At the place on the map where Zayanya had shown us that the stone was, there was a cave. It had taken us the better part of a week to get there, through heavy forests, and, closer, rocky, hilly terrain. A dark and somewhat foreboding place, the mouth of the cave was twice my height and just as wide, and led deep into the hillside. I couldn’t see more than a few feet into the entrance. After steeling myself for face the unknown inside, I took several steps into the cave. A yip of pain brought me to a halt, and I turned to see all the wolves still outside the entrance to the cave.
“Aren’t you guys coming?”
‘We can’t, watch.’ Twilight walked forward, and as she got to the entrance, it was like she walked into an invisible wall. ‘This is something you’ll have to do by yourself Shadow, we can’t come.’
I walked back to the entrance, put my hand out and sure enough, there was a wall of force. I couldn’t leave, and my wolves couldn’t come in either. Reluctantly, I turned towards the inside of the cave, towards uncertainty.
‘Shadow.” It was Nighthunter. ‘Look at me.’ I turned back to him, crouching down so I was on his level, looking deep into his eyes. ‘You can do this Shadow. You’re as strong as your parents, as one of us. Have faith in yourself. We’ll be fine, we can take care of ourselves.’ I nodded, too nervous and worried to actually speak, before turning and making my way into the cave.
- - - - - - - - - -
Three feet into the cave I could no longer see my hand in front of my face, so I lit a witchlight. The small ball of lavender-tinted light was one of the first things I’d learned to conjure when I was smaller. The tunnel-like cave was unlike any I’d ever seen... but then again, I hadn’t seen many. It was straight, and tapered to be just above my height and width, without any branches or side tunnels. Just a tunnel leading into the depths of the mountain. There wasn’t even any kind of wildlife inside. The deeper I headed into the cave, the more nervous I got.
I didn’t have the best sense of time, but it felt like I walked the rest of the morning and more. I stopped once to eat and drink, and when I did realized that what I was eating now was the last of my food.
“Oh well, Shadow. You’ll just have to do this quick so you don’t starve to death.” I talked to myself as I walked; it kept things from getting boring, and took my mind off the fact that I was very alone.
After it seemed like I had been walking forever, I thought I saw something. Putting out the witchlight, I realized that the cave ahead was getting lighter, as if there was an exit to the day outside. The closer I got, the lighter it got, until finally the tunnel opened up into a huge cavern, the size of a small town. In the middle of the room was a rock pedestal, upon which was a rock, the size of a man’s fist, and deep blue. It glowed, and all around it the cavern glowed as well. The light reflected off the cavern walls and floor. The clouds as well glowed, and shifted in the light, seeming to be alive. I took a step into the room and realized that I could hear voices, talking and yelling, whispers... almost as if there really was a town here, but no people, only their voices. I took two more steps into the room, and the cloud nearby seemed to move towards me, winding itself around my hair and hands. As I moved my hands, it broke through the cloud, only to slowly reform itself in a different formation.
I took a deep breath. There were no wolves to support me, nobody to tell me to have faith in myself now. “Shadow, you’re not getting any older. Best get it over with so you can keep going. All you have to do is walk up to it and take it.” So, steeling myself, I walked forward, towards the rock pedestal in the middle of the floor.
It seemed to take an eternity. Halfway to the pedestal, I paused, noticing that the glowing clouds seemed to be moving faster, and glowing a little bit brighter. The voices were getting louder as well. I shook my head and muttered to myself as I moved closer, “Shadow, you must be imagining things!”
I finally reached the pedestal. This close, I could see that the deep blue stone had milky white shadows moving in its depths. On its surface was a rune, etched deep into the rock. I reached out my hand to take it.
“Alyssa?”
I whirled around, the stone forgotten. “Mother?”
“Alyssa is that you?”
“Mother I’m right here!” All I could see what formless shapes moving through the steadily thickening fog. “Mother where are you?”
“Alyssa?” This time it was my father Liam, calling my name through the mists.
“Mother? Father? Where are you? Why can’t I see you?”
“Alyssa I’m here...” A shape appeared out of the mist, my druidic mother. I could feel the tears running down my face.
