The Marenon Chronicles Collection - By Jason D. Morrow Page 0,80

keep from the Stühocs. It was a venture that had taken both of their lives and now, as he sat waiting to die once again, he wondered if it had been worth it. He wished Garland would have told him why the medallion was important. It didn’t make sense that this would be the same medallion. Maroke would have surely taken it after making Kaden his prisoner.

Silas had been skeptical of the medallion’s powers before, but now he doubted nothing. He had been attacked by the Stühocs, sent through a gauntlet of death and was now in a prison cell of a race of people that no one on Earth had ever heard of. It had been a long five days and all because of this mysterious medallion.

“Why is Alric after the medallion?” Silas asked.

“Same reason he gave you for stealing the staff,” Lorcan answered. “We were hired to steal it, and for a good price.”

“But do you know anything about it?” He didn’t expect the Erellen to know much more, but he had to try.

“Very little,” Lorcan said to Silas’ expectation. “I know it is important to whoever owns the thing and it provides a lot of magical power to those who know how to use it.” Lorcan paused for a moment as if brainstorming all he knew about the famed object. “I’ve heard that there’s more than one, though.”

Silas’ eyebrows rose. “More than one?”

Lorcan nodded. “I don’t know exactly how many, maybe five, six.”

Silas sat his back against the wall trying to let his excitement subside. He remembered Kaden saying something about there being more than one medallion. But even if this were the same medallion that he and his grandfather had been chasing there was nothing he could do about it. He was a trapped prisoner. Besides, he didn’t know what he would do with the thing if he did somehow get his hands on it. Silas didn’t know how to start a small fire with magic, much less wield some sort of powerful object.

“When they come for us,” Silas said, “are you going to use your magic to fight?”

“Not initially,” Lorcan said. “And you don’t need to fight either. We need to conserve our energy for a suitable moment. If we fight when they open that door, we’ll be overrun within seconds. We’ll wait until we’re more out in the open. There may be a chance that we can fight through it and escape.” Lorcan sighed. “And maybe, Alric and the others will do their best to help as well.”

Silas accepted Lorcan’s statement and leaned his head against the wall. A long uncomfortable hour passed without a word spoken between the two. Silas’ body ached and he wished that whatever was going to happen to them would come soon. He hated waiting. Rest was not an option. Throughout the hour, the two remained alert, trying to think of any possible way they could fight their way out.

“I’m sorry I got us into this,” Silas said.

Lorcan shook his head. “The fault is not yours.”

Without warning, the cell door came crashing open. Both Silas and Lorcan bolted upward, bracing themselves for what may come next. The tall, green guard stood at the doorway and smiled.

“His Excellency is ready.”

The two of them looked at each other then back at the guard. “Where are you taking us?” Silas asked.

The guard chuckled and motioned for two more Anwyns to come into the cell. One grabbed Silas by the arms and the other seized Lorcan. They were forcefully shoved past the cell door and into a long, dark hallway and were instantly surrounded by a large group of guards. The Anwyns were clearly being cautious so their captured prisoners did not attempt some sort of hasty escape. They moved past another long hallway and walked a solid five minutes before coming to a large set of stone doors. Silas couldn’t determine what was happening on the other side. A look at Lorcan produced no answers.

The guard that had burst through the cell door minutes before now stood next to the prisoners. In answer to their confused looks, the green giant smiled and said, “It’ll be over real quick.” His toothy grin was nearly as green as his skin. “When an imposter comes in our territory trying to steal our possessions, it makes His Excellency very angry. The law requires the matter to be dealt with immediately.”

Silas felt sick to his stomach. The sound of the stone doors being dragged open by two