~
I had no appetite for breakfast, although certain others of the party like Teouso and Łĩnwéé seemed to be unmoved by the previous day’s events. I was still feeling numb at the knowledge that my races darkest secrets may after all be true. The dark bretheren, the people we name the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran may well actually exist and not be the myth I always thought they were. The thought that we had quite possibly actually met one commanding those evil forces back in Corbond only darkened my thoughts. But how many did they number? If they were making plans and showing their presence, then surely they must be confident enough to feel effective in whatever they desired to do.
I felt a need to lighten my own sombre mood and walking over to Łĩnwéé who sat alone, I greeted him and said, “so Łĩnwéé why did Ĝørtmûnd call you Wéévél?”
I smiled as sweetly as I could. He just looked at me and sighed. Then he shook his head and said, “Ah Min, Ĝørtmûnd was m’ teacher. He was an’ still be, m’ lore master. As he said, he is probably as close t’ me as anyone shall ever get. I be grateful to ‘im, for his knowledge be great. But I still feel a childish awe o’ ‘im, m’ words get muddled and I find m’self a’thinkin’ like a sprat again when I be in his presence. He be a joker Min, he always were. He always took great delight in embarrassin’ his charges. All o’ us had nicknames dependant on what Ĝørtmûnd saw within us, what he perceived as a special characteristic, our strength, or sometimes a weakness.”
He fell silent for a while, I wondered if he was going to continue. He was obviously deep in thought about something, perhaps trying to decide what to say next, our how to voice it. But eventually he continued, “Wéévél be a bad word, it be a slang word, a word fo’ the tavern floor an’ the gutter, a travesty of our language. It is but a crude reference t’ the most intimate o’ acts between husband an’ wife.” At this he held up his hand, he looked directly at me with a look of appeal in his face and said, “I beg ye Min, don’ ye be mak’n me describe the details any further eh?”
I shook my head in acknowledgement of his request.
So he continued with his explanation, “Well, many a’year ago in m’ foolish youth, I fell in love with a maiden, only problem were this maid were the daughter o’ a high ranking official in the court an’ I was but a lowly youth just started out in t’ ranks o’ t’ army an’ destined nat for such greatness. Part o’ t’ military trainin’ were academic, so one day I were supposed to attend a lesson from Ĝørtmûnd, I were about to leave m’ lodgin’ in the barracks when m’ love turned up an’ ran into m’ room. She were sore distressed, tears afillin’ her eyes. She had been in an argument wit’ her father, t’ this day I dunny know what about exactly. But she ranted and raved t’ me, about her father being unreasonable an’ t’ like. I dunny know how it happened but we ended up akissin’ passionately an’ one thing led to another, perhaps she sought revenge against her father, perhaps she needed comfort, an’ perhaps I wanted to comfort her in m’ embrace. But I say wit’ some guilt even t’ this day that I were only too happy t’ oblige at the time bein’ young an' foolish an’ all. Well the worst happened and we were about to spread our wings for full flight, so to speak, when m’ room door was opened and there stood Ĝørtmûnd a frown upon his face. Well as ye can expect that killed our ardour instantly, which may be a good thing in t’ long run. He dinny say a thing, he left the room an’ closed m’ door. But ever since then Ĝørtmûnd has called me Wéévél, thankfully not in public, only in private, or in t’ presence o’ those he trusts. But every time he said that word I be reminded o’ that event. He won’t let me forget it, an’ I feel the old guilt arise’n in m’ chest again. ‘Tis a hold he has on me. Nat that he would use it to exploit me in any ways fo’ he is an ‘onourable man, he just likes the power it gives ‘im me thinks.”
Poor Łĩnwéé looked so embarrassed and so dejected. I tried to look concerned; I had mixed feelings about what I had just been told. I was saddened for poor Łĩnwéé and his love, but a certain amount of amusement at this story did stir within me. But I made sure it didn’t show on the outside.
I took his hand and said, “your secret is safe with me Łĩnwéé, don’t worry, nothing really happened anyway did it, so there is nothing to mention as far as I am concerned.”
He looked at me and sighed, he hung his head in both hands and said, “aye, well thank ‘e Min, y’ur prudence be deeply appreciated lass.”
