The gateway was more of a thick golden trimmed doorway with detailed etchings. Inside the doorway was a dark mirror, reflecting the room without the person standing in front of it. To stand in front of it, one would realize their lack of worth in a reflection without them in it.
The travelers stood in line as they waited their turn to walk into the mirror. Thorik and his friends were three from the front as they watched the process unfold. Santorray continued to stand up front with his chest and snout held high and proud.
Grewen had set Brimmelle back down next to Avanda so he could take the last few steps on his own. Stepping in front of the Nums, the Mognin would go before them, hoping his enormous Mognin body would break the device before the Nums had to try.
“Idiot!” Bryus’ bird yelled out, as it stood on Avanda’s shoulder and stared at the pulsing veins across the ceiling.
Brimmelle flinched at the bird’s yell, being so close to his ear.
The executioners gave Brimmelle a scowl, as they assumed the comment came from him.
Brimmelle put his head down to avoid their attention, as Avanda attempted to quiet the bird.
The bird’s large independently moving eyes rolled around and scanned the room. “Fesh face!” The bird squawked.
Brimmelle’s eyes opened wide at the remark and then glanced over at the executioners.
Walking over, one of the executioners prodded Brimmelle with his spear to move up in line, right behind Santorray. “Sooner we get rid of your mouth, the better.”
“But…” Brimmelle didn’t have the opportunity to explain that he hadn’t said anything.
The Blothrud moved the Num between Grewen and Santorray. “I don’t want to hear it.”
It wasn’t a position Brimmelle had ever wanted to stand in, for he was half Santorray’s height and a third of Grewen’s. But the view was the least of his worries at the moment.
One executioner used his spear to prod the first elder Del’Unday in line to remove his belongings and walk toward the gateway. Reluctantly, the old Del dropped his gear to the floor and walked over to the mirror, stopping a yard prior. He began to cry as he gazed into the reflection, knowing that he was doomed for all eternity. Stepping away from it, he felt the Blothruds pressing their spears into his back, forcing him forward.
Once he was within a few feet, his body slid violently against the mirror, as though gravity had changed directions. Tight against the dark reflection of the room behind him, he began to scream in pain. Pulling his head back away from the mirror, flesh could be seen dissolving away wherever his body touched the flat surface, as though the mirror was comprised of acid.
With the sideways gravity pulling him, he continued to press against the inside of the gateway as he dissolved away inch by inch. Clothes lit on fire and quickly burnt away, while flesh melted off. As the skin was removed, the man’s muscles and fat broke down into a liquid and boiled away, followed by his bones sinking down into the darkness of the mirror. Fresh blood and flesh pulsed through the veins in the ceiling overhead.
The entire event only lasted a minute, but the horror for those who witnessed it would last forever. The victim, however, would now add to the city’s walls and structure, expanding it just that much more.
Avanda was struck with overwhelming fear at the room and gateway. This was finally hitting her as the end. There was no escape. They would end up as lost souls floating among these halls forever. “The walls are filled with death and the lives of so many prisoners. Could this be a worse fate than Della Estovia?”
“When we are in a room surrounded by death and life as we wait for our turn for both,” Thorik mumbled to himself.
Avanda wiped her tears from her face. “What?”
Thorik let go of Avanda so he could remove his pack and the Runestones within it. He then pulled out his Runestone of Courage. “Granna had warned me of events such as this. I am to call upon her when it should occur.” Not seeing anything to lose, he moved between Grewen and the wall to concentrate on the stone as the next old Del’Unday in line was prodded toward the gateway. Now, out of the executioners’ and guards’ view, he unsheathed the dagger Varacon as he called to her.
Avanda hugged Grewen’s giant hand as she waited for someone to save them. Looking up into the giant’s face, she could tell he hadn’t given up hope yet.
“Every moment is precious,” Grewen said to her. “Even if it’s your last. Revel in what you have, instead of focusing on what we don’t.”
Avanda repeated the statement to herself as she tried to determine how to use his words to help. “What do we have?”
In the dim light behind Grewen, Gluic’s ghostly appearance flowed from the dagger. “It is time, Thorik.”
Glancing back to make sure he wasn’t being seen, he questioned her. “Time for what? I’ve done what you’ve asked, but we have failed. We are about to be sentenced to a place without life or death. I have fallen short of your request.”
