Mayhart Sanctuary

Part 1

Nik dipped the last piece of his fruit bread into the nearly empty bowl of tula breakfast stew, savored the flavors, then drank the remainder of the stew straight from the bowl. He wiped his mouth as the last of the community members and other travelers put their dishes on the bar, and headed out into town to go about their morning work days.

"Can I take your dishes for you, sir?" asked Arun as he walked up to Nik.

"Thank you," Nik replied.

"Is there anything else I can get for you?"

Nik recognized his opportunity to meet Griegg, "Yes, I have question, and I think your not-dead friend might be able to answer it for me. Could you arrange a meeting?"

Arun laughed a bit. "So formal! Yes, of course I can introduce you to Mr. Capita. May I enquire as to your name and the nature of said meeting?" said Arun with a touch of mockery.

"My name is Nik Worther, and my--"

Arun had dropped the bowl. "Worther!?"

"Uumm.....yes?" Nik Replied, confused as to what this Hobb was getting at.

"As in Cerugum Worther? The historical legend Cerugum Worther? That founded half the country?"

"Umm...I've heard the name, but I don't know what he did." Nik was now distracted. "He was nearly a thousand years ago, right?"

"Yeah, he could do every kind of magic, he's the reason this place didn't close down."

"You have a good knowledge of your town's history," Nik said.

"Studying is important, Mr. Capita teaches me. Sorry, distracted, you wanted to meet with him, I think he'll be eager to meet one of the Line of Worther!" Arun ran off to the back room, having forgotten the dropped bowl, which Nik carried up to the bar himself a moment later.

Nik, had studied the past few generations of his family, but he hadn't looked back that far, he had no idea what Arun was talking about, but it peaked his interest, and wondered if there might be a connection.

Nik sat down at the bar for a few minutes, waiting, expecting Arun to have sent Griegg out to meet him right away, but Griegg didn't come out of the kitchens, nor did Arun. Nik sat for half an hour before deciding he would call upon his hosts and the non-dead later. He returned to his room to dress properly for the day.

Part 2

Raain brought a bucket of left over stew into the stables where she found Griegg at work removing cobwebs.

"Sorry for the mess, Griegg," she said while pouring the stew into a food trough.

"Eh, it's not so bad," Griegg said, and looked around again. "Well, maybe it is bad."

"Yeah, it wasn't easy adding your duties to our own, never realized how much work you actually do out here."

"Arun was that busy guarding room keys?" Griegg chuckled with exasperation and sarcasm.

"It's amazing how much time depression takes up. When someone as young as him thinks his best friend has died, it takes a toll. He couldn't stop talking about you and how much he missed you, and how much he regretted not giving you a proper goodbye before you left, he felt bad for acting that way," Raain told him.

"I get that he was upset about having extra duties, but he's not that young any more, he's ready for more responsibility, he's holding himself back."

"Yeah, well, you try convincing him of that--"

"I did try, I have tried. He still thinks he's young and incapable. He has no idea how much potential he has. If he'd just slow down a little, he could do amazing things, absolutely amazing!" It was an old conversation.

"Well," Raain replied, "he is a Hobb. They are not known for their attention spans or for taking responsibility."

"That's hogwash," Griegg said with a touch of anger. "Anyone is capable of making the choices to act right and to focus on one thing at a time."

"Though I get where you're coming from, and with my training I definitely am of the same mindset. But the more I look at him, and the more I meet other people, or hear stories of other people, the more I tend to disagree with that. You have to have seen a lot of, shall we say, short attention span people in your travels."

"None of those are near as gifted at Arun."

"That doesn't mean a thing. It only shows that there are variables in all people. Some are brilliant and focused, some are idiots incapable of anything, and then there are all variants between."

"I suppose, but I still think he could do better than he has been. He's still too wrapped up in fun. I might take him with me back to Kaillic," Griegg said thoughtfully.

"Back?! You're going back, but you just got here? Why are you going back to a place where you were almost killed?" Raain was concerned.

"Matthew sent a bird scroll," Griegg said.

"Already?! When did he find out you were alive?"

"I don't know, perhaps when I showed up back in town. I don't know how he didn't know that I was alive, he usually has a pretty good handle on things like that."

"Did you get anything that covered your head?" Raain asked.

"I did get a new cloak after losing the green one, I kept it on the whole journey home, it was raining most of it."

"How powerful of a cloak is it? You should take it up to the Sanctuary to get it examined. If that one blocks Matthew's mind, there could be other people hiding from him purposefully, like the ones that tried to kill you."

"That's a scary thought," Griegg said and Raain nodded.

Raain returned to her duties of cleaning rooms in the inn, and Griegg spent a better part of the day cleaning the mess in the stables, he skipped lunch.

Part 3

For the evening meal, Arun, Talur and Nira had decorated the barroom for Griegg's birthday. It was a party of special magnificence, and the whole town showed up, so the whole thing had to be moved outsite and the interior decorations became pointless.

Since Jericho and his band were away, a few other local quasi-musicians gathered up at the central park to entertain the town. Though most people did their best to ignore the noises.

Many people from the town brought food to share: meats, fruits, nuts, pies and cakes. The baker on the other side of town brought a very large cake filled with the sour yellow filling that Griegg loved most. Though as the cake was brought out, and the birthday wishes were given to Griegg, Tedd's horse managed to free himself from the stable, joined the party and tried to eat the cake.

Nik watched Griegg the whole evening, looking for a sign that Arun had delivered the message, but Griegg gave no evidence of knowing, he never looked for Nik. Arun also never approached Nik to inform him of a response to the request, Arun seemed to have forgotten. Nik finally decided he would have to just approach him and make his own introductions.

Griegg was having his mug refilled by an overweight man with dirty beard and clothes from one of the other breweries in town, Nik thought this would be a good point to approach him as we was not engaged in conversation at the moment.

"Excuse me, sir," Nik said as he was close enough to get Griegg's attention.

Griegg looked up, gave a curious look at Nik.

"I'm not sure if the message was delivered, I asked your young friend, Arun, to arrange a meeting between us. I can tell by your continued look of confusion that it wasn't delivered."

"Nope," Griegg said. "Arun can be a bit forgetful. I seem to have a moment, what can I help you with. I take it you're traveling through town?"

"Yes, I came down from Lælyin. I arrived last night, shortly before you did. I found your story interesting, but that only made me interested in meeting you, in hopes you could help me with something unexpected."

"Unexpected?" Griegg asked.

Nik reached into his pocket and pulled out the medallion. "When I awoke this morning, this was laying across my armor, it wasn't mine."

Griegg looked at the medallion in the light. The silver reflected the party lights so well that it seemed to glow.

Raain walked up to Griegg and Nik. "Sorry, couldn't up but be curious about the conversation and that medallion. Sorry, I'm Raain."

"Pleasure, I'm-- I guess I forgot to introduce myself to you as well, I'm Nik, Worther," Nik gave an extra pause between his own and his family name, so see if they would react the same way Arun had. Both perked up their ears and raised their eyebrows a little at this information. "Yes," he said to confirm their thoughts. "Please, the medallion."

Griegg handed it to Raain, and as her eyes met the etching, she almost dropped the medallion, she did drop her jaw. "My dream," she said.

"Your dream?" Nik was astonished, and even more intrigued, and sure that he'd found the right people to talk to. Raain's response was more than he could have hoped for.

"Yeah, I had a dream this morning. Three men and a dragon talking under two trees in the middle of a field. Just like the etching here. But...." she trailed off.

"Yes?" Nik said with curious impatience.

"They all died."

"That's ominous." Nik said.

"Indeed. I think all three of will be going up to the Sanctuary tomorrow." Griegg said.

"Sounds like the beginning of a grand adventure." Nik said looking at the other two.

"Arun should come too." Raain said to Griegg.

"The four of us, a really grand adventure indeed." Griegg said with a hint of sarcasm.

Raain smiled, placing her hand on his elbow. "He needs this," she said.

"Needs this? What is it that he needs? I know I've been gone a while, but has he really improved that much?" Griegg asked with skepticism.

"He's grown plenty, he's not perfect, by any means, but he's at the point that he needs a mentor at the sanctuary, or to travel." Nik began to feel like he was intruding on a more personal conversation that Griegg and Raain had probably had more than once, he took a small step backwards.

