The Children of Calm (29 page)

“What in Mira?” Altan wondered aloud, staring at Tresten. He then gathered his thoughts. “The door leads outside. Quickly now, put on your coats!”

Hastily they dressed for the frigid weather, and then burst through the doorway. Without a word they raced outside, trusting Altan to lead them back through the ruined city to the Twilight Gate.

“How did that happen?” Rylek asked Tresten.

“What?”

“The wall and that table thing!”

“No idea!” he said, shrugging.

“You must have done it then, right, Altan?” Rylek asked.

“I certainly did not,” Altan said as he looked at Tresten again with a curious expression.

***

The few Aesid who were outside were pointing at them as they were running, unsure of what to do. A few took to the skies and pursued them, spears in hand, waiting for the right moment to hurl them downwards.

“We’ll never outrun them!” Rylek yelled. “And we don’t want to give away the Twilight Gate. What should we do?”

“Girls, continue perfectly straight and return to that from which we came!” Altan said. “We will meet with you presently.”

“But…” Lana started.

“Do as I say!” Altan said and the girls dared not disobey him. They ran off into the dark.

Altan stopped in his tracks and turned around, with Rylek on one side of him and Tresten on the other. They both drew their swords. Altan raised his arm high into the air. The pursuing Aesid dropped like rocks out of the sky but gently landed on the ground. There were about a dozen of them. “Leave us, or you shall be punished!” he called to them.

They ignored him and cautiously stepped forward, spears lowered.

“I give you one final warning!” Altan said. “Turn back, or not one of you shall be spared!”

Rylek glanced at Tresten, not knowing what to do. Tresten nodded, and they both leapt forward. Though the Aesid were larger than they were, Rylek was surprised at how much more adept at fighting he was. He easily dispatched three before he heard Altan’s voice call out again.

“Your time has ended! Never shall Teravihn’dael rise from its ruined heaps! It is forever doomed by the Aedaar as Khragzul, cursed wasteland of the powerless! Now, be gone and be swept away!”

Just then another curious thing happened. The spears of the remaining Aesid splintered and flew from their hands. Rylek heard Tresten cry out “Aha!” as the Aesid confusedly looked at each other, unsure of what to do. By then it was too late. Out of nowhere a tremendous gust of wind blasted through Rylek but did not move him. It did, however, carry off the Aesid so quickly and powerfully that it looked like they had been struck by an incredibly fast-moving boulder. They were hurled backwards and upwards through the air, and in a matter of seconds were so far away Rylek could no longer see them.

Altan took a moment to look at Tresten again, and it seemed he was having an inner argument with himself. Finally he muttered “Later,” and turned back in the direction of the cave that hid the Twilight Gate. “Quickly!” he said. “More are on the way!”

From Teravihn’dael arose a great echoing clang of a bell.

“I am assuming the soldiers from the submerged base have surfaced,” he said wearily. “We must fly! I cannot sustain us for much longer!”

They sprinted across the dreary landscape, wind howling in their ears. Rylek was impressed that Altan was easily keeping up with their pace, especially considering how weak he was looking. It was taking awhile for Rylek’s eyes to accustom themselves to the drastic darkness, and he felt he was running blindly to no determined goal. All of his hope was set on Altan remembering the exact way. He quickly chanced a glance over his shoulder. His heart skipped a beat when he saw swarms of Aesid rapidly approaching from a great distance.

“We must outpace them!” Altan said, not sounding winded at all. “Flee, flee! We cannot take on the sum of them!”

On they ran, till eventually the silhouettes of the girls could be seen ahead of them. The red light of Khrag’leMae barely lit the little rock formation they eventually approached that held the Twilight Gate. Rylek could now hear the beating of the Aesids’ wings, and to him it was the sound of approaching doom.

The girls were only a handful of paces ahead. They would reach the cave in seconds. But the closest Aesid were now near enough to throw their spears down, and the first pierced through Tresten’s coat. Altan lifted one arm to the Aesid and quickly dropped it; at the same time he made a motion with the other like he was throwing something at the cave. The front line of the Aesid crumbled to the ground, but the others continued to gain. Simultaneously the cave wall shattered so that the hidden way was now revealed. They were all in one group now, and they fled together into the cave. It was only moments before the Aesid would follow them inside.

