The Elderine Stone (15 page)

“Well that was something” Jason exclaimed looking at the pile of dust on the floor, “I don’t think scrolls are supposed to do that”

“
You’re right someone or something is trying to stop us from getting further in our quest. We have to be cautious. Let’s finish with the rest of these books, there may be something else. Then we should get out of the city before we are caught.”

Emily walked over to the artefacts whilst Sherbit continued to look through the scrolls. Jason decided that he should try his luck looking through the books of the volume. Walking over to the bookcase and looking at its contents, there were at least twenty various sized books lined up all neatly bound in what looked like red leather. One book, however, which had been placed in the centre was green, it had the title
All things Elderine Old, New and Now
, imprinted in gold along the spine.
It’s worth a try
Jason thought as he lifted the book down. The book slipped through his fingers and landed open with the pages facing the ground. Jason bent down to pick it up, placing one of his fingers between the pages that the book had fallen open at. Jason didn’t even glance at the contents until he was standing up again. As he leant against the bookshelf he began to open the book at were it fell.

Jason suddenly jumped back with surprise
, what he found was totally unexpected, in a matter of seconds he had uncovered and completely by accident, exactly what they had been looking for.

“Emily come here, I think I have found something”

Emily looked over at him, placing a strange looking metal block back on the shelf.

The Story of the Hero.

It has been said that a hero will come, a hero not familiar to this world. This hero will be the one who will vanquish the new evil, the evil that has been summoned forth by the Dark One.

Many will stop him, many who believe that only a member of the Order can stop the evil.

The writing began to fade. Jason turned a few more pages hoping to find some more clues. The next page was blank, and any page that followed on after. Jason gulped as his heart and hopes sank as the penultimate page he turned to also bore the same appearance as those before. He turned one last time to find a picture. It looked like a mountain, with a ruined building at the foot. A caption below the picture read:

The Lost City Ruins, at the foot of the Mingus Mountains.

“That is where we have to go” Emily explained

“To the Mingus Mountains?”

“
Don’t you see Jason, you are that Hero, and there are people who are trying to stop us, we haven’t been imagining this. We should go to my house at once, it’s on the way. We can stock up on supplies and then at first light head towards the Mingus Mountains. Then we can fight the Dark Lady.”

“
Wait.” Jason said interrupting Emily in her excitement “I don’t know if I’m capable of fighting anyone, never mind the Dark Lady, who by the sounds of things seems to strike fear into the hearts of so many people here”

“
But Jason you have to, it’s your Destiny! Besides you are the only one who can defeat her. You have to” Emily sounded so emotional that Jason felt guilty for even thinking about questioning who Emily thought he was.

“
Ok
, I will, or at least I will try. There is no harm in trying. Besides there is not much else I can do now that I am stuck here”

“
She is evil
” Sherbit said rocking back and forth on the ground “I don’t want to go back there”

“
Sherbit you’ll be ok, besides you have me looking after you, the hero” Jason said this with a brave sounding voice, imitating a typical hero pose.

“
See Sherbit you have nothing to worry about.” Emily said kneeling down to rub Sherbit’s back. “You will be fine I promise.”

“
Maybe we should go now” Jason said, remembering the past events. If they were right in their assumptions, someone would soon catch up with them and try to put a stop to their plans before they even had the opportunity to put them into action.

“Yeah we have found everything we could find out here” Emily walked over to the Indexing stone “Come and stand in the circle you two”

When all three were standing safely within the circles perimeter, Emily placed her hands on the stone.

“Search Complete”

The
buzzing
noise surrounded them, the ground vibrated, but this time they knew what was happening. Even Sherbit who had been terrified last time was now humming his usual tune.

The noise and the vibrating stopped. Once again they were standing back in the library entrance chamber. Nothing much had changed since they had left it earlier, except for two young looking people who quickly turned away as soon as Emily, Jason and Sherbit appeared back in the room.

“
Well that’s everything. We should leave the city now before we attract any unwanted attention.” Emily said as she lead the way towards the door, passing by Devon and Grimble who were nervously looking at one of the containers hoping that they wouldn’t be noticed. The three friends smiled at the librarian on their way out.

“
Grimble this is your entire fault, we have missed them. Look! They are leaving.” Devon said as he slapped Grimble across the head.

A loud
shush
came from the direction of the librarian at the desk.

“
You almost got us caught too, standing there staring right at them” Devon lowered his voice to a hiss, but still punctuated his complaint with a series of sharp slaps.

“But master…!”

“
No ‘Buts’, Grimble. We will check the Indexing Stone to see what they were looking at” Devon walked towards the Indexing Stone with Grimble slowly walking behind him. Devon placed his hand on the stone and said

“
Immobile. Previous search”

Devon clearly had used these devices before, but being the kings son, and having to study quite a bit this was to be expected. Instead of being warped into a different room, A metal like plate attached to the wall above the stone shone, then a list of books that were in the last search appeared. Most names contained Elderine, Order of Elderine and a few contained brief notes on the Dark Lady.

