The Guardian's Apprentice (Beyond the Veil) (33 page)

“Nisha!
 
Are you alright?”

“Yes… I think so,” she said in a hoarse whisper, all the while maintaining a firm grip on Keegan’s arm.
 

Keegan eased her down into Cedric’s chair, where she shuddered again and shook her head, as if trying to shake off a bad dream.
 
Even pale and shaking, Keegan thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, in spite of Acamar’s warning.

“Thank you, Keegan,” she said weakly.
 
“You saved my life.
 
Another hour in the crystal and I would have been dead – my essence consumed.”

Unsure of what to say, Keegan shuffled his feet and flushed a bright red.

“I’m, uh…I’m just glad I found you when I did,” he said, thinking it had suddenly become quite warm in Cedric’s office.
 
“Do you know who imprisoned you?”

Nisha shook her head and looked up into Keegan’s eyes, turning his legs to jelly.

“No, I had just flown in through the window and landed on the desk when I was hit from behind.
 
It all happened so fast; there was no warning.”

“But what about Cedric?
 
No one has seen him in days.”

“In hiding I suppose,” she said with a shrug.
 
“All I know is that he and Portia had a fierce argument about his support of your grandfather.
 
She and her supporters accused him of betraying the Order.
 
He ordered me to leave so they could speak in private, so I left.
 
When I returned later that evening, everyone was gone and there was no sign of Cedric.
 
I’ve been in hiding ever since, afraid of what might happen if Portia found me.”

“I think you’ve found out,” Keegan said with a sad smile.
 
“You need to go to Pahret T’pur and find Acamar.
 
He’ll help you and give you a safe place to stay.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head and crossing her arms.
 
“I won’t let you go to Talith Nor by yourself.
 
It’s too dangerous.”

“Nisha, this may be a one-way trip.
 
I don’t know what will happen when I try to seal the gateway.
 
My grandfather was killed when he sealed the gateway at Pahret T’pur; I can’t expect much better.”

“It’s not an option, Keegan.
 
I’m coming with you whether you like it or not.
 
I’ve been to Talith Nor before and know my way around.
 
You need my help and you know it.”

Keegan couldn’t argue with her on that point.
 
He still had a tenuous grasp on magic at best, and required Nek’kar’s help with most complicated spells.

“We need to be going, Keegan,” she said as she labored to stand.

She was still unsteady on her feet and Keegan wondered if she could travel like this.

“Nisha, are you sure you’re strong enough for this?”

She sighed deeply and then threw her head back and smiled grimly at him.

“I don’t have a choice now, do I?
 
I’ll have to shift back to my raven form in less than an hour.
 
I can still do most magic when I’m in raven form, but most strong magic is difficult to perform when you don’t have fingers or hands.”

Keegan smiled as he picked up his staff.

“You shouldn’t come with me, but I’m glad you are,” he said sadly.

Nisha returned his smile and kissed him on the cheek.

“Come on, hero.
 
We’ve got a gateway to seal,” she said grabbing his hand and leading him out into the hall.

###

Snow was swirling around the blue-white portal that snapped open, breaking the silence around the mountain citadel of Talith Nor.
 
The high mountain pass channeled the wind, forcing it to scream through the narrow passage that led to the entrance at a constant gale force.
 
Keegan was unprepared for the assault on his senses when he and Nisha materialized out of the portal.
 
As the stepped into the maelstrom and the vortex snapped shut behind them, Keegan could see in the dim light that the portal they used had been carved directly into the face of a cliff.
 
A sudden gust of wind nearly knocked him off his feet and interrupted his thoughts.
 
The intense cold cut through his robes like a knife and he was shivering within seconds.

“
Who in their right mind would build a castle up here
?” he shouted, trying to be heard above the howling wind.

“
It’s deep in dragon territory and almost unreachable except by the portal or from the air
,” yelled Nisha.
 
“
What safer place could there be?
”

“
So where’s the castle?
 
Is it far?”

Nisha shook her head as she huddled closer to Keegan to make herself heard over the wind.

“
It’s not exactly a castle.
 
Talith Nor is dragon tongue for ‘dark cavern’; it was carved from a fissure in the mountainside.
 
This passage leads to the entrance, not far from here.
 
It’s the only way in, I’m afraid – there are wards in place that keep us from teleporting into the cavern itself.”

Putting her arm through his, she pulled him toward the entrance, bracing herself against the wind.

“
Come on!
 
We have to go now, before my hour is up!
 
If I shift back into my raven form I won’t be much use to you in this wind!”

Arm in arm, they staggered forward against the bitterly cold wind, their footprints quickly filling in with blowing snow.
 
Peering ahead into the dim light provided by the full moon, Keegan could just make out the massive cliff face up ahead.
 
A dark black scar cut raggedly across the stone, marking the rift in the mountain that was the entrance to Talith Nor.
 
They made their way to the entrance, apparently unseen in the darkness and blowing snow.
 
As Keegan stepped over the threshold, the howling of the wind suddenly stopped, as if someone had flipped a switch.
 
From a distance, the dark rift in the mountainside looked tiny; now that he was inside though, Keegan could see it was actually quite large, large enough in fact for several men to walk abreast.
 
The ceiling was last from view, high above in the darkness, while red wisps floating along the walls gave everything below the hue of blood.
 
