The Marenon Chronicles Collection

Chapter Thirteen





The door leading underground was covered with dirt and scratch marks from the shovel, but it opened inward easily enough. The group of four slowly stepped through with Silas leading, Inga and Kaden right behind, and Lorcan following in the back. They found a narrow corridor leading to a black nothingness. Silas wrapped his dark cloak around him and brought the hood up to fight off the cold that devoured them in the corridor. Inga held out her hand and instantly a white light shot out from it. The orb stalled then floated above the group, giving them enough light to see where they were going. They were in a dirt tunnel, and whoever dug it out had not taken the time to reinforce it, it seemed.

Silas turned his head to Inga. “I’ve seen you cause a cave-in. Can you prevent one?”

She shrugged. “If it came to it. I guess we’ll have to see.”

“Let’s hope we don’t,” Kaden said, urging them forward.

They walked for several long minutes. Silas’ staff had not changed into any sort of weapon, so they were not in any immediate danger as far as he could tell. He wondered what could be there. What would the Gatekeeper have left here that was so important? Surely the Gatekeeper himself would not be staying in this hole.

As they kept walking, they began to see the path more clearly, as though there was another source of light ahead of them. The staff again provided the perfect warning system. It instantly turned into a war hammer, letting him know that a fight was just up ahead. The staff had never turned into this weapon before. Seeing the warning sign, Inga immediately extinguished the light, and the four of them crouched in the darkness. They could see only a little as the light from the distance provided some blue illumination on the path. They could see that the path widened up ahead into what looked to be some sort of large cavern.

“What do you see?” Lorcan whispered from the back.

Silas wished he could see something, but all he had to go on was the staff. “Nothing.”

“Let’s keep moving, just be cautious,” Kaden urged.

Silas moved his legs slowly, fearing any sort of noise would tip off the threat that loomed ahead of them. In his mind he tried to think of which enemies could be taken down by a hammer, but there were too many possibilities. It could be anything from armed men to giant rats for all he knew.

With every step they moved closer to the wide opening. The blue light, seemingly with no source, became brighter. When they came to the opening, they saw that it was actually the ledge of a much deeper cavern with a stone stairway leading down. They were able to hunker low behind a rock and peer over it. What they saw would have made most people turn back. On the ground floor below them, marching in a unified motion, were ten stone statues. They walked like men, but they were at least ten feet in height, and their weapons were massive. They were carved to look like kings. Most of them had long stone beards and wore variations of crowns on their heads. Every bit of them was stone, so that explained why the staff turned into a hammer. Silas was meant to break his enemy to pieces. Still, he wasn’t sure how the four of them would be able to take on ten enchanted statues.

He looked past the statues and saw another wooden door on the other side of the ground floor. That was where they needed to be and their enemy was directly in their path. Silas conveyed this information to the others. Kaden swore under his breath.

“Lorcan and I aren’t going to be much help with these,” he said holding up a sword.

“Silas can’t go in there by himself,” Lorcan said. “He’ll be smashed to pieces.”

“Thanks for the confidence,” Silas said, though he knew the Erellen was right.

“I can go in,” Inga offered. “If you two can provide distraction, Silas and I should be able to take them.”

Silas was glad to hear that Inga believed in their abilities, but he wasn’t so sure. Those statues were big.

“Inga, what about shadow?” Silas asked, remembering what she did in the city only a few hours before.

“What are you talking about?” Kaden said.

“Shadow,” Silas said. “Inga has the ability to make us disappear for a short time.”

“I don’t know if I can do it for the whole group,” she said.

“But maybe one at a time, just until we can get to the door,” Silas answered.

Inga scratched her head thoughtfully, then shrugged. “I can try, but I don’t know if the statues can sense magic. Disappearing is great when used against normal people, but these are magical beings. They might not see at all, only sense that you are there. If that’s the case then there’s no point.”

“We have to try,” Silas countered. “I’m willing to go first. If it doesn’t work, then come help me in the fight. It’s what we have to do anyway.”

“This is crazy,” Lorcan said. “We don’t even know what’s behind that door.”

“If Jessup said it was important for us to be here then I believe him,” Kaden said. “The Gatekeeper is either here or has left a clue of some sort. We must find out what is here.” He turned to Inga. “I think it’s best if you try.”

“You sure you want to do this?” Inga asked Silas.

Silas thought for a brief moment then nodded. “There’s nothing else to do, other than fight them head on. I would at least like to try.”

Inga nodded and closed her eyes.

“Just be ready to come in and fight,” he said to the others.

“We’ll be ready and waiting,” Kaden assured him.

