The Stones of Fire and Water

by V. M. Sang

  A pair of large wooden gates, studded with iron, stood before them. Through the mist they could make out the shape of a castle behind the walls. Pettic walked up to the gate and tried to open it. It was locked. Now what?

  The walls ran in either direction from the gate, but he found it impossible to see how far they went, nor if they were scaleable, because a mist swirled around within ten yards of the gate. Pettic surmised it was the same mist that they walked through when they passed through the gate to this realm.

  Lucenra had also been looking around and she turned to Pettic and said, `How are we going to get through a locked gate?' Just what Pettic had been thinking.

  A number of large rocks lay scattered around and Pettic sank down on one. Lucenra sat on another opposite him.

  `Perhaps Torren isn't in the castle. Perhaps those gates are a ruse to confuse any rescuer,' surmised Lucenra.

  `I don't think so, Luce. Hellom wouldn't have been expecting a rescue. He went to a lot of trouble to hide those key gems. If it hadn't been for Blundo, we'd never have found them.'

  `If it hadn't been for Blundo, we'd not have had any idea about the four elemental worlds and the keys. I must get Torren to reward him when we get him back.'

  `Keys. These gems I'm wearing are keys. Perhaps they're keys to the gates too.'

  He rose and strode over to the gate. He looked all over for anything that might be a keyhole that the artefacts could fit in. All he could see was a little indentation on one of the iron nails.

  Lucenra came up behind him as he was fingering the indentation.

  `Have you found anything?' she asked.

  `No. Nothing at all. I hoped there'd be something the artefacts could go into to trigger the unlocking, but there's nothing.'

  Lucenra frowned. `What were you doing when I came over?'

  Pettic frowned as he looked at her.

  `You seemed to be feeling something.'

  `Oh, just a little flaw in this iron stud,' he replied, shrugging.

  Lucenra walked back to the rock she'd been sitting on and thought for a moment. Then she stood up again and almost ran back to Pettic.

  `Pettic, it's the gems that are the keys. We've been thinking of the artefacts because that's where the gems are found. Is that 'flaw', as you call it, of a size that would fit the gems?'

  `Yes. I think so. You may be onto something, Luce.'

  Pettic pulled off the buckler and pressed the sapphire into the indentation. It seemed to fit. He then pressed the other gems in one after another. Nothing happened.

  `So much for that idea,' muttered Lucenra.

  They stood and thought for a few more minutes until Pettic said. `Perhaps they have to be put in in a particular order. We must try different ways.'

  He was about to press the diamond in when Lucenra said, `Stop. There might be a limit to the number of times we can try. If that's the case, and we overrun, we're stuck out here. That would be no good to Torren.'

  They returned to their rocks and thought.

  `What's the usual order we think of the elements?' Lucenra mused. Then she answered herself. `We usually think 'Earth, Air, Fire and Water. We could try it in that order. We could also try the order in which you found the gems. If neither of those works, then I've no more ideas.'

  Pettic got up and walked back to the gates. He picked up the sword with the emerald, the gem signifying Earth. He pressed it into the indentation. Then he did the same with the diamond, ruby and sapphire. A click sounded from within the gate and it swung inwards with the slightest touch from his hand.

  He turned to Lucenra. `I'm so glad you decided to come with me. You've already been a great help. Now to track down Torren.'

  The gate led into a courtyard. Once past the walls, they found the mist no longer there and bright sunshine made them blink. Opposite the gate stood the castle keep, rising up tall above them. Towers stood at each corner of the square building.

  On the right they saw buildings that appeared to be workshops. The sound of a blacksmith's hammer rang out in the midday air. From a long building came the sound of horses moving and snorting. As they watched, a man came out from the stables and went round a corner.

  On the other side were what they assumed were living quarters, and next to the keep, a building had smoke coming from the chimney and the smells of cooking food wafted through the open doorway. People appeared from the buildings every so often and then disappeared back into them. No one took any notice of two people and one dog.

