Turret of Faith: Chapter 1 (continued)

a bit more from the first chapter

Titan settled to the ground about three leagues west of the troll encampment. Guilty over letting Cadeyrn be captured, Titan is determined to help the young prince escape. Twice already the mighty dragon has flow over the troll camp, trying to locate the prison wagon. Both times he was unsuccessful as the sentries unleashed wave upon wave of black feathered arrows, forcing him to retreat. For now Titan must be patient and wait for Cadeyrn to make a move. If nothing else the great dragon will give the elf a head start.
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    “Belenus,”  Ashete murmurs as she follows the wounded rat into the ruins of a large building. She holds her globe of light high as she follows the thin trail of blood deeper and deeper into the rubble. The trail ends at a large stone wall, the rat stuck between two loose stones. As Ashete bends to pick up the still warm corpse, the floor buckles beneath her weight. Down she plunges, falling a short distance to land amidst a pile of soft bricks as her light goes out. She  reconjures the shining globe and is astounded. The soft bricks of her landing are no bricks -- they are books. And there are more books. Books as far as she can see in the gloomy cavern. Slowly Ashete climbs to her feet. Her legs are wobbly as she reaches down and lifts the first book to touch her hand. “Practical Magic for the Elven Cook by  Angharad the Great,” she reads. Quickly she grabs several more books and scans the titles: Magical Herbs of the Antediluvian Forest, Pyromancy for Fame and Fortune, Basic Magical Theory and The Grimiore of  Nikoli the Dark. “Amazing,” Ashete murmurs to herself. “The Library  of Lorelei was not destroyed, but only lost.” A slight scurrying behind a mountain of books reminds Ashete that she is supposed to be hunting for rats. She stands and, after checking to insure her bow is still in one piece, she slowly walks around the mound of books. Drawing her bow, Ashete stalks the scurrying creature, only to find herself face to face with a small creature resembling a gnome.
    “Hi,” states the creature exuberantly, “I’m Aster. Who are you? How did you get in here? I fell but couldn’t climb out again. As you can see I’m pretty small. Is that your bow? Did you make it? Can I hold it? I wish I had a bow. I have a staff. Do you want to see it? It is just over there beside that stack of books.” Before Ashete can say anything to the little creature, Aster climbs nimbly over the uneven surface of books to grab a stout oaken staff from next to a monumental stack of books. The tower of heavy tomes sways dangerously and topples. With a diving leap, Ashete pushes the smiling creature out of the way and is pummeled by wave after wave of books as they crash down upon the floor. “You saved me. No one ever tried to save me from anything before. Most people find Sprioli to be annoying, but you saved my life. Let me move some of these books off of you. Can I be your friend? I’ve never had a human friend before.  My great granddad had a human friend once. That is who gave my great granddad my staff. Of course it was his staff first but he gave it to my great granddad and my great granddad gave it to me. Hey what is this?” The talkative little Spriole picks up a small leather tube. “Hey there is an arrow in here. Is this your quiver? No, I guess not. The arrow is to small for your bow. If it isn’t yours and no one else is here that must mean it is mine.  I better keep it in case I get a bow.” The diminutive nuisance ties a string to the quiver and slings it across his back as he helps Ashete to her feet.
    “Are you okay? Wait, don’t answer me yet,” Ashete says. “Do you know a way out of here?”
    “I hurt my hand when I fell down here a week ago but I am perfectly okay now. I know where I fell in and where you fell in but I can’t climb out at either spot and you are to big to fit where I fell down. Maybe you could lift me up to where you fell down and I could find a vine in the forest that you could use as a rope to climb out with.”
    “I’m going to trust you to help get me out of here. After I  lift you up to climb out, I want you to go outside and head south on the trail. You will find my camp. When you get there tell the old dwarf that I am stuck. He will be able to help.”
    “I’ll do it,” agrees Aster. “I’ll save you. Don’t you worry. I’ll get that old dwarf to come and pull you right out of this nasty cavern. I’ll be back so quick you won’t even know I was gone. Now, lift me up there.”
