Magic Thief of Gavalos

Prologue

In the early dawn of mankind, a witch named Zeus ruled the world of Olympus with an iron hand. One day, in a fit of rage, he threw one of his magic lightning bolts, accidently causing a rift in space and time. Zeus went through the rift and found himself on a strange new world—Earth. When Zeus returned to Olympus, he shattered his lightning bolt and infused the pieces with magic from the very bowels of Olympus to create portal stones. He gave these stones to his fellow witches. Whoever possessed one could freely travel from Olympus to Earth and back again. Because of the witches’ great strength and magical abilities, the people of Earth revered Zeus and his fellow witches as gods.

Eventually, Zeus and the other witches began to banish members of the other races on Olympus to Earth. It began with the centaurs and minotaurs. But it wasn’t long before Zeus was banishing members of all the races: pixies, satyrs, fairies, nymphs, sprites, dwarves, and the immortal Palidine elves.

Zeus’s fear of being overthrown eventually led him to banish many of his fellow witches. His sister, Hestia, realized he had to be stopped before he destroyed both Olympus and Earth. She created duplicate portal stones and, over time, exchanged them for the real ones. For safekeeping, she gave the authentic portal stones to Yefana Uleysield, the queen of the Palidine elves.

In time, Yefana grew weary of living under Zeus’s tyrannical rule and decided to move to Earth. Zeus’s sister, Hestia, went with her, along with many of the elves. With the help of the lesser witches, the Palidine gathered their belongings and passed through the rift to Earth, taking the magic of the portal stones with them, closing forever the door between the two worlds. The elves used the portal stones to create the Shield of the Palidine. In the center of the shield was Zeus’s own portal stone, held in place by the innate magic of the lightning bolt.

Without the stone talismans, the witch gods and goddesses of Olympus could no longer travel to Earth, and they passed into legend.

For centuries, the banished races of Olympus and the Palidine elves lived peacefully on Earth. But over time, man came to dominate, enslave, and torture the non-humans.

Forced to save her people yet again, Yefana found the portal to another world. She used the Shield of the Palidine to move all the Olympus races on Earth to this new safe haven. It took more than a decade and depleted much of the magic in the shield, causing it to shrink in size. Yefana eventually attached the shield to a chain and wore it around her neck for safekeeping. The Palidine elves and other creatures from Olympus called their new home Amorgos, and prospered there for centuries.

Eventually, the idyllic life of the Palidine came to an abrupt and shocking end. Yefana’s brother, Bahya, craved power. He devised a plan to possess the shield so he could return first to Earth to rule, and then to Olympus. At a Palidine festival, he and his followers slaughtered his sister and her people. When Bahya reached for the shield around Yefana’s neck, she disappeared into thin air, leaving Bahya forever trapped on Amorgos. As a result of their evil deeds, Bahya and his followers transformed into a fierce and loathsome warrior race known as the Asmodai. They became the scourge of Amorgos.

*****

In 1631, on the outskirts of the Château de Saint-Germain en Laye in France, ten-year-old Pierre Tonnelier, a peasant cooper apprentice, found a strange necklace in a hole. Seven years later, to cover his father’s debts, he sold it to Princesse Elise Marguerite Sabine d’Orleans, the eighteen-year-old niece of King Louis XIII.

Unbeknownst to the teenagers, the necklace contained a powerful portal stone. When Pierre put the necklace around Elise’s neck, it transported them to Amorgos, a world of magic and creatures beyond imagination. There they met Zeela, the witch queen of Amorgos, who revealed four sacred prophecies of the land. They foretold the coming of the One bearing the shield—the necklace around Elise’s neck. This promised Redeemer and her consort would gather four sacred objects and lead the races in battle against the Asmodai.

Elise and Pierre traveled throughout Amorgos with two pixies, a gnome, a couatl, and a centaur to gather the items spoken of in the prophecies: the Shield of the Northern Lights, the Armor of the Eastern Dawn, the Bow of the Southern Star, and the Sword of the Western Sun. The spirit of a Palidine elf—Yefana’s daughter, Illieya Rogam—inhabited Elise’s body to help the reluctant girl accept her role as the Redeemer of Amorgos and find peace in her heart.

Along their journey to gather the four sacred items, Pierre and Elise went from bitter adversaries to lovers, and discovered they each bore the mark of the Palidine elves. This mark linked them to the last known Palidine elf on Earth, Yefana’s brother, Domili, who had mated with a human.

