Aglanthol 3 - The Castle of Saelethiel (The Law Cannot Be Shaken) - 10. Chapter 10

Magath and Qildor calmed down. They went back and joined the wizard. The three of them moved on. Afternoon had already come. The sun had been out all day, but now it was low and the air grew chilly.

"Where is the cave where we spent the night last time?" Qildor asked out of a sudden, turning to Neldor. "Shouldn’t we have reached it meanwhile? I thought we could stay there for the night."

Neldor stopped abruptly and turned to Qildor. His look was alarmed.

"We should have reached it meanwhile? Are you sure?" he asked in an urgent voice.

Qildor gave Neldor a questioning look. Magath looked between them.

"I may be mistaken," Qildor said. "But I don’t think we walked this long. Perhaps we move more slowly. This would explain why we have not yet reached the cave."

"I have not looked out for the cave," Neldor said. "Are you sure we did not miss it?"

"I did not see a cave either," Magath said in a slightly unnerved voice. "I looked out for natural things like you had instructed me. But I did not spot any cave."

Neldor rubbed his chin. He was thinking.

"And you don’t think you are mistaken?" he asked again.

Magath rolled his eyes. The wizard apparently did not trust them a bit. Perhaps they should just turn and leave the old wretch alone. Qildor felt attacked also.

"No," he said brusquely to the wizard. "No, I am not mistaken."

"This supports my assumption," Neldor said in a sober voice.

"What?" Qildor and Magath asked at the same time.

Neldor looked between them.

"Like I said, I was trying to figure out the guardians motives. An idea had occurred to me, but so far I had no proof it was true," he said. "However, this supports my assumption."

"Tell us, please, Master Neldor," Qildor said impatiently.

Magath just gazed at the wizard.

"I was thinking," Neldor started. "The guardians put up a ward. The energy stretches far. We have entered the energy field when we left the wood and reached the open land. The aura grew stronger on our way to the Western Mountains. It is very strong meanwhile. It feels almost condensed. But have we seen or sensed any effects?"

"In fact," Qildor said. "The energy did not stop us from moving on. So what is it about this energy field? I’m afraid I cannot say anything about it, because I do not sense the aura."

"Neither do I," Magath tossed in. He shrugged. He did not sense anything and he had no idea what the wizard was talking about.

"We have already entered the energy field. The guardians of the castle did not stop us. We will reach the castle tomorrow," Qildor said.

"Only if we took the right path," Neldor said mysteriously.

"We took the right path," Qildor replied, meanwhile feeling slightly unnerved also. "I recalled the forms of the vast rocks at the bottom of the mountain."

Neldor looked at him thoughtfully.

"The path resembles the path we took last year, yes," he said. "I also recalled the vast rocks at the bottom of the mountain. And so far I did not see anything unfamiliar. But my eyes are bad and..."

"I thought they were good," Magath interrupted him. "Didn’t you say you were able to see far in the night?"

Magath frowned at the wizard. In all honesty, he did not like the man.

Neldor frowned back at the young man. Why was the man so aggressive towards him? Neldor shrugged impatiently.

"My inner eyes, good man. I can see far with my inner eyes," he said brusquely.

Magath did not respond. He turned his eyes away and looked at the bushes and trees that grew along the path.

Neldor turned back to Qildor.

"I am looking for something that indicates that the path we’re on is not the path we took last year," he said. "Anything unfamiliar. Like the cave that we have apparently missed."

Neldor gave Qildor a meaningful look. Qildor felt a cold shiver run down his spine as the truth dawned on him.

"We did not find the cave. We should have reached it meanwhile," he said slowly. "We did not miss it. It is simply not there."

The wizard nodded.

"Yes," he said. "The path has changed."

Magath looked between Qildor and Neldor. He was trying to figure out what they were talking about.

"Yes," Neldor repeated. "The material world has changed. This is what I have suspected. This was why I asked you to watch out for unfamiliar things."

"What do you mean?" Magath asked finally. He was feeling like an idiot.

Neldor turned to him and looked at him kindly.

"The guardians have changed the surroundings. They changed the material world within the energy field. This path is not the path Qildor and I took last year. This path won’t lead us to the Castle of Saelethiel," he said. "I have no idea where it would lead us to."

Magath gazed at the wizard. The news sank in slowly. The news frightened him.

"You mean all that we see, hear, and sense is entirely unreal?" Magath asked, his voice slightly shaking.

"Not unreal," Neldor said. "Different. Changed. Whatever path we take, it won’t lead us to where it once led us to. We’re trapped in an energy field that materialized an entire new reality."

"Good Lord," Qildor exclaimed. "They let us walk in and won’t let us walk out anymore. How long do you think are they able to sustain this new reality?"

Neldor shrugged.

