Arthur Daigle's Blog - Posts Tagged "chest"

This is the conclusion of the Dana Illwind and Sorcerer Lord Jayden story Rescue.
* * * * *
Brasten led Dana through the cave to a large chamber, easily a hundred feet across. At some point most of the cave’s ceiling had collapsed to reveal the sky far overhead. There was dirt on the ground and grass grew to knee high. Dana saw the moon and stars shining above as bats left the cave.

“You can see in the dark?” she asked. “I mean, I have a torch, but you were in the dark before I came.”

“I have lived here long enough to know every inch of this cave,” he replied. “Dark or light matters little. Girl, you came here to save me, a noble goal, and proof of the goodness in your heart. I am pleased I should meet someone so pure they would save a stranger’s life. It pains me to say what you seek is impossible.”

Dana folded her arms across her chest. “I’ve seen lots of impossible things. You tell me what the problem is and I’ll help you find a way out of it. If I can’t help, I know a man who might be able to break you out.”

“Your optimism is refreshing. Forgive me, but the years have left me jaded. Girl—”

“Dana.”

Brasten bowed. “Forgive me, Dana. There is a chest at the opposite end of this cave. Do not approach it, for it is guarded by an implacable defender.”

Dana saw the chest, a beauty two feet long, one foot wide, a foot tall, and made of sea green bronze and obsidian carved in intricate patterns. She didn’t see the defender he’d warned her of. The room was empty besides her, Brasten and the chest.

“Where is it?” she asked.

“Not it, but whom. I have the displeasure and dishonor of defending the chest, a role I have played to my eternal shame for three hundred years.”

“Wait, what?” Dana staggered back. “You can’t be, I, no, I have a brother your age!”

Brasten tilted his head to one side. “My appearance is deceptive. I was born three hundred years ago, give or take a few decades. Forgive me for not providing an exact date, but after a certain point the years flowed together.”

Dana frowned. “This is weird, but I can deal with it. Brasten, sit down and we’ll talk.”

“I would like that.”

Both of them sat down on the grassy cave floor. Brasten piled up old straw mats and gestured for Dana to ignite them with her torch to provide both light and heat. Dana pointed at him and said, “You can’t have lived this long naturally, so there’s magic involved. Who did this to you?”

“Three hundred years ago, a small group of men and women uncovered spell tablets of the ancient sorcerer lords. They translated them to learn that long forgotten school of magic. My master was a lesser nobleman and one such new sorcerer lord. He and his fellow practitioners sought to form a kingdom of sorcerers as in the days of old.”

“I’ve never heard this before.”

“It did not last long or end well. My master gathered together many students and trained them in magic, so many the king grew concerned. He need not have been. Rival sorcerer lords grew paranoid. They worried he would forge his students into an obedient army to conquer them.”

Puzzled, she asked, “Why would they do that?”

Brasten shrugged. “I don’t know. My master argued incessantly that he was spreading their message and magic so they could one day overthrow the king, nothing more. It didn’t help. The stronger he and his students grew, the greater others feared him. One day they gathered together and waged war upon him. Sorcerer lord fought sorcerer lord, a tragic repetition of ancient history. Few survived.”

“Are you a sorcerer lord?”

He smiled. “No. I was a farm boy with a strong back and a weak mind. My master owned the land I farmed, and by law he ruled me. He wanted to teach me his magic, but I could never fathom the strange words and bizarre meanings behind them. He abandoned the effort when his fellow sorcerers turned on him. If I could not serve him as a sorcerer, I could serve him as a soldier. I excelled as a swordsman, becoming my master’s best and most favored warrior. He gave me the magic sword you see at my side.”

Brasten looked sad as he continued. “Warriors serving rival sorcerer lords grew to respect me, then fear me, then run from me. It shames me to say I once took pleasure in seeing the terror in their eyes. Please do not judge me harshly, for I was young and foolish, and I listened to wicked men rather than good ones.”

“Why is a feared swordsman trapped in a cave?” Dana winced and said, “Sorry, that was rude.”

“I take no offense. Many have asked the same question. My master held off his enemies for years until they rallied together with aid from the king to defeat him. His estate was razed to the ground, his spell library looted or destroyed, his wealth carried off. He and I escaped only with the chest you see before you. My master cast a spell called Eternal Guardian on me. He ordered me to stay here until his return, to not touch the chest, and to slay any who did with my sword Oath Breaker.” Brasten nodded to the sword sheathed on his belt. “I’ve carried out these orders for centuries, victim of my master’s magic.”

