The Unknown Man: Book 1 in The Keepers of the Orbs Series (12 page)

He coughed as he sat up. “What...what happened?”

Still trying to recover, she managed to answer, “My friends and I…” She motioned to the others, “came across you on the road. You were near death, but I healed your wounds.” She gave him a stern look. “The question is what happened to you?”

He looked around, unsure of his surroundings and the newcomers. “I don’t know.” He closed his eyes trying to remember when recognition dawned on his face. “I rode to Morith to deliver a load of ale and pipe tobacco.” He stopped to recall more. “I noticed four horses approaching me from behind. At first, I didn’t think anything about it; these roads have been safe for quite some time. But as they drew near, I noticed the men all had cloth wrapped around their faces. They rushed up and two of them jumped from their horses, climbed onto the wagon, attacked me—throwing me from the wagon. Before I blacked out, I saw them rummaging about in search of something. That’s all I remember.” Jaeden and Tirene rejoined them, catching the last part of his story.

Liniana tried to stand, but slumped back down to the ground, too weak to stand on her feet. Tirene helped her back up. Jaeden and Tirene both supported her while she worked to regain her energy.

Tirene shifted his focus back to the man, a doubtful look on his face. “It looks like all of your tobacco is still in the wagon, but the casks of ale have all been drained.” He tried to read him. “They were after something, but left all of what you claimed to be transporting. Were you transporting anything else?”

The man shifted his gaze and shuffled his feet in the dirt. “That's all...I mean I had a...” He paused while he looked around.

Liniana gave him a supportive look. “It's okay. Just tell us what you had. What could they have been after, and did they take it?”

He stayed quiet for a moment before answering. “I had an artifact I came across a few months ago. I tried to sell it in Riverfell, but no one there had enough money to pay me what I think it’s worth. I wanted to try selling it in the town between Riverfell and Melina.” He started walking toward his wagon. “Let me see if they took... wait a minute. Three or four riders attacked me.” He looked at the party with suspicion on his face. “How do I know you three didn’t attack me? That's it! You couldn’t find it, so you needed me to tell you where it’s hidden. Well I won’t! You can’t have it!” He shouted at them, spittle flying from his mouth. “You three can be off down the...”

Tirene leaned Liniana on Jaeden and confronted the man. “You inconsiderate little weasel. You would’ve died if Liniana hadn’t healed you.” He stormed off before he hit him, outraged at the man’s audacity to blame them. The man looked ashamed.

“I tried to add up the pieces. I'm sorry; I’m grateful and you’re right.” He turned and walked to the wagon. He climbed up onto the flatbed and started shifting casks around. He looked at Tirene as he paced on the road. After the old man shifted a half dozen of the ale casks, he revealed a small trap door in the bed of the wagon. He opened it and pulled out a bunch of loose clothing. The concealed space seemed larger than the trap door would lead one to believe. The man laid his fat belly on the bed, while he stuck his arm in the hole. He continued to pull belongings out, a few at a time, with a disgruntled look on his face. Upon unrolling a large red cloak, his face turned beet red and he swore. He reached back into the concealed cavity of the wagon, flailing about not finding what he looked for. When he couldn’t find anything else, he stood back up and sputtered more obscenities. Tirene rejoined Liniana and Jaeden, waiting for the man to finish his search.

“Those bastards, they took it!” He swore more, as he climbed down from the wagon. “I’m sorry, but those flaming dolts knew what they were after. No bloody wonder they left me for dead.” He shook his head, his cheeks growing redder. “It would have made me a very rich man, and now I have nothing.”

The old man hadn’t revealed information fast enough to satisfy Tirene, and it infuriated him. “What! What did they take? You still haven’t answered our questions. We saved your life and you accused us of being thieves while you mumble about this artifact!” He stopped to calm himself down. Liniana gave him a small smile while she rubbed his arm. “Now, what was the artifact?”

