Abruptly, something changed around him. Something shattered the quiet.
Voravia!
Pet'r reached gently for the Ahar'n, raised it from the pedestal one of his ancestors had carved so lovingly and placed it in a pouch inside his vest. He turned sharply and rushed out of the alcove and into another opening dug long ago for just such an emergency.
Once, he stopped and forged his way through a tumbledown, eroded by time, that allowed flooding of a small cave. He pushed aside the refuge and rushed on.
It was to no avail. Voravia's people had long ago dug larger tunnels through these mountains in search of treasures, great and small, and for traveling throughout her kingdom without being discovered. It was only because of the power of the Ahar'n others never entered the cavern from which Pet'r now fled. Without thinking about it, he had divulged its location. At each turn, Pet'r sensed the men ahead of him and turned down yet another path.
Violently he crashed into groups of these creatures whose only intent was to capture him, he slayed, or disabled, many and still ran more quickly than all others. But, in the end there were too many. For all his new found strengths and his urgency to save the Ahar'n from capture, he could not escape.
Finally overwhelmed by numbers, he stopped fighting. They put him in strong chains and started the journey back to Voravia's castle.
The trip took several hours and when they arrived, he was taken to the depths of the caverns and his chains connected to the wall of one of the cells.
Some time passed before his expected visitor arrived. "Good afternoon, Guardian," Voravia spoke slyly, as she walked to his cell door, "Are you comfortable?"
"As well as could be expected," Pet'r answered, not concerned with the title bestowed, "why have you done this?" He knew the answer but he wanted to hear it from one he must now also consider his enemy.
"You, my friend, are a great mystery. Though the scrolls I have studied stories of your kind, there have been no writings for thousands of years. Where did you come from?" Voravia asked, ignoring his question. "What do you intend to do with your bauble?" She held one of the scrolls in her hand.
Pet'r looked at her askance. "If you've actually read that, I suspect you know what this bauble can do. And I can assure you I'll not give it up easily."
Somehow he understood the Ahar'n could not be taken from him; the Ahar'n was protected but it also protected those who wore it. No mortal could kill him to obtain the Ahar'n.
"Perhaps there are some things beyond the value of the Ahar'n with meaning more to you than what you protect so closely. What is the Ahar'n to you anyway?" Voravia retorted, she was watching Pet'r suspiciously.
She witnessed his powers, at their first meeting, when he wasn't aware of them. He possessed more than enough to avoid her attacks then. This man was one to be very wary of and she chose not to take any chances.
The chains holding Pet'r to the wall of the cavern were triply strong. It was believed no man, or beast, could break them and maybe not even the gods. But she was uncertain. The Guardian seemed to be waiting; she was unsure for what and could not perceive the reasons with her strongest sorceress' powers. And, she discovered, she apparently couldn't conceal her thoughts from him. She felt vulnerable. She captured her prisoner as she planned but could do nothing to use him.
"Perhaps, you might let me go, if you are considering anything," Pet'r offered, realizing he was anticipating her thoughts. "The Ahar'n is not in harm's way here, and I need to exercise no effort unless that becomes true. We have something of a stalemate, I believe."
"I'll not let you go until I have the Ahar'n," Voravia spoke through clenched teeth, her own exasperation causing her anger to seethe. "I will have the Ahar'n."
"Then you will have to take it," Pet'r said, so matter-of-factually, it made her even angrier.
She knew it would be fruitless to attack the man; the Ahar'n would protect him. The Ahar'n wasn't going to be handed to her unless there was some other more important reason than existed at this moment for this Guardian to do so. She knew nothing about him except what he had become. She possessed no information about this man nor any of his personal history. It was as though he appeared out of thin air.
Mord came loping up to her and stood without speaking. She was glaring through the great bars of the dungeon cell at Pet'r but caught a glimpse of her servant.
"What! What do you want?" Voravia snapped at Mord, who cowered but didn't flee.
"My mistress, please. Lord Rab'k has arrived and he brought others wif him," Mord answered her. Now she was totally confused.
Rab'k? Rena'x's whelp? What sort of knavery is about now? Damn, this whole business is turning into a nightmare!
"Go away! Why did he say he was here?" Voravia whirled to face her servant now, her eyes glowering at him for interrupting her thoughts and for bringing this stupid news. "What does he want?"
"He say, my lady, he has news frum Baalsa'n, or Ballsu'n, or something liks dat. I did not know who was that, but that his only message," Mord stammered, trying not to forget anything Voravia might conceive as important but not knowing whether he was successful or not.
"He said the name was Baalsa'n," she asked quickly, her eyes suddenly different. They seem to show shock and alarm. Mord wasn't bright enough to know why the change, but he was glad the angry look was gone,
"Let's go now! You, Guardian. I'll be back and I will have the Ahar'n!" She turned and stomped through the cavern toward the stairs to her chambers.
"I'll wait anxiously for your return, my lady," Pet'r shouted after her, unable to contain his sarcasm.
Voravia halted; her shoulders hunched from anger. She stood a moment, staring at the floor, fists clenched, body shuddering. The she threw back her head, hair tossing wildly and strode deliberately to the steps and disappeared. She could hear the man below chuckling to himself and her anger soared.
This Rab'k news had better be incredibly important, or I shall be less yet another idiot manservant.
REVELATION