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Chapter Thirty-Eight
The four of us stand on a beach of black sand.
On the right a thick jungle climbs the face of an enormous mountain; on the left the ocean surf breaks white foam about my boots. I stretch forth my arm, unclench my fist, and feel a breeze blow through my long fingers. For a moment, it doesn't seem real. The magic of the jewel has created a waking dream, and I can't do anything but gaze in wonderment to all the delightful things around me. In the sky there's still three large burning suns; in the jungle soar tropical trees--literally towering giants that I've no possibility in identifying so many are their number.
I shade my eyes while next to me Talen prods me in the ribs.
"Kian," Talen says, "someone's walking our way."
I look down the beach. The figure approaching is the most striking man I've ever seen. He has an angular face, the mousy brown hair I love on Talen, and a nice ass that's perfect in every way. He's my height and dressed completely from head to toe in a black outfit that's both well-tailored and impressive, with shiny buckles of polished silver that gleam in the sunlight. Around him hover's a kind of glow that's blue in color. As he draws closer, I can see it's more or less a nimbus that sparkles and jumps like fire cavorting about his limbs.
"Is that Tethyr?" Talen says, taking a gulp. "I never pictured him as a blond. In fact, he looks a lot like Kian."
"Me either," Sabrina and Correldon both say.
"He's got dark hair," I state. "I don't see where you're getting the whole 'blond' thing from."
That's when Cory smiles. "We see what we find beautiful. I guess at least three of us here have a type."
That makes me chuckle. So they're seeing a slightly improved version of me? Well maybe not so much 'improved' since Talen freely admits Tethyr looks like me. I suppose I'd better watch it or I MAY just get a fat head.
Concentrate, Kian...concentrate. Is there anything else I can pick out about him?
Okay, so aside from being hot he's apparently non-corporeal as well. I've never seen a ghost, but if they do exist I bet they'd look a lot like Tethyr appears right now. With only a hundred paces separating me from my god, I note that (in this state) he's partially transparent. He leaves no footprints in the sandy mud. He walks directly up to our party but stands before me. God he's breathtaking...perfect even. I feel my cock grow hard and nudge down my right pant leg.
I wonder if other guys think about sex as much as I do.
So I misjudged his height but only slightly. Tethyr's a few inches my superior, so I angle my neck up to meet his gaze. There's deep intelligence there, and it moves like a great swell in the ocean underneath a placid blue surface. I never realized how much of a turn-on being tall actually because I'm usually the tall one.
"I've been expecting you," Tethyr says. "I'm glad you made it but you're task isn't quite complete, Kian. Nor is yours Talen. I need the both of you to take a test for me."
"A test? What kind of test?"
"You're not a Black Dragon Assassin yet. Not fully. This is a test that I'm sure you'll pass. It's designed to challenge you in ways that I believe you're prepared to face. After you pass the test, we'll talk more."
"What happens if fail?" I ask him.
His eyes turn upon me and look somewhat sad. "I cannot have failures work for me, Kian. It simply won't do."
I understand. If I fail then I'm to die.
"And Bloodbane?" I ask.
"The sword awaits its master," Tethyr says, turning his gaze toward Talen. "For you, dear boy, I've got another blade that's of equal value. I call it 'Emerald Shamrock'. It's yours if you pass the test as well. Consider it a reward for staying so loyal to me and your boyfriend."
Talen looks at me with wide-eyed amazement. "Yes...yes, milord. I'll take your test or die trying. That's why we've come here." Then he hugs me.
"I know," Tethyr says. "The world's not the same as it once was. The gods--my brothers and sisters--grow restless. They've begun to invest their power in disciples to chaperone their armies into war. I alone have not been allowed to do so. Not until now, that is. A price that I paid because of robbing the King of Hell of his own disciples, Yogwomaryl and Solath Nagulthor. I've need of you two to start a tradition and send back to the world a message that the god of thieves should be feared; that I'll use powerful men to wield my divine might if it's so required. My church will need your protection so it's extremely important that you try your best at the tasks I plan to place before you. Should you survive the tests to become a Black Dragon Assassin, I shall charge you with a mission when the third sun sets."
