The Prophesy: Book 2 - The Right Hand of Destiny

 

The boys woke up the next morning, fresh and ready for some more action. The army quickly began moving further west, expecting to reach the outskirts of Adana slightly before sext. As they kept discussing things, Paschal took out a map of the area and pointed out things to them.

"Adana could be evacuated on Astoria using the bridge you see there, on the upper Islengard; we can probably use the bridge on the Southern Islengard to evacuate the population of Fairy."

"Adana isn't the problem, Paschal, it's Fairy. You do not know how strongly individualistic these people are if you think we can move them out of their city without some nasty reactions."

"Would we actually need to move them out of there? Why not move the city like we have done earlier for others?"

"The issue is we have always evacuated cities before moving them, Paschal."

"That's not true! We have rebuilt Eloise's urban structure, moving entire segments of the town to fit our need and the needs of the population."

"Brothers, we had them sleeping; they were moved into pre-assembled structures, and we disposed of the slums after moving them into their new homes. This is true of the zoo as well. I am not sure it would be a good idea to move people while they are going about their daily activity. Just imagine the shock of a guy suddenly walking into a wall, smacking his nose!" commented Sitar.

"Or a guy leaning on a wall that suddenly vanished! That would be hilarious!"

"Harp, you have a bad mental set!"

"Bite me, Sitar! Anyway, Enron, we need to deal with each problem as they come; we cannot plan too much ahead. Let's get Adana evacuated first. Does anyone have an idea of how to proceed?"

"Harp, we have to keep the army moving mostly to Astoria; we will use our elite units to evacuate Adana. It's relatively big, but that shouldn't be a problem for us. Enron, do you expect any issue with Adana and Astoria's barons?"

"Not really, but we never know."

"They better not be jackasses or there will be sparks flying."

"Knowing you, Harp, I suspect it would be more than sparks, more like thunderbolts!"

"You are underestimating me, Enron!"

The other three looked at Harp, bleaching. That little devil had shown a tendency to blow the roof into orbit when he got mad.

"By the way, I wonder how dad and Samson are handling their part of the fallback."

"Probably well, since we have yet to hear them complain, Sitar." Harp replied.

"I wonder if these cities have components we need to recover."

"That is a good question, they will inform us of any sign of Atlantean construction and magic field. By the way, Enron, did you feel anything special as you flew over the three cities?"

"I was not paying attention to the field, but, come to think of it, the only one that seemed to have a significant field was Fairy. The others were recent, their oldest parts, layers of ruins piling one above the others, dated to the Ancients, certainly not from Atlantean origins."

"You mentioned that Fairy was recent? Yet, you say you felt a magic field?"

"I do not really understand the underpinnings of the foundations of Fairy. I'll have to talk to dad."

"You told us these people came into the Elvin kingdom after you were established."

"Yes, Harp. What is strange is they selected that emplacement and asked us for the right to establish the settlement there. They actually insisted. We had nothing worthwhile in the area, since there is very little worth harvesting. Even mining is poor; hunting and furs may well have been the basic exports of the area. In fact, I think Fe used to be a part of Aden, but since Aden was not really interested in occupying the land, it took very little effort to convince the then duke of Aden to cede this bit of land, in exchange for the 'Arch' in front of 'Duchy'."

"Another pompous asshole?" commented Sitar.

"You can say that again. From what I heard, the guy thought he was pissing gold from a diamond-tipped spear of life. The only thing that got speared by the old buzzard was his ego. He never managed to get anyone pregnant except himself. From the painting of the guy found in the castle, he probably tried to carry his own child, but it probably had to be kept in check by diapers, since he was such an asshole. The archduchy went into the hands of his cousin, a much more reasonable guy."

"What do you mean?"

"Harp, he had a belly so prominent he probably needed a mirror to aim for the pot, when he found his joystick in the blubber."

The boys exploded in laughter at the description of the first archduke of Aden.

"What happened to him?"

"He fell in the baths and drowned. The tidal wave he created emptied half the pool, and the staff were unable to remove him out of the basin before he tired and turned belly down."

"Isn't the standard expression 'belly up'?"

"That's true for fishes, Sitar, but that guy was no fish, by a long shot, or should I say by a wide margin! There were rumours the staff did not try much to help him, too. They were clumsy, disorganized, and doomed to failure. Since nothing could be proven, it died down, or more properly said, it deflated."

"The history of the kingdom is very enriching and instructive Enron. I wonder how many more of these little pearls you have in store for us?"

"Enough to keep us busy until we grow old."

"Back to Fairy. Do you think the little people sensed the magic field?" Paschal wondered.

"Maybe," replied Harp. "Remember, I told you that magic fields worked by accretion; it may well be our Atlantean ancestors overlooked that place because the field, albeit abnormal, was not worth exploiting to create a city or an outpost. Over time, things may have changed. After all Mother Earth, Gaia, has changed; nothing would have prevented a tiny cluster of, say, orichalque, from accreting there, or even some other material, such as mithril; it may also be that the Ancients are responsible for the later; they collected and used a lot of it, although they did not know of its magical properties. From what I do remember, we as Atlanteans did just that, albeit using a filtering method. The Ancients used high-energy magic fields; we used catalytic filters. The later was a lot cleaner and less energy consuming. As for orichalque, once a cluster forms, it attracts any of its kind within a certain range. I'm trying to remember the formula, which is something of the radius of attraction increases in proportion to the mass, or something like that."

"Let's see, dad, as Pharaoh Horus, passed into the area some seventeen thousand years ago. Would it be enough to create a significant mass of orichalque?"

"Not a big one, Paschal, but the process speeds up as a function of mass. But it's not uniform; some types of rocks seem to be porous, while others oppose an incredible resistance to the migration of orichalque. A good example is the amount of orichalque under Kantar should have sucked up everything in the continent, yet we find pockets of it here and there, not big pockets, mind you, but they should have all joined Kantar's deposit by now and have not. The reason is the presence of a deep and thick layer of rocks that seems to block the migration, in an arc that seems to cover a good part of the area south of Kantar. As to the other substance, mithril, we have found deposits of it in oxidised form, but, unless they got dissolved and carried by water, or extracted by the Ancients, they seem to be rather set in place."

