by Alison Pensy
Carina stepped forward and knelt beside the Custodian. “Faedra, I am sorry.” Carina's voice was soft and compassionate. “Your Guardian is correct; I did not know your power was linked so closely to your emotions. It was thoughtless of me to say such a thing. It is true, we do not yet know how such a power will affect you in the long term, but we will do everything within our knowledge to help you. We may be able to bind it.”
Faedra stopped crying and pulled her head away from Faen's shoulder, her face red with tears. She gave Carina a hopeful look. “You really think you can bind it?”
“I believe we have the knowledge to do so, yes. But first we need you to use it to help us.”
Faedra pinched her brows together.
“Let us go somewhere private so we can explain ourselves.”
Faen got up and pulled his Custodian to her feet. Faedra glanced around at the women and children who were looking less scared now that Carina and Anwynn had joined them. She noticed that the women were wearing blue robes like the one's Carina and Anwynn had on. The children also wore robes, but they were different colors. Some were blue, but there was white, red, black, and green in the mix, too.
Carina turned to the group who had gathered around them. “It is alright. Faedra will not hurt any of you. I have brought her here to help us.”
The crowd mumbled to each other and a wave of excitement filled the air.
“You really think this slip of a girl can help us, Carina?” an older lady spouted.
“This is not just an ordinary girl, Brina. This is the Custodian.”
More excited mumbles spread through the crowd.
The lady named Brina gave Faedra a considering look; casting her gaze up and down before turning back to Carina. “The girl obviously cannot control Savu's power. How much use do you believe she will be against Arawn?”
Faedra stiffened at Brina's words. “Hey, I didn't ask to be brought here. I'd be quite happy for you to send us all back, thank you very much.”
“Brina, hush up, for goodness sakes. Faedra is our only hope. We have tried everything else. I do not see you coming up with any more ideas.” Carina chastised the older woman.
Brina gave Carina a dirty look but made no further comments.
For the first time since entering the cave, Faedra had a good look around. The cavern was immense. She must have run downhill for quite a ways, because the ceiling of the cave stretched high above them. There were holes around the walls of the cave, about one story high with rickety looking ladders leading to each one. Faedra thought they must be natural anomalies in the cave wall that substituted for makeshift rooms, as she could see more people watching what was going on from up there. The reservoir she had boiled moments before was large and disappeared under a shelf of rock, so there was no telling how big it is actually was.
“Where are we?” Faedra mused, as she cast her gaze around what was obviously an underground hideout.
“Drofoz,” Brina answered, snapping Faedra's attention back to the here and now.
“Hold on a minute.” Faedra looked at Faen, “Isn't that where Todmus is from?”
There was a universal intake of breath from the people surrounding her, and Carina's eyes grew wide with surprise. “You know Lord Todmus?” she asked.
“Lord Todmus?” Faedra questioned. “I know of a Todmus, but he never said anything about being a Lord.” She glanced back to Faen who was looking equally bemused at this new revelation. “Did he ever say anything to you about being a Lord?”
Faen shook his head. “No. In fact, he never really talked about where he was from. He just turned up one day looking for a job. He seemed an honest fellow, so the king put him in charge of watching over one of the portals. That was several years ago, now.”
Excited whispers spread throughout the group. The whispers became louder and louder until Faedra could hardly hear herself think over the din.
Carina clapped her hands together, effectively silencing the crowd. “Settle down everyone. We do not know if the person the Custodian speaks of is our Lord Todmus.”
Faedra gestured with her hand, palm down, just above waist height. “About so high, rosy cheeks, white hair and beard.”
“Can it be? Lord Todmus is alive!” a lady cried out. “Thanks be to the Goddess!”
“Where is he?” another lady called.
“Yes, tell us where he is.” said yet another.
Carina moved in closer. “I think it best if we go somewhere a little more private.” She gestured with her hand to another tunnel that led from the cavern. Faedra did a quick glance around the room, giving the occupants a weak smile before starting towards the tunnel.
