Chapter 13: 'High Noon,
And all's well.'
- Not so much
Falion - The edge of Illumination Forest:
"Are we there yet?"
Everyone groaned. Sonera kept a hand on Kade's arm to keep him from ringing the boy's neck out.
"For the thousandth time Terryn. No! Now shut your gopper up or I'll cut out yer tongue!" Merek had been pushed beyond his limits with Terryn’s whining several miles ago, and now he really was contemplating whether or not to cut the lad’s tongue out.
When Terryn saw the seriousness of his threat, he fell silent. Much to everyone’s relief.
“Ah! Finally! I’ll be glad when you lot are gone for good. Not a moment’s peace I tell ya! It doesn’t do for a Pixie’s spirit!” And then there was Telly and Calistar. They wouldn’t shut up either. In fact, they talked about as much as Terryn did! Only they didn’t whine, they just went on and on and on about everything under the sun!
For the most part, the gang succeeded in tuning them out, but even then it was like a mosquito buzzing around their ears.
While the Pixie's went on talking about only Eleyos knows what, Dreyden did his best to keep his mind off Elowen and Swift. He occupied himself by concentrating on the Forest around him. His mind still hadn't fully accepted the glowing plant life of the Forest. In his own world, plants didn't glow, they didn't sing, they didn't send off rivers of colors. They just stood there normal and all, like good decent trees!
But in this glowing forest, he found that the soft colors was comforting in a strange way. Like what a greeting from a long lost family might be. Though he's never been greeted by a long lost family, so he wouldn't really know, but he was pretty sure that's what it would have felt like.
"Is it just me..." Kade spoke up.
Yeah, he's definitely getting more comfortable around us. Terryn remarked to himself.
"...or are the trees starting to thin out?"
Once he pointed it out, everyone else took a moment to look to see if he was correct, all except Ysmay. Who had been noticing that as the tree line gradually thinned out.
"Yes it would appear so." She said in her whispering way.
Kade nodded and fell quiet once more.
Before long, the gang and their blue and red escort stopped at the Forest's edge. The new comers, just gapping at the scene before them. The Pixie's just crossed their arms eager to be released from their duty.
Laying ahead of them was a sight both strange and familiar in a form they had only seen in pictures in old story books.
The trees gave way to green grass, the green grass grew into vines that had grown along what seemed to be the remains of a high wall.
"What's that then?" Terryn asked.
Ysmay looked at him for a minute before slapping his blond hair.
"Oi! What was that for?!" He hollered.
"For being your usual daft dimbo self." Those words said in her quiet and calm voice sounded all to strange, yet held a certain air about them that told him he had really gotten under her skin.
Terryn patted down his blond hair, and tried to pick out words that would make an apology rise to her standards.
"I...am terribly sorry....and beg your forgiveness for....being my daft dimbo self ma'am." He had given his voice a certain accent that he thought, made him sound more regal. But in actual reality, only made him sound more of the daft dimbo Ysmay claimed him to be.
This, in turn, caused everyone to stifle fits of laughter. Which only wounded Terryn's pride.
Ysmay laid a hand on his bare arm and smiled.
"Apology accepted. But a word of advice? Don't ever stop being your daft dimbo self. Alright?"
Merek nudged Drey with a look that said 'ha-I-knew-it!'. Drey just slugged him in the arm and turned back to the crumbling wall.
"Well lets go then, I say we should find out what's on the other side of this wall." He declared. Then Merek nudged him again.
"What?! Can't you use your own pie hole?" Drey snapped.
Merek just looked up at the sky. The dark haired boy froze when he heard the ever so familiar screech of his yerto.
The rush of wind whistled past his ears, and the Pixies became anxious once again.
"Oh not that blasted demon again!" One of them complained. If Dreyden had been able to pin point who it was, he would have pulled out his wings for saying such a cruel thing about his yerto.
The bright red bird landed, and a small form slipped gracefully off. Ignoring the gang for a moment, Elowen walked to Swift's head and whispered something to him before kissing his beak and sending him away with a wave of her hand.
