Chapter 11
The Keepers Voice
Looking from Leora to Ryan, Cody wondered what the two were talking about. They had been huddled in that same corner since Leora had said something about being first. Turning his head he glanced at Amori, she had not spoken since the whole debacle in the Sacrosanct had started. Now she just stood there staring at nothing, her eyes clouded over in thought.
He faced away, allowing his own mind to drift; he had been young the last time he had been here in Eldon. He could hardly remember his father now, it had been that long. He looked up as Leora and Ryan came towards them.
“We've come to a decision; once the gates are opened we're taking you back to Loam.”
Cody's gaze went from Ryan to Leora then back again, ready to speak, though it was Amori who spoke first.
“NO!” The hardness in her voice made him turn and look at her, really paying attention now. Her eyes were slightly dilated, and her breathing sounded more like rasping, uneven and desperate.
“No, you dragged me in now I'm in.” She said a little softer though no less firmly, even with her eyes focused on the tiled floor. Amori knew that it was wrong to put the full blame on Ryan. Since she knew that it was not his fault that she and the others had broken into his house, and that she had opened a book that she was not supposed to have even touched. Though it did seem a bit of a misjudgment, yet still, it was easier to think that way, seeing as it was his fault for having a party and showing interest in her at all, when he had been engaged the whole time.
Ryan watched Amori; he was somewhat surprised that she had said no. Well rather the way in which she had said it, but he had to agree with her. Bringing them back to Loam might slow down the Prophecy, if it were possible, but what is written no one can reverse, no matter how hard they tried. He looked away from Amori to where he heard footsteps coming towards them. He was surprised to see a kid of about fifteen or sixteen years of age. He also did not look completely elfin, which meant that the boy was probably a half-breed. Upon his coming closer it gave Ryan reason to pause, because the boy seemed the same with only the slightest difference to Cody.
“Eldrid has sent me to take you to your quarters.” He turned taking the same path that he had entered through, with the group following a few paces behind. Ryan saw that after her little outburst Amori had become very silent, not so much as a peep coming from her. Not once lifting her eyes from the floor as they made their way along. He sighed inwardly; she had been right in a way. If only he had not invited her to the stupid party, if only she had not accepted, still he now knew that it would not have mattered either way, with her being the First. Though Amori did not yet truly understand it, he knew that before their very existence she had been chosen for this time, for this assignment. So whether it happened in the way it had, or whether it could have happened or would have happened another way, he knew that she would have opened the Blank book, and the Dweller would have come to have his opportunity either way. Ryan was just happy that he had been chosen as well, to play a part in the final freeing of the realms.
'Why would Ryan want to send me back?' After everything that had happened, she didn't feel that she could ever go back to her old life, to the way things were before now. Living had become too dangerous. She followed walking with Cody, him talking and her not hearing a word that he was saying, though she nodded along making it seem like she did.
Her being was still shaking from her earlier encounter with whatever it had been that she had set her gaze upon. In need of a momentary distraction her thoughts drifted to the boy that was guiding them. She considered him to be rather young, even if he looked like he was only a year or two younger than she, with her eighteen years of age. With all that had happened in such a short span of time her body felt weighted down. Her movements more from muscle memory than deliberate thought.
Morgan's patience was at its end. Leora had been gone for almost three days now. Walking to the shore line he stopped when he came to Atwater Wood. A light breeze moved through the trees ruffling their leaves, but it was an even lighter sound, or rather a resonance of a sound that caught his attention and ear. One so light that not even the Neshar race would have heard it. Still and quiet was the song that Leora had sang in her sudden thrill, yet another with it rose up, one that carried with it power and strength, the two songs mingling together. Walking through the foliage Morgan followed the sound on the wind till he came upon a clearing. There upon the ground glinting like fire in the moonlight was a single feather. Picking it up he stared at it seconds ticking by, when a sudden and swift revelation dawned on him. She must have gone to Eldon, for that was the only thing that could explain her absence. Seeing as he had told her of the path to Eldon through Atwater. Though why she would have needed to go to Eldon was beyond him, but he would soon find out.
A strong breeze passed overhead, one from the north and the other the south. They collided together in a clash, releasing the voices of others with them. The colliding brought forth more than Morgan cared to hear, but it was a single resonant voice that grabbed his interest, it was that of the girl who had been with Dryan that day in the forest. Knowing this confirmed his earlier suspicions, Dryan was with Leora. His anger began to rise; the air around him seemed to tremble, the trees shaking with its force. Pulling within themselves to be rid of it.
A low dangerous sound emanated from Morgan's being; once the gate opened he was going to drag the truth from one of or both of them. Turning Morgan headed back to his home to wait for the coming dawn.
