Chapter 15

Somewhere, lost in the frosty heights of a forgotten mountain range, there was an old cabin. The cabin itself was not special in any way, simply a crude construction of logs, planks, and stonemasonry. It was only slightly unusual in the fact that it had a cellar, a feature that was not very common to its genre, but that, too, was a simple, rustic construction, and one that would never occasion much comment.

The cellar's walls were of cold, rough granite, no doubt dragged to this forsaken point from a nearby quarry, also long forgotten. The floor was earthen, gravelly and uneven. There were no windows to shine light into the quiet darkness; the only illumination was the fading sunlight struggling through the cracks of the cabin's floorboards.

So had this cabin stood, empty, and virtually unknown to the world, for countless decades-perhaps even centuries. The utter silence of this place was profound, especially if one considered the harsh weather outside. One could easily say this house was meant to remain uninhabited.

By no means, however, was this cabin unimportant.

A bright, unnatural light abruptly pierced the stolid darkness in the cellar. Growing brighter, a hole appeared in the air, which rapidly expanded to the height of the cellar's ceiling. A moment more, and two figures emerged. As suddenly as the light and the hole appeared, they disappeared, leaving the two strangers alone in the room.

Jake turned to where he figured Talamia was. "Where's the light switch in this place?"

"I don't think there is a light switch, My Lord. I don't think there's any electricity out here."

Jake grunted sourly. Holding up his hand, he concentrated briefly. A glowing ball of light burst from his palm, brightly illuminating the cramped cellar with a sun-like radiance. Spying the stairs leading up, he started for them when Talamia stopped him.

"My Lord, no. The Door is down here." Jake turned around in surprise. He sent the orb in his hand floating around the room, but all he saw were blank rock walls. No Door.

"Where?" he asked, mystified.

Talamia grinned conspirationally. "It's in the wall, My Lord. The cabin was built to hide the door; an unbelievable amount of spells went into its construction. You might almost say it protects the door with something approaching sentience."

"Hmm. Ok, so how do we get to it?"

Talamia walked over to the wall opposite the stairs, stumbling slightly over the uneven floor. Jake marveled at how she could even make stumbling look graceful. Silently she placed her hands on the coarse granite, and Jake felt her channel Ether directly into the stone.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, before Jake's impressed eyes, the stone flowed back with a strange sighing sound, leaving a gaping hole so deep that even his ball of sunlight couldn't see the end of it. Gesturing for him to follow, she stepped inside the opening. Shrugging, Jake followed.

The rock door oozed closed behind them. Talamia explained as she led Jake down the passageway. "The door acts like an airlock. There are two openings, one here and the other at the end of this corridor. This was made in the old days when it was considered very dangerous to let the mortals accidentally see something they weren't supposed to. This way, the worst a person who was not initiated would see was a stone wall with a secret passage."

"They were pretty paranoid back then, huh?"

Talamia looked at him seriously. "They had good reason, My Lord. Back then, having magic was very threatening for most people. There was nothing more dangerous than being discovered by a mob. A competent Practitioner could handle a few people should he or she be discovered, but a few hundred? That happened quite a bit more often than the history books suggest, you know."

"What do you mean?"

"Up to about 70 or 80 years ago, witch- hunters scoured the whole world, looking for our covens. When they found one, they summoned their compatriots and destroyed it utterly. It was a dark time to be a Practitioner."

"Huh. Why did they stop?"

Talamia smiled grimly. "We finally wizened up. We started hunting them."

That didn't seem to require any explanation.

Abruptly, the passage ended in a smooth stone wall. It was black, like the rest of the passage, but this one had a marking on it that seemed vaguely familiar to Jake. Suddenly, he realized why-the symbol on it was identical to the one at the entrance to the Chamber of Broken Souls. Again, Talamia placed her hands on it and channeled ether into the rock.

Instead of flowing away this time, the passage opened like the iris of a camera lens, expanding from the center of the swirling design. An eerie green light grew brighter as the circle widened enough to admit them both. Without a word, Talamia walked forward, and Jake followed suit.

The scene that met them astounded Jake. He gazed into a chamber that had to be miles across, and at least a mile high. It appeared to be a perfect circle around, and in the center of this huge chamber, was what appeared to be a fountain, which fairly erupted an incandescent, emerald liquid almost to the ceiling. Pure, unrefined Ether, Jake realized. So that's what it looks like in its natural state. At least, in this plane.

Almost immediately, their presence caused a commotion. Men and women came rushing towards them from all directions, their expressions ranging anywhere from shock to outrage to curiosity to dread. Jake paid special attention to those with looks of dread.

It was one of the outraged ones that reached them first. He looked quite young for a Practitioner, perhaps thirty or so, with black hair and icy blue eyes. His brow was furrowed as he marched up to Talamia, fury darkening his features.

"What is the meaning of this, initiate? The Fount is not a tourist attraction!" Talamia just grinned mischievously, knowing that Jake would be taking control of the conversation at this point. Even with that insolent action, most of the men gathered were visibly taken aback by her incredible beauty. Jake chuckled softly.