A Warrior's Journey (12 page)

“What?”

“Father didn’t buy a pretty slave he bought
a beautiful one!”

Her smile deepened and she blew me a kiss
before continuing on her way back down the mountain.

Krista made her way down the trail with a
smile still gracing her face. Yes, he was exactly like his father,
his last gracious comment proving it.

She knew something he didn’t know though.
Spoken words can often be prophetic and even though she had said
what she had in jest she had a feeling that her son would
experience in some degree what she and Roric had.

She hadn’t told him how rough and often
rocky along the way even a great relationship could be. He would
have to find that out for himself and persevere through it as she
and Roric had.

There was pain along any mortals’ journey
through life to find and keep love. She just prayed that there
wouldn’t be too much pain, but oddly even the pain was worth it for
the joy that there was to be found in the arms of the one you
loved.

Roric stepped into his study and approaching
the desk he turned the statue of the rearing stallion a quarter
turn and the study became secure as the doors were blocked by bars
of steal that rose up from the floor.

Roric fingered the ornateness of the carved
stallion as he thought back to his grandfather, the crafty old
rascal that he had been. It had been twelve years now since
Thaddeus had gone to be home with his Creator. But before he had
left he had dumped one more secret on the shoulders of his capable
grandson. Roric remembered back to that fateful day.

Thaddeus pushed himself off the bed
slightly, “Are we alone my boy?”

“No one else is hear grandfather.”

Thaddeus had then gathered his dwindling
strength and said almost desperately, “Remember the Attorgron
forest, cannibal village, the technology you destroyed?”

“Yes I do?”

“That was the junk. It was just a diversion
from the real stuff. It worked too!”

“Grandfather are you saying you lied to
me?”

Thaddeus had paused then looking pained,
“I’m sorry Roric! I should have told you sooner than now, but I
wanted you to stay unburdened, as long as possible from everything
I know.”

Thaddeus had seemed to fade then,
“Grandfather stay with me! What did you not tell me?”

Thaddeus’s eyes flew open and he reached up
to grasp a hold of Roric’s arm, “In the study there is another
entrance. It’s under the desk. You turn the dial the opposite way
to unlock it! When you reach the end of the hall recite our family
creed or you will be killed!”

Thaddeus sank back to the bed exhausted and
Roric let him rest for a moment.

“Thaddeus are you saying there’s still more
technology to be destroyed and it’s here at Thunder Ridge?”

Thaddeus shook his head yes, “Lots of it,
Roric! The whole mountain is full of it, but you can’t destroy it.
There are ships!”

“In the mountain?” Roric asked
incredulously.

“No, the ones at the shrine. You’ll be able
to access them now though.”

“What else is there in the mountain? Is that
all grandfather?”

Thaddeus was fading fast, he looked up at
Roric and Roric leaned down to hear what he had to say, “No, in the
mountain there’s something bigger, much bigger. I leave everything
to you now son. I know you’ll do what’s right. You can trust the
keeper. She’ll lead you straight Roric. Stay true to your faith boy
it’s the only thing that counts! I love you…..”

Thaddeus’s eyes closed. He had died two days
later never regaining consciousness. His funeral was the most
mourned and attended gathering of Valley Landers that had been seen
for generations.

The old man had left quite a legacy for his
grandson to fill. Roric had gone down the tunnel beneath the desk
and had entered the inner part of the mountain. After seeing for
himself the truth of his grandfather’s last words he had never
returned until the past week, when he had spent the bulk of every
day within the vault inside the mountain.

He counterturned the stallion figure on the
desk and then pushed on the corner of one end of the massive desk.
The entire desk pivoted away on one leg to reveal a staircase
leading downward steeply. He had always thought that he had felt a
draft on his feet while seated at the desk. Turns out there was a
reason for the draft.

He started down the stairs. There was no
light except for the candle that he carried with him. The first
time he had come down the tunnel it had been strung full of
cobwebs. That would have put a stop to Krista’s exploration right
then. She did not care for spiders one bit. He had cleaned out all
the cobwebs earlier this week with a torch.

The tunnel evened out into an evenly graded
downhill slope that was easy to manage. He had no idea how such a
passage had been made through solid rock. The walls were as flat as
paper, as was the roof. The floor was slightly rougher to prevent
slipping.

It took roughly fifteen minutes to reach the
wall that blocked the tunnel. At the ceiling there was a single red
light that glowed. It would start to flash and he always took that
as a warning to recite the family creed as quickly as possible.
Once the creed was said the light would turn green and the wall of
stone would disappear into a shimmering veil. All that was left to
do was to step through the portal.

He stepped into a world that was completely
foreign to him. The darkness was lit up by the ambient glow of
thousands of little glowing lights. Within seconds of entering the
room the magical lights would come on illuminating the space
entirely, as if it was exposed to daylight. Displays that seemed to
be presented on liquid crystal lit up in gleaming color with signs
that were foreign to him.

The architecture was hard to get used to.
There was no stone or wood, but only gleaming metal and glass and
painted surfaces of wondrous color selection. Everything within
this vault was hard to get used to, he may never get used to it.
But he had to learn what he could of it in order to provide a way
to save his people.

As had happened every time previously a
figure appeared, the keeper. It was a young woman, dressed in
clothing unfamiliar to Roric.

The first time she had appeared out of
nowhere he had drawn his sword ready to strike at the phantom, but
she had called out to him, “Please sir I mean you no harm! I am not
a real person, but rather an image projected by technology, whose
sole purpose is to assist you as the guardian of this place.”

He had lowered his sword and she had come
closer smiling warmly, “Now who might the new guardian of Thunder
Ridge be, if I may be so bold as to ask?”

