The Cavern of Sethi Read online

  The Cavern of Sethi

  The Way to Freedom

  Book 1.1

  H.M. Clarke

  Sentinel Publishing

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  The Cavern of Sethi (The Way to Freedom, #1.1)

  Chapter One | Rude Awakenings

  Chapter Two | The Tale of Sethi’de’hasma

  Chapter Three | Breakfast with Friends

  Chapter Four | The Searchers

  Chapter Five | The Stranger

  Chapter Six | The Boy

  Chapter Seven | The Way is Forward

  Chapter Eight | The Entrance

  Chapter Nine | The Tunnel

  Chapter Ten | The Crystal Sancutary

  Chapter Eleven | Sethi’de’hasma

  Chapter Tweleve | The Witch of Crystal Cavern

  Chapter Thirteen | Chasing Thought

  Chapter Fourteen | Mind Strain

  Chapter Fifteen | The Aftermath

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Sign up for H.M. Clarke's Mailing List

  Also by H.M.Clarke

  The Way to Freedom Series

  1: The Kalarthri

  1.1: The Cavern of Sethi

  2: The Dream Thief

  3. The Awakening

  4. The Enemy Within

  5. The Unknown Queen

  Omnibus Editions

  The Complete Season One – Books 1-5

  Coming soon

  6. The Searchers

  7. The Whispering Jack

  John McCall Mysteries

  1: Howling Vengeance

  The Verge

  1: The Enclave

  Coming Soon

  2: Citizen Erased

  The Order/Ravensdale

  Coming Soon

  1: Fyre

  2: Winter’s Magic

  Marion: An ‘Order’ Short Story.

  Copyright © H. M. Clarke 2016

  All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner

  First published in The United States of America in 2016

  Sentinel Publishing LLC, Dayton, Ohio

  Cover design by DerangedDoctorDesign.com

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  DEDICATION

  As always, this book is dedicated to my two beautiful children, Keith and Ariadne.

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgments

  i

  1

  Rude Awakenings

  2

  The Tale of Sethi’de’hasma

  3

  Breakfast with Friends

  4

  The Searchers

  5

  The Stranger

  6

  The Boy

  7

  The Way is Forward

  8

  The Entrance

  9

  The Tunnel

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  The Crystal Sanctuary

  Sethi’de’hasma

  The Witch of Crystal Cavern

  Chasing Thought

  Mind Strain

  The Aftermath

  ‘ANYTHING BUILT ON A shaky foundation will come tumbling down in the end.’

  -A Saying of the Hatar’le’Margarten

  Chapter One

  Rude Awakenings

  KALENA TURNED IN BED, pulling the blankets up further to cover her head.

  ‘I’m not listening Adhamh...I am sleeping and hoping that you trying to wake me up is just a horrible nightmare.’

  ‘You promised me Kalena.’ Adhamh put just enough disappointment into his mind voice to create a small crack in Kalena’s resolve.

  Wincing to herself under the blankets, Kalena then mentally kicked herself. She did promise to help Adhamh. But not just before the crack of dawn on a Freeday. Why did he want to do this now?

  ‘Can’t it wait until after breakfast?’

  ‘No. It cannot.’

  ‘You’re not going to leave me alone until I come will you?’

  ‘No I will not.’

  ‘Okay. Fine. I’m out of bed and getting dressed in the freezing cold dark morning air.’

  ‘You cannot guilt trip me Kalena.’

  “Doesn’t mean I can’t stop trying Adhamh,” Kalena grunted aloud as she slipped her last trouser leg over her pajama clad legs and pulled on her jacket and pushed her socked feet deep into her boots. All the while grumbling about Hatar’le’margarten who have no respect for the sleep habit of humans.

  ‘You do know that I can hear you.’

  “I don’t care. I wanted to stay in my nice warn bed a few hours longer and then go and have a nice, warm breakfast in the mess hall.” Kalena could not keep the grumpiness from her voice as she fastened the final button on her jacket.

  ‘The early bird always gets the worm’.

  “Or the early bird gets eaten for being half asleep and stumbling around in the dark before dawn.”

  Adhamh did not answer and Kalena could imagine him showing those pointy teeth of his in a feathery grin.

  Kalena left her room and crept quietly through the Hatar Kalar dormitories. Once outside she halted as the cold morning air hit her full in the face. She felt the exposed skin on her hands and cheeks freeze, and watched as her breath puffed into the morning air. Cupping her hands over her nose, Kalena quickly breathed in her expelled breath to cut the stinging sensation of the cold morning being drawn into her lungs.

  ‘It is cold now, but you know it will be nice and warm once the sun comes up.’

  “Knowing that does not stop me from being cold now.”

  Adhamh did not reply, so Kalena pulled the collar of her jacket closer around her neck and trudged grumpily towards the Hatar’le’margarten Quarters.

  What had his feathers so ruffled that whatever he had in mind had to be done right this instant? Adhamh had extracted her promise of help without telling Kalena what she was helping with. Not asking is something that Kalena will never do again. She will chalk this experience up as another life lesson of not to agree to do something until you have all the information needed to decide. Even friends need to hear a No every now and then.

