The Valley of the Immortals

[troubled sleep]

This will probably not end up being the best thing I've ever written...but after all, I started writing it to get my mind off exams during the two hour break between them that my school administrators seem to like so much. (there is no use in studying during that break, since I tend to freak out about whatever exam I'm about to take so much that frankly it does more harm than good.) So I started to write this, and am hopefully going to continue(hey, I've got a three hour plane ride coming up, and I'm told you can only look out the window but so long) and I needed to elaborate on my Pen personna personage, Sam Carmichael, anyway.

 

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The night was calm and moonless, and the only noise was that of the wind in the trees. It was the sort of night that makes people sigh with pleasure as they take in what can be considered as nature in harmony. But this also makes it just the sort of night to make Brocair nervous. The camp behind him was quiet, all of those stupid enough to take up a stranger's offer of riches and knowledge were either asleep or pretending to be; excepting, of course, the stranger herself, who had long ago wandered off to 'collect her thoughts'. But as he scorned the other's for their stupidity, in the back of his mind he realized that perhaps he too should be counted among their number. But then he hadn't agreed to come on this damn fool of a crusade for any of the obvious reasons of money or glory, he had come only for the hunt. All his life he had been obsessed with it...be it of an animal or, like in this situation, a mythical city. Either way, the quest itself was his only object, and thus a part of him felt above the others and their greed.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the crackling of underbrush not far from their camp. Smiling to himself, he began to draw his sword; whatever it was, man or beast, he would face it fighting.

Walking silently into the brush, he scorned the other and their ill experience, when suddenly all went quiet. The telltale cracks and pops of footsteps ceased...but being the talented hunter that he was, Brocair knew that this meant that the other had heard him and quieted down. This caused him to both curse and smile; the curses were because he had been heard, and the smile was brought on by his love of an intelligent enemy.

Speeding up, then doubling back he soon found himself behind his prey, exactly the position he had wanted. He could see now that it was indeed a human, though their gender or any possible reason why they were in the forest, and so close to his camp, at this late hour was still a mystery...and one that, as far as Brocair was concerned, could go without solving. Moving to the other's side, he fixed his grip on his sword and prepared to strike, confidant that though the element of complete surprise had been lost, he could easily take down his opponent

Such was his confidence that he was quite shaken with the other suddenly whirled around and produced a sword of his(her?)own with lightening speed. But Brocair merely smiled as his blow was blocked. After all, if his opponent was even more intelligent than he had even originally suspected, so much the better.

He moved to strike again at his opponent’s side, but was once again blocked. This time, though, he did not allow his sword to be easily pushed to the side, instead he held it firmly in place, causing his opponent to have to do the same. Then, moving quickly, he twisted his sword arm to the side, forcing the other's sword over and...out of their hand? Brocair was most surprised, and disappointed, to see the other drop his sword so easily and to note that the impact had caused his opponent to fall to the ground. Shaking his head, he moved in on the other, wondering briefly if he should allow him to recover his sword to keep the fight going. But no, this had gone on long enough already, and anyone left away back at the camp would be wondering where he had gone. Or rather, they would wonder if he had suddenly decided to abandon the party. With the sigh of both relief and sadness that always came to him at the end of a hunt, he moved closer and brought his sword to the other's neck.

He was about to make the fatal swipe across their neck when suddenly he felt his body go rigid. His mind was flooded with...thoughts, ideas, and plans. At first they seemed to be his own...yes, his thoughts of scorn for the others before he had heard the sounds of the newcomer. But then...once those had run out he felt unfamiliar thoughts, or at least things he could never remember thinking about. Dropping his sword in a state of panic, he brought his hand to his head, as though that would stop it; and in a way, it did. As soon as his sword hit the ground his mental torment ceased as suddenly as it had begun.

 

"What the hell?" he said, looking down at his prey again once his thoughts cleared. He was mildly surprised to find him no longer there, and even more so when he felt the cool kiss of steal against his neck. Turning his eyes carefully to the side, he nearly fell over when he saw that his prey had suddenly become a young woman who, despite her fearful expression, held the sword at his neck with steady hand.

