by Mike Shelton
Onius spoke first, getting right to the point, “Gorn and Alli, we are sending you on a special mission.”
Alli wondered if word of her battle had already reached Kanzar’s and Onius’s ears. Most likely.
“The barrier is failing,” Onius continued. “And we need your help.”
“Have you found out how to strengthen it?” Gorn asked.
“Oh, no, my good wizard,” spoke Kanzar for the first time, his voice deep and his eyes dark. “You misunderstand us. We need your help with making it fail. Have you ever heard of Celestar?”
“Wait.” Alli couldn’t hold her words in. “You mean you want the barrier to fail? Why?” She turned to Roland—he seemed as clueless as she. Gorn held his mouth tight and shook his head at her in a way that said not to question Kanzar. Onius held his face neutral. Only Kanzar appeared pleased with her outburst.
“My dear apprentice,” Kanzar said, looking down at her. “Don’t worry yourself about the workings of the Citadel.”
His condescension sent bristles down her spine, but he was the leader of the Citadel. Maybe there was something she didn’t know.
Kanzar continued, focusing his attention on Gorn. “The barrier has been a hindrance to us for too long. Now that it is failing, we will take full advantage of the situation and put Alaris back as the rightful leader of the southern countries - as we used to be.”
Onius pulled out a map and pointed to the northeast corner of Alaris—a small unmarked spot, east of the Dunn River, that used to be on Elvyn land but now stood on the Alaris side of the barrier. “This is where Celestar is,” Onius said. “The barrier will fail first here— and this is where you need to be, Gorn.”
“Who is in Celestar that needs our protection so badly?” Gorn asked.
Kanzar laughed. “You are not going to protect them but to guard them and to make sure they never leave the city. I will send additional troops to finish the job.”
Gorn blinked in surprise and held his jaw tight but said nothing more.
A few more instructions were given, and then Alli and Gorn were dismissed.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Erryl walked south for two days. Two scary, difficult, exhilarating days. Leaving Celestar had been the hardest thing he had ever done. Dreaming of the outside world was one thing; actually going out into it was another. Slipping out of the city the night after the Orb had spoken to him wasn’t as difficult as he had thought. The guards at the gates were not used to anyone escaping the city. They were half asleep as Erryl climbed over the city wall and disappeared into the night air.
He had slept that night underneath one of the largest pine trees he had ever seen. The soft bed of needles and fresh forest scent provided him enough comfort, and the exertions of the day made his body weary enough to fall asleep.
The next morning, Erryl had hefted his small pack up over his shoulder, its contents lighter than when he had first left. He had filled it with a small assortment of food that now dwindled alarmingly low. His feet hurt, and he began to get discouraged.
The vision had been clear but also quite short. Something inside him continued to urge him on now, farther south. All of a sudden, a shimmer of light flared up, off to his left. Curiosity grabbed him once again, and he went to investigate. Pushing himself through a knee-high brush of ferns and small plants, Erryl wound his way through the enormous trees.
Coming around one such tree, he found himself only a few steps from the barrier. He stopped with an abrupt halt, almost tripping over himself. Furrowing his eyebrows, he studied it up and down and along its length. It truly amazed him. He didn’t know how it worked, but he did know that his own life source, given to the Orb, was part of what had kept it intact.
The barrier blinked and then shimmered brighter, and Erryl took a step back. His heart raced—first, with fear, then with wonder. He couldn’t believe what he saw. He was actually seeing through the barrier.
Hearing the sounds of a struggle, he peered past the barrier. In the thick forest of trees, a group of people had appeared. With long hair and builds similar to the ones he saw through the barrier a week before, they fought among each other. Some had blond hair; others brown or black. All stood slender and tall.
He knew he should be afraid, but his legs wouldn’t move. His eyes were drawn to one of those people, tied to a tree with ropes holding her hands behind her. She looked up at him with astonishment. The woman was easily the most beautiful person he had ever seen—long blonde hair, fair skin, pale lips, and light blue eyes that locked onto his. He was mesmerized.