“Nonsense. You have succeeded.”
Thorik listened to the second man scream in horror and pain as he looked at his friends standing in line. “Only in the deaths of my loved ones.”
“This is not your destiny, Thorik.”
“I would love for that to be true, but unless you can convince the executioners of this, I’m afraid it is.”
“Do you recall what I told you before my death, when I had seen my future?”
Thorik remembered the event. In fact he thought of it often, ever since she first touched Santorray with a memory crystal and saw his past and her future. “Your death provides you an opportunity to move into a new body to fulfill a new purpose.” He said softly. “But now I can’t even give you time to fulfill any purpose.”
“But you are wrong, This is what I was meant to do.”
Thorik watched the third person in line toss his belongings to the floor and move into position. “You’re meant to be heaved into a pile of garments and travel supplies? I think not. I would use you to fight for our freedom, but I fear I would lose you in the process if Varacon were to be scratched.”
“No, my grandson. My dear courageous boy. You will not do this. Instead, this is my time to do what has been needed for thousands of years. It is my destiny to free these people.”
Thorik held the Runestone in one hand and Varacon in the other as he listened to another brutal death and watched Avanda and Brimmelle cry in each other’s arms. “I don’t know how to help you save these people.”
“Yes you do.”
“Granna, please. No more games. Tell me before there is no time left for us to speak.”
“What do you wish to do?”
“Me? I wish to stop these deaths, save ourselves, and release you from this dagger.” Thorik thought of what else needed to happen. “And free all those enslaved inside the walls of this city of death.”
“Exactly.”
“Granna? What does that mean?”
“You must be willing to let go of something you cherish in order to make all of those things happen. Can you do this for me?”
The executioners moved over to the next person in line. It was Santorray.
“Of course, name it! Quickly!”
“Stab Varacon into the vein in this wall.”
Santorray unsheathed his sabers and hesitated before dropping them on the pile of gear from the prior victims.
Thorik was sure he misunderstood. “Use the dagger?”
“Yes.” Gluic’s voice was soft but clear.
“But we have the spell and the components to free you.”
“I don’t require them. They aren’t for me.”
“Then why did you have me collect them to free you?”
Gluic smiled. “You must promise me to travel north to the dragon’s lair and use them to save Rummon. He will require them for you to be successful in your future journeys.”
Santorray walked over in front of the mirror and saw a reflection of the room without him in it. He no longer would exist except in the wa
lls of this city.
Thorik peered back and forth between the Blothrud and Gluic. “I can’t. I promised to save you.”
Santorray bit hard against his lip to draw blood for one last battle.
“You have, and many more. But it is now time.” Gluic touched his cheek with her translucent hand.
Santorray stepped up to the gateway, roared with a mighty force and then attacked, slamming his fists into the mirror as he attempted to pound his way through the gateway to see what was on the other side.
“Granna. No,” Thorik stated firmly.
“Courage, my brave little hunter. I will always be there for you.”
A howl of pain filled the room as Santorray’s fists began to bleed and his flesh began to strip off the muscles on his hands. He hadn’t even made a dent in the mirror as it attempted to drag his body toward it. His paws were losing grip and sliding toward the mirror.
“Granna!” Thorik shouted.
Gluic’s journey was complete. “Goodbye, my hero.”
Santorray continued to pound his fists as pieces of flesh flung off his knuckles as he shouted his last battle cry. Santorray was losing this last battle. He was about to die. His paws slipped and his body slapped hard against the mirror.
“NO!” Thorik yelled as he plunged the dagger, Varacon, into the wall next to him. The shiny dark red wall immediately turned a dull ivory with a rough texture of sand. This change spread out from the dagger across the room and into the next like a rapid plague as the veins carried Gluic’s virus in every direction. The mirror in the gateway froze solid, its acids neutralized and its ability vanished.
The following powerful thrust of Santorray’s fist slammed right through the mirror and the wall it leaned against as shards of glass sprayed the room. The Blothrud stepped back to see the sight of the damaged gateway as he raised his arms in the air and roared in victory before smashing both fists one last time, destroying the gateway and the wall behind it.
But his victory was short lived. The walls were losing their strength as the city was becoming a giant sandcastle and it was falling apart under its own weight. Using this to his advantage, he grabbed the spear from a nearby executioner and used it against him before taking out a second executioner as he drove the spear into his gut.
The four guards at the door were confused as to the reaction of the structure around them, but they refused to leave. They had been ordered to stay with the prisoners in the chamber until they had all been through the gateway. To change plans would be to disobey Ergrauth. So, they blocked the exit in an effort to stay loyal as the room’s ceiling began to crumble down on all of them.
Using the chaos to her advantage, Avanda grabbed Bryus’ bird and tossed it at the guards near the doorway. “Attack!” she yelled, hoping the bird would respond.
Panicking from the confusion around them, the bird flew toward the exit and the guards. Instead of trying to attack the Blothruds, it was simply attempting to escape the room. In doing so, it recklessly flew toward the face of one of the Blothruds.
One guard swung at the bird, knocking it into the face of the other guard, as the bird flapped and squawked uncontrollably.
It was the distraction that Santorray needed. He quickly grabbed his sabers and headed for the exit. By the time he arrived at the doorway, the guards had knocked the bird to the ground, but they hadn’t been ready for Santorray’s sabers. With a few swift moves, he cut the Blothrud guards down, freeing those in the room.
“Everyone out!” Santorray commanded.
Avanda scooped up Bryus’ bird from the floor on her way out of the room. Limp in her hands, she hoped it was only knocked out.
Racing out of the room, just as it fell in on itself, the group ran down one hallway after another. Each one crumbling under its own weight, each one breaking down into its raw elements of sand and bones.
Reaching the exterior, they could see the influence of Gluic, turning the glossy red towers pale. The central region was fully ivory by now as it spread outward.
Santorray led them through the streets, crowded with locals screaming from the chaos. They ran for their lives around corners and under archways just prior to their collapse.
A large red section of a tower gave way and fell from its lower ivory sand walls, crashing against one of the streets. The exploding walls sent red blood spraying in every direction.
Dodging around a corner, they avoided the spray as they approached the final row of red towers, which hadn’t been affected yet.
The sound of towers crashing and sand raining down on the streets pounded against their back as they rushed to exit the city limits, passing the fountain statue of Ergrauth. Even with all of that, Thorik thought he heard a familiar voice calling to him.
Thorik stopped and looked around for the owner of the voice, unable to find it until he heard it again.
“Thank you, dear boy,” the voice said again. This time Thorik spotted it. It was his grandmother’s face, pressing up against the side of base of the fountain. “I am now free, and so are these victims.”
Thorik’s eyes swelled with tears. “Granna!”
“You have done the right thing. Now, go become what you were born to be.”
“But Granna.”
“Become the leader you wish you were and do what you wished other people would.” Her face began to fade as the short wall, which surrounded the fountain, was beginning to turn ivory. “Goodbye, dear boy.”
“I’m not giving up on you, Granna!” Thorik yelled over the roar of the city falling in on itself. But the surface he reached out to was now solid sand. Rough and dry, and no longer did it show the face of his grandmother.
“Thorik!” Avanda yelled, as she grabbed his arm. She had turned around and come back for him. “We have to leave this place.”
A section of wall crumbled into the street, blocking their escape route with over ten feet of rubble made of bones and sand. But it failed to pull Thorik from his state of mind.
“No, Not yet.” Thorik insisted it wasn’t over for her. “Granna is right here. It’s time for the spell!”
Looking dumbfounded, Avanda jerked her head around at the sights of the city falling in on them from every angle. “There’s isn’t time. We have to leave, Thorik. You have to trust that Gluic knew what she was doing.”
“Trust?” Thorik said, as the fountain statue of Ergrauth began to crack apart and lean toward the Nums. “The Runestone of Trust!” Thorik quickly tossed off his backpack and dug inside for the Runestone.
Avanda tried to pull him away as she watched the giant statue lose its strength in its base and begin to fall toward them. There was no time to talk, or even run for that matter, the statue came crushing down upon them.
To her amazement, however, the statue froze in midair. In fact, everything in the city had stopped moving. Everything except Thorik and Avanda.
Thorik concentrated on the Runestone he had once tried in the caves of Della Estovia, after climbing out of the underground river. He had recalled that time stood still when activated. “Avanda, quickly! I don’t know how long I can hold this.” It was taxing to his mental fortitude.
Unnerved by the free-floating statue of Ergrauth hovering above them, Avanda didn’t understand what he wanted her to do. “What’s happening?”
