Authors: P.G. Thomas
There was a smoldering anger in Eric’s voice, “If this TF, as you call it, had not submitted to the great Earth Daughter, what would have happened to me?”
“I knew TF had to submit, as he needs more than just you to succeed.”
“But if TF was more stubborn than you, what would have happened?”
Lauren heard the question, but she had already left the room, the thought of what would have happened brought tears to her eyes, an image she did not want to consider.
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Eric wandered out onto the terrace that night where he found Zack, Logan, Ryan, and John sitting around a table, with several pitchers of dwarven beer.
“Dude, what happened to you that night? You screamed like a twelve year old girl who had snuck into a restricted horror movie. You know, when she sees the masked-cover villain step out of the fog, with the blood dripping knife. Not very manly of you, or should I say the Champion.”
Eric smirked, turned to Zack, “I have no idea. I am sitting in the front, watching Lauren. For the first half hour, I thought she was just putting on a show for the Master Weapon Smith. After that, it became boring, but when she started talking about bloody rivers, screams, armies and blood lust… well it sort of scared me. Then I am looking at the Master Weapon Smith, and before I realize he has said my name, Lauren thrusts the sword into my hand, and screams something at me. The next think I know, twenty people are giving me a bath, and there is no hot water.”
Ryan filled his mug, “Has Lauren explained what happened?”
“Yeah, she stopped by and did, or tried to.” Eric turned to John, “She said the sword tried to possess me, that’s not possible. Is it?”
John shrugged his shoulders, “Here? A world full of elves, dwarves, and magic. Might as well throw a magic sword into the mix. I’m surprised we are not riding around on dragons.”
“Dude, hadn’t thought of that. That would be a righteous ride.”
Eric finished his drink, “Did Lauren tell you guys anything?”
Logan nodded, “Both of them, my sister, and I guess my step sister. But the way she talked, it didn’t make any sense. He can’t be let loose, but Eric will be fine. And then who the hell was she.”
Ryan turned to Logan, “She what?”
Logan nodded, “That is what I want to know?”
“You’re not making any sense,” replied Ryan.
“Runs in the family Dude.”
Logan shook his head, “Who is she”
Ryan let out a sigh, “She’s your sister.”
John filled up his mug, “I think Logan was talking about when Lauren said he will serve him, she will protect him.”
Logan’s eyes rolled up, “Yeah, that one!”
John continued, “From the way Lauren was talking, I think there are twins inside the sword, a male and female personality, or personification, or…something. But two of them.”
“Does that mean Eric is a triplet?”
Eric turned to John, “When Lauren left, I sort of understood what was happening, but you guys are starting to confuse me.”
“Well then you explain it to us.”
“Lauren basically said that the sword was a piece to the puzzle that we are trapped in. I am hoping it is more of a symbol, but I don’t know. I think we have to wait to see what play the other side is going to run, before we figure out what we need to do next.”
Ryan looked at Eric, “You seem pretty calm today? What changed your mind about your water torture?”
“When you stopped by the other day, and told me how long the dwarves held me in that chair, I tried to recall what had happened. But I could only remember a few minutes towards the end when I stood up. And that was when I realized it was Lauren 2.0 who did something to Eric 2.0 or maybe 3.0. If I couldn’t remember what happened, maybe I was possessed, and what Lauren did was the right thing.”
Zack turned to Eric, “2.0? Wasn’t that your grade point average?”
Chapter 15
It was a few days later, Lauren and John received an invitation up to the terrace to review the plans to investigate the nearby midlander villages, where Alron advised that the supplies were packed, and that they would be leaving the next day.
“I have one question?” Everybody turned to look at Lauren, “I named Eric the champion of Tranquil Fury a few days ago. I have given up asking why. Why Mother chose me to be an Earth Daughter? Why you were waiting for us? That sword, no ideas on it at all, and Eric named the champion, I sort of understand. I have just learned to accept it all. But when I held that sword, I saw some disturbing images, armies, war and more. You all heard the words I said, I don’t know what that sword knows that you don’t, but that sword wants peace, and its path to peace is through hell. If Eric is the champion, won’t he need training? And maybe some armor? Yes, it is an impressive sword, but I don’t think that simply approaching an army with it over his shoulder is really going to scare them away. Were any plans made to train or protect him?” As Lauren finished her question, she looked down at Bor and Aaro.