"Sorry, I'll leave the two of you to this conversation. Thank you for your assistance, I'll be staying at the Inn, I'm sure we'll meet tomorrow morning and can discuss the Sanctuary." Nik bowed himself out, as Griegg and Raain apologized and said a goodnight. Nik walked over to one of the food tables, grabbed two sausage links, and caught the growing argument out of the corner of his eye. He considered his own doubts about Arun, especially considering the message he'd been entrusted with was not delivered. He looked around the crowd for the Hobb, but couldn't see him, probably because everyone else was twice as tall, and Arun would have blended fairly well with the children of the Humons.

Part 4

Ithõn`Roidd, 5, Nédiïn 3884

The next morning the bells rang out, signaling breakfast being ready. Tedd stretched his furry arms, and climbed out of bed. He crossed the room to his vanity table, picked up his brush, and began brushing his tail. He never bothered to count how many knots he had to pull, the count was almost as painful as pulling the knots.

He donned his tanned leather pants, and dark blue vest, his most comfortable one, rinsed his mouth, and headed out of his third floor room of the Aurie View Lodge; he, like a few others, lived in the Inn. The smell of eggs and potatoes had managed to reach the upper halls.

The tables in the dinning room were all laid out with baskets of the house bread, and glasses of water drawn from the town well. It was expected to be a much smaller breakfast than the day before. There were a few new faces, and several old faces, but only one person from town was here this morning, instead of half the town. As Tedd entered the dinning room, he saw Griegg and Raain talking to a man he thought he saw yesterday, it appeared as if something was being planned. He filled his plate with eggs and shredded potatoes, then sat near the three humons, trying to be as invisible as a red-furred fox could be in a room of humons.

"We need to talk to Arun, see if he's interested in going." Raain was saying. "Although," she looked around the room, "not sure yet where he is, I didn't see him much last night either."

"I hadn't noticed," Griegg said, coldly, but now realizing there might be concern.

"I didn't see him after the horse tried to eat your lemon cake," Nik said. "I ultimately figured he'd gone to tend the horse."

"He would have been reluctant to stay long with Lemon, he'd certainly rather party than tend a horse," Raain said.

"Too true, Raain. That has always been one of my concerns with him. That's what I was saying last night," Griegg said with annoyance.

"Well, maybe last night he decided to grow up and put responsibility before fun." Raain wanted to believe the best in Arun, always trying to see him doing better than he actually was.

"Anyway," Nik interrupted, "we were talking about the Mayhart Sanctuary. What should I expect when we get there, how should I go about finding out what this means?"

Griegg and Raain stared at each other, still wanting to debate the Arun situation. "There's a library," Tedd butted in. "Centuries ago, the monks dug it, filled the caves with books. Closest thing we've got to an Uun community near by."

Nik turned around to see who had been eves dropping enough to join in, he was not expecting a Chayas-Kitsune. Griegg and Raain recognized the voice, turned towards the fox and moved passed their argument.

"Basically what Tedd said, when we get there, we'll take you up to the library, and the Head will help us find some books based on this symbol," Raain said. "If it's a common enough design to exist on something like this, there must be some old books which have it."

"The two of us?" Nik asked.

"My dream. I figured since your medallion matches the images in my dream, I should go along with you to find out what this means."

"Tell us more about this dream," Griegg said.

"That was basically it. I saw the three men and a dragon talking under two twist trees, just like the etching. And then there was a flash of light and they were all dead."

"Very well, I shall welcome you escort through the Sanctuary," Nik told Raain.

"Do you guys mind if I tag along? I had been meaning to get up there for a few questions, myself," Tedd chimed in.

"The more the merrier," said Griegg.

The doors to the side entrance opened, everyone in the barroom turned to look, and watched Arun entering, looking quite disheveled.

"There you are!" Raain called out. "We've been wondering where you were."

"Oh," Arun said, "I was trying to get Lemon and the other horses calmed down. They didn't like the noise of the festivities, but they did like the smells."

"So, you were being responsible?" Raain said with a half look at Griegg.

"Uhh, yeah, I suppose I just did what needed to be done," Arun was exhausted. Raain smirked at Griegg.

"Arun, you're coming to the Sanctuary with us today, get cleaned up," Griegg said.

An hour after breakfast, Tedd had Lemon lashed up to his cart, and Raain, Arun, and Nik were seated in the cargo area, while Tedd and Griegg sat on the front bench. Talur's wife had packed them lunches, and he had packed them ale. Nik and Griegg were armored up, Nik in his steel and Griegg in his leathers, the others had no armor. All the boys carried their swords, while Raain remained unarmed, as she always chose to be; she was fast enough to dodge a swinging axe, and strong enough to knock out the Hhorq that swung it; armor would have slowed her down.

"Griegg! You just got here," called out a man who lived in town as they were starting to head towards the edge of town. "Already off on another adventure, and taking others with you?"

"No rest for the wicked!" Griegg called back.

"You? Wicked!? That's the funniest thing I've heard all day," the man responded.

The edge of town had gardens of flowers along either side of the road, about a hundred paces long. And then it was fields, tall grass fields as far as the eye could see. That is, until the horizon upon which the mountains of Mayhart stretched, their goal.

It was an hour ride before anyone really spoke, it was Arun who broke the silence.

"Oh my gosh! I forgot! Mr. Capita, Mr. Worther wanted to meet with you!"

Griegg, Nik, and Raain began to laugh. "I figured that out Arun," said Griegg. "We've met, that's why we're doing what we're doing."

"Ah, well, that makes sense. I'm sorry I forgot to pass the message on, sometimes I forget things. I get excited and then forget," Arun said sheepishly.

"All that matters now is that we have met and are on our way, the past is behind us," Nik Worther told Arun. Griegg wasn't entirely sure he agreed, but he figured he might as well.

Raain smiled in mild amusement, and Tedd wasn't quite sure he understood what was being discussed; Lemon just prodded along, pulling the cart, wishing she was running unburdened.

After another hour of occasional chit-chat, Tedd began to smell something not quite right. "I smell something," he said as he sniffed the air, and pulled Lemon to a halt. The others tried their best, but couldn't smell anything but the grasses and the horse. But this was not unexpected, Tedd, being a fox, had a much better since of smell than the humons and hobb.

"What do you smell?" asked Griegg.

"I'm not sure exactly, but it doesn't smell right. I think it's a long ways off, several elecs I would guess. It's not something I've ever smelt before, so I'm not sure what it could be." Tedd said while thinking. "Almost smells of death, but different. Death or rot is the closest thing I can think of that is similar," he added "ish."

"Ish?" Griegg said.

"Ish." Tedd replied.

Griegg stood up to look around, but couldn't see anything out of place. "I'm not sure what you're smelling, Tedd, I don't know if I like it, but I can't see anything on the horizon that doesn't look like the brightest life in the world." Far to the the escuusorial, was Eva's Forest, a beautiful, lush forest thick with trees that even in daylight glowed with blues and yellows in addition to their green leaves.

"Well, I think we've determined that my nose is stronger than even your eyes." Tedd said mockingly, knowing that Griegg had the best eyes in town.

"I don't know if we've proven that, but right now it looks like you can smell something I can't see." Griegg returned to his seat, "Let's keep going, maybe one of the scouts will have noticed the thing you smell and sent word to the Sanctuary."

"I think I found the source of the smell," Arun said with fear in his voice, he pointed into the field to their left rear, it was a bear, dripping in blood.

"No, that's a different smell," Said Tedd as he halted Lemon, he knew she couldn't out run a bear with the cart. "But this is certainly a smell of death." He stood and drew his rifle from below the bench. "I've got to load it, you're gonna have to fight, Griegg!"

Griegg had already drawn his long sword, and was readying to leap from the cart. But Nik was there too, a sword and a hammer in his hands, and Nik had jumped down first. Raain had been napping while they traveled as was still getting her wits about her.

Nik closed in on the bear as Griegg was meeting the ground. Nik yelled nonsense at the bear, trying to intimidate it into fleeing, but this bear wasn't going to give in. It was thrice as large as Nik, and even with Griegg running in, the bear knew he could have dinner.

Nik ran full tilt with sword pointed as a spear towards the bear, but when they collided, the bear had managed to swipe the sword aside. Griegg stopped in his tracks as he saw the intelligence of this bear. But Nik, swung his hammer at the bear as it lay on top of him. And then, BANG! Tedd's riffle had gone off. It hit the bear in the shoulder, the same shoulder that Nik had hit with his hammer. The bear roared in in pain and tumbled off of Nik, whom got stood up, and sliced the face of the bear.

