The Four Stones

Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Tower of the Fire Ruby

    “There it is.” Wysteria whispered, staring up at the ominous looking structure.

    “It’s way bigger than I thought it would be.” Jasmine commented.

    “It’s kind of creepy looking if you ask me.” Jonathan said. Wysteria nodded in agreement.

    “That’s to keep normal people from just walking in.” Malachi explained. “There are many traps and enchantments. If you walk in unprepared, it could be the end of you. Since I’m the one who set the enchantments I know where they are, so walk exactly where I do. Understand?”

    The four nodded and followed Malachi inside the tower. Wysteria couldn’t help but feel a bit of foreboding when she walked in. The inside was just as creepy as the outside, if not more so. There were cobwebs, unnerving moving shadows, rats,skeletons lining the walls, the way they were positioned, looked like they were doing the macarena, and what Wysteria was dreading the most…..spiders. Now most people don’t like spiders, but Wysteria had full blown arachnophobia. She would freeze up if a spider was anywhere near her.

    “Eeep” Wysteria whimpered as a spider scrambled in front of her and into the shadows. No one seemed to hear her though, because they just kept on walking.

    Then when Wysteria thought she was in the clear, a huge, black spider dropped down in front of her. It was hanging by an invisible thread not even an inch in front of her nose. Wysteria couldn’t take it, She froze. Her eyes were glued to the spider that was dangling in front of her. She whimpered, but couldn’t even manage a scream. The others were getting farther and farther ahead of her, but she couldn’t make herself move. Usually Jasmine would kill them for her, but she was way ahead sticking close to Malachi and out of earshot.

    “Help. Somebody….spider.” Wysteria squeaked.

    Then to Wysteria’s relief Richard   came to her rescue. He carefully maneuvered the patch Malachi had taken and made his way to her. Once he saw the spider his eyes widened, because one of the spider’s legs was brushing against Wysteria’s nose trying to get a good hold. Quick as lightning grabbed the spider, threw it on the ground, and burned it to a crisp with a small ball of fire magic. Wysteria fell to her knees. Richard  carefully inched closer to her and helped her to her feet.

“What happened, Wysteria? Are you that afraid of spiders?” Richard   asked leading her back to join the group. Wysteria only nodded, still unable to speak.

When they rejoined the group both Jasmine and Jonathan tackled her into a hug.

“I’m so sorry, Sterie! I didn’t see the spider. I would have killed it if I had!” Jasmine exclaimed.

“I didn’t know you were terrified of spiders! If I had I would have kept you right by my side!” Jonathan said.

“It’s okay, really. Richard   saved me.” Wysteria said regaining her voice. “Thank you, Richard  .”

“It was nothing. I just noticed you weren’t behind me, and came back to look for you.” Richard   said scratching the back of his head, embarrassed.

“And you didn’t set off a single trap. That’s impressive.” Malachi praised. “Let’s keep moving. The ruby is right up these stairs in a little chamber at the top of the tower.”

    The group nodded and followed Malachi up the stairs. Wysteria was used to stairs, but there was a ridiculous amount in this tower. No matter how many they climbed it didn’t look like they were getting anywhere. Just as she was about to give up when Malachi stopped.

    “Here’s the door to the chamber.” he said opening a nearly invisible door.

Wysteria looked up and realized that there was an illusion painted on the ceiling that made it look like there were still lot’s of stairs left. Then she followed the others inside the chamber.

“There it is.” Malachi said pointing to a pedestal with a huge ruby sitting on it. “Once I disengage the security spells around the ruby, the tower will start to collapse, so be ready to run.”

Malachi walked over to the pedestal and began mumbling something. Then the ruby floated up into the air and transformed into a gold ring with a large, shimmering ruby embedded in it.

“RUN!” Malachi yelled.

They climbed down the many flights stairs as fast as possible. Wysteria was still a little wary of the traps and the spiders, so she stuck close to her brother. They bolted across the first floor not bothering to remember where the traps were. They simply blocked them with their magic and swords as they ran. They were almost to the door when rubble started falling from the ceiling. They only narrowly escaped being hit with it. When they finally made it out of the tower Wysteria exhaled loudly and sat on the ground. The last of the tower collapsed spraying pieces of rubble toward them. Malachi made a wall of rock to shield them from the larger pieces.

“That was close.” Jonathan said trying to catch his breath

“Yes, but we got the ruby!” Jasmine exclaimed shoving a fist in the air.

“Guys….I hate to say this, but we have three more to go.” Richard   said smiling weakly.

The others’ faces paled. This was only the first step in sealing away Cyrus again. They have a long way to go.

‘Great….”Wysteria thought. ‘three more spider filled towers.”