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Tor quickly read the clue through once before reading it out loud.
Your next destination is all mixed up
Go and find the Shellan Cup
The clue is hidden under the stair
Deep within the spider’s lair
You must avoid arachnid’s bite
If you wish to keep your sight
‘The ball is blank,’ I hear you say
Elemental writing will show you the way
“It sounds like I am going to get bitten,” Patrick observed.
“I would not recommend rushing in if I was you,” Ellen told him. “The clue talks about losing your sight, not dying. How do you know you will not be left permanently blind? Just because you can come back to life does not mean you are immune to everything.”
Sprigget and Kirat observed the exchange in silence, not sure they were fully understanding what was being said. Their conversation with Patrick and Tor had not covered Patrick’s propensity for getting himself killed then coming back to life, as was evident by the look of confusion on their faces.
Seeing this Ellen continued. “Patrick has a rather annoying habit of coming back to life,” she explained.
“Hey,” he complained. “That is not a nice way of putting it. Would you rather I stayed dead?”
Ellen was saved from answering by Sprigget shaking her head and saying, “I do not think I want to know any more. Humans are very strange creatures.”
Tor smiled. “Not all of us. Patrick is rather unique.”
“Now you have the scroll, when will you leave?” Kirat asked. The way she was looking at Patrick indicated she very much wanted him to stay and tell her more about his ability to revive himself.
“If it is alright with Ellen we should leave now. We left our friends with the wood sprites and we will need their help to solve this puzzle.”
“Good luck on the next part of your journey,” Sprigget told them. “And thank you for saving my husband.”
They were shown to the door and just as they were leaving Kirat ran up to Patrick, kissed him on the cheek, then ran away. Ellen rolled her eyes.
Sprigget guided them to the clearing where Patrick and her husband had fought, then instructed them to follow the path to return to where they came from.
There was nobody in sight when they arrived at the gate. Tor pushed it open and strode through. Hearing sounds coming from the nearest wooden structure he headed toward it.
The door creaked as he opened it, but nobody inside looked around. The room he entered was large and open. Sitting on the floor in neat rows were dozens upon dozens of wood sprite children. All the rest of Tor’s team were at the front of the room taking it in turn to answer questions. Even Samson was with them.
Only Bellak was not taking part in the discussion. He sat by himself in the far corner, ignoring everyone. He was the first person to notice that Tor, Patrick and Ellen had entered.
“Tor,” he called out loudly, drowning out the question one little female child was asking River. “Have you got the next clue?”
All eyes turned to look at them. Tor held up the scroll as he moved further into the room. “What is going on here?” he asked.
“This is the schoolhouse,” Liselle explained “and apparently we are the lesson of the day.” She was smiling fondly at the youngsters as she spoke.
The only adult wood sprite present stood up and introduced himself as the tutor. “It is very rare that we get any visitors,” he told Tor, “so I thought it would be good to give the children the opportunity to find out more about other races. Your friends were more than happy to participate.” He glanced at Bellak. “Most of them, anyway.”
Bellak strode over to them. “Let me see it,” he demanded, holding his hand out for the scroll, but Tor shook his head.
“Not until the lesson is over.”
Bellak looked like he was going to argue, so Tor quickly moved toward the front of the room to join the others, Bellak’s angry gaze drilling holes in his back.
All too soon it was time for the children to go back to their parents. School was over for the day and Tor could not delay letting Bellak see the next clue any longer.
Once all of the young ones had left he reluctantly held it out and the wizard snatched it from his outstretched hand. He scanned it then began muttering to himself. “Shellan cup. Shellan cup. I have never heard of it.”
Glancing around him Tor noticed that a large table had been pushed to the back of the room. He looked down at the tutor, who was the only wood sprite left in the room, other than Oak.
“Do you mind if we stay here for a little longer?” he asked. “We need somewhere to discuss where our next destination should be.”
“Be my guest,” he replied. “I will leave you in peace. If you have need of anything there is a bell on the table. Ring it and someone will come.”
Tor thanked him then asked Ban to help him move the table into the middle of the room. There were no chairs, so everyone had to stand. River and Grimmel were both lifted onto the table, much to the dwarf’s disgust, where they sat cross legged while the scroll was laid flat and discussed.
