Amulet of Souls (The Sentinels of Wizgrad Book 1) (3 page)

They arrived at the Elven sector, a large woodland area, full of trees, plants and harmless flying insects. All the houses were high up in the trees away from the floor. However, some of them had extravagant staircases that led up to the entrance, just like the one for Mireylon’s house.

Mireylon opened the door and gestured Zelkith inside.

“Make yourself comfortable,” Mireylon said. He laid Iris down gently on an expensive looking bed. Zelkith sat beside the bed and fell asleep.

“Aaaahhhh!” Iris screamed the next morning.

Zelkith shot up, instantly alert. “Iris what’s wrong?!”

“Zelkith you’re... you’re talking? Am I still dreaming?” Iris said confused.

“This is not a dream,” Zelkith said reassuringly.

“I'm sorry...I'm...not used to it. These past few days have been crazy. It all seems like a dream”.

“You’re telling me, after all, these years I can finally…” Zelkith was cut off mid-sentence by Mireylon’s arrival who had ran into the room with a wand in hand. “Is everything ok? I heard a scream.”

“Just a nightmare,” Iris said. She noticed Mireylon looked weary and concerned. “You look tired,” Iris said.

“Sleepless nights,” Mireylon said ashamed.

“You were going to protest weren't you, yesterday. Why didn’t you?” Iris asked. She had noticed how unsettled and uncomfortable he had acted the rest of the evening.

Mireylon responded, “It would have solved nothing, and there are few of us left now”.

“Few of whom?” Zelkith asked curiously.

“Those who were alive before his ascension.”

Mireylon explained as best he could about how it happened. It was while he was away on a mission. When he had come back, the true heir to leadership had gone, leaving nothing but a note to say that Dartis would become the new leader and that he would never return.

It was a strange choice, Dartis was always a little off with the majority of the Legion and many people did not believe that it was legitimate. Regardless of this, they followed the rules of the Legion. Over time, Dartis changed many rules; never for the better and those who did not believe its legitimacy slowly lost their lives in missions and battles.

“Dartis is the scrawny man that spoke in the meeting?” Iris said.

Mireylon chuckled “Yes, that's him.”

“So why do you think Morton was banished?” Zelkith asked Mireylon directly.

“Morton told me that destroying the statue was the only way to start the new age and that you were an important part to this new age” Mireylon explained.

“Me? Why, I am no one special!” Iris said defensively. She denied that she could be of any importance to something she had no connection with.

“I’m afraid I would agree… However Morton believed that it was you, and so must I believe in him. I must admit you do share some similarities with Efrundle” Mireylon uttered. Iris gave Mireylon a questioned look.

“Efrundle was a gifted leader, and he was a Dark Elf like you. The heir that left the Legion” stated Mireylon.

“So you’re saying that this Efrundle is related to me?” Iris asked. She thought back to the Joining she had experienced and that she must find a brother that she did not know even existed.

“Yes, and you are the second in line to the Legion’s throne,” Mireylon said proudly.

“I don’t understand, I was born in a Dark Elf village, not raised in some palace,” Iris said.

“What he said is true” Zelkith confessed.

“What on earth do you mean?” Iris asked.

“If what Mireylon says is true, then I have seen your parents. When I was bound to you, there were five people including a Dark Elf couple holding hands” Zelkith explained.

Iris sat there motionless for a few minutes, not sure how to process and respond to this new information. She was no leader, but this Elf, who was meant to be the rightful heir to the throne, was her sibling and she knew she had to find him.

“We must find my brother” Iris demanded.

“No one has seen him since he left, or if he even still lives,” confessed Mireylon.

“Is there no one that knows at all, no one you can ask?” Iris said. She felt someone must have information.

Mireylon looked at Iris carefully. “There is one person I can ask…In the meantime you must go and visit Thorna, you will find her in the large meadow near here” Mireylon said. He picked up a few things from the table and walked out of his house and down the stairs.

“Well... I guess we may as well go and see this Thorna” Zelkith said. There was little they could do to find her brother, Efrundle.

They walked out of Mireylon’s house and wandered around the Elven sector. They soon came to a small archway and inside there was an enormous open space, with a vast meadow that stretched the entire room.