Whist we were in deep conversation everyone had gathered in the room and after eating a hearty breakfast a discussion ensued. So Łĩnwéé and myself rose and joined the rest of the party at a large table. The present discussion seemed to be around what had we actually seen and heard the day before and why the keepers that had come to Gwéldølĩn intended us to see it. They must have known we were making our way to the city and purposely given the telling stone to Théøndrĩn. This much we had found out. But there was no way of telling if the events portrayed in the telling stone were recent or from ages past. Much discussion went on for some time around the fact that I seemed to have had a richer experience with the telling stone than any of the others and added to this the incredible secrets Ĝørtmûnd had divulged to us. All the varying protagonists seemed to have known about us, expected us. It was almost as if something or someone had control over our actions, some hidden thing dictated what we should do. I was sure that there was a plot, a prearranged plan that we didn’t know about yet were destined to follow to its end. It just seemed incredible that events had arranged for us to learn from everything we had seen, but if this were the case, then what exactly were we supposed to have learnt?
Serinae stood and sighing asked us all to be silent for a moment. Looking at each of us she spoke. “There are ancient tales of the Keeper’s ability to gain access to the planar voids and how they used these places as pathways to travel from one place to another and over great distances in an instant, they also had an arrangement with the Grûndén to allow the mining of certain minerals from within such places. But the Keepers are also reputed to have used some of these places to hide things, to hold prisoners and banished beings, everything from murderers and mad men, to nameless fears, monstrosities long forgotten across the sands of time.”
I wondered how she knew all these things, where would she gain such knowledge? My thoughts darkened, was Serinae one of those protagonists that had designed this series of events? If she was, then was she in league with others, perhaps Solin and even Ĝørtmûnd? Perhaps even those Keepers themselves? She had a long history, who knows where she had been and what she had found out in her many years of travel. But I was pulled from my thoughts as she continued to speak.
“I believe that such was the place we saw in the telling stone, one of these planar voids used for secreting away something or somethings. Firstly, I believe it was in that planar void that some terrible being or creature was being held or even imprisoned, a hint of which we got from the telling stone, and secondly perhaps, because of this it was also used to hold some infinitely valuable item, what better place to hide and protect such an item within the domain of some fearful guardian so terrible it would have made the perfect deterrent whether knowingly or unwittingly.”
I shuddered as I thought of that nameless fear held there in those tunnels and almost cried out loud at the thought of the fear and pain that Ķablik had experienced. Somehow I had felt it; somehow my emotions and feelings had gotten linked to those who had been portrayed within the telling stone, both the Ķablik and the old blind Keeper Key. How could this be? No one else had experienced this.
I gathered my thoughts together and asked the question on my mind, “so how do the events portrayed in the telling stone fit into our story?”
Serinae stared at me and then said, “I have two possible theories one I voiced yesterday in that I suspect that the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, our dark brethren, are after whatever it was that was kept in that void place, if this is the case then something very evil is planned. The second of my
theories is based upon my own experience of being hired to find certain long lost artefacts.”
Then I said my thoughts out loud, “of course, Ķablik’s mentioning a long ear thief – I wonder, I really wonder if that was a reference to Tezrin?”
“Yes, Mini, you have voiced my second theory, it sounds like the sort of undertaking he would entertain, asked to sneak into somewhere and recover an item, but then subcontract a paid mercenary to do the dirty work so that his precious hide remained safe. Perhaps you are right, what we saw was Ķablik recovering the necklace, if you remember he threw something out of a portal before he perished, what if that something was the necklace? If it was then the goblin men must have found it, for Tezrin knew where the item may be found, he knew exactly where we should be headed and he tasked me in its recovery from them. We really do need to find our brother thief and recover the necklace he hopefully still has, I’d certainly like to take a closer look.”
I didn’t say anything but I did think of that first evening at the Inn in Corbond where I had first set eyes on Serinae and Teouso, the conversation certainly suggested Serinae was hired to recover the necklace by Tezrin, so quite possibly he had hired Ķablik at some time before his meeting with Serinae.
Then after a period of silence, Serinae said, “but then Mini, there is an even darker theory that now springs to mind. But I would appreciate if everyone kept this to themselves.” She waited whilst we all nodded or expressed our agreement before continuing. “You remember I stayed behind at the Grâumin request after our meeting yesterday. Well I need to tell you what was discussed. Firstly Mini, you will remember me telling you about how for many years I was in the employ of this city and that there was one other, another ranger who accompanied me?”
