Dark Quest (25 page)

“Good evening, Colonel,” greeted Larc.

“Evening, Larc. What have you got on the temple robberies?”

“Nothing, Colonel. They seemed to have stopped all over the continent. I assume that once they thought they had the Book of the Beginning, the troops were called home.”

“Possibly, Larc, but they should have been sent out again after Mordac realized that they didn’t really have it.”

“Maybe one of their other shipments had the real book,” offered Larc. “We did get identifications on Mordac’s two aides. The man with the long, black hair is named Dalgar. He’s Sordoan from the town of Dubar. Neighbors of his family said he was a bright lad who had gone off to Targa to study seven years ago and has not been back since. He appears to be one of the leaders of the Black Devils, or at least he acts as if he is. The woman with the auburn hair is called Aurora. Not an awful lot on her, except she seems to be pretty close to Dalgar and Mordac. She’s Cordonian and from the town of Paso. She was last seen there just before the temple robbery. Her family no longer lives in the town and nobody is sure where they went.”

“What about the location of the Black Devils?” asked Colonel Gregor.

“Around Tor is the best that we have been able to do. I’ve had a couple of men searching the area for some time. One of them has not reported in and I assume that he has been eliminated. I should think there would be a lot of traffic heading that way, now that the robberies have stopped. I’ll get another team into the Tor area.”

“Good idea, Larc. Anything on Ali Kasim?”

“Not a very high profile man. He is well respected in the army, but virtually unknown in the political arena. My best guess is that he will try to lead the country himself or form a military leadership of some type. None of the Sultan’s heirs are strong enough to oppose the army. Kasim is known as a good soldier, but I’ve heard doubts about his abilities to hang on to the leadership position. We’re well situated to keep tabs on him and I’ll keep you informed.”

“Well, I hope Alex can find them soon. I don’t want to think of Mordac and his followers coming up with another plan.”

Egam and Jenneva sat under a tree in the Koman Oasis, shading themselves from the searing heat of the Great Sordoan Desert.

“The temperature will drop rapidly after the sun goes down,” said Egam, “then we will start our search.”

“How are we going to find him?” asked Jenneva.

“According to what Lord Habas heard,” explained Egam, “he lives under the desert. We need to look for some way of getting under the sand.”

“That should be real easy,” quipped Jenneva. “All we have to do is search half of Sordoa looking for an entrance sign. He may even have the entrance concealed with an illusion.”

“I’d be surprised if he didn’t,” replied the old Master. “That very illusion may give him away, though. I wanted to start at this oasis because I cannot imagine him being west of here. We’ll head towards Trekum. Lord Habas said that his student was seen in the capital and I should think that would rule out the northeast corner of the desert. There are other large cities up there that his student could go to.”

“Will he see us if we do find him?” Jenneva asked.

“I think so. He likes his solitude as do I, but I do not think he will be hostile. He just doesn’t like to be distracted from his studies. It has been many years since I have talked with Mustar. He will see us because he will be curious as to why we came. When he finds out the information we seek, he may be brief. I just don’t know.”

“I still don’t feel good about looking at the desert and trying to find a speck of sand out of place,” stated Jenneva.

“It won’t be that hard,” chided Egam. “Look at the geological features of the desert. He has to have found a cavern under the sand. He probably found it the same way we are going to. An outcropping of rock or a dried up stream gully would be worth investigating, anything that breaks the constant flow of sand.”

“Wouldn’t he cover that with the illusion?”

“I don’t think so. Mustar is not hiding from anyone. He just wants to be left alone. This will be easier from the air. Let’s go.”

The eagle and the owl flew high over the Great Sordoan Desert, their keen eyes searching for clues in the vast arid wasteland. For several hours they flew, occasionally swooping down to check a formation that broke the monotony of the wind swept dunes. The end of the desert appeared on the horizon before they came to an old, dried up oasis and landed.

The pool of water that used to be the lifeblood of the oasis had long ago ceased to be a source of nourishment for the land around it or the passing travelers. An old well that bore the passing of time poorly was the only adornment visible. Egam peered down the old well, but it was much too dark to see anything. He took a small coin from his pouch and dropped it down the well, listening carefully. Egam waited to gauge the depth of the well from the amount of time it took for the coin to hit bottom. The coin produced no sound and Egam tried it again with the same result.