Drey was slightly impressed, and slightly hurt. No one was suppose to send another person's yerto away. It might have something to do with the fact that the yerto wouldn't have listened. He only really listened to his master. So when Swift took off when Elowen gestured to the sky, it hit him like a cold knife in the heart.
And Elowen seemed to know that. She turned around and pulled her hood off her head.
"I didn't mean to hurt you or something, but the Pixies were making him nervous and I can only assume much trouble would have unfolded had he stayed." She explained in that sweet voice that seemed to melt him no matter how mad or hurt he was towards her.
Drey gave a curt nod, but then looked on to the wall once again.
"There is, one thing before you go." It was Calastiar speaking.
Ysmay was reminded of his presences and set to work with her silver tongue once again.
"Yes?" She asked the little Pixie, who flew up to her nose and grinned. With out really realizing it, her hand which had been a very gentle touch on Terryn's arm, clamped down so quickly that he almost called out. But once he saw that she had done that to keep herself from not appearing scared, he let her, and moved slightly closer to her.
"We were wondering if you might accept this as a last token of our hospitality." Calastiar made a motion with his miniscule hand, and several other Pixie's took it as their cue. They flittered forward, a pair holding what seemed to be a sack of some sort. Ysmay's keen eye immediately saw that there was seven sacks in all. One for each of them. The other's in the gang couldn't figure out the words to say, as they held out their hands to receive their package.
"Cake?" Terryn asked in slight astonishment. Being the first one to open it, he saw a perfectly round cake with a red center and a yellow outside.
"Yes. We felt slightly guilty for giving you such a hard time," Calastiar went on, making an apologetic gesture. "So we've made it up to you. I hope you enjoy them, and may Eleyos bless you on your journey."
Ysmay was still too flabbergasted to say anything, starring at the little cake in the palm of her hand, so Elowen stepped up.
"Thank you Calastiar. I'm sure they're delicious. And thank you again for your hospitality and guidance. We are much obliged."
Calastiar dipped his head with his left fist over his heart.
"Of course. Enjoy." The way he said the last word before he and the other Pixies melted back into the forest, left Elowen with a knot in her stomach. She stuffed the cake in her pocket and they stood in silence long enough for them to really see if the Pixies were truly gone.
"Well I can't say I'm sad to see them go lads." Merek spoke up finally.
Kade nodded his agreement and glanced down at Sonera, they began whispering very fast and very quietly though no one was sure about what.
Dreyden nodded in agreement with Merek.
"I'll second that." He said. But then he gestured back to the wall with his thumb.
"Come on, lets get going. This place gives me the creeps."
Merek nodded and led the walk across the grass field to the looming wall.
"The other side isn't any less creepy then the Forest." Elowen spoke up, falling in step with Dreyden.
"Did you see what was on the other side from on Swift?" He asked. She nodded grimly and tugged her white hood back up onto her head.
"It's amazing, yet....sad at the same time."
Drey was about to ask her why, but they came up to the wall before he got the chance.
"So...Does anyone of you brilliant lads or lasses have any clue how to get over it then?" Terryn asked. Breaking the slightly awkward silence.
They gazed up at wall that must have stretched as high as a quarter of a mile. Going on as far as they could tell on either side as well.
"We could climb up." Kade suggest. Stepping up to the wall and tugging on some of the vines to see if they could hold someone's weight.
"But they thin out at the top." Sonera pointed out immediately. Being Kade's past partner, she was use to the habit of picking on him, but also picking up his slack when he came up short on plans.
"Well, yes. But there's thicker vines twisted in with the thinning out ones." Dreyden had now jumped into the conversation and was viewing the wall with a critical eye.
"Indeed..." Now joined Merek. "It does seam that there is a lot more thick vines over that-a way. Someone could go first, and try to find a path up."
All of this was lost to Elowen.
"Can't you just fly...? Over?" She asked.
All of the ones from Cevlon fell silent, as if to remember a friend that had passed on.
"We cant." Ysmay muttered.
"Why not? Did, did something happen to your yertos?" Elowen whispered equally quiet.
