Silverstone: Part Two: A Mage Revealed Page 3

  But Ben couldn't see who had spoken it. He squinted at the chair but there was nobody in it.

  "Can I please just talk to you about my bag? Please come out from wherever you are hiding."

  No answer.

  Goldie stalked further in the direction of the seat, seeing something there.

  "So, your little pet has some magic of his own. No matter now I suppose. No use in hiding any longer. The end has come at last. Just like I always knew it would, I suppose." There was a sigh.

  Ben stared at the chair, and then at Goldie, who seemed convinced that something sat on it.

  Then something strange began to happen.

  The seat seemed to become a shade or two lighter in colour, and sparkled as if some of the glimmering gold was piled on it. Then the flickers became more definite and darkened again, taking on edges, until finally Ben was looking at a man.

  It was a very, very old man. Older than anyone Ben had ever seen before. He wondered immediately whether it was age or wisecrinkling that had made him this way. The man appeared immensely frail, and yet he held a crossbow in his hands, and pointed it squarely at Ben. And it was clear he could fire it.

  It took him a moment to overcome his amazement. Then Ben raised his hands instinctively. "Please can you point that away?"

  The old man glanced down at his weapon, as if he'd forgotten he held it. He pointed it a few degrees away. It would still hit Ben if he fired, just not quite so centrally.

  "Your creature can see through spells," the man said, nodding at Goldie.

  Ben looked at Goldie. "It's a he?"

  The man stared ahead. His eyes were so glazed Ben could hardly see his pupils.

  "Which means he was created by magic, not born. I’d keep a close eye on him if I were you."

  Ben glanced at Goldie. So the cat-thing was a he, and a magical he now, it turned out.

  He turned back to the man. "Who are you?"

  The man shrugged and looked around the cave as if searching for an answer there among the treasures.

  "What is your name?" Ben tried again.

  "My name? I had almost forgotten that even." He gave a wry laugh. "It was Agar, last it was called."

  Ben said nothing.

  "I knew all along. Sooner or later someone would come and take me." He sat back in his throne. "The mage gold couldn't protect me forever. Now, finally, the end has come." He seemed relieved, even as he talked of his doom.

  Ben looked around at the treasure. It seemed to him now that the gold was not reflecting the fire after all, but was shedding its own dull light.

  "Well my name is Silverstone," he began, "and this is Goldie. I'm on a journey to find someone, a mage, to help me get home."

  Agar shrugged.

  "But I don't have any belongings, except for the bag you..." Ben didn't go on.

  Agar stared at him with weak, tired eyes. "Well you can have your cruel things back now. They’ve already done their job splendidly." He held up his left forearm, showing a deep cut with blackened blood clotted around it.

  "Thank you. But perhaps I can help you with your injury too? If you want me to that is?" Ben took a delicate step forward, holding his hands open ahead.

  The old man gazed into space. "No point in fighting any longer. Come and finish me off quickly then." He dropped the crossbow.

  "I promise you I won't do you any harm at all, and neither will Goldie." Ben inched towards Agar. Goldie fell beside him, still ready to attack.

  Ben could see more of the ancient man. He was clad in leather and coloured cloth, which was badly worn. There were moths and other insects writhing in it. Did they now feast on the flesh beneath? Rich jewels covered his shoulders, and a tattered purple cape hung from his epaulettes.

  He must once have been an important man, Ben thought. Commanding armies. A great leader perhaps. Proud, revered. What had driven him so far away from that world? And yet he wore the remnants of it like a heavy leech, steadily eating what was left of him.

  His features were consumed by deep creases patterning his face and bald head, and his hands and forearms were terribly gaunt. Worst of all his skin had yellowed, like the gold surrounding him. A haggard residue clinging to the skeleton.

  Ben fended off an expression of disgust as he came towards the chair.

  "Is... there anything I can use to bandage your arm? A clean cloth perhaps?"

  The man motioned to a pile of dust bitten clothes amongst the gold.

  Ben pulled one from the top of the pile and covered his mouth against the dust as he shook it. This would have to do.

