The Archon's Apprentice (23 page)

He found the rune Sha close by. He touched Woren and then touched Sha. They both illuminated. He saw Liot next but when he touched it all of the runes went dark. He touched the runes again but faster. When he touched Liot the runes went dark. He looked down at his runic tattoo and frowned. They were all part of his tattoo. He began to trace the runes and scoffed when he realized his mistake. There were rules to complex runes. Liot and Sha could not modify the same rune at the base level. Something about building a foundation; he could not remember the reason right now.

It took him a moment to construct the rune in the correct order. When he was satisfied he could recreate the runic tattoo, he touched the runes on the cave wall in order. He smiled to himself as he touched the third rune and they all stayed lit. He looked at the runes, expecting something to happen. When nothing happened he turned with a heavy sigh to Bayle to see if he had found anything. The act of taking a step was accelerated, and Mikol fell on his face. Bayle rushed to him from across the cave.

“Press the runes!”

“Which one?”

“Any of them.”

Mikol instantly felt some power leave his body as Bayle pressed a rune and the runes dimmed.

“What just happened?”

“I ... I don’t know. I think I activated my tattoo.”

“Should you be messing around just touching random runes? What if you touch one you don’t know? Or press Masot? I don’t want to be incinerated.”

“I am only touching the ones that I know. Besides, I don’t think anything would happen if I touched Masot. Let’s try an experiment.”

Bayle raised an eyebrow but followed Mikol’s instructions. Neither of them moved as Bayle touched the final rune for the Runic Woren’Sha tattoo. The combination stayed lit on the cave wall.

“Ok, take a step, but be careful. I wasn’t ready for how fast it makes you.”

Bayle took a step forward carefully. And then another. And another.
 

“I don’t feel any different.”

Mikol sighed, took a step forward, and immediately lost his balance. He would have fallen again had Bayle not been close enough to catch him. Bayle slapped a rune on the wall. All the runes dimmed.

“Ok, so that didn’t do what I thought it would do,” said Mikol.

“So, it doesn’t matter who touches it. When they are glowing it gives you some weird speed powers?”

“Like I said before, I think it activated my tattoo. But I wonder if it only works in this room?”

“What is this room for?”

“I am not sure. I’ve never heard about anything like this. But I think it’s meant to help someone who does not have an attunement rune. Maybe like a training room or something.”

“Do you think it stays if you leave the cave?”

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out eventually. Let’s try another set.”

Mikol activated Woren’Sha again. He was ready for the feeling it gave him and he reveled in how the rune made him feel. He felt his thoughts come faster. He chose another tattoo to try. He quickly worked out the correct order. When he touched the first rune of the second tattoo all of the runes dimmed. Mikol sighed heavily in defeat.
 

“I don’t get it. Why would only one rune be able to be activated? There are hundreds of other runes that do nothing but assist the other runes.”

“What are you talking about?”

Mikol rolled up his sleeve again.
 

“See my sword rune? It will create a flaming sword for me. Those flames are real and would hurt me.” Mikol pointed to a rune connected to Masot. “Because this rune is connected like here, it protects me from the fire.”

“You can’t be hurt by fire?”

“No, I can be hurt by fire. If I jumped in a campfire or something I would get burnt. This protects me against the flames of my sword. I looked up the runes for full fire protection and it would have covered half of my body. It takes too much power to be of any real use.”

“I guess that makes sense. I guess. But I’m still confused about what this room does.”

Mikol nodded in agreement. He could not make sense of it either. His eye caught the top of the obelisk again and the light shining from it. He walked over to the obelisk and motioned for Bayle to come. It stood about fifteen feet tall. From the base of the obelisk he could not see the top. Mikol tried to grab the sides and climb up. The surface was too slick and offered no traction. He was not able to get more than a few inches off the ground before he slid down.

“Let me get on your back, maybe I can get a better grip higher up.”

Bayle rolled his eyes but got down on his hands and knees. Even though Mikol did not expect to see anything different he was still disappointed to not be able to see the top of the obelisk. He tried to climb again but found there was still no grip.

“Ok, this isn’t working. I need to get on your shoulders.”

