The Elderine Stone (6 page)

It was very typical Jason thought that as soon as he had found something that he might enjoy spending a reasonable amount of shopping time studying they had to leave. Rather than argue to stay longer, he agreed to leave. “Yeah, I am feeling a bit tired,” truthfully he had put little effort into trying to hide his relief that they were finally leaving the shop - and empty handed at that. All that time and she didn’t even buy a thing. “
Women!”
he thought, with feeling. Tommy the Milkman would’ve been proud.

It didn’t seem to take as long walking back to their quarters. Jason was finding it hard to believe that he managed to spend the majority of the day walking around this town and only going to a few shops. By the time they arrived, Jason was truly feeling tired and couldn’t wait to reach his bed.

As they entered the room Jason was gratified to see that someone had brought all his new belongings from the room he had stayed in the night before to this double one that he could share with Emily. Sleepily they both went to wash and change.

“I think we’d better get some sleep. It’s getting late, and the grimbats are out.” Emily said, as she proceeded to get into the bed.

“
Uh,
grimbats
?” Jason asked. But it was too late for any response. Emily had already managed to fall into a deep sleep. Jason pulled back the cover of the bed he was sitting on and got in. Surrendering to sleep and dreams sooner than he would’ve thought possible. They both lay there sleeping, as the night hours passed.

“
You know who he is… You know who I am. He will come to me…”

The soft, ghostly woman’s voice carried on the air startled Emily into
wakefulness. As quietly as she could, she eased herself into a sitting position and looked around to see if there was any movement. The room was silent, and still. Emily let out a relieved sigh – it wouldn’t be the first time she had had vividly realistic dreams. She looked over at Jason and saw that he was still sound asleep, and started to wriggle back down under the covers.

“He shall come… it has been foreseen…”

Emily
definitely
heard it that. Her eyes wide, she carefully lifted the cover of her bed, just in case there was something, some creature, about. She stretched out her arm, and poked Jason a few times in his shoulder. He didn’t move.

“Jason, wake up… Did you hear that?” Emily whispered.

Jason started to shift in his bed. She increased the pressure of the pokes and soon he was somewhat awake. She whispered again,

“Jason, did you hear that voice?”

“What voice?” Jason grumbled his weary reply, rubbing at his arm crossly, “What time is it anyway?”

Then on a breeze of soft wind, the voice spoke again.

“
He shall come, for it is meant to be. He shall come to me.”

With that, Jason jumped out of his bed in fright.

“
W-w-what was that?
Who
was that?”

“
I don’t know,” Emily replied, ‘but I think
she
, or whatever it was, was referring to you.”

Jason looked at Emily with a confusion etched upon his face.

“
None of this is real,” he said, as much to himself as to Emily. “It can’t be happening to me. I wish I had never placed that
stupid
stone on that
stupid
pedestal.”

Emily’s mouth dropped.

“
What
? It must be...yes…” She looked up at Jason, a mixture of triumph and worry in her voice. “I know what my grandpa was talking about now. You! The Elderine Stone! You entered the portal, didn’t you?”

“
Well I guess I did… I think,” Jason replied, “but what does that
mean?
And what is this Elderine stone?”

Emily looked at him, then down at the earth floor. Slowly, she lifted her head and looked straight into Jason’s eyes. He could see sadness and fear in her eyes. She began to tell Jason the story of the Elderine Stone.

“Long ago, a dark creature lived on these lands. It was a creature with a blackened heart which would never know joy. It destroyed everything. There was no happiness, no hope, no respite from its cruelty, until a group came forth known only as the Order of the Elderine. They travelled to the lands in the north where the lord of Darkness had defeated Lady Averin. He had stolen her lands, her temple and her magical powers. A small group, all that remained of the Elderine Order, marched north back towards their old home to fight the demon. They destroyed thousands of his minions as they went. Only three made it to his chamber, one of the Averinite guards, a priestess and a stone master. With their last effort they captured him and held him within a prison. A prison of made of crystal - The Elderine Stone. The land knew peace for many years, and the Order of the Elderine passed into time and legend. The stone was placed on an altar hidden to all men. Then one day a woman arrived. The king’s hunting party reported her stating they had seen a strange woman near the northern side of the Elderine Forest at the river, but she just seemed to vanish, and was never found. Within a few months strange beasts started to appear across the lands, beginning in the north. That was a number of years ago. Since that time, things have become worse. And now, with your arrival, the prophecies are coming true.”

A tear dropped from Emily’s eye as she lowered her head. Jason was going to ask her what these prophecies were, but in his heart he knew. He knew from what he had seen and heard today that Lord Elindril and others believed that he was the one from the prophecies, the one who would fight the evil in the north. Jason moved over to Emily and put his arm around her. She raised her head and said in a quiet voice,

“You know… There will be a lot of people who will try and stop you. My Grandfather is one. He thinks that only a powerful warrior of our lands who is a descendant of the Order of the Elderine can destroy the evil. He won’t let you go.”

“What do you mean, ‘he won’t let me go’?” Jason replied.

“You have to get away from here before it’s too late!”

She pushed back from him, and stared earnestly into his eyes.

“You can stop her, I know you can. And… I-I-I’ll come with you, if that’s ok with you?”

Jason looked at her blankly. He was thinking very hard. This had all been too much for him.

“
Ok, Emily. You’re probably right. If there are people who will try and stop me I think it’s best that we get out of here, and you’d better believe that you are coming with me, ‘cause I have
no
idea what’s out there.”

