A Warrior's Legacy (21 page)

I had a bad feeling about this, but it was
all I could do at the moment.

“Creator help me get my sword back!” I
begged softly into the stillness of the cave’s atmosphere.

It was an eerie feeling walking through the
cave. After I had gone several hundred yards the cave made a series
of sharp curves and the awakening daylight outside could no longer
be seen from behind me, even Relentless’s disgruntled snorts faded
away to nothing.

I was alone in the cool silent darkness of
the cave with only my crude torch to light my way. The cave floor
was even and quite worn looking as if it had seen a lot of
traffic.

Suddenly the unwelcome thought occurred to
me that instead of just traveling into the darkness to face one
thieving opponent what if I was met by several. Were there more
people like her? There had to be as there was enough knowledge of
them that Zalisha had known to warn me.

You can’t blame anyone but yourself Zevin.
You were warned about the dangers of these mountain demons.

Icy cold water showered down on top of me
and the torch in my hand sputtered and went out plunging me into a
dark oblivion devoid of any light. Where had the water come
from?

“You shouldn’t have followed me here!” Came
a familiar voice from the darkness.

“You have something that belongs to me,
something that is very precious!” I said addressing the darkness in
general.

“It may be precious, but the question you
have to ask yourself is was it worth your life, because you’re not
leaving this place alive!”

Sudden glows in the darkness lit up
everywhere and half turning I saw that they were pairs of watching
eyes of at least one hundred individuals. They encircled me in an
icy glowing force that cut off all chance of escape. I looked back
around and a pair of eyes opened directly in front of me and some
instinct caused me to throw myself backward.

I heard the swish of a sword blade and I
felt it cut through my shirt and nick my chest. I was knocked to my
back on the floor as two feet contacted my chest in a hard body
kick.

Out of breath I rolled away hearing the
swish of sword blades behind me. I half stumbled to my feet looking
for my hidden opponent within the circle of silent watching
eyes.

I didn’t have to wait long. I felt the tips
of two swords nick me in half a dozen places within the twinkling
of an eye and all I had seen was the brief flash of Raya’s eyes and
the swing of her hair.

They were gone from before me suddenly and
then I felt two feet planted firmly in my back that sent me falling
head over heels forward to the cave floor.

I coughed because of the stirred up dust on
the cave floor.

“Are you ready to die daylighter?” Came the
cool voice of Raya from behind me.

I sat up and started laughing softly. She
didn’t know how much she had made me angry!

White hot seething anger coursed through me
at her cowardice of tactics. I closed my eyes and things became
clearer to me.

“Do you think this is a joke? Answer my
question fool!” Stormed the hotly offended sounding voice from
behind me.

I stopped laughing and said, “A better
question Raya is, are you ready to die?”

My left hand shot out and gripped an
artfully crafted ankle and I lunged to my feet taking the body
attached to the ankle with me and twirling sharply I flung Raya
through the air to smash into the silent watchers gathered around
us.

There were surprised grunts and the squeal
of an enraged wildcat. She untangled herself from the jumble and
jumped to her feet and I knew that she was now ready to kill
me.

I didn’t care I was so mad I was ready to
kill her too. I didn’t wait for her to start it. I advanced to the
center of our little arena and then reaching up I drew both of my
sabers out and stuck them in the sand before me. I pulled a folded
cloth out of one of my pockets my hands slick with blood from one
of her inflicted nicks on me.

Taking the cloth I unfolded it and raising
it to my head I tied it around my eyes and head. I heard a general
murmur of consternation from the surrounding watchers and then once
again silence.

My hands found my saber handles and my mind
focused in on the still form of trained outward consciousness that
had been drilled into me for years by my father’s beloved friend
Rolf.

I could hear his firm words of instruction
in my ears even now. I let all the turbulent emotions of anger,
fear, uncertainty and so on fade away inside of me, until I was
completely devoid of feeling and all that remained was a deep
awareness of the present.

With my last sigh of emotion I said, “Let’s
see what your made out of little coward!”

I heard her scream of indignant rage and I
felt her onrush and my body and sword blades shifted into the
movements of the dance. Steel clang sharply against steel sending
off sparks in a flurry of action reminding one of a turbulent
lightning storm, every move choreographed and yet instinctively
felt.

I swirled and lunged swinging my blades in
unison of determined movement. Her onrush of me had been one of
furious attack, but now she scrambled to defend herself. Parrying
her swords apart I lifted my foot up against her hard stomach and
sent her flying backwards to the cave floor.

“Again!” I said sliding my swords down one
another gratingly in direct challenge.

She came at me more cautiously than before,
but I knew the confines of my arena well and I pressed in on her
not letting her have a moment’s respite. The cave echoed with the
clamor of our onslaught against each other.

Sweat ran off of me in rivulets, but my
breathing stayed the same. Not so for her. I heard her ragged gasps
for air and I knew she was weakening.

She was the most skilled opponent I had ever
faced, but she wasn’t fighting for a cause like I was and she
hadn’t had the benefit of hours and hours of training one on one
like I had with Rolf. My greater will and determination were
proving out and I knew that she knew it too, but she showed her
gameness and kept fighting on.

I swept a leg out causing her to trip to her
knees and then I swept around her and planted a foot against her
back and shoved her sending her face down into the dust as she had
done to me.

Deliberately I turned my back and walked
away across our makeshift fighting arena, “You have skills little
thief, but not enough righteousness of purpose to win the
battle.”

A scream of rage burst out from behind me at
my demeaning words and I heard her bang a sword off the ground.
Turning I met her onslaught of fury and matched it with my own.

Toe to toe we faced each other swinging away
with a passionate will each of us seeking the others demise. If I
could have seen it the fury of our clanging blades had caused them
to glow red.

