Valley of the Ancients: Book Three of the Restoration Series (11 page)

"My, my Lord." The officer stammered. "We tracked him to this spot, but then he seems to have disappeared. I have men searching to the north and south. He's out here somewhere and we'll find him." The officer was young but he already had several visible scars that betrayed his experience in defense of Telur.

Thomas sighed, hating what he had to do. He motioned his hand and his men sprang forward. The soldiers were slow in realizing they were being attacked and only two of them managed to draw their swords. The fight was over in moments.

Turning his back on the bloody mess that had just been four soldiers, Thomas rested his hand on the handle of his sword, and then he closed his eyes while he quietly cast a spell. Almost immediately, he turned, looking past the dead soldiers. To his eyes, there were red footprints across the rocks and stones. The footprints headed to a large fissure that ran up the side of the mountain.

Thomas began forward, pausing by the dead soldiers. "I'm sorry," he said quietly and it was true. He hated to have to kill these men, but they couldn't be allowed to spread rumors about the kinds of things that he could do. His abilities were quietly condoned by the Church, all the while they were condemned publicly.

Chapter 6

Atock followed Dagan through the inn's doors and up the stairs. No one turned to look at them or seemed to even notice their passing, not even the little old man behind the front desk. Even though he knew it was Dagan's use of sorcery that seemed to make them invisible, it still made Atock uncomfortable. Something about it just didn't seem right. Perhaps it was just a warrior's distrust of anything supernatural.

Dagan and Cassandra had initially entered the small inn and secured two rooms for them while Atock had seen to the wagon and horses. The old sorcerer had waited on him while Cassandra had disappeared upstairs.

Reaching the second floor, they turned right and headed down the long hallway. "First two on the left are ours," Dagan said, motioning in the general direction of the closed doors.

"And where are our friends?"

"I believe they are farther down the hall."

As if on cue, a door on the right side of the hall opened just a hair and a one eyeball peeped out. Then the door was yanked open and Heather's relieved face grinned at them from the doorway. She made a motioning gesture towards them, "Come on!".

Atock stepped through the door into the small room. It was way too small for the number of people who were assembled here. Six people were gathered into the too small room, the only person missing was Enton. He barely had a moment to absorb that fact before Mikela hugged him hard and Aaron began wringing his hand. Their greetings were short lived though.

"Where's Ento0">n?" Dagan asked, giving voice to the thought that was running through Atock's head. He looked slightly apprehensive.

"Relax," Heather answered, moving over to the bed and sitting down.

She looked rather tired, like the stress of being in charge was getting to her. It wasn't easy being in charge. Still though, he would have thought that the week of rest at this inn would have been good for her.

"I want to know what happened." Heather said, her eyes trying to bore the information out of Atock. "Everything."

Before he began, Atock glanced at Dagan. The old man nodded, "I've warded the room. No one will hear what's said here."

Cassandra and Mikela moved quickly over to sit next to Heather on the edge of the bed. Dagan took the rickety looking chair and a somewhat grumpy looking Aaron sat on the floor with his back against the wall.

Then Atock began telling the story. He leaned against the wall just to the right of the door as he relayed everything that had happened to them. Everything from having to leave Helum early, to their wanderings in the catacombs, to Philip's death. Both Mikela and Heather looked a little misty eyed at the news and Aaron just looked grim. Philip may not have been their best friend, but he had been a comrade.

"Exactly how did he die?" Aaron pressed, interrupting Atock's story. "Who killed him?"

Atock shook his head, "Not exactly sure. I was unconscious at the time, but Flare told me that Philip was killed by the arrival of Zalustus and his followers."

"But how did you get back to Telur so quickly?" Heather asked, her forehead wrinkled in confusion.

Atock shuddered at the very thought of their flight with the dragon. "When we passed through the valley of Ail-Dasharra, there was a dragon imprisoned there. Flare gave it a temporary release from its prison, if it would fly us to Telur."

"How did he do that?" Mikela asked, looking horrified. "I mean, wouldn't that require a member of the Dragon Order to release the dragon?"