After nearly two years on Amorgos, the teens united the races into one army to defeat the hellish Asmodai. Following the bloody but victorious battle, Illieya’s spirit left Elise’s body to join her ancestors in peacefully passing to the Otherworld now that their murderers had been brought to justice. When Illieya left Elise’s body, Elise’s life force began to fade. Pierre found Elise on the battlefield, and the Shield of the Palidine transported the two back to France. After Pierre realized the portal stone in the shield was dying and Elise was dying with it, he flung it out the castle window to save her life.

In the twenty-one months that Pierre and Elise had been on Amorgos, only a minute had passed on Earth. Elise had transformed from a fat, spoiled princess into a slim and powerful leader. Pierre had changed from a skinny, undernourished peasant into a tall and mighty warrior. Elise and Pierre had returned to France with several items unique to Amorgos, along with the prophetic orbs, and a lengua seed, which allowed Pierre to understand and speak other languages. Eventually, their families and friends had to believe their amazing story, and King Louis XIII allowed the princesse to marry a peasant, bestowing upon them the titles Marquis and Marquise du Laye. Pierre entered the king’s service and accompanied him on his travels throughout Europe, serving as his interpreter.

However, the Shield of the Palidine was not yet finished with the Redeemer and her kin.

*****

Chapter 1

Eight-year-old Lady Illieya Tonnelier found her brother, Elam, and his best friend, Chace Bagot, in the Hall of Weapons. The long, imposing hallway in the Château de Saint-Germain en Laye held generations of weaponry and armor used by the royal family of France.

The girl’s father, Pierre Tonnelier, the Marquis du Laye, had been born a poor cooper in the little village outside the château. When he was a teenager, he had a chance encounter with Princesse Elise, the king’s niece, and the two had been magically transported to another world. Illieya loved to hear her parents tell the wonderful stories of a fanciful place called Amorgos and the many types of amazing creatures that lived there. During the two years her parents had been on Amorgos, they had lived a remarkable adventure, leading the good citizens of that world to defeat their most dreaded enemy, the Asmodai.

Illieya, being the sensible older sister, found it hard to believe her parents’ tales of witches, fairies, minotaurs, centaurs, and pixies. They were just like the Greek myths her tutors assigned her to read. But she enjoyed listening to her parents’ stories nonetheless. The armor and weapons her parents had brought back from Amorgos were stored in the Hall of Weapons. Even though these items tickled her imagination, she and her brother had been warned never to touch them, especially the Sword of the Western Sun. However, Elam and his best friend, Chace, often couldn’t resist the temptation to break the rules, and when Illieya rounded the corner, she saw Chace holding the sheathed sword in his pudgy hand.

Chace! she yelled at the top of her lungs. The poor, surprised six-year-old fell back into Elam, and the two slammed onto the hard stone floor.

You know you are never to touch that sword! Mon dieu! Father will kill you both. Pierre Tonnelier was a mountain of a man with muscles built on top of muscles. His ability to wield a heavy broadsword was unmatched by any knight in France. Illieya was sure her father was the best swordsman in all of Europe.

Sàcreblu, Illieya. Do not scare me like that, her brother scolded as he pushed Chace off of him and onto the floor. He stood up and checked for broken bones.

Elam! How vulgarie. You know you are not allowed to swear. Illieya put her hands on her hips. I am going to tell Mere.

Elam rolled his eyes. This snit of a girl was always ruining his and Chace’s fun. Chace was the son of Guy Bagot, squire to Elam and Illieya’s father. Guy had gone into service to the marquis immediately after Pierre and Elise’s return from Amorgos, and had somehow wooed one of Elise’s ladies-in-waiting, Dominique Beaumont. As Pierre’s squire, Guy now lived a far better life than his former position as a cheese maker and dairy farmer in the village would afford. It also allowed his son, Chace, to receive an education and a step up in life.

The two boys caused no end of trouble in the château and spent many hours a day coming up with daring and dastardly plans for mischief. Elise knew Elam idolized his father, but Pierre was often away for weeks or months at a time in service to the king. Without Pierre’s loving, yet firm hand to guide him, Elam and his friend spent their time trying to outdo the shenanigans of the previous day. Elise and the staff were generally at their wits’ end with the hooligans, and the boys had ended up on the wrong end of a spanking more times than they could count.

Elam glared at Illieya, stuck his tongue out at her, and then grabbed Chace’s sleeve to pull him out of the hall, their plans thwarted for the moment.

Illieya watched them go, smug in her righteousness. Before leaving, she paused to look at her parents’ armor and weapons. She couldn’t imagine her parents in these suits of armor with those weapons fighting evil elves. Nevertheless, she would secretly come to the darkened hall as often as possible. She could feel the armor calling her, a pulling through her belly from her spine. However, she wasn’t about to defy her parents’ stern warning never to touch the armor or weapons.

