Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Chapter Eight

 

Mary had no idea how she had gotten to where she was now, surrounded by shadows that moved of their own accord. She was convinced that they were talking to her, but all she heard were hisses and clicks.

 

“What are you trying to tell me?” she asked. “I can’t understand you!”

 

More hisses and clicks. “What are they trying to say?” Mary thought. She was starting to panic, and wanted to call out her brother’s name, so that he would come and save her, and hold her and comfort her.

 

Suddenly, she heard a word, a quiet word, but understandable. “Help…”

 

Mary blinked, and realized that she was starting to understand the shadows. “What is it?”

 

“Help…us…Healer…”

 

“Healer?”

 

“Yes…Healer…”

 

Mary jumped. They could read her thoughts! “How?”

 

“The…Staff…”

 

“What staff? Where?”

 

“Dark…Temple… Center…of…Forest…”

 

Mary blinked, suddenly understanding. “I’ll help you.”

 

“Thank you…”

 

*-*-*-*-*

 

Mary found that she was again in her tent. She heard sounds of movement outside, followed by Samuel calling her name. She came out of her tent.

 

“Oh be quiet! It’s too early!” she said. All three of them jumped and turned to face her. She smiled. “What’s the matter with you three?”

 

“You were gone,” Rebecca said. “Where were you?”

 

Mary shook her head. “No time to explain. We have to find a Temple in the middle of this forest.”

 

Alex looked at Mary sharply. “You were with the Shadows!” she said. “But how? No mortal can go into their realm and come back out alive!”

 

“Well I did,” Mary replied. “I promised them that I would help them. They’re trapped inside of that realm. They’re not just shadows, they’re spirits that have been denied the restfulness of death. I promised that I would find the Staff of Galachar, it’s the only way that they’ll be able to rest.”

 

Alex looked at the girl thoughtfully. “All right,” she said. “It is not too far from here. We can make it there by nightfall if we hurry.”

 

Mary nodded. “Good,” she said. “Let’s go.”

 

“Whoa, hold on!” Samuel said. “We have to break camp first!”

 

“Fine,” Mary said, glancing sidelong at her brother. “We’ll have our breakfast first, though.”

 

They sat down and ate their breakfast in silence. Mary kept on glancing around at the woods, mentally taking note of all the different kinds of plants, some of which could save a person’s life. “There’s the Giara Plant – that can cure any kind of poison. And that’s the Ilandar Herb, good for cleaning a wound. How do I know this?”

 

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Rebecca’s voice. “Are you all right? You seem to be daydreaming.”

 

“Just thinking.”

 

Rebecca looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. “About what?”

 

“The plants. I seem to know which type of herb makes a good medicine.”

 

Alex looked at her. “That means that your Healer skills are beginning to show.”

 

“Great.” Mary’s tone was heavy with sarcasm. “If we get into a battle I can herb the enemy to death.”

 

“Relax, I’ll teach you how to use a sword,” Rebecca said.

 

“That’ll be something to see,” Samuel said. “A Healer that fights!”

 

“Oh be quiet.”

 

Samuel smirked. “We should pack up.”

 

On that, they all agreed.

 

*-*-*-*-*-*

 

They went through the forest with no resistance, and Rebecca found that spiders terrified her.

 

Well, the ones that escaped her fireball spells did at any rate. They eventually reached the Temple. It was a large building made out of black marble. There were gargoyle statues on either side of the huge iron doors, and the doors opened noiselessly. They went inside, it was dark. Rebecca held out her hand and summoned a small sphere of light and guided it to the ceiling so that the entire interior of the Temple was lit up. It was huge! Statues of knights lined the walls, their hands on the hilts of their swords in front of them.

 

“This place is beautiful!” Rebecca said.

 

“It wall also be your resting place, Princess.”