Chapter XXI
Dream Realms
That night there was a mixture of fear, apprehension and excitement gripping the city. The people sat in their homes contemplating their fate. It was as though they were all standing next to a precipice staring into a dark abyss, the void beneath them seemed to call out, inviting them to fall to their doom. The unnatural quiet made the city seem void of life; yet life there was.
Achil was in the armoury with the Prefect and Ulathorn watching the Alchemist as he demonstrated how the new weapon was to work. There were lines of smithies hammering away making sword and shield; the clanging of metal echoed around the building. The new Weapon was shaped like a Dragons head, hence the name the Dragons chamber, they were made of brass and were long and cylindrical and were carried on a small carriage. Attached to its rear was also a brass box filled with kindling and to the back of that was a pump. Achil looked at it curiously.
The Alchemist was attaching a metal coupling to the rear of the carriage to enable the horse to pull it.
“At first light,” said the Alchemist. “We will ride out hauling the Dragon Chambers behind us, all the men will line up in front of them, faint an advance; hopefully the Mandrake will see this, and attack; our men will engage and them on to us once we've retreated behind the Dragon Chambers. Then we see what happens.”
“Then we see what happens?” said Achil. “That’s it, that’s the plan; are you really telling me our answer to the Mandrake is to wait and see. And if it doesn’t work; I guess it’s going to be a short battle.”
The Alchemist shrugged. “The problem Achil is the delivery system. We need the Elementals to control the pressure within them, for them to be a success; that’s where you come in. As you are aware Jin has by using the dark arts managed to incapacitate them. You must find a way to break the spell before dawn. The King says he has something in the vaults that might help do just that, and has requested you join him in the hospital.”
Achil glanced around at everyone and back at the Dragon Chamber unsure whether they should leave the fate of the Kingdom to such devices; with a slow uncertain nod of the head he turned and left. Behind him, he could here the Alchemist explaining what to do should he fail. Achil made his way beyond the stifling heat of the armoury and row upon row of spear, sword and bow; which were all lined up in columns ready for action. He walked out into the corridor where he was greeted by a gust of cool air; at the bottom was a doorway that opened onto a courtyard. On leaving the courtyard Achil made his way down a long avenue which led onto a thoroughfare where he was met by broken and battered stone, and burnt out house; it appeared that the enemy catapults had a long reach. With a shake of the head he quickened his pace, he wandered down a back ally and across what seemed a small park that had been left to its own devices; not realising how overgrown it had become, he tried to rush through it, but was prevented from doing so as nettles groped and bushes tore at him, hindering his progress. Once he had made it through to the other side, there before him stood a two storey building that was held aloft by marble stilts, its cold reddish stone seemed to have dimmed with age; and its pitched roof seemed to have bowed slightly. Hanging above the large wooden doors was a banner of a phoenix rising from a fire, the symbol for renewal and new health, used as the emblem for healing. Achil pushed the doors too, and stepped inside a long passageway, at the end of which he could see creeping from one of the chambers was a light. Inside the room he found Agoran, Kranz, the Seer and Victor lying prostrate on their respective beds, all were still, and except for the imperceptible twitching on their faces they appeared to be in a deep sleep. Whatever had happened to them, held them in thrall. Achil noticed their eyes moving beneath their lids as though they were living out some terrible nightmare. He also observed that Agoran was holding his blanket so tightly that his knuckles were white with the effort of it. One of the attendants wiped the sweat from Agoran’s forehead. Achil turned at the sound of a familiar footfall.
The King walked into the room followed by his adjutant who was carrying a carved wooden chest.
“Achil the reason I have sent for you is because I need you to perform a request like no other,” said the King.
The Adjutant opened the chest and inside were six crowns.