They quickly dismissed the last two lines. Everyone agreed that it referred to after they had collected the next clue, not before, so all discussion as to what it could mean would be left until later.
Lines three to six sounded straight forward enough. Once they had reached their location, what they needed to retrieve could be found under the stairs and was guarded by a particularly nasty type of spider. Patrick, Ban and Torrick started to compare the different symptoms of bites from various species of spider, but Tor soon ended that discussion and told them that working out their destination was their primary concern.
“Has anyone ever heard of the Shellan cup?” Bellak asked. “Or just the name Shellan?”
Nobody had.
“Then we need to find a library,” Tor announced. They began to debate where they should go. Returning home was the logical answer, as they were already in the country, but Tor hoped that there would be an alternative as he did not want to have to see his mother again until the quest was over. Even that would be too soon for his liking.
They were still arguing over the pros and cons of various options when Seth made a suggestion.
“Maybe we are looking at this the wrong way. The clue talks about all mixed up. Is Shellan cup something we need to find or is it an anagram?”
Tor was impressed. “Good thinking. It is worth trying. Is anyone any good with anagrams?”
Various things were suggested, but it was Hurst who arrived at the first sensible answer. “Is there a place called Spunce Hall?”
“Not that I know of,” Patrick told him, “but I think you may be on the right train of thought about it being a hall.”
“How about Scupen hall?” Ellen asked. “I went there once when I was young. I think it is abandoned now.”
“I have never heard of it,” Torrick said. “Where is it?”
“Northern Remeny,” Tor informed him. “It is not far from where my cousin Molly lives.” The mention of her name made him think, once again, about his conversation with Tumo. If he was going to go to Scupen hall then he would have to pay her a visit. A decision on what he would tell her would have to be made sooner than he had been expecting.
Bellak, who had been listening in on the discussion but not taking part, decided to speak up. “The quickest way is through the Chimbor mountains.”
“The quickest, but not necessarily the best,” Ban pointed out. “The weather can become treacherous in that area and storms have been known to be deadly for anyone caught out on the mountain side.”
Bellak waved aside his concerns. “We do not have to climb them, just navigate around the base.”
“People have been known to die even at the base,” Torrick said. “If you want my advice, I would recommend finding a different route.”
“We do not want your advice,” Bellak snapped at him. “Time is of the essence. We need to get there as soon as possible.”
“Bellak,” Tor said in as calm a voice as he could. “While I understand your desire to reach the next destination ahead of my brothers and I can sympathise with your loss, that does not give you the right to speak like that to others or to disregard everyone’s safety.”
Bellak glared at him. “Do you want to win or not?”
“To be perfectly honest, no not really. And definitely not if it means anyone else has to die.” He paused for a moment. “Other than Patrick, of course,” he added.
“But-” Bellak started to say, but Tor cut him off.
“We will discuss how we will get to Molly’s place, as I will never hear the end of it if I go that close to her home and do not visit her, and everyone’s opinions will be taken into account.”
The discussion did not last long. Most of those present did not know the area well enough to contribute anything meaningful and those that did could only come up with one other reasonable alternative to Bellak’s suggestion. However that would add weeks to the journey rather than days so it was not a foregone conclusion which route would be best.
“If you are going to take that long to get there you might as well not bother,” Bellak insisted. “Go through the mountains or quit now.”
“He does have a point,” Modo reluctantly agreed. “We know we are currently in last place, so if there is no way we can get there ahead of at least one of your brothers then there is no point in even trying.”
“Alright,” Tor said with a sigh. “But we do not all have to go. Due to the danger involved I recommend that most of you return to your homes.”
He looked around him and for a while nobody spoke. Patrick broke the silence.
“I have never died in a mountain range before. Maybe I should give it a try. Besides, you will probably need me to retrieve the next clue for you.”
Tor was not surprised by this. Of all of those present, Patrick and Seth were the ones he was certain would go with him, no matter what the danger. Seth immediately proved him right.
He then looked at each person in turn, starting with Oak. “You said I could travel with you for a while. Do not think you can get rid of me so easily now that you no longer need my help.”