The bear ran a few steps back, turned and started circling, standing on it's hind legs, it's good arm raised in the air, it growled louder than Arun had ever heard an animal sound.

"Tedd, hurry up with that second shot," Raain said as she looked for something she could possibly throw at it. She felt comfortable fighting a man, be it Humon, Valswynn or Hhorq, but a bear was not her choice for hand to hand combat.

"I'm working as fast as I can! The more you talk to me the slower I'll be," Tedd retorted as he packed another round into his riffle.

Griegg stood watching the bear as Nik danced in a circle with it. Neither the bear nor Nik wanted to make the first move. Soon the circle put the bear between Nik and Griegg, the bear turned and charged towards Griegg and Nik was forced to chase it in order to protect his traveling companion.

Griegg and the bear began a fight, Griegg with his long sword and the bear deftly swiping away the blade, swing after swing. And doing so one armed, the other dead from the hammer an bullet. Griegg couldn't land a blow, the greatest swordsman in the region, and he couldn't best this bear.

Nik was upon them, he raised his hammer and sword and leaped up to land on the bear's back, BANG! Splatter. The bear's skull exploded as the bullet from Tedd's riffle and the Nik's hammer collided with the bear at the same time.

The bear's body toppled sideways, with the dead arm hitting Griegg and dragging him to the ground too. Griegg laid face to face with the absence of the face of the bear, blood pouring out. He wrestled himself free of the carcass, and stood watching the corpse.

"You ok, sir?" Nik asked as he too stood up. But Griegg didn't respond, he just stared, as if waiting. "Sir? Mr. Capita? Yo! Griegg!" Nik raised his voice trying to get Griegg to pay attention.

Griegg sat down next to the bear and watched it, still not responding to anything else. Raain, Tedd, and Arun ran up to see what was going on.

"Griegg?" Raain asked as she put her hand on his shoulder.

"Wait," Griegg said.

"Wait for what?" Arun asked, but Raain put her hand on his shoulder this time. Arun waited. They all waited. And then it happened. The bear changed.

The fur faded away, and the claws turned to thick fingers. It wasn't a bear, it was a Hhorq. One of the shape changers, a leader in one of the tribes that lived in Eva's Forest. This one had raided Berryshire Town before, he had killed before. He had always escaped before.

Griegg stood, "I'm sorry it wasn't my blow that killed you, my enemy." This was a foe Griegg had had for many years, but had never gotten to actually face. The Hhorq had always managed to escape before Griegg got to him, hard as Griegg had tried. Griegg had vowed to kill this villain, but here he lay, killed by his friend and a stranger.

"Is that who I think it is?" Raain asked.

"It is." Griegg continued staring at his foe.

"I don't smell any other hhorq in the area," Tedd said sniffing.

"Why do you think he was alone?" Raain asked Griegg.

"I don't know, I've never known hhorq to hunt solo."

"Why didn't he use his magic, like he usually does?" Tedd asked.

"That I don't know either. Are you sure there is nothing else around Tedd?" Grieg said.

Tedd sniffed again, "Nothing but grass, flowers, and insects. Maybe a rabbit or two."

"A rabbit?" Arun said with a tone that was obviously out of hunger, he still hadn't approached within view of the body.

Raain chuckled, "We've got better food than rabbit for this journey, and no time to cook one."

They all returned to the cart, collecting the body so another might not happen upon it to resurrect him again, pulled out some jerky, berries, and bread and began to eat as they continued along the dirt road towards the Mayhart Sanctuary. The rest of the journey was uneventful, they pondered why Hetrog, the Hhorq chief, would have been hunting alone this far from their camp, and why he didn't blast them with a fire spell as he so often had in other attacks in the area. Tedd wondered if the smell similarish to death was responsible.

The roia had long set by the time they arrived at the Sanctuary, but the gate attendant recognized Raain and Griegg and opened the Gates of the wall. Lanterns were alight along the paths between the half-dozen buildings and towards the giant stair case that lead up to the library in the side of the mountain, torches flickering from behind the pillars that lined the porticos. Tedd lead Lemon and the cart off to the stables where the Sanctuary's mortition took and burned the body of Hetrog, while the rest were quietly lead to beds in the dormitory hall. By the time Tedd entered the room and sat down on the bed just past Arun's, all were asleep.

Part 5

Olrõn`Roidd, 6, Nédiïn 3884

There was no bell for breakfast, it was a horn. I loud trumpet calling out as the Roia cracked the western horizon. As Nik gathered himself, he wondered which was worse. He almost missed the nights of sleeping on roots, twigs and rocks, solely because he was woken by his own body instead of a bell or trumpet, or other such unnecessary and unnatural noise.

"Ah, I've missed that horn," Raain reminisced fondly as she sat up on the cot. Nik, who lay two beds away, looked up at the back of her head, and gave a reproachful look that she didn't see. Arun might have seen, he was on the other side of Raain. Griegg, whom had slept on the cot between Raain and Nik, was already up, having tried to visit the library before breakfast, but that would not happen.

A short, rounding, bald monk was donning his orange robes across the aisle from Raain. "And we've missed you playing it, Beau. You gonna be here tomorrow? You should ask if you can blow it, for old time's sake."

"I'm not sure if we will be," Raain told her old friend, Frederick Bæzel. "Even if we do, it's been so many years, I don't think I could remember it, or belt it out like I used to." Raain and Fred laughed, as did a few other monks in the hall that were close enough to hear without trying. Nik and Arun were out of the loop.

After the laughter settled, and the friends that hadn't seen each other in a year, the last time Frederick visited Berryshire Town, didn't have something else to say for a moment. As the moment began to turn into an awkward silence, a sort of chirping sound came from the bed on the other side of Arun, Tedd was still asleep, and not sleeping quietly.

Frederick gave Raain a look of mischievousness. Raain knew what he was thinking. "We're not children anymore, Bæzel, don't pull his tail."

"Ok, ok, I wasn't going to, but I remember doing it."

"We'd always get in more trouble than it was amusing," Raain reminded him.

"Speak for yourself! I thought the amusement of his screeches were well worth the scolding." It seemed Frederick hadn't learned the lessons he was supposed to have learned.

"Raain, you really pulled Tedd's tail when you were young?" Arun was becoming amused hearing about the troublesome side of the woman he respected.

"He was twice our age, and half our maturity, although ours was pretty low, too. And his tail was quite bushy, we're partially to blame for it's sparsity."

"Sparsity?!" Of any word Arun would have chosen to describe Tedd's tail, sparse was not one of them.

"Compared to the way it was, yeah, it's sparse," Frederick said.

"Arun, could you wake him, gently." Raain asked.

Arun swung his short legs back onto his own cot, rolled to the other side, and jumped down, took the three steps it required him to move between beds, and didn't need to bend over to put his hand on Tedd's shoulder, giving a little shake, and whispered in his ear, "Come on Tedd, time to wake up. It's daylight in the swamps."

Tedd gave a small yip as he woke.

"Oh, I should mention," Frederick said, "the breakfasts haven't improved."

Arun soon found out what that meant. As they walked from the courtyard to the dinning hall the smell of bland oats filled his nostrils. As much as Arun was felt turned off by the blandness of the smell, Tedd nearly passed on dinning with their hosts to go back to his cart and eat some of the foods Nira had packed for them. But as many of the monks stood to greet Tedd and the others, he decided he must stay, and eat the drab.

"Here we learn to live without luxury," said one monk to Arun as he glared at the food dripping from his dark green-stained wood spoon. He wondered how many hundreds of years this spoon had been used, and if it should not have been thrown away many of them ago. But eat he did, as did Tedd. Nik, Raain, Frederick, and dozens of other monks ate quickly, having learned that nutrition is more important than taste. Raain was almost finished when Griegg walked in, by the time he had his food and sat down, she was done eating.

"You got up early this morning," Raain said as Griegg sat.

"Wanted to try to get an early start with some of the books I found at the ruins in Agrannuroal, but they wouldn't let me in before breakfast," he said.

"I could have told you that," Raain knew it wouldn't be open before breakfast, she had lived at the sanctuary for nearly twenty years, never was the library open before breakfast.

"But you didn't."

"But you didn't ask. You just got out of bed and went, you didn't ask me last night, or nudge me this morning."

"Faire enough. So after breakfast shall the three of us go?"

"I wanna go to!" Arun said urgently. He'd wanted to come up to the sanctuary for the two years he'd been in Berryshire Town, this was his first time, he wanted to see the library that Raain and Griegg always talked about.

