The Ghaldo Mountain 5

As seen in

“Nnnnh”


Pain was what eventually woke him. After they had arrived at the garden an acolyte had shown them to their sleeping quarters, where he had passed out only moments after his head fell to rest on his pillow. He had no recollection of having dreamed at all this time, but now all the aches from the climb made every motion painful. In particular his legs. The pillow smelled like grass, probably stuffed with it then, it was soothing, ouch, damn! He had erred in moving again. It was a mistake he was not planning to repeat again until someone upended him from this sweet heaven of bed.



He did not want to open his eyes in case that meant he had to get up. Eventually though, he did. The room was dark, only a ray of light shining in from a partially closed door shone in on the scene of exhausted men resting on rows of sleeping mats. Some of them were resting quite loudly, how he had been able to sleep through that snoring was incredible. An increase in the brightness and a soft creak from the door surprised him. He had not heard anyone approaching it. Turning to look over was painful, but his curiosity outweighed it. Blue eyes… Radiating blue eyes looked straight at him, shining with their own pail light. What was going on with this creature? It stared intently on him; it sat down, still and intent. A shiver ran down his spine, he was drowning in those large, beautiful alien eyes, so pretty.



He rubbed sleep from his eyes as he woke up, “nnnh” his body was in pain from the climb. A shiver ran down his spine, what was that, a dream? As he closed his eyes, a flash of blue flickered in his mind.



He sat up and looked over the room. Most had left already it seemed, and a faint smell coming through the open door got his stomach rumbling, food! Forgotten was the weird dream, or whatever it was. He scrambled to get dressed and rushed towards the smell and the sound of voices. The dining room was an arched room that looked as it were carved straight out of the mountain. Large arching stained glass windows let in a lot of light in a multitude of colors. Lines of unlit lamps lined the walls in no less than three horizontal lines. The pristine and spotless condition of them proved this was a much used room at all times. Long wooden hardwood tables where lined up along the length of the room. He imagined a hundred men could easily find room here, though he only spotted a few small clusters of people. He spotted Russle and some others from his group, and two others he had never seen before. He started moving towards them, then thought the better of it as his stomach made its opinion of the matter clear with a growl. He spotted the food and moved over. An old man in gray robes gave him a big wooden bowl and a spoon without so much as a word. It was filled with hot vegetable stew and freshly baked bread. It smelled like a godsend of Selanti herself.
After he got his bowl he quicly made his way over to Russle and the others.



“Hey sleepy head, finally up are you.” Russle said when he spotted him. “I tried to wake you up but you didn’t budge at all.”



“Yet another meeha wakes up” one of the strangers said, “Welcome to sanctuary, name is Terell.”



“Um, Delran” he said as he found a free spot a few places from Russle on the same bench. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”



“Oh, this sheep is polite” the second stranger said, though he didn’t bother to introduce himself.



He looked to Russle, “meeha?” It sounded like an insult, the woolly creatures were usually quite docile. Having handled them growing up he knew they could be anything but.



“Apparently everyone new just gets termed sheep here.”



“Ah”, he replied with his mouth already full while listening to the conversation.



“So you are saying you only lost three people getting to sanctuary? What a lucky bunch. Although we did not lose anyone getting here. Worst I heard of an entire group went missing.”



“Who did we lose?” he asked between mouthfuls.



“Joel, Tolly and Milson.”



Joel had fallen ill one night during the trip; the druid had stayed behind to take care of him, so it came as a bit of a shock that he had died. Billy and Milson as well, he had liked Milson, a good guy who was generally liked by all. Somehow, he found himself appalled that he did not grieve Tolly. Then again, Billy had been an absolute ass.
“Both Billy and Milson fell during the climb, Joel…. I got no idea; I thought he just fell ill.” Rylan said. He looked a little pale as he said it.
For some reason he could not guess he felt a shiver run his spine as the memory of a black shadow flashed in his mind, followed by an ungodly scream. What in divinity, where had that vision come from?



“You say a guy got ill on the way here?” the other stranger asked, “Let me guess, one morning he just did not wake up.” Terell said.



“How the hell did you guess that?” Rylan asked, looking agitated.



“Look, Rylan was it?” Terell said, sounding a bit annoyed. “There is a reason to the name sanctuary, its safe here. The spirits do not come here; they don’t eat your soul when you lie there sleeping, dreaming in the dead of night. Yeah, that’s what happened to your friend, he got eaten, it happens out there in the mountains. He isn’t the only one who went to bed one night and never woke up, won’t be the last.”



He looked down on his food, actually feeling guilty it had lost none of its taste. No wonder the a druid could do nothing, they could mend a body from the brink of death, but if no one was home… What the hell was this place? What the hell was out there, in the Ghaldo mountains. Once more, a flicker of black, a scream flashed before him, like a glimpse of a forgotten memory. Next to him unseen by him, Rylan’s hand was shaking.



After the meal they were gathered up by one of the senior students who led them to the garden they entered yesterday. The old man who had first greeted them upon their climb to the temple stood waiting and waved them over to where others stood. Well, rather than the temple, Sanctuary as he was finding it was commonly called. Looking around at his group he could clearly see that they where indeed three men short from before they entered the mountains. Despite this the general atmosphere was charged with a mix of excitement and caution towards the elderly man. He noted that the fae was no where to be seen. They had gathered in the garden they had first reached after the climb.



