Elaina J. Davidson's Blog, page 102
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Chapter 10: Ancient Illumination
Back when I started the Chapter 10 excerpts, I told you, once the Lore books were completed, I'd move to those of my books that are lengthy enough to have a chapter 10. This includes Ilfin of Arc, TINSAL, Ethereal Musician, Gabriel, Latticework, The Orphan, The Potter, and Ancient Illumination, which is today's excerpt. Enjoy!
Fire spews and ice follows. The world Drakonis is near deathand all life has fled. Except for Brennan, the thief who hears mysteriousdirections to Castle Drakon on the wind, and brothers Bastian and Cole, whochoose to follow her. Then there’s Halley, an exotic dancer from the burningcities, and Audri, who refuses to speak.
These five are the last and it is their task to ensure atleast memory remains, or Drakonis will be eternally forgotten. To ensure this,they must find Castle Drakon.
In a grotto under the ice they discover three others aliveand before the warmth of a fire hear of a mighty legend. Unravelling itsmysteries could lead to a way off a dying world. An ancient light willilluminate their path.
Chapter 10
Shadows have Presence
Ofcourse we cannot determine night or day while asleep under an ice shelf, butthe time comes when we are all again aware.
This is our third day into the journey and we arestill four. Perhaps there is no parallel.
Our conundrum now is whether to go forward with thetunnel, or go up. Audri’s marker stone does not react for either, thus bothdirections are the right ones.
I suggest we go forward until we hit rock. At leastthat will mark the end of ice. With alacrity the others agree, and we proceedwith the delving after having something to eat.
We hit rock within an hour. And thus we go up.
An absolute surprise awaits us when we break throughto the surface.
The sun is shining.
Weare like creatures caught in headlights.
We freeze in position and stare at the impossibleglare highlighting us.
“Down!” Bastian says, first to find his wits, and wecower swiftly.
Still, that achieves little, for we are dark dots in awhite landscape of both ice and light.
Castle Drakon towers over us. Bathed in light.
It cannot be sunshine. It is therefore sorcery.
“Two can play this game,” Audri mutters, and begins tomurmur words under her breath. Strung together, they sound like chants.
There is no entry into the castle, according tolegend. It is sealed eternally. There are no doors visible on the outside,according to Galint back in the grotto. And, it appears, these two keys I carrywith me have nothing to do with actual locks.
We have to get in. The only way to hide now is toenter the monolith towering over us, and Audri has realised that.
She has control over the elements, she claims, butother than snapping embers into flame in the grotto, we have not seen proof ofit. The first night in these highlands she said she dare not employ her giftsfor fire, for it would reveal us. Last night no doubt she thought it safer tohold herself in check. She could have melted the ice, I suppose, but that wouldhave seen us dead in a heartbeat.
Is she able to manipulate rock?
I feel Bastian at my back and wish we lived in adifferent time. I notice Cole sending us a look. He cannot be jealous, becausewe were never that way inclined with each other, but it is a strange look. Iwonder what is going on in his mind. How far will he go to survive?
Then none of that matters.
An arch has appeared in the rock before us. Thebizarre light that emanates from Castle Drakon overhead picks out the planes ofa stairway within going up.
“It’s a real doorway,” Audri says in a hoarse voice,as if strained beyond bearing, “made of solid rock. I can’t hold it at baylong. Are we going in or not?”
Cole answers for us. He sets foot to the first stepbeyond the arch. We follow. Audri brings up the rear, muttering once more,probably closing the arch to hide our point of entry.
Darkness envelopes us, but I know I experienceelation. We are inside when everyone said there was no way to enter.
It smells of antiquity here and has the aroma oframpant magic. What else is there to do but employ another light stone? This isthe second to last one, but we have to see to climb.
In the glow that results, Audri clutches at her throatand falls to her knees. “Can’t … breathe …” She falls sideways, landingawkwardly on the stairs … staring starkly up.
I gasp for air myself, but it isn’t a manipulation asshe has suffered; it is sorrow. Audri, pretty supportive friend, is dead.
Between one eye blink and the next.
Bastian slaps a hand over my mouth and shakes his heademphatically at Cole. Do not make a sound,his actions imply.
He stares up into the gloom beyond the stone’s light,there where the stairs seems to level off. A moment later he holds up twofingers. Clearly, two await our unwary entry into the halls of Castle Drakonitself.
We stare at each other, then down at Audri, and thenupwards. We do not make a sound, but it is beyond clear that we have no choice.We shall meet whatever awaits us with whatever means and courage we possess.
I kneel beside Audri, kiss her forehead, close hereyes, and remove her marker stone. Bastian and Cole briefly each grip one ofher hands, and then we rise together and start climbing ancient timeworn stepscarved from rock.
When we reach the top, we discover a solid iron door.Strange glyphs mark the surface, as if in warning. Bastian pushes at it, verygently. I think we expect it not to budge at all, but it swings soundlesslyopen. Now, if that was a warning etched into the metal, it is less thaneffective.
Cole peers to the left and shakes his head at us.Carefully he steps in and peers around the opened door to the right. He shrugs.He sees no one.
Bastian drags him back, takes the lighted stone fromhim and tosses it over his shoulder. He holds up two fingers again, nodding hishead emphatically.
Thus, we cannot see the watchers, but they are thereand they are waiting for us.
What to do now?
There is light beyond the door, enough to reveal astone wall opposite and a black floor. It’s dusty, and Bastian points to wherethere is a clear footprint in the powder. It reveals a shiny substanceunderneath, and it also reveals one of those waiting for us is huge.