    Ashete lifts Aster up to the hole she fell through. After climbing through the hole Aster heads outside and starts running along the trail wandering amidst the ruins. After a short time he runs right into the snarling snout of the most massive wolf he has ever seen. “Please don’t eat me giant wolf. I am trying to find a dwarf to help my best friend. She fell into a hole where there are lots of books but she can’t climb out.  I was in the hole too but she lifted me up so I could get out and find her some help. She said if I went south on the trail I would find a camp and a dwarf and the dwarf is really smart and would know exactly how to help.”
    “Enough, Conall,” rasps the gravely voice of Wolfe Greytome. “Let the spriole through.” As the wolf steps aside Aster is confronted by a bearded man only slightly larger than himself. “I be Wolfe, o’ the clan Greytome. Can ye describe yer friend? Me traveling companion was hunting in the ruins today and she was supposed to be back already.”
    “She is great. She saved me from a mountain of books and she has a bow. She has long black hair and she can make light globes. I wish I could make magic lights like that but I can’t. Can you use magic?  Do you have a bow? I want a bow but all I have is a staff. I’d show it to you but I left in the hole with my friend. She better not leave it in there when you go save her. And I have an arrow too. Wanna see it?”
    “Be quiet. I don’t want to see yer arrow,” snaps Wolfe. “Now show me where Ashete is so I can get her out of the hole.”
    “She is right over here in this building - or was it that building?” Aster not so confidently guides Wolfe. “ I know I left her near here somewhere. She is down under the floor. Maybe if we yell for her she will hear us and then we will know right where she is.” A gnarled hand clamps firmly over the little spriole’s mouth as he draws a large breath to shout for his missing friend.
    “Don’t even think about shouting out ye little gnome,” growls Wolfe. “Do ye want any enemies that are about t’ know we be here? Just be silent and me pal, Conall, will sniff out Ashete’s trail.”
    The dwarf and the spriole follow the great, shaggy wolf through the ruined buildings of Lorelei. Over tumbled masses of displaced stones, under broken staircases, around unkempt gardens growing wild and through gaping holes in walls the trail leads. As the day dwindles to night, Conall stops at a hole in the floor of a sprawling marble ruin. A faint glow permeates the gloom surrounding the maw of that hideous drop off. “Ashete, me lass,” calls Wolfe softly, “be that you casting such a cheery glow down in that pit?”
    “Wolfe? Is that you?” queries Ashete. “I was starting to think that spriole had run off without finding you.”
    “Hey! I said I would find your friend, didn’t I?” exclaims Aster. “You should have believed me. I’m sorry it took me so long I wasn’t able to find my way back here. We had to wait for that big wolf, the one that looks like it could eat me in one bite - Do you know which one I’m talking about? - to follow your scent. He brought us all over the place. Don’t worry though. He got us here safe and sound and now the dwarf - You said his name was Wolfe? - can get you out of there. He brought a rope with him and it looks plenty long enough to reach right to the bottom of that hole.”
    Wolfe ties the end of his rope to a nearby column and tosses the rest down the hole. “Don’t climb out just yet, lass. I wanna take a gander at what ye’ve stumbled into. And watch yer head, I’m gonna toss down a torch so we can see a bit better.” Ashete lights the torch as the old dwarf lowers himself into the hole. The sheer magnitude of books surrounding him nearly causes Wolfe to loosen his grip on the rope. “Ashete, me lass, I ain’t sure, but this may be the fabled Library o’ Lorelei.”
    “I think so too,” Ashete concurs excitedly. “There are piles on top of piles of tomes here on magic - and that is just in this little section. I know you are in a hurry to leave Lorelei behind you, Wolfe, but surely this is a good enough reason to stick around for a few days?”
    “Aye, ye may be right ,lass. We’ll come back tomorrow with some fresh torches. We’ll explore this place for a day or so, get ye a few decent books to study from, and then we’ll keep moving towards the Turret. Now lets get outta this gloomy cave and get some grub while I get to know yer new friend.”

Author's Note

Once again, I seek any and all criticism. But please bear in mind that this is a ROUGH draft and will obviously need a bit of work.

Reviews

[Stacey Watts]

Wow this is very intriguing and I cannot wait to read more. This was very well written and your characters and plot seem to be playing out rather nicely. I hope you will keep writing on this.