Pagewalker (39 page)

The group knew that they had to split up if
they wanted to get all three without the gates closing stopping
them from getting another "We will rest here tonight then tomorrow
we split up and take a temple each, Agreed?" Dertrid said "Agreed"
the group said. "We will wait here, " said Penla who was now fixing
the fire for the night. The next moning the three walked to the
entrance of each temple and waited for Gladwin to chant the
awakening spell. As he did this gates for each temple opened and
the group ran in to their chosen temple.

Keldon [fire temple]

As Keldon ran into the large fire temple he could see
down to the bottom of the long thin staircase, which had a glowing
red light at the bottom. The light was glistening softly with a
small twinkle like sparkle to it. The smell of sulphur and burnt
flesh Wafted up the stairs as Keldon slowly walked down them but
never letting the large red light out of his sight. A voice echoed
up the thin hallway.

It caught Keldon off guard and made his very
soul jump inside his body. "AH!! So you have come then!” exclaimed
a voice.

“Ha! Another adventurer seeking my treasure
and yet another meal to my dogs". As Keldon made it to the bottom
of the staircase he saw a tall man wearing nothing but black,
rusted armour. He was also wearing a long black cloak with red ,
silk lining. It draped over his whole body and the back end of his
horse. His horse was a large black stallion. It also had very old
rusted black armour. The black cold metal draped over the whole
body of the horse except the joints of its legs and the joint
between its neck and its main body. "So you want my treasure
then"

The horseman said as he dismounted from his
horse.

"Well I am afraid you can’t just take it. You
have to defeat me before you can get it so you might as well just
walk back up those stairs and no one gets hurt. What do you say?"
The horseman turned his back to Keldon and started to walk towards
a large throne that was covered in fire. "Hey you listen to me you
sorry excuse for a warrior! I came for the element and I believe
that the only way I can get it is to defeat you and I am not
leaving without it",Keldon said as he walked over to the horseman
with his shield ready and his sword held high above his head. The
horseman turned around and faced Keldon. His eyes were burning and
his skin crawled with anger. His throat was dry and he longed to
taste man- blood again. He drew his large two-handed sword from the
large pack that hung down on the left side of the horse. He raised
it above his head and muttered a few words under his breath then
spat on the sword. Suddenly the blade burst into flames. He looked
Keldon in the eyes and turned to face him again. Keldon looked the
horseman in the face and made a very taunting finger gesture. The
horseman was not very amused at the gesture; He drove his spurs
into the horse's side causing it to run straight towards Keldon.
Their two swords clashed together with the sound of thunder and
sparks that looked like a blacksmith's shop at night. The power of
the horseman’s attack knocked Keldon off balance. He fell to the
floor with a thud, dropping his blade and sending it skidding
across the cold stone floor. The horseman jumped off his horse and
dived towards Keldon's blade. He stood up slowly holding both
blades, one in each hand. He raised the blades above his head as he
approached Keldon who had backed himself up against a wall. The
horseman swung both blades toward Keldon hoping to perform the
killing blow but Keldon rolled between the horseman’s legs and ran
over into the middle of the lair. The room they were in was a large
circular room so this mint there was no corner for Keldon to back
into. Keldon watched the horseman tum around and slowly walk toward
Keldon; Keldon ran toward the horseman and dived at his legs. He
caught one of his legs and pulled him to the ground. Keldon quickly
rolled on top of the horseman and started smashing the horseman’s
head against the cold floor. Keldon reached for his sword, which
was now lying on the ground beside him. He lifted up his sword and
drove it into the horseman’s shoulder. The horseman screamed out
with anger and kicked Keldon off him. The horseman stood up and ran
toward his throne where he pulled a lever which released 3 large
dogs that ran straight towards

