Chapter 17

That day, Thomas rode to the forest where he’d grown up. Catherine insisted on coming with him to learn more about his past, so he brought the mercenaries along for safety’s sake.

As they got close, Thomas started to feel happy to be home. Catherine got him talking about growing up in the woods. She was surprised that he hadn’t felt lonely since she’d grown up in a castle with many people around her.

They finally arrived at the cabin where he’d been raised. He felt a great sense of loss when he saw the burned-out structure and was swept by a wave of anger at the men who’d destroyed his former home.

“I need a moment,” Thomas announced as he got off Fury and walked alone into the woods.

Close to the house was a small stream where he would go when he was younger and wanted to think. He found his favorite tree and sat under it while gazing at the slow-moving water, watching a few small fish darting around. He leaned his head back to look up through the trees, the leaves rustling as the trees swayed slowly, thanks to a light breeze.

Thomas was lost in thought when he felt the crystal in his necklace warm. Somehow, he knew it wasn’t a warning of danger. It wanted him to commune with his magic. Thomas pushed his fingers into the dirt and allowed the energy to enter him. He closed his eyes as it came to him in a sudden surge.

“Thomas?” he heard in his head.

It startled him, and he cut off the link to his magic. All was suddenly quiet as even the breeze stopped. He looked around to make sure the voice hadn’t come from someone nearby. Then the gem warmed again. Thomas wondered if the voice hadn’t come from it. He remembered when he first touched the necklace and the battle for dominance that had ensued. The stone had wanted to control him, but in the end, he’d won. It had agreed to serve him.

To this point, the crystal had communicated by giving him images or vague ideas. How much more could he learn if he could actually talk to it? In the end, curiosity won out, and he reconnected with his magic.

“Did you just talk to me?” Thomas asked out loud.

“Yes!” came the excited reply.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Thomas asked in rapid order.

“We are many. We have made a pact to serve you.”

“What do you mean by many?”

“It’s easier to show you.”

Thomas closed his eyes. The sounds of the forest faded away, and he could now hear the whistling wind and the call of a bird overhead, which made him jerk his eyes wide open. The first thing Thomas noticed was how cold it was. Somehow, he knew that he was in a castle chiseled from the side of a mountain in the far north. He found himself in a room with burning torches.

The ritual room. Thomas knew this from the voices inside his head, the same voices he’d heard when communing with the stone around his neck. He hoped that the crystal no longer wanted to control him, but he was still on guard.

Thomas climbed silently to his feet and, grabbing a torch from a nearby sconce, took a moment to look around the room. There was an altar similar to the one he’d seen in the caves where he found the necklace. The hairs on his arm rose like they sometimes did when there was an approaching thunderstorm. It was the residual energy from all the spells that had been cast here.

The voices whispered to him that he needed to leave this room to find his answers. Thomas rested his hand on the door. The hinges looked old and decrepit, and they creaked and groaned as he pushed. When the door swung open, Thomas, torch in hand, exited the room and walked down the short corridor.

He lit more torches mounted on the walls as he went. A pair of wooden doors stood at the opposite end of the hall, banded in dark iron. When he reached them, they opened with little effort.

Through the doors, Thomas found a room lined with old stone hearths that had once held roaring fires. Two long tables stretching the room’s length ran along his left and right, with benches on each side. Set upon a low platform at the very far end was another long table. There were seven chairs seated behind it, the two in the middle taller and carved more intricately than the rest.

A woman’s voice came through, telling him that this was where her ancestors had sat and eaten with their friends and allies, their families. The voice whispered again in his ear, and he could almost see the happy memories of her childhood. Thomas closed his eyes as he imagined it filled again, with the fires blazing in the fireplaces. He could smell the scent of roasted meat that he knew would have Frost drooling.

Thomas opened his eyes and gaped in shock. The room was filled with people who looked to be celebrating. There was boisterous laughter, and excited voices flooded the room. It looked like everyone was well into their cups as a group of rough-looking men sang a bawdy song.

It all looked and felt so real. Thomas started to panic and back out of the room when there was a loud banging at the head table.

“Silence!” a deep male voice boomed.

