Logan Marsh: A Thrilling Fantasy Novel (Action Adventure,Mystery, Y/A Book 1) (15 page)

A short time afterwards, the turtle that Tigertief rode on parked near his five friends. The other teams and the two reporters that already arrived – have disappeared.

When they looked at their mirrors, Tigertief members discovered that the water surrounding them is the beach of the city of reflections, which was surrounded by the sea. They got off hesitantly from the turtle, and they felt a chill when the city appeared before them. They were actually standing on a beach. At its beginning, short vegetation grew, and further out into the city, they could see the houses. From afar they saw the tall spires of a castle.

The four companions strode on a path that was trodden by the other teams. They entered the city and saw the other teams running up a beautiful boulevard, lined with lush trees.

"To the castle," said Achtisanor.

The houses around them looked abandoned and wrecked. The ground was slippery from algae, and the road was broken often with deep puddles. A smell of moss and seaweeds was heavy in the air. They could see some unlucky fish that were caught in the city's rise. They fluttered on the ground, like signalling the gulls to relieve them of their pain.

Tigertief members started running. They passed a large square, maybe the main square, a fountain made of greenish rocks stood at its centre, and on it was a faceless creature bursting out of a rectangle block.

"Come on!" Logan pointed forward.

The city looked deserted, but they felt that alien eyes observed them from all directions. At the end of the boulevard was the castle. A terrible ruckus sounded from its gates. They heard from that same direction the sounds of clashing swords, whistling arrows, and loud screaming.

Dozens of figures ran around. The other teams were busy fighting shark-men with pointed heads and fins, holding short and rusty swords. Other creatures, sporting a meaty wing on their back, looking like women and their bald head stretched to the back, flew around and threw strange-shaped blocks on them.

"There are a lot of aquatic creatures here," called Achtisanor.

"They probably lived in the city, when it was deep and the sea and pretty," De-Stik his behind a rock.

"Wow, there are even sea lions here," called Krunch and looked at a fight between two of Gods' Spirit and a long-toothed sea lion.

"Ugh!" screamed Achtisanor, and fell back after he was hit from one of the things that the flying creatures threw at him. Krunch ran immediately to him, and Logan fired an arrow towards the place from which the shot came from.

"Trigon poison," said Krunch, looking at the green venom. "Don't touch this stuff, or your skin will boil."

He took out a handkerchief and wiped the stuff from Achtisanor's armour. Logan covered them with her bow.

"You had luck, Achtisanor," said Krunch. "The poison did not touch your skin."

"We cannot continue here," said Logan, firing another arrow towards a flying trigon that appeared near them. "It seems that all the other teams attracted the vile beasts' attention. I am sure there is a way to enter the castle from its other side."

The four friends retreated from the fight and turned to the south. They crossed some deserted streets, turned back to the west, and the castle loomed to their left. They were prepared to encounter more of these creatures.

To their right appeared a sunken ship, which probably sank while the city was nestled beneath the waves. They passed it and reached wide fields of red roses. "Wow, look at this amazing patch," said Krunch as they crossed it.

"It is a lovely sight, I must agree," said De-Stik, "but it is strange that roses grew under the sea."

As soon as De-Stik finished his rhyme, the vegetation started moving around Tigertief. The roses grew larger and denser and wrapped themselves around the four companions.

"Beware, It's a trap," called Achtisanor, and swung his swords towards the thorn-stemmed roses. "These are sea roses."

"Aii, it hurts," said Krunch, getting stung from the thorns that covered him.

"Krunch," called Logan. She leaped above the stems that tried to trap her, swung her sword all around her and cut many of them. "Use your new rod."

Krunch took the magic rod in his hand and thought of an appropriate summoning.

"De-Stik," he yelled, "quick, I need a rhyme."

"O locusts of the east, come to this place and enjoy your feast," yelled De-Stik, trying to set himself free of the malicious plants.

"O locusts of the east, come to this place and enjoy your feast!" Krunch lifted his rod.

A black cloud suddenly appeared in the sky and hurried to the city of reflections. As the cloud appeared, it separated to millions of hungry locusts, which descended on the rose field and ate any plant that was there. A minute passed – and the four companions were free and crossed the horrible field.

They looked back and saw the locust cloud gathering again and rising to the air.

"They are heading towards Idrinian," called Achtisanor.

"Damn it, locust, what was I thinking to myself," De-Stik said angrily. "Now I will be responsible that the forest will be cut down in half."