"Yes. - "
The shock on Ellie's face must have been obvious to Ysmay.
"No, nothing bad. They're just on Cevlon. Back where they're nests are."
"So you can't call them?"
Ysmay smiled sadly.
"No. They are too far away. They can't hear us."
Ellie's confusion only deepened at that state.
"Then how....did - did - Swift? He -"
"He stuck by me when we landed for a long time." Drey jumped in. He moved to pass her, but was stopped short when he saw the look in her eye.
"And don't start thinking it was something you did, alright? It wasn't your fault -"
"Actually it was!" Kade cut in. Ignoring Sonera's death glares.
"You're the one who got us on this bloody planet. If it weren't for you! We'd still have a life!"
Kade walked forward. Ellie instinctively took a step back, angling her body behind Dreyden.
"I use to actually be someone you know?" He went on. "I didn't have to stoop so low as to become apart of some gang of mercenaries who have no morals at all! And then to end up here?! On some planet we don't even know. And so far, you don't even know it either! You're knowledge is in books! Books is nothing compared to actually being there yourself. And now we've lost our yertos thanks to you! Can you do nothing right? Or are you just some useless plot who has to cower behind someone else to defend you?!"
With each word Kade spoke, the more the guilt thickened, and the farther she stepped away.
She knew, she had pulled them all away from a world they knew into her own, but into a world they didn't know anything about. And she wasn't a sufficient guide. She didn't know as much, she realized, then she thought she did. And now she was paying the price for it, and they had to pay it with her.
"I....I didn't mean to...I just - I have to be here. I have to get these, these gems. I have to before all of Falion dies." She stammered. Not quiet sure how to respond to his harsh words.
"So why should we care if this Eleyos forsaken world dies off? All the better for us!"
"No you don't understand!"
Her anger, and strong desire to some how break through to Kade over took her, causing her to loose her usual, kind, quiet, and patient self, and be replaced by a hard, fierce, warrior-like girl. Which was all too strange she couldn't even begin to put it into words.
"I didn't force you to be here! You came here by your own free will. I did not force any of you here. I simply asked, that's all I did. And to be...quiet honest..." She turned to the mercenary gang. "...I'm not quiet sure how you came here."
Merek grinned at her and pointed to Dreyden.
"We just followed this mad boy who was dying to please the only girl who's ever given him a second glance."
That jolted the warrior Elowen to disappear and for the usual, innocent girl to come back. Causing her to blush something fierce. But she wasn't the only one, Dreyden was too, but quickly hid it by pouncing on Merek with a round of fists.
Ysmay sighed and rolled her eyes before going in and breaking them apart.
Drey whipped the dirt off his sleeve and cast a glance at Ellie from under his dark eyelashes.
"I won't say anything if you wont." He whispered only loud enough for her to hear. Ellie nodded, still in shock of everything.
"Not a word." She replied quietly. Living most of her life in the monastery, she had no experience when it came to boys.
Through the boys skirmish Kade had been taking a verbal and slightly physical beating from Sonera.
"Can't you see the poor girl's been through enough! And she's right you know you ridiculous plot!" She smacked the back of his head to make her point. "You came here because you were following me. So get over being mad and up set at her and give her a chance! She only wants to open your eyes from your dream into the real wondrous world that Eleyos has made for everyone!"
Kade's violet gaze pierced her own blue one and made a shiver run down her spine.
"Oh so it's just me?! Just me who has scales on my eyes?"
"No of course not you plot! We've all been tricked by our own council. That's a stab in the back if there ever was one! But we can't let that diminish our faith in Eleyos. He obviously wanted us here for a reason. The least you could do for all of us was accept that and move on with your life! It's not her fault!"
Kade just gritted his teeth and moved away. Ripping his gaze away from hers and turning back to the wall, crossing his arms and trying to figure out what action to take next.
Elowen had been trying very hard not to let Kade's harsh words get to her. She was also scared that Dreyden would try to take another hit at him.
"Dreyden don't." She whispered. Stepping in front of him and placing a hand on his arm.
Drey glanced at her and sighed.