“Selenor, your ring!” Altan called out.

“I don’t have it!” she cried.

Without another word, Altan lifted his hand again, and instantly the gate was activated. He then wrapped his long arms around the other four and together they jumped into the spinning blue orb and roughly landed back in the Forest of Contrary Light.

“Off the dais!” Altan commanded them, as he kept his arms wrapped around them, forcing them to continue running. Once they were off, he threw them from him and then turned to face the swirling Twilight Gate. With both hands raised towards the portal, he lowered his head. The pillars began to crumble as it was deactivated, and a large crack split through the dais. “Move away and take cover!” he called out to them as he turned around and fled the dais. Dark purple fires began to spark up as the pillars continued to crumble, collapsing in upon themselves. Then a great explosion rent the air with a loud blast and a wave of heat. Pieces of rock flew past the group as they lay huddled together behind the trunk of a flarefruit tree.

After everything had settled down, they rose from the ground and removed their coats. “Is everyone okay?” Lana asked.

Tresten half-smiled. “If history were always taught like this, it would be everyone’s favorite class,” he said with no hint of sarcasm.

Chapter Fourteen:

Truth and Consequences

“
We have no time to lose
,” Altan said. “Let us hurry on to the cottage.” He appeared to be a little wobbly on his feet as he began to walk away from them.

“Are you okay, Altan?” Rylek asked as he felt dizzy and queasy himself. The flarefruit was certainly not helping his condition.

“I’m wonderful,” Altan replied. “We simply need to return as soon as possible; I require time to think.” He then stopped and turned back to the others. “I am sorry,” he said, “I am forgetting about the turchura leaves.” He then brought the pouch out from his coat and handed each of them a leaf. “After our previous round of excitement, it is probably more necessary for some aid in physical stability than it was the first time we trekked through these woods.”

Rylek and the others removed their coats in the warm air. Though he had expected the color shift once they were in the Forest of Contrary Light again, he still found it alarming – and nauseating, though the turchura leaf was easing his stomach. The sky overhead was very nearly black, though he knew it could not be much later than early afternoon.

Tresten and Selenor stood at a distance, deep in conversation. Rylek could not hear what they were talking about, but Selenor was obviously agitated about something. Briefly she looked at him, but quickly turned away again. He knelt down to clean Faldrahil on the grass, shuddering as the pale green that covered the almost-black blade was removed in the pink-purple of the grass. The events of the day began to weigh heavily on his mind. Suddenly he thought of the crystalline orb he had secretly taken the night he and Tresten had snuck around Perdeisolen. Fearing it had been taken from him while he was unconscious in Khragzul, he slipped his hand in his pocket and was shocked and relieved to find it and the starpod torch still there. He toyed with the orb between his fingers.

Soon,
he thought to himself.
When I get some time to myself…

Lana interrupted his secret thoughts. “They took the Dawnstone and Twilightstone,” she said with tears in her eyes. “We’ve lost priceless relics! Why, oh why did we take them along with us?”

“Ouch, that’s hard,” he said, shaking his head. “But I don’t think you would have liked it if I had tried to stop you. Besides, they’re yours and I have no business telling you what to do with your own things.”

“I know. I’m not blaming you,” she said.

“Just be glad Tresten hasn’t said ‘I told you so,’” he said, forcing a smile.

“
Yet
,” she added. “Oh, he will -
he will
.”

“Well, at least we still have you both safe and harm-free,” Rylek said. “You and Selenor are far more valuable than some shiny rocks.”

“You’re sweet, Rylek, but what will we tell our mother when we get home?”

“We’ll find a way to get them back,” he said, with a confidence that surprised him. “I have no idea how or when, but we’ll do it.”

“But the Twilight Gate’s destroyed. How in the name of Mira can we ever go back?”

Before Rylek could postulate an answer, Altan approached them and looked hard at Lana. “Tell me about these stones that you and Selenor had in your possession,” he said.

“I don’t know much about them,” she said. “They are family heirlooms that our mother gave to Selenor and me for our birthday. Mine was a ruby set in a pendant for a necklace called the Dawnstone, and Selenor’s was a sapphire set in a band for a ring called the Twilightstone.”

