Secret Of the Sighing Mountains (The Quest Trilogy) (12 page)

In January of the third year, they both turned twenty one. To mark the occasion, Sierra offered to forge a sword for Diego when they were learning how to make their own. Diego said he wanted two swords, not one.

“All right. Tell me how you want them to be …” said Sierra.

“I want them to be narrow towards the hilt and slightly wider at the tips … sort of like an elongated machete. And make them long.”

“How long?”

“Real long … when I hold my hands loose by my sides, they should touch the ground.”

Sierra smiled in approval.  “You got it brother!”

Sierra forged the two sword blades for Diego, taking all of his preferences into account.

Diego made his own leather contraption which allowed him to wear the two swords strapped to his back.

In return, Diego offered to do something for Sierra. Taking him up on the offer, Sierra asked Diego to carve designs into the wood after they had finished making their own bows. When Diego handed the bow back to him a week later, it was a masterpiece.

The weeks rolled into months and before they knew it, the three years of training were coming to an end and there was just a month left for the Naming Ceremony
.
Diego was all alone in the dorm room, seated at the study table, poring over some notes when he heard the clip-clop of heels, indicating the arrival of a female. He straightened up in his seat and quickly ran a hand through his hair on impulse. Who knew? Maybe it was someone hot. He turned at the sound of a series of soft knocks on the open doorway and was not disappointed.

Stephanie was standing at the door, looking sexy as usual. Over the years, they had become good friends – once Sierra had backed off from his meddling ways, that is. But the friendship had not amounted to anything more.

He nodded to her in acknowledgement. She returned the greeting with a small smile.

“Hey, Diego. Wassup? Busy?” Stephanie said, leaning against the doorframe in a casual manner. Too casual, in fact.

“Hey, Steph.” said Diego, not missing the nervous drumming of her fingers on her thigh. “No, I’m not that busy. Why?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing much. Just wondering if you had some time to spare …”

She darted a quick glance over her shoulder.

Diego frowned. Something didn’t smell right. “Do you want to come in?” he asked.

She nodded, looking relieved. She entered the room quickly, closing the door behind her. “So …” she said, nervously rubbing her palms together.

“So …?” Diego raised his eyebrows. Her words tumbled out.

“Look, you’ve heard of Master Shengdu’s ‘Treasure Trove’?”

Diego looked at her blankly.

“‘Scrooge’s vault’?” she tried again. “His ‘Chamber of Secrets’?”

Diego nodded slowly. Stephanie rushed on.

“Well, I was just down there. Okay, almost. Master Shengdu wanted some help hauling a few cartons and ... Did you know there is a whole basement area below the in-house hospital?” she asked, switching topics abruptly.

“Yes.”

Stephanie was surprised.

“ Really? Well, I didn’t know. Apparently, they carry on research there. Anyway, so I was following Master Shengdu carrying those freakin’ heavy boxes, when he took a detour through one of the side doors. We went through this confusing, maze-like path and then at the end of it, there was a door. Red, marked with an emblem of a golden dragon. I swear the face on that dragon was Master Shengdu’s.”

“Okay, you’re making this stuff up. That’s total bullshit.”

Stephanie laughed.

“Just the part about the dragon’s face.” She admitted. “But that door’s it. I’m sure of it. Especially because when we reached there, Master Shengdu asked me to put down the boxes and turn around and walk away without looking back.”

She paused, looking at Diego expectantly.

“Interesting.” he said, because some sort of response seemed to be expected. He waited for her to continue, but she just kept looking at him, waiting for him to say … what, exactly?

“And I would be interested in this information because …?”

That seemed to be the right thing because Stephanie became all animated again.

“Don’t you
want
to know what’s in there? I mean,
I know where
the famous ‘Chamber of Secret’s’ is! Who knows what sort of crazy cool stuff’s in there? Master Shengdu has probably collected al of this super dope over the years. Maybe he has monsters caged there. Mythical beasts. Magic potions… who knows? But right now, you and I have a chance to go see for ourselves.”

“Why me?” asked Diego. He had to know. It mattered.

