Danica Pt. 19

"I feel there is no need to be rude to any guest who passes through my humble door."

Danica concentrated on the old man, brushing up against his mind with her mental powers. After a moment, she thought to Celes, He doesn't have any intention of harming us. He is the guardian, and he genuinely wants us to sit and eat with him.

The old man chuckled, broken by a cough, before he replied, "Now that you have confirmed my intentions, will you join me?"

Celes began, "How did ye..."

The old man tapped his forehead with one finger. "I have my ways. I'm old. I've had a lot of time to learn things, Celes. You may call me Tam."

Danica shrugged and let her magical defenses fall. Celes looked at her with alarm for a moment, but then pursed her lips and did the same. They walked to the table and sat down across from the old man called Tam.

"If'n ye're knowin' why we're here..."

Tam raised a shaking hand before him. "Please, let us eat first. I will show you what you seek once we have eaten."

"We may as well eat and talk freely, Celes. Tam here seems to know what we're thinking anyway."

"Please, feel free to use your magic and ascertain the food is safe. I assure you it is, but I'm sure it will set you at ease to know without a doubt."

"I'll be doin' that fer sure, old one," Celes said, and then cast her spell.

Tam smiled and gestured to the table once Celes completed her spell, confirming what he had just told them. He then started to pour wine from an earthenware pitcher, appearing to have some difficulty with the heavy container.

Danica rose and said, "Let me help you with that."

The old man grinned. "Oh, but you are a dear woman. I fear I'm not as strong as I once was."

Celes was still wary, but thus far, the old man had given them no reason to be afraid. She reached out and picked up a small, glazed wing of fowl, tasting it and opening her eyes in surprise. The meat virtually fell off the bone, and the spicy-sweet taste almost made her quiver.

Tam chuckled. "I'll be sure to convey your compliments to Vellana, or you may do so yourself when you meet her later."

Danica finished pouring the wine, distributed the cups, and then sat back down. The smell from the various dishes was making her mouth water, and she began to fill her plate. After another moment's hesitation, Celes did the same, taking three of the wings before anything else.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Zoraster sat, calmly sipping wine, having mastered his anger shortly after ordering Danica and Celes to their task. He watched as the women entered the grotto, and then the mirror went dark.

Curling his finger in a chain hanging around his neck, Zoraster withdrew an amulet, very similar to those that hung between the breasts of both Danica and Celes. As he had expected, the connection to the powerful amulets was also broken. He was blind to what transpired within the grotto.

Taking another sip of wine, Zoraster banished the magic of the mirror. He would know instantly when the women emerged from the protection of the grotto, and then he would discover if they were successful. In truth, it mattered not.

The stone was beyond the control of the common mortal grubs that scurried over the planet, caught up in the great game of the gods, and it certainly would not bend to one of those corrupt divinities. The fact that the stone he sought had a twin, a balancing opposite, was logical, of course. It was only his anger, stemming from the barrier preventing him from entering the grotto that had prompted him to send Danica and Celes to take it.

They would likely fail, and he would punish them, though certainly not to the extent he had considered at the point he had dispatched them. The pair could likely use another reminder of their place, regardless. They were both developing streaks of independence that, while it made them more useful, also made them dangerous.

If they happened to die, their clones always awaited to house their souls once more, as he had done with Camilla.

The guardian of that grotto would simply have unexpected help, should Danica and Celes fail. Zoraster planned to ensure that no person who set foot on that island would survive to enter the cave, until such time as he was prepared to seize the stone.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

The meal had been beyond compare, and the wine served with it was some of the best Danica had ever tasted. The beverage was easily on a par with Boldheart Red, widely considered the epitome of fine wines. Both Danica and Celes were full and somewhat lethargic when they finished eating.

Old Tam allowed them a short time to let the food settle, and then rose from the table. "I expect you would like to see what you were sent here to retrieve."

Celes narrowed her eyes. "I'm not fer understandin' why ye're bein' so accomodatin', old 'un. I'm not fer playin' games."

The aged guardian smiled and said, "In truth, I do enjoy the company. Second, none who is of dark intent can enter my humble abode, as Zoraster discovered. Despite the fact you have been ordered to take what I guard, you harbor no darkness in your souls. Finally, I do believe that which I guard is beyond your reach."

Danica shrugged and stood up. "That's simple enough to understand. Well, let's go see what we were sent here to steal then."

Celes' head snapped toward Danica, an irritated scowl on her face.

Danica simply smiled. "He knows our names, he knows Zoraster, and he knows why we're here. There's little sense in trying to be sneaky."

Celes' expression softened, and she nodded her agreement before rising as well.

"Good, once you've had a look, I'll have Vellana show you to your room. It is yours for as long as you are here. If you will follow me," Tam directed, making a beckoning gesture as he turned away from the table.

