by Jeremy Dwyer
“I’ve heard those stories, but there’s no proof. And nothing else could look like that? Maybe it’s a flickering torch,” Galehot said.
“No. It’s not a torch. It’s burning much hotter than any torch ever could,” Isolda said.
“How does this matter to us?” Galehot asked.
“We can sell the information. There are people – very rich people – looking for the stellar cores of the old green stars. They’ll pay a fortune if we can lead them to it,” Isolda said.
“We have to prove it’s a stellar core. And even if it is, what’s so useful about it?” Galehot asked.
“The amount of energy it contains is practically limitless. The only reason it’s not all leaking out now is that it’s encased in quartz. The shell is thinner in some places, which is why the light can be seen. A green stellar core is small enough to be moved around. It can power ships to move in total darkness, or it could even be used as a weapon,” Isolda said.
“Then we should keep it for ourselves. I don’t think we want someone we don’t trust getting control over it,” Galehot said.
“Of course, we’d have to be selective about whom we sold it to. And we can demand any price,” Isolda said.
“First, we need to get rid of that cult, so they’re not in the way,” Galehot said.
“I’m not afraid of them. They’re all weaklings without waterbindings. When it’s time, we’ll kill them all,” Isolda said.
“If they open up that pit and somebody else notices the green star’s light, they can sell the secret first,” Galehot said.
“We’re not going to let that happen. Before we leave here, we’ll make time to kill them,” Isolda said.
“When are we leaving?” Galehot asked.
“After this routine inspection,” Isolda said. She pulled a lever to extend the boarding ramp. Then, she exited the wheelhouse, followed by Galehot. They walked across the deck and climbed down the ramp. They walked through the gateway in the southern wall and watched in horror as the buildings were torn to pieces in front of them.
“What’s happening?!” Galehot asked.
Isolda made fists with both of her hands and held them outward, pointing the gems on her rings toward the buildings. She watched closely and said: “The Hidden Paladins are here! I can see what they’re doing in the deep darkness. We need to get out, now!” She and Galehot hurried back through the gateway in the southern wall toward the Woodland Ranger Seven. They ran up the boarding ramp, then across the deck and into the wheelhouse.
“Take off! Then signal Baron Waldahr! He can deal with this!” Galehot said.
Isolda pulled levers to retract the boarding ramp and elevated the ship to thirty-six (36) feet of altitude. She steered the Woodland Ranger Seven toward the west and then clenched her left hand into a fist. She pointed her left hand out the window and twisted her wrist back and forth. A red gem mounted on a ring on her little finger emitted a series of long and short bursts of light. After that, she sailed the ship between the redwoods and out of the immediate area.
~~~
Baron Waldahr was standing on the deck of the Forthright, a four hundred fifty (450) foot long frigate with eight (8) pairs of pivoting, double-masted sails, which were currently oriented towards the sides of the ship.
He held a crystal over his right eye and watched the horizon. Through the facets of the gem, he saw a sequence of light pulses of various durations, which were decoded into a series of words indicating a distress call. He walked across the deck, entered the wheelhouse and said to the woman at the wheel: “Hekuba, move the Forthright over the southern wall of the vault.”
Hekuba pulled levers to retract the boarding ramp and elevated the Forthright to thirty-six (36) feet of altitude. The forty-three (43) year old woman then steered the vessel northward between the trees until it was above the southern wall of the vault.
~~~
Baron Waldahr then went out on deck and gestured toward three (3) subordinate officers. They each marshaled their troops – two hundred fifty (250) soldiers each – to lower ropes and descend upon the interior of the vault, between the buildings and the trees.
The fifty-eight (58) year old baron then drank anew of the waters of the Zovvin Ocean from his vial to be energized with the power to communicate with the spirit world. He sensed numerous presences – some known, some unknown – and focused on establishing a private connection with a familiar spirit. He transmitted a message, warning of what was happening below.
~~~
From the spirit world, Lavakara watched the various stone buildings as they were decimated by curved blades that emerged from the cover of deep darkness. He could not gaze into that obscuring cover, even from his ghostly vantage point, but he could be reasonably certain that the wielders of the weapons were the Hidden Paladins. He respected their thorough and efficient destruction of the stone structures, but that was of little interest compared to how they handled the newly arriving soldiers dropping in on ropes from the hovering ship.
Lavakara counted seven hundred fifty (750) soldiers and he watched as they were cut down to four hundred sixty-eight (468) within fewer than three (3) minutes. However, that slaughter began to slow down as the soldiers gained situational awareness and began to target their strikes. Their slow-witted counterattack made them dubious targets for possession, even if their combat prowess made them effective. Interestingly, he saw that the buildings still continued to come under attack from the warriors in the darkness, which suggested that they were here to recover something, rather than to fight.
He continued to watch and then saw that all forty-eight (48) stone structures were torn apart. Barrels within them were revealed, and some of the containers were broken open, spilling seed onto the ground. A group of peasant workers was revealed inside the southernmost building after it was torn down. He counted sixty-four (64) people, and they began to move about.
