Thanks go out to Gehn the Grey, my first reviewer!
--------
I span around quickly to see who it was. It was not Atrus, nor was it Catherine. It was a woman. She was about nineteen years old. She wore a brown shirt with sewn leaves all over it, with translucent white sleeves. She also wore a dark grey skirt to her knees, and a fine gold chain around her neck with a seashell hanging on it. She had tied back blonde hair and amber eyes.
"Hullo, Yeesha," I said. "You gave me a bit of a fright there."
"Sorry about that," she said and smiled. "I'm glad I got here in time. I shouldn't go to that Age, if I were you. Agaeris wrote it, and it's his first Age. Father wishes to go to it before anyone else to make sure it's stable."
"I wasn't going to go to it," I assured her. "I was only going to peek at the picture."
"Even so, father feels no one should touch it until he has inspected it," Yeesha said.
"Very well," I said. "What have you been up to lately?"
"I've been staying in Tomahna," she answered. "I don't particularly feel safe traveling father's Ages alone. He hasn't been able to go with me very often, as he's got a lot of work to do in Releeshahn. And mother will only occasionally leave the house unattended."
"I just came back from Whiterock," I said. "Your father's Ages are very stable, I assure you."
"Even so, I don't feel secure enough," she said. "I thought Sirrus and Achenar destroyed Whiterock?"
"Your father thought they had," I explained, "but he linked back to Myst and found it undamaged amongst the other burned books."
"That explains it then," said Yeesha. "Anyway, I can't stop for long, I have to go help my mother with some housework. Agaeris just arrived, a moment ago. I'll tell him you're in here."
"Thanks, Yeesha," I said. She turned around and walked out, closing the stained glass door behind her.
I turned away from the Fahsehv book and to a small metal table by the wall. There was a single large but thin Linking book resting on it. The book was dark red and the corners were gold. In the middle there was a rectangular patch of lighter red. In this there was the D'ni number Five in gold, and a circle of gold around it. I shuddered, as I knew what this was. This was a Linking book to the Fifth Age. I had been to it before, on a mission to rescue Catherine from Atrus' evil father, Gehn. The Age was not exactly a pleasant one: my memory of it was that it had a very eerie and frightening aura surrounding it. I knew I was safe to open this book, however...
Yes. When I did, the panel that normally would have shown the Age I was about to link to was black, with explosions of electricity dancing around in it. Riven was no longer an Age, for it had fallen apart just after I had freed Catherine. It did not exist any more. I did wonder why Atrus had kept the book. I didn't like to think about the result of Linking through it.
I turned back to Atrus' desk. In the middle of it sat a stack of three thin books with mottled green covers. The one on the top was locked with a Nara padlock, the likes of which bound the Releeshahn book. The key to this book lay in the middle of it, so overcome with curiosity, I inserted it into the lock and turned it. The strips of metal across the open end of the book snapped open. I picked the book up. It was rather heavy for its size, even without the padlock. I opened the cover and saw a rotating picture of a small, dank, circular room with round archways around the walls. I knew what this book was. It was not a Linking book, as it gave the impression of. It was a one-man prison book disguised as a Linking book. And I had seen this book before. It was the book that nearly twenty years ago I had trapped Atrus' father, Gehn, inside. If I touched the panel, I would take his place in the book, and he would assuredly kill Atrus and his family, and destroy the book he had been trapped in.
I could not imagine what Gehn was thinking as he stared up at me from the book. He must have hated the sight more than anything else. Fortunately I could not see him in it. I hastily closed the cover of the book and secured the padlock.
I opened one of the other two prison books, which were not locked, and looked inside. An image of Atrus' sunroom which I had just come from span around and around in the glowing panel. There again, it may have just been a Linking book to Tomahna...but I did not mean to test the idea. I shut the book.
Just then, the doors opened behind me. I turned around and saw someone walking in. He had blonde hair, and was about average height for a sixteen- year-old. He had grey-blue eyes. He wore the same sort of clothes I always remember Atrus wearing: a white baggy shirt and pants, and a brown vest. He did not have spectacles, like his father, however. It was Agaeris.