  "I don't know much about first aid, but if we can stop the remaining bleeding, I think you should be ok. So I need to tie this around your arm just above the wound. Is that alright?" He took a final step, and was beside Agar.

  The man nodded.

  Ben knelt and cautiously extended the cloth around the wrist. He tried to avoid touching the yellow flesh as he lifted the arm to wrap the cloth. The limb felt empty.

  "I am just going to tighten it, so it may hurt just a little. So sorry if it does."

  Agar tipped his head in acknowledgement.

  Ben tightened, and secured the tourniquet. Agar didn't move at all. Perhaps there was no feeling left in the man at all. His senses decayed away to numbness while he hid. Maybe that was how he'd managed to injure himself.

  Ben checked his work and then stepped away. He breathed, and wiped the sweat from his brow.

  Goldie stood beside him, still eyeing Agar intently.

  Agar looked down at his arm as if it had suddenly been returned to him, and then at Ben. "Thank you. It feels a little better." He almost smiled.

  The gold flashed, and Agar grew a shade darker.

  "What is the mage gold then?" Ben asked.

  Agar looked around at his deathly yellow jewels. "Trinkets, turned to treasure. Ordinary made extraordinary by the magic of mages. All of this -" he waved a finger around the room "- once belonged to them."

  Ben frowned.

  "Mage trinkets are more than mere trinkets. They possess great power. They hold a link, anchoring the mage with strong magic to his true world. Likely brought with them through the portals.

  "Simple things once, but over time the mage learned the ways of magic and grew powerful, and as he did they changed, becoming beautiful golden treasures, full of mage magic."

  Ben didn't think there was anything beautiful about it.

  Agar gazed around the room again. "Who can tell what objects they once were. Their mages are long gone."

  "Gone where?"

  Agar's shoulders twitched. "Destroyed one another mostly."

  "Did any go back? To where they came from?"

  "Some were said to have reopened portals. Though only the strongest possessed that power."

  "At least that's something I suppose. Why do you keep all this mage gold here, in a cave though? Why not buy yourself a nice palace with it?"

  Agar laughed snidely. "Palace! No. No palace, castle or keep could keep me safe. Nowhere is safe from the cruel people who will seek to hurt me. Except here, protected by the mage gold."

  "But here you won't even see another soul. When was the last time you spoke to another person?"

  "People will always hurt me. Why would I speak to them?"

  Ben shook his head. "How did you hide from me before? Was that magic?"

  "The mage gold, yes." He smiled.

  "Are you... a mage?"

  Agar stared blankly for a while. Ben waited patiently.

  "No. I was loyal to one. Many years ago. The mightiest that came to the realm for generations."

  "What happened to him? Was he destroyed by other mages?"

  Another long wait. Ben wasn't sure whether Agar was thinking or had just fallen asleep.

  "He destroyed himself."

  "Why? What do you mean?"

  "You ask too many questions boy! Leave me in peace. Haven't you done enough damage?" Agar turned sharply to rage, as if he had suddenly reme
mbered it.

  "Well if we hadn't found you, you might have bled to death from that cut. Then you wouldn't have been very protected by your precious mage gold!"

  "Your knife... You did this to me!" Agar screamed.

  Ben took a step back.

  Agar lifted a finger, enough to direct Ben to a corner behind him. “Take it and leave me alone.”

  Ben quickly found his bag. He checked the contents. Even the knife was returned.

  He walked back to Agar. "We didn't mean to hurt you, whatever you think. You were so convinced I was coming to murder you that you hurt yourself trying to prevent it.

  "Thank you for the bag. We'll be on our way now." He began to move to the cave entrance. Goldie sprang beside him.

  "Wait!" Agar shouted, just as Ben placed a foot inside the tunnel. "I'm... sorry for taking your bag. Thank you." He seemed to shed a tear, and just as he did so, he glimmered strangely yellow again.

  Ben nodded.

  Agar lifted another finger, and nodded toward the nearest treasure chest. Ben followed his finger, and saw something small, atop a pile of golden plates.

