by Dan Zangari
“What do you think this room was used for?” Hagen asks and his words echo in the enormous chamber.
“I have no idea,” Cornar responds while looking around the room in awe.
Once they reach the edge of the magically lit floor, Cornar stops and holds his hand out toward Hagen.
“I don’t see a floor like the other rooms,” Cornar remarks, “It could be a pit of some sorts.”
Hagen softly moans and heavily sighs.
The warrior then takes out his coin purse and removes one of the small Losian coins. He extends his arm over the edge and drops it. After a brief moment a tang resonates, followed by another and another.
“It must curve,” Cornar observes and strokes his chin.
“Oh no,” Hagen stammers and grabs Cornar’s arm. “You’re not thinking of going down there are you?”
Cornar grins at Hagen then kneels down. He stretches out his hand to the darkened abysmal space beyond and touches a surface just below the illuminated edge.
As his fingers touch the surface, bluish-grey magical light spills into the gapping dark space from above the two companions in adventure.
Although dimly lit, the once abysmal chamber can be faintly seen; As Cornar had surmised, it is cylindrical in shape with a diameter just over two hundred phineals long. However, the only magical illumination comes from a thin line at the apex of the chamber.
Cornar rises to his feet and looks to his right and left, where the cylindrical chamber tunnels out in each direction as far as he can see.
“Oh,” the warrior smiles in a sense of enlightenment and looks to Hagen. “I think this is something like what Ordreth described he had heard about in Merda,” Cornar then points to his left then right, “It’s a tunnel and that way goes north, toward Alath’s center.”
“You mean that magical transport?” Hagen asks and swallows hard as he steps back away from the edge.
“Yes, Nehon had briefly told Ordreth and the others about it. One would simply go to one of the many stations in the elven city and ride in some sort of carriage to another part.”
“But I don’t see a carriage…” Hagen looks around then starts to walk back toward the stairs, “I guess we’re going to have to try and climb over those towering walls or just go back–”
“Hagen,” Cornar calls out, “This is our way into the inner city without being detected.”
“How… how can you be so… so sure?” the illusionist stammers.
“Those two men I saw had mentioned they were chasing someone and that he could have escaped from the inner city through something called a ‘trans-tube’, and I think this is what that is. It has to lead into Alath’s heart.
“Look, all we have to do is walk down this tunnel. There has to be something like this at the other end, something that would allow us to get back to the surface.
“I’m going to slide down, but if you want weave some more of those magical cords and repel down, either way I will be waiting for you.”
At that moment, Cornar lowers himself and steps backward toward the edge, placing his hands on the illuminated floor. He gently lets himself down and slides along the curving surface. As he slides to the bottom of the tunnel, more magical light illuminates the enormous tubular chamber at points staggered every twenty phineals on all sides.
“Incredible,” Cornar shakes his head and grins widely. At that same moment Hagen rolls down the curving walls of the tunnel and reels back and forth just in front of Cornar.
“Phew,” Hagen says and slowly rises to his feet, “That was sort of fun.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Cornar chuckles and walks across the bottom most part of the tunnel.
“But how are we going to get back up?” Hagen asks as he follows Cornar to the northern side of the tunnel, which was once their right when standing on the ledge.
They travel for a short distance when they come to a shallow lip which lines the tunnel’s walls just fifty phineals away from the edge of the opening from the previous chamber. As Cornar approaches it glows with a white hue.
“Hmm,” Cornar kneels down and reaches his hand toward the lip. As he does so, he can feel a tingling sensation through the air which slows his reach. The warrior stops as the sensation grows in intensity. He immediately reaches his hand across the lip to the other side without resistence.
“I think we’ll be fine if we don’t touch this lip,” Cornar looks back to Hagen. “The closer I got to it the harder it became to reach for it.”
“That’s strange,” Hagen squeaks out, “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
The warrior steps back then jumps across the lip, as he lands the sound resonates through the chamber in an echo.
“Let’s go,” Cornar says and starts to jog down the tunnel. “We’ll get there faster if we run. The inner city is at least thirty grand phineals away.”
* * * * *
Several hours later, the tunnel begins to curve toward the right and Hagen stops while calling out to the warrior.
“Are you sure this was a good idea Cor? Where are we going now?”
“Let’s just keep going,” Cornar answers without ceasing his speedy dash, “I just have a feeling this is the right way.”
Hagen shakes his head then follows after Cornar.
Not long after the brief exchange, an opening to the left appears, just as large as the tunnel. As the warrior and illusionist pass it, they can faintly see an identical cylindrical chamber, yet its depths are not discernible.
Cornar ignores it and continues down the curve in the enormous subterranean tunnel.
After a quarter of an hour they come to a darkened section in the tunnel. It is lined with a similar lip as the one they had encountered earlier. In like manner as before, the lip becomes lit with white magical light as the warrior and illusionist approach.
“What do you think this means?” Hagen asks and looks around.
Cornar silently reaches for his coin purse and pulls another small coin out. He tosses the coin across the lip and after a short moment a tang can be heard.
