Chapter29: Righting Wrongs
The minions had tried and failed to find anything on the first floor. They arrived again in the middle of the first chamber where Vensa was waiting. With nonchalant voices they told of their failed searches. Each wanted to say that the sword was probably hidden in the one place they forgot to check. Hatchet had been on the second floor and told the group that he had not found anything on that floor either. The minions each believed that there would be some sort of obvious clue as to where the hidden item was. They knew the stories of how the sword came to be, it was their favorite Ijnus tale. With eyes full of nostalgia they recounted where they were when they had first been told the stories. But now, to actually be in the halls that their icon roamed, to be so near where his infamous weapon was stored, it gave them a rush that nothing else could.
Vensa warned of the two Bay children who appeared to also be looking. She told that there was one boy and one girl, both with blonde hair. All of the minions agreed, those kids were of no threat. They probably had gotten lost somewhere and were looking for help. She also mentioned that the girl had a large brown pouch around her neck.
Gyrd took interest in this. He asked about it but Vensa could not say what was inside. He wondered where the kids had come from. As far as he knew everyone was frozen all around Parli, except for the Rough. Then he remembered the two Bay kids he had run into in the forest. The descriptions Vensa gave seemed to match with those kids. But what of the pouch? He racked his mind to think why someone might need a large pouch to carry something in. The paranoia in him said it had to be the rose, while the intelligence in him told that no two kids from the Bay could ever not only find the rose but actually take it. He was feeling nervous now and wanted some way to get away from the rest of the group and look for them. Vensa scared him a little so he did not want to just walk away.
“Hey,” Gyrd started nervously, “I’m going to go and find those kids to make sure they don’t know anything important about the sword.”
Vensa gave him a questioning stare. “Why, what do you think they know?”
“Oh, I don’t know, I just want to make sure. The way you described them, I think I met them once.”
“It was kind of a vague description.”
“I know; I just want to check.”
Creen suddenly laughed. “What were you their babysitter once?”
Hordna jumped in to the conversation. “Yeah, that’s why he was sent to jail in the first place.”
Creen screwed up his eyes in fake concentration and used a childish voice, jokingly imitating Gyrd. “Over here, kiddies, check out my sword. What do you say, should I attack the gardener?”
Hordna pretended to be Mith and Ludus. “Yay yay yay, down with the gardener.”
Everyone but Gyrd laughed. He gave the others a scowl but nobody noticed. “You all are so immature.” He turned from them and walked toward the corridor with the paintings.
Vensa stopped laughing long enough to call him back. “Hang on, Gyrd, they’re just joking. By the way, why were you sent to the jail in the first place?”
Gyrd looked back long enough to shake his head. “It is none of your concern.” He continued into the corridor.
The minions regained their seriousness and waited for Vensa to think up a new plan. She decided that they would now try the second floor, working their way up. In the end they would find it, they were bound to.
Ludus awoke slowly. He rubbed his eyes and yawned before realizing what was going on. Once he did he jumped up from the bed and looked out the window. The sun was slowly working toward the horizon, evening had set in. Oh no, oh no, where is she? He thought where is Mith? It was well past the half hour in which they were supposed to meet. Scenes came to his head where Mith had been captured by the other people looking for the sword. How could I have fallen asleep? He paced the room several times trying to think of what to do. There was only one way to find her and he knew what that was. He had to look for her. He had to risk it all and go out of the room to look. Before leaving he put his ear to the door. Nothing could be heard so he ventured out. There was silence in the halls. Ludus looked in all directions after every step. The first corner he took had him arriving in the hall with the large gold doors. He remembered what he had been told and wanted very badly to check out what was behind those doors. Mith was more important to him at that point so he decided to try the doors after he found her.
Footsteps could be heard from down the hall he had just come. Ludus’s heart quickly sped up. His head looked all over but there were no rooms he could duck into. The only one he stood next to was to the room he was told never to go into. Quickly he tried the handle, locked. The footsteps came closer. Ludus tugged on the handle over and over but to no use. The footsteps were growing louder. Come on, let me in, I gotta get in! A shadow spread along the floor, the person was about to turn the corner. Let me in, let me in, let me in. The person’s body appeared; he saw that it was not Mith but someone taller. Someone who looked rather familiar in the half second he saw them. The door opened; there was no time to think. He smoothly ducked into the room and closed the door softly behind him.
Ludus’s breathing started to slow, although he was still on edge. He hoped the person would not follow him in. He backed up away from the door just in case. After several steps back there was a strange sensation that Ludus had not felt in several days. He looked down to see his foot in pink sand. What in Parli? Ludus turned to see where he was. To his surprise he was on a beach and in a room at the same time. Tan walls rose high above him to a blue ceiling. In each corner of the room was a column with orange and yellow stripes running up and around. Salty sea breeze hit Ludus’s face. It felt so good; it felt like home.
The pink sand lay across only half of the room. The other half was covered with water. All together it looked just like a small part of the beach that he visited everyday back home. After the initial wonder and shock wore off he began to really want to know what was going on. He turned back several times to make sure nobody followed him in, there was nobody there. His breathing and heart rate returned to normal after a while. There was no part of Ludus that wanted to leave that room. He reassured himself that Mith was alright and just got lost trying to find the sword. The amazement of where he was pushed everything else from his mind.
Ludus sat down in the middle of the room, right near where the water started. He decided that he would leave, but not after he first enjoyed his beach. At first Ludus thought the room became whatever the person entering wanted to see. But then he realized that what he really wanted to see was the sword, and that was not there. A quiver ran through him at the sudden thought that the room might be a trap. The doorman had said not to touch anything and Ludus had already touched the sand. He pushed these thoughts away as he pushed the others and continued to sit without care.
A slow buzzing of voices rose throughout the room. Their pitches synchronized into one long note. Ludus looked for the speakers but did not find anyone. The voices rose quickly and continued to rise. At once all the noise stopped. Ludus took his hands from his ears. A man now stood on the water. He walked closer and stopped several feet in front of Ludus.
Ludus took one look at the new face and knew the man was important. He had sandy brown hair and wore long red robes with intricate designs weaving in and around all parts. The man’s face held a look of wisdom. He was clean shaven and had such a young face that he could have been sixty, though he looked no older than thirty five. The man rubbed his hands together and waited for Ludus to stand up.
“No time for slouching, boy, the girl is already where you should be.” The man said, his voice smooth and deep.
Ludus stood up quickly. “Who are you?”
The man screwed up his face in thought for a second, and then answered. “My name is . . . is . . . Ijnus.”
Ludus jumped back, suddenly afraid.
“Now none of that, boy, you have work to be done.”
“And what’s that, giving you your sword back?”
Ijnus shook his head, annoyed. “Ludus, you’re smarter than that, use your head.”
“How do you know my name?” Ludus asked in a shrill voice.
“I’ve been watching you ever since you first entered the palace. I saw your want to come in here so I tagged along until you did. I’ve been waiting for somebody to come in here for a while. When the girl came in I tried to get here but her mother beat me.”
Ludus could not believe what he was hearing. Not only was he talking to a dead person, but he was talking to Ijnus, the Ijnus. And Mith, she was alright, and she got to talk to her mom. Ludus smiled at the idea of meeting Ijnus. He had thought nothing could get any stranger than magical items allowing trees to talk and people to freeze. But now he was not only talking to the dead but also standing on his beloved pink sand.
“So Mith is safe then?”
“Yes she is, now we need to get onto more pressing concerns—”
“Such as where your sword is.” Ludus interrupted.
Ijnus put his hand close to Ludus’s face. Ludus did not recognize the sign. Ijnus removed his hand.
“I know you were warned about never touching anything in here, I was there with you.”
“I never saw you there. In fact I never saw you anywhere before now.”
Ijnus put his hand to his forehead. “I’m deceased, smart one. You cannot see me unless you are in this room. This is the Forgotten Room. It is the closest place one can get to the spirits. If I touch you then you will remain trapped in this room forever.”
“Well that doesn’t sound good at all.” Ludus said warily and took another step back.
“Not at all, now I need to tell you something important. I know you have heard stories about me, stories where I am made out to be some kind of villain.”
Ludus looked at Ijnus in disbelief. “How does turning on your friends and trying to take all power for yourself not constitute a villain?”
Ijnus sighed loudly. “Those stories are exaggerated. Believe me, you must, it is the only way to get my name cleared. You are my only hope of this. For four hundred years I have tried to get someone to listen to me. But every time someone comes in there is another spirit ready before me. Strangely enough there was nobody in here for you.” He paused. “The real story was muddled by the others. I may have turned on them but I was not in my right mind. Since then I have thought about what I did and come to terms with my final moments. What I did was bad, but changing history is worse.”
“How did they change history?”
“They said that I had a split personality, they said I was never in my right mind, they claimed my body disappeared in a puff of smoke when they really just threw it over the palace walls.”
Ludus interrupted once more. “But the Valley-Marsh Region is proof, of the split personality part. None of the others showed two distinct terrains.”
“I was confused; I did not know what I wanted. The magic turned the land that way because I was at a crossroads in my life. Not that the others weren’t, it is just that I was the only one yet to put it behind me, and it showed.”
“Alright I’ll give you that; right now I feel the same.”
“Not as much as your friend. Her mind is filled with doubt and confusion.”
“How do you know?”
“When she entered this room it was murky. The room is only a reflection of your mind. And looking at where we stand, it appears you miss home very badly.”
A little embarrassed, Ludus nodded. “So what, what do you want me to do? I still don’t quite understand.”
Ijnus quickly looked behind him as if someone was there. “There’s no time left. I must tell you in haste.”
“What do you mean ‘no time’ you just got here.”
The water started swirling around Ijnus’s feet. “Just tell the world that I’m sorry, tell them that I take full responsibility and regret my actions.” The water jumped and swirled up Ijnus’s body. “Ludus, finish this fool Oldo off. He means greater harm than I ever did. He must be stopped.” The water was at his waste. “Your friend has already made it to the sword room.” The swirling vortex was up to his chin.
“Wait, where is the sword room?”
Ijnus motioned with his head to the wall behind him. As the water rose over his head he shouted one last message. “It is up to the two of you to save Parli now.”
The water splashed back down. Ludus was once again alone. He looked to where Ijnus had motioned and now saw a small hole in the wall. Ludus went to the water expecting to swim there. Instead the water lowered and disappeared, the sand followed. The room was now bare. The hole was small but Ludus just squeezed in on his hands and knees.