Lavakara noticed that the warriors under darkness – presumably the Hidden Paladins – did not seem to go near the peasants, which was obvious because they were not being slain. However, the soldiers who had descended on the ropes from the ship surrounded the peasant workers and threatened them.
~~~
“Where are we? What’s happening?” Sophie asked.
“Who are you?” a soldier asked, pushing a sword up against her throat.
“We’re farmers and stone workers. We got lost in the desert and came here looking for food and shade,” Patrick said.
“Search them for stolen seeds, then kill them all,” another soldier said.
“Except this one. She’s mine,” a soldier said as he patted Molly on the head.
“Please! No!” Molly cried.
“I’ll kill you if you try,” Ruth said.
Another soldier pushed the tip of his sword into Ruth’s right cheek just hard enough to draw blood. “I’ll spill half your blood before you can move. And while you’re dying, I’ll do whatever I want. You’re not a pretty face, but you’re body’s got some nice curves that aren’t half bad. I’ll give them a try before you get cold and I just might enjoy it,” he said.
“I pray to the One True God, that you do no harm to these people. They were only looking for food. You’re out of control, and have forgotten decency and respect. You need to learn to love others as God has loved you,” Elise said.
“Don’t speak to me about your fairy tale God!” that soldier yelled. He pulled his sword away from Ruth and swung at Elise.
~~~
Lavakara emerged from the spirit world and slew that soldier with his sword before he could strike the peasant woman who rebuked him. He returned to the spirit world, then reappeared in the material world in another position to kill another soldier. He thereby slaughtered seventy-six (76) of the soldiers in as many seconds. The rest fled toward the gateway in the southern wall, and he pursued them, cutting down another fifty-five (55) soldiers until their total number was three hundred thirty-seven (337). Those surviving troops escaped through the entrance.
From there, they climbed up ropes leading back to the Forthright.
Lavakara then reappeared in the material world. He watched as nine (9) barrels of seed were whisked away into the darkness, and this intrigued him. “Why are these seeds so important?” he asked, gesturing toward the seeds spilled on the ground and the broken barrels containing even more seeds.
“For food!” Sophie said.
“The trees growing between these walls are apple and cherry, although they look rotten now. These fruit trees were healthy when we first arrived. We went into the building thinking that it held seeds for the same types of trees. We want them for food so we can plant them on available land,” Odhran said.
“Where do you think there’s available land?” Lavakara asked.
“Who are you?” Patrick asked.
“Never mind that. The good land is taken by robber barons. You must know that there is scarcely any fertile field in Waderav that goes unclaimed,” Lavakara said.
“We’ll have to find some land and make it good. Then, we can plant some of the seeds from this orchard,” Odhran said.
“I wouldn’t call this place an orchard, and I doubt that these seeds are for growing food. If it was meant for that purpose, then it would be controlled by a robber baron, who would have enslaved you to work the land, planting and harvesting seeds. The noble lords are cruel, but they are greedy first and foremost, and want to cultivate crops they can sell or use to feed their armies. These soldiers were sent to kill you and guard the seeds. Think about it,” Lavakara said.
“You’re half right. A robber baron would have enslaved us rather than giving orders to kill us. But it’s possible the seeds were being guarded to control supplies and fix prices,” Patrick said.
“That’s a fair point. Settle the matter. Which of you drinks the Gradaken waters?” Lavakara asked.
“I do. I’ll identify the seeds,” Odhran said. He drank anew of the waters of the Gradaken Ocean from his vial to be energized with the power to control plants and animals. He opened one of the newly-revealed barrels and examined the seeds within. “These seeds are not those of fruit bearing trees. They’re not for wheat, or corn, or potatoes, or barley or rice. I don’t know what they are,” he said. Then, he opened another barrel of seeds and examined some of those. “These are the same, unknown type of seed,” he said. He did this to seven (7) other barrels and concluded the same.
“What seed – other than for food crops – is worth protecting?” Lavakara asked.
“There’s cotton for clothing. There’s flaxseed – which can be used for linens or food. Then there’s redwood, cedar, elm and cypress, which can be used for building ships or houses. These seeds aren’t those kinds, either,” Odhran said.
“I want you to plant these seeds,” Lavakara said.
“I don’t suggest we do that here. The surviving soldiers fled, but reinforcements will get sent before long. Somebody considered this place to be important enough to kill any intruders. I don’t want to be in a battlefield when they decide to defend their property,” Patrick said.
“Life is a battlefield. Believe me when I tell you that I prefer that farmers and mine workers not be part of it, but I make no promises,” Lavakara said.
“We need time to grow seeds properly. I can accelerate the harvest, but not if we come under attack,” Odhran said.
“Before we came here, and got trapped in that building, we were…” Ruth said.
“Got trapped? How?” Lavakara asked.
“All that I remember was that everything seemed to be slowing down,” Ruth said.
Lavakara looked around the ruined buildings. “You were inside that building, before it was destroyed, right?” he asked, pointing to the rubble.
“Yeah, that one,” Ruth said.
“We need to get out of here,” Molly said.
“Like now!” Sophie said.
“Wait. I think I know what he’s talking about,” Patrick said.
“We can’t take any chances. We have no idea how many more soldiers are nearby. Time is not on our side,” Ciaran said.