"Let's get back on to the task," interrupted Paschal. "I've talked to dad and they have begun evacuating Baalbeck without much problem. They are sending the wounded to mother, and have collected the garbage, err, recruits. They are moving most of the army south towards Astor. Dad wants to know what to do with the buildings."

"Tell him we will move what we can in southern Astor, the rest will be put to use in building a wall. Enron wants his Imaginary line; he'll get it. By and large it will be more like a lure to keep the orcs and crocodiles busy while we move back further."

"Done, Sitar. I'll be hopping to Baalbeck to supervise the process of reconversion. I want to make sure the orcs believe it's for real. We need to give them some material for thought."

"Ah, here is the signal telling us our forward units have reached Adana," exclaimed Enron. "I'll go deal with the baron; Harp, would you care to join me? Paschal, Sitar, take nine out of ten units with you south across the bridge; once over, hold the bridge, we will use it to evacuate Adana; Sitar, go set up the evacuation of civilians in Astoria, with a restricted number of wolves, coyotes, and Elvin units. Theresa, you will lead the army to encircle Astoria, just in case the baron happened to be a dumb ass. Please do not keep too many around, send most south. We are only trying to impress the baron, not actually install a real siege or defence for that matter."

"Would it not leave you depleted?"

"Come on, Paschal, look behind us! I don't even know how to count to that big number, and you think one-tenth of it would not drill some sense in Adana's baron?"

The four princes looked back and couldn't help but whistle. The army could be seen from the top of the hill they were on, and it extended back to the horizon, occupying the road's full four lanes, and then some! Some horse units were flanking the core on each side, using the grassy embankments of the road; wolves, coyotes and foxes were visible patrolling further out, while some framed conscripts.

"I wonder how big this is?" wondered Paschal.

"As far as elves, not that many. But add all the dogs, wolves, coyotes, foxes, horses, ponies, and other equines, and what not, and we are probably more than enough to get the message across any cretin," replied Enron.

"Do you think the people in Fairy will send us the message shortly?" wondered Paschal.

"I have been monitoring the dog population in there. There are a lot of meetings being held between the elves and the hidden population of Fairy. They have a list of potential meeting places but are currently pruning the list to a few good ones. From what I get, we should know by tonight, after they hold a conference at the summit between the baron and the little people," Harp informed them.

"We need to figure out what to do with Fairy."

"I thought it was clear already: move it. The issue is where. I am still waiting for suggestions from our esteemed brother Enron, since he knows them better than we do."

"These people are at ease in a thick forest. That's about all I can tell you."

"That sorts of removes Lava Flows for now; Does Pines do justice to its name?" asked Harp.

"Yes, it has the tallest pines I've ever seen; the forest cover is dense, and, even if the terrain is hilly, it is much less so than Fe."

"Do you think they would be at ease there, away from all roads?"

"Yes, Harp. In fact, it would be great for them. However, what about the underlying magic mass? Wouldn't it drift away?"

"There is a possibility that the mass of orichalque would, but then it would leech slowly. From what I know, we are on a very short schedule here, and the loss would be minimal. As for mithril, it would be static."

"And we can always survey the area to find the biggest concentration of orichalque and literally dump Fairy on it, merging the two masses in a single one," suggested Paschal.

"That's an idea. I'll look into it. Birdie here could probably fly a search pattern over Pines."

"Harp, one of these days!"

***

The evacuation of Adana went well, after Harp lost patience with a few officers of the baron, unwilling to take orders from children. Slicing someone from the scrotum to the head does have some convincing effects, especially when the slicer is a very dull wooden stick! Enron looked at the others and simply said:

"Any more volunteers? I'm sure Harp can teach you to sing a new tune with Bata, his magic stick. Baron, you have your orders!"

The baron, whose reputation as a tough ass fighter was not underestimated, nonetheless looked greener than rotten fish, eyes almost out of the sockets. He looked positively ill from acute indigestion.

"Well, baron? I can solve your digestive problems definitely for you as well," added, rather coldly, Enron.

"No sire, I'll get the things moving! You heard the prince, bunch of fly larvae! Move it! We got to get this place evacuated! Twenty-four hours, not a minute more, and I'll personally gut anyone that's not doing his job!"

"Enron, I'll be dealing with the sick, pregnant females, children and pups. Can you deal with the varmint?"

"You mean recruits? Yes, I have already some farmers finding they have a sudden influx of wolves in their household. We do have to cure some horses, dogs, and other allies."

"Fine. Baron, you deal with your units. I want them collecting the populace in organized areas, mostly squares, agorae, open areas of all sorts. The wolves will accompany you. They are under strict orders: indiscipline equals death. Make it clear to all."

"Understood."

"Understood what?"

The baron looked at Enron, pleadingly.

"You know who he is! Do not get him mad at you. I would not lift a single hair, much less a finger, to oppose him, because I am under his command. Got it?"

The baron swallowed and tried again.

"Understood, prince Harp."

"Was it so hard to be polite?" smirked Harp.

"No, prince Harp."

"You are learning. Remember, a hard ass can always meet a harder one. Now get going!"

The baron and what was left of his command literally ran out of the room, some slipping in the guts that had fallen out of the couple of demonstrations. Once the last man had taken to foot racing, Harp transported the leftovers to the forest outside the city and dumped them over a wide area.

"No use giving food to orcs if they are in the forest; let them work for their pittance." Harp said.

"What do we do with this place?"

