Valley of the Ancients: Book Three of the Restoration Series (25 page)

Forcing himself to sit up, he looked around. It was dark, the only light in the cavern came from the entrance and it was dim at best. Even to his elven sight it was impossible to make anything out in the darkness. The cavern gave a feeling of immenseness and it was a little troubling.

"Mag Il-lum," Flare said andly abdarkness. then he repeated the words twice more. Three balls of light appeared beside him and he sent them off in different directions.

He was indeed back in the cavern where he had started. There had been a small part of him that had doubted Diana's words. A part that felt he would wake up in a cell or in another world.

His relief turned to apprehension. In the darkness he had not been able to see any of his surroundings and had nearly died because of it. When he fell to the ground he had landed right beside a sharp pointed bone that stuck out of the ground. Another foot to his left and he would have impaled himself. He said a silent prayer of thanks and then looked around the rest of the cavern. Nothing else had changed that he could see. It didn't appear that any other of the creatures had come here during his absence.

Beginning to push himself up from the ground, his eyes fell on the small breakfast sack. He honestly was not hungry in the least but he knew that he needed to maintain his strength. Sighing, he lowered himself back to the ground and pulled the sack to him.

It took less then ten minutes for Flare to finish the breakfast that Diana had provided him. At first he had not enjoyed the food, but his appetite had increased as he ate, until at the end when he licked his fingers clean. He glanced into the sack one more time to make sure that he hadn't missed anything and then he tossed it to the side and climbed to his feet.

It took a moment to get his pack and the new cloak situated and then he turned his attention to the small gap in the cavern wall. It was much more visible in the light now. The three balls of light lit the cavern up so much better than the single ball had. In the better lighting, the gap now looked more like an arch than a naturally occurring crack.

Wanting to be safe, Flare drew Ossendar and stepped closer to the arch. The opening was made from the mountain rock but it had the look of something man made, like someone had cut and fashioned the opening.

He idly wondered who could have created the arch. Possibly the dwarves, but he hadn't ever heard of any living this far north.

The arch was several feet thick and it was difficult to see what lay beyond. Peering intently at the darkness ahead, Flare stepped into the arch and immediately froze. A tingle ran through his body. He knew what that tingle meant, it implied a sorcerer's ward on the arch.

Breathing quickly, Flare considered retreating to the cavern but dismissed the idea quickly. Whatever the ward did, it didn't appear to be harmful to him. If it was harmful, then it probably already would have hurt him.

Still breathing hard, he stepped on through.

He nearly tripped because the floor beyond the arch was slightly lower and his eyes were not on the floor. His mouth dropped open as he surveyed his surroundings. He was standing in what appeared to be a second cavern, and while the ceiling disappeared into the shadows far above his head, the walls were much closer than they had been in the cavern on the other side of the arch.

The ground was level, so level that it had to be unnatural. And the levelness of the floor wasn't the only thing unusual in this room. There were small stones and rocks lying around on the floor, but none of the bones that the previous cavern had contained. It seemed the ward kept the monster from entering. That thought relaxed Flare a bit, but only a bit.

Several yards in front of him, stairs led up from the floor. They were wide at the base but narrowed as the cavern walls grew closer together. The stairs ended in another arch. This one was shrouded in darkness. The walls of the cavern, around the arch, were covered in carvings. The stone had been worked into fanciful pictures and designs.

Taking a deep breath, Flare began climbing the stairs. Everything to this point had been unexpected and he was sure that whatever was beyond the arch would be a surprise too.

He stopped just short of the opening and directed one of the balls of light to enter. He couldn't make anything out in the darkness and wanted to know more of what he was facing before he entered. The ball of light zoomed into the darkness of the arch and went out. Blinking in surprise, Flare quickly sent a second ball of light into the arch and it too went out.

He sighed. The arch was either warded or enchanted. It wouldn't do any good for him to send in his last ball of light. He was sure it would just go out as well.

For a moment, he stood there trying to decide what to do. Part of him wanted to just turn and leave, but that was foolishness. He had come this far, might as well see what was waiting for him.

He stepped into the darkness of the arch and felt the familiar tingle run across his skin. This arch had also been warded. He stopped in the middle of the arch and summoned his last light to come in after him. It zipped into the archway and immediately disappeared.

Flare sighed and began walking slowly forward. He moved slowly and carefully, being sure to test the dark ground with his foot before he placed his full weight down. As he walked he carried Ossendar pointed out in front of him and traced the arch wall with his left hand.

The arch wall fell away from his hand and he knew he was in another room of some sort. He took one more step forward and the room was immediately bathed in brilliant light.

Blinking in the sudden light, Flare shielded his eyes and looked around. If the previous room had an intelligence behind its creation, this room was definitely built by someone. The room was rectangular, narrow but deep. The unadorned walls to Flare's left and right were no more than ten yards away. The wall directly in front of him, however, was much farther away. Two long rows of statues reached from where he was standing to the far end of the room. One row ran along the left wall and the second row stood along the right side of the room. These ten foot tall statues were not like those at the entrance to the valley. These statues were of men and women. Some of them were human, some elven, and even a few dwarven statues were here.

Flare slowly began walking between the statues. He held Ossendar ready and kept glancing back over his shoulders. Unlike the statues from the valley entrance, these statues did not turn their heads to follow his progress.

As he neared the far end of the room, he could see that there weren't any more arches or doorways, this room was a dead-end. A lone statue stood at the end of the room, overlooking a pool of water. The pool of water was actually a circular basin and it was deep enough for a man to dive in.

He was still studying the pool, when a voice spoke.

"It has been a long time. We have been waiting for you."