"I don’t know. I am able to sense the aura. It is radiating from where the castle was supposed to be. I suspect the artificial reality turns back to normal when the aura stops radiating from the castle," he said.

"How are they doing it?" Qildor asked.

"They are focusing their minds," Neldor said simply. "Don’t forget that the castle has been the centre of magic for aeons. All magical secrets are guarded there. The guardians have access to the knowledge of the early times. You may think the guardians are only librarians, but they are also teachers of magic. They are powerful magicians themselves. They probably also guard the magical tool that the man is after. There are about twenty men in the castle at all times. These twenty men have gathered and combined their magical forces. They sensed him coming."

Neldor gave a laugh.

"Twenty against one. They do not even conceal their energy field. This man should give up instantly," he said. "He won’t stand a chance."

Silence fell for a while as the words sank in. Qildor looked up the path in the direction of where the castle was supposed to be. Another cold shiver ran down his spine. Magath’s shoulders had slumped. He frowned at the wizard.

"And what about us?" he asked. "We’re trapped also."

Qildor turned to Magath. They exchanged a look. Neldor rubbed his chin. He did not respond.

"Perhaps it was not a good idea to follow this man," Qildor said finally.

"We could go and find a safe place and then wait until the guardians of the castle have finished him," Magath said with a shrug. "When the guardians have dissolved the ward, we’ll ride back to Tanmil. Simple as that."

"I doubt it is so easy," Neldor said.

"Why?" Magath asked in an unnerved voice. "We cannot do anything, can we?"

"The guardians aren’t warriors. They won’t finish the man, like you said," Neldor explained.

"But they can’t sustain the energy field forever," Qildor mused. "Can they?"

Neldor shook his head.

"They let him enter the energy field. They let us enter it as well. They could have stopped us, if they wanted, believe me," he said. "So they let us in for a reason."

"Finish the man," Qildor said grimly. "They want us to finish him."

"Simple as that," Magath added.

Neldor’s face was motionless as he turned his eyes back to the mountains. He doubted the brethren wanted them to finish the man. Neldor winced inwardly at the term. The brethren had called them for a reason and this reason slowly dawned on him. Neldor, however, refrained from any explanations. The two men would not understand his musings. The younger man was overly aggressive already anyway. And even Qildor was suspicious. Neldor turned back to them.

"In a sense," he said slowly.

"So you better figure out soon how to finish him, Master Neldor," Magath said coldly.

The wizard did not reply. Qildor looked at Magath. He felt worried at his rude words. Magath turned away and pretended to see to his horse. Qildor looked at Neldor. But the wizard turned away also. Qildor joined Magath.

"What is it?" he asked in a low voice. "Why are you so rude to him?"

"Don’t you think the guardians are capable of defeating this man? Why would they trap us also? This is just complicating things," Magath said brusquely.

Qildor glanced back at the wizard who had turned his back to them. He looked back at Magath.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Perhaps they are just leading us astray," Magath said.

He turned his head to Qildor and looked him straight in the eyes.

"See clearly, Qildor," he said. "They led Neldor astray also. He ran into the trap like the man who we are following. And, by the way..." Magath lowered his voice even more. "Do we really know that this man is ahead of us? Do we really know he entered the mountains and thus the energy field?"

Magath leaned in to Qildor.

"Do we really know this man is trapped also? Or are we the only ones who ran into the trap?"

They exchanged a long look. And then Qildor nodded.

"All right, I understand your fears, although I still do not think that Neldor has evil intentions. But, I agree, we better watch out. And we must find a trace of the man in order to finally have evidence of him," he said.

"What annoys me most is that you and I are trapped also," Magath said. "What do we have to do with this crap?"

A small smile appeared on Qildor’s lips.

"Well, he wanted to go on his own. We volunteered," he replied.

Magath rolled his eyes. But then he nodded.

"Yes," he agreed grudgingly.

Neldor looked at the mountain ridge for a while. His thoughts followed new tracks. He finally returned to Qildor and Magath who were waiting for him near their horses. From their faces he knew that the men were suspicious. He could not really blame them for it.

They moved on silently for another hour. Then Qildor set out to look for a place for the night. The sun was low meanwhile. The shadows had grown longer and the air was cold.

Magath and the wizard stood next to each other. Both of them felt uncomfortable. Both of them did not know what to say.

"You distrust me," Neldor said finally.

Magath did not respond.

"I said there was more to this energy field. You are aware of it also. You have a sense of foreboding. We must consider all and not neglect anything. So watch out for all that is unfamiliar," Neldor said.

Magath stood motionless for a while. He did not look at the wizard. Yes, he had a sense of foreboding. He was afraid of something. He was not able to say what it was and why it frightened him. But he felt as if a dark shadow threatened him. Magath looked ahead, and then he straightened and gave a brief nod.

"All right, Master Neldor," he said.

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