"We move the biggest buildings to Eloise, so there isn't a shortage of living quarters. The rest, we pile across the river for Paschal's use. After all he has a defence line to build, and the building blocks this city is made up of can be recycled into a wall. We also move the shops and other artisanal industry with their owners so they can be reconverted into war production. There seems to be an important production of bows and arrows, mostly of the short forest elf type, but there are also carpenters, and shipwrights. Those we need to move further downriver, probably Delphi; the flatbed boats now used to fish the lake will be floated downriver with as much cargo as they can carry. We could teleport everything, but I want people to feel they have a role to play in their own survival. Too much ease breeds complacency. The rest gets incorporated in the army."

"What do we do with the weapons they have been building?"

"Let me check with Paschal and Sitar." As Enron surveyed the evacuation of the city's new recruits out of the eastern door, Harp held a small teleconference call with his brother Paschal.

«I think we should use the material to arm the wall,» suggested Paschal. «After all, we cannot actually bring the ballistae and the catapults with us on our backs.»

«I have a better idea. I have noticed that each species has a sort of specific wavelength; I could actually set it so that if orcs touch one of these weapons, it teleports itself into our fallback line further south. You should consider installing trigger points along the wall you are building too. It would be nice if the entire system could act as an early warning system for us by triggering a cascade of magical events indicating the position of the orcs or crocodiles, or even the Hunters.»

«You are vicious, Harp,» noted Sitar. «Sometimes I wonder if you shouldn't be the god of war, instead of me. I like the idea; in fact, I like it a lot! The only issue I see is this: once a catapult has launched its load of projectiles, it would become disabled.»

«Let me think. We plan to use bricks, and whatever is not used to build the wall as ammunition,» thought Paschal, as a scheme grew in his mind. «Consider if I designed the wall so it could feed the catapults'' and ballistae's cups with the residue once they were armed and ready to fire? A system of weights and counterweights could be used to pull the arms back after each shot, and then a shed could fill the cups with the garbage; as the catapults and ballistaes sink back into firing position, it would cut the flow of ammo by raising the shed. A lot of wheels, a lot of ropes, but we can easily create these from the surrounding material. The usual manpower to handle a catapult is a decade, and ballistae take twice as much; we would not actually need to leave anyone behind. The entire process could be triggered by the mere passage through a magic thread that would get things firing the moment a certain type of wavelength was detected within range. In fact, I could have the entire system set so it is on a rotating platform; that way it would work forward and backward by rotating. Once either the ammo load is empty, or the orcs, crocodiles, or hunters set foot on the platform, it gets teleported back to our as yet to build defence wall south of here, and, finally, the entire wall is catapulted towards the enemy, creating a crevice that gets filled by the Islengard river.»

«Isn't this complicated and time-consuming?»

«Enron, we built some stuff way more complicated than that; and then, magic can be used liberally to tailor, test, assemble, and replicate anything. They have only about five hundred ballistaes and catapults here; assuming there is the same where you are, we are way short of what is needed to cover the entire wall with enough density to give the invaders a sweat.»

«How far up the Southern Islengard do you plan to prolong the wall?»

«I have reports from wolf patrols there is a narrow canyon that starts some ten miles upriver and continues for a while up in the mountains. The bottom is fully occupied by the Southern Islengard. My idea is to build the wall to the entrance of the canyon, counting on the river to keep the orcs and Hunters on the other side. I don't expect the crocodiles to be hindered much by it, but the icy water should sort of slow them down. Once the river ices over, it's another matter, but by then we should be way south of here.»

«Is there any nesting capabilities?»

«For the crocodiles, you mean? The answer is no. It's rocks, rocks, and more rocks. There are caves where the orcs could set themselves in, but it is hard to estimate their quality; wolves are poor climbers.»

«I wonder why the crocodiles have not attacked any of the flat bottom boats we are sending down the Islengard,» remarked Enron.

«They are too cold, I think,» replied Harp. «All they are trying to do is reach the Northern Islengard to the hibernation nests. They seem to be getting more sluggish as the day passes. I admit the cold wind blowing from the mountains is chilly. Anyway, Paschal, where do you want your building blocks?»

«Stack them every mile along the southern shores of the Southern Islengard and the Islengard. We will be short of material quickly, and I plan to dig the northern banks of the Southern Islengard and Islengard for raw material. It might not be a nuisance for orcs, but it could be for the Hunters and crocodiles, so better two embarrassed than none. For that matter, I may well decide to polish the canyon face so orcs have no caves to hide into.»

«Polish?»

«More like cut the face vertically, about sixty feet in, and extract building blocks. Any cave would sort of vanish in the process.»

«I see, Paschal. Have fun! We'll join you as soon as we are done with Adana and Fairy.»

«Ok, Harp.»

***

The evacuation of Adana completed, Harp and Enron began dismantling the city, first removing big buildings and recoverable structures and displacing them in southern parts of the kingdom, mostly further on the other side of lake Eloise. The rest were cut into blocks and stacked on the shores of the Islengard, as per Paschal's directives. The big weapons were collected in a field just east of Astoria, in a military depot. The ammunition, composed of boulders, pavements, and other unrecyclable materials, were stockpiled a little further east. The passage of these huge flying masses of rocks, debris, wood, and other impediments of war overhead sure made the mariners nervous. Quite a few took a dive into the Islengard''s cold waters, as if this would have changed their fate had Enron or Harp lost power suddenly. The noise in the forest along the southern shores of the Islengard was enough to keep them on their toes, as some assumed a huge monster was waiting for them should they get near its banks. It is not that the northern shore was any more silent: the sudden ejection of huge pines from the mountainside to constitute giant woodpiles for Paschal's construction project was far from quiet. What totally nailed the coffin of sanity for the poor elves was the presence of wolves that seemed to guide the assembly of these depots.

A few rapids were expected further down the Islengard, so Harp decided to create channels by dredging them to twice the width of the boats. As the first one turned to view the rapids and got ready to drop anchor, the captain saw the most amazing scene: huge rocks suddenly jumped out of the water like frogs and piled themselves neatly on the southern bank of the river. The river quickly filled the opened up channels, marking by its banks the newly created waterway. Astounded by what he saw, he was even more terrorized when he heard a voice from everywhere yell to him:

«What are you waiting for? Next year's summer solstice to get moving?»

