They helped her stand and together they shared a large hug. Bethany got her breath back and said, "Next bridge I am going to cross first, after Cain." They waved goodbye to Myrina, Areto and the protectors as they followed the narrow goat trail alongside the gorge, as they now walked to the weeping eye falls.
Chapter 44
Hear, See And Say Nothing
The animal trail they followed across the rocky ground narrowed, into a path no wider than a foot across. Cain took the point followed by Toni, Sophie, Bethany, Daphne and Lesley brought up the rear. Walking steadily following the worn marks on the soil and rocks as it curved uphill, from the gorge toward a ridge line.
Three hours into their walking, Cain called a halt when the trail came to a large football pitch-sized piece of mountain grassland. The grass neatly cropped to a height of two inches, out to twenty feet where the trail ended. The grass beyond the trail was easily three feet high, and moved like an ocean with a soft swell.
Kneeling, Cain looked at the trail they had been following, he could see it took an acute turn to the right in front of the long grass, running parallel to the higher grass. Moving to a large rock, Cain climbed up so he could look down on the grass. From his new height, Cain could see the trail never entered the tall grass, but moved across the scree to the side of the grassy area.
"There must be a predator or two hiding in the grassy area, don’t you think? Goats normally like to crop lush grass like this to within an inch of its life," Toni said, while Cain hopped down from the rock before having a pee against its side.
Daphne knelt, placed a hand on the ground as she sent out a pulse of her Geomancer skill. Leaping to her feet, Daphne shouted, "Defence," while she equipped her Aspis and a Doru. Within two seconds they each had shields and weapons, ready to face what Daphne had sensed.
Making a semi-circle with their shields they faced the direction Daphne said the danger was from. Sophie watched as the grass in her field of view moved apart, as though something was rushing toward them.
They heard a squealing noise as the grass parted and a small, wild piglet burst out of the tall grass, causing a laugh from Bethany. Her laugh was cut short, as a large snake lunged out of the grass, followed by two more, between them they caught the piglet and ripped it apart.
Toni fired three arrows, one bounced from a snake which had part of the piglet’s skin hanging from its jaw. The second arrow broke on a fang while her third arrow went through the snake’s tongue.
Cain leapt forward, leading with his Aspis targeting the snake, while it was trying to shake the arrow out of its tongue, he bashed his Aspis against its head. Thrusting his Doru down and through the side of the snake’s head, pinning it to the ground; leaving it alive. The other two snakes turned to face Cain as one, they made a loud hiss followed by a terrible screech, blinding Cain, bringing him to his knees.
{Roll to your right, and backward,} Enoch shouted. Rolling back to his right, Cain tried to shake his head clear, knowing he was in danger.
"Pair up against the heads, Daphne with me, Lesley and Bethany together. Sophie go heal Cain," said Toni as they moved into action.
[Don’t cut their heads off, or else you will face more of them,] Ruth said to Bethany. Toni received a similar message from Rahab.
[These snakes are Hydras, they are all part of one body. You need to find the body, kill that not the heads,] Rahab said to Toni.
The Hydra Cain pinned to the ground died, bringing another piercing screech from the remaining two heads. During the screech the dead hydra’s head split in two. Sophie cast area heal as she moved toward Cain, she noticed Cain had stopped shaking his head as she reached his side. Placing her hand on Cain’s arm Sophie cast her cure-all spell. Her spell healed most problems such as, broken limbs, serious wounds, even removed poisons from the recipient.
"I can’t see very well, everything is patches of darkness and cloudy light," Cain said, as he grabbed hold of Sophie. Sophie led Cain away from the fighting before casting her diagnose spell. Her spell informed Sophie, the problem Cain had and how the hydra’s screech triggered the episode.
"You have retinal migraine, in both eyes. It does not need healing as it lasts around twenty minutes," Sophie told Cain. Sophie knew if the Hydras pointed their heads at her sister-wives they would suffer like Cain.
On the fly she modified her AOE healing spell, before she cast the spell over her sisters and herself.
< I have made each of us temporarily deaf, the spell will last thirty minutes. The Hydras screech triggers a temporary retinal blindness. Cain is OK, he will have his sight back in nineteen minutes. I will keep him safe, S >
Lesley and Bethany kept prodding at the Hydra’s head as they separated coming in from opposite sides. Bethany bashed her Aspis into the Hydra’s head which slightly stunned it as it faced Lesley.
The Hydra whipped its head toward Bethany which gave Lesley the chance to bashed the rim of her Aspis down hard on the Hydra’s head. Finally they stunned it. Using their Dorus, Lesley and Bethany pushed them into the ground on opposite sides of the Hydra's head, making a letter X. Bethany wrapped a short length of rope around where the Dorus crossed.
That Hydra's head soon recovered and found itself pinned in place, hissing loudly as Bethany and Lesley moved on to one of the two new smaller heads. Toni and Daphne bashed the Hydra they faced on its nose, making it recoil. It lunged for Toni its mouth wide open, only to receive a solid bash from the opposite side by Daphne's Aspis.
