Alcingeria Chapter Thirty One: The Secret of the Ruins

The Vipers and The Scorpions finally arrive at the strange door in the ruins. Queen Yuka wants what lies beyond that door. What is it? Why does she want it?

Chapter Thirty One The Secret Of The Ruins:

We all stared into the void that stood before us. None of us knew what was down there, but we were going to find out. Walden led the way with his light, the rest of us followed closely.

            “Be on your guard, if there is dark magic down here, there is no telling what we may find.” Tabatha said cautiously.

            “Alright, I believe you.” Macalister said.

            “Good. Fighting is your domain, magic is mine.” Tabatha told him.

Walden slowly led us into the dark recesses of the room. We all looked around, expecting to see a vampire or some other beast jump out at us.

            “I can sense the energy from the dark magic, we’re getting closer.” Tabatha said.

            “You’re proving to be quite useful… and trustworthy.” Robert told Tabatha.

            “Thanks. Geez, it’s about time you said that.” Tabatha said with a laugh.

We appeared to be in a single, large room. There were no intersections of corridors or anything. Walden’s fireball illuminated the room to an extent, there was no telling how big the room was. We looked around, trying to find a clue as to what we may find at the end of this room.

            “The energy from the dark magic is very, very close.” Tabatha said, worrying.

            “What do we do? See what it is?” William asked.

            “We need to see what it is Queen Yuka wants. I think that we need to go to the source of the dark magic and see what it is. Maybe if we knew what Queen Yuka is after, we can predict what she wants to do with it.” Ceberus said.

In front of us at the edge of Walden’s fire’s light, we saw almost rotten wooden crates. There were about six of them in total, they were all horizontal, strewn across the floor. The contents remained inside the crates.

            “This is it, this is definitely where the dark magic is coming from.” Tabatha said, pointing to the crates with her staff.

Walden flew forward first, lighting the way. I was right behind him, everyone else trailed behind.

            “I’ll open the first box.” I volunteered

I stepped forward, and reached for the lid of the nearest crate. I pulled the rotted lid off of it and I looked inside. I couldn’t believe what I saw. Inside I saw jewelry. I’m serious. Jewlery. Rings, necklaces, ear rings, everything.

            “You guys might want to see this.” I said over my shoulder.

Everyone walked to the crate and peered in.

            “Holy cow!” Francella exclaimed.

Ceberus’s eyebrows raised.

            “Indeed, but what would Queen Yuka want with a bunch of old jewelry?” He asked.

            “The jewelry is imbued with dark magic, just like Walden’s ring. Why does Queen Yuka want the jewelry?” Tabatha asked.

            “I don’t know. Is there anything that Queen Yuka could do with the dark magic within the jewelry?” William asked.

            “No, she can’t do anything without a dark magic witch. She doesn’t have one, does she?” Tabatha asked.

William shook his head.

            “No, she didn’t mention anything about a dark magic witch when she was talking about the ones she has in her court. It appears that she has almost every witch type in her court with the exception of a dark magic witch.” William answered.

Tabatha exhaled in relief.

            “Then we have nothing to fear. Dark magic witches are very rare, and they would not give themselves up to Queen Yuka easily. If she did manage to find one, it would kill anyone she sent after it.” Tabatha said.

            “Then it’s settled, we bring Queen Yuka her jewelry.” Don said.

            “We have no choice, anyhow. Queen Yuka knows that there is something down here that she wants, if William and I don’t return with it, she’ll get suspicious and investigate. If that happens, she will find out that we are associated with all of you and we will all be either taken as servants to her like William and I, or you will be executed.” Ceberus said grimly.

            “Then it’s definitely settled. We bring Queen Yuka her jewelry. We may as well stay in her good books.” Robert answered.

            “Let’s grab the stuff and go.” Macalister added.

With that, the others began opening and putting the jewelry in their backpacks.

            “Look on the bright side, maybe Queen Yuka doesn’t even know that the jewelry is imbued with dark magic. Maybe this is just some deposit of riches that she somehow found out about.” Francella said.

            “It’s a possibility, but whether we like it or not we need to bring this stuff to her. Not doing that would mean our doom. Besides, what are we going to do with all of this, anyway?” Robert asked.

            “Sell it?” Macalister asked.

            “No, we can’t sell this! If it fell into the wrong hands… I don’t even want to think about that.” Tabatha said.

Then there was silence with the exception of the clink! Of the jewelry being put into the backpacks.

            “Look at how old these things are? I can read the inscriptions, too!” Erin said with glee.

            “Oh yeah? What’s this one say?” Walden asked, holding up a necklace to Erin.

Erin examined it closely.

            “It says ‘be one with your soul’.” Erin said.

            “Ooohhh, cryptic.” Walden said with a chuckle.

Just then, Robert gasped.