After dirtying his underpants, the captain quickly ordered the weighing of anchor and the resumption of travel. Night travel was eased by the presence of green and red fires at every change of direction in the navigable waters. Buoys with bells were spaced along the way, every hundred yards or so. Harp had made the entire length of the Islengard passable day or night.

Meanwhile, the evacuation of Astoria progressed likewise. Again ships were used and floated down the Islengard, mixing their traffic with the one coming from Adana. Paschal began assembling his wall, and, after some false starts, managed to design his auto-load catapults and ballistae system. Sitar then tested their performance, suggested some improvements, and, after a few more fine-tunings, both declared themselves satisfied with the result. The construction of the walls and defences began in earnest, moving quickly down the Southern Islengard. The bridge over the Southern Islengard was left intact for the moment, with instructions to all canine units in Fe to pull back on it and head down to Astoria. The last wolves crossed the bridge as the sun was setting.

By late evening, the wall had reached Astoria; the city was evacuated, and the dismantlement began in earnest. The royal army was ordered to pull back on the southern road across Astor so they wouldn't be in the way of the princes.

«Still no news from Fairy?» asked Paschal, as he was resting from his day's labours.

«Not yet, Paschal; remember we gave them forty-eight hours, they still have some time.»

«I hate committee management.»

«So do I.»

***

Later that evening, Enron decided to survey the lake. He took off with an owl and explored the waters. The crocodiles had left the shoals, and had vacated the lakeshore as well. Moving up the Northern Islengard, he realized the crocodiles were sluggishly crawling into the hibernation nests, as the Hunters kept watch. Perching himself high on a burned-out conifer, most likely from the last forest fire, he kept an eye on things for a while. Satisfied, he moved further and tried to estimate the size of the Hunter camp. His first estimates had been below the true size, because, as he flew around, he noticed there were secondary camps set in a half-moon around the core camp. This seemed to be a choice spot for crocodile hibernation. The stiff beaches and the rushing waters seemed to be what had motivated the selection of the area by the Hunters and their masters. Returning to his earlier perch, he noticed the hunters were closing the tunnels using tree trunks and mud to reduce the airflow, and thus the cold. Finally, sand and the tailings were used to hide the tunnel entrances. Apparently, the nesting places needed to be kept well hidden from predators. Returning control to the owl, Enron searched for Harp, to whom he reported his findings.

"That confirms our previous analysis. I have a few ideas as to how we might turn this to our advantage, Enron. But first, I've just spotted some activity near our 'wolf-anchor'. Maybe the message is coming."

«Paschal, Sitar? How are things progressing?» asked Harp.

«We have finished with Astoria. The only thing left of the original town is the lakeside wall, which we incorporated into the line of defence. We are hard at work building the wall along the Islengard. I've asked dad to make sure Baalbeck and its vicinity is cleared of troops, including equines and wolves, but to leave the left-over from the cities for our use.»

«What about these places? How is it progressing?»

«They are doing fine. It is a bit slow, but fine. Ur, Baal and Edom have been completely vacated. When you guys are done, Aden will be too.»

«Could you spare some time and join us? I expect the people of Fairy have made their pick for a meeting place.»

«When you know, tell us where and we will join you there. Meanwhile Sitar and I will continue building the wall. We still have about twenty miles to do, something in the order of twenty minutes.»

«You are building a wall at the rate of a mile a minute? Are you nuts? You will burn your reserves!»

«Harp, we learned from the master: You. We drain the magic field as we go. Any orc, hunter, or crocodile ends up so weakened they die of cold. We even drain the magic core off the earth, up to a depth of a hundred feet. I'm in fact creating a permafrost line as well. Everything freezes. We take the animals, mostly rodents, and drain them as well, before feeding the carcasses to our wolf allies. Nothing is wasted. The trees are recycled as well, to create just about anything from platforms to catapults. The only thing we haven't touched yet is the Islengard, since the boats use the river. As soon as they reach the lake and turn south down the lower Nile, we will begin draining the river of its energy and feed the fish to our troops.»

«Before you do that, guys, I will need the Northern Islengard intact for a while.»

«OK. Anyway, we plan to drain the magic residue found in the Southern Islengard first. By the way, the orcs have found the apparent solidity of the cliffs off the Southern Islengard to be deceptive. Quite a few found themselves incorporated in the defence wall.»

***

Harp shook Enron's shoulder to wake him up an hour before prime.

"The message just got shown to the wolf. It says to send our delegation at the Garden of Eden. Where is that?"

"I should have known! This is where the elves and the little people signed the treaty. It is well hidden, and has a beautiful fall that cascades into the Northern Islengard. The fall is divided into three tiers. The lower tiers falls into the Islengard, the other two into basins. It is a natural beauty. The waterfalls hide from view cave entrances. Only the upper cave is safe, the lower cave is a lure for miscreants. There is a slope made slippery by bat dejections that leads to a vertiginous drop. The lower one is difficult of access, but the upper one is nearly impossible to reach, unless you know the path and the sequence of jumps to reach the very small plateau; even then, one must enter the water and swim under a ledge to reach the cave proper. If you do not know about the need to dive below the protrusion, you will never know of that cave."

"I see. It's another one of these Elvin secrets known only by royals. Bah, it's secondary. What matters is do you know the path?"

"Yes, it was dad that taught me the Path of Recognition. It is by being able to pass this test that the little people can be sure I am legitimate."

"It is a neat trick. You guys seem to have a lot of these rituals."

"Yes we do. Let me share the Path with you, Harp. You, Sitar, and Paschal will need to undergo that test on your own, after I have done it."

"Couldn't we just jump to the ledge?"

"They will monitor us. You must pass the test, like I will."

"Let me get Paschal and Sitar. We might as well get this underway."

