Chapter Four: The Serpent King

The Serpent King receives news of the location of the book as well as the young man from the west heading towards his direction.

 

Chapter Four

The Serpent King

 

In a torch lit room sat a tiny old man with a long grey beard. The room was a circular chamber with old grey bricks that kept it quite cool. In the center of the room was a tall black pedestal and on top of that sat a clear smoke filled ball. The old man’s hand was waving his hand just above the glass surface when he began to mutter incantations into the thin air.

Faster and faster the smoke swirled then suddenly the old man’s mind flooded with flashing images. As he concentrated they became clearer until finally they slowed into one single continuous image. It was of a man walking along the red sands of sun scorched desert. The old man was so in tune with the vision he could feel the sun beating down against his neck and the sweat rising off his forehead. As the man continued across the desert he came to a single blemish on the otherwise flat landscape of the desert. The small dune was no higher than that of the man the stood before and as the old man strained his eyes he saw the desert traveler sink into the earth and that was when the entire world went black.

The smoke in the ball had now settled once again but the old man still did not open his eyes. He began muttering incantations once again and strained his eyes until the vision came back. When it did he found that he was in a dark, dimly lit chamber, but unlike outside when he was seeing the traveler from a third person perspective he seemed to have traveled into the body itself and was seeing the image through the desert man’s eyes itself. A dizzy feeling came over the old man as the traveler scanned the dark chamber. Books lined the walls on every side, dust clumber to the corners of the rooms  and other than the rats and spiders that roamed the empty spaces nothing of value or importance seemed to exist in the empty room. That was until his eyes fell upon a small, worn-out, black book that lay amongst the small bones and dust that covered the ground.

It was so dark he could barely make out the four elemental symbols, fire, water, lighting, and earth, that adorned the leathery black cover. The young man grabbed the book and slowly opened to the first page. All of the sudden the room was full of a bright white light. The smoke in the ball once again came to a stop and the old man opened his eyes.

“I need to speak to the king immediately,” he yelled to the guard standing just outside the chambers doors.

“Yes sir,” he said and quickly he began to walk up the dungeon stairs.

At this same time the king was having a vision of his own. Only, instead of a young man in the desert, it was the one he had sent his men to capture. The man was standing above the corpse of two of his men and a third man, an older man it appeared, was in the closet blood dripping from the middle of his shirt. He saw the young man move the older one to the bed and watched as he opened the wooden desk and pulled out a dusty map.

The king stirred in his bed as he tried to get a better view of the map that was now in the young mans hand. Just as he was about to get behind him for the best possible view a knock came at his bedroom door.

“Sir,” the small voice said, “Sir, are you awake?” he asked. “Talib needs to speak with you, he said it was urgent.”

“Alright,” he said in an angry but calm voice, “tell him I’ll be down in a few minutes.

The king rose out of bed and put on the silk robe that lay on the chair next to his bed. He walked across the cold, black, marble floor and looked at himself in the mirror. Anger began to boil within him. Fools, he thought, all they had to do was capture one single man and bring him back. He knew he should have sent more competent men but time was running short. He stared at his empty eyes. took a deep breath and headed down to the seers chamber.

The king entered the chamber and saw the old man standing in front of the crystal ball. “What have you found Talib?” he asked.

“Oh, sir,” he said surprised. “Thank you for coming so quickly,” he paused a moment, “We’ve found it.”

“Are you certain,” the king said anxiously.

“Yes sir. I saw a man in the desert, he stumbled upon a small dune. Beneath it was a chamber and there upon the floor was the book.”

“This is great news Talib,” the king now began to sound excited. “We must send out some men to retrieve it immediately. Do you know where the man has gone to?” he asked.

“I am sorry sir. That is all the ball has shown me. I have been trying to connect with his mind again but, so far I have failed.”

“Keep trying Talib, we must find him. That book is the key to everything.”

“Yes sir,” Talib said, “Have you any news of the men you sent out to the east?”

“It appears they have failed and what’s even worse, is that it appears that he now has the map. We must get to him before he finds out how to tell the location of the book.”

“Yes sir,” Talib answered, “I’ll try to find his location as well.”

“Thank you Talib, let me know as soon as you find anything.” The king turned towards the door and walked up the winding stairs and into a world that he was now confident would soon be his.