In that moment, Silas felt the familiar sensation of cool air falling all around him. Lifting his hand, he could see that he was invisible. Nothing could be seen of him, not his staff, skin or his black hooded cloak. He took a deep breath, war hammer in hand, and moved down the steps to walk among the enchanted statues. With each step he remained aware that the statues could attack at any moment. He held the hammer like a baseball bat, ready to swing at the slightest movement of hostility, though he wasn’t sure how effective his attack would be against such challenging opponents.

As he stepped among the stone giants, he became convinced that they did rely on their sight and other senses to detect an intruder. Silas then assumed that he could also not make any sort of noise or they would be tipped off. This caused him to move slowly, though he knew Inga’s time with this magic was limited.

The statues marched on the stony ground in a circular motion as loud thuds accompanied each uniform step. Silas moved between the first line of statues, safely in the middle of all of them. He then only had to go past one more line of them, and then he would be at the door. As he moved through the middle of them, his foot caught the pointed edge of a small pebble on the ground. In any normal situation this would not have been a problem, but one of the statues reared its giant head in the direction of the foreign noise and stopped marching. Fear gripped Silas into a frozen state; he did not dare to move, knowing if he did, the statues would come down on him in seconds.

Each of the statues stopped marching at the sight of the one alarmed stone figure. The first one took a step out of formation, looking for the source of the noise. It gripped its stone sword tightly, making no sound, but watching intently. Silas looked behind him and he could see the alarmed faces of his comrades. Inga remained focused on not letting Silas reappear, but he could sense that she was trying with all of her might not to be distracted.

Now that the statues had stopped moving, Silas knew he could not make his way to the door with the sound of his heavy footsteps, but he was also running out of time with his invisibility. Unless the statues began to march soon, there would be no getting out without fighting, and Silas was only the first one to cross. This still had to be done with Lorcan, Kaden then Inga. Silas wasn’t sure Inga would have the power to do such a thing. And until this moment, he hadn’t thought about the fact that the statues would more than likely see the door opening at the other end of the corridor and would still try to attack. There were holes in the plan, but none of it mattered if the statues didn’t start marching again.

The one that had come close to him to investigate began to move once again. The others did the same, only this time they weren’t marching in a circular formation. They were searching for the source of the noise, moving through the cavern freely without pattern. Silas found himself moving around carefully as he tried to avoid contact with the stone giants, all while trying to remain silent. Every step had to be taken lightly. Once or twice he thought he might have made too much noise, but it was covered by the loud stomps of the stone kings. After maneuvering through several of the statues, Silas finally made it to the door.

A brass nob stuck out from the side, and Silas grabbed it with his free hand and tried to turn it. The knob didn’t budge. Locked!

What good was getting through the statues if the door was locked? There wasn’t a way of getting through without…

Then he saw it. Clipped to a stone belt of one of the statues was a metal key. He looked up at Kaden and Lorcan, wishing he could convey a message to them, letting them know that he was going to try and fight the statues alone. Inga had to keep him invisible just a few minutes longer. He knew that this would be the only way to get that key and that the others could not get involved.

As invisible as the air around him, he held the war hammer with a firm grip in both hands. He closed his eyes, focusing all of his strength into his swing. When the nearest statue came a foot closer, he pulled the hammer back and swung with all of his might into its leg. The leg crumbled under the smashing weight of the hammer causing the statue to fall to the ground in a dusty heap. The sight of a fallen statue alarmed the others instantly, and they all began to move to the center of the cavern. Silas stepped silently behind another statue and attacked another leg, only this time his swing was not quite as strong and only took out a small chunk of the leg. The statue turned to meet its foe, but saw nothing. With what seemed to be frustration, the statue swung mightily at the air in front of it. The stone sword would have cut Silas in half, but it missed him by several feet. He moved in closer after the second swing and attacked the same leg, causing it to crumble underneath its bearer. The statue was resilient and continued to flail from the ground, but Silas moved to its side and chopped downward like an ax, crushing its midsection into pieces.

Eight left.

He was glad to see that the others were staying behind, knowing that if they were seen, the statues would destroy them. The other eight statues were frantic now, searching for their invisible enemy, but Silas was too fast, jumping from side to side, taking mighty swings with his war hammer. One-by-one the statues fell to their invisible enemy. Once or twice, a few swings came too close to Silas, nearly taking him out. There were only two left when he became so exhausted from swinging the heavy hammer that he had to rest. The statues swung from side to side as if they were swatting a fly. Silas stood at a safe distance, watching the foolish-looking statues, and for a brief moment he smiled. He placed a hand on his knee and looked down at his feet. He was dirty from all of the crumpled rock and dust. Then the thought struck him.

Why can I see my feet?

His held jolted up to see the two statues coming right for him. Inga’s concentration must have broken.

