The Crystal Legacy (Book 2) (25 page)

“You’ve earned your place in the group, Tonelia; pride isn’t at issue,” Saxthor said. “There’s no need to take such an unnecessary risk. You could help us more by taking care of Delia and Twit in this situation.” It dawned on Saxthor it was the first time he’d complimented her as an equal in the troupe.

Tonelia looked Saxthor straight in the face. “I’ll take Delia and Twit and wait for you at the campsite on the hill.”

Delia wanted to stay with Saxthor but left with a whimper when, through Saxthor’s stern glare, he ordered her to go. Twit was old and no match for wraiths. He went without argument. Tonelia, Delia, and Twit headed back over the two outer walls as the three men headed over the innermost one into the central fortifications.

Inside the three colossal, defensive barriers was a veritable village of buildings that had supported the daily business of the Wizards’ Hall institutions. The three men had to cross this labyrinth of decaying structures with caution, lest they surprise something evil hiding in the rubble.

They checked their weapons and started across through a hole in the nearest shop’s back wall. There was little light. Lots of debris hampered their way through the shop. Then they crossed a street and slipped through a stall on the other side. They passed through two more shops and finally went down an alley and scaled the end wall to get to the grassy park between the shops and the central park.

“So far, I don’t think anyone has seen us,” Bodrin said.

Once past the commercial district, the three men looked at the large open green.

“Anything watching for intruders can easily see us crossing that open space,” Tournak said from the shadows.

“How can we get to the keep and find a suitable place to hide before the wraiths emerge at dusk?” Bodrin asked.

“It’s a frightening prospect,” Tournak said. He was looking up, studying the keep overshadowing the park below.

“Let’s get going, this is going to take the rest of the afternoon under the best of circumstances,” Saxthor said. “We’ll have to take our chances. Stay close by me, and keep your eyes open for any sign of movement.”

They scurried through the tall grass to the central keep.

“We only have an hour of daylight left to find a hiding place in the keep,” Saxthor said. “Bodrin, you search to the left; Tournak, to the right. Look for a way into the structure.”

Being independent, Twit left Tonelia and Delia and returned to the ruins, watching from a higher vantage point. He scouted for potential trouble, then proceeded to locate a door in the keep. The clever bird did his wing fluffing and attracted Tournak’s attention to the gate. Thus, Tournak returned first. He and Saxthor waited in silence for Bodrin to return before entering the keep.

Bodrin snuck back late. Saxthor was about to admonish him when Bodrin slapped his hand over Saxthor’s mouth.

“Hush.” His eyes blazed.

The three moved along Tournak’s course to the cracked door and slipped inside. Bodrin held them just inside the door, where he watched the crack. In a moment, a large ogre came bumbling along and passed on around the keep’s perimeter.

“Apparently, it’s on guard. I would’ve surprised and killed it, but if it went missing, the disappearance would alert the wraiths to intruders.”

“We have to avoid detection,” Saxthor said. “That was clever of you, Bodrin, but next time don’t knock my teeth out. Twit, glad you disobeyed and came back. Thank you for finding the entrance just in time. Please keep an eye out so nothing sneaks up on us.”

Twit did his bobbing dance of superiority.

They turned and started up the stairs that circled the massive keep’s outer wall. Moving slowly, they tried not to make a sound or disturb the grime more than necessary. There were ogre footprints in the dirt.

“Our smaller footprints could be noticed,” Saxthor said.

Twit fluttered just over a print and dust settled over it.

“That works Twit.”

The men crept up the stairs until they got two floors from the top. They entered the keep’s interior and searched for a hiding place among the many rooms.

“Be careful of squeaking, rusty hinges,” Saxthor said. “Try to find a room with a window on the staircase. If there’re wraiths up here, they’ll be in interior rooms avoiding daylight.”

