| SORCEROUS SIGNALS |
| Written by Rhonda Parrish/ Artwork by Marge Simon |
| Make a donation to this writer |
| There's Always a Catch |
"Hey Nik, look at this!" Jae chuckled and, careful his torch didn't bang against a wall, Nik turned. His face
furrowed in confusion when he saw Jae with a rat in his hand.
"What the drek are you doing with that filthy thing?"
"Playing." Jae shrugged. "I'm bored. Look at this." He held the cave rat by the scruff of its neck and
wiggled his sausage-like fingers in the rodent's face, taunting it. Grabbing one of its whiskers, he
ruthlessly tore it out. The rat's high-pitched squeals echoed off the subterranean walls making Nik wince.
"Fack Jae! What's wrong with you? Stop tormenting the poor thing."
Nik turned around again, taking most of the light with him. He'd never really liked Jae, but the guy was
good with a sword so he often hired him to guard his back on these sorts of expeditions.
"Fine." Jae sulked. Moments later the distinctive sound of bones breaking ricocheted off the stone walls,
followed by the dull thud of a small body hitting the ground. "I'm just trying to have some fun, Nik.
We've been down in these dreking tunnels for a week now without even a hint of treasure–I need to do
something to keep from going mad."
"Find something that doesn't involve torturing things smaller than you."
"Find something that doesn't involve torturing things smaller than you," Jae mimicked, his voice
unnaturally high.
They walked in silence for over an hour. Nik, holding the torch, led the way. His blonde hair, darkened by
dirt and greasy smoke, was short and matted. His eyes were tired and it took a supreme effort to keep
plodding ahead. Jae looked just as dirty as his companion, perhaps more so. His dark hair didn't show
the grime as clearly but his tanned face had twice as many smudges. He walked several feet behind,
barely within the torch's sphere of light, sullenly kicking at every loose stone in his path.
One of the rocks bounced up off the uneven floor and struck Nik in the back of the head. Nik threw the
torch down onto the ground, where it continued to sputter and smoke, and balled up his fist. Turning,
he slammed it into Jae's chin, snapping his head back with an audible crunch. Jae returned the favor,
landing a powerful right hook on Nik's jaw. Then chaos reigned.
They locked on to one another, spinning, pushing and grunting in the confining tunnel. Eventually Jae
grabbed Nik by the shoulders and gave him a tremendous shove. Nik staggered backward, his arms
flailing, trying to find the wall to break his fall, however, instead of crashing into hard stone, he fell right
through it as if it were smoke.
Jae watched Nik vanish into the walls and his jaw fell open, so wide it almost rested on his chest and his
face grew quite pale despite his tan. Picking up the torch, he waved it at the wall but no opening or
secret door revealed itself.
Nik, meanwhile, lay sprawled out on the ground watching Jae drop the torch and rub his chin, muttering
curses under his breath. For, though the opening was perfectly disguised from the tunnel's side of the
wall, having passed through it, Nik could see it perfectly well – and everything behind it.
Hearing Nik chuckle Jae held still. "Nik? Where are ya?"
"Right here, just walk through the wall."
"Walk through the...are you mad?"
"Oh for drek's sake, you just watched me do it–walk through the wall."
Jae shrugged and very cautiously, stretched his arms out and took a step. His hand touched where the
wall should have been, but he felt nothing. Moving closer, he watched, wide-eyed, as his fingers vanished
into the wall, and then his arm to the elbow. The next thing he knew, a grip of iron surrounded his
forearm and yanked him the rest of the way in.
Nik released Jae as soon as he stumbled through, dusting his hands off on one another and laughing.
"Would have taken all day if I'd let you set the pace."
The pair found themselves in a massive open chamber. Though they saw no obvious source of
illumination the room was as light as day. Jae squinted, waiting for his eyes to adjust after the gloom of
torchlight, and then whistled. "Nice."
The walls shimmered, dampened by the spray from the massive fountain that dominated the room.
Carved from what looked like obsidian – its radius easily spanned four times wider than either man's
height. A statue of an hourglass stood in its center and water bubbled from the top and ran down its
surface.
"Nice is right," Nik laughed. "A bit too nice, if you know what I mean."
Jae wasn't listening. He'd gone over to the fountain and began to trace the runes carved into its ledge
with his fingers. "What's this say Nik?"
Nik peered over Jae's shoulder, his brow creased as he read. "Drink from here and you will see; you will
live eternally." He chuckled nervously.
"For real? It says that?" Jae asked, his eyes lighting up.
"It says that, but I wouldn't try it if I were you–this sort of thing always has a catch."
"But, eternity. Imagine it! Do you have any idea how powerful we could become? How rich?"
"It's not worth it Jae, I'm telling you–there's always a catch," Nik repeated, and turned around, scanning
the room for more runes.
