At first, nothing happens. Suddenly a red bolt of lightning shoots out of the disk. Arching to Elina, then to the closest person and so on until the energy bolt has reached everybody. Cumulating with the caves, glowing red, and then the staff begins to glow and shake. There is a flash of blinding red light with an explosion knocking everybody backwards. Several Thesilarns fall into the lake and disappear. The force tears the staff from Ericka’s hands, and the disk chain snaps sending it to the basket. The staff spins on its vertical axis with such speed that it looks like a sphere. All goes quiet everyone on the ground with the disk and the staff repaired. Elina is the first to regain awareness and quickly grabs the disk to find that it is now one with the staff.
One by one, they slowly regain their senses while still a little dazed and wondering what happened. Ericka tells Elina that she wants her staff back in no uncertain terms. Elina looks at the staff and sees the disk spinning in the basket, which apparently is now complete as one. Elina likes the power that she feels coursing through her body, telling
Ericka that they had become one and she’s keeping it. When Ericka tries to take the staff by force, she finds herself tossed back several meters. Everyone watches the altercation in disbelief. After which, Elina feels tired and wants to rest but is afraid that Ericka will try again to take it from her. She knows that she is too weak to do anything about it now.
The Thesilarns kneel before their new mage, who, by the ancient laws, is now their leader. The rest of the group just stand there in amazement except for Berg, who goes and helps Ericka up.
Mashaun hears Dalistra say, “I suggest that we take our leave now. I have a bad feeling about this.”
Mashaun tries to say something, but Dalistra is insistent.
Just as Mashaun begins gathering up Mai and the others, Elina tells them to stay the night as the Thesilarns surround them, making sure they aren’t going anywhere. The guards return them their room, where several Thesilarns stand outside. They think about escape, but their heads begin to feel like fire, so they drop the idea.
Elina and Sabinina, along with several others, go to a larger room with its own running water and a raised platform for a table with several rock stools around it. Off to one side is a door that leads into what looks like a bedroom and another doorway leading into a room that looks like a small toilet. Sabinina and Elina sit at the table along with a couple of others, Elina placing her back to the wall, leaning the staff on her shoulder.
Elina looks around the room, enjoying her newfound authority, but more than that, she understands the connection between the moons and mages, thinking that Berg is a fool for not seeing it. The disk captures the power of each moon, and the staff channels the power, giving the wielder immense power when used under a full moon. She also realizes that the brightness of the moon determines the power in the disk. She understands how magic works, and now she needs to learn how to control it, not letting it control her, like Magdalenia, she lets out a soft chuckle.
Sabinina starts to ask her a question when Elina looks at her and abruptly asks her, “What?”
“Your Highness, what of the people you showed up with?” Sabinina humbly asks.
Elina thinks for a while, and any Thesilarn that tries to read her thoughts feels a sharp pain their head. Her first thought is to keep them, but that would only lead to problems down the road. She could just kill them, and they could return home, maybe, but that won’t work with Tera. What about her older sister? She couldn’t just kill her—or could she? She decides that she can’t kill them, that’s just not her, and they freed her. She entertains the idea of keeping her sister to look on, but she was never the one that looked down at her. She finally makes up her mind.
She asks Sabinina if there is a throne room. Sabinina with great joy tells her yes, getting up to lead Elina. Elina tells Sabinina that she wants her friends in the throne room. Sabinina sends several Thesilarns to fetch them while Sabinina leads her to a great hall. The throne room is huge with a cathedral-like ceiling, and the walls covered with ornate etchings. She walks into the room, and the figures on the wall seem to come alive and dance as she strolls down the center aisle to the majestic chair at the end. The room brightens up like the rising of a new moon until the entire room is basking in the glow of the red moon.
She tells Sabinina that she wants all Thesilarns in this room to witness her first command as their new empress. Soon the Thesilarns enter the room and take their places on the rows of rock benches. The guards lead the group to the front row and seated with guards standing at end of the bench.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Dalistra says again.
“Yes, I do too.”
The guards at the end tell them to be quiet even though they are only thinking. Soon the hall fills, with some standing along the walls. Sabinina walks up and stands next to Elina, telling everybody to be quiet and that she has the rare honor to introduce their new Empress, Elina, and first keeper of the red staff in over two thousand years. Elina stands up, and all the Thesilarns bow their heads. Elina taps the staff, and everybody looks at her. She scans the room, pleased with the number of subjects who fill the room. She feels the power within her, swell.
Sabinina gives Elina a long red leather cloak draping it over her shoulders and stops just a little short of reaching the ground. The black cotton collar lined with dozens of gems that appear to be mainly stone rings of red, blue, and yellow. A golden tiara filled with a multitude of gems and precious stones is placed upon her head. Her staff glows with an eerie red that seems to bathe her in a red aura. She stands for some time, enjoying being the center of attention before uttering her first unmemorable words as their new empress.
