Legacy

Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

Procel passed the blackened letter back across the table to Ace. "You realise that madman Soren will soon find out about this?" Procel said, his face stern. "This is way over my head."

"Look Procel, I would not have asked if it wasn't you we needed."

"I'm flattered," the guide replied. "But I just don't know Ace, it's maybe too dangerous."

Ace snapped. "When has that ever stopped you? Come on Procel, this chance won't ever come again. And besides," Ace said, smiling. "Think of the treasure to be found in that mountain."

At this, Procel's face lit up and he fell into a silence before he finally spoke, cancelling the tension between them. "All right, we'll do it," he said and all present sighed with relief. "Stay here while we get our things." Procel added as both he and Myru left Ace's house.

Ace looked across the table at Sasha. "How exactly do you intend to keep the dragons from your father?" he asked.

"I don't know." She sighed.

"You realise we'll most probably have to try somehow to destroy the beasts?"

"Yes, I know." She answered, sighing again.

"Then we can only hope that the guide on Holl or the School of Mages know of something that will help us," he stated and glanced at the window. "Finally, they're back." Ace said and stood up to open the door for the two friends.

"Are you sure we have to leave immediately? There's still all that drink back at the house!" Procel protested.

Sasha laughed in reply and nodded, much to his disappointment.

* * * * *

Fresh horses were fetched and within the hour they were beyond the city boundaries.

"Did you leave a message for your father as to where you might be going, say to throw him on a goose-chase?" Asked Myru.

"There was no need," Sasha replied sharply. "He won't notice my absence with his head buried in those damn books. He was so engrossed in his magick that he even missed my mother's funeral."

None of the others could find voice to reply. It was Ace who finally broke the uncomfortable silence after several moments. "We've come to the River Lead." He said and pointed to the long and winding waterway before them.

"Will the horses be able to cross it?" Asked Sasha.

"Yes," Procel answered. "It's shallow here and the current is not strong."

The beasts crossed easily and Procel drew close to the others and produced a torn map from a pocket of his jerkin. "We will stop at the town Grieve next. Our journey from here to Valerian on Holl Island and to Purse on Dina Island should take about six days."

"Six days." Echoed Sasha with a groan.

"There is no great danger from here to Dina, but from there to the Cavern, expect the worst." Procel said and pocketed the map.

Sasha gave Ace a nervous glance, but the swordsman did not look at her. His eyes were firmly fixed to the ground and the road ahead.

* * * * *

Shadows on the wall of the chamber receded as the sun's power cast light, banishing the darkness until it finally came to rest on the face of a man clothed all in black. The mage instinctively put up an arm to shield the painful radiance and pushed the chair backwards until it reached a gloomier part of the room. The wizard rose and walked to a distant corner of the chamber and began to pull a square wooden plank off an enormous oblong object.