Silver Cathedral Saga (6 page)
“For kids,
I am surprised by how switched on you both are,” said the
Spell-caster.
It was
over five hours before they took their first break. The light from
the sun was upon them; and they relished in it in their thirty
minutes before they moved again.
Another
hour on their journey, the Star-caster was lucky enough to exchange
some of his possessions in his pocket: There was a magick silver
sundial which he used quite often on the way, two silver coins and
also a photo of what must have been his brother, who the children
noticed was the other Star-caster in Sunndira city; the one who let
them escape and probably died. At this time Christian pulled both
pockets out, and all that fell from them was a bit of string he
picked up and put back inside.
The man
Ematay traded with managed to just accept the small silver sundial;
he seemed very happy to have gotten such a trinket.
Although
the children had nothing on them, except the tattered and dirty
clothes they wore, which was going to be no good to a
tradesman.
Now, they
rode on a horse the rest of the way, the Star-caster telling them
his name: Ematay.
It would
have been another twelve hours by walking, but was cut down to
about eight with the horse. They took one long break in these hours
too, which seemed much shorter than it really was.
By the
time they got close to Silvarian they were all very tired.
Travelling by any means is an exhausting business; whether you go
by horseback, swanback or walking. You are still taking in all that
you pass, and there is a lot of truth in ‘the more you sit the
tired you get’.
Christian
held on to the Star-caster from the back, and the Star-caster held
onto Eleanor in front. They managed to fit on, just, though the
riding was not so comfortable. They kept digging into each
other.
There was
of of course a saddle that came with the horse, as it was one that
belonged to a simple and ordinary messenger people were used to
seeing.
Christian
soon noticed whilst riding something showing at the bottom of the
Star-caster’s back; as they rode through the lands that day, he
noticed a kind of blue paint on his skin. The boy tried to see if
it would smear, yet it didn’t.
The
Star-caster pulled down his shirt and tucked it into his ruffled,
earthy brown trousers under his star blue cloak. The speed they
were going at pulled it up when they rode initially, but the man
made sure it never happened again and brought attention to itself,
or to him.
It was a
rather hot day, although there was an odd cloud or two on the way
from Sunndira, and these always gave shivers to any humanoid, as
clouds felt cold from a sudden change in temperature, especially
when you’re riding through them.
Christian
remembered reading about Astorians having evolved over the last
five hundred years; their bodies can now handle extreme cold
temperatures without any need for magick, items or clothes to aid.
So the climate of the clogs does not harm any of the Astorians in
the present, it just takes several moments for their bodies to
adapt, the shivering being a sign of this happening. Although the
colder temperatures for other worldly folk would still be fatal.
Many have believed it was this evolution that leads the heat of the
sun to be so bothersome for Astorians, or so the book lead the
readers to believe so, because their bodies subconsciously protect
themselves against the cold by storing heat inside when it’s
needed.
There was a
time that hundreds of Astorians would die on such days in the past.
But those times are long gone now.
“The city,”
said the Star-caster. The two children looked at it in awe. It was
immensely beautiful; three fold in comparison to Sunndira.
The city’s
silver walls glistened from the sun being behind them, aiming its
rays onto Silvarian. Yet it didn’t resemble any other city on the
other worlds they knew of, as it was all indoors, and nowhere near
as big as the capital of their world.
Inside the
‘Silver Haven’, this is what the travellers and Star-casters called
it, was the best place to come for trading and buying. In fact that
is where the man they traded with lived, but made his way to a
village called Snowbridge. Where he told the lot of them most of
his family settled.
It seemed
the attack had not hit the east… yet, but Ematay warned them of the
Shadows moving in these nights and days.
It was a
place for ancient and sometimes magickal artifacts being auctioned
or sold.
Romani
people used softer magicks in the present with objects to create
and sell; they all had powerful protecting powers indispensable
among this world.
The
horse soon got them near the building.
Eleanor
noticed the stain glass windows were both doors and windows, so you
never knew which was which, as each one ran from the bottom of the
building to the top.
“There it
is,” said Christian as they all stood before it: “The silver
stream… What an amazing picture that would make.” The sky above the
Silver Haven was glowing with a, what would yo know: Silver
stream.
A beautiful
burst of colour trickled across the air from time to time: Every
five seconds, signposting that Silvarian was here.
The streams
were different colours on each Starao world, and was a test to see
if the Point Defence Star System worked for each of the
planets.
Amaranth
had a grey stream, whilst Adalas, a white. They could only be found
at a single location on each world.
“So now
where?” asked Eleanor.
“‘It
twinkles with a radiant light. You might mistake it for a star’. It
twinkles… hmm.” Christian looked at the sky. There was just a
silver colour flowing past Silvarian and pointing towards the
Mistless Mountain. He followed it three times with none of the
others speaking, just hoping he would somehow figure something out.
“No. I just don’t get it.” But then he looked up at the stars when
the colour of silver was gone; he saw what must have been some of
the stars from the line that protects them, as they were bluer and
bigger than the rest.
He followed
them with his eyes, having to wait another five seconds as the
stream passed again. “Got it,” he said, feeling great about himself
once more. “The eighth star in on the line is twinkling. By the
gods. That is some way to go. I assume it
is
under where that is then. Or as far under as we can possibly
go.”
The young man looked at Christian. “You are quite
brilliant, lad.” The Star-caster seemed to genuinely mean it. “And
that means a lot coming from a Spell-caster of
the Swan
Order. “But I think we need to rest. Yet if we go inside we have no
idea if the Shadows are in there. Or even worse, the Shadow Queen
might have laid a trap.”