“The spell is keeping you young?”

“Just so. I thought it was an honor at first. My master had lost all his followers save me, and in reward for my loyalty he’d made me ageless. I could still die in combat, but the years did not touch me. Nor did I hunger or thirst, although I can eat and drink. I can’t sleep or even grow tired.”

Brasten stared into the fire. “He left, never to return. Perhaps he meant to and died before he could, but his spell ensured my imprisonment when he did not, a risk he was willing to take. I once gloried in battle, taking so many lives I can’t count them. I thought myself an honored servant, and that this sword was proof of the faith he had in me. Now I see the truth, that I was a vain fool in the service of a greater fool. This sword was his way to make me a more efficient killer, nothing more. I have come to despise it. I was his property, to be used or expended as he saw fit. Being ageless made my imprisonment an even greater burden, but in truth it is a fair punishment for my actions.

“My master would overthrow the king, and a new leader would replace the old one, but nothing would change. Men like myself would still be ruled by others, serving their masters onto death before being replaced with more expendable men. My master and his rivals mistook intelligence for virtue, and in their arrogance destroyed one another until the king could defeat the few who survived.”

Dana hesitated before asking, “Do you think sorcerer lord magic makes people turn on one another? I mean, they fought each other long ago, and the same thing happened again to your master.”

Brasten chuckled. “No, child, magic does not make a man good or bad. Before my imprisonment, I met noblemen, rich merchants, judges and sheriffs equaling if nor surpassing my master in their arrogance. Power corrupts men regardless of its source. Too many hunger for it, striving to be better than their peers rather than helping them. In my experience, it is a rare man who can turn down power or willingly give it up. Such men are to be cherished and protected, for their lives are often cut short by the ambitious.”

Tears formed around Dana’s eyes. “That’s terrible. You’ve been alone down here for so long.”

“Not entirely alone,” Brasten replied. “On rare occasions I have visitors such as yourself. I once spent weeks talking to a sage from a distant land who wanted to know more about sorcerer lords. Later still a monk spent decades meditating with me. I credit his help to my becoming a better person.”

“And there’s Laura.”

Brasten paused. “There is Laura. She entered my cave ten years ago, fleeing criminals from a town called Weirdwood. I protected the poor child from them.”

Hesitantly, Dana asked, “When you say protected…”

Brasten pointed to three mounds of earth and rocks at the edge of the cave. “I take no pride in the title Unbeaten I held so long ago, but it is accurate. I thought that was the end of the matter once the child left, but she returned time and again. Sometimes she would speak to me, other times like tonight delivering meals. She grew with time while I remained the same. Now a woman, she has twice expressed an interest in me.”

“Interest?” Dana asked. She saw Brasten blush and hastily said, “Oh, that kind of interest. I take it you said no.”

“What other answer could I give? I could not provide for her or any children we had together, nor could I protect them from harm if they were attacked away from this cave. She is a good woman, beautiful in body and spirit, and deserves better than what little I can offer. I had hoped she would marry another, but she continues to come to me. She reminds me of the fiancée I had so long ago.”

Dana perked up. “You were going to be married?”

“My master had selected a young woman to be my bride. She was a beauty like no other. She was also the worst cook I’ve ever met, and nearly killed me with food poisoning. Bad yams nearly did what a hundred enemies could not.”

“What happened to her?”

“She fled when my master’s enemies came for him. I take no offense at her choice, for it saved her life.”

Dana stood up and helped Brasten to his feet. “I’m getting you out of here.”

“Others have tried and failed, some at the cost of their lives. The Eternal Guardian spell forces me to defend the chest yet will not let me touch it, which includes moving it out of the cave. If any attempt to touch or move it I instantly kill them. I am compelled by the spell and have no choice in the matter. If you touch the chest, even accidentally, I would kill you before I even knew what I was doing.”

“Then I’ll have to be careful.” Dana approached the chest like it was a bear trap. “What happens if the chest is destroyed?”

“The chest is reinforced with powerful magic to both strengthen it and make it hard to detect. Any attempt to destroy it would likely fail, and would count as touching it, forcing me to attack whoever tried.”

