Awakened, page 39
Strangely, Avryn steered the horse right up to the face of the rock and dismounted, leaving Marric there alone. In the weak light of the third moon, Marric saw the man walk even closer to the wall, so that his face was merely a handspan away. He then held up his hand and slowly placed it there, palm open and fingers spread. A blue glow emitted from his hand, pulsing softly. The boy watched in wonder as he stood there for a few moments, not moving. Then he immediately pulled his hand away and stepped back.
All was quiet, and Marric felt a chill in his spine at the weirdness of the night, and the fact that Avryn had just touched a wall for seemingly no reason. A sound rang out suddenly, like cracking rocks. It started small, then grew to a louder groan and a rumbling as well.
Marric’s hair stood on end as he watched with amazement as the rock wall appeared to break—no, open before them. A door, about twice the height of Avryn himself and four times as wide, slid backwards, creating a depression, then continued to slide into the wall on the side. The sound of this all happening might not have been significant if it hadn’t been for the stillness of the forest and night around them.
In time, the rock door and the sound it made finished, leaving a gaping hole in the rock in front of them. The fog was starting to coalesce around them, just before the door had completed its journey, making Marric feel nervous and exposed.
Avryn turned to Marric and a bright smile was covering his face.
“We’re here. Welcome to the sanctum of Terris Green.”
Chapter 21
The forest was getting colder, and Janis knew that it was about time for the fog to come out, tickling their skin and heightening their senses. She really didn’t mind its effects, but other people tended to be whiny or dramatic about the whole thing, and she didn’t particularly feel like listening to this from her two companions.
Just then, a stick broke and she winced at the sound. It wasn’t an overly loud sound, but even a small one could give their position away if there were assassins near them on any side. With the impending arrival of the fog, the other sounds of the forest—however few they were this late into the evening, ceased. That was part of the problem with now being the time to make sound. She had half considered telling her companions, Shrell and Harmel, that stopping and keeping quiet would be the best idea, but they were determined to reach some destination that they insisted was close.
Soon after Marric and Avryn had left them, the three of them had decided to shift their path toward a safe place slightly closer than the sanctum. There they could at least hide or make preparations for any Watchlight operatives that were definitely following them. After the ruckus Janis and Marric had made, she was sure they had sent people to find them. Before the three companions left, they had taken the time to cover the tracks of the horse, hoping that Watchlight would instead follow their own. Janis suspected that they would anyway, for when the two of them had escaped the cave, they were on foot.
Fortunately, they had all agreed that covering their own tracks wouldn’t be worth the time, but that they should just move quickly and set up defenses, hoping to last it out until Avryn could bring backup. Janis wasn’t overly confident that they would last that long, but it was better than getting caught without preparations at all.
Before long, Shrell increased his speed, which was quite noticeable as they were already briskly walking. Traveling had become challenging without Avryn’s very useful Lightbearing, but they managed. During dark times in between moons, they just had to slow down and try not to make noise. Janis didn’t have much trouble; she had trained to work in the dark, but her companions struggled a bit. Fortunately, it was easy to feel safer in the dark, for if Watchlight was following them, their telltale red Light would have given them away long before they got close in the dark.
“The cave is righ’ up ‘ere.”
Janis heard the words, but didn’t believe him for there seemed to be no indication of a rock wall at all. However, to her surprise, the ground inclined suddenly and, after going through some trees, they came to a rock cliff.
She squinted her eyes.
“I don’t see a cave here. Are you sure you brought us in the right direction?”
“Aye, milady,” Harmel said thickly, his stupid grin filling up his whole face. “Oi am sure tha’ yeh aren’ doubtin’ my skills, are yeh?”
He winked then.
Janis rolled her eyes at the comment. Harmel had of course spent too much of the time telling them about something inconsequential that he thought was funny or meaningful. Thankfully, when darkness came fully, they all agreed to stay quiet.
