Chapter 4

 

 

As for Dom, Lore and Nyssa, they had been just as shocked as everyone else at the news of the fairies strange illness. When King Brodon had told everyone to go home, Dom and Nyssa went off to Lore’s tent to discuss the shocking news.

 

‘What do you think is wrong with the fairies?’ Dom asked as they all sat down.

 

‘I couldn’t really say, Dom,’ Nyssa replied. ‘Have they been acting oddly at all recently?’

 

He shook his head.

 

‘I don’t think so,’ he replied. ‘Jena and some of her friends spend a lot more time with them than I do and they haven’t said anything.’

 

‘Then it must be something that’s happened suddenly… without warning,’ Lore said. ‘I hope Eldor can find a cure for them.’

 

‘I’m sure he will,’ Nyssa replied, though her tone was worried. ‘I saw him walk off with your dad, along with Rena.’

 

‘I just hope it isn’t too serious. I would hate to think of the fairies… dying!’ Dom said in concern.

 

‘Yes, that would be just terrible,’ Nyssa agreed.

 

They stayed up for a little while discussing the matter. Did the fairies have a fever of some kind or was it something else that only fairies caught? But none of them could really say of course and they shortly turned in. Hopefully tomorrow would provide an answer.

 

But as Dom slept, a strange dream came to him. He found himself in the fairies glade, the starflowers overhead glowing very softly. A voice called out to him and he walked toward Queen Erin’s flower. She was sitting up in it and looked intently at him as he stopped underneath.

 

‘Dom, you must listen carefully to what I have to say,’ she said.

 

‘Of course, your majesty,’ he replied. ‘Is it true… are your folk really ill?’

 

‘Yes, we are, Dom,’ Queen Erin replied sadly. ‘But Eldor knows of a way to help us and that’s why I am appearing to you in a dream. He has already left to journey to the ancient city of Rethan in search of the Stardust Fountain that will help us. But I have just remembered that the fountain was moved shortly before the city fell to a magical creature called the Shiver. I fear that Eldor doesn’t realize this and will be searching in the wrong place. He must be told.’

 

‘Do you know where the Stardust Fountain is now?’ Dom asked, wondering what it was and how it could help the fairies.

 

‘No,’ she said in some dismay. ‘My memory is very vague of that time. But I know it has something to do with a place of mirrors… a hall somewhere or in a temple. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more, but if you tell Eldor he may know where to look.’

 

‘Then I’ll find someone to go after him,’ Dom said.

 

‘Thank you, Dom. Good luck,’ Queen Erin said and then the dream quickly faded away…

 

… and he woke up with a start. He quickly sat up and saw that early daylight had arrived outside the tent. The dream was still vivid in his mind and he didn’t doubt for a moment that its message was real.

 

He quickly woke Lore and Nyssa and told them about it. But he was surprised at how shocked they were when they learned where Eldor was going.

 

‘Rethan!’ Lore said in a tone of dread. ‘That’s one place I would avoid going anywhere near.’

 

‘Queen Erin said it was a city,’ Dom said. ‘She mentioned that a magical creature called the Shiver lived there.’

 

‘And still does, Dom!’ Lore said grimly. ‘Rethan is an ancient city, now mostly forgotten by folk except in legends. But every elf and dwarf knows not to venture there with the Shiver there.’

 

‘What… what is it?’ Dom queried a little nervously.

 

‘It’s a creature of magic, powerful and deadly,’ Nyssa replied. ‘Father says no-one who has gone to Rethan has ever returned.’

 

‘But surely Eldor know how to avoid it?’ Dom said.

 

‘I hope so,’ Lore replied hesitantly. ‘All I know is that the Shiver is supposed to have slain nearly every person in the city at the time of its fall.’

 

Dom gave a gasp, wondering what kind of power the Shiver possessed to do such an awful thing.

 

‘If Queen Erin says that Eldor has already left, he must have done so during the night,’ Nyssa said. ‘He will have a good head start and can travel swiftly when he needs to.’

 

‘Do you think he went alone?’ Dom asked, suddenly remembering he had seen Jena with the wizard when he had come back from the fairies glade. ‘I saw Jena with him last night when he arrived back from the glade.’

 

Nyssa frowned.

