The Obsidian Quest [Search for Earthlight Trilogy Book 1]

by Laraine Anne Barker

  He turned to Jamie and held out his hand for the dagger. With a strange mixture of reluctance and alacrity Jamie handed it over. Peter went to the tomb where the Lady lay in apparent death and placed the dagger against her folded hands. To his astonishment the waxen hands slowly unfolded and closed over the hilt of the dagger. Tears of relief and joy sprang to Peter's eyes. Through the blur he saw the Lady's hands slacken. Gently he lifted the dagger away and raised the hilt to touch his sore shoulder. The pain instantly eased.

  Peter wiped the wetness from his eyes before turning back to the chamber. He descended the steps to his friends and led the way down to the grotto, Dreyfus padding at his side. They seemed to have passed that way hundreds of times over the past few days. An image of both the grotto and the chambers would surely remain in his memory for the rest of his life.

  On reaching the grotto they went to the edge of the pool—and where the statue had stood was the most hideous creature they had ever seen. The morning light filtering in from above emphasized its ugliness as it had once emphasized the beauty of the white statue. The gremlin's head was turned their way. Its red eyes glared across the water at them, seeming to have a light of their own. Its taloned right hand pointed straight at them. In its left claws it clutched the Book of Obsidian. Petrified by the creature's sheer ugliness, the Chosen stood and stared. The gremlin glared back.

  "Thank goodness it's only a statue. It looks more evil than Sujad himself.” John's husky whisper echoed sibilantly across the water.

  "I'm afraid it is real."

  As Peter spoke, the gremlin moved. Jamie and John jumped back with gasps of horror. Peter moved forward until he stood between the creature and his friends. His voice rang out over the lake. “Give back the Book of Obsidian, gremlin. It belongs neither to you nor your master. As First Chosen of the Earthlight, for whom it was made, I command you to return it."

  The creature's hideous laugh made Sujad's cackle sound beautiful by comparison. “If you want it, come and get it. I'm not giving it to you.” The gremlin's mouth dribbled as though in anticipation of a tasty morsel.

  Peter aimed the dagger's point at the creature. “If you don't return it—"

  At sight of the Obsidian Dagger the gremlin went into convulsions. It threw its head back and shrieked, “Master!"

  Before the Chosen could recover from the shock of the scream, a great rush of wind filled the cavern. Sujad's black cloud blotted out the gremlin and the treasure it clutched.

  Sujad faced Peter from the obscurity of his cloud. “Get out! You have no right to frighten my servants with your obscene threats!"

  "You're the obscene one, Sujad—and the same goes for your choice of a servant.” At this, the gremlin snarled from behind the safety of its master's impenetrable haze.

  "You have my master to deal with, not just me. Fat chance you'll have against him—especially now that I, Sujad the Great, Lord of Obsidian, have the powers of the Book of Obsidian and the Obsidian Orb.” Sujad's voice rang out as he pronounced his self-appointed title. “I'm not just my master's servant, remember. I'm also his trusted and most powerful ally."

  "Only until you're of no further use to him, Sujad the Traitor. Even now, you're betraying your new master as you betrayed your old. In the end, the wrath of his vengeance will be so great you'll wish you'd never cheated on the Earthlight."

  "You're a great prophet. Why would I want further dealings with the Earthlight, which allowed me only powers it couldn't take from me anyway—my rights as restorer of the Obsidian Orb? You can't possibly expect me to prefer the Earthlight's puny powers, which couldn't even save Merlin from the avalanche, to those my new master has given me."

  "The Earthlight doesn't use bribery and corruption to force people to work for it,” Peter replied with that cold adult self-assurance becoming habitual to him.

  "And I suppose you chose to be born into the Earthlight's cause? Don't tell me you have the right to assist the Earthlight or not as you wish, you young jackanapes! I know better."

  "You're quite right. But I wouldn't renounce my duty to the cause of the Earthlight even if I had the choice. Hand the Book of Obsidian over before it destroys you,” Peter persisted, holding out his hand.

  Sujad's reply was a vicious bolt of blue lightning that did no more than slap Peter's hand down to his side. Peter winced but stood his ground. His hand smarted but remained unmarked. Jamie saw him examine it with a faint smile of complacency on his face.

  "If you do that again, Sujad, I'll return it in full measure and turn your own viciousness back on you.” His voice had that quiet calmness Jamie and John were beginning to recognize as dangerous. “Give me the book."