Torrick was next, but before he could say anything Liselle grabbed his arm and pulled him aside, where they had a whispered conversation.
“I am in,” Grimmel stated. “A little bad weather is not enough to frighten me off.”
“Me too,” River piped up, taking them all by surprise.
“If you get into trouble out there you may need my help,” Ban told Tor and Ria pointed out that her skills might be needed once they reached the hall, a sentiment shared by Modo.
“Of those that have died in the mountains, how many could have survived had they a good healer on hand?” Ellen asked. She was not expecting an answer. This was her way of preventing Tor from arguing against her continuing the journey with him.
Torrick and Liselle returned to the table, having finished their discussion. “We will go with you,” Torrick told him and Liselle nodded her agreement.
Tor sighed unhappily. He did not like so many people risking their lives for him. “That leaves us with a problem. Hurst cannot travel home alone.”
“Whatever are you talking about?” Hurst asked. “Who said anything about going home? I am sticking by you for as long as it takes.”
Tor looked at the ground, where Samson was curled up by his feet. “I guess that just leaves you. Are you happy to come with us?”
He stared in amazement when the wolf nodded.
Tor and his team were escorted out of the wood by a much smaller squad of guards than had guided them in.
“It looks like rain,” Patrick observed when they could see daylight.
Seth sniffed the air. “Maybe,” he conceded, “but not for a while if so.” Tor had been teaching him how to predict the weather based on what he could smell and feel, not just see, and he was beginning to get quite good at it.
A number of the group knew where they were heading, but only Oak knew exactly where they were, so he led them from the area to the main road. Once on it Patrick took over the lead. It would take them a few days to reach the foothills of the mountains so he set a relatively fast pace.
The rain that Patrick had predicted did not arrive, though it still looked stormy in the distance.
At the next reasonably sized village they came to they purchased more supplies and Ellen restocked her medical bag, replacing the things she had used on Yokai. Seth was running low on some of the ingredients he used to add extra flavour to the food whenever he cooked, but the village store did not have what he needed so he asked Tor if they could stop at the next town they travelled through.
The days passed by and the mountains came into view. Compared to those they had already had to traverse these ones were small and much less intimidating, but that did not mean they were any less dangerous.
To begin with the path through the foot hills was wide enough for the cart and Seth was assured it would continue to be so. As night approached Tor announced they should find somewhere to spend the night. River quickly located a small stream, large enough to supply their water needs, beside which the ground was flat enough to be used as a campsite.
Tor did not order a double guard. Remeny was much safer than other countries they had passed through and the particular area they were in was unpopulated and seldom travelled. Since leaving the main road they had not encountered any other travellers and he did not expect them to.
They headed off early the next morning and travelled throughout the day, only stopping to rest their horses.
It started to get dark well before sundown and Seth looked at the sky in concern. “I think that storm is finally going to hit us.”
“We should find a cave,” Ban suggested. “We do not want to be out in the open if we can avoid it.”
It was a good idea and Tor sent Torrick, Modo, Oak and Ban off to see what they could find.
A cave large enough to accommodate all of them, including the wagon and horses, was soon found and Tor decided it would be a good place to spend the night.
He and Seth went hunting while others were sent to find wood. Torrick took care of the horses while they were gone, checking legs for any sign of lameness and hooves for any cracks or trapped stones.
The storm arrived while they were eating. The torrential rain was almost deafening and Ellen was not the only one to jump every time a crack of thunder sounded above them. Lightning lit up the sky at regular intervals, making the rain-washed rocks at the front of the cave shine.
Despite the noise everyone managed to fall asleep. During the night Oak woke Torrick and informed him it was time for him and Liselle to take over guard duty.
They sat together at the entrance to the cave, looking out into the scene in front of them.
“It is almost romantic,” Liselle observed as another flash of lightning lit the sky. She was cradled in Torrick’s arms and he kissed the top of her head.
Another fork of lighting came down, striking the ground nearby. “That was close,” Torrick said.
A few moments later the sky lit up once more and they heard a crack above them. Torrick grabbed Liselle and dragged her backward into the cave as rocks began to fall. Then there was a loud boom and the sky disappeared from sight as boulders fell from above, completely blocking the entrance to the cave.