Staff of Shigmar: Chapter 7, Part 3

21 April 2026

We return with the end of the seventh chapter in the serialization of the second book of our epic fantasy, Staff of Shigmar; we will see what happens as the four chosen approach the strange white building they believe to be the entrance to Shigmar’s tomb. . . . (22 December 2014) We remind all readers that this book, Staff of Shigmar, as also the first book, is free for download from Smashwords! Glossary links: Book 2, Book 1

Chapter 7, Part 3

“Not a soul anywhere nearby,” Tevvy said.

“Any bodies?” Thal asked.

Tevvy shook his head. “None beyond the beach.”

“That is odd,” Klaybear said.

Blakstar nodded. “Very odd, since they were waiting for the signal that we were about to arrive. I would think that they would only put a few soldiers on watch, while the others would be in their camps, waiting. But it looks like there was no one left in the camps, that all had come to the beach, which doesn’t make sense to me.”

“Nor me,” Tevvy said. “There is something else,” he said, looking wary.

“What?” Thal asked.

“The shock wave that hit us on the lake,” he said, “was very large. If it came from the building on the hill, I would think that an explosion of that size would also flatten the nearby trees. Yet, not a single tree around the hill has lost even a needle.”

“The teka explosion could have been directed only this way,” Thal said, “so the trees would not have been affected.”

“There is still a problem with that,” Tevvy went on, “if it was directed at the troops only on the beach, where are those who would have been waiting in their camps?”

Thal thought for a moment. “There are three possible explanations,” he began. “Those remaining in the camps could have seen their comrades destroyed by the teka, and been so frightened that they ran away.”

“Why would they put out their fires before leaving?” Tevvy asked.

Thal shrugged. “There could have been something that attracted all the troops from their camps when the building appeared,” he went on.

“Again, why would they douse the fires?” Tevvy said.

“In that case,” Thal replied, “because they knew we were coming, the signal of the building appearing, then they went to investigate whatever appeared afterward.”

Tevvy shook his head. “You’re stretching, I think. And the third possibility?”

“Some kind of teka that does not affect plants,” Thal answered, “that only targets the creatures of Gar.”

“Have you ever heard of such an orthek?” Tevvy asked skeptically.

Thal shook his head. “I cannot even imagine how to weave the elements together to create an orthek that was selective in its destruction.”

“So, what you’re saying,” Tevvy said, “is that there still could be someone hiding in the shadows above, since that is the simplest way to explain what has happened here?”

Thal shrugged. “We used the time while we were waiting for you to return,” Thal said, ignoring Tevvy’s question, “to look for teka wards around the hill, and we did not find any, at least up the slope of the hill.”

Tevvy shook his head and went to the pile of packs, pulling out the smallest and strapping it onto his back. He started up the hill, looking for any non-teka traps. The other three put on their own packs and followed him to the top of the hill, where they crouched.

“Wait here,” Tevvy whispered. He dropped his pack and moved to the left, staying just below the brow of the hill.

From where Klaybear, Thal, and Blakstar waited, they could see the white marble building directly in front of them, the green light shining from the center of its front. The hilltop was flat without trees; brown grass, flattened by the snow, covered the hilltop, although they could see new green shoots just poking through last year’s growth. There were several short, scrubby bushes growing randomly around the hilltop, with old grass growing up and partially covering the bushes; dead brown leaves, blown there by late fall winds, lay piled around the bushes, now stirred by a light breeze breaking the calm, blowing from the south.

“It is a place of great power,” Thal whispered, “but I do not see any wards preventing us from approaching.”

“Nor I,” Klaybear said softly.

Blakstar stood and started to walk toward the building.

“What are you doing?” Thal hissed.

The kortexi paused and looked back. “You do not see any wards,” he said, “and we are the chosen. I say that it is safe for us to approach.”

“What if someone is hiding out of sight?” Thal whispered.