Dana circled the chest. “What if someone threw a rope around it and pulled it out. Technically they’re not touching it.”

“The spell does not care for technicalities. I would strike the rope and then the person pulling it, as a certain thief found out to his sorrow. Normally I regret my acts of violence, but he was a revolting man.”

“What if an animal touches the chest?”

“A number of birds have done so over the years. They were quite tasty.”

Dana tapped her fingers against her backpack. “What would happen if someone touched the chest but you couldn’t see them? I mean, it’s got to be pretty dark in here, and you said you can’t see in the dark.”

“That has happened twice in my time here. In both cases I could sense the chest being touched even when I could not see it. The Eternal Guardian spell drew me to the chest, and I ended the lives of the rats that were crawling on it. I have no idea how I knew they were there, but I did.”

“If I threw something on the chest, what would you do?”

Brasten looked uneasy. “If it was an inanimate object such as a rock, I would treat it as you touching the chest and attack. If, however, you placed a living animal on the chest, I would be forced to attack the animal instead. That happened once when a witch tried to steal the chest. She threw her cat at me, and it landed instead on the chest. The spell forced my hand.”

“That poor kitty!”

“It was one of many deeds I’m not proud of.”

Brasten certainly looked competent, but Dana had fought skilled warriors before. How dangerous was he? She retreated to the grassy area in the cave and went through it until she found a worm. She carried it back and tossed it onto the chest.

She didn’t see Brasten draw his sword or him charge. One second he was behind her, and the next he was in front of her, his sword making a glittering arc before he returned it to his sheath. The worm was cut in half lengthwise.

“You see the reason for my concern,” Brasten said. “Should you even let your dress brush up against the chest, I would kill you no matter how much I don’t want to. Nothing could save you.”

Dana looked at the dead worm. That could just as easily have been her. Jayden’s training had helped her be a better fighter, but nothing she knew could stop someone that fast or skilled. She wondered if Jayden knew a way to break this spell. But would Brasten let him? The poor man had good reasons not to trust sorcerer lords and might attack Jayden. Introducing these two would be a mistake one or both might not survive.

“That was impressive, and massive overkill for a worm,” she told him. “Why didn’t you just squish it with your finger, or pick it up and throw it away?”

“If I only could be so merciful,” Brasten said sadly. “The Eternal Guardian spell forces me to draw my sword. I can’t do otherwise, even when another choice would be superior.”

“What were your master’s exact orders?” she asked.

“Brasten, last of my followers, I give you this duty to carry out above all others. This chest contains my last treasures from which I might rebuild my holdings. Stay in this cave and do not touch the chest, and if anyone ese dares to so much as touch it, strike them dead at once with your mighty sword Oath Breaker.” Brasten spoke the words with obvious distain. “Those were his orders before he left, and that is what I have had to do for centuries.”

“I’ve got an idea.” Dana dug up several worms and brought them to within four feet of the chest. She handed her torch, now burning out, to Brasten. “There’s got to be ways around those orders. I’m going to throw another worm at the chest.”

“I wish you wouldn’t.”

“Trust me. You said your sword was magic. I wonder if it’s part of the curse you’re under. I want you to kill it with the torch instead of your sword. Can you do that?”

“I will make the attempt.”

Dana threw the worm, and it landed on top of the chest. She felt a breeze as Brasten charged past her and sliced the worm into four equal parts. He sheathed his sword and handed back the torch. “My apologies, but the moment it touched the chest I was overcome with the need to defend it. I could not resist the urge to draw my sword.”

“You apologize a lot.”

Brasten bowed his head. “I have done much worthy of regret. Forgive my saying so, but you seem surprisingly at ease meeting a man centuries old.”

“This isn’t the weirdest thing that’s happened to me.” Dana frowned as she considered this riddle. Brasten’s orders insisted he use his sword to defend the chest. What would happen if he didn’t? “Have you ever attacked a person or animal that touched the chest with your fists, a rock, anything except your sword?”

“Never.”

Dana pointed at his sword. “Can I look at it?”

Brasten handed over his weapon without a moment’s hesitation. That surprised Dana. Then again, he’d said he’d come to hate it. She took the sword from its sheath and studied it. The blade was longer than hers and had words stamped into it that resembled the letters from Jayden’s spell tables. It was razor sharp and as light as a feather, and the blade glimmered when she swung it, leaving a short-lived trail of stars behind.

Dana handed Brasten the torch back, and without another word threw another worm at the chest. He had the sword out of her hands so fast she barely saw him move, and the worm met the same end as the other two. He handed the blade back to her along with the torch.

“If it helps, I’ve tried doing that before,” he said. “For years I left the sword far away from me, but I always come back for it when the chest is touched.”

“There’s got to be a way out of this,” Dana said as she handed back the sword. No point to holding it when he could get it back so easily. “What if I took it out of the cave where you can’t reach it?”

“A man tried that eighty years ago. He went fifty feet before the curse compelled me to retrieve the sword. Fortunately, he had spells in place to protect him long enough to escape.”

This was a tough riddle, and one that kept a good man enslaved to the will of a long dead master. She had to help him, but how? There had to be a loophole in his orders. She was sure Brasten’s sword was the key. He had to use it, no choice, so removing it might cancel the Eternal Guardian spell. But how? She couldn’t take it from him when he could reclaim it so easily. He couldn’t throw it away. Maybe she could destroy it with Chain Cutter, but the spell might force him to defend himself if she tried, and she had no illusions how that fight would end. What did that leave?

Wait.

“You hate your sword, right?”

“With a passion.”

Dana set aside the torch, now completely burned out. “I want to make an offer. I’ll buy your sword for a gold coin.”

Brasten raised an eyebrow. “Buy it?”

“Buy it.” Dana went through her pockets until she came up with a single gold coin. “I’m asking you to sell me your sword, not give it to me or just hand it to me. I’m not stealing it, either. You get a gold coin and I get your sword for keeps. Deal?”

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to do.”

“Work with me, Brasten. Am I buying your sword or not?”

“Very well, in return for a single gold coin I will sell you my sword.” He removed the blade, sheath and all, and handed it to her.

Dana handed him the coin. “No take backs. The fire’s getting low. Can you throw a few more straw mats on it?”

Brasten did as she asked, turning his back to do so. That was very trusting of him. An unscrupulous person might try to hit him from behind, which would fail. Dana had seen his speed and skill firsthand. She doubted a person could kill Brasten even when he was unarmed.

While he was looking away, Dana threw the rest of the worms she had onto the chest.

“Is that bright enough for you?” he asked.

“One more, please.”

“Done, but it is the last of them.” Brasten threw another straw mat onto the flame and turned around. “Why are you smiling?”

Dana waved for him to join her. “Look.”

Brasten walked back to her, and he gasped when he saw the worms wriggling on top of the chest. “That’s not possible. It can’t be!”

“One way to make sure,” Dana said. He pointed at the cave’s entrance and asked, “Would you like to go outside?”

Brasten ran off, laughing like a man who’d escaped the gallows. Dana heard him splash through the shallow water and then cry out in exaltation. Dana followed him and found him dancing across the trail leading to the cave.

“Free! Centuries of endless waiting, over! What joy it is to feel the wind on my skin, to breath fresh air, to see more than those cursed walls!” Brasten ran to her, dropped to his knees and kissed her hand. “Good woman, kindest of souls, what magic did you use to free me?”

“No magic,” she told him. “Your master’s orders were if anyone touched the chest you had to kill them with your sword, Oath Breaker. The sword’s not yours anymore. You sold it to me. The curse didn’t force you to fight with your fists or any weapon, only the sword. Selling the sword makes it impossible to carry out your orders.”

He stared at her. “Glorious child, you saved me.”

Dana looked down. “It may have come at a cost. If we broke the Eternal Guardian spell by letting you go, you may have lost the benefits you got from it, like not aging.”

Brasten stood up again. “You are right. I feel tired, sleepy, a sensation lost long ago. If that gift is gone then I must assume the others are, too. I can grow old and die as all men do. Do not pity me for the loss, for I have not known joy in the centuries I have lived.”

He took her hands in his and said, “You have done what no other could, even when I tried to discourage you. Name your reward, even if it is my life. I have little, but it is at your command.”

“Your master thought in those terms. I want you to be free to choose your own path. The only thing I want is for you to consider one thing.”

He sounded curious when he asked, “What is that?”

