Staff of Shigmar: Chapter 18, Part 3

7 August 2026

In today’s installment from the Staff of Shigmar, Tevvy and Rokwolf discover how their sanctuary beneath Shigmar has changed. (19 October 2015) 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 18, Part 3

Rokwolf frowned. They turned left on the bridge, heading west through the sewers. “So why didn’t he let the purem surrender?” he asked.

Tevvy shook his head. “I only saw him behave that way once before,” he noted, “in the dungeon under the school, when the kwalu-controlled council member was telling his apprentice that he was going to . . . ,” he stopped, looking thoughtful.

“What?” Rokwolf asked.

“Klare was in that room,” Tevvy went on, “and they were bragging about raping her there, and when he found out that you were captured, and what your captors were doing to Klare . . . ,” he stopped.

“He went berserk,” Rokwolf supplied.

“Is it because he’s sensitive toward Klare?” Tevvy asked.

“Not just Klare,” Rokwolf replied, “but all wetham. His order puts wetham on pedestals and worships them; to the kortexi, a wetha is an object of beauty, like a delicate glass sculpture that should be protected from all hurt. When the seklesi order was founded, the kortexem refused to recognize the new order . . . ,” Rokwolf began, but Tevvy finished the sentence for him.

“Because your wetham share the work equally, fighting and dying alongside you,” Tevvy finished.

Rokwolf nodded. “It took many consultations with both the kailu and maghi masters before the kortexem grudgingly agreed not to attack us. I don’t think they accepted my order until the first time we fought together in a battle, at the Crossings of Reema, as I recall, that they saw the value of our way.” Tevvy turned to the right, moving north; Rokwolf followed. “That is probably why he went berserk, because to them, rape is like purposely crushing an object of art. Not that we find it any less offensive, but that the kortexem are particularly offended by it.” Rokwolf fell silent, and after more time passed, something in the back of his mind clicked into place; he groaned.

The awemi reached the secret door, putting his hand into the roughly-shaped hand indentation in the wall. The door slid silently open. “Here we are,” he said brightly, leading his pony through, then waiting for Rokwolf before pushing the door closed. He pointed to the hand print indentations on the back of the door. “Put your right hand there,” he told Rokwolf, pointing to the larger.

“Why?” Rokwolf asked, looking slightly puzzled.

“It’s how the door recognizes you are one of the chosen,” Tevvy replied, “so that you can leave and enter at will.” Rokwolf felt a tingle in his palm on placing it against the door, and a jolt of excitement coursed through him; he removed his hand and stared at it in wonder. Tevvy led him down the ramp, past the waterfall and to the door. “Let’s see if you are recognized,” he said, pointing to the indentation on the door into their sanctuary.

Rokwolf nodded, putting his right hand on the door, feeling a slight tingle in his palm; the door opened. Tevvy looked around.

“I wonder,” Tevvy said, glancing back at the waterfall and ramp descending to their sanctuary, “if we could open a doorway to this room?”

Rokwolf shrugged. “I got the sense from Thal that this area would be protected by the same teka that protects the city above.”

Tevvy shook his head and led his pony into the doorway and the room beyond. “Don’t close the door,” he said to Rokwolf, “I don’t think we should stop time.”

Rokwolf nodded and followed colliding with the pony. “Why have you stopped?” he asked.

“The room has changed!” Tevvy exclaimed. “There was no doorway over there,” he pointed.

Rokwolf slipped past the pony and into the main chamber, looking around. “It looks the way it was described to me,” he noted, “but you say that door wasn’t there before; it looks like a stable door,” he finished, walking around the central table. He opened the new door. He turned back to Tevvy smiling. “It is a stable,” he said, and he turned and entered the new room, “complete with everything we’d need to keep all of our horses here,” and he laughed, seeing another, larger chamber beyond the stable.

“What is so funny?” Tevvy asked, leading his pony through the room and into the stable. Rokwolf pushed open another door.

“There is another large chamber here,” Rokwolf said over his shoulder, “looks like it is set up so we can exercise our horses. It looks to be lit somehow, by the sun.”

Tevvy opened one of the barrels, then scooped grain into one of the feeding troughs, smaller than the others. He pulled off his pony’s bridle, so she could eat. Rokwolf entered the larger chamber, finding an exercise track with a stream running through the chamber; in the center of the track he saw a flat section of plowed earth, surrounded by a fence.

“Look over here,” Rokwolf called.

As he moved closer the center of the exercise track, he saw that the stream crossed the track in two places–one by a low stone bridge and the other by a flat ford over which the water passed musically–and passing through the center of the field; grass grew around the track and the edge of the field, where the large square had been fenced off.

Rokwolf leaned on the fence. “I think you could grow a garden in here,” he said.

Tevvy walked up next to him and looked around. “It is quite strange,” he agreed, “it looks like we are outdoors in the sun, but I can see the ceiling of the cave overhead, and the walls all around us.” After a moment, he shook his head. “We better take care of Klare.”

Rokwolf nodded and they both returned to the smaller cave where Tevvy’s pony was happily munching on the grain; Tevvy paused to add some hay to the manger, breaking open one of the bales stacked in one corner of the stable. Rokwolf lifted Klare carefully off and carried her back into the main room; Tevvy followed, leading him to the room and bed in which she had before rested, opening the door for Rokwolf, who laid her carefully on the bed and covered her with the blanket.

“I’ll go finish unsaddling my pony,” Tevvy said.

Rokwolf nodded and followed him back into the main room, leaving the door slightly open. Both of them stopped suddenly.

“Did you hear that?” Tevvy hissed, looking around.

Rokwolf’s brow wrinkled; he nodded. “I did, but I think it was a whisper inside my head.”

Tevvy let out his breath suddenly. “Good,” he noted, “I thought I had gone mad, hearing voices. I think we are supposed to stay here, rather than look for the Headmaster.”

“That’s what I heard,” Rokwolf replied, “which seems strange, since finding out what is going on in the battle above seemed important before, but now . . . ,” he stopped, thinking and looking around.

“But now,” Tevvy picked up where Rokwolf stopped, “it does not seem necessary or important. And each time I try to think about leaving, I am suddenly thinking instead about Klare and this room.”

“I, too,” Rokwolf went on, “feel that way, but I don’t know why.”

“Nor I,” Tevvy said, “but I think it would be safe for one of us to rest, while the other watches.”

“Yes,” Rokwolf said, “and I think I should rest first.”

“There is another room, over there,” Tevvy pointed. He looked up at Rokwolf. “This is strange,” he said. “Didn’t I tell you this was a wondrous room?”

On Saturdaty we will return to the fortunes of Klaybear, Thal, and Blakstar, captured by their enemies. . . . Until then, get a full ebook copy from Smashwords for free! If you prefer print, purchase your copy from the link provided. Good reading!