“Inga!” he yelled, knowing that it would not help her to continue the magic. Kaden and Lorcan were down with him now, throwing rocks at one of the statues to get its attention. The distraction worked, leaving Silas only one statue to deal with, but one opponent was formidable enough.

The statue swung low and Silas instinctively dropped to the ground. It swung back again, this time slamming the end of its stone sword against the wall, shattering its weapon into pieces. With the broken remains, it reached upward for momentum to smash the hilt into Silas, but he rolled out of the way in the last second. The statue wasn’t finished, however. It brought its large foot up to stomp the life out of Silas. He rolled one more time, knowing that he could not continue this game.

He jumped to his feet, dipping low to avoid the statue’s flailing arms. With two steps he was able to maneuver behind the statue and slam his war hammer into the back of the leg, behind the knee. A large chunk crumbled from the leg, but the statue was oblivious. It stomped with its other leg then once again with the one Silas had ruptured. With the second stomp, it fell to the ground, arms still swinging in every direction. Silas was able to stop one of the arms with his hammer, but he was caught by the second swing, which sent him sailing to the opposite wall.

The hammer fell from his hands and instantly turned back into the staff. The pain through his chest where the statue’s arm had landed had knocked the wind out of him, and it was everything Silas could do to grab hold of a breath. The statue couldn’t walk, but it was able to crawl using its one good arm and leg. It made its way slowly toward Silas determined to destroy him with what little life it had left. Silas was still trying to catch a breath and the others were still preoccupied with the other statue.

That’s when he saw Inga emerge from her hiding place behind the rock. She staggered down the steps, clearly exhausted from the magic, and closed her eyes once again, becoming transfixed in concentration. Silas knew she had lost much of her strength by keeping him invisible for so long. A burst of energy exploded from her hands, throwing the statue that Kaden and Lorcan had been fighting against the wall. Its arms broke off from the impact, but it still stood. She let out another burst, finally finishing the enchanted stone.

She was spent, Silas knew. He closed his own eyes, trying everything in his power to summon the green shield around him so the two-limbed stone couldn’t smash him. He had never truly been able to conjure the energy that Inga had taught him. He thought of nothing but the magic, trying to allow it to flow through him, but to no avail. He couldn’t even get a flicker of the green shield around him. He was a magical failure and it would be his undoing. The statue was basically on top of him. As it reared back its massive arm to crush Silas, he heard a voice behind it yell his name.

When he looked up, he saw Kaden toss him an object. The staff of Uriah landed safely beside him. As he grabbed it, he felt the familiar hum in response to his touch and it instantly formed into a steel shield, bigger than he. The crushing impact of the statue’s swing jarred him, sending shockwaves through his body. After the collision his shield changed back into a hammer. He quickly moved to his feet and brought the hammer down on the statue’s head with as much power as he could gather. The head split into hundreds of fragments and the statue moved no more.

He dropped the staff to the ground and fell to his knees, thoroughly exhausted. His whole body hurt from the fight. He looked up at the others, seeing Inga, Lorcan and Kaden all still alive and breathing, though they too were tired from battle. They all stood among the dust and rubble of broken statues that would never again be a defense to whatever lay ahead of them behind the wooden door.

Silas was finally able to bring himself to his feet. He wiped the dust from his cloak and began searching for the key. After a few moments, he saw it attached to one of the statues and he broke it off. Then he staggered over to the wooden door and slipped the key into the hole. With ease, it turned, but Silas waited before opening the door. He looked at the others who now stood a few feet from him.

“I don’t think I’m ready to fight another group of statues,” Silas said, thinking about what could be on the other side.

“I doubt there’s more,” Kaden said. “I don’t know what other sort of security one would need.”

“They can obviously be defeated, though,” Lorcan pointed out.

“Thanks to Inga,” Silas said. “No one could have done that without magic.”

Inga gave him a slight smile of appreciation, obviously still drained.

Silas looked at each of them and pulled the hood of his cloak back around his head. It gave him an ominous look that brought him confidence to take on anything that could be awaiting them. None of the others protested as he let the door swing open. It was not as he had expected. There were no guards, no obstacles, only a long, dark hallway leading to another door at the end.

Perhaps it was an ordinary double door, but what was on the other side would not be ordinary. Silas knew this because of the light that permeated door’s edges and the crack in the center. The light was so bright that he knew it would blind them if they opened them; yet he knew they would have to be opened anyway.

He took one short step forward, then another. He half expected something to pop out from the shadows and attack them, but nothing came. The only fear that gripped Silas was the fear of what may lie beyond that closed doors. What was the source of the light? It shined white through the cracks, yet it cast a blue tint along the hallway allowing him to see where he stepped. He was drawn to it like a moth to the fire, but he didn’t get the feeling that the light would hurt him. The feeling that came over him was one of familiarity. It was not unlike the feeling that Inga described to him when she could sense her former teacher had recently passed through.

