The Cypher Wheel (9 page)

A sob escaped, then another, and another. “I'm not
evil, Faen. I'm not,” Faedra cried. Tears squeezed their way out of
her eyes but evaporated before they made it down her cheeks.

Faen sat on the floor next to her and gathered her up
in his arms. She was hot, but thankfully, not enough to burn him.
She leaned into his caress and buried her head in his shoulder.

“No one thinks that, Faedra.”

“Carina does.”

The others exited the tunnel, hot on Faen's heels.
They stood a few paces away, faces full of concern. Faen turned and
gave Carina a reproving look; she averted her gaze to the
ground.

“I scared all these people. All these children. I
didn't know anyone was here when I lost control, honestly. I didn't
mean to scare anyone.” Faedra sobbed.

“Eirwen, please take the horses,” Carina said.

A young woman, also in a blue robe, stepped forward
and collected the reins that Carina and Anwynn held out for her.
She led them through another tunnel on the opposite side of the
cavern.

Carina stepped forward and knelt beside the
Custodian. “Faedra, I am sorry.” Carina's voice was soft and
compassionate. “Your Guardian is correct; I did not know your power
was linked so closely to your emotions. It was thoughtless of me to
say such a thing. It is true, we do not yet know how such a power
will affect you in the long term, but we will do everything within
our knowledge to help you. We may be able to bind it.”

Faedra stopped crying and pulled her head away from
Faen's shoulder, her face red with tears. She gave Carina a hopeful
look. “You really think you can bind it?”

“I believe we have the knowledge to do so, yes. But
first we need you to use it to help us.”

Faedra pinched her brows together.

“Let us go somewhere private so we can explain
ourselves.”

Faen got up and pulled his Custodian to her feet.
Faedra glanced around at the women and children who were looking
less scared now that Carina and Anwynn had joined them. She noticed
that the women were wearing blue robes like the one's Carina and
Anwynn had on. The children also wore robes, but they were
different colors. Some were blue, but there was white, red, black,
and green in the mix, too.

Carina turned to the group who had gathered around
them. “It is alright. Faedra will not hurt any of you. I have
brought her here to help us.”

The crowd mumbled to each other and a wave of
excitement filled the air.

“You really think this slip of a girl can help us,
Carina?” an older lady spouted.

“This is not just an ordinary girl, Brina. This is
the Custodian.”

More excited mumbles spread through the crowd.

The lady named Brina gave Faedra a considering look;
casting her gaze up and down before turning back to Carina. “The
girl obviously cannot control Savu's power. How much use do you
believe she will be against Arawn?”

Faedra stiffened at Brina's words. “Hey, I didn't ask
to be brought here. I'd be quite happy for you to send us all back,
thank you very much.”

“Brina, hush up, for goodness sakes. Faedra is our
only hope. We have tried everything else. I do not see you coming
up with any more ideas.” Carina chastised the older woman.

Brina gave Carina a dirty look but made no further
comments.

For the first time since entering the cave, Faedra
had a good look around. The cavern was immense. She must have run
downhill for quite a ways, because the ceiling of the cave
stretched high above them. There were holes around the walls of the
cave, about one story high with rickety looking ladders leading to
each one. Faedra thought they must be natural anomalies in the cave
wall that substituted for makeshift rooms, as she could see more
people watching what was going on from up there. The reservoir she
had boiled moments before was large and disappeared under a shelf
of rock, so there was no telling how big it is actually was.

“Where
are
we?” Faedra mused, as she cast her
gaze around what was obviously an underground hideout.

“Drofoz,” Brina answered, snapping Faedra's attention
back to the here and now.

“Hold on a minute.” Faedra looked at Faen, “Isn't
that where Todmus is from?”

There was a universal intake of breath from the
people surrounding her, and Carina's eyes grew wide with surprise.
“You know Lord Todmus?” she asked.

“
Lord
Todmus?” Faedra questioned. “I know of
a
Todmus, but he never said anything about being a Lord.”
She glanced back to Faen who was looking equally bemused at this
new revelation. “Did he ever say anything to you about being a
Lord?”