Erryl took a hesitant step forward. A flash of light blinked directly in front of him and blinded him for a moment. When he opened his eyes back up the barrier was back in place.
All Erryl could think of was the woman he had seen. She shouldn’t be tied up like that. He didn’t understand what was going on. Who were they? Why were they fighting?
Erryl sat down on the ground for a moment to think. He pulled out a waterskin and took a long drink, thinking about what was happening. The sounds of the forest around him—the birds chirping, a squirrel chasing another squirrel through the trees, and a slight breeze rustling the pines and cedars—these all calmed his mind.
Getting up, he took a few minutes to walk along the barrier, waiting for something to happen. He didn’t need to wait long.
The barrier hummed, flaring bright again. And, once more, he saw through it to the other side. He focused again on the woman tied to the wide and tall tree. She was seated on the ground in a small clearing and turned once again as if to grab his attention. She flipped her long hair out of her face, and Erryl jumped with surprise.
Her ears! “She’s an elf,” he said out loud. He had read about Elvyn, the kingdom directly east of Alaris. Their people lived mostly in the Elvyn Forest, in dwellings built up high in its humongous trees. He had been taught that they were aggressive and that he should be careful.
The elf woman moved her head back and forth, trying to get his attention again. She mouthed something to him, a pleading to come and untie her. Erryl surveyed the scene around him. Four men moved through the trees a dozen yards away, on the other side of the woman. They yelled and fought with swords. Then another dozen men came running back, closer to where the woman was tied up. Erryl heard a loud wail and a roar that grew louder behind them.
The woman craned her head to look to her side, and Erryl saw another figure tied up against a tree. He was a well-toned man, his dark hair hanging past his shoulders. And he had a dangerous but disciplined air about him.
Erryl was afraid now. He could get hurt. But the woman needed his assistance. And so, in spite of what he had been taught about other kingdoms, he took a step forward, tentatively, his curiosity and need to help winning out.
He reached his hands forward to where the barrier should have been, and his hands passed through. Shock registered across the woman’s face as well as the tied-up man’s. Erryl quickened his pace and reached the spot right behind the tree where the beautiful elf woman had been tied up.
“Look!” One of the other men, a few trees away, had yelled out to the others. “The barrier is down, and there’s a boy here.” Three men moved forward, pulling their swords out. At the same time, new screams of terror rang out from behind these attackers, and they turned back around.
Another ten men or so came running closer to Erryl, with a larger, fat elf in the lead. That made over twenty of these strangers, now getting closer to Erryl and the woman tied to the tree. The loud roaring and wailing Erryl had heard earlier grew louder, solidifying into a large beast that came crashing through the underbrush and knocking down small trees behind the men. The creature was dark brown, twice as big as a wolf—with even larger fangs—and ran on all fours, though his front legs were slightly smaller than his back legs.
The elf woman spoke something to Erryl that he couldn’t understand. She looked at him impatiently, then changed to his tongue as she repeated it again, “Please, cut my ropes.
”
Erryl stood still, in shock, as the beast tore through two of the running men and quickly closed the hundred-foot gap between them. A loud growl from the creature’s throat kept Erryl frozen in place.
“Get hold of yourself, boy, and help us,” the man yelled.
Erryl regained his senses, pulled out a knife, and cut the ropes off the woman. As soon as she was free, she raced to the elf man’s side and untied him. Standing up in a swift, fluid motion, the elf man rubbed his wrists, then glanced around for a weapon.
“I still can’t use my magic,” the elf woman told him.
Erryl stood there, dumbfounded, and tried to understand what was happening. One thing he did understand, though, was the mad beast moving toward them.
The elf man nodded at the woman’s words and moved silently behind one of the guards, who was paying more attention to the beast than to his apparent prisoners. Hitting him on the back of his head, the elf man grabbed the man’s sword and then turned to fight the other guard who stood close by.
More men raced into the camp.
The woman screamed toward the approaching group. “You must find another animal to feed it, or it will kill us all.”
