novelxo Chapter Chapter Twenty Four
The wedding was planned for the coming week. The whole palace and all of the visiting dignitaries and their troops assisted in the preparations. Athinina stood in the ramparts and watched the commotion going on beneath her. Clairine moved up beside her and look on with her queen. Athinina kept looking on without speaking as they continued setting up for the big day. Tanis wanted everything perfect for his bride to be. As for her, she could not understand why there was so much fuss made by these people.
“He does not know what makes a coupled married in our culture does he?” Asked Clairine. “Should I tell him?”
“I think I will enjoy showing him after his ceremony. He is definitely in for a surprise I think.” Giggled the warrior queen.
“He is definitely in for a surprise my queen.” Snickered the maid.
Meanwhile Tanis ran all over the palace. His head full of the wedding that was coming. He had almost totally forgotten the war that loomed on the horizon. He had been running all day when he paused by a wall to catch his breath. He stopped and leaned on the wall to collect himself before moving on to his next task when the wall he leaned on gave way. Looking around him he found himself in a chamber he did not even knew existed. Slowly he moved around the room looking at the paintings and books lining the walls.
Dust covered the table in the middle of the room and the table contained an open text. The book looked as if it was pulled out and left momentarily then utterly forgotten. It sat in the stand open where it had been whenever it was it was pulled from the shelves. Dust covered it almost from top to bottom and the layer of dust was so deep that Tanis almost missed the book.
After a few moments of cleaning Tanis could read the text so long left there waiting to be read. Slowly he moved his eyes over the text and read the lines left for his eyes to find so many years later.
“And In a time ruled by evil and darkness,
One will come to rule us and to save us. He will
Rule the world, but he will never ascend the throne.
Demons at his feet will lay dead, slain for their evil
And at their feet he too will lay dead, slain for our lives.
He will never own a throne, yet he will forever rule our lives.
The Phoenix will come to save us all. Aided by his wife and family
He will push his life to save us all.
His widow will bear the new rulers of our world
And it their offspring that will truly rule this world from on high.”
Tanis looked at the text in confusion as he continued to read. It made no sense. He studied history and he remembered no ruler whose children ruled the entire world. Artitous may know thought Tanis as he picked up the book without further thought and shoved it under his arm. He looked around and finally found the lever that released him from the room and moved down the hall looking for the ancient druid.
It was not the druid Tanis found as he moved down the hall. Marzioa nearly ran over Tanis without realizing it as he moved down the hall knocking Tanis to the floor. Marzioa bent to assist Tanis to his feet when his eyes fell upon the text. “Tanis, where did this text come from?” asked the wizard.
“What text? Oh that. I found it in a hidden chamber in the side wing the wedding will be held in. I leaned upon a wall and nearly fell into the room. It was laying there wide open when I entered the room.” Said Tanis.
“Show me this room and I suggest you move this wedding.” Said the wizard.
“I will show you but what harm can one text do? It is so old that no one remembers even who wrote it. What good would it do to see the chamber? It is not even an accurate measure of history. The man it speaks of never existed. I know history and this king never existed.” Said Tanis.
“The king does exist. You are too close to see it is all. He stands as close as your shadow don’t you know. This is prophesy. It is not history. This text could be dangerous in the wrong hands. For this is a guide to absolute power for good or evil. With this text anyone could take power over the entire world. The whole future of our world is written here. The other texts in this room must be as powerful lest they would not have been hidden.” Said the wizard as they moved briskly toward the hidden space.
Artitous moved toward them and followed them in their hurry. “Where do we fly to my good men?” asked Artitous.
“We have found a hidden cache of the great texts. This is stuff right up your alley Lord Bard. It is history and present and other topics close to your heart. We can not speak here. We are not alone.” Said Marzioa.
But as he said his piece the fact that they were followed became apparent. Several men separated themselves from the wall and moved toward the apparently unarmed trio. The men moved rapidly toward the three men. Tanis was the first to see the black blade in the hands of the closest man. Shoving the wizard to the floor, Tanis let fly with a fireball that tore the man in two. Two more assailants jumped over the corpse of their fallen fellow and moved closer for the attack.
Artitous lifted his arms to attack but never got the chance. As he lifted his arms the men fell to the ground. Each with weapons through them. Weapons of many different societies. The Hands of the Phoenix stepped from where they hid and moved to retrieve their weapons. “This one is Tagarin if I do not miss my guess” ”This one is Malgorian” “This one is Draconian” “This one is Talick” came the calls back and forth as the men looked at the fallen.
The wizard looked down at the fallen enemies and shook his head. “Hunters, my Lord Tanis. Death hunters. It is a good thing we killed them or they would have kept trying until you were dead or they were. They were focused on you. Tell me again. You found the book open to what page? Show me the text. I suspect our enemy also knows this text. Followers of the dark lords come here looking for you. But I would swear that the Dark Knight would not have anything to do with texts. So how would the text have been opened to this segment? I suspect that we have a spy amongst us.” Said Marzioa.
“Tell us everything my Lord. And show me this room. Something tells me there is more there than a text that predicts the future.” Said Artitous. “I suspect this is the study of a great wizard. Tell me Marzioa, who owned this palace prior to the dark knight?”
“The druid council owned this castle. They owned it for millennium before the knight took it. They used it only as a place of research and study. They did nothing else here. It was once known as the Druid’s Keep.” Said the wizard.
“Then we are in more danger than we ever believed. Many seers lived amongst and taught the druid priests and elders. If this is a repository of their secret knowledge that they hid from their own initiates, how much more dangerous is it in the hands of our enemies. This could be disaster beyond our imagining. We must keep this room to ourselves. No one else must know of it.” Said Artitous.
“Can it not be sealed?” Asked the younger man. “After all, magic can be protected by magic.”
“Yes and alert every creature capable of using magic that there is something there to hide. Are you mad? Tell me, young man, when in battle how do you hide your ambushes?” asked Artitous.
“You hide it in plain sight, blending it in with the surrounding environment. But what does that have to…… I think I see. By doing nothing it makes it harder to find.” Said Tanis.
“Eventually even a blind squirrel finds a nut, huh Artitous.” Said the wizard.
“Yeah, everyone gets lucky sometimes. Even the young.” Laughed the arch druid.