  "Take it," Agar said. He changed again, skin becoming still more ugly-gold. Just another piece of his own treasure.

  Ben shook his head. "Thank you, but I really don't need any treasure. I just want a way home."

  "That piece. It may just help you." Agar’s dead eyes found Goldie.

  Ben walked back, and looked at the treasure. It was a necklace. A thin gold cable chain held a delicate pendant, in the shape of a majestic hunting hound – a dog.

  He looked at Goldie. The old man's eyesight was worse than he had thought.

  "Thank you."

  He picked up the necklace, and put it on under his shirt. Then he turned again to the entrance.

  As Ben stepped over the threshold he turned back to Agar, offering a last smile.

  But the man had disappeared.

  Ben looked around.

  Vanished back into his mage gold. Just another relic in the pile. It had once meant something to someone out in the light, now hidden away so safely it was forgotten.

  There was a tremor. Something was happening to the cave. Dust fell from the ceiling.

  Ben shouted, "Agar! Quickly, the cave is not safe any longer! You must come out with us!"

  There was no response. Ben waited. The tremor came again, and a great crack spread across the ground. Tainted treasure fell from piles.

  "Agar!"

  It was no use.

  Ben hurried back into the tunnel. He could see to begin with, and then felt his way as before. He knew Goldie would be beside him. The earth shuddered more and more, and small rocks fell on his head as he went. Behind him there was loud moaning noise, followed by the sound of crashing treasure. The whole mountain seemed to be collapsing!

  Ben staggered along as quickly as he dared in the pitch darkness. He tried not to listen to the violent crashes and think about how big the rocks sounded as they fell behind him. But he could feel the earth shaking beneath them. He had to get out.

  Suddenly a large stone struck his injured left arm. He cried out, but kept moving. The walls were cracking and coming away as he reached for them.

  The tunnel was closing in. Perhaps he had become lost and taken the wrong way? Panic surged up his body.

  "Goldie? Are you there?" he shouted, and lowered a hand, feeling for his friend. Sure enough, he felt the familiar warm fur, and was instantly reassured. He hoped the cat would navigate to safety.

  Ben thought he could see a pin prick of light ahead.

  He stumbled, crawled and scrambled along, hitting the sides of the tunnel repeatedly as he surged for the air.

  The pin prick had become a ball.

  He glanced behind. The yellow light was gone.

  Instead he felt heat amongst the falling rocks. It was getting warmer in the tunnel, and not just from his energy. The mountain was opening up, reclaiming Agar and his ruined gold.

  Ben stumbled onward. The light was right there, only a few metres away. He could see the cool rain outside, the trees in the valley below.

  But the hole was getting smaller. The tunnel was closing in around him.

  He bent over double to avoid hitting his head, and sped up. He could see fully now, and dodged the protruding rocks as he sped. He was almost there.

  But the tunnel was almost sealed.

  It was trying to take him with Agar. A dark despair slashed through his chest. Why had he gone into this wretched tunnel?

  An enormous rock fell, eclipsing almost all of what was left of the light, like a final full stop to his escape. Panic erupted again. The hot rock behind him would soon overcome him.

  He looked for Goldie. There he was on the other side of the boulder.

  The cat stood watching him, and miaowed. He was waiting, cheering Ben on.

  Ben scrambled into the impossible gap between the rock and the tunnel roof, and threw his bag towards Goldie. He squeezed, fighting desperately for a way through. It was a tight fit, but he might just make it.

  His hands were free.

  He pulled himself through from the other side of the boulder, wriggling and kicking as he went.

  His head was out, then his shoulders, then chest.

  The heat was rising again. He wrestled his way forward.

  He was caught on something.

  His belt.

  He reached down, and eased it over a sharp rock. He pushed forward again.

  The heat was becoming stifling, and he drew shallow breaths.

  He fell out of the tiny crevice, and onto the ground onto Goldie, purring proudly at him.

  He rose quickly to a crouch and surged toward the escape. Ducking below the final few rocks, he burst out of the dark hole, over the rocks in the start of the cave they had sat in earlier, and out into the cold rain.