“Get the prisoners,” the larger elf man yelled. He seemed to be in charge of the group, but most were more concerned about the beast than about recapturing their prisoners.
The barrier began to shimmer and hum once again.
“Breelyn!” shouted the elf man to the woman Erryl had untied. “Go.” He pointed to the barrier.
Breelyn? Erryl thought to himself. What a pretty name.
She shook her head. “No, Alair, I will not leave you. I will stay and help fight.”
“No,” Alair reiterated, his voice curt but still sympathetic. “That is not your duty. You must protect the kingdom, and I must protect you.” Alair turned to fight off one of the other men. “Now, take the boy and go!”
The beast howled once again and starting running faster, heading right toward Erryl and Breelyn. Alair shouted at the beast, and it turned his way, looking momentarily confused. Breelyn seemed to understand what Alair had just done for them, and tears came to her eyes. Breelyn reached over, gripped Erryl’s hand, and leaped toward where the barrier flashed once again.
Peering over his shoulder, Erryl saw Alair, leading the beast away, but the other men turned and headed toward them, swords out, weaving in and out of the trees. Alair yelled as the beast got closer. Racing around a tree, he threw a branch in the beast’s face.
“Hurry,” Breelyn encouraged Erryl.
He ran as fast as his legs could carry him. His chest burned and his legs ached. Once they had crossed into the area where he had come through the barrier from, Breelyn stopped, and Erryl almost tripped, his body carrying him forward still.
The barrier shimmered again as one of the pursuing men brought up his bow and quickly nocked an arrow. He sent it flying at the pair of escapees as the barrier began to solidify.
“Alair!” Breelyn wailed one last time. “Thank you!” Then the barrier solidified once again, and the two of them were separated from the rest of that madness.
Then Erryl cried out and fell down. The arrow had made it through before the barrier closed and had grazed his upper arm, drawing blood. It stung horribly.
The elf woman stepped over to him. She was taller than he had first thought, standing just as tall as he. She brought her hand to his arm and held it there for a minute. Erryl stood still, feeling her warm hand on his arm. He had never been this close to a woman before—besides his mother or the other guardians.
Gritting her teeth, Breelyn let out a breath of air. “I forgot that my magic is still blocked.” She reached down and tore a small piece of cloth off of her tunic. She held his arm and wrapped it around snuggly, stopping the trickle of blood. “That will have to do for now. It’s not bad.”
“What was that thing?” Erryl’s heart pounded with fear.
“A barrier beast,” Breelyn said. “Animals close to the barrier grow crazed, and magic doesn’t work on them.” She turned around and stared at the barrier. “Physical force hardly does either. I hope Alair is all right.”
Erryl stared at the strange woman with confusion, her back still to him. “Who are you?”
Breelyn turned around, and her smile grew wider. “I am Breelyn Mier, one of King Arrowyn’s protectors.”
His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to piece things together. “You are an elf?” He stepped nervously, leaning on one leg and then the other.
Putting her hand on his shoulder, Breelyn said, “Yes, I am from Elvyn, the first to cross the barrier in one hundred fifty years. And what is your name, young man?”
Erryl couldn’t believe he was talking to an elf and tried to gather his wits together. He stood taller and tried to appear important. “I am Erryl Close, guardian of the Orb, from the city of Celestar.”
Breelyn smiled, and Erryl relaxed somewhat. Her face lit up the forest around them with her beauty.
“What are you doing out here?” she asked.
Erryl glanced down, and his cheeks turned pink. He took a moment to prepare to answer. “Things are not right in Celestar, and the Orb told me to find a young man, about my age, and bring him back to Celestar.”
Breelyn’s eyes sparkled when he mentioned the Orb. But his task had come rushing out. He had felt he could trust the elf for some reason. Looking back up at her, he continued.
“He and another man are somewhere near a large outcrop and a small stream. That’s all I know. I’ve been searching for two days.”
“And the Dragon Orb told you this?”