“These Achil,” continued the King. “Are the Crowns of Suberia; in ancient times Suberia was split into a multitude of kingdoms, and each King or Queen had their own crown like these. These six as far as we are aware are the last that remain. The small Orbs imbedded in them have some mystical power that enables the wearers to communicate over vast distances. They once connected all the ancient kingdoms together. I’m afraid they are of a different nature to the ones used by the Dragon People of Osgaroth, as far as we understand it; they have a separate connection unique to their type. And after this conflict I will give one to each of our allies so that we may communicate with each other at will. But for now I will place four of these crowns on the Elementals heads and a fifth on yours. Then I would ask that you concentrate, and it may just be possible for you to reach into their minds and connect with them, are you willing to try. And please Achil remember I do not ask this of you as your King because the risk is too great, you may fall into a deep sleep like theirs and not wake.”
“My King, if we succeed then the end would have justified the means,” said Achil. “And I see no other way, our sense of need and urgency leaves us no alternative. I will do it for the sake of the kingdom.”
The King offered no real resistance and sadly nodded; he knew that such a perilous adventure was the only real hope to bring the Elementals out of their present malady. The Attendant showed Achil to a bed, and gestured for him to lie down. They softly placed the Crowns on the Elementals and the fifth on Achil who was just about to close his eyes when in walked the Alchemist.
“Don’t forget you have until morning,” he said with concern etched on his face. “I have here a small bell that I will ring at dawn then no matter what, you must try to free yourself. Good luck Achil we will be here waiting for you.”
Achil closed his eyes, smiled reassuringly and began to concentrate; as he did so the Orb began to glow as did the Orbs on all the crowns.
The harder he concentrated the brighter the Orb shone. At first, all Achil could see was an ocean of different opaque colours that changed shape and afterward faded back into nothingness, he felt as though he were falling from a great height into nothingness. Everything darkened; from the void came shapes of all the strange creatures he had encountered on his travels, both the bizarre and the beautiful. Then the picture began to change; he could see something coming towards him from a great distance. It began to fill the void, it was a Wolf snarling, and it seemed to fill the entire frame of what he saw, before suddenly vanishing. Once more there was just emptiness. Then all at once Achil found he was in what appeared to be a paradise, a landscape characterized by a lagoon and a river spreading out from it and at its centre a waterfall. Achil knew he must have entered a dream, and yet all his senses felt alive to this new world. He could smell the laburnum and other scented flowers, his hands reached out to feel the texture of the leaves on a tree, he took a deep breath and felt his lungs fill with fresh air. Achil noticed that he was in fine clothes; he wore a soft tunic, dark breeches and almost knee length boots. He still had his trusty sword at his side, his bow over his back with his shield and a dagger, so he could still defend himself well enough. Though there were no dangers to hand, Achil knew how unpredictable the mind could be. When he got close to the waterfall he saw someone or rather something bathing. Achil could make out Kranz, though the figure before him was made entirely out of water. It appeared that in his dreamlike state Kranz took on the appearance of the element he had become. He seemed not to notice Achil at first, and Achil did not fancy wading in after him, for one thing he could not tell how deep the water was in the lagoon.
“Kranz it is I Achil do you recognise me?”
Kranz looked up, seeing Achil for the first
time.
“Is that really you Achil, this is a strange place indeed.”
“What are you doing here?” asked Achil.
“I am hiding from the great Beaver,” replied Kranz. “He has threatened to build a damn to cut off the waterfall; so that I dry up and die, so I must remain hidden from him.”
Achil looked around but could see no indication of a great Beaver or even a little one.
“Tell me what is the last thing you remember?” asked Achil.
Kranz moved beneath the waterfall, the water seemed to flow off him, the way it would have flowed off a large rock.
“I was sitting up in a chair holding hands with the other Elementals,” replied Kranz slowly. “When we were surrounded by this blinding light, and the next thing I remember I was here, fighting against the Beaver, trying to prevent him from building a damn to destroy me.”
“Listen I will go find this Beaver of yours and see if I can persuade him not to build his damn," said Achil. “I want you to try and understand that you are actually asleep. This world has been created by your imagination. Only with the help of the King have I been able to come to you. Don‘t do anything rash while I’m gone. And try to think happy thoughts.”
