The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter (22 page)

It was more like rubbing the wall, getting
their fingers wet, and then licking their fingers than drinking,
but it served its purpose. They hadn’t had a thing to drink in two
days, and the windstorm had left them parched.

“That water is not very clean,” a deep,
horrid voice came from behind them. Farra turned and placed her
staff up to give this voice some light, and screamed.

“Ogres!”

They could only see one, but if there was
one thing they knew about ogres, it was that if there was one ogre,
there were twenty more right behind him; though this one looked
strangely different.

They didn’t wait for him to attack. These
tight corridors were no place to be bombarded by a pack of ogres.
There wasn’t much room for swinging or maneuvering.

“Go!” Bomani yelled out.

Farra didn’t need an invitation; she was
already on her way down the hallway. Bomani followed, and with the
light from Farra’s staff in front of them, they couldn’t see how
far behind them the ogres were. The light stretched out a foot or
so behind Bomani, and then faded to black. That didn’t stop them
from frequently looking behind themselves in a panic for any hint
of the beasts.

“No, this way,” Bomani told her, which
seemed to be the short conversation they had at every decision
making intersection. They didn’t know where they were going and
both of them realized that their memories were pretty rusty.

They rounded a corner and were stopped in
their tracks by something hovering in the air in front of them. It
was like liquid, suspended in mid air. Where the light from Farra’s
staff reached its surface, it was black. Where it fell into shadow,
it was wondrous shining silver. The thing moved in waves as water
does. It was five feet long and over a half foot wide. This watery
black and silver thing came to a point at the end and as Farra and
Bomani stood in front of it, it seemed to be looking at him.

With a look, they both agreed to go back the
other way. They ran past their last intersection just in time for
one of the ogres to grab Farra from around the corner. He had just
barely got a hold on her, so with a few seconds of struggle she was
free.

“Wait,” the ogre said. But the words might
as well have fallen on deaf ears, for the children continued to run
the maze as fast as they could. They could hear the footsteps of
the ogres behind them this time. Farra’s heart was pounding faster
than her legs were moving. She channeled more energy into her
staff, making the hallways brighter, trying to see further
ahead.

Behind them now, in the dark they could see
the liquid metal snake flowing through the air, pursuing their
every turn. “Faster,” Farra yelled. Until they reached a point
where even faster would have done them no good. They had reached a
dead end.

They had nowhere to go. Farra hit the wall
and turned around, then Bomani behind her. The thing came closer
now. It could see they were trapped, and slowed its pace, curious
as to what they would do next. It made the strangest hissing sound,
like a snake under water.

As it came into Farra’s light, the silver
turned to black. Bomani lifted his shield and grabbed his spear. He
lunged his spear at the thing. His blade entered the black exterior
as easily as it would any liquid and then he pulled his spear back,
it was unaffected.

Then, like a snake it drew its so-called
head back and lunged toward them. Bomani raised his shield, putting
a barrier between the thing and them. Quickly, he learned that
barriers, or solids of any kind meant nothing to this
liquid-beast.

It penetrated his shield with no effort.
Bomani flinched and turned his head. No closer than a half a foot
in front of Bomani’s face, the thing stopped and thrashed around.
Something was holding it back, and it didn’t like it.

It jumped back taking Bomani’s shield with
it. The ogre they had seen before was holding the thing by the
tail, pulling it back. The thing thrashed from side to side until
Bomani’s shield fell to the ground.

“The light,” the ogre yelled. Turn off the
light. It won’t stop as long as you keep the light on.”

Farra and Bomani were confused. They had
never taken orders from an ogre before, but this one was making
quite an effort to drag this liquid beast away from them.

Farra turned off the light. The black
monster immediately turned its black color to shinny metal chrome,
now emitting its own light. It was bright enough to see the ogre
still handling it, struggling to pull it back further and
further.

“Go!” The ogre said, as he pulled the thing
back past the last intersection of hallways, struggling all the
while. The thing was no longer intent on moving toward the
children. It had wrapped itself around the ogre like a python
trying to kill its prey.