Faen shook his head. “No. In fact, he never really
talked about where he was from. He just turned up one day looking
for a job. He seemed an honest fellow, so the king put him in
charge of watching over one of the portals. That was several years
ago, now.”

Excited whispers spread throughout the group. The
whispers became louder and louder until Faedra could hardly hear
herself think over the din.

Carina clapped her hands together, effectively
silencing the crowd. “Settle down everyone. We do not know if the
person the Custodian speaks of is our Lord Todmus.”

Faedra gestured with her hand, palm down, just above
waist height. “About so high, rosy cheeks, white hair and
beard.”

“Can it be? Lord Todmus is alive!” a lady cried out.
“Thanks be to the Goddess!”

“Where is he?” another lady called.

“Yes, tell us where he is.” said yet another.

Carina moved in closer. “I think it best if we go
somewhere a little more private.” She gestured with her hand to
another tunnel that led from the cavern. Faedra did a quick glance
around the room, giving the occupants a weak smile before starting
towards the tunnel.

The four friends followed Carina and Anwynn down the
tunnel until they came to another cave, smaller this time. It was
comfortably furnished with a desk and chairs on one side, an
opulent rug covered most of the hard stone floor, and a long table,
surrounded by more chairs, took up the other half of the room. It
was obviously some kind of meeting room, a command center of sorts.
There were hand drawn floor-plans stuck to the walls, and a wooden
model of a castle sat on another table all by itself.

“Please, sit,” Carina gestured to the chairs
surrounding the long table. “Would you like something to
drink?”

All four responded in the positive and Anwynn
inclined her head and left the room.

After they were seated around one end of the table,
they looked at Carina expectantly, waiting for some answers.

Carina sat at the table and let her arms relax on the
beautifully hewn wood, casually linking her fingers together in
front of her. She gave the group, as a whole, a thoughtful look and
took a deep breath before she opened her mouth to speak.

“I am sure you have many questions you wish to ask,
but please, if you would let me explain myself first, then I will
answer any questions you may still have. As you already know, we
are in the realm of Drofoz. We are a peaceful people; or rather, we
were until a few years ago.” Carina's expression darkened and she
sighed. “Now, we are forced to hide in caves, what's left of us, or
become Arawn's slaves.”

“Who is this Arawn?” Etyran asked.

“Arawn was Lord Todmus's second in command.”

“You mean Todmus used to rule Drofoz?” Faedra said.
Okay, something did surprise her after all.

“Yes, several years ago. He was head of the druids
until Arawn turned on him and wanted all the power for
himself.”

“He was a druid? You have druids here?” Faedra
blurted out.

Carina gave Faedra a slightly exasperated look.

Faen put a hand on the Custodian's forearm. “Faedra,
let Carina talk.”

“Oh, of course.” She turned to Carina. “Sorry,”
Faedra said, a flush coming to her cheeks.

Carina gave her a warm smile. “I'm sure this is a lot
for you to take in. In answer to your question, yes, on both
counts. Lord Todmus ruled over the druids. In fact, most of the
population of Drofoz is druid...” she paused, “or, was. There are
two orders. The male order and the female order called ovates.
Anwynn is not my blood sister, but rather, my ovate sister. All
ovates are in a sisterhood, and we are the healers of this
realm.

Arawn had been secretly building an army, of sorts,
for many years. He had been sneaking other world creatures here and
training them to obey only him. The erchyll are only one of such
creatures. When he was powerful enough, he overthrew Lord Todmus.
Rather than inflict needless bloodshed across the land, Lord Todmus
stepped down and we all tried to live as peacefully as we could
under Arawn's rule. Though it was not easy, and it got steadily
worse. Arawn was so paranoid that we would bring in our own armies
and take Drofoz back, he sealed off all the portals. This
effectively ended our way of life and the ability to earn our
livelihoods. You see, we train, or rather I should say trained, the
Valkyrie's horses.”

Faedra sucked in a breath. “So that's where Todmus
got Aesti,” she said.

“Aesti is with Lord Todmus?” Carina asked.