 

‘He may have taken her with him if he left his staff behind to protect the fairies,’ she said. ‘He might need her magic as he will have to pass through goblin and morg country to get there.’

 

‘Then we had better organise for someone to go after him,’ Lore said and he eyed Nyssa.

 

‘Us?’ she asked with raised eyebrows.

 

‘We can be on our way in minutes,’ he said. ‘But let’s go and see my father. He’ll know what to do.’

 

They quickly went to King Brodon’s tent and slipping inside, found both he and Queen Merrill still asleep. Lore gave his father a gentle shake, wanting to wake just him rather than his mother as well.

 

‘Father! Wake up!’ he urged in a soft voice.

 

One of King Brodon’s eyes opened and glared at Lore.

 

‘This had better be good, Lore,’ he rumbled sleepily. ‘It’s far too early…’

 

‘I know where Eldor has gone and what he is searching for,’ Lore interrupted and that woke up his father fully.

 

‘How do you know that?’ he asked as he sat up.

 

‘Queen Erin sent Dom a dream last night telling him that Eldor will be searching for the Stardust Fountain in the wrong place! He has to be told before he gets there.’

 

‘Then we must send someone after him,’ he said. ‘It’s dangerous enough that he has gone there, but Jena and Rena are with him too.’

 

‘Nyssa and I can catch them,’ Lore said. ‘Everyone else is still asleep and it’ll take time to organise others to go after them. We can track him easily enough.’

 

Brodon frowned, not liking the sound of what Lore was proposing. But he could see the sense in what he had said. He also didn’t want the folk here to find out that Eldor might be heading to the wrong place. It would upset them even more.

 

‘Very well… go after them,’ he said, then added very firmly. ‘But you are to find them, give them the message and then come back. None of you are to join him! Is that understood?’

 

Lore nodded.

 

‘Then hurry and keep safe,’ his father said.

 

* * *

 

Lore and Nyssa quickly readied a couple of small packs with food for the journey. They picked up their weapons, Lore his axe and Nyssa her bow and quiver of arrows. Even Dom was armed with a tiny dagger that Lore had made for him. Then they left the village, stealing away into the woods with no one seeing them go. Dom was feeling a little guilty. King Brodon hadn’t actually said he could come with the pair.

 

‘I hope I won’t get in to trouble,’ he said. ‘I’ve been in enough lately.’

 

‘I wouldn’t worry about it, Dom,’ Lore said reassuringly. ‘Father will know you’re in good hands with Nyssa and I. Hopefully we won’t be gone long enough for anyone to worry. All we have to do is catch Eldor and give him the message… simple.’

 

‘Catching him might be harder than we think,’ Nyssa said. ‘Eldor can move like the wind when it’s needed and your Aunt Rena is just as good.’

 

‘Then let’s quicken our steps,’ Lore urged and they both broke into a small trot, Dom hanging onto Lore’s collar.

 

But Nyssa’s caution was soon proved very real. Around midday a sudden summer storm swept down from the north, catching them in grasslands between the Quiet Woods and The Forest of Rivers. A moaning wind gusted across the land and rain fell in drenching sheets.

 

Nyssa lost all sign of Eldor’s trail, the wind and rain wiping it clean. Now they would have to guess in which direction the wizard had gone and hope they were correct. They pushed on, hoping their guess was correct.

 

* * *

 

Eldor meanwhile, with Rena and Jena had pushed hard once leaving the village. They reached the borders of the Quiet Woods and moved rapidly across the grassland toward the Forest of Rivers. They arrived at the eastern fringe of the elves forest just as dawn lit the sky. Then they headed north, skirting the forest till they reached its northern fringe. Then they turned west and headed across hill country that lay between the forest and the Chill Mountains.

 

All day they walked, following a narrow trail that wound across the hills. They too were caught by the storm, but only very briefly and it did not slow them that much. They stopped only twice during the day to eat and rest briefly.

 

The night arrived and shortly after a half moon rose to shed some light. The wizard kept going till nearly midnight before he decided to camp and get some needed sleep. All three had been awake now for two days. Jena was glad to walk around a bit as she had been riding on Rena’s shoulder the whole time.

 

She had only met the dwarf a few times and had always thought her a bit gruff. The dark guard uniform she wore made her look very stern, not to mention the wicked looking double-bladed axe she always carried.