“It was... well, I don’t know exactly.” The color returned to his cheeks. “Again, I’m sorry for accusing you. It’s apparent you weren’t the ones who robbed me. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.” Liniana and Jaeden nodded at his apology. “I found it a few months ago. I stopped for the night at the base of the mountains north of Riverfell. It had rained hard and I happened to find a cave to sleep in for the night. When I awoke, the sun had climbed well into the sky, illuminating much of the cave and revealing a small passageway to the rear. As I approached it, I noticed a small opening. I lit a torch and peered through the hole which opened up into a large cavern inside. I managed to get my girth through the hole and I explored the room. There were a number of bats sleeping in the top of the cavern. Angry at the sudden appearance of so much light—they took flight. They were going down one of the openings leading from the main room. I figured they were heading to another large cavern so I followed them. I was right.” He reached up and wiped away the sweat accumulating on his forehead. “The room was large and the bats resettled on the ceiling of it. Not even the light from my torch bothered them. I walked to the edge of a pool, and dipped my hands into the water. It was very cold, and it must have been fed by a stream carrying fresh snow melt from the mountains.”

Tirene looked at the man trying to encourage him to speed up his explanation. “As much of an intriguing story as this is, what was it?” He asked again. Liniana gave Tirene a quelling look.

“I’m getting there” He said. “Like I said, the water felt icy cold. I splashed some on my face to refresh myself. When I wiped away the remains, I noticed a glow from deep within the pool. The light was a deep, dark shade of red giving the appearance the sun itself had settled at the bottom of the pond. I couldn’t see the bottom of the pool, so to determine just how deep it went, I grabbed a large boulder and dropped it into the water. It sank, and I figured it had to be at least a twenty or thirty foot swim to the bottom. I thought about leaving it alone, but as I turned to leave I felt a force pulling me toward it.” More sweat accumulated on his forehead, and he again wiped it away. “I didn’t want to go in the cold water to get it, but the pull made me do it anyway. I stripped off some of my outer clothing and crept into the water. The icy chill reached through my skin and penetrated my bones. Realizing I needed to speed up or face hypothermia, I dove deep into the water. About half way to the object, the bottom of the pool sloped almost straight down, like a cliff. I was close to running out of air in my lungs, but I pushed further on, feeling that need to have the object in my hands. Every move of my arm drew me closer to it and the inner pull increased. When I came close enough to touch it, I stuck my arms out, gathered it close to my chest, brought it in, and a warming sensation spread throughout my body. I moved it to one my hands, and swam as fast as I could, but I didn’t need to. I no longer felt chilled and my lungs no longer struggled for air. I took my time swimming back out of the water.”

He paused while he looked around at the others. “I brought it back to where I had camped for the evening and examined it. It looked to be an ordinary hourglass, but it glowed within and runes covered the frame.” Liniana let out a large breath of air in a gasp, as he recognized the description. He pressed on with his story. “Although it looked ordinary, what swirled inside wasn’t. The glow permeated the darkness of the cave. It held some sort of energy within, but I had no idea how to control it. The longer I held it, the more I wanted to know all about it. I knew I needed to sell it, because it would fetch a lot of gold, but I also became too attached to it, so I stowed it in my wagon.” He looked at all three of them to get their impressions before continuing. “I went on to Riverfell and asked if anyone might be interested in it, but the only one interested was an old wizard named Norlun. He didn’t have the gold I wanted, though, so I didn’t sell it to him. Then you found me here.” A look of sadness crept onto his face. He curled his lips, almost pouting. “And now it’s gone.”

Liniana already knew the answer but grabbed Tirene's hand. She turned his hand so the palm faced up. She pointed to the scar and asked, “Did it look like this?”

The man stepped closer to get a better look at his hand. He squinted his eyes to see the scar, and his eyes lit up. “Yes! That’s it.”

Tirene pulled his hand back from the man's gaze and Liniana looked alarmed. “Did you get a good look at the four men? Were they men or something else? This is important! I need to find that artifact.”

The man looked down. “No I didn’t. Like I said, their faces were masked.”

With this, Liniana looked deep into Tirene's eyes as understanding dawned on his face. “It’s best we’re off then.” She started to walk away, but stumbled. She hadn’t yet regained her strength.

Tirene caught her and turned her to face the balding man. “You’re not ready to travel yet. I think maybe it would be best if we stopped and ate first.”