Each man picked a door and tested it for noise. Tournak’s chamber seemed the most suitable, so the men snuck inside. When Bodrin started to take food from his pack, Saxthor stayed his hand. They ate dried foods out on the staircase so patrolling ogres wouldn’t catch the scent in their room.

An exhausted Twit half-flew, half-hobbled up the staircase, huffing and puffing, having flapped dust over his companions’ crater-like footprints. He double-checked and was clearly annoyed at the men’s sudden efficiency. After all his hard, unappreciated work, the oafs didn’t leave him a crumb. The disgusted bird squawked an unmentionable bird-word and left to find some bugs. Saxthor saw Twit all aflutter. “Wonder what old Twit is so cheerful about?”

After eating, the men returned to the selected room. Just as the sun set, they hid behind a large screen, the only furniture left there. It was a long night. Through the window, the intermittent sounds of creatures large and small reminded the Neuyokkasinians that unknown things inhabited the ruins after all. Bright moonlight shot through the old keep’s windows, illuminating the spiral staircase. Some light passed through the staircase and into their chamber.

Standing watch, Saxthor
thought
how peaceful the night was. He looked at the intricate light pattern that shone on his sleeping friends. Tournak rolled over in his sleep. His head was at an angle and without warning Tournak snored. All three men jerked alert, but the sound had escaped the room.

“They can’t trace the one snore, but it could alert things to the presence of intruders,” Saxthor whispered.

“Sleeping ogre?” Bodrin said.

Tournak frowned. “Thanks.”

“Hush!” Saxthor said.

The men sat silent and motionless, listening for footsteps. A break in the delicate light tracery startled Saxthor. Someone is on the staircase, he realized.

The men froze. Saxthor clutched Sorblade’s hilt. A wraith could sense energy field variations, if close by looking for the snore’s source, he thought. An ogre could hear us breathing or pick up our scent.

Bodrin’s straining head bobbed. “Can you see what it is?”

Saxthor waved him down.

The entity hesitated on the staircase for an eternity, then moved on.

“Don’t move.”

Saxthor didn’t know if it continued up the staircase, or had come in to investigate the rooms. They remained motionless until Saxthor spoke again.

“I’ve worked out a plan should something discover us. If a wraith, Sorblade and Tournak’s wizard-fire will be our only useful weapons.”

A sudden noise out in the hall interrupted his thinking. Saxthor noticed Bodrin’s white knuckles. The sound of fighting would undoubtedly bring others.

“We must destroy a wraith before it can alert others, or we’ll be lost. If an orc or ogre, we must subdue him without a sound before he warns his masters.” Saxthor analyzed the situation while watching the light pattern on the packs for any sign of more intruders on the staircase.

The haversacks, Saxthor thought. The wand! In the bottom of my pack is Queen Merritak’s Peldentak Wand.

He lifted the backpack careful to make no sound as Bodrin watched. His face was quizzical. After checking to be sure that nothing was on the staircase, in slow motion, Saxthor nudged aside the satchel’s contents, feeling for the wand’s case.

They’re wondering what’s possessed me, Saxthor thought. I see Bodrin’s hand on his sword. His sword won’t stop a wraith, but it would make a quick end of an orc or ogre.

Saxthor slowly withdrew the wand case. In the dull, filtered light, his companions’ faces scrunched staring at it. Tournak’s eyes sparked with his grin.

A sudden sound on the staircase made the men freeze yet again. The light coming from across the staircase into the room’s window flickered. A small crunching sounded from the stairs.

Footsteps are coming up from below, and there’s more than one source, Saxthor thought.

Each was recognizable as they crushed bug parts Twit had left on the landing. The sounds stopped outside at their floor’s entrance. Saxthor’s heart skipped a beat.

Maybe the previous sentry suspected something and sent others to search this floor, he thought.

While Tournak and Bodrin remained motionless, Saxthor rose slowly against the wall. He put his finger to his lips, hearing searchers working their way down the floor’s interior passages.

They’re only doors down from us, he thought. They’ll be here in less than a minute.

A drop of sweat ran in his eye and burned. He wiped it away with his sleeve noticed the taste of iron.

The taste of fear, he thought.

He slipped the Peldentak Wand from the delicate case and raised his arm, pointing it down at the wrist.

I hope I remember Queen Merritak’s instructions correctly. A mistake will bring the searchers down on us in a flash. He concentrated on invisibility and saw a faint ripple of energy in the moonlight. He traced a pattern around them and their belongings. His stomach ached.

What if I don’t remember the right instructions? He thought. This is no time for self-doubt. I hear boots next door.

“Keep quiet and don’t move, no matter what,” he whispered.

Searching orcs flung open
the chamber door next to their room.

The wand’s power increased Saxthor’s sensitivity; he felt he could hear all their hearts beating. The footsteps continued and stopped at their room. Saxthor held his breath. An orc thrust open the door and two scanned the interior.

Bodrin jerked his head up, staring at Saxthor, his eyes blazed. His hand grabbed his sword hilt. Saxthor stood still holding the wand pointed down but held up his free hand, palm flat, for Bodrin to freeze.

The orcs looked around, then about to leave, the orc by the door crinkled his face and sniffed.

“Looks behind that there screen.”

Bodrin’s hand locked on his sword hilt. Frozen, he watched Saxthor.

The orc went to the screen and looked behind it, straight at the three men, seeing nothing. Bodrin’s jaw dropped, but he didn’t move otherwise. Even in the low light, Saxthor could see the color drain from his face. Tournak stared at Saxthor, but none of them moved.

Twit fluttered his feathers and flew out the window, attracting the orc’s attention.

The orc grunted, “Stupid bird.” He turned, and with his comrade, left the room, continuing to search down the hall. The men remained motionless until the two orcs returned to the staircase landing, waiting for the other orcs.

“What’s we looking for?” an orc asked.

“The wraith sensed someone in the keep,” the other said. “The king sent us with them wraiths to wait for somebody he thinks is coming looking for something important here.”

“What they gonna look for here?” the first orc asked.

“I don’ts know, but the wraiths better find that one that comes looking.”

“Musta been that bird the wraith sensed.” He snorted.

Saxthor’s arm was getting numb, but he didn’t dare move the wand. Now he knew the Dark Lord suspected the crown was the reason for the mysterious energy trace movements. He must suspect one of the jewels was somewhere in the ruins. The sorcerer’s only hope of finding it was to let Saxthor find it and then capture him. They’d have to remain undetected here, as well.

After what seemed like an eternity, a second pair of orcs joined the pair on the landing, and the four marched off up the staircase to search the next floor. Saxthor lowered his numb arm and rubbed it until he got feeling back and could bend his elbow. He slid the Peldentak Wand back in its case, this time with a near reverence. It would never languish in the bottom of a pack again while he possessed it. Twit flew back to his observation post in the window tracery.

“You’ve saved us once again, Twit,” Saxthor said.

Yeah, thought Twit, and got no crumbs for dinner for it either.

The Neuyokkasinians remained hidden until the first rays of sunlight came through the staircase windows and into their room. The sun’s warmth hadn’t warmed the floor before Bodrin had food unpacked and was handing it out. They ate, waiting to be sure the wraiths were dormant in their hiding places. The men crept from the hideout.

“The wraiths must not learn we were in the ruins,” Saxthor said. “So long as the creatures think we haven’t come yet, they’ll keep looking for us here and not pursue us to the next site. This is the only specific site the wraiths should expect to have a jewel.”

The men crept up the stairs to the top floor.

“I know it’s dangerous to go, we’ll be most exposed there, but I think it’s the only place to find the jewel’s location.”

“Look there,” Bodrin said.

Two orcs stood guard at the roof’s doorway.

“How you going to get to the roof and the sunlight?” Tournak asked. “If we kill the guards, the fight will draw others.”