Besides, she didn’t believe in fairy tales.

Chapter 2

Fifteen-year-old Lady Illieya Tonnelier overheard her brother, Elam, telling his best friend, Chace, to meet him at midnight. She sighed. Her sibling had never outgrown his need to cause trouble, and now that he was the ripe old age of thirteen, it seemed the trouble grew bigger and bigger each day.

She decided to catch them in whatever nasty scheme they plotted and ensure that they received the severest punishment possible. Her father was at the château, back from his latest travels with the king, and Elam was generally better behaved when he was in residence, since he craved the older man’s attention and approval.

Their mother, Elise, could be vicious if she wanted to be but had a hard time disciplining Elam. Illieya thought it was because Elam looked like a miniature version of their black-haired, blue-eyed father. Elise adored Pierre too much to punish someone who looked exactly like the love of her life. It frustrated Illieya to no end. But since their father was in town, tonight would be the perfect time to ensure that her foolish little brother and his pudden-headed friend received punishment of the highest order.

She had another little brother, André Gaston, but at three-and-a-half he was too young to get into much trouble. The nearly twelve year difference in their ages kept Illieya from paying much attention to the toddler.

The prim and proper young lady pulled a chair to a spot in the hallway outside Elam’s room. She set it in the shadows behind a heavy curtain. After bedtime, she snuck down the hallway and sat in it, still wearing her purple day dress with the brocade bodice. She wasn’t about to confront Elam and Chace in her nightrail.

Around midnight, the sound of her brother’s door opening and closing woke the dozing Illieya. As she watched from her vantage point, the two boys snuck down the hallway toward the other wing of the château. There was only one place they could be headed at that end of the château—the Hall of Weapons. She hurried after them.

Illieya rounded the corner of the Hall of Weapons just in time to see Elam unwrap the Sword of the Western Sun from its cloth bindings.

Drop that, you stupide imbecile! she yelled at the top of her lungs, her brown eyes flashing. What do you think you are doing?

Startled, Elam lost his hold on the sword, and it fell to the floor in a loud clang.

Father told you never to touch that. How dare you defy his command! Illieya walked over to her little brother and gave him a parental slap across the head. Chace cowered behind Elam, afraid of what Lord Tonnelier would do to them now that this prim and proper killjoy had caught them in the act. He grabbed Elam’s arm and held on for dear life.

Illieya grabbed her brother’s other forearm with one hand and reached down to grasp the handle of the sword with the other. As soon as she touched the sword, she felt a tugging, as if she were being pulled by a rope around her waist. A fierce wind filled with swirling colors lifted her off the ground. An instant later, the three French teens slammed hard onto a dirt floor, arms and legs tangled in a knot.

*****

Elise awoke to a feeling she hadn’t had in a very long time. The shield, she whispered into the darkness.

She shook her husband of seventeen years. Wake up, Pierre. I feel the presence of the Shield of the Palidine.

Pierre jolted out of bed and jammed his naked body into a pair of pants. Elise pushed her feet into her slippers and pulled on her robe as she followed her husband out of the bedroom and down the hall.

They both knew that only one thing could cause the stirring Elise felt. She had lived with the Shield of the Palidine around her neck for nearly two years, and was one with its power. After it was destroyed, only the sister portal stone in the handle of the Sword of the Western Sun remained.

Soon after they had returned from Amorgos, they realized the portal stone in the hilt of the sword was still active and could possibly transport anyone who touched it back to Amorgos. Pierre had wrapped cloth tightly around the stone and put the sword into its sheath next to the Armor of the Eastern Dawn. There it had hung undisturbed since Pierre and Elise had returned from Amorgos. The two had no desire to return to that land, and had warned all who would listen not to touch the sword.

If Elise was feeling the presence of the portal stone, that meant someone had unwrapped and touched the weapon containing the magical stone. Who knew what peril had been unleashed!

The couple ran like the wind through the château to the Hall of Weapons and crossed its threshold just in time to witness their daughter, Illieya, bend down to pick up the Sword of the Western Sun. Elise screamed out a warning, but it was too late. She and Pierre watched in horror as their two eldest children and the Bagot boy disappeared into thin air.

Elise ran to the spot and collapsed to her knees. Non! NON! Mon Dieu. My babies! she cried out. The pain of losing her children to Amorgos was unbearable.

Sàcreblu! cried Pierre, just as distraught as his wife, thinking about the dangers that might be waiting for their children on Amorgos. They had left it at the end of the great battle and didn’t know how the land had fared after that. A fear greater than he had had when facing a horde of Asmodai gripped his heart. Pierre could barely move. With his wife crying at his feet, curled into a little ball, he stared in shock at their suits of armor hanging on their stands.