“I think we have found our entrance,” said Egam. “Now we have to figure out what the illusion is and how we enter Mustar’s domain.”

Jenneva surveyed the oasis. The small, dried up pond obviously used to be the center of the oasis. Now, petrified tree sections lay crisscrossed there. The well sat off to one side about the same distance away from the center as the trees were from the center in the Koman Oasis. There were no dried up gullies extending away from the old pond area, indicating that it was at one time a spring fed pond. There were no signs of any trees having ever been at the oasis except for the two petrified ones in the center.

“This was never an oasis,” stated Jenneva. “A well may have, indeed, been here, but not a well and an oasis. I think the well is an illusion and the real entrance resides at what appears to be the old pond.

“Of course,” exclaimed Egam, “Zarlu’s Dispersion. It distorts wavelengths to jumble images.”

Egam gently pulled Jenneva away from the well and cast a spell. The well and the petrified logs shimmered and exchanged places. He walked over to the new well and peered down. Inside of the well was a spiral staircase and Egam started his way down. Jenneva followed him down the long, spiraling stairway until they came to the bottom. As Jenneva cleared the staircase into a large underground cavern, a cage suddenly surrounded the two of them. A young man walked up to them.

“Who are you and what do you want here?” he demanded.

Egam reached for Jenneva’s hand and held it before he answered. “I am Egam and this is Jenneva. We have come to speak with your Master, Mustar.”

The young man whirled and stormed off down a corridor.

“Why not just disperse with this cage, Egam?” Jenneva asked.

“Mustar’s student might be frightened into tossing a nasty spell and we have not come seeking a confrontation. Patience, Jenneva. The boy is only protecting his Master.”

A few moments later, a short, elderly man came up the corridor shaking his thin, gray hair and laughing. The tall, dark student followed him closely.

“You must forgive Hakim’s caution, Egam. We do not get many visitors.”

“There is nothing to forgive, Mustar. It has been a long time since we last met.” Egam waved his hand and the cage disappeared. “Allow me to introduce my student, Jenneva.”

“Greetings, Jenneva. I believe you have already met my student, Hakim.”

Hakim nodded to the new arrivals and with a wave from Mustar, returned down the corridor. Mustar led his guests down the corridor to a small room hollowed out of the stone by water ages ago. Hakim arrived moments later with chairs for the two visitors to sit on and Mustar sat in his own chair behind his desk.

“What brings you to my home, Egam? I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with troubles above.”

“No, Mustar, I have come for information that you may possess. We do have troubles above, but I believe they will be over soon.”

“Good,” Mustar said. “I do not like getting involved with all of the petty positioning that occurs in our world. What knowledge could I have that would interest the great Egam?”

“You are too kind, Master Mustar. I come seeking information on the Book of the Beginning. We have a scorpion among us and I fear only knowledge contained in the book will allow us to return to our studies.”

“Well, Egam, I can tell you that I do not possess the Book of the Beginning. My first Master did possess it when I was in my youth, but that was many a year ago and I have not seen it since. He had it with him when a petty crook in Trekum killed him. Imagine, a Master with all of his knowledge --and some youngster with a knife could steal him away from us. It is one of the reasons that I seek the solitude of the desert.”

“Understandable, Mustar. I have also secluded myself from the population, but I must admit, it was to hide from one of my former students who was devoted to the Dark Side. He is our scorpion. His name is Sarac and Jenneva has placed him in a new Universe.”

Mustar gave Jenneva an appraising look. “I heard that a woman was searching for the Origin Scroll some years back, but you do not appear to be that old, Jenneva.”

“No, Mustar,” answered Jenneva. “That was my mother, Kirsta, and she was seeking the Origin Scroll for Sarac. She found it, but refused to let him have it. I ended up using it on Sarac, but I am not sure where he went.”

“One must be careful playing with new toys, Jenneva. Why is this Sarac deserving of such treatment?”