"I'm ready," I tell him. "Readier than I've ever been."
"Excellent," Tethyr says. "Kian, take the path in the woods to the first cave in the side of the mountain. You'll find your challenge waiting for you there. Talen, proceed along the beach until you come across a rock that forms an arch above a pool filled with silver fish. Good luck, both of you."
"What about us?" Angelaria asks him.
"You, child, have a much greater destiny ahead of you. I do not think it wise to meddle in affairs that have dominated your destiny for eons now."
"I don't know what destiny you speak of, but 'eons' are a long time," she says.
"How little you know of how the cosmos works," Tethyr says. "Think of time as a great tapestry and each person, including you, is a single thread in that tapestry. As soon as one thread breaks or is interrupted in its path, it offsets the look of the entire thing. Whatever you choose to do must be of your own design."
"You could have just said, 'wait here," Angelaria says.
"I couldn't have said that," Tethyr replies, "without placing the thought in your mind."
"This is a very circular argument," Correldon remarks.
I take that opportunity to walk over to her and put my arms around her waist. "I'll be back soon," I promise. Good lord she smells good; it reminds me of lavender in spring.
"See to it," she says, giving me a long look. "I need you, Kian. I need you to be in my life in whatever role you choose to play."
I kiss her on the lips, and she ruffles her fingers through my hair. Then I turn from her and start on the woodland path that Tethyr indicates I should follow. The path itself isn't a path that's been carved from the woods by animals. I can see that even before I actually get up to it. The thing gleams as if it's polished metal, and the forest on all sides is as black as pitch. Black tree trunks with black leaves and black flowers; even the ground's colored black. I've never seen anything like it before so I keep my pace and walk out onto a road made of platinum bricks. It meanders over the hills on my right and starts exactly where my feet land.
Honestly, I can't believe my eyes. There's so much wealth here that I just have to get down on my hands and knees and examine these bricks to verify it's not some mirage.
The road IS platinum. This would drive Talen nuts.
Every impulse in my brain's consumed with greed just thinking about how rich I'd be if I could somehow trade it all in. However, I know I should stay focused and just look for this cave Tethyr promised would be somewhere around here. So that's what I do. I start out on a light jog down the path, my sword bobbing in the sheath on my back. A rivulet of sweat finds its way down my spine. After an hour (and what's probably ten miles) I start to ache and wonder where this road's leading. Two miles back the trail ascended the side of one of the mountains. Places along the road had been fairly steep prior to that but it keeps getting worse.
So I find myself climbing, sometimes having to result to moving along on all fours, hands and fingers clamping onto imperfections in the road as it thrust its way up a vertical cliff face. Secretly I'm cursing myself for not bringing any gloves, but then I spy an opening and all my other thoughts kind of float away. This (I've no doubt) is the thing that I'm looking for. When I get within a hundred feet of the cave, the branches on either side knit together to form a ceiling above my head. Crows hop from limb to limb; their presence strikes me as odd. As far as I can tell, they don't seem to have a natural place in a jungle like this. But all I've to do is glance at the road I'm standing on to realize that there's very little that's natural about this place. So, I continue on.
At the entrance of the cave there's a wooden sign with writing on it. I hiss under my breath and try to sound out the letters but it's of no use. Knowing my luck it's probably something extremely important. Hardly a fair test (if you ask me) of an assassin's particular talents. I wait by the sign to see if I can get any inspiration. My eyes wander along the stone that comprises the entranceway and over the sandy floor in front of me. With the sweat cooling on my skin, I look back the way I've come, out over the sun-drenched hillside and the odd collection of black trees. Then I decide to just walk in and see what happens.
I proceed along the sandy floor of the cave with the sunlight fading at my back. The walls are made from natural rock and somewhere in the back of the cave I hear the sound of dripping water. I round a bend in the cave and see a room with a small pool at its center. The room's lit with three everburning torches. As I enter a door appears in a wall directly in front of me, beyond the pool in the center of the room. The door's made of stone that exactly matches the surrounding walls. Just past the threshold lies another room lit from a fire pit that's been dug around the perimeter of the chamber.
