The Shrine of Arthis
Book One: The Power of Denial
David A. Gustafson
Copyright © 2016 David Gustafson
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
ISBN 978-0-9973242-1-1
To those who never tire from day dreaming.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Prologue
“Lower the amulet, Delia. I’ll make sure that it sinks deep into the crystal,” Gara laughed, her eyes aglow with ruddy gold, the telltale of the power called Amber. “His essence will be locked here, forever. Do it!”
Delia’s eyes flashed with bluish Sapphire. Ignoring her sister, she looked upon the huge block of quartz before them while from her outstretched left hand the talisman dangled above the rock’s cold surface. Suspended by a fine chain, the oval shaped gem glittered with a myriad of color as it swung unsteadily.
A few steps away Gara waited, not alone, but flanked by two other women.
“Are you certain, My Sisters?” Delia responded. “Once I drop it, like a glass of wine emptied into a river, it cannot be recovered.”
“Get on with it!” exclaimed one of the other women. Her eyes shone from within, bright with green Emerald. “If we don’t do this, even in death Father’s spirit will haunt us. He will manipulate the earth powers against us. We have no choice. This is the only way for us to be rid of him. Yes, independent at last.”
“No one must ever know,” Gara said still laughing. “This place must be hidden. We must combine our earth powers one last time; use them to create four layers of defense. No one must come to this mountain.”
“Only a team of Master Shapers working together will pass through our maze,” Glada replied, then hesitated, “or a mighty Blender, one able to command all the earth powers.”
“Their day has passed!” Rhinda said, her eyes white with Opal. “Rejoice, My Dears. Know that our descendants can now excel in the mold we have each chosen. Each city will be blessed within its singular earth power. Never shall any of our Foedan brethren reach this summit and learn what we have done today.”
“Then let it be done,” Delia said.
As her hand moved lower and the amulet approached the hard quartz, the block’s surface seemed to grow soft. The oval shaped talisman glittered more brightly with the colors of the four earth powers as it descended. For an instant Delia paused. Then with eyes closed she released the chain from her grasp and the object disappeared, swallowed up like a stone dropped into a puddle on a moonless night.
Each of the four sisters studied the others. Grimly they smiled, turned and walked away. Descending from the Summit, they did not look back...
BOOK ONE:
The Power of Denial
Chapter 1: Walls and Bridges
Jerrid lay and watched a shadow crawl down the wall of his bedroom. As if chased by demons, the line that separated darkness from moonlight advanced. Soon it would reach the floor and begin progressing across the floor toward the foot of his bed.
“It’s going to be a long night,” he whispered. Clad only in his undershorts, he sat up and turned his muscled frame toward the window. “Where is Axel? He should have been here by now.” The moon’s brilliance illuminated the empty courtyard outside. The surrounding stone buildings and the cliff ledge upon which the small city was poised coldly glowed with its reflected light.
“The crimson hides,” Jerrid added, turning from the window. Behind tufts of unkempt hair his deep-set eyes displayed a distinct golden luster. “But there will be no rest tonight.” He settled back against a pillow and resumed his surveillance of the opposite wall.
The outer doorway that led into his flat from the courtyard opened a short time later.
“I thought you’d be asleep by now,” a familiar voice called from the parlor. The shuffle of footsteps followed and in a moment, a man stood within the bedroom’s arched doorway.
Jerrid touched a fist-sized globe of crystal that sat atop his nightstand. Light began to build within the rounded object’s core.
“I’m glad to see that your mother is resting,” the man continued after glancing back toward an adjacent room. “That’s a good sign. I worry about her on nights like this, much as I do you.” His eyes also sparkled with flecks of gold.
“There’s no sleep in me tonight,” Jerrid answered, somewhat surprised by how worn his grandfather sounded. “Not with this full moon.”
“Forget the moon.” Axel’s frown made his face appear even more wrinkled than normal.
“I wish I could.” Jerrid’s eyes took on a hue like molten copper. “So many full moons in the last five years; I wish I could forget them all. But tonight’s is different. Even without closing my eyes, I keep seeing myself high above Garth atop the Court Wall. I remember the monsters, the iron bars they swung, their eyes glowing like red coals.”
“That evil night has long passed,” Axel interrupted. “You were just a twelve-year-old boy. In the years since, we’ve all had to overcome scars. Though I recall the pain, especially when I look into your mother’s lightless eyes,” the old man hesitated, “I remind myself that the worst is behind us.”
“The worst is yet to come,” Jerrid said. “You know that nothing can stop them. No arrow or spear can pierce their black mail. They battered Garth’s outer gate to rubble and crushed the stone-wall the Shapers threw up. You know what happened then.”
“Enough,” Axel said.
“They took their souls,” Jerrid blurted, “my mother and the others. I still hear their screams. I still see the beasts holding them down, exposing their Amber and then taking their earthpower. In my dreams I’ve watched many times. And though I know what’s going to happen, I quail because I cannot save them.”