  They walked slowly towards the main doors of the keep. The doors stood open and so they entered and found themselves in the great hall of the castle. Here all the activities of a bustling castle normally took place, but this one seemed to be unusually quiet. Lucenra looked round.

  `This is eerie,' she said. `No one here. We ought to have been greeted by now. A castle this size should have a steward and probably a chatelaine too. We've seen some servants, but none of them have spoken to us nor been to tell the person in charge we're here.'

  `I agree. It's most odd. Are these people real or are they illusions to make it seem it's a real castle? Look, there's a woman coming in over there. Let's go and talk to her.'

  Striding across the hall, Pettic looked every inch a nobleman.

  `Hey, you,' he called. The woman stopped and looked at him, eyes open wide. As he neared her, she curtsied.

  `What can I do for you, my lord,' she said. `We rarely get visitors here. In fact there's only been the young lord who's staying here ever since I came to work here.'

  `We've come to see the young lord,' Lucenra said, coming over, and assuming Torren was the `young lord'. `Where can we find him?'

  `I don't rightly know, your ladyship,' the servant answered, curtseying again. `I'm just a servant. You should ask someone else.'

  Pettic thanked the woman and turned to Lucenra.

  `I think that answers our question. The servants are real people.'

  `Do they know they're in a Bubble, I wonder?' Lucenra mused.

  They walked over to one of the doors that led off the great hall. Pettic knocked on the one nearest the main doors. There was no answer so he pushed the door open.

  Inside was what was obviously an office. Legers lay on a table and a quill pen in a holder and an inkwell stood ready to hand. Next to them stood a sand-shaker to blot the writing. There was no one in the room.

  They went to the next door where they found a room similar to Blundo's, but much tidier. There were gems in glass containers, each labelled carefully, and a contraption similar to that used by Blundo to imbue the gems with magic. Scrolls lined the walls on shelves and a large book lay on the desk.

  `This is a magician's room,' Lucenra said, raising her eyebrows.

  `Probably Hellom's,' Pettic replied. `This is probably where he's been hiding out and planning the takeover of the kingdom for whoever he's working for.'

  `Come on, Pettic. We need to find Torren.'

  Pettic agreed, closing the door carefully behind him as they left.

  `Don't want anyone to get suspicious, do we?' he said to Lucenra then he patted Cledo and said to the dog, `Find Torren, Cledo. He's here somewhere. Go find Torren.'

  Cledo wagged his tail and sniffed the air. Then he ran out of the room and up the stairs that ran to a balcony. Pettic and Lucenra ran after him. When they reached the top of the stairs, Cledo set off to a door on the right of the balcony. Pettic opened it and the corridor it led to ran over the rooms below and had doors leading from it. The dog went to one of the doors and barked.

  Pettic reached out his hand to open the door when it opened from the inside. Torren stood there. His mouth dropped open when he saw Pettic and Lucenra standing outside.

  `What are you doing here?' he exclaimed. `How did you get here?'

  `It's a long story, Torren,' Pettic told his friend as they embraced. `I'll tell you another time, but now we need to get you out of here.'

  Torren embraced his sister and then fussed Cledo who waited impatient
ly for his turn.

  `How?' he asked, pushing an ecstatic Cledo down from where the dog had put his feet on the young man's shoulders. `I tried to leave, but there's some kind of barrier stopping me.'

  `The gems in these artefacts will allow us to pass,' Pettic told him.

  `I'll be thankful to leave here, but why am I here? And how come no one missed me? Or did they?'

  `Questions will have to wait, Torren,' Lucenra said. `Come on. Follow us.'

  The three humans and Cledo retraced their paths down the stairs and into the great hall. Torren told them a little about the place where he'd found himself.

  `There's the castle, of course,' he said, `but that's not all in this strange place. Behind the castle are fields and woods, very much like around Glitton. There are horses in the stables and I could go riding around and hunting if I wanted. There are huntsmen and dogs here.'

  `Where does the food come from?' Lucenra asked.

  `The farms out behind the castle. I don't think the people know they're in what you called a 'Bubble'. People don't travel far from their homes, do they?'

  The three people and one dog hurried out from the library and into the great hall. Pettic turned to his friend.