"Ah, just in time!" he said when he saw me. He walked closer to me. "I have been so looking forward to meeting you. From what my father has told me, you have helped him out of a few sticky situations. I thank you. It seems that without you I would not be here.
"I apologize for being so forward," he said with a laugh. "My name is Agaeris. I am my father's third son. From what he has said, I presume you have heard of his first two?"
"Yes," I said, nodding. "Sirrus and Achenar. I had the displeasure of meeting them on Myst, many years ago."
"You were very close to freeing one of them, I take it," he said. "Thank God you didn't. The result would be...catastrophic. Which one did you trust more?"
"I must admit it was Sirrus," I said. "Something about all the torture instruments in Achenar's room put me off him somewhat."
"Well, all in the past," Agaeris said. "Well, I'm very pleased to meet you."
"And I to meet you," I replied. "I notice you take after your father," I added, motioning my head toward the Fahsehv book.
"Oh yes," said Agaeris. "I very much enjoy writing Ages. That's the first I've written. After father inspects it to make sure that it is safe, we can explore it together."
"I would very much enjoy that," I said. "I've just come back from Whiterock."
"Yes, father told me you were away in that Age," said Agaeris. "Well, I suppose we'll just wait here for a while, until father returns."
I walked over and sat on the shelf by the Riven book. Agaeris took the seat by Atrus' desk.
"So," he said, "what do you do?"
"Well, Atrus always likes it when I give him feedback on his Ages," I answered. "He sends me to his new ones after he makes sure they're stable, and to his old ones I haven't been to yet."
"Sounds like not a bad life," said Agaeris. "And you have a sort of prerogative of going after people who are trying to hurt my father, I hear."
"Sirrus, Achenar, Gehn, and Saavedro," I said, counting on my fingers. "Though I did let Saavedro free in the end. He did not deserve death. Sirrus and Achenar tore him and his family away from each other, and destroyed his home."
"He nearly did away with Releeshahn," said Agaeris.
"He only wanted revenge for the wrongs that were done," I told him. "He thought Atrus had put them up to it."
"Well, it can't be helped," said Agaeris. "I've always hated it when people linger in the past. All that's done is done, and it can't be – "
He was cut off suddenly by the sound of someone Linking in. He jumped up out of his seat and stood next to the desk. A man appeared out of thin air by the Releeshahn sphere. He was wearing a black jacket and pants with metal studs on them. He had a bright red sash which wrapped around his neck then went round his chest and back and rejoined his neck again. He also had a black hood which hid his ears and hair, and a pair of goggles. It was actually impossible to tell whether 'he' was a 'he'. His black pants went to his knees, under which there were white pants which stretched to his feet. He had brown shoes on. In his right hand he carried a gold-coloured blowgun.
"Who are – "Agaeris started, but the intruder had already raised the blowgun to his lips and fired it. Agaeris was shot to the ground with a yell. I leapt up off the shelf and tried to intervene with the attacker, but he hit me over the head with the blowgun and I too fell down. He ran past me.
Catherine burst through the glass doors to find out what Agaeris had yelled for. She found the man standing over Agaeris' limp form, moving for the Fahsehv book. She took him by surprise and grabbed his gun, trying to tear it from him.
"Yeesha!" she screamed out the door. "Yeesha! Take the key to Releeshahn and find your father! Quickly!"
The intruder swiftly whipped a tiny knife from his belt and stabbed it into Catherine's right thigh. She screamed and fell down, the knife lodged in her leg.
I sat up slowly, clutching my throbbing head. I saw the man take the Fahsehv book from the stand and open it. He tore off his hood and goggles. A neck-length mass of thin, unruly grey hair fell out. His eyes were cold and grey. His mouth spread into a wide, evil grin, revealing a set of hideous teeth. He uttered a chilling, spineless laugh and raised his hand. In it was a small glass phial, containing some clear liquid. It was clearly the antidote.
He dropped the phial onto the ground where it shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. He laughed again, and triumphantly put his hand on the Fahsehv book's moving panel. He was gone in a second.
I rushed over to Catherine's side. I looked closely at her leg. The dagger that was stuck in it had a short triangular blade and no real handle – just a circlet with the D'ni number five in the middle. It was a dagger of the Moiety, the people of Riven. When I thought about it, I realized that the man had been wearing a Moiety uniform and blowgun also.
