Chapter 12
The Crystal of Blandine
Morning came like a soft breeze into each of their rooms. The salty air of the see blowing in and tickling their noses, the sweet song of the exotic birds gently lifting them out of their dreamy world of slumber the pale sunlight bringing warmth and color back into their separate sanctuaries.
F'vell awoke with the once familiar sound of the coast crashing to the shore. For the first time in many years, he felt renewed and refreshed. The only person he had ever told his story too was his mentor Leena the Silver. Last night, he felt, was the proper time to tell his stories to his friends. To him, this day was the very first day of his new life, with his new family.
For Klayn, the comforts of this alien bed were almost to exquisite to leave but his stomach told him that if he wanted to die here, he would have to leave and partake of a meal.
It was never a morning unless the sun shone upon him with his face raised to the sky in prayer to Paladine for Beldovin. He awoke with the calling of the little colorful birds and now sat, cross-legged on his balcony, his holy symbol exposed on his bare chest. He thanked his god for life, courage, love and most importantly his family, which included his friends.
Unfortunately for Kaydell, he awoke in complete disorientation. Being in such a completely deep sleep he was sitting upright in his bed for a full few seconds before his senses returned to him completely. Upon his realization, he grumbled to himself and threw himself back into his satiny bed.
Willow awakened slowly, just as she had fallen asleep; gently. She rolled on her back and watched the coast breeze tickle the silky net that surrounded her bed, she listened to the birds and stretched out to enjoy the softness of her covers. Her mornings also began with a prayer to her god, she took a moment to look over her beautiful holy symbol and began her prayer on the balcony.
For the newest member of the family, mornings here were so much more pleasant than she had known them to be for years. She was awake with the first creeping of sunlight into her room, drawing on a long, silk tied robe she sat on her balcony, watching as life came slowly into the garden of the Temple. She observed as some of the flowers opened up, how some of the other blooms would curl up and hide until tonight and smiled as some of the island birds would swoop down to bathe or search for breakfast in the shallow pools of the garden. She was at peace here, she felt safe but to her regret she knew that it would be a matter of time before the protection spells that kept this Temple safe would not protect her from the Shadows that hunted and haunted her. Today was the day of the test and for Kailivia, this would be the day that would bind them to this quest...to succeed or to fail, this was the binding.
Breakfast was as enjoyable as dinner, everyone was bright-eyed and smiling. The array breakfast dishes consisted of fresh, crisp, juicy fruit, tiny, hard boiled eggs, three kinds of sweet pastries, hot tea, fresh fruit juice and creamy milk.
The group ate without Lady Rae this morning, per announcement of one of the servants, at the same table they feasted at the previous night. It was a leisure breakfast, everyone talked between mouthful's of this or swallows of that.
Beldovin told stories of their childhood to Kailivia, favoring his point of view of course. When they were younger and would threw snowballs at the guards from the top of the castle and how they played a little game of hide and seek with the general on duty. They were punished by sitting in the nursery with warm sweet milk and having their Nanny Myanna read to them. He enjoyed himself by telling her the story when they were learning how to swim and how Kaydell almost drowned. It really wasn't as serious as he made it out to be but Kailivia enjoyed it all the same and the twins simply let him tell his version of the tale.
"My Lords and Ladies," one of the servants politely interrupted, "it is nearly time for your trial. Would you please follow me to where the you are to convene with the Lady Rae."
The party rose from there leisurely morning bonding session to be lead by this man threw the Temples main dome and up several long and steep flights of stone stairs.
Each of them had noticed that with every stair case the air seemed to become thicker and laced with a heavy smell that made them all groggy and quiet.
At what seemed to be the highest point in the temple the servant opened a large decorated wooden door and gestured for the party to enter. Six apprehensive people entered a large circular room as the door shut behind them.
Not only was the room circular but its ceiling was immensely high and the entire diameter of the room were tall windows that were probably twenty feet from the floor, bringing in the filtered mid day sunlight. The room had a sort of fog, due to miniature fire places set into the wall about ten feet apart from the next. These little fireplaces did not produce fire, nor heat, but a thick, white smoke that was heavy with a smell that made the party very relaxed. This smoke rolled smoothly from its origin, crept along the floor and then seemed to filter out threw the high windows, causing the sunlight to waver and streak dreamily. Just like the beds in each of there living chambers was a round, inset area, lined with dark blue padded satin, it was not a bed but a sort of seating area with large pillows placed against the short interior wall of the circle. This was no bed, of course, because it was three times as large and placed right in the center was a four foot, fluted marble pedestal. At first glance it looked sort of silly, a delicate gray marble pedestal in the middle of a seating area, but what they now noticed was on the flat top of this pedestal was what appeared to be a crystal.
"What is that?" Klayn asked to no one in particular.