"You'll get to this afternoon," Raain said. "I want you to walk the grounds and meet the monks. We're going to be asking questions this morning, but this afternoon we'll be able to walk you around the inside."

Arun accepted this, but felt a little bit as if they didn't trust him. It's not like he knocked over every shelf in the Lodge's store on multiple occasions. And in many of the stores in town. Sometimes his abilities go a little unpredicted, he was getting better. Though, he remembered, he did send a loaf of bread flying across the bar room just a few days prior.

Part 6

There were one hundred thirty-four steps up to the library, Raain had climbed them so many times growing up that she felt obliged to count them; it was a number she could never forget, no matter how much she wished she could. The building towered over the rest of the sanctuary, which was almost a village. The walls around the sanctuary were 15 feet high, and they met the walls of the nearly four thousand foot high cliffs the sanctuary was built into and from. The library stood part way out of the cliffs, and part way within the rock. It had taken several centuries, during the Renaissance, the previous age, to dig out, and the stones removed were used to build the walls, housing, the dining hall, stables, bathhouse, the temple, and lastly the front of the library.

From the top of the steps the whole of the sanctuary were visible, three watch guards stood in front of the four columns on the porticos. Beyond the walls, the visible fields extended for several day's rides. A few with strong eyes, or anyone with a spyglass could, on a clear day be able to see Berryshire Town as a small blob in the distance. If an attack were to come at Berryshire from the east or west, or a very large attack from the south, the Sanctuary could warn the town by lighting a fire high in the mountain or blowing one of the Mountain Horns (though in the cold seasons this was never a good idea, the snows on the cliff top were enough of a danger even without a wind from the north.

As Nik and Raain reached the top, Raain took a deep satisfied breath as Nik huffed, stairs were different than wilderness trails even if mountainous. Raain turned with an eager smile on her face towards the view she hadn't seen in several years. "Nik, look," she said.

Nik, still bent over with hands on his knees, turned his head to see what lay behind him. The air was clear, and the roia were still low in the western sky, lighting the green grasses of the Berryshire Plain in brilliant gold. Nik forgot his exhaustion and stood facing the view, mouth open. The air was cool and the view beautiful, his eyes watered. "I've seen many vast views, and many sunrises," he said, "but this may be the best."

"When there is mist in the low points of the plain, it's even more incredible. But for a clear day this may be one of the best. Rumor is that the sanctuary was so named because when the Grand Monk at the time of completion gazed upon the valley, his heart gave out and he cried out "My heart!" But because he was dying it sounded like "may hart," to his brother. And so to honor the last words of the Grand Monk Jeth, Sedian had them carved into the frieze above, and the archway to the main gate."

Nik chuckled during the telling, "Any evidence to truth of it?"

"None, of course, but it makes for a good tale, either way. Come, we should get in and meet with the head before the mob makes it to the top." Looking down the stairs, Nik could see that was quite the mob. A few dozen monks were beginning to climb the stairs. Tedd was among them, having been slower in eating. As Nik turned away from the view he spotted Griegg and Arun walking along one of the gravel paths through the grasses, flowering bushes, and small trees, approaching a monk that looked to be waiting for them as he sat among a circle of stone disks in the grass.

"I don't mean to pry, it's not really my business, but curiosity takes me, what is it between those two?" Nik asked Raain.

"Griegg and Arun?" Raain questioned as Nik nodded affirmation, "Arun came two years ago seeking Matthew Clevell as a teacher," she said as they entered the Library. "He wasn't at Berryshire at the time, and so Griegg took him in. Griegg took a fatherly heart to him. But Arun was clumsy and childish still. A teen Hobb, and yet still acted beneath him. But the childishness wasn't what bothered Griegg, it's what gave him the fatherly heart. Arun hadn't told Griegg about his abilities of mind until one day Arun had pretty much destroyed the Inn's store. Arun had been with us for a season."

The ceiling of the library was high, it had been painted with scenes of the Avel, Auriese and Kæav, of people of many races, and many animals, scenes of history long ago. The sight distracted Nik from Raain's explanation. The library was shaped as the birds fly: a point at the door, and growing wider the deeper into the mountain it went, and the mural stretched the entirety.

"That also took over a hundred years to paint. Every twenty-five years a new team begins repainting it, and they paint nearly everyday for as long as their backs will carry them. Ah, here's my favorite." She pointed a short distance ahead.

As they arrived under it, Nik wasn't sure why, it seemed no more spectacular or dull than the rest of the ceiling. It was thirteen people, various races and genders, sitting on one side of a table with a vast feast upon it. In front of the table two small animals played together (two animals that usually did not get along).

"Its a part of a legend from before the Kaatyclyzym, the supposedly oldest of the sources for the paintings. It's the man who led the humon slave revolt against the Valswyn, Hhorq, and Ndourin. Some say he was a Selans, one of the Roian, or possibly an Eternal, others say he was just humon."

This, Nik found interesting now, something from the era of slavery, "This place really does have everything."

Raain laughed, "You've seen nothing yet. And no, there is much still missing."

"I keep forgetting that we used to be enemies with the elves. Even seems hard to believe that they only came out of hiding 500 years ago. I've had many a Valswyn friend."

"500 years next year, actually. The story of Prince Eluthiel is one of our early stories of history we must learn. It's never in order of date, but importance and impact."

"Amazes me how they remained hidden for two thousand years without being discovered."

"Probably any that happened upon them were killed." Raain said somberly.

That thought had never crossed Nik's mind when he heard the tales as a youth. Now, he wasn't sure why it hadn't, it seemed so obvious once it was said. They were our enemies even after the Kaatyclyzym, until that princeling wandered off and found himself in a humon village. There must have been too many Humons and not enough elves to kill them all, so they had to make peace, it wasn't out of gratitude, it was out of fear of death. Better to be revealed in peace than in war. They could handle killing a few stragglers, but killing thousands was not acceptable. Raain could see that Nik was deep in thought and so let him think, staring at the ceiling.

"Can I help you two? Raain, is that you?" The voice of an elderly man interrupted them.

"Yes, how are you my old friend?"

"Even older. What brings you here, young one?"

"This medallion." Nik went straight to the point, handing the medallion to the feeble man with only a few white hairs left on his head.

The old man, upon looking at it, leapt backwards with the speed of a youth, dropping the medallion to the floor. "Where did you get that?" There was fear and earnesty in his voice. He reached into his pocket pulling out a rag. He dabbed his forehead and then tied the rag around his bald head, then picked up the medallion.

"I found it yesterday morning lying across my armor, I was staying at the Aurie View in town."

"Very well, you will come with me, Raain you will remain." He began to walk away, expecting Nik to follow.

"I had a dream," Raain quickly told him, knowing that whatever this was, she was supposed to know, too. "It was the same scene." The old man stopped walking away and came back. "The three men and dragon were talking, as I sat at a fire. There was a flash of light and they were all dead."

The Librarian sighed, "Indeed? Very well, you may come too."

He led them to the eastern wall, a part of the library that must have been well within the side of the mountain. They past dozens of shelves that stretched as high as a giant could reach, not that there were any giants within a thousand elics. Nik had a hard time not scanning titles as they walked. Apparently, they were in a section on farming and growing food. The Librarian stopped at a gap between two selves along the wall, there was a box on the wall. He pulled a key from his belt and opened the door on the box. Inside were other keys. He grabbed one as if he had known exactly where among the other keys the key he needed would be. He then closed and relocked the box.

"Back this way," he said as he turned and started walking back to west wall of the library, a little deeper into the mountain. And to another box the same as the one on the other side. He opened it, and grabbed another key. "Have to put this one away now." And back to east side they went.

Nik was paying less attention to the books they passed, but he did notice one titled Dreams and Reality: there was more to the title but it was gone, there was no back cover, half the book was missing. He then noticed that several books in this section were torn, but the ones he could spot quickly as they walked had titles cut, there was barely enough of the one he had caught. "Why are so many of these books cut in half?"

The Librarian continued walking as if he hadn't heard. Nik looked to Raain, who shrugged, "It's just the way they are, we have seen no rhyme or reason for the half books that have been studied."

The Librarian put the first key back into the box, and turned to head deeper into the library along the eastern wall. Every so often there would be another gap in the shelves, with another key box. They turned down an aisle that lead more directly north, at the end stood a door, a wall of doors. They went two doors to the left, and the librarian inserted the key, and turned it to the right.

