Emerging from their dwelling, the Fairies squint then rub their eyes as the sun's light peeks over the horizon.
"Okay, so you guys are finally ready to go then?" Niall asks sarcastically, noticing the Elves and Dwarves have already broken down their camp.
Turning around, Ian waves his hands in a certain order, both crystalline structures then burst into smoke that rises into the sky and also descends back into the earth simultaneously. Once the Fairies are mounted on their horses, the leaders continue their ride to the Elven mine.
The incline increases dramatically as the terrain gets rockier. Plant life is sparser and smaller in stature. Niall rocks from the movement of his horse, his eyes close, and he takes in the change in pine scent and crispness of the air. The ground levels out, then his peace is broken by Ian asking, "Sire, what did the Elf King mean by his reason was 'historical?' And why would Elves need to mine, if the Dwarves do all the mining?"
"I'm not fully sure. I'm guessing we'll find out. To be honest, I've never seen an Elven mine before," Niall yawns at the end of his response.
Looming as they approach, is a very large wall of limestone and volcanic rock housing the Elven mine in contention. A massive door made from a mix of an elaborate red granite and gray stone obstructs the entrance. Embedded in the stone is a golden creation in the shape of an X, and in the middle of that, a golden disk. Meticulous and beautiful details are not spared on the mine's overall construction. Dismounting their armored steeds, the leaders wander towards the mine entrance, with Forbish in the lead. Rinnal and Alastar discreetly exchange looks, with Alastar's being one of disapproval.
"My, King Rinnal, this is a mighty pretty door," Niall doesn't hide his sarcasm, as he touches the door, running his hand along the gold trim, admiring the detail. "How do we get in?"
"Stand back, Sire," the Elf King politely replies.
As everyone else steps back, giving King Rinnal room as he starts casting a spell using magic words. His face and body contort rhythmically with the words. Most beings conjure spells by speaking. Few beings, like the Fairies, can invoke spells by thought, movements, or pure feelings; but all magic needs emotion to properly cast.
A wooden vine slowly grows from the ground; snaking its way to the center of the mine door. The tip of the vine inserts itself into a small square opening in the middle of the golden disk. Gradually, blue glowing Elven writing appears. The four golden bars forming the "X" slowly slide into the mountain, followed by rumbling as the four stone slabs slide in afterwards. The dirt, small rocks, and pebbles dance and kick around on the ground from the massive weight of the slabs. A rush of air sucks in when the seal around the door is broken, creating an airflow, and indicating that this is not a new mine. Remaining from the theatrical event is the plain wooden vine, with the golden disk dangling at its tip.
"Fancy locking system for just a mine," states Forbish with his arms folded.
"All Elven mines have the same locking system, Master Dwarf," snips Rinnal.
"Now, sprites...How about we go check out the mine," Niall exasperates and begins to walk in.
"Sire, WAIT!" shouts Alastar, and just as Niall stops in his tracks a large ball of flame shoots across the mine. "If you hadn't stopped, you would have been turned to ash!"
"A BOOBY TRAP? REALLY, RINNAL? BOOBY TRAPS!" barks King Niall, catching his breath.
"Not Elves, Sire, we did not leave these traps!" Alastar defends.
"Traps? So, there are more?" Ian asks, a bit worried.
"Forbi-" the Fairy King starts.
"Hey, don't look at us," the Dwarf Chief denies.
"Who left them?"
"We're not sure, Sire. Elves do not use booby traps. They were here when we opened the passageway. This is a very old mine that has been recently rediscovered, hence why the interest is historical," the Elf King explains, then his tone turns mournful, "Many Elves have been lost discovering all of the traps so far,"
"Aye, I'm sorry to hear about your losses," Niall responds.
"But you have discovered them all, right?" Ian blurts out, concerned about something worse than being burned to a crisp.
"As far as we know," Alastar grunts out, not hiding his disgust that Ian dismissed the fact about the fallen Elves.
"Okay, It's your mine, Elf King. Lead the way," says Niall, gesturing to the two Elves to lead. Rinnal and Alastar hesitantly begin to enter the mine.
"After the fireball launches, you can only count to twenty before it will ignite again," Alastar explains.