A few minutes later, the two other princes popped beside Enron and Harp. Informed of the upcoming test, they gladly opened their mind to Enron's explanations and descriptions of the tricky path.

"We might as well get moving. If I get this right, the first marker will be visible at sunrise only. That gives us less than ten minutes to reach the entrance to the test path," noted Paschal.

***

The four princes rapidly popped from one point to another, moving up the Northern Islengard. Suddenly they reached the three falls, whose silvery colours could be seen under the last quarter of a weaning moon.

"There we are guys. We have to wait for the sun to rise, and the false dawn to appear. The marker indicating the trail is only visible during the false dawn, and then only for five minutes, as you now know. We have to be separate for this test, at least a minute between each of us."

"Why is that?"

"So the little people can remove any trace of passage between each of us. Either you succeed on your own or you die. So be careful!"

As the first light of the false dawn appeared over the eastern mountains, a very narrow beam of light descended and pointed in the underbrush, revealing the first step of the path. Enron immediately began following the steps, counting as he went, turning left, stepping, jumping from one step to another, and not touching a very apparent stepping-stone. It was like a dance, the dance of life and death. Shortly, he disappeared from view.

As soon as Enron had begun his dance, Harp began counting down from sixty, and as he reached zero, he too began to follow Enron, now totally invisible. A minute later, it was Sitar, and finally Paschal that took the first steps into what would be one of their most horrendous days ever. A minute after Paschal vanished into the path, the beam of light disappeared, and nothing could tell which stone to step on to start the test properly. Behind him, unknown to Paschal, a tiny figure delicately removed any trace of his passage. Nature had recovered its virginity.

Enron continued to climb, dancing, sweating like a pig on a roast, as he made his way up the very narrow path. He could not spare any time to think about the safety of his friends, for he had to focus entirely on keeping track of where he was in relation to the trail. Jump left, walk two step, jump up on that rock, jump left immediately without delay, run up five steps, jump right, walk on the red stones only, for seven stones, then on the white stones for five, then on the black stones for three, then on the gold stones for two, and then step in the water pool with your right foot, and only your right foot. Things kept playing in his mind like a well-orchestrated piece of music. Climb, climb, and climb at all costs! He was growing sore, but he had to reach the middle plateau before sext, or he would miss the second part and die!

Behind him, the other thee princes kept their tempo as well, in step with what Enron had taught them that very morning. Even the animals kept silent; the wind fell and the insects stopped chirping. It is as if Nature itself knew what was at stake. The little people kept removing any possible traces of passage as each candidate whooshed by, intent on the task at hand.

The sun reached its zenith, revealing for a brief, very brief instant, and the passage to the second part of the test. Its rays shone directly down into a hole in the ground, revealing three rocks of differing colour: red, yellow, and blue; the puzzle to survive here was simple enough: push then so as to combine the colours to match the colour of the face rock. Fail, and the door to the second part would not budge, and you would drown in the filling pool of water.

Enron quickly pushed the red and yellow rocks, thus matching the orange background colour; the locket clicked, recognizing his proper combination; he quickly moved to the door, opened it, slid inside and closed it back, thus setting the place for the next test. The moment the locket closed, the background changed, readying itself for the next candidate.

Breathing hard, Enron quickly resumed his climb, remembering the next sequence. Another long climb lay ahead, as treacherous as the previous one. It was followed by a run across a thin rope bridge, and then he cascaded down a sheer cliff face, using a thin rope to guide his jump and fall towards the last part of the test. Again, where you landed during the descent determined your survival. Miss a single footstep, and the next would be his death.

The last part was the hardest: dive under the very icy falls, without flinching even if you were steaming hot from the exertion, and swim under the ledge to the cave, a very long two minutes swim in total darkness. Enron emerged from the pool at the other end, freezing, coughing, and lay down silently in the sandy beach, weeping from exhaustion. His mind was dull, his body cried for mercy, and he could see nothing. A minute later, he heard a splash as Harp surfaced and swam towards the beach. The two boys waited for what seemed an eternity in the darkness. But, on schedule, Sitar emerged and made his way to the beach, to lay beside his two brothers and wait for Paschal. Finally, Paschal emerged from underwater, sputtered, and swam to the beach to lie down. The four boys shivered, amazed at having all survived the ordeal.

"What now, Enron?"

"We wait."

"Should I make light or fire? I feel like an iceberg," asked Harp, his teeth clattering.

"The salad?"

"No, the one that sank the Titanic."

The four boys laughed at the exchange, as their breathing returned to normal.

"You didn't answer Harp's question, Enron," said Paschal.

"I don't think starting a fire here would be a good idea. The oxygen supply is limited, and the exchange with the atmosphere parsimonious. We do not want to die of monoxide carbon poisoning. In fact we should keep quiet. They are aware of us, and will be here shortly."

"I hope so, I, for one, am beginning to feel dizzy."

"Let's stand up. Carbon monoxide hugs the floor."

The four boys stood up and leaned on each other, back to back in a square. Their shivering was gradually diminishing as the water drained and they dried up somewhat. As they stood silently, they began to hear a rhythmic beat down below them, first muffled, but gradually growing louder and clearer. The resonance of the cave prevented them from locating clearly its source. Then pinpoints of light could be seen moving towards them, creating a snake-like source of light. Strangely, it did not seem to be torches or any burning material. Finally, the greenish procession stopped, and a very high-toned voice was heard, with a strange accent.

"We have come to meet prince Enron, we find four. Explain."

"We are four, united in one. We are four, we are one."

"That does not explain."

"Four bodies, a single mind."

"Explain."

The four boys began answering simultaneously, each completing the other's sentence.

"We " started Enron.

" Are " added Paschal.

" Like " inserted Sitar.

" Homozygotes." Harp finished.

"We "

" Are "

" Similar to "

" Identical quadruplets."

"We

" Are "

" A single brain "

" In many bodies."

The four boys then kept silent. Time passed and then the same voice spoke again.