The four friends followed Carina and Anwynn down the tunnel until they came to another cave, smaller this time. It was comfortably furnished with a desk and chairs on one side, an opulent rug covered most of the hard stone floor, and a long table, surrounded by more chairs, took up the other half of the room. It was obviously some kind of meeting room, a command center of sorts. There were hand drawn floor-plans stuck to the walls, and a wooden model of a castle sat on another table all by itself.
“Please, sit,” Carina gestured to the chairs surrounding the long table. “Would you like something to drink?”
All four responded in the positive and Anwynn inclined her head and left the room.
After they were seated around one end of the table, they looked at Carina expectantly, waiting for some answers.
Carina sat at the table and let her arms relax on the beautifully hewn wood, casually linking her fingers together in front of her. She gave the group, as a whole, a thoughtful look and took a deep breath before she opened her mouth to speak.
“I am sure you have many questions you wish to ask, but please, if you would let me explain myself first, then I will answer any questions you may still have. As you already know, we are in the realm of Drofoz. We are a peaceful people; or rather, we were until a few years ago.” Carina's expression darkened and she sighed. “Now, we are forced to hide in caves, what's left of us, or become Arawn's slaves.”
“Who is this Arawn?” Etyran asked.
“Arawn was Lord Todmus's second in command.”
“You mean Todmus used to rule Drofoz?” Faedra said. Okay, something did surprise her after all.
“Yes, several years ago. He was head of the druids until Arawn turned on him and wanted all the power for himself.”
“He was a druid? You have druids here?” Faedra blurted out.
Carina gave Faedra a slightly exasperated look.
Faen put a hand on the Custodian's forearm. “Faedra, let Carina talk.”
“Oh, of course.” She turned to Carina. “Sorry,” Faedra said, a flush coming to her cheeks.
Carina gave her a warm smile. “I'm sure this is a lot for you to take in. In answer to your question, yes, on both counts. Lord Todmus ruled over the druids. In fact, most of the population of Drofoz is druid...” she paused, “or, was. There are two orders. The male order and the female order called ovates. Anwynn is not my blood sister, but rather, my ovate sister. All ovates are in a sisterhood, and we are the healers of this realm.
Arawn had been secretly building an army, of sorts, for many years. He had been sneaking other world creatures here and training them to obey only him. The erchyll are only one of such creatures. When he was powerful enough, he overthrew Lord Todmus. Rather than inflict needless bloodshed across the land, Lord Todmus stepped down and we all tried to live as peacefully as we could under Arawn's rule. Though it was not easy, and it got steadily worse. Arawn was so paranoid that we would bring in our own armies and take Drofoz back, he sealed off all the portals. This effectively ended our way of life and the ability to earn our livelihoods. You see, we train, or rather I should say trained, the Valkyrie's horses.”
Faedra sucked in a breath. “So that's where Todmus got Aesti,” she said.
“Aesti is with Lord Todmus?” Carina asked.
Faedra nodded and was abo
ut to say something when Anwynn returned with a clay pitcher and several goblets on a tray. She placed them on the table.
“Anwynn, Lord Todmus has Aesti,” Carina said, joy audible in her voice.
“Thank the Goddess,” Anwynn replied. “All this time we thought Arawn had slaughtered him along with Lord Todmus. That must have been how he escaped. But how did he get out of Drofoz when Arawn has all the portals sealed?”
Faedra pondered the question for a moment, and then thought of something. “Hold on a minute, if all the portals are sealed, then how were you able to bring us here?”
“The cypher wheel,” she said, giving the pouch still slung across Faedra's body a poignant glance. It is something we have been working on for years, using some notes we found in Lord Todmus's things. At first we had no idea what the notes were until one of the elders started building the device. Then he stumbled upon an equation to make it work. It created its own portal through the wheel, but with the notes Lord Todmus left, it would only work one way and we had no way of knowing where it would send you.” Carina explained, then dropped her gaze. “We lost a few good men in our attempts. We have no idea where they ended up. I hope they are still alive and well...somewhere.” The last sentence was said more to herself than the group at large.