Picking up a stone, he looks back at the party. They nod together acknowledging his intended plan. The stone is tossed, then a fireball chases after it, like a burning cat pouncing. Once it passes by, all of them hurry in. Forbish, being the last one, barely makes it in, when another fireball shoots out singeing his braided pony-tail. Cursing in Dwarvish, he quickly pats out his smoking hair. A good chuckle is shared as they continue on deeper into the mine.
"The air is getting thicker," Ian comments, feeling the humidity rise as they trudge over the rocky path.
Drips echo throughout the mine as one hits Ian in the eye. Rubbing the water away he then stumbles, recovers, and then sees the others stopped. They are standing next to the shore of a small underground lake. Light sparkles across the water from large Elven lanterns spaced around the lake, doing their best to illuminate the enormous chamber.
"So, no bridge? How do we cross?" Grumbles out Gordon, Forbish's Head Guardian.
"Careful, Sire, I sense something off. There could be another booby trap." Ian places his hand on Niall's shoulder to pause him.
"Aye, follow us exactly! Step on the wrong boulder and it activates a switch that is connected to one of the sharp stones in the ceiling, causing it to fall and impale you," Alastar says sternly.
The group looks around, noticing that some of the sharp stalactites have already fallen. 'If someone were to be hit by one of these massive stones, impalement would be the least of their worries. There really wouldn't be anything left.' Niall thinks too himself.
"Sire, we can just fly acr-"
"No, Ian, we must not flaunt our superiority," Niall quietly cuts off Ian, grabbing his arm to halt him, "Besides we will have to help the Dwarves get across. Those stones are too far apart for them,"
"But not for the Elves?" Ian questions.
Alastar then insists on going first. Not a soul argues with him. Alastar answers Ian's question by showing off his speed and strength jumping to the first boulder. Its stability is questionable, as it wobbles from his landing. Once he gains his composure, he leaps to the next safe boulder.
"Okay, who's next? Gordon?" Niall asks, offering the open stone to the Head Guardian.
"How do you propose I get there, Your Highness?" Gordon grumps out.
"I'll be happy to carry you to the boulder, Master Dwarf," Ian responds opening his armored wings. They make an impressive sound of metal-on-metal slicing through the air. Gordon concedes after an approving look from Forbish.
"Ian, we'll only be able to carry one at a time. We'll shrink too much before we get past the second boulder." Niall reminds Ian, as he's halfway to the first boulder with Gordon. The longer the Fairies are in the air, the smaller they get, until they are about the size of a dragon-fly.
"Alright, Forbish, you ready?" King Niall asks as his armored wings open.
"Would rather you toss me to the boulder, but I'll oblige," Forbish says and turns, so Niall can get a good grip. Ian and Niall rotate picking up Gordon and Forbish, resting on either the shore or an open safe boulder to regain their size.
"Oi, when is this game over?" Gordon hollers out impatiently. His boulder shakes, then wobbles uncontrollably from his erratic behavior...suddenly, to everyone's relief, he falls in and all is quiet. King Niall barks out a laugh, as Forbish shakes his head, slightly embarrassed.
One by one they start to realize that the quiet is too long. Alastar quickly leaps over to Gordon, as Ian flies overhead to get a better look.
"Cave leeches! We've never encountered cave leeches before!" Alastar yells out to everyone.
Gordon flails around as he is forced underwater by several cave leeches that are about the size of a large carrot. The crystal-clear water quickly turns red. Alastar swiftly reaches in, pulling off leeches as fast as he can, while Gordon struggles for breath. Their slimy and surprisingly muscular bodies make them hard to grip. When Alastar is able to wrench off a leech, two more replace them, and with one also grabbing on to his arm each time. There are no eyes, just an oily worm-like body with several rows of teeth, that encircle their mouth, and go all the way down to their stomach. The leeches almost pull Alastar into the water, but he escapes just as he sees Gordon's last breath bubble out, and the golden-light of his magic extinguish. Instantly Gordon's body is engulfed with hundreds of leeches.