Right. So what dowe do?
We stare at each other in consternation.
And then it comes to me. If Audri was right aboutWyvern blood returning during calamity in order to restart Drakonis ascivilisation, there is absolutely no way they will harm me. And, and I wince asI think this, I have the last two with me bearing the Riginar blood. One of themwill be my mate, according to their thinking. They will not cause harm to cometo either, not until a babe is conceived.
I swallow.
It is a mighty risk.
When I look at Bastian, he winks at me. Clearly thesame thoughts have occurred to him. He spreads his hands, asking if we’re goingto chance it on a rumour from a temple legend.
What else is there to do?
We can’t stagnate at the top of ancient stairs becausefear holds us back. We will be dead in less than three days anyway.
I glance over my shoulder a final time, but Audri islost to view. Farewell, friend.
I grin then at Bastian … and step boldly into thepassage.
Cole hisses, he loves doing that, always has, butBastian pulls him along with him as he follows. Audri’s stone tells me to goright. We do so, treading carefully in the dust, lest one of us slips. Bastiangazes over his shoulder, only the once.
“Two behind us,” he mutters.
Then he whispers in Cole’s ear, no doubt telling himwhat we figured out. Cole gives both of us a wide-eyed stare, and grins.
“Can you see them?” I ask, leading the way.
“Feel only,” Bastian responds. “But they’re big.”
Many silent minutes later we come to an arch without adoor. Beyond is a large space lit by flames in an ancient hearth. There aremultiple alcoves, but we cannot discern detail.
As we search the chamber from the arch, wonderingwhether to enter or go on, there is a sense of pressure building behind us. Allthree of us snap around to find shadows coalescing. The fabric of light anddark appears to be taking on tangible presence and growing in size and intentby the second. Suddenly this massed presence rushes at us, and we stumble inour haste to escape it into the fire lit chamber.
Cole falls, Bastian flails, and I am shoved forward byan unseen hand.
A door slams with an almighty crash. There was no doorin that arch, and now it has one and it has locked us into this space.
Cole hurtles at it and bounces back.
Right. We are trapped.
We are inside Castle Drakon and everyone knows we arehere.
Nothingworks now.
The heat stones are inactive. Cole attempts to burnthe door down with them, and the last light stone is no longer white. We hear acrackling sound and find it reduced to a papery brown object.
Audri’s marker stone, when I check it, disintegratesinto blue sprinkles. We dare not open the pouch with the last black sustenancestones, just in case the act of ignoring them ensures their continuedexistence.
“I bet the key stones work, though,” Cole mutters, andhe is probably right. They are still needed. No one will interfere with those …yet.
After investigating the shadowy alcoves, we understandtwo things. One is that we are meant to stay here, for there is a bed awaitingus, as there is food under metal domes upon a table, and two is that we are meantto sleep together - there is only the one bed.
Bastian stares at it a long while before saying,“Brennan, something will force this upon us if we don’t do so willingly.”
“You’re saying Audri had it right about the bloodthing?” Cole frowns.
I know Cole; he hates the thought of someone tellinghim what to do.
Bastian nods and sits on the edge of the big bed. “Dadtold me every Riginar born is inducted into the temple, because we have specialgenetics Drakonis requires. I forgot about all that until Audri startedspeaking. While we haven’t needed to hide our last names as the Wyverns havehad to, we were all of us marked at birth and told to keep the mark everhidden.”
“I thought it was a birthing defect,” Cole says.
“It is at birth, but it is placed upon us, it isn’t anatural mark. Why did I forget all this?” Bastian mutters.
“Life,” I say. “You had to survive after your dad diedand keep an eye on cat burglar Cole here. A mark on your skin is of littleconsequence then.”
“True.” He meets my eyes. “I don’t like being forced.”
“And I don’t like having witnesses around,” I say.
The smile he bestows upon me then races my blood. “Arewe on the same page? We refuse to do as is expected?”
I want to kiss him and I’m sure it shows in my face,for his eyelids flicker a bit. “Look, don’t touch, I say.”
He laughs under his breath. “Cole was right all thoseyears ago. He said then you would never turn your back on what is right.”
Cole laughs aloud. “I remember! Brennan brought mehome and you thought she was a bad influence, hauling your little brother abouton rooftops.”
“A burglar and purse snatcher isn’t actually on theside of right, Bastian,” I murmur.
“Why did you do so?” he asks, his blue gaze bright.
I shrug. “To eat.” It was as simple as that, then.
“And had Cole not come home with ill-gotten gains, Iwould have starved. It was necessity, Brennan, not right or wrong.”
“It was fun, too,” Cole laughs.
I grin his way. We had fun, yes, many days, manynights. We also nearly lost our lives on many occasions. My smile vanishes as Iremember that.
Cole shrugs, perhaps thinking the same.
“Destroy the keys, Brennan,” Bastian suggests. “Anychoices we make now must be ours to make, not at the will of an oldmanipulation.”
Someone is listening and watching, no doubt, and thatsomeone must have heard all that was said, including that final statement.Someone would come soon to enforce his or her will.
I have moments only.
Nodding at Bastian, I swiftly remove the twotransparent stones from the pouch and hurtle across the space from bed tofireplace, lifting my arm as I run. Skidding, I launch the two cold objectsdirectly into the blaze, and fall to my knees there … watching, hoping, waiting…
A bright flash blinds us.
And then darkness takes us.
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