Possessing the Grimstone - By John Grover Page 0,45

life, manipulating the weather, and multiplying the land’s food until things took a turn.

“Look here,” Tolan said as he stepped to a separate section of the wall strewn with cracks and holes. At his feet, he noticed the remains of what looked like tribal masks. He was careful to not step on them. “They began fighting over it, even warring with each other, spilling blood into the river, poisoning their beauty and families. The power got more unstable. Their war spilled outside their mountains and into Athora. Other creatures came for the stone. Out of caves, lakes, trees, all of them made war. The First People nearly wiped each other out. Green fires burned the forests, the skies rained with blood, the power of the stone threatened to tear the world apart.”

“They stopped themselves,” Pim said. He followed the story of the wall further down the road. “They tried destroying it, but it couldn’t be done. This shows them in their last attempt, when the stone shattered into three pieces.”

“But it stops there,” Shannara said. “It doesn’t show where they put the pieces.”

“That was probably intentional,” Tolan said. “They didn’t want any of their people going after them. Smart.”

“Now what?” she said.

Pim looked around, behind him, he saw Drith studying the wall, soaking in the scenes of the stone performing magic and miracles. He saw the Southerner mouth the word “food”.

Pim turned back, and followed the wall further. “There’s a map here… or part of one.”

The others joined the Wivering. The map was partly faded and smudged with mud.

“It still doesn’t show where the pieces were hidden,” Tolan said. “But this may have been where they held council and decided. They used the map to pick the best places.”

Shannara looked over the map until Panno, her seer, came to it. He ran his hand over it, and paused. His fingers wriggled over what appeared to be swamplands.

He turned to Shannara. “I know the next destination of our journey. This is why we came to the city of the First People: to be pointed in the right direction.”

“That looks like the swamplands on the other side of these mountains,” Tolan said. “Does your seer think one of the pieces is there?”

“No,” Shannara replied. “But there may be someone who does know where they are; someone maybe as old as the First People; someone who lived in their time, and still lives today.”

Drith looked over at them and snarled. “You’re talking of going to Mort A’ghas?”

“Aye.”

“We cannot go there,” he said with some fear. “It’s the Church of the Dead. It’s where the accursed go, the damned; things from the under lands, the shadows. We cannot go to that forbidden place.”

“I fear we have no choice.”

“No, the stone was discovered on the beaches of the Baltha Sea, on the Silver Coast. We should go there and search… perhaps there is another stone.”

“We could search a lifetime in the Blatha Sea and find nothing. There is only one Grimstone, and its pieces are hidden. We cannot find them alone.”

“Who do you speak of?” Pim asked.

“The Lich Lord,” Shannara answered. “Ruler of Mort A’ghas, the Church of the Dead.”

Chapter Eleven

Sooth-Malesh stood at the top of the rampart. The skies were dark, and the black clouds in the distance grew closer.

“They’ve continued their death march, haven’t they?” Olani joined his side, watching the scourge with him.

“Yes. They’ve destroyed every village they’ve encountered. Refugees have moved west and southwest. They’ve taken to the forests and the lakes, but it won’t help. The Neshing will find us all.”

“They will be stopped here. Cardoon will not fall.”

“Are you a seer, now?”

She laughed. “No. I just believe in you and your magic.”

“It will take more than belief this time, I’m afraid.”

“Yes, but it starts with yourself. Do not let despair take over.”

“You forget they have the stone on their side.”

“I do not forget, and they only have a piece of it. You are the arch mage of Cardoon; you can match them.”

“I cannot defeat them.”

“You do not have to.”

He looked into her eyes, then out at the farms and fields in front of the city. In the distance, he heard a swatch of drums on the wind. Except that, it was eerily quiet. There was tension in the air. His hands tingled.

“They will be here by the morning’s first light,” he said to Olani.

She nodded. “And you will fight them. Everyone here will fight them.”

“I can defend against them.”

“Fight them, Sooth-Malesh. Believe in it, and fight them.”

Sooth-Malesh walked away