Stood inside was a female Elf, with strange black marks in thick lines that went around her eyes. Her hair was light brown and shoulder length, but unkempt, wavy and knotty. She walked over to them slowly.

“Who are you?” she said abruptly.

“We are looking for someone called...Thorna?” Iris asked.

“You did not answer my question…Well?!” She replied instantly.

“I'm Iris, and this is Zelkith. We have been told to find someone called Thorna”.

“Who sent you?” snapped the Elf woman.

“Mireylon...do you know” replied Iris.

“Well why didn't you say so!” interrupted the strange Elf. “She is the one inside on top of the waterfall”.

“Err, thanks,” Iris said, but the Elf had vanished.

Iris glanced up at the waterfall to see someone that looked very similar, unkempt hair and the same clothes.

They walked onto the field, closer to the waterfall; which was as tall as the room and gushed with fresh, clean water into a large pool at the bottom.

“Is that Thorna?” Iris yelled at the top of her lungs.

“That's I. What can I do for you?” she yelled back.

“Mireylon sent me to find you.”

“Why on earth would he send you to tell me that?” the Elf questioned. She made her way down a path beside the waterfall.

“That Mireylon sure is a strange fellow, I never did understand why he always sent people to me, can I help you?” The Elf said. When she got close enough, Iris and Zelkith realised it was the exact same person they had previously spoken too.

“For what reason on Wizgrad would he send us to find this nutcase,” Zelkith mumbled under his breath.

“To train you of course!” Thorna said, “Follow me” she added and pulled on Iris’s arm.

Thorna led Iris out of the field and back down the hallway and back to the central part of the stronghold. She then guided them past some armed guards into what appeared to be the armoury room. They went inside and she grabbed an enormous bag, easily twice the size of her.

"That one'll do, and that one, oh maybe this one" Thorna said. She picked out weapons at random from along the racks and threw them into the bag. She carried on doing this for the entire length of the armoury and by the end, the bag was full of different weapons and shields.

Thorna approached the now full bag and pulled the strings tightly on the top to securely seal it.

"C'mon lets go" she blurted out with excitement. Iris looked at the bag full of armours and weapons, there was no way she would ever lift that bag. She stood directly in front of the bag and waved her hands upwards in a spiral motion. A gentle whirlpool appeared which captured the bag within it and transported it outside.

"No gawping there's lots now where to go?" Thorna said and she walked out of the room. "Ah yes," she said and with another wave of her hand, the bag flowed away from them, back toward the large fields. Thorna turned around and started to walk the other way.

They walked down a series of corridors into the Ogre sector which to Iris’s surprise was strangely quiet and clean. The Ogre area was mostly built on large open spaces with thick grey stone walls and pillars, with old style fire torches that lit the way. They walked further down and stopped at a massive door constructed from stone.

There was a faint, constant bang that came from inside. Thorna let herself in and placed her hand on the rock, which moved aside in response. Inside a Kijiar was sat at a desk with piles of paperwork neatly stacked on either side. He was quite slim for a Kijiar and had plain, yellowy orange fur which covered his body and paws.

Thorna stood there patiently for several seconds, which for her seemed like an eternity. "Ahem!" she coughed purposefully. The Kijiar casually licked its paw and looked up at the three of them.

"What can I help you with Thorna?" replied the Kijiar.

"We need to see Plode, we have a strange can you hurry up, please?" Thorna demanded.

"He is busy at the moment Thorna, is it something I can he-".

"NO! We must see him now, or do you want me to set my sister on you!" Thorna interrupted.

The Kijiar raised his hands "Ok, ok..." the Kijiar said, "Let me go get him". Thorna just smiled to herself.

Soon after an Ogre came through the door, who wore a large apron covered in soot, with burn holes all over. His skin looked bizarre, it was smooth and shiny almost like leather. His nose was much thinner and longer than other Ogre's, just like his ears, which looked like someone had just glued Elf ears on his head.

“I’m sorry Plode, she insisted,” The Kijiar apologised.

"Ah Thorna, what's the urgency?" Plode asked.

"May we come in?" she said rudely.

Plode held the door open and stepped aside. Iris and Zelkith hesitated but Thorna waltzed in happily and headed around the corner. Thorna peered her head from around the door. "Coming?" she asked.

