Thesila Prophecy - The Journey Home

by Robert Rumble

  Kristina and Tera look at everyone, realizing that they are not from here, except for the twins.

  “What do you mean ‘not from this world’?” Kristina asks, confused. Mai explains the cave and how they really live on another world, and this is only a dream… they think. Kristina and Tera listen with disbelief, adamantly telling Mai that this is not a dream.

  Pavvo continues, “I became part of the family. Magdalenia and I would go shopping and come home with lots of stuff, some by her magic, but most by my negotiations. Soon we were buying goods only to turn around and sell it one island over for a profit. Like most families, we got into some fights; I mean some knockdown, drag-out fights. Finally, Mother had enough and put a spell on us—we would feel the other’s physical pain. After the spell was cast, she told us to go ahead and hit each other, we did, and it hurt. We never hit each other again, and if anybody else hits either one of us, the other also feels it.” They all look at one another in amazement before Kristina speaks.

  “Why did you agree to help bring her down then?”

  He grins, saying, “Sis has had the position of city mage far too long and needs to turn the reins over to someone younger. The problem is that only a person with Thesila blood coursing through their veins can use the staff, and she has no children.”

  Mai asks, “How long has she been in power?”

  “Mother gave her the staff when she was twenty-five, that was over thirty years ago, and she has been in power ever since,” he tells them, shocking everybody. Magdalenia looks to be in her mid-thirties. Pavvo tells them that she uses magic so that no one would challenge her because of her age. That is the real reason for the clone, to keep everybody guessing. They sit there in silence, trying to understand what they just heard.

  “They want to remove Magdalenia, but if they hurt her, then they hurt you, and that just is not fair with all the help you have given to numerous businesses getting started,” Kristina said.

  He thanks Kristina for her kind words as he picks up a small box off the floor and puts it on the table. Standing up, he opens the box to reveal a disk made of red jade, embedded in a golden amulet hanging from a gold chain.

  “Very few people know about the second half of the staff. I don’t think that even Magdalenia knows about it. All I really know about it is that it allows the user to channel the ancient magic and she told me to keep the two separate. I don’t know why” he tells them.

  Pavvo explains that only someone with Thesila lineage can access the amulet’s power, and since he is not Thesilan, he keeps the box hidden for safe keeping. Even if the person could not access its power, it would still act as a protective shield from magic. He slowly walks around the table with the amulet.

  “I have decided that I will give the amulet to one of you for safe keeping, provided that you take it out of the city so that my dear sister can’t get her hands on it.” As he passes by the twins, the amulet begins to glow slightly to the surprise of everybody, including Pavvo and Toni.

  He slowly moves it toward Ericka then Elina to see who has the stronger glow. While the disk glows next to both of them, it quickly becomes apparent that Elina has the stronger glow. Pavvo hangs the amulet about Elina’s neck, where it glows a bright red before fading back to its normal color. “That explains why she is so mad losing the two of you, you have Thesilan blood,” Elina tells them that she can feel the power of the amulet flowing through her already. “So this is why she kept us as slaves.

  We were the next in line for the staff, but we are not from Thesila, we are from Tenskie.” The twins look at each other with disbelief, realizing that they would have to leave the city, and neither of them likes to travel. Mai tells the twins that they will be leaving in a couple of days, and it would be better if they stay inside and out of sight until then. Although they don’t like it, they know that is the best thing to do, so they agree.

  Pavvo tells them that they shouldn’t wait and that they should leave before sunup. Turning to Wilmer, he asks him to get some food from the storage and to meet him in his study. He asks Kristina to open the gate for one of his wagons before sunrise but don’t let anybody else know. She asks him about his plan, but he tells her that it is better if she doesn’t know. Agreeing, Kristina and Tera head home with a few of Pavvo’s guards escorting them, who will spend the night in Kristina’s house. Pavvo also tells Elina that she should keep the amulet in the box so that it won’t attract any undue attention. After a few days, they should be far enough away that she could wear it.

