The Quest
I’m having a twitchy, can’t think of anything, don’t like it if I do week. This is for a pile of prompts including One Word Shallow, Sunday Scribbling, Where in the world, Carry On Tuesday, and Three Word Wednesday.
Every inch of the back wall in the little room was tiled. Thousands upon thousands of little bits of multicolored pieces of glass and pottery. A mountain of rainbow chaos where someone had reached in, swirled their hand about, and caused a fantasy of ethereal beauty. There was no way this was done by human, it had to be fae and even so over a long period of time. There was power in it and a history before time was counted. How I had even managed to get to this room had to be accidental and now that I was here I wanted to back away before they became aware that I had seen it. It would not be something they would want me to know about. I wanted to back away, but couldn’t. The magic in the color held me spellbound and I felt as though I were falling into it.
A jerk on my arm brought me back to my senses. I shook my head and turned to see Fin pulling me backwards shading his eyes.. “Come on Nissa, don’t look!” I pulled my self away with no small effort, back into the darkness outside the doorway. “What was that?” I asked Fin.
“I don’t know but as soon as you stepped inside I could almost feel a hum in the air. Made the hair on the back of my neck stand up! There is strong magic in there.” He said.
The picture was still in my mind though many details were missing. I could still feel it’s powerful hold, though it weakened when out of view. It was too much to take in all at once. The flowers were colors not seen in nature and words were swirled through the design “Love is a flower that grows in color” in purple and gold. When I stepped inside it seemed at though lights bounced from a place far above and reflected the mosaic in a shallow pool in front of the wall. Even now I was drawn to it.
“Nissa, you have to control yourself.” Fin said.
“Don’t patronize me. I’m in control and you know it. I feel the pull but I know it’s the magic.” I pulled away from him, rubbing my arm where he had gripped it. He was tall and wiry with dark red hair and he forgot how strong he was sometimes. I was glad in this instance but I’m damned if I would let him know. He grinned at me as if he read my mind which he nearly could. “Lets find a safer place to sit and see if we can figure out where this is on the map.”
Some of the corridors in the caverns were in complete darkness and others were dimly lit from skylights. There was a main room off to the left that we had traveled through to get here that contained illuminats left by mages. Illuminats were spelled rocks that held light from the sun for years. At least I hoped it was years. I had no desire to run into a mage. We sat down on a rock and Fin pulled the map out of his pack. “That room doesn’t show up anywhere on the map!” He said.
“Well then where in the world were we?”
“I don’t know” Fin said, “But it must be important to have so much magic. The Fae have protected it so well that it doesn’t show up on the map. I bet if anyone has found it before, their bones are in that pool at the base.”
“That’s it!” The artifact is in that pool!” I was sure that was the answer. We had been searching for so long. “Now we just have to figure out how to get to it!”
“Is that all? Nissa, if we go back in that room we might never leave it!” Fin said.
“You know the Fae like riddles and puzzles! We just have to unravel this. Simon sent us on this quest for a reason. Think back to his exact words. Maybe there was a clue in them somewhere.” I told him.
“He said for us to stick together no matter what.” Fin remembered. “and to not be afraid of darkness, it is just a mirror of the light, then there was something else.”
“Something about using what we have to get what we need. So lets take stock. We have rope in your pack. What if we tie it outside the door to anchor us. We can tear blindfolds. If we can’t see the mosaic it won’t have as much power.” I said.
“It’s got to work. It fits. You hold me and I will go to the pool.”
“Fin, I’ve already been close to the wall – you haven’t been under it’s spell and besides, you are stronger. I will need you to pull me out.” I knew he was going to argue but he also would have to admit that my way made the most sense.
We tore strips of cloth for blindfolds and some more to bind our wrists together in case I tried to let go. Fin tied one end of the rope to an outcropping of stone outside the door. He wound some of it around his waist, giving himself slack. We tied the blindfolds on, leaving them down til we were ready. Fin tied his wrist to mine and I felt a tingle of fear. What if I ended up nothing but bones at the bottom of the pool? Simon wouldn’t have sent us here if it wasn’t important. Whatever was at the bottom of that pool could help everyone in our valley so we would get it for Simon!