Iris and Zelkith went into the room to be hit by a wave of heat. Along one side was a line of furnaces, each with their own anvil. Beside each one was either an Ogre or a Greelong. It looked like they repaired broken armour and weapons, which would then be taken around the corner in large mining carts. Plode led them around the corner to a large alcove with nothing but a single large anvil.

"So, what's the issue Thorna?" Plode asked.

Thorna looked around the empty alcove.

"I still don't understand how you can, there is this," Thorna said. She handed Plode a sealed letter. Plode ripped open the seal and skimmed through the contents and nodded as he did so.

"This should be possible, tell him I should have them done in time," Plode said.

Thorna just walked away and did not say anything at all and left Iris and Zelkith stood there in front of him.

"Thank you, Plode," Zelkith said. He was not really sure if he should say anything or not.

"Don't mention it," Plode said back. Plode turned around and started to read the letter thoroughly.

Iris and Zelkith quickly caught up with Thorna, who had left the armoury and walked back down the corridor. She took them back to the grassy field where the huge sack of weapons was sat in the middle of the field.

"Have you ever been in a battle before?" Thorna asked as she reached into the bag.

"A little, but Zelkith was always there to protect me if things really got out of hand" replied Iris.

"So it looks like I'll be starting from scratch with you" exclaimed Thorna.

The world of Wizards and Witches is much more aggressive than the feuds Iris had experienced in her childhood, so it was important for her to learn how to defend herself.

Thorna pulled out a series of weapons from long swords, bow and arrows, short swords, daggers; there was no end of different types. She handed them to Iris one at a time and then Thorna attacked her with a sword to judge how she blocked and attacked with each weapon.

Thorna had a very strange ability to be able to judge people's best weapon and style; it was the reason why the Legion was one of the strongest powers in Wizgrad.

By the end of the day, they had gone through over half of the bag. When Iris finally felt comfortable with a weapon Thorna said no and threw it aside to try another.

Thorna sent Iris and Zelkith away, to return the next day. On the way out they bumped into Mireylon. He had no news about Efrundle, but had created some space in a spare room of his house and had made a bed for Iris. The Legion was too busy with other matters to build Iris her own place.

The next morning Iris and Zelkith walked back down to the field, where Thorna waited for them. They got started straight away and they continued to go through the huge sack of weapons.

For the next half a day they went through spears, halberds, sai, scimitars, swords and shields, yet nothing seemed to be good enough.

"No no no this isn't right!" Thorna shouted in frustration.  She threw aside the last weapon in the bag. "This hasn't happened since…what do I do now?!"

"Hasn't happened since when?" Zelkith asked.

Thorna stood deep in thought. She looked up in acknowledgement to indicate that she had remembered something. She held up her hand and ran off down the corridor and out of sight.

"Do you really think she knows what she's doing...I mean...she seems a bit...Insane" Iris said to Zelkith.

"She may be a little eccentric, but she knows exactly what she's doing," came a voice from the corridor. It was Mireylon who was stood at the entrance.

"There are no real leads on Efrundle, but I have the best person looking… I'm sorry I couldn't bring any better news" stated Mireylon.

"Thank you, Mireylon," Iris said. She could see that he really did everything he could to help Iris. He had made her food and brought her water and spent most of his time to try and find clues about Efrundle's whereabouts. Mireylon just smiled and walked back to his dormitory.

Zelkith looked at Iris, who smiled as she watched Mireylon walk away.

"You like him don't you?" Zelkith said.

"Of Course not!... I mean...He has been helping us a lot though" Iris said shyly. Zelkith raised his eyebrows.

"Ok...maybe a little..." confessed Iris.

It wasn't long until Thorna had returned and she had something clutched in her hands. Thorna gave two items to Iris, which on a quick glance were two expensive sword handles, with no blades.

"What use is…" Iris paused.

Without hesitation, Thorna had grabbed a large two-handed sword and swung it at Iris.

Iris's automatic reaction was to block as she had done in her training. Iris screamed and the blade rushed towards her.

Thorna stopped the blade just in front of Iris's head.

"What the hell did you do that for!?" Iris yelled angrily.

"Well it worked though didn't it hahaha" Thorna laughed.