Atock cocked his head to the right, "I thought Flare was able to do it because he's a descendant of King Osturlius."

Dagan shook his head and leaned forward in his chair. "No. The dragon was imprisoned in that valley long before Osturlius. The only way that Flare could have released him was if the dragon recognized his authority as a member of the Dragon Order." It was the first thing he had said since Atock began telling his tale.

"What about that?" Aaron asked from his place on the floor. "Has he really claimed the sword? Is the Order re-established?"

"He has claimed the sword," Dagan answered quietly, "but the Order has not been established yet."

"But he's trying?" Mikela asked. She spoke so quietly that it was almost impossible to hear.

Dagan sighed, "And we get to it at last. Yes, he is trying to restore the Dragon Order, but I for one do not think that's a bad thing."

"How can you say that?" Heather exclaimed, "Haven't you read Kelcer?"

&height="0" width="48">"I read Kelcer before you were ever born, so watch your tongue." Dagan's tone had gone rather sharp. "We are stuck with a rather poor translation of Kelcer and not everyone who reads it believes that the restoration of the Dragon Order is our doom." The common tongue had been around for millennia, but it hadn't always been the exclusive language. Once, different kingdoms had spoken their own language in addition to common. The Kelcer prophecy had been written in one such language and then translated into common.

"Poor translation!" Heather shouted, popping to her feet. "How can you say that?"

Dagan also got to his feet and suddenly he didn't look quite so old or frail, actually he looked rather menacing. His eyes shown with an intensity. "The church has done a very good job of hiding the truth here. The translation that we have into the common tongue is very poor and many of the meanings have been changed. Believe me when I say that if I suspected Flare of being a monster, I would have cut his throat myself. But I got to know the boy and I respect him. That is why I taught him sorcery."

There was a moment of shocked silence in the room. Shock both at the revelation that Dagan had taught Flare sorcery and his sudden bold and animated display. Heather stood opposite Dagan, her mouth moving but no sounds coming out. Atock looked like he was about to swallow his tongue.

"You taught him?" Mikela finally managed to get out. "But that's against all of our laws. How could you do it?"

"All of our laws?" Dagan repeated quietly, some of the fire draining away from his demeanor. "What laws? The laws imposed on us by the church of Adel." He snorted rather loudly, "Laws that are not made to protect us but to keep us under control."

"How long has Flare been learning sorcery?" Atock asked quietly. "When did you start teaching him?"

"Shortly after you returned from Mul-Dune."

Mikela turned her gaze towards Cassandra. "If I remember correctly, you also spent a lot of time with Flare. Were you also teaching him?"

There was another shocked silence and every eye in the room watched Cassandra. After a moment, she nodded her head once. "But I started teaching him before you ever left for Mul-Dune."

The words had a varied affect on the other Guardians. Both Aaron and Atock looked grim, but both Heather and Mikela looked like they were about to explode. Atock could certainly understand their anger. All this time, Flare had been practicing magic and sorcery and none of them had known.

"It's not as bad as you think," Dagan's quiet words seemed to reverberate in the small room. "In my years I have learned to be a pretty good judge of character. That boy's not a monster."

Heather seemed to have regained her voice, "Then how do you explain Kelcer?"

Dagan snorted again. "Prophecies are hard to explain and prophecies by madmen are even worse." He shook his head, looking around. "You all know Flare. Do you think him an evil person?"

"I'm not so sure that we knew him as well as we thought we did." Aaron said. "I had no idea he was learning magic or sorcery."

Dagan s Fn fod. miled. "True enough. But you do know him. Oh, maybe not all of his secrets, and we all have secrets, but you know him deep down. Do you think he could kill the innocent?"

"No," Atock said. Maybe the question wasn't supposed to be answered out loud, maybe Dagan meant for each of them to answer it silently, but he did know Flare and the man he knew was a good man.

The silence continued for several moments and once again Dagan seemed to be reading their thoughts. "Just because you accept him as a good person for now does not mean that you can't change your mind later. If he gives you a reason to doubt him, then by all means doubt him, but don't be afraid of him for no reason."