The lock and key began to glow and then disappear as the glow grew brighter and grew to fill the entirety of the door. Nik noticed that the light from the door did not affect the ambient light of the end of the book shelves, or the floor, or even the Librarian as he stood barely a foot from the glowing door. As the light faded, the door was not there. Instead was a long hallway. The Librarian entered, as the others followed. "I am the only one alive who has been down this hall, this is my second time. Only the Head Librarian and those whom its content has been revealed to on the outside may enter. What lies beyond each of the doors are secret. I have been down most of them, some a few times, others I will likely never see. The Head before me had not visited half has many as I have. I often wonder how many my replacement will see. Even among the Twin Keys historians, few know the contents herein. You are receiving a great amount of trust. I must have your word that what you see below remains secret, even from Griegg." He looked at Raain, deep into her eyes.

"I will say nothing," she said with a sigh. She never liked keeping secrets from him. She knew Griegg's love of history and the mysteries of that which has been lost, always searching for answers, and she had a few. Now she was about to receive more answers, and she wouldn't be able to tell him. He had to discover it on his own, that's the way it always had been, and the way it always would be.

"Nor I." Nik wasn't sure why it was so important to keep information from Griegg.

"In truth, I don't believe even The Eternals, including Clevell, have been here. I know he has memories for at least nine hundred years, but I am relatively certain he has not been here. If he has, he would keep it secret."

"Why the secrecy?" Nik asked, but was met with silence from the Librarian, and a shrug from Raain. "Ok, easier question, what's your name?"

"I am Jeth, the twenty-seventh. The Head is always Jeth, to honor the First."

"An honor. I'm Nik.."

"Worther, I know."

"Seems everyone here knows more about my family than I do."

"Would you like to learn?"

"That's not another one of the secrets is it?"

Jeth laughed as man half his age, "No, that will be information you can share."

"Good," Nik said as Jeth removed the rag from his head, wiped his brow, and replaced it on his head.

"A scroll of your family history will be waiting at the front desk for you when we leave."

"Just like that?"

"Telepathy is a powerful tool, dangerous when used improperly or uncontrolled, but quite useful to a master."

Raain stopped walking and looked at the old man, thinking. Was it coincidence that he wiped his brow with that rag at that moment? Could that rag block telepathy?

Nik turned as he noticed her footsteps had stopped, "Curious?"

"Nothing, later." And she resumed walking, waving off his question, passing in front of Nik.

The hall was long, and perfectly evenly lit. There were no torches, no lanterns, no candles, but yet there was perfect light, not a single shadow, even under their feet. After what was likely a full elic, they came upon a line of blue sapphire around the hall: across the floor, walls and ceiling.

Jeth and Raain crossed the line, but as Nik tried to he found his way partially blocked. He could move his foot and arms over the line, but his body wouldn't cross. "I can't cross," he called out in confusion.

The others turned to look, it was an odd sight seeing Nik moving various parts of his body over the line, but his chest wouldn't cross. "Where's the medallion?" Jeth asked.

"Around my neck," Nik removed the medallion from his neck and tried again, his body was able to cross but the hand that held the medallion still couldn't.

"Let me see," Jeth cross back and studied the medallion. He noticed that the disk of gems could turn. "Try rotating the gem disk," he said handing it back to him.

Nik turned the gem disk left and tried crossing the line, but again it wouldn't budge. Then they heard it, a rumbling noise from further down the hall. Fire. Lots of fire.

"TURN IT THE OTHER WAY!" Jeth yelled and Nik obeyed without hesitation, the flames were still thundering towards them. Jeth grabbed Nik and threw him across the line. He fell to the other side, medallion in hand, and the flames vanished feet from Nik's head.

"If that hadn't worked," Nik said as he gathered himself to his feet, glaring at the Librarian.

"We would all be dead right now. Interesting," he said as he looked at the line.

"Interesting? That we almost died?" Nik was taken aback.

"Did nothing like that happen last time you came down here?" Raain asked.

"We didn't have a medallion, or anything of the sort. Let me look at it."

There was a sapphire on the disk, it was now next to the man on the right. "When you turned it the other way, the sapphire was behind the dead man?"

"I think so," Nik said.

"That could explain it, though what that fully means, I'm not sure. Perhaps we'll find out when the other two are found, whenever that may be."

"Other two?" Nik asked.

"You will see," and Jeth continued walking.

The path started to dip, and that dip increased until they had to walk sideways in order to avoid slipping. Then they were met by another door.

"Do we need a key for this one, please tell me you didn't forget it." Nik said.

"No. No key here. Here I must pay in blood." Nik and Raain raised their eyebrows and looked at him intently. "Haha, just kidding." Jeth said dryly. "Let it not be said that I've lost my sense of humor in my old age. Come, we have stairs to descend." He walked through the door as if it weren't there, and disappeared behind it. Nik and Raain looked at each other, shrugged, and walked through the illusionary door.

The smell of old paper was strong enough to turn unpleasant. It was darker here, in this round room with no floor. It was a long wide spiraling staircase. The walls of which were books, very old books.

Nik's eyes opened so wide that they began to tear up again. "I thought there were a lot of book in the main hall," he looked over the edge of the stairs, to an unseen depth. "Is the whole thing lined with books?"

"These are the ones that have were too damaged to read, and of those only the ones that did not dissolve with touch. No doubt if you touched any of these they, too, might turn to dust. And that might make them all turn to dust, and then we would suffocate and die with books in our lungs." Jeth was showing a fondness for death jokes, being an old man allowed that, Nik figured.

It was a slow and long descent down the many spirals of the stairs, Raain kept pondering Jeth's rag, and the gems on the medallion, and what was meant by "the other two," and what those might look like. Would one of them have the dragon dead? And what about her dream? If that were any indication, death was certain, and not a joke. And why was her brother there? She hadn't seen him since she was little, he would probably be grey by now, the years between them were great, and she had been unexpected. Her thoughts wondered. "How deep is this hole?" She asked.

"Not much further. You saw all the doors, each one leads down a tunnel and eventually to a large room. They had to have room for all those rooms. This is a long one however," Jeth said.

"What kind of things are in these rooms?" Nik asked, his young knees starting to ache.

"Things of various topics. This one is related to the etching on your medallion. As much as has been found however remotely related. And lists of cross references. Though the one we are going to is deeper, it is smaller than many of the others. But you will disbelieve me when we arrive." After that they climbed down in silence til they reached the bottom. There was a door, and Jeth used the key from his belt to unlock it.

Through the door was darkness. There was a small landing with a rail on two sides and more stairs going down. Nik began to climb down first, but Jeth held him back, "Wait," he said. From his pocket he drew a piece of flint and steel, holding them above the railing, he sparked them. The rail erupted in fire, down the rail along the stairs the flame went, gaining speed. It began to seem if this would also be a very long climb down, but then the fire turned and then split, and those split again.

The flames lit a high ceiling, with dozens of catwalks, three levels, lined with low book shelves. Below them were four more levels of catwalks, and then the bottom floor. The flames stretched deeper and deeper into the darkness.

"This is small? I'm amazed," Nik was feeling as if this day would be the one in which he saw the most amazing things ever; certainly never before, he couldn't imagine how anything could top the things he'd seen today. From the view at the top of the stairs, to the painted ceiling, even the long hall, and especially the spiral stairs walled with ancient books, and now this.

"Over two thousand feet long, by five hundred wide, one hundred tall." Even Jeth couldn't hide the awe and wonder he felt looking out in the fire lit bookshelves, despite having seen it once before, and fifteen other rooms even larger.

"The work to dig this is difficult to imagine," Raain said in as she gazed out.

"You have always had trouble believing in the full power of the mind, Raain. This was not done by hand, this was done by mind; all of it, the whole sanctuary. Yes, it still took centuries, but it was done by a grand total of fifty men and women."

"Having never seen anyone perform feats like this, I struggle believing the mind can dig and build." Raain said.

"You haven't been to a real city have you?" Nik asked her, she shook her head. "There are huge cities towering hundreds of feet into the air, covering a dozen elics and more, all formed by these sort of architectural magicians. A few are quite skilled and can make intricate designs, though most are limited to moving blocks of stone. All this would be easy work for some that I've met. Though they usually do towers instead of holes."

"The cities have many with abilities far stronger than any you'll find here. We may have more knowledge than most, but our power is limited," Jeth added.

"Arun has some powers I've not seen in others, and far stronger, and less controlled," Raain said.

"I have seen and heard tale. He is one who needs guidance. Yet what form of guidance he needs, I'm not sure. Discuss this later, we should. Now, I must take you to the map." Jeth had reached the bottom of the stairs, Raain and Nik a few steps behind.

The shelves here were shaped as long ovals, with rounded ends and a bowed middle rather than corners; ladders attached to tracks which could go completely around each of the twenty foot long shelves, larger books were in the middle, smaller to the ends. The books must have been three thousand years old, at best.

"Most of them are rewrites of the same thing. One will study a few books, and then write about what they studied, and then another will write about what was written about what was written about what was written, and so on. There are thousands of books here, much less information," Jeth told them as they meandered through the almost haphazardly placed shelves.

They weren't in rows, they weren't parallel or perpendicular but just jumbled. Looking to the side as they meandered they could see that some shelves were barely a foot apart, in other spaces several shelves could have been added, one area that would have been large enough for a dire elephant to lay down, if it could get in, and if it laid down. They turned around a shelf, and around another, and there it was. In another one of those wide open spaces, a table. But not just any table, a map. Mountains rising up from the table, valleys cutting into it, and oceans. But it wasn't this world.

"What in the world is this?" Nik exclaimed as he gazed upon this even more incredible sight. There were no recognizable land masses, from any map he'd ever seen. Raain was baffled as well but found herself a loss for words, again.

"I actually have no idea as of yet," Jeth said. "But clearly it is not this world. Maybe if you bring Vunnar, Lnoll and Drrajh together, erasing the Yubar Aurien, and rotate Doelel and move it to below Væensal instead of Vunnar, but that theory must place it millions of years ago, and that cannot be. It has degraded enough during my time that it couldn't possibly be more than fifteen thousand years old, and that would be stretching it by a long time."

"The Ice Age?" Raain spoke up.

"Even still, it wouldn't match this, and this has much green. If this were during the Ice Age it would be snow instead of green forests."

Nik walked around the large map table. As he looked at the smaller, diamond-shaped continent that might have been the modern three crunched as one, and much smaller, he saw four etchings. The continent had four countries in each of the corners. And in the middle of each of them was a round indentation. In one of them was a medallion just like his. He moved in closer and saw that it was not quite the same as his, instead, the man slain on his was alive on this one, and the slain man on the map's medallion was the man on the opposite side from his slain man.

"Rivals," Jeth said. "Yours is the opposite of the one already placed, is it not?"

"It is. Should I place mine here?" Nik asked.

"I would assume so."

"Do you know when the other was placed?" Raain asked as she reached that side of the table.

"I do not, my guess is that it was placed during the Renaissance."

"Well, here goes nothing," Nik set the medallion in its slot.

But nothing was not what happened.

The medallion began to spin, faster and faster, and suddenly stopped, perfectly aligned. The gems had rotated too, which began to glow. Ribbons of light matching the stones began to rise from the gems, twisting around each other as they rose, and then down. The medallion began to glow, and the room began to shake.

And the shaking didn't stop, nor did the glow from the medallion.

"What is this?" Nik shouted over the noise of rattling shelves and falling books.

"I don't know, but I don't think it's good," shouted Jeth.

"This can't be coincidence, how much do you suppose is shaking?" Raain called out as a large book fell from a high catwalk above and nearly missed her. "We should move, hide!" They scrambled under the table.

There was a loud rumbling, crashing noise, and they could tell that a huge cloud of dust was coming from the entrance, from the spiral stairs.

"We must get out of here now, before its too late," Jeth said in panic.

"Is there another way?" Nik asked.

"Of course, but it won't be easy to get back to the sanctuary from its exit. We must go now, follow me." Jeth seemed to have grown to a man of twenty years, he ran, the others just barely able to keep up. To the far end, they ran, to another set of stairs, and began to climb. The cloud of book dust from the hole was almost upon them as they shut the door which led out of this section of the library. "That's not going to be fun to clean up,' Jeth said. "Come, we climb."

"I hope this shaking stops," Raain called up after a short distance climbing this tightly spiraled staircase in the rock.

"I hoped it would when we got out of the room," Jeth said, "I hoped it would be localized."

The climb was difficult with ground and walls vibrating so much. Putting a foot down would find the ground rising up to meet it, and then dropping out from under it. There was a crash and a tumble from a short ways above, and one of the stairs rolled down upon them. Nik and Raain were able to jump over the stone stair, but before it got to them, Jeth was hit and fell to his face as the stair took his feet from under him. He began to slide, but Nik grabbed him and tried to pull him back to his feet. They were broken.

"I'll carry him," Raain shouted over the sound of the stone stair rolling the rest of the way down.

"I got him, go on, my lady!" Nik let out. He might have thought an oops but didn't have time to think it, nor to not say "my lady."

"I'm stronger than you, boy," she scolded, she was only a few years older. "I may dress like a lady, but I am stronger than most men, and he is my grandfather." She didn't know where that came from. But she put Jeth's arm around her shoulders and heaved him up the stairs as if he were a feather. Nik was impressed. She kept climbing and never seemed to tire, yet he was nearly ready to lift his feet and slide back down. The shaking didn't stop.

It took more than an hour to climb out, even Raain was starting to get tired, but she never expressed it. Finally, they found a landing with a door at it. They pushed open the door and were blinded by the midday light. They stood on a rolling field of rolling white stone. Jeth pointed to the south, "Go that way."

It was little easier walking on rolling rocks than climbing the spiraling stairs. The ground was still shaking, it must have been near two hours.

"We didn't just start another Kaatyclyzym, did we?" Nik called out, "I don't think there has been any quaking like this since then. I hope this doesn't last a thousand years!"

It didn't.

The quakes stopped as they reached the lift which would take them down the cliff face back to the sanctuary.

Part 7

Arun started laughing. "It's done! It's done!" He stood from the ground he'd been clutching and looked around. A few parts of the wall around the sanctuary had toppled, two buildings damaged, and part of the library. More than just a part, the pillars had toppled, the roof above the porticos had collapsed. The library was blocked off.

"What happened?" Griegg asked the universe as he helped up the monk they'd been sitting with.

"I don't know, but I fear what it might be," the monk said. He looked up towards the library, "Oh no, come we must climb the stairs!" The three began to run towards the Library, others joined the run. The humons ran up the stairs two and three at a time. Arun, having short legs, was much slower, but he was joined by Tedd a short ways up.

"I'll give you a lift," Tedd said as he picked up Arun and swung him onto his back. The size difference was not that great, but it was enough that Tedd could still climb, and catch up with the humons by the time they reached the top.

Several of the monks began throwing broken rocks down the sides of the stairs. A few began trying to move the medium and larger pieces with their minds, but they did not have the strength. Griegg saw this as the moment.

"Arun," Griegg said kneeling down in front of him, "Do you see those monks trying to move the rocks, you can do better. Go, move those stones, believe in yourself."

"They're huge, and the monks can't do it. I'm younger, smaller, and don't have the training." Arun didn't believe in himself.

"Doesn't matter, you have the ability, even if you don't know it. You can do more than you think you can. I always tell you that, now is your chance to prove me right. There are people trapped inside the library, including Raain. Get her and them out of there. Do it, roll the stones aside. You did it in the store, when we discovered this secret you kept from us. Do it here." Griegg stood and turned away and began grabbing the rocks he could and carrying them to the edge of the stairs and letting them fall. He probably wasn't the strongest there, but he carried stones larger than the others, he had to.

Look at those things, they're huge, I can barely move bread bowls, how can I move rocks the size of a horse stall? How can Griegg thinks I can do this? He keeps expecting me to do more than I can, I always disappoint him. Arun thought to himself as he slowly walked over towards the larger pieces. He was nearly run over by monks rushing with pieces the size of Arun's head, nearly hit by smaller pieces flying through the air. I have to do it, I have to. Maybe he's right, maybe, I have to try. Courage, confidence, clear mind, concentration.

Arun positioned himself on the second step, below a particularly large chunk of granite. He stared at it, stared with all his might. He lifted a hand, palm up, and reached out with his mind. Harder and harder he focused, but nothing happened, the rocks didn't budge, not even the dust on them. Ok, clear, try again, two hands this time. He lifted with all his mind, but nothing happened. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, like the store, make a mess, he concentrated on the stone and giving a yell of mental strain, threw his arms over his head.

The crash of falling rubble scared the monks, and they watched in awe as the largest stone flew into the air and went soaring into the distance away from the sanctuary and into the plains of Berryshire. One elic, maybe more, it wripped another few hundred feet of grasses before it finally stopped in a crumble.

