The Archon's Apprentice (22 page)

Bayle looked at Mikol, concerned. Remembering the pendant, Mikol attempted to stifle his laughter but ended up coughing. He wiped away the tears from his eyes he focused on the pendant. He turned around many times hoping the pendant would show him something different. He brought the pendant up to eye level to be certain it where it pointed. It pointed directly at the solid rock face of the mountain peak. He laughed harder.

“What’s so funny?”

“We’re trapped.”

“And you find it funny?”

Mikol slowly stopped laughing. He looked directly at Bayle.

“No.” Mikol let out one more chuckle. “Well, maybe a little. Did you really think we would be able to find anything in the middle of this forsaken country?”

“Yes. Maybe. I guess. I don’t know. I had more faith in following you, to be honest. But it has has been giving us some pretty good advice so far.”

“It’s probably showing us a path from three thousand years ago. Maybe there was something here then, but it’s gone now. Possibly a building or something long ago was wrecked and destroyed by the elements.”

Bayle shook his head at Mikol. He slowly walked the edge of the plateau. Bayle cursed under his breath. Mikol started to talk but Bayle indicated for Mikol to be quiet. He lay down near the path leading up and waited. Mikol kneeled down and listened as well. After a moment they heard sounds of someone coming up the path.
 

“We’ve got company.”

Still unsure of what they were doing, Mikol swore not to die without a fight. He stood up quickly and drew Raythrael. His heroic visage was marred by blood on his lips from another cough. Bayle raced over to him, but Mikol swatted him away. He wiped the blood away and readied himself.

“What did the pendant show? Where did the arrow point to?”

“Into the rocks.” Mikol pointed behind him.

Bayle stared at the rock face, his eyes darting all over. Mikol could read the desperation on Bayle’s face, and was sure it was evident on his own.

 
“I don’t see any way in, but some of those shrubs are thick and tall. Maybe there is something behind them.”

The foliage covered the rock face almost twice as high as they could reach. They quickly moved to the sides but found no ledges leading around. Bayle had been right about how thick the vines were. He imagined they could hide behind them. But with no other way out, whoever was following them would have to be stupid not know where they were. He stuck Raythrael through the vines and bushes every foot or so and hit the rock face behind. Every time he heard his sword clink against the rock face made him angrier. He was not sure who or what he was angry with, but when he reached the far side of the wall he was furious. He hacked at the vines and bushes. Bits of leaves, branches, and vines flew away with every swing. He soon felt and then tasted the blood coming from his nose. This angered him even more and made him focus all of his energy destroying the foliage. He was only peripherally aware Bayle was talking to him, but he had begun to growl. Finally he started to yell at the bushes, telling them to die and go away.

Mikol’s next swing met no resistance from the vines. It had caused a small flash of light and unbalanced Mikol. Bayle had to dodge away from Mikol, who was not aware he had almost stabbed his friend. Mikol could only stare at the empty section of wall that had been a tangled mess of vines and bushes moments ago. He grabbed another shrub. It felt real. He pulled on the vine. It had little give and Mikol could not pull it out. He brought Raythrael up to the vine and touched it lightly. There was a flash of light and the vine vanished. Mikol smirked, placed the tip of Raythrael against the rock face, and ran to the other side. Where the sword touched a plant, it flashed and disappeared.

“Does that thing still say we go through the rock?” asked Bayle.

The pendant still pointed to the rock, but the angle was different. Mikol walked across the rock face. He watched the arrow pointing to the center of the wall. As he moved closer the arrow oriented itself to a specific point on the wall. The wall was not smooth. Many pock marks marred it. Score marks from Raythrael ran across it too. The pendant seemed to indicate a specific indention in the wall. When he looked closely he realized it was a perfect circle. He could feel no tool marks but did feel something on the bottom.

“Mikol, hurry up. We don’t have much time. I think I hear someone near the top.”

Mikol did not acknowledge Bayle. He focused on the depression in the rock. He leaned in closely to inspect it. The closer he looked, the more a light appeared inside. He could see nothing making the light. When he tried to feel around for something he saw the light was coming from the pendant. It was no longer an arrow but was shining a red light on the opening. He took off the pendant. His fingers felt the slight ridges on its back and he knew they would fit in the depression. He placed the pendant in the hole and stepped back.