Looking around the entrance hall, Keegan could see strange glyphs carved into the walls.
 
Nisha grabbed his arm and pointed, directing his attention to the far center of the room.
 
There, shrouded in a thin mist, was an enormous pit.
 
The same glyphs adorning the walls ringed the pit, only they seemed to shimmer with a strange light of their own.
 
This must be the seal opened by Ducat, thought Keegan.

“Now what?
 
Do you know how to seal the portal?” asked Nisha.
 
Even though she spoke in a hushed whisper, her voice seemed to echo through the cavern, making Keegan wince.

“The Oracle stone can seal the gateway if it is placed in the primary glyph at the top of the portal,” he whispered.

“Are you sure?”

“Beats me – the Oracle told me back in the council chamber,” he whispered with a sheepish grin.

Nisha grimaced, obviously not encouraged by his answer.

“We should hurry, before Ducat shows up.”

Keegan nodded in agreement.
 
The last thing he wanted was a confrontation with a powerful wizard, much less one driven insane and corrupted by the Shadow.
 
Motioning Nisha forward, Keegan edged along the wall towards the center of the chamber, watching for any sign of movement.
 
Although it only took a few minutes to cover the distance to the portal, it seemed like an hour.
 
As Keegan drew closer, he looked into the portal and felt a feeling of dread pass over him.
 
The pit was at least fifteen feet across and ringed by smooth cut granite stones, each carved with a different magical glyph.
 
It was what he saw in the center of the pit however, that drew Keegan’s attention.
 
A dark, inky blackness swirled and bubbled there, with wisps of black smoke occasionally curling upward from the surface.
 
It was a darkness that he had seen before, when the Shadow entered the lair of the Alderdrache and it gave him the same cold feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach.

“Brace yourself, youngling.
 
It is not the Shadow that you see, only the pathway to their realm,”
echoed the voice of Nekk’ar in his mind.

A tingling warmth spread from his ring and Keegan’s fear began to subside.
 
He moved around the edge of the portal, examining the granite stones as he went.
 
As he came to the far side of the pit, he found one stone set slightly higher than the others with an intricate glyph carved in the center.
 
Keegan noticed a slight depression in the stone at the head of the magical symbol and realized it was the same size and shape as the Oracle stone he now wore around his neck.
 
This must be the headstone for the portal.

“This has to be it,” Nisha whispered next to him.
 
“Do you know what to do next?”

“I think so,” he whispered back.
 
“When the Oracle stone spoke to me at the Council chambers there was rhythmic chant being repeated over and over in the background.
 
It’s been stuck in my head ever since.”

Keegan grasped the Oracle stone and was surprised to find that it was warm to the touch, with a faint throbbing sensation almost like a pulse.
 
Kneeling by the headstone, he placed the pendant in the depression.
 
There was a faint spark, like a circuit being closed, and spidery lines of silver began coursing around the perimeter of the gateway.
 
Quietly, he began reciting the incantation the oracle had planted in his mind, keeping his fingertips firmly on the pendant.
 
Silver lines of energy continued to flow around the perimeter of the portal, moving faster as Keegan continued to chant the incantation.
 
He felt a burning sensation moving through his arms, as magic flowed out through the Oracle stone, which was beginning to glow brightly from the energy passing through it.
 
The light grew in intensity until Keegan was forced to turn his head, his eyelids shut tight against the light from the stone, although he continued to recite the incantation.
 
Finally, he could hear a grinding sound of stone on stone and the burning in his arms lessened.
  
Keegan stopped chanting and looked into the gateway, the light in the Oracle stone having dissipated.
 
The dark pool of intense black nothingness was now gone, covered by a thick stone slab.
 
The seal was covered in the same magical symbols as the stones around the perimeter and was warm to the touch.

“You did it, Keegan!
 
You sealed the gateway,” Nisha said as she grabbed his arm excitedly.

“He certainly did, my dear,”
came a new voice from somewhere behind them in the shadows.

Keegan and Nisha both jumped at the sound and turned to face their unknown visitor but saw nothing.

“Our little apprentice has done more in the past few weeks than I was able to accomplish in years – bravo, my boy, bravo!”
 
The voice echoed through the hall, seeming to come from all directions at once.
 

“Who are you?” shouted Keegan, peering into the darkness where the light of the wisps did not reach.
 
His query was rewarded with maniacal laughter.

“I am a loyal and faithful servant!
 
My master will be proud,”
cackled the voice.

Out of the corner of his eye, Keegan thought he saw a movement, ever so slight, just beyond the light of the wisps.

“Show yourself!” shouted Keegan, thrusting his staff upward and casting a wider circle of light.

“Oh, I shall show myself, young master Whitestone,”
hissed the voice from the shadows.
 
“I shall be revealed in all of my glory, and it shall be the last sight you ever see!”

The echoes of the voice were still reverberating around the chamber when a flash of light burst forth, illuminating the far side of the hall and revealing their unknown visitor.
 
A somewhat stooped figured shuffled forward, leaning heavily on a gnarled staff, atop which was what looked like the largest ruby Keegan had ever seen.
 
The jewel was casting a vibrant red light throughout the chamber.
 
The wizard’s face remained hidden beneath his cowl, but Keegan could see two glowing eyes within.
 
Most frightening of all however, was the claw like hand that grasped the staff.