Valley of the Ancients: Book Three of the Restoration Series (26 page)

"Yes."

So completely unexpected was Pellum's abrupt reply that Flare was speechless. He stood there, with his mouth slightly ajar and staring at Pellum.

"It's not as bad as it sounds." Pellum finally said after a moment or two of awkward silence. "This method has been used for millennia and it is safe. In fact, your forebear King Osturlius once stood here before me, just as you are now. Although I must admit that he seemed a little more courageous than you."

Whatever the point of Pellum's words, they certainly managed to get Flare's back up. "Now wait a moment," he exclaimed hotly, "I don't know who you are or what place this is, and you expect me to blindly accept your story and travel to the realm of the dead to be trained by spirits. Only a fool would accept that without question. It is not cowardice that makes me question you but caution." Flare pointed Ossendar at Pellum. "I do not appreciate your insults."

Pellum's smile returned and he started slowly walking around the pool towards Flare. "Finally you show some fire. I was beginning to worry that you would not be worthy of the Osturlius name."

Flare took a step backwards. He wasn't afraid of this Pellum but he also did not want to have kill him either.

"Flaranthlas Eldanari. You must choose. Will you accept this training and restore the Dragon Order?" Pellum continued to slowly walk towards Flare. The sword pointing at him did not slow him a bit.

"How can I do that?" Flare demanded. His anger returned and he stopped backing away. "How can I restore that Order knowing all the evil things that I am supposed to do?"

Pellum stopped just short of the sword tip. "What evil things are you talking about?" He still smiled, but the smile was a patronizing one.

"All those atrocities that Kelcer spoke of. I will not be the killer of the innocent. I will not be a murderer."

"Are you blessed with divine insight into prophecy now?" Pellum demanded in a firm tone. The smile slipped from his fad thght="0">

"I, uh," Flare stumbled over the words. Pellum's questions caught him off guard. "Some of the things he said were pretty plain and easy to understand."

Pellum grunted. "Plain and easy to understand." He repeated. "An ancient prophecy written by a mad man and you think it's plain and easy to understand."

Apparently this man had a knack for irritating Flare. Once again, Flare's anger surged. "Yes, it's easy to understand. The prophecy was about the restoration of the Dragon Order. In the prophecy he says that the one who restores the Order will kill the babes of the land and murder the old and sick. He said my name would be a curse for all time! How could I miss-understand that?" Flare was practically shouting at the end and he pressed the point of Ossendar against Pellum's chest.

"You misunderstand the very point of the prophecy and that is why you misunderstand everything that it says." Pellum kept his arms by his side and stared unblinkingly at Flare. The affect was rather unnerving. "You think that you are the only one mentioned in that prophecy, when in fact, the prophecy is about two men."

 

 

 

Chapter 17

 

Flare stared at Pellum, without blinking for several moments, and then he shook his head. "What?" he finally managed to ask. "What two men?"

"The Kelcer prophecy is not about the man that will restore the Dragon Order. It is about the two men that will both try and restore the Order. Only one will succeed and the Order will be remade in that man's image. You represent the hope of men and elves. Whereas your rival, well, let's just say that if he is victorious then the world is in for dark times."

"Victorious?" Flare repeated. "You make it sound like this is a competition."

"Oh it is," Pellum said, and then he said no more. He watched Flare as if he was expecting something.

Flare was struggling to understand what Pellum had said. It went against everything he had ever been taught. The Kelcer prophecy had always been about the destroyer, the man that would restore the Order and then commit atrocities. Never had there been the first whisper that maybe the subject of the Kelcer prophecy wasn't evil. But then another thought occurred to him. The prophecy seemed to contradict itself throughout. First, the man that Kelcer saw was the hope of the innocent, then he was the destroyer of babes. It had always been confusing and contradictory. Pellum snorted and Flare raised his eyes from the floor to the man's face. "What?"

"There's a question that you haven't yet asked."

Flare's forehead wrinkled in confusion. What question did Pellum mean? He thought about it for a moment and then shook his head. "I don't know what you're referring to."

