Текст книги "The Horn of Moran"

Автор книги: Mark Forman

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Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 20 страниц)

Chapter Twelve

The Tower of the Moon

The company had a hard time trying to rest again that night. Their thoughts and eyes continued to wander toward the griffins, which were hidden in darkness. No one was hungry, but Halfdan prepared a simple meal just so he had something to do. They had reached the Tower of the Moon, and when the sun came up, they would have to pass before the griffins.

Alex knew the griffins would only stop them if they were evil. Evil, however, was not the right word. He had read about griffins and stories about people who had encountered them. Griffins didn’t see things simply as good or evil; they looked more at intentions, at a person’s conscience, at the reasons people had for doing what they did.

“It has been a long road,” Bregnest commented in the darkness. “I hope we find what we came looking for.”

“It must be here,” said Andy. “The sphinx said the prince did not return, and there’s no other path he could have taken.”

“The sphinx said that others had passed and did not return,” Sindar corrected. “We don’t know who those others might have been.”

“I agree with Andy,” said Halfdan. “Usel said the prince traveled this way, so the Horn must be here. I’ll feel better once we have it and are away from this place.”

“Do you doubt your ability to pass the griffins?” Val questioned.

“No,” said Halfdan. “But everyone may hide some evil inside of them, even from themselves.”

“And few of the mortal races know themselves as well as they think they do,” Sindar added.

“Is it different for elves?” Alex questioned.

“Yes and no,” answered Sindar in a quiet voice. “We know ourselves far better than mortals do, but even so, evil may hide where we least expect it.”

They fell silent for a time, each of them searching their own hearts and thoughts. Alex wondered if his growing pride in being a wizard might be considered evil. He wasn’t sure how the griffins would judge him, or what they might consider evil that he would not.

“It will do no good to worry,” said Sindar. “The griffins will judge as they see fit, and only another griffin would truly understand the judgment.”

“How will we proceed in the morning?” Andy questioned. “Will we stand before them as a group? Or one at a time?”

“One at a time,” Bregnest answered after a few moments of thought. “I believe we will all pass, but I think we should each stand alone before the griffins.”

“And if all do not pass?” Val asked.

“The judgment of the griffins is not the same as man’s,” Bregnest answered. “If any of this company fail to pass, none here will speak against them.”

They all became quiet once more, though Alex didn’t think any of his companions were sleeping. He was worried about getting past the griffins, but he was more worried about what waited for him at the tower. His mind burned with thoughts of the lower library, but he still didn’t have any answers about how to destroy it.

The wind picked up as the night went on, and it was getting colder. Alex thought about how long they’d been in Norsland. By his count, they were only just starting their fifth month. Andy had said there were at least five or six months of good traveling weather, so why had Usel warned them to start back so soon? Surely they had at least a month before winter would return. Faced with more questions than answers, Alex slowly fell into a light sleep.

A terrible, screaming cry snapped him awake. Alex jumped to his feet, his hand reaching for Moon Slayer at his side. He looked around to see where the cry had come from.

Everything was dark, but he could hear something large moving nearby. The griffins were awake in the darkness, and they sounded both angry and pained.

“Bregnest?” Alex called, looking around but seeing nothing in the darkness. “Sindar?”

There was no reply, only the angry sounds coming from the griffins.

Alex stood for a moment, unsure of what to do. Where were his companions? Why were they not answering his calls? His thoughts were numbed by the darkness, and fear was growing inside of him. He knew that he had to do something—anything—and fast.

With an effort of will, Alex conjured up a half dozen weir lights. As they floated gently around him, the fog in his mind began to clear and the darkness around him fled. He felt like a great weight was suddenly lifted from him.

Looking around, he saw that his friends were all still on the ground as though they had not heard the screaming pain of the griffins and were simply resting, waiting for dawn. Then he noticed that only four of his friends were there. Val was gone.

“Bregnest!” Alex shouted, bending over his friend and trying to shake him awake.

Bregnest didn’t answer. Alex tried to wake each of his friends in turn, but none of them would wake up. When he shook Sindar, the elf mumbled slightly, but he, too, seemed completely dazed.

Alex didn’t know what to do. He needed to help his friends, but he also needed to find Val. Where had he gone? And what had caused the griffins to cry out in such terrible pain and anger?