Emily smiled warmly and jumped to her feet. She grabbed her staff and cloak and began to stuff some clothing into her knapsack, motioning that Jason should do the same.

“We should go now, before my grandfather comes for you.”

Within a few moments they were ready. Setting her face with a determined expression, Emily swept out the door.

Taking a deep breath, Jason followed her into the woods.

Jason and Emily crept silently out of their room, carefully treading across the floor so they wouldn’t risk disturbing anyone. Luckily for them there didn’t seem to be anyone about. As agile as they could, they crept between the buildings and the trees keeping a close eye out for anyone that might be keeping a close eye on them. Thankfully they had explored the area earlier when it was bright, which offered then a great advantage in navigating their way back to the denser forest, they made a quick dash from behind one of the elven buildings and slipped into the shadow of the Elderine Forest.

The forest was dark, and seemed strangely alive as Jason looked up at the towering green giants that branched out and concealed the night sky. Jason shuddered as they passed the first grouping of trees it was as though they formed a barrier between the calm elven settlement and the foreboding presence of the Elderine Forest. They moved almost noiselessly along the path. Fallen pine needles and other woodland debris creating a soft carpet that absorbed every footstep. The very atmosphere seemed designed to muffle their passing, and Jason couldn’t shake the feeling that he was walking in the presence of a great power, something that was aware and intelligent in a way he couldn’t understand. Between the trees, the dark was absolute. Every now and then, the moon stole through small gaps in the dense forest canopy, sending shards of light onto the trail ahead. Jason peered further into the forest, barely able to discern the endless maze of trees, bushes and other wildly overgrown plant life. His grand dreams of escape dimmed in this dark place. The simple lack of light made it seem impossible that they might find a way out. He stopped. Emily walked on a little further, then sighed and shrugged, turning to face him.

“
We’re not going to make our way out of this place like
this
,” she remarked, in a tone that suggested she was thoroughly put out by nature’s failure to lend a helping hand. “Maybe we should stop somewhere, and sleep until morning. I suppose we’ve given ourselves a little bit of a head start, at least.”

“Good idea,” Jason said, and pointed over to a rock lying in a slightly open area, which the moon had just managed to break through and light up. To his mind, it made the perfect resting place, at least compared to anywhere else in the near surroundings.

“What about here?”

“Yes that looks like an ideal place. We might even be able to make a fire there. We’ll get cold quickly now that we’ve stopped walking.”

Emily gathered up some sticks, and set them down in a roughly circular pile near the rock. She whispered something. There was a spark, and soon the sticks were alight, sparking and crackling as the fire took hold.

“
You
are
useful, aren’t you,” said Jason.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the way you can do magic and all. It must help a lot.”

Emily sat down against the rock and set her staff down beside her. She looked up at Jason, and motioned for him to join her by the fire, which was now settled, and emitting a warm yellow and orange glow.

“Yeah, it can be useful sometimes, but it tends to take a lot out of me. Well, the more powerful spells, anyway.”

“What do you mean by ‘the more powerful spells’?” Jason asked. “What sort of spells?”

“Well, there are some, uh, ‘big’ spells, well big to me anyway, but they probably wouldn’t seem so big to any of the more experienced mages. Things like summoning a spirit or an animal of some sort. Those sorts of spells can be a lot of work, and tiring at that.”

“
How is it that you can do magic, anyway? Where I come from we have magicians, but they don’t do
real
magic. It’s more like trickery.”

Emily smiled, revealing a slight dimple in each cheek.

“
Well, not everyone can do magic. You have to be born with it in your blood. And even at that not everyone who has it
knows
they can do magic.”

“I see,” Jason replied.

“Take my family, for example. We’ve been known mages for hundreds of years now, in fact, we’re tested for it at birth. That’s only because we have been, and thankfully still are, taught by our parents and grandparents.”

The fire crackled, sending sparks into the air. Jason and Emily looked around with a shared jump. The night seemed quiet, perhaps a little
too
quiet, though it seemed a little brighter than before. They looked up through the gap in the branches overhead to see the moon in its full glory, released for a time from the grasping fingers of cloud that sought to cover its brilliance. Several stars shone brightly around it, in a pattern unfamiliar to Jason.

“
I truly am in a different world,”
he thought, “
and yet, for all its terrors, I could learn to love it, I believe.”

He turned again to Emily.

“So, where does the magic come from? I mean, how can you use it, or harness it, or whatever?”

Emily took a strange, smooth stone from her pocket and rubbed it gently, before opening her hand to let him see it. It was shaped like a perfect teardrop, the milky blue and white of the stone blending into one another like marble, but softer somehow, like the swirls of a cloudy liquid caught and pressed into stone. Jason thought it best not to ask to touch, or hold it. After a moment, Emily began to rub it once again.

“
It is said,” she began, “that long ago a beautiful goddess known as Averin walked this earth. Many say that she
was
the earth, in human form, though nobody knew for certain. Whatever the truth, she exerted a powerful influence over the people. Some became her followers and built a city in her honour. One day, the others, who did not follow her, turned against her. They were under the leadership of her brother, Caleb. He was full of jealousy, and sought to control the magical powers that Averin and her followers commanded. As his army came to destroy her, she began to weep, but even seeing his own sister so distraught he was unmoved. However before her final breath departed her, she was heard to say, “Give them the strength”. Ever since that day, strange teardrop stones appeared across the world. No one knew what they were, until one day a young boy took a liking to one, and decided to keep it. When he picked it up, he felt different. He could cast magic.”