“Stay here, I’m going to jump across.”
The warrior gracefully leaps above the lip and as he lands upon the ground, an identical tunnel to the one they initially encountered becomes illuminated. The warrior looks around as the light from the ceiling and from the sparse spots on the wall become lit. High above him to his left, Cornar catches a glimpse of an opening in the tunnel’s wall similar in size to the enormous room they discovered with the six pillars.
“I think we should scale this wall,” Cornar points to his left and gazes up at the opening.
“Great,” Hagen sighs as he leaps across the lip. “I wish there was an easier way out of this silly place. Why can’t there be a ladder or something? I mean if our–”
The illusionist abruptly stops as he sees a whitish-blue light coalescing along the curving wall mentioned by Cornar. Two lines form the breadth of an average man followed by rows of lines ascending half way up the cylindrical surface. Bars of magic form between the two rows and after a moment a ladder takes shape lining the tunnel’s wall; its squared bars glow with a faint hue that matches the rest of the magical illumination the warrior and illusionist have encountered thus far.
“It can’t be that easy,” Hagen sarcastically wobbles his head.
“The lift in Merda was,” Cornar observes, “All we had to say was–”
“Stop!” Hagen cries out and waves his hands in front of him, “I don’t want to fall through to the center of Kalda.”
Cornar hysterically laughs at the short illusionist then proceeds to the ladder.
Both Cornar and Hagen climb up the step-like bars and after a short time they reach the ledge at the base of the opening Cornar had previously seen. As Cornar pulls himself up and over the ledge, an enormous room becomes illuminated, identical to the one which contained the six pillars.
“We couldn’t have gone in a circle,” Hagen wonders aloud as he comes
to Cornar’s side. “This chamber looks exactly the same as that other one.”
“No,” Cornar answers, “We didn’t curve enough.”
“You’re a living compass,” Hagen shakes his head. “I’m glad I’m not here with anyone else.”
Cornar grins at the short illusionist then steps across the room. He points to a set of stairs at the far end, identical to the ones he and Hagen had descended several hours ago, and says, “Let’s go up and see where this leads.”
Both warrior and illusionist walk across the room and ascend the stairs. They reach a curving landing which becomes illuminated at their presence followed by a similar broad corridor to the one containing the vivid depictions of Kalda’s past; however, it is much longer and sharply angles to the right several hundred phineals from where it connects to the enormous chamber.
After a short time, Cornar and Hagen come to a large rectangular room with ten archways. Like its identical chamber they had traversed before, all but one archway has been blocked by brownish stone; the unbarred archway is across the wall from the broad corridor and just to the right. The light from the rectangular room partially illuminates the smaller chamber and Cornar steps toward it.
“Where do you think it leads?” Hagen looks to the warrior with a sense of trepidation.
“Why don’t we find out,” Cornar steps toward the archway.
The warrior and illusionist pass through the threshold where a stairwell can be seen on the opposite end of the small landing.
Cornar and Hagen ascend the stairs, which rise eight stories. At the highest step, an odd shaped room becomes lit as the two companions in adventure step inside it; the room has five walls, two of which are set at an angle in front of the stairs.
“Well this is different,” Hagen comments.
“Ninda Shre Tolinsura,” Cornar utters the words then looks at each of the walls.
On the slanted wall to their left, an oval outline of magic appears. Within a moment, the stone inside the magical lines compresses and slides apart. Various types of crates are piled in front of the newly opened threshold and partially block any view to what lies beyond the magically forged doorway.
Cornar slowly steps toward the barred opening and peers through the cracks between the crates. The room beyond is mostly darkened with the light from the hidden landing being the only source of light. Shadows and outlines of other crates can be faintly seen but not much more.
“It looks like a storage room,” Cornar remarks. “Let’s push these crates.”
After a moment, Cornar and Hagen clear a narrow path from the opening which allows them access into the rest of the room. It is fairly large and measures twenty phineals along each of its sides. On the wall to the right of the opening, nearly along its furthest end away from the hidden landing, light shines through a crack in the doorway.
Cornar silently motions for Hagen to follow him, and both step up to the doorway. The warrior intently listens then whispers to Hagen, “I don’t hear anything, why don’t you cast an invisibility spell on us.”
The illusionist quickly nods his head and whispers the words to the spell.
Once they vanish from sight, the door slowly swings open. Immediately beyond the doorway is a narrow hall which opens up to a moonlit room. From their vantage point in the hall, the two companions in adventure can see tall racks with several tiers of clothing hanging upon them.
As the invisible warrior and illusionist step into the moonlit room, Hagen mutters, “It’s a clothing shop.”
“Quiet,” Cornar retorts in a whisper.
Their soft footsteps echo through the shop as they move around the clothing racks.
To the right of the hallway are tall windows which rise from floor to ceiling. Beyond the large panes is a grassy expanse; Within its center is a large reflecting pool. Its stilled waters clearly reflect the light of Kalda’s moons as well as the stars surrounding them.
Walkways made of light-colored stone wrap around the pool and spread to seven buildings which surround the grassy expanse, as well as the one where Cornar and Hagen are hiding.
