Chapter 40 Pie in the sky…

Chapter 40

 

 

Pie in the sky…

 

“Ouch!” Meria cried as she landed with a thud on a cold stone floor. She gingerly got up off the floor, careful of any broken bones. Finding none she took a deep breath and looked around her.

Light was streaming in from a window directly above her that was too high to reach. Dust particles floated in the light stream but it illuminated little else.

“Hello?” Meria called cautiously to the darkness beyond her puddle of light.

A torch flickered to life about thirty feet away slowly followed by others that lined the circular room. Slowly Meria moved to a door that was to her right following the trail of torches. The door was massive and carved so intricately Meria wondered if it really was a door and not a painting.

The handles were rings of gold; Meria slowly grasped them and tugged. The doors swung open on well-oiled hinges. Slightly put off by the lack of ominously squeaking doors Meria continued to follow the path of torches.

They led further and further on through twisting corridors that remained empty of life except for Meria. The dust on the floor seemed to have been collected over decades if Meria had to guess.

The corridors finally ended at another set of doors like the ones she had first seen. These were just as massive as the first and Meria glanced around her at what seemed to her now were the overly huge corridors. The lack of furniture in all of them was also somewhat off putting.

Taking a deep breath Meria pulled on the door handles. The doors opened into a room that dwarfed the one she had previously been in. Sunlight streamed through the tall glass windows that ringed the room. Meria slowly walked towards the one closest to her and looked out onto a lush garden.

Meria’s breath caught in her throat as her gaze traveled to the end of the garden. The ground ended and Meria saw clouds ringing the edge. Past the ring of clouds she saw Hyrule Fields far, far below.

Staggering back from the window Meria tripped down the step behind her. She sat there working through her discovery.

“Ok, Meria.” She said to herself, “It’s not the complete end of the world, at least we know where we are.”

Getting a grip on herself Meria stood back up and turned her attention back to the room. At the far end she saw a raised platform and in the middle of it two thrones. Moving closer cautiously Meria saw that one was bigger than the other and it was currently occupied.

Meria grimaced as she neared the very richly arrayed skeleton. Careful not to touch it Meria leaned closer to exam the remains. Judging from the clothes and jewelry she figured it was a male. And by the crown on its head she figured he used to be a king of some sort.

“King Shal, I presume?” Meria sighed as she straightened up from her examination. Meria walked off the dais glancing back over her shoulder at the lonely figure sitting on the elaborate throne. The skeleton grinned at her leaning on its left hand seeming to Meria in boredom.

Meria walked to a door on the opposite side of the room from where she entered. The hollow eye sockets of the skeleton king watched her leave in eternal silence. A soft wind stirred the coat tail of the king’s cloak as a shadow followed after Meria.

 

“What do we do?” Gerad asked Calhan for perhaps the fifth time.

“I don’t know, ok.” Calhan said losing his patience, “All I know is one second she was here and the next she was poofed out on us.”

Gerad sighed scratching the back of his head in annoyance. They had stayed in the underground room for a few minutes after Meria had vanished, then had gone to get more torches to brighten the place to see if there were any clues. So far all they had gotten were headaches and short fuses.

Rubbing his eyes he sat down on the cold stone floor. He heard a sigh and glanced to see Selene sit beside him. She handed him a cup of some warm liquid and he noticed she had one as well as Calhan.

“Thanks.” Gerad sighed as he blew on the liquid and took a careful sip. It was warm milk with honey. As he drank it he felt the tension in his body ease.

“We’ll find her Gerad, don’t worry.” Selene said resting her hand on his arm.

Gerad looked at her hand and gently placed his on hers and smiled softly at her. To his touch her hand had become more callous than he remembered from the past. Looking at her face he saw stress lines that hadn’t been there three months ago and he thought he could make out a grey hair or two.

“I just wish we knew she was ok.” Gerad mumbled to himself slowly glancing around the room for the hundredth some-odd time.

Selene only nodded as she closed her eyes and leaned against his shoulder. From Gerad’s guess they had been down here long since night fell. Gerad watched Calhan slowly circle the room while he sipped on his drink and read the scribbles on the walls.

He could hear him muttering out the words to himself. Sometimes they were uttered as questions then quickly answered by himself as if he was debating with someone. The lateness of the hour and Calhan’s soft whispers lulled Gerad to sleep.

“Ah-HA!” Calhan’s cry startled both Gerad and Selene awake who jumped up into fighting positions.

“What is it?” Gerad demanded glancing around wildly for an enemy.

Calhan glanced over his shoulder at them quizzically, “Beg pardon?”

Gerad blinked in confusion at Calhan staring at him over the rim of his half-moon spectacles. Sighing Gerad relaxed his stance while Selene stifled a giggle.

“Did you figure something out?” Gerad asked yawning.

Calhan pursed his lips as his eyes rolled to the side in thought, “Well, partly.”

Selene yawned as she stretched, her joints popping. Gerad waited for Calhan to continue but he turned his attention back to the wall he had been studying before. Sighing Gerad walked over to stand beside Calhan and looked at the ancient scribble on the stone wall.

“Figure out where she is yet?” Gerad asked him.

“Oh,” Calhan said straightening back up, “I’m fairly certain she’s on Moon Isle.”

“Well that’s good news, I guess.” Selene said.

Calhan grimaced, “Yes and no.”

“What do you mean?” Gerad asked raising his eyebrows.

“Its good in the sense that we know where she is,” Calhan explained, “But, I haven’t the foggiest idea of how to get to her.”

Gerald sighed, "Ok, from what I saw she was in the middle of the room and then she wasn't."

"Agreed, but we've been over every inch of the floor and nothing." Selene replied sipping from her cup and finding it empty.

Pursing her lips she set it back down on the floor and walked over to stand with the boys. Calhan just nodded his head as he studied the wall of text.

"Have you figured anything out?" Gerad asked crossing his arms.

Stroking his goatee Calhan sighed, "Well this part of the text is basically the history, which is immaterial at this point, until you get to this section."

Calhan walked along the wall with Gerad and Selene behind him. He pointed at a section of text and waited.

"Calhan," Gerad sighed, "I can't read this."

"Oh, right." Calhan snapped his fingers, "remember that story Granny told us, the one about King Shal?"

"Yeah, what of it?" Selene asked her eyes narrowing.

"Well this part of the wall, IS that story." Calhan replied making a circle with his arm encompassing a wide section of the wall.

"So?" Gerad asked, "How does that help us?"

"Well, its not exactly as she had recounted." Calhan replied folding his arms.

"Oh, big surprise there, that Granny lied to us." Selene scoffed.

"No," Calhan said hesitantly, "that time I don't think she was doing it on purpose, as she said it was just a legend to her."

"Again," Gerad said patience wearing thin, "how does this help us?"

"Well, the basic story is the same, just," Calhan's voice trailed off.

"What?" Gerad asked cautiously.

Taking a deep breath Calhan turned to face them directly. Selene and Gerad glanced at each other as they waited for Calhan to continue, both of them sure they weren't going to like where this was going.

"The characters and ending are vastly different." Calhan finished.

"What do you mean?" Selene asked.

"Well, King Shal was a dragon, and the one who banished him," Calhan replied cringing a little, "was the Wind Sage."