I approach with caution, senses tingling. First I search the pool from the edge, looking into its depths. I can see the bottom and there's nothing inside--only the continuous drip from one of the stalactites on the roof. The water emanates a peculiar smell; it's mildew I think. Only not quite as strong as the washroom in the thieves' guild back in Clothol.
I flick my gaze ahead, crouch, and step carefully while hugging the shadows created by the flickering torches. I don't hear or see anything out of the ordinary. But a good thief can never be too sure. I peek into the room from the relative safety of the doorway. It's a plain circular stone room with no visible occupants. Should I enter? There doesn't seem to be another door out of the room and the ceiling has one hole in the center of it that's the same diameter as a gold piece. Hanging through this hole is an out of place red silk rope. It dangles there, perfectly still, with the bottom of it no more than an inch from the ground.
I study it a moment. When nothing happens I take a step into the room. No sooner do I accomplish this when the door slams shut behind me.
Fuck.
Kian, you should've blocked the door open with something. That's what you get for being distracted. Okay, I seriously need to hush the inner monologue.
I pace around the room wondering why the f1ames don't seem to give off any heat or (for that matter) any smoke. Experimentally, I wave my hand through the tops of the dancing fire. As expected, my skin isn't burned. Nifty and obviously an illusion. I bet the sign posted at the cave entrance would've told me what this room is. I'm illiterate; Tethyr HAS to knows this. Then again, why should he care in the first place? The onus of proving myself is on me.
Sigh.
An hour passes.
I've exhausted all my options of getting out of this room save one. Sure I push on the door. I even hack at it with my sword. It all proves futile. But I haven't done anything to the rope at the room's center. There it hangs as if taunting me, as if begging for me to touch it. At this point, I'm feeling a little more desperate. I don't want to just perish here. No one will remember me. However, as the minutes tick by this seems more and more a possibility.
I punch myself in the forehead and say, "Think, Kian, think! This is just a puzzle, and you're good at puzzles."
I approach the rope and follow its length to the ceiling where it disappears through a small hole. It's got to have some purpose. I assume it's probably something I need to pull so I grasp it with my fingers and give it a good yank.
Something clicks; it sounds an awful lot like the grinding of gears upon other gears. Then the ceiling lurches once; dust rains down along the sides and suddenly the whole thing begins to descend.
Fuck.
All thoughts of just wasting away in this room suddenly end. I'm going to be crushed to death. Desperately, I search for more clues. There's the illusionary fire bubbling in the pit. I'm fairly sure this isn't what I need. So what am I looking for? A switch, something that I can flip to make those gears stop moving. But where's the switch?
"Probably on the outside, idiot," I say to myself.
My eyes settle on the rope again. What if I pull it again? Maybe the ceiling will stop its descent and reverse. Having nothing to lose, I yank on it once more. To my horror, the ceiling starts coming down faster, moving an inch a second now instead of maybe an inch a minute.
Biting my lip so hard I can taste blood, I pick up the end of the rope and twirl it in my hands. The rope's stiffer than I expect, and this makes me inspect it much closer than before. The silk seems to be wrapped around a tube, which in itself contains a thick wire. This is getting even more interesting.
With no time to lose, I strip six inches from the rope around the tube along the bottom, exposing the wire inside. Just as I suspect, it continues up the tube into the rope and presumably into the ceiling. Hopefully, I think to myself, this wire is attached to another pair of switches.
I yank on JUST the wire.
The ceiling grinds to a stop only an inch or so above my head. Feeling relief sweep through me, I pull it again and a door directly across from me is revealed. I hadn't seen the door before so I realize it probably leads to some deeper recess in this mountain. Anything, however, is better than THIS place. I exit and behind me the stone door grinds closed with a resounding boom that sets my teeth on edge.
Directly in front of me lays a corridor. It's lit by three more of the everburning torches. At the far end, there's more writing on the walls adjacent a doorway made of stone that stands twice my height. I smooth my fingers over the writing, wishing once again that I could read the letters printed there. Not having any other alternative, I reach out and push on the portal with both hands. As expected it slides open, revealing a room that's twenty feet wide and about sixty feet long. At the chamber's end there's three stone statues. The one on the left is that of a warrior; he stands about seven feet tall holds aloft a mighty sword in his hands. The one in the middle is that of a giant. He's completely sheathed in stone armor and holds a towering broadsword in one fist and a shield in the other. The one on the right's a wizardly looking fellow, dressed in robes with a beard flowing over his chest. His right hand contains a dagger, held defensively as if warding off the blow of some intruder to his secret sanctum.