"Why is it, that everyone is able to predict my next move before even me?! I mean honestly!" he turned around and sighed, running his hand through his tangled hair.
Elowen chuckled with Ysmay, her thumb rubbing across Stargazer that had now become her habit when she was under stress.
It hit her like cool water. She gasped and looked down.
"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" She laughed at her own stupidity. "Why didn't I think of it before?!" Her sudden cry, caught everyone's attention, and they were all now watching her curiously.
"Come out Lorem." She called, holding Stargazer in her hand for a moment. The large white tiger shimmered into being right next to her, with what could have been a smile on his face.
Ellie dropped the amethyst stone against her chest and ran her fingers through Lorem's soft and warm fur.
"'Ello boy. How you holding up?" She whispered to him. Kneeling down and squeezing him tight.
A deep purr came from the back of his throat as he bent his head against her back.
"Hey, I need you to do something for me." She said, leaning in, she whispered something into the tiger's ear. He growled and pawed at the ground, when she moved away he glanced at the others briefly then tore off at a full sprint away from them. He was so fast that he just became a blur to their slow eyes.
"Where - what is he doing?" Terryn asked, gapping after the streak of silver and black.
Elowen rose to her feet and pushed her white hood back.
"He's searching for the way." She answered, a small smile growing on her face.
Before long, Lorem came back and tugged at Elowen.
"Come on." She called, running after the tiger, who somehow managed to go slow enough that they could keep up.
When they had reached their destination, they all collected their breaths.
"Oh my." Sonera whispered.
"By Eleyos, they're huge!" Terryn gapped.
Elowen smiled at him.
"Just imagine what the city's like." She said.
Looming over them, casting a great shadow, was an arch way as tall as they could see.
One might expect it to find large wood doors filling the arch way, but there wasn't. Instead, intricate designs of rusted over metal wove their way down from the tip top of the arch, all the way to the ground where they came together and formed the base of the gate.
"Come, Drey, Merek, Kade? Help me open it?" She asked, stepping forward and running her fingers over the cool bars, trying to find the latch.
"Hey why didn't you call me?" Terryn asked, though not with his usual whining voice.
Elowen looked at him over her shoulder and shrugged innocently.
"Oh, sorry. I just thought you were using all of your energy keeping your mouth dangling from it's hinges."
Immediately, he shut his mouth and was actually the first one to come up and help her find the latch.
Most of the gate had been overrun by askven vines along time ago, so they had to pull at the vines, sometimes cut them with daggers or swords to get them away from the gate.
"Aha." Elowen said in triumph. She squeezed her hand through the bars and tugged on the lock from the inside. There was a click and the bolt was pulled back with a great groan.
She moved away as four strong shoulders braced themselves against the gate and shoved.
Elowen glanced at the girls, exchanging excited smiles.
After a moment of protesting, the gate gave in and with what sounded somewhat like a sigh, it moved inward. The boys stumbled through the gate and the girls quickly followed. Not that they had to run for too far.
The boys had stopped right after they had come out of the archway that ran through the thickness of the surrounding wall.
"By Eleyos! It's - It's the most -" When Sonera's words failed her, Ysmay's made up for it.
"Breath taking city I've ever laid eyes on."
All the others could do was nod their agreement.
"'And behold, I say,'" Elowen quoted from one of her history books.
"'Arricsent city was as beautiful as the stars were shinning bright.'"
What was once a cobblestone road, was now covered almost completely in moss and benna roots. As the band walked down it, their footsteps was only sound to be heard other then the wind, they looked up at the crumbling buildings on either side of the road.
"This must have been the main street." Drey remarked. He pointed to falling down signs, some of the buildings only held metal frames now, the sign long gone.
"See? These must have been stores once." Green leaves covered all stone, leaving it with a feeling that it had always been part of the Forest.
"And there," Ysmay pointed down a fork in the road that led down a few stairs and into another slightly slimmer alley.
"That must have lead to the living quarters of the city." She finished.
They moved through the city like this. Noting where small alley's broke off from the main road, and what must have been down there.
"Do you hear that?" Terryn spoke up, gesturing for everyone to stop moving.
