Edited 6/21/07: Tiny, tiny little word choice issues.
Chapter 2 of Wyrds of Fate!! The title is from the ancient language, where wyrd means fate. I just think it makes a cool title. Reviews appreciated.
-AmayaSora
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As I watched, the glowing grew brighter and brighter. A crack appeared in the rock face. Curiously, it wasn't the meandering, raggedy-type crack that usually occurs, but a perfectly straight one. No natural crack would be made like that. I took a few more steps back.
The crack grew wider. In a sudden whoosh the two sides of the rock rushed outward, creating an opening about 8 yards high and 5 yards across. The light suddenly surged ten times brighter, blinding and startling me so I fell to the ground.
The light then subsided to a pleasant flicker like that given off by a fire. As my eyes recovered, I slowly got up. What was this place? How did it get here? My mind churned with a million such questions. As my common sense kicked in, that curiosity was replaced by fear.
The only explanation I could think of was magic, another forbidden word. The Empire wanted to deny its existence, which only made it seem more wonderful…and dangerous. Some of the storytellers told tales of sorcerers and other such magicians committing impossible feats through magical aide. All the stories had one underlying theme: don't mess with magic.
With this realization I resolved to walk away, forget this whole situation had ever occurred. But, for some reason, I couldn't. I tried to will my legs to move, but they just locked in place, as if some invisible force was holding me. I could feel another force, or maybe even the same one, drawing me towards the cave, beckoning me with a strange feeling that the cave was the most wonderful place in the world.
I fought that force with all my strength. I didn't need something like that telling me how I should act. I was a free person, dammit! I can do what I want!
And with that assertion the force released me, though it seemed to do so grudgingly. That's stupid, I told myself. Inanimate objects did not have feelings. And certainly weird magic doesn't.
At any rate, I was happy to be out of there. I turned around and started primly marching off. I had only gone a few feet when my knees buckled. I had stupidly forgotten that I had just sprinted three miles, and that my legs weren't meant to take that kind of strain.
As if to confirm that sentiment, they started to ache and burn. Rubbing them, I thought, I'm a sitting duck! I couldn't run away if the soldiers found me now!
As if on cue, I heard a voice shout, "You go that way. I'll check the path over there." And then I heard rustling leaves and cracking twigs, as if someone was stumbling through the trees I had just left. I suppressed a groan. Could my situation be any more perilous?
Just then, thunder pealed again and lightning broke the clouds, sending torrents of rain down. I cursed. I have to stop asking questions like that.
The survival part of my brain kicked in. When you've been running all your life, it's a very strong portion. The rain is good, at least in some respects, I reasoned. It'll erase any tracks I may have left. But, unless I got out of it, my body would suffer from hypothermia.
I heard another rustle in the bushes. I started, and then was mildly relieved to see not a soldier, but that weird black-haired boy from the town.
I scowled. "What are you doing here? Why did you follow me?"
"I didn't." he said smugly. "I tracked you. Lucky for you those soldiers aren't as bright as I am, or you'd be toast right now. Who taught you how to hide?"
"That is none of your business. Who are you, anyway?"
"That is none of your business." I couldn't tell if he was mocking me or not. My scowl deepened. He continued, "All you need to know is that I'm a friend."
I snorted. "I have no friends."
"You're probably right, with the attitude you have."
"Why are you here, besides to mock me?"
"Just offering advice. The soldiers are still looking for you, you know."
I glared. "So? You said so yourself, they aren't that bright."
"Yes, which makes it all the more likely they'll stupidly stumble across you. At any rate, this rain is really quite cold. Perhaps you should get out of it."
I shivered. He was right. And it made me angry. What did this little brat know? "I was just going to do that, before you so rudely interrupted."
"I hardly think that I am the rude one here. And where did you plan to go?"
"I was going to make a shelter, as I've done every night for longer than you've been alive."
He laughed dryly. "I highly doubt that. Well, I should be going. That bumbling idiot of a soldier is getting rather close. I just have to say, that cave looks nice and warm."
I turned to look at it. It did seem rather warm. But I wasn't about to let him know that. "Actually, I think it's rather-"
But he was gone, leaving no trace. Who can move off that completely in two seconds? Who can move that silently? Who was that kid?
Whoever he was, I realized he was right when I heard a stick break very close to where I was sitting. Panicking, I got up, ignoring my legs' protests, and dashed (well, 'dashed' isn't really correct, more like 'hobbled as fast as one can hobble') into the cave.
The light flared softly so I could see. Angrily, I cursed again. That stupid light was going to give me away.
But as soon as I stepped inside, the rock "doors" whooshed shut again. I looked, but saw no evidence of the gap that had once been there, and no evidence of the crack.
However, the downside to this was that I was now trapped. I frantically beat against the door, trying to get free. But they didn't budge. I sank down again, this time to the cave floor.
Outside, I heard the voices of the soldiers. "I could've sworn I saw a light over here."
"Well, where'd she go then?"
"How the hell am I supposed to know?"
"You were the one who saw the light. Why-"
The men had moved out of earshot. I let out my breath forcefully. I hadn't realized that I was holding it.
I stood up again, shakily. My legs still protested, though not as much. It seemed like this cave was beneficial to me; I had never felt safer or warmer.
The light danced further into the cave, seeming to be beckoning me inside. Shrugging, I tentatively began to walk forward. The cave got warmer as I went inside; by the time I came to the hollow cavern at the end it was around 70 degrees, even though it was 40 outside.
The cavern was huge; about 100 yards across and 50 yards high, going back at least 40 yards. It was perfectly circular too, most peculiar for a natural cavern. It seemed that magic had formed this as well.
The light surged brighter, illuminating the cavern as if it were a meadow in broad daylight. I blinked, waiting for my eyes to focus. When they did, I rubbed them, then pinched myself to make sure I wasn't asleep or seeing things.
Scattered around the cavern were many stones about the size of footballs. I saw at least a dozen, in all colors and shades. Reds, oranges, golds, yellows, greens, browns, blues, and silvers, all the colors of the rainbow and then some graced the area.
I walked between and among them, awed. I touched each one, running my fingers across the smooth surface of the stones. Some felt cool, and others were warmer. I traveled around, looking reverently at each one.
What are these things? They were beautiful, that was obvious. I bet I can get a lot of money for these, a part of me said. But another, stronger part thought that they were so precious they should be kept here, safe from prying eyes and sticky fingers.
I had nothing better to do, so I began mentally counting and cataloguing each stone. There ended up being 24 stones, not the 12 I had originally predicted. The cavern was so vast it had hidden twice the number of stones. There were a lot of brown stones, I saw, followed by copious amounts of red, orange, and green ones, though each was a different shade. The silvers, golds, yellows, and blues were rarest, but still adequately represented. No two stones had the same shade. I also noted that there were no purple or black stones present.
That seemed odd. Why would there be all these other colors, but not purple or black? Surely black is a common color for stones.
Intrigued, I wondered further into the cavern, wanting to know more, and the light flickered in a corner of the room. I went to investigate, and found a tablet on the wall. It was written in some strange, flowing runes I didn't know, but before my eyes it transformed into the familiar ones of my youth. Equally entranced and repulsed by this display of magic, I began to read:
With the last vestige of my strength I place these charms.
May the Blessed find his destiny
As I have left it for him, these last remnants
Of a dying race. Dying by man's hand,
By the ones they trusted and treated as equals.
May he wield them wisely and well,
And may they once again grace the skies.
I stepped back, stunned. The tablet, though vague, clicked in my mind, linking it to stories I'd heard of old. I turned around with new wonder to the cavern.
These aren't stones. They're eggs. Dragon eggs.