Simple solutions,he thought, remembering Whalen’s advice. He had to think of something fast and simple that would help his friends. Fire. That might help. Fire was the adventurer’s friend and ally.

Stepping away from his friends’ blankets, Alex conjured a blue-white fire. The heat from the flames pushed back the cold mountain air. As fast as he could, Alex moved his companions as close to the fire as he dared, still trying to wake them. Only Sindar spoke, but his voice was a faint whisper.

“My pendant. I need my pendant.” Sindar pulled at his shirt with his right hand, desperately trying to find something.

Alex pushed aside Sindar’s hand and pulled open the top of the elf’s shirt. There was no pendant, only a dark red line where something had been yanked from around Sindar’s neck.

Alex searched Sindar’s blankets and the ground around him. He forced more magic into the weir lights, changing them from gentle gold to dazzling white. The bright light glinted off something, but as Alex reached out for it, his hand stopped. Sindar’s pendant was made of true silver, but there was no mistaking the design. It was shaped like a flower, the same flower as the pendant Alex’s father had hidden.

Alex retrieved the pendant, but almost dropped it as it burned his hand with cold. The cold was gone almost as soon as the pendant was in his hand, the burn forgotten, and a gentle warmth seemed to flow out of the metal flower.

“Here, I have your pendant,” Alex said, forcing it into Sindar’s hand.

Sindar took a few deep breaths. His muscles relaxed, and his eyes fluttered open. For a second he seemed confused, and then he spoke in a desperate, pleading tone.

“Val. Some evil has taken over his mind.”

“What?” Alex asked, wondering if he’d heard Sindar correctly.

“Val carries a great evil with him. He will go to the tower. You must stop him before he reaches the lower library,” said Sindar, blinking slowly.

“But I can’t leave you and the others,” Alex protested. “The others won’t wake up, and you can barely speak.”

“Go, quickly,” said Sindar, his tone becoming urgent. “I will recover soon. I will care for the others while you are gone.”

“Sindar, this is madness,” said Alex. “What evil does Val carry?”

“Go,” Sindar repeated. “Go now.”

Alex looked at Sindar and his other friends. If he left them, they might be lost, but what could he do for them if he stayed? If Val was carrying some evil and he reached the lower library, it could be disastrous.

Alex knew what he had to do. “Do what you can for the others. I will return as soon as I can.”

Sindar seemed to nod, but he said nothing.

Alex put out the weir lights but left the fire burning, then he ran toward the Tower of the Moon with only one thought in his mind. Stop Val. Stop the evil.

“Stay,” an angry voice commanded as Alex ran toward the stairs that led to the tower.

Alex slid to a stop. He had forgotten that the griffins were still there, and they were angry.

“What do you seek in the Tower of the Moon?” the griffin growled.

“I seek the evil that has gone there,” Alex answered.

“The evil you seek traveled here with your company. It attacked us, blinding us with its dark magic. Why do you seek it now?” the griffin demanded.

“We did not know this evil was with us,” said Alex defensively. “Now that it has shown itself, I must stop it from reaching the lower library and learning even greater dark magic.”

The griffin paused. “There is no evil in you,” it said finally in a somewhat softer tone. “You may pass. But know this, young wizard, your friends will remain here as hostages.”

“Hostages?”

“We will allow you three hours. You must either destroy this evil or return here with it. If you do not return before the time is up, the hostages are forfeit.”

The griffin’s words filled Alex with a cold fear, but he had no choice. “Agreed,” he said, resolved to his fate.

“Then go,” the griffin commanded. “And return swiftly—if you can.”

Alex didn’t hesitate. He rushed up the stairs that led into the tower without looking back. He had little time and no idea where Val might be. What evil Val carried with him Alex could not guess, but he knew it must be powerful in order to blind the griffins and allow Val the chance to slip past their watchful gaze.

Alex was breathing hard when he reached the top of the stairway, his heart pounding loudly in his ears. The entrance to the tower was in front of him, but there was no sign of Val. He stopped for a moment, trying to catch his breath and think. Val had carried the evil, but for how long? And why had Alex not felt the evil, as he had before when other evil had been near him? He was only a wizard in training, how could he possibly defeat this overwhelming evil?