Mikol felt Bayle shake his head as he stepped down. Bayle sighed as he got in a position at the base of the obelisk. Mikol stepped on to Bayle’s shoulders gently, eliciting only a small grunt from Bayle. Slowly, Bayle stood up. Both of them used the obelisk to steady themselves. When Bayle stood fully upright, Mikol could still not see the top. Even stretching as far as he could, the top of the obelisk was out of reach.

“Still can’t see anything. Is that as high as you can get me?”

“Unless you want to jump.”

“Uh ...”

“No, you’re not jumping on my shoulders. This is starting to hurt.”

Bayle squatted while Mikol steadied himself against the obelisk. When Bayle cried out he fell to the right. Mikol could not hold on to the obelisk and tried to not fall on Bayle. He only succeeded in not falling on his face.
 

The landing caused him to lose his breath. He could not inhale. After a moment lying on the ground he was able to take a breath and began coughing. There was no mistaking the blood he expelled. It splattered the floor and runes in front of him. He tried to turn away from Bayle but realized the futility. He could do nothing but let the cough take him until it was done.

Mikol knew he would never leave this cave. They had found nothing that would help them with whoever was on the other side of the wall. There was no cache of weapons or armor or anything remotely useful. Even if they found a way to kill or get past whoever waited outside, he would never make it to Silverhall again. Mikol had expelled a small pool of blood. The pendant lay close to it. He had not realized he had dropped it. The lack of light or direction from it only angered him more. It had power. It had helped them before. He did not understand why it had stopped helping them. Why had it lead them to this useless obelisk? Did Omoni know about this obelisk? If he did, would he have sent them to find a worthless piece of obsidian in a remote cave? Mikol did not believe Omoni knew about the obelisk. Or did he simply send them away with a story that Mikol would believe in? He should have brought the pendant to Voletain.

The longer Mikol stared at the obelisk the more he hated it. He had traveled farther than he ever had before just to find an old empty room full of parlor tricks. He stood up and shoved Bayle aside when he tried to help. He spat blood and cracked his neck. Mikol drew Raythrael. He did not know how much of the obelisk was magical but he did not care. It would not last with Raythrael. Mikol grasped his sword with both hands. Whatever else happened, he did not want this obelisk to exist any longer. It only existed to mock Mikol. He drew Raythrael back for a full swing. Letting out a defiant roar, Mikol swung with all his might at the obelisk.

Chapter 15

Cavern

Mikol blinked rapidly as his vision returned. His head and body hurt but he already felt the pain receding. He was no longer standing and felt the wall against his back. There was a groan to his right. Bayle lay slumped against the wall, slowly moving. Mikol scanned the cave to figure out what had happened. Mikol cocked his head to the side when he saw the obelisk was no longer whole. Pieces of the obelisk lay all around the base. The obelisk ended abruptly about four feet off the ground. The light had changed as well. The runes along the wall continued to stay lit but the radiant beams were no longer coming from the obelisk top.

Mikol stood up slowly, watching to make sure Bayle was able to get up. He walked over to the obelisk. Mikol brushed his fingers across the top of the newly broken surface of the obelisk. It was flat and smooth. The stone was no longer warm. It felt cool to the touch. He had expected the obelisk to shatter but besides the obvious debris, Mikol could not tell he had just struck the obelisk. His hand went to Raythrael at his side and did not find it. He had a moment of panic as he frantically looked for the sword. It lay on the ground far from where he had been thrown. He walked over and picked up the sword. He marveled at it, as he saw no scratches or dents on the sword. There was something different about the sword though. He could sense the power in the sword. He could feel many different aspects, but the strongest was a sense of fire. Mikol held the blade up and imagined fire. Raythrael ignited, fire racing from the guard up to the point.
 

The sudden tongues of fire bathed the cave in orange light. Mikol flinched away from the sword. This was something Voletain had failed to mention to him. He reached out with his left hand, wanting to touch the fire on the blade.

“Hey! What are you doing?” said Bayle.

“What? Nothing. I just wanted to make sure it was real.”

“It looks plenty real to me. No need to burn yourself just to see.”

