After he reached the clearing near where Snihso once grew, he would turn south and then walk directly to the lakeshore. Everclear was not easy to approach, he knew. It was certainly possible to draw near to what appeared to be the shore, only to discover that it was just an illusion. If Calista did not want intruders to find her realm then they did not, and he needed so desperately to be welcomed into her dominion this night.
Baladar hoped that he would not have to return to the city as forlorn and dispirited as when he left. This was his last chance to save the people he cared so much about; his last chance to end the horror and provide all the people he knew and loved and tried to protect, with a safe and secure future. It was his last chance to do what his wife had given her life for; to help his people remain steadfast on their journey down the one true and noble path.
If he could only stop this assault upon Pardatha, it would give him the time necessary to see that Cairn, Filaree and Robyn arrived at Seramour and revived the boy. Baladar wanted so much to accomplish this task. He believed that with the arrival of Tomas and the silver ring, the prophecy was becoming clearer. The Gem of Eternity could be found and the Lalas could be saved. He needed the Lady’s help, for he saw no other way of liberating Pardatha, and if the city fell, then all of his hopes for the future would be crushed beneath the tumbling stones of his beloved home.
Baladar reached the end of the tunnel without ever having realized how far he had traveled, he was so engrossed in his thoughts. He knew that none of the enemy would be anywhere near the trap door that would let him out in the wooded area near the lake. It was too close to the place where Snihso had once lived for anyone to trespass therein. Baladar himself entered that area wary and cautious.
He pushed on the heavy slab of stone that covered the opening and it sprang back on its hinges, sending a cascade of dry leaves and broken twigs tumbling onto his head. The earth around the exit was uneven and dangerous to traverse. In the near distance, he could see the vast hole in the ground that was once his wife’s tree. It was barren of all new growth and desolate beyond belief. His heart rose in his throat, as he stepped gingerly onto the lifeless earth.
What a terrible shame
. Sadness and regret welled up inside of him and caused his breath to come to him in broken gasps.
He knew that he needed to move away quickly from this spot, before the devastation and despair overcame him once more. He scanned the area, remembering vividly the beauty that enveloped this place in days past. He fought the strange desire to enter the crater, the hollow, left by Snihso, knowing that it would spell his doom if he did. The gaping hole seemed to beckon him, to call him even by name. He was certain that he heard voices summoning him. Baladar strained to turn his eyes away and he compelled his feet to take the steps that would bring him out of this forsaken space.
As soon as he turned his back upon this sorrowful scene he felt a little better, as his true purpose was once more looming before his mind’s eye. He reminded himself over and over again of his reason for coming here and of the people back in the city whose hopes rested upon his shoulders. He imagined his wife walking with him, hand in hand, and he raised his head and stepped determinedly away, painstakingly placing one foot in front of the other.
Soon, he saw new growth beneath his feet and he smelled the sweet smell of berries and blossoms. His spirits lifted as he made his way to the portal that would lead him to Calista.
As he walked through the forest, the path he followed wound and rambled and he lost his sense of direction entirely. He remembered the last time that he had visited the Lady of the Island and he was therefore not distressed by his perceptual confusion. In fact, knowing that he neared the realm of the Lady rejuvenated him despite how disoriented he seemed. He could have sworn he had already passed by this tree before and that he was retracing his steps without having doubled back. It seemed impossible to him, yet he accepted the paradoxical nature of the entire forest, and he kept walking.
Calista had told him the last time that he had visited her that her lands would be closed to all outsiders from then on. He hoped that she would recognize his dire need and allow him to enter this night, and he plunged onward.
Suddenly, he saw the portal before him, a doorway suspended in mid air shimmering in the light of the afternoon sun. He girded himself against the sensations that he knew would accompany his plunge through the opening, and without hesitating even slightly, he walked through it. He immediately lost all sense of space and time. He could no longer tell up from down or forward from backward, and he could not even feel the ground beneath his feet.
