Guardians of the Prophecy

Chapter Seventeen: The Earth Temple

*I know it's been months, but I'm happy that I got this up.  And on another good note, chapter eighteen should be up relatively soon.  Yay!  Just want to say, once again, and please forgive me for being so repetitive, my appreciation to the new followers that keep following me despite my inactivity.  And thanks so much again for those who have stuck with me and waited all this time.  Hope you enjoy it!  Votes and comments would be much appreciated!  

Note:  This chapter is unedited.

"I think this is it."  Shan looked down at the map, then back up at the mountain in front of them.  His chestnut horse nickered and flattened its ears.

Laurel rode up beside him on her palomino mare.  "Yeah, it does look like it."

Rima's teeth chattered and she wrapped her cloak a little tighter around her shoulders: the weather was much cooler compared to when she and Alistair had first arrived in Bonum to meet Laurel and Caleb.

Her throat tightened, but she swallowed and pushed thoughts of her Protector from her mind.  The most that she could do for him now was to hope that he was alive and safe.

She tuned back into what the others were saying when she realized she wasn't paying attention.

"We'll need a place to sell the horses.  It was nice while it lasted, anyway," Laurel was saying, patting her mare's neck.

"I'm sorry.  I could've saved you some money."  Rima finally spoke.

The healer waved her hand about in the air.  "It's not a problem.  You said that you needed similar material in order to duplicate anyway.  And the places that we've stopped by just happened to not sell any metal tools or trinkets."

Rima nodded.  It was true.  Large cities and bustling marketplaces were typically where metal was found.  The villages that they had visited usually didn't have the wealth necessary to sell or buy metal; the only metallic objects available was their currency.  Until recently, Rima had never known just how often she'd taken advantage of metal to be used for duplicating money.

The group wandered into a nearby town to sell their horses and eat a quick lunch before heading back to the mountain.  By the time they were nearing the foot of the mountain, thoughts of her Protector had filled Rima's head once again.

She sighed.  She missed Alistair.  She hoped he was okay.

Well, at least I'm able to focus a little bit better, she thought.  Without the added worry of her Protector stressing her out, she was even able to catch up on sleep.  Besides, obtaining the last Artifact was the most important thing for her to do now.

She blinked when she realized that everyone had turned expectantly towards her: they'd stopped outside of a dark tunnel.

Rima turned to the others and said, "I want to try something new."  They nodded at her.  She turned back to the darkness that lay before them; Shaheen fluffed her wings.  Rather than conjuring fire, with "Haya," and a bit of altering, Rima created a small twittering bird made of light magic to fly ahead and light their way into the tunnel.

Shaheen was noticeably twitchy whenever the bird of light flew by her.  She'd snap her beak and glare at it whenever it fluttered too close, almost as if she was offended by the fact that the light wasn't a real bird.

The tunnel was a long and silent, winding walk in the semi-darkness, with only the bird ahead as their source of light.  Even though the air wasn't too stuffy, Rima felt that it was gradually getting warmer the further they walked.  Finally, they arrived at an earthen door with runes in the language of Origin declaring that past the door was the Earth Temple.