withdrew a short distance, quivering with hatred. Peter was too engrossed to notice. Within his cloud Sujad the Traitor seethed with frustration. He had learned from the Book of Obsidian about the powers Peter would obtain from the Eastlight—but had lost his race against the dawn, which had arrived earlier than it should have on this crucial Christmas Eve. He fumed violently at the unfairness of the Absolute Law in allowing such a breach of justice in the Earthlight's manipulation of nature.

  He watched helplessly, impatiently, as Peter appeared to embrace the glory of a particularly lovely sunrise. To Sujad's eyes Peter looked like a pagan worshiping the sun—while he, the Lord of Obsidian, was forcibly restrained from challenging his detested enemy.

  Peter, however, saw what was invisible—forbidden—to Sujad's traitorous eyes: the Eastlight's twin streams of light. Similar to those of the Westlight, they flooded his heart and mind. Without the Earthlight's protection Sujad could have used his newfound skills. To block Peter's reception of the Eastlight's powers would have been easy. The spell was a simple one of forbidding.

  But lulled by the Earthlight, Sujad fumed and bided his time.
The Earthlight couldn't protect the miserable worm forever, he told himself. Then he, Sujad the Great, would kill his enemy. He had the weapon. His hand lovingly closed around it. Made of obsidian, it was smooth and cold to his touch. It was a dagger—sharper than any steel. But it wasn't merely sharp. It was loaded with the potent magic of obsidian.

  The Eastlight faded from the sky as the sun rose. Peter felt its blessed warmth on his face. He sighed. Reluctantly, slowly, he lowered his arms....

  ...and pain seared through his chest near his left shoulder; the world abruptly turned black.

  * * * *

  JAMIE STIRRED in his sleep. He opened his eyes with a jerk. For a moment his mind was blank. He couldn't work out where he was. As realization dawned, his heart thumped. What on earth had woken him? He rubbed his eyes, blinked and looked around. Peter and Dreyfus were missing. Instantly Jamie scrambled to his feet, waking John.

  "Wha's marrer?” John asked in sleepy surprise.

  He received no answer, for by this time Jamie had seen the open door. He rushed toward it. Something told him he had to get to Peter at once. With John close behind he dashed through the doorway. The light poured through the hole where the pivoting stone stood open. As Jamie and John reached the opening the air abruptly darkened.

  Horror rose to choke them as they saw Sujad in his black cloud. His arm was raised to throw something. Instantly Jamie knew what he had to do. He opened his mouth. However, he didn't scream. Instead, his voice rang out in song—the music given to him by the Lady. The notes resounded over the mountains as Sujad took aim.

  The sounds distracted Sujad's attention, but not his purpose. He hurled the black dagger straight at Peter's heart. With a piercing cry, Peter fell.

  Chapter 15

  The Obsidian Dagger

  AS PETER sank into unconsciousness, the Obsidian Dagger fell to the ground. Its clatter was deafening in the early morning silence. With horrified cries Jamie and John rushed to their fallen leader. Each feared the worst. They had seen the brutal force with which the dagger's point had struck Peter. They steeled themselves for the sight of a great deal of blood. John knelt beside Peter. Jamie scrambled for the dagger, wondering with awe why it wasn't buried deep in his hapless friend.

  Jamie snatched the dagger just in time—for Sujad, massive in his black cloud, came swooping down.

  "No you don't!” Jamie's cry rang out over the mountains as he brandished the dagger at his enemy.

  Looking like a small wasp threatening an enormous spider with its sting, he held his ground, standing between his friends and their enemy. He braced himself for Sujad's attack. To Jamie's surprise Sujad sprang back with a snarl of rage, gathering the blackness of his cloud around him. He appeared to be intensely afraid of the weapon he had made. But he didn't leave.

  Jamie lowered the dagger and, keeping his gaze fixed on Sujad, moved to where John bent over Peter. “How is he?"

  "There's no blood,” said John in surprise. “I've bared the shoulder where he got hit, but I can't see a thing. He'll have an enormous bruise there in a few hours, though."

  As John spoke, Peter opened his eyes. He tried to move but fell back, his face contorted. At sight of his friend's helplessness, Jamie turned his full attention back to Sujad, lifting the dagger higher.

  "The magic in that dagger must be very potent,” Peter gasped. “Even with the protection of both the Westlight and the Eastlight Sujad still managed to hit me with it.” With some difficulty he sat up. He saw the dagger in Jamie's hands. “Oh! Thank goodness you got to it first. We must get the Book of Obsidian back. With the Lady too weak to help us, we need the book to reverse the spell on that dagger."

  Jamie kept the dagger pointed at Sujad while Peter staggered to his feet, clutching his shoulder. With help from John he rebuttoned his shirt and zipped up his jacket.

  "It's all right, Jamie. You can relax,” he said, gasping with pain. “In his greed to learn everything he could from the Book of Obsidian Sujad lost the race against the dawn so that when he arrived the Eastlight was already pouring its power into me. Sujad used the dagger as soon as the Earthlight released him from the spell of forbidding. But it was the worst possible moment. The Eastlight's power was at its height and strong enough to stop the dagger from piercing. Unfortunately,” he added wryly, feeling his shoulder, “nothing could stop Sujad from throwing the beastly thing."

