The Enchantments: Book 3 - The Key of Sorcen

Chapter 30: Ruins of the Lost Land

It was a tough couple of minutes for both Simeneon and Giles as they tried desperately to pull the remaining snow and ice from the side of the wall, Macnish, as Simeneon noticed with disgust was sitting a few yards away writing down in his memoirs how he had single-handedly disposed of the minions.

"Do ya really think it's the way into the side of the mountain?" Giles asked out of breath, his hands in his pockets to try and bring back the feeling from the cold.

The storm was now blowing across their backs like a knife. Simeneon shivered under the constant blast of the wind and tried (in vain I may add) to think of warm scenarios to take her mind off the fact that her body was turning to an icicle.

Simeneon rolled up her sleeve of her sweater and put it over her hand so she could wipe more of the entrance to reveal anything that would give them any clue on how to open it.

After twenty minutes of scraping and prodding the rock face wall, she stepped back to see what she had done. Before her, etched into the wall stood the most amazing outline of a door she had ever seen. The exterior was handcrafted, chiseled out from the wall into a smooth pattern that resembled an iron gate. Within the confines of the outer rim, small bolt looking grooves circumvented the exterior, but the most remarkable aspect of the door was the large plate that adorned the center. From what Simeneon could tell there were six symbols, with six spaces for them, two symbols, the sun, which covered the first three spaces on the left-hand side and the moon, which covered the other three on the right.

What did it all mean? Was it a test? If it was, was it going to take a long time to decipher what it all meant, but time was something they had very little of at that moment.

She peered from the wall into the sky noticing a mass of turmoil and swirling clouds whipping in. Macnish she noticed was staring up at the approaching storm with great trepidation and fear on his face. He knew something unnatural was impending and he wanted to be anywhere else but here. Simeneon herself felt the nape of her neck begin to tingle with every passing minute that the storm inched forward. She had felt that feeling a few times before and this time it was much worse. It was almost like the closer to the top of the world she got the stronger Heldom's influence became.

This was the worst place to be at that moment, but this was the one place she had to be. She looked back at the door and sighed. How was she going to get it open, but worst of all, did she really want to go into the side of the mountain that had only been touched by a servant of Heldom?

The door to the lost land

Giles pulled another layer of clothing from his backpack; with great effort over the strong winds he walked over to Simeneon and placed the wrap around her body.

"You must rest," Giles said.

Simeneon had been staring at the door for what seemed like hours now. Her body was racked with the cold and she knew if she didn't find the answers to the riddle of the door they would probably die up here on the mountain. If the cold didn't get them, then the other minions and their counterparts at the base of the mountain would get them before too long. Come nightfall they'd be on them like the plague.

"They'll be time to rest when I figure this out." She said as she pulled the wrap closer to her frigid body and continued staring hopingly at the door.

Giles caught a glimpse of movement behind him and he wheeled around with his sword at the ready to a figure approaching.

"Stand and be counted!' Giles screamed.

"Put that sword down before you hurt yourself!" Macnish screamed back.

The man looked haggard and ready to snap.