The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter (24 page)

“I know what I’m doing,” she said. “All of
these holes are for staves. Each one behind an animal to receive
that power. But this one in the middle is different. I don’t seek
the power of the man-a-morph, I seek knowledge.”

Before she could place it, Torik grabbed her
hand. “Knowledge
is
power,” replied Torik. “In all of those
that I have seen come and die, I have only seen seven Animen
besides you. One of them bore a charm resembling that one around
your head. I fought a mighty battle with him before I could
convince him that I wasn’t a threat. He and his wolf were both
strong and powerful, emanating their mighty red color. Haa haa hoo
– Gorilla sounds. He came searching for the temple. He came because
he wanted the power of the shape shifters. I tried to warn him as
well, as I have done all the others. Very few have had the will to
let it go. His name was Juran. Hoo hoo.

Farra gasped, frozen in her tracks.
“That...was…my father’s name. You mean that all those years ago,
this is where he came? This is what happened to him?” she broke
into a solemn cry.

“Yes,” said Torik. When I saw your charm, I
feared that it was someone that you knew —someone close to you. The
one he wore was identical. Your father’s life was drained by the
shadowlight. He and his wolf were strong enough to make it outside
the temple, but I’m sorry to say that if you search hard enough,
you will find that charm out there in the bone yard.”

“My father was here?” she repeated to
herself, staring at the light in the eyes of the statue and at the
spheres.

“Think carefully about what you are doing
child. Your father was given the same warning, but he couldn’t
resist. Being a descended cousin did nothing for him.”

“Maybe he is right,” said Bomani. “Perhaps
we should leave while we still can. I made a decision before and I
almost lost you to Hatari because of it. I don’t know what is going
to happen with this thing, but I don’t want to lose you again.

Farra dropped to her knees crying, her staff
hit the floor. She searched inside herself for what to do. For a
sorcerer, knowledge was everything, especially that of magic.

“C’mon, Farra, let’s go.” Bomani
continued.

Farra grabbed her staff and stood up. “C’mon
Pupa,” she said amongst the tears that were falling from her eyes.
She could feel the blood moving though her veins as she took
powerful breaths, but this was nothing new for her during a full
moon.

She paused and looked up at the moon. Of all
the places it could be, it was there centered at the top of the
temple in the night sky. It was beautiful; she admired the glow of
the white surface, and every grayish shade of its seas.

She was, a child of the moon, it filled her
with its energy, and it was a lovely coincidence that it just
happened to be full, on this night. Or was it?

“I have to do this,” she said to herself,
and without any more hesitation she raised her staff up and jammed
it into place.

“Noooo!” Torik shouted. Bomani called her by
name. “Farra!”

She held on to the staff tightly. Whatever
happened, she wasn’t going to let go until it was over. If this was
another test, she was NOT going to fail it.

The sound of the humming spheres grew
louder. The eyes of the statues shot continuous white energy beams
into the shining globes. Then the spheres shot their continuous
beams into the crystal of her staff.

A few moments passed as all these lights
became brighter, and the entire chamber began to rumble. Soon, all
that energy that was gathered by the staff shot straight up and out
of the top of the temple in the night sky directly to the moon.
Farra continued to hold on.

Then the shadowlight quickly entered the
room. With all of the light in the chamber, it was as black as
ever. It circled around above their heads. “Let go, Farra,” yelled
Bomani, but Farra didn’t let go.

The shadowlight swooped down, just barely
missing Bomani, and then it zoomed back up again. It traveled
around the room like a black ghost swooping down again, nearly
hitting Farra. She dodged it, but still, she did not let go.

The lights continued to become brighter and
brighter with each passing moment. In a flash, the light became
blinding and a mighty wind swooped into the temple with enough
power to knock everyone to the floor including the half-aped ogre.
Farra had no choice, the wind was too strong, and she had to let
go.