"We do not understand how this came to be. Maybe princess Iridia will. Follow us. Stay within the bounds of light."

The four boys followed the greenish light in front of them, noting that other similar lights, all around them, framed them.

«Funny-looking lights. They do not flicker.»

The walk down what seemed to be an unending corridor, descending ever deeper in the ground, was not bothering the boys. They had grown accustomed to this, and could feel the change in the Earth's magnetic field.

«This tunnel is spiralling down. Have you ever visited this place Enron?»

«No. It has been many generations since we have been here. I doubt even my granddad visited. We usually send our people to Fairy. It may be this was built well after the Concord.»

«The Concord?»

«The name of the treaty that binds us to the little people.»

Finally, they reached a level corridor and began walking along its path.

«Enron, we are a mile deep, and moving towards Fairy. We are some ten miles away from its centre.»

«Thank you, Paschal; I was just about to ask you to confirm my own estimates.»

«I am starving.» said Harp as his stomach rumbled loudly in the silent hallway.

«We all are, Harp. Today's exercise ate my reserves. Let us be patient. I am sure they are aware of the situation,» replied Sitar.

«Especially after the reminder Harp gave!» added Paschal.

The boys kept walking for another couple of hours. By the time they reached their destination, it was well past compline. They were guided to a hallway and told to wait.

"I have had it, Enron, I am going to create food from thin air!" exploded Harp, as his stomach once again rumbled deeply.

"There, I have to agree with Harp, Enron. They didn't even offer us water!" said Paschal.

"Even at our farm, as poor as it was, visitors were offered some food and water," completed Sitar.

"I admit I find the behaviour of the little people less than adequate. But before blowing your tops, brothers, let us wait to meet that Princess Iridia. I have no knowledge of their political structure. They have been less than open about this with us."

"I hope this wait won't be too long."

«Keep quiet. The dogs tell me they can hear us. Since they have been less than open with us, I do not feel any obligation to be open with them.»

«Agreed, Harp. But we should continue our banter; if we grow silent, they might get suspicious.»

«You have a good point, Sitar. Let's talk about the ordeal. That would keep them off balance,» replied Enron.

The boys talked about their individual ordeal and what they had learned from it. It became apparent that the colour test differed for each boy. It also was revealed the path was identical, but that they had experienced minor differences. For instance, the rope bridge seemed to have changed configuration as each one passed over it. How this was possible remained a mystery. Yet another difference was the repeal cliff. The colour codes were the same but the number seemed to have varied and their position to have changed.

***

Figure 2: Princess Iridia

At long last, a door opened at the far end of the room, and the boys were called in. It became apparent this was a throne room, albeit the throne was ridiculously small. A diminutive figure could be seen sitting in it, which seemed to be accompanied by an elite unit of little people holding sarbacanes¹¹ ("Sarbacane: blow gun.") on their side.

«Do not do any brisk moves. I've seen how effective they are with that thing!» Enron told the others.

As they walked ever closer to the throne, the little people became more and more tense. Judging the situation, Enron decided to stop about twenty-five paces from the first step. He stood erect, detailing the princess, as were the other three boys. The princess did the same; the ordeal had not been without consequences, and the boys looked pretty worn out, their clothes torn, and their eyes tired. After ten minutes, the girl, for it was a girl, spoke.

"I am Princess Iridia. Who are you, and why have you asked to meet us?"

Enron stepped forward and began the introductions.

"I am prince Enron, Regent of the Elvin kingdom. To my left is Prince Harp of the Wolf Throne; to my immediate right is Prince Sitar of the Wolf Throne; and further right is Prince Paschal of the Wolf Throne. They are my liege lords. I am here by virtue of the Concords. We have sworn to protect your people; in order to do this we need to take action, and notify you of these actions in order to gain your cooperation."

"Why should we need your help? We are safe here."

Harp stepped forward and took over.

"You are safe for now. But for how long? We have found out, as we fought the orcs and crocodile priests, that another ice age is coming. Ultimately, glaciers will cover this entire area. Do you really think your city will resist the pressure of a glacier coming down the valley of the Southern Islengard or, indeed, the Northern Islengard? You will be like a nail between the hammer and the anvil. You stand no chance at staying alive. From what we have understood, the progress of the ice cover is phenomenal. We are offering you the chance to move with us further south, not by much, because we too are cornered, our backs against the deadly lands, and our people being squeezed by glaciers from all sides. If we join forces, we may survive; if we divide, well, the first to lose will be the little people."

"Is that a threat, human?"

"No. I have my hands full, if you want to know; I couldn't care less of your fate; but Enron and the Elves have taken as their duty to protect you; we, as their lords, consider ourselves bounded by their vow."

"Protect? Do you protect the orcs?"

"If they behaved properly, they would benefit of our protection. The fact that they do not disqualifies them from our protection."

"What about these strange beasts that are served by humans?"

"You mean the crocodile priests? We do not protect them. They are responsible for the disaster of the Atom God; they are responsible for the emergence of the orcs; they have killed millions of humans and other life forms to satisfy their need. They are even responsible for their own existence. Had they not played God in the first place, maybe this world would be a safer place to live in. Neither do we protect the Hunters. They have been corrupted by the crocodiles and are lost to the cause of life. Honestly, we regret we cannot save the orcs from their destiny; they suffered greatly in the hands of the crocodiles and would benefit from us if only they would listen. Contrary to the crocodiles, they did not do their bed; they were thrown into it, feet and hands bound."

"You seem to know much. Yet I sense you are quite young for a human. That goes for all of you."

"Sense you may, yet I am seventeen thousand years old; older than your entire race, older than orcs, older than the priests, and older than the elves themselves. Our body is only a vessel for our mind. It is the mind that matters, not the body it occupies."

The four boys then stated loudly:

"We are infinite in numbers, yet one; we are eternal, yet young. We are the Bearers of Nature's identity."

"I have yet to understand. Who are you really?"