  He coughed and spluttered.

  Standing in the rain in front of him, with her hand over her mouth, was Eva.

  He turned back to the tunnel mouth. It was cracking heavily, and rotten yellow puffs of smoke spewed from it. The entire side of the mountain range looked like it was about to heave open at any moment.

  "Quickly! We have to get out of here!" Ben shouted, and sped off down the slope toward the forest below, the rain splashing at his face.

  They ran as hard as they could, not daring to look back.

  The sounds and movement of the earth continued as they went, but as they reached the beginnings of the soft trees the land became calmer, and they slowed.

  Ben stopped, and looked back up to the hillside. He could still see the dark yellow smoke, but the earth had stilled, and judging from the birdsong around them, and Goldie's interest in the birds which made it, they were safe.

  Chapter Five

  The Blue Lady

  "What on earth happened to you?" Eva gasped. "I was so worried!"

  "I -"

  "Why did you just leave the camp like that?"

  "What do you mean? I'm on my way to find a mage, and a way back home to my family where I belong!" Ben managed, in between breaths.

  "You didn't even say goodbye to me, or anyone else besides my dad! Even Geven was worried about where you'd gone off to in such a hurry!"

  "Geven. That nasty..."

  "It was just lucky Alder could tell us the way you'd run off. You couldn't even tell a wildenberry from a digbok dropping, and you expect to wander around the western realm by yourself looking blindly for a mage? There are dangerous squirlers and wild cavejaws in the forest down there, not to mention the outlaws pretty much everywhere and who I'm amazed you avoided in the southern woods. Why didn't you talk to me about this secret expedition?" She was getting agitated.

  Ben took a step towards her. "It's ok. I'm fine. I -"

  "What about the rest of us? Nice birthday present Silverstone!"

  "I'm sorry. I... thought you realised I would have to leave soon. Alder said I'd stay for a few weeks. And I... didn't think you wanted me to say goo
dbye. So I -"

  "What? Why?" Eva screamed. "Your world must have some very strange customs."

  "You... You... Just..."

  "What?"

  "You gave me the impression you weren't that bothered about me at the party, that's all."

  "You didn't even come and say hello to me the whole night! On my birthday! I would say it was the other way around!" She stood, hands on hips projecting anger.

  Ben felt foolish. "Why didn't you just come and speak to me, I would have been quite happy to talk to you? It wasn't such a fun evening for me either you know."

  "I was surrounded most of the night and was trying to be polite to the other people who had kindly come to wish me a happy birthday."

  Ben shrugged. He knew she was right. The truth was... he didn't know what it was and couldn't find it amidst the rubble of his feelings. He had been very angry at her for dancing with Liam, and his actions had all seemed perfectly reasonable, the only course possible in fact, in the dark light of his raging thoughts.

  "And what happened back there in the mountain? Why were you in that cave while the earth was shaking! You could have been killed!" She held her hands up to her mouth again. A tear slipped out.

  "I... I don't know really." He was still catching up from the previous subject.

  Eva stood waiting.

  "Well in a nutshell: Goldie and I - this is Goldie by the way -" he motioned to the cat which stood beside him watching the conversation "- went under to get out of the rain. And then Goldie started going in further to find some food, but there was this weird yellow light and Goldie kept going towards it. Then at the end there was a cavern and in it there was a really really, really old - well actually I think he was just really wisecrinkled - man who had stolen my bag earlier in the day while I'd been dozing."

  Eva's frown deepened, but at least she'd stopped crying.

  "Anyway the wisecrinkled guy was hidden - completely invisible - by magic coming from this mountain of mage gold he had piled up in the cavern, but Goldie could still see him somehow. He was very scared of people outside and must have just crawled in there to hide from everyone. He had hurt himself with my knife so I tried to bandage him up and he gave me my bag back as well as this necklace -" he lifted the pendant from beneath his shirt "- and then he just vanished back into his treasure again, and the cave collapsed on top of him, and almost on us too. We had to scramble out. It was pretty close actually." He rubbed his left arm.