  "You have my permission to take it from my servant if you can wrest it from him,” Sujad said loftily, and an indignant shriek of terror came from behind him. Sujad turned ill-temperedly on the gremlin. “Just do as you're told! You know what will happen to you if he takes the book—so he won't take it! And now I'll leave you. I have other important things to do."

  He made to leave but Peter's ringing cry pulled him up short. “Stop, Sujad!” The cloud shifted madly around Sujad under the impact of the spell Peter's command threw at it.

  Peter waited for Sujad to settle down. “I have a challenge. You will hear me out."

  "What is it?” Sujad snapped, clearly furious at the shame of being forced to stay while his slave looked on.

  "I've come to make a bargain with you."

  A small sound of protest came from behind Peter. He turned to see John looking at him entreatingly and moving his head in small violent shakes, his mouth rounding into a silent “No."

  "How can you make a bargain with that—that thing?” Jamie said indignantly. “He'll want all the gains on his side."

  "It's all right. Trust me,” Peter said quietly.

  "Come on! Speak your challenge—make your bargain—I'm in a hurry!” Sujad fumed inside his cloud, but Peter was all too aware his impatient blustering was a front to fool his witless servant.

  Peter waited for Sujad to settle down. “Very well, then, this is my challenge. Give me the Book of Obsidian and the Obsidian Orb or I'll use this dagger to kill you."

  "I thought the Earthlight was supposed to be against killing."

  "Normally, yes. This is ... different."

  "How?"

  "You tried to kill me with the Obsidian Dagger."

  "So?"

  "So give me the Book of Obsidian and the Obsidian Orb and I'll let you have your life."

  "Oh, you will, will you? Give me one good reason why I should trade one thing of power let alone two for what already belongs to me."

  "Because your life is forfeit to me. But you can keep it in return for the Book of Obsidian and the Obsidian Orb."

  "Go to hell! You can't kill me and you can't take back either the orb or the book."

  "You can't stop me.” Peter's voice was calm despite the pounding of his heart. “I think you know very well that because you used Obsidian to make a dagger to kill me I have the right to either kill you with the same weapon or demand other compensation from you. I choose as atonement, that you renounce your claim on the Book of Obsidian and the Obsidian Orb this instant."

  "Never! Never!” Sujad tried to gather his cloud together and depart. He thrashed around—to no avail. The Earthlight's power vested in Peter held him fast.

  "You can't leave until you've paid your debt—the Book of Obsidian and the Obsidian Orb, or your life."

  "Do you think I'm stupid?” By now, Sujad had hidden himself so well in his cloud Peter could no longer see him. “You can't demand double compensation. You can take the book or the orb, but not both. You are dishonest in your dealings with Sujad the Great. I shall demand your Earthlight masters punish you for your duplicity."

  Peter sighed, like an adult trying to reason with an unruly and ill-tempered child. “Very well, Sujad. I concede your ... doubtful rights to the Obsidian Orb."

  The pause that emphasized the flawed valid
ity of Sujad's rights goaded the man to rage. “My rights are not doubtful! They are valid by every law recognized by the Earthlight—even the Absolute Law."

  "But they are limited. The Obsidian Orb was made for the use of the Earthlight. You'll never have the same amount of power over it as those of the Earthlight."

  "Just you watch me! Beside Sujad the Great, Lord of Obsidian, you and your lot are puny ants."

  "So you will give me the Book of Obsidian, then. It's useless to you without the orb anyway—and you must give me one or the other."

  An animal snarl from the black haze was Sujad's only answer. Patiently Peter waited. It wasn't long before Sujad's answer rang out across the water: “Very well then. Come and take it! I can't stop you but I don't see why I should make it easy for you."

  Peter tried not to let his dismay show on his face. To cross the water and take the Book of Obsidian from the gremlin he would have to release Sujad from the spell so he could place one on the gremlin. He had insufficient power to keep them both spellbound. He turned grimly to Jamie and John. “Come on. I've got to get that book for the Earthlight. Three of us stand a better chance than one."

  Peter removed the boat from its hiding place and helped the others in. Together they lifted Dreyfus aboard and Peter took up the oars and began rowing across the pool.

  Sujad, still in the grip of Peter's spell, screamed at the gremlin, “Don't let him have it! You know what to do!"