As he gazed at the armor, he noticed that the jewel in the middle of Elise’s suit began to change color and glow. A portal stone! The armor contained a portal stone. He reached down and grabbed Elise’s arm, pulling her upright. Put on your armor, now! he ordered.

Elise watched as Pierre pulled his armor off its stand and put it on in record time. She didn’t ask any questions, but followed his lead. She had learned through past experience to trust this man without question.

Ensuring that he had all four gauntlets in his left hand, Pierre pulled Elise to him and placed her hand onto the center stone of her armor. Pierre immediately felt that familiar tugging behind his navel. As the fierce and colorful wind blew around them, he held tightly onto his wife. In the blink of an eye, the two slammed hard onto a dirt floor.

*****

Illieya untangled herself from the boys and stood up. The place where they had landed was pitch black, and she couldn’t see a thing. She heard no sounds other than the rapid breathing of the boys.

Sis? her brother called out in a shaky voice.

I am here, she said as she groped for his hand. She found herself wrapped around Chace instead as he found her in the dark and held on for dear life. Soon, all three clung to one another in the blackness, utterly alone and afraid.

What do we do? asked Chace finally, desperately needing to hear a sound, any sound.

You tell me, answered Illieya in an uneven voice. You are the two adventurers and troublemakers. You must have imagined this would happen at some point in your scheming.

Elam stood there holding onto his sister and best friend with no clue in his head about what to do next. He never in a million years thought he would end up on Amorgos. At least he hoped they were on Amorgos. To think they might have landed on some other unknown world was too frightening to consider.

He finally realized he would have to do something. His sister lacked imagination, and Chace usually followed his lead. He pulled out of the embrace to grope for the Sword of the Western Sun. He wasn’t about to leave their only defense behind.

Let us move in a direction, Elam said firmly. He reached out to take a hand. Follow me, he ordered. He pulled on the hand and hoped the other would follow suit.

Illieya held tightly onto her brother with one hand, and grabbed Chace’s hand with her other. In this manner, the three moved slowly in the dark.

"Zut alors!’ exclaimed Elam as he slammed into a solid wall. Illieya was too frightened to scold him for swearing. In fact, at this moment, she was tempted to let loose a few profanities of her own.

Elam turned to follow the wall, feeling it with the tip of the sword. Chace reached out with his trailing hand to do the same. They seemed to walk forever.

I have an idea, said Elam finally, after nearly thirty minutes of wall walking. Stay here and just listen to the sound of my voice.

He let go of his sister’s hand and walked along the wall, talking about what he wanted for breakfast. In a matter of minutes he had returned, this time coming up behind Chace.

We are in a round room, whispered Illieya, with no way to leave.

Elam nodded, although no one could see him do so. He had felt no doors in his walk around the wall in the dark.

Let us each look for a way out. Since we are in a round room, we cannot become lost. Keep talking so we will know where everyone is at all times.

In no time at all, the three walked the wall in various directions, feeling high and low for a way to exit the pitch-black room. They found nothing and finally sat down in a crumpled heap, exhausted. Leaning against one another, they fell into a restless and uncomfortable sleep.

A loud banging awakened the three French teens, who silently gripped each other again in the dark. Someone or something was in the round room with them.

To their relief, they recognized Lord Tonnelier’s deep, booming voice.

Illieya! Elam! Chace?

Pere!

Father!

Lord Tonnelier!

Children! exclaimed Elise as she ran toward the sound of their voices.

Within moments the five held each other tightly in the dark, relieved to have found one another. Elise eventually peeled herself off from the group. Everyone, hold hands, she instructed as she touched the stone on her belt.

Take us back to France! she commanded. Nothing happened. She tried repeating the command several different ways, to no avail. Just like her last foray to Amorgos, she had no power to send them back to Earth.

We are in a round room, Pere, said Elam, explaining how he had walked around the wall looking for an exit.

Smart idea, son. I believe we are in the Emissarial Chambers, said Pierre. But why is it dark? Do they not keep luminite in here anymore?

Maybe they abandoned Erngari after the final battle, suggested Chace.

I doubt that, replied Elise, as they would still need a place for the races to gather and make decisions on how Amorgos should be governed. This was where they decided matters of commerce and diplomacy. No, something is not right.

Maybe that is why we are here, stated Pierre. Amorgos needs us again.

Why us? whined Illieya.

Pierre smiled in the dark. She whined the same way her mother had many years ago when they landed here the first time. Elise had been a harridan then, and it had taken Pierre nearly two years to tame her.

Because, answered that former harridan now, we are the last surviving members of the race of Palidine elves. Remember your mark.