“You’ve outlived your friends, family, even your enemies. You’re going to have to start from scratch with nothing except one gold coin, but I can give you more.”

“Don’t. You have given me enough.”

Dana smiled at him. “Consider where you can go from here. The whole world is open to you, but I know of a woman who cares a lot about you.”

“So there is.” Brasten turned to leave. “You have my eternal gratitude. Keep the chest if you wish. After being trapped with it for three hundred years, I have no desire to see it again or its contents, whatever they may be. I pray that the good fortune you brought me may be returned to you a thousand times over.”

Before he left, Brasten looked thoughtfully at the night sky. “I was a farmer once. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but it was a good life. I wonder if I can be one again.”

Dana watched him leave, happy that she’d saved a man. For a second she wondered if Brasten would suddenly age three centuries now that the spell was broken, but he went on his way happy and healthy. The entire kingdom was still in a terrible mess, but one person’s life was immeasurably better. It was small wins like this that made life worth living. And she did it without any fighting. Most of her victories with Jayden were extremely violent.

Once Brasten was long gone, Dana went back into the cave and tried to pick up the chest. It was so heavy she could barely drag it across the floor. She eventually gave up trying to move it, opened the chest and took out the contents. There were pouches of gold, a silver necklace set with rubies, and two sorcerer lord spell tablets.

“Oh my.” Dana put on the necklace. “Jayden can have the spell tablets, but I’m keeping this.”

Dana returned to her camp under the pine trees, hid the necklace among her baggage and tried to go to sleep. She’d nearly nodded off when she saw a light. She got up and rubbed her eyes. There was a bright glow in the distance.

“Weirdwood is burning!” a man shouted in the nearby village.

More people ran out of their houses and pointed at the light. Many danced and cheered, and a woman cried out, “We’re finally free of those criminals!”

Dana put a hand over her face. “I just can’t leave you alone, Jayden.”

Jayden returned to the village hours later, looking tired and smelling of wood smoke. “Ah, Dana, I didn’t expect to see you still awake. Lovely night, isn’t it?”

“You torched the place, didn’t you?”

“It wasn’t intentional.”

“Oh, good, you accidentally burned a town of lowlifes and thugs.”

“A sadly accurate assessment of the situation,” he told her. Jayden sat down beside her and dusted ash off his shirt. “The evening started well enough. Clevner had the information he promised, but before he could say much a large number of cutthroats decided to take my head. Clevner escaped while I fought my way through them, which unfortunately attracted even more men after my life. I set a fire to cover my retreat. Do you recall a rather vulgar woman in Weirdwood offering dubious potions?”

“I remember wanting to slap her.”

“That’s her. It turned out her questionable brews were surprisingly combustible, and they detonated when the fire reached them, spreading the fire across several blocks. Weirdwood doesn’t, excuse me, didn’t have fire fighters, and the flames spread across the entire town.”

Jayden turned to her and said, “It was a partial win at best. I spent a lot of gold for a little information, but Weirdwood is gone. Its criminal occupants fled without time to gather their ill-gotten gains. With no base of operations, goods, even food, they are a spent force little able to aid the king and queen.”

“And here you thought you weren’t strong enough to destroy an entire town.”

“Normally it would be a questionable achievement, but it was necessary. I should have taken you with me. Your absence didn’t ease the transaction, and your presence would have done much to speed my exit. Worse, we’re going to have to spend days guarding these people in case Weirdwood’s now homeless citizens come to steal food or other goods.”

“I think they’ll be okay without us.” Brasten the Unbeaten no longer had his magic sword, but Dana figured the man would be incredibly dangerous with a pitchfork, hammer or even a shovel. “Don’t feel too bad. I had a pretty good night.”

“Really? How so?”

Just then a woman ran up to Dana and embraced her. Tears running down her face, she cried, “Thank you! Oh, thank you!”

“Jayden, this is Laura.”

Jayden looked amused. “A pleasure to meet you. I’m curious what prompted such an enthusiastic greeting.”

Laura pulled back and looked at Jayden. “Brasten told me about you, but he didn’t mention a man traveling with you when you saved him. Is this your husband?”

“Oh dear God no,” Dana said. Jayden laughed. Annoyed, Dana tossed the spell tablets onto his lap. His jaw dropped at the sight of them. “Those comes with a sword, too.”