Capítulo 91: Chapter 90
Cara cursed herself all the way back into the courtyard. She found her parents and Stevin sitting at a table and it looked like her parents didn't know that she had been late, because her mother wasn't looking angry yet.
"How was the Elder's speech? we didn't see you come in," her mother asked.
"Oh I had just arrived in time so I didn't have time to look for you guys," she said.
"Come and eat with us then," said her father.
"No, I'll eat later, I have some work to do," she said.
"What are you talking about? I wanted to introduce you to some people," said her mother.
"Sorry, it's actually Elder's orders," she said.
"Oh, then get on with it," her mother said.
Cara rushed out of the big iron doors, ran to the spiral stairs, and took the stairs upward. She went up and up until there were no more houses and the walls of the mountain had also started to shrink in. She finally reached a floor where there were several small huts all around. Cara went to the biggest one and knocked. She had only ever been here with her friends just to take a look, it wasn't restricted because they would have had a gate or some guards here then, but it was really far and there weren't good stories regarding this place and about Elder Shadow. There were rumors that Elder Shadow was actually locked up by the other elders all the way to the top where the stairs end. But if that was true then why would they invite him to the festival when it happened here?
The other person she was worried about seeing was Rit and as the big door opened Rit finally appeared. He had long straight brown-red hairs falling down his large face covering his ears, he had a bid red mustache and a very scarred face. He was also twice her size and four times as wide in the shoulders. Rit was the only half-dwarf and half-god knows what she had seen. For humans or elves he might just be a slightly tall and bulky man but for her he seemed like a giant.
"What?" he asked looking at her. Contrary to what she had expected he didn't growled at her in a rough voice but in a perfectly normal and almost curious tone.
"Elder Holt sent me to bring Elder Shadow's dinner to him," she said looking up in his big eyes.
"What did you do?" he asked turning around and gesturing her to wait.
He came back and put two big buckets in front of her, they were filled with food that didn't look anything like she had ever eaten.
"Take them up there, here's the key to unlock the gate, don't forget to bring the last night's empty ones back, and do not forget to lock the door," said Rit.
"You might wanna leave your hammer behind if it gets too heavy," said Rit.
"No, I should be fine," she was still too fond of her new hammer.
So, Cara picked up the buckets and took the spiral stairs upward, the buckets were heavy and she had to exert herself to take each step upward, the spirals were getting too narrow and curved as she was getting higher inside the mountain, and the steps also got a lot steeper and the mountain narrower. Finally, the stairs stopped and a landing came into view, she looked around and saw that large windows had been made into the walls of the mountain, the mountains walls were much closer but still they were pretty far and as she looked down she realized how high she was and if she fell from here she would pummel straight down to the bottom floor and won't survive. The windows were large and big, it almost seemed like she was in a tall tower now instead of a mountain, she could see the night sky through the windows. She reached the landing and looked ahead at the dome-shaped hall-like room in front of her. There were two black gates in front of her with strange flowing designs on them. The spiraling curves were either water, smoke, or a snake.
The lock was also similarly designed and it was big, she put the black key Rit had given her in the lock and twisted it, it turned and opened with a puff of smoke coming out the key remained inside the door opened slightly. She picked up the buckets and entered. There was very little light inside, some from the slightly open door, some from the small different colored flames in the corners of the large hall. There were also several weirdly shaped mirrors in the hall, one of which was under a slow fountain of water, as she passed by it she saw her rippling image in the mirror. She spotted two bucket lying in the centre, she hurried towards them and placed her buckets near them and picked them up, she was about to hurry back but then she remembered she had to invite the Elder for the festival.
"Elder," she spoke slowly looking around in the shadows. Suddenly a gust of wind came and the gate closed behind her. At the same time, the green flames got a little brighter, with another gust of wind from god knows where she saw someone appear in front of her.
It was a dwarf, much thinner compared to most, making him look like a human child, except he had a long beard and long flowing robbes of silk which looked like mirrors themselves. Cara bowed deeply.
"What's your name child?" asked Elder Shadow.
"Cara Vormeir of the Hammer clan," she said.
"Ah I can see that, Cara Vormeir, why have you called me?" he asked.
"Umm, Elder Holt wanted me to invite you to the festival tomorrow," she said still bowing.
"Ah, is it that time already?" he said. Cara suddenly felt something touch her shoulder, a heavy weight rested on it, like a much larger hammer had been placed on it, but when she looked up she was shocked to see, it was a neck. A long furry neck, which extended from a large dog or fox-like creature with white and red color, the long neck reached to a head of a head which was budy eating from the bucket right now.
Cara didn't think it was right to ask about it and stayed silently, trying to calm her shaking body as the weird beast ate the food from the bucket.
"The Elders sometimes send young ones to me as a form of punishment since it is a physical task bringing my food, but it doesn't seem that much of a problem for the hammer clans, your parents must have trained you very well," said Elder shadow.
"Yeah, they are both Low Jades so they can be pretty strict," she said.
"Ah, Low Jade, I remember when I was at that level, I had just started to experience the wonders of dreams and shadows," he said.
"My parents have been Low Jade for a long time, if they had ascended to High Jade they could become Elders, I have always wondered what is the reason some people get stuck at different levels," she asked. It was the fear every copper had, what if they remained copper for the rest of their lives, some were stuck at Iron and many at Silver.
"No one has asked me a question like that in decades, not a copper like you anyways, usually they just run away after leaving the buckets, the answer though has a price if you wish to hear," said the Elder shadow.
"What is it, Elder?" she asked.
"There is a small path behind this hall, it leads upward right to the tip of a mountain, if you follow it you will eventually come on the other side and will find yourself at the summit of the mountain, there at the very tip you will find a small sword placed buried in the rocks, can you go there and tell me how much of the blade can you see coming out?" he asked.
"Can't you go there and see yourself?" she asked. What she really wanted to ask was that why was he locked in here?
"I am not in my true form yet, this chamber helps me talk to you in a shadow form, and eat food through that beast form to sustain myself if I leave the chamber until I have gathered all my forms I will just blow away like smoke," he said.
"Then how will you attend the festival?" she asked.
And in answer, a small white and red colored cat appeared from the dark and landed near his foot.
"This is the form I will appear in, this is the only form I have control over which can go outside, Thalacus, the beast form might not be a good idea to send alone he gets quite agitated with too large crowds," said the Elder.
"So, will you go and check it for me?" he asked.
"Sure," she said and left the hall and went behind it, there was a small ramp leading towards the mountain walls and upwards, when she followed it slowly, she found a set of carved steps in the mountain rocks, they were very small and hard to see. She carefully walked over them and after some minutes found herself at another oval window, only this was much smaller, she looked over the window and saw that she was indeed at the very top of the mountain, the wind was very fast here and the tip was snow covered. It was so high that a small light was coming from the sun that hadn't come up for the rest of the mountain yet. She climbed to the other side of the window too mesmerized by the view to be scared now. She grabbed onto the rocks to not fall in the fast wind. She looked up and there was indeed a sword buried into a big rock. Its handle was black and the blade was red. It was buried halfway through the rock.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder