I didn’t dream that one night I’d stayed at Zayanya’s, probably due to the magical nature of the place, and as a result, my dreams on the way to the Cave of Dreams were minimal. But two nights after we started back, they started again, worse than before. I was starting to feel better, less sore and less as if I’d rolled down a rocky slope. We didn’t have to stop as early from me being tired. I drifted off into sleep in the midst of wolves.
I was back in the cave, the fog and clouds thick as soup, standing by the rock pedestal. The fear inside me grew until it was overwhelming. I heard a noise from behind and turned to see my father charging out of the mists at me with a sword drawn. Too terrified to even move, all I could do was watch as his sword pierced my heart.
Flash
I was home again, standing at The Tree. Mist was gently creeping through the trees. I heard voices, shouting and yelling, and remembered, horrified. I sprinted for the house, reaching the edge of the tree line and yelling for Liam and Riona. Halfway there, it burst into flame, and I could hear them screaming inside. I dropped to my knees, crying, feeling as if something had broken inside. I hadn’t been able to save them... All of a sudden I felt a hand on my head, and then a sharp pain. I turned and saw the bounty hunter, holding my ear in his hand and laughing maniacally. A hand to my head came away covered in blood and I began to feel light headed...
Flash
I was back in Ashabenford, in the alley behind the scribe shop. I heard a noise behind me and jumped, shaking. The next thing I knew, there was a dagger at my throat and an arm around my shoulders. The man who was holding me was saying something, but I couldn’t hear it, could only hear the sound of my own scared breathing. He slowly turned me around until I could see his two friends. They were talking soundlessly, and I could see them laugh. All of sudden I was thrown to the side, into the alley wall. I felt a crack and a pain in my side. Looking down, I could see a rib sticking out through my diaphragm, and touched a shaking hand to it in disbelief. In shock, I didn’t even see the dagger that took me in the throat.
Flash
A black horse appears out of nowhere in the middle of the grove we’re staying at. He has flaming hooves, mane, and tail, and the breathe coming out of his nostrils is steaming hot with little tongues of flame. He’s rearing on top of the wolves, stamping them to death under his hooves. I scream at him in fury, waving my arms and rushing in, hoping to scare him away. He turns on me with intelligent eyes, and rears above me to dash in my body the same way.
Flash
A drow standing across from me, circling me, with two scimitars in his hand. My staff is glowing purple; we cross weapons once and I explode through my staff, the magic coursing through me so that I have no control over. The drow is thrown across the clearing, laying still as death in a contorted position. I look at him in horror, then turned and ran blindly, not even noticing the cliff edge until I run straight off it. I impact at the bottom of the ravine.
I sat straight up, breathing heavily and crying involuntarily. All the wolves were ringed around me, looking at me worriedly. Nighthunter was sitting at my feet. ‘You were screaming and crying in your sleep; are you alright?’
I hugged him tightly. “I was having nightmares, the worst in a long time.” Stormwatcher brought me a waterskin in his teeth and I took it gratefully and drank deeply.
Nighthunter licked my face. ‘We will guard your dreams better, packsister. Try to go back to sleep.’
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think I can sleep now. If you guys don’t need the rest let’s just keep moving.” It didn’t take us, or rather me, long to gather my blanket, so we started once again back to Zayanya’s to give her the stone.
- - - - - - - - - -
Two days travel away, the kemenia looked up from his watch and cocked his head as if listening to something far away. He looked startled for a second, feeling the unbalance on the surface, then melded into the earth and disappeared.
- - - - - - - - - -
Night had fallen, and the wolves were looking at their dreaming packsister in dismay. Shadow was screaming, both in pain and rage, and tears were running down her face. The noise echoed through the forest for miles. The wolves started to back away slowly as her screams turned to growls. Her lower jaw and nose thrust forward and lengthened into a snout, and teeth grew and sharpened to fit. Bones crunched as her knee joints reversed themselves. Arms and legs shortened until they were the same length, and her spine lengthened into a tail. Hands and feet melded into paws and grew long claws. Muscles developed where they didn’t normally exist, and existing muscles expanded to twice their size with sickening squelches. Her ears slid up her head, and grew slightly longer, and the tips more pointed. White hair grew on her body, while her existing hair shrank into her head until it was the same length as the rest.
When it was over, standing in the middle of the circle of wolves was another wolf, pure white with a pitch black blaze on half of her face, from the tip of her nose to the back of her head. She was almost as tall as Longstride at the shoulder, and stood with all four legs stiff, hackles up, snarling at anyone who dared get close. Nighthunter took a few tentative steps forward. ‘Shadow is that you?’ She lunged at him, catching him with a claw on his side and throwing him several feet away. He got back to his feet slowly.
‘This is not good,’ Stormwatcher commented. ‘She’s tainted, I can smell it. How did this happen?’
‘It must have been in the cave,’ Moonlight replied. ‘The question is what do we do now, none of us can really stand up to her except for Longstride.’ The ground was rumbling under their feet, but nobody noticed. ‘Even he can’t keep her in one place for the entire night. It’s not even the full moon, why did she change?’
The ground between the wolves and Shadow suddenly erupted, a wall of rock rising to surround Shadow, leaving only a small hole at the top. The wolves could see the dome shake as if something had thrown itself against it from the inside, but the rock was as stable as if had been there for eons. A figure detached itself from the rock, forming into a humanoid who seemed to have stone for skin. He bowed to Nighthunter. “I’m sorry, true hunter. I did not know she was injured when she left this cave. I felt her change and came as quickly as I could. My name is Sagais, I am the kemenia in charge of guarding the Cave of Dreams and the stone it contains.”
‘Injured? She was half dead!’ Lightfoot retorted. ‘What does that matter to you?’
“Quite a bit actually, but it’s also a long story, one I’d not rather tell twice. The short version is that it’s my job to protect the other Guardian, as well as the stone, and that includes making sure the affliction the previous Guardian had does not wreak havoc.”
Nighthunter and Stormwatcher were glancing worriedly at the stone dome. Every so often there would be a thump; the dome would shake and the wolves would whine uncomfortably for their packsister. Sagais noticed their actions.
“It’s the best thing I can do for her, for now. If I had let her free, she might have killed one or more of you in her rage. By morning she will have changed back, and then we can begin teaching her how to control it. Because if she doesn’t, some ranger will put run her through with silver for stealing cattle, or killing a family. In fact, she will want to know this as well, so maybe I should wait until tomorrow to tell it. Sleep, hunters, and I will keep watch. I have already rested all that I need for now.” He looked at them until they lay down, although they did not sleep well that night.
- - - - - - - - - -
Morning dawned, and the wolves were already up, pacing nervously. Sagais was nowhere to be found, but the stone dome was still up. Nighthunter was sniffing at the edge of the dome where it met the dirt. ‘How are we going to get her out if Sagais doesn’t come back?’ He wondered out loud.
“You wouldn’t.” Nighthunter looked up to see Sagais striding out of the forest, some herbs in his hand and a bag slung over his shoulder. “It would disintegrate over time, of course, but it is solid rock.” He twitched his hand, and the rock parted at the top and slid back into the ground, leaving no sign that it had ever been there. Shadow was lying on the ground it had covered, unconscious. Nighthunter went over to her, sniffing anxiously to make sure she was alright. She stirred when he licked her cheek, but did not wake. Sagais took his waterskin out of the bag and splashed some on her face.
- - - - - - - - - -
I woke to the splash of ice cold water on my face, and sat up. My whole body ached, and my right shoulder hurt almost as if I’d dislocated it. The pack was gathered around me, looking at me with concern, and the stone man from the cave was there.
“You?! What are you doing here? Nighthunter why do you look so worried?” Nighthunter and the stone man looked at each other, then back at me.
‘Shadow what do you remember of last night?’ Nighthunter asked. I thought a bit before answering, but the whole night was a large black spot in my memory.