"Don't take it out!" cried Catherine as I reached for the knife.
Yeesha came sprinting into the room. "Mother!" she cried. "What happened?"
"Leave me, just go to Releeshahn!" said Catherine urgently. "Find your father!"
She took a key from her pocket and handed it to her daughter. Yeesha ran over to the sphere, opened it, and unlocked the book. She opened the cover and pressed her hand to the panel, and linked to Releeshahn.
I then turned to Agaeris. He was still alive, but unconscious. He was very cold. The dart had hit him in the side of the neck, but had missed the vital blood vessels. The dart was small and ovular, with a short, thin point on the end. It was fitted with tiny white feathers. I pinched it between my thumb and forefinger, and pulled it out. I quickly tore a piece of my sleeve off and wrapped it around his neck to stem the bleeding.
A moment later, two people linked into the room. It was Atrus and Yeesha leading him.
"Agaeris!" Atrus yelled and knelt down beside him. "What happened?" he asked me. I gave him the dart. "What kind of dart is this?"
"It is a Moiety dart," gasped Catherine, clutching her leg.
"The Moiety?" said Atrus, confused. "But the Moiety lived on Riven, and that no longer exists!"
"I am as puzzled as you, but there is no time for that now!" said Catherine. "He linked to Fahsehv! He knows where to get the antidote for the poison in the dart."
"Agaeris' Age! This gets worse!" exclaimed Atrus. "We cannot follow because we do not know if the Age is stable!"
I stood up and hopped over Catherine's outstretched leg to reach the book. It lay open on the ground, spine-up. I picked it up and moved my hand toward the panel.
"My friend!" said Atrus. "Do not do it! The Age could be unstable! It – "
But I had already made my mind up. I touched the glowing panel, and felt my body fading away. There was a most peculiar spinning sensation in my stomach as I was sucked in. But before I went, I reached out my hands and grabbed two flat, rectangular objects, and then I was gone.
--------
Oh no! What will happen to Agaeris? Dun-dun-DUN! I'll update soon. Thanks again to Gehn the Grey for reviewing.
--------
I span around quickly to see who it was. It was not Atrus, nor was it Catherine. It was a woman. She was about nineteen years old. She wore a brown shirt with sewn leaves all over it, with translucent white sleeves. She also wore a dark grey skirt to her knees, and a fine gold chain around her neck with a seashell hanging on it. She had tied back blonde hair and amber eyes.
"Hullo, Yeesha," I said. "You gave me a bit of a fright there."
"Sorry about that," she said and smiled. "I'm glad I got here in time. I shouldn't go to that Age, if I were you. Agaeris wrote it, and it's his first Age. Father wishes to go to it before anyone else to make sure it's stable."
"I wasn't going to go to it," I assured her. "I was only going to peek at the picture."
"Even so, father feels no one should touch it until he has inspected it," Yeesha said.
"Very well," I said. "What have you been up to lately?"
"I've been staying in Tomahna," she answered. "I don't particularly feel safe traveling father's Ages alone. He hasn't been able to go with me very often, as he's got a lot of work to do in Releeshahn. And mother will only occasionally leave the house unattended."
"I just came back from Whiterock," I said. "Your father's Ages are very stable, I assure you."
"Even so, I don't feel secure enough," she said. "I thought Sirrus and Achenar destroyed Whiterock?"
"Your father thought they had," I explained, "but he linked back to Myst and found it undamaged amongst the other burned books."
"That explains it then," said Yeesha. "Anyway, I can't stop for long, I have to go help my mother with some housework. Agaeris just arrived, a moment ago. I'll tell him you're in here."
"Thanks, Yeesha," I said. She turned around and walked out, closing the stained glass door behind her.
I turned away from the Fahsehv book and to a small metal table by the wall. There was a single large but thin Linking book resting on it. The book was dark red and the corners were gold. In the middle there was a rectangular patch of lighter red. In this there was the D'ni number Five in gold, and a circle of gold around it. I shuddered, as I knew what this was. This was a Linking book to the Fifth Age. I had been to it before, on a mission to rescue Catherine from Atrus' evil father, Gehn. The Age was not exactly a pleasant one: my memory of it was that it had a very eerie and frightening aura surrounding it. I knew I was safe to open this book, however...