I swallow hard, again looking over at the writing on the wall. Then I step into the chamber. This time, the door doesn't close behind me. That at least is a relief. I stride forward carefully, looking to the statues and marveling at their craftsmanship. Whoever carved these things did so with great love and care. The level of detail makes me think they're alive.
Like the meticulous rogue I aspire to be, I search out the room inch by inch before I decide to return to the statues. There's no other way out of this place. In fact, the only things of note are a few broken flagstones; they've obviously been pulverized into smaller stones by some unknown force. I place my hands on these smaller rocks; they look chipped. Heavy weapons? Then I glance back at the statues.
Are these things magical?
I stand and approach the center one, sidling up to the platform where it stands by placing my feet on some steps the builders carved into the stone. When my foot lands on the uppermost step, all three of the statues animate. The warrior's sword turns clear as if made from diamonds. This same effect ripples over to the wizard's dagger. But the center statue--that of the giant--remains stone thru and thru.
That doesn't mean he doesn't come alive. Indeed, the giant regards me with those dispassionate carved eyes; hefts its blade in one hand as if the thing were a feather duster. In futility, I hold both hands in front of me as if to ward away a blow and backpedal furiously.
"I mean no disrespect, sir," I tell the statue. "I'm supposed to be taking a test, see? I think I'm supposed to examine you for some clue as to how to get out of this chamber."
The statue doesn't reply.
It swings its sword and narrowly misses my head. The blade smashes into the flagstones at my feet, and they crack with the force of the blow. At least the mystery of the crushed flagstones is now solved.
The stone giant charges me swinging again and again while I remain nimble, dodging the gigantic sweeps of his weapon. I draw my own sword and dive under the blade as he tries to hit me; I manage to stay one step ahead but this won't last. With Karandras' magical blade, I draw a line across the stone giant's hamstring then roll to my feet behind me. But my sword doesn't so much as mar the surface of its skin.
This doesn't bode well.
Distracted by my thoughts, I neglect to see the blade coming at me again until it's too late. I defend as best I can against the blow with my own sword. My magic blade shatters all the way to the hilt. Even still, the blow from the giant strikes me with enough force to knock me back several feet. My whole arm goes numb with the power of it; my fingers sting.
Seeing no other alternative I dive and land on the steps to the other two statues. The warrior regards me with a stern expression. I hold my hand out to him and surprisingly, he offers me his blade, hilt first.
How interesting.
A sideways turn to the lumbering giant and a quickly worded, "Thank you," escapes my lips. "I'll return your weapon when I'm done."
Diamond sword in hand, I dive off the platform to engage my foe. Another swing; the giant misses but somehow manages to strike the statue of the now defenseless warrior. It shatters into dozens of boulder-sized chunks.
What is it that they say of carefully laid plans? Fuck. I hope I don't live to regret this.
Carefully, I gain my feet and then roll into his threat zone: a place directly underneath his belly. I slash upward. As predicted, the diamond sword slides into the solid rock easily. The giant shudders, impaled thusly upon my wretched weapon, and then falls backward to fragment into three pieces on the floor.
I wipe the sweat from my brow and then climb the three steps of the platform at my back, setting the diamond blade over the broken form of the warrior. The blade loses its glimmer, slowly returning to stone. The statue of the wizard does the same, and its dagger turns gray right before my eyes.
I look around the room. Another door's appeared where there was none before. This portal's made of steel and unlike the others, there's no writing at all along the sides of it.
Is this a positive thing or a sign of some new devilry?
I place my hands on it and shove; it slides open with ease. I follow another corridor that's similar in shape and size to the one that led me into the room with the giant statues in it. My hands tremble in anticipation of what lies ahead.
Here ends Chapter 38. Chapter 39 is the last chapter of the story. I shall post the finale in two weeks. Until then, happy reading my friends.