There were numerous doors branching off from the passage down which the guardian led Danica and Celes. The place would have appeared much as a hallway in any stone structure, except there were no fitted blocks, only smooth hewn stone. Torches lit the hall, but the smoke and dark stains usually caused by that most elemental of light sources were nowhere in evidence.

At the end of the hallway, Danica could see a set of ornate double doors, twice again the height of a man – ironbound, and carved all over with delicate scrollwork. When the old man reached the doors, he laid his hand on them and bowed his head as if in benediction, and then gently pushed.

The massive doors swung smoothly open from nothing more than that feeble push of his shaking hand. From within the room radiated a bright, white glow. Tam stepped into the room, again beckoning the two women to follow.

The room was small, no bigger than a bedroom, and the source of light was directly in front of the door at the back of the room. Within a niche carved into the stone was a brightly glowing point of light, about the size of a walnut. The light was brilliant enough that Danica could discern little about the object that exuded the luminescence. Surrounding the stone was a glowing sphere of light, about the size of a man's head.

"The stone," Tam said.

Danica and Celes had already slipped into the second sight before Tam spoke the words, of course. They sought traps and defenses, but found none. There were no runes carved in the walls, and the glowing sphere, while obviously possessing power, had no discernable source.

The stone, as Tam called it, exuded a sense of power, and of peace. There was a musical tinkling in the air, although it did not appear to be a real sound heard with the ears.

The elderly guardian explained, "The sphere protects the stone, and is bound to my life. So long as I breathe, neither man nor god can breach that barrier."

"What is it?" Danica asked in wonder.

The old man smiled. "In time, you may discover that. My words could never do it justice, only knowing it can do that."

Tam allowed them to stare at the stone, basking in the peace that flowed from it for a few moments. He knew perfectly well the feeling that came over anyone who saw the stone for the first time.

"Master," the tawny-haired Vellana said from the doorway behind them.

"Ah, Vellana, please show our guests to their room," Tam said to her.

Vellana responded, "Of course, Master." She then turned toward the enraptured women and said, "If you will both follow me."

At first, Danica didn't even register the woman's presence in the room. The sensation that washed over her from the stone was overpowering, and the rest of the world felt very distant and surreal. Eventually, the words crept through to her, and she turned toward the voice behind her. Celes turned at the same time.

Vellana gestured with a small, fragile hand, inviting them to exit the room before her.

Danica and Celes left the room, but not without looking back over their shoulder at the stone once more as they exited the room. The old man had sat down upon the floor in front of the stone, his head again bowed.

Vellana then closed the doors, blocking the view. She said, "Follow me," and walked past the two women down the hall. The tone of her voice delivered numerous messages with those two simple words, and the strongest message was one of distrust.

Danica and Celes followed the willow-thin woman down the hall a short distance, and then Vellana stopped in front of a door. The door was identical to all the others, a simple, sturdy wooden portal.

Vellana opened the door and told them, "This is your room. A bath has been drawn, and you need only pull the bell pull next to the bed to summon me."

With that, Vellana turned and walked away.

Danica turned toward the retreating woman, pursing her lips and thinking, How rude!

"Ain't she just a spot o' sunshine," Celes muttered, and then snorted before walking into the room. Danica followed Celes into the room, and then closed the door behind them.

"That feeling from the stone grows weaker the farther you get from it," Celes observed. I was almost unconscious in there with it, but now that we're behind closed doors again, I don't really feel it."

Danica asked, "Did you see any runes – any defenses at all?"

"No – nothing – but as soon as the old man said that the protection was his life, I could see the tendrils of power leading from him to the sphere. I think he's telling the truth."

"There has to be another way, Celes."

Celes' shoulders slumped. "I don't know, Danica. That thing and its shield are like nothing I've ever seen before. What about you?"

"Me either. It isn't magic, there's absolutely no evidence of that. Now that you've mentioned it, I could see the power flowing from him to the sphere too."

"It may be that the only way we can get the thing is for the guardian to die, just like he said."

Danica sighed, and then her expression tightened. "I won't do it. I'm not going to kill a defenseless old man for Zoraster."

"Maybe we can find another way. The old man is apparently just going to let us do whatever we want," Celes observed.

"We'll find another way," Danica responded.

"And if there isn't one?"

Danica didn't have an answer for that question.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

I hope you liked this tale, and will continue to read Danica's ongoing story. Please take a moment to vote, and perhaps comment. Feel free to comment on every chapter, nobody is stopping you! *laugh* That's the only payment a free author gets, and every bit of feedback is most appreciated!

You may find later chapters have some flubs and grammar issues, until I finish posting all the edits. Look for the note at the beginning of each chapter about my editor, Roust, and that will let you know whether the chapter is newly edited.