In his ardor to save Pardatha, Baladar did not notice that the edges of the portal were blurred and indistinct. As he tumbled through the emptiness of this aperture, he thought only of Calista and the help he longed for her to provide. Not knowing whether he was facing up or down, he finally hit solid ground and righted himself instantly, and then he saw a winding path spread out before him and a calm shoreline at his back.
He had arrived at the island of the Lady once more, and he was so grateful to have been admitted, that he was blinded to the changes all around him, concentrating only on his great need. He followed the walkway, not noticing that the air was as still as could be and that no birds sang and no animals moved through the underbrush. The flowers had no odor and they were drying upon their stems. The grass beneath his feet was parched and brown, but he walked on without seeing, thinking only of his purpose. The silver leaves of the beautiful trees lay in soft piles on the ground, quiet as the night, no breeze to rustle them.
He neared the gates of the Lady’s palace and they lay open already, so he walked through, consumed by his objective He saw the turrets and the towers rising around him, but they were shrouded in shadows and the banners atop them hung limp and lifeless. The light was dim and a thin layer of dust covered everything, blanketing the tiles of the floor with its dullness, rising in soft swells as he walked over it, but his eyes were blind to all but his goal.
When he reached the end of the long hallway, he found the double gilt doors standing open already, and he entered the chamber where Calista had met with him before, searching for a sign of the Lady of the Island. The crystal throne at the opposite end stood just as he remembered it, less vibrant, less alive, but he did not regard it. Baladar was thinking only of the help he needed and he was so obsessed with this objective that he could focus upon nothing else.
His eyes darted from left to right, searching for a sign of Calista, and in his desperation to seek her out, he finally began to realize for the first time that things here were not the same as they were before. It was as if he was looking through a thick piece of glass, an opaque window. Everything around him was dull and colorless and no longer beautiful and magical as it had been once before. The shock of the change was almost too much to bear. He could hear nothing and he could smell nothing. All the power that he had experienced here previously was absent. And Calista was nowhere to be found. Despair struck him like a severe blow to the belly and he gasped momentarily for breath. He doubled over in pain, struggling to maintain his equilibrium.
Baladar’s concern was staggering as he finally realized the extent of the changes that had overtaken this once vibrant and effusive place.
Am I too late?
“Calista?” he called out. “My Queen? Are you here? Can you hear me?” he shouted, and not even an echo answered him back.
He walked toward the quartz throne that had been so dazzling before, so comforting in its wondrous beauty, and he saw with great relief the hem of a dress extending beyond the legs of the great chair, but it was a faded violet in color rather than vivid and alive as before. Calista stepped from behind the throne and revealed herself to him. Her beautiful green eyes still sparkled brightly and her long blonde hair framed her magnificent face, but the gossamer silk of her gown hung limply around her thin body.
“I am not the source, noble Baladar. I am but a conduit,” she said to him in a soft, melodious voice, staring deeply into his eyes, not needing to be verbally questioned in order to reply.
He bent down on one knee, bowed his head before her, shocked and saddened by the deterioration that he now saw clearly all around, and he listened intently.
“As the trees die, I become further and further removed from the wellhead of the power, from the First, and the Gem’s potency.”
Baladar raised his head and looked upon her with adoration tempered by an overwhelming sense of sorrow, and he listened intently.
“My time here is almost done,” she said with regret in her voice, as a shiver ran down his spine.
“Colton too is but a vessel and a channel for the void. He is a harbinger, but neither is he the source. He can be surmounted, Baladar!” she continued with a weakened voice.
“You have leaned upon me as it should have been, but I am but a railing, a resting spot. You cannot rely upon me to hold you up,” she said.
“But, my Lady! You have guided us for so long, in ways we never even knew. How are we to go on without you?” he implored, never dreaming that her days could be numbered.