Fin grinned at me, fearless. “Ready?”
I smiled back at him. “Let’s go.”
We pulled the blindfolds down and entered the doorway. We moved slowly with our eyes covered. I tried to remember what the floor of this cavern room was like but I had been so mesmerized by the tiled wall that I didn’t pay it any attention.
“Are you okay Nissa?” Fin called to me.
“I’m fine. Just easing forward. There is something on the ground here. I’m going to pick it up.”
I reached down and picked up a piece of glass about the size of my hand. “ouch!” I cried. I had cut my hand. “It’s okay Fin, I just cut myself a little on a piece of glass.” I moved forward some more. My toe edged ahead and felt the beginning of the pool. “I’m going to wade in slowly.” I told Fin.
“Just take it easy, I’ve got you.” He said. “Just go slow!”
I was a little nervous walking in to the water. What if there was a trap or a deep hole? I just had to trust that Fin would get me out. “I don’t feel anything, Fin. I’ve gone all the way across and there’s nothing!” Now what? We had to be right. Maybe we were doing things wrong.
“I’m going to take off the blindfold, Fin.” I told him. I was already pulling it down, I knew he would say no but I couldn’t stand coming this far and then leaving and maybe what we needed was right there – I just couldn’t see it.
Fin was yelling at me to leave it on. “It’s already off Fin – just make sure that you get me out of here!” I felt his grip on my wrist binding tighten as he braced and I felt my eyes being pulled to the wall. Instead I looked at the piece of glass in my hand. It was a piece of mirror and now there was blood all over it from my cut. Without thinking, I bent to wash it and as I got close to the surface of the water, the mirror picked up the light from the opening somewhere above and was bent and flashing from a million tiny tile surfaces reflecting the light from the mirror. It lit up the pool and I could see something at the bottom. It was a stone but not like any I had ever seen. I picked it up and Fin started yelling. “I’m all right!” I said. “I’ve found something and as long as I only look at the wall’s reflection it has no power. As I picked up the stone, a drop of blood from my cut fell on it and it began to glow and pulse. I nearly dropped it. I was warm as though alive. “Hurry Fin! Let’s go. We’ve got to get back to Simon!”
Outside the room we removed rope and blindfolds and wrapped the stone and put it inside Fin’s pack. We stared at each other for a moment and then headed back the way we came, map in hand. Simon would be waiting for us. As we crossed the great room, the room we had just left, lit up as daylight and then the door disappeared as though it had never been.
Wow, Ms. Twitchy and can’t think of anything. This was a tour de force of prompts. Loved it.
Hey, I don’t have your e-mail addy. Write me back and give it to me. Annette
Annette it’s deedeekm at sign gmail dot com (you know how to put it back together – don’t want the spammers to get it. I’ll leave it up til I hear from you and then remove it.)
Excellent. A journey through words is always a fun way to spend some time.
That was a thrilling read, Dee! I loved it.
Great work with all the prompts!
a tale of intrigue and excitement. Kept me wanting to read the next line. nice writing
I am loving your stories Dee. I A visit to you is like another mysterious chapter in a book.
i so much love your stories
Thom – My biggest fear is that it will end and sometimes that just seems to freeze me
Melissa – thank you so much for spending your time on the journey with me!
Michael – as always, thank you and glad you are here!
Bobbie – thanks!
Grizz – I’m honored sir!
Linda and Lost Mermaid – I’m so glad you enjoy them. It’s still a new and fun thing to think that someone likes to go on these wanderings through my head with me.:)
You may have been itchy, but you’ve certainly also been busy! I liked the stretching out of the RW you’ve done here. You hooked me immediately with the mosaic room, and I loved how you transformed the pool with the “bents and flashing” light.
that was supposed to be bent not bents – glad you mentioned that so I could fix it. Sometime spellcheck is my enemy
Now I’m not even sure if bent was the word I meant to use. I like this story because it can flow so many directions. There is a girl in me that thinks there SHOULD be wizards and magic and quests. I think if I can let that girl out more I will find poetry and music that adulthood washes out.