The Descendants Book One: The Broken Scroll
Page 28
Their lives weren’t going to get any easier the farther they continued into the mountains, that was for certain.
“Let us stand and fight!” Kayleigh yelled. “I won’t die like this.”
Almost in unison they halted, each of them with a weapon drawn.
The Auki that had spoken to them floated over Egan and began to let out a piercing cry. Egan impaled it with his sword before it could. The stab wound smoked but the Auki did not seem to be in any pain.
“Fool. You cannot kill us. We know neither death nor life!” Egan rolled away and jumped to his feet, taking another swipe at the spirit. This time he hit it between the eyes. It grabbed its face and turned away. The distraction gave Egan enough time to stand and settle himself.
“Davin, quick, the fire orb, give it to me,” Egan cried.
Davin hastily pulled the orb out of his pack, which was difficult to do while trying to keep his eyes focused around him. He threw it over to Egan. Catching it, Egan dropped his sword and tried to ignite it. The Auki advanced on him on both sides. They were too quick. Egan was thrown to the ground as they hit him.
Two more Auki appeared on the opposite side. Teague and Kayleigh turned to face them.
Two more spears were thrown. One narrowly missed Teague. Another one was flung toward them, this one heading directly toward Kayleigh. Davin attempted to bat it away with a quick swipe of his sword, but it sliced her neatly on the arm. She moaned as blood began to stain the snow.
“We can’t get rid of them! How many more are there?” Davin yelled.
One of them advanced on Kayleigh. Davin fell back to protect her. The Auki came flying forward as Davin stepped in front of her. Davin fell backward as it passed by him, swinging his sword to try and knock the spear out of its hand. He missed. It grabbed Kayleigh and lifted her into the air, wailing in her ear. Her head drooped and her eyes rolled back in her head. Then she was let go and fell onto the packed snow with a loud thump.
Egan continued holding off a couple of them by bare inches, keeping them distracted with multiple wounds. Davin returned his focus to Kayleigh. The Auki that had knocked her out raised his spear in the direction of her heart.
Davin had to think quickly.
He charged toward where she lay and jumped, hitting the icy ground hard on his stomach. The ice was even faster than he had expected. He slid into her at a good clip.
Her unconscious body tumbled away from the spot with Davin’s in tow. The Auki’s spear struck the ice where she had been laying seconds before.
In the next moment, they rammed the nearest snow bank and were engulfed in fresh powder. Davin let out a breath of relief as he dug them out.
The Auki that had missed his kill screamed a murderous wrath.
“You didn’t like that too much, I see,” Davin said.
This seemed to enrage the creature even more. It flew at Davin almost faster than he could react. Davin sprinted from the opposite side, reaching the upright spear in the ice first.
Snatching it up, he stabbed the Auki in the eye socket like Egan had. It worked again.
Davin grunted as he picked up Kayleigh and made a run for it. He sloppily found his way to Egan, trying not to drop the girl. The task was much more difficult than he expected.
Egan saw him and then his eyes widened. “Davin, drop, now!” he yelled. Davin didn’t understand, but then he heard a whoosh through the air. Feeling a deep pain near his shoulder blade, he crumpled and Kayleigh rolled out of his hands. She stopped face down in the snow, still out cold.
Egan took this moment to attack. He sent a jet stream of flame speeding toward the Auki. It flew just over Davin’s head as he lay on the ground, his vision blurry. The wall connected with the spirits as it passed.
Driocht was the answer. The creatures ceased the attack, even the few that the magic had missed. They only watched as their leader became engulfed in fire and wriggled in agony. A torturous smell wafted into the air, not unlike that of rotting flesh. All that Egan, Davin, Teague could do was stand on guard and try to not be sick.
It took several minutes for them to put the flames out. When they had, the leader called to the others in their own tongue. All of them turned and stared at Davin and the others.
“The Ancient’s power!” the voice said in the modern tongue, screaming. “It is the only force we fear and respect in this world. How do you know it?”
Egan hesitated, unsure of their intentions in the question. “We are their descendents.”
The leader surveyed him, as if deciding to believe Egan or not. “You may have passage through these lands. We will bother you no further, kin of the Ancients.”
“Wait!” Egan yelled over them, suddenly inspired. “Do you know about the lost Driocht Scroll and where it resides?”
The Auki halted their leaving at once. The wind stopped and a silence fell over everything. The seconds ticked by like hours as the Auki floated around them, saying nothing.
“How do you know about the Scroll?” the leader asked.
Egan pulled out the texts that they had been studying so intently lately. He held them up for all the Auki to see.
Davin wished that the spirit had an expression to read. It would have made the waiting a little more bearable. The pain in his back seemed to have subsided some, but only because it had grown numb. He had deliberately backed himself into a snow bank to calm the bite of the puncture wound. He wasn’t mortally bleeding as far as he could tell and that was good enough for now.
The spirit let out of loud scream towards Egan, which made them all jump. Davin raised his sword, ready to strike or run.
“Very well,” it said after a minute. “You will be taken to the Lady. Follow.”