The entire rock face changed. The outline of a massive door appeared quickly. The pendant marked the center of the door. Runes appeared from the pendant and raced around the edge of the door. He waited a moment to see if anything else happened and then pushed the door. It opened inward easily. Mikol could see nothing beyond the door.

Mikol finally heard Bayle’s frantic yelling, but before he could acknowledge it he was pushed inside the darkness. He could see nothing inside but felt they had entered a large chamber. The silence was broken by the sounds of grunting and rocks sliding. Mikol looked back at the path and saw a figure reaching the top. The sun had just set. Mikol could only guess that this man had seen him, as he stopped moving. Mikol did not know what happened in that brief moment, but he knew that man was there to kill him. They moved at the same time, the man reaching forward malevolently, and Mikol grabbing the pendant from the door. Without the pendant, the door and doorway instantly disappeared. They were left in the darkness.

Chapter 14

Obelisk

What little light had been streaming through the door was now gone. The darkness that surrounded them felt deafening. Neither of them moved. They stood listening for anything they could hear. Mikol ruined the silence when he started to cough. He had not moved from the door and placed his hand on the wall to steady himself. He heard Bayle ask if he was fine and waved him away. He laughed as he realized what he had done. He could see a vague shape of his arm. His eyes must have adjusted to some light. The pendant was in his hands but it was no longer glowing. He looked up to see a faint light, pulsing, high up in the room. The longer he looked at it, the more he could tell there was some pattern to the light.

“Look at the wall.”

Mikol could not see if Bayle had pointed to anything but he did see a small light at what he guessed was the far side of the room. The small light went out and moved over closer to them. Mikol watched the light on the wall and the light up high. They flashed in unison. The light came closer to them with every pulse. Soon enough, Mikol could see the light was actually a rune. When a rune lit up within reach of Mikol he pressed it. Light blossomed from the rune, and in a chain reaction light emanated from runes circling the chamber. Both of them gasped at the same time. The room they were in was an enormous cave with rune-covered walls. The center of the cave held a massive obelisk that radiated light onto the runes on the wall. Neither of them spoke as they took in the scope of the room.

“I don’t know what this is, but we need to find a way out of here,” said Bayle.

“I ... I think this is what we’ve been looking for.”

“Uh, not what I expected, but not going to do us any good unless we can get out of here at some point.”

They walked around the cave and found it to be a perfect circle. The only things they found in the cave were runes that covered every inch of the walls and floors. Mikol looked for another pendant keyhole but only found the one they had come in by. That did little to help the situation, but Mikol was satisfied they were secure in the room. He did have a momentary fear someone would be able to dig through, but another look at the rock below the runes and he knew they would starve before anyone could reach them. He coughed again and it occurred to him that he would probably die of whatever ailed him before he would starve. He looked over the runes. If it was blood mages chasing them, maybe they could blast through the rock with magic somehow. Though, certainly, this cave had to have protections on it with all of these runes. None of that mattered at the moment, though. Mikol walked back over to Bayle. He was starring at the wall.

“What is all of this?”

“I don’t know yet, but I know a lot of these runes. Look.” Mikol pointed to a small cluster of runes. “There is Masot, Shink, Troven, and Vinal.”

Bayle nodded his head slowly.
 

“You don’t know what they are, do you?” Bayle shook his head. “Ugh, you really are a bad student. Those are the basic elements—fire, earth, wind, and water. And over there is Haroth and Rugen, armor and weapon. There are a lot more runes around both of those groups that I have never seen.”

“Where are your runes? I don’t see any of them up there,” said Bayle.

“Not directly, of course.” Bayle stared at him blankly. Mikol sighed. “Let me show you.” Mikol rolled up a sleeve. “Here is my sword rune. Now, look at Rugen, Liot, and Masot.” Mikol traced each rune on his arm. “See how they are all connected together? A single rune doesn’t do anything. Only the basic elemental runes can do anything without additional runes. Well, that’s not quite right either, but it is hard to explain those without being able to show you.”

“What’s Liot then?”