When they hit the floor, the lights dimmed
to nothing. The only light in the room was the shadowlight, shining
its watery silver. Before Torik could get onto his feet, the
shadowlight swooped down and connected to Farra, penetrating her
chest.

“Farra, nooooo,” Bomani yelled and rushed to
her.

“Get back!” Torik yelled. He rushed to grab
Bomani and threw him to the ground. He then went to the shadowlight
and reached out to grab it. His arms went straight though it just
as Bomani’s spear had done back in the corridor. This had never
happened to him before, he was always able to touch it – Not this
time. He tried and tried but could not pull the thing from Farra’s
chest.

“We have to save her!” Bomani shouted, then
again ran to her body lying on the ground.

“It’s too late, the shadowlight has her. Hoo
huh. Get out while you still can! Hoo Hoo Haa Haa” Torik pleaded.
He grabbed Bomani and raced him across the room. Bomani struggled
with him until both of them fell to the ground.

Then the shadow light began to change. A
color of blue swirled within it. Its waves rippled even more and
soon the whole thing changed to a beautiful glowing ocean blue. It
pulled itself from Farra’s chest as the spheres once again began to
light up the room to a normal level. The shadowlight rose above
Farra, hovering horizontal, in line with her body. It rose up even
higher until in one swift second, it fell, splashing upon her as
normal water would.

Farra lay there motionless. Pupa ran to her
frantically licking at the face of his master, hoping to get a
response. She sat up coughing, forcing the water out of her
lungs.

Quickly Torik and Bomani came to her.

“Are you okay?” Bomani asked.

“Perhaps I was wrong,” said Torik.

“Your body,” said Bomani noticing that Torik
had returned to his ogre form. “It’s back to normal. The curse,
it’s been lifted?”

Torik clenched his fists together and
squinted his eyes. He let out a scream of pain as the top half of
his body turned into a leopard. He leaned over until his front two
legs were on the floor. “No, he said. “Grrrrrr. It’s still half of
a shift, and it’s painful to keep this form. I don’t understand, if
she didn’t die, then she must be the one. I have never seen the
shadowlight turn to water before.” He let out a scream as he let
his body return to normal and stood up again.

Farra looked as if she had no idea what had
just happened. Then, she started to stand. Bomani and Torik each
tried to help her, but she felt strong, and stood without their
aid. “No,” she said. “I am not the
one
.”

There was a calm that swept her face. “My
father. I’m not sure if I understand it, but it was as if a small
part of him was left behind in the shadowlight. It wasn’t him, more
like just his last thoughts as it took him. He was thinking of
me.”

“The shadowlight absorbs the life-force.”
said Torik. In that last moment it must have absorbed his
thoughts.”

“What was he thinking?” asked Bomani.

“That he loved me. That’s all that I got,
but that was enough. The rest was knowledge of the shape
shifters.”

“The power of the man-a-morphs, was it given
to you? Torik asked.”

“The temple did not give me the power of the
shape shifters. Although it had been waiting for me to tell me what
it wanted me to know. Now, I know what I must do.”

“What do you mean?” Bomani asked.

“The man-a-morphs are not extinct,” she
continued. “Five remain, hidden. There is one left for each clan of
animal. Throughout Madunia there are five temples, one for each.
This is the sixth, the common temple. The shadowlight protects the
secrets and punishes those who seek the power of the man-a-morphs
without the gods consent. It can travel to each of the temples
through this centerpiece.

“Well, what did you mean, you know what you
must do?” asked Bomani.

Farra walked over and grabbed her staff from
its place in the centerpiece and turned to him.

“I have to find them.”

XXVI MIGHTY
WINGS

They slept in Torik’s room that night. He
had gone out to one of the other personal quarters throughout the
maze of the temple and brought back a pile of leather and clothing
with which he made beds for him and Bomani on the floor. He gave
Farra his own. He didn’t bother telling them that he created this
stash of clothing by scavenging the many dead bodies around the
complex. Humans were very sensitive about such things.

