The Aurora Stone (24 page)

“It’s all right, I can heal it myself. Winter, could you pass me the lavender? You will find it in a bundle,” Caleb pointed to the pocket it could be found in and waited. Once he had it, he asked Jericho to hold him still and once again created an orb of fire, this time, he used it to burn the lavender. Its heady perfume filled their senses. “Now hold me still; Eve, please can you crush this over the wound and repeat the words I speak.”

Nodding Eve, did as she was asked. Caleb screamed but managed to rush out the incantation which Eve repeated. Once the last word had passed her lips, she was amazed to see the skin on Caleb’s calf was already re-growing. Panting, his eyes wet with unshed tears, Caleb explained that in a few moments he would be healed enough to walk without being a hindrance to the group.

“Good, we have to move soon we may be away from the scourge, but there could be something worse waiting around the next bend,” Winter said grimly. Faces set with determined expressions, the group readied themselves for the next challenge.

Down and down they travelled, the path was narrow and crumbling in places. Eli hadn’t said anything since his confrontation with Winter. He was sandwiched between Jericho and Eve with Caleb behind her and Winter at the rear. As much as he loved being with his twin, Eli was beginning to wish he had remained in Gloria under the care of the Royals.

Jericho halted abruptly and raised his arm to motion the others to do the same. Turning he indicated that everyone was to stay put while he checked the path ahead. Nodding their agreement, Jericho eyeballed Eli and then disappeared around the next corner. The silence was eerie; no one dared to move. Minutes passed and Jericho had not returned. Eli was becoming twitchy as he was now at the front of the group. Not wanting to shift and leave his sister to face whatever may come; he stayed where he was, sweat trickled between his shoulder blades, he was not built for battle and bloodshed.

When Jericho eventually reappeared, everyone expelled the breath they had been holding. Thankfully, he seemed to be alone and uninjured. Beckoning them to follow him, they all continued along the path. After a mile or so, the path ended and opened out to form a platform of sorts. Keeping close to the wall, Jericho led them behind a cluster of large boulders, once they were all hidden, he relayed what he had discovered.

“Not far ahead there is a bridge, the bad news is that about two-thirds of the way across, there is a huge gap that is impassable.” Jericho watched as his comrade’s shoulders drooped. He needed to continue and quickly; he could see Eli getting ready to complain and even though he had been lucky to not encounter any creatures so far if Eli started creating a fuss it would likely draw unwanted attention. Holding up his palms to show he hadn’t finished, Jericho continued.

“Now, I had a look for a way across and it is true that there is no way to reach the other side, however, by chance I looked down and twenty feet below the opening, there is, what I believe to be a portal.”

“YOU WANT US TO JUMP OFF A BRIDGE AND FREE FALL TWENTY FEET, IN THE HOPES THAT THE PORTAL IS ACTUALLY ACTIVE, AND IF IT IS, WE WILL FALL INTO WHO KNOWS WHAT!” Eli exploded, the sound of his voice echoed off the vast stone walls. Wincing, Jericho really wanted to knock the selfish elf, senseless.

Instead, he and Caleb exchanged a look. “Eli, if you do not desist, I will have no choice but to silence you myself,” Jericho warned his voice low but full of promise. Eli opened his mouth to reply; thankfully, Caleb was ready and shooting Eve an apologetic look he muttered a quick incantation. Eli’s mouth moved, his eyes bulged and he clutched his throat. He tried again to speak but nothing happened.

“I warned you, Eli, we cannot have you shouting in here. Do you want to bring whatever guards this place out of hiding? So until I can be sure you will keep quiet, I am afraid that Caleb will continue to keep you mute,” Jericho explained to a brick red Eli, he glared at the two males and began to think of ways to get revenge.

“Enough fighting, your auras are glowing so brightly with your anger and becoming so muddled with rage that I am feeling quite ill,” Eve groaned holding her temples and closing her eyes against the harsh colours surrounding her friends. Taking some deep breaths, she managed to regain her composure. The pain of losing Sapphire was so fresh; all of her senses were in overdrive. Feeling ashamed of his outburst, Eli moved towards Eve and put his arm around her. Eve squeezed his other hand and begged him to do as Jericho asked, he was the most skilled in combat in the group, and he was pointing out the only real option they had. Nodding solemnly, Eli removed his arm and returned to his place.