“Sarac seeks the power to control Universes,” replied Egam. “He has assembled a large organization called the Black Devils. His student, Mordac, runs them in his absence. Mordac managed to gain control of Targa and pitted it in war against Sordoa. The war has ended and Mordac fled. Targans are searching for him and I believe that he will be found; but what concerns me most is his search for the Book of the Beginning. I think he believes he can bring Sarac back with the book, but I do not know for certain.”

“Are these Black Devils the ones responsible for the temple attacks?” asked Mustar as he leaned back in his chair.

“You are more informed of happenings on the surface than you let on, Mustar,” laughed Egam. “They are the group responsible for the attacks. Many seats of knowledge have been destroyed with their insatiable search for the Book of the Beginning.”

“Then I shall help you all that I can,” declared Mustar. “Hakim stumbled into one of their attacks in Dubar and they sought to kill him. I do not take kindly to people who seek to cause me ill. What help can I offer?”

“We possess little knowledge of the Book of the Beginning or its contents,” began Egam. “We are not sure where Sarac is or how Mordac may seek to retrieve him. In fact, our knowledge of Universes is slight.”

“The best I was able to determine from the Origin Scroll and other writings,” interrupted Jenneva, “is that the Universes exist sharing geological formations, sort of like an onion skin with thin layers that can be peeled off.”

“Not exactly,” answered Mustar. “Mind you, I only know what my first Master divulged and that was many years ago. I believe that part of your analogy is correct. Some geological features are shared, but the Universes do not interact like an onionskin. From what I remember, the Universes have intersecting points with each other. An onion has skins that are concentric and do not really intersect. The picture that was implanted in my mind from my Master’s discussions was more like a series of interlocking rings. I believe he considered the thought that some of the rings might even intersect with more than one of the others.”

Mustar stood and began pacing the floor with his hands behind his back. “I remember him theorizing about travel to different Universes if he could find any of the intersection points. I know he wasn’t sure if the points were even stable or if they changed over time.”

“Did he know for a fact that there were intersecting points?” asked Egam. “I mean, was that just a theory or a fact disclosed in the Book of the Beginning?”

“I’m not sure, Egam. He talked about the elves and the dwarves and their long histories and lost tribes. He thought that the elves and dwarves each came here from different Universes. In elfish history for example, King Gondoral’s lineage goes back to a young elf prince that separated from the main tribe. Now the main tribe is gone, but King Gondoral’s tribe remains. My Master thought that the main tribe still exists, but in a different Universe. If this is true, then King Gondoral’s ancestors traveled through one of the intersecting points.”

“An interesting theory,” considered Egam, “but it is possible that the main tribe was eliminated in their war with the dwarves.”

“True,” replied Mustar. “Your theory is probably just as valid, except I believe you will find a very similar situation with the Dwarves. King Tugar’s line was also a splinter group from the main tribe. Don’t you find that awfully coincidental?”

Egam pondered Mustar’s theory a long time before responding. “If this is true, then the goblins and Yaki may be from other Universes, as well.”

“Yes, and some humans may even exist in other Universes. A fascinating topic for discussion. It does explain why my old Master was so absorbed with the Book of the Beginning, if, indeed, it answers these questions. Unfortunately, I have no greater idea of where it is today than you do.”

“If there were intersecting points between Universes,” queried Jenneva, “wouldn’t people be walking through them all the time? Surely, we would have heard of elves just all of a sudden appearing, wouldn’t we?”

“Perhaps,” replied Egam, “but people have a tendency to walk in straight lines. Depending on the size of an intersection, one might actually walk through a portion of another Universe and back out again without ever knowing it. I should think, at an intersection, you would have to make a turn of some sort.”

“Perhaps,” offered Mustar, “the sharing of geological features comes into play here. Suppose the entrance existed at different elevations? We have a tendency to think of our world’s surface as all there is to our world. That is not the case, as you are aware. The intersections may be above us or below us, making a chance entrance to a new Universe rather rare. Suppose the dwarves were tunneling down through a mountain and hit an intersection or the elves were climbing over the mountains and passed through one?”