Opening Dryan's bedroom door Chay entered the room. It had been three days since she had last seen him. Looking around, everything, she noticed, looked the same as when she had last been there. Nothing changed, or cleaned. Moving to the bookshelf Chay saw nothing that interested her. So without knowing what it was that she was looking for, Chay moved to the other side of the room. Feeling a prompting to do so she ran her had against the wall. Just as she was about to remove it she felt something hidden in the shadow. Fully facing the wall that was at the far left corner of Dryan's room, she focused on the spot. Mentally breaking through the barriers that hid what was now calling out to her. Not in audible words but more of a pulling that seduced the mind, numbing you to all thought and reason, till your only desire was to know what that thing was. It was the pull of curiosity to know the unknown.
It took her half an hour to finally bring down the last barrier, but when she had made it through she reached out her hand into the opening that was now in the wall. She came to realize that it was an inter-pass. With her hand now holding the object she retracted her arm, and saw that it was yet another book. It was one written by the ones bound to Kazab. A book that had been forbidden to ever be read; Chay stared at it, 'What is so great about this book that it should never be opened?' She thought as she ran her forefinger over the millennia aged cover. Another thought came to her, if she were to open it no one would ever be the wiser.
“I call to you in the night, and warn by day, will you heed my voice?”
Chay lifted her hand from the cover, and though she did the temptation to open it was still there.
“Will you heed my voice?”
Chay searched for the one whom the voice had emanated from; when she saw no one she refocused her attention back to the book that was still in her hand.
“Heed my voice simple one, return to me as you once were.”
Chay felt the touch of a hand resting lightly, comfortingly, on her shoulder, then a whisper in her ear, “Do not give him the rights to your soul, for as surely as you open the book you will no longer be your own.”
Placing the book back with shaking hands Chay turned leaving the room, and shut the door firmly behind her.
The Keeper turned to face the Dweller, “The simple one belongs to the High Prince, and He has marked her as His.”
“So be it, but I will have the flower.” The Dweller said as he paced back and forth.
“For the time being.”
The Dweller turned to him, his face contorting in anger, “THE TIME BEING! Oh foolish Keeper of the Way, she is mine, for all time. She is the offering I have awaited, and nothing that you can do shall stop her from being mine forever.” He spat these words out, resuming his pacing.
The Keeper shook his head, face showing no change, calm as the lull of the evening tide. “For the time being.” He said once again then left.
The Dweller stopped; soon he would be free, his bonds broken. He'd long since awaited this, what to him was a mere week or even month more? After all he had patience.
Laying down Amori rolled over facing the wall; the day they had left and all of the days since really had not been like what she had been expecting, or hoping for. Actually ever since she had accepted Ryan's party invitation nothing had been the same. Amori heaved a sigh; at least there hadn't been any more visions or voices. That in itself gave her enough peace of mind to drift into a deep much needed rest.
Sitting up Leora threw the covers back getting out of bed, she started to pace. She was unable to sleep with so many thoughts of the unknown running through her mind.
She knew that until Amori was given over to the Dweller as an offering, that the Second would not be revealed to them, now if ever. Thus making their situation all the harder. Leora took in a fortifying breath then exhaled before kneeling at her bedside. A psalm long since forgotten and yet still there flowed out of her innermost self in the purest of sounds;
“Blessed be thy name Father, giver of the sight beyond. The gift to see what those of the fleshly realms cannot see.”
Leora looks up surprised. Usually she is unable to see beyond twice in one day. As she makes her way, she comes to believe that it is because she is in Eldon, one of the Holy Realms, home to the Priest of the Sacrosanct. Leora sees a path appear before her, she follows it. It leads her along, coming to an end at the Path of Talah; she walks long before she comes to her destination. Leora knocks twice upon the door then waits. Upon its opening it parts like that of water, being split in half. She enters through, greeted by a friendly smile.
“You have come to know of the Second, but I tell you now that the time is not right for them to be revealed.”
Leora sighs, “But at least can you tell me when?”
“Daughter of Light you must let what is told come into being, for what is now is set in place, and it is that in which you must focus on.”
“Still, would it not be better, yet still easier if I were to know, if I were to have more insight into the Prophecy of Old?”
A deep laugh sounds, “Child it would change naught save you, to know all the meanings of what has been written.” Serious is the voice before her now, “You must rest while you can. For this is what I shall say, you must bring the First to Addar. For the time has come, the time in which all that has been written shall manifest itself. So do not worry nor allow fear to enter in your heart, for the outcome has since been predetermined, and though evil believes it has victory in this moment, when the shadows rule in the dark. When morning comes again, the truth shall have the final say.”
Leora nods, comforted by the words spoken she then stands to leave; but turns as a gentle hand is placed on her shoulder, “Rest here for the night; you will eat with me in the coming morn.” She nods once again as she takes a seat once more in the presence of the Keeper.