“The Dawnstone and Twilightstone…” Altan repeated softly to himself. “They must be; they must surely be.” He then looked at her again. “They have natural formations in them that look to be pictures of the sun and the moons, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me, Lana, do you know how your mother came to possess them?”

She looked at Rylek before answering. “She didn’t really say. All I know is they have been passed down from mother to oldest daughter and so on for many generations.”

“I think our dad said it was a story that deserved a lot of time to tell correctly,” Rylek added.

“Yes, I would say so,” Altan said. “Please, whatever you do, do not mention to anyone that you ever had them, let alone that you lost them.”

“Why? Do you know something about them?” she asked. “Won’t you tell us the story that seems to be so important?”

“Not now,” he said with distant eyes. “It is a story that deserves a lot of time, remember? And for now there is much I need to think upon.”

“Can we at least pick your brain over everything we’ve just gone through?” Rylek asked. “We couldn’t talk while we were in Khragzul, and I’m sure we all have questions; I know I definitely do. Besides, maybe answering our questions will help you sort things out.”

“You are, of course, correct,” Altan said. “Very well! I will answer your questions. But we must talk while we walk, for I am weak and wish to hurry back to my dwelling.”

As they left the Twilight Gate behind them, Tresten walked next to Rylek. “Is Selenor alright?” Rylek asked him. “I saw you talking with her, and something seemed to be upsetting her.”

“Oh yeah, she’s fine,” he said. “You know how girls can be overly dramatic at times. Thankfully she’s not like that very often. I don’t think I’d be able to stand her if that were the case.”

Selenor had pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and Rylek watched it bounce as she walked ahead of him. He could not help but wonder what was on her mind. But for a reason he could not explain he felt too shy to talk with her and walked on in brooding silence instead.

***

“I thought you all had questions you were eager to ask of me,” Altan said.

They had been walking along for several minutes in total silence. Rylek felt as though he were trudging through a muddled fog of confusion and exhaustion. He had a lot on his mind, but most of it was things he wanted to keep to himself.

“I didn’t know we were asking questions,” Tresten said.

“I believe you were having private words with your sister when I made the offer,” Altan said.

“It figures,” Tresten said. “Where do I even begin? So much has happened today…”

“Indeed, much has transpired,” Altan said softly. “Things that need to be known by those who have the ability to do something. I fear the exiled Aesid are on the brink of discovering a way to break free of their prison.”

“Do you mean their underwater apparatus?” Tresten asked. “Do you have any idea what it could be?”

“I cannot say. A facility, or possibly a vessel. If it is a vessel, which seems most logical, then I am afraid that somehow, whether through deep tunneling or by some other method, the Aesid have gone beyond the barrier that the Aedaar placed to imprison them. If that is true, then there is the possibility that they have already escaped Khragzul itself. We have no idea how far apart the gates are we used to escape the palace and return to Khragzul.”

“How was it possible for them to have access to that level of technology?” Tresten asked. “One can easily see from the ruins that their resources are not exactly overflowing with abundance.”

“The Aesid are incredibly powerful and advanced,” Altan said. “They have survived these millennia seemingly on their pride and knowledge alone. Who knows how far they have advanced the Forbidden Artes during this time?”

“Did you see the things connected to Fornrihgula in the temple?” Rylek suddenly asked. “They looked like tubes and wires.”

“No, actually I did not,” Altan said. “Can you tell me anything about them?”

Rylek shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. They just looked like they were connected to his back and running into the rock wall behind him.”

“Curious, curious,” Altan said softly. “This may be vital information. Allow me some time to dwell on this for now. We will continue our discussion in a short time.”

***

As they neared the cave tunnel that led to Altan’s cottage, Rylek perceived a plethora of moods in the group. Altan was so deep in thought he seemed not to notice anything else around him. Lana walked silently and dejectedly like a condemned criminal. Selenor was also quiet but elusive, avoiding Rylek at all costs. He himself felt bewildered, exhausted, and unsettled. None of them were interacting with each other. Tresten alone seemed to be in good spirits. He walked beside Rylek with a slight bounce in his steps, occasionally whistling or engaging him in conversation. Rylek wondered how he could be oblivious to everyone else’s moods.