Erryl almost jumped, surprise surely written all over his face. “What do you mean, Dragon Orb?”
“When you said Orb, I thought…” Breelyn stumbled for words. “I thought you were a guardian of the Orb?”
“I am.” Erryl took a deep breath before he continued, “But I didn’t realize it was a Dragon Orb—What does that even mean?”
“A Dragon Orb is…” Breelyn looked around the forest and seemed to be choosing her words with deliberate care. Turning back to Erryl, she got his undivided attention. “A Dragon Orb is a dragon egg.”
“An egg?” Erryl sat down on the ground and tried to put things together in his mind. “It spoke to me. The Orb’s been growing…Does that mean…?” He didn’t need to say the next words. He was smart enough to know that an egg meant an animal and a dragon egg meant a dragon. Was that who had spoken to his mind?
Erryl put his hand to his head to stop the dizziness, but it didn’t help. Breelyn tried to calm Erryl, but he didn’t know if he could be calm ever again. This was too much.
She sighed. “Let’s start over and tell each other what we know about the Orb and the barrier. I think we’re both here for the same purpose.”
“You do?” he asked.
“Yes. To protect us when the barrier falls.”
“The barrier is falling?” Erryl put his face into his hands once again. His entire world, everything he knew, seemed to be crashing down on him.
Breelyn glanced wistfully back at where the barrier now stood. “I don’t know how long we have before it comes down again. The men chasing me didn’t want me to know about the barrier’s weakness. I’m not sure what they are planning. But, if it comes down again, we’d better be far away from here.”
Breelyn motioned for Erryl to stand up and start walking again. “Lead the way, Erryl. I am stuck on this side of the barrier for a reason. I think the reason must be to help you find this man whom the Dragon Orb seeks.”
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Chief Judge Daymian Khouri stood in his guest rooms in the Citadel and gazed out of a window facing south. Even though he hadn’t been too fond of being in the Citadel for the last four days, it had given him time to recuperate more. He felt stronger now from surviving the two attempts on his life.
Daymian took a moment to relish the scenery before him. He loved Alaris, in all its natural beauty, from
the mountains in the North to the desert in the South, from the Elvyn Forest in the East, to the meadowlands and farms covering the middle and western portions of the kingdom.
Currently, the late-summer grass was browning outside of the Citadel. He spotted cattle being moved around to newer spots to feed. A few wagons were coming up the farm roads between Whalen and the Citadel, bringing goods to the wizards and others who lived here.
Willing himself to look farther south, he obviously was not able to see to Cassian, but he thought constantly about what could be happening there. Kanzar was behind the uprising of the King-men, and he feared for his city as well as all of Alaris. Two of the newly appointed judges, including Mericus, had gone to Cassian to supposedly help maintain peace; however, Daymian doubted their visit consisted of understanding and niceties. More likely, they had been sowing the seeds of rebellion and distrust – under the direction of Kanzar.
Battle Wizard Gorn and his young apprentice, Alli, had just left Daymian’s rooms, informing the Chief Judge of a secret mission for Kanzar, the details of which they were not at liberty to share. They had explained only that they would be leaving soon.
One by one, his friends and leaders were deserting him. Bakari had left. Onius seemed to be spending a lot of time with Kanzar. And now, Gorn and Alli would be gone. That only left Roland, and the new young wizard worried Daymian almost more than the rest.
Wizards nodded their heads to Roland in deference now, and he was amassing quite a following of other younger wizards and apprentices in the Citadel. Daymian wondered why Kanzar had let that happen. Usually, Kanzar was not one to give up shares of any of his power, but he might be finally making a mistake in ignoring the new young wizard’s growing powers.
A knock came at the door, and Daymian strode toward it with a scowl still on his face. No attendants had been afforded him at the Citadel, another sign of Kanzar’s power play. Speaking of Roland—in walked Onius and Roland before even being invited in. Both wore flowing wizard’s robes, though Onius’s blue one hung on his thinning frame, while Roland’s red attire fit him well and actually made him appear regal.