“So, are we clear? We are to execute this as quickly and as quietly as possible.” Jericho waited for them all to nod in agreement. Satisfied that he had their attention, he ran through the order of the drop. Eve wanted to protest, seeing as she was the one that had brought everyone else into this, she felt that she should be the one to jump first. Another heated discussion followed this, this time between Caleb and Eve. Jericho was becoming irritated; they were wasting time, and he still wasn’t completely confident they were alone down there. Every minute wasted was one a potential threat had to sneak up on them.

“Enough! You will jump after me, Eve, followed by Caleb followed by Winter. With Eli at the rear, are you all clear on this, as I am not changing the plan for anyone since, as you pointed out, Eve, I am the most skilled in combat and regardless of what you think you should do, I will be keeping you as safe as possible,” Jericho hissed, waves of agitation radiating off him .

“Of course, Jericho. I’m sorry,” Eve mumbled, getting ready to move out from behind the rocks in single file, they moved as silently as possible. It was now or never, Jericho led the group to the bridge. Thankfully, nothing appeared out of the dark to attack them, but he was all too aware that could change any moment. Halting the others, he motioned for them to follow him, though at a distance, so that their weight was evenly distributed on the old planks of the bridge. Making eye contact with each of them, Jericho gave a slight nod and then began to make his way to the break in the planks. After ten paces, he felt Eve join him. By the time he had reached the gap, everyone was standing on the slightly swaying bridge. Caleb was levitating just above the planks to ease the load on the rotting planks; which Jericho was thankful for. The protesting ancient wood would not hold up for long.

Turning to face Eve he held up his paws, opening and closing his splayed fingers once, to indicate that she was to count to twenty before following him. Eve nodded and mouthed
‘see you soon’
. Jericho gave a small smile and then without dwelling on the possibility that this could literally be his last adventure, he jumped

It was an unpleasant feeling to free fall, and not know what was waiting for you at the end of it. The air whistled past him, causing his ears to sting with cold and his eyes to water. The gaping hole seemed to rush towards him, eager to swallow him whole. His descent seemed to last for hours though in reality, it was but a few moments. Relief coursed through him, as finally saw the shimmering swirls that clearly identified this was a portal and that is was, mercifully, active.
Thank the Goddess
. Taking a deep breath, Jericho passed into another realm.

Eve let out the breath she had been holding, up until Jericho’s form had made contact with the portal, she had still been in doubt about what that blackness below was. She Watched as it shimmered and rippled with pale light, as her friend passed through it, both comforted and worried her in equal measure. What exactly was waiting for him, for all of them on the other side?

Suddenly remembering that she should be counting, Eve started from five to account for the time missed while she had been lost in her thoughts. As she counted the last few numbers she turned to look at Caleb; he looked pale, his fear for her written all over his handsome face. Gifting him with a smile, Eve turned back and jumped.

Jericho was eternally thankful that he had great reflexes, after exiting the portal he found himself facing a very solid looking stone path. Managing to turn himself feet first just moments before impact. His bent knees, taking the shock; he then rolled away from the landing zone. Taking only a moment to check for any broken bones or injuries and happy to find there were none, he moved back towards where he had landed and braced himself to catch Eve.

Moments later Eve appeared through the portal and managed to at least turn herself the right way up, ready for Jericho to catch her. They landed in a heap on the hard stone. Quickly extracting herself from Jericho, Eve jumped to her feet and offered her hand to a slightly winded Jericho.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t think I was that heavy,” Eve blushed while Jericho braced his hands on his thighs and took deep breaths.

“It’s not your fault; I should have braced myself more effectively,” he wheezed, “Best we stand back and let the others pass through, they will all manage just fine without our intervention.”