A hush fell over the revelers. Thomas looked to the head table at the man seated in the largest chair. He was looking right at Thomas as though he could see him.

“We have an unexpected guest tonight. Welcome back, Raven!”

Everyone seemed excited to see him. He’d never met these people in his life, which caused him to frown at their strange reaction. Then he felt something move around his ankles. He looked down to find he was in a woman’s body. She was dressed in a black dress with an embroidered silver tree on her chest. The voice in his head told him it was the Tree of Life, the symbol of Raven’s order.

He felt his shoulders fall back and his chin raise as a smile broke out of its own accord. Thomas/Raven marched up to the head table as the heeled boots s/he wore beneath the dress clicked against the stone floor.

“You flatter me once again. I have done nothing to warrant such a warm welcome,” Thomas heard himself say in a female’s voice.

This was all a little unsettling. Thomas was experiencing a memory as if he were living it. He could feel all of Raven’s emotions towards the man she was speaking to. The man’s name, Savaric, popped into Thomas’s head. Savaric and Raven were close friends. She wished it was more, but he was promised to another.

Savaric leaned close so they could not be overheard.

“Let’s get out of here so everyone can get back to enjoying themselves,” he said and then stood.

Her heart quickened as Savaric reached Raven and held out his arm. She slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow, and they left the joyous atmosphere behind as they went back out the way she’d entered.

Once they were alone, he smiled at her.

“Did you find it?” Savaric asked excitedly.

She retrieved a small bag that was tied to her waist and opened it. Inside, Thomas could see the necklace he was currently wearing.

“The Knowledge Stone,” Raven announced.

Savaric reached for it, but she pulled it back.

“Don’t touch it!” Raven warned. “If you have magical abilities, it might react badly if you’re not strong enough to wield its power.”

Savaric gave her a confused look.

“I thought it would impart the knowledge its former owners had gathered in their lives. We need it for what is to come.”

Thomas felt Raven’s mind cloud with worry but couldn’t puzzle out why. He was able to glean that she’d been told the Knowledge Stone had been created so that its owners would not have their knowledge lost. At the time of their passing, the crystal captured what they knew. The next bearer would then have that knowledge available to them.

“Let me work on the stone and see if it has the answers we need,” Raven said reasonably.

Before he could contemplate her cryptic answer, Thomas was suddenly back in Raven’s ritual room as the memory jumped forward. The necklace was still in the pouch. Raven had what looked to be an ancient book open, and she read it aloud. Thomas understood that she was calling for protection and felt the magical energies begin to intensify.

He was startled when the biggest direwolf he’d ever seen pushed through the door. This one made Frost look like a pup.

Raven bowed to the wolf as if he were royalty.

“Thank you for coming. I need to ask you a great favor if I fail to bond with the stone. It must be hidden away to protect others.”

Like Frost, this wolf understood what she was asking.

Raven reached into the pouch and grasped the Knowledge Stone. The crystal reacted, causing light to shoot out between her fingers as it began to glow with life. She felt a power enter her body. Raven was frozen in place, but for some reason, she wasn’t afraid. She was being judged.

Then she felt a profound sadness. Raven had been found lacking. She felt the power returning to the crystal and found herself being drawn in as well. Raven was greeted by a few others as if they were close friends.

That was where the memory ended.

Thomas thought the Knowledge Stone was done telling its story, but he was quickly shown others. Like Raven, each, in turn, entered the cavern and was judged. What they all had in common was that they were magic users. Each judgement found them wanting.

An exciting tidbit he was able to glean was that each had encountered direwolves before entering the cave system. His best guess was that the wolves were somehow involved in finding the next wearer of the Knowledge Stone.

Thomas remembered his encounter. The direwolves had chased him and Frost into the fox hole that led him to the chamber that held the crystal. Others had similar experiences.

Finally, the memories ended.

“Why are you just now showing me all this?” Thomas asked.

“War is coming,” the voices warned.

After that pronouncement, it was as if the necklace was just a piece of crystal hanging from his neck. It wouldn’t respond to him, no matter what he tried. He finally gave up and returned to where his home had once stood.