Davin, Egan, and Teague looked at one another, shock evident on their faces. They had barely escaped with their lives. No wonder no else had ever returned to tell the tale. Egan had been right, only the power of the Ancients would get them through.
Egan picked up Kayleigh and held her over his shoulder. “She’s not dead,” he said, checking her pulse. Falling in line behind the Auki, they followed them into the High Passes.
Chapter 21 The Lady of the Lake
The Auki led them onward for quite some time. The passage kept going higher as if it were an endless staircase to the stars. Several times the path split or disappeared in a wide plain, but the Auki leader never questioned their bearings. They carried on without reluctance as to which way to go.
After what felt like several hours, the spirit creatures pulled to a stop. The humans followed suit, waiting to see what the next move was going to be. Davin wanted to sit down while they waited.
The Auki said nothing to them as they waited. But slowly the screaming voices began to become audible in a chanting progression. It was strange to hear a language that didn’t have any distinct word patterns being spoken in unison. The Auki had formed a circle and were performing some sort of ceremony it seemed. The three men watched with a growing sense of wonderment.
Egan looked down for a moment. He must have just realized he was still holding Kayleigh’s unconscious body because he set her down suddenly. Davin watched him place her on the snow. She didn’t look as if she was anywhere close to waking up. There was no movement from her body, but Egan had said she was alive.
“Maybe you should ask them to revive her,” Davin suggested softly, not wanting to disturb whatever it was the spirit creatures were doing.
Egan answered, not taking his eyes off the sight in front of him, “For now we will wait. It may just wear off with time. And if it doesn’t, we will ask this ‘Highness’ they speak off.”
“Why can’t we ask them? They are the ones who did this to her.” Davin couldn’t figure why they wouldn’t want the Auki themselves to fix what they did. It made more sense.
Egan seemed to sense Davin’s frustration. “These are wild creatures. Their nature is not to show mercy. I do not want to bother them any more than we have to.” His tone lightened. “Besides,
this woman they speak of must be someone that they respect highly. Otherwise, they would not appease her. She seems to have the power to tame them, which means that she is strong indeed, and can help Kayleigh if we ask.”
Davin nodded. He said nothing else because he knew Egan’s words were true. She would definitely be able to help them. It was merely a matter of would she help them. And that all depended on which side she called her own.
Davin bent down to take a look at Kayleigh. She was peaceful in her unconscious state, but she had been out for hours. It seemed time for her to wake. Davin began to reach toward her face when Egan grabbed his shoulder firmly and pulled him upright. Davin stumbled under the sudden movement.
When his gaze fell back upon the Auki a chill enveloped him. The spirit creatures were all staring at three human men standing in front of them. The combination of Auki gaze and wind-whistled silence was unnerving.
“She has accepted your audience,” the leader of them said at last in his high screeching tone.
Not knowing what else to do, Davin nodded. It felt more like the right answer when he found Egan and Teague doing the same.
Immediately after their silent acknowledgment, the Auki disappeared into the night. The sound of wind rushing through a tunnel accompanied them as they vanished.
The four of them were left alone again. Relief poured over Davin like a warm blanket. The others looked more relaxed as well.
Now what?” Davin asked once they had been alone several seconds. Egan opened his mouth to speak but something began happening in front of them.
Davin and the others’ mouths hung open comically as they waited.
The image of the path in front of them wavered. At first, Davin thought his eyes were merely playing tricks on him. He rubbed them and looking away for a moment, but when his gaze returned the unbelievable occurrence was still happening.
It strikingly resembled a pond ripple at first, as when water’s surface is disturbed. It pulsed out in circles from the middle. Instead of dissipating though, the rippling increased in strength. And it continued to do so until the scene in front of them was completely dissolved.
“I have never seen anything like this magic before in my lifetime,” Egan said with awe.
“No one has, I bet,” Davin replied with a sense of wonder.
A few seconds later the rippling began to slow down as a new image was appearing before them. In silence, the three men patiently held their places. Their view cleared and they squinted through the watery substance, trying to decipher it.
What their eyes fell upon then was no less wonderful. The current part of the path, that was very narrow and had high mountain walls on both sides, was gone. Instead, they were looking at the wide shoreline of a high mountain lake. The lake itself was gigantic, heading out nearly a league and then wrapping around the mountainside into an unseen other side. Its width alone seemed to be nearly a mile across. The lake glistened with such a glassy sheen that it hardly seemed real. The lake itself gave the impression that it was as alive and aware as a person, and demanded their respect as such.
As they became lost in its enchantment Davin noticed it no longer felt cold. A warm, gentle breeze swept over him. His extra cloaks began to feel a little too warm and he wanted to take them off.
“What is this magic? Did we just get transported to another land?” Teague asked in confusion.
Egan corrected him quickly. “No. Look, we are still in the High Passes.” He gestured around them. Mountains could still be seen around them. “I believe this place has always been here, hidden by Driocht of great strength. We are certainly part of very few that has witnessed it.”
“It feels like we are not alone here,” Davin said.
Egan nodded. “I feel that too. There is something sacred here, almost like a sanctuary I would say.”
“Sanctuary for whom?”
“Our ancestors.”