            “What is it?” Macalister asked.

            “I just had an idea.” Robert said.

            “Spit it out, man!” Walden encouraged.

Robert cleared his throat.

            “I was just thinking, instead of Ceberus and William bringing the jewelry to Queen Yuka themselves, the rest of us could go with them to her castle. I’d bet that she’d want to meet the people who found the jewelry for her. Maybe she’d give us some kind of reward.” Robert said.

There was a moment of silence as we took that in.

            “Wow Robert. That’s actually a good plan. Great thinking.” Tabatha commended.

            “It’s a win-win situation for us. We don’t get turned into servants or executed, we don’t get exposed as the criminals that we are, we stay on Queen Yuka’s good side and we could get a reward. I say we do it.” Raymond added.

            “Yeah! It sounds like a plan.” Walden said.

            “It’s a smart plan.” Ceberus remarked.

It only took about ten minutes longer for the others to load their backpacks full of the jewelry. When we collected every last piece, we set out of the room. We reached the other side of the door and Ceberus pulled the key out and I helped him close the door. It shut with a loud clang! And when it was closed, we all followed Walden towards the exit to the ruins. We weaved our way through the familiar tunnels and thankfully didn’t come across any vampires and didn’t set off any traps. We finally saw natural light pouring in from the staircase that lead to the surface. Walden extinguished his flame as we ascended the stairs. When we reached the top and were all in the forest once again, we looked around. It was an hour or two before twilight.

            “We need to make our way back to Riverguard to buy horses. From there we can travel to Queen Yuka’s castle. If we hurry, we will be there by early nightfall.” Ceberus said.

            “Righto!” Walden said.

Ceberus lead us in the direction of Riverguard. We ran through the forest together. I could hear the jewelry clanking around in backpacks.

            “If there is a chance that Queen Yuka is offering a reward, I want Martha to be there, too. We need to stop at the bunkhouse anyway to get some money. I’ll do that, you guys wait on the pathway by the bunkhouse, alright?” Ceberus asked.

No one said anything, but we all understood the plan. Excitement burned in my gut as I anticipated meeting Queen Yuka. We were all criminals, but we were going to bring her the jewelry that she wanted so badly. Would that be enough to get her to overlook that? I thought so, or at least I hoped so. Before long, the walls of Riverguard appeared through a break in the trees up ahead. We ran through the trees and ran to the gate. Walden made himself invisible. The guard recognized us.

            “Open the gate!” He yelled to his friends.

The gate opened and we stepped through to the town square, not slowing down. We headed for the bunkhouse. We walked down the familiar road that branched off from the fountain and we came across the path that lead to the bunkhouse in no time.

            “Wait here.” Ceberus said as he ran down the pathway to get Martha and the money.

We all waited in town at the start of the path, waiting for Ceberus to return. In minutes, Ceberus was carrying a small bag. Martha was right behind him.

            “You found what in the ruins?” Martha asked, surprised.

            “We found jewelry imbued with dark magic. Queen Yuka wants it, but we don’t know for sure if she knows about the dark magic. We are bringing it to her. Robert thinks that she’ll give us a reward of some sort.” Ceberus explained to Martha.

            “That’s certainly something!” Martha exclaimed.

Ceberus and Martha reached us and Ceberus lead us into town.

            “We need to buy horses in town to make the journey to Queen Yuka’s castle with good time.” Ceberus said.

            “Yes, the man you and William bought the other horses off of came and collected them at the house while you were gone.” Martha explained.

            “Yes, I told him he’d find the horses there.” Ceberus told her.

We all walked down the street until we reached the far wall of Riverguard. We saw a gate nearby. There was a little stable just inside the wall. There were multiple horses in stalls as well as a man sitting behind a makeshift wooden counter near the stable. The man had short brown hair, blue eyes and he was short, around 5’3”. He looked to be around thirty.

            “Ceberus! ‘Ow can I help ya t’day?” The man asked with a smile that was missing a few teeth.

            “Hello, Timothy. I need six horses. Can you do that?” Ceberus asked.

There were twelve of us, six horses. That meant two to a horse. Timothy whistled in an impressed manor.

            “Sure can, but it’ll cost ya. ‘Round fifty gold pieces. Can ya sport it?” Timothy asked.

Ceberus handed Timothy a fistful of coins from his bag. The man counted each coin.

            “That’s fifty three.” Timothy said, handing back three coins.

Ceberus held up his hand, refusing them.

            “Keep them. You need the money more than I do.” Ceberus said.

Timothy smiled his gap-toothed grin.

            “Thank ya very much, Ceberus.” He said.

            “No problem, Timothy.” Ceberus replied.

            “Take your horses. Ya bought ‘em, they’re yours now.” Timothy said.

