Possessing the Grimstone - By John Grover Page 0,67

looked up at the dusky sky. The shadow of a great hill loomed in the distance. “I feel magic near.”

“Magic is banished here,” Rasa said. “It hasn’t been used in nearly a thousand years.”

“Well it’s here, despite its banishment,” Shannara said. “In the caves you spoke of.”

“The Lost Caves are cursed. None of the seven tribes go there.”

“Then that is where we must go,” Shannara said finally.

“We know your people fear the caves,” Tolan said. “But we must go there to save our lands.”

“This power is dark. It is dangerous,” Rasa said. “It could destroy you.”

“We must take that chance,” Tolan said. “We appreciate your concerns, but we have great strength, and a duty to our people. May we have your permission?”

Rasa nodded his head. “No one will stop you, strangers. But no one will help you, either.”

“Fair enough.”

“Stay with us, rest, and partake in our bounty.”

“You are gracious. We would love to stay, but only for the night. In the morning, we will continue our mission.”

Again, Rasa nodded and passed his pipe to Pim. The Wivering took one drag and coughed and coughed. He gagged as smoke trickled from his nose.

Tolan laughed and patted Pim on the back to clear his lungs. Pim turned to him, half-smiling. Tolan was glad to see it.

They smoked and drank with the King of the Cree in the night, and after the moon rose, they slept by the fire as the village fell into a peaceful silence.

###

Before they left the village, King Rasa offered Tolan a totem: a bird’s claw adorned with beads and shells. “To protect you from the dark,” the King had said. Tolan tucked it into his pack, shaking his head at the superstition of a magic-fearing people. The irony was amusing, but Tolan found them to be very enlightened for a primitive tribe. His people could learn a few things from them.

Within an hour, the group was scaling Hills Mount, a rocky, tree root-laden hill that seemed more imposing than the enchanting emerald green hills they had encountered.

At the top of the hill was a huge cave opening, nearly rising from the ground like the maw of a gigantic animal. They smelled something foul as they approached the mouth. Just inside, the passage went straight down into the darkness. Jagged rocks formed a natural stairway.

Shannara and Drith took torches from their packs and ignited them with flint and stone. Tolan signled for everyone to draw their weapons, and they descended.

The cave walls were littered with scratches and strewn with cobwebs. Dust and dirt covered the ground, looking undisturbed. There was an ancient feel within. The air reeked of musty, thick age, and stale rot.

As they went further below, the air grew moist, the walls became wet, and the ceiling began to drip. Fungus sprouted on every surface in colors of rust and dark green. Mushrooms appeared in clusters on the ground; some of the glowed with phosphorescence.

“The magic is strong here… and getting stronger.” Shannara twitched. “I can feel it. It’s here somewhere.”

“Are you alright?” Pim asked.

“It is almost too much for me to channel.”

“The cave delves deeper, but our sight is being obstructed,” Panno said. “Our vision may be blinded soon.”

“The stone must be interfering with your sight, dear one.” Shannara said. “Or it is trying to block you.”

“Odd, it’s a stone, yet it’s alive,” Pim said.

“Its magic is alive,” Shannara said.

Finally they entered a wider chamber. Its walls were covered in carvings similar to those of the First People. These were different in that there were no runes, and the figures were not those of the First People.

There were carvings of the stone in various places, fully intact, with energy radiating from it. The people on the wall wore masks and were more than likely descedants of the tribes of Norrow, except smaller.

In some drawings, the masked people wielded magic and summoned the stone from a mystical doorway, as if it had been conjured or teleported.

“The stone… it might not be from our world,” Tolan said. “That is, if this shows what I think it does.”

“Hey, look, over here…” Pim called the others to a fissure in the wall, a crack that led into a secondary passage. A green glow flickered from the other side.

They gathered around the crack in the wall, and Tolan gave it a kick. The wall broke apart, rubble fell, and a new doorway appeared. They moved through the chamber, the floor thick with mud.

Pim looked down and saw the mud ooze. It