"What worked!? What the hell is wrong with you!" Iris shouted. Iris scowled at Thorna but she just smiled back at her and made it worse.

"Iris…Look" Zelkith said, he pointed his nose up to Iris's hands. Iris looked up to see a blue glowing sword and shield emanate from the two handles that Thorna had given to her. In the shock when Iris finally noticed what had happened, the sword and shield disappeared. Thorna withdrew her sword with a smug look on her face.

Iris glanced down at the mysterious handles to take a good look at them. They felt almost weightless, yet they looked like they were made from expensive gold. Both handles were identical and had a golden snake around the hilt which ate its own tail to make a circle. At the very bottom of the handle was a large transparent crystal. On the leather grip of the handle, in gold the word ‘
Limbo
' was etched.

Iris looked in awe at the handles, which she called
Limbo
after the name engraved on the handle. She handed them back to Thorna, who gently pushed Iris's hands back towards her.

"These are yours to keep…on one condition!" Thorna said. “You must NOT let anyone see them, only when you are in imminent danger…and that includes in front of the Legion!" she said firmly. Iris was not sure how to react; she had never expected Thorna to respond in such a way.

"Here," Thorna said. She handed Iris a black belt which had a loop either side. She told Iris to put it under her clothes and use it to store
Limbo
out of view.

She then gave her another belt with two swords on either side. Thorna told Iris that she was to use these swords from now on. She then told Iris to come back the next day and to rest for now. Tomorrow Thorna would teach her how to use
Limbo
.

Iris decided to spend the rest of the day looking around the stronghold. "I wonder if there is any information on Efrundle in the library," Iris said.

Iris and Zelkith wandered the halls and tried to find the library. Eventually, after almost an hour they found a room stacked to the brim with books. It looked like a daunting task, how on earth she would find anything among all of those books.

Iris decided to take a quick look in the hope that she would stumble on what she needed. Iris scrolled through the books not really sure what to look for.

"Anyone in here?" said a voice from the entrance to the library. Iris and Zelkith stayed silent and peered around the corner to try to establish who it was.

It was Dartis, the scrawny King of the Legion. Iris hid behind a large shelf of books. She could hear his footsteps walk inside the room and they were followed by another.

Two chairs got pulled out from a small table in the centre of the library and two people sat themselves down. Iris and Zelkith kept as quiet as they could and listened attentively.

"So what's the news?" said the other voice. Iris was sure it sounded just like Mireylon.

"The scouts think she is a danger, we believe she now has possession of both items very recently" Dartis spoke urgently.

Iris's heart throbbed deeply; did they mean
Limbo
, which she had in her possession just several feet away? She peered around again carefully to see that it was Mireylon sat with Dartis.

"Now that does complicate things…how do you suggest we deal with it?" Mireylon said.

"Well, if she does know its power, she must be dealt with accordingly...death and publicly" Dartis responded.

"No!..." Mireylon protested. Dartis gave him a concerned look. "Not publicly, she should be dealt with quietly and off the books. If people find out that its location has been compromised it could spell disaster" Mireylon continued.

"You do make a good point…and who do you suggest would do the task?" Dartis enquired.

"I will…no one else must know about this," Mireylon said.

Iris attempted to make a hole in a line of books to peep through the middle, but one of the books slumped down and fell off the shelf. The noise alerted Dartis and Mireylon, who looked over suspiciously. Mireylon slowly walked over with a wand in hand and headed towards Iris and Zelkith.

"I know someone's there!" Mireylon said. He quickly put his head around the corner, but there was nothing. He headed towards the next corner where Iris and Zelkith were hidden. Iris covered their mouths to keep them quiet. Mireylon reached the edge of the bookcase; his hand gripped the edge ready to look around the corner.

"Mireylon let us finish the matters at hand, I have things to do," Dartis said out loud. Mireylon moved his hands from the bookcase and walked back toward Dartis.

"As you know, there was one thing that I did not mention in the meeting. Now that we have no way to recruit new members, Thorna's role is no more of any use to us, and you know what situation this puts me in" Dartis said.

"Why are you mentioning this to me?" Mireylon retorted angered.

"I know she is close to you Mireylon, but we cannot let her leave us with the knowledge she has," Dartis said.