Keldon. Keldon ran over to the horseman and
sliced off the horseman’s arm that was holding the burning sword.
He turned towards the 3 large dogs and threw his own sword at one
of them. The blade seemed to glide through the dogs rotting flesh
causing the dogs corpse to split in half and send blood splashing
all over the room's walls. The horseman and Keldon both dived
toward the flaming sword but Keldon punched the horseman just
before he picked it up sending the horseman flying back onto his
large oversized golden chair. Keldon picked up the sword and held
it above his head letting all the energy flow from his body to the
sword. The remaining two dogs stopped dead in their tracks as they
saw the new wielder of the flame sword. Keldon took advantage of
this and pointed toward the wounded and bleeding horseman that was
crouching behind his throne, "Attack!" Keldon shouted pointing
toward the horseman, "Rip him apart!" The dogs did so but as Keldon
was walking up the stairs the fire that surrounded the arena and
throne that they were fighting in went out and the walls started to
crumble as did the very stairs that Keldon was standing on. He ran
as fast as his legs could carry him but he saw the stairs in front
of him crumble as well, he wasn’t going to make it so he threw the
sword and him self to the edge of the stairs hoping to grab onto
the lip of the entrance. The sword landed straight up in the ground
outside but his hands just missed grabbing the lip. As he fell
Keldon prayed that Dertrid would not fail. As he closed his eyes he
stopped abruptly and felt himself being slowly hoisted up by Penla
who had caught his wrist as he fell. " I thought you were gone for
sure" Penla laughed as he lifted Keldon up from the fallen temple,
which was now just a large pile of rubble. Keldon hugged Penla but
was pushed off as Penla laughed saying "I don’t love you that
much!""Where are the others?" Keldon asked as he got to his feet
"They aren’t out yet " Gladwin said with a worried look on his
face

Elessa [earth temple]

As Elessa ran down the long stairway, she tripped on
a large tree root and fell to the bottom of the cold stone steps.
She picked herself up and brushed the dust off her green and blue
goblin hide armour. She took her bow off her shoulder and loaded it
with some of her poisoned arrows from her quiver and slowly pushed
the large doors open. The room that she walked into had trees
growing from the ground beneath her that reached right up to the
tip of the temple. The ivy had grown over the surface of the four
walls that rose as high as she could see, the shrubs had grown over
the floor so that you could not even see the stone floor she was
walking on, the birds sang from the trees but their songs were not
joyful ones. They gave off the feeling of entrapment and
claustrophobia. The birds had been born and lived in this temple
for hundreds of years. As she walked toward the large pool in the
middle a strange glowing green light emanated from the large tree
at the far end of the temple. She walked towards it with her bow
aimed directly into the middle of it just waiting for a head to
emerge so that she could finish this once and for all. Before long,
a large black helmet emerged from the light and moved very quickly
toward her. She did not hesitate at all.

One quick shot fired the arrow directly into
the middle of the helmet which penetrated the helmet directly
through the crown. A large cry of pain came from the man inside it
as he pulled it off his head. Elessa saw an old- looking man who's
face was covered in blood walk slowly toward her with fire in his
eyes and a strange coughing sound in his voice as he said " Ah, so
you are one of the friends of the brave adventures that killed my
brother, am I correct?" Elessa loaded another arrow into her bow
and replied "Correct" while aiming toward his forehead with another
poisoned arrow,

"And now I’m going to let you re-unite with
him you old fool! ." At that she once again fired an arrow toward
his head but as fast as lightning the horseman lifted his shield
and caught the arrow clean in the middle of it. Before Elessa had
time to reload, the horseman swung his shield and knocked Elessa’s
bow flying into the large pool in the middle of the temple. Elessa
ran toward the man diving at him with her two daggers that she had
just pulled from her girdle. As she tried to drive them into the
horseman he caught her hands and crushed them until Elessa let go
of them He then threw her off him and pulled out his large bow that
glistened with the golden trim down the middle. It had a web string
from the giant spiders of Mount Brinish that was un breakable. It
was also made out of the same type of wood as the root that Elessa
had tripped on earlier and it seemed to move as the horse man
loaded the arrow into it. Elessa stood up and put her hands above
her head while saying, " You do realise that if you kill me my
friends will just come and finish you off! ""Yes I am aware of that
fact but I am very willing to take you with me" At that the horse
man aimed toward Elessa’s chest and pulled back on the string
building up as much power as he could muster at that time, but
before he fired he loosened his aim on the bow and then dropped it.
Elessa took this chance to jump toward the horseman, roll under his
legs and grab her daggers. After she