Yes. When I did, the panel that normally would have shown the Age I was about to link to was black, with explosions of electricity dancing around in it. Riven was no longer an Age, for it had fallen apart just after I had freed Catherine. It did not exist any more. I did wonder why Atrus had kept the book. I didn't like to think about the result of Linking through it.
I turned back to Atrus' desk. In the middle of it sat a stack of three thin books with mottled green covers. The one on the top was locked with a Nara padlock, the likes of which bound the Releeshahn book. The key to this book lay in the middle of it, so overcome with curiosity, I inserted it into the lock and turned it. The strips of metal across the open end of the book snapped open. I picked the book up. It was rather heavy for its size, even without the padlock. I opened the cover and saw a rotating picture of a small, dank, circular room with round archways around the walls. I knew what this book was. It was not a Linking book, as it gave the impression of. It was a one-man prison book disguised as a Linking book. And I had seen this book before. It was the book that nearly twenty years ago I had trapped Atrus' father, Gehn, inside. If I touched the panel, I would take his place in the book, and he would assuredly kill Atrus and his family, and destroy the book he had been trapped in.
I could not imagine what Gehn was thinking as he stared up at me from the book. He must have hated the sight more than anything else. Fortunately I could not see him in it. I hastily closed the cover of the book and secured the padlock.
I opened one of the other two prison books, which were not locked, and looked inside. An image of Atrus' sunroom which I had just come from span around and around in the glowing panel. There again, it may have just been a Linking book to Tomahna...but I did not mean to test the idea. I shut the book.
Just then, the doors opened behind me. I turned around and saw someone walking in. He had blonde hair, and was about average height for a sixteen- year-old. He had grey-blue eyes. He wore the same sort of clothes I always remember Atrus wearing: a white baggy shirt and pants, and a brown vest. He did not have spectacles, like his father, however. It was Agaeris.
"Ah, just in time!" he said when he saw me. He walked closer to me. "I have been so looking forward to meeting you. From what my father has told me, you have helped him out of a few sticky situations. I thank you. It seems that without you I would not be here.
"I apologize for being so forward," he said with a laugh. "My name is Agaeris. I am my father's third son. From what he has said, I presume you have heard of his first two?"
"Yes," I said, nodding. "Sirrus and Achenar. I had the displeasure of meeting them on Myst, many years ago."
"You were very close to freeing one of them, I take it," he said. "Thank God you didn't. The result would be...catastrophic. Which one did you trust more?"
"I must admit it was Sirrus," I said. "Something about all the torture instruments in Achenar's room put me off him somewhat."
"Well, all in the past," Agaeris said. "Well, I'm very pleased to meet you."
"And I to meet you," I replied. "I notice you take after your father," I added, motioning my head toward the Fahsehv book.
"Oh yes," said Agaeris. "I very much enjoy writing Ages. That's the first I've written. After father inspects it to make sure that it is safe, we can explore it together."
"I would very much enjoy that," I said. "I've just come back from Whiterock."
"Yes, father told me you were away in that Age," said Agaeris. "Well, I suppose we'll just wait here for a while, until father returns."
I walked over and sat on the shelf by the Riven book. Agaeris took the seat by Atrus' desk.
"So," he said, "what do you do?"
"Well, Atrus always likes it when I give him feedback on his Ages," I answered. "He sends me to his new ones after he makes sure they're stable, and to his old ones I haven't been to yet."
"Sounds like not a bad life," said Agaeris. "And you have a sort of prerogative of going after people who are trying to hurt my father, I hear."
"Sirrus, Achenar, Gehn, and Saavedro," I said, counting on my fingers. "Though I did let Saavedro free in the end. He did not deserve death. Sirrus and Achenar tore him and his family away from each other, and destroyed his home."
"He nearly did away with Releeshahn," said Agaeris.
"He only wanted revenge for the wrongs that were done," I told him. "He thought Atrus had put them up to it."