Chapter 16

Flare stumbled backwards away from the pool and the direction of the voice. He jerked Ossendar upwards and looked for the speaker. It was an older man who stood in front of the lone statue, just on the other side of the pool of water. Or at least where the last statue had stood. It was gone now, the only part that remained was the stand that the statue had stood on.

"Who are you?" Flare demanded, irritated that his voice cracked and hating that it showed his fear and surprise. "What are you doing here?"

The man was older, his full head of hair was graying and he was thin. He wore a long tunic of a fashion that Flare had never seen before. He wore a patient smile. "My name is Pellum and I am the greeter."

Sensing that Pellum was not dangerous, Flare slowly lowered Ossendar. "I do not understand. The greeter? What does that mean?"

Pellum had studied Flare the whole time, his smile never wavering. He did not answer the question though, instead he asked some of his own. "Why are you here?"

For a moment, Flare considered not answering. He had asked his questions first but had not received any answers so why should he answer Pellum's questions? After a moment he decided that was childish. "My name is Flaranthlas Eldanari and I carry Ossendar. According to Kelcer I am to restore the Dragon Order. I learned of this place and its supposed connection to the Order. I came here to see if there was any truth to the story." It was true enough although Flare left out that he had not been intending to come here when he fled Telur.

"I can assure you that the stories are quite true. This place is unique and is only for those who would join the Dragon Order."

Flare waited for a more detailed explanation but none seemed forthcoming. "Please explain that to me."

Pellum's smile widened. "Of course. Have you ever thought it strange that elves and humans could even be in the Order? I mean how could a human, with such a short life span, learn the different arts required of the Order?"

Flare's brow creased in confusion. The thought had occurred to him but he had dismissed it as only the brightest students could join. Even so, how could a human learn all the skills necessary? "How?" he asked simply.

Pellum spread his hands motioning around him. "That is the purpose of this place."

"I do not understand."

"Millennia ago, at the very founding of the Dragon Order, great men and elves came together to form the Order. Only those that could master multiple arts were allowed to join, but there was still the problem of how to train such people. But those men and elves were quite gifted and they created this hall. Then they did something quite extraordinary. They summoned the spirits of the greatest at their craft and asked for their help."

"How do you summon the dead?" Flare asked, interrupting in his amazement.

"Through wizardry, of course," Pellum answered. He did not seem bothered by the interruption.

"But I thought that was only farrouotor summoning demons."

"Demons are summoned through fire. Spirits through water." Pellum answered in a calm and patient tone.

That was the first that Flare had ever heard of summoning anything other than a demon and the thought of summoning spirits was a little unnerving. "My apologies but you said the dead were asked for their help."

"Yes. The greatest at their crafts were asked to assist in the training of the members of the Order."

"How? Exactly," Flare asked.

"When a person dies, there are multiple places that their spirit can go. One of those places is called Sha'al. Sha'al is not a spirit's final destination, instead it is a temporary location. Some spirits have difficulty in accepting their death and they go to Sha'al until they come to a peaceful acceptance. Others can not bear to leave a loved one and so they wait for them in Sha'al. Regardless, it is in Sha'al where one is instructed by the spirits in the arts necessary to be a member of the Order."

It took a moment for Flare to put the meanings together. "What? You expect me to go to the realm of the dead?"

"It's not as bad as it sounds. For generations, this is the way it has been done. If you would restore the Order then you must go as well."

A thought occurred to Flare, perhaps he would just not go. Then he wouldn't have to worry about Kelcer any more. Somehow he felt it wouldn't be that easy. And most certainly the Church would not forget about him.

Flare was having trouble comprehending what Pellum was saying, probably due to his surprise. He considered his options for several moments and then he looked back up at Pellum. "For a moment let's assume that I am willing to go along with this. What happens then? Do I travel to this Sha'al and spend centuries learning from spirits?"

"Not exactly. Those who created this place anticipated the various problems with this method of instruction. First, a student travels to Sha'al and learns from one Master at a time. At the end of the instruction the student returns to this world until they have recovered and are ready for the next Master to train them."

"Excuse me," Flare said interrupting Pellum. "What do you mean by 'until they have recovered'? Is this method of training dangerous?"

Pellum smiled. "No. It's not dangerous with certain precautions. You see, time does not pass the same in Sha'al as it does here. A student travels to Sha'al, is trained, and then returns to this world and only a few heartbeats will have passed in this world but centuries may have passed to the student's perception. This difference in time is," he paused as if searching for the right word, "tricky. The problem is that when you return here, your body is only a moment older but you have years of memories. This causes a disorientation that takes time to pass. There must be a period of time between each visit to Sha'al so that your body may heal."

"How long a period of time?" Flare asked, after a moment of silence. He asked the question because he didn't know what else to say and he wanted to get Pellum talking again. Travelling to this Sha'al sounded like the last thing he wanted to do.

"It depends on the person. For some the amount of time never varies, while others find that it grows less trom interruptihe more times they go to Sha'al, and a few have waiting periods that show no visible pattern."

Flare's brow wrinkled in confusion. "If there's no pattern, then how will someone know when they should return to Sha'al." Another question occurred to him and he spoke it quickly. "And how does one get there anyway?"

"The two questions are linked actually." Pellum motioned towards the pool of water. "Water is how a person travels to Sha'al and after you have begun this training, you will know when the time is right to return. All that is required is to completely submerge yourself into water. Any water will do."

Confused and flooded with information, Flare's mind struggled to make sense of it all. "I thought you said that spirits were summoned through water. So why is water used to transport a living person to Sha'al?"

For the first time Pellum looked a little strained. "Well, it's complicated. Actually your body stays here in this world and only your spirit travels to the other realm."

Flare's eyes widened at this news. "Are you telling me that my spirit goes there but my body remains here?"