TCO: Chapter Thirty-One

Several more days passed before Tarak joined the other warriors in most of their classes. Gyan had to get used to the idea of seeing Tarak in training gear, although he wore no boots. Tarak's gear also differed somewhat in that the top portion of his uniform remained sleeveless. Gyan remembered that the Vaznaun species preferred cold weather, so he imagined that this was taken into consideration when the uniform was made.

Since his conversation with Syam, Aderes kept his silence about any misgivings he had concerning Tarak, even to Gyan. However, he continued to keep his distance from Tarak whenever the two were in class together.

In the next class with Malik, the star wizard informed the warriors about the mysteries of the Libran and its role in recording vital information for the Order.

"All of you will soon be taking separate assignments from the elder masters," Malik said. "Therefore, I need each of you to simply place your palm on the top of the Libran. Your imprint will be absorbed within the pages. As you encounter information important for the Order on your assignments, the binding magic from your imprint will register the acquired knowledge in the book."

"Sir Malik?" Gyan asked, as the warriors each took turns imprinting the Libran.

"Yes, San Gyan."

"How come the book didn't record Master Anstice's attack by the Vaznaun?"

"The book will not record personal information if you recall from our last conversation, San Gyan. The information that appears in the pages of the Libran is generally prophetic in nature, or it only record facts about events occurring if the information is needed to know. It will not record private matters that are sensitive in nature or defy the will of the warrior involved."

Gyan nodded.

"At this time, I am to provide you with information about your first assignment as a team," Malik continued.

Some of the warriors shifted nervously in their seats.

"You are to go into the Solara marketplace and find a man by the name of Gyasi Tomé. He will be at Elana's vegetable stand, which sits in front of a large stone building at the north-western edge of the marketplace. There, Gyasi will inform you of your assignment. Be alert, and like usual, use discretion…arrive in pairs at different times in the marketplace."

"When do we leave?" Jarek asked.

"Now."

The warriors immediately rose and filed out of Malik's classroom to retrieve their weapons.

Gyan and Aderes were the first to arrive on location.

The marketplace in Solara was the only part of the small city that kept a historical appearance, with many stores keeping their original wooden or old stone structures.

The two found Elana's stand easily. A slender woman with long, dark brown hair was putting a variety of vegetables into a basket as they approached. She looked up and smiled.

"Are you Elana?" Gyan asked the woman.

"Yes," she replied as she wiped her hands on the apron tied around her waist.

"We—"

"No need to explain," she interrupted gently. "Gyasi is through here."

She led them into the gray stone building behind the stand. The front room looked abandoned. A large dusty table sat in the corner with several chairs scattered nearby. Empty, crooked bookshelves, hidden under the same layer of dust aligned the walls of the room.

Gyan and Aderes heard voices coming from the adjoining room as the door opened and a brown-haired man wearing a dark, gold-threaded cloak with a jeweled hem came through.

"You are the first to arrive," he said. "Have a seat and I will join you after the others are here." The man turned and walked back through the door without introducing himself.

Gyan looked at Aderes and shrugged. "Strange."

Aderes's eyes narrowed.

Hoshi, Jarek, and Lorcan arrived next, soon followed by Valora and Brogan.

"Have you seen our contact?" Valora asked the others.

"Only briefly," said Gyan. "He said to wait here until everyone arrives."

Tarak and Danika were the last to arrive, both lowering the hoods of their robes as they stepped through the doorway.

Gyasi entered the room minutes later and faced the warriors with a grave expression. "As you know already, my name is Gyasi Tomé and I have instructions for your assignment. The Maveik are a group of outlaws that have stolen some of my gold and other valuable property. I am not their first victim, nor will I be the last unless they are stopped. We have discovered their current location to be near Sprite River at the edge of the Kingdom of Uthar.

"The Maveik are cunning, so be on guard when you encounter them, and trust no one," he emphasized. "If you will follow me, you may all leave together without raising suspicion out the back of the building."

"Why didn't they just tell us this at the temple?" Danika whispered to Gyan as the warriors rose and followed Gyasi.