Biting his tongue, it occurred to Atock that a warrior keeping secret the fact that he was learning magic and sorcery might be a reason to doubt that person.

Mikela leaned forward and put her face in her hands, but Heather watched Dagan like a hawk. "So what is it that you want us to do?"

Smiling now, Dagan walked slowly back over to the old rickety chair. The dangerous and powerful looking man was gone and in his place was the old frail man again. Sitting down, he turned his attention back to the faces that were impatiently waiting on him. "I mentioned earlier about how poor a translation of Kelcer we have access to. I need to see a copy of the prophecy in the old tongue. A copy that has not been edited to agree with the Church's views."

"And where are we going to find such a copy?" Mikela asked, her head still in her hands.

Dagan's grin grew even wider and with a certainty, Atock knew the answer.

"I was rather surprised to find out that you were in Eled Aminor. It just so happens that one of the three copies, not in the hands of the church, is here."

"What?" Heather demanded, her eyes wide. "There's an original copy of Kelcer here?"

Dagan nodded. "Eled Aminor is rather uninteresting in most regards, but the library here is famous. A long time ago, the city was it's own kingdom and the royal family built the library. Housed within that library is a copy of Kelcer in the old tongue."

"I'm surprised the church didn't ask for it," Heather said, still looking surprised.

"Oh they did ask for it. When that didn't work, they demanded it, and then they started threatening."

Dagan paused and Atock pushed ahead, "The church tried to take it and was rebuffed, and then they just gave up?"

"Well, the inner workings of the Church aren't exactly well known, especially when they fail in something. Rumor has it that they tried to have several other kingdoms conquer Eled Aminor and take the translation. The other kings refused," Dagan grinned again, "Kings don't like to overthrow other kings just because the Church tells them to. That puts a certain fear into a king. If they can overthrow a king on the Church's orders, then what's to stop the Church from deciding to overthrow their kingdom?"

Mikela shook her head looking confused. "Okay, so you want to take a look at this copy of Kelcer. How do we do that?"

The smile disappeared from Dagan's face. "That does present a certain challenge. If I was still a C F. Theigouncilor to the King of Telur, then I'm sure that I would be given a chance to inspect the document. However," the grin reappeared but it was rather sardonic now, "given my current alienation from the throne, I don't think I should advertise who I am."

"Do we think that they will know about your current situation?" Heather asked. "Maybe word hasn't reached Eled Aminor yet."

"I'm quite sure that they will know. Undoubtedly, King Darion has offered a reward for my capture, so I'm rather inclined to believe that they will know about my flight from Telur."

"So how do we get you in to see it?" Aaron asked.

"I have been giving this a lot of thought since leaving Telur," Dagan sighed deeply. "And I must admit that I'm no closer to an answer than when I started."

Silence engulfed the small room, the only sounds were of shuffling feet.

"Do you even have the beginnings of a plan?" Cassandra finally said. It was the first thing she had said in a while and she looked less than pleased with the old man.

"Actually, I do." Dagan answered. "But it's just the beginning. We need more information and to that goal, here's how I think we should proceed. First, Aaron and Mikela will visit the library and study the interior of the buildings."

"Buildings?" Aaron asked.

"Yes, the library has been around for several millennia and has grown out into other multiple buildings. We'll need to locate which building actually contains the treasure room. The rumor is that when the king of Aramonia conquered Eled Aminor, they were so impressed by the construction of the royal treasure room at the library that they continued to use it. The royal family of Aramonia deny this, of course, but the treasure room is supposed to include some amazing treasures. There is rumored to be a necklace that contains the ruby from the hilt of Gennosse, one of the divine blades and sister blade to Ossendar. Also, a spell book of the famous enchanter Pellum of Carcon and the golden helmet called Ashteroth, which once belonged to one of the last princes of the faerum." He paused, and looked around. The faces of those assembled had gone rather blank and they just stared at him. He cleared his throat, "Anyway, we need to find the treasure room that is located in the library."

"And how do we do that?" Mikela asked, looking flabbergasted.