“Where are you going?” asked Kranz.
“Didn’t you just hear me," said Achil. “I’m going to talk with the Beaver. See if I can understand what‘s happening here.”
“Okay,” replied Kranz. “Where are you going?”
“Forget it, just stay here,” cried Achil.
With that he left Kranz and began to climb up the rock face to where the rushing water cascaded down from, he was amazed to find not only that the spray was washing over him but how wet he genuinely felt. Also of fascination to him was the smoothness of the sheer climb and how treacherous he found his footing; he focused all the more to make sure he would not fall, and carefully crept forward and up. Only as he reached the summit did Achil almost lose his grip, but with a little good fortune he managed to clamber over the edge and make it onto surer ground. Resting a moment to catch his breath he looked up to see something curious; there in front of him was a beaver. It was large, with a reddish brown fur and in its mouth was a log.
“What are you doing?” asked Achil.
The Beaver dropped the log and to Achil’s surprise actually answered.
“I’m building my home. Only by building a home can someone have a home to go to.”
Achil looked puzzled.
“I would think that's obvious isn't it?” asked Achil.
The Beaver carried on, seemingly ignoring Achil altogether. It was typical of Kranz to have some creature in his mind that made no sense at all. So he tried a different tact.
“Tell me don’t you think you should stop?” said Achil. “After all if you build a damn, you will hurt my friend who lives in the lagoon below you.”
The Beaver once more gazed up at him.
“This is Kranz's home also,” said the Beaver. “By building a home only then can you have a home to go to.”
By this time Achil considered that the Beaver was in fact crazy, which made perfect sense considering where he was. Perhaps that was the answer; he was after all inside Kranz head. Perhaps then the Beaver and Kranz were one and the same.
So if the Beaver was building a home, to have a home to go to. And if the Beaver was Kranz, then surely that meant he was trying to free himself. The Beaver was not trying to destroy Kranz it was trying to help him get home, get away from this malaise. Achil realising the possible answer, clambered back down to where Kranz was.
“Listen to me Kranz,” said Achil. “I’m going to ask you to trust me; the Beaver is not trying to destroy you. In fact the building of the damn will somehow send you back to the real world.”
“The real world, this is the real world,” said Kranz.
“No Kranz, it's not,” said Achil. “I know this is hard to understand and even more difficult to explain, but you know me and you know you can trust me, right.”
Kranz nodded.
“Then listen to what I have to say,” said Achil.
Once Achil had finished explaining what he intended doing he scrambled back up to where the Beaver was and helped the creature build the Damn. When it was finished the water stopped flowing over the ridge. The lagoon consequently began to drain; it was the waterfall that had kept it filled. As it drained a whirlpool appeared at the centre of the lagoon and began to suck Kranz down. Kranz struggled by hanging onto the roots of trees, that had appeared from nowhere. Achil now understood the whirlpool was like a doorway back to the waking world. He shouted to Kranz to let go, but Kranz simply could not help himself. Achil went over to the tree root that Kranz was holding onto, drew his sword, swung it high and brought it down cleaving the root in two. Kranz with a look of horror began thrashing in every direction before being sucked under, his final act before he disappeared was to wave his fist at Achil, and shout a few unintelligible obscenities.
Achil stayed a moment rubbed his forehead and chuckled, one thing he understood from the experience was that this was just as much his dream as anyone else’s, hence his ability to use his sword. Something was wrong though, he was still in Kranz’s dream. And yet Kranz had left, it felt like an age had passed when slowly everything began to fade, once more there was a myriad of colours that swirled around him, like being at the centre of a crystal prism.
The world around him came back into focus. Achil found himself in the middle of an icy expanse. Ice sheets stretched far and wide in every direction. He began to shiver and thought of the clothes needed for such weather. Suddenly he was wearing a thick bearskin overcoat. Now he had to work out whose dream this was. Looking around there was nothing but emptiness. He bent down and picked up some snow, it certainly seemed real enough. It even melted in his hands. He began to walk not really knowing of course where he was going, when the snow collapsed beneath him and he fell into an icy crevice. He hurtled down what was an icy shoot, limbs flaying about in all directions. Achil flew out of the end of it, landing in a heap on a mound that broke his fall.