Timothy led us to the stable where all the horses were kept. I saw multiple horses of all different colors. From jet black to light brown, from solid colored to spotted. I saw one that had light brown fur on the body, but from its tail to its head was black fur. Just above the hooves on its calves was black as well. The horse was in good shape, too.

            “I’ll take this one.” I said, pointing to it.

            “Very well.” Timothy said, walking over and leading it to me using a rope that was tied to the brown saddle.

            “Does it have a name?” I asked.

            “Nope. You can name it yourself or leave it nameless. Don’t matter to me.” Timothy said.

The others pointed out their horses. Timothy led us out near the gate.

            “Who is riding with who?” Cebrus asked.

            “I’ll ride with Macalister.” Don said.

I then glimpsed Tabatha standing by her horse. She was looking at Don. I decided to make a bold move.

            “You can’t.” I said.

            “Why not?” Don asked.

I had to think fast.

            “Because… I’m riding with Macalister.” I said.

Don shrugged.

            “I’ll ride with Robert then.” He said.

Just then, Francella’s gaze met mine.

            “But I’m riding with Robert.” He said, giving me a sly wink.

Francella knew what was going on. I think that he picked up on the fact that Tabatha may have feelings for Don. Did he pick up on it, or did he overhear Tabatha and I back at the ruins? Don looked around.

            “Don, there’s a spot on my horse if you want it.” Tabatha called with a small smile.

I saw doubt in Don’s eyes, but he agreed.

            “Thanks, Tabatha.” He said with a little uncertainty.

Macalister came over and stood next to me. I mounted up on the front of the horse and Macalister went to the rear. Ceberus and Martha shared a white horse, Stella and Erin shared a black one, Robert and Francella shared a horse that was dark grey with black spots. Don and Tabatha shared a horse that was brown with black spots, and William and Raymond shared a horse that was brown with white spots.

            “Thanks, Timothy!” Ceberus called.

Just then, the gate near us began to open. The guards must have saw us buy our horses and thought that we weren’t going out to do anything illegal. They also knew that we didn’t steal the horses. I eased my horse forward and we all rode through the gate and made it out into the surrounding forest. The forest on this side of Riverguard was thicker than the one on the other side. This made it harder to weave our horses through the trees. We had to move slowly to avoid hitting them, but eventually the trees thinned and we could gallop.

            “Ya!” I shouted as I kicked my horse in the ribs.

The horse reared up, whinnying and took off sprinting as soon as its front feet hit the ground. Everyone else did the same and we were off. The wind blasted into my face, but I forced myself to look forward. I saw a tree and swerved to avoid it. We were galloping through sparse woodlands. As we continued through the forest, the trees became less and less dense. After a few more minutes of riding, we came to a large clearing. We kept riding. I looked over to the others to see huge grins of excitement on all their faces. I looked over to Tabatha and Don, who were about twenty feet away from me. As they rode along, I could hear them talking to each other, but the wind in my ears prevented me from hearing them.

            “This is awesome!” Shouted Walden, who was riding on William and Raymond’s horse, now visible.

            “The last time I rode a horse, I was driving these three away from Queen Mycta’s guards!” Robert shouted in excitement, gesturing to Don, Macalister and I.

            “Indeed, what a time that was!” Don shouted back.

I saw William close his eyes and sigh.

            “What’s the matter, bucko? This is gonna be fun!” Walden said with excitement.

William didn’t say anything. I didn’t know why Ceberus, William and Martha didn’t like Walden. I thought he was a little full of himself and annoying at first, but I grew to like him.

            “Do you really think Queen Yuka will give us a reward?” Macalister asked.

            “She might. After all, we are bringing her something that she wants. She may feel inclined to reward us.” I said.

            “It would be good if she did.” Macalister said, looking off into the distance.

Macalister, on the other hand can be pretty annoying. He isn’t smart, as you already know, but Don, Robert and I have been through a lot with Macalister. Although he isn’t smart, he knows what and what not to do, which is very helpful given some of the situations we have gotten into in the past.

            “Everyone, I think that we should have our stories straight in case Queen Yuka asks!” Ceberus shouted so everyone could hear him.

            “What is our story?” Raymond asked.

            “Everyone listen up! Our stories need to match up with one another, just in case Queen Yuka questions us separately. This is our story; we, with the exception of William and I, are merely simple farm workers. You all are the friends of William and I who we trust greatly. We will tell Queen Yuka that William and I shared the information of the key with you all and you all helped gather the jewelry. That is our story. It is all truthful, except for the simple farm workers. Do not tell Queen Yuka of any of your talents, in case she decides to put you to use. Understood?” Ceberus asked.

We all looked to him and nodded.

            “Good.” Ceberus said, turning his attention back to riding.