Logan closed her eyes and murmured in the elven tongue.

"What is she doing?" asked Krunch.

"Shhh…" Achtisanor silenced him.

After a few short moments, a second cloud arose above the Idrinian forest and flew towards the locusts – it was blacker and far noisier.

"I have notified Idrin on the calamity," Logan opened her eyes, "and he sent all the forest birds to the fight. After all, the birds think that locust is a delicacy," she smiled.

"What, you can talk to Idrin from afar?" wondered Krunch.

"Elven rangers can do it," explained Achtisanor, "but only if the need is great and the forest is in danger."

The four companions continued on their way without any disturbance, and after a short while they stood against the back wall of the castle; huge blocks stood one on top of the other, worn out and blackened. Moss and algae filled the cracks. The two high turrets touched the sky, their peaks looking like crowns. At the middle of the left turret was a ladder that reached its roof.

De-Stik and Logan tried to find a secret door or an obscured opening at the wall, but to no avail.

Logan removed the rope.

"De-Stik, give me the hook," she ordered.

De-Stik took the folded hook from his pack and verified that it was straight and strong.

Logan tied the hook to the rope and gave it to Achtisanor, who turned it in his hands and threw the rope high in the air, towards the high ladder.

The companions climbed on the rose to the ladder, and afterwards, climbed the ladder to the top of the turret. Logan, the fastest of the four, passed her panting and sweating friends and reached first to the turret's top.

The turret's yard was big. A single door was on the other side, at the centre of a small hallway. At the left side of the turrets were the remains of two wrecked ballistae, covered with rocks and seaweed. To their right was two big stone eagles made from white stone. They had a big wingspan, long necks and sharp beaks, and it looked that the time's passage did not hurt them at all.

The four friends turned to the wooden door. It was locked and had no handle or lock. In its side, the letters from A to Z were carved.

Achtisanor tried to ram the door several times, but it did not budge.

"Hi, hi, hi," the sudden sound of laughter sounded behind them, "you cannot enter if you do not swear."

The companions turned around but did not see anything except the derelict ballistae and the big stone eagles.

"Who talked?" asked Achtisanor.

"We did, you old greybeard," one of the eagles' beaks moved.

"It is the eagles, and they… they talk," said Logan.

They approached the stone eagles and examined them.

"Who are you?" asked Krunch.

"We are the guardians of the right turret door," said the left eagle.

"Or left," said the right eagle.

"Well, it depends where you stand," said the left eagle. They started laughing again.

"And how do you guard the door, if you are made of stone?" asked Krunch.

"Well, we know how to open the door, and you… do not," answered the left eagle.

"And we are made of stone, shortie, because if we were made of flesh, we would already be dead," said the right eagle.

"And then all the fish would have eaten us," said the left eagle.

"And the sharks, and the whales," said the right eagle.

"And the jellyfish, and the trigons and…" said the left eagle.

"Okay," interrupted Achtisanor, "what do we need to do so you will tell us how to open the door?"

"You must swear!" said the left eagle.

"Swear?" asked Logan.

"Yes, swear that when you enter the castle, you will find the silver feathers and come back to release us," said the right eagle.

"Silver feathers?" asked Logan.

"Yes, you need to get them and return her to release us," said the left eagle. "We have been stuck here for a very long time."

"May I ask who put you there?" asked Logan.

"Yes, you may ask," said the right eagle, "and it was a group of powerful wizards."

"They said we need to guard some corn, and it seemed like a good cause, so we volunteered," said the left eagle.

"Corn," Achtisanor tried to understand the eagle's words, "you mean a horn."

"Horn, corn, it's all the same for us!" said the right eagle. "We want to go back to our old days and fly again."

"Yes, we are tired of being here," said the left eagle.

"But… where can we find those feathers?" asked Krunch.

"In the castle," answered the left eagle.

"Yes, we understood that they are in the castle," said Logan, "but we would appreciate if you could pinpoint the search somewhat…"

"Hmmm…" the two eagles said together, "in the castle."

"Wo, wo, wo," called the left eagle.

"There is something else you should know," said the right eagle.

"From the moment you swear to us, you will be cursed," continued the left eagle.

"Cursed?" panicked Krunch.

"What curse?" asked Logan.

"If you do not release us, and the city already sank…" said the right eagle.

"…you will also turn to stone," continued the left eagle.

"It's a very important detail," muttered Krunch.

"So what do you say?" asked the eagles as one.