Faedra nodded and was about to say something when
Anwynn returned with a clay pitcher and several goblets on a tray.
She placed them on the table.

“Anwynn, Lord Todmus has Aesti,” Carina said, joy
audible in her voice.

“Thank the Goddess,” Anwynn replied. “All this time
we thought Arawn had slaughtered him along with Lord Todmus. That
must have been how he escaped. But how did he get out of Drofoz
when Arawn has all the portals sealed?”

Faedra pondered the question for a moment, and then
thought of something. “Hold on a minute, if all the portals are
sealed, then how were you able to bring us here?”

“The cypher wheel,” she said, giving the pouch still
slung across Faedra's body a poignant glance. It is something we
have been working on for years, using some notes we found in Lord
Todmus's things. At first we had no idea what the notes were until
one of the elders started building the device. Then he stumbled
upon an equation to make it work. It created its own portal through
the wheel, but with the notes Lord Todmus left, it would only work
one way and we had no way of knowing where it would send you.”
Carina explained, then dropped her gaze. “We lost a few good men in
our attempts. We have no idea where they ended up. I hope they are
still alive and well...somewhere.” The last sentence was said more
to herself than the group at large.

“Well, it is obvious, now, is it not, Carina?” Anwynn
said. “Lord Todmus must have already discovered that his equations
worked, but the device only took him one way. That is why he has
not been able to get back here.”

“So, this wheel was like having a one way ticket
to...anywhere and nowhere?” Etyran joined in the conversation.

“Precisely,” Carina answered. “It took us many more
years and several more people until one of the elders stumbled upon
the solution quite by accident. Although I must say, we never
expected it could transport four people. We believed it was only
safe for one person at a time. Over the months, one of us would
travel to different realms to see if we could find a way to stop
Arawn. It was on one such trip into Azran that I heard mumblings
about the Custodian defeating Savu. I nearly gave myself away, the
excitement was so great. So I traveled to the World of Men to see
if I could find you and ask for your help. Only, when I got there,
I could get nowhere near you because you had not come out of your
house since you defeated Savu, and I could not get onto your
grounds.”

“They're warded,” Faedra stated. “The wards must have
known you wanted me for some reason and wouldn't let you
through.”

“But, we meant you no harm,” Anwynn interrupted.

“Maybe not, but you were not opposed to kidnapping,
so that must have been transparent in your energy.” Faen
interjected.

The two ovates looked at each other and nodded,
conceding the point Faen just made.

“So, you hijacked the treasure hunt just for me?”
Faedra gave the ovates an incredulous look.

“As luck would have it, your kind already uses a
similar looking device for decoding text. We just slipped ours in,
and the rest is history.”

CHAPTER TEN

Arawn was pacing. His heavy, determined footfalls
were starting to wear a path in the sumptuous rug that lay at the
foot of his bed. His long red robes swept the fine twisted woolen
fibers of the rug as he turned on the ball of his foot back and
forth in front of his grandiose four-poster bed. Chin between thumb
and forefinger, his gaze was trained on the floor in front of him.
A look of murderous intent shone in his dark green eyes.

“How dare they. How dare they,” he muttered, as his
pacing continued, picking up speed.

Halfway through a lap of the rug, he stopped and
looked up. A wry smile curved one side of his thin lipped
mouth.

“Hmm, I wonder...”

He spun on his heel and made for the heavy oak door
to his room. He grabbed the wrought iron knob, twisted, and flung
the door open so hard it slammed against the stone wall of his
bedroom, making the tapestry that hung there flap in the momentary
breeze created. Arawn marched from the room, ignoring the door and
leaving it open behind him.

He quickened his pace as he came to the stairs that
spiraled down at one end of the corridor. The sound of his
determined footsteps resounded off the walls as he took the stairs
two at a time. When he got to the bottom, he marched the length of
another stone clad corridor, his robes flowing behind him, and
traveled down another set of stairs, wider this time. At the
bottom, a guard scrambled to attention, surprise on his face. It
wasn't often the sorcerer graced the dungeons with his
presence.