Gyan shrugged. He looked around as his eyes adjusted to the dark room they had just walked into.

"Just a moment. I will get the lights," Gyasi said as the door behind the warriors shut.

Gyan felt uneasy.

A soft glow filled the room from the low-lit lamps hanging spaciously along one side of a large stone wall. Gyan looked around in awe at the enormity of the concrete room.

The warriors turned expectantly to seek out Gyasi who had disappeared.

"Fools." Gyasi's deep voice echoed across the room from a hidden speaker. "I am the leader of the Maveik and this…well, this is your new home. That is, if you can survive for more than the hour."

"Are you joking?" Hoshi shouted.

No reply came.

Gyan gave the room a quick scan. The lamps provided minimum light in the room, limiting the warriors' sight. The wall across from the warriors and the entire ceiling was hidden in shadow.

As they heard the entrance door seal shut behind them, the warriors threw off their robes. Tarak unsheathed a large knife at his belt, and Hoshi grabbed two tri-bladed boomerangs hanging from the belt at her hips.

"This has got to be a trick," said Brogan in disbelief.

"I don't know," said Jarek. "There's something off about that guy."

"Trick or not, we've still got to get out," stated Gyan. He had already begun feeling the nearest wall in search of an exit.

"We should each try and teleport out of here," said Aderes.

"I don't know if we will be able to," said Gyan. "The ability is only triggered by danger."

Jarek began to cross the room to the other side. As he stepped away from the entrance, however, the entire floor began to shake. The floor cracked and pieces of concrete next to Jarek's foot fell away, creating a huge gaping hole below them.

"Wait!" Valora yelled just as Jarek froze.

"No one take another step," Gyan ordered. He shifted his weight cautiously in an attempt to see the bottom of the hole.

The floor shook violently beneath them again, causing Jarek to lose balance. Gyan reached out an arm to grab Jarek, but he was too late.

Jarek screamed as he fell along with large portions of the floor into the darkness below.

"Jarek!" Danika yelled as she threw herself down to peer over the edge of the hole. Tarak grabbed Danika's shoulder to prevent her from falling in after Jarek.

Gyan looked down, frantically searching for Jarek, but saw nothing but darkness. He attempted to reach Jarek mentally, as Jalena had done when rescuing Tarak, but could not feel him.

As the others continued to gaze into the darkness for Jarek, Valora caught Gyan's eye, worry in her expression.

"I cannot reach him. I think he is unconscious," Gyan said.

"Should we go down?" Danika asked.

"Let's try and find a different way out. If we can't find an exit, I'll go down to find him," Brogan replied.

"We have to get out of here now, Gyan," said Aderes.

"Look!" said Lorcan as he squinted his eyes. "I think there is a door… there, at the edge of the shadows." He pointed to the north corner of the room.

Suddenly, an arrow whizzed by Valora's head and struck the wall behind her. More arrows followed the first. Tarak pushed Danika out of the way as arrows smashed into the concrete behind them.

Even after straining his eyes against the darkness, Gyan could not see the source of their attack.

Aderes instinctively withdrew a short sword from his hip and blocked another arrow aimed directly at Gyan. "I think we are in danger of surviving now."

"We can't leave Jarek," Gyan replied.

Hoshi, eyes narrowed, released one of her bladed boomerangs into the shadows. The warriors heard a gasp and a thud. She lifted her hand to catch the blade as it sailed back to her.

"I don't think it's a trick," she said. "There are people up there."

"I will try and get across," Lorcan stated.

"Lorcan—" began Gyan.

"It is the only way..."

More arrows flew at the warriors.

"Just cover me!" Lorcan shouted as they dodged the arrows.

He stared across the room as light filled his eyes. Faster than Gyan had ever seen anyone move, Lorcan took off across the floor. He never broke stride as pieces of the floor fell away at the touch of his feet.

"Hoshi, the arrows!" yelled Gyan.