“Yeh jus’ ‘ave to look closely, assassin.” Shrell said, sounding unimpressed. He had emphasized the last word as if it was some type of insult.
For some reason, this only amused her.
Janis turned to the cliff and began looking closely. It looked like a regular cliff wall, nothing to show but rough edges and jutting sharp pieces of rock. She started to move closer to the wall and kept observing. After a moment, she felt something. There was a slight puffing of cool air on her face. It was small, and most people wouldn’t notice anything. Holding her hands up, she felt it to her right. Curious, she took a step that way and her eyes widened. There was air coming from the wall.
Moving closely, she drew her long dagger and held it aloft.
“The rock wall ain’t gonna kill yeh, milady.” Harmel said, stifling a snicker.
She ignored the comment.
As she moved closer, she saw it. There was a crack in the wall covered by a jutting rock that hid it entirely. But, if you got close, you could see around the rock and see a slit large enough for a person to pass through.
Clever, Janis thought.
“Are we sure it’s safe in there?”
Shrell scoffed at the comment.
“I am sure, aye. No one has seen the likes of this place. Yeh have t’ trust us.” Shrell said.
Despite this, he held up his hand for Janis and Harmel to wait, and then he slipped inside, his hand resting on his sword.
Not a moment later, he called for them to enter.
Janis almost felt a strong eagerness to enter, curious to know what it looked like inside. However, she lingered back, wanting to check a few things outside. Harmel entered without hesitation, and poked his head back out, a curious look on his face.
“I’ll be there in a minute. I need to set some traps.”
The man grinned again, then nodded and disappeared into the hidden crack.
There was no waste in spending a lot of time setting traps, at least that was the way Janis always felt. She took a considerable amount of time setting noise traps, for at the moment that was all she could manage with her meager supplies. She whittled some sticks to points, hiding them well so that she could at least surprise someone with pain. It might also be helpful should she ever be disarmed. Pointed sticks could be handy if knives weren’t an option.
The fog had come out not too long into her trap setting, and she felt the familiar increase of her heartbeat, the eagerness to fight, the constant feeling that there was someone there, ready to attack. She reveled in the feeling, for it was familiar to her. In time, she finished what she was working on and moved to the cave. Just before entering, however, she took a deep breath, taking in the fog effects, then she slipped into the cave.
Harmel and Shrell had set up some type of cloth blocking the entrance and she pushed it aside, annoyed. She soon understood why. As she went in, her eyes were hit with a bright light.
For a moment, she stood there, tense, as her eyes adjusted to the light. Finally acclimated, she looked and saw that the ‘bright light’ was merely a candle. Its brightness was only an effect of her coming from the dimmer moonlit outside.
The cavern inside was actually quite large, which was surprising. Two additional cave openings sat at the rear, one moving off to the right and the other straight back. An alcove was set into the wall on the left, and supplies of all sorts were piled up there. Harmel had already used a lever to pry open one of the crates and pulled out what looked like hardtack. He crunched it happily and came to sit by the candle.
“See? T’was worth the bit o’ detour ta make it ‘ere for the nigh’. Oi thinks we’ll be righ’ fine and comfy waitin’ ‘ere till the morn.” Harmel said, taking another clearly exaggerated bite of the food he was eating.
“Right, I think yer right, Harm. Let’s just hope that we ain’t gonna be Seen by anyone. They’d find us right quick then.” Shrell said, a grimace on his face.
Janice felt her stomach clench at the comment and suddenly felt like they were being watched. Though she couldn’t be completely sure that she understood how it all worked, the comment reminded her that as soon as Avryn and Marric split off, they had taken with them their only defense against the so-called Seers.
“I set traps,” she said, as if to reassure herself.
Harmel looked up from his hardtack, pausing a moment with a half-chewed chunk slightly visible through his partially open mouth. He sat there for a beat, then chuckled and kept eating.
“Good, Oi thinks. Though Oi ain’t thinkin’ a few traps will do much ‘gainst a whole lotta them Watchlight Lightbearers.”