Sure enough, Caleb, Winter, and Eli appeared and each used their special abilities to land quietly and safely. Once everyone was present, Jericho took a better look at their surroundings. They seemed to be on a grey stone path but it was poorly maintained. Great slabs had cracked and others had crumbled into rubble. It wound its way down the boulder-strewn hill and disappeared into a black mass, which Winter informed them was sure to be snare weed. Met with inquiring faces, Winter explained that snare weed was highly deadly. its thick black stems were covered in hundreds of bruise- coloured thorns, which if they broke the skin, would inject a neurotoxin that would render the victim blind or in some cases, cause vivid hallucinations, leaving its victim helpless for any creature to pick off.

“Sounds like we should maybe avoid that way then,” Eli piped up.

“Oh that’s not all, it is intelligent. It remembers every countermeasures any past traveller has used against it and sets its own traps,” Winter concluded, her pretty countenance marred with worry lines.

“We don’t really have the option of going around it Eli, look, it stretches for miles in both directions. You may be able to shift into bird form, and I may be able to fly the lay lines but there are none of those down here and Jericho, Eve and Winter possess no such powers,” Caleb said to Eli, knowing it was not what he wished to hear. Eve scanned the gloomy vista before her; the entire place seemed to be void of all colour and life, apart from the snare weed. Beyond it, the road continued, and she could just make out what she thought was a pair of large gates embedded in a black wall. In all, the distance was no more than four miles.

“This is what we must do, Eli you can shift into bird and fly ahead and scout out the snare weed and what lays beyond, the rest of us will make our way along the road and meet you before we enter the weed,” Eve said, taking charge of the situation before her twin lost his nerve again. His voice had only been given back to him at Eves request; she could feel his discomfort. Everyone considered her plan.

“It’s a good a plan as any, as long as he actually comes back,” Winter replied, her eyes like ice chips on Eli.

“I would not abandon my sister; I shall stick to her plan and relay all I see to you when we rendezvous.”

Rolling her eyes, Winter bent to refasten her boots, Jericho couldn’t deny it was a good plan, though he too had his doubts about Eli’s valour.

“Eli, you should leave now, it will give you more time to scout the area as we make our way down. Anything dangerous, you head straight back to us, understand?” Jericho ordered. Eli agreed and very quickly transformed into a black bird and took off.

“We need to move, but remember we stay together,” Caleb murmured taking Eve’s hand. They followed Jericho out from their hiding place, with Winter bringing up the rear; they cautiously began the descent to the barrier of Snare weed.

Eli flew as fast has his wings would allow, swooping low over the snare weed he could see that there was no easy path through, it was going to take a lot of patience and teamwork to get through it. Soaring back up into the bruise coloured sky, he pondered how portals and this whole realm worked,
how was it possible to have a sky underground?
All of this was giving him a headache. Continuing on he observed precisely… nothing. The road continued for a few miles until he reached a huge portcullis that was embedded into the thick black walls of what could only be described as a fortress.

The wall was an imposing structure, made from onyx. It rose at least twenty feet into the air. Eli pointed his beak upwards and began to flap vigorously, as he tried to reach the top. The air was frigid at this altitude for such a small bird, and Eli’s wings were becoming numb. When he was all set to give up; he spied a grotesque gargoyle a few feet above him and with one final push, he reached it. Collapsing on its freezing onyx head for just a moment he used his vantage point to take in the surrounding lands.

What he saw made his little heart flip-flop in his breast. To the east, and heading his way fast was a vast army. He could not tell what creatures made up the mass but he was very sure, they were not going to be friendly. Glancing up, he saw he only had another five feet to go before reaching the top of the wall, however, remembering his promise to Jericho. He took one more look at the army and took off; heading back the way he had come.

With his decent aiding him, Eli made it back in double quick time. He could see them; they had almost made it to the weed barrier, taking a risk he shifted into a large vulture, with the larger wingspan, he was soon just meters away from them. Eve’s red hair flashed like a beacon in the barren surroundings. Landing rather heavily, he quickly turned back into his elvish form and jogged to meet Jericho, who was heading the party,

“There… is an army coming… from the east,” he gasped, still breathless, his lungs burning from the cold air.

“How many?” Jericho asked, his calm tone at odds with his clenched fists and tense posture.

“Hard to say, a legion maybe two. All I know is that when you get through that,” Eli rushed on, pointing to the mass of black foliage behind him. “There are going to be a lot of creatures waiting to kill you.”