“You’re the only on I know of with enough balls to do this. Also, if something goes wrong …” she trailed off, her eyes dropping to the ring on his left hand. “You’re strong.”

She shrugged, lifting her eyes to his again.

Diego leaned back in his chair, crossing his fingers behind his head.

“I don’t know … you’re not the only one who knows the location of the secret chamber. I heard a few guys discussing it the other day. They said it was easy to locate, but impossible to get in. Master always keeps it locked.”

She raised her eyebrows slightly at this information.

“Okay, so maybe I’m not the only one who knows the location of the room. But I
am
the only one who knows that the door to that room is open right now.” she gazed at him meaningfully. Diego sat up straight.

“The door is open? You’re sure?”

She nodded quickly.

“Yes. But we don’t have too long. Master Shengdu is out meditating on the pavilion. We have about an hour before he gets back.”

Stephanie could see the machinery whirring in his brains and smiled. She had him.

“So, you in?”

“What do you think?”

She flashed him a bright smile. “I think you’re in.”

He gave her a half-smile in return. “What makes you so confident?”

She gave him an incredulous look. “Because you’re Diego! Who else can I count on to break the biggest rules and enjoy doing it, too?”

Diego shoved his chair back and stood up. “Sums it all up neatly. Let’s go.”

“So, you’re saying Master Shengdu just left the door to this ‘Forbidden chamber’ open for you and I to stroll in and explore, huh?” Diego noted skeptically, jogging quietly beside Stephanie.

“Not exactly.” Stephanie frowned. She pulled out some of the gum she was chewing and pointed to it. “I was chewing gum. Master Shengdu asked me walk away without turning back. I didn’t. Join the dots.”

She put the gum back into her mouth. Diego understood what she meant instantly.

“Nice trick.” he said.

As they came upon the corridor leading to the room, Stephanie bent down and took off her noisy shoes. Diego didn’t bother removing his and neither did Stephanie ask him to. Diego was stealthy, she knew. Silent as a cat. Even barefoot, she was noisier than he was. Together, they entered the room and quietly closed the door behind themselves, after removing the bit of gum stuck on the lockset.

Turning around, they took in the interiors of the room. A few moments after their eyes adjusted to the dimness, they realized that the room looked it belonged to some sort of mad scientist. Tables were arranged crookedly, shelves stacked haphazardly with objects and curios of all shapes and sizes. Stephanie ran over to a table set up with beakers, tripod and a Bunsen burner. Lifting a test-tube stand that had several test-tubes filled with pastel, iridescent liquids, she brought them up to eye level, admiring the colors.

“What do you suppose these are? Pixie shots?” she asked Diego, throwing a look over her shoulder.

Diego didn’t answer, going instead to lift a heavy object from one of the shelves. It had two large rocks on either side and an indicator bar in the center. The yellow liquid in the indicator moved up slightly when one of the stones was touched.

“Is that a strength tester?” asked Stephanie, coming to stand beside him. “A for-real strength tester and not one of those rigged things you find at fairs?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Stephanie looked at him with a twinkle in her eye.

“Let’s test our strength!”

Diego obligingly placed the device down on the floor and flashed her an answering grin.

Stephanie crouched down beside him and placed a palm on one of the rocks.

“Ready when you are.”

They began pressing down on the rocks with all their might and watched as two indicators now, one red and one yellow, jumped up and began climbing steadily up the bar. Halfway up, the red liquid stopped climbing. The yellow one just kept rising though, until it hit the highest mark and still it kept climbing, until there was nowhere for it to go. Still, Diego kept pushing.

“Dude, you’re off the scales. You can stop showing off now.” said Stephanie.

Just then the rock under Diego’s palm split, breaking into several pieces.

“Ohmygosh! We’re dead.” Stephanie squealed, looking at the mess before them. But her fears were unwarranted, because the rock repaired itself before their eyes, going back into its original form.

“Oh, thank goodness!” breathed Stephanie, “looks like it was equipped to test someone like you. Now keep that thing back where you found it.”

Diego lifted the contraption and placed it carefully back on its shelf.

“So, too much for the strength-o-meter to handle, eh?” said Stephanie, giving Diego a playful jab in the side.