  Gibbering indistinctly and clutching the book tighter, the gremlin watched Peter with hate-filled, terrified eyes. When Peter was close enough, he removed the spell from Sujad and transferred it to the gremlin, at the same time forcing the gremlin to hold the book out to him. Suddenly realizing it was rooted to the spot, the gremlin's terror increased. Its gibbering intensified.

  The boat bumped gently against the bank. This was obviously too much for the gremlin, which screamed, “Master! Master!” It knew its master's cruelty. Should it lose the book, its fate would be terrible.

  Sujad grasped that he was free almost too late. Suddenly aware of the gremlin's inability to move, he lurched forward. His arm shot out. A tongue of blue fire streaked from his hand. It hit the Book of Obsidian full on. The gremlin screamed as the flames burnt its hands. It dropped the book and collapsed into the fernery, still shrieking. The Book of Obsidian tumbled over and over in a sheet of blue flame. With a resounding splash it hit the water. The flames sizzled and crackled. They fought furiously against the water's quenching power. Then with one final hiss, they went out. The Book of Obsidian instantly sank. A few ripples disturbed the surface. Then they disappeared.

  The silence was broken only by the gremlin's whimpers.

  Chapter 16

  Trapped!

  SUJAD'S CROW of triumph drowned the gremlin's blubbering. He reached out from his cloud and grabbed the gremlin by its burnt claws. The creature's shrieks became louder, drowning its master's cackles. Struggling vainly, it was mercilessly hauled into Sujad's cloud where it disappeared from sight but not from hearing.

  Leaving it to wail, Sujad turned back to Peter. “There you are, young idiot. You know now what happens when you try to cross Sujad the Great. I hope you've learnt your lesson well. I don't need the Book of Obsidian anymore. I've discovered everything I need to know. But if I couldn't have the book then why should anyone else?” He cackled again. “And now ... good-bye."

  With a flourish of his arm, Sujad vanished in his cloud, along with the still wailing gremlin.

  In the moments of stunned silence that followed, Peter sat staring in disbelief at the pool where the Book of Obsidian had sunk while Jamie and John looked from Peter to the water.

  Peter spoke his thoughts aloud. “I wonder how deep the pool is.” His mind in turmoil, he could see no way of retrieving the Book of Obsidian short of diving into the pool. He sent out a silent message to the Lady. His heart jumped and his vision blurred as a few soft notes of her music wafted into the grotto. They sounded very distant, despite her closeness. Two barely caught words followed, spoken into his mind: “Dive—dive..."

  "You're not going to jump in?” Jamie said in horror. “The water will be freezing. It's fed from a mountain stream remember—or rather was,” he amended with a glance at where the statue had stood.

  Peter looked at him, the grimness that reminded them of Merlin making his face seem so much older than his thirteen years. “It's the only way to get it back.” Then, at the horror on his friends’ faces, his expression softened. “I'll be all right,” he told them with confidence, adding as their doubt remained undiminished, “The Lady says so."

  Peter unzipped his jacket and slipped it off and took off his shoes and socks. Jamie and John held the boat steady while he climbed onto the fern-covered bank. He noted with distaste the flattened fronds where the gremlin had carelessly trampled everything in sight. Glancing at the site of the white statue sullied by the gremlin when it stood brandishing the Book of Obsidian at them, he saw with surprise that the statue's plinth had gone. Its disappearance gave him great comfort, for he hated the thought of the gremlin's vile feet treading where the white lady had stood.

  Reluctantly, Peter placed his own feet on the bare earth where the gremlin's obscene talons had made their mark. He took a deep breath, held his nose and jumped. The splash reverberated around the cavern. The waves he created sent the boat rocking. Jamie and John, fortunately unaware that Peter was not a good swimmer, steadied the boat and sat patiently waiting for him to surface.

  But Peter was a long time in doing so. The shock of the water's coldness took his breath away. Panic rose within him when he found himself sinking lower and lower. The realization that the pool was very deep forced him to wonder if they had perhaps lost the Book of Obsidian forever. However, just in time to enable him to calm himself, the Lady's words repeated themselves in his mind. He found himself stretching his body out and downward, kicking his feet like a diver. He went downward with so much ease that it took him a while to grasp that he was breathing under the water as naturally as he breathed in the air.