  There were not many people around at this time of the morning except for the Kalar Watch. These people either nodded or watched her walk pass them. Kalena felt very conscious, and a little irritated, of their gazes. It was a Freeday, and she was allowed to wander in any of the public areas she wished. She just hoped that whatever Adhamh wanted help with was worth it.

  “What is it Adhamh that could not let me sleep for a few more hours?”Kalena snapped at the Hatar as she pushed through the leather curtain into his room.

  Adhamh was standing at his desk with his back to her and Kalena resisted the urge to step on his feathered tail to get him to look at her.

  ‘Come and have a look at this.’

  Adhamh’s excitement buzzed across her mind and the emotional wake of it made her forget to be annoyed that he did not look at her as he spoke. Kalena tried to give him a melodramatic sigh, but all that came out was a half gurgle, half cough.

  “What is it Adhamh?” she said in order to rescue what was left of her decorum. The phrase had been repeated a lot this morning and Kalena was beginning to get tired of it.

  ‘Come, look and see for yourself.’

  Kalena could not help rolling her eyes even though Adhamh could not see it, stepped around his tail, and ducked under a half folded wing to stand by his shoulder at the table.

  Piled high on the ends of the table were books. Lots of books. Poking out from
between the book stacks were the ends of numerous scrolls, mingled with folded pieces of parchment paper. Taking up a majority of the space on the desk was a sizable sheet of parchment which Kalena saw was actually a large and very detailed map of Darkon. Some of the map had been marred by large, red crosses that, judging by the spatter, looked to have been made in a hurry with something larger than a stylus.

  Kalena looked down at the large feet next to her and found the offending claw still tipped in red ink.

  “It is a map of Darkon, which you have smudged red ink all over.”

  Adhamh let go a short snort that fluttered the edges of the tightly packed scrolls and papers on the desk.

  ‘Yes. It is a map of Darkon, but it is so much more than that. This is a map into our history.’

  Kalena frowned, a little confused.

  “You want me to help you study history?”

  Adhamh shook his head and then looked down at her with that smug, superior way he had. Kalena ignored his look and glanced closer at the map. Adhamh’s red marks were set not in Darkon, but around its outskirts in the surrounding foothills. Most of the crosses were clustered to the Northeast with a lone cross sitting nearly opposite to the South.

  ‘No. I want you to help me find something. It is from an old myth of the Hatar’le’margarten and I want to see if it was at all true. My mother said that it was, but I have never seen it mentioned in any of the records here.’

  Kalena glanced up at the Hatar, an eyebrow raised quizzically and she hesitated a moment before speaking, unsure of how to broach this with her best friend. In the end Kalena decided that bluntness was the only way.

  “Are you telling me that you want to chase around after children's tales?”

  ‘Not a children’s tale. It is a legend. A very important one for my people. And a legend which I think actually finished here in Darkon.’

  The tone in Adhamh’s voice was defensive but firm and gave Kalena the last piece of information to decide upon. Whatever this legend was, it was clearly important to Adhamh. And as his friend, the only thing Kalena could do was help him. She slowly let go a pent up sigh and let her shoulders sink slightly in defeat.

  “Okay Adhamh. But before we start to do or look for anything, you need to tell me the tale of this legend. That way I’ll have a better idea of what I’m looking for.”

  ‘Very well. Come, perch yourself down and listen to the tale.’

  Adhamh laid himself comfortably on the floor and Kalena settled herself within the feathered nook of his foreleg. It was warm and comfortable and Kalena knew she would have to watch herself so as not to fall asleep.

  Once they were both ready, Adhamh began to speak his tale.

  Chapter Two

  The Tale of Sethi’de’hasma

  A VERY LONG TIME AGO there lived a Hater’le’margarten called Sethi’de’hasma. She was young, intelligent and had a gift for what you humans would call magic.

  She was coddled, over nurtured, and had her ego built up into an impenetrable bubble of ‘self’ by her friend and teachers. Sethi was talented beyond her years and mastered every single exercise that her teachers put to her. Her Talent and control was great. Greater than any Hatar’le’margarten that had come before her, and her ego swelled with pride every time she heard that told of her. She thought herself the greatest Spellcrafter in the world.

  By the time she had grown to adulthood she could effortlessly reproduce any spell or exercise that had ever been produced at the Academy. And what was never seen before or since is that she could control multiple ‘Talents’ or ‘Spells’ at once. Today’s Masters can handle up to three, but when she was tested, there was no limit found for her. (Though this might be just a little poetic license from the SagaSpinners)

  Sethi’de’hasma enjoyed the attention that she received for her gifts and enjoyed the fawning and supplication that came from those who appreciate Talent. She then made the fatal mistake of thinking that this meant she was better than everyone else. And Sethi began to look down on those around her who she deemed lacked drive and Talent, and began to chaff at those she thought should never have been allowed to come to the Academy in the first place.