“But... you died! I watched them kill you!” By now I could see my father, standing beside her, his arm around her waist.
“Oh Alyssa, this is just a dream. When you wake up we’ll be gone.” Mother both looked and sounded sad.
“But I don’t want you to go! I don’t want to wake up!”
“Alyssa,” this time it was Father. “Alyssa, you have a life to live, journeys to take. You’re only halfway there, if you don’t wake up you’ll never reach your destination.”
“But..!” The voices from the mist grew louder, and Mother and Father looked around worriedly.
“We have to go, child. They’re getting closer; we mustn’t let them find us here.” Both Liam and Riona were looking worried now, peering in shadows.
“Who? What are you talking about?”
“The bounty hunters dear, you remember them.”
“They’re not here!”
Riona moved closer to me, as if to caress my face, but her hand went right through me. “But they’re in your dreams, and these are your dreams.”
This startled me. “What?!”
“Goodbye, daughter. May the gods bless you.” With that, they faded into the mist. I looked around wildly, seeing shapes everywhere, hearing voices from every direction.
“Alyssa... Come here, pretty elf.” This was followed by a snicker, and I recognized one of the men from the alley. I turned and ran, dropping my quarterstaff, oblivious to my surroundings and unable to control my tears. From every direction I was faced with another memory from the mist: my home on fire, the men from the alley I killed, a bounty hunter ever pursuing me, trying to cut off my ears. Soon, I could bear no more.
“STOP!” I screamed at the shapeless figures in the depths of the mists.
“Alyssa...” The voice of my father again, behind me. It was different than before, a little more harsh, a tad lower.
“Father? Father why won’t they go away?” I ran to him, crying, not even noticing the sword in his hand until he tried to stab me. I stopped abruptly. “Father, what are you doing?” He kept moving forward, not answering me, circling me like them men from the alley did. I took a step towards him. “Father? What’s wrong with you? It’s me, Alyssa.”
He took a step towards me as well, quick as lightning, and just as quickly threw his hand forward. I felt my abdomen erupt in fire, so painful that I fell to my knees. I put my hand to my stomach, looking down at it, and it came away red with blood. My blood. I looked back up at my father to see the sword on its way down again. I threw myself out of its path just in time. Instead of taking my head off as intended, it deeply scored my shoulder and neck. I could feel the anger and shock in the back of my mind, and focused my magic, putting my hand out to catch the quarterstaff as it flew towards me. I used it to push myself off the floor, staggering a little as I got to my feet. Liam was still circling me, like a vulture. The time for words was past: this was a fight only one of us would come out of, even though I couldn’t understand why my father was attacking me.
The two of us circled each other carefully, him watching me warily, me a little hunched over my stomach. He was quick, moving in to strike at me with his sword. I blocked the sword with my quarterstaff, but I missed his other hand swiping across like a claw, leaving behind three more cuts on my stomach in the shape of a claw mark. I could feel my control slipping; I needed to finish this fast, or I was going to be the one who was finished. He moved in for another stroke, and I countered, and then drove the butt of my staff into his stomach. He dropped the sword and doubled over, lining his head up for another nice whack, which made him fall flat on his face. I was breathing hard and leaning heavily on my quarterstaff. “Come on Shadow, you can do this... he’s not your father.” Spending a moment on gathering my wits, it allowed the man who looked like my father to roll over and grab my feet, yanking them out from under me. I landed flat on my back, with the wind knocked out of me, seeing spots. When they cleared I saw him swinging at me again, a downward slash that gave me barely enough time to roll onto my stomach and protect my face. I felt it strike my back, but the pain was a drop of water in a puddle.
I knew that I had to get to my feet soon; otherwise the next strike would be my head. I rolled over and looked up at him, only to see him coming towards me and landing heavily on my chest. Claw-like fingernails and toenails latched on to my shoulders and hips, and I just barely got my arm up to protect my face in time. The jaws that had been meant to latch on to my throat locked themselves around my forearm instead, biting deep into the muscles. I could feel myself starting to lose consciousness, and desperately gathered my power, and tried to throw a small energy ball, only to have it fizzle out in sparks on the end of my fingertips. However, it did distract him to glance at the sparks, so I jabbed him in the eyes and knocked him away, giving me time to pull myself up and catch my breath. Once again, I used the quarterstaff to get to my feet, letting the man circle me while I racked my brains for the best way to get out of this smoothly. He seemed content to simply circle and watch, so, leaning on the quarterstaff, I pulled out one of my stars and threw it at him. He easily deflected it, laughing.