  It was night-dark in the pool, despite the early morning sunlight filtering into the grotto. Peter realized, with sinking heart, that the depth of the water meant there would be absolutely no light at the bottom to help him find the Book of Obsidian. Maybe, he thought hopefully, I'll be able to feel for it. The rocks forming the side of the pool scraped against his arm. He pushed himself away from them.

  Suddenly he felt solid rock under his fingers. A sense of panic gripped him. The thought of groping on the cavern floor wasn't enticing to say the least; but he was going to have to do it. He began to wonder if the Earthlight had granted him the ability to breathe under water because his search was going to be a long hard one. He set his mouth in the grim line that he had unconsciously copied from Merlin. Well, so what? At least I know I'm going to find the book.

  With the automatic behavior of a person who can normally see, Peter turned his head from side to side, trying to pierce the gloom. This is what it must be like to be blind, he told himself. The feeling of panic started to rise again, threatening to engulf him. He stifled it firmly with recollection of the Lady's words. She wouldn't have urged him to jump into a deep pitch-black lake if there was any danger. Also, the water in the pool had originally come from the statue—and in Peter's understanding that meant it had flowed from the Lady herself.

  Something called to him from behind, commanding him to turn. Calmness returned to his mind as he recognized the magnetism the Book of Obsidian had exerted over him from its resting place in the statue's plinth.

  And with calmness came light. A faint luminescence to his left caught the corner of his eye as, obeying the magnetic force, he started to turn. When he focused fully on the light, jubilation swelled within him: it was the Book of Obsidian. He propelled himself to it and closed his hand over it.

  * * * *

  UP ON THE surface, Jamie and John watched the water anxiously. Their anxiety deepened as the minutes t
icked by.

  "You don't think he—he could have drowned?” John said in a small voice.

  "He said to trust the Lady. But if he doesn't come up soon..."

  Jamie never finished his sentence, for on the spot where Peter had disappeared, the water was disturbed as something shot to the surface. The boat rocked again and for a moment the startled twins fought to steady it. They forgot about the boat, however, when they saw that Peter held the Book of Obsidian. Water sprayed from it in a silvery fountain as he brandished it in the air. He placed it carefully on the bank before clambering out of the water where he had jumped in. Grinning broadly with triumph, he picked up the book and held it aloft.

  "Look! It's not damaged—the fire didn't touch it!” He opened it to the first page and leapt in the air, whooping with delight. “It's not even wet!"

  It was then he realized that he himself was not wet—but without his jacket he was cold. Jamie and John helped him into the boat and after Peter had put his jacket and shoes back on, they sat looking at the Book of Obsidian in the daylight streaming from above.

  "Where are we going to hide it?” Jamie asked, looking around. “I don't think it's safe in here now. In fact, I don't think I like this place anymore."

  "We'll have to keep it with us,” Peter said decisively. “After all, if we hide it we can't learn from it—and Sujad could find it again. If we must leave it somewhere for any reason, it would probably be best to leave it with the Lady. I'm sure the Enemy himself wouldn't dare try taking it from her."

  Subdued and overawed by everything that had happened—but quietly elated by their success to date—the boys went back to the City of the Dead. They sat down near the Lady's tomb, comforted and fortified by her presence. There they drank the last of the water they had taken from the statue's hand and sat down to examine the Book of Obsidian. By tacit consent it was Peter who did the reading.

  "It's difficult to know where to start. I've a feeling we haven't much time. There's a section here devoted specifically to the Obsidian Orb—that takes up nearly a third of the book. There's another on other objects that can be created from Obsidian and the special qualities of each article, and any restrictions or laws relating to them.” He turned the page. “Here's the section on Daggers, Swords, Knives or other Sharp Implements. It says: ‘Weighty consideration must be accorded creation of powerful objects with sharp edges or points such as knives, swords and daggers lest the thing be used for killing—and especially if the sharp object is created for the purpose of killing; for one who uses a sharp-edged object of Obsidian to deliberately kill a rival shall perforce forfeit his own life to his rival's heirs. Should he not succeed in his evil intentions, his life is forfeit to whomsoever he tried to kill. His victim may, however, claim other compensation.'” Peter looked up from the book. “What did I say? Sujad's life is still forfeit to the Earthlight: he didn't give the book back—I took it—and the power of the Earthlight, or the Lady, stopped it being destroyed."