He paused a moment, then chuckled to himself about what he’d just said.
“Watchlight Lightbearers, say tha’ a bunch fast.” Then he laughed a bit more at his comment.
Janis watched him incredulously, trying to understand how the man could possibly joke about such a thing when they were, in reality, sitting like unsuspecting deer about to get hunted. Though not much comforted her at the moment, the thought of her traps were all that gave her a small bit of hope that they could make it through the night.
“Good idea, Janis. Thank yous.” Shrell said.
The woman started at the comment, then looked curiously at Shrell. That was the first time he’d said or done anything that was remotely approving of her and her ways. It didn’t make her feel anything particularly different about the man, but it was curious. Watching him, she noticed that he was moving constantly. He wouldn’t sit for a long period of time anywhere. He had settled for a moment here by the candle, but soon stood up and walked to the supplies, taking inventory, before walking around, examining the walls.
He was nervous.
Despite Harmel’s confidence and nonchalance about the situation, it was clear that his older brother was not feeling the same. Shrell had proven quite confident, if not a bit full of ego, ever since they’d been traveling together. Though this was odd behavior for him, it did make Janis more wary about their situation.
“We do ‘ave a bit ‘o tricks in a bag, we’ll just ‘ave to be smart ‘bout ‘ow we use ‘em.” Shrell said, his accent seeming a bit thicker than usual.
Must be the nerves, Janis thought. The same thing happened to her on occasion, so she understood how it could happen to him.
The three sat down and ate some more of the provisions and determined that sleep would likely be a good companion. Janis, of course, didn’t volunteer for the first watch. By now, she had enough trust for the men that she could rest without being concerned for her own life. She had done the calculations and determined that even if Watchlight was following and they had Seers to guide them directly here, they wouldn’t be here for a while still. It appeared that Shrell had performed similar logic, for he didn’t volunteer either. Thus, Harmel was tasked with keeping an eye out while the two slept. With that, she slipped into the ‘in-between’, needing some time to analyze what had happened between Marric’s abduction and now.
* * *
Terris Green was remarkable. Marric’s mouth gaped as they entered the rock wall through the hole that had just appeared. Dazzling spheres of blue Light, bright and intense, hovered near the tops of the walls at regular intervals. Men and women stood here and there, stiffly, acting as sentinels for the entrance, though why, Marric couldn’t understand. There was no possible way that anyone would find that entrance. Also, it appeared that a non-Lightbearer couldn’t even enter.
As they passed the guards, most of them nodded in welcome, though a few of them had smiles spread across their faces and they greeted Avryn warmly. A handful of them did not, but it was clear that Avryn was a popular figure here. Curiously, Marric noted that only about half of the guards that they passed had visible weapons of any sort. Either the guards themselves were forgetful, or there was something else at play here.
“Why are some of them unarmed?” Marric whispered to Avryn.
Raising an eyebrow at the comment, Avryn gave an approving nod.
“Impressive. Many do not notice such things when they first come here.” Avryn said, obviously pleased. “The idea is that we should be prepared for anything. Most of the guard pairs have one combat Lightbearer, and one combat fighter. This hopefully prepares them for any time a Lightbearer’s power might be rendered useless.”
Marric’s blood chilled. He suddenly remembered Riln’s words about how Prost was ‘of the void’ and shivered. Are there more people like Prost? He resigned to ask Avryn about it later. Now didn’t seem like the right time.
The tunnel continued downwards, but at a small slope. They weren’t going deep into the recesses beneath the mountain, but rather into the mountain itself. Before long, they came to an archway and just before they passed through, Marric gasped. Just beyond the archway, the ground was covered in plants bathed in orange light.
His stomach twisted, remembering the red Light of the Watchlight Lightbearers. But then, theirs had been very red. This was more like the light of the moon, Isllan.