“Liot and Sha are basic building runes. Liot makes whatever it is connected to into a physical thing. Sha infuses the runes into whatever they are inscribed on.” Mikol pulled up his sleeve further. “Look at Woren and Sha.” Mikol pointed them out to Bayle. “Woren is a, uh, I guess you could call it a swift rune. Without Sha it doesn’t do anything, but connected as they are, this group grants me quickness of motion. There are actually a lot of ways to get speed, but this is the simplest one and doesn’t affect the rest of my body. There are a few easier physical runes that would do the same thing, but they actually bulk up your muscles.”

“So, I think I see Woren connected to your sword rune?”

“It is. There are forty runes that are combined to make up my sword rune.” Mikol started to trace them and faltered. “Well, Voletain’s told me forty. I don’t remember them all right now.”

“What is this room then? None of these runes are connected, so they won’t do anything.” Bayle looked at the elemental runes. “Well, most of them. I don’t know if we need to see those right now.”

“Every rune I can think of is inscribed on these walls. But I am still just an apprentice, so I know only a small portion of the total runes. Seeing all of these, I’m not certain if even Voletain would know them all. I don’t have a clue what this cave actually is. The book Omoni had didn’t say anything about what we were supposed to find.”

“I thought you said it was a cache of weapons?”

“That’s what Omoni said. I guess I believed him, but I don’t think he really knew. I don’t know what he would want with this cave for either.”

They both looked to the obelisk. Despite the light from the runes, the obelisk was dark. The surface was smooth. Mikol reached out tentatively and gently brushed his fingertips against it. Nothing happened. Feeling bold, he placed his hand on the obelisk. It felt warm to his touch, but nothing else happened. Keeping his hand on the exterior, he walked around the obelisk. He found nothing. It appeared to be one giant piece of obsidian.

“What are you doing?” said Bayle.

“I was looking for a catch or a lever or something.”

“For what?”

“I dunno. Anything. I’m not sure what this room is for, but I don’t believe it’s just for show.”

Mikol turned his attention to the floor. It consisted of large slabs of rock placed in concentric circles around the obelisk. Each slab had runes inscribed on it as well. Like the others, Mikol recognized a few, but most of them he did not. He wished Voletain were here to help. He would be able to explain what many of these runes were. Mikol shook his head as soon as the thought entered. Voletain would not have allowed Mikol to come. A feeling of anger surfaced. Mikol was not sure how he was going to be the next Archon if Voletain kept things from him. Why did he keep things from Mikol? Mikol was older than any of the previous Archons had been when they had been apprenticed. Voletain was well past the age when he should have stepped down. Mikol did not know what would happen if Voletain died. Mikol did not even know Voletain’s real age. The runes only prolonged life so long.

When Bayle started to move a slab it got Mikol’s attention. He ran to help lift it with Bayle. It was heavy but they managed to lift it high enough they could peer underneath. They simultaneously snorted as they saw a normal cave floor beneath. They set it down slowly and the exertion caused Mikol to cough again. He had to sit down against the cavern wall. He closed his eyes and laid his head against the wall. He inhaled deeply to catch his breath. When he opened his eyes he noticed the light at the top of the obelisk. When he squinted he could see beams of light coming off the top and touching every rune. He focused on the beams near him and reached his hand up to block out the beam. It passed through his hand without harm.

Mikol stood up slowly, trying to maintain equilibrium with his cough and excitement. He leaned close to the wall to inspect the runes closely. He smirked and coughed at having missed the beams throughout the cave. As a whole they appeared to be a solid light coming from the top of the obelisk. He jumped when he heard a loud thump behind him. He whirled around to see Bayle stomping on the floor as he walked around.

“What are you doing?”

“Hoping to find a hollow point underneath a rock.”

Mikol stared at him for a long moment. It did not take long for Bayle to give up in disgust. Mikol shook his head and turned back to inspecting the runes. There were many in front of him that he knew and many more that were unknown. He touched the rune for Woren. The rune illuminated. He also noted the beam of light no longer shone on it. He looked around the room to see if anything else was lit up. There were none. After a moment the rune grew dark again. The beam of light also returned. He pondered what he saw but could come up with no conclusions. He touched Woren again and another rune beside it. They both illuminated. No other runes that Mikol could see around the room lit up. After a moment the runes went out.