Alex approached the tower, his worries picking at his brain. He had to try, even if it was hopeless. If he failed, he would probably die, though the thought of his own death didn’t bother him as much as the knowledge that if he failed, his friends would surely die as well. And if he succeeded, he had only three hours to return to the griffins and save his friends.

As he entered the tower, Alex found himself in a wide chamber. The torches were lit, which helped him to see, but it also helped his enemy. Looking around, he saw there were two stairways leading out of the chamber. One stairway led up into the tower, the other spiraled down into the mountain beneath the tower.

“It must be down,” Alex said to himself.

Alex ran to the stairway on his right and started down. The stairs circled around the wall of the tower and were poorly lit. Carefully, Alex moved downward, keeping his eyes open in case Val was hidden somewhere, waiting to attack him. There were no hiding places along the stairway that he could see, but Alex continued to move with caution.

At the bottom of the stairs was a long hallway, and at the far end of the hallway, Alex could see what appeared to be more stairs leading down. Alex moved down the hallway as fast as he could. He watched for any sign of movement and listened for any kind of sound. He paused at the end of the hallway to listen again, but there was only silence. There were no doorways or passages leading away from the hallway, so the only thing to do was to continue down.

The second stairway ended in a narrow chamber. There were doors on both sides and a large double door at the far end. Alex moved into the middle of the room, looking for any sign that he was going in the right direction. There was something familiar about the room, but Alex couldn’t remember where he had seen it before. He felt certain that he was going in the right direction, but if he had chosen wrong and the library was higher in the tower, he was wasting what little time he had.

Alex stood for a second with his eyes partly closed, listening. A cold breeze blew across his face from the direction of the large double door, and he took that as a sign. He moved to the door and reached out for the handles. His hands shook slightly, and he could already feel the evil and hate waiting behind the doors. Not just waiting, but waiting for him.

Focusing his thoughts on what he had to do, Alex pushed the doors open and stepped into the lower library. Val was standing halfway down a large empty room, looking back at Alex.

“I knew you would come,” said Val in an odd-sounding voice. “I knew you would try to stop me.”

“What are you doing, Val?”

“What I have been told to do,” Val answered, his face twisting into what might have been a grin. “I do what my friends say because they want what is best for me.”

“What friends?” Alex asked, stepping closer to Val and looking around the empty room.

“The friends that I have carried with me on this foolish quest,” answered Val. “The friends who found me on my last adventure and showed me what I could be, if I listened to them.”

“And what is that?” Alex asked, thinking that Val’s words sounded strangely familiar.

“I will be king of the known lands. All will bow before me, and all will give honor to me.”

“I have heard such promises before,” Alex said softly. “They are lies, and those who promise such things are full of evil.”

“So you say,” Val answered with a sneer. “You threw away your chance. You refused to accept them once, and now you will pay the price of your foolishness with your life.”

“I threw away only lies. I refused to accept their evil, and I have paid no price for my choice.”

“Your time is over, wizard. We will destroy you,” Val screamed, leaping forward, the point of his sword driving toward Alex’s heart.

Alex spun away, avoiding Val’s attack by dropping to the floor and rolling back to his feet. Moon Slayer was in his hand as he turned, and the magic sword began to glow softly in the darkness. Alex felt Val’s next attack coming, and he spun away as he slapped Val’s sword aside with Moon Slayer.

The two of them began a deadly dance around the empty library. Val spun and attacked wildly time and again, but Moon Slayer was always there to block his attacks. Several times Alex saw an opening where he could easily have killed Val, but he didn’t. Val was his friend, and he was being controlled by evil; Alex felt like he had to try to save him from that evil.

“You only delay your end,” Val yelled. “I can fight for hours, but sooner or later you will need rest.”

“Whatever promises you have been told are lies. Evil can’t give you greatness, it will only use you and then throw you away when it is finished.”

Their swords crashed against each other.

“Let go of the evil, Val,” Alex said in a calm voice. “Think of your friends, your wife.

“Wife?” Val shouted, diving forward to attack once more. “I have no wife. That was only a fantasy, a dream that has not yet come true. But my true friends will make that dream come true, along with all my other dreams. They want only what is best for me.”

“You will be betrayed,” said Alex. “Remember when you trusted before. You were betrayed before, and the evil that claims to be your friend will betray you in the same way. Let it go, Val. Let go of the lies the shadow has whispered to you and reclaim your honor as an adventurer.”