  `Did you learn anything about this Bubble while you were here?'

  Torren laughed.

  `There was little else to do except read. Oh, I went out riding a few times, and hunting too, but I spent most of my time reading. Sometimes Hellom came and we talked, but he spent most of the time he was here in his laboratory, as he called it.'

  `Well,' his sister said. `What did you learn?'

  `I learned there are gems that keep the gate open and they must be near to it. You know where the gate is in Glitton. Do you know where the gems are?'

  `Yes, we do,' Lucenra replied. `Do you remember those quartz crystals Hellom put over the fireplace in the nursery?'

  `Those were the magic crystals? Nothing to do with keeping us safe?'

  Pettic replied, `No. Hellom was already planning this coup as long ago as that. Or at least he was involved if not actually planning it. Your father was right when he sacked him.'

  `Oh, Father!' exclaimed Lucenra. `You don't know. Torren, I'm sorry to break it to you like this, but father's dead. He had something like cholera. We don't think it was actually cholera because no one else has died.'

  Torren stopped and looked at his sister. `Father's dead? It can't be.'

  `I'm sorry, Torren,' Pettic told him. `It's as Luce said. We buried him yesterday.'

  Torren stopped and hid his face in his hands as he mourned his father. Then he turned to the other two.

  `We'd better get going then. Mother and the others will need me.'

  Pettic then spoke. `More than your mother and siblings, Torren have you forgotten you're heir to the throne? All of Fusionem needs you.'

  Torren pulled himself together and they started off again for the huge doors that led from the great hall to the courtyard.

  Suddenly, Pettic stopped and the others nearly ran into him.

  `Cledo!' he exclaimed. `Where's Cledo?'

  Sure enough, the dog was not with them.

  `I think I saw him nosing around near the magician's laboratory,' Lucenra said. `Perhaps he went in and the door swung shut. I'll go and get him. You two go on and I'll catch you up.'

  She turned and went across the hall to the laboratory, whose door had indeed closed.

  Pettic watched her and then, urged on by Torren, turned towards the doors.

  As they passed into the courtyard, Pettic saw a movement near the stables. A tall man in magician's robes strode towards them.

  `I expected you to try a rescue,' he said. `But it's all in vain.'

  Pettic drew his sword.

  `That will avail you nothing,' said the magician. `Magic is more powerful than steel.'

  He held up a gem and an arrow flew towards Pettic. Torren quickly pushed the other young man to one side and the arrow missed.

  Pettic quickly sheathed his sword and pulled his bow from his back. He was in the process of nocking and arrow when suddenly he heard a voice from behind him. A voice he recognised.

  `Don't do that. Not a good idea at all.'

  He swung round to face Blundo, a look of relief on his face until he saw the magician was not, in fact, talking to Hellom, as he had thought, but to him.

  `'Blundo,' he exclaimed. `What are you doing here and how did you get here?'

  `My master, Hellom, let me through the gate. He thought he might need some help. You see, I've told him what a clever and resourceful young man you are.'

  Pettic stood open-mouthed, dropping his arrow in surprise.

  `But you told us how to get into the elemental worlds. If you hadn't done that, we wouldn't be here now. Prince–no, sorry, King–Torren would still be trapped.'

  `You were a danger to the conspiracy.' Hellom spoke again. `You could have exposed Dilrong. I don't quite know how, but you're a very dangerous young man. It seemed better to get you here and trap you along with King Torren. So I arranged for Blundo to 'help' you.

  `I did hope you wouldn't survive the elemental worlds, though. That would have been better for us all.'

  `Not for me!' exclaimed Pettic.

  He saw a movement by the door to the great hall and surmised it was Lucenra. He dare not look though. He did not want any attention drawn to her. He had an inkling that Hellom and Blundo did not know she had come with him. He hoped she would somehow be able to escape with Torren, even if he could not.

  The two magicians were closing the gap between Pettic, Torren and themselves. Pettic saw Hellom raise a crystal and suddenly he could not move. Blundo reached him, stooped and removed the artefacts from him and he could do nothing about it.