Marric soon discovered it was Isllan as they passed through the arch. He looked up immediately and found an enormous opening above them, high up in the mountain. Isllan herself was just peeking over the edge of the hole, shining her orange light down. His throat clenched as he saw that the fog had made its way downward, though it had stopped about halfway down from the hole. It also wasn’t as thick as it usually was, as if it was not fully being accepted into this sanctum.
Avryn breathed in deeply next to him, and Marric looked over to see the man standing with his eyes closed and his arms slightly outstretched. He was clearly taking it all in.
“I feel like I haven’t been here in ages. It’s nice to be home.”
As if on queue, someone shouted Avryn’s name and the two of them looked over to the other side of the strange open-topped cavern to see a woman, or more like a later teenaged girl, rushing over to them. She was of average height, but appeared plump and well fed. Her dark brown hair was tied back with a piece of twine. The girl had a smile on her face and she rushed forward with her arms wide open. There was a soft thud as she ran fully into Avryn’s arms and the two embraced.
“Oi, it’s righ’ good t’see the likes of yous around here, yeh old man.” Her accent came through surprisingly thick. It made Marric need to strain a bit to understand what she was saying.
“Kh’areen, how have you been?” Avryn said brightly.
“Oi, t’aint worth talking ‘bout the likes of me now, eh? What ‘bouts yous? Where’s Harm? ‘Oos this?” Kh’areen said, pointing to Marric.
She had spouted questions out so quickly that when she pointed at him, he started.
“Ah, yes, this is the boy we were looking for. The world’s newest Lightbearer.” Avryn beamed at the comment.
Kh’areen whistled softly, and nodded.
“’E looks a bit smaller than I thought e’d look for a sixteen-year-old. Thistle’ll be ‘appy t’meet ‘im for reals, eh?”
Marric blinked, trying to consecutively take in his surroundings and understand the strange accent of this person. Her name was strange enough for Marric to digest, but the strangeness was further backed up by her odd attitude and way of speaking.
“And how is your sister?” Avryn said, smiling still. He glanced over at Marric, noticed the look on his face, and said, “Thistle is Kh’areen’s sister, and the one that happened to have Seen you first of all our Seers.”
Marric nodded, though only because he wasn’t sure what else to do.
“Meh, she’s okay. Nuttin’ fancy at all.”
The two of them continued to chat with each other, but Marric tuned them out for a minute, opting to give his mind a bit of a break from the overwhelming nature of the space around him. A couple men milled about in the opening, tending to plants and crops that spotted the area. He did find it odd that they were up at all, given how late it was. The clearing wasn’t filled with plants completely, but large patches of various things grew here and there, the empty parts forming pathways through the greenery. Marric observed the men, and found them to be quite normal. They each wore very standard clothing, dull in color, but well kept. There were no strange black robes, and Marric suspected that is why he wasn’t panicking entirely.
Some aspects of this place remind me too much of where Watchlight housed themselves. Marric shivered at the thought.
“E’s a bit out there, eh?” Kh’areen’s voice said, startling Marric back to the conversation.
“Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just . . . . ” he didn’t know what to say, so he said the first thing that came to mind. “This place is strange.”
Kh’areen scrunched her nose up and made a disapproving face.
“Hey now, it’s ‘ome to us, strange or no.”
Avryn laughed.
“Take no offense to his comments, Kh’areen. It can be overwhelming to take in the sanctum. Let him process it as he needs. Alright? Now, where is Magness? We’d best see her as soon as possible. I have urgent news.”
Kh’areen continued to stare at Marric, eyebrows furrowed slightly as if she disapproved of his presence, but she pointed to her left toward that side of the cavern and what appeared to be another opening.
“Thank you,” Avryn said. “We’d best get going. Come along, Marric.”
Avryn turned and weaved through the various plants on the pathways toward the opening on their right. Of course they were greeted with many more welcomes and hellos before they made it to the cave. Marric was pleased to know that his impression of Avryn as a very friendly and outgoing person was confirmed by all of the people here. It wasn’t that he never believed it, but it was still a nice confirmation.