Farra and Bomani moved forward, toward the
intersection. Farra once again channeled some energy to her staff
for just a small hint of light – moving around in the dark was
hard, and frightening for that matter. Besides, all she wanted to
do was find that intersection so that they could dart down another
hallway for their escape.

It was a mistake. For as soon as her light
came on again, the thing’s attention turned toward it. It unwrapped
itself from around the ogre and headed their way. Once again the
ogre grabbed the thing by the tail and held it back.

“The light,” he said. “I told you about the
light!”

The light went off. “Sorry,” Farra yelled
back down the hallway, and for some reason felt a sense of
embarrassment.

Holding each other’s hands, Bomani and Farra
let their free hands feel along the wall until coming to the
intersection and turned. Guessing in the darkness, they let their
hands lead the way.

The sound of the struggle between the ogre
and the liquid thing echoed throughout the hall. The thing had to
be strong, Bomani thought. “To get in a battle of strength with an
ogre of that size, and give him that much trouble…”

Then, they heard a familiar cry. The ogre
screamed out in pain and agony.

“We’ve heard that before,” whispered Farra.
The terrible feeling she had in the bone yard crept upon her.

“Yeah, the bone yard, I remember,” replied
Bomani in the lowest whisper he could manage. “What do you think it
means?”

“Maybe he is dead.”

It seemed possible, for when the screaming
stopped, they could no longer hear anything. (Sometimes, hearing
nothing is the worse sounds one can hear.) They stopped and
listened even harder, but there was no sign of the liquid thing,
and no sign of the ogre.

They sat for about 15 minutes in the dark
trying to figure out their next move. Then, ahead of them they saw
the liquid thing, silver and shinning in the dark heading their
way.

“It’s back,” Bomani whispered, “We should
go.”

“No.” A hand grabbed him from behind
followed by a voice. “Stay here, keep quiet. And by all means, keep
that light of yours off.”

The ogre gave the command, but just in case
the children were intent on following their own fears and running
away, he wrapped his arms around them, and held them still.

“Watch your breathing, he said, “Here it
comes.”

The thing came toward them slowly down the
dark hallway, like a snake of mercury, and making that agitating
underwater hissing sound. Bomani’s heart thumped harder and faster
with every moment. Part of him wanted to give the ogre a quick
elbow in the side and break free. Good thing the smarter half of
him kept him calm. He stayed still and let it get closer.

Then, about five yards from the group, at
another intersection, the thing paused, making its decision about
which way to go next. Farra’s eyes widened. If the thing came to
them, what was the ogre planning to do? Luckily it turned off and
headed down a different corridor.

With the thing gone, all light was gone from
the hall. The ogre loosened his grip on the children. “Follow me if
you want to live,” he said. “Take my hand.”

In a train of hand-holding, the three made
their way down the hallway. It was obvious that the ogre could see
in the dark, and he seemed to know where he was going.

It only took a few minutes before they
reached an open room. “Wait here,” said the ogre. Two seconds
later, they heard the sound of stone sliding against the floor.
Then, when a torch came on they saw that they were now in an
enclosed room – personal quarters.

The ogre must have spent much time in here.
In the corner, there were shelves that had been carved out of the
wall. On them were a mixture of cups and bowls made out of clay. He
grabbed two of the cups and dipped them into what appeared to be a
barrel that had been carved right into the wall. The bed too, was
carved into the wall. On top of the rock there lay an assortment of
clothing stacked on top of each other for comfort.

Bomani was still skeptical. He raised his
spear and challenged the ogre to move. “Who are you?” Bomani
threatened.

“If I wanted you dead, I would have let the
shadowlight
get you.”

“Shadowlight, is that the thing we saw, the
water-looking thing? The one chasing us?” asked Farra.

“Yes,” said the ogre.

“What did it want?” she asked.

“Oh, only to drain your life from you.”

“Kill us?” she said in fear.

“Yes.”

“My spear. It went right through it; didn’t
hurt it not one bit.”

“When it comes to the shadowlight, there
isn’t much you can do. All your weapons and shields will be
useless, and the last thing you want it to do is touch you. That’s
all it needs to kill you is one single touch. Death is not instant.
It will drain you, and then leave. Your face and skin will turn
pale white. It’s like a poison that takes twenty minutes or so.
Many people have been strong enough to stumble their way outside,
but it doesn’t matter. They all fall within eyesight of the
temple.