Her speech is short and sweet since none of the group wants to spend much time listening to rambles anyway while the Thesilarns hang on to every word. Elina asks Mai, Berg, and Mashaun to approach. Several of the Thesilarns follow them up the steps to a landing a few steps short of the throne. Elina announces that they are free to leave so long as they agree not to tell anybody about this place. They all nod in agreement. Mashaun can tell that Elina is getting tired and that this cannot go much longer. Elina dismisses the three and tells Ericka and Tera to approach. They may leave with Mashaun, never to return, or stay as part of her entourage.
Tera quickly chooses to go with Mashaun. Ericka takes a minute, figuring if she stays, she might be able to get the staff back, but being her sister’s handmaiden is not something she wants. If she leaves, she would probably never have a chance to get the staff back. She decides to leave with Mashaun also.
As they walk down the aisle, Mai turns around to see Elina nearly collapse onto the throne. Sabinina, along with the Thesilarns that were in her chambers, ushers everyone out of the room. A half dozen Thesilarns escort the group to the entrance. The Thesilarns give them some food and remind to never return or speak of this place. They cross the rocks and make camp on the far side, wondering how they would get out of the pit, but for now, they will get some rest in one of the caves.
The dawn comes way too early, but they need to find a way up the cliff. After a short time, Berg finds a narrow path leading up the side of the cliff’s face and starts walking up. The others rush to where he is, already about ten feet off the ground, and he points to where the path meets the floor. Mai and Mashaun barely see the path and start to climb when Ericka says she doesn’t see anything. The three of them point to the path, and Mashaun even jumps off the trail to the floor, taking her by the arm and leading her to the path. He puts her in front of him as they walk. She stays on the floor, and he began to climb. Tera stands off and just looks in confused. This creates some doubt in the others. Mai is the first to drop, then Mashaun. He yells up at Berg that they are right behind him. Berg continues to the top before turning around, seeing all of them at the bottom.
Berg yells down, asking why they haven’t come up the path. Mashaun tells him that it vanished right from under them. Berg puts his foot out to step on the path
to show them that it is still there, as the three of them yell “No!” He starts to walk back down the path when Mai runs directly under him, yelling at him to look. It slowly begins to dawn on him that there really is no path. He feels himself starting to fall, quickly jumping for the edge, catching himself by his arms. After some scrambling, a hand grabs him and pulls him up. There are three warriors with their finger to their lips. He yells back that he is OK.
They spend several hours searching for another way up the cliff, and just when it looks hopeless, Mai finds a group of ledges over the lake. She figures that with a running start, she can land on the lowest one and jump her way to the top. However, if she misses, she is going swimming in the lake. She would probably cook before anyone could save her. It is simple, she thinks. Don’t miss. She doesn’t want anyone to ruin it, so she asks Mashaun to take the two girls and look on the other side of the pit for a while. Once they are far enough away, she takes a running leap and lands on the first ledge. Berg sees her jump, landing on an invisible ledge. He runs over to the area just above her to give her some encouragement even though he does not see the ledges. When she gets close to the top, a hand helps her up.
Soon Mai is looking down, telling them about the ledges. The three of them look for the ledge but don’t see them even though Mai gives them crystal clear directions where they are. Berg tells Mai that the ledges are not there. She has found them because she wanted to find them, just like the path, he found, but he doesn’t know why Ericka and Tera can’t see them.
Mashaun and the others spend hours looking for a way to get them up the cliff face as they run out of daylight. None of them wants to be there if Elina comes to the surface that night. As the shadows begin to cover the floor, Mashaun has an idea. It is a long shot at best. They would go into the caves, and he would find the exit there; after all, there has to be one, right?
With Ericka holding on to his shirt and Tera holding on to Ericka, they enter the largest of the caves. Using only Mashaun’s sense of feel, they make their way down the many endless passages. All the time, Mashaun is saying to himself that there has to be an exit here somewhere. Tera wants to use her light, but Mashaun tells her no. For this to work, they can’t see. Time seems to drag in the pitch-black darkness of the cave until he feels something different. It isn’t the smooth cave wall, but coarse dirt and roots. Continuing up the path, he begins to smell fresh air, and soon they step out of the large rock onto the plains a little way from the pit. The three moons have started to peek over the distant horizon, and off in the distance, he can see several figures kneeling over something.
They start to approach when several swordsmen and a couple of archers stand up around Berg and Mai. Mashaun tells them to hang back as he approaches the swordsmen when one of them tells him to stop.
“I’m Mashaun, who is your leader?” Mashaun asks in their language.
“I’m Rangier, and we want the staff and the twins,” he returns.
“That’s not going to happen, but I’ll tell you what, if you want Elina, you can have her, she is in the big cave across the lake,” Mashaun tells him. “What?” he asks.
“Do you remember the red flash the other night?” Mashaun asks him. “Yes,” he says.
“That was Elina becoming a mage more powerful than your
Magdalenia. Now if you don’t believe me, go look for yourself. By the way, she is also the empress of an entire city,” Mashaun tells him. Rangier studies Mashaun for a long time, before deciding that he is probably telling the truth.
“Well, the second part of the contract is she wants Dalistra and all of you dead,” he says after a time.
He turns around to see Berg and Mai step off the cliff and realizes he does not have any bargaining chips.
“Stop before you do something stupid. I want to ask you a question,” Mashaun quickly tells him.