"Move out of the way!" the Fairy Captain shouts at Alastar, just as a leech leaps out of the water, barely missing Alastar's face. "Stay away from the water!" Ian hollers out to everyone. 'Hope this works,' he then casts a lightning spell that should kill the leeches, or at least stun them. The cave darkens. Ian's glow switches to a bright blue; intensifying in magnitude. Arcs of electricity snake around his body. Ian feels the bolts as extensions of his arms. Focusing, he then whips the bolts at the water. With a bright FLASH and a CRACK of thunder; all of the leeches motionlessly float to the surface. Alastar hovers his hand over the water to sense the leeches' life. He can feel that they are only stunned!
"GO!" he shouts back at the group.
King Niall jets over to Forbish picking him up, while the Fairy Captain regains his size. As Niall is getting too small, Ian takes over carrying Forbish. Back and forth they go, not letting the Chieftain near the water, landing him on the shore.
In the meantime, King Rinnal and Alastar are leaping on the boulders. About two-thirds of the way to the shore, the leeches awaken and leap out of the water, chasing after them. Rinnal makes it with the help of Alastar, who takes a few leeches so his King will be safe. Once Alastar reaches the shore, Rinnal hands him a potion. He drinks it, says a magic word, and then his body engulfs in a flame causing the attached leeches to burn off.
"Whew, that was exciting! Everyone okay?" Ian asks.
Forbish somberly stares at the lake with menacing eyes, Niall walks over to him and says, "My apologies, Chieftain."
"Aye, let's get a move on," Forbish grumbles morphing his expression to its normal appearance. Adjusting his axe holder, Forbish then dusts off his bear-skin tunic that's over his hooded chainmail armor. Alastar glances a disapproving look at Ian for his nonchalant demeanor about Gordon, as he takes the lead. Ian shrugs it off.
As the leaders progress forward, the cave narrows into another tunnel. There is only about a foot of space above the head of the Fairy King, who is the tallest of the group.
"Stop!" Alastar puts his hand up, when they enter a small long chamber, with only a doorway at the other end.
"What? Not another damn trap!" King Niall whines.
"Yes, yet it's different than it was before," Rinnal says curiously, stepping forward, sensing something unusual ahead.
"You mean the enchantment?" asks the Fairy King casually as a common tingling vibe runs over his skin.
"Aye, sire," Alastar grunts, then barks out a magic word making the lanterns lining the tunnel instantly brighten up.
"Um, what is this Rinnal?" Niall asks, a bit shocked at what he sees.
"Blades in and out of the wall? And...are those holes disappearing and reappearing at random?" Ian gestures at the tunnel's muddy rocky floor, perplexed at the site.
"The blades, I guess I could understand as a booby trap. But the holes to oblivion, or wherever they go, what is that?" the Fairy King asks with frustration.
"The holes are new to us, your highness. This all seems very strange," Alastar responds.
"What do you mean "new"?" Replies Niall.
"The holes were not here before, only the blades were." Rinnal says.
"Wait, it's an enchantment though," Niall gestures at the holes.
"Yes, but we did not place it," Alastar argues.
"But enchantments don't just appear on their own. Do they?" Niall asks confused addressing Rinnal; the eldest of the group.
"No. Not that I've ever heard before,"
"So, who has access to this mine? When was the last time anyone was in here? It's obvious that not just anyone can dance on in here, twiddle out an enchantment, and then bugger off," Niall retorts.
"Aye, from my knowledge it's been several months. And no, of course not. Access is maintained..." Alastar starts to explain.
Pacing in the background, expelling air rather frequently, Ian finally blurts out, "Sire, it's not a problem for us. We can just fly across...see?" Cocky with a pinch of arrogance, Ian hovers up. Once he finishes shrinking, he flies down the tunnel dodging the blades. Avoiding the tunnel floor all together.
While Ian speeds down the tunnel, Alastar shouts to him, "There is a lever just on the other side of the doorway to shut the blades off!"
Ian lands, regains his size, and steps through the doorway. 'This one is several times larger than the lake cavern,' Ian quickly scans around. Numerous Elven lanterns illuminate the area. Ian turns around and sees a large stone lever. With both hands, he pulls down the lever with a loud unlatching sound slightly echoing in the chamber. The blades stop in their current positions, and the holes disappear. Ian leans to the side to address the leaders through the doorway, "Yeah! That's why fair-" but before the Fairy Captain can finish his gloating, it suddenly grows dark around him. Large sharp teeth encircle him and quickly close in as a giant cave bat, about two or three stories tall, suddenly grabs Ian with its mouth, then with a couple disturbing crunches, devours him.
"Damn it! Ian! You arrogant ass!" Niall shouts in shock, "What the hell is at the end of this mine?" the Fairy King yells as they run towards the end of the tunnel.
Just barely at the light's reach, hangs the bat upside down, who's enjoying its most recent meal. Coughing and a hack, it spits out the bits of armor it can't chew up. Ian's helmet, still holding a round shape, rolls a red streak on the cavern floor. It falls off a large crack that splits the room in half. A bridge of silvery white stone made by hand and magic, is the only way across the crack. The sound of moving water from a fast-flowing river emanates from the crack.
"Who built the bridge?" Forbish asks, impressed by its engineering.
"It was here when we opened the cavern," Rinnal responds.
"Well, I have a more pertinent question, where in the hell did that bat come from?" The Fairy King asks, pointing at the bat, who appears to be falling asleep.
"No idea, your Highness. It would be hard to believe it was here the whole time, yet as big as it is, it couldn't have just crawled in from outside the mine," Alastar tries to reason out.
"Either way it needs to be destroyed. It's not going to let us across that bridge," Forbish says preparing himself for battle. The Dwarf Chieftain does not have much patience. Forbish pulls out one of his throwing axes and heaves it, hitting the bat in one of its feet. It screeches as it lets go of the ceiling; crashing onto the bridge.
"Look out!" Niall shouts to the others. He uses his wing armor to protect himself from rocks flying at him from the gust of wind caused from the bat taking flight.
The bat releases an unbelievable loud screeching pitch. Instantly the bodies of the four become stiff and rigid. Forbish quickly recovers, and charges the bat as the others regain mobility. Forbish ducks and rolls forward, avoiding a strike from the claw on the end of its wing. He finds himself behind the bat. With a quick slash, Forbish hits its good leg. Screeching in pain, the bat flies up and hovers.
Closing his eyes, the Elf King puts his forefingers on his temples, 'Why are you so angry?' Only silence in return, with almost a recoil back of Rinnal's power. "I'm unable to get anything from this creature. It's as if this beast is made of just magic!" Rinnal says in disbelief.
It darts down toward the group with an attack. Just missing their heads with a swipe of its claw. As it is ascending, Alastar throws a dagger into its wing, causing it to correct course and fly back to hover over them.
"Enough! Stay back!" The Fairy King orders with anger. He flies up and casts a stunning spell at the bat. Instantly the creature goes limp, and then falls out of the sky landing on the bridge. Wasting no time, Niall lands, drawing his sword while marching to the bat. In a quick motion he uses his sword plus the bladed wings to spin over the neck of the bat, slicing its head clean off. He then kicks the head over the edge into the water, "For Ian!"
Forbish makes eye contact with Niall, and nods in camaraderie over their lost men. Together the four push the bat corpse, which is blocking their progress, over the bridge into the underground river. 'Hmmm, that's taking quite a while to hit the water,' Niall impressed, breathing slightly heavily. A faint splash is heard. Turning to Rinnal, Niall says, "This better be worth it, Elf King," and then he gestures to Alastar to continue to lead the way.
The cavern shrinks back down to a tunnel again almost to where they have to crawl. Suddenly they come to the point behind the whole journey.
"So, this is the historical site?" King Niall says while dusting himself off, "Another wall? Oh, but look this one has a door," Niall inches closer.
"This wall is made from the same material as the one in our mine. But what are all these words carved into it," Chief Forbish points out.
"Does anyone know what these words say?" Niall asks after approaching the wall running his finger over the writing etched into it.
"No, Sire. We've been working hard to translate, but with no real success other than we know that there are four different dialects," Rinnal responds. Alaster's look at Rinnal almost gives away the truth, but no one notices.