"YEAH!" Griegg was the first to yell, and everyone else joined in right after, arms raised in the air. Griegg ran over and picked Arun up into the air. "I told you you could do it! I told you, I knew you could."

Tedd did a few flips in the air, bouncing off his tail, to celebrate Arun's accomplishment.

Griegg hugged him. Griegg never hugs, Arun thought. "I did it!" he yelled as the everyone cheered for him. They all knew of Arun, even if he hadn't been to the sanctuary. Arun had lived in Berryshire two years; after the incident at the store, and Griegg, Raain and The Eternal Matthew Clevell had come to the sanctuary to inquire if they would take him, but he was too old to begin basic training. He was at the age in which the sanctuary would send students out into the world to gain real experience. And so they sent him, though he didn't leave Berryshire. He asked to stay on at the Inn, and they allowed. Raain did her best to teach him how to use his mind to move objects, but her not having the gift made it difficult to teach. Matthew was too often away, but he taught what he could in the time allowed, in his way. Matthew's ways weren't always Arun's ways. Griegg had taken to teaching him ways of the wilderness, and of pulling from the forces of nature to do magic rather than from within his own willpower. But that was when the fire broke out and several elics of grasslands were burned. Nabal reincarnated that day, it was Arun's fault, first time he'd seen a reincarnation. Nabal had turned from a tortoise back into a humon.

"Now, do it again," Griegg said as he set Arun back to his feet and the cheers died down. There were other stones to move.

But try as Arun might, exactly as he did before, he couldn't do it again. He did finally manage to, working with several of the monks, slide another large stone onto and down the stairs. But he couldn't make any more fly. He was too distracted by having succeeded that he ended up failing. Or at least not succeeding in the same way as before. Griegg was a bit disappointed, but upon thinking on it that night, Griegg realized Arun's adrenaline would have been different at the time of his first success to the repeat attempts. Figuring this into Arun's training would be a challenge within Berryshire Town, Arun would have to go to Kyshroal, the only way to force him into the situations that his abilities were most prominent.

"Arun! Griegg!" A female voice called from high on the cliff, everyone looked up. The lift was coming down from the top of the cliff, in it were Nik, Raain and Jeth the Librarian.

"Raain!" Griegg yelled up, "We thought you were inside! What are you doing there?"

"We were inside, then we went outside." Raain laughed. "Arun, tell me that was you who threw that massive stone half way to town."

"That was not half way, but yeah, that was me. I couldn't repeat it though." Arun turned his head from looking up at her and the others in the lift to his feet.

"That was still incredible to witness," Nik called down. "You show you have great strength."

Arun was still feeling a bit of shame that he couldn't repeat the toss, but was very glad to see Raain, they greeted with harm hugs when the lift reached the porticos.

"I take it the quake was felt here too." Nik said. It was more of a statement than a question, a quick look around the sanctuary and valley below revealed it had been bad enough.

"Yeah, what did you guys do?" Tedd asked having joined them, his tongue hanging out as he panted from the work of heaving rocks.

Nik and Raain looked at each other and then at Jeth, "They put the medallion on a map," Jeth said. "Beyond that I cannot say."

"Cannot or will not?" Griegg asked with frustration.

"Both. Now if you'll excuse myself and the lady, my feet are broken, I need medical attention."

Griegg looked at him, could see the pain behind the old man's eyes, he tried to hide it, but Griegg could see it; his eyes were good. Though with that lack of answer I should let you suffer, Griegg thought, but he said, "I can help some," and he knelt down as Raain lowered Jeth to sit on the stone ground.

Jeth lifted his robed pants a bit to reveal the fractured legs and feet. Carefully Griegg pulled his shoes off, Jeth winced. "I'm sorry, I need the skin in order to heal," Griegg said consolably. No one deserved the pain of crushed legs and feet, even if it were a monk of no answers. Placing a hand on each leg, just above the feet, he closed his eyes, breathed deep the air of nature, he focused on the forces that give life to the world, gathered them to him. The air around him tinted green and yellow. "Heshtoreth," he said as he exhaled the gathered energies through his hands to the wounds. This casting required much more energy from him and from nature and the life force around him than the bruise the other night from Raain. And the affect was much greater.

The purpled skin began to turn back to pale, a few cracking noises gave evidence to the bones going back into place, and the sigh of relief from Jeth gave evidence to the pain fading to near nothing. "You are gifted my friend. I thank you for sharing your gift with me."

"It's my honor to heal the 27th Jeth of the Mayhart Sanctuary." Griegg bowed.

"No, tis I that should bow to you," Jeth bowed as he stood on his healed legs and feet. "It is an honor to be healed by the Protector of Berryshire. What I would do if you were indeed dead? Thank Onalru and Kaalru."

"Indeed. Thank them." Griegg said, also relieved that he had had the good luck of avoiding being murdered.

Raain helped Jeth down the stairs, he wasn't completely healed, but enough that he could put his weight on his legs and slowly climb down the many stairs. Nik joined in with Griegg, Tedd, Arun and the rest of the monks in moving rubble to gain access to the entrance of the library.

After another hour of moving rubble, and breaking up the larger stones into manageable pieces, they made their way to an opening into the library. A few more stones and over a hundred monks were able to climb out. Many had injuries, though none as severe as Jeth's, many were cut and bruised.

"I used most of my abilities for the day on Jeth," Griegg said, these will have to find a proper healer.

"Well, good thing I am one," Nik said.

Griegg snapped his head towards Nik, "You're a healer? Then why didn't you heal Jeth? You let him suffer those stairs and the walk across the top?" Nik had told them of the events which took place, leaving out the unusual details of the map.

"True enough, I could have healed him. But as you said, you used most of your strength for the day in that one spell, it would have cost me more. But helping these smaller injuries, these cuts and bruises, I can do a thousand a day. If I cast the spell you did, I would have used all I am. I've known some that have tried to cast spells beyond them and they've killed themselves."

"I've never heard of that," Griegg suddenly had concern for what he had just done. He had never put so much into one spell as he had done for Jeth.

"You're fine, different sources of power." Nik said. "You draw from nature, an almost infinite amount of life energy, I draw from within, my own life force. But not my mind, like young Arun. From my body. I could have healed him, but the cost to me would have been greater than the pain he was suffering. For small injuries, I can heal myself as quickly as I heal another, but that is me dabbling in nature, and I am weak there and can only heal myself of small amounts. With the energies of nature, of the Roia and Alru, the amount of power you can pull at one time is limited by your own training and strength to pull. For me, its what I can give. It's easier to take than to give; until you learn to give without losing."

"I had thought it easier to give of self than to take from another," Griegg countered.

"Easier, yes, but limited by our own stamina. However, as that increases, as we learn to take energies into ourselves, from whatever source, as we increase our power, we are able to give more, and eventually can give far more than you'll ever be able to by taking."

"You can resurrect, I can't," Griegg said.

"I can't either. Yet. As I said, I wouldn't have been able to heal his legs; maybe a little, but no where near what I knew you could do."

Someone who believes in me the way I believe in Arun, the way I try to. Griegg thought. An interesting companion he will make, quite useful on the journey.

As the Roia set, and the cold winds came across the valley, they left the remainder of the rubble to be cleaned the next day. Diner was a bustle of conversation with many recants of Arun's success, as well as how each had faired during the quake. After diner, everyone gathered around the tree in the middle of the Sanctuary. They lit two lanterns for the dead.

Part 8

Ûthõn`Roidd, 7 Nédiïn 3884

She got it wrong. She almost had it, but then she couldn't remember how the morning trumpet call ended. Raain blasted the trumpet as she began to laugh at herself. Of course she didn't remember it, she knew she wouldn't.

"Ok, you were right Beau, I'm sorry I made you get up early to do the Call," Frederick Bæzel laughed with her, and a little bit at her.

"Oh well, it was still nice to Call the Roia again."

"Well, let's go for breakfast."

The morning air was cold and brisk, a soft fog lay over everything. The lanterns along the porticos of the library illuminated the fog from high above the sanctuary, the tall pillars casting criss-crossing lines of dancing shadow through the fog. The shadows extended just beyond the walls of the sanctuary before fading.

"Today would be a good day to show Nik the view from the top of the stairs, if the fog sticks," Raain said, thinking aloud as they walked from the Call Tower to the dining hall.