“We were standing inside these buildings and everything came to a halt,” Patrick said. He then walked over to the center of the ruins of the building in which they had been trapped and appeared to stand still.
“What’s your point, Patrick?” Ruth asked.
“Please explain and be quick about it,” Ciaran said.
Elise walked toward Patrick and both Odhran and Ruth grabbed her arms. “No. Stay back! It’s dangerous!” Ruth said.
“Shh! Be quiet!” Elise said.
Ruth gestured, and Lavakara watched and waited.
“I don’t hear Patrick breathing. My powers have mostly faded, but I can still hear all of you – your breaths and even your heartbeats – but not his,” Elise said.
“Like…time…stopped,” Ruth said.
“Exactly!” Lavakara said.
“It’s these stones. He’s surrounded by them and we’re not. They make time slow down,” Ruth said.
“Even though the buildings are destroyed, there’s enough stone left to be a problem,” Sean said.
“Maybe it’s because the stones are still too big. If we break them down into smaller pieces, they might not work anymore,” Sophie said.
“Or maybe we’re just too close to them. We have to keep our distance,” Molly said.
“It has to be something about their low-level structure,” Ciaran said. He drank anew of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from his vial to be energized with the power to manipulate crystals and stones. He walked toward the ruins of the building where Patrick was standing and frozen in place.
“Ciaran! Don’t get too close to the stones! Don’t stand between them!” Ruth said.
“I’ll stay to one side,” Ciaran said. He then touched a nearby stone slab – measuring three (3) feet by four (4) feet by thirteen (13) inches – that was lying on the ground among the ruins of the previous buildings. He analyzed its low-level structure and found it perplexing. “I’m looking into its low level structure, but I can’t quite get a sense of what is happening,” he said.
“Break down the structure of the stone into simpler elements,” Ruth said.
“I’ll try,” Ciaran said. He began to mold the stone as if it was clay, and it gradually changed shape. Then, it flashed bright and broke into millions of tiny pieces.
“I don’t understand what I just saw,” Odhran said.
“Neither do I,” Ciaran said.
“Do that again, so that Patrick can move,” Ruth said.
“That light was bright. Turn away so our eyes don’t get injured. You too, Ciaran, right before the final structure change,” Sophie said. She and everyone else – including Lavakara, but not Ciaran – turned to face away from where Patrick was standing.
Ciaran walked carefully toward the stones surrounding Patrick on the southern side. He performed the same manipulations and closed his eyes at the crucial moment. Once the stone broke apart, he opened his eyes and moved around to the stones on the eastern side of the ruined building where Patrick was standing. He again broke down the structure of that stone, closing his eyes at the crucial moment. He drank anew of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from his vial to refresh his powers and then repeated the process on the north side, followed by the west side.
“What happened? Did time slow down again, just by me standing here?” Patrick asked.
“Yes. These stones seem to change the flow of time – slowing it down to a standstill – when you are surrounded by them in a tight space. Let’s go back to the others, and keep our distance from the stones. Don’t walk between the ones that are close together,” Ciaran said. He led Patrick back towards their traveling companions.
“These seeds are exceptionally important to someone very powerful. They are guarded more securely than money,” Lavakara said.
“Yet, we found them,” Ruth said.
“No, you got trapped trying to find them. You were rescued by someone e
lse, and then you were almost killed by those soldiers, except for my intervening,” Lavakara said.
“Who was the ‘someone else’ who rescued us?” Patrick asked.
“I can’t be sure,” Lavakara said. However, he was nearly certain.
“As Ruth started to say earlier, before we got trapped, we were heading towards Cinder Valley. The land there is poor, but I believe it can be improved,” Patrick said.
“You’re overly optimistic,” Lavakara said.
“We drink the Gradaken waters. If there is even a small patch of good soil, we can work to cultivate it. There aren’t many of us to feed,” Odhran said.
“I don’t doubt the powers of the Gradaken waters. You’re being overly optimistic to think that you can get to Cinder Valley. There’s a mountain range surrounding the valley along with a web of lava rivers. Then, there are even more robber barons, including Count Nemanja, who controls the territory to the east and Duke Jovan, who is a vengeful madman just to the north. You stand little chance of reaching the valley alive and free. You’ll be captured, and either killed or enslaved,” Lavakara said.
“Then where can we safely go to plant these seeds?” Odhran asked.
“You agree we can’t stay here,” Patrick said.
“Correct. You can’t stay here. You’re going to Cinder Valley. I intend to help you get there,” Lavakara said.
“How can you be certain? You said life is a battlefield and you make no promises,” Patrick said.
“If you stay here, that is true. If you head west, starting now, your chances of success increase, because I will be going with you,” Lavakara said. He intended to have the farmers plant the seeds in a more prominent location, where the owners of the seeds would be sure to notice the harvest and attack. That, he believed, would ensure a significant battle during which he could identify a worthy warrior to possess. Protecting the farmers would be necessary, he realized, to sow the seeds and lure his prey.
“You’re going to protect all of us?” Patrick asked.
“He already did,” Ruth said.
“God protects us,” Elise said.
“After all we’ve been through, why should we trust anybody?” Molly asked.