Chapter 10
Falk ran for a long time, long enough to reach the edge of the dulled magnificence of Everfar and sit at the cities gate staring back into his despair. How could he have been so foolish. Now he could live forever alone in a silent world, at least failure within the walls of the silver queen would have meant a dignified death surrounded by some friends at the least. Falk sat and looked back along the main road of Everfar leading from the gate, he stared at all the silent statue people. Some of them would be engaged forever in the most mundane tasks like crossing the street or greeting a neighbour.
Even as he looked at them, the ghostly silhouettes framed in the lamplight of the city Falk saw something that he thought impossible. Far off, down the road from the centre of the city Falk saw something moving, moving towards him. A deep cold fear penetrated down to Falks stomach, many strange sights had been his for the seeing this madness of times absence began, but there had been no positives, since meeting the statue maker his life had been a cauldron of worry and pain. Falk had no doubt that whatever it was making its way steadily towards him was no benign force come to rescue him, the world was now damned, and only the damned lived in such places.
Despite this feeling of dread Falk remained rooted to the spot. He remained rooted to the spot right up until the moment he could see the figure bounding towards him with clarity, and then he ran. And as he ran Falks mind raced with images of rending and tearing and the savage intent of the red-wolf which followed him.
It was odd to have run so far so fast and yet not shed a single bead of sweat, nor felt the heavy hand of fatigue dragging at his collar. Once more Falk was under the influence of the effects of the timeless world. His pursuer had become pursuers. Just as one would expect of the red-wolf they did not travel alone in this world, back through the trees when he dared to turn and glimpse Falk could see dozens of flashes of coppery red fur flitting through the trees behind him. They were gaining. The same endless stamina which fueled him outside time doubtless gave swiftness to their foot also. Falk knew from his conversations in the house of the Silver Queen that red-wolves served the statue maker, but he was not about to stop and seek their purpose, it was obvious enough from the salivating and snarling manner of the pursuit that they meant him ill will.
Eventually Falk ran from the scant shelter of the trees into a field of corn. The field could have been the same as a thousand others in the area, except that in the middle of this particular one there stood rearing up into the clouds an enormous bolt of lightning. The field was massive and the wolves were close enough now that Falk could hear the hungry snapping of their jaws. With little other choice Falk ran forward and started to climb the bolt of lightning.
The bolt forked and twisted but was easier to climb than he'd imagined, the edges were not smooth as he expected but rough with many grooves. It formed a giant distended ladder into the sky and Falk climbed it for all his worth. When he got to twenty feet the first of the wolves reached the foot of the lightning bolt. They milled around howling and growling at first. As adaptive and versatile as the wolves were, they were not made for climbing in the fashion. Even so they tried and slowly started to make there way up the lightning bolt.
Falk was far quicker, though his nerves jarred him and he nearly fell several times. Slowly but surely he extended his lead from twenty, to thirty then forty and fifty feet. The snarls of the slow climbing wolves became more and more aggressive as he accelerated away from them. Many of the wolves fell, such was the difficulty of the climb for beasts such as they, but many more did not and as he got higher and higher into the sky Falk suddenly began to wonder at the wisdom of his plan, what would he do when he reached the top?
The sheep-herder from Alesven found out soon enough. Several hundred feet above the ground he reached the low dark storm cloud to which his lightning bolt was attached. Falk reached up and felt the substance of the cloud, it was hard but not the rock solid density that he'd feared, the cloud was more like hard packaging foam. Falk tore a piece of it off and dropped it into the air, then another then another. His efforts were spurred on by the ever closing gap between him and the wolves. They were only about thirty feet behind him now, the chunks of cloud that Falk tore out floated down past them.
In not too long Falk had fashioned a hole into which he could comfortably squeeze. As he did so Falk saw the wolves were but a few metres behind, Falk saw the hunger in the eyes of the lead wolf. Once Falk was sure he was securely lodged in the cloud he began to kick out at the lightning bolt at its thin tip where it was attached to the cloud. The wolves howled as they saw his purpose. Falk kicked and kicked as hard as he possibly could and after many frantic kicks the glass-like bolt snapped at the top, separating it from the cloud. It teetered and swayed and then it fell. The howls faded as the bolt crashed landed across the field and the trees. The lead wolf had been snapping at Falks heels as the bolt moved away, not a moment to soon had he succeeded.
As it fell away from him Falk saw that there were dozens of wolves climbing the bolt itself but hundreds more gathered at its base. As the first bolt fell, Falk saw the tiny figures move away, he looked at the direction they headed and saw their destination. Another bolt of lightning, barely a few hundred metres away forked up into the clouds. Falk started to claw desperately at the cloud above him. Foot by foot he climbed higher through the cloud, it was slow going and disorientating for there was not much light in the storm. Finally he burst through the top of the foamy surface and saw something he hadn't seen for some time, sunlight.
Glorious bright light bathed Falk as he climbed on to the top of the cloud. Above and beyond the storm the sky was clear and pure. Below him the carpet of cloud stretched out into infinity, a myriad of grey and white fluffiness which paved its way to the horizon. Falk was tempted to stay still and bask in the glory of the light, but then he noticed the absence of warmth. These rays of light did not move, they carried no heat with them for they like all other things were frozen in their purpose by the absence of time.
Falks thoughts also turned to the wolves. They were likely to have already started their climb, he could not tarry too long lest the scenic glory became his tomb.
The cloud bank was vast and Falk ran for many miles across it. Occasional breaks in the cloud formed bridges which he crossed and used to look down on the land and gather his bearings. As far as he was aware based on the position of the sun and the few landmarks he spotted that he remembered from his journey south Falk was heading north across the clouds.
After many hours Falk stopped, though he did not require rest or sustenance Falk thought it prudent to sit and try and work out a plan. Most pressing of his list of problems was how on earth he was going to get down out of the cloud. No storms had been occurring on the Northfold when time was frozen, therefore it made sense for him to bear west as he went in order to climb down somewhere in the vicinity of the forest in an area in which there were lightning ladders for him to use. Then of course there were the big questions, how would he negotiate with the statue maker once he entered the forest? It had been made eminently clear to Falk the consequences of returning without the fire amulet.
As Falk sat and pondered these matters his eyes strayed to the cloud formations. To the east of him was another cloud bank that reared far above the one on which he now travelled. As Falk stared he thought that his eyes deceived him, for it seemed within the swirling columns of cloud there was a building. As he looked harder he realised that he was not deceived. There was a building within the clouds, but it was not just a building, this was a castle.
Falk could make out numerous flags sitting atop mighty towers, he could see walls and a mighty gateway and battlements ringing the structure. The walls were white which is why the structure did not appear obvious as it sat surrounded by towering nimbus. The towers were capped with red brick tiles, the flags were blue with a gold hawk emblazoned upon them.
His curiosity overcame him and despite the threat of the wol
ves Falk decided to explore. The castle itself was situated on a cloud that was separated from all the others by a large gap in which Falk could see the land below. A long wooden drawbridge stretched over the chasm which Falk sped across and into the main courtyard. Many knights in suits of armour were gathered there, the armour was sky blue in colour and had a variety of different crests adorned upon it, one emblem that they all had in common was the golden hawk similar to that of the flags which did not flutter above the towers. There were horses there too, grey horses with fiery yellow eyes, it looked as though this group were preparing to saddle up and ride out when the curse struck.
The main keep was an extraordinary feat of architectural accomplishment. A square outer wall surrounded a large central dome, it was out of this dome that the towers grew, but they did not grow independently but in many places seemed merged with other towers, it gave the impression that the brickwork was a living entity like an enormous tree of stone that grew that way.
Falk went through one of the heavy looking metal studded oak doors and wandered the castle. There were many people inside, courtiers, knights and servants. When back in Alseven they used to talk of King Eldellin living in a castle in the sky Falk had not taken them literally, now he saw it with his own eyes. Recalling some of the history of this world that Rannulf had impressed upon him during his stay in the silver house, Falk knew that he must now be in the 'Claudian Realm' one of the nine realms of Neldorel in which were contained all things. Falk finally arrived at the throne room. Though the garb of the statues inhabiting the hall were resplendent in their finery the hall itself seemed modest, there were hanging drapes and flags and tapestries depicting great events but none of the tasteless vulgarity with which many of the village folk spoke of when describing the abodes of the kingdoms rulership.
Almost reverently Falk approached the throne on which sat King Eldellin. The king was mighty in stature even sitting down. As Falk looked at him he got the sense that the incredible nobility and decency that he'd heard of the king was not an apocryphal tale of a hero worshipping common class but rather a reality. As Falk looked at the piercing blue eyes and trimmed beard and moustache he almost fell over back wards when he heard a voice.
“Why do you disturb my house ghost?”. Falk spun around but could see no living moving being within the throne room. “Why do you seek so when I sit directly before thee?”. Falk turned and looked at the still form of King Eldellin, leaning on a mighty silver broadsword.
“You can see me my king?”.
“I see all those who walk within the boundaries of my lair, both the living and the dead. Now why do you walk unannounced and unobserved within these fair halls?”
“Truly my king, I am sorry, I wonder because I must return to the scene of the great crime I committed, and your house does but lay on a diversion of curiosity along that path”.
“And what crime is it that you have committed, that the house of King Eldellin of Claudian is but a sideshow to your atonement?”.
There was curiosity and compassion in the voice of the king.
“My lord, this chaos that you and yours endure came about at my hand. I fell under the curse of the Sordienoth and it was the speaking of the accursed wish that he thrust upon me in duress that has stopped time and left you in limbo”. Falk confessed all and waited for the outraged judgement of the cloud king, but when Eldellins voice came forth again from the emptiness it was not full of wroth but of sorrow.
“Stopped time, my dear boy, one of us is beguiled, let us see if it be you or I?” as he said that Falk felt a strange warmth envelop his head. It was similar to the feeling he had when the silver queen bewitched him in to speaking the truth back at her house, but this felt heavier, more invasive, for several seconds Falk had the feeling that King Eldellin held the book of his mind in his hands and flicked through the pages absorbing the knowledge of Falks recent history. The feeling dissipated and the king spoke again, his voice heavy with regret. “I am truly sorry Falk, there has been a mighty deception at play here which no mortal should ever have to endure..”.
Before the king could finish his explanation there was a tremendous howling in the throne room, the red-wolves came bounding through the door heading straight for Falk. “Dogs of the Sordienoth, nay will my hall suffer your filth” bellowed the king and then to Falks surprise he saw the prone figure of Eldellin shake and stand, from him erupted a cloud of fiery dust as if he'd sat there for many years. The wolves were close and the king swung his broadsword up into a defensive posture with consummate and well practised ease, he moved past Falk to confront the beast, as he did so he laid a hand on Falks shoulder. “Be aware of this boy, you have been deceived as have those in the house of the silver queen, this disruption of time, the freezing of the world is but a harshly conceived illusion designed to..” but he did not finish the sentence for the first of the wolves leapt at him and he smashed it to the side with a gauntleted fist, then the great king waded in amongst them slashing this way and that with his broadsword, Falk did not remain to see the outcome for their were dozens upon dozens of the creatures crowding into the throne room and Falk had no wish to suffer the same fate as his flock or the mighty king who must surely fall here.
Falk ran through the halls of the castle with the dim sounds of battle receding. At one point he found himself in a dead end store-room, he left but not before gathering up a length of rope which he wrapped around himself. Eventually Falk found the exit of the keep, he kept to the shadows and ran across the drawbridge. Falk felt guilty at the fate he left the king to but it made little sense to spread the suffering of such an end to the two of them. Falk ran to the north and west until he finally saw that which he desired. The dark murky cloud covered stain that was the western wood. Given Rannulfs description of the guardian stones running from the north coast to the south coast Falk knew that the 'wood' was far larger than its name implied. Falk walked until he stood directly above the wood.
The words of king Eldellin mystified Falk once more, given the unending nightmare that Falk had been in since time stopped he did not think that possible. The king spoke of illusions and deception, this was nothing new, but without any more specifics Falk was loathe to alter his earlier plan of going into the western wood and trying to confront the statue maker. Falk had done as he was asked, indeed Falks plan for retrieving the fire amulet had gone off without a hitch, barring the last little barrier which was that he could not lay his hands on the object in question. The power of the Sordienoths wish seemed beyond the wisdom and knowledge of the house of the silver queen. The Sordienoth described that which he gave to Falk as a 'wish'. Falk hoped, albeit naively that given his failure to fulfil the side of the bargain placed on him that the Sordienoth might reverse that wish, undo its magic given the debt not paid.
As malevolent as he might be Falk reasoned that the statue maker would not leave the situation as it was, for there was nothing to be gained, Falk had been the hand that the Sordienoth played in his game to retrieve the fire amulet. That had failed not due to a lack of effort on Falks part but because of an ability that the statue maker did not foresee, the ability of the queen to keep the fire amulet free from the effects of the wish, even when it was outside the protection of her house and the surrounding barrier.
Falk could not go back to the house of the silver queen, he could not return to the castle of king Edellin where the king now likely lay dead upon his throne room floor, nor would he resign himself to forever wandering the timeless world with no other souls to share it. Besides which it seemed the Sordienoth had grown impatient enough to send out his wolves into the no-time to deal with Falk, no matter where he went they would find him.
With little other choice Falk broke several holes through the cloud on which he walked and tied the rope from the stores around them. He then lowered himself down the rope until its length was exhausted, fortunately Falk was only a few feet above the nearest tree. Falk jumped to grab the branches of the grey ominous tree o
f the western wood which was closest to him, he was most surprised when he passed directly through it and he tumbled down through the darkness, Falk screamed a scream which was abruptly cut off as he hit the ground.
For many minutes he lay there groggy and disorientated. Falk climbed to his knees and was suddenly aware of the pain coursing through his body, he was also aware of the steadily falling icy cold rain which ran down his shivering skin.
Nothing made any sense, nor had it done for a long time, Falk was not cut out for the life which destiny had decided to thrust upon him. He staggered through the forest in enormous pain the whole time. Though the western wood as he had seen it from the sky was vast, encompassing many thousands of square miles, Falk was not in the least bit surprised when he started to come across Silver statues dotted here and there in the trees. Falk walked on until he saw the giant, then he turned and without waiting for an invitation walked through the line of guardian trees into the clearing that was home to the statue maker.
Chapter 11
He did not carve this time, the statue maker sat still as one of his creations at the foot of the wooden steps leading up to his stilted house.
“The wanderer has returned, he who is master of time” cackled the fowl being rising with a cruel grin on his face.
“Damn you” cried Falk, wincing with the effort “Damn you for all that you have done to me, to this world, damn you for the lives that will not be led”. He laughed then, long and hard in the face of the boy come to confront him. “So naive Falk, even now, even in the wake of the words of the false king you do not understand. Time did not stop Falk, that would be a magic of a scale that no being, even a god could comprehend. But time for you and the inhabitants of the house of the silver queen, that was within the realms of my capabilities. Your father is dead Falk, your mother has cried her tear, the storm over Everfar passed many months ago, it is only you and the coven of the silver queen who have stood still, locked within a single moment”.
Falk struggled to comprehend what was being said, but as he dwelt on it sense formed within the chaotic maelstrom that the statue makers words conjured. The world moved on, they did not.
“And now if you please, the fire amulet,” the statue maker walked forward.
“I do not have it” said Falk.
“You lie boy, I was most impressed when my hounds told me of your betrayal of the silver queen, when they searched her they could not find the amulet, I know you have it boy, give it to me at once, it is your debt, it is that which is owed for wishes granted”
“You may keep your wish foul fiend, trickster, liar. The queen was beyond your wisdom you lowly being, yes I did betray her, may I pay for it dearly, but truly the fire amulet was not there, whatever magic you cast hers was stronger for the amulet did not exist within my dimension and my thieves hands did pass right through it”. The Statue Maker roared at the truth he knew in the words, he backhanded Falk to the floor.
“Enjoy your small victory boy, enjoy its insignificance, she is the only one who ever escaped and one day I will reclaim her and the means by which she left”.
As he finished speaking Falk heard a low growling. He turned his wounded body and saw the form of the red wolf bound across the clearing and leapt on top him, all the while the cackling of the Sordienoth echoed in his ears.
Epilogue
Falks whole body felt numb. There was no pain for which he was thankful but there was a deep and unpleasant aching in his limbs. Falk stared out into the gloomy forest. After a few seconds a faint hint of panic set in for Falk found that he could not move, not a muscle. Then he saw the figure of the Sordienoth walk from behind a tree and approach him. The Sordienoth stared at Falk for some time, a smile on his face.
“I was carving this the first day you wondered into my clearing, do you remember?” Falk tried to speak but could not open his mouth nor waggle his tongue within it. The statue maker lifted up a slimy hand and patted Falks cheek in a gentle matter. Then he walked off into the wood out of Falks narrow field of vision. Falk stared out at the statues around him, he stared at the grey trees and the ever pouring rain. A single drop fell and hit his face, it ran down slowly like a single tear on his silver skin.
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