The High Queen's Vow [The Mystic Women of The Realm Series Book IV] (22 page)

A door knocker? Surely this is here for some reason, but what?

The next drawing showed the destruction of a room, with a door knocker on the ground. The High Queen was intrigued,
Clues! But to what?

The next drawing showed a picture of crown—a High Queen's crown. She reached up to her crown, wondering which one she wore this turn. Sighing lightly with relief, she felt what she hoped she would—a red stone in her small circlet crown. She often wore the small crown without the red stone, absently wondering how her attendants chose which of the crowns she would wear on which turns.

As she descended down another round of stairs, she saw the next drawing was of The First High Queen's sword—her sword. She looked down over the stairs, searching for her Force Leader.

"Force Leader."

Ann'wn looked up toward her, “Highness?"

"Do you now carry The First High Queen's sword?"

She nodded, “We have it, my Queen."

She brushed the next drawing lightly with her fingers, its picture long-prior covered by the dust of the cavern. She gasped lightly as the drawing revealed itself, her hand yet at the drawings side. Her red-stoned ring on her own finger was identical to the red-stoned ring on someone's hand, in the drawing. In the bottom right of the drawing, she saw a symbol, at first thinking it the artist's name, but then seeing it was a phrase. She dusted it off carefully, then squinted, trying to make out the small letters.

...n ... he wal...

What could this mean?

She blew lightly on the drawing, then carefully dusted it off again.

In the wal...

"In the wall?"

She examined the drawing again, trying to find any clue as to what might be in the wall. She looked up at the long ascent, hoping she hadn't missed any clue in the other drawings. As she descended to the final tier, the last drawing displayed the red stones in the ring, crown and sword emitting a red beam of power toward the top of the cavern.

She spoke only to herself, “Most fascinating."

When they finally reached the bottom of the cavern, Meera looked about them, seeing only one door, “All this for one door, Highness?"

One of the guards laughed, beginning to open the door, “Well, I suppose it is obvious that this must be for what The High Queen searches."

As the guard's hand reached toward the door, The High Queen's mind brought forth the image of one of the drawings—the image of the door knocker on the floor, with the room destroyed. Her mind was quick to place the puzzle together.

Her command was urgent and without question, “HALT!"

They all turned to The High Queen, seeing that she yet continued to examine the cavern's walls, “As you stated, Warrior Woman, it surely cannot be this simple. Allow me a moment."

Meera's eyes opened wide once again, guessing as to what might occur at the wrong move on their parts. She looked up toward the top of the cavern, knowing that there would certainly be no escape.

The High Queen walked around the bottom of the cavern for several moments, examining the walls, looking back up toward where they had entered, then looking back to the walls. Meera watched her carefully, seeing that The High Queen also examined the floor of the cavern, moving the sand away upon occasion.

As The High Queen crouched down in the middle of the room, brushing the sand and dirt away from the floor, Ann'wn could no longer contain her curiosity, “My Queen, why should we not open the door?"

The High Queen continued her task as she calmly stated, “The cavern would cave in on us, Force Leader."

The guard who had almost opened the door now stepped back from it, her eyes bulging as she stared at the near miss with the door knocker.

Meera began brushing the dust away from the walls, helping in The High Queen's search, even though she knew not for that which they searched.

Ann'wn was yet stunned, “Cave in on us, Highness?"

The High Queen moved back to the sides of the cavern, beginning to search lower on the walls, “It would most certain be a quick death, Force Leader."

Ann'wn looked up to the top of the cavern, nodding absently, “Most certain, Highness."

Meera touched something, “Highness? I have found something."

San'lr'in’ hurried over, seeing a small round indentation, “Ah! Good, Warrior Woman. Now we search for two others.” She looked around, beginning to wonder, “Perhaps they form a triangle."

"They, Highness?” Ann'wn knew not what to think.

"The stones, Force Leader."

Ann'wn remained confused, but Meera began to piece the puzzle together, “Your sword is one, Highness?"

She nodded, “And the ring."

"And your crown, Highness?"

Ann'wn examined the small round indentation in the wall, “What should we do with this, my Queen?"