He was a valiant host. Before sunrise, he
went out into the bone yard to get food. He caught a vulture
searching the yard for small pieces of meat that had been
over-looked by those before him. He got as close as he could to it.
His eyesight was much better than the vultures in the dimly lit
sky.

The vulture walked along the bones pecking
and pulling at any tiny bits that he thought were savory enough to
eat. Torik picked up a bone that lay right next to his feet and
slowly walked toward his prey. With a strong flick of the wrist, he
whipped the bone through the air, hitting the vulture on his first
try.

He ran quickly to the injured animal and
before it could recover, grabbed it and snapped its neck. “This
will be a fine breakfast for them,” he thought to himself. “This
meat will be good energy for those kids.”

He brought his catch back into the temple.
Walking through the dark hallway, he couldn’t help but wonder if he
would see the shadowlight along the way. “Was it really gone?” he
wondered.

He managed to get the meat cooking before
the children awoke. The aroma woke Pupa. He trotted down from the
bed Farra and he slept on and anxiously wagged his tail, begging
for a piece. “Here you go,” he tossed a small piece to him and Pupa
caught it before it hit the floor.

Then the pain started. His body was shifting
again. He tightened his body to prepare for the pain and yelled
loudly as usual when the shifting began. When it was done, he
opened his eyes and saw Bomani and Farra starring up at him.

This time the top half of his body was a
large eagle. What were his arms were now wings and he was covered
in large brown feathers. “Morning.” He said, and then he began to
laugh.

Farra was startled and confused, she tried
to follow with a dry chuckle. “Heh Heh, what’s so funny?”

“I got up early,” Torik said. …To make you
some breakfast. There is some hearty meat in this soup, cooking.”
Then he started laughing again.

“Uh, I’m not sure that I get it,” Bomani
said.

“It’s a good thing I finished in time, ha ha
ha.” Then Torik stretched his huge wings as far as the room would
allow. “I’m not much use for cooking with these wings. Ha ha ha.
Squawk!”

Bomani and Farra joined in on his laughter.
“Don’t worry,” said Bomani. “We’ll finish up! Ha ha ha.”

Torik lead the way through the tunnels. This
time Farra channeled some energy through her staff to give them
some light. “Do you think it has really gone?” Farra asked.

“I don’t know,” Torik replied. “That is one
of the reasons why I cannot go with you. I must find out. I must be
sure.”

“Just doesn’t seem right,” she added. “You
having to stay here all by yourself.”

“Yeah,” Bomani said. “We could use someone
with your strength.”

They were now rounding the last corner. They
could see the rays of the brilliant morning light entering the
temple. “Half a shape shifter won’t do you any good,” Torik said.
“Besides, there is no place for me out there. I am considered a
traitor to my people. Everyone else will fear me for being an ogre,
and I must know for sure whether or not the shadowlight is gone for
good. No, I will stay here and wait for the one that can break this
curse.” They exited the temple, shielding their eyes from the
sunlight. –Torik, still in his half eagle form. “Besides, my odds
have just increased from one to five. If you find him, he will
come.”

Farra reached out and hugged the beast,
burying her face in warm feathers on his chest. He wrapped his huge
wings around her. “You’re not smart for an ogre,” she said. “You’re
smart for any man.”

“And you, Farra, are no doubt a unique
anomaly amongst your people.”

“We will see you again,” Bomani said nodding
his head and giving Torik a look of admiration. “I’m sure of
it.”

As they walked away, they looked back and
Torik was busy standing in front of the temple stretching his wings
out as far as they could go. Was he boasting, showing off his grand
wings beside the temple? Or was he just feeling the breeze as it
rushed across his feathers? They weren’t sure, but they enjoyed the
sight.

The compass rune pointed the way for them.
Farra couldn’t help but think about her father as they walked
across the bone yard. Part of her wondered which one he was. She
knew part of him was out there and if she only took the time to
look, she might find him, but she didn’t. She didn’t mention it to
Bomani, although he too was thinking the same thing.

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