"Atlanteans. But before we continue this discussion, Princess Iridia, has duke Wildemeir given you satisfaction in the defence of Fairy? And I do not see him here."

"The duke is no more, Prince Enron. He died at the first assault by the orcs. His men have given their lives liberally to protect Fairy. We have nothing to say against them. They are with us, in this hidden city. His baron is also dead. We have taken into our care his young sons; one, twelve, is turning into an ardent fighter; the other, aged four, seems to be wanting to dance to the same music of blood and guts."

"We will inform the Thrones of this. For now, we, you, must decide quickly what you want to do. The orcs you have seen are but vanguards of the upcoming tide. We have destroyed far more than we care to number, but for each one we kill, ten seem to pop out of the ground."

"What are the options?"

"Move your city, with all inside, in Pines. It would give us some respite and help us plan for a better, long-lasting alternative," replied Paschal.

"Is this the only option?"

"For now, yes, if you want to stay alive. It will maybe, and I say maybe, give us a couple of years to finish gathering what we must," Sitar added.

"We have been holding our own against orcs."

"Will you hold your own against glaciers? We have seen what they do, up north. And apparently, they are spreading all around. This valley, the Elvin kingdom itself, is doomed. We have to find an escape; we are working day and night to figure a way out. And the orcs and crocodiles are but a minor pain in the butt, considering what is looming ahead. If only we could focus on the essential rather than spend our time running. We are tailed by many enemies; the burning breath of the orcs is far less worrisome than the icy breath of General Winter!" said Harp, as his stomach rumbled loudly, complaining.

"I will meet with my Council. For now, please follow these valets to a waiting room, where you will be served a meal," replied Iridia, looking at Harp.

"Finally. A day of exercise without water and food isn't my favourite way to pass time."

***

The princes rested after literally devastating the Little People's reserves of food and water.

"I wonder if we can explore this troglodyte city?" asked Paschal. "I am curious as to its architecture and design."

"We will know tomorrow, Paschal. For now, let's nap in turn. Who takes first watch?"

"I will, Enron; I will wake Sitar in two hours, then it will be your turn, followed by Paschal. We must stay on our guard. Things may have changed within the Little People since the elves signed the Concord."

"We need to find another word for them. Fairies?" suggested Sitar.

"Well, it makes sense, since they live in Fairy." Enron replied.

"It's funny, I had another kind of image for fairies," commented Harp. "I saw them much much smaller, with wings."

***

The next morning came way too early for the boys. Back pains, muscle cramps, and exhaustion were still high in their priority list. However, the convocation to the throne room had been imperative, if polite.

Princess Iridia was again sitting on her throne, as regal as the night before. They had barely started towards her when one of her councillors asked, sharply, why they were wearing weapons in her presence.

"And why not? We are at war with orcs, crocodile priests and Hunters. We carry weapons because we need to." Sitar replied on the same tone.

"We will not tolerate this attitude!" replied the same prick.

"What you tolerate or not is none of our concern; you have weapons, in the form of these tubes with the poison needles. We saw you using them. Do not underestimate us because of our age or our origins!" replied, harshly, a pissed-off Harp. "We even know the nature of the poison used."

"This is a state secret! Who betrayed us?" exclaimed Iridia, looking at her Privy Council.

"Nobody did, Princess. We saw one of your warriors use the weapon; we saw how you defend Fairy. Do not take us for idiots! We can think as much as you!" replied Paschal.

"How can you have seen anything? Even the elves here do not know what is going on."

"Above their heads, you were going to add, princess?" interrupted Paschal. "We know exactly where we are. No use trying to hide things."

The comment brought a hush in the crowd, and one of the members of the Privy Council began yelling:

"Kill them! They know too much! They are a danger to our kind!"

"Shut the fuck up, you idiot! We are four, but we have killed by ourselves more than a million orcs! Do you really think you can even do a thing to us?" yelled a very furious Harp, in an icy tone so cold the water vapour condensed in the room. "Do not force me to demonstrate or it will be the last one you will ever see! Your domesticated spiders do not scare us one bit! If we had wanted to harm you, we would have done so the moment we walked in this room last night! We were armed then as now! Princess Iridia, your call!"

The look of determination in the four princes as they took a square defensive posture did not go unnoticed by the princess. She raised her hand, calling for quiet, but the noise refused to die down. Finally, Harp stuck the floor of the throne room violently with Bata, creating a radial fracture that spread right across the room, to reach all four walls. The lightning flash and the thunder deafened any other sound and cowed to silence even the most stubborn Fairy.

"I understand what I just saw and heard is a minor show of power?"

"Yes, princess, by far the lowest range. I did not want to bring the city down on us."

"What else do you know about us?"

Enron, after looking at Harp for confirmation, spoke out.

"We know why you insisted on building your city here. The presence of a magic reserve is the reason for this location."

The Fairies, stunned, kept silent, waiting for their princess to continue.

"Do all elves know of this?"

"Those that matter."

"And for humans?"

"Those that matter."

"You are not very clear."

"There is no need to be more explicit, princess. All we say is it is on a need to know basis."

"You said you could move us out of this place. How would you proceed? It took us thousands of years to build this safe heaven."

"We would move everything, from top to bottom, including the magic core."

"Explain."

"We can move matter."

"Move matter? As in using ships?"

"No, by using magic. Translocation of matter is easy for us. We can also create matter, transform it, and destroy it."

"Are you mages?"

"Yes, and more."

"More?"

"Again, this is on a need to know basis. Given how we were received, we prefer keeping things that you do not need to know to ourselves. The attitude of the Fairies since we have been in contact a few days ago leaves a foul taste in our mouth, Princess Iridia. We will abide by the word of the Concord, but do not ask us more, unless there is a radical change of attitude."

"Why are you Regent? Is the last king ill?"

"The last king was ill, but now he refuses to take the crown back. He says he enjoys his vacation and that I am doing a better job than he would be."

"I see. Where would we move?"

