That’s one less thing to worry about, thought Ing as he looked at his revived hand.
Meanwhile, Alma stepped into a very large room. It was filled with countless bookcases: piled upon the shelves firmly sat books written in all the different languages of Eclestia, some long lost over the years. Alma was tempted to stop and peer into some of the ancient books, but she did not have the time. She had to get to the Lady of the Lake before Ing because she was the one that held the Rod. She didn’t want Ing to reach her empty-handed. She had heard grim accounts of what had become of people who had nothing to offer.
Alma traversed the room, following the path of a crimson red carpet that lay beneath her feet. Dust filled the air, lying scattered on the bookcases, causing her to let out a low cough.
Ing made his way through the room of crystal and into room number four. How many rooms could there be?
This room was also made of crystal and it was some sort of maze. Blue, green, pink, and clear crystals comprised the chamber. Ing looked around at the hundred reflections of himself. This was going to be confusing.
He started making his way towards what looked to be an opening, but he slammed into crystal. He felt his way all around every surface, but found no openings.
A thought occurred to him: there must be an opening up above. He had never known of a maze to have such a vertical nature, but that was surely the solution.
Ing looked hard through the maze and found the opening he was looking for. He grabbed onto the cold crystal and pulled himself up. Not far ahead was a gap that led to the lower level. He dropped down it and back into the maze. He crashed continually into walls of solid crystal until he reached the end of the path. Once again, he had to go up to advance. It was just a matter of finding where and he was getting disoriented.
He found that the opening was in the middle of the maze. He jumped up and struggled to pull his body up. It took all his strength to do so. When he got up, he noticed another gap ahead. He dropped down and back into the maze for the third time. Several minutes later he made it to the exit.
Alma had made her way to room number five. She could only hope that she was advancing faster than Ing. The horrid stories began filling her mind once again.
The room slowly brightened to reveal a doorway at the far end. Alma walked over to it, pulled on the handle, and realized it was locked.
Gazing up above, she saw birds that had to be two or three feet in length soaring about. What appeared to be impenetrable armor covered their bodies. They all had chains dangling from around their necks, with keys attached to them. The question was how to find the right key. A strange golden hue could be seen radiating from the chains.
Alma examined the lock for several moments and looked back at the birds. She peeled her eyes, trying to find the key that matched. All the keys seemed to look exactly the same. After scanning the room for several long minutes a bird zoomed by up above. The key matched perfectly.
She decided that the easiest way of obtaining it would be to fire directly at the chain that held the key at its bottom. She carefully strung an arrow, took a moment to focus, and fired away. Upon impact, the arrow splintered and its pieces littered the ground.
She stood in disbelief for a few moments, her mouth agape. The chains seemed to be bound together by some magical force.
She realized it would not be so easy. She would have to find another means of obtaining the key. She took a moment to focus her gaze on the lower end of the chain and spotted a thin loop of rope connecting the key with the chain.
Alma concentrated on the area as she pulled out her bow and readied an arrow. She had to be very precise and hit the loop holding the key. She let the arrow fly and it shot directly through the loop, severing it and dropping the key into her waiting hands.
Alma walked over to the door and stuffed the key in, then laid it on the ground.
Upon opening the door, she saw a woman. An unexplained, uncomfortable feeling overcame her. She began having second thoughts about giving the Lady of the Lake Bolsee’s Rod.
Ing was on to the final chamber before arriving at the Lady of the Lake. Candles suddenly blazed into life to reveal a room with the remains of a human lying on the floor. As Ing made his way towards the door, the skeleton’s bones began to reassemble; in its hands was a curved scimitar sword made of silver. Ing readied his sword for battle.
Unbeknownst to Ing the skeleton was none other than the remains of King William Mollish who was trapped under here along with his wife, Cecilia, better known as the Lady of the Lake.
The skeletal warrior swung its blade at its opponent; the two swords clanged together and Ing felt his entire arm vibrate. The scimitar must have been very powerful; either that or the skeleton held it with a grip of steel. In utter annoyance, Ing swung at one of the skeleton’s legs, knocking it off…only for it to be reassembled a moment later.
Hmmm.
Ing swung and cut off the arm holding the scimitar, but it maintained its grip on the blade and it, too, reattached itself to the body. It was useless. He had to try something else.
Looking desperately around the room for any signs of help, Ing noticed what could only be a jar of