"It appears to be a crystal," Beldovin answered.
Klayn gave Beldovin the look of 'I know that, but why is it there?' but never voiced his thoughts.
"That, my champions, is the Crystal of Blandine." Came the voice of Lady Rae.
None of them had noticed, but she had entered from another door at the far end of the room. She was surrounded by a type of haze and it seemed to be magnified by her white garment, on reflection, she looked more like a ghost than an actual being.
"Gather round the pillar, and look upon the crystal." She did not enter the ring, but stood on its edge and gestured to the others. She was bathed in the filtered lighted from the windows, her hair, that was previously done in elaberate braids the day before, now was swept back gently from her face and fell loosely down her back giving her an aura of saintliness. Her bare feet only barely visible under the long flowing white garment she wore.
Each member filtered in, standing in a circle around the pillar staring down at the crystal.
"Behold the crystal of Blandine, threw this you shall receive the trials to test your worthiness for this mission at hand."
The crystal of Blandine was a shard eight inches in length and only three at its fattest part. It was clear for the most part but there were little swirls of clouded white patches throughout. The most striking feature of this crystal was that is was veined with silver threads on its surface, spiraling, swirling and zig-zagging but dotted on this crystal, held in place by the silver metal working were the tiniest precious stones. Minuscule little rubies, sapphires, amethysts and emeralds haphazardly speckled the surface of the diamond like crystal.
"It beautiful," Willow said aloud.
"It is, it is also very old and very valuable." Lady Rae told her. "We at the Temple have been it's keepers for three hundred years."
There was a long silence as everyone soaked in the delicate features of this item, it seemed to them that it filled there entire focus, the walls began to disappear and their breathing became deep and slow and their eyes felt very heavy even after having a restful night.
"Seat yourselves around the crystal, all of you, this shall be your test." Lady Ray cooed.
"Seeing if we can stay awake with all of this smoke?" Klayn mumbled under his breath.
"No, master woodsman, the test happens after you fall into sleep, just as you are doing now," her voice seemed to come to all of them from a distance.
It seemed to them that they were cozying up to a fire like you do in the winter months with a pillow and a blanket.
Through the fog of sleep, the last words of Lady Rae were, "Fight gallantly, my champions."
The sunlight was warm on their flesh, warming them up, stirring them from a deep slumber. There was very little noise in the air, no breeze to ruffle the long grass, no nearby trees for birds to perch and sing from, no stream to gurgle at them...it was only the sun that touched their senses first.
With the hard rock against her cheek in an uncomfortable way, Kailivia had not other option other than to stir from her slumber and wake.
What she found startled her at first, until she recalled her last memories. She woke with her head resting on a low moss covered rock and her arm draped over it like a pillow. Her body resting sort of on her side, casually leaning is more of what she was doing. She sat up, looking at the others, all draped across a rock, most of them resting there heads on a moss covered counterpart.
They were all nestled in a large circular stone cove with thick grass and mossy patches for a carpeting. The sun fell upon them threw the cracks in the tall stones that formed the cove. She could see that the sky above her was very blue and clear, not a cloud to be seen.
This is the test, it's in a dream world, Kailivia told herself.
She stood up, watching the others wake slowly, stirring uncomfortably on their stone pillows.
The brownish rocks were probably ten feet tall, she noticed there was an opening between two rocks by where F'vell was becoming conscious. By noticing F'vell, she also noticed that none of the party was wearing what they were when they fell asleep.
She glanced down, observing that instead of her violet gown of silk, she now wore dark gray leather pants, soft, leather mid-calf boots and a long sleeved cotton shirt that was a medium blue color that tied off to the side with a V neck.
She had no weapons on her, something that disturbed her terribly but by observing the others she noticed that none of them had any semblance of a weapon either. The mage F'vell did not carry any form of spell components either.
"Where under the great moon Zeenith are we?" Klayn mumbled as he looked around.
"Where ever we are, we are no where near where we originally fell asleep, I can tell you that," Kailivia answered him.
"Indeed," Beldovin retorted groggily, "Strange how these stones and the rocks we lay our heads upon are in the same shape as the circle we fell asleep in."
"I'm sure it's no coincidence," Klayn grumbled as he massaged his neck.
"I agree," Kailivia responded by looking around at the stones.
They were all standing soon, rubbing out the stiffness in their bodies from waking up on moss covered rocks discussing where to go from this point, eventually it was a group decision to meander out into the unknown beyond the rock hedge.
To their complete bewilderment they stood in an open field of knee high gold and green grass that seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon. The rock enclosure was the only non-natural structure within view. The sky was as clear and as blue as Kailivia had first perceived it to be, the day itself seemed to be mid morning with the sun a few hours away from the mid day position.
"Odd," Beldovin noticed out loud (like he did with most observations), "this landscape seems to be completely different from West Fall, it's almost like being back home, or over in Farnor at late spring."
F'vell nodded his agreement, "I do not think we are anyplace in particular, friend Beldovin, maybe in a sort of half way place."
Beldovin openly gaped incomprehensively at his tall companion, "What are you trying to say?"
Kailivia laughed softly, "I have to agree with F'vell, I also had the same thought earlier, that we are not in West Fall, exactly, but we are neither here nor there at the same time."
Once again, bewildered looks befell the speaker, she shook her black locked head, "Alright, to put it a bit more simply, I think we're in a dream or something linking us to the dream world and our physical bodies. It's only a speculation, I may not be correct at all, but it seems to be the most logical idea."
The party sort of pondered this momentarily, "Who is to say that they did not drug us with that smoke and enchanted crystal? They could have taken us out to another island in our unconscious state, abandoning us here to look like we are in a dream? Maybe our quest is to make it to the ocean where they'll pick us up."
Kailivia eyed him with a mock frustration on her face, "Why, with all of the magic and power of the sages in that building, would they go to all of the trouble to move us physically, redress us and position us exactly the way we fell asleep?"
"I don't know," Beldovin eyed her suspiciously, "why would they?"
Kailivia opened her mouth to retort to the idiocy of his reasoning when Klayn appeared behind her, "Did you know that there is a path on the other side of where we're standing now?"
Without a word, they all walked around to the other side of the stones and there it was, a narrow beaten path that disappeared into the horizon.
The look of unbelievable circumstantial convenience was carved into the face of every member of the group, Klayn shrugged, "I'm up for following it? Anyone else?"
They all sort of nodded and agreed, "Might as well, it's not like we're getting anywhere debating how we got here and where here is." Kaydell smirked.
"What if this part of the test? What if this path was put us here to throw us off of the direction we should really be going?" Beldovin piped in.
He soon shut up after everyone started to walk away, down what seemed like the never ending dirt trail in the knee high sea of grass.
"Is he always this argumentative?" Kailivia asked Willow at the front of the group.
"No," Willow said, Kailivia sighed some relief, "he's worse, but he is the kindest and most noble friend anyone could ask for."
Kailivia slouched, but smiled at the tall elven girl who wore similar garb, except hers was a green top and light brown trousers, "This is going to be an interesting family to be a member of."
Willow laughed, "It always has been."
Kaydell fell beside F'vell sometime after the party started to march down the path, "F'vell, could I talk to you?"
F'vell looked at the red haired Torin elf, "Of course, Kaydell, what is it?"
Kaydell sighed and frowned in thought, seeming to find the right words to come out, "The other night, when you told us of your home city and the fate of your family..."
"Yes," F'vell seemed to understand what Kaydell was trying to bring up, "My friend, I kept my story hidden from everyone but Leena, it was a wound that was too unbearable for me to utter. I do not understand our purposes in life nor what the gods have in store for us or why things happen the way they do. All I can tell you is that last night, I knew that it was time for me to tell my tale. I have had a strong feeling of kinship with this group since the first time I met you, I wish for none of us to keep secrets or for any of us to suffer with our own grieves, if we are a family, it is a families duty to help the other members threw any difficult time or situation. I felt you should all understand my origin in order to understand me."
"F'vell, those are the truest words I have ever heard anyone speak in all my years. I am honored that you would call us your family and that we should carry your grief as your family members." Kaydell touched F'vell's arm gently, "If we are chosen for this quest and when we complete it, we shall go, as a family, to your home land, and have a Cleric bless the grounds and make it a sacred place."
F'vell nodded solemly, "That act would be most honored and excepted."
Kaydell nodded back, "One other thing, my friend."
"Yes?"
"You need to stop spending so much time with Beldovin, you're staring to sound like him," Kaydell and F'vell laughed heartily about his little joke.
They realized after walking for a few hours, that this monstrous sea of grass was not flat, it was slightly hilly, with little dips and small rises. They walked and walked and walked some more, they walked for what seemed like more than what was possible in one days worth of light. At first it wasn't so bad because they were all chatting amongst themselves, walking at a steady pace but soon the novelty of the trial wore off and they became quite and walked in silence for a very long time.
"I hope that it is not possible to starve during the trial," F'vell said as he placed a hand on his stomach as it growled audibly.
"My stomach seems to agree with you, F'vell, I think if we do not eat before nightfall we shall be in poor shape in the morning."
What seemed like the next moment, but was probably only half of an hour, there appeared a dark green ridge in the distance.
"My friends, it appears that there is a ridge of a forest directly in front of us," F'vell's keen eyes were fixated directly in front of them, "maybe we could find some place to rest for the night and some food to replenish our strength."
They all seemed to perk up a little and hasten their pace, Kailivia fell back to walk beside F'vell.
"I was wondering something," she poised a possible question before him.
"And what would that be?" He took her bate.
"Do you think you could fly ahead and scout the area just a bit, to maybe give us an idea of what's up there?"
F'vell nodded thoughtfully, rubbing his chin, "That is a well thought out plan, Kailivia, I agree with your proposal."
"Just be careful, don't put yourself into any danger." she shouted as he simply spread his wings and sprung into the air.
"Not to worry," he called back as he circled higher into the sky then headed directly where the party was walking to.
They all walked a bit faster, so as to possibly reach the tree line before the sun went down in what they all thought to be about two hours.
"I do believe that was the first time that I've seen him fly," Beldovin said as he and the others periodically searched the sky for his return.
"You're right," Kaydell agreed, "He's never flown around us."
"Well, there are first times for everything, aren't there?" Willow responded thoughtfully.
"I just hope I didn't put him into any danger." Kailivia said quietly.
"Not to worry, our friend is smart and makes wise decisions, he will not put himself into danger needlessly."
"No, he would not," Klayn agreed as he pointed to the sky, "and he didn't because he's almost back now."
Within minutes the black winged scout landed a few yards away from the group, he sprinted to them and as he approached they all noticed that he was smiling.
"Keep walking, my friends, just inside the border of those trees lies a clear, cool brook, a mossy sheltered cove and fruit bearing trees. Our long trek is about to be rewarded."
With smiles upon their faces they almost jogged to the tree line, the mere thought that they would soon be able to have their fill of revitalizing fruit and water.
They were soon breathless but at the border of the trees. In full green they towered above them like giant pillars supporting a natural roof of leaves.
Both Klayn and Kaydell stopped momentarily and observed the wood, they both nodded.
"This is an old forest, we shall find comfort and safety in here tonight." Kaydell said with approval.
"Enter," Klayn told them, as if speaking as an elder of the trees.
F'vell led them to the source of water that he spoke of, it was indeed clear, deceivingly clear, when Willow went to wade in a bit to cool her aching feet she was suddenly almost thigh deep only a few feet in from the shore.
They all drank to their fill, Klayn and Kaydell soon ventured off to find 'safe' things to eat.
Settling down into a peculiar dip by the shore, shaded, roofed and sheltered by old, thick, bushy evergreens and cushioned with thick moss and soft pine needles, the others rubbed and massaged the aches and pains in their feet from the days journey.
"It's too bad that we don't have any knives, I saw some large fish farther out into the brook that would make a handsome meal." Willow said as she massaged her toes.
"I think we shall do fine with what the forest has to offer us for the time being," F'vell assured her as he sat cross legged in a mediation position.
"I know but it still would have been nice to have some fish...or maybe some sort of small game," she added with a pout. She was hungry and everyone knew that it was just her stomach talking because they knew that Willow would never be so ungrateful for whatever was provided for her.
"We know," Beldovin told her as he too rubbed his feet.
As silent as a petal falling to the ground, the two rangers suddenly appeared at the entrance of their one night refuge. Klayn had taken off his leather vest but it lay stuffed with different fruit in his arms. Kaydell had bundles of giant leaves tied shut with vines piled in his arms, both smiled to their little family.
"We didn't have to go far and we found quite a bit, we can go back in the morning and get more for breakfast." Kaydell said as he was untying and laying out his bundles of berries, nuts and roots.
Klayn dumped the contents of his vest in the middle of the group, there were apples, pears, a few large bushels of wild grapes and some large round nuts.
"Wow! You found all of this near by? This is great!" Kailivia was thrilled.
"It was peculiar how the trees were so close together, it wasn't natural," Kaydell told her, "but it is so overgrown and thick in threw here that it is impossible for anyone to harvest these goods."
"Or for anyone to live close by, this forest is too thick to have anyone living in it or close by." Klayn added.
"Maybe some traveler years ago tossed his left over fruit into the shrubs and this it the byproduct," Kailivia suggested eyeing up the food happily.
They were soon quiet except for the sounds of smacking, munching, chewing and 'yumm's' , it was a good feast, even if it wasn't fish or some sort of small game.
Everything was gone in a matter of minutes, the sun was gone by the time they had managed to secure some sort of make shift 'natural door' to the cove.
Beldovin had pointed out an eerie orange color across the brook, thinking it could be some sort of unnatural fire until Klayn told him that it was a fungus that grew on very old trees that gave off the light. Beldovin was a little startled to hear that there was fungus that gave off light but Kaydell responded with a hearty laugh and a 'you really have spent way too much time in the city'.
The group was asleep soundly within the first hour of getting comfortable. None stirred or moved, in the darkness that surrounded them the trees stood guard over the six dreamless adventurers.