The old man clapped his hands to gather the attention and loudly cleared his throat. “Hrrrgh, right!" Having cleared his throat and looked over them with a slowly wandering gaze. "Young men, women. I believe I have already had the pleasure in meeting most of you, though we have yet to be formally introduced yet, with a few exceptions. My name is Sojuka Haran, and I have been appointed your main tutor for your initial training.” The old man had a rasping but mellow voice that gave the kind of grandfatherly feeling that went well with his graying hair and leathery skin. From the look of him as well as the name, John guessed him to be from the southern parts of Kinesteli, though his eyes where light blue and piercing. A rare color among men.



“You have done well to be here today. We only select from the most promising and loyal soldiers for the Faytier training. You have been handpicked.” Sojuka said, with a smile. That smile was whisked away as his tone became more harsh. “That don’t mean anything here. Here you are not special, you are just meeha. And you will stay as meeha unless you show promise. Some would say that the hardest part of your training is over, and sure, we don’t revel in sweat and bruises. Well not as much as in the lowlands.” The old man paced over to the railing, waving them after him. He stood looking out over the breath taking view of the mountains, and after a little while he continued. “To make a Faytier. We sift the gravel for the gems, and those rough gems are what you are. Well some of you. Here at sanctuary we pride ourselves in finding the true gems, and in sifting out the gravel that only pretends.”



He turned around and looked at each and every one in turn. “Your old life is over. You will become fine Faytier and serve as symbols of pride and hope to the Kinesteli, travel the land and do Angor An justice, be heroes. Or you don’t become a Faytier and never leave.”



Several of the guys looked puzzled at the last remark. One asked; “What do you mean never leave?”



“Thank you for asking, it’s really quite simple. If you do not become a Faytier you will never leave this sanctiairy alive.”



“What!? No one ever told us that!” A brash guy named Calo grumbled angrily. Always quick to anger that one he thought to himself. Still, the announcement came as a surprise certainly. There were a certain finality to the words.



Sojuka responded with an almost evil grin, “Well naturally, why would we?”



“And what’s stopping us from just leaving anyway, you old man?” Calo said mockingly, flexing his biceps. “If I could climb up here with no problem, I can easily get down.”



“Ah, young men and their imortality…” Sojuka left the words hang a moment, “and even if I did not bother trying to stop such a big boy, how would you go about leaving?”



“What, you daft? I would just…..” Calo was about to say as he pointed to the doorway they had come through on their climb. The gateway to the caves and the mountain stairway was gone. What had replaced it was a waterfall, and from the looks of it, most of the water must be rushing down the tunnel. No wonder it had been so damp. John tried to picture it, plunging into the waterfall, into that darkness, with cascades of water rushing all around you, drowning you, and even if you survived the rush and the hard stone, you would without a doubt be flushed over the side at the last landing, out into the thin air. The memories of the scream during the ascent was still fresh in mind. You would have to be a mage to escape this place.



He looked up, and the view shocked him. He had somehow convinced himself that they had climbed almost to the top of the cliff, but above him, it just continued on upwards for looked like half a mile. Now that he could really see more of the temple, it looked inhuman somehow. The scale was all wrong, it looked too large.
Looking back at Calo, he saw the big guy look defeated, frightful even at the tunnel entrance. In the sunlight, you could actually spot it as a dark outline behind the white rush.



Sojuka clapped his hands loudly, looking much happier for the exhange. “Now listen up. While you are here you will be given some tasks to perform outside of training, like tending the gardens, preparing meals, stuff like that. As for training, we start tonight when the sun sets. We will gather here, and I expect you to show up on time. Be late and, well we always need someone to empty the latrines. In addition, one last thing, you are forbidden from entering the higher levels of the temple. Until then, relax, rest and eat well, you will need it. With that, Sojuka tuned around, his fine grey cloak whirling as he left them, walking back to the halls. Out from some bushes in the garden his fae, the cat came bounding after him and following him inside.



“When the sun sets? What are we supposed to do until then?” Rylan said.



“I for one will find my pillow again” Russle said. “You will wake me up on time wont you, right Del?” It turned out to be fairly late during the day, as most of them had slept through most of it already. Not a hinder to the big half orc.



“Um, I think I’ll stay here a bit, catch you in a while, just go sleep.” he said. As he watched his friends walk away he walked over to the railing and braved a look over. He stomach lurched at the sight of the sheer drop. By the five hell's they were high up. He gave a heavy sight. What had he gotten himself involved in? Firstly, he didn’t know anything about how one became a Faytier, or what kind of training would be involved. Thinking back on how they had been selected they really hadn’t been given any knowledge towards it. The only certainty he had was that Faytier were few and far between.



As for how he got here, one day the best from the army training camp had been taken aside one by one and offered to drink a strange brew. John had apparently blacked out. The same had happened to the others who now where here at sanctuary. Bizarre really, drink some funky herbal brew, pass out, and here he was. In hindsight he weren't really given much of a choice, just offered a chance of a lifetime. And here he was, become a Faytier or die trying. There did not seem to be any middle ground. At least the view was nice.