The buildings are made out of a light beige stone, almost white. They rise three stories in height. Each of them are similar except for the one across the grassy expanse; it sprawls the length of the opened area with a large round pavilion at its center. Atop the pavilion is a golden dome with etched symbols across its base.
“This place is beautiful,” Hagen remarks.
“I think we can safely assume we are within Alath’s inner city,” Cornar whispers, “This doesn’t look like anything we saw before we descended into those catacombs.”
“What’s that?” Hagen asks, “Over there to the left.”
“I don’t know…” Cornar whispers, “It has some writing on it but I can’t read it.”
The two invisible companions’ footsteps can be heard moving across the room and toward another pair of windows on the left side of the shop.
Directly in front of the leftmost window is a beige stone pillar, squarely cut. Upon its surface which faces the window is a black plate. Golden letters are etched into its surface and upon the top of the plate it reads, “The Mages’ Park.” Beneath it are a variety of peculiar names with arrows pointing in various directions next to the designations.
“Begulr’s Theater?” Hagen questions aloud, “That must be that big building across the way.”
“Let’s go scout around,” Cornar says with a sense of intrigue, “After we find out where that Estate is located we’ll come back here and rest until the morning.”
Sighing, Hagen responds, “I just hope we don’t get caught.”
3
Trial
Midmorning the following day, Cornar and Hagen make their way toward the wide northern gates of the Estate of Concorious Knowledge. Still clothed in their illusions, they push their way through a throng of Alath’s citizens filing through the gateway.
The Estate’s northern gate is housed between towering white stone walls which rise thirty five phineals in height; with the gate itself rising just over thirty phineals and sixty of the same measurement in width. Meticulous stonework adorns the gateway from the ground up and culminates in a vase with vines and exotic flowers wrapping around it.
This northern section is much higher than the rest of the walls surrounding the home of Losian magic, due to the dramatic slope of the hill where the Estate is nestled which is nearly three stories lower than the southern gateway.
As the two companions approach the gate they can hear the guards of the Estate giving ushering instructions for the trial.
“… Once inside the Grand Auditorium you will be instructed where to go. Remember, do not approach the Arbiter or any of the witnesses. You may leave and return to the trial at any time.”
The guard resumes his ushering rhetoric as Cornar and Hagen pass through the towering gateway. The gateway tunnels for fifty phineals before opening up to a beautiful courtyard which spans nearly a grand phineal and a third in width and nine hundred phineals deep; in the center of this northernmost part of the Estate is the Grand Auditorium of Sildan, named after a mage who helped found the home of Alathian magic.
The auditorium rises five stories in height and resembles the Main Hall of the Estate. Upon its front are statues of mages holding various magical objects unknown to the warrior and illusionist. Citizens push their way toward wide double doorways, filing into a large foyer.
“I hope we can find a seat,” Hagen sighs.
Ignoring the illusionist, Cornar thinks, I just want to hear the proceedings…
* * * * *
Not long after, Cornar and Hagen move along an aisle descending toward the edge of a balcony within the grand auditorium. At the balcony’s edge is a wide row which lines the front of the seats and wraps to the forward most part of this upper level.
As they reach the balcony’s edge Cornar leans to Hagen and loudly says while pointing toward the front of the enormous auditorium, “Let’s ge
t as close as we can.”
Hagen nods his head, then he and Cornar maneuver around the many citizens finding seats. As they move to the forward most parts of the balcony a loud gong resonates from the stage at the front of the grand auditorium.
The chatter in the room ceases and only the soft footfalls of the citizens still moving about the auditorium fills the air.
Another gong resonates several seconds after, followed by a third.
Still moving toward the front of the balcony, Cornar looks over its edge and toward the front of the stage where he can see six men, each dressed in the formal robes of mages. His brow narrows as he carefully examines each of them from a distance.
One of them steps forward two paces in front of the others; he is dressed in a white garb with ornate patterns woven around his shoulders and down across his chest to his waist. His facial features are not discernible at this distance, but his short and neatly trimmed white hair strikingly stands out.
“Citizens of Alath,” the lone mage calls out in a calm voice which resonates throughout the entire auditorium. “I am Dorith; Grandmaster of the Estate of Concorious Knowledge. Here today we assemble to determine the fate of a man who has brought great destruction to our city and our people.
“To my sad dismay, this man is none other than the son of one of our most beloved paragons from the great war with the former Empire of Mindolarn; Iltar, the son of Adrin, Hero of the West and one of the Champions of Angolith.
“As many of you are aware, seven days ago this man brought forth a wave of destruction which engulfed many of our people.
“It is our understanding as the governing council of the Mages of Alath,” Dorith motions to the other five robed men next to him, “That Iltar was attempting to wage a devastating war which would affect all nations on Kalda. He came to us under a meek and humbling ruse which utilized his half-brother, Almar,” Dorith gestures to his right where the aforementioned mage is dressed in an identical white robe.
“Now, without any further delay we will begin this trial. Arbiter Hastrin, the time is yours.”