As he walked, he couldn’t shake the sense that he had seen this very light before. But where? All of them walked without so much as breathing hard, cautious of the unknown ahead of them. When Silas finally made it to the doors, even Kaden stayed back several feet. Silas felt no fear, but he didn’t think about what the others might be feeling in that moment. The feeling that was pulling him in could have been utterly frightening to the others. He took one glance behind him, then back to the doors. He placed a hand on them and tried to push forward, but they didn’t budge. He tried again, still nothing. He pulled his hood down, and frustratingly looked at his staff, wondering if he could turn it into an ax to chop them down, but he shook his head. He didn’t have the ability to cast a simple shield around him, much less command a weapon of magical power.

It was barely above a whisper, but he still heard the soft-spoken voice.

Silas.

He turned to the others, but he knew none of them had spoken.

Silas!

“I’m here,” he said. Normally he would have felt foolish talking to a door, but here it seemed appropriate.

Prove to me that it is you!

Silas shook his head, not knowing how in the world he could do that.

Almost as if it had read his thoughts, the voice continued.

Show me the power of the Meshulan!

Silas had no power, at least not magically. He stood firmly in front of the doors. He knew there was no logic in his actions, but he held out his hands, the staff held firmly in his right hand, and his left held outward. A soft wind from behind the doors started to blow, as they opened toward him slowly. The others held their hands up to shield their eyes from the dust carried by the wind.

Silas accepted it. He didn’t know whether the light would destroy him or not, but he didn’t care. It was warm and welcoming. He embraced it and let it engulf his body. Then as quickly as it had come, it wavered. The bright light had changed to a softer white glow. That glow surrounded what looked to be a person. It was a man in white, but his face was blurred with the light, and Silas realized why the feeling had been so familiar. This was the same form that had met him on the mountain in Mudavé. At that time, Silas had been injured and was trying to race to the top when he fell and was caught by Alric Thirsk. It had seemed as though time stood still when the figure had told him to choose the right path, and that Silas would know what that path was. It was a scene in his mind that he played back every night.

Now that same figure stood before him, waiting to speak with him again. Silas turned to the others, but they were frozen in place.

“Silas,” the man said.

“Are you the Gatekeeper?” Silas asked him.

“No.”

“Then who are you?”

“A messenger. An apparition, left here by the Gatekeeper himself.”

“I saw you in Mudavé. You told me that I would always know the right path. You said that day was my first test as the Meshulan. Did I pass?”

“That was not me,” the man said. “It was another apparition sent to you by the Gatekeeper. We are here for but a single purpose, and when that purpose is fulfilled, we fade into oblivion. The apparition you saw in Mudavé is gone forever, as I will be when I have told you what the Gatekeeper wishes to tell you.”

“Why are the others frozen?”

“The message is for you,” the man answered. “If you wish to tell the others, that is your right, but I am not here for them.”

Silas swallowed hard, taking one more look back at his frozen companions. “Go on then.”

“The Gatekeeper is in hiding. He wants you to know that he has taken shelter within Erellen territory. You must travel to Elysium and speak with the Erellen king in order to find him.”

Silas was confused. Why was the Gatekeeper making this so difficult? All Silas needed to do was find out what the Gatekeeper wanted to tell him, but he was making it impossible.

“Why does he need to hide? Is he not the all-powerful Gatekeeper?”

“His magic is failing him, Silas. You know this already. The Gatekeeper is not immortal. Not any longer, at least. His life is now threatened by those that wish to destroy you.”

So that was it. The Stühocs were trying to kill the Gatekeeper.

“Why did the Gatekeeper let Jessup stay behind?” Silas asked. “Why did he let him die? He could have left one of you to tell us where he was couldn’t he?”

“The Gatekeeper’s magic is failing, Silas. Jessup knew it would cost him more power to leave another apparition. I am nearly the last of his power. He left me here as the only clue to his whereabouts. An apparition such as myself can speak to no one other than whom the message is intended. Should an apparition be approached by another, it would die.”

“So that’s why you have the statues’ protection then?”

“That is why.”

It all made sense, though it was frustrating to have undergone so much danger only to be told they would have to travel to Elysium.

“There is a storm ahead of you, Silas Ainsley. Be ready.”

The apparition then disappeared as though it was part of the air, and the others began to move as if they were still searching for the source of the light. Silas knew that to them, time hadn’t even stopped.

As they looked around the room, they caught sight of Silas looking at them confidently.

“There’s nothing here,” Lorcan said.

“There was,” Silas answered. “It’s happened to me before. An apparition.”

The other’s looked at him strangely, wondering what he was talking about.

“We’ve got to go to Elysium.”