“Absolutely nothing. Does it have something to do with the reason my entire body aches? And what happened to you, something clawed you bad on your shoulder!”
Nighthunter sighed, and was about to answer when he was interrupted by the stone man. “That was you. I am Sagais, by the way.”
“Me?! How could I... I would never do that!”
“I’ll explain that, but let’s get you something to eat first, and treat both yours and this true hunter’s wounds. Then I will tell everything.” He helped me to my feet, and I rummaged around in my backpack. Pulling my hand out with the few bandages I had left draped over my fingers, I looked at them and sighed.
“I’m pretty much out of bandages and other healing stuff. I didn’t start out with much of anything except simple bandages, and most of the herbs here are unfamiliar to me. Plus I haven’t exactly been focusing on replenishing supplies, I’m pretty low on everything.” I shook my head, ashamed. “I did everything my parents taught me not to do.”
Sagais emitted a noise that sounded much like rocks grinding together. “We can fix all that. For now, it looks like you’re just badly bruised and sore, that will take care of itself by the time a few nights have passed. Use this for the true hunter’s wound, it will prevent against infection.” He handed me a small jar of a pungent smelling lotion, which I tried to apply to Nighthunter’s shoulder, but he dodged my efforts.
“Nighthunter!” I looked at him sternly. “This will help!”
‘Wolves do not need salves.’ He sat on his haunches a few feet away and simply looked at me, but allowed Lightfoot to lick the wound clean. I glared at him, and touched my pendant.
<I did this to you, at least let me help make it better!> I projected my thoughts to him forcefully. Sagais winced.
“Add that to our list of things to learn, you need to control your thoughts a little better.” I glared at Sagais too, then turned back to Nighthunter, who grudgingly allowed me to smear his wound with some of the salve. That done, I handed the jar back to Sagais and went to rummage in my backpack for food, only to come up with just a couple of rations and some dried meat. I shook my head at the carelessness, and ate what I had left, before turning back to him.
“Now what would you have me do? I’m out of food and bandages, the only thing I have in abundance are weapons. And while I am bruised and sore, I feel stronger than yesterday, but I don’t think I’m strong enough to use them. Not to mention that I have this… thing that turns me into some thing, and I can’t even control it!”
Sagais looked at me for several minutes before making the grinding noise again. I think it was the equivalent to a grunt, or a sigh. “You really are naïve, aren’t you? You have no clue what you are.” He shook his head. “Now? Now you come back to the cave with me so that I can teach you what you need to be taught. On the way, we will remedy your more immediate problems, while I tell you how you came to be a werewolf.” He started off through the forest, leaving me to stare at him in disbelief. He was almost out of sight when I got over my shock and had to run to catch up with him. The wolves had already scattered, lurking in the underbrush and investigating the shadows.
“Werewolf? Are you sure? I mean…” I trailed off, still in shock.
“Yes, I am sure,” Sagais replied. “If I had seen you were injured, I would never have let you leave the cave in the first place.”
“But… how?”
He stopped and turned to look at me, cocking his head to one side. “Let me tell you from the beginning, then you will understand everything.”
“I was created not long after the stone was, set to guard it in the very cave where we were both shaped. The sorcerer that created the stone set magical protections on the cave to deter other mages from using the it. You see, most wizards are so arrogant that they only train themselves to use their magic to defend themselves, neglecting to learn how to fight with a normal weapon. There is magic woven into the cave, magic that senses the fears of the one from outside and brings them to life. More weaves of magic dampen any magic that the outsiderr would use, forcing them to survive without it.