“Well, it is obvious, now, is it not, Carina?” Anwynn said. “Lord Todmus must have already discovered that his equations worked, but the device only took him one way. That is why he has not been able to get back here.”
“So, this wheel was like having a one way ticket to...anywhere and nowhere?” Etyran joined in the conversation.
“Precisely,” Carina answered. “It took us many more years and several more people until one of the elders stumbled upon the solution quite by accident. Although I must say, we never expected it could transport four people. We believed it was only safe for one person at a time. Over the months, one of us would travel to different realms to see if we could find a way to stop Arawn. It was on one such trip into Azran that I heard mumblings about the Custodian defeating Savu. I nearly gave myself away, the excitement was so great. So I traveled to the World of Men to see if I could find you and ask for your help. Only, when I got there, I could get nowhere near you because you had not come out of your house since you defeated Savu, and I could not get onto your grounds.”
“They're warded,” Faedra stated. “The wards must have known you wanted me for some reason and wouldn't let you through.”
“But, we meant you no harm,” Anwynn interrupted.
“Maybe not, but you were not opposed to kidnapping, so that must have been transparent in your energy.” Faen interjected.
The two ovates looked at each other and nodded, conceding the point Faen just made.
“So, you hijacked the treasure hunt just for me?” Faedra gave the ovates an incredulous look.
“As luck would have it, your kind already uses a similar looking device for decoding text. We just slipped ours in, and the rest is history.”
CHAPTER TEN
Arawn was pacing. His heavy, determined footfalls were starting to wear a path in the sumptuous rug that lay at the foot of his bed. His long red robes swept the fine twisted woolen fibers of the rug as he turned on the ball of his foot back and forth in front of his grandiose four-poster bed. Chin between thumb and forefinger, his gaze was trained on the floor in front of him. A look of murderous intent shone in his dark green eyes.
“How dare they. How dare they,” he muttered, as his pacing continued, picking up speed.
Halfway through a lap of the rug, he stopped and looked up. A wry smile curved one side of his thin lipped mouth.
“Hmm, I wonder...”
He spun on his heel and made for the heavy oak door to his room. He grabbed the wrought iron knob, twisted, and flung the door open so hard it slammed against the stone wall of his bedroom, making the tapestry that hung there flap in the momentary breeze created. Arawn marched from the room, ignoring the door and leaving it open behind him.
He quickened his pace as he came to the stairs that spiraled down at one end of the corridor. The sound of his determined footsteps resounded off the walls as he took the stairs two at a time. When he got to the bottom, he marched the length of another stone clad corridor, his robes flowing behind him, and traveled down another set of stairs, wider this time. At the bottom, a guard scrambled to attention, surprise on his face. It wasn't often the sorcerer graced the dungeons with his presence.
“Milord,” the guard said, not daring to look Arawn in the eye.
“Keys!” Arawn demanded arm outstretched, palm upward.
The guard fumbled with the ring of heavy iron keys that hung from his belt, trying to get it unattached from the leather.
Arawn tapped his foot impatiently.
“Sorry, Milord. I cannot get the ring open. I will have them to you in just a moment.” A flush crept up the guard's neck and onto his face.
Arawn huffed an exasperated sigh. He glared daggers at the guard and drew out a knife from his own belt. He stepped towards the guard with the stealth of a panther. The guard's eyes widened in fear when he looked up to see Arawn approaching with the knife trained on him. He swallowed hard.
“My Lord?” he squeaked.
Arawn leaned in, the knife pointing at the guard's stomach. The guard closed his eyes and whimpered, ready to meet his maker. A smug smile crept across the sorcerer's lips as he slid the knife under the leather of the guard's belt and pulled up. He enjoyed the feeling of power he got when people cowered before him. The leather sliced as easily as if it were a hot knife through butter and the belt fell to the floor. The buckle hit the stone with a chink.
