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 death and all life has fled. Except for Brennan, the thief who hears mysterious directions to Castle Drakon on the wind, and brothers Bastian and Cole, who choose to follow her. Then there’s Halley, an exotic dancer from the burning cities, and Audri, who refuses to speak.

 These five are the last and it is their task to ensure at least 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 alive and before the warmth of a fire hear of a mighty legend. Unravelling its mysteries could lead to a way off a dying world. An ancient light will illuminate their path.

Chapter 10

 Shadows have Presence

  

Of course we cannot determine night or day while asleep under an ice shelf, but the time comes when we are all again aware.

This is our third day into the journey and we are still four. Perhaps there is no parallel.

Our conundrum now is whether to go forward with the tunnel, or go up. Audri’s marker stone does not react for either, thus both directions are the right ones.

I suggest we go forward until we hit rock. At least that will mark the end of ice. With alacrity the others agree, and we proceed with 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 through to the surface.

The sun is shining.

  

We are like creatures caught in headlights.

We freeze in position and stare at the impossible glare highlighting us.

“Down!” Bastian says, first to find his wits, and we cower swiftly.

Still, that achieves little, for we are dark dots in a white 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 to murmur words under her breath. Strung together, they sound like chants.

There is no entry into the castle, according to legend. 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 carry with me have nothing to do with actual locks.

We have to get in. The only way to hide now is to enter the monolith towering over us, and Audri has realised that.

She has control over the elements, she claims, but other than snapping embers into flame in the grotto, we have not seen proof of it. The first night in these highlands she said she dare not employ her gifts for fire, for it would reveal us. Last night no doubt she thought it safer to hold herself in check. She could have melted the ice, I suppose, but that would have seen us dead in a heartbeat.

Is she able to manipulate rock?

I feel Bastian at my back and wish we lived in a different time. I notice Cole sending us a look. He cannot be jealous, because we were never that way inclined with each other, but it is a strange look. I wonder 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. The bizarre light that emanates from Castle Drakon overhead picks out the planes of a 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 bay long. Are we going in or not?”

Cole answers for us. He sets foot to the first step beyond 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 experience elation. We are inside when everyone said there was no way to enter.

It smells of antiquity here and has the aroma of rampant magic. What else is there to do but employ another light stone? This is the second to last one, but we have to see to climb.

In the glow that results, Audri clutches at her throat and falls to her knees. “Can’t … breathe …” She falls sideways, landing awkwardly on the stairs … staring starkly up.

I gasp for air myself, but it isn’t a manipulation as she 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 head emphatically 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 two fingers. Clearly, two await our unwary entry into the halls of Castle Drakon itself.

We stare at each other, then down at Audri, and then upwards. 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 her eyes, and remove her marker stone. Bastian and Cole briefly each grip one of her hands, and then we rise together and start climbing ancient timeworn steps carved 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, very gently. I think we expect it not to budge at all, but it swings soundlessly open. Now, if that was a warning etched into the metal, it is less than effective.

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 from him and tosses it over his shoulder. He holds up two fingers again, nodding his head emphatically.

Thus, we cannot see the watchers, but they are there and they are waiting for us.

What to do now?

There is light beyond the door, enough to reveal a stone wall opposite and a black floor. It’s dusty, and Bastian points to where there is a clear footprint in the powder. It reveals a shiny substance underneath, and it also reveals one of those waiting for us is huge.

Right. So what do we do?

We stare at each other in consternation.

And then it comes to me. If Audri was right about Wyvern blood returning during calamity in order to restart Drakonis as civilisation, there is absolutely no way they will harm me. And, and I wince as I think this, I have the last two with me bearing the Riginar blood. One of them will be my mate, according to their thinking. They will not cause harm to come to either, not until a babe is conceived.

I swallow.

It is a mighty risk.

When I look at Bastian, he winks at me. Clearly the same thoughts have occurred to him. He spreads his hands, asking if we’re going to 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 because fear holds us back. We will be dead in less than three days anyway.

I glance over my shoulder a final time, but Audri is lost to view. Farewell, friend.

I grin then at Bastian … and step boldly into the passage.

Cole hisses, he loves doing that, always has, but Bastian pulls him along with him as he follows. Audri’s stone tells me to go right. We do so, treading carefully in the dust, lest one of us slips. Bastian gazes over his shoulder, only the once.

“Two behind us,” he mutters.

Then he whispers in Cole’s ear, no doubt telling him what 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 a door. Beyond is a large space lit by flames in an ancient hearth. There are multiple alcoves, but we cannot discern detail.

As we search the chamber from the arch, wondering whether to enter or go on, there is a sense of pressure building behind us. All three of us snap around to find shadows coalescing. The fabric of light and dark appears to be taking on tangible presence and growing in size and intent by the second. Suddenly this massed presence rushes at us, and we stumble in our haste to escape it into the fire lit chamber.

Cole falls, Bastian flails, and I am shoved forward by an unseen hand.

A door slams with an almighty crash. There was no door in 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 are here.

  

Nothing works now.

The heat stones are inactive. Cole attempts to burn the door down with them, and the last light stone is no longer white. We hear a crackling sound and find it reduced to a papery brown object.

Audri’s marker stone, when I check it, disintegrates into blue sprinkles. We dare not open the pouch with the last black sustenance stones, just in case the act of ignoring them ensures their continued existence.

“I bet the key stones work, though,” Cole mutters, and he is probably right. They are still needed. No one will interfere with those … yet.

After investigating the shadowy alcoves, we understand two things. One is that we are meant to stay here, for there is a bed awaiting us, as there is food under metal domes upon a table, and two is that we are meant to 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 blood thing?” Cole frowns.

I know Cole; he hates the thought of someone telling him what to do.

Bastian nods and sits on the edge of the big bed. “Dad told me every Riginar born is inducted into the temple, because we have special genetics Drakonis requires. I forgot about all that until Audri started speaking. While we haven’t needed to hide our last names as the Wyverns have had to, we were all of us marked at birth and told to keep the mark ever hidden.”

“I thought it was a birthing defect,” Cole says.

“It is at birth, but it is placed upon us, it isn’t a natural mark. Why did I forget all this?” Bastian mutters.

“Life,” I say. “You had to survive after your dad died and keep an eye on cat burglar Cole here. A mark on your skin is of little consequence 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. “Are we 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 those years ago. He said then you would never turn your back on what is right.”

Cole laughs aloud. “I remember! Brennan brought me home and you thought she was a bad influence, hauling your little brother about on rooftops.”

“A burglar and purse snatcher isn’t actually on the side 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, I would 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, many nights. We also nearly lost our lives on many occasions. My smile vanishes as I remember that.

Cole shrugs, perhaps thinking the same.

“Destroy the keys, Brennan,” Bastian suggests. “Any choices we make now must be ours to make, not at the will of an old manipulation.”

Someone is listening and watching, no doubt, and that someone 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 two transparent stones from the pouch and hurtle across the space from bed to fireplace, lifting my arm as I run. Skidding, I launch the two cold objects directly into the blaze, and fall to my knees there … watching, hoping, waiting …

A bright flash blinds us.

And then darkness takes us.