When they did they heard a faint noise.
"What is that?" Sonera asked.
"Water." Terryn answered. "There's a river in this city."
Merek nodded as he rubbed his week old stubble.
"That would make sense. It would have given the city fresh water supply daily and it probably feeds into the moat surrounding the castle."
"How do you know there's a moat around the castle?" Kade questioned.
Merek just shrugged and continued walking.
"That's what I would do if I designed the castle." He answered honestly.
It was true, there was a running river that cut through the middle of the south side of the city, along with the north side as well, forming a fork from when it came through the west side of the city wall. Sprouting out from the middle of the fork on one side, was the moat, which surrounded the keep.
When the band reached the keep, they all stopped and starred. The keep had had, once upon a time, many tall spires that sprouted up from it's low walls, looming so high they seemed to touch the sky. Only now they were half as tall, weathered by all the elements. One had collapsed completely. Yet somehow they managed to look just as regal now, as when they were in their golden years. More askven vines had woven their way through the cracks in the walls, and they clung to anything and everything.
The four spires were set at the points of a compass. North, east, south, and west. The draw bridge was at the base of one such spire.
"Why is the draw bridge down?" Terryn wondered aloud. "Shouldn't it be up?"
Elowen shook her head and walked to the edge of the stone road. She glanced down at the rushing river. Even after a thousand years, it hadn't lost it's quick current. She gulped and tapped the wood ahead of her with the toe of her boot. Scared to put her full weight on the rotten wood.
Lorem came up next to her and nudged her hand.
"Hold on to me, and one another." He said, his voice suddenly much deeper then she remembered. Elowen nodded and grabbed a hold of the fur around his neck. She looked back and reached out her hand for someone to take. Everyone was slightly hesitant, but Drey trusted her, and took her hand. Ysmay took his other and Terryn took hers. They linked each other together with firm grips, then Lorem moved ahead and the line moved with him.
Elowen was careful to step where he stepped, and the others followed in her example.
"So why is the bridge down?" Terryn asked again.
Ellie eased her tension enough to speak.
"The tale goes, that when the king of Arricsent accepted a Supreme Gem, and became the guardian of it, the people cursed him and this city. Fleeing from it, leaving everything they had and disappearing into the Illumination Forest."
Terryn gulped.
"What - what happened to them? The people I mean." He asked.
Ellie shrugged as she let go of Lorem's fur, having stepped back onto solid stone once more.
"No one knows. Though people suspect the Pixies might have done something nasty to them." She finished. Glancing down at her and Dreyden's linked hands. He cleared his throat and let go hastily.
Terryn however, didn't see the exchange and walked up to her.
"What do you mean? Nasty things?" His eyes were wide with terror and his hands shook slightly.
Ellie smiled and patted his shoulder.
"They didn't physically harm them, don't worry." He let out a sigh. She let go and moved on. "They just drove them mad."
Terryn whimpered slightly, but when Ysmay came up beside him, he stifled it and sucked it up.
The inside of the keep was just as magnificent. Strait ahead of them was a tall doom shaped building, that connected to the surrounding walls, which connected with the spires.
"So where are we going to find this Gem?" Drey asked.
Ellie pointed to the large building.
"In the Inner Sanctum of the Citadel."
"Really?" Merek muttered. Whipping his gloved hands off.
"Yes, but we have to find it first. It's usually hidden, or guarded by booby traps. I'm not sure which. Of course it could be both as well."
"Oh? Is that all?" Merek asked in a joking tone.
Elowen turned to the rest of the gang with a grave face.
"You all have come with me this far, and I'm very grateful for that, but you don't need to go any further. I can go on on my own. And well, with Lorem. But I'm not going to force you to come along." Her dark green gaze held Kade like a vice. Making him feel slightly guilty.
He shrugged and stepped forward. His hand casually on the hilt of his sword.
"We've come this far haven't we?" He asked. "Lets just get it over with."
She stepped aside and let him take up the lead, as he walked with determined steps up to the Citadel.
Elowen couldn't help but smile. Maybe she was getting through to him after all.