“
So they are planning to go north” Devon said forgetting the silence rule. “We have to stop them Grimble, we can’t let an outsider take the honour that is rightfully mine”

“Yes Devon, we should stop them, but shouldn’t we be following them now?”

“
Yes Grimble, following them sounds good” As soon as Devon had said it he realised what it meant, they had let the three friends out of their sight, but at least he now knew where they were heading. They were on their way towards the ruins of the old Elderine City, The Lost City, at the foot of the Mingus Mountains.

“
Well let’s get going Grimble. We have no time to stand around waiting.” Devon motioned as he walked towards the library exit.

On his way out he stopped at the librarian, and lowered his hood.

“
Next time you tell me to be quiet; I shall have to have a word with my father.”

“
Oh sorry you’re Highness! I didn’t recognise you! My apologies!”

He bowed low, and Devon made a gesture indicating the librarian to stand up.

“
It is alright.
This time
! Next I won’t be so favourable”

Devon pulled his hood up again and walked out of the library; Grimble just gave a nervous smile to the now shaken librarian, and followed Devon out.

The air was much cooler outside. It refreshed and lifted the sprits of the young friends who were now eager to start their quest. Standing side by side they enjoyed a gentle breeze blow passed them. The sensation sent cool tremors down their backs. The library had been rather stuffy. The air had been warm and dry, almost suffocating. It was such a liberty to be able to breathe fresh air again.

The once busy streets, which were previously crowded by teachers of magic and their students, were now fairly empty. The majority of the previous crowd were now probably deep in thought, focusing on their classes or studying the ancient magical archives. Jason wondered for a brief moment, why couldn’t someone else from this world defeat the Dark Lady and why did it have to be him. The many users of magic, the King’s guards, or even an army of both could surely go up against the Dark Lady and have a much greater chance of success. Then again maybe the stories were true, maybe only the hero could defeat her, or a member of the Order. It didn’t matter though Jason knew he had to go north. After all, there was no where else for him to go. He had no other choice, if an alternative did pop up he would surely take it, but as far as he could see there was no way out of this one. Here he was a stranger in a strange and magical land, following two new friends. They had dropped everything for him, so he wasn’t going to give up on them now.

Emily led the way back through the streets of the
library district towards the door that would lead them onto the busy merchant area. They all felt a little uneasy, as if their surroundings were caving in over them, or as if hundreds of eyes were watching from the windows, peering into their minds to uncover their plans. It was a silly thought really. Some townsfolk were still walking around the streets, but they were too preoccupied with their own personal business to pay any attention to the three friends. They now had a hint of what they needed to do, and it was important that they started their quest as soon as possible. What they did know had been reaffirmed. The scriptures had spoken about the Hero, and now they were more than certain it was Jason.

As they continued to walk, they discussed what they had uncovered in the Great Library. They spoke at an audible level but at the same time took much care to ensure no one overheard them. Fearing the worst, or rather that the streets of Haspar had more ears than walls they decided it best that they should postpone any further discussion about their discoveries. At least until they were safely out of the city boundaries. They all felt the same feeling, as if an uncomfortable cloak of observation had been cast over them as soon as they left the library. They desperately wished to remove this.

“
You know we really should pass by my home.” Emily mused breaking the silence “It would give us a chance to rest, and think things through before we continue on our journey north. Plus it would allow us to gain some privacy from everyone else so we can really think about what we should do when we do reach the Dark Lady.”

“
That would be a great idea.” Jason replied before pausing, as if he remembered something important then he continued “Although, perhaps not. Won’t your grandfather be there? After all I thought he was against the whole idea of me being the hero?”

“
Well yes he could be. Though I have a feeling he won’t be there. In fact there is a much greater risk of him being here in Haspar, as I’m sure he would have come to tell the king about your arrival.”

“
Well then I guess it’s settled. It would be nice, I think, if we could rest there before we start the long trek north, I haven’t had a good sleep in a while” Jason stretched and yawned “I hope your parents have plenty of food stocked up.” Sherbit nodded whilst rubbing his stomach with his bony hand, Emily and Jason looked down with a grin.

“Oh yes, yes, there must be food for us to eat” Sherbit said which a much more serious tone.

Jason and Emily laughed as they walked through the door leaving Sherbit standing a few paces behind still rubbing his stomach.

“
I’ll take that as a yes then... yes??”

There was no reply, Sherbit sighed and ran through the door after his two friends.

Emily and Jason were standing at the other side looking up the street. They were quite surprised at what lay before them. Busy shoppers shuffled along the market stalls, each looking for any bargains that they could lay their hands upon. The market place had nearly tripled in size since they left earlier. The people were so tightly squashed together that most could barely move.

“
Wow look at all those people” Jason said “maybe we should find another way around them? It might be quicker in the long run, besides I don’t particularly fancy being squashed to death in the process of trying to reach the city gates.”

“
I agree.” Emily replied thoughtfully “I remember seeing a side street when I was talking to the guard earlier perhaps it will lead to the city gate, if not at least it will direct us away from the crowds.”

“
Its worth a try, anything has to be better than being squashed between that horde of shopaholics”

“
Shop-a-what-now?” Emily replied in a confused tone along with a very blank and vacant expression painted across her face.