“My master, Del’thero, used the stone he created in his magics, usually to power any magical gates he created. Secluded as he was, rumors about it still traveled, and a few people wanted to take the stone and use it for their own. The first petty thief scared off quite easily by the dream weave. Whatever he saw, it must have truly been frightening, for he ran out as if his pants were on fire. However, the next was not so easy to dissuade. An orc shaman, he came while I was away on an errand. Without me, the Primary Guardian, to protect Del’thero, the shaman overpowered and killed him. I felt his death, and that was when I discovered how to become one with the earth, to travel swifter than any bird could fly to my destination, rising from the earth on the other side. By the time I arrived, Del’thero was dead, and the orc shaman was outraged, but would not tell me why. When I insisted that he leave, we both discovered that he could not. The magical barrier at the entrance to the cave prevented him from leaving, just as it prevented you for a time. At the time, I was so distraught over my master’s death that I didn’t care about the orc. I carried Del’thero’s body deep into the depths of the cave and laid him to rest by a small waterfall, from an underground stream that came to the surface for a time, falling to create a pool of water. There I used my earthen abilities to create for him a tomb, surrounding him with the rock he had loved so much.
“For several days I became my rock form, trying to forget, or maybe hide from the events. After that, I was brought out of my stupor by a pounding on my stone skin. It was the orc, and he was hungry. I guess for you mortals, not eating for several days is a great discomfort. So I grudgingly turned to my humanoid form, and went to get him some food. Once among my master’s possessions, I noticed a rock on his desk, shaped like a cylinder. That shape is a very uncommon one in nature, so my curiosity got the better of me. Once I held it, I knew what it was, and moved the rock to reveal a piece of parchment. It was a letter, for me from Del’thero. It told me what would happen should he die, and that was when I discovered why the orc couldn’t leave.
“The letter told me that there was a curse that Del’thero had set up, so that if he should die an unnatural death, it would be cast upon the killer. The orc was cursed to guard that which he had wanted to steal, until he was killed by another, in which the curse would be passed down to that killer. That is how the first of my fellow guardians came to be. Should the Guardian die a natural death, the next creature to enter the cave would become the Guardian, and the cave’s magic would make them stronger if it was needed. I learned how I could control the magics of the cave, and the magical barrier. Even if a Guardian somehow managed to make it through the barrier, they would feel compelled to return. I left Del’thero’s living area a little heavy of the heart, for I knew that I would be spending a long time with people of questionable nature, who didn’t share my interests or even care.
“Looking back, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, leaving the room that day. The orc, of course, was quite disgruntled, but after a few weeks he came to terms with it. His name was Bigshadow, and he had no family, and few friends. He’d come searching for power, just as all the rest of the Guardians would. Eventually, someone did come along who was more powerful than Bigshadow, and the curse was passed down. So it was for many Guardians. It’s been several hundred years, and I’ve lost count to how many there were over that time. Risaen, though… Ris was different.
“Of all the Guardians there were over that time, Risaen was one of the few that didn’t really care about the stone, who wasn’t there to steal it for power. There were a few Guardians who died a natural death, so the next one was some squirrel, or badger. That was when I figured out how to use the cave’s magics to modify the current Guardian if they needed to be stronger. But Ris stumbled into the cave on the night of the full moon, fully transformed and in a blind rage. Nysim was the current Guardian, a female yuan-ti priestess who had wanted to use the stone to help her people conquer. It was an impressive fight, but Nysim’s poisons and dagger had no immediate effect on the enraged werewolf, and he killed her. When he showed no sign of his rage lessening, I surrounded him with a dome of rock, just like I used for you last night.” Sagais stopped walking abruptly. The wolves had gathered in closer to hear the story, and night had just fallen. “Don’t you need to sleep?”
I shook my head. “Normally, yes, but… after last night, I don’t think I want to sleep right now.”
He raised a stony eyebrow at me. “You have to sleep sometime, but ok. At the pace we’re going, we should make it back to the cave around noon tomorrow.”
“As long as you keep telling your tale, we’ll keep walking,” I said, somewhat jokingly, but looking forward to the rest of it.