“You know what must be done. The First must be found and the Gem must be allowed to radiate freely once again. The darkness which shrouds it must be destroyed before the light dies,” Calista said, more weakly now than previously.
She closed her eyes briefly and bent her head. When she reopened them, they were just a tiny bit duller and her skin was growing noticeably paler too.
“The void encroaches Baladar, and you have the means to turn it back,” she said.
Baladar thought for a minute before speaking again.
“My Queen, there are two rings and there are two heirs,” he said in a whisper, knowing the import of this news.
“Two, you say?” she asked, her face tilted in consternation. “I should have known. I have been kept from the source for too long,” she said, and she smiled to herself. She hesitated before speaking again. Calista closed her eyes momentarily, obviously thinking deeply. “The meaning is now clear to me, dear Baladar, and it bodes well for you, indeed, for us all,” she said after a brief respite.
She began to recite a poem that Baladar recognized from the Tomes.
“When darkness reaches out to light
and clashes brightly in the night,
When the trees decide to grow no more
and all the Kingdoms march to war,
When the sky grows dull and the winds grow still,
When the noble begin to lose their will,
When wrongness marches against what’s right,
and cities fall beneath its might,
Then what was one will become two,
and the quest for the Gem will begin anew.”
“Do you see, Baladar?” she said. Her eyes were sparkling brightly now. “It is beginning. I did not know the meaning before, though I have read those lines thousands of times.” She walked to the crystal throne and sat down, resting her thin arms weakly upon it. “Two rings and two boys,” she said contentedly to herself. “It is as it should be! The fabric weaves of its own will, Baladar. But, you must guide it well, smooth it out when you are able to, coax and caress it toward the ends we all desire. So much, nay everything, is at stake!” she said quietly, the words issuing slowly from her mouth.
“My Queen. If I am to help the boys and set them on their quest, I must first be permitted to unite them and awaken Davmiran. My city is under siege and we have not the power to stop it. Is there nothing you can do to help?” he appealed, fearing that at this point her weakness may have become too great.
“My present life on this earth is at an end, Baladar. I fear not for myself any longer,” she said, still deeply immersed in her reverie while her beautiful eyes stared out at nothing. “But you must return to the city as quickly as you are able to,” she said fragilely. “I will do what I can.” Her skin was growing paler by the minute, fading before his saddened eyes. “Alas, what I am still capable of may not be enough. Behold what becomes of my realm,” she said, and she swept her fragile arm in a semicircle about her. Her striking face had a startlingly sad expression upon it. “Soon it will be no more, removed from space and time as if it never existed. Go now! Time is running out,” Calista said with an urgency heretofore undetected. “Remember my son, have courage always! Fear can torment you and it can drive you to the very edge of sanity, but it can never rule your heart,” she concluded. Her eyes were glowing with an intense power despite the weakened condition of her body. “Remain steadfast on your course. Always follow your heart!”
Baladar stood and reached for her hand. It was almost cold to the touch, but it was still soft and invigorating to clasp nonetheless. He brought his lips to it and he kissed it with as much feeling as he had ever felt for anyone other than Briland.
“Farewell, my Queen,” he said, moved almost to tears, bowing before her and savoring what he knew were the final moments.
“May the First guide you and protect you always, Baladar. Farewell my honorable man. Be brave,” she admonished him fondly and closed her eyes, while her other hand lay upon his bowed head.
Baladar released her frail fingers, turned quickly and then left the throne room as fast as he could without ever looking back. He did not know what, if anything, Calista could possibly do in her weakened condition, but he trusted her and he respected her so thoroughly that he did not question her instructions. She would do what she could, of that he was certain, if it was not already too late.
He started to walk down the great hallway, and before his very eyes, it began to shimmer and fade; to lose the very solidity that kept him from tumbling into the void. He ran now, fearing that everything would collapse beneath his feet; that it would dissolve, and that he would fall into the blackened emptiness and never get back to Pardatha.