Illieya instinctively reached up and touched the raised birthmark behind her right ear. Elam reached for his own mark on his left clavicle. Illieya, being the sensible one, had never believed in Amorgos or the mark of the Palidine. But as she touched her mark in the darkness and listened to her parents talk, she had no choice but to finally believe their fantastic tale of witches, fairies, and pixies.

Then why me? asked Chace. I am neither a Tonnelier nor a Palidine.

As Zeela would say, you have a purpose, Chace, and it will be revealed to us in good time, remarked Elise. The people of Amorgos did not believe Pierre had a purpose either. They expected a single Redeemer, the One to avenge them and bring peace to their land. It was not until the fifth prophecy was found that we understood I needed Pierre to help me. No one person could free Amorgos. In fact, it took Pierre and an army to help me accomplish that daunting task.

Pierre couldn’t help but marvel at how easily she said these words to Chace now, but how hard it had been for her to accept that very fact those many years ago. For nearly eighteen months, she had viewed him with utter contempt, calling him stinky peasant and unbearable oaf. Only through shared adventures and trials did their love begin to grow, but it was a rocky process. However, Pierre’s love for her was stronger than her doubts and fears, and she had finally accepted him as her consort and true love.

Enough reminiscing, he finally said. Elise, we may have to climb out of here. First, let us stretch out and walk hand-in-hand across the chambers and see if the ladder is in the pit.

Elam fumbled to hand his father the sword. Pierre sheathed it easily, not needing light to do something he had done so often in the past.

Pierre reached back into his memory to envision the chambers. The building was surrounded by a stone wall that looked very much like the tower parapet at the château. He remembered there were twelve openings in the wall, each about eight feet across and about fifteen feet up from the floor where they stood. Each opening had contained a chair, each different in size, shape, and design. In Pierre’s mind, he could see one opening that had no chair. That was where Simcha, the centaur, had stood. Another opening had contained two tiny chairs for Lomo and Pino, the twin pixies. Blue rocks called luminite used to glow all around the pit and in the openings, providing light to the floor of the chambers.

Not finding the ladder, Pierre maneuvered them to the wall and, after a struggle, was able to help Elise climb up on his shoulders and stand on them. Their armor didn’t help in this struggle with all its flair and angled surfaces.

Once Elise stood on his shoulders, Pierre was able to put his hands under her feet and press her straight up the wall so she could feel for one of the openings he knew had to be there. Eventually, their efforts were rewarded. Elise found an opening and scrambled up into it. I will be back for you soon! she called out.

The four remaining in the pitch black pit could do nothing more than hold hands and wait for Elise to return.

*****

Holding her sword blindly in front of her, Elise struggled to recall the maze of hallways that led out of the chambers. She followed the outside wall around until she finally located the exit, but then had to remember how to navigate all the twists and turns. After a few false starts, she finally saw light ahead. She quickened her pace, anxious to see Erngari once again. She had spent twenty-one months of her life on Amorgos, and knew Erngari like she knew the Château de Saint-Germain en Laye back in France.

Erngari had been the gathering place for the races and the seat of a loose government of Amorgos. It was the site of the Emissarial Chambers, and a large two-story palace that housed an emissary from each race. There was also an armory, housing for the halflings that served the emissaries, a large orchard, a pier extending into Forgan Lake, and a beautiful courtyard with an archon statue in the middle holding a replica of the Shield of the Palidine, the object that had brought Elise and Pierre to Amorgos seventeen Earth years ago.

Elise stepped outside and gasped at the scene before her. The palace was completely destroyed; only a couple of broken walls remained. The area was overgrown with bushes and trees. The chambers alone still stood, the walls covered with moss and vines. The orchard had been swallowed up by the forest. Erngari was utterly abandoned and desolate.

As shocking as the scene before her was, Elise finally pulled herself together, remembering her family still trapped in the dark pit of the Emissarial Chambers. She began searching for luminite, a blue rock that absorbed sunlight and then glowed for two or three days. Elise hoped she would find enough still charged to lead her back to her family.

After combing through the rubble, she found some glowing luminite scattered about and began collecting the bigger pieces. Putting as many of the rocks in her arms as she could carry, she hurried back into the chambers, dropping the luminite every few feet along the way to light the darkened halls.

Pierre could hear his wife’s footsteps and see the light of the luminite as she approached. She dropped a couple of stones into the pit and laid the rest around the upper deck.

Thank God! yelled Chace. Let there be light!

The rest had to agree. Several hours in a totally black space had given them a new appreciation for light and sight.

Look for the ladder, Elise, called up Pierre.

I hope it is still here, she replied as she wandered around, holding a piece of luminite in front of her. She finally found it, but it looked quite rotten and fragile. When she picked it up to move it, the top rung snapped in half.

You must take care when climbing up, she stated as she gently lowered the ladder into the pit. It is quite fragile.

All right. Boys, put your feet as far to the edges as possible and climb up slowly. Pierre guided his son to the ladder.

Elam took careful, halting steps, listening to the ladder creak and groan the entire time. Chace and Illieya soon followed.

Pierre looked at the flimsy ladder and prayed there was enough strength left in it to hold him. He put his foot on the lower rung and slowly pulled himself up. It miraculously held together until he reached the top.

The children started following the luminite out of the chambers. Elise held Pierre back. Erngari is…is destroyed, Pierre. It is an abandoned city.

Pierre raised an eyebrow. Of all the things he had expected her to say, that was not among them. How could Erngari be no more? It was the seat of cooperation on Amorgos. He expected they would meet different inhabitants than the ones they had known, as it was impossible to think that anyone from before other than the archons could still be alive.

He hurried down the hallways and, passing the children, burst out of the entrance to face the wreckage Elise had described. Erngari was no more. Pierre ran from one decayed and crumbling building to another, having difficulty believing what he saw. He loved Erngari and its citizens. The thought of its destruction was more than he could bear.

Elam looked at his mother as their eyes adjusted to the light, This is not what you described in your stories, Mere. Is this Erngari?

Elise nodded, allowing tears to form in her eyes this time. Yes, my son, this is Erngari. Or it used to be. Something terrible must have happened here. She watched Pierre as he walked back toward them, his eyes filled with horror and pain.

How much time has passed here? he asked her.

Elise thought for a moment. We lived here for twenty-one Amorgos months and returned home about an Earth minute after we left. So, for about two years per Earth minute… she paused. It would take millions of years in Amorgos time to equal the seventeen Earth years we have been gone.

Pierre sighed. That would explain this, I suppose. Amorgos did not survive millions of years—

Then why are we here? interrupted Illieya, something she would never think of doing in France. If there is no one left on Amorgos, why did it call to me?

Both Elise and Pierre stared at their daughter. What do you mean, it called to you? asked Elise with concern in her voice. If the portal stone had been calling to Illieya, then she and Pierre had failed to realize Amorgos was in trouble.

I…I did not believe, the young girl stammered. I never believed this was real. I did not want to believe in magic and witches and fairies, so I ignored the feelings.

Pierre grabbed her shoulders. How long ago did this start happening? He nearly shook her, he was so angry. But the anger he felt wasn’t toward his daughter, but toward himself and Elise. They had purposefully left the armor to collect dust in the Hall of Weapons. They had left their adventures on Amorgos behind, wrapping up the portal stone in the Sword of the Western Sun so they could remain in France and live peaceful, idyllic lives. Now Pierre realized what a mistake that had been. He and Elise had ignored the call for help, and now Amorgos was an empty jungle.

Illieya looked down at her feet. Five or six years ago, she whispered.

Elam spoke up, not willing to let his sister take all the blame. I felt it, too, he added, here. He pointed to his stomach. It felt like a pulling. That is why Chace and I went to the Hall of Weapons tonight. I felt it strongly. I just had to touch the sword.

Pierre looked from one teen to the other, not sure what to say. He turned his attention to Illieya. You did not believe us? Why?

They are just stories, Pere. I thought they were just stories. Illieya burst into tears. She was the perfect child, the good child, the one her father loved best. To see the look of disappointment on his face was more punishment than she could bear.

Elise pulled Illieya into a hug, stroking her hair. You are not to blame, my love. She looked over her daughter’s head at her husband, her heart heavy with emotion. Pierre, what have we done?

He shook his head. Evidently we have allowed an entire world to perish—the same world we worked so hard to save.

After a few minutes, Pierre took his wife by the hand. Come, I want to show you all something. Illieya slipped her hand in his other palm and they walked to a walled courtyard.

The courtyard had once been beautiful, surrounded by four high walls, each containing an opening that held a gate. Each wall was covered by a small decaying roof line which originally had protected the walls from the elements. Mosaics lined the walls.

In the middle was a damaged fountain. Pieces were missing and the stone was pockmarked. Despite the damage, it was still an imposing structure, and Illieya stared at it in awe. It depicted double life-sized statues of her parents in full battle regalia.

Elise’s statue had a crown on her head. It looked like the Shield of the Palidine Elise had often described to Illieya. In one hand, Elise held the Shield of the Northern Lights and in the other the Bow of the Southern Star. Elise was depicted standing confidently and looking forward as if ready for battle. Emblazoned on the chest of her armor was the face of a female. Illieya could only assume that was the Palidine elf whose name she bore, Illieya Rogam.

