The Ancients

"No we don't!" said Carola. "That's what we were trying to tell you."

"You are young. You are weak. If you knew who we are you would not resist us."

Carola took a deep breath. She looked into the captain's eyes and tried not to blink. "All right. So what are you?"

"We are the eldest. You have called us the Ancients."

Jarlath gasped. "I can't believe it. The Ancients! Why didn't I think of it! That magic that Vaeren had, it was too alien for Allarian magic, even Vjorician magic. I'd never heard of anything like it before. The Ancients!"

"The who-what now?" said Matthias.

"The Ancients!" shouted Jarlath. "Most people think that the Elves are the oldest sentient beings native to this world, who are merely a legend to most humans now, and have all but left the worlds of men. But the Ancients are who the Elves spoke of in their legends, so I've heard. The wizards say that in the eldest days, warm-blooded things were few and small and there were great Terrible Lizards that walked the earth, and dark Things from beyond the stars. And they say that some of these Lizards came to walk like men and learned magic and other arts which we do not know and became wise and proud, and one day they all but died, when a great comet destroyed them. The Dragons are their descendants, a pitiful remnant of what once was. But no one thought they were alive!"

"Yes," said the captain.

Carola shivered at the vast gulf of time that loomed before her. "You are young. You are weak." Were the Ancients talking about them, or about humankind? And when he said "yes" did he mean that what Jarlath had said the wizards had said was right, or just that they had said it? But if what Jarlath had said was right... "You're... the last ones... aren't you?" She put all her strength into her voice but it sounded quiet and small. "That's why you don't want anyone to know about you. You're scared." She felt much more confident now that she knew that these unimaginably ancient and strange beings knew fear.

The captain said nothing, merely hissing. "Yes," he finally said. "We are the first and the last. No one must know of us."

"But--but--you're more powerful than the Dragons," said Jarlath. "What are you scared of?"

"Not you," said the captain. "Not you?" What did he mean by that? Did he mean the Brazen Man, or was there something even worse behind him?

"I think... maybe... we have the same enemy," said Carola. She was taking an enormous risk by what she was about to do. But if there was one thing she had learned in the last few days (had it really only been three days since they'd escaped the caves?) it was that they couldn't accomplish anything without taking risks. As a daughter of Aqualaria, she'd always known that. But this was something else entirely. She closed her eyes and felt the power of the Pyramid flow through her. Carried on the wave of that power, she touched the captain's mind. And screamed. It was so ancient, so cold... She pulled off before she had even begun to plumb its terrible depths.

The captain hissed louder than he ever had before. Then it said:

1. "You are a part of the Pattern. You will live."
2. "Your enemy is our enemy. We cannot help you. This is a path you must walk. But we will send one of our own to guide you."
3. "You are a pawn of the Guardians. You are the Keeper of the Balance. You will die."
4. Before it could speak, Carola felt that strange presence behind her once more. [49377] The captain screamed. "It comes! It comes!"

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