I nodded in response, indeed I did remember the tale the she had told me.”
“Well,” she continued, “that other person was Tezrin. He eventually left however, in fact he was forced to leave, he became sympathetic with other forces, factions not of this city that would undoubtedly have compromised the Grûndén’s interests and the Grâumin was forced to eliminate that risk. So Tezrin left, for to stay would have probably resulted in his imprisonment, even his death.”
Suddenly it all became clear to me and I blurted out, “you helped him escape!”
At this Serinae fell silent and remained deep in thought. It was quite plain that what I had said had deeply troubled her in some way, could it be that I had struck upon a truth? I wanted to ask more but I understood how painful such a conversation may be so I was loath to explore it any further.
But Łĩnwéé obviously had another line of thought in his mind, one closer to home for him. “What about the building o’ the second cavern,” asked Łĩnwéé, “what do ye think that was destined t’ hold eh?”
Tnie then added, “Yes and the fact that from what Ĝørtmûnd described it would seem that the Pnook designed, constructed and supplied four Biplextor devices that they gave to the Keepers, possibly they were commissioned to do so. What if those four Biplextor devices are the ones that Tezrin seeks, if so from what we know he is likely to have at least two of them, if he still seeks the other two, then where are they?”
No one responded. I looked around at the faces of my companions, each were deep in their own thoughts, blank looks upon their faces. All except Serinae, she was looking at her pack and as I watched she bent down and moved the pack closer to her side, for one moment I thought she was going to place her hand inside and miraculously appear with the two missing chips, but then I thought that would be absurd, for if she had them surely she would confide in us.
But then Jon spoke saying, “All the more reason to get the two chips that Tezrin has from him before he manages to find the other two, if that is his intent. For once he has all four I dread to think what plans he has for them, perhaps sell them to the highest bidder and I doubt he would be fussy about who that highest bidder was. He looked at Serinae questioningly.”
I then remembered the tall figure I thought I had seen in the window on the way to the Grâumin's palace, I again mentioned this to those assembled.
Serinae sighed. “Tezrin was here in Gwéldølĩn, he spent some time here as I did, he could quite easily have made contacts here in the past, contacts that may still remain sympathetic to him. If that were the case he could easily gain access into and hide here within the city. I’m afraid that would not be difficult for him.”
I was sure that Serinae knew more, but was not going to offer any further information. I certainly did not want to ask her until perhaps we were alone.
Once we had finished our discussion we all went back to our rooms before the evening meal, on the way Serinae grabbed my arm and pulled me gently to one side. She looked into my eyes and asked what I remembered about the figure in the window. I thought hard and then again said that it was only a fleeting glimpse as I turned to view the city from where we stood. It was a tall figure though and therefore probably not a Grûndén as the figure had one arm raised supporting itself on the upper frame of the window through which he looked and the figures forearm was horizontal whereas a Grûndén holding the upper frame of the window would have had to reach up with his forearm being vertical. I said how the figures features could not be seen as he had a hood raised up over his head. Then I explained that when I looked again the figure had moved away from the window. I even told her that I wasn’t absolutely sure that a figure existed at all really, and that it may have been my imagination.
At this she smiled and said, “ah well it may be nothing, but I’ll tell you something.” Here she smiled broadly and then said, “I am really looking forward to a cup of tea.”
We went to look for Dĩmmĩ to make us some tea, and when this was done we sat in the parlour drinking the rich brew. Serinae sat across from me, both her feet on another chair that she had pulled up for the purpose. With her legs drawn up she rested her tea cup clasped in both hands upon her knees, she had removed her boots and rested her feet upon the cushion of the seat.
I wanted to see if I could get her to say more, so I asked. “What do you think Seri?” I asked, “you know, about this whole thing.”