  Hellom then began to move towards the gate.

  `You see, the king, your father, Torren, was far too soft. Something about a king 'serving the people'. What nonsense! The people are there to serve the king.

  'I will be king in everything but name. Dilrong will do exactly what I say. He loves the idea of being king and having people wait on him hand and foot, but is not clever enough to do the day-to-day tasks. I'll take that burden from him.

  `Now it's farewell. I hope you enjoy your time here in my Bubble The spell won't last long. Just long enough for Blundo and me to get through the gate and close it again.'

  With that he and Blundo began to walk towards the gates.

  Suddenly, a flash of grey fur shot out and leaped onto Blundo, bringing him to the ground and worrying his cloak. The magician could not get up with a large wolfhound on his back.

  Hellom began to run towards the gate, but all of a sudden a bright flash of light erupted in front of him. He held his hand to his eyes, then stumbled towards the gate, reaching out before him.

  Princess Lucenra ran to the blinded magician and turned him round several times, each time removing an artifact. When she had them all, she left Hellom pointing towards the kitchen and ran back to Torren and Pettic.

  Cledo still stood over Blundo who held his hands over his head. Lucenra went to the stables and got a piece of rope and quickly tied the magician up.

  Pettic was beginning to feel his feet and hands again and determined the paralysis was wearing off. Soon he could move, if a little stiffly. He noticed Torren moving too.

  Lucenra handed him the artefacts, saying, `Quick. We don't know how long that blindness will last. your paralysis wasn't very long.'

  The four ran for the gates, Torren and Pettic stumbling slightly. As they neared, they heard a roar as Hellom began to recover his sight.

  `Jobim,' he called.

  The blacksmith came out of his smithy.

  `Get those three people and stop them leaving this courtyard.'

  Jobim began to run after the three and Cledo. They reached the gate and could hear the footsteps close behind. Every second, Pettic thought he could feel the blacksmith's hand on his collar.

  `You go if he gets me,' he called, panting,<
br />
  `If he gets you we're all stuck,' Torren panted back .`You've got the gems.'

  They reached the gates and pulled them open, rushed through and slammed them in the face of Jobim. Pettic then held onto Lucenra and Torren and Torren held Cledo by the scruff of his neck as they ran into the mist.

  They all fell in a heap onto the nursery floor, hoping it was still night and no one was around to ask questions.

  Chapter 17

  `Quick, get the quartz crystals away before Hellom manages to get through,' Lucenra called as she rose to her feet.

  All three quickly reached to the mantlepiece and picked the stones up.

  `We need to get them away from here,' Pettic said. They all ran into the corridor as fast as they could, each carrying two stones. They met a guard patrolling the corridor and slid to a halt.

  The guard's eyebrows rose as he saw the three, but he saluted them and said, `Can I do anything for you, Your Majesty? You seem to be in a hurry.'

  `Y-yes,' replied Torren. `We…we…er…,'

  Pettic came to his rescue. `We were just having a bit of a game. You see, the king isn't going to have much time for fun in the days ahead, so we thought we'd hide some things from the nursery and see if the others noticed.'

  The guard looked skeptical. He again addressed Torren.

  `Your Majesty, I thought you were in your apartment. I'm sure I saw you going in there only a few minutes ago. How did you get here so fast?'

  This time Lucenra came to the rescue.

  She put her fingers to her lips and whispered, `You know how there are rumours about secret passages in the palace? Well they're true. Only the family knows about them, but they do help us to get to places fast. Of course, you must swear never to reveal what I've just told you. Even Pettic didn't know until now. He's sworn to secrecy too,' she said, looking hard at the said young man.

  The guard looked important to have been let into this little secret and he readily swore never to breathe a word. Then he continued his patrolling and left the three behind.

  `Are there really secret passages, or were you making that up?' Pettic asked.

  `There are rumours and stories, but then there always are in large, old buildings,' Torren told him. `Whether any of them are true we've really no idea, but it's probable there are some somewhere. Well done for that bit of quick thinking, Luce,' he praised his sister.