She interrupted him. “I appreciate your concern, but it’s now our top priority to catch these thieves. We can eat dried meat in the saddle.” He gave her a stern look, but agreed. He knew the object the thieves stole could only be an orb, and he wanted nothing more than to get it from them. “I’ll be fine. Just help me into my saddle, and let's go.”

She tried to walk on her own, but still needed his support. He ran to keep up with her. He turned to Jaeden. “Come on. Help me get her into her saddle. We don’t have much time; we must ride now.”

Jaeden ran over and assisted Tirene, putting Liniana into her saddle. She appeared eager to be off, so Jaeden and Tirene climbed onto their horses and turned to follow her. They left the old man in the distance as he ran after them, swearing the entire time.

Tirene watched the old man chase them and had to hold back a chuckle as he returned his attention to the road ahead of them. One good thing came from the encounter, though. Several memories of the orbs flooded into his mind. He now understood what they were. He urged his horse up to Liniana and inquired about the encounter. “What he described is one of the orbs. How did you know?”

She looked at him, and bit her lip as she tried to decide if she should divulge any information. “How do you know it’s an orb? With the burn on your hand, I assumed you were tied to them in some manner, but you never showed you knew what it represented.”

Jaeden drew nearer to hear what they were talking about. He waited for her to finish speaking and then took the opportunity to join the conversation. “All this talk of artifacts, I don’t understand. You two seem to have an idea as to what the item is. So tell me.”

Tirene continued to speak to Liniana, ignoring the boy’s demands for information. “I only now became aware of what it’s and what it means. I dreamt of seven of these orbs in a concealed room. They were all tied together by a white glowing stream of energy and...”

“Stop! You shouldn’t be speaking of the orbs around Jaeden. He won’t understand.”

Jaeden's face lit up with excitement as a smile crept from cheek to cheek. “Wait, an orb? I’ve heard of them, but thought they were a part of fables.” He looked toward both of them, urging them on. “This means they exist!”

Liniana interrupted him with a sigh. “I guess you’re well woven into this now. I can’t tell you too much, but yes they exist.” She turned her attention back to Tirene. “Why didn’t you tell me about this dream? This is important and you shouldn’t have held it back from me.”

He furrowed his brow and leveled a glare. “As I said, I stood in a sealed room. Seven of the orbs sat on pedestals, each connected by streaming energy, converging in a ball centered above them. I tried to touch one, but electricity shocked me.” He paused while he looked into her eyes. “A strange man joined me in the dream. He seemed surprised to see me, and taunted me. He remarked at their beauty and called them orbs. Shortly thereafter, he disappeared and I awoke from my dream. I didn’t see the importance and that’s why I didn’t mention it to you.” She still looked upset. “Come on! You know I would have no idea of the importance or I would’ve told you sooner.”

She sighed before responding. “I’m a sworn keeper of the orbs. I assumed with that scar on your hand, you were one too. If you don’t know, though, then I can’t discuss this any further.” Her gaze drifted to his scarred hand. She reached below her neckline and pulled out a silver chain necklace. An etched medallion hung from the end of it; the etching showed an orb. She grabbed Tirene's scarred hand and brought it up to the medallion. The designs matched.

He pulled his hand back and reached beneath his tunic. He pulled out an identical silver chain with a medallion on it as well. He looked on to her startled eyes. “Is this proof enough?” I found it around my neck the first night, but didn’t know what it was. I tried to remove it, but there is no clasp to break free.”

She nodded and crept closer to examine it. “I knew you were marked, but if you’re a keeper I would know about it.” He had no answers and just shrugged at her. Even though she now knew, she was wary of sharing too much. “There are seven of these orbs that are remnants from an ancient time. Each one has a different ability, but most of them have been lost to time. Three are known to be in existence. One is in Havenbrook, one in Melina, and one in Shakiel. The alliance exists because Havenbrook and Melina battled to control two of the three orbs. Shakiel had the third, but we didn’t know about it until we were forced to surrender. We created the alliance to protect the orbs. When combined, their abilities become even stronger and in the wrong hands could prove disastrous for the world. If all seven are combined, he who controls them will control everything. It’s said, they can even control the sun, but even worse than that, the seven would unlock the prison holding Martul—which is a story for another day. Until today, the fourth has never been found. Now it’s in the hands of bandits.” She shook her head.