Griegg wasn't feeling well, his head hurt. It was a pain he'd felt before, and it always made him confused easily, events seemed a blur and difficult to understand, and things didn't look right. But he had to get up and eat something, the monk's breakfast was good for a morning after drinking too much, it would be good for his current spinning. As he sat up he noticed that he was the last to get up, quite the change from yesterday's being the first up.

The door out of the bunks was at the end of one of the shadows from the pillars above. Griegg looked up at the library, squinting, and rubbing his eyes, he propped himself against the door way. Something didn't seem right. But as he looked around the sanctuary, and up to the Library, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, he couldn't figure out why he felt something was wrong, everything looked right. This damned headache confusing me again, he thought. Breakfast, that will help.

Tedd was leaving the dining hall as Griegg arrived, "Ah, you're up. You didn't look well, figured we'd let you rest."

"My head is the size of a giant toad," Griegg managed to say with some struggle.

"And you look as pale as it's excrement," Tedd joked, though he did so empathetically, he knew Griegg was in pain. "There's still food left, I recommend double portions."

"Will do. I'll see you in a bit." Griegg entered the dining hall.

"Ah, there you are!" It was Raain, loudly. "Oh, you don't look well. I get why you're late. Here, have a seat, I'll get your bowl." Griegg sat at the first open spot, barely ten feet from the door. He cradled his head in his hands, elbows on the table. A moment later Raain sat down next to him and place the bowl in front of him; it contained double portions.

Nik saw them from across the room, realizing something was clearly wrong with his new companion. He joined them. "You look terrible," he said.

"He get's these massive headaches every once in a while. There's not much we've figured can be done. If we were back in town, Talur would take him out back for a smoke of majna, but there's none at the Sanctuary," Raain told Nik.

"Good to know the town has some, I ran out about a week ago."

"When we get back, talk to Talur. But even if we did have some here, it only eases the pain, it doesn't stop it completely, nor does it help with his state of confusion."

"I think I've heard of these. Always in the morning, confusion, dizziness, nothing seeming right.

"I haven't come across any others," Raain said, interested, "but I would have assumed there were others."

"Very few. I meet many people in my travels, and of the tens of thousands, he is now the sixth I've known to have these. But they were far crazier than Griegg, thinking things happen that didn't or remembering people that don't exist. I have found no cure."

"I don't think I'm that crazy. Everything this morning otherwise seems as it should be." They sat in silence while Griegg finished eating. By the time he was done, they were the only ones left in the hall beside those in the kitchen cleaning the dishes.

"Will you join us in taking Arun into the Library today, or would you rather laydown?" Raain finally asked Griegg as she took his bowl back to the counter with the remaining dirty dishes.

"Though this food still remains one of the best treatments," Griegg was feeling a bit better, "I don't know if I feel like climbing the stairs, I think I will relax in the grass."

"Would being out of the fog not be better?" Nik asked just before opening the door to leave the hall. "Oh, the fog has lifted," the air was clear outside.

"Yeah, it happens that quickly," Raain told him. "Go ahead and rest Griegg, Nik and I will take Arun up."

"Enjoy your readings," Griegg said as he sat down in the dry grass under the blue sky laced with a few faint pink swirls, the red Alrualiss were barely visible, and the Rings of Emiyl were barely reflecting the light of the roia this mid-morning. Nik and Raain went off to find Arun, whom was sitting on the bottom step.

"Is Griegg ok?" Arun asked as the two of them approached without Griegg.

"He will be, it's his headache, he's going to rest in the grass while we take you up," Raain told Arun as he stood up and the three of them began climbing the stairs.

Nik's legs hurt sooner than they had during yesterday's climb, and Arun, with his legs that were not much taller than the rise of each step, was having to use his hands to help him climb. Raain made it to the top first; finally looking back, she saw Nik trudging, and Arun crawling.

"Arun!" she became overcome with sympathy, having forgotten the difficulty of these steps for someone as short as a Hobbot. "I'm sorry, why didn't you say something? I would have carried you."

"No, I got it," he said huffing up the stairs on all four. Nik barely had time to catch his breath before Arun was at the top. Arun turned and beheld the sight of the valley, fogless.

"Just as spectacular as yesterday," Nik remarked. "Though I would have liked to have seen it from up here with the fog that was in this morning; the torches behind the pillars was beautifully eerie."

"Seeing it at night, before the roia have begun to light the sky and the fog, if the fog is just right, and there's only one Alru, and it's dim, and they are new torches, the glow and shadows reach the Town." Raain recalled three such nights in her thirty-five years.

After a few minutes of admiring the view and catching their breath, they walked past the pillars, and through the central double-doors into the Library.

Arun looked up at the ceiling, in awe of the expanse of the painting. "It doesn't move," he said with disappointment thinking of The Eternal's paintings at the Aurie View Lodge.

"No, these are not magical paintings, these are just paintings. They are paintings of history, and some of it does include magic," Raain told him, laughingly.

In addition to the painting of the First Supper, there were images of attempts to reach the Kæav, of battles with the Uun, of ships crossing an Auriese. Paintings of battles with hhorq, dragons, monstrous hairy creatures, Serpintines, and of the humon slavery under the Ndourin and Valswyn (the slaverers in fine clothing while the humons labored with empty pockets, and dying of diseases). Arun spent nearly an hour just walking up and down aisles of bookshelves, looking up and studying the images on the ceiling. Nik was also rather fascinated by the stories told above their heads, as Raain described most of them, some she was not sure what what the event pictured was.

As the lunch horn blew, they left the library, descending the stairs, and to the main lawn where a barbecue had been set up, the monks were cooking a giant elk. The animal was sitting outside the Sanctuary gates being carved. Several monks had climbed on top of the carcass and were cutting out slabs of meat the size of a cow. One of the animal's legs, at it's narrowest, was a wide as a humon tall. The massive creature would feed the 150 monks in the sanctuary for the next three months of the cold season. This was a welcomed feast and a needed kill; the previous grow season had been smaller than hoped, and smaller than necessary. It was rare that a giant elk would venture this far north in the plains, they usually stayed on the south, beyond the borders of Berryshire, over fifty elics away.

While some cut meat, or carried the pieces to the barbecue, other monks were circled around the elk offering thanks to its spirit for sacrificing itself to their needs, and praying that it would be honored in its next life, that it be blessed with little turmoil. "Kadd lari`On" (May the chaos of your existence be beneficial) they sang to the elk as the prayers ended.

The First Feast of the Kill was always festive and filling. Each time a huge beast such as this was slain, a feast would be held that night, eating as much food as could be had, and the rest preserved in cakes of salt. However, it had been two seasons since a beast a quarter the size had been even seen.

They all ate and laughed, Griegg joined the festivities though was still feeling sluggish he was much better than in the morning. The monks were sharing random humorous stories of their life in the Sanctuary, and especially enjoyed telling Arun of the many antics which Raain would get in as a youth. Several of the monks told the same stories, only slightly different. And then each would give him a few words of wisdom:

"When there's a job to do, do it now," one monk said. Another nearby told Arun that "a job worth doing is a job worth doing right." Later he was told that "Simple living does not mean poverty of wealth or poverty of consciousness. But abundance of contentness." Then "When the great man learns the Way, he follows it with diligence; When the common man learns the Way, he follows it on occasion; When the mean man learns the Way, he laughs out loud; Those who do not laugh, do not learn at all. Therefore it is said: Who understands the Way seems foolish; Who progresses on the Way seems to fail; Who follows the Way seems to wander." Many of the things said confused Arun, though a few he understood, and some seemed to have a wisdom that was both lacking and extensive at the same time: "We are all different," another monk had said, "and that makes us all the same: different." And "Weird is normal, normal is weird."

As the Roia set, nearly everyone had stuffed themselves to the brim from eating all afternoon. Onalru was directly overhead, half full, Vialru two thirds full and fading, and Kaalru was nearing full in the far side of the sky. The ribbons of the Alru Lights danced in blues, greens, and yellows. The cloud of Illek's Meal shone bright on this clear night, the rings fading again.

As the barbecue fire was turned into an evening fire a few of the monks brought out stringed and wind-pipe instruments (Tedd also brought out his flute), and a few hand drums, and they played well into the night. As they played, Raain, and a few other monks, danced. It was the first time Raain had danced since hearing of Griegg's death. Griegg listened to the music and watched her spin and circle the fire, but Nik was watching, too.

As they all went to bed, all agreed it had been a great day and besides Griegg's headache, it had been a very enjoyable trip to the Sanctuary for the weekend.

Not Dead Yet - Chapter 4

Contents

Mayhart Sanctuary

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

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