“I have not got all day,” Arawn said giving the guard an icy glare when the guard, realizing he was still alive, opened his eyes. He held the ring of keys in one hand and slid the knife back in its sheath with the other.
“Sorry, Milord,” the guard mumbled.
Arawn turned on his heel and headed down to the end of the dungeons. As he disappeared down the dark, dank corridor, the guard slumped on to his stool, pulled a grubby piece of material out of his pocket, and with a shaky hand, wiped his brow with it.
Arawn strode towards the last cell in the dungeon; the one he reserved for very special guests. This one, in particular, had some very precious occupants indeed. When he reached the cell door, he looked through the bars. The wary eyes of a woman, and those of a frightened child, dared to look back at him. The little girl inched behind her mother who was sitting on a rough straw-filled mattress that lay on top of a rickety bench, the only furniture in the room. The floor was covered in more straw and a bucket sat in the corner. Even the rats scarpered when they caught sight of Arawn standing in front of the bars. They scurried into little holes where the wall met the floor.
The woman swallowed hard and tried to hide the fear in her eyes by lifting her chin and squaring her shoulders.
“To what pleasure do we owe a visit from the great and powerful Arawn this day?” she asked, a hint of insolence touching her voice.
“Mama, do not provoke him,” the little girl whispered behind her mother's back.
“You would do well to heed your daughter's advice, Allora,” Arawn said, voice devoid of any emotion. “After all these years, I have finally discovered a use for you. I knew it would be worth my while keeping you alive. As for the brat...”
Allora stood up, puffing up her petite four foot frame to its full height, not that it ever did any good. She was a dwarf, just like her husband. Dwarfs were rare in Drofoz, and before Arawn besieged the realm, they were revered by the rest of the inhabitants.
“It's Lady Allora to you, and you leave Skylar alone,” Allora warned. Her motherly instincts taking over. All fear from her eyes now replaced with fierce protectiveness.
Arawn raised a jet black eyebrow. “Well, aren't we the fierce little erchyll today?” he mocked.
“Don't dare compare me to one of your disgusting creatures.” Allora said.
“Or you'll do what, exactly?”
Allora glared at him. He was right, what could she do locked in a cell? She and her daughter were completely at Arawn's mercy. She always seemed to know just how far she could push him, though. And she didn't hesitate to try.
Arawn unlocked the cell door and opened it. “Come.”
“What do you want with me?”
“You'll find out soon enough.”
Allora hesitated.
“Or maybe you wish for me to come in there and drag you out by your hair. The choice is yours.” The sorcerer's voice was calm, deadly.
Allora flinched just a fraction but kept her chin up and shoulders back. She gave him a considering look. She had no doubt he would act on his words, having done so on more than one occasion since their incarceration. She recalled the first few times she tried to defy her captor. It wasn't pretty, and the bruises lasted for weeks. But over the years, she learned that he was much more forgiving if she cooperated.
Thankfully, after the first year in captivity, he had pretty much left her and Skylar alone, after she managed to convince him that she had no idea where her husband was, or even if he was still alive. Surely, if he was still alive, he would have tried to rescue her and their daughter by now. Slowly, over the years, this fact alone was making her lose hope that her beloved may still be out there. And if that were the case, she and Skylar were totally at the mercy of this tyrant sorcerer. She had to admit to wondering why he had kept them for so long. He wasn't the sort of person to be merciful to anyone, least of all to the family of his adversary. So the fact that he was feeding them and allowing them to live, gave Allora just a sliver of hope that she may, one day, see her husband again.
Allora took a step forward but felt resistance. She looked behind her. Skylar had grabbed hold of her wrist and was hanging on tight, her eyes wide with fear. The poor thing. For most of her life, all she had known was the inside of this dungeon cell and the fear that came with living there.
“Don't leave me, Mama,” Skylar whispered, eyes pleading.