Getting groggily to his feet Achil began to investigate his new surroundings. He was in a large cave, without seemingly an exit, except from whence he had come. To his astonishment he was not alone; in front of him was an ice bear. It was sleeping, Achil quickly tried to make his escape, as he tried to climb unsuccessfully back up the shoot; the ice bear gave out a loud yawn as first one eye opened, then the other.
“What is Achil doing in this place?” queried the Bear.
Achil recognised the voice of the Seer and looking closer he could see that the Bear was made out of snow, of course being the Element for air she could make any shape she chose.
“Seer why are you here, in this place?” asked Achil.
“Because of Jin he came after me.”
“Jin here!” replied Achil.
“Yes,” said the Seer. “He forced me to hide, and where better to hide than in a place like this.”
The Seer began to change shape taking on the more familiar form that Achil was used to.
“Seer you do realise that all this is a dream, none of it is real,” said Achil, unsure what reaction such a revelation might have.
The Seer walked up to Achil and slapped him across the face.
“Is that real enough for you?”
“Well it shouldn't be,” said Achil clutching his chin in some discomfort. “Next time you wish to prove something you might want to warn me before hand. What I’m trying to say is that you can manifest anything in this realm of yours, Jin has put a spell on you and the others, which confined you all to these dream realms. So first just to show you the truth of what I'm saying; if you could try to think of another place, perhaps somewhere a little hotter, that would be great.”
The world around Achil once more faded, and began to reform, the scene around him transforming from an icy cave to a desert with miles of sand dunes in every direction, and in the distance a mountain range.
The Seer had transformed into a lion made out of the sand, and seemed to actually be basking in the heat of the sun.
“Is this hot enough for you,” she said.
“I don’t suppose you could send me a refreshing breeze,” said Achil, removing his bear skin coat.
The wind immediately stirred itself knocking Achil off his feet and on to his back and sending him sliding down one of the dunes. He picked himself up dusted himself off, and made his way back to the Seer.
“Thanks for that but there’s something else about this dream realm you should know about," said Achil incredulously, and then more seriously. “It's difficult to tell how fast time moves in this place, so we have to figure out a way to get you home, sooner, rather than later.”
“I think I may have a way,” said the Seer.
She began to concentrate, as she did so, a small sandstorm became visible, swirling ever faster; a large column of sand encapsulated them, then hurtled toward the distant mountains.
It was a strange journey, the mountains seemingly rising up in front of them like jagged megaliths. One moment they were distant grooves on the horizon, the next they filled half of the sky. When the sandstorm finally dissipated Achil found he was at the base of one of the mountains and above he could see strange creatures menacingly circling. They had the head and wings of an eagle, the body and tail of a lion, and were similar in form to Griffins. The smell of fern was unmistakeable.
“You know,” said Achil pointing toward them. “When we get back you really need to talk to someone about what’s going on in your head.”
Achil was beginning to get frustrated, they were still no closer to escaping this world of the Seer‘s.
“Okay what now?” asked Achil. “Do we have to climb the mountain?”
The Seer transformed from a lioness of sand to a beautiful woman, formed from the petals and leaves that now surrounded them.
“Achil we are going to ride to the summit,” said the Seer.
“Ride, ride on what?”
As he spoke a Griffin landed next to him. Achil and the Seer mounted it.
“I hope you know what you're doing,” said Achil.
“So do I,” said the Seer with a smile.
The wings swept them into the air. As they gained height Achil could feel the wind rushing passed him. The rapid ascent made him grip tightly the mane of the creature. The Seer held Achil round the waist, which felt a bit like being embraced by feathers. It was strange but when they had reached more than half way up, the distance between them and the mountain top never decreased. It was as though they had stopped climbing and had begun to hover. Achil tried to speak to the Seer, as he did so he almost fell of his mount.
“I don’t think I’ll do that again,” said Achil. “What’s going on, why aren't we getting any closer to the mountain top?”
“Look over there, I think we should head for that cave,” said the Seer.
“Really why?” asked Achil.
“I don’t know, I just have a feeling that it's important,” replied the Seer.
Achil directed the creature toward the cave entrance, as soon as he had done so, they were there. They dismounted and went inside. The cave was rounded with smooth walls and a high ceiling, filled with luminescent stalactites, which were lit up somehow. At the far end of the cave was a great carved wooden door. As they stepped forward the Seer warily warned him to take care.
“Why should I be careful?” asked Achil.
A snake then appeared in front of him, forcing Achil to jump back.
”You have to be joking,” cried Achil. “Snakes unbelievable, I’m telling you when we get back, you and Kranz are both getting help.”
The Snake curled itself up. It had the torso of a muscular man, but the rest was snake.
“This is your dream so just get rid of it would you,” said Achil.
“Well this may be a dream to you, but to me it's very real,” said the Seer.
“We do not have time for this,” cried Achil.
Drawing his sword Achil raised it above his head and brought it down so hard that it propelled him forward and onto the floor. And before the blow had fallen the creature had disappeared in front of him.
“Great, now she gets rid of the thing,” said Achil rising to his feet.
The Seer sheepishly apologised. Achil walked to the back of the cave to where the door was and opened it. There in front of him was everyone Victor, Agoran, the Seer, and himself all sleeping, and there was Kranz sitting up in bed, talking to the King. Achil ushered the Seer through the door. As he did so, he noticed that she opened her eyes and sat up on her bed, awake.
Once more everything around him began to fade into the void and he re-emerged. This time in an underground cavern, there in front of him was Victor standing like a giant pillar; he was holding the roof aloft.
“Victor, what are you doing?” asked Achil.
“I’m holding the ceiling up so it doesn’t collapse,” said Victor.
“What makes you think the ceilings going to collapse?” asked Achil.
“I was told by the others,” replied Victor.
“Which others?” asked Achil.
“The Villagers over there, this whole cavern will cave in unless I help them,” cried Victor.
Achil looked across and saw a small hamlet in the middle of the Cavern.
“You don't see that every day,” said Achil. “You stay here I’ll try to find out what's going on.”
“I’m not exactly going anywhere,” replied Victor.
Achil walked over to the village; once more he noticed how well lit it was, and yet he could not tell where the light was coming from. The people were milling around in the centre of the village speaking to one another, tending their goods. As he approached he began to recognise some of them, they were people long since died.
To his shock he saw his wife and daughter. They both had died in child birth and yet here they were. The little girl was about five years old, had it really been five years since he had laid them to rest. What were they doing in Victor's dream? It could be his mind was playing tricks on him.
The little girl came running up to him. And put her arms around him.
“Evan is that you?" asked Achil. “How can it possibly be you? I watched you die.”
“It is this place of dreams,” replied Evan. “A place where the living and the dead can come together.”
Evan took Achil by the hand and led him away from the village. But as they passed a small cottage Achil stopped her, he had an overwhelming desire to enter it, even though Evan tried to direct him away. Achil opened the gate; the front garden was covered with the most colourful flowers, red, mauves, yellows, all greeting him handsomely. He walked up the short path to the front door opened it and stepped inside. The little girl and his once wife, followed him in. On entering the small cottage the three sat down at a table. It was strange thought Achil there were no windows, and there were cobwebs hanging from wooden trusses that ran along the ceiling. There was something uncomfortable about the place, it was certainly not homely, and in fact it felt eerie. He realised that something was wrong, that the two people facing him were impostors. He looked casually around the cottage, his eyes setting on a cloak in the corner; Achil felt a strong impulse to put it on, somehow he knew it was important. As he reached out to do so, Evan tried to stop him; he effortlessly shrugged the girl aside. Evan looked up at her mother and both backed away into a corner, he wrapped the cloak around himself, suddenly the little girl and his dead wife changed shape into woman with long white hair and flowing gowns. The cloak had made his two companions reveal their true forms.
“We are the Banshees,” said the one called Evan. “We have been waiting for you Achil, we live in your nightmares feeding off the darkness, we will not let you take Victor. He will nourish us for a long time, as will you.”
“No,” shouted Achil turning the table over in anger and dismay and hurling it across at them. “Victor is coming with me, you fou
l creatures can go to Hades, where you belong.”
Achil knew he had to do something quickly; the Banshees had delayed him for far too long. He made it to the door and flung it open and raced outside; with the Banshees pursuing him, as he made his way toward Victor, the two creatures appeared flying at his side, shrieking for him to stop. Since he would not stop, they struck at him, their nails ripping into his skin like daggers. When Achil got close to Victor he desperately lunged at him toppling both of them to the floor, as he did so, his cloak covered both of them from head to foot. The roof began to fall in around them. As it did so the Banshees screamed and started to tear at the cloak, but it was too late, rock and boulder smashed into them, but unbelievably beneath the cloak Achil and Victor were sheltered from harm, as though it had some unknown magical strength that worked to protect them.
After the cave in had stopped, Achil drew back the cloak; Victor seemed to become transparent until he faded altogether. Achil rose and began to dust himself off. As he did so, the surroundings altered. The cavern became a lush green wooded vale. In the distance he could see a castle built on top of a mountain. He found he was on a path leading up to it. These dream realms just kept getting more strange thought Achil. When he got back to the real world he would have a serious talk with everyone about it. It was beginning to get dark, as Achil followed the path, the moon began to rise above the mountain. It was the fullest moon he had ever seen. In the distance he heard a long wailing ominous howl, at least it was far enough away not to concern him, and the castle was close by to hide in.
He noticed someone coming toward him, wearing a dark cloak and in the dim light of the moon they were practically invisible to the eye. Achil stepped to the side of the path as he did so the person followed him. He walked across to the other side of the path and they did the same. He only had one option left to confront them.
“Who is it that hinders my path,” cried Achil.
The figure pulled back her cloak, it was the Grimmer.
“What are you doing in this place?” asked Achil astonished.
“The Banshees told me of you and how you defeated them.”
Achil looked a bit bemused, “You’re not one of them in disguise are you?”
“We have a pact remember I would not want you to die in this place and be taken by some other worldly spectre.”
“It's nice to know you’re here because you care,” replied Achil.
“I have something that you will need when entering the castle,” said the Grimmer.
She handed Achil a necklace with a clear crystal attached to it.
“What’s this?” asked Achil.
“It comes from the deepest parts of Suberia, and will help you find your friend and will also identify your enemies.”
“That will certainly be helpful,” said Achil. “Perhaps you could have given it to me sooner. I hate to sound like a cynic, but why are you helping me now?”
“Because for a time when I was human again I discovered something I had lost many years ago, friendship,” said the Grimmer.
Achil was still dubious, but he was sure he would soon find out the truth. The Grimmer walked with him to the castle. When there, he could make out covering the walls were many types and various shapes of gargoyles.
“Are you coming in with me?” asked Achil.
“No, this is where I leave you to your fate,” said the Grimmer slowly vanishing.
Achil entered the castle, he was in a yard area which was like a dusty cobbled stony tomb, and in the centre was a stone plinth on top of which was a rider in full armour. He could see the moon overhead shining down illuminating the inner court yard. To the far end was a staircase guarded by gargoyles which were carved into stone posts, set back from the staircase were doors to both the left and right of it. He went to try one of them, but it was locked. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, quickly Achil turned round, as he had that unmistakeable feeling of being watched. Perhaps it was the rider. Achil shook his head, these dream realms were really starting to unsettle him.
Stepping back into the courtyard Achil took a moment to think, maybe he would find some answers on the upper level. So he climbed the stairs when he unmistakably heard something move behind him, turning he caught out of the corner of his eye one of the Gargoyles. It had moved? Achil gazed across for a moment, it was quite still, and yet its head seemed to have turned, and was now looking right at him. He hesitated a moment unsure of what he was looking at. Best to move on said Achil to himself. As he reached the top of the stair, he noticed the same Gargoyle as at the bottom of the stair, but it was now in front of him at the top. He continued on, this was a cold dank foreboding place, a genuine place of nightmares.
Achil went to the door directly in front of the staircase, and slowly opened it, and to his surprise out flew a crow, which forced him to duck, and so shaking his head he regained his composure and moved forward once more. The room was filled with shelves of books possibly it was a library of sorts. One of the books was at an angle, leaning outward, he went over to it, and picked it up. He looked at the cover, it had a single word ‘SECRET‘. He turned the pages they were all blank, the secret was so secret that even the book did not know what it is.
He stood looking at the cover and was about to put it back on the shelf when he thought he would give something else a try. He opened the book once more, took the crystal the Grimmer had given him and placed it on one of the pages. A light shone out from the crystal as it did so the book began to fill with words.
‘He who seeks hidden paths should climb the sacred spire; once they’ve reached the very top they’ll be met with a mystic fire.
Not exactly the best rhyme in the world but the message was clear climb the spire. Achil left the room quickly, descended the stairs and went into the yard, once across it; he opened the door leading up into the spire. Again before he went inside he had that feeling he was being watched. He heard something creak behind him and without hesitation he jumped to one side, just in time, as a spear stuck fast to the door; to Achil’s horror the rider on the plinth reared up, jumped off it and onto the ground. Achil took hold of the spear and pulled it free of the door.
He leapt forward and thrust the spear into the midriff of the rider, the horse reared up and backwards, its passenger caught off guard, fell of the horse. Achil pounced immediately to knock the man's sword away, and stood over him. He raised the spear preparing to thrust it into the man but instead of seeing a man there was a lifeless stone effigy. Achil threw down the spear, he noticed something had fallen from the man's belt it was a small pot of oil. Achil bent down picked it up tied it to his belt and went back to the door leading up to the spire. He tried the handle it opened, but the corridor had no stair just more doors. He would have to open all the doors to find the one he needed.
Achil opened the next door it led into a bordello, he apologised for disturbing everyone and quickly shut it, he tried the next, there was a family eating at a table. What lay behind the doors must have been aspects of Agoran’s life. Finally he opened the right door. At the far end of which was a spiral staircase, Achil began to climb it. After an age Achil stopped and noticed a door built into the wall, he opened the door and went inside. There in the corner seated on a chair was Agoran; he was staring into a cold hearth filled with untouched kindling.
“I can’t light the fire,” said Agoran. “I don’t know why I simply do not have the power Achil.”
“Agoran,” said Achil. “You are the Elemental for earth not fire."
With that Agoran got up and walked over to the window and to Achil’s shock jumped out. And then the whole scene was repeated, it was as though Agoran hadn’t moved from his seat, he repeated what he had said before, got up and leapt from the window, again the scene repeated itself. Achil tried to stop him, but Agoran walked right through him as if he were not there.
He remembered the pot of oil, next time when Agoran was back in his seat he threw the pot onto the hear
th and over the piled logs; he then took the flints from the side of the hearth and lit the fire. Agoran had begun to stand, but stopped and looked into the fire.
The heat from the fire was burning its way through the wall at the back, which at first turned red, then white hot and then it began to crumble, on the other side, he could see the other Elementals, except for the Seer, lying on their beds. It was over Achil, grabbed hold of Agoran, and the two of them jumped through to the other side.
Disoriented but very much alive they both opened their eyes, they found the King removing the crowns from their heads. Achil had brought them all home. The King explained that he had only been gone a few hours. The Seer once awake had immediately gone to the vaults to find out how to protect them from anymore dark magic, so that in the morning when they went out to meet the Mandrake on the field of battle they would not be prevented from using their powers.