“OK, what do you want to know before you die?” Rangier asks him.
“How many of your men did you lose to the creature in the pit?” Mashaun asks.
Seeing the look on their faces, Mashaun continues, “Not only did we not lose anybody, we vanquished the creature. Do you really think that you can defeat us when you couldn’t deal with one snake?” Mashaun say mockingly. Rangier doesn’t say a word, knowing that Mashaun is right. Telling his men to stand down, he approaches Mashaun, wishing to parley. Mashaun agrees, and they meet in the middle. Mai and Berg approach from behind Rangier, startling him as they pass to greet the group.
Mashaun tells Rangier that they are free to leave and tell Magdalenia that the staff is in the hands of Elina, Ruler of the Thesilarns. When Rangier asks about Dalistra, Mashaun quickly asks, “Who?” Rangier only knows that Magdalenia is looking for her and wants her alive along with the twins. Mashaun tells Rangier that he is not going to get the twins or the staff. Reminding him what happens to people that displease her, and they should get as far away from Magdalenia as possible. Rangier takes his men and leaves, heading south.
CHAPTER 25
Into the Wilds
They travel for several hours to get as far away from the pit as they can before bedding down for the night. Grateful that Elina let them have all their gear back, so the only things they lost was time and Elina. Dalistra and Mashaun talk to each other on the journey, wondering why Magdalenia wants her and how she even knows. After the evening meal, Berg studies the map as the group looks on, a little disappointed that it was not Thesila. Explaining his logic and why the mistake, he tells them that they need to head to the mountain in the middle to the east.
They awake at the edge of a clearing that stretches off to the horizon on the south. The cloudless sky tells them that it will be hot. They proceed east into the shade of the forest. For several days, their journey rises in elevation. They find themselves in a narrow canyon with steep walls that climb upward until the clouds engulf them. The wind and mist penetrate their clothes, chilling them to the bone. Patches of snow remain in the shadowy parts of the mountains, providing them with fresh water. Trying to find a decent campsite in the windswept valley is a formidable task at best; however, they always seem to find a warm spot to sleep.
It is about midday when the trail begins a gradual descent winding its way through large rocks and scrubs. They reach a large open area overlooking a long, narrow lake. It stretches down a glacier valley that disappears at the base of some distant mountains. At the head of the lake grown from a mountain cliff, stands a circular tower with a narrow trail winding up the face. Berg runs up the trail, throwing caution to the wind as he excitedly exclaims “A tower of Arralk” with the rest following close behind.
There is no door as they enter a circular room with a basketball-sized sphere sitting in a stone cage on a tripod in the center. As they approach the sphere, the room warms and a light radiates from the ball. There is an oblong opening in the ceiling across from the door. Mashaun stands in the doorway, scanning the horizon. While admiring the evening glow of the setting sun that he does not cast a shadow. Ericka runs her hand over a small pictograph on the wall. A set of steps grows from the wall, forcing her to jump back, nearly knocking Mai over. The next two floors are identical to the bottom, except for crosses in the walls for archers and a picture on the floor that, when covered, locks the stairs, effectively closing off the floor below.
That evening, Berg explains that the tower of Arralk is one of many that ring the Thesila kingdom. He gives them a brief history lesson on the Thesila kingdom. The towers used to protect and warn the people of any invasion. But the kingdom became too large, and they were unable to protect all its borders. But when it started to shrink, the different classes broke away. They built their own cities, fracturing the kingdom into three separate empires. Shortly the distrust between the classes grew to the point of civil war, and that must have been when Thesila summoned all the mages.
Ericka is the only one still awake when Berg finishes his story. Ericka wants to know more, now that she has Thesilan blood. As she fires one question
after another about the story, Berg can only tell her that he doesn’t know, and they both drift off to sleep.
They spend several days following the lake down into a dense forest where Mashaun is able to replenish their almost nonexistent supplies and is glad to be down where the wildlife is more abundant. The rest of them start a fire and wait for Mashaun to return, hopefully, with some fresh meat. He seems to be gone for a long time, and the group starts to worry, after all, he really is the only fighter left. Tera is an archer; Mai, the healer; Berg, the scholar; and Ericka is a budding mage, but she still feels more like a servant. At times, she feels like a hindrance to them. Spending most of her life as a house slave, she is not used to making decisions.
It is after dark when he returns with a couple of rabbit like animals that Ericka offers to cook, which is something she does well. As they relax around the campfire, it is the first time in over a week where they feel comfortable and safe. Ericka finally asks why she couldn’t see the path out of the pit. Tera nods her head in agreement. Everyone else just looks at them, aware that everyone is wondering the same thing. None of them has any idea as to why they could, but she could not. They go through some of the possible reasons, but someone always points out a flaw with the line of thought.
“What if it’s because we weren’t born here?” Berg says with some excitement. After pondering the idea, Mai asks, “What’s that got to do with anything?” That, he can’t answer, but Ericka tells them that she has heard about strangers with special skills, and Tera recounts a story she heard about a stranger that could hide in plain sight. They brainstorm for some time on the matter, when Mai says, “This has got to be a dream” under her breath.
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