Abuud: the One-Eyed God (42 page)

"He could be," stated Klarg, "but not unless he is going to Barouk first. These tracks are not heading towards Ongchi. This man is not just riding for the exercise. He has a destination, and when he gets there, he will stop. We will still be moving closer to him while he dawdles in some city. He will not get away this time."

"Many men have said those words before," scowled Calastano. "They are all dead now. Do not get overconfident when your foe is Alexander Tork. We can catch him, and we can kill him, but only if we are wise and persistent. I plan to be both."

"Your point is well taken," nodded Klarg. "I did not mean to sound boastful, but rather confident. Each of my men is committed to this hunt. We will be neither distracted nor cowed."

***

"Hi, Niki," smiled Tanya. "How is the studying going?"

"It is pretty hard stuff," frowned Niki. "I have to read it several times before it makes any sense. I never knew that healing was so much work. Throwing fireballs is much easier. Fredrik taught me a lot of magic."

"Do you miss him?" asked Tanya.

"Yes," sighed Niki. "He never came through on his promise to make me a queen, but he was always nice to me and looked after me. I didn't realize how much I would miss him. I guess I will never see him again now. They want to kill me in Tagaret, so I can't go back there. Fredrik has a good chance of joining the Council, so I guess he will never want to leave. It just doesn't seem fair."

"Actually," Tanya smiled sympathetically, "Fredrik is on the Council now. Or at least he was when I left Tagaret."

Niki started crying. Tears fell from her cheeks so swiftly that they spotted the book on Niki's lap. Tanya sat down next to Niki and handed her a clean cloth. She put her arm around Niki.

"You have no reason to cry," Tanya said soothingly. "Fredrik does not care about the Council. He would leave Tagaret behind him in a minute if he thought you wanted him."

"You are just saying that to make me stop crying," sobbed Niki. "Everybody wants to be on the Council."

"Not true," insisted Tanya. "I spoke with Fredrik just before he was nominated. He was not thrilled about the chance he was being given. He was staying in Tagaret only to be near you. He figured that if he was not chosen for the Council, that Duke Everich would take away his estate and he would never get to see you again."

"Really?" asked Niki as she wiped her eyes.

"Really," smiled Tanya. "He will be there waiting for you until you want him. Do you know where Master Khatama is?"

"He went for a stroll on the beach," answered Niki as a smile creased her lips. "He was talking to some fisherman. Bin-lu, I think his name was."

"Thanks," smiled Tanya as she rose and headed for the beach.

Tanya hadn't traveled very far on the beach before she saw Master Khatama talking to a young man. She heard the words "Ongchi", "guards", and "papers" as she approached. When Master Khatama saw her, the conversation stopped abruptly. Obviously, they were discussing something that she was not supposed to overhear. It hurt her that Uncle Boris was keeping secrets from her.

"Ah, Tanya," smiled Boris. "I was just talking to a young fisherman here. Our talk is over now. Would care to take a walk with me?"

"I would like that very much," Tanya replied.

Bin-lu took the hint. He bowed politely and left.

"It is so wonderful to see you again," smiled Master Khatama. "It is almost like a homecoming. That is if you consider a wagon a home."

"Do you want me to stay?" asked Tanya. "I really would like to."

"No, no, no," smiled Master Khatama. "I have monopolized all of your life already. It would not be fair to the world to keep you cooped up in my old wagon."

"I am kind of fond of your old wagon," retorted Tanya. "I am kind of fond of you, too. I think you could use my help."

"What help does a simple merchant need these days?" responded Boris. "I sell very little anymore. Perhaps I will retire to a small farm somewhere."

"You could teach me more magic," suggested Tanya. "I know you must have more to teach."

Master Khatama stopped and stared at Tanya. "Magic?" he echoed. "What nonsense are you talking about? How can I teach something I do not know? What has that woman, Kalina, been putting into your head?"

Tanya was stunned and speechless. She knew that Master Khatama was utilizing his standard denial of knowing magic. She had seen him use it before, and she understood why he did it. What bothered her is that he did not remember ever teaching her magic. The rate of his memory loss was staggering. At this rate, it would not be long before he did not remember yesterday. He would be completely powerless and defenseless.

"That woman Kalina is Jenneva Tork," gambled Tanya. "And Garth Shado is Alexander Tork. They are traveling under assumed names. Didn't you recognize them?"

It was Master Khatama's turn to look confused. He stared at Tanya for a while before shaking his head.

"The names are familiar," frowned Boris. "I do not think that I have met them before though. You know how terrible I am with names."

"You have never been bad with names," objected Tanya. "You remember the name of every customer we have ever met. Uncle Boris," Tanya pleaded, "please let me stay with you and help you with your memory loss. I don't know what to do about it, but I am sure we can work something out together."

"No," Master Khatama shook his head. "That is impossible. I have a girl traveling with me already. Your place is…I am not sure where you belong, but it is not with me."

"We are going to need torches to see inside," declared Wylan as he stood with Tedi and Arik at the entrance to the Tomb of the King.

"Maybe there are torches inside," suggested Arik as he slipped through the open doorway. "I will have a look."

"Arik," sighed Tedi, "the wood of the door has disintegrated from age. This place is probably thousands of years old. How could there possibly be torches inside?"

Light emanated from inside the doorway, and Arik returned to the doorway with a grin upon his face and a burning torch in his hand.

"Perhaps people have visited here in more recent times?" chuckled Arik.

Arik turned towards the dark interior of the tomb, and Tedi and Wylan quickly followed. Arik held the torch high to see the layout of the tomb. The room was carved out of the mountain, and the rough stone walls were dark, but a dozen sconces adorned the walls, and there were torches in each of them. Arik lit them all.

The room was bare and simple. Other than the sconces, there were only two aberrations on the rough rock walls. One was the doorway they had entered. The second was a doorway on the opposite wall. Arik led the way to the second doorway while Tedi and Wylan each grabbed a lit torch.

There was a small flight of stone steps leading down into the next chamber. When the boys reached the bottom of the steps, they stood staring. Their three torches barely illuminated one end of the great hall. Here the walls and floor were not merely the rough stone indicative of a cave in the side of the mountain, but rather they consisted of finely crafted stone blocks. The ceiling of the great hall was arched high and beyond the reach of mere torches. It reminded Arik of an important room inside a castle, like the Royal Palace of Tagaret. The hall stretched away from them into the darkness, but what caught the attention of the boys were the warriors lining each side of the great hall.

The warriors were dressed in full battle armor, the type that nations could no longer afford for their armies. Full suits of metal adorned the warriors, although each warrior was clearly different from the next. Arik stepped closer to the first warrior on his left. This particular warrior was an archer, and he held his bow proudly before him, the bow was only a skeleton of its former self. The wood of the bow had rotted ages ago, and only the barest of its frame was visible. Arik felt sure that if he touched the bow, it would fall to the floor in a shower of dust particles. The armor too was rusted to only a skeletal form. The form was clearly visible, but Arik knew that it could not withstand the touch of a feather before collapsing to tiny rust particles.

"What is this?" asked Wylan.

"I have never seen anything like it," Tedi shook his head, "but I could imagine it as something like a hall of heroes. These men were all different in their choice of weapons and armament. I think that means they were meant to portray real people."

Arik pressed closer to the archer and raised his torch. Above the archer was a coat of arms chiseled into the stone wall. Below the coat of arms was a word.

"This one has a coat of arms above it, announced Arik. "Does anyone know what Miram is?"

"It is a city in old Targa," answered Wylan. "It is a coastal city north of Tagaret."

"The coat of arms would suggest a country though, wouldn't it?" inquired Tedi.

"I have heard that in the beginning," replied Wylan, "Targa used to be a bunch of individual countries. It has returned to something like that now. Perhaps Miram was one of them."

"Maybe you are right," concluded Tedi. "This one says Southland."

"That is where I am from," Wylan said excitedly as he rushed to see the warrior from his homeland.

In his rush, Wylan's foot hit the pike, which the old warrior was holding. He watched with dismay as the warrior disintegrated into a flurry of rust particles that floated lazily to the floor of the room.

"You must learn to curb your enthusiasm," teased Tedi with his best imitation of Master Khatama.