“No one expected you to save them,” Axel whispered. “That is what I was supposed to do.”
“The second gate held,” Jerrid continued, not listening, “barely.”
“It was the dawn, Son. That’s what stopped them.” Axel seemed listless. “The gates only slowed them…, just long enough for daylight to arrive.”
“Or more would have perished,” Jerrid added. He remembered that as sunrise chased away the Sortiri attackers, one of the creatures cast a final look upward at the high walls of the city. And their eyes met. The connection haunted him still. “So don’t ask me to rest. I have work to do. I can’t believe we didn’t get the gate finished today!”
“I know it’s frustrating. We’ve been working a long time,” Axel said. “But the machinery needed to raise the span of a drawbridge is complicated. We’re close, you know. We just ran out of time. Telmin and Rory are keeping watch tonight. When the next full moon comes we won’t need to worry. We’ll just close up the gate and no one will ever guess that there is a city up here.”
“I don’t want to wait. Let’s go back to work, now,” Jerrid pressed. “I heard Telmin at dinner. The pins should be ready. So if he’s already down there we may as well get back at it, keep going until we get the thing closed up. After that, I’ll try to sleep.”
“We’ve discussed this, Jerrid.” Axel groaned, tired and ready to rest after another day of labor. “For tonight, we have to trust again to our true defense. The Sorti
ri know nothing of our new city. As long as that is true, Yargis is safe.”
“I will not sleep tonight.” The young man’s tone was blunt. His eyes shined ever more brightly as he rose and began to dress: leather breeches, woolen tunic and leather vest. Lastly, he strapped a belt around his waist. It supported a leather pouch that rested above his right hip. With a deep breath, he placed his hand upon the pouch.
“I’m sorry, Grandfather. Everything I once knew is lost to me. Even my father knows nothing about me; that you loaned me these shaping tools. Sometimes they are my only comfort.”
“I didn’t loan them to you.” Axel smiled. “Passed down from one Shaper to another, they have long helped the Amber Foedan focus the earthpower to the level needed to perform the most intense stonework. The other set is with Tecan. Your father counts on his Master Shaper to build up Garth’s defenses. I gave them to you for the same reason. Your power to shape stone has amazed everyone, except me.”
“I appreciate everything you’ve taught me.” Jerrid’s tone was earnest, but impatient. “Without your help I’d still be learning simple tasks. But sometimes, you know, it gets lonely here. I keep wondering when my father and Tecan will visit us again and see the progress we’ve made.”
A look of pain crossed over Axel’s face. “Jerrid, there’s something I should tell you,” he stammered. “The last time they were here, two years it’s been, they mentioned that it might be too risky for them to return. Your father is fixated on secrecy. I took the comment to mean that he won’t be back.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Jerrid lied, his expression betraying his voice. “I just can’t endure any more dreams. I’m going to the gate to find Telmin.”
He walked from the room and strode into the night outside. The entrance to the tunnel leading from the courtyard downward to the main gate looked like a barrel of tar spilled upon the gray bedrock, he thought. Barely slowing his pace, he continued into the dark opening. What started out as a gentle descent soon grew steeper. Crystal torches held by cradles mounted along the walls gradually came to life and lighted the passage as he progressed. At the bottom of the ramp the floor leveled. Just beyond a granite sill that marked the end of the ramp, a separate slab of stone extended outward from the tunnel through a rectangular opening, its expanse disappearing into the night outside.
Surprised to have come so far without encountering Telmin or the other Shaper on watch, Jerrid stepped over the sill and walked several paces along the slab. The evening air was surprisingly cold and still, he found. Though the sky directly overhead was clear, the moon itself was obscured by the walls of the cliff that rose upward to where the city lay.
His eyes adjusted again to the night, Jerrid looked downward at the gentle stream which flowed beneath the drawbridge he stood upon. The gurgling sound of water added to the sense of peace he struggled to form in his mind.
Growing calmer, he noticed that part way up another cliff, this one rising on the opposite side of the stream and across from the city, a large mountain goat was grazing on the few blades of grass that grew amid the rocks. The animal had a white coat. Short black horns protruded from its wisened forehead. It looked down on him with eyes that glowed yellow.
“Scat, you don’t belong here!” The voice that broke the night’s stillness seemed harsh, but by the hint of mirth carried within, Jerrid knew that it was Telmin, a Shaper of middle age with superior ability in works of iron and steel.
“Be nice to that goat,” Jerrid laughed. He looked and saw that along the far bank, two men walked toward the other end of the bridge. On the cliff above them, the creature scampered away and was soon hidden behind some boulders.
“Usually those goats stay higher up on the ridges,” Telmin scoffed. “I don’t like them coming down this low. I know it doesn’t make sense but it’s almost like they’re spying on us. Jerrid, what are you doing here? You should be sleeping. We have work to do in the morning.” When he came closer he pointed at the tool belt he noticed the young man wore. “What are you doing with that?” he asked, then paused with confusion. “And what, is that Axel I see coming down?”