grabbed them the horseman fell to the ground
dead. Elessa looked round, hoping that Dertrid or Keldon was the
one who killed him but as she looked into the horseman's
bloodshot

eyes she saw a slow trickle of green liquid
cover the surface of his eyes. "THE POISON!" she cried in delight
as she picked up his bow " it must have got right into his
bloodstream" She muttered to herself as she walked up the long
stairway but as she did so the ground started to crumble beneath
her feet. She ran toward the surface just making it out in time to
watch the whole temple fall into the large hole behind her.

"ELESSA!" Keldon called as he ran toward her and
picked her up and spun her round "your alive" he said as he kissed
her head "You had us all so worried" moaned Penla who was still
staring toward the temple of strength "but its good to see you any
how" he said with a small grin creeping across his face. Elessa
walked toward the only temple left standing praying that Dertrid
would come out of it any second, but he didn’t so she sat down
weighting for her hero to arrive.

Dertrid [strength temple]

Dertrid ran down the stairs toward the large doors at
the bottom. As he ran closer he saw a figure standing in the open
door way. He ran faster to try and see who it was before the doors
closed but as he was jumping down the stairs he could see the doors
closing and the figure getting closer and closer. As he reached the
last few steps he jumped toward the closing door and just managed
to slide his sword into the slot between the closed door and the
closing door stopping them from closing. The doors flung open as
Dertrid got to his feet and a large bright light shone through the
doorway blinding him for a short moment. Then a voice came from the
light saying "You’re too late Dertrid my brother, the horseman has
already been slain. He fell upon my blade therefore the elemental
sword is mine which means you can not join it with the other two."
As Dertrid’s eyes became used to the light he could see a tall man
with long hair and wearing full plate armour but he could not see
his face for his helmet covered it.

"Who are you?" Dertrid asked quite puzzled
and scared of this brave figure in front of him,

"Show yourself!” he ordered.

The figure took off his helmet and flung his
hair behind his head

"Good to see you again brother,” he said.

Dertrid looked closer at his face and he
could not believe what he saw. Standing in front of him was the man
who tried to execute him and have him hunted down and killed.
"SAMUEL!" He gasped

"But no....no I killed you, This is not
possible" Dertrid cried.

"I’m afraid it is my brother, but I have no
time to stand around. I have got some business to attend to,
farewell."

As Samuel ran up the stairs Dertrid ran after
him and dived at the sword of strength but Samuel just kicked him
down again and ran out the door.

Dertrid dived out through the door as the temple
seemed to crumble behind him but not in time to catch Samuel who
ran past the group and jumped on his horse that was tied up behind
a large

Pile of rocks. "Damn it!" Dertrid yelled as
Samuel disappeared over the horizon. "What are we going to do now
Gladwin, he has the third element. How are we going to get it back
now‘? We are all doomed and its all thanks to me! I could have
stopped him,” Dertrid cried as he fell to the ground.

"There is one other way my child but I was
not going to dare go near it" Gladwin said " Now however, it looks
like we have no choice. We must head for Xill where we will enter
the great catacombs and find the water sword. The problem is that
it is in the land of the dark elves. It is very dangerous ground.
Going there might not be the most sensible thing we have ever done"
Gladwin joked sarcastically . "That’s settled then, its off to
Xill, off to brave the endless caverns and dangers that await us as
we head to confront the dark elves" Dertrid muttered as the group
gathered their things and jumped aboard Penla’s cart.

There was an almighty crash of lightning against the
cliff in front of the group of adventures as they pulled up beside
a large doorway that seemed to be sucked up into the cliff. The
doorway was stretched up at least 200 feet high. The doors
themselves were engraved with some of the most amazing pictures.
From what Dertrid could see there were two groups of elves from the
look of it.