He chuckled. “Very well. Risaen spent most of the night throwing himself against the stone, but towards dawn, all was quite. When the sun rose, I let the dome down to see what kind of creature his humanoid form was, and discovered a golden haired, golden skinned elf. In the few hours that it took him to wake up, I buried Nysim outside like she had requested. When he did wake, it was with pain and confusion. He had no memory of the night before, and it upset him. We exchanged names, and I explained to him what had happened. He made me swear not to let him out during the week of the full moon, but aside from that accepted the responsibility of the curse without a complaint. We became fast friends, and he was better company than any other Guardian I had ever had. Together we learned about his lycanthropy, how to control it and subdue it when needed. He made me promise that if someone should come that could defeat him, and in the fight he bit them, I would teach them everything we had learned. Which brings me to my obligation to you, Alyssa. I was foolish to let you leave, foolish to think that you could have defeated Ris and be uninjured. I felt the disturbance you made in nature when you transformed, and that is why I came after you. Even if you are not the current Guardian, it would be foolish to leave your lycanthropy uncontrolled. So you will stay with me until you have sufficiently learned to control it, then you may continue your quest.”
We walked in silence for a time before I worked up the courage to ask him something. “Why me?”
“Hmm?”
“Why did you let me, of all people, have the stone? Isn’t it supposed to be guarded?”
He smiled. “Because of your reason for it. You came because Zayanya sent you, not because you needed it for overpowering others. Besides, Zayanya is very renowned in the realms, a great power for the gods. She is an honorable woman, one of the most honorable I have ever seen among the humans. We’ve known each other for a decade or so, and I know that if she needs to use it, she will give it back when she is done. On the other hand, now that I need to teach you things, maybe I will teach you how to give it back.”
I smiled. “You make me feel special, thanks. This means I’m a werewolf… “
“As opposed to a was wolf?” Sagais interrupted, laughing at my expression. I looked at him for a minute before bursting out in laughter. “Sorry I couldn’t resist, please continue.”
I rolled my eyes. “I guess you’d better start telling me what you’ve learned with Risaen.”
He was still chuckling. “Ok, werewolves. The lycanthropic virus is usually contracted through a bite. If you had gotten away with just the clawmarks on your stomach, you would most likely have been fine. But it was the night of the full moon, and Ris lost control. He transformed during the fight and bit you. There’s three phases to the full moon, and each one usually causes the change. That night you were at the cave was the last phase, or you would have seen it for yourself sooner. Extreme negative emotions can have the same effect: hatred, anger, fear, and the like. I’m still puzzling over why you transformed last night… nightmares?” I nodded. “Ah, that explains it.”
“So this is going to happen every night? Because I have nightmares almost every night.”
Sagais shook his head. “Not if I can help it. There are ways to control it, and I mean to teach you everything Ris and I found out. But first there is one thing you should watch out for: any were creature’s greatest weakness is silver. Touching pure silver will cause you discomfort, and ingesting it will kill you, as well as being hit in a vital organ with a silver object.”
“Well I guess it’s good that I don’t have anything silver with me.” I had a sudden thought. “Oh no…”
“Hmm?” Sagais stopped at looked at me.
“Oh gods. My circlet is mithril, is that bad? And my pendant… I don’t know whether that’s silver or not.” I slid my backpack onto one shoulder and started digging in it for the two. My circlet wasn’t hard to find, so I looked at Sagais before putting it on. He shrugged at me. I finally found my pendant in the bottom of the bag, pulling it out by the chain. It was a quartz crystal, wrapped with a silvery wire. When I wrapped my hand around it, purple fire started to seep out through my fingers. Startled, I let go, and they disappeared with a few lingering flames dancing on my fingertips. Once I was no longer focused on the pendant, I realized my head was itching badly where the circlet was, and my head was starting to heat up. “Oh Gods!” I yelped, reaching up to take it off, but once it was in my hand, it itched there as well. I quickly let it fall to the ground. Sagais stooped to pick it up, and I handed him the pendant as well.
“This one is wrapped in silver,” he said, indicating the pendant. “I’ll fix it for you so that the silver won’t be next to your skin.”
“Stormwatcher said the circlet was mithril, he could smell it. Magic scent runs in his family.”