Hoshi immediately threw a boomerang across the room as three more arrows were released in Lorcan's direction. The blade smashed into the arrows, snapping them in half before they reached Lorcan. She turned and released another blade into the ceiling shadows, frowning when the blade did not return.

"Lorcan?" Gyan called as Lorcan disappeared into the darkness on the other side of the room.

Soft blue lights began to glow from beneath a trail of gray stones still intact along the floor, lighting a safe pathway to the other side of the room. Lorcan appeared at the edge of the path.

"Over here!" he called. "It ends here. Just follow the path!"

The warriors didn't hesitate and set out in single file across the narrow stone path. Not much of the floor remained other than where the stones appeared. As they reached the middle of the room, the entire room began to shake Small, square metal slits appeared at different points along a far wall.

The warriors froze.

"Not again," groaned Brogan.

"Wha—?" Lorcan shouted out in surprise from the other side of the room.

The other warriors heard faint scuffling and then a grunt followed by silence.

"Lorcan!" Aderes took off again across the path with the others close behind.

Circular blades suddenly shot from the openings in the wall and whizzed past the warriors. One blade narrowly missed Aderes's right ear. The warriors immediately stopped moving, except for Aderes who continued down the path, a determined look on his face. Two more blades shot at the warriors, one creating a deep gash across Aderes's shoulder.

Aderes shouted and dropped to a knee.

"Stop, Aderes!" demanded Gyan.

The ground shook some more, causing Hoshi to stumble into Tarak, who caught her and instantly drew her tight against his chest as a circular blade sailed inches by the two of them.

"I think they are triggered by movement!" Tarak exclaimed. "Remain still!"

"Lorcan!" shouted Gyan. There was still no reply. He thought hard for a solution. "Danika."

"Already ahead of you, San Gyan," she said from beside him. She turned to him and smiled as her eyes lit up, and then disappeared right before his eyes. "I have to walk by each of you, so try to remain still as you feel me go by."

Danika touched Gyan's arm to let him know she was moving past him. Even though Gyan knew Danika was invisible, it still felt surreal to feel her touch his arm and not be able to see her.

Danika's maneuver worked, however, for no more blades were released while she slowly crept by each of the warriors.

"Danika, are you at the end?" Gyan shouted moments later into the dark.

"Yes."

"Is Lorcan there?"

"No. I can't find him anywhere," Danika replied. "But there are switches here along the wall. One of them must light the path on the floor and the other…" her voice trailed off as the walls of the room shook once more, and the metal slits in the wall disappeared.

Aderes grabbed his shoulder, which was still bleeding heavily. Gyan moved past the others as fast as possible and placed his hand on Aderes's shoulder. Gyan projected light from his hand into Aderes's shoulder in the same way Jalena had used her light to seal Tarak's arrow wound on the prior mission. The bleeding immediately stopped.

"How did you know how to do that?" Aderes asked as he took a deep breath.

"Master Jalena."

"Should we try to teleport out of here to get help?" asked Valora. "Then we can return for Jarek."

"We'd need more room to form the Lumfáinne," said Gyan as the warriors hurried to the other side of the room where Danika stood waiting, visible once more.

"There seems to be an exit over here." Danika turned and walked into the shadows directly behind her.

A sliver of light shone through slits in the wall, outlining a door. Gyan and Brogan pushed the door, but it didn't budge. Aderes began feeling the wall and floor around the door, searching for a trigger to open it.

"Stand back, Gyan," said Brogan. "Valora, I'll need you for this."

Valora walked over to her brother and stood back-to-back with him in front of the door. Each lifted one arm to the door as their eyes lit up.

"Save your energy," said Aderes.

The twins lowered their arms as Aderes stood and stepped hard on a hollowed-out block of concrete near the door. The stone door turned on a middle hinge and opened into another room.

The warriors hurried through the door, on alert for signs of more danger. The only light in the room came from two torches hanging on either side of the door. The walls were made of the same concrete blocks as the first room, but bordered a dirt floor.

"Lorcan!" Hoshi cried as she ran to the middle of the room.

