Chapter Twelve: The Keystone

Rainbow and Candace followed Mason through Valeera.
“So,” Rainbow began. “Why is everyone terrified of us?”
Mason smiled. “Well, for one thing, your clothes are…um…interesting.”
The girls looked at each other and grinned. Candace laughed. “I guess they are a little different, huh?” she said, looking at Mason’s outfit, then at her and Rainbow’s jeans and T-shirts. He laughed. A musical laugh.
“Just a little,” he replied. “But I can help you with that. Another thing is your hair.”
“So does everyone here have black hair?” Rainbow asked curiously.
“Yep,” he casually answered.
Quickening their pace, the three began to walk to the outskirts of the town. When they came to the edge of the forest, Mason halted. Turning toward them, he looked a little suspicious.
“Can,” he began. “Can I trust you girls?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Well, thanks a lot!”
“No, really,” he said.
Mason began to look straight into their eyes in the same freaky way his sister did. The girls began to feel strange.
“Of course,” Rainbow finally said. Mason stared at them a while longer, as if unsure about taking their word for it. Seemingly making up his mind, he turned and walked toward a purple boulder, about waist high. Opening his pouch, he took out a clear stone in the shape of a heart. It was as smooth as glass and rounded. The sun’s rays hit it and the stone seemed to absorb the light, and sparkle of its own accord.
“This only works if the sunlight touches it,” Mason breathed, turning back to the girls, who were staring at the stone with eyes as big as saucers. He held the stone up and said, “This is the Keystone of Sunlight. I am the Keeper of the Keystones.” He again looked intently at Rainbow and Candace. “Tell no one of this.” The girls, holding their breath, nodded.
Mason stepped over to the purple boulder. Rainbow and Candace stood on either side of him, looking over his shoulders. They now noticed that there was an indentation of a heart in the boulder, hardly visible. Mason set the Keystone on the dent. It fit perfectly and sunk in about a half of an inch. When it did, a beam of light shone out and nearly blinded them, and they covered their eyes. At the same moment, they all heard a low grinding noise. Then the light seemed to go back into the stone, and the three were able to look at the boulder again. The Keystone was sparkling on the boulder like a diamond with a thousand facets. Rainbow and Candace looked down and gasped. The noise they heard was the boulder moving back. Where it once was, there was a gaping hole in the ground, with dirt and rocks falling in. mason glanced at the girls.
“Follow me,” he said in a leading voice. To the girl’s horror, he jumped into the dark hole. However, instead of falling fathoms down as they expected him to, Mason stood about chest-high in the hole. He looked up at Rainbow, and held out his hand to her.
“Come on,” he urged. She looked unsure, and turned her head to look at Candace.
Candace smiled. “You can do it, Rainy,” she assured her, knowing that Rainbow had a fear of darkness. Rainbow looked back at Mason, who still had his arm outstretched to her. Taking a deep breath, she took his hand and stepped inside. The hole was only about three feet wide, so she was now standing awkwardly close to Mason.
“Um, you’ll have to duck and go in there until Candace gets down,” he said, pointing to the side of the hole closest to Rainy. There was a tunnel there, pitch-black.
Rainbow swallowed. “Okay.” She crouched down and kneeled on the dirt just inside the tunnel. Mason helped Candace down into the hole.
“Okay, Rainbow,” he said. “Switch places with me.” Bending down, he waited for Rainbow to crawl out of the tunnel and stand up next to Candace. Mason then crouched down and, stepping into the tunnel, reached about four down it and pulled out a torch, unlit. Putting his hand in his pouch, he pulled out a match. After lighting the torch, Mason took the Keystone off the rock and put it into his pouch again. He began to walk down the tunnel, which had stairs leading down further.
“Follow me,” he called back, his voice sounding strange echoing through the hole. Rainbow took one last look at Candace, who gave her a reassuring smile and followed Mason down. Candace brought up the rear, and immediately after she entered the tunnel, the purple boulder began to slide over the hole. Soon, the only light was the flickering torch.
As Mason led the girls down the tunnel, which soon leveled out, he began to tell them what it was for, and where it led.
“This is the passageway to Pethochos.”
Candace and Rainbow exchanged a look. Candace prodded him on. “Which is…?”
He began. “About five years ago, one of the leaders of Trenadonia-“
“What’s that?” Rainbow interrupted. Instead of answering right away, Mason stopped, handed the torch to Candace, and reached into his pouch. He pulled out a yellowed scroll and unrolled it. Candace lifted the torch up closer to the scroll, and they now see that it was a detailed map.
The map was called Keenzendura, All the southeastern corner of the map had inscribed over it in elite letters, “Trenadonia.” The other side, the northwestern part, was called Balorgrah, and right in the center of Balorgrah was a large, dark castle called Direstein. However, on the Trenadonian side, right along the border of Balorgrah, surrounded by what looked like cliffs, was a fortress with the name Pethochos written beside it. A squiggly line came from the center of it, went through the mountains, and ended at a boulder just outside of a small town, the town Valeera.
“We live in Trenadonia, which translates to ‘Realm of Light’. Our enemies, the Balorgrans, abide in Balorgrah, the ‘Realm of Darkness’.” Mason paused, and Rainbow, glancing at his face, thought she saw a sad look in his deep eyes. The boy blinked, shook his head slightly, and continued.
His finger tracing the squiggly line, Mason said, “This the passageway to the secret fortress of Trenadonia, Pethochos. We are standing in it as we speak. I am taking you to Pethochos.”
Now understanding the land of Keensendura somewhat, the girls were ready to hear the story. The group began walking after Mason had put away the map. Taking the torch back from Candace, he again led the way.
“Okay,” he began again. “About five years ago, one of the leaders of Trenadonia, a girl named Valrone, grew tired of being one of the many leaders of Trenadonia, for one of our laws is that not one, but several must be leaders. None of them could pass a law, give an order, or do anything without consulting the others first. But Valrone wanted more. She longed to be the only ruler over this beautiful land, but of course, it was not allowed. One day, she tried to murder the other leaders.”
Mason winced. “She killed one, but the others escaped. Valrone was then banished from Trenadonia. She was only eighteen years old. Before her rebellion, Valrone was loved by everyone. Her long, curly black hair fell like silk down her back. Her coal-black eyes pierced to the soul. Her soft, pale skin seemed to glow. Her scarlet lips shaped the soft sounds of her gentle and soothing voice. When excited, her cheeks would blush bright red. It was then that she was most beautiful. No one ever thought Valrone would do what she did.”
Here Mason paused again, and Rainbow thought, she saw tears in his eyes. “When she was banished, she took as many Trenadonians as possible with her. All the surrounded towns she turned to ruins, save Valeera. Valrone would attack them, and then force the people to serve her. If they refused, she killed them. Since her banishment, the province of Balorgrah, her territory she formed, has grown stronger. She declared herself empress over Keensendura.
“Seeking to find all people of this land, the Trenadonians have built Pethochos, a secret fortress. The captain of out warriors, Lander, fears that she has somehow discovered Pethochos. So he sent two spies into Balorgrah to see if she does indeed know, and hopefully hear her plans. We don’t know what became of the two of them.”
Mason stopped. Rainbow decided to ask a bold question.
“Mason,” she began. “I’m sorry if this a…personal question, but…why do you become so sad speaking of these things?”
Mason drew in a shaky breath. “Because,” he replied in a quivery voice. “Valrone…is my sister.”