“I knew we were good, but I had never allowed myself to believe we were
that
good,” he eventually said. “It was difficult to judge properly while we were only in Calm. And truthfully, there is not much serious competition there. But today it seemed Silran and I moved along together to some previously choreographed dance - the steps were laid out before us, the angles were predetermined. Everything felt so natural.”

“Yeah,” Rylek said, half-listening.

“And though we have neglected our workouts for a handful of days, it appears to have not slowed us. I would venture to say we will not have any problems once we enroll in the Academy. They’ll be fortunate simply to have us! Soon we will be rising to the top of our class, and be appointed into the elite ranks…”

“You’re unusually talkative right now,” Rylek muttered.

Tresten looked at him. “I suppose I am a little bit excited. What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing. I just have a lot on my mind right now.”

“Sorry I rained on your parade,” Tresten said coldly.

“No, I’m sorry,” Rylek said, instantly feeling remorseful for his words. “I mean, I think you’re right and all. There’s just so much to process. Tresten, I’ve killed five people today - and it’s just the early afternoon. When I woke up this morning, I wasn’t exactly thinking to myself ‘Hey, I wonder if I’ll get to kill some Aesid today.’”

“Yeah,” Tresten said softly. “I hadn’t really thought much about it. But you have to remember – we did it to protect ourselves and the girls. If we hadn’t done it first, they would have killed us all.”

“I’m not so sure. That Empress of theirs didn’t seem so set on being rid of us.”

Tresten was quiet for a moment. “That entire sequence of events is a little hazy to me,” he finally said. “I can’t explain why, but whenever she came around, this intense excruciating pain would ignite in my head and down my spine. I have never felt anything like it, Rylek. I swore my head was going to explode. But when Altan spoke, the pain was driven away.”

“I wonder if that was what happened in the first place,” Rylek said. “I mean, in the temple. Because out of nowhere you just let out this hair-raising scream which alerted the Aesid to our presence. So I wonder if she had at that moment walked into our vicinity.”

“I have no idea. Maybe it was merely coincidence in the timing of everything.” Tresten paused for a moment. “She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” he said so softly Rylek could hardly hear him. “No matter what I do, I cannot shake the image of her from my mind.”

“There was some sort of power at work there,” Rylek said. “Even now I feel the same as you do. It’s as though her voice is still echoing in my ears, and her beauty is burned into my brain.” As he said the words, Keona’s seductive form appeared in a vision right in front of him.

“I know,” Tresten said. “You yelled out ‘The Empress is mine!’”

“I said that out loud?” Rylek asked, as he shot a quick glance at Selenor who was ahead of him. “I thought that was just a thought in my head. Oh wow…”

“Ridiculous, isn’t it?” Tresten snorted. “I know she said things to control us somehow, but all one needs to do is look at her to see that she is too…” He drifted off for a moment. “As though she would ever really have either of us…” he finally said before tailing off again.

Rylek looked over at him. He seemed to be in some other world, brooding over dark thoughts. “Don’t let her take root within you,” Rylek cautioned.

“She’s not,” he answered dejectedly. Then he sighed, and it looked to Rylek that he formed the words
mine yet
on his lips.

***

The rest of the journey was passed in near silence, which Rylek appreciated since he was absorbed within his own internal conversations and debates. There were so many unanswered questions running through his mind that he assumed each one was like a puzzle piece, and if he arranged everything correctly he would be able to see the bigger picture. Maybe that, in turn, would provide the answers he was seeking.

Based upon what Caenar and Faltir had told him, he was fairly certain he knew what Altan really was. But that was the only somewhat safe answer he had. Who, or what, was Keona? What of the large orb Tresten had picked up? Or the amnesia the others were displaying concerning it? Did Andulibar or one of his people do something to make them forget about it? What was Celek up to? Why did Caenar really want the four of them to go on their Finding together? Why was the escape from Khragzul seemingly not as difficult as it should have been? They had been grossly outnumbered. What of the Dawnstone and Twilightstone? Or the odd secret room where time had seemingly stood still, and the hooded figure that had followed them to the door?