“Betrayed,” Val said, his voice softening. He froze in place, his sword held out in front of him, the tip wavering. There was a confused look on Val’s face, but Alex could see a great struggle in his eyes.

Alex took the opportunity, hoping it was the right thing to do, hoping that Val would understand. Swinging Moon Slayer as hard as he could, Alex aimed for Val’s sword. A shower of sparks filled the room as Val’s sword shattered, and Val fell back as if he had been dealt a deadly blow.

“Val?” Alex questioned as he stepped closer. “Are you all right?”

“Alex? I . . . I don’t know,” Val answered slowly. “You could have killed me, but you did not. It might . . . it might have been better if you had.”

“Nonsense,” said Alex. “Let go of the evil, Val. Let go of the dreams that cannot be, and come back to your own life.”

“Yes, I understand now,” said Val, his voice growing stronger. “I . . . Forgive me, Alex. I have been a fool.”

“There is no need for forgiveness,” said Alex. “Come, we need to return to the others.”

“As you wish, my master,” Val whispered.

Before Alex realized what Val had said, Val lifted his hands and cast a spell. Alex’s body was racked with pain and an icy cold filled his insides. The pain forced him to his knees, and for a moment he thought he was going to throw up. He had felt this sickening cold once before, and it had almost destroyed him then.

Forcing himself to ignore the cold and the pain, Alex raised his hands instinctively, drawing on his own deep magic. The spell that came to him in his time of need was nothing he had ever heard of or read about.

Val shrieked in agony, and the painful cold that consumed Alex began to fade. Alex got back to his feet and saw Val, curled on the floor, whimpering in pain. For a moment he felt pity for Val, but then Val’s body began to twitch as if his pain was increasing and a strange shadow began to spread like a puddle of ink around him.

Alex watched in stunned amazement and horror as the shadow began to take shape. As the shadow took its full form, Alex recognized it from a dream he’d had long ago and from a night he could never forget. This was the evil that had reached out for him in his dream, a dream he had forgotten until now. This was the evil that had almost destroyed him on his first adventure, and now he knew it for what it was.

“So, young wizard,” said an ice-cold voice. “You have forced me to leave this pathetic excuse of a man and show myself.”

“And now I will end your evil,” said Alex in a determined voice.

“You do not have that power,” the voice taunted. “All you have done is to delay my plans. Look around you, fool. Do you not realize where you are?”

“In the lower library of the Tower of the Moon,” said Alex, but he suddenly realized what the shadowy figure meant. This was the library, but there were no books here; it was empty.

“So, you see at last,” said the voice. “The library is mine, safe from you in this fool’s bag.”

“You have done great evil, and I will stop you from doing more,” Alex yelled. “I have defeated you before, and I will do so again.”

“Young fool,” whispered the shadow. “There is no reason for us to be at odds. Take the treasure of the tower and the Horn that you seek. And I can add to your treasures as well.”

The shadow turned to look at Val. Val slowly took his magic bag and spoke into it. There was a moment when the air seemed to ripple and spark and then the empty library was filled with treasure from Val’s bag.

“All this I will offer you,” said the cold voice. “All this, and a hundred times more. All that I ask is that you leave us now. Leave us, and you will have your reward.”

“You are the fool,” Alex spat back. “This treasure is not yours to give, and even if it were, it means nothing to me.”

“Arrogant whelp!” the shadow screamed, its voice echoing around the empty room. “I have made you a fair offer, and once more you refuse me. So be it. Though I cannot harm you as I am, I can destroy your hopes. The library is mine, and it will remain mine.”

The shadow turned to look at Val once more. Before Alex could move, Val had spoken into his bag and vanished.

“Before you could hope to strike at me, I will join my servant in his bag and use him to become greater than you can imagine,” said the voice as if reading Alex’s mind.

Alex stood in stunned silence, looking at the bag on the floor. With Val in his bag, Alex would be unable to move it from where it lay on the stone floor. He didn’t know what to do. He had tried for weeks to think of a way to destroy the library, but now it was out of his reach.

“Your time is short, wizard. You dare not wait if your friends’ lives mean anything to you,” the shadow voice mocked.