"Nik, eternal life!" Jae repeated, oblivious to everything but his illusions of grandeur. Cupping his hands,
he filled them with water from the fountain and took several deep gulps.
"It's working!" he cried. "I can feel it!"
"I wish you hadn't done that," Nik muttered, looking at
an inscription above the door.
"It's great Nik! I'm invincible, I can tell! Really! I've never felt so powerful! Look Nik, look, I tried to stab
myself but the sword's blade just bounces off! Nothing can hurt me now, I'm immortal! Nik? Are you
listening to me? You've got to try some of this!"
"No Jae, no. I don't think I do."
"What's wrong?"
Nik pointed, and Jae's eye followed the direction of his finger to the words above the door. "So, what's it
say?" he asked.
"But once immortality is yours," Nik read. "You'll never again, walk through these doors."
"What in the abyss?" Jae frowned and walked to the
door, arms outstretched as before. This time however,
instead of slipping through the wall his hand was
stopped by an invisible force. He could see the tunnel
they had entered from, the torch still smoldering on
the floor, but he couldn't reach it. "You try Nik."
Nik slowly walked forward and slipped through the
magical door as easily as through empty space. "I told
you there's always a catch,
Jae."
"Right, a catch–maybe it's a riddle. It says I can't walk
through, but maybe if I run through–that might work."
Jae backed up a few feet and then began to run,
working up to a considerable speed before slamming,
again, into the invisible force field. Knocked back onto
his ass, Jae shook his head then stood up once more.
"Okay," he said, a hint of desperation creeping into his
voice. "I can't go through this door right? So I'll just
have to make a new one."
He picked up a rock the size of his head and strode
purposefully over to the wall but the invisible force
held him a finger's width from his target. He wouldn't
be creating a new door either.
"What am I supposed to do Nik?"
"I don't know Jae–I think you're stuck there."
"Forever?"
Nik nodded. "Forever."
As Jae contemplated the situation his face crumpled. "But I'm
immortal!"
Nik pulled his backpack off his shoulders and dug around inside it, pulling out a worn deck of cards. He
tossed them to Jae, who caught them in one hand. "There ya go, buddy. I'll come and visit as often as I
can."
Looking down at the cards in his hand, Jae began to scream. "Nik! You can't leave me here Nik!"
Nik picked up his backpack and torch, and walked away. No bounce livened his step, no joy eased his
leaving, but every now and then as he made his way back out of the tunnel, a grim smile would cross his
face and he'd mutter under his breath, "Dumbass."
furrowed in confusion when he saw Jae with a rat in his hand.
"What the drek are you doing with that filthy thing?"
"Playing." Jae shrugged. "I'm bored. Look at this." He held the cave rat by the scruff of its neck and
wiggled his sausage-like fingers in the rodent's face, taunting it. Grabbing one of its whiskers, he
ruthlessly tore it out. The rat's high-pitched squeals echoed off the subterranean walls making Nik wince.
"Fack Jae! What's wrong with you? Stop tormenting the poor thing."
Nik turned around again, taking most of the light with him. He'd never really liked Jae, but the guy was
good with a sword so he often hired him to guard his back on these sorts of expeditions.
"Fine." Jae sulked. Moments later the distinctive sound of bones breaking ricocheted off the stone walls,
followed by the dull thud of a small body hitting the ground. "I'm just trying to have some fun, Nik.
We've been down in these dreking tunnels for a week now without even a hint of treasure–I need to do
something to keep from going mad."
"Find something that doesn't involve torturing things smaller than you."
"Find something that doesn't involve torturing things smaller than you," Jae mimicked, his voice
unnaturally high.
They walked in silence for over an hour. Nik, holding the torch, led the way. His blonde hair, darkened by
dirt and greasy smoke, was short and matted. His eyes were tired and it took a supreme effort to keep
plodding ahead. Jae looked just as dirty as his companion, perhaps more so. His dark hair didn't show
the grime as clearly but his tanned face had twice as many smudges. He walked several feet behind,
barely within the torch's sphere of light, sullenly kicking at every loose stone in his path.
One of the rocks bounced up off the uneven floor and struck Nik in the back of the head. Nik threw the
torch down onto the ground, where it continued to sputter and smoke, and balled up his fist. Turning,
he slammed it into Jae's chin, snapping his head back with an audible crunch. Jae returned the favor,
landing a powerful right hook on Nik's jaw. Then chaos reigned.
They locked on to one another, spinning, pushing and grunting in the confining tunnel. Eventually Jae
grabbed Nik by the shoulders and gave him a tremendous shove. Nik staggered backward, his arms
flailing, trying to find the wall to break his fall, however, instead of crashing into hard stone, he fell right
through it as if it were smoke.