 

"Ah, Brocair, I see you have met my friend Samarria." A new figure said stepping into their presence. She was a tall, and dark haired with light violet eyes that suggested

 

"You're friend, Kamhalya?" he said between clenched teeth, "then why the hell is she trying to kill me?"

 

The girl made no reply, she had been frozen in shock ever since Kamhalya had entered the scene.

 

"Because doubtless you tried to kill her first." she replied before turning to her firend. "You may release him, Samarria, you are in no danger."

 

Brocair was interested to notice that Samarria had winced when this had been said, and right when Kamhalya spoke her name. But thankfully this did not stop her from lowering the sword away from his neck, and even handing it back to him with mummbled apologies.

 

"I'm sorry...I was afraid. I panicked." she said meekly. Her tone suggested that she was apologizing for some deep offence, deeper even than just taking his sword. But then, Brocair found nothing strange about this. In some cultures, he knew, it was even considered a capital offence to wield another’s sword without their express permission. It hadn’t even remotely occurred to him that perhaps Samarria or another other person had something to do with the flood of thoughts that had caused his sudden, if temporary, immobility. Instead he blamed it on too much drink and lack of sleep, and inwardly urged himself to take a rest when he got back to their camp. After all, it was Taljiah's turn for watch anyway...

 

"Its alright, Samarria, I'm sure." Kamhalya said. Once again the new girl winced at her name. Brocair noted that Kamhalya had seen this too, and almost seemed to take pleasure in repeating it again and again. "And Brocair, I would be indebted if you would return to the watch. Sam and I have much to talk about."

 

Sam. This name seemed to suit the newcomer much better, and Brocair also saw that this time she didn’t wince.

 

"Yea. Sure." Brocair said, turning away with one final glance at Kamhalya and Samarria, both of which seemed to be eagerly awaiting his departure. Normally, he would have stayed, or at least listened from a distance. But for some reason he felt increasingly tired...and the warmth of a fire was becoming progressively desirable. So with a shrug of disinterest, Brocair disappeared in the direction of the camp.

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As soon as he was gone, Sam turned and glared at Kamhalya. why did you have to do that? she said to the other in annoyed mind speech.

 

"Let's talk aloud, shall we?" Kamhalya replied audibly.

 

"Fine, whatever. So why did you have to do that?"

 

"What?""

 

"My name. You had to have said...said..." she stopped you had to said 'Samarria' five million times she, reverting to mind speech to reply.

 

"Samarria is your name, why shouldn't I use it?" Kamhalya said, her tone that of a polite question.

 

"Do you have any idea how close to the border of Halen we are!?! There are the 'trackers not ten miles away and you give them my telepath name??" Sam shot back. Her temper had taken hold of her tongue, and as soon as she had realized what she had spoken aloud she shrunk back, as though expecting these ‘trackers’ she had mentioned to jump out at her from the shadows.

 

"You needn't worry about the them, Samarria. As you said, they are ten miles away. And the worst years of the crackdowns are over, we have nothing to worry about-"

 

"Yes, you have nothing to worry about! You were never on the rogue-border lists, you had the advantage to be believed to be dead. I however have been on every list for the past eight years!”

 

“And...?”

 

“And so you can’t understand how vulnerable I feel this close to the border.”

 

"That is still no reason why I shouldn't call you by your real name. They may call you that ghastly assumed name in that little havan you've been living in..."

 

"That would be the Mighty Pen Keep. And I haven't even been there that long. I'd still been using my other name for years before that."

 

"Yes, but isn't it doesn't fit you at all. Samantha I can understand, but Carmichael? Wherever did you come up with something as dull sounding as that?"

 

Sam shrugged, and glanced down at the ground, unable to explain this away.

 

"I needed a name” she said after a moment, “Not only to cross the border into Soria and beyond, but to have something to tell the ‘trackers when they scoured one of the border towns I was staying in.”

 

This all seemed to be old news to Kamhalya, except for the last sentence, which caused her to raise a questioning eyebrow and wordlessly invite her friend to say more. But Samarria wasn’t exactly in the mood to pay close attention to minute signals, so she eventually gave up and took a deep breath before continuing.

 

"True. But you could have done better, Samarria." Kamhalya said, breaking the silence that had fallen across them.

 

"If nothing else call me Sam." she replied in exasperation.

 

"No, Samarria is your true name, and as long as you are with me that's what I will call you. If nothing else I should remember it for you."

 

"Fine, whatever." Sam said, conceding, "But at least you could tell me what this is all about. You’ve already had me travel across two kingdoms to get here, and you said in your letter that you'd elaborate when I arrived. So...here I am, and this had better be good."

 

"That I did.” Kamhalya replied slowly. “As strange as it seems...I need a good telepath, someone to see around corners.”

 

"But you’re a telepath, and probably a stronger one than I am. Why won’t your own abilities suffice?”

 

"I'm not as strong as I once was, not telepathically anyway. I've had to...learn other talents of the mind for this trip, and its taken its toll." Kamhalya replied, her face pained.

 

Sam raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask any more. Instead she said:

 

"Yes...but why do you need someone to ‘see around corners’?."

 

"Because I am about to walk into a myth at the risk of my own life and those who travel with me.”

 

“Walk into a myth? What are you talking about?”

 

“Yes, a myth. Tell me, Samarria, have you ever heard the story of the Valley of the Immortals?"

 

"The...of course, that’s the one with more ‘and they were never heard from again’ endings than every other known myth combined. Surely you’re not trying to end up another corpse tacked onto the end of that old story?"

 

"No, actually, I don’t. I can’t say much now, but I know something that all of those who have tried before did not I-.”

 

"Really, well since you know so much, how are you planning to get in? The legendary cities of Aurora and Clemence are located on either side of the gate to keep intruders from entering what they claim is the dwelling place of the Gods of Elnath."

 

"True, but as I was saying, I have found a way to by-pass all of that."

 

"And what road would that be?" Sam asked skeptically.

 

"We’ll be going through the caves of Relenki, there is a path that leads to a door opening into the upper regions of the valley, I’m sure you’ve heard of it.”

 

"The Door of Infinity? Kamhalya, please....”

 

“Sam,” she pleaded ,”I know it sounds like a long shot, but I can get in, I promise you. And if we come to a dead end, so what? We’ll just turn around and come back again, none the worse for the whole affair. Please Sam, I need a telepath I can trust, not to mention a friend, to come with me.”

 

"But what about the others with you?"

 

"Body guards and others of the sort bound to the quest by their own greed."

 

"Ah yes....the treasure of the gods and immortals."

 

"Exactly. And like them you're perfectly welcome to your share. I need you to help me Samarria,” she paused, for a moment, then frowned, “...and you need me to help you with your mental jamming. Its terrible, I can see right through you."

 

"Yes...I've been having some problems with that." Sam said reluctantly, remembering the many times recently when it had taken her great concentration just to block careless thoughts. Thoughts of others around her that she had once been able to eliminate with hardly any effort at all.

 

"Don't worry, I can re-teach you. I helped you out before when we were running, didn't I? Come on Sam, you need something interesting to do after all those months in that safe haven of yours. Please, come with me."

 

Sam didn't answer at once. She doubted that she would be particularly missed anywhere, especially since she had been avoiding people ever since her blocking skills began to go downhill. And yet...the Valley of the Immortals was a powerful myth, and it was saturated in both mystery and mortality. She hadn’t been stretching the truth at all when she had mentioned the amount of people who were ‘never heard from again’. But with that also came the question of why. Had they been killed? Or was life just so wonderful there that they never chose to return? After all, if the myths were to be believed, the city in the valley was a literal paradise. And despite how close they were to the border with Halen, the mountains were a powerful protector. And it had been years since she had been in this area, since she had finally made it across the border, telepathy control officers(better know as telepath trackers) hard on her heals. She ran over these and other considerations for quite some time, but in the end, her curiosity got the better of her.

 

"Fine.” Sam said after her mental deliberations, “I need a holiday. It might as well be to a valley no one returns to."

 

"Thank you Samarria, I knew you'd agree." Kamhalya said cheerfully, "now come, I'll show you where we have camped; there are still several hours until dawn and I for one would like to get some sleep..."

 

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Like I said...this is only a little bit...there should be more on the way =shrugs= =runs away to hide=

Edited December 22, 2003 by troubled sleep