“Oh, so it’s like that, huh? Well fine, be that way then!” Talking gave him opportunities, but it also kept me focused, and sane. He thrust at me, and I blocked him once more, much slower than the last time. I tried thrusting at his abdomen again, but he blocked it, so I whipped up the end of my quarterstaff and hit him hard underneath the jawbone. He staggered, and fell onto one knee, and I yanked three of my daggers out and threw them, one after the other. I saw him jerk as my vision funneled down into a speck. I barely felt myself collapse into a heap on the floor.
- - - - - - - - - -
I woke up slowly, my eyelids creaking open as if I were a hundred years old. Almost every part of my body hurt, each nerve ending felt like it was on fire. I couldn’t remember why at first, and then everything came back to me. I jerked up and immediately wished I hadn’t: it hurt. I looked around and saw a body a few feet away. Crawling over to it, I saw that, while it was humanoid, it was not my father. It was a surface elf, golden skinned and fair haired, barely hanging on to life with his fingernails. My three daggers were lodged in his shoulder, below his breastbone, and on the opposite side from his heart. None of them were killing blows, but there was an impressive amount of blood on the ground. He moved his lips, trying to say something, so I moved a little closer.
“Thank... you...” he whispered.
I started to cry again. “You were my father... why did you attack me?” Amazingly, my pack had stayed on my back the entire time, so I reached in and got a bandage. I carefully pulled out the dagger in his stomach and pressed the bandage to it, then placed my hand over it to try and heal him. He knocked my hand weakly away.
“No. Let... me... go... and... I’m sorry...”
“Me too.” I looked at him. He smiled faintly, and died.
I couldn’t bear to look at him longer than a few moments before turning away. I bandaged those of my wounds that I could reach, but even doing that exhausted me, so after drinking some water, I collapsed back into sleep again.
- - - - - - - - - -
This time, when I woke, it wasn’t without hurt, but I felt more like myself. Spying my quarterstaff on the ground not far away, I reached out and grabbed it, using it to lever myself off the ground again.
Once I stood up, I could see that the room and regained its appearance from before I stepped into the room. I could still see the rock pedestal in the middle of the room: the elf and I had ended up all the way to the end of the cavern, on the opposite side of the room from the tunnel entrance. I groaned. Getting all the way across the room wouldn’t be easy in the shape I was in. Hell, getting all the back out the tunnel would be slow moving, with the shape I was in.
“Ok Shadow, let’s try this one more time and hope no other fathers jump out of the mist, because I can’t handle it again.” I slowly made my way to the center of the room again, leaning heavily on my quarterstaff. Sure enough, as soon as I got close, the mist grew stronger and the clouds shifted more. I could hear things or people calling my name, but this time I ignored them. I moved gradually up close to the stone pedestal and the blue stone, ignoring everything else, even when it sounded like my parents. I saw the milky swirls inside the stone, the rune etched into it... and then I reached out my hand and picked it up.
The effect on the room was immediate. The swirling, glowing mist died down, and I didn’t hear my nightmares in it. The room again looked like it had before I set foot in it. I wrapped the stone in a cloth and put it in my pack, then started making my way towards the tunnel entrance. As I stepped into the tunnel, however, the cave shook. I stumbled, putting my other hand against the cave wall to catch myself.
“WHO DARES TO STEAL THE STONE OF SAGES?” A great voice asked. As I watched, the rock pedestal unfolded into a humanoid who seemed to have stone for skin. As I stared, speechless, he peered closer at me. “A drow? Don’t see your kind on the surface world long enough to steal the Stone; it’s useless to them. What do you want here?”
I shook my head to clear it. “I didn’t come to steal it, I just need to use it. I’ll make sure it comes back if you like?”
The being chuckled. “Even more unlike your brethren than I thought. Still. What makes you think you are worthy to use the Stone?”