 

But journeying with her, Jena had found a merrier side to her. During the day Rena had told her about some of the wild adventures she had got up to when she had been younger.

 

One of the tales was when she and some dwarves had trekked into the Midnight Mountains. They had been after some goblins that had stolen gold and kidnapped some dwarves from a mining village in the Chill Mountains. She laughed as she described how they had rescued the dwarves and recovered the gold before sending the goblins scampering away stark naked! Jena had laughed too, wondering what a naked goblin would look like.

 

Eldor meanwhile had been silent all day, his expression grim and not inviting any chatter. As they ate a hastily prepared meal by a small fire Jena kept on glancing at him, wanting to ask him about their journey, but put off by his dark look.

 

But when she glanced at him for about the fifth time, he was suddenly smiling at her.

 

‘Come on, Jena! I know you’re aching to ask questions… so ask away,’ he said.

 

Rena gave a chuckle.

 

‘She’s worried about you, Eldor,’ she said. ‘Your expression’s been stormy all day. I think you frightened her into silence!’

 

‘Well, for that I am sorry,’ Eldor replied. ‘I have much to think about on our quest. But ask away, Jena.’

 

‘Well, I only have a couple of questions really,’ Jena said. ‘I’d like to know more about Rethan and what the Shiver is.’

 

‘Two questions, but with long answers,’ Rena laughed.

 

Eldor was silent a few moments as he gathered his thoughts. Jena thought he would start off with something frightening. But he surprised her with his reply.

 

‘Rethan was a beautiful city before its fall long ago, a place of magic and wonder,’ he said. ‘‘Nothing threatened us. The goblins lived deep in the Midnight Mountains and rarely ventured beyond them. Even the morgs were not much of a concern as they roamed lands further to the north. We had a great friendship with the dwarves, elves, fairies and gnomes and many lived in the city with us.

 

‘Many of my folk wielded magic, whether they were a wizard like myself… or a sorceress like Mogrom. But with magic knowledge comes a great care to use it wisely and we had done so for thousands of years. But there are always those who yearn for more power, heedless of the risk involved. Some of our greatest magic wielders sought to find a greater control over the magic, to trap and harness it.’

 

‘And brought about their downfall,’ Rena said bleakly.

 

Eldor nodded.

 

‘Yes, some were too sure of their power and ignored the fact that magic is a free element. It does like being bound to anything. You must draw on the magic, not bind it. Like my staff and your bracelet, Jena. Magic isn’t stored in either, but draws on it, uses it and then releases it again.

 

‘To be brief, some of my folk managed to bind large amounts of the magic. But in the end they bound too much and it escaped, forming the Shiver and bringing a terrible calamity to my folk.’

 

‘What… what happened to them, Eldor?’ Jena asked in a small voice at the wizard’s dire tone.

 

He shook his head.

 

‘I won’t go into that now,’ he replied, staring off into the night’s darkness.

 

‘Tell me more of your folk, then,’ Jena said. ‘What were they called?’

 

Eldor seemed surprised by the question, then shook his head with a small smile.

 

‘I keep forgetting that gnomes have been gone for so long, they have forgotten much of the history of Lendor,’ he said. ‘My folk were called humans, Jena. Just like you are a gnome and Rena is a dwarf, I am a human.’

 

‘Human,’ Jena said, rolling the word around in her mouth. ‘It sounds nice.’

 

‘They were a fine people so they tales say,’ Rena said. ‘They were great builders like we dwarves.’

 

‘But what about the Shiver?’ Jena went on. ‘If it is so dangerous, how will we avoid it?’

 

‘Yes, Eldor,’ Rena added. ‘How will we enter Rethan unseen?’

 

‘From beneath it,’ Eldor replied. ‘I know where the Stardust Fountain is and we can reach it by using old tunnels that lie under the city. They will allow us to quickly gather the Stardust before the Shiver knows we are there.’

 

‘Hopefully!’ Rena said in a cautioning tone.

 

They turned in then and Jena remained awake long enough to wonder what the Shiver looked like. When she fell asleep she had an unnerving dream about being chased by something terrible and invisible through long dark tunnels.

 

But thankfully it didn’t last long and she woke with the others at dawn. They ate some breakfast and then continued on their way westward. As night fell again two days later they had reached the feet of The Midnight Mountains… home of the goblins.