Mikol smirked. He swung Raythrael through the air. He expected to have some additional resistance from the fire but was able to use the sword normally. He heard the buffeting of the flame with every swing. He held the blade out and willed the fire away. The fire extinguished itself before he finished his thought. He laughed. He went through a quick practice, igniting and extinguishing the blade as went. He laughed heartily as he moved about. When he finished, he looked over the blade and found it to be as pristine as the day he received it from Voletain. Curious, he thought of ice on the blade. Raythrael’s blade became encased in ice. He could see and feel the freezing air coming off the blade. Shaking his head, he could not think of a good reason to have an icy blade.
 

He went through another practice session, alternating between fire and ice. He had used Raythrael many times in practice before, but this was the first time he felt truly in sync with the weapon. With every swing and thrust, the sword anticipated where he wanted the blade to be. It allowed him to effortlessly flow from one motion to another. He had not broken a sweat by the time he finished. Realizing he had not coughed or felt any pain, he sheathed Raythrael and waited. With every breath he took he felt better than he had ever felt. With a laugh, he sprinted around the cave. With every lap, Bayle’s expression grew more worried. Mikol stopped in front of Bayle with a huge smile on his face. Bayle was going to speak when Mikol laughed heartily.

“What is wrong with you?”

Mikol grabbed a large piece of the obelisk on the floor and lifted it above his head. Laughing, he threw it against the wall. It shattered into smaller pieces. He picked up another and did the same. He grabbed the top of the obelisk and lifted. Something fell onto the floor with a tinkling sound. Mikol tossed the obelisk piece aside and picked up the two pieces of silver metal. They looked familiar, and when he put them together he inhaled deeply and looked up at Bayle.

“What? Was that on top? What is it?”

Without answering, Mikol dropped the silver metal and held his hand out. Bayle looked at him curiously. He jumped back as a shimmering, translucent blue sword manifested in Mikol’s hand. Bayle’s mouth dropped open. Mikol went through the same practice he had done with Raythrael. This time there was no effort. The sword was part of him. He stopped midway through and dropped the sword. It dissipated as it fell. Next, he held his arms in front of him. In an instant his body was encased in the same shimmering, blue translucent color of the sword, but in the form of the royal armor. He grabbed his arm, and it felt like he grabbed steel. With a thought, his hand was able to pass through his armor and he was touching his skin.
 

“What ...”

Mikol looked up at Bayle to find him looking back at him in amazement.

“Attack me,” said Mikol.

“What? No. I’m not going to attack you.”

“Come on. Take out your sword and hit me. You can’t tell me you don’t want to hit me. I’ve put you on your back so many times, you’ve gotta want to hit me. Besides, it’s been years since you’ve given me a challenge. You won’t hurt me.”

Bayle snorted but withdrew his sword. Mikol watched Bayle walk slowly towards him. Bayle steadied himself and drew back his sword for a swing. Mikol, not knowing what to expect, tensed every muscle waiting for the hit. The swing came in fast, but Bayle pulled back and only tapped Mikol on the leg.

“Oh, come on. I can take more than that!”

Bayle smirked. Without any wind up, he struck Mikol’s leg harder. The sword bounced off harmlessly. Surprised by the reaction, Bayle almost dropped his sword, spinning away to keep his grip. Mikol smirked this time.
 

“Ok. Let’s do that again.”

Mikol nodded. Bayle struck at the leg again. Then Mikol’s arm. Then the other arm. Mikol watched with wide eyes. He brought his limbs to meet the blows. He felt only a light pressure as the blade connected with his armor. Bayle picked up speed and Mikol could tell Bayle was trying to harm him. When Bayle came in with an overhead swing, Mikol stepped to the side and grabbed the blade. He felt the edge of the blade, but only just, as the armor held firm. Bayle had not expected the move and fell forward. Mikol reached out and caught Bayle before he could fall. Bayle stood up and nodded. Mikol gave him a big smile and handed his sword back to him.

“What did this room do?” asked Bayle.

“I still don’t know but that was the attunement rune.” Mikol pointed to the silver metal on the floor. “I’m not sure what it did on top of the obelisk.”