She thought for a few minutes then said, “well Mini, there is a lot more to this than meets the eye is what I think. If the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran are involved, then this whole thing is becoming very serious indeed. It has been many hundreds of years since the dark brethren have made their presence felt or even allowed themselves to be seen. You can bet that if this is the case then they have planned whatever it is they are up to for a long time, they would only show themselves if they were very sure of whatever they planned becoming a reality. Remember what Solin told us Mini? She suspects that a force has awoken again and that the world is changing, being influenced perhaps by that same force, well what if that force is the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran or is in some way in league with them or even being directly controlled by them. If this were true then the world is in great peril. But one thing is for sure, Tezrin or someone as yet not known to us may well be sympathetic to the dark T’Iea and as such whether by commercial contract or by personal ambition this person is looking for certain ancient artefacts. Those artefacts may well be the disguised Biplextor devices that the Pnook gave to the Keepers ages ago but what they are used for I do not know. Although I do not pretend to understand their use, it seems to me that the Biplextors can be powerful items, not so much in their own right but as a control for other more powerful things. Perhaps there is a device somewhere that has the power to control everything. From what Héaréa Ĝørtmûnd told us I think this is highly likely.”
“But who could create such a thing, I don’t believe even the Pnook could have done this, otherwise they would have surely used it before now?” I asked.
She remained deep in thought. “Perhaps Mini the elder races all had a part in it. Perhaps combined we had the knowledge to do so. Perhaps this history is lost to us, or hidden. It makes me wonder how the Keepers came to
lose such devices in the first place, or perhaps they hid them for some reason, perhaps somehow this secret has come to light and dark forces had found out. The chip that Tezrin had in Scienocropolis, the one that he had modified, it seems to me that it held incredibly powerful information on the nature of the world, and even beyond this world. What if other Biplextors exist that have details within them on how to use this information, or even misuse this information, what if the four were found and somehow the knowledge held within was linked together?”
I thought about this for a while, I came to the conclusion that if someone, or a group of people could understand these things even partially then they could conceivably wield a power so great that, well I couldn’t even begin to think of the ramifications of holding such a power in one’s hands.
Serinae answered for me. “Mini to have a complete set of chips would mean that possibly you hold the power of life and death.” Here she paused and then with a shudder whispered, “you may even hold the key to begin to understand the knowledge that only Eny’Nin’Rel himself can comprehend.” She sipped her tea staring into space sadly, “Some things Mini are beyond the scope of our understanding. Some things Mini are better kept secret for the good of all.”
We both sat in silence for a while.
I had one more thought, “Solin spoke of ancient forces as if some lost and forgotten monster had been awakened, but what if a force or forces had been removed or put to sleep, a balancing force that no longer played upon the world, then maybe what we are seeing is the imbalance that has come about as a result, maybe the Biplextors that we seek are the key to putting everything back into balance.”
“Or pushing it even further out of balance,” was her reply.
Over dinner when we were all together once again, Serinae and myself aired these views to the remainder of our companions. Discussions followed, but again no conclusion was reached. The only thing we agreed upon was that we needed to recover the Biplextor that Tezrin had, the one in the necklace and any others that may be sought in the hope that the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran did not get hold of them first. We agreed that the best course of action was that these Biplextor devices be returned to the Keepers for we surmised from Ĝørtmûnd’s tale that they were the original guardians of these items.
So the next step would be to make contact with the Keepers, seeing as they rarely ventured forth into this world we would have to seek them out in their realm of TeraT’Inu’Itil but how to get there we did not as yet understand. If Tezrin was indeed following us, or indeed we were following him, then going to the Keeper’s realm may well lead him there also and along with him we hoped he would bring the Biplextors he had in his possession. Also if Tezrin had somehow managed to access the planar voids, which would have been impossible without the knowledge of the keeper Keys who controlled access, we should at least warn them in case they didn’t know already. There may be a traitor in their midst.
Łĩnwéé decided he would speak further with Ĝørtmûnd, he went to seek an audience with him the following day. From this meeting Łĩnwéé found out that the only way to reach TeraT’Inu’Itil was to seek passage through the far northern lands occupied and held by the Ognod clans. The Ognods it seemed were supposed to be guardians of a great secret. Guardians of a form of transport that was supposed to connect to the Keeper realm of TeraT’Inu’Itil. It seemed the Ognods although having alienated themselves from the rest of the elder races had some kind of historical relationship with the Keepers. I wondered at this, my immediate thoughts were of suspicion toward the Keepers, what were they doing having possible alliances with the Ognods? A feeling of great dread and unease came upon me at this thought, But I consoled myself and found some dark humour in that yet another seemingly impossible block had been placed in front of us to hinder the task ahead.