“I’m not going to be using it, I was just required to get it for the mage who is going to use it. I don’t think I’d know how to use it.”
This made him roar with laughter. “And who, young drow, would be the mage using this stone and why send you instead of getting it himself?”
This made me stammer a bit. “Umm... well sir, her name is Zayanya, and she sent me to get it because she’s going to use it to Gate me across the desert. I guess she didn’t get it herself because... well, she’s rather elderly.”
“Oh ho! Zayanya, eh? I know her, she’s a worthy sage. Well then, I suppose I could let you have the Stone for a short while. However, there is one condition.”
“What?”
He drew closer to me, stooping a little to peer close. “You have defeated the other guardian of this stone. For you to take the Stone, you must leave behind one of your family as a replacement. You will go to the entrance of the cave where they wait, if you wish to allow them to choose between themselves who shall stay. One wolf will be allowed to walk through the shield, and when one has, only then will I allow you to leave this cave with the stone. Do we understand each other?” I swallowed nervously, and nodded. “Then go.” And as I watched, he walked to the middle of the room. I remembered something at the last minute.
“Wait!”
He turned and raised one eyebrow at me in question.
“What about him?” I pointed at the dead elf on the other side of the room. He looked at it once, then turned and looked at me again.
“I see. He will be taken care of, you needn’t concern yourself about it. I will notify his family that he has passed, and they will come to take him home.”
“Uhh... could you not tell them a drow killed him? And why was he here?”
He smiled at me. “Oh, don’t worry child. They would be glad no matter how he passed, it was his time many moons ago. As for why he was here? Well, he didn’t come for the Stone, and once in wished for me to keep him here with the shield until he died.” He refolded himself into the rock pedestal, leaving me to puzzle over the elf while I did my best to make my way to the cave entrance.
- - - - - - - - - -
It seemed like it took me days to make it to the cave entrance. I had to stop frequently to rest and change my bandages, for the constant movement kept reopening the wounds. I traveled by my witchlight: when I was too weak to keep it lit, I stopped and slept.
I didn’t see the entrance to the tunnel until I ran into it. It was dark, I wasn’t paying attention. By the time I saw the edge of the cave, it was too late to stop myself from smacking into the shield. I slid down it, using it as a support. There was one wolf on guard, who yipped when I ran into the wall. It was Stormwatcher, extremely worried. He started to come forward, but I stopped him.
“Stormwatcher, don’t let any wolf enter this cave. Understand?”
‘Yes,’ He replied. My worry alleviated for now, I went to sleep, exhausted.
- - - - - - - - - -
I woke again in daylight, to wolf barks. All the wolves were gathered outside watching me. I blinked at them, my mind hazy from pain and sleep.
“We have a small problem.”
‘You are lying there half dead, I wouldn’t necessarily call that small,’ Nighthunter said. ‘We were worried.’
“That’s not the problem. The problem is this.” I reached over and pulled the Stone of Sages out of my pack and uncovered it. “It was guarded. I can only leave with it if I leave one of you behind. That’s why I told Stormwatcher not to let any wolves enter the shield, because that would be the one staying behind.”
The wolves looked around at each other, then back at me. “I don’t want to ask one of you to stay here for me; we can just walk around the desert. I can just put the stone back. I hope.”
‘We all know that it would take many moons to walk around the desert, Shadow. Besides, you’ve been in there three days without food, and we can’t get any to you while the shield is in the way.’ Nighthunter was right; I didn’t think I could make it to the cavern and back, again.
We all sat and thought for a while. Finally, Nod stepped forward. ‘I will stay. I have no mate or pups that need me, and unlike Lightfoot and Nighthunter I am not the pack alpha.’
‘Are you sure?’ Nightsong was Nod’s mother. Nod nodded, and walked forward through the shield. She nuzzled me once.
‘Goodbye Shadow. And may the All-Mother watch over you on your journey.’ With that, she turned and walked into the tunnel, disappearing quickly into the darkness. I reached for my pendant, and reached out my thoughts.