Jae watched Nik vanish into the walls and his jaw fell open, so wide it almost rested on his chest and his
face grew quite pale despite his tan. Picking up the torch, he waved it at the wall but no opening or
secret door revealed itself.
Nik, meanwhile, lay sprawled out on the ground watching Jae drop the torch and rub his chin, muttering
curses under his breath. For, though the opening was perfectly disguised from the tunnel's side of the
wall, having passed through it, Nik could see it perfectly well – and everything behind it.
Hearing Nik chuckle Jae held still. "Nik? Where are ya?"
"Right here, just walk through the wall."
"Walk through the...are you mad?"
"Oh for drek's sake, you just watched me do it–walk through the wall."
Jae shrugged and very cautiously, stretched his arms out and took a step. His hand touched where the
wall should have been, but he felt nothing. Moving closer, he watched, wide-eyed, as his fingers vanished
into the wall, and then his arm to the elbow. The next thing he knew, a grip of iron surrounded his
forearm and yanked him the rest of the way in.
Nik released Jae as soon as he stumbled through, dusting his hands off on one another and laughing.
"Would have taken all day if I'd let you set the pace."
The pair found themselves in a massive open chamber. Though they saw no obvious source of
illumination the room was as light as day. Jae squinted, waiting for his eyes to adjust after the gloom of
torchlight, and then whistled. "Nice."
The walls shimmered, dampened by the spray from the massive fountain that dominated the room.
Carved from what looked like obsidian – its radius easily spanned four times wider than either man's
height. A statue of an hourglass stood in its center and water bubbled from the top and ran down its
surface.
"Nice is right," Nik laughed. "A bit too nice, if you know what I mean."
Jae wasn't listening. He'd gone over to the fountain and began to trace the runes carved into its ledge
with his fingers. "What's this say Nik?"
Nik peered over Jae's shoulder, his brow creased as he read. "Drink from here and you will see; you will
live eternally." He chuckled nervously.
"For real? It says that?" Jae asked, his eyes lighting up.
"It says that, but I wouldn't try it if I were you–this sort of thing always has a catch."
"But, eternity. Imagine it! Do you have any idea how powerful we could become? How rich?"
"It's not worth it Jae, I'm telling you–there's always a catch," Nik repeated, and turned around, scanning
the room for more runes.
"Nik, eternal life!" Jae repeated, oblivious to everything but his illusions of grandeur. Cupping his hands,
he filled them with water from the fountain and took several deep gulps.
"It's working!" he cried. "I can feel it!"
"I wish you hadn't done that," Nik muttered, looking at
an inscription above the door.
"It's great Nik! I'm invincible, I can tell! Really! I've never felt so powerful! Look Nik, look, I tried to stab
myself but the sword's blade just bounces off! Nothing can hurt me now, I'm immortal! Nik? Are you
listening to me? You've got to try some of this!"
"No Jae, no. I don't think I do."
"What's wrong?"
Nik pointed, and Jae's eye followed the direction of his finger to the words above the door. "So, what's it
say?" he asked.
"But once immortality is yours," Nik read. "You'll never again, walk through these doors."
"What in the abyss?" Jae frowned and walked to the
door, arms outstretched as before. This time however,
instead of slipping through the wall his hand was
stopped by an invisible force. He could see the tunnel
they had entered from, the torch still smoldering on
the floor, but he couldn't reach it. "You try Nik."
Nik slowly walked forward and slipped through the
magical door as easily as through empty space. "I told
you there's always a catch,
Jae."
"Right, a catch–maybe it's a riddle. It says I can't walk
through, but maybe if I run through–that might work."
Jae backed up a few feet and then began to run,
working up to a considerable speed before slamming,
again, into the invisible force field. Knocked back onto
his ass, Jae shook his head then stood up once more.
"Okay," he said, a hint of desperation creeping into his
voice. "I can't go through this door right? So I'll just
have to make a new one."
He picked up a rock the size of his head and strode
purposefully over to the wall but the invisible force
held him a finger's width from his target. He wouldn't
be creating a new door either.
"What am I supposed to do Nik?"
"I don't know Jae–I think you're stuck there."
"Forever?"
Nik nodded. "Forever."
As Jae contemplated the situation his face crumpled. "But I'm
immortal!"
Nik pulled his backpack off his shoulders and dug around inside it, pulling out a worn deck of cards. He
tossed them to Jae, who caught them in one hand. "There ya go, buddy. I'll come and visit as often as I
can."
Looking down at the cards in his hand, Jae began to scream. "Nik! You can't leave me here Nik!"
Nik picked up his backpack and torch, and walked away. No bounce livened his step, no joy eased his
leaving, but every now and then as he made his way back out of the tunnel, a grim smile would cross his
face and he'd mutter under his breath, "Dumbass."
| Make a donation to this artist |