Blakstar shrugged. “I expect that you will put me back together, if he leaps out and blasts me apart.” He turned and walked forward; they could see Tevvy approaching from the other side, so they got up and froze, seeing one of the clumpy bushes shaking and not from the breeze. The kortexi passed the bush, and a huge figure rose up out of the leaves and grass, many aspen leaves clinging to his dark red skin, but Klaybear could see the horns and wings of a huge ponkolu, head and shoulders taller than Blakstar. Before the kailu could shout a warning, the ponkolu slammed into Blakstar from behind, knocking him to the ground and sending will-giver flying in another direction. The huge ponkolu knelt on top of the kortexi, knees on his back, and pulled back his head with one hand, pressing a wicked-looking, curved dagger against Blakstar’s throat; the huge figure pulled the fallen kortexi around, turning himself at the same time while keeping one knee on Blakstar’s back to face Klaybear and Thal; Blakstar stopped struggling, the dagger scratching his throat at the edge of his mesh suit and beneath his chin, his head was bent back so far by the figure.

“Drop your weapons!” the ponkolu hissed, his voice sounding oddly slurred. “Put your hands on your heads!”

As Klaybear and Thal complied, they saw that the figure’s face was covered in blood, as were his arms and torso, and his features looked strangely blurred, as if they had endured a great heat; leaves and grass covered the figure, sticking to the blood covering him.

“Where is your rat?” the ponkolu growled, looking quickly around. “Show yourself, rat, or I will slit your friend’s throat!”

“He, uh, left to scout the area,” Thal lied.

The ponkolu made a choking sound that must have been laughter. “You are a poor liar!”

“You’d better run!” Klaybear said, nodding toward the white building. “I think the tomb is about to finish what it started–see the light is increasing in brilliance, you have only moments before it strikes again.”

The huge ponkolu laughed again, a choking sound. “Then we will all burn!”

“I don’t think so,” Klaybear replied, “since we are meant to be here, and you are not.”

The figure growled and shoved Blakstar’s head and face into the ground, removing the dagger from his throat and stabbing the kortexi in the back between his shoulder blades; the blade snapped, foiled by Blakstar’s golden chain mail and mesh suit. The ponkolu hurled himself backward away from Blakstar, throwing the handle of his now useless dagger at Blakstar and hitting him on the back of his head. Blakstar hissed in pain; the ponkolu opened a black archway and disappeared into it just as a green beam of elemental force shot from the tomb and exploded against the closing archway.

Klaybear sighed audibly. “That was close,” he said, looking over and seeing Tevvy moving cautiously out of the shadow of the white building, the green light now concentrated in a single star-like point at the center of the side facing them.

“Too close,” Thal agreed, and both of them started moving to where Blakstar still lay on the ground.

The kortexi rolled onto his back but did not rise, groaning with the effort.

“Better get will-giver,” Klaybear noted, kneeling beside Blakstar and placing his green-glowing hands on the kortexi’s forehead.

Thal nodded once and moved off even as Tevvy stopped and glared down at Blakstar, Tevvy’s face a storm cloud about to burst.

“Nice waiting for me,” Tevvy quipped, and there was suppressed rage behind his sarcasm.

“They saw no wards,” Blakstar responded. “I reckoned it was time to move.”

“It’s a good thing,” Tevvy said, sarcastically, “that you have a scout to go before you and make sure the area is clear of traps, so you don’t end up in a pit filled with poisoned spikes, or a pit that is the lair of some ravenous creature who’s been waiting for its dinner, or to discover the ponkolu hiding under the bushes and leaves!”

Blakstar shrugged. “Klaybear said he, and others, had been all over this hill before, and no one had ever fallen into a pit.”

“How do you know,” Tevvy said, “that the triggering of the appearance of this building did not also set a number of traps, like the explosion that killed everyone?”

Blakstar looked puzzled, now reclining on his elbows. “I survived,” he said, “that’s how I know there were no traps.”

“Besides the huge ponkolu, who nearly slit your throat!” Tevvy shook his head. “I meant when you stood up to walk over here,” he said. “How did you know it was safe?”

The kortexi sat up and pointed to the building in front of them. “The same way I know there is a fountain of the Waters of Life somewhere inside that building,” he replied, “I could feel that it was right.”

“And did you feel the ponkolu hiding in the bushes?” Tevvy asked, not concealing his anger.

Blakstar shrugged and climbed slowly to his feet, brushing off the grass and leaves. “The ponkolu would have crushed you the moment he grabbed you,” he noted calmly, “so it was better that I walked past him first.”

Tevvy shook his head and turned away. “What am I doing here?” he asked himself. “I could be somewhere else, making a profit, rather than being abused by a kortexi.”