<Thank you Nod.> I felt her half smile before I broke the connection. I heard a rumble from the inside of the cave, and the mouth of the tunnel flashed once. I slowly pulled myself to my feet and, putting my hand out, encountered no wall. I walked outside to a nearby tree and sat down with my back against it, leaning my head back to rest on the trunk and closing my eyes. I could feel the tears at the corners of my eyes, and as they rolled down my cheek a raspy tongue licked it. I opened my eyes to see Nighthunter there.
‘She’ll be fine, she’s a wolf. A wolf raised with druids.’
“I know, but it still feels like I’m leaving a family member behind... it just doesn’t feel right.”
He bumped his head under my chin, almost knocking me over before I caught myself on one hand. This made him furrow his brows, the wolf version of a frown. ‘Where are you hurt, packsister?’
“Nighthunter, I hurt all over.”
He chuckled. ‘Shadow I asked where you were hurt, not what hurt! Let us look.’ He gently pushed me until I was lying down on my back, revealing the tears in my shirt where the elf had cut me. ‘What happened in there?’
“It was a cave of my dreams... there was an elf that attacked me. I thought he was Father.”
Nighthunter pushed my shirt up with his nose, and he and Lightfoot carefully used their sharp teeth to snip bloodstained bandages. Removing them was a little more difficult; the bandages had stuck to the wounds.
‘Ready for this, packsister?’ Nighthunter didn’t really give me a chance to answer before he ripped off a bandage. My stomach erupted in fiery pain almost as bad as the original wound. I let out an involuntary cry and curled up into a ball around my stomach. After a few moments, the pain subsided and I relaxed, but didn’t roll back onto my back. Soon I felt a cold nose on my cheek. ‘You have to let us treat those Shadow, they might become sour otherwise.’ I shook my head.
“Nighthunter, I’m so tired... I’m tired of hurting, tired of fighting...” I saw Stormwatcher walk up to me, put his nose on my shoulder, and push. I rolled away from the pain, onto my back again.
Stormwatcher followed me, took two steps forward, and lay down with his head on my good shoulder to whisper in my ear, ‘Sleep, Alyssa Wolfchild. Sleep and heal.’ Reassured, I let his voice carry me off into a dreamless sleep.
- - - - - - - - - -
When I woke, it was daylight, and I was absolutely ravenous. I sat up and looked around, noticing as I did that my wounds had been cleansed and were no longer as painful as before, just a dull ache. Stormwatcher was the only wolf around, I guess that Solstice and Equinox were getting to be the age that they could go on hunts. Stormwatcher moved towards me when he noticed I was up, bringing my pack with him.
“Stormwatcher I’m starved. Did you guys save anything from a hunt? I don’t have any food left in my pack.”
‘Yes. But we can’t cook, you’ll have to do that yourself.’ He carried a large chunk of meat to me and laid it in my lap. I sighed and looked down at it.
“I suppose I could cheat, just this once, couldn’t I?” Placing my hands on the meat, I closed my eyes, gathered my magic and focused my thoughts: heat, but not fire. Cooking meat until it was done, but not burnt. The smell of cooked meat soon wafted through the air, and when I opened my eyes, the meat was cooked as if I’d done it over a real fire. I smiled, pleased, then proceeded to devour it like I hadn’t eaten for a week. “How long did I sleep, Stormwatcher?” He was lying beside me, and I would occasionally feed him a tidbit of meat.
‘After Nod went into the cave and we started inspecting your wounds? You slept for an entire day, and you were in the cave for three. We could only do so much for you, you may want to wash yourself up, there is a stream nearby.’ I looked down and really saw myself for the first time since going in the cave. My clothes were covered in blood, mostly mine but some of it that of the dead elf, and my shirt was in tatters from the fight.
“A wash sounds like a good idea, lead me to this stream.” I grabbed a change of clothes from my pack, and my quarterstaff to lean on, and followed Stormwatcher into the woods a short ways, where we came upon a large stream. I waded in, clothes and all, being cautious of my tender wounds, and carefully washed myself off. Once I was clean and the grime was out of my hair, I felt much better. I washed my clothes out as well, so that maybe sometime I could stitch up the holes. Until then, they were really only good as rags. The wolves came back from hunting shortly after I finished. We waited for a few hours, long enough for my wet clothes to dry, before we started the slow journey back to Zayanya’s.
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