Stunned, the head flopped to the ground, Toni quickly jammed her Doru through the bottom of the Hydra’s mouth, Daphne did the same. Toni wrapped a length of rope around the Hydra’s head, with Daphne they pulled on the rope, and closed its mouth around both Doru.
Two fully grown Hydra heads immobilised, Toni and Daphne joined Bethany and Lesley, as they easily overcame the new heads. They wrapped them in rope fastened to a single Doru. Heads dealt with all they had to do was find the Hydra's body, leaving the heads they searched the long grass. They moved slowly through the long grass, avoiding the thickening Hydra’s necks as they thrashed, trying to free themselves. They pushed through the grass and entered an area, eight strides on each side where the grass was gone and only bare earth and rock was visible.
The grassless, barren area was covered in hundreds, if not thousands of bones, piled knee deep in some areas. Bethany could see dozens of skeletons from piglets, pigs, goats and Harpies. The hydra's necks were twice the thickness here in the barren area, where they disappeared into the ground. Toni held up her hand in a fist, they stopped moving forward, the Hydras stopped thrashing too. Toni took another step closer to the hole in the ground where she noticed someone had fastened thick iron bars built directly into the granite wall.
Another step closer and Toni noticed someone had placed the iron bars in such a way the creature had no chance of escaping. Standing as a group the four women messaged each other on whether to kill the caged creature with Hydra heads, or find a way to free it from its prison.
< The creature looks like a snake with three heads, well three trunks and four heads. Somebody has imprisoned the creature rather than killing it or letting it roam freely. I don’t think we should kill it, nor do I think we should let it go while we are still in the area. T >
< I’d hate to think how long they have imprisoned the creature, look at all the bones and skeletons scattered around. I think we should let it go once we move from here. B >
< I don’t like snakes and these, this Hydra is much larger than a snake. That doesn’t mean I want to kill it, but I’m not sure about letting it go. S >
< I think we let it go. It is only trying to live, and it only attacked us when we encroached upon its territory. L >
< If I hadn’t attacked the first head, it may not ha
ve attacked us. I think we should let it go. C >
< Don’t ask me, you know I wouldn’t want to kill it. S >
Cain held onto Sophie as they walked through the long grass, past the snakes and joined the others looking down at the caged creature. While they stood there not speaking but looking, the creature wavered in their sight. The bars dissolved first, and the creature disappeared after then the piles of animal bones and skeletons also vanished. With the creature gone and the bars vanished, left behind was a wide staircase, heading underground.
< Most curious. Cain the Hydra has gone, and there is now a staircase heading underground. I think we need let's follow the stairs and see where they lead us. T>
Cain, walked with Sophie and Toni at his sides while Bethany walked in the middle of Lesley and Daphne. They followed the stairs underground and came to a large chamber, lit with lamps hung from a high ceiling. In front of them and before a large and closed door, sat on chairs were three huge hairy apelike creatures, carved from Carrara marble. The creature on the left had its hands over its ears. The middle creature had its hands over its eyes while the one on the right had its hands over its mouth.
Lesley, tried to walk behind the carvings but was unable to move further than the side, she was prevented from getting close to the door by a shimmering, blue-tinged force field.
In front of each statue a plaque fastened to the floor held a carving. The left hand plaque had a green tick carved in it, the same with the other two, each having green ticks. As Lesley came back from trying to approach the door, she tried reaching the centre statue. Another blue-tinged force field stopped her moving forward.
^T^ How much longer before your eyes get better? ^
^S^ By my reckoning six more minutes, there is still sixteen minutes before we can hear. ^
^T^ OK, we wait until your vision returns, ^ They stood and waited until Cain said he could see fine.
< Cain, can you go stand on the centre plaque, Daphne on the left plaque and Sophie the remaining plaque, if you all would, please. T >
Moving to where Toni asked, they each stood on the appropriate plaques. As Sophie stood on her plaque the green tick pulsed very fast. The same happened when Cain stood on his and when Daphne stood on the left plaque all of the green ticks pulsed slower, then a green line ran from each plaque and followed a channel in the floor to the closed door behind the carvings. Three green lights appeared above the handle and a loud click reverberated around the chamber. Although they were all still deafened by Sophie’s spell, they could feel the click in their bodies, it was so loud.
Cryptic Chamber
Behind the three statues of the large ape-like creatures, the door swung open, lights in the darkness beyond lit revealing another chamber with carvings of people standing on plinths. Using a Doru, Cain pushed the door open to its full extent, and revealed the room beyond. As had become for them normal procedure they entered the room taking care, shields to the front and Doru ready to strike.
Cain scanned the room, he counted six statues all human, five were female, one a male. Each statue held their right hand in the air above the light. The door closed behind them as they moved into the room, on the far wall were three plaques, each lit by a brilliant white spotlight. Stashing his Aspis and Doru, Cain moved forward checking for traps while he looked at the masterpieces of art. Statues which a coder had created matched the best examples of detailed carving Cain had ever seen.
Toni could tell from her position at the side of the first statue as she examined the carvings the sculptor had clothed each female rather scantily, with a long piece of fabric. It ran over the woman's left shoulder covering her left breast leaving the right exposed. The fabric continued across the statue’s flat stomach, curling around the right leg. A smooth vagina could be seen through the fabric which covered it. Toni leant back and looked at the rear of the statue; she noticed the fabric clung to the statue's shapely behind, and displayed the contours to perfection.