In response, Diego gave her a smug grin. Rolling her eyes, Stephanie made her way deeper into the room. She turned a corner and stopped with a gasp.

“Diego, look at this!” she called, her voice filled with wonder. She was staring at an enormous globe made purely of energy. Around it, small replicas of other planets were moving slowly, each in its respective invisible orbit.

“Cool.” said Diego, coming up behind her.

“Where’s Alaska?” Stephanie wondered out loud, searching the globe. “Did you know I’m from there originally?”

“You are? That’s news.”

“Mmhmm … my parents, actually. I was born in – oh, there it is!” she said, pointing to the spot, accidentally touching it. Immediately, a green dot began to blink at the spot.

“Uh … oopsies?” murmured Stephanie.

Slowly, the globe began to turn, revealing a shiny surface of the purest blue. It looked like it was completely liquid.

“Wow.” whispered Stephanie, reaching for it tentatively. They could see their reflection in its mirror like surface.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” warned Diego.

“Oh, come on. I wasn’t really going to touch it.” said Stephanie, not moving further but not drawing her hand back either. “What do you think it is? An entrance into a land filled with hot guys?”

It was Diego’s turn to roll his eyes now.

“You have one standing right next to you. What more could you want?” he teased.

“A thousand more?” joked Stephanie.

The sound of the doorknob being turned reached them. In fear and confusion, Stephanie whipped around- unintentionally pushing her hand through the silver-blue liquid, right up to her wrist. She felt an icy jolt move through her body at the contact and jerked her hand back. Only, her arm back without the part that had passed through the reflective liquid. Three things happened simultaneously then;

The door opened and Master Shengdu entered the room. Diego ducked down to avoid being caught. And Stephanie screamed.

With a roll of his eyes and a huff of irritation Star rose to his feet. So much for hiding, he thought, turning around to glare at Stephanie when he noticed the terror on her face and then, her missing hand.

“Stephanie! What the hell …!” Diego yelled, not caring now if Master Shengdu caught them. He grabbed her wrist, staring at it closely while Master Shengdu came running up to the source of all the commotion in his private room. He looked like he was both; extremely furious and extremely worried.

Stephanie’s hand looked like it had been cleanly sliced away at the wrist, except there was no cut, no bruise and no blood even. There was only the occasional blue energy snaking around the sliced wrist like lightning.

“Are you in pain?” asked Diego, wonder coloring his voice.

Stephanie shook her head. “I … I don’t feel anything except for hysterical, right now.” she sniffled “And I think I’m going to throw up.”

“What are the two of you doing down here?!” thundered Master Shengdu, interrupting their conversation. “And how did you get in? Aah, forget it!” he said, brushing aside the excuses he knew they would provide. “You pesky kids! At least once, someone from every training batch finds their way down here and creates some sort of havoc. Why should your batch be any different? Now, let’s see that hand of yours, Stephanie.”

He held his palm out to Stephanie, pushing the bridge of his glasses up his nose.

“What happened to her hand? And what is that thing?” asked Diego, pointing behind him to the silvery blue mirror as Master Shengdu observed Stephanie’s hand. He let go of it and looked at Diego.

“Stephanie’s hand is in there, somewhere. That is a gateway into Quniverse, where all Quest’s take place. But not the present – the past.” answered Master Shengdu, suddenly looking old and drawn.

“Is that where her hand went?”

“Yes.”

Now, it was Diego’s turn to freak.

“You mean her hand is, at this moment, suspended somewhere in Quniverse, and that too, in the
past
?”

Master Shengdu nodded. Diego raked a hand through his hair, looking around the room wild eyed while Stephanie howled softly in one corner.

“Can’t you make this right somehow, Master? Just fix her hand?”

“No. You will have to go in there and retrieve her hand… if it is important enough for you.”

“Why, is it that risky?”

Master Shengdu gave a thin smile in reply.

“We’re dead.” said Diego.

“That, you most definitely are. In the event that you do survive this experience somehow, I will make sure to kill you both with my bare hands.”

Diego swallowed. “That was a joke, right?”