“I would never have guessed the Ancients had the kind of power to hide a place like this,” Teague said, dumbstruck.
Egan gave Davin a quick grin and Davin immediately knew they were sharing a truth that very few knew about. Davin remembered the Corrupt Ones power to create an entire new world in a new realm, or so it was taught. The power at work here was nothing compared to the other if it were true, but this place was no less a great achievement.
“There are many things that you do not yet know about us and our kin, Teague. You won’t understand fully until these things are revealed. I will educate you as we continue to travel together, if you like,” Egan offered.
Teague seemed to be gaining his confidence back. His voice was getting stronger every time he spoke. “I look forward to doing that,” he said, firmly.
As they stared again in silence, something disturbed the surface of the lake several hundred feet out. A living thing was advancing from the depths. Davin tried not to be startled. As the presence rose higher, it was plain to see that it was a human figure. This person was clothed in an old, pristinely white cloak that shimmered around the edges. Was this the woman the Auki had been speaking of?
As the figure fully emerged, it began to advance towards them at a swift pace. It made up the distance to the shore in seconds, carrying a wake of small waves behind.
The figure was indeed female. She had long golden locks of curly hair and the splendor of beauty Davin had only seen once before, in his dreams. Her presence gave a feeling of extreme happiness and she smelled the freshness of the forest after a rain.
She smiled as she floated above the shore line, gesturing them forward. Entranced by her, the three of them came forward as she had bid them. Kayleigh remained unconscious on the ground behind them.
When they were mere feet from her she spoke. “Welcome, friends,” she said warmly, in a voice that seemed to reach the depths of Davin’s soul. It was the voice of a young woman, “This is a wonderful sight to behold. I am glad to see that my race is not completely lost.”
“My lady,” Egan bowed, “do you mean to say that you are an Ancient?”
She nodded gracefully, “Yes, Egan. I am a vessel, much like the one that comes to those who are just Awakening.”
Davin knew that she looked familiar. A vessel, the projection of his ancestors containing only the knowledge of the Ancients he needed to know, came to him when he was first Awakening. She apparently was another one left by them.
“Does that mean that you have a limited knowledge as well?” Davin asked thoughtfully.
She examined him for a moment. “Yes, young Davin. I cannot tell you all that you surely wish to know about this world, but I do know what you and your king seeks. That is within my realm of understanding because it is relevant to my purpose in this place.”
“Then you know why we’ve come,” Egan finished her line of thought. She again agreed with a nod.
A few seconds passed, in which time she seemed to be surveying their intentions. Then she said, “The scroll pieces were scattered to protect those that might remain after the war. We were weak. Our powers were being diminished by the fighting. We saw this happening soon enough to act. Before the war ended, a handful of us volunteered to travel to all ends of our land to hide the broken scroll. We left a record of the hiding places should the time come to unite and join humans again.
I brought the piece that resides here. I tamed the wild Auki spirits to act as protectors of the piece and let my spirit remain behind as a vessel of knowledge. No one who was not of our kin would be allowed to pass these mountains.”
Davin stepped forward boldly. Egan gave him a stern look but he ignored it. “But wasn’t the danger over once you sealed the Corrupt Ones away?” he asked.
“The Corrupt Ones were sealed away, but, in our weakness, we were aware of two things. That the Corrupt Ones might gain enough understanding to someday break our power. And that the temptation to lord over humans with our vast knowledge and power was too great. It was our highly developed minds that had allowed us to merge with dark matter a
nd created Driocht in the first place. And now we had seen the risk of that power when pushed too far in the war. The Corrupt Ones had made that clear.
We hid ourselves away in hopes to be forgotten. Our time co-existing with human kind had ended. If there are any of us left besides you who exist now, I do not know. And why they have elected to stay hidden all this time is beyond my realm of understanding as well.”
In a startling move, she lowered herself down to their level. The three of them began to back up uncertainly. She halted them with a gesture.
Her white glow had become nearly blinding at this close range. Davin struggled to keep his eyes fixed on her. The haze below her body became legs and she landed softly on the sand of the shore.
Egan spoke this time. “What of King O’Hara? You said you have information about him.”
“I will tell you that which you know and might have guessed, for it is all I have to offer. He found a Scholar with knowledge the Scroll, took him captive, and compelled him to reveal what he knew of its locations. He currently has one of the pieces in his possession and searches desperately for the others. The forest has been purged of its piece. And now they search the desert for the one hidden there. His First Captain is tireless. He will not rest until he is killed or the pieces are found. You may claim the one that lives here.”
“So we will have to face him unless someone else gets to him first, which will be unlikely. Good,” Davin ended flatly. He was quite satisfied with that plan.
“Thank you, Lady,” Egan said, turning back and bowing. Davin and Teague did the same, not wanting to seem ungrateful. “Do you know why they want to find the remaining Descendants?”
She shook her head. “That is beyond my knowledge. I might speculate that he wishes to rule all humans and seeks their power to do such. That is an obvious choices considering many of us fell to that same fate.”
In the silence that followed, the Lady walked around them and her gaze found Kayleigh lying one hundred feet away. “I will revive your companion. She will wake on her own but, without my help, it could be weeks.”