It was time to end this passionate exchange,
as I felt that I had gotten my point across sufficiently. I smacked
the tops of her hands with the flats of my sword blades so hard
that she dropped both of her swords. Before she could stoop to
retrieve her swords one of my blades rested just above the skin of
her throat. Before she could step back from the blade’s edge my
other blade rested across the back of her spine as I stood to the
side of her.

She panted for breath carefully, as she
stayed still between my blades knowing that with the flick of
either wrist I could kill her.

“Enough! I have seen enough!” Came a deep
voice from the crowd of onlookers.

I lowered my sabers and pulled the cloth
away from my face. Raya still stood before me breathing heavy
watching me. I slid one of my sabers down and scooped up both of
hers and brought them both up to me.

Looking at her directly I said, “Don’t ever
steal anything from me again or seek to belittle me or anyone else
in front of others to show off your own great skills and
strength!”

I saw her head illuminated by her eyes and
hair nod slowly. I extended her hot bladed swords back to her and
she took them back hesitantly.

I turned away from her towards a man who had
separated away from the crowd of silent watchers. Once again I was
struck by the difference. His features were Berniam, but physically
he was taller and more muscle bound like Raya was, more so than the
native people who were on the surface.

What could cause such a physical change,
within the same bloodline? Not to mention the glowing eyes and
hair, the sharp teeth, and the hard taloned fingernails.

“I believe this is yours.”

The man tossed my sword through the air
towards me. I caught its scabbard grateful beyond words to have it
once again in my hands.

“You are free to go. Our people have strict
orders not to interfere in the matters of uplanders.” The speaker
for the group said as he looked pointedly at Raya, who ducked her
head low in shame.

“A warrior of your greatness however has
leave to visit our lands, whenever he sees fit to. Tell me what is
your name uplander?”

A plan was starting to form slowly in my
head and I flowed along with it. I sheathed my two sabers and then
I pulled my sword free of if sheath and the familiar reaction of
pulsing icy blue color that was so similar to these people’s
glowing eyes and hair happened once again to the chorus of
surprised gasps and looks of wonder displayed on the faces of the
encircling people.

“My name is Zevin Ta’lont. I am a direct
descendent of the man who brought the peoples of Berniam to this
land and I need your help to save it from the state of bondage and
tyranny that it has fallen into!”

Light peeled off the sword illuminating the
cavern and those gathered in it.

“Will you help the people of the surface in
their time of need?”

Their spokesman looked around uncertainly
before replying, “Such a decision would require a gathering of our
elders and leaders. There is much that you do not know as well.
Secrets the uplanders are not aware of.”

I stepped forward and extended my hand to
the spokesman in front of me, “Then let us discover them together
my friend!”

He nodded and shook my hand. The crowd of
watchers parted and the spokesman indicated for me to go ahead of
him. I traveled a short distance down the cavern walkway as my
sword lit the way for me to see.

“Welcome to Lanoria!”

I stepped on down the cavern and turned a
corner and stopped abruptly drawling in my breath in complete shock
at what I saw.

“It is beautiful is it not?” Asked Raya, who
had come to stand beside me.

I looked at her and gazed for a moment,
“Very beautiful!”

She blushed catching my double meaning and
looked away. Even her blush glowed slightly.

I looked away from the beauty of her face to
the beauty of her land, Lanoria. A land within a land.

A massive cavern had opened up before me and
there was light. Actually there was a lot of light, but it was
bluish light like what my sword gave off.

It emanated from columns of veins of a
liquid looking substance that the surrounding rock strata of the
cavern was saturated with. It was indescribably beautiful!

The liquid blue substance actually appeared
to be moving through the surrounding rock slowly.

“What is it? I asked wonderingly.

“Trinial. It is how we survive in Lanoria,
without it we would never survive much less thrive.”

I glanced at Raya. “Your eyes and hair
how?”

“The Trinial provides us everything in
absence of the sun except heat. Its light feeds the plants we live
on as well as the animals. Essences of the Trinial are in both the
plants we eat and the water we drink. The Trinial gives us a
hardiness to survive the harshness of life underground. Exposure to
the light and essence in our blood causes our eyes and bodies to
radiate light so that we can see to find our way around in the
dark.”

“Your ability to see in the dark means you
can’t see in daylight?”

“Yes, what is a blessing down here is also a
curse that keeps us chained within the darkness of our caverns
never to see the light or feel the heat of the sun again.”

In the expanse of the caverns I saw people
moving and signs of habitation everywhere. “How many of you are
there?” I exclaimed.

“Thousands.”

“Thousands!” I exclaimed back in reply
astonished.

Who would have ever thought that such a
thing was possible. Stairs had been cut out of the native rock and
I started down them into the cavern. I held my sword in hand not
out of fear of being attacked, but more out of a need for extra
illumination.

Even though the light given off by the
florescent glowing columns of trinial was sufficient to light up
the cavern it still didn’t put off enough light for my eyes to see
adequately to walk across the rough terrain safely.

Some kind of alert must have gone out
because the pathway I walked through on the jumbled cavern floor
was suddenly congregated with the dwellers of this realm. From the
way some of the younger ones looked at me I could tell that they
had never seen an uplander before. I was perhaps the first visitor
this underworld realm had welcomed in a long time.

How did these people get to be here and once
here why had they allowed themselves to stay too long and become
locked away here?

Making our way past artfully crafted stone
dwellings and interested spectators alike we came to a stone
building separate from the rest, which was built into the wall of
the cavern itself. An old man stood out in front of the door.

He was somebody important I could tell. The
others hung back a ways and I sheathed my sword out of respect. I
could see well enough now anyway.