San'lr'in’ studied it for a moment, recalled the cryptic message,
In the wall
, then seeing no other choice, she pressed it. Suddenly, an ominous sound of rock sliding against rock startled them, and a small ledge-like shelf appeared. The High Queen examined it, then dusted it off, seeing a round circled-engraving, made as if for a resting place for The High Queen's crown. She reached up and removed her crown, then placed it over the etched circle, examining the size, but not yet setting it down upon it.

"A perfect fit, Highness."

She looked at Meera, wondering, “You think so, Warrior Woman?"

Meera eyed the crown, then the carved-out circle, “So it must be."

The High Queen laughed quietly, looked up toward their far-away exit, then back to the small shelf. She wondered briefly how the designer of this hidden cavern had known that she would be wearing her small red-stoned crown this turn. With no further hesitation, she lowered her crown onto the shelf.

She exhaled quietly, unaware that she had held her breath, but now relieved that nothing of consequence had occurred, when suddenly more sounds of rock sliding against rock occurred.

"What happens, Highness?"

Ignoring Ann'wn's question, The High Queen spun around toward the noise, hoping the noise wasn't her greatest fear of the cavern falling in around them.

"Look! Over on that wall, Highness."

She looked at Meera, then quickly to where she was pointing. Another shelf had opened from the wall, from nearly opposite them, but lower. The High Queen crossed the room to it, then brushed it lightly.

"It must hold your sword, my Queen."

She held out her hand, “My sword, Force Leader."

When Ann'wn handed it to her, she placed its tip gently into the carved-out section made just for the tip of her sword. As the sword stood firmly upright, another sound of rock sliding against rock occurred, and she looked over to her left, guessing that the stones were indeed forming a triangle, and saw her expectation—another small shelf had emerged from the wall.

"For your ring, Highness."

Like on the shelf for her crown, a small indentation had been carved-out—just the size of her ring. To herself, she muttered, “Amazing."

She removed her ring and placed it on the shelf, wondering what would then occur.

Nothing.

Then she saw it—her ring had begun to pulse its powers. She motioned to Meera, “Stand aside, Warrior Woman. We stand in the way of the powers."

Sle'nel’ and The Healer had begun their downward journey on the stairs when they suddenly saw an enormous red-beam shoot from the bottom of the cavern to its roof, surprising them. The Healer fell against the side of the wall as she stared at it.

"What is
that
?"

Sle'nel’ shook her head, “San'lr'in’ is up to something, would be my guess."

"If I knew not any better, I would think she is trying to kill me."

And as suddenly, the entire cavern was awash from top to bottom in streams of light running fully along three sides of the walls, as in a fountain of moving, liquid radiance.

The Healer looked at her small torch, then hung it on the wall, “I don't suppose we need this any further.

As the beam of light shot up to the cavern's ceiling, a large cracking sound also occurred, and The High Queen felt the ground shake. For one moment of self-doubt, she wondered if the cavern were falling in on them, when she saw part of the wall begin to slide open, providing an entrance into a well-sealed room.

"You seem to have found where The First High Queen hid The Realm's treasures, Highness."

She examined the stream of energy that her stones had created, seeing that they had indeed acted as a triangle, channeling their energy together.

"Most amazing, in truth."

"My Queen?"

She turned to Ann'wn, smiling softly, “We seem to have finally arrived to our destination, Force Leader. Would you care to lead the way?"

Ann'wn motioned to her guards to first secure the room, then The High Queen entered, hearing the surprised sounds from her forces.

San'lr'in’ gave a small gasp as she saw the contents of the large room unfold before her. Row upon row of artifacts were laid out on shelves and rock ledges, beyond counting, “By the mothers, the legends are correct."

She wandered deeper into the room, seeing treasures she had only heard of but never believed their existence to be truth. She touched one object, familiar with its story, but never prior thinking she would ever see such a thing.

"What is that, Highness?” Meera was following her, acting as her personal guard.

The High Queen turned it over, examining it, fingering its inscriptions, “It is said to be the Great Seal of One Yet to Come. The Seal of Legends. And I always thought it to be nothing more than a story."

"My Queen?"