  As Sethi’s ego grew she began to make it blatantly obvious what she thought of the Hatar around her. She began first to lose her following, and then her friends. After all, no one wants to be around someone who treats them like a pet animal, only kept around Sethi to amuse her, and for companionship.

  The only Hatar who stayed with her were a small group of disaffected students who thought they might be able to ride Sethi’s tail feathers to the top. Their hope was that she would give them rank and power to do with what they will.

  What they had all forgot was that power always comes with a cost. Always

  Sethi quickly breezed her way up the Academy hierarchy, pulling her small band of cronies up with her until she was elected First Master. Having reached her goal, Sethi shed her little pretense of servility and began to show the people of the Academy just how ugly she had become. Once gaining power there, Sethi’s ambition began to spread out wards. If she was the pinnacle of Hatar knowledge and skill, then all Hatar’le’margarten should look to her instead of the Royal Family and their elected ministers.

  Sethi set her sights on controlling Monarstros and all Hatar. And this is where Sethi’s actions proved short sighted. Experience and knowledge will always win out over pure power. And Sethi had forgot about the rest of Alleron.

  When Sethi and her followers made their move to gain control of Monarstros, the Royal Family and the Council of Twelve called for help from their close allies in Hadria (now part of the Great Suene Empire) and Arran when they realized that they could not defeat her alone. Sethi used her Talent to crush Monarstros and ‘compelled’ the unwilling into forming an army with her supporters. Those who were able escaped to Hadria and Arran as refugees.

  And this is where Sethi’s lack of experience shows. Instead of bolstering her control of Monarstros, Sethi and her followers chased the exiles over the sea to Hadria. This was a bad move and one that showed her lack of foresight. Sethi was the most powerful Talent in Monarstros, but she had never met or experienced a practitioner from Hadria, and Arran was known to have the most powerful Spellcrafters in all of Alleron.

  (Humans for the most part may be dead of Talent, but when one human appears who does, they usually show stronger than any of the other known races.)

  But I digress.

  Sethi and her followers came across the straights and landed in Hadria, looking for the exiles and thinking that humans were weak and insignificant creatures, declared war on Hadria for sheltering them.

  Forewarned by the exiles about Sethi and her power Hadria called upon their own small group of Spellcrafters, and then activated a treaty they had with Arran who then sent over a company of their combat Spellcrafters who had only recently captured the dreaded Ice Tigers and locked them away from civilized people.

  Both armies met not far from here and fought all day and all night until Sethi, realizing that her forces were all but broken had realized that she had finally met someone more powerful than she. Despaired and frightened at this point, her cronies deserted her and fled.

  Left by herself now with only her own thoughts to rip her apart, Sethi retreated. Now leaderless, her army broke apart and the Human Spellcrafters pursued Sethi for her gumption to invade Alleron.

  They chased her into a cavern system in the foothills where she was then cornered. Sethi had heard rumors of what had been done to the Ice Tigers and was afraid of falling into the power of the Humans. Fear can be a powerful motivator and now Sethi surprised her hunters. She still had one trick hidden under her ruffled red feathers and she used it now.

  Instead of surrendering and throwing herself on the mercy of her pursers, she performed a ritual that used the crystal and minerals in the surrounding rocks to encase her. She left an ominous last speech that she ‘will only release herself when she felt the time ripe for her
return. When those others who had been captured by the Spellcrafters were released, then so will she be freed to claim what is rightfully hers’. And with that Sethi’de’hasma was encased within a large block of rose quartz crystal and became frozen in time.

  Darkon itself had been originally established to guard Sethi in case she ever tried to free herself and to stop others from trying to free her. Though even the Arranians could not work their Talent to free Sethi so that she could face justice.

  But she never became free and no one came to get her, so her memory within Hadria and Arran became lost over time. Especially when Hadria became part of the Great Suene Empire.

  But in Monarstros, we always remember her and use her to warn our chicks what happens when you put yourself above others to the exclusion of everything else.

  As the old saying goes,

  ‘Anything built on a shaky foundation will come tumbling down in the end.’

  Chapter Three

  Breakfast with Friends

  “SHE DOESN’T SOUND LIKE a very nice person Adhamh. Why in the One’s name do you want to find her? Do you even know if she really exists?”

  Adhamh flicked his tail in annoyance.

  ‘Of course she exists Kalena. Our fables are a history of our people and are not made up for the amusement of children.’

  “But your fable mentioned the Ice Tigers, and everyone knows that they never existed. And the Spellcrafters of Arran can only do flashy conjuring tricks, not the wonders you hinted at.”

  Adhamh cocked his head to the side as he studied her. Another indicator that he was getting irritated at her.

  ‘The Ice Tigers did indeed exist. And a thousand years ago, the Arranian Spellcrafters were very powerful. In the many wars and upheavals this land has had since then, so much knowledge has been lost.’

  Kalena laid back against Adhamh’s arm defeated. He was not going to change his mind over this. She resigned herself to losing her Freeday to a fruitless hunt for ghosts.