“We thought you might need some company,” Axel replied. He stood at the base of the ramp, about twenty feet inside the tunnel. The area around him grew ever brighter as more crystal torches awakened.
“Is it time for work?” Telmin asked. He was a very large man, half a head taller than Jerrid and with the chest of a bull. Dark hair fell to his shoulders. Except for a patch of stubble on his chin, his beard was sparse. He had a ready smile and eyes filled with laughter. “The moon is still climbing. I was out with Rory trying to get a look at it. Dawn is hours away.”
“Since none of us seem able to sleep tonight, we thought we could pick things up where we left them this afternoon,” Axel replied. “Maybe we can insert the hinge pins and raise this gate. They’re ready, aren’t they?”
“Oh, yes,” Telmin said with obvious pride. “We brought them down from the casting room an hour ago, still hot as fresh bread. Good iron too. I think we’re finally up to speed with our castings. And it won’t be long before we’re ready to challenge Garth in forging steel.”
“That will come, Telmin. But right now I’d be happy to just get the pins into the hinges.” Axel said.
“Well, then head back up into the city and come back with every Shaper you can convince to work at this hour,” Telmin laughed. He and his accomplice passed by Jerrid and approached Axel.
“If you and Rory are willing to insert the pins,” Jerrid replied as he followed, “Axel and I can align the gate to the hinges.”
“It took twenty Shapers to put this slab into position,” Telmin scoffed. “It weighs eight tons, maybe more. But if you two can raise it up and hold it level, we’ll be glad to slide in the pins.”
“It just needs to come up a few inches,” Axel said as he glanced toward his grandson. “Let’s give it a try.”
With a sigh, Telmin motioned at Rory and together they walked over to a tool chest by the side of the passageway and retrieved two iron rods. Each was about four inches in diameter and three feet long. A wide gap extended along both sides of the bridge’s stone slab. Telmin took one pin and lowered himself into the waist deep opening along one side of the slab. Rory did the same on the opposite side.
“You two need to raise the slab until the slots on the bottom of the gate line up with notches we cut a few weeks ago into the stone down under here,” Telmin said, motioning. “We’ll slide the pins in to attach everything together and then the gate should be ready to test.”
Axel and Jerrid took positions alongside Telmin and Rory.
“Relax, Son,” Axel said. “This is a big lift. Let your Amber build slowly. It’s important we act together.”
They both placed their hands beneath the massive block. Slowly, the light in their eyes built in intensity. When its strength reached the point where gold begins to shift into yellow, Jerrid nodded toward his grandfather and they both began to lift. The entire stone slab rose slightly, almost as if pulled upon by invisibly suspended cables.
When the bridge stabilized, in near unison Telmin and Rory shoved the pins into the rounded openings below and they clanged into position. “Relax, boys, we’ve got it locked together.” Telmin seemed surprised, but delighted. “These pins support the entire drawbridge,” he added. “Quick now, climb out and we can give it a go.”
“Go ahead, Son,” Axel said with a nod once everyone was clear. “It should be you who finishes this.”
Jerrid pulled the small hammer from the pouch at his waist and walked to a place where an iron lever extended from a slot in the stone on the left side of the tunnel. The lever was part of a locking mechanism that controlled the movement of the gate. He pushed it forward while simultaneously using his Amber to connect with a counterweight located beneath the gate. As the weight shifted, the drawbridge began to move, its closest end pivoted downward while outside, the opposite end lifted upward. In less than a
minute the huge stone slab tilted to a near fully upright position. With a heavy thud it then came to a stop.
“It worked,” Telmin laughed. He skipped along the walkway to where Jerrid stood. “You did it, Boy! I can barely believe it.” He grabbed Jerrid in a bear hug, lifted him up and spun around while still holding his friend. “Everyone will be surprised. Finally, we are safe behind this behemoth.”
“I can’t believe it’s closed,” Jerrid echoed, he too smiling broadly. “The stop was a bit rough but we can smooth that out.”
“Never mind that,” Axel added with obvious relief. “Well done, all of you! I’m just too tired to stay up any longer. What of it, Jerrid? Now maybe we’ll take a break to celebrate, just the two of us. You know, like old times, head to the Sharanth Plains. That colt you fancy will be several hands taller than the last time.”
“Really? That sounds great!” Jerrid answered as Telmin finally released him. “I’d love to get back out there, the sooner the better. Telmin, I might lift and spin you on that news. Let’s ride out before midday, Grandfather. And that leaves it to you and Rory to spread word, Telmin. I’ve also got to get some sleep.”
Jerrid followed Axel up the ramp leading back to the courtyard. As Telmin went to see who might be awake to hear the news of the gate, they returned to their flat and were soon secure in their cots. Though Axel quickly slept, each time Jerrid’s mind drifted toward slumber his heart began to flutter. Sweat beaded upon his brow and he shivered as if afflicted by fever. Hours later, only after the moon set in the west, he at last found sleep.
Chapter 2: The Dawn of Gladeis