“Well he was partly right.” Sagais held the circlet up close to his face, as if he were smelling it, or sensing it in some way. After several minutes, he opened his eyes, putting both circlet and pendant in a belt pouch. “The circlet is a core of steel, plated in mithril. You say your father bought it for you?” I nodded. “Then he was probably charged as if it were full mithril, or part silver and part mithril. Either way, he was overcharged. But the magic on it is fairly powerful, especially since it is attuned to only work for you. It might have some other abilities besides the appearance one, but I would have to take longer to study it.”
“Ok… I guess you may as well keep them. I can’t exactly use them anyways.”
Sagais winked at me. “Oh, there are ways I can fix that, just you wait!” We traveled in silence for a time, except for the rustling of the underbrush as we walked. Finally, Sagais spoke. “Tell me about yourself. Why did you come here?”
I looked at the ground, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. “I guess because I didn’t have anywhere else to go, I didn’t know what else to do…” I trailed off into a long silence.
“No worries. You will tell me when you feel ready.” He smiled at me, then indicated the mouth of the cave we had finally arrived at. I sighed and went into the tunnel, with Sagais and the wolves following behind.
The walk into the cave seemed much shorter than before, and I mentioned as much. Sagais chuckled. “Part of the Cave’s magic. You only saw part of it as well, here, look at this.” He led me over to what looked like a niche in the wall. It turned out to be a doorway, opening into a small library. The library had special, curved bookshelves around the entire wall, and each was filled to the brim with books. When Sagais saw my wide-eyed stare, he chuckled. “What can I say? I like to read, and I’ve got lots of spare time. Besides, Del’thero thirsted for knowledge, so he collected all the books he could.”
“Have you read them all?”
“Most of them. It’s always nice when I come across a new one. Would you like to see the rest of the rooms?” I nodded.
He took me through all of the rooms, each one astounding in its own way. It was a comfortable, yet practical home built out of a cave network. Some of the rooms had obviously been sculpted. Even their arrangement spoke of as being modified; they were arranged in a semicircle on the outside of the central circular room that held the Stone of Power. The kitchen and the meadow were on the outsides, with the bedroom and library sandwiched in the middle.
The bedroom was larger than the library right next door. There was a bed at one end, with the head against the wall. On one side of the bed there was a nightstand, which seemed to be melded with the stone wall. The room was decorated with rugs, blankets, and pillows, all as soft as rabbit hair. While it was nothing like the room I used to have, somehow it still felt welcoming.
My favorite was the meadow, which was this huge cavern on the other side of the kitchen. It was a stone cavern, of course, but there was a large hole in the top that allowed the sun to shine in during the middle hours of the day. Off towards the wall, away from the hole to protect it from weather was a small barn. The entire place had me in awe, but the barn made me ache with longing for a home long gone. Sagais kept animals: chickens, a few black goats, two sheep and a ram. I almost tripped over a rabbit in the high grass as well, only then noticing the hutches along another curving wall.
After I’d seen them all, Sagais and I ended up back in the central room, where the Stone of Power usually sat on its pedestal. The wolves were all in a pile on one side, in various stages of sleepiness. Sagais looked from them to me, nodding off as I stood still for too long. He chuckled. “You need to sleep. Come, the bedroom isn’t being used by anybody, it’s yours for the taking now.”
“But… if I sleep, I will dream, and the nightmares will make me into a werewolf…” Much as I wanted to sleep, I wanted to not turn into that more. But Sagais shook his head, taking me by the hand and leading me to the bedroom.
“There are ways of suppressing the Change for one nights sleep.” He held out a dark bottle full of liquid. “Drink this. It may not keep you from dreaming, but it will keep the werewolf from coming out.” I looked at him for a moment, then hesitantly took the bottle and uncapped it. Sagais nodded at me to drink it, and so I upended the bottle before I could change my mind. The initial taste was semi-sweet, but then the aftertaste hit, so bitter and vile that it felt like I had swallowed soap. I made a face before handing the empty bottle back to Sagais. He motioned to the bed, and I reluctantly sank into the soft mattress and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
the Stone of Sages