R. Salvatore - Echoes of the Fourth Magic

Most magnificent of all, though, were the curving walls and ceiling of the room. Constructed of translucent, many-faceted crystal, these were the source of the light, a magical glow flashing through them in brilliant reflections of spectral color. Rainbow rows of gemstones, all polished to a sparkling glitter, ran up the walls like many-hued ladders of starlight and converged at the center of the ceiling in a kaleidoscopic burst. Just below this, suspended in midair, hung a clear crystal ball rotating slowly on an unseen axis. Set in its center was a huge, six-sided emerald, perfectly cut, almost as if it, like the shaping of the bridge’s rails, had been formed naturally to that design.

Mitchell stood dumbfounded at the magnificence before him, having no witticisms sufficient to retaliate against this place of beauty.

“We are but a simple folk!” Andovar chuckled proudly.

“Soldiers o’ the spirit,” Belexus added.

“This is unbelievable!” Del cried when his breath came back.

“Incredible,” Reinheiser agreed. “How could you possibly have made this?”

“Twas made by no hands of ourne,” Andovar answered.

“Then who?” Reinheiser pressed, eager, almost frantic, to know what power in Aielle was capable of creating something like this.

Andovar seemed unsure of how to answer the physicist. He and Belexus exchanged questioning glances, wondering how much they should say to the strangers. The men noted the caution in Belexus’ reply.

“We do’no’ know,” he said. “Bellerian says only that it was made by a friend.”

“Sit, then,” Andovar said, quickly changing the subject, “and know yerself blessed in seeing the power o’ the Emerald Room!”

Anxious for more of this wondrous place, the men readily complied. As they made themselves comfortable on some plush furs that Belexus had brought along, Andovar walked to the middle of the bridge. When everyone was settled, he looked up at the crystal ball and spoke to it.

“Blue!” he commanded, and instantly the room was bathed in blue light, gleaming through the crystal walls.

“Red!” Andovar said, and the room obeyed.

He looked at the strangers, and their amazed expressions urged him on with his demonstration. “The water!” he ordered with proud conviction, and the room went black. Then the walls of the gully lit up, the light dancing enchantingly through the water of the stream in flickering designs about the room. Every now and then came a silver flash as a cave fish flitted by.

“Dark!” Andovar cried, and the room went black yet again.

“Witness to the night, Andovar,” came Belexus’ request.

“By yer wish,” Andovar replied. A quiet hush held for a moment. Finally, when Andovar felt himself prepared, he raised his eyes in the blackness toward the crystal ball and called clearly, “Witness to the night!”

The room remained dark for a second. Then a crimson ball, a perfect representation of the setting sun, appeared low on the wall opposite the door and the room lit up accordingly. The ball sank quickly behind an illusionary landscape turning the western sky of the dome fiery red in a beautiful sunset highlighted by the black silhouette of a lone cloud.

Soon the red dissipated into the deep blue of dreamy twilight, and dots of light, stars, made their first twinkling appearance all about the sky. Blue deepened to black and soon a million stars shone clearly. The men stared in blank amazement as a huge, silvery moon rose on the wall directly behind them and made its way overhead. Soon it, too, disappeared behind the room’s horizon, and gradually the room began to lighten until the first rays of dawn peeped from the wall behind the men. With this first hint of sunlight, Andovar’s request was completed and the room faded to darkness.

“Light,” Andovar commanded to bring back the normal illumination.

“My God, Belexus,” Del whispered.

“Magnificent!” Reinheiser exclaimed. “I must know more.”

“Me sire’ll be glad ye’re pleased,” Belexus said, but he halted Reinheiser’s coming stream of questions with a wave of his hand. “Ye must be resting now,” he explained. “The night’s been winding long as we tarry and me and Andovar huv duties before dawnslight.”

“When will you return?” Del asked.

“On the two-morn, the day behind the morrow’s night,” Belexus answered. “We’ll be coming for ye when the time’s for going. Until then, ye stay here and rest. Ye’ll find yer food in a sack under the table o’er the bridge.”

“Steps go into the brook where it flows out o’ the room by the wall,” Andovar added, pointing to the wall on the right. “There’s for washing. Back against the pull, she’s drinkin’ clean.”

“Ask o’ the room as pleases ye,” Belexus said. “But be wary, for ’tis the strength o’ yer own mind that truly brings the changes.” His voice went low with seriousness. “And being a friend, I warn ye, hoping ye’ll heed me words: the tomes and scrolls across the way are alone for the eyes o’ Bellerian. They’ll no abide the gaze o’ any other.”

With that, the rangers bowed low in farewell and departed, and the four men heard Belexus lock the door behind him.

“Better than any planetarium I’ve ever seen,” Del declared with a wide smile, obviously enchanted with the place.

“I don’t get it,” Mitchell said, confused but certainly not enchanted. “They walk around with swords though they’ve got the technology to do this.”

“This room has nothing to do with technology, Captain,” Reinheiser offered.

“Oh, really,” Mitchell snapped, suspecting the direction of Reinheiser’s doubts. “Then how does it work?”

“The man Andovar named it,” Reinheiser answered, hesitating as if he was making a reluctant concession. “Magic.”

“You’re as sick as the rest of them,” the disgusted captain declared.

“Perhaps,” Reinheiser retaliated. “But I know what lies plain before me. Think of all that has happened to us,” he continued in open defiance. “You yourself carry the scars of bullet wounds that should have killed you instantly, and yet you stand here talking to me. How, Captain? How is that possible?”

“I don’t know!” Mitchell shouted. “Maybe they’re advanced medically-or maybe these scars aren’t real!”

“An illusion?” Reinheiser retorted. “Yes, of course, this whole experience could be an illusion. Or perhaps a dream.”

“Yes!” Mitchell cried, seeing the revelation.

“No!” Reinheiser shouted right back at him. “Don’t you see the trap, Captain? Why is this an illusion? Perhaps the illusion was our lives before the Unicorn.”

“That’s crap.”

“Of course it is,” Reinheiser agreed. “And it is also ridiculous to think that this land, Aielle, is imaginary. An image that persists for days, weeks, is not an illusion, it is reality. And as insane as this all seems, it is truly happening.”

“I wouldn’t expect this of you,” Del said to Reinheiser. “I mean, you being a scientist, devoted to laws and precise calculations. I didn’t think there was room in your world for something as illogical as all this.”

“Laws, measurements,” Reinheiser snorted. “They are only tools. They have their uses, but they are limited. No, there is something else here. I can feel it, I can taste it. There is a power here, a magic in the air, that the laws of science as we understand them cannot explain.”

“Bah!” Mitchell blurted, throwing up his hands and storming away.

Reinheiser shook his head, his ensuing smile reflecting pity for the ignorant man.

Despite the tense atmosphere, they all slept better that night than they had since the Halls of the Colonnae.