Pellum looked disappointed. "I thought it would be the first question you asked. I was sure that you would immediately ask who the other man is."

p heie thWith a jolt Flare realized that Pellum was right. It made sense, but there was one problem. Pellum had assumed that Flare would believe his story immediately and then ask the other man's identity. In truth, he still wasn't sure he believed Pellum's alternate interpretation of Kelcer. He was still wrestling with the idea that everything he had ever believed was wrong. It would certainly answer a lot of questions that Flare had always had about Kelcer. As these thoughts fought for his attention, another thought burst through and he spoke without even thinking, "Zalustus." He raised his head and studied Pellum. "It has to be Prince Zalustus.

Pellum looked slightly surprised but he bowed his head. "You are correct."

"So if he restores the Order then the world is doomed for all time?" Flare asked.

Pellum shook his head, "For an age only. The old age is passing away and the world is entering something new. This is a battle for the coming age. If you fail then the world will suffer horrors for a millennia or two, but at some point in the future there will be another trial such as this."

It was hard to accept this different understanding of the Kelcer prophecy. If Pellum was right then he had spent his whole life believing a lie. As a child, stories of the destroyer had been used to scare him, and now he was letting those beliefs go. Flare sighed deeply. He had not heard of Kelcer until he came to Telur, but he had heard of the prophesied destroyer; he was called by many different names. He felt a rightness to Pellum's words. A rightness and also a relief. He had been afraid for some time now that he would turn into whatever had driven Kelcer insane. There was a sense of peace to know that whether he succeeded or not, he was not an evil person. The worry, doubt, and anxiety that had been weighing on him for so long began to fall away. It was truly a wonderful feeling. He looked up at Pellum, a smile cracking his face. "So what do I need to do?"

Pellum smiled back. "It is not difficult. You simply need to accept this charge and then step into the pool. Completely submerge yourself in the water." As he spoke, he idly waved his hand behind him towards the motionless well of water.

The smile slid from Flare's face as he studied the water. There was a momentous feeling associated with this decision. He could feel the importance of this moment. His life was at a crossroads. There were two paths laid out in front of him and he had to pick which path he was to walk. Once the decision was made, there would be no changing his mind.

He sighed. This was foolishness. There wasn't a decision to make. Knowing what he now believed to be true, how could he choose to not go forward? That, in affect, would be letting Zalustus win. Besides, he had actually made the decision a long time ago, he just hadn't understood what he had done. He raised his eyes from the water and met Pellum's gaze. "I accept."

Pellum took a deep breath and nodded, smiling. "I knew you would. You had to."

Flare motioned to the water. "Do I take my clothes and weapons with me?"

"It doesn't matter," Pellum answered. "Regardless of what you enter with, you will arrive in Sha'al with everything that you require."

Nodding, Flare took a deep breath and started forward.

 

The water was cold as it closed over roa neFlare's head, but he held his nose and closed his eyes, settling down to the bottom of the pool. Pellum had said to submerge himself but he hadn't mentioned for how long. It probably didn't matter, if there had been an amount of time required for him to remain below water, then the old man would have mentioned it.

Flare hesitated, resting on the bottom of the pool. He was confident that he had been in the water long enough, but still he remained on the bottom. A part of him feared what he would find in Sha'al.

His hesitation lasted only a moment. Actually, it was probably rather childish of him to begin with. He couldn't remain at the bottom of that pool for very long. Either he came up or he ran out of air and started sucking in water. He waited one more heartbeat and then gently pushed off against the bottom of the pool.

Flare's head popped through into the air and he opened his eyes. A wave of water smacked him in the face and he shut his eyes again coughing. The water continued to lap against him and after a moment he opened his eyes, being careful to hold his head far enough above the surface of the water. His mouth dropped open as he beheld the scene that awaited him. The long room with the statues was gone. Pellum was gone. He was treading water in what appeared to be a lake or perhaps an offshoot of some river. Roughly twenty yards from him, the ground sloped steeply upwards from the water. All around the water steep hills rose up high in the air. He got the feeling that if a person slipped while standing on one of those slopes, then there was little enough to stop them from falling all the way to the water. The sky looked overcast, with dark blue and grey clouds. If he was any judge, then it would be pouring rain very soon.