“It’s a
tricky one,” said Eleanor. “It is—” she got interrupted by noises
that came out of one of the doors. All their hearts beat faster,
not knowing what it was.
“Those darn
Shadows can come at us any time they want,” said the man holding
the stained glass door open that had a giant swan on. “The Romani
‘ave us protected too good for anything to get in ‘ere. A maggot
couldn’t even eat its way to us.” The man noticed two children and
the Star-caster as the other slipped away with a blue spark
surrounding him for a mere second. He left the grounds wearing a
long, white robe, and went with a horse. “Get in ’ere you dam
fools. The black plague ’ill come for us if you advertise
yourselves like dat.”
So they
did. Yet before they came in, the man gestured them to stop with
his palm. Soon enough, he got out two normal looking stones, and
then smacked them together twice. It powered down what he must of
said about before: Some kind of permanent shield. He tapped it
again, two times, like before, and the same effect happened, with
an energising hum that continued; it didn’t go away after,
either.
They were
now inside this invisible force. The only man who stood holding the
door greeted them with what felt like a friendly face they thought
they would never see again. And for a time, some worries went away.
Temporarily of course—yet these moments were crucial to progress
and hope; if they were to make and keep any that is, and yet all
three of them knew this too well. Maybe now more than ever.
The
building was about ten stories high, and there was lots of people
around, though not quite as many as Sunndira; all three survivors
knew a trade district like this would be a busy city before they
even saw or stepped foot into the structure, so this was hardly a
surprise. However, what was a surprise, was what the man told them
after when they entered the city, though the safety of the magick
protecting them gave a little less worry to their faces. Regardless
of the words spoken.
As the
boy Christian daydreamed, he thought of things in the passed. He
remembered his father telling him when he was four, which he could
strangely remember now—about the past making a connection to the
future in unpredictable ways. Though it seemed the lucid ‘had been’
memory was serving as more than a reminder this time. As if
something else was behind it… but could not be deciphered what. Not
as easily as it normally would have been for him, anyway.
The father
of the puzzle solver spoke of the religion, which was a huge part
of their world. These seemed to be the only words the boy
remembered of his father in all of the few short years they were a
family:
“‘The ways
of ‘Edeolon’ are old; tradition was passed down by force at first,
but the gods and goddesses of this order soon agreed upon an easier
way to gain worship from their people.
They gave
power—for power.
Spell-casters were formed from thee very idea, and gave birth to
the magick upon the Starao three worlds.
There
became different magick paths to follow; different deities, and a
person could only gain power from their ‘one’ chosen god or
goddess.
People
chose wisely; they decided upon the age of ten to start their
magickal journey, but there was some rare cases younger.
As in life,
people chose the powers of what fit their own personal selves;
their personality, way of life and occupation were major
influences.
A librarian
would take up the ways of mind magick, whilst a lover of the
outdoors would follow Greshin, the goddess of feral nature. Or a
pyromaniac would hear the calling of the one who made and
controlled fire, the sun and light.
Although
anybody could gain power from these gods and goddesses, licenses
were distributed to those who were to use harmful magicks.
Magick that
could kill was used in or for the service of the king. For royalty,
or the leader.
The papers
that granted these legal abilities from the gods were kept under
close surveillance at all times.
Any who
were caught performing illegal magick, to hurt anybody in anyway,
would become Anchor Men without question. These were a group of
people put in a circumstance that is not necessary to know, at
least not at this point in your life, son.
The gods
and goddesses anyone can chose to follow are:
Emae:
God of light, fire and the sun.
Remor:
The goddess of night, of outer space energy and
power.
Heedian:
God of changing form. Of animals and beasts.
Oranos:
God of the seas, and water.
Xenne:
Goddess of knowledge, wisdom and the mind.
Greshin:
God of feral nature.
Solare:
Goddess of all wild life.”
After
the list of gods, was a huge blank silence, as if he struggled to
remember anymore. There was more, but Christian could not find the
exact words from his lost father, and so the daydream entered an
entirely different direction that made little sense, as they would
sometimes tend to do:
Even if his
mother knew of his father’s whereabouts, it seemed she would not
tell Christian. The gods knew he tried many times, and failed. But
what else is life about, other than trying and failing. There is
that rare success which we yearn, yet there is always a price for
its penalty. Always.
Eleanor, Christian and the Star-caster Ematay got supplies from the
man that allowed them to stay.
The three
of them told the middle aged man they were going to the Silver
Cathedral, and when they did, Christian and Eleanor at the same
time, as if in sync, stopped talking and looked deep in thought as
they heard this troubling news the man spoke of.
“The way I
‘ear it, is that this Shadow lot came from Amaranth. Which I’m sure
your grown up friend ‘ere can make sense of without me spelling it
out for you,” said the person who just walked inside with them.
“But that
would mean there is a shady character, or maybe more than one,
within the walls of Castora,” said Ematay, almost sounding
offended. “No, I find your news too uncertain at these times. I can
not dwell on such things without indispensable proof.”
“Which no
one can give,” replied the other man.
“There is
no reason for us to find the Silver Cathedral now,” said Eleanor
after tugging at Ematay’s cloak after some pondering time.
“They know
about the Shadows, so what good would we be to them?” said
Christian.
Ematay
looked down at the two of them. The man who led them into the city
cleared his throat before he said, “I’ll be at the Gypsies store if
you need me.” Ematay nodded.