The dark shadow claimed that Alex could not destroy it, but Alex knew that was a lie. He decided he had to do something, no matter how foolish it might seem. Lifting his hands, Alex focused all his thoughts and power on Val’s bag. The magic of the bag would only let the adventurer who owned it move it from the floor, but Alex didn’t want to move the bag, he wanted something else.

There was a loud crack, like ice shifting on a frozen lake, and it was done. A large black stone now stood on the floor where Val’s bag had been. Alex felt completely drained. Changing the magic bag had taken all the power he could summon, and now he had nothing left to fight the shadow.

“Very clever,” said the shadow. “You have prevented me from joining my servant and using the library, but it is a small victory. I may not be able to destroy you in my present form, but I will find another way. There are always fools who will let me into their hearts and minds. And time is on my side.”

Alex knew the evil voice spoke the truth this time. He had stopped the shadow for the time being, but another wizard could change the stone back into a magic bag. And Alex could not stay and protect the stone forever.

“So, young wizard, you have failed. I will leave you now to ponder your defeat, and I will return at my convenience to claim my prize.”

The shadow figure changed as it finished speaking, becoming a misty, almost fluid, form. Alex watched it change, too tired to stop it or even to speak. A shrieking ice-cold wind blew past Alex, pushing him down until he was flat on his back. And then the shadow was gone.

Alex struggled to his knees. He was cold, sad, and defeated. He had failed completely. The shadow was still free, and, worse, it would return. For a moment he felt like crying, but then a voice he had never heard before came into his mind.

“Simple solutions are often the best,” the voice said.

Alex shook his head. There was no simple solution to this problem, at least none that he could think of. Then another voice came to his mind, a kind, soft voice: the voice of the sphinx.

“Unseen but heard, untouched but felt,” the voice said softly. The riddle of the sphinx returned to Alex’s mind, and he felt as if a light had been turned on inside his head.

Alex started to laugh as the cold slipped away. He felt his strength return to him in a dazzling rush that almost took his breath away. The answer was so simple, so obvious, and so clever that he had never considered it. Standing up, Alex moved to the stone that had once been the magic bag of Sedric Valenteen. Alex felt sorry for Val, but he knew that Val had made his own choice, and now he had to suffer the consequences of that choice.

Lifting his hands and pulling all of his magic to him, Alex closed his eyes. A cool breeze blew across his face once more, and when he opened his eyes, the stone was gone. Worry slipped away; Alex was certain that no one would ever be able to change the cool breeze back into a stone or a magic bag. He had won in the end, and the shadow didn’t even know it. Someday the shadow would return here to claim its prize and find nothing at all.

Tired, but pleased with his success, Alex looked around at the room full of treasure. If Val had an heir, all of this belonged to them. He would take it and hope to return it to Val’s family sometime in the future. He took his magic bag and spoke into it. The air seemed to ripple and spark once more, and the treasure disappeared with a flash.

Alex moved back to the stairway as fast as he could, not wanting to waste another moment. He ran up the two flights of stairs, his legs burning with the effort. When he reached the main chamber, he paused for a moment. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but he thought it couldn’t be more than an hour. With only a moment of thought, he went to the stairway that led higher into the tower. He wanted to find the upper library and the Horn of Moran, if it was there.

At the top of the stairway was a door, which Alex opened to see another large chamber full of treasure. Ignoring the treasure, he continued forward toward another stairway at the far end of the chamber. He knew where it would lead him.

At the top of the second set of stairs, Alex found himself in the upper library of the Tower of the Moon, surrounded by shelves, tables, and thousands of books. He quickly reached for his magic bag, holding it out toward the center of the room.

“Treasure room,” Alex said loudly.

With a sound like rushing wind, the entire library disappeared into his bag. Only one thing remained, and it was something Alex had not noticed when he’d first entered the room. He moved closer, looking at the strange object in wonder.

Against the back wall a single stone table remained and hovering just above the tabletop was a bright silver flame. The flames moved like a living thing, but Alex didn’t feel any heat coming from them. For a few minutes he stood looking at the flames, and a strange desire to reach out and touch the silver fire filled his mind.

“Take it,” a voice whispered to him. “Take the power and become the master.”

Before he knew what he was doing, Alex reached out his hand toward the flame. Alarm bells rang wildly inside his head, warning him to stop, but his hand continued to move forward.