The face of Pierre’s statue was handsome and proud. He was depicted wearing the Armor of the Eastern Dawn and brandishing the Sword of the Western Sun. His left leg was raised up on a small barrel. Illieya smiled wryly at the apt depiction, knowing her father had once been a cooper.

Behind the statues of her parents was a headless snake with wings fully extended, the tips missing. On the opposite side, behind the broken wings, stood three other statues. One was a majestic creature with the body of a lion, and the wings and head of a bird of prey. The second was a being with a lion's body, eagle's wings, and a human head. The third was a big, ugly man. Craftsmen had carved figures of the other races of Amorgos into the outside wall of the fountain.

Do you believe now? her father whispered in her ear as she stared up at the stone images of her parents. Illieya nodded. She felt foolish, as if she had lived a lie, blindly believing in her books of history and facts instead of in the stories of her parents’ colorful lives.

I do, and I was such a dullard not to believe before. I am so sorry.

Why did you not say something to us before?

She shrugged her shoulders. It seemed unimportant and childish. I did not realize how important it was to you and Mere. I am sorry.

Pierre hugged his practical, no-nonsense daughter. I love you even if you thought the luminite and talking orbs were somehow a parlor trick and not the magic of Amorgos.

Illieya had always believed these items were part of a magic act her father liked to perform. He delighted in making wagers with unsuspecting guests about glowing blue rocks and balls that talked. He extracted quite a bit of money from them with those objects. Now she had to admit they were truly magical, and that Amorgos was as real as France.

Elam and Chace had run past the fountain. The mosaics interested them more. They depicted battles, weapons, and evil Asmodai. They chronicled the four journeys of Elam’s parents and the final battle. Elam and Chace relished looking at the faces of the dreaded Asmodai, the creatures Elise and Pierre had helped to defeat.

Each mosaic was powerfully rendered. Elise’s fingers wandered over the colored stones as she soaked in every aspect of the amazing stories they told. She stood for the longest time in front of the mosaic of the pixie emissary, Lomo, in his dying scene. The day Lomo had died was one of the saddest days of her life.

Pierre stood with his arm around his daughter as Elise caressed the mosaic of Lomo. Suddenly, they heard a female voice call out in Greek from an entrance to the courtyard.

Elise! Pierre! Is it really you? After all these millennia?

All eyes turned toward the gate. Pierre pushed Illieya aside and drew his broadsword to protect his family if necessary.

Elam, Chace, and Illieya gasped as they saw an angel exit the shadows and walk towards them. The lovely being had a pure face and amazing wings that spread out behind her. Her hair was blonde—almost white—and she had an unearthly quality about her.

Elise and Pierre cried out in delight. Standing in front of them was their dear friend, Cherbine Sagne, the archon emissary. But she looked nothing like she had when they first visited Amorgos. Her clothes were tattered and yellow, and the feathers on her wings were bent and dirty. She looked as if she’d been living in a cave and hadn’t seen a wash basin in months.

Elise ran into the arms of the tall being as Pierre sheathed his sword. Cherbine held onto the human like she would never let go. Her prayers had been answered. The Redeemer and her consort had returned.

Cherbine finally let go of Elise and immediately pulled Pierre into a bear hug. Elam raised an eyebrow. His father was the tallest being he’d ever seen until this moment. Pierre only came up to the archon’s shoulder.

Cherbine then smiled at the children. You have birthed beautiful sons and a daughter.

Elise introduced the children. This is Illieya Zeela Tonnelier. She is fifteen. This is Elam Moaremoff Tonnelier, and this is Chace Pierre Bagot, the son of Pierre’s best friend, Guy Bagot. The boys are both thirteen.

Chace puffed up a bit. I will be fourteen next week. I am nine months older than Elam.

Cherbine touched each of their young faces. Elam looks just like you, Pierre, especially around the eyes. But Illieya is a perfect blend of you both.

Elise, the strawberry-blonde with green eyes, smiled at her daughter with long, brown hair and light brown eyes. Someday the young lady would be a stunning beauty, but right now she was a book-wormish, awkward teenager. She had inherited her parents’ height as well as facial features from each.

And Chace, the almost fourteen-year-old, the archon continued, tousling the boy’s blond hair. You must be here for a reason. We did not know Pierre’s purpose until Dahrol delivered the fifth prophecy. We may not know your purpose for awhile either, young Bagot. But the portal stone does not make mistakes, and you are here.

Chace couldn’t believe his eyes. An angel was touching him and talking to him! His parents were always saying he was part devil, but an angel wouldn’t be talking to him now if that were true. He couldn’t wait to tell them about this amazing experience!

How long have we been gone? asked Elise.

It has been nearly two thousand years since you helped us defeat the Asmodai.

Two thousand years! exclaimed Elise. That makes little sense. It should be millions of years later.

Cherbine shook her head. You know so little of the portal, my Redeemer. Time is not constant. The portal sends you when it wants to send you.

But I thought it took about ten years for Yefana to bring you all here, Pierre pointed out, remembering stories from their last journey.

It did, from an Amorgos perspective, explained the archon. It was many less than that from an Earth perspective. More like a few months. However, that two thousand years is not the issue. It has been only thirty years since the magic left Amorgos.

Pierre cocked his head to one side. What do you mean, the magic left Amorgos? How is that possible? Magic is part of the fabric of the land, the air, and the water. It cannot leave.

Ah, my love. But it did. Follow me, and I will show you.

*****

Standing in the ruins of the palace, the three teens stared at the large starburst pattern in front of them, charred black and gray. It radiated out about thirty feet. In the center was a silver rectangle with a black spot in the middle. This object appeared to be what had blown the palace apart.

Pierre and Elise recognized the object immediately. There, in the middle of the burn marks, lay the Shield of the Palidine, its bright silver metal tarnished and dulled from years of exposure to the elements. The portal stone—usually vibrant and colored green, blue, pink, or white depending on the light and angle—was as black as a piece of coal.

Pierre dropped to his knees in dismay. When he had thrown the shield out the window of the château to save Elise’s life, he had inadvertently thrown it back through the rift between Earth and Amorgos. The dying blast of the Shield of the Palidine had wiped out the world he and Elise had spent nearly two years trying to save. The weight of this knowledge seized his soul.

Elise covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide with grief. When they had returned to earth, Pierre’s quick action had saved her, but Amorgos had paid the price. The dying shield had eradicated an entire world. No words could describe the complete and utter horror of this senseless act. Tears streamed down her face.

Cherbine could see the guilt and remorse in the eyes of the Redeemer and her consort. Finally they knew what life had been like for her and the others as they struggled to survive in a world completely bereft of the magic they depended on to live.

The archon pulled Pierre up from his knees and took Elise by the shoulders. Let me tell you what happened. The three stood off to the side while the children walked the other way to get a closer look at the burn.

Elam bent down and picked up the shield. His parents had told him that the stone in the center would spin on an invisible axis. He attempted to move the lump of dark matter in the center, but was unsuccessful. It looked like it was fused to the rectangular plate.

With the shield in hand, Elam began walking toward his parents. Illieya tried to grab it from one side and Chace from the other. They started to play tug-of-war with the ancient chunk of metal.

Pierre felt a strange vibration on his back. He reached around and unsheathed the Sword of the Western Sun, trying to determine where the vibration was coming from. As he held the hilt, it suddenly turned ice cold and emitted a painful shock. Pierre cried out and dropped the sword, which hit the ground with a loud thud. As he nursed his injured hand, he and Elise and Cherbine watched as the light of the sword’s portal stone grew dim and finally extinguished completely. The weapon now looked like an ordinary, albeit ornate, broadsword.

The adults felt a whoosh which nearly knocked them over. When they turned in the direction of the disturbance, they saw the three teens disappear once again before their eyes.

Illieya! Elam! screamed Elise and Pierre in horror.

Cherbine ran over towards them, but it was too late. She pointed to the spot where the Shield of the Palidine had been. They must have touched it! They have the Shield of the Palidine!

Where did they go? asked Elise, panic creeping into her voice.

They must be back in France, replied Pierre. It is the only place the shield knows besides Amorgos. His words were more to calm himself than his wife.

Elise put her hand in his for strength. At least they are safe and it is probably still night time.

He squeezed her hand. They will be all right. But here we are again. Pierre glanced at Cherbine, whose face bore a look of concern. After her world had turned upside down, she wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

*****

AMORGOS

Chapter 3

Cherbine took the two humans to her campsite near the edge of Forgan Lake.

Why are you here, living like this, all alone? Why are you not in Diandra? Pierre asked as he looked around at her meager accommodations. No wonder she looked so tattered.

It is my turn to call you, she stated simply.

To call us?

Cherbine sighed. For the past thirty years, someone has camped here in this place and, several times a day, stood in the Emissarial Chambers, calling for the return of the One and her consort. This cycle of the moon is my turn.

Pierre and Elise stood there dumbly.

See here, she said, rummaging around in her tent. I take this to the chambers after each meal and chant and pray. In her hands she