"Sorry," frowned Wylan. "I guess they really are delicate. I wonder who still visits this tomb?"

"Whoever it is that visits," suggested Arik, "will not find us here when they arrive again
. I do not plan to stick around that long. As interesting as this is, it does not get us closer to our goal. Let's look further into this tomb."

The great hall was tremendously long. Arik tried to count the warriors, but he lost track. He estimated that there were at least one hundred of the ancient figures. When they reached the end of the great hall, there was another archway. Again there were words inscribed above the doorway.

"Auric the Conqueror, King of Alcea," Arik read solemnly.

"Isn't Alcea supposed to be Tagaret?" questioned Tedi. "What is the king's tomb doing on the Island of Storms?"

"I have no idea," Arik shook his head. "None of this makes sense to me. Let's see what lies ahead."

The boys walked through the doorway into the next room. This room was wide rather than long. The floor was white marble, and the walls were covered in tapestries, or what used to be tapestries. Some were just piles of dust upon the floor. Arik felt that others soon would be if he breathed too hard. In the center of the room was an ornate sarcophagus. The lid of the sarcophagus was intricately carved and depicted a mighty warrior. Arik held the torch close and gasped.

"Look at his chest," Arik said excitedly. "It is the vision from the Sword of Heavens."

Tedi leaned closer and looked  "This carving shows him wearing the breastplate in the vision," frowned Tedi. "Do you suppose we were destined to come here? Did the Sword of Heavens somehow direct us?"

"I don't know," stammered Arik, "but it is spooky. I cannot imagine the sequence of events that brought us to this particular place. It defies all logic. Something or someone is guiding us. If we had just stolen the Diamond of Edona while we were in Cleb, we would not be here now."

"And I wanted to steal it," frowned Tedi. "It does not belong to Azmet. It belongs to the Sword of Heavens."

"There is another doorway," called Wylan. "This one has a flight of steps going up. The words over the door are strange though. It says 'The Great Beyond'".

Arik and Tedi left the Sarcophagus and joined Wylan at the doorway. Together they climbed the stairs. The next room was round and breathtaking. The floor was a blood-red marble. Sky-blue marble lined the walls of the circular chamber, and the domed ceiling was a cloud-white marble. In the very center of the room was a small pedestal of green marble with one step leading up to it. It was a small square pedestal with only enough room for a person to stand upon it.

In a circle surrounding the green pedestal, was a ring of higher pedestals. The pedestals were half way between the green pedestal and the blue walls. On each of those pedestals was a statue looking inward toward the green pedestal.

"These are the gods," declared Arik. "I recognize Char and Aara."

"Dora and Risa, too," added Tedi. "And Thun and Mya."

"And Abuud," remarked Wylan excitedly. "This is what we have been looking for."

Arik and Tedi rushed over to where Wylan was standing. They looked up at the statue of Abuud, which by itself was imposing. Standing on the pedestal, it towered high above them. The statue was not in pristine condition. None of them were. The head had a crack running down it and a large section of stone was missing from its midsection, but there was no doubt that it was the one-eyed god.

"He is holding a torch instead of a sword," remarked Wylan. "And a book instead of a skull. Azmet really has perverted the image of Abuud."

"Well now that we found it," frowned Tedi, "how do we get it out of here? I don't suppose that you have thought about that."

"Actually," smiled Arik, "I have given it a great deal of thought. I figured the statue would be as large as the fake one. I had planned to build a small wagon or sled for it. That is why I requested the extra rope from Bin-lu. I will admit though, I did not expect to be on a higher level than the sea. Lowering it to the sand will be a problem, but I think we can conquer it."

"My father used to work in the carpentry shop in Southland," offered Wylan. "I spent many a day there watching and helping out. I am sure that I could fashion rails for a sled. We can even make a slide to ease it off the pedestal. Let me show you what I have in mind," Wylan continued as he squatted and starting drawing in the dust upon the floor.

Tedi had no interest in constructing anything, and he felt that he had nothing to add to the conversation, so he wandered off. He walked around the circular chamber and examined the statues, but quickly grew bored. Suddenly, an inspiration flooded his mind. He looked back at Arik and Wylan discussing their sled and then eased through the doorway and down the stairs.