  Kazimir relieves the gate guard in the middle of his shift so that he could get a bite to eat. When Mai, Abigail, Ericka, Elina, and Berg leave with their hoods over their faces, Kazimir tells them to keep next to the buildings and to beware of the night watch. The twins know this city well and lead them through some of the backstreets and alleys, making the rest of the group uncomfortable.

  Several times, they have to remain hidden or make a detour to avoid the night watch and other night travelers. It takes some time for them to make it across the islands, but they eventually make it to the main gate, where Kristina is waiting for them. She sends the guards on patrol, leaving her the only one at the gate. Quickly and quietly, the group slips through the gate only to find Tera on the other side. Tera tells them that she is coming along. Mai starts to argue, but Berg quietly tells them that this is not the time or the place, and the group heads down the road, using whatever they can find for cover. The night sky begins to fade into day as they pass through the town and are finally in the forest, heading south.

  At sunrise, three wagons leave Pavvo’s mansion and go to his warehouse. Wilmer is driving one while Kazimir rides on a different one. Once at the warehouse, Kazimir hides under the tarp covering one of the wagons. They all leave about the same time, each turning a different direction. Magdalenia watches the three wagons through her dish of clairvoyance and chooses to follow Wilmer to the east. Wilmer goes to the Golden Unicorn and spends a couple of days before returning to the city. One wagon goes north to Silvaneth, where it delivers some supplies before returning. The last wagon goes south with Kazimir hiding under the tarp. After a few hours, Kazimir joins the teamster up front.

  ***===***

  Mashaun heads into the forest, following the river down to Shen Sherin village that surrounds the city. The villagers don’t pay any attention to him as he makes his way through the village back streets to the bridge. He mingles with the crowd to cross the bridge only to disappear in the village and then the forest. Dalistra remains exceptionally quiet during to entire time as though there is another spirit device nearby. Once in the forest, she tells him that someone, probably Magdalenia, was searching using magic, and the best way to stay hidden is not to say anything. Using the forest as cover, they make their way to the forest across the entrance to the merchant camp, where he recognizes the tunic of Magdalenia on several soldiers just north of the encampment. He moves back toward the city beyond the guards’ sight, hoping to catch Mai before Magdalenia’s men can see them.

  CHAPTER 20

  Return to the Cave

  Mai, Abigail, Tera, Berg, and the twins head down the southern road for several hours when they come across Mashaun on the edge of the forest. He motions them to get off the road, and they join him in the forest. Without saying anything, he leads them away from the edge before a joyous reunion. Before anyone could say a thing, Mashaun asks the group why Tera and the twins are with them. They spend the next hour or so filling him in on the important events over the last few days as Mashaun listens intently. Mai secretly hopes that he will send Tera back. She is a little jealous of her, and Dalistra is jealous of both but knows there is nothing she can do about it. Mashaun and Tera have spent time in the woods together, and he saved her life. Tera is competition, and Mai does not like that, but Mashaun tells them that a second bow is a welcome addition, and he understands why the twins need to leave the city.

  Mashaun tells them that he has seen some of Magdalenia’s people n
osing around outside the merchant camp. It’s not safe here, and they need to get moving to the cave when they hear an empty wagon coming down the road. From a distance, they can tell that it’s Kazimir. The wagon stops next to them as he jumps down, giving Mashaun a huge hug embarrassing him. After spending some time on small talk, Kazimir tells them that he’s not going. This surprises everybody except Mashaun, who stops him in midsentence.

  “Yes, I know, you have a family now and are happy here,” he says.

  Kazimir looks at him as if to ask how he knew. Mashaun would only say that he saw this exact conversation. The others look at Mashaun with disbelief. They didn’t even know, and they were in the city for a couple of days. Mashaun tells him that he does not have to go and that he wishes him and his family the best. Mai tries to talk Kazimir into coming along just to the cave, but he is adamant about not going, telling Mai that she doesn’t have to worry about the twins. Berg asks Kazimir if he got the item. Kazimir hands Mashaun a wooden box about the size of a small laptop with a two piece sextant, a notebook, and a pen inside. Mashaun thanks the two of them as they all say their good-byes and part ways. Mashaun knows that he will see him again; however, the rest will not.

  With Mai on his left, Mashaun leads the group through the forest. Mashaun asks Tera to bring up the rear because of her wilderness experience. In the middle are the twins, then Berg and Abigail. In the evenings, Abigail plays the harp and Mai would tell stories around the campfire. Everyone listens except Mashaun, who spends most evenings on the fringe of the firelight. Looking into the forest or gazing at the stars, jotting down coordinates that he obtains from the sextant. Sometimes Mai or Tera would join him and try to start up a conversation, but his answers are always cordial but short. Anytime that Tera is near Mashaun, Mai keeps a close eye on them but would not do anything. Dalistra actually thinks it quite comical that now Mai is jealous.

  Sometimes during the travels, Mai would get snappy at Tera only to be told that it is not necessary, even though Mai and Mashaun still share the same fur. It takes several weeks to reach the meadow only to find a band of awrks has set up a small village. They’re about the same height as Mai has with rough gray skin. Their oversized heads have two horns protruding up and ending in a small round ball. They have large flat feet with hands to match at the end of stubby limbs.

  They move away from the meadow and set up a cold camp hidden among the thick undergrowth. Mashaun and Tera watch from a couple of different hiding spots from sunup to sundown. Both agree that there appear to be about twenty awrks with a semi-permanent log-and-mud building in the middle surrounded by a half dozen small tents. They have crude bows, clubs, and spears. The group discusses its options, and waiting is not one. Tera and Mashaun propose to draw their attention away from the cave entrance, but group dismisses it faster than the breath used to suggest the idea. Elina tells them that she can get one at a time to the cave unnoticed; however, it will take some time to get everybody there. She will have to hold their hand, and they have to creep along the wall without making a sound, but she can do it. After some discussion, they agree to start after sunset with Mashaun going first.

  They move to where the forest meets the cliff, and the two of them slowly move along the cliff face. Elina mutters something, and they move away from the group. The rest watch, as they seem to fade into the wall. Once they get close to the cave, Mashaun starts to drag his hand along the wall, feeling for the entrance.

  When they find the entrance, Mashaun goes inside to make sure that it is safe while Elina returns for the next person, Mai. Mashaun watches the awrks as one by one, each member of the group makes their way along the cliff, taking almost all night to get everybody to the cave. Mai goes straight to pool to clean up; the other girls join as they arrive. Berg examines the room and finds some dried blood on the beds and the floor in addition to some bones scattered around. This makes Mashaun uncomfortable, but after searching, he finds the cave empty. Once the girls are done, Mai leads them into the weapons room while Mashaun and Berg quickly bathe before joining the girls.

  Once the guys arrive in the room, Mashaun retrieves the staff and hands it to Ericka. The staff begins to glow red, and the twins feel the amulet and staff tugging at each other. She takes the staff out to the main room to have a better look at it, when she notices that the tip of the staff is not round but actually has ten sides, with one being a little longer than the rest. While looking at the tip, she sees the symbols on the beds. One of them looks like a match to the staff. When Ericka tries it, the staff matches the symbol as the other symbols begin to glow. Quietly she calls for Mashaun, not wanting to let go of the staff.

  All of them go running with weapons ready, only to find her holding the staff that has the tip buried into the symbol. Berg tells her to pull it out, and as she does, the symbol becomes solid while all five symbols continue to slight glow. Ericka understands why the clone had the staff; it is needed to activate the magic on the beds. Mai asks if that is the case, then can they go home using the beds? Everybody looks at one another, shrugging their shoulders. The questions start flowing with no answers as Berg pulls out the book and tries to find any references to the beds. They decide to sleep in the weapons room tonight for safety reasons. The twins sleep on opposite sides of the room with their new toys next to them.

  A piercing scream and the sound of metal clanging on rocks awaken them. Mashaun and Tera grab their bows and head to the main cave, only to stop short of the wall, seeing a half dozen awrks and a man fighting. He moves like a cat, both quick and agile, managing to snap one of the awrk’s necks with his bare hands. Mashaun and Tera start shooting through the walls, dropping one after another. It breaks the other awrks’ concentration, and the man manages to take out another one, but as he does, he takes a club to the back of his head and drops. The pair continues to let the arrows fly, and before long, all six lie dead on the stone floor. Everybody rushes out of hiding to help the man, but he is gone. Ericka finds that one bed is messed up, and the symbols are no longer glowing, and she realizes that she has made the bed take him.

  The bodies of the awrks lie in a pool of black blood, but there is no red blood anywhere. They quickly pull the arrows and put swords in the holes before returning to their hiding place, careful not to step in any blood. Back in hiding, they discuss not finding the man, even though they saw one fighting. They come to the same conclusion as they hear a group of awrks coming into the large cave. They speak in an unintelligible language as they study their dead companions. All the awrks step aside, allowing one to move freely to the bodies, dressed in a robe of some kind with a necklace of teeth around his neck. He walks using a staff with a glowing tip that lights up the main chamber.

  The group watches from their hiding place, not knowing if they know about the room. One of the awrks pulls a sword and studies it before replacing his with the sword in hand. Shortly they strip the bodies and carry them off to the water room before leaving the cave. After the awrks leave, the group search the large room for any clues as to what happened; they find none. They conclude that the dead were dropped into the stream and where the current pulled them under the rocks. During the search, Berg asks if anyone has seen Abigail.

  They all look at one another and around the rooms, but all they find are her clothes just inside the water-room doorway, with a couple of slashes and some black blood, but no red blood or body. They conclude that awrks found her hiding in the water room; she didn’t stand a chance against them. They would all miss her, but they can’t hang around. Berg takes her loss the hardest, feeling that he failed her. As he starts to charge out the cave, Mai grabs him, and he almost hits her, but she is too quick and dodges but doesn’t let go, allowing Ericka to stop his next attack before realizing what he is doing. Ericka tells him that he should be mad at her. After all, it was her actions that brought the man and the awrks that killed him and Abigail. After calming down, Berg tells them that according to the book, there is a passage leading up to a guardroom, and
they all fan out looking for the mysterious ladder as Tera keeps watch on the awrks’ camp.

  Mashaun finds some translucent steps by the waterfall that lead up to the ceiling. He climbs the steps into the ceiling, coming out at a landing. An archway leads left and the right, with the ladder continuing up. The archway on the right leads to a rectangular room with four cylinders made of some type of metal that look like small pipes and oar-like grips on one side, with each one mounted on the top half of a rock ball along one wall. As he approaches the wall, it begins to fade, overlooking the meadow with the awrks’ village some sixty feet below. When Mashaun accidentally bumps one of the tubes, it moved easily, noticing that all four tubes, moved surprisingly easily with a wide range of movement and in unison. After looking around, he concludes that this used to be a guard post for the cave. It has a good view of the surrounding area, and with the four cannons acting in unison. One or two people could operate it easily. Glancing through the other archway is an identical room.

  Berg goes to work decoding the characters and images on the map, finding it hard to concentrate since Abigail’s disappearance. Mai pushes Berg through the map, to his surprise. Turning around, he notices that the map is different and has different characters. He is still making notes when Mashaun returns from the guard post. Berg shouts with excitement, which brings everybody running into the weapons room, telling him to be quiet. After they calm him down, he tells them about the two different maps and that this is an outpost for Thesila and he believes that the map will lead them to the city. His shout of excitement brings in some of the awrks, who look around, a little befuddled, before leaving. Berg apologizes for being so loud. Mashaun tells him it is OK. They apparently don’t know about this room.