"Well, it can't be helped," said Agaeris. "I've always hated it when people linger in the past. All that's done is done, and it can't be – "
He was cut off suddenly by the sound of someone Linking in. He jumped up out of his seat and stood next to the desk. A man appeared out of thin air by the Releeshahn sphere. He was wearing a black jacket and pants with metal studs on them. He had a bright red sash which wrapped around his neck then went round his chest and back and rejoined his neck again. He also had a black hood which hid his ears and hair, and a pair of goggles. It was actually impossible to tell whether 'he' was a 'he'. His black pants went to his knees, under which there were white pants which stretched to his feet. He had brown shoes on. In his right hand he carried a gold-coloured blowgun.
"Who are – "Agaeris started, but the intruder had already raised the blowgun to his lips and fired it. Agaeris was shot to the ground with a yell. I leapt up off the shelf and tried to intervene with the attacker, but he hit me over the head with the blowgun and I too fell down. He ran past me.
Catherine burst through the glass doors to find out what Agaeris had yelled for. She found the man standing over Agaeris' limp form, moving for the Fahsehv book. She took him by surprise and grabbed his gun, trying to tear it from him.
"Yeesha!" she screamed out the door. "Yeesha! Take the key to Releeshahn and find your father! Quickly!"
The intruder swiftly whipped a tiny knife from his belt and stabbed it into Catherine's right thigh. She screamed and fell down, the knife lodged in her leg.
I sat up slowly, clutching my throbbing head. I saw the man take the Fahsehv book from the stand and open it. He tore off his hood and goggles. A neck-length mass of thin, unruly grey hair fell out. His eyes were cold and grey. His mouth spread into a wide, evil grin, revealing a set of hideous teeth. He uttered a chilling, spineless laugh and raised his hand. In it was a small glass phial, containing some clear liquid. It was clearly the antidote.
He dropped the phial onto the ground where it shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. He laughed again, and triumphantly put his hand on the Fahsehv book's moving panel. He was gone in a second.
I rushed over to Catherine's side. I looked closely at her leg. The dagger that was stuck in it had a short triangular blade and no real handle – just a circlet with the D'ni number five in the middle. It was a dagger of the Moiety, the people of Riven. When I thought about it, I realized that the man had been wearing a Moiety uniform and blowgun also.
"Don't take it out!" cried Catherine as I reached for the knife.
Yeesha came sprinting into the room. "Mother!" she cried. "What happened?"
"Leave me, just go to Releeshahn!" said Catherine urgently. "Find your father!"
She took a key from her pocket and handed it to her daughter. Yeesha ran over to the sphere, opened it, and unlocked the book. She opened the cover and pressed her hand to the panel, and linked to Releeshahn.
I then turned to Agaeris. He was still alive, but unconscious. He was very cold. The dart had hit him in the side of the neck, but had missed the vital blood vessels. The dart was small and ovular, with a short, thin point on the end. It was fitted with tiny white feathers. I pinched it between my thumb and forefinger, and pulled it out. I quickly tore a piece of my sleeve off and wrapped it around his neck to stem the bleeding.
A moment later, two people linked into the room. It was Atrus and Yeesha leading him.
"Agaeris!" Atrus yelled and knelt down beside him. "What happened?" he asked me. I gave him the dart. "What kind of dart is this?"
"It is a Moiety dart," gasped Catherine, clutching her leg.
"The Moiety?" said Atrus, confused. "But the Moiety lived on Riven, and that no longer exists!"
"I am as puzzled as you, but there is no time for that now!" said Catherine. "He linked to Fahsehv! He knows where to get the antidote for the poison in the dart."
"Agaeris' Age! This gets worse!" exclaimed Atrus. "We cannot follow because we do not know if the Age is stable!"
I stood up and hopped over Catherine's outstretched leg to reach the book. It lay open on the ground, spine-up. I picked it up and moved my hand toward the panel.
"My friend!" said Atrus. "Do not do it! The Age could be unstable! It – "
But I had already made my mind up. I touched the glowing panel, and felt my body fading away. There was a most peculiar spinning sensation in my stomach as I was sucked in. But before I went, I reached out my hands and grabbed two flat, rectangular objects, and then I was gone.
--------
Oh no! What will happen to Agaeris? Dun-dun-DUN! I'll update soon. Thanks again to Gehn the Grey for reviewing.