章 22: The Cave
Elektra was couching beside the Shaman, trying to terminate the flow of his soul or something from his body with her fingers. Her face was turned away from the group, for whom the world had stropped moving. Their eyes were on the immobile form of the child, small in death.
Somewhere, Nimuel was gasping for breathe, her voice struggling to find a scream that should eventually rise the dead. Saayan was whispering something, something in the language of the Shadow Realm, and Aelanor could not make out anything. There was some sort of cushion being pushed over the eardrums of her ear, and the world around her was trying to fade. However, her objective was clear: to clear out of the Nightmare's Isles without any further casualty.
One look at Nimuel and Aelanor ran towards her.
"You bitc-" Nimuel's words were muffled as Aelanor's palms covered her mouth and dragged her away.
"Aelanor-"
"Shh, Nimuel, listen-"
"Aelanor, Haz'th-" Nimuel's eyes sparkled with tears and hatred for the witch, and she was rendered speechless as she heaved with each name she whispered.
"I know, sister. But this is not the time. We have to get out."
Nimuel looked like she wouldn't listen, but nodded her head as she followed Aelanor and Saayan in between the gaps and spaces between the crowd formed.
"But we can't leave his body amongst these monsters," Nimuel objected.
"Haz'th's body will become one with the shadows, in due time," Saayan said, her voice- even hollower than usual. "There is nothing else we can do for him."
"Why yes, I think we can," Aelanor whispered as she came to an abrupt halt.
Eyes moving across the hall, they landed on a cave like structure behind the waterfall. It was barely visible, but at the first glance itself, Aelanor knew what that place could be.
They made a beeline for the room, which was easy, since by now, most of the occupants of the room were gathered near the Queen and the Shaman.
A small crevice at the extreme left of the waterfall made it easier for the group to reach behind the waterfall without getting soaked. The place was lit with an eerie blue light, the floor of which was damp with water. Brown stones embellished the bottom and the walls, with green ivy running down from the ceiling. The place looked forlorn and possibly dangerous, but the group knew that something even worse is awaiting them outside.
At the far end of the cave shone a roughly hewn stone structure, that looked like the door to a certain room from which the blue light was emitting. Their feet splashed in the muddy water as they made their way towards it. Upon examining the stone tablet, they found some circular dugouts on it, and the same number of circular stone chips in a hollow rectangular hole near it. Clearly the chips were meant to be inserted in the dugouts.
"But how-" Aelanor asked, as her eyes travelled around the cave, and so did Nimuel's, which were still full of tears.
"There." It was Saayan who pointed towards the ceiling in the right. A particularly ferocious-looking ivy hung from the damp walls and made it abundantly hard to read the writing on the wall. Having surrendered their own weapons at the entrance of the Palace to the Satyr, they had nothing but their hands to get rid of the firm ivy.
Their hands were badly bruised, but it took surprisingly little time to remove the plants. Once clear, the marks on the giant stone tablet became abundantly clear. On the left, there was a circle carved with six holes. The stone beneath the tablet glowed blue, and when Aelanor pressed on it, a cabinet opened up. Six stone tablets were inside, bearing rough hand drawn marks:
(A symbol of a bell)
(A symbol of an apple)
(A picture of a mountain)
(Symbol of Yin and Yang)
(A symbol of peace)
(A symbol of a water droplet)
On the left were a few lines embossed. They said:
"Six were the nights, and six were the days
That built the world to befit our ways-
Six to destroy, and six to create
Will open the doors, if thy can state.
What goes to the fourth, and left of the drop-
Of water; and is perched atop
Will ring against the time, and so will the light
Will fight against the darkness of the night.
Would the fruits of hardship fail to meet
The glistening drop of ecstasy?
By whom, I ask, one clue to release-
It hath not been by the offering of peace.
The hands of time will ring right by
And hilltops will again sing to the sky."
"What the-" Nimuel said.
"Another puzzle." Aelanor said as she stared at the inscription.
"But we don't have that much time," Saayan said. "Deciphering this riddle; any of these magickal monsters might realise we have left any time now."
"We owe it to Haz'th to try."
"Try what, Princess?" Saayan asked.
"Try and turn this kingdom into ashes!" Aelanor replied.
Nimuel stared at her in disbelief, and even Saayan seemed stumped for words.
"How?" Nimuel whispered.
"Remember Elektra told us that there is some kind of switch that keeps the sun's harmful rays at bay? I figured it has to be inside this chamber, since it is so secured. But how to get past this security?"
"What happens if the kingdom is destroyed? What would happen to the creatures here?"
"We will survive," a voice boomed from the back, "but our people would not forgive you."
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