Glancing above the door, carved in the stone, Niall notices a symbol. Two sharp parallel arches with matching sharp curved lines coming out of their tips; one coming out of the top line going to the left, and one coming out of the bottom line going to the right, but the two arching lines are not touching each other. "There is something familiar about that symbol. It means something, but what was it?" Niall thinks to himself. Centered on the door Niall sees the symbol of the ruling hierarchy, and in the middle of that, is a hand imprint, cut with precision into the solid metallic stone door.
"Amazing," Forbish stunned; it's extremely rare for a Dwarf to be in "awe."
"Aye, Master Dwarf, it is beautiful," the Elf King replies, acknowledging more for its historical significance.
"The Ancients!" the Fairy King spontaneously shouts. Almost everyone looks at him simultaneously as if he was crazy, as he continues, "That symbol over the door represents the Ancients! Well, the lower one does, but why is there a mirror version above it? I guess all that schooling at the temples did account for something, Right?"
"They're a myth, nothing more than children's tales," argues Forbish, "The belief in the Ancients fell away ages ago. You're lucky to find anyone left still practicing that archaic religion. Besides the Archerenian Court, and the stories and tales from the scattered Archerenian churches, there's no other evidence of their existence,"
"Apparently not," the Fairy King replies, with an emphatic gesture at the symbol and still in awe at the unmistakable proof of the Ancients' existence towering in front of him.
Slowly, like a child, he holds his hand up to block the upper portion of the carving from his point of view. He puts his hand down, and suddenly his curiosity gets the best of him. Unconsciously he inches closer to the door. Once in arm's length, Niall looks at his royal birth marks on his right forearm, freckles that are in an isosceles triangle formation, and they are glowing. He then places his hand in the cut-out on the door.
'After all these centuries, we will finally get to see what's behind the door!' The Elf King smiles to himself with excitement.
A strange low rumbling, followed by a high pitch sound, echoes through the cave as a bright blue light with golden edges explodes from the hand cut-out. The symbol above the door glows golden, along with King Niall's royal marks. Quickly the door slides open. A rush of air blows past Niall, and reveals...darkness. Faintly a constant roaring sound can be heard, like a river or a waterfall is in the darkness. Niall, with childlike curiosity, gives a mischievous grin at everyone, and then walks in.
"Sire, no!" Alastar goes to stop him, but the Elf King holds him back. The darkness starts to fade away as a bluish light from beyond the door slowly comes to a glow.
"Hm, well no sounds of horror," Chief Forbish concluding there is no danger, walks through the doorway. The two Elves left behind look at each other, then follow also.
"This chamber has been carved and cut out of solid blue agate!" Forbish looks around, a bit frozen with more awe.
"Jealous?" Niall responds to Forbish.
"Dwarves don't get jealous," Forbish grunts out.
"He's jealous," Rinnal laughs.
The moist, sterile air invigorates Niall as he takes in a deep breath. Their footsteps echo on the polished black and gray granite floor, that's checkered like a chessboard. A broken white marble pillar is centered in the room. Surrounding it is blue glowing water spouting upward with magnificent force, back into the ceiling. Stabbed into the middle of the broken marble pillar, is a sword.
'The Kirukyma! The sword of life, does exist!' The Elf King revels to himself.
"A sword? This was all for a sword?" Niall says, confused, staring at the finale.
An unnatural power pulls Niall to the Kirukyma [Kee-roo-key-ma]. The water pillar begins to recede downward the closer he gets to the sword. Niall's red natural glow intensifies. Now that he's within arm's length of the sword, the pillar of water has gone completely into the ground; 'its being held under by some sort of force,'
As King Niall reaches for the sword, its power radiates through his body the moment his finger touches the handle, "I've never felt such power from an object before! Forbish, if all the Dwarves in the world used all of their enchanting power to put into one object, it still wouldn't come close to the magnitude of the power I am feeling from this sword,"
"Quite a statement," Forbish responds folding his arms. "Looks like those four stone slabs there at the base have similar writing as the wall outside. Perhaps it's a warning," Forbish points out.
Niall ignores him. His fingers wrap around the white handle. A surprisingly strong, comfortable grip, is provided by two snakes that coil around the handle that then form the hilt. Their tails at the bottom of the handle hold a green polished transparent sphere that starts to light up, along with both the snake's eyes. Suddenly, a bright radiance illuminates from the blade that matches the intensity of Niall's glow.