“I’ll explain later. Perform the spell to release Gluic before I can’t hold this any longer.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes you can. You have the components and the spell book. Perform it, now!”
Realizing she hadn’t practiced as much as she should have, she questioned her ability. “I’ll mess it up, I don’t know it well enough.”
“I trust you. Hurry!” Every second that went by made it more difficult. And as he began to strain from controlling the Runestone, the objects outside a yard from his position began to slowly move again.
“You shouldn’t.”
Thorik removed one hand from the Runestone long enough to grab something out of
his pocket and to hand it to her. The motion outside of his control moved slightly faster until he placed both of his hands back on the Runestone of Trust. The statue hanging over them was nearing their heads.
Avanda looked down in her hand at the object Thorik had given her. It was a blue tinted crystal shard from Bakalor’s attack on them. The one she had given to Thorik while on the bridge looking over the Lagona Falls. The one that caused her to remember how much they trusted each other and themselves. It was the perfect item, and perhaps the only item, that caused her to straighten up and believe in herself.
Grabbing her components, she prepared her spell as quickly as possible.
“Hurry!” Thorik shouted as he could see the movement increase outside their barrier of safety.
“I’m ready!” She announced. “Wait! We need a body for Gluic to be absorbed into.”
Thorik realized he hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Have her go into mine.”
“No, you could die!” she responded. Looking overhead at the statue just above them, she added, “And if you go, so shall the two of us.”
“We have to try!” Thorik yelled, straining to keep the time frozen. His muscles trembled from the major toll it was having on his body. Closing his eyes, he utilized everything he had to keep the Runestone working as he heard Avanda start to perform the spell.
The statue began to breach the dome of Thorik’s time control bubble, causing fragments of the stone to begin to chip away and rain down upon the Nums. As each second that passed, the pieces became larger in size.
Words were spoken, motions were made, and components were used as Avanda waited for the final steps from Vesik. She sighed with relief as they appeared in the book, as Bryus foretold they would. Performing the final elements, a misty figure pulled out from the base of the fountain and wafted into her new host. The transition was complete, and Avanda finished the spell.
Thorik squinted his eyes from the pressure of controlling the Runestone. “Make haste!”
“It’s over, Thorik. Now we need to get out of here.”
“Over? But it didn’t work,” he said through tight teeth. “I don’t feel any different.”
“That’s because I found a different host for her body.”
Squeezing one eye open, to see who she was talking about, Thorik watched Avanda tossing her items in her pack before collecting Bryus’ bird under her arm.
The bird squawked as it tried to clear its throat and then winked at Thorik. Wiggling its claws, and rotating its large bulging eyes in opposite directions, Gluic tested out her new body. “Well, this is different.”
“Bryus’ pet was dead anyway.” Avanda gave off a quick half-grin, before returning to business. “Now we need to get out of here.”
Pulling Thorik out from under the falling statue allowed him to maintain his focus on the Runestone. And not a second too soon, for once they were out from under it, Thorik’s trembling from the stress caused the Runestone’s powers to fade and the statue to crash down behind them.
A loud crack from above caused Thorik and Avanda to look up as the side of the tower near them had broken away and was heading straight for them. The red surface near the top reflected the light from the sun into their eyes as it slowly rotated and began to plunge downward.
Running back into the city only put them in more danger as more towers fell and crushed the local Del’Unday. Their only choice was to climb over the pile of bones, which blocked their path to safety, but the likelihood of doing so before the tower crushed them was slim to none. Regardless, they would try.
Thorik and Avanda jumped onto the pile and climbed with every ounce of strength they had. Gluic leaped from Avanda’s hand and flew up in the air, only to land on top of the pile as she casually waited for them. But the loose bones rolled out from under their feet, causing them to slide back down with every step forward. It was pointless. Every foot forward resulted in a half a foot backward. They knew that they would never make it past the crest in time.
Just as they recognized that it was over, Gluic flew up in the air and the section of bones they were climbing suddenly fell away, causing them to roll forward, away from the city.
Grewen had used his over-sized hands and arms to grab a section of the bones from the far side and pulled it back away, opening a path for them. Gluic had led him to just the right location to dig.
Santorray then leaped forward and grabbed the two Nums from the pile. Placing one under each of his arms, he quickly ran from the area as the tower crushed the location where the Nums had been blocked.
Chapter 47
Unexpected Visitor