Hammer of the Gods

Chapter 17

THE ROD OF GOD

Chapter 10

Severed branch from Sacred Tree

Felled by Mimir it was said to be

Two Sons of Morning to garden they came

One left blind while the other left lame

Washed by water from the holy well

The branch inside great power doth dwell

“Only two days ago you would have laughed if I told you would be in a gnome city under the mountains. Am I right,” Uncle Tok said.

“That’s true, I suppose.” Jonah said wide-eyed.

Tok turned back to the gnome and said, “Atungitok, if I get out of my cell, is there a way to retrieve the keys?”

“Yes, I think I could distract the guards out front long enough for you to retrieve the keys off their place on the wall. After that, we would have to force our way past them. Promise me not to kill them, if possible. I am related to one of them.”

“Very well, I promise to try not to kill anyone and my family will do likewise, but if we must choose between our own lives, and those of the gnomes, we could be forced to kill them,” Tok replied. The older man’s salt-and-peppered hair was disheveled. He took a deep breath before he moved to one corner of the cell and sat down on a pile of moss. After closing his eyes, he started to murmur a chant under his breath, with his fingers crossed as he began to change. He shrunk in height and width, his long hair retracted and formed feathers, his nose elongated and became a beak, his clothes dropