Bertan`s quest by Michelle Tarynne (best books to read for beginners txt) 📖

sleep now. Not when she knew some troubles were brewing just outside her locked door. For her nothing could be more dangerous than visions she saw in tortured dreams, and nothing could bring her more pain than some sort of a wicked madness she had already witnessed there.

Lar changed her robes quickly and took her own emergency pack that had every item meticulously collected by her da. It was her biggest treasure. Everything there had its use, and her da persisted that she knew it all when she was even younger. The time that had gone by so quickly from the moment she saw that pack for the first time. It seemed so distant to someone who just celebrated her eighth birthday. That small pack full of valuable treasures accompanied her even in the dark dreams to explore her room and her castle. She liked to think of the whole Inner Block as her own.

Not many people were still aware that passages she uncovered still existed. Most of those were small enough for her frame only, some just slightly bigger. She read up all she could find on the Great Mines that used to be here, but no map of any kind from the previous owners was available.

Everything that Axes knew of their dwelling was what they learned themselves, yet no explorer could ever compete with the inquisitiveness and the persistence of this curious and young girl. It took her just over a year to discover nine hidden passages out of the castle, fifteen hidden rooms, five invisible ways into the Throne Room, and three other into the High Council room. There were even two passages out of her own room.

Lar thought that no one would even consider her findings a threat since she was the only person small enough to be able to travel this way. Despite her young age, she did not let herself slip that all of the latest plans and conversations around the Inner Block were recorded in her memory.

The moment her Da, the King, left her room hoping she would go to sleep, it seemed vital in her mind to follow immediately the passage into the Throne Room where something had obviously spooked him. The narrow stone tunnel that connected her room with the Throne Room was the one she truly disliked. Halfway was the awful place where breathing was becoming so hard as if the air was literally sucked out of there. Lar took her time, knowing she would arrive before her father would, but she still needed that extra time to hide to remain unseen.

 

The Red Axe King signaled the guards to enter and search the Throne chamber. He could see his men being overly careful. None of them questioned his orders, though none of them could have imagined what could generate that kind of caution either. Once the room was locked the only way in or out was through the air and an absence of a ceiling, the King thought, noticing the sound had disappeared.

Everything was perfectly normal, quiet, and still. There was no sign of intruders of any kind or anything unnatural. That gave him a pause.

"Search cautiously every part of this room, every nook, and corner. Break everything in pieces. I want bare walls and bare floor here. And even then, check every part of it with hammers," he ordered, "While you do it, be sure the gates are locked, and no one gets in or out,"

The Red Axe King just realized there was a big hole in all of his war plans. Suddenly, nothing mattered more than the fact that they had become so lax and confident in their ownership of this land that they forgot the danger always comes from within first. The sky, so readily visible at all times, seemed to become an enemy now too. It had to be fixed soon, just after all of his troops finish flooding the Ombre Valley.

He stood still like a statue amid the noise and utter destruction that took place at his feet for what seemed like forever. Everything was broken into pieces, every tile, plaster and adornment were torn apart to shreds. The Throne still stood untouched, his men were afraid to destroy the symbol of their rule of this place. The Red Axe King knew, it had to be him who takes the first piece off it, so it was him who took an ax and a hammer to attack his own legacy. Yet it still stood still, not a dent in sight, not the slightest damage. The throne had withstood their continuous onslaught. His fury was no match to the ancient structure made to withstand the everlasting rivers of fire, protecting the treasures unbeknownst to those who seemed to possess it at that moment.

"Call the Duchess. Now!" The King bellowed over the fading echo of the hammering cacophony when it was certain that nothing of their might could make the Throne structure bulge.

Two of the guards hurried through the wreckage to the gates. Eerie silence that followed seemed to make ears hurt. Everyone froze in their actions knowing they failed to satisfy their king who had no choice but to call the one woman that made them pee their pants just a little. When she focused her sight on someone, it was impossible to know how and when that person could be deceased then.

The King's heart was heavy with worry over the safety of his only daughter. Was not it for the ever-going dispute with her mother, his biggest mistake, over the rights to raise and influence his angel, he would find no bad sides of being a single father. Still, he could not bring himself to kill that woman who claimed to love him all those Great Cycles ago, only to ensnare him into her graces. The Duchess obeyed and followed only one entity, the Oracle and it had apparently been one line in a two millennia old texts that caused her to arrive at his Castle to work her charms on him.

Ever since he had learned of her true origins and lies, he was prepared to fight right into his deathbed over Lar. Her only heritage should be of the Axe kind. Her great ancestors had been illiterate and kept simple by the Sword oppressors. The only reason for that cruelty was to have meek, fearful, cheap, and unproblematic labor workers. Only with the help of the godsend Skyfire Storm, they had become the proud owners of this rich land instead. The Fates had been favorable ever since. That was the only heritage he wanted Lar to know of.

The truth of the Duchess' kind put a deep shadow over Lar's future loyalties that should belong to the Axes only. Had he the guts to kill the woman at her weakest point back then, none of this would bother his mind. The only thing he wanted to focus on was the war course for he felt the threatening Swords breath just outside the Wall. It felt closer and closer with every passing cycle. Wakeful nightmares told him that they would never forget the past. The Swords waited to reclaim stolen by the axes land and the riches. The slave rebellion never left Sword minds. He knew that the time of war approached mercilessly. Even the air within the Wall grew heavier every cycle with fear and worry. It was almost time.

 

6

Two children were playing with gaming marbles in the middle of a grand room that had no windows. The only colors present were the different shades of brown and gray. They sang quietly.

"The young and the wicked take the river to the core,

flush in the whirlpools to escape the gore.

For there are many ways to join with the past

but only a few will grant a passage to last."

"But I don’t want to be the wicked, Coope," a young girl complained, "I'm young, but not wicked," she moaned.

"Nobody wants that Pam. Nobody wants to be wicked," a slightly older boy whispered, "But maybe we are called wicked just 'cos we don’t want to go back to the undergrounds."

"Why would anyone want to go back there, Coope?" the girl frowned, "The ancestors had a reason to run away from there and never look back."

"I know, Pam. Mom said the Duchess was telling that to the Elders," Coop said, "That’s why we aren't going with the rest of the tribe."

"We're also going without mommy. What will happen to her, Coope?" her lips started to tremble, and unwanted tears of fear gathered in her little eyes.

"She will move the mountains to find us, she said. You heard it too," the boy tried to cheer up his little sister.

"Yes. But what if she can't?" the tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

"You think our mom can't move mountains for us?" he smiled at her, "You seriously don’t believe our mom is the greatest Seekinglander in the history of our tribe?"

"I don’t know Coope. It's not like she has any position," Pam sniffed through her tears.

"Pam, is this why you are so afraid? 'Cos our mom doesn’t look like she is powerful?" he frowned at his sister.

Pam nodded.

"Real power is invisible Pam. It has to be, so the enemy doesn’t know who holds it," he said softly.

"Who is our enemy, Coop?" the girl forgot to cry in her curiosity, though the pathways tears left on her face were still shining in the candle light.

"Right now our biggest enemy is our own tribe, Pam. That’s why we have to remember not to tell anyone what we say here. And please Pam," he pleaded for the tenth time that cycle, "Don’t cry when we have to go. We can't endanger mom and the rest. Do you understand?" he asked

Pam nodded. She was getting hungry, so suddenly, the food was the only thing on her mind. Her worries were forgotten just in time for the dinner.

 

Palome was the main and only Seekinglander surface dwelling. Though it has to be admitted, that 'surface dwelling' might be a bit of overstatement here. Palome had no surface built homes, only trenches, and caverns carved into the stone surface of the area. An inattentive traveler might just pass it through and never notice a single thing. That was exactly what the Palome creators had been aiming for.

 

Southern winds started to have more power just as a lone figure hurried and disappeared in one of the Palome's home entrances placed in the ground.

"Mom, it's time!" a young man said in a loud whisper, "It's time."

"You're back," a female embraced the newcomer. "I've missed you so much, Brine," she said and wouldn’t let go of him.

"I'm back, mom. We are all back," he said meaningfully as he tried to free himself from her tight embrace, "The three tracks started to appear up in the north. The Oracle's words are being fulfilled, and the Swords are nearing. My commander is probably giving his report to the elders at the moment."

"They will have no other choice but to order the Great Trek now," mother said worriedly, "And it doesn’t feel right. The closer it gets, the more off it seems."

"I know, mom, I have the same feeling," he said, "That’s why we have to stick to the plan now.