I just laughed and said in a resigned manner, “but of course why would anyone make the journey a simple one, no fun in that eh?” But then something else occurred to me, Solin had said once that we needed a member of the Ognod race to complete our company, I hadn’t taken those words seriously at the time, but now somehow her words were becoming disturbingly true. That gave me cause for great concern.
We remained in Gwéldølĩn for several more days. Serinae spent much time with Ĝørtmûnd he had an extensive library apparently and she wanted to use the time to see if any other revelations could be found. I just wanted to enjoy the comforts and friendship offered by the city, for I knew this comfort wouldn’t last.
It transpired that to reach the lands of the Ognod clans we did indeed have to travel north to where apparently there was an isthmus of land some fifteen miles wide at its narrowest point and some one hundred miles long that formed a land bridge between the northern part of Dahl’Ambronis and the mass of land in the far north that was supposedly occupied by the Ognods. The Grûndén had many tall tales of these northern lands, for out of all the elder races the Grûndén had been the only ones, other than the Ognods themselves, to have travelled that far north.
Apparently very few ships sailed so far north, not so much through fear of the Ognods, but more through fear of the massive mountains of ice that floated in the frigid northern ocean. There was also talk of great fish swallowing boats whole, of fish that swam in the ocean who could talk to each other and hunt in packs that were so organised that it was impossible to defeat them because of their intelligence and complete understanding of their environment.
I was in a pub with Łĩnwéé one evening listening to a number of old men who delighted in telling these tales. Łĩnwéé took my arm and said to me, “pay no heed Min, these ‘ere tales they been grossly exaggerated through the years. As far as I know most o’ me people has spent every one o’ there lang years minin’ and never sailed forth on a ship in their lives!”
But all these tall tales seemed to be accurate as to the geography we would be traversing. We were to travel far to the north even to reach the land bridge that spans the continents, then beyond into the Grey Lands, or the Grughanååven as the Grûndén called this desolate area. Then further still we would find the Iron Hills, the Smòlt Erûûn in the Grûndén language. The land of the frozen mountainous wastes, a land of snow bordered by permanent grinding sea ice upon an ocean so cold that it is said you would freeze to death in less than one minute if you were to fall into the waters.
One encouraging thought amongst all this doom and gloom was that at least we were in summer time and the icy places would be slightly less inhospitable. But melting ice brought its own dangers, ice melt may cause flash floods that could wash an unwary traveller to their deaths, or thin ice over a chasm may give way under unsuspecting feet and plunge the hapless traveller to their deaths, or worse trap them deep in a narrow crevasse where they could not climb out and therefore be resigned to a slow death by starvation. By the time I had heard all of this and despite Łĩnwéé’s encouragement, I was not looking forward to the journey ahead one little bit.
I went to speak with Serinae, who I knew had been north from Gwéldølĩn before and had even infiltrated the lands of the Ognods as had Solin of course. Like Łĩnwéé she said not to pay too much heed to the stories the Grûndén tell for her own experiences had been very different. Although she admitted that she had only travelled in summer like we were about to do and had always travelled by sea. Regardless of what tales I had heard of the great dangers of the frigid ocean, the Grûndén it seemed had a small port with several small long ships on the coast. The port was called Ârkrénnøn after the sailor who had established the port. But the sea journey was still perilous and not something to be taken lightly.
However to my great delight and encouragement the first leg of our journey, the travel to the southern end of the land bridge would be an easy one at least. It transpired that the Grûndén had a permanent garrison on this side of the land bridge in the far northern reaches of Dahl’Ambronis, this had been there for many years guarding the crossing between the two continents. The outpost’s
main task was to provide an early warning should the Ognods sweep down from the north once more. It seemed that a regiment of Grûndén soldiers were due to travel to the garrison to relieve the regiment that had been stationed there for the last six months. We found out this happened twice a year and as luck would have it we would have an armed escort of two hundred fresh and battle hardened Grûndén to protect us, at least part of the way as far as the southern end of land bridge. This thought cheered me a little.
We prepared for the march north over the next week or so. At least we would not have to carry food or water on this first leg of the journey as the Grûndén regiment would have carts carrying supplies for the journey north. We met with the commander of the regiment before we left, he even said that if we wished we could ride in the carts ourselves to save energy for the harder legs of the journey. I couldn’t believe our good fortune.