Aaro then looked at Bor, “Years thirty back, Silvervein clan. Remember?”
“Strange it was, all but forgotten I have. Words odd they did say,” replied Bor.
“What are you two talking about,” asked Lauren?
“East clan march,” Aaro replied, “One be Silvervein. Small, northern clan, little known of them we do. Quiet, mysterious. Odd for dwarf, more like elf. With them, huge rock they do bring, and leave it they did. Said know we would, when time be right. Years of thirty, first time remembered. Odd this be”
“Know what would be right,” asked John?
Aaro replied, “Know I do not. Said I did, odd it was.”
Bor spoke up, “Something else, add they did. Words proper spoke? Aaro, last part, how say did they?”
“Lock be none, key be simple. Words, proper spoke only will reveal. Long forgotten, sure I cannot be.”
“What are we talking about?” Lauren’s patience was running thin, “I thought we were discussing Eric, and his need for armor and training?”
“Earth Daughter, day does be young, thine concerns we shalt answer, but mystery new does intrigue,” replied the Earth Mother, “Silvervein rock, Aaro please does describe?”
“Big.”
“Specific, more does be,” she replied.
“Eric big.”
The answer may have been small, but the images it created were not. Lauren was the first to speak, “John, go and get Eric. Aaro please show us this rock.”
Bor and John went in search of Eric, as Aaro led the rest down into the mine, to one of the storage rooms beside the armories, where the strange rock now sat. Aaro opened the slightly warped door, its hinges creaking from years of neglect. Inside were several large boxes of ores and coals, as well as an assortment of armor and weapons, unfinished by the junior metal smiths. Aaro wedged his torch into a crate of ores, and pointed to a large plain stone, six feet tall, about three feet square, against the far wall.
“This?” Lauren was unimpressed, “This is what we are talking about?”
“Yes Earth Daughter,” replied Aaro.
“Okay, it’s big—big as Eric, but what am I missing?”
The Earth Mother went over to the rock and ran her hands along the rough surfaces, examining all three sides, “Prank?”
Aaro shook his head, “Silvervein odd, but Ironhouse know not. Uncalled for joke would be.”
They were staring at the plain rock when Bor, John, and Eric came through the door, and as Eric entered, he asked, “What is everybody looking at?”
Lauren pointed to the large rock.
Eric said, “Well, it looks like it hasn’t gathered any moss, is it a rolling stone?”
Aaro, not understanding, advised that its shape was wrong, and that it could not roll.
Lauren groaned as she turned to look at Eric. “Can’t always get what you want?”
“We can always paint it black, give it to Zack,” Eric added with a smile.
As Lauren was walking up to inspect the stone, she replied, “Stick to sports. Punts are more your style—not puns.”
“Something wrong with Mother’s little helper?”
Lauren glanced back at Eric, who could not hide his smile, “We were talking about the champion of Tranquil Fury, when Aaro and Bor, for some reason, started to talk about this rock as if it had some sort of significance.”
Eric replied, “Weighed heavy on their thoughts, did it?”
“Aaro, is that sword sharper than Eric’s wit?”
Aaro looked at Lauren, then to Bor, “Yes Earth Daughter.” But he shrugged his shoulders as he said it. To Bor he whispered, “Understand this, do you?” But Bor shook his head from side to side.
Lauren called to John, “First, do not crack one pun. Can you please examine this fine rectangular rock, and determine if it has any significance.”
“No sympathy …”
Lauren stopped John with her icy stare, “Neither sympathy nor shelter will I give you.”
The expression on Lauren’s face suggested that John should not push his luck, so he examined the ordinary sides of the rock. It had been rough-cut from a vein of granite, the sides smoothed, but chisel marks still present. There were no decorative marks, or inscriptions, “If there is something here, I don’t know what it is.”
And then Aaro announced that there was an inscription on top of the plain stone block.
The Earth Mother, not understanding what was happening between the three outlanders, stamped her foot, “Serious be. Eric, inscription can thou see?”
Eric picked up the torch, approached the stone block, blew off a thick layer of dust, “There is something here, but I don’t know what it says.”
The expression on Lauren’s face was growing weary, “John, can you please have a look?”
John walked over to Eric, who handed him the torch, and then lifted him up. John blew off more dust, “Spin the block around, the inscription is backwards.”
“What?” Lauren and Eric asked in unison.
As Eric lowered John, he replied, “Just spin the block around, so that the side that now faces the wall faces Eric.”
“John, that won’t help, I can’t read it.”
“Just spin the block around.”
Aaro and Bor approached the stone block, and helped Eric spin it, and then John handed the torch back to Eric, and began to back up towards the hall.
Eric exclaimed, “Hey, this is English!” Then read aloud the inscription:
“Blood filled rivers,
Scream filled nights,
Blood lust driven,
Aide for Champions fights.”
As Eric spoke the final words, the blood drained from his face, and something inside the stone block moved, causing him to jump back. Seams formed on the front of the huge exterior, and now released from its magical bonds, the stone block rejected the front face, which slowly crept forward, fraction by fraction, separating from it. Everybody in the room moved back, and John headed to the hall. When the slab extended about two inches past the stone block, a sound exploded from it, like an eruption of thunder. A huge crack traversed the center of the slab from top to bottom, two smaller cracks also formed—one about two feet from the bottom, the other two feet from the top. Six large pieces of granite fell to the floor, causing a huge dust cloud to erupt from the base of the stone block, and filling the small room with a choking fog. John was already in the hall when the others fled the room, and as Aaro closed the door, the emergency ventilation system tripped, and they could hear the fans pulling the potentially harmful dust from the room. When they all heard the fans disengage, Aaro carefully reopened the door, unsure of what to expect.
Their vision no longer obscured, all that entered saw the hollowed out section of the strange rock. Inside was a set of plate mail, dwarf-forged and black as night, and the torchlight dancing across its surface made it look alive. It measured at least six feet tall to the base of the collar, the helmet tucked under one arm. All expected it to step out of its confined space, but thankfully, it did not move.
Lauren stepped through the small crowd and approached the magnificent armor, “I don’t see anybody in there to train Eric. Aaro did any other clans leave you any more secrets?”
Both Aaro and Bor shook their heads, still deep in disbelief.
Lauren shrugged her shoulders, “Well, it looks a little tall. Can you adjust it to fit Eric? We will worry about his sword training when we come back from the midlander villages.”
The Earth Mother spoke up, “His training naught canst it wait.” She was looking at Alron, “Tomorrow when thou does leave, only Panry, and thine self does escort Earth Daughter and John. Aaro, Bor, shalt ride with thou. Remaining brothers shalt fit armor new to Eric, and elves remaining shalt train him. Does questions anybody hath?”
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John was still scratching his head, trying to figure out this crazy world.
Armor built 30 years ago?
English prophecies? Logic, where art thou?
He found Mirtza, Zack, Ryan, and Logan on the terrace outside of their meeting room. Zack had managed to convince Fodu to dye his clothes black, and although it did not make Zack smile, his mood was better. All four were sharing a pitcher of the dwarven ale that Zack enjoyed so much.
As John sat down, Ryan spoke, “So how did the meeting go?”
“It was wild,” John replied.
“What happened,” asked Logan?
John spent the better part of thirty minutes explaining everything with the weird stone block, and there were even parts that John himself did not believe, even after hearing the words from his own mouth.
“So tomorrow, who’s going on your little field trip,” asked Logan?
“Besides Lauren and myself, Panry, Alron, Aaro and Bor.”
“I thought more of the elves or dwarves would be going,” asked Ryan?
“I did too. The rest of Ironhouse is going to stay here to fit the armor to Eric, and apparently the elves are going to stay to train Eric to use that sword.”
Ryan gave John an odd look, “Eric is two feet taller than the elves. How are they going to teach him to fight with a sword? Hell, even that sword is taller than the elves.”