“You didn’t,” Bomani said. “You fought the
thing. It touched you. You struggled with it for minutes.”

The ogre handed the children cups.

“Water!” She shouted. “Oh my, I’m so
thirsty.”

“I figured as much. As I tried to tell you
when you were busy licking the walls, there is a river that runs
underground for about 150 miles or so. It empties out into Death
Canyon. This temple was built right on top of that river.

“Who comes up with these names?” Bomani
asked shaking his head. “You still didn’t tell us how the shadow
thing didn’t kill you.”

“Shadowlight. And you’re right,” said the
ogre. “I am the exception to the rule. It cannot harm me. As far as
I know that exception goes for me, and only me. If I were you, I
wouldn’t try and test that. I’ve seen hundreds that have let the
shadowlight touch their skin. Now, all of their bodies lay outside
the temple, scavenged by animals, insects, and time.”

“But why you?” asked Farra? What makes you
different? Who are you?

“My name is Torik.”

“Well, Mister Torik, I don’t mean to be
rude, but you seem much different than any ogre that we have met
before.”

“Ha ha,” Torik Chuckled. “Yes, I would think
so.”

“She’s right,” said Bomani. “Are you here
alone? We thought we saw another one, but that was you, wasn’t
it.”

“It’s just me and the shadowlight. Though
even living with an enemy, is better than living alone. Sometimes,
we even sit in the same room together. He’ll hover above me as I
sit on the floor and watch him, like watching fire; his shape is
constantly rippling and changing. From time to time, I’ve even
reached my hand up and run it along the shadowlight's length. Are
you hungry?”

“Oh yes please,” said Farra.

“That sounds more like a friendship,” Bomani
said.

“Make no mistake, it would kill me if it
could, and I, it. You wouldn’t happen to be able to make fire with
that staff of yours, would you?”

“No,” Farra replied. “Why do people think I
can make fire? No, just tell everyone that Farra cannot make
fire.”

Bomani snickered.

“Hey, Bomani, you’re not without faults,
let’s not forget who handed who over to you know who.”

“Not fair Farra, I was never going to let
him hurt you.”

“Sounds like you two have been through a
lot. Don’t worry, I can start my own fire.”

“Yeah, I guess we have,” Farra said.

He proceeded to strike a couple of fire
rocks together and once a fire was started, Torik placed a bowl on
top of it. “You’re in luck. I usually scavenge off of anything in
the bone yard. Most of them are humans. Now that would make you
cannibals if I fed them to you, wouldn’t it. But it just so happens
that this is strictly the bones of an animal.”

“Hmm, what are you making?” Bomani asked
with a fearful curiosity.

“Bones and water boy, just bones and
water.”

“Okay okay.” Since you live here, I bet you
know your way around. I bet you could lead us inside the
temple.”

Torik was busy stirring the soup, mixing the
heated parts with the unheated. He stopped for a minute and glared
over his shoulder. “I could do that. But I don’t think it would be
wise.”

“You mean you won’t? Well that’s not fair.
It’s not fair at all.”

“Fair?” he replied. “It has nothing to do
with fair,” It has to do with what would be right.”

“I think we are missing the important
questions here, Farra,” said Bomani. I’ve never seen an ogre by
himself. Nor have I seen one that wasn’t intent on killing or
capturing us. And you don’t talk much like an ogre…”

“Yeah,” Farra added. “Ogres are kinda dumb.”
As soon as she said it, she understood her insult. She was
embarrassed by her thoughtless blurting. “What I mean is…”

“I know what you mean,” said Torik. “And no,
I’m not like any other ogres. As ogres go, you might say that I am
the smartest, somewhat of a unique anomaly. I suspect that every
class of being produces an entity that is different from the rest.”
He gave Bomani a determined glance. “Perhaps, I am looking at a
warrior, though young, he just may be a unique entity that
separates him from the rest. Hatari sensed uniqueness early and
quickly promoted me to his general, leader of all his minions.”