“Roric Ta’lont.”

“You would be Thaddeus’s grandson?”

He had nodded yes.

“It is glad that I am to see that he found
you. It was one of his greatest ambitions in life.”

Her face grew very sad, “I will miss our
long talks, may his soul rest for truly he was a great man.”

“Did he come here often?”

“Not at first, but after the death of his
wife he needed someone to talk to. I tried to help him as best as I
could by being an outlet for his grief.”

Roric had starred at her not knowing what
was to come next at the time.

“Shall I give you a tour of the place?”

That first meeting with the keeper had been
twelve years ago now. Earlier this week, when he had come back she
had simply greeted him with, “The years have been kind to you
Roric. How may I help you?”

He gotten right down to it, “Is there a way
for me to learn how to work this technology?” He had asked
gesturing to the room in general.

“Absolutely. I’ve written several tutorials
for just such a request. I will show you them. At first it will be
hard to grasp the complexity of the past, but with dedication and a
little work there is no reason that you cannot become as well
versed as your forefathers before you, who created all that you
see.”

Her openness had been surprising.

“You don’t mind me learning about how all
this works?”

A look of deep understanding came into her
face, “The decision to limit the knowledge of the ancestors to the
people was made because of mistakes made in the past that the
ancestors hoped to not repeat. My personal opinion derived after
much analytically based logic is that whether man has advanced
technology or does not, the likely hood of mistakes being made is
the same. You as the guardian of this place have the power to do as
you wish with the knowledge contained here.”

“You must have a doubtful view as to the
integrity of your masters to do the right thing given the course of
human history. We as humans are imperfect at best and monsters at
our worst. Do you find it hard to except the possibility that one
bad ruler could ruin it for all?”

She smiled, “Does the clay have the right to
say to the potter why have you made me thus? As the clay has no
voice in the manner of its depiction, neither do I. My purpose is
to serve and not govern.”

Roric smiled, “It would appear then at least
on the surface that you as a machine are perfect in your ways.”

“In the ability to perform a task perhaps,
but tasks often require decisions to be made that defy the logic of
my reasoning and yet they are often correct and I am thus, but an
imperfect tool subject to the curse that all creation is afflicted
by. Now I will show you to the room in which I have prepared your
tutorial.”

“Do you have a name.”

“I do, but it is a cumbersome one by today’s
standards. One of your ancestor guardians got in to the habit of
calling me Abby. The name has seemed to stick over the years with
my other masters.”

“Abby it is then.” Roric had intoned
following her from the central room.

As Roric entered the vault room today Abby
was there waiting to greet him as usual. It seemed though today
that she had a question.

“Is there something you wish to ask me?”
Roric asked.

She smiled, “You are indeed very perceptive.
I wanted to ask if I could be of some further assistance to you
than mere tutorials. You seem greatly concerned about something and
you have thrown yourself into learning your ancestor’s technology
like none other before you. It appears as if you are in search of
something. Forgive me if I presume too much in the asking of your
business.”

Roric sat down on a seat that had wheels and
unburdened to Abby the struggle he was faced with, as the leader of
a people going wayward, as evil grew more established in their
hearts. When he had finished he waited to see what she would have
to say.

“Roric there exists in these halls the power
to destroy all your enemies, but I fear it would not accomplish
much. It seems that evil finds a way to work its dark charm no
matter the chastisement against it in the hearts of man.”

“I know, which is why I need to find
something that will fight the evil at the very heart of the
struggle we face. There is only one thing that can, but it is no
longer here, which is why I will most definitely need your help to
find it again.”

Abby stared at him in shock, “The Holy
Scriptures?”

Roric nodded.

“That would mean going back to the first
settled world, Earth!”

Roric nodded again.

Cautiously Abby spoke, “A daring plan, but
there is no guarantee that a complete version of the Holy
Scriptures still exists there. Before your ancestors came here they
visited the first world again, but they did not like what they saw
taking place there and so they came here to stay.”

“If there is even the slightest chance that
I can by this one act save my world from the spiritual decay that
it is spiraling into I have to take it! There are too few righteous
people left in this world to fight the darkness that is seeping
into all corners of our world. If my people could train up their
children in the ways of the Creator and be able to show them the
proof of why they should believe then maybe there would be a chance
of turning this world around yet from its path of destruction.”

Abby bowed slightly, “You are a great and
wise ruler over your people. The Creator has been kind to give the
people such a man as you for such a time as this. Your plan could
work. Even better perhaps is it could work not only for your
people, but for those where the darkness has taken root for so long
as well too. There are several concerning issues with this plan
that you should be aware of though. I have scanned the underground
chamber at the Shrine of Remembrance and have discovered that only
one of the two ships left capable of making the journey is still
functional. The other ship has irreparable damage given the
limitations of our resources at present. Another problem you should
be aware of is that I and any technology like me cannot accompany
you on such an off world mission. It would be too dangerous and may
well compromise both the mission and all the people of this world
to attack.”

“I don’t understand. Why can’t you come? We
are going to need your help to guide us and help us use the
technology!”

Abby took a moment to respond and then
started by gesturing to herself, “What you see Roric is just the
visual impression of a much broader and complex network that is
invisible to you. For my network to function, communication between
the various systems that make up the network is essential. The
signals for that communication are invisible to you as well, but
they are detectable by other networks like me. The other networks
if they still exist are not like me, but rather they are ancient
enemies of your ancestors. They and their masters would destroy
this world and Earth, if they had the chance. As long as my network
communications remain shielded, as they are by the mountain, there
is no threat of them being detected and this world remains hidden.
I cannot leave the underground facilities of this world. I am
sorry.”