“You are one of the chosen,” Klaybear said, “you are meant to be here, even as we are meant to be here,” he turned and glared at Blakstar, “you both would do well to remember that.”

“I do remember,” Blakstar said.

“We each have necessary labors to perform,” Klaybear went on, looking from one to the other, “so we should recognize that fact and stop fighting with each other.”

“I will if he will,” Tevvy said, turning back to glare at Blakstar.

“I haven’t started fighting,” Blakstar retorted, glaring back. “I just saved your life!” he hissed through clenched teeth.

“Only in your . . . ,” Tevvy began hotly, but stopped when Thal and Klaybear both burst out laughing.

Tevvy and Blakstar stopped glaring at each other to look at their laughing companions.

“What is so funny?” Tevvy asked, now angry at Thal and Klaybear.

Both had trouble controlling, let alone, stopping, their mirth. After a few moments, Klaybear managed to speak. “If you could only see yourselves,” he said between laughs, “you look like a pair of boys on some playground, glaring at each other over the sandbox.”

“It is quite amusing,” Thal added, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes with his sleeve.

Neither of them looked amused, but they did stop glaring at each other.

“If you two can get control of your laughter,” Blakstar said, sounding slightly perturbed, “perhaps we can get on with our jobs.”

“Sorry,” Klaybear said, putting one hand on the kortexi’s shoulder.

“My apologies,” Thal said, bowing to each in turn. They turned to look at the front of the building. A porch about six feet deep sheltered the front, which was ornately carved. The green light was at the center of the front, part of the symbol of the kailum. The symbol of the kortexem was carved to the left, the symbol of the white maghem to the right, the crown symbol above it, and the symbol of Tevvy’s order beneath it, but there was no sign of a door. On the stone floor in front of the symbols were carved the words:

“What does that say?” Tevvy asked, pointing to the words carved into the porch.
Thal looked at it for a moment, then frowned. “It says, Go in as if a child else you will leave a,’” he stopped and looked at Klaybear. “What do you make of those last two words?”

Klaybear looked at theme a moment. “Well the last one,” he replied, “is spirit or breath, but the one before that, not-body, it means literally.”

“Bodiless,” Thal said, “bodiless spirit. So the whole must be, Go in as if a child else you will leave a bodiless spirit.”

“That sounds like a threat,” Tevvy concluded.

“It is,” Thal said, “but not to us, since we are supposed to enter here.”

“You did not mention any exception for the chosen,” Tevvy noted.

“That must be why Rokwolf threatened to knock me out,” Blakstar noted.

The others shot quizzical looks at him, but Klaybear spoke.

“My brother threatened you?” Klaybear said, eyebrow rising.

Blakstar nodded. “He said that your Headmaster told him not to allow any of us to fight anyone we met, because we had to enter the tomb without any experience.”

“That is what the first part means,” Thal said, “to enter as if we are children, which is to say, children in our orders, and that is certainly true.”

“Why?” Tevvy asked.

They shook their heads. “No idea,” Thal said. “Did Rokwolf say any more about it?”

“No,” Blakstar said looking back at the building. “So how do we enter?”

Klaybear started to move forward but stopped, looking at Tevvy. “Any traps on the porch?”

Tevvy answered by squatting in front of the porch and examining it closely. “No traps,” he said after a moment’s inspection, “and no door.”

“I have an idea about that,” Klaybear said, stepping onto the porch and lifting up his kailu symbol. He placed it against the green light glowing at the center of the larger version of his symbol carved into the white stone. The green light flared brightly, then winked out suddenly. A section of the wall, door-sized, started to move. Tevvy moved forward and squatted in front of Klaybear, carefully examining the floor just inside the door. By the time the door had opened completely, Tevvy had stepped into the well-lighted interior, stooping to examine a new section of floor. As he moved forward, Blakstar followed, unsheathing his sword. Klaybear handed Tevvy’s pack to Thal, taking out his staff and the mace hanging from his belt, then followed the kortexi inside. Thal looked around, sliding his rod out of his belt with his free hand, then followed Klaybear inside.

Come back on Thursday for the beginning of the eighth chapter of our tale. Get a full ebook copy from Smashwords for free! If you prefer print, purchase your copy from the link provided. Good reading!