On the top of the nearest hill sat an ancient keep. It was made of grey stones and the wooden roof looked like it had seen better days. While the keep would have been large for a single family, it most certainly was not a castle. It was not spread out, but instead rose high in the air. An old stone tower that reached far into the heavens.

Flare took a deep breath, being careful not to fill his lungs with water. He looked around one more time and then began swimming towards the nearest beach, which just happened to be at the base of the hill that the keep sat upon.

It took only a few moments for him to swim the short distance to the shore and then he gratefully emerged from the water. The water was not overly cold, but it was extremely dark and nearly impossible to see into. He kept imagining horrible monsters or animals swimming around his legs.

He stood on the shore for several moments looking back out over the water. He was soaking wet and his clothes clung to him and water ran down his body. At least it was warmer here than it had been in the mountains. The reassuring pressure of Ossendar against his back was welcome, he would have been nervous coming here unarmed. The water was choppy but seemed normal. There was still something bothering him though. It took him a moment to realize what it was, there were no animals around. No fish or worms either. He scanned the grey skies but there wasn't a bird to be seen.

Pushing the absence of animals from his mind, Flare turned and started climbing the steep slope towards the keep. The going quickly got rough and he had to use his hands to help keep from sliding back down. The slope was rocky and on several occasions loose rocks nearly made him lose his balance, but he caught himself just in time.

At last, Flare emerged onto a plateau. It was small, maybe a mile long by half a mile deep. It was

thirregularly shaped and covered in thick grass. The keep was to his left overlooking the water, and the plateau stretched out to his right. At the end of the plateau, more steep hills reached up to the heavens. He was surprised to see a small garden, which had an abundance of vegetables growing throughout, and a small pen. A cow stood in the pen chewing her cud and watching Flare. The cow was the first animal he had seen since arriving here.

Turning from his study of the cow pen towards the keep, he jumped back in surprise. A man stood behind him. The man wasn't threatening, but his sudden appearance made Flare's heart nearly beat right out of his chest.

The newcomer was an old man, thin with rough skin. His hair was long and bright white, and reached down past his shoulders. His beard was equally as white and it hung down his chest. He had a long nose and he studied Flare from under enormously thick eyebrows.

Flare began reaching for Ossendar, but forced himself to stop almost at once. So far this old man had not done anything to him, so there probably wasn't any reason to assume he meant any harm. "Forgive me," Flare said, "but you startled me."

"Sorry boy. It wasn't my intent." The man's voice was deep and gravelly, making it difficult to understand him. "I'm Gregeggor of Melagar." He paused, as if expecting Flare to say something.

Not sure what to say, Flare felt the prudent thing to do was to introduce himself. "My name is Flare, uh, Flaranthlas Eldanari," he said, slightly embarrassed at his stumbling over his own name. The man's sudden appearance must have bothered him more than he thought.

"I know who you are," Gregeggor's deep voice said. "Do you know who I am? And more importantly, do you know what I am?"

The first thought that popped into Flare's head was
you're a ghost,
but he didn't feel that would be a considerate thing to say so instead he shook his head. "I'm sorry but I don't believe I've ever heard of you."

Gregeggor's face fell. "There was a time when every one of your Order knew me and was amazed to be my pupil." He sighed deeply, "That was a long time ago, though. I don't remember the last one of you who knew my name."

"I'm sorry," Flare said, meaning every word. He wished he had heard of the old man before. It certainly would have made both of them feel better. It would have soothed the old man's pride but it also would have told Flare something about who he was dealing with.

Gregeggor waved away Flare's words. "Doesn't really matter, I guess." He turned towards the keep, "Come on. Let's get inside before it rains." He began walking, albeit rather slowly.