Looking wearily around the observatory I sigh. After everything I've been through, the weaponmachines are here; back almost at the start of my journey. Only this time I am alone in truth; not even Maruman is here, though he promised to be with me to the end. I shake my head, pushing away the thoughts and despair. They belong to Elspeth; Innel has a job to do. Everything is as it was before, but this time the memory of my dream guides me unerringly to a corner of the room where I push aside the disguising shelving. Behind it is the final door. Pulling out the little plast access key, my eyes suddenly fill with tears; Maruman was supposed to be with me for this. Resolutely, I once again force the feelings away. He is not here, and I can only hope that what I have discovered since is true and only the one voice is needed to use it. Pushing the key into a slot beside the door I take a deep breath and speak. "My name is Elspeth Gordie. I am the Seeker."
After a heart-stopping moment the door glides open, pale lights coming on to reveal a featureless stairwell; leading down. Walking through the door, I think briefly about closing it, but there seems little point, and my mind is focused on the weapon machines which are surely waiting below. As I descend, my footsteps echo loudly against the smooth walls, the stairs distorting them so that at times it sounds as though there are two sets of footsteps, or three, or a hundred.
Finally the stairs come to an end. With a strange sense of detachment, I walk through the doorway and look around at this, the final destination of my quest. The room is unfamiliar, yet I recognise it from my earliest dreams. My gaze is drawn like a magnet towards a bench at the side of the room and I move towards it, my footsteps silent on the carpeted floor. Halfway there I pause; if the carpet muffles my steps, why can I still hear their echoes?
Then the echoes stop, and a cold clear voice speaks behind me. "Why, thankyou... Seeker."
With a chill sense of foreboding, I turn to face the figure standing in the doorway, his long pale hair glowing eerily in the dim lighting.
"Ariel. I knew you were the Destroyer." I have never said it in as many words, but it feels right. He had been haunting my dreams for years, and somewhere in my subconsciousness I had known.
"Oh no, dear Elspeth, you are quite mistaken. I am not the Destroyer; I am H'rayka, He Who Brings Destruction." He raises his voice, his chill smile widening. "So come here, my little Destroyer; come here, my wolf."
My mind is racing. What does he mean he is not the Destroyer? It was always supposed to be him. Then my mind skips to the last thing he said. He can't mean a real wolf, can he? But the only human I have ever heard called one... by Ariel... it can't be... Desperately hoping, pleading with whatever powers might be listening, I turn my attention to the figure coming reluctantly through the doorway. Unkempt brown hair obscures his face and for a moment I think I might be wrong, it might not be him. Then he raises his head, his tortured green eyes meeting mine and my heart contracts in a spasm of love and fear.
"Rushton!"