Looking up, Toni noticed the woman’s face was only a rough outline, not the smooth work carried out on the rest of the statue. Glancing at the other statues Toni could see they were all the same, including the man. The only real difference was he wore a piece of cloth around his waist hardly covering his penis hanging free upon large testes. There were no plaques on the plinths only five identical females and one male.
Upon reaching the far end they could see and touch the three plaques, a smaller plaque next to the door had writing engraved in its surface. Someone had crafted the door from a dull grey metal, upon its surface there were three large mechanical locks, on the top of each lock was a glowing red light.
Cain looked and did not touch the left-hand plaque, it had an alphabet engraved into its surface, laid out like a QWERTY keyboard. Satisfied with the left plaque, he then looked at the middle plaque.
This plaque had a list of two words above each other, separated by three dashed lines. Looking over the right hand plaque, Cain noticed nothing, no text or carving only an empty smooth plaque.
Toni read the small plaque beside the locked door, she spoke and realised she could now hear so she read out the text. "You passed above ground the hear, see and say nothing part of the quest to gain access to this chamber. This door opens after you answer each of the questions on the three plaques."
Cain checked the empty plaque again and noticed written in the border in what he thought was font size 1 was a message. He used his magnify sight skill and read the message in the boarder. "I can only inform you the three plaques mirror the way you passed the earlier quest to access this chamber. Hear, Say and See. If the three plaques need us to access them by not being able to Hear, See or Speak. We’ll need to work as a team to read and break the clues."
Toni looked at Cain's plaque, closed her eyes and placed her right ear on the plaque in front of her, she messaged what she could hear. < The voice I can hear is very quiet only above a whisper, so please don’t move or speak, it will only reiterate the clues twice. Select the correct letters in order once you have worked out the answer.
"I know the answer to chief supporter, it is an arch. It was easy as I remembered it being in a cryptic crossword, which the paper I wrote for, used to run," said Daphne.
"If cattlemen have problems with rustlers, maybe rustling fits the noisy rustler," Sophie said.
"I’ve worked out the outline changing in a hotel suite clue. If you jumble the letters, you can make the word silhouette, they are the letters in hotel and suite," Cain said.
"The fruit eaten consumed by many is a date," Lesley said.
"I had a smidgen of help, the second clues answer is crusades," Bethany said. Toni opened her eyes smiled at her sisters and Cain then punched the letters in the correct order of the game to play, CARDS.
The bottom lock’s red light changed to green and the mechanical lock retracted. Each face on the statues lost small pieces of marble, falling as dust to the floor. Neither Cain nor his wives, noticed the minute changes.
Sophie stood in front of the middle plaque and looked at the words. She thought to herself if this is the I see nothing then I must need to work the answer out with my eyes and hearing closed. Turning to Cain and her sisters, Sophie asked them to keep quiet while she worked out the word puzzle.
Although Sophie knew the top word said wall and the bottom word firm, she knew she would have to work this out without looking or speaking. This puzzle had to be completed by touch, and no other senses. Begin with the word WALL and change a letter at a time until you get the word FIRM. Each change must be a proper word.
Running her fingers over the plaque, Sophie could feel the letters set in individual blocks. Trusting her ability at working out puzzles like these, she touched and moved the W down to the next line, followed by both letter L’s.
Using her
fingers, Sophie pushed on the blank block and turned it past the first option the letter E, tracing it with her fingers, she pushed the block again ending with the letter I, making the word WILL. A green light pulsed through the word lighting it.
Sophie was quick as she moved the letters, I, L and L to the next row. Pushing on the empty block, she rejected the letters, T, D and P before reaching the letter F, making FILL. Again, another green pulse lit the word.
Bringing down the letters, F, I and L, Sophie looked for the end letter to make a new word. Passing the letters, T, F, S and D. Sophie stopped on the letter M, making the word FILM. A stronger green light lit each of the words.
The red light on the top bolt turned green, the bolt retracted, leaving the middle bolt as the only method of keeping the door closed. Behind Toni and everyone, the faces on the statues lost more marble from their faces. Small piles of marble dust covered the floor around each statue as though a master craftsman had been at work.
The third plaque was totally blank, no inscription, no note and no carving barring the six indents; stacked one upon another. Cain had everyone look around the room. Lesley noticed the small piles of marble dust around each statue.
Looking up Lesley noticed the faces on the statues were changing. The one she was looking at had a close likeness to Bethany. Lesley told everyone what she had seen as she checked another.
Each statue was subtly changing, their faces were being expertly carved upon the statues. Daphne looked up to see if there was any other change to the statue, she noticed the right hand was now lower than when they entered the room.
Cain lifted Toni up against her own statue, she reached for her right hand and removed a piece of crystal. Cain repeated the procedure with each of his women. He jumped, his legs pushing him to a high enough height, where he took the crystal from his own statue’s hand, before landing without a sound.
Forsaken 337 BC Page 56