I looked around. The grassland that we were riding through was flat, and the way we sped by made it seem like a vast sea of green. Twilight was just starting to descend upon the land, bathing the scenery in an orange glow. I looked into the far distance to see huge black stone walls looming in the distance.

            “What’s that?” I asked Ceberus, pointing the black walls out.

Ceberus looked to them and looked at me.

            “That’s the city of Valgate, where Queen Yuka’s castle is located.” Ceberus answered.

I didn’t know the name of the town that housed Queen Yuka’s castle, I only knew that it was a large city. As we rode on, I noticed that ahead, the trees started again, but I saw quite a few stumps. They weren’t rotted away, either. They were cut by something sharp, like a saw. I suppose that this was evidence of the high demand for houses and other things within Valgate. We were moving very quickly, and the city of Valgate was rapidly drawing nearer.

            “I thought you said that it would take until early nightfall to get here.” Don told Ceberus.

            “Timothy must have given us his best horses, we don’t usually get here this fast.” Ceberus said.

            “Good on ya, Timothy!” Walden exclaimed, thrusting one of his small fist into the air.

As we neared the city, we saw a massive gate, it was made of stone, not wood like the ones in Riverguard. There were about twenty guards stationed at the gate. They must have improved security here as oppose to Riverguard, and why not? This is where the queen of Vulrock resides. Just then, I saw Walden turn invisible.

            “Halt! That’s far enough!” One of the guards called when we were about fifty feet away.

            “Whoa!” I called, halting my horse.

The other’s shouted the same word and stopped their horses.

            “What do you seek inside Valgate?” Asked one of the guards.

            “We come bearing a gift for Queen Yuka!” Ceberus called out.

The head guard looked skeptical.

            “Yeah, and I’m the Grim Reaper. I’d need to see it to believe it, pal.” The guard said.

            “By all means, if you allow me to dismount my horse, I will show you the gift!” Ceberus called.

            “Very well then, dismount your horse slowly, and no sudden moves. You are outnumbered, so don’t try anything!” Said the guard.

He seemed to be the leader. The nineteen other guards just watched and waited. Ceberus slowly got off his horse.

            “Pass me your bags.” Ceberus ordered everyone.

Everyone who had backpacks slipped them off and handed them to Ceberus. He took multiple bags in each hand. He walked slowly over to the guards. When he was about ten feet away, the guard held a hand out to halt him. Ceberus stopped moving.

            “Slide the bags over.” The guard commanded.

Ceberus did as he was told and slid the bags over to the guard. The guard opened the first one, saw the contents and his eyes went wide.

            “Sweet merry mother of God.” He muttered, his eyes going wide.

The guard checked the other bags and found them stuffed with the jewelry.

            “This is all for Queen Yuka?” The guard asked.

Ceberus nodded.

            “Yes, every last bit of it.” He responded.

The guard nodded and slid the bags back over to Ceberus, who gave them back to who he got them from.

            “I don’t know any of you, I don’t know who you are and I definitely don’t know your stories, but whatever you did, I’m sure that Queen Yuka will pardon you if you give her all of this.” The guard told Ceberus.

            “That’s not what we came here for. We are not criminals.” Ceberus lied.

The guard nodded slowly.

            “It is of no business of mine. Proceed through the gates.” The guard said.

            “But please, allow us to take your horses to the royal stables. They’ll be well cared for and ready when you want to leave.” Another guard said.

We all dismounted our horses and left them with the guards.

            “Thank you.” Ceberus said.

On cue, the massive, heavy looking stone gate opened. We were let through. We all coaxed our horses through the gate and rode into the city to get our first glimpse of Valgate.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!

Reviews

[KeithKVH]

Got a feeling there's a bigger reason she wants the enchanted jewelry. Be interesting to see if they do get a reward. Bad feeling I got though...

Also, really don't get myself why those three don't like Walden. Must be a reason, but seriously, this is Walden.

Those horses came rather cheap, I assume they must be rentals even though he said "They're yours now." 6 horses for 50 gold is less than 10 gold a horse. By the way, wasn't the currency called dollars?

Suggestions:

“Ya!” I shouted as I could my horse in the ribs.
-I think something was lost here, don't understand enough to say more.

[Ryan Henderson]

Thanks for the review! I don't know what price horses come at, do you? If you do, could you tell me? And when you are sitting on top of your horse, you drive the side of your foot into the horse's side, where the ribs are.

[KeithKVH]

I'm only comparing the price to how much they paid for a cheap meal earlier. If they bought them permanently they should probably be pretty expensive.

As for the horse riding, I thought it might be related to that, but if "could" is the term you used for that action, I even looked it up and I don't see it as part of the terminology. Here's a wiki of terms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_equestrian_terms

[Ryan Henderson]

Thanks for the wiki link, I learned a few new ones here, ad I will fix the 'could' part. Thanks!