"The four of us discussed this. We think the best is deep within the forest of the duchy of Pines. I need to remind you this is a temporary relocation, until we find a more permanent solution."

"How much time do we have to come to a decision?"

"Five minutes. We are running late on our evacuation plan because of the excessive delays imposed by the Recognition."

The Privy Council gasped at the reply and one of its members tried to blow a needle toward Enron. The move attracted the attention of Harp, who stopped the dart in midflight, paralyzing the offender in the same flick of a wrist.

"You must be a powerful mage, I did not even feel the ripple required of such a feat!"

"Yes, Princess. Now then, do you attach importance to this individual? As Liege Lord of Enron, I request the judgement by weapons!"

"To be honest, he has been a pain in the butt, but since he is the leader of a powerful clan, I could not dispose of him. What did you have in mind?"

"He has chosen the sarbacane as his weapon. I will choose the same. Let the one that manages to kill the other be considered the winner of the contest and thus decide whether you stay or move."

"Is there any opposition to Prince Harp's proposal?"

"How can we be sure he will not use magic?" asked the first one that had openly opposed their presence in the throne room.

Iridia looked at Harp questioningly.

"This is legitimate. However, from what I felt, he was using magic to try and distract our attention from his action. It would be fair that we both can use it to defend ourselves, but not in an offensive way. I must admit the poor individual might as well jump into a spider trap, he would have a better chance at survival."

Another councillor stood up.

"Princess Iridia, I did feel the effect of magic on us; initially I thought it was one of us trying to control the four princes, but in view of these developments, I must concur with Prince Harp's analysis. Apparently, Ischer tried to control all of us. He is also known as one of our most powerful mind controllers."

Iridia looked around.

"Any more comments?"

None were forthcoming.

"So be it. Let the judgement by arms begin! Release Ischer so I can explain things to him."

"Yes princess, however given his state of mind, I suggest you leave the throne and stand within the crowd of your courtesans."

The princess did as suggested by Harp, and moved to be mixed with the courtiers. Meanwhile, Harp dropped the dart to the floor and recovered it, as me materialized a sarbacane for his use, to the awed cries of the fairies. As soon as Princess Iridia was within the crowd, Harp released Ischer. Faster than the blink of an eye, the villain turned and blew a freshly loaded dart into the now vacated throne. The dart lodged itself where he heart of Princess Iridia would have been, had she stayed sitting. Harp quickly removed Ischer's sarbacane and moved it out of reach over his head.

Princess Iridia, feeling very small in her shoes, signalled for one of her councillors to explain what had transpired during Ischer's paralysis. He was quietly escorted to one corner of the room while Harp moved to the diagonal corner. A black velvet drape was drawn across the room, separating the two opponents. The drop of the drape would signal the beginning of combat.

Each received five darts, and a sarbacane. As soon as both had been loaded, a countdown began. At zero, the veil fell. Ischer had moved right beside the veil, in an effort to shorten the distance. However, Harp had not stayed motionless; he moved right beside Ischer, whose smell he could detect across the veil, and had laid on his back to be below the eyes of his opponent. Ischer's frantic search for the taller Harp cost his life: before he could realize where he was, a whoosh was heard the moment his neck became visible above the still dropping drapes. Taken by surprise Ischer inhaled rather then blow, and his own dart scraped his mouth. Even if Harp's dart had missed, this had doomed Ischer.

Silence fell on everyone as the drama unfolded. Ischer arced and swelling airways hampered quickly his breathing. Less than four minutes later he lay dead.

"Remove Ischer. Tell his son his dad's seat is vacant and to report to the Privy Council Chambers," Princess Iridia declared loudly. "Let it be known we are moving according to the recommendations of our visitors. Are there any preparations?"

"None. All we ask is that everyone stay in their home while we move the city. Once the move is complete, I suggest you clean up the upper city of any orc. Can you convince the spiders to stay put while we move things? It is a lot easier for us if it was so. May I dispose of Ischer? I do not want to feed the orcs."

"Show us."

Harp looked at the corpse and simply said "From dust to dust!" and the body disintegrated as a cloud of vapour rose over it.

"What is that?"

"The body is made of a good portion of water. I just removed every molecule of water, broke the calcium bonds that kept the skeleton intact, and then dissolved the carbon chains of the rest."

"Harp, while you, Paschal and Sitar get things ready, I'll pop to Pines. I think I have the perfect place to hold Fairy until such time we relocate it permanently."

"OK, Enron. Be safe."

As everyone in the courtroom looked with awe, Enron vanished silently.

"Is this how you plan to move us?"

"Yes."

The three princes accompanied Iridia as she toured her city, explaining to them what they saw, and to her people the upcoming move. Half an hour later, Harp signalled to her that Enron was ready to do the move. He explained to her he would stay behind while the three princes acted as a triangle anchor for the translocation. As he finished explaining this to her, Sitar and Paschal vanished. Ten minutes later, he returned with her to the throne room.

"We are ready to do the move."

"Will we feel anything?"

"No. Please let me focus. Do not talk to me for the next quarter of an hour. I will tell you when things are finished."

The princess sat, motionless on her throne, wondering what was going on. Finally, Harp opened his eyes, just as the other princes popped in the throne room.

"It is done, Princess. You have your task outlined for you. We will be back later. I have marked this room, so we will be able to come directly. Paschal, Sitar, we will join you to finish the first wall. I suggest we take the bridges out."

"Agreed. Follow us, Harp and Enron."

With that the four princes moved to finish the wall, remove any bridges and proceed with other minor adjustments.

"By the way, Harp, what did you want to do with the crocodiles?"

"With all these events, I had forgotten them. Well, let's flood them. I figure a weak, but watertight dam would raise the water above their nests, drowning them. Even if the Hunters tried hard to get them out, they wouldn't be able to do it in time."

"Good idea. Let's do that!" exclaimed Enron, enthusiastic.

"You are getting as terrible as Harp!"

"Yes, so?"