“A wizard born in Norsland must come,” another voice yelled inside his head. “Only a wizard born in Norsland can take this power.”

Alex’s hand stopped moving, his fingers slowly curling into a fist. Cara had told him about the legend of the tower, about a wizard who would come to save his people. Alex knew he could touch the flame and become the master of all the magic in Norsland, but then the legend would fail. Worse, if he took the power, he would have to remain as the guardian of the tower for as long as he lived.

“No,” Alex said softly. “This is not for me. Another will come to guard this power.”

“Wise. Very wise,” a deep voice answered.

Alex spun around at the sound of the voice.

A ghostly image of a man moved across the empty room, stopping a few feet from Alex. “I am sorry you had to be tested like that,” he said. “All who enter the tower must face the test of the flame, but you are the first to ever pass the test.”

“Who are you?”

“I am Garson,” the ghost answered. “I was the last guardian of the tower. Now I wait to pass on the knowledge I have and the secrets I have kept to the new guardian.”

“I am Alexander Taylor,” Alex said.

“You are a wizard and an adventurer.” Garson nodded. “You have come here looking for the Horn of Moran. Yes, I know. I can see your power, and I am glad you have come. The Horn is with the treasure of the tower, but it does not belong here. It must be returned to Alusia.”

“Yes,” said Alex. “The Horn is needed to prove the true king of Athanor.”

“Oh, it will do much more than that,” said Garson. “The Horn is one of three guardian objects that bind the people of Alusia together. It is the simplest of the three, and the only one that could be taken from the land. But simple or not, it is part of Alusia, and it must be returned. It has only been here for a short time, but already Alusia is breaking apart. The Horn will help unite the people once more.”

“If the Horn is so important, why was the prince allowed to take it from Alusia? Why bring it here?”

“The people have forgotten what the Horn is,” Garson answered sadly.

“What happened to the prince?” Alex questioned. “And to the adventurers who were with him?”

“The men who came here with the Horn were adventurers, but not wizards. They felt the same desire you did to touch the flame, but they were not wise enough to see that the power was not free for the taking. They failed the test and were destroyed. I am sorry that it happened, but I could not stop it.”

“I have destroyed the lower library of the tower,” Alex said after a moment of silence. “I have taken the upper library and put it in my bag. I will not restore the lower library, but I should leave the upper library here.”

“The tower is more than libraries and treasure,” Garson replied with a wave of his ghostly hand. “Libraries can be replaced. Take what you have won and learn from it. Take the treasure in the room below as a reward; the Horn you seek is with the treasure. I ask only that you leave some token of yourself behind to mark you as a friend of the tower. Perhaps someday you will return, and if you are a friend of the tower, the guardians will allow you free access.”

“Thank you,” said Alex. “I am sorry I cannot stay. The guardians gave me three hours to destroy the evil that came here, and that time is running out.”

“You have other reasons to hurry,” said Garson. “There is a storm brewing. Winter is closing in; I do not think you will be able to outrun it.”

“We can’t wait for winter to pass,” Alex said in a worried tone. “We have to get back to Alusia before the spring festival or else there will be war.”

“The storms that are coming cannot be stopped,” Garson answered slowly. “As I am now, I have little power in this land, and even less in others. I can, however, see some of what the future holds. I see that your friends have been touched by a curse. You will be stopped by winter, but not for as long as you fear. You will be able to move south much sooner than you might expect.”

“That is something,” said Alex, thinking of the ghost’s words.

“Little things often make the biggest difference,” Garson said softly as his image started to fade. “You should go. Move as quickly as you can, young wizard. Time is running out.”

The ghost vanished before Alex could reply. Without waiting, Alex hurried back down the stairs to the chamber full of treasure. He knew the Horn was here, somewhere, but Garson was right, he didn’t have time to look for it.

“Treasure room, separate,” said Alex, hoping the bag would understand what he wanted it to do.

Once again there was the sound of rushing wind as the air rippled and sparked. When the chamber was emptied, Alex shifted his bag to his shoulder. He took a single gold coin from his moneybag. With a little effort, he changed the appearance of the coin in his hand. Tossing the coin toward the center of the empty treasure room, he caught it with magic before it hit the floor. The gold coin flashed as it spun in midair, held by a magical thread.