With no struggle, the Fairy King pulls out the sword. Its cross blade, four edges for the single blade, reflects Niall's glow back off its dark mirrored metal. About two-thirds of the way down from the blade's tip, the shape angles in sharply, then slowly fans back out into the hilt. At the widest point in the four-edged blade are holes cut out, 'It seems that something is supposed to be inserted into these holes,' Niall notices.
Instantly it corrodes. No power. Nothing!
"What?! It's a joke, a damn magic trick!" the disappointed Fairy King tosses the rusty sword to the Elf King, "Here! There is your fake historical relic! This was a waste! I lost a Royal Captain for this!"
Niall, backs angrily away from the pillar. Unexpectedly, a large amount of water shoots up from around the pillar destroying it. Slamming into the ceiling, the water breaks a hole through to the surface. Following, is a bright blue light with golden edges streaking into the evening sky, and at its peak, it breaks off into three directions with a blue concussion wave of magic emanating from the epicenter.
Immediately sounds of banging, clicking, and moving parts throughout the mine appear. Everything around the group begins to shake and fall apart, as there is a loud roar of rushing water. It then blasts up from the floor where the hole was, making it larger and quickly flooding the room.
"Best we leave now, before we drown!" shouts Forbish.
"Agreed!" Everyone else responds simultaneously, following the stocky Dwarf back the way they came in. The blades are retracted into the wall. All the stones at the lake have fallen and punctured the ground to where the water and leeches have drained through the holes.
"Looks like those noises we heard were all the traps deactivating. So, now all we have to worry about is being crushed by rocks and water!" Alastar shouts to everyone. They all dramatically dive out of the mine entrance. A loud CRASH, and a hefty cloud of dust and water sprays out of the rubble after the mine collapses behind them.
Slowly, one by one, the leaders get up off the ground dusting themselves off, and then the Fairy King says, "You know what, give me that!" as he snatches the rusty sword from the Elf King. As the blade moves through the air, a blue streak follows it, "I should keep it, to remind me of the day I almost died, and that I lost Ian over a damn magic trick!" Trudging to his horse, and tying Ian's to his, he mounts then says, "Okay, lads, it's now time for a Pub and Porunein Potion! Lead the way my Elven friends!" Niall demands with a debauched grin at Alaster and Rinnal.
***
A cool breeze ripples over the calm water, periodically breaking up the mirror image of the horizon and early pastels of the evening sky. Kallista admires the scenery, squishing her toes into the sandy lake shore, taking the scents of the nearby flowers. Her loose white dress plays with the breeze. 'My heart was damaged the other day, my love. But it can be mended. I hope you show up. An heir we must have, and I'm ready.' Kallista's eye's shut. A deep breath. Her blue glow intensifies, 'I am sending you my thoughts.'
A POP, BOOOOM echoes from the sky! Kallista gasps! Her eyes shoot open. "What was that?" Shooting across the horizon is a blue streak. "That is heading south. That....that's...huh, well the rumors must have been true then. He did it." "I hope my thoughts got out,"
"Your highness, you okay? I could see your glow in the distance." Abigale floats up behind the Queen.
"Yes, just sending thoughts. No mind. Let's get back to the villa. We must prepare for his arrival,"
"Yes, your highness." Abigale gives an innuendoes smile.
While the ambient light from outside dims, Abigale floats around the corner from the hall, into the main room.
"Your bed chambers are ready, m'lady,"
"Thank you, Abigale," the Queen answers while stretching out on the fur rug.
"The warm of the fire feels good since the rain outside has chilled the air,"
"Aye, they say rain can be lucky. This should be a good place to start," The Queen plays with the fur in her fingers.
"Aye, m'lady. I hope the king arrives for you soon. I shall retire now,"
"Goodnight Abigale,"
As Abigale is about to turn, a large shadow emerges from behind. Just as she turns to look, a large fist bashes the side of her, causing her to fly off and slam into a pillar, unconscious.
"NO!" Shouts the Queen as the shadow slowly moves towards her.