"Wait," answered Achtisanor and motioned to his friends to gather around.

"Come on, we don't have time to waste," said De-Stik impatiently, "let us swear and afterwards take care of the rest."

"And what if we do not find the feathers?" asked Logan worriedly.

"That's right," said Krunch, "I don't want to become a statue."

"So we better find them," said Achtisanor, "because we can't really waste any more time."

"What if…" tried Krunch.

"Achtisanor is right," said Logan, "if we get in right now we might have a chance to find them too. If we go back – we lose all chance of ever finding the horn."

"Okay," said Krunch.

"Well," Achtisanor turned to the eagles, "we swear. We will retrieve the silver feathers and come back to release you."

"But…" said the left eagle.

"You've forgot to say the words of the oath," said the right eagle.

"What are they?" said Achtisanor.

"By golly!" answered the eagles.

"By golly?" said Achtisanor in confusion.

"Your oath was accepted!" they said.

"But he was just asking…" Krunch was mad.

"So what?!" replied the eagles.

"Errr," grumbled Krunch, "now tell us how to open the door?"

"Just knock on it," said the left eagle.

"At first four thousand times to the front," said the right eagle.

"And then six thousand times to the front," said the right eagle.

"And then notice where you are," said the right eagle.

"Finally, knock your result," said the left eagle.

"Repeat but by not in the same manner," said the eagles together.

"And the door shall open by itself," said the right eagle."

"But that's impossible," muttered Krunch. "We can't knock so many times…"

"Think for yourselves," the eagles interrupted his muttering and fell silent.

The four companions turned in confusion to the door.

"This is not a mission," said Achtisanor, "it is a riddle. The first time is four thousand, then six thousand, and then notice where we are…"

"Well…" Krunch added the sums on his fingers, "it sums to a million knocks. It is not logical. And that's not all. What did they mean by the result?! We will perhaps a thousand years…"

"Shhh, a little bit of silence, lutin, be so kind," interrupted De-Stik. "This is a riddle, which requires a clearer mind,"

"Sorry…" muttered Krunch and looked with worry at De-Stik.

De-Stik approached to the right side of the door. Then to the left, and back to the right. The three friends looked at his every step.

"Why are these letters carved on the door?" he thought aloud while examining them. "They are not unique, letters such as I have seen before…"

"Maybe they are…" tried Logan.

"Shhh," De-Stik hushed her and waved his hand. "What is the connection between riddle and letters, I pray?" he continued to walk pass the door. His friends got dizzy from looking at him and sat on the floor. "This is not an easy riddle, I might say." At last, he also sat on the floor.

"Four thousand to the back…" he muttered." "Four thousand… Four thousand… Four thou… front… brilliant! There is the connection! Hidden yet revealed in another interpretation!" He rose quickly and approached the door.

"What? What do you mean?" Krunch hurried after De-Stik, Logan and Achtisanor followed him.

"Thousand," said De-Stik.

"Thousand?" repeated the three companions.

"Thousand, let's split the word to two: "thou" and "and" – and thou is the archaic name for the word "You". The letters appeared on the door, and we need to go four steps from "You" – Four letters after U!"

"So we need to knock on the letter that is located four steps forward from U – but do it once. One single time," understood Achtisanor, while De-Stik punched slightly on the letter Y.

"So," said Logan, "the second letter is six steps before the letter U… that's O," and she knocked on the letter O.

"And notice where you are, that means we need to stay just where we are, the letter U," said Krunch, trying to reach to the letter, but when he could not reach the letter, Achtisanor lifted him to it, and he knocked upon it once.

The door did not move.

The four looked with embarrassment at the door. Maybe the solution was not that simple…

"Wait," Achtisanor said, "we forgot the fourth part of the riddle."

"Right," added Krunch.

"'Repeat but by not in the same manner'", said Logan. "What is the meaning of this?"

The four friends continued to think. They sat again. And rose.

"Let's think together," De-Stik said suddenly, "and treat this riddle with calm mood. We knocked first on the letter Y and the solution is pretty good."

"Then we knocked on O and U," continued Logan.

"You," said Krunch.

"Me?" asked Achtisanor.

"What about him?" said Logan.

"No, no… you misinterpret the solution…" said De-Stik with pleasure. "I should have seen it before…" The four approached the door, and De-Stik knocked on another letter. "Y and O and U makes a You, and now we knock again on U. Open the door!"

A loud creak was heard – revealing a small and mouldy room…