Lorcan was lying unconscious in the middle of the floor, his mouth gagged, and his hands bound behind him. As Hoshi attempted to loosen the bindings around his hands, Lorcan became conscious and struggled against her grasp.

"Lorcan, it’s me," reassured Hoshi.

Lorcan sighed in relief and scrambled to his feet. It's a trap, he told the warriors.

True to Lorcan's warning, Gyan noted movement across the room. The largest man Gyan had ever seen, partially shadowed by darkness, held a boulder high over his head with large, muscular arms.

Aderes swore aloud.

The giant man stood still for a moment, staring at the warriors. He gave them a crooked smile just before releasing the large boulder in their direction. The warriors scattered as the boulder landed directly where Lorcan had lain unconscious just moments before.

"Okay, Valora…Brogan. Time to use that twin energy now," said Aderes, just as the giant man lifted another boulder. Valora and Brogan stood back-to-back again, each with one arm extended toward the boulder flying in their direction. As their eyes brightened with white light, a beam of light shot forth from their hands, exploding the boulder in midair.

The giant man, unfazed by the twins' defense, repeatedly threw more boulders at the warriors.

"Valora and I can only do this a little bit longer, Gyan," Brogan said, breathing heavily after more boulders flew at them. A cloud of dust now surrounded the warriors.

"We need to get closer to him somehow," Lorcan said.

Just as Gyan opened his mouth to tell the others he would try to create a shield around them as they form the Lumfáinne, the wall blocks in the room began to separate. Large metal pipes appeared in the cracks between the blocks.

Brogan groaned. "What now?"

Gyan sensed the heat before the fire came.

"Everybody down!" he yelled as jets of fire shot from the pipes.

All the warriors instantaneously dropped flat to the ground. Distracted by the flames above their head, the warriors failed to see the next boulder, which was covered in flames, being thrown their way.

Tarak immediately stood just before the fire reached the middle of the room.

"Tarak!" Danika shouted.

Without a second thought, Gyan grabbed Tarak's ankle as he stood. A powerful blanket of blue-white light surged around Tarak in a V shape, centered from Gyan's hand. The flames moved harmlessly upward and away from Tarak as they hit Gyan's light shield.

Seemingly oblivious to Gyan, Tarak had both hands outstretched toward the boulder as it sailed through the air. With a turn of his waist, Tarak guided the boulder up and away from the warriors, crashing it against the wall behind them.

The flames stopped.

"How did you—" Lorcan began.

Tarak didn't have a chance to answer as he dodged the next boulder. He dove to the ground as the other warriors rolled across the floor to avoid the boulder seconds before more flames shot from the wall.

Gyan struggled to breathe. Sweat poured down his face. He met Aderes's gaze as they flattened themselves to the ground to avoid the flames.

"We have to end this now!" Aderes choked.

Tarak, belly down, crawled across the floor to Hoshi, who was not moving. He shook her and then felt for a pulse. "Hoshi!" he called. "She's passed out," he told the others before coughing deeply.

"Danika!" Gyan said. "Stay low and see if you can get to the other side."

Danika nodded once and disappeared before him.

"Brogan, Valora, if you have the energy, I can—" Gyan was overcome with a fit of coughing "—shield you if you can stand together and finish him off."

They both nodded. Gyan rolled across the ground and positioned himself quickly behind them. He grabbed one ankle on each of the twins.

"Now!" he yelled, eyes alight.

Valora and Brogan leapt up and stood back-to-back, unharmed by the flames as Gyan's shield erupted around them. They lifted their arms once more toward their target.

"Everything you got, Val," Brogan said. A powerful surge of white light erupted from the twins' hands. The light met another flaming boulder, causing it to explode directly in front of their attacker. The force of the explosion knocked the man back against the wall with an enormous crash that shook the entire room. The giant man crumbled against the floor, unconscious.

Gyan felt his concentration sway as the flames retracted once more. He released his hold on Brogan and Valora, finally surrendering to the darkness that overtook him for the second time as a san warrior.