"The legends tell that somewhere far beyond our era, Warrior Woman, when all the powers are finally emerged and The Realm begins a new era, a new leader will become known."

"A new leader, Highness? In a new era? There will be no more High Queens, Highness?"

She felt the coolness of the Great Seal, finding it strangely comforting. For one brief moment, she thought she saw it shimmer, then wondered if her eyes had caught too much of the great stream of light when the red-stoned powers had burst forth.

She turned to Meera and handed her the seal, “Keep this safe, Warrior Woman. We will keep it safe with the crowns until we can think of a better way to store it."

She turned back to her task, once again speaking to herself, “I wonder how far distant from our era this One of Legends will come from."

The High Queen suddenly returned to the moment, “Force Leader. Remove the guards, and bring the Elf and The Healer to Me. And bring the scholars and the sorcerers."

As she waited for Sle'nel’ and The Healer, The High Queen continued to examine the room's unexplainable number of artifacts. She studied the cases of books and long-lost relics for many moments, seeing the most ancient of all documents before her.

She shook her head in full disbelief,
Here on these shelves, so far removed from The Realm, are some of the oldest tellings of the ancient sorcery and Mystics.

As she moved around the room, three wooden boxes upon a shelf caught her eye. She picked up the smallest one and felt its weight. She could hold the box easily in one hand, but thought it quite heavy for its size. She removed the lid and looked inside, gasping lightly at its contents.

Meera saw her eyes widen, “What is it, my Queen?"

San'lr'in’ hesitantly placed her fingers on the object and slowly removed it from its long hidden container, wide-eyed at the object, “It is the long-lost sorcerer's Stone of Power. It is the greatest stone across all The Realm and all the eras, and holds more power than all My stones combined. The legend of it tells that it was thrown into the great seas, never to been seen again."

Meera also gasped as she saw the stone The High Queen was holding in her hand. It was the largest bright blood-red stone Meera had ever seen, and was fully the size as San'lr'in's palm. They stared at it, watching it as it sent its own beam of light now directly to San'lr'in', as if offering its own welcome to her.

"Look at its perfect shape, Warrior Woman. A triangle. A perfectly formed triangle. Contained within this triangle are many of the old powers long-gone from The Realm."

Meera looked at her High Queen, amazed, “And now they are yours to command, my Queen."

She looked back at Meera, “I will have to think fully on this, Warrior Woman. A deep challenge, indeed. What would you suggest be done with such as this?"

"It is where it belongs, my Queen. With you. It even responds to you, as if it has finally come home."

San'lr'in’ placed the stone in the small cloth pouch, and then attached it to her belt. Noticing that she felt much stronger than just prior, she acknowledged the stone's quiet and constant strength, amazed at its inert abilities. She wondered what it would feel like to bring this stone to life.

She then moved to the next box, bringing it down from the shelf, “Take off the lid, Warrior Woman."

Meera removed the lid, but all they could see was a cloth covering. The High Queen handed the box to Meera, and then removed the cloth. She couldn't believe what she was looking at as she did so. Meera saw the object, but didn't know what it was. She looked at San'lr'in', and saw that she was as shocked as she had ever seen her.

"My Queen?"

"It is the crystal ball from the long-prior sorcerers. I wonder why Grandmother didn't give this to the Dark Sorcerer."

"Are you certain that she knew it was here, my Queen?"

The High Queen looked at her, thinking, “No. I am not certain of this, Warrior Woman. It is a good question, as she most certainly would have delighted in these powers. But why would someone hide these objects here, right near the Grandmother?"

"There is a saying in Woden that no one looks right under their nose for that which is lost, Highness."

"Hmmm ... perhaps.” She looked around the room, “But all of this? Why would someone hide all of this from The Realm?"

"To keep the evil ones from obtaining as such, my Queen?"

She looked back to Meera, yet thinking. Then her face brightened, “Of course. You are correct, Warrior Woman. I recall this moment from our past. Just prior to The First High Queen, the sorcerers tried to remove the powers from The Realm, as you say—to keep the evil ones from obtaining them. They had fewer powers than those with evil, so rather than lose the powers to the Dark Sorcerers, they removed them, knowing they wouldn't be able to keep them."