  Sujad screamed from the safety of his cloud, “The Earthlight broke the law and brought the sunrise before its proper time!"

  Peter looked at him with loathing. “The Earthlight has absolute control over all matters concerning the sun and the moon and has the right to dictate when each shall rise and set. Such matters are outside the Absolute Law. You haven't learnt much if you don't know that."

  "Don't dismiss me so readily, puny one. As Lord of Obsidian and Master of the Obsidian Orb I claim all the rights intended for the Earthlight—and I'll use them for the Earthlight's defeat. You know very well that as the remaker of the Obsidian Orb I'm the only one outside the Earthlight who can claim this power. And believe you me, the power I have is greater than you'd ever dream of. If I were you, I'd be more heedful of it."

  "I notice you don't leave the protection of your master's cloud to take back the dagger,” Peter taunted, taking the weapon from Jamie, who reluctantly released it.

  There was a brief silence from the black haze around Sujad. Jamie and John saw nothing, but Peter, with his heightened senses, could see the traitor shifting around uneasily inside. He held the dagger up defiantly. “Well, go on, Sujad. If you want your dagger back, come and get it!"

  Peter's heart thudded like a caged animal trying to escape. What if Sujad accepted his challenge? What if Sujad's rights regarding the Obsidian Orb gave the traitor sufficient influence over Obsidian to enable him to reclaim the weapon he had made? Tensely Peter waited.

  With the light of confidence bright in his eyes and his boyish jaw square with determination, neither of his friends could guess he had any doubts about his confrontation with the Enemy's most powerful servant. He could feel Sujad reaching out to him, trying to read his mind. Concentrating hard on the fact that Sujad had meant to kill him, Peter desperately and deliberately sent out vibrations of anger and vengeful intent.

  And Sujad gave his answer: with a snarl like an enraged wolf both he and his cloud disappeared.

  Peter lowered the dagger and sank to the ground. Jamie and John rushed to him in alarm.

  "It's all right.” Peter's voice was barely above a whisper. “On top of the pain in my shoulder, that challenge has taken it out of me—that's all.” He lifted the dagger close to his face and examined it. It was beautifully wrought but plain. All the work lavished upon it had gone into the magnificent diamond-bright finish. Peter felt the tip and the edges. “Ow! It's sharp!"

  They sat for a few moments marveling at Peter's delivery from such a dread weapon.

  Peter unsheathed the knife in his belt, put the dagger in its place and rose unsteadily to lead the way back to the sepulcher, where he placed the knife in his backpack. They made a quick breakfast and settled down to discuss how to recover the book and the orb.

  "We might be able to use the dagger to help us.” Peter removed the gleaming black weapon from its sheath and rose. Holding the hilt in both hands, he turned to the Lady's tomb. “By the power of the Lady and the authority vested in me as descendant of the Pendragon, I, Simon Peter, son of Arthur, command you to show where the secret of your making lies. Tell me where your maker has hidden the book from which he created you."

  The dagger resisted Peter's command with all the strength of its maker's malevolence, compelling Peter's hands to tighten so hard around its hilt that he shook all over with the effort to hold it still. Then it bore down hard, forcing Peter's arms downward until its point was below his chest. He felt it trying to thrust upward and inward to pierce his heart. With all the power at his disposal he fought the venom placed by Sujad in his creation. The evil retaliated by cau
sing the pain in his shoulder to increase so that he cried out. But Peter knew he was fighting not only with physical strength but also with the powers vested in him by the Earthlight and the Lady.

  "By the power of the Lady I command all evil to depart this dagger!” he cried with considerable effort, for he was finding speech becoming more and more difficult. The evil pressure collapsed with the suddenness of a pricked balloon. At the same time Peter received a message from the dagger in the form of a series of flashing images. First he saw what appeared to be the grotto with the statue back on its plinth. Then his view of the statue became clearer and he saw the outstretched hand. No water poured from it, for it wasn't a hand but a set of evil talons, one of which pointed straight at Peter. Behind the pointing claw Peter now saw the face—and it was a vile gremlin with red eyes and a grinning mouth full of pointed yellow teeth. The last vision he received was of the gremlin raising its other hand to join the first.

  And in its claws it clutched the Book of Obsidian.

  Peter sank to the ground to regain his breath and wait for the throbbing in his shoulder to subside. The dagger dropped from his nerveless fingers and clattered to the ground.

  Jamie and John had been obliged to watch while Peter appeared to be trying to kill himself—for the dagger's spell had worked on them too, by freezing them on the spot while allowing them to see what was happening. They rushed over to him.

  "Are you all right?” John asked.

  Jamie nervously picked up the dagger. When it made no attempt to attack him, he clutched it tightly.

  Peter nodded breathlessly in answer to John's question and gratefully accepted help in standing up. “We have to get back the Book of Obsidian right now. It's in the grotto guarded by a-a sort of goblin or gremlin—something like those dreadful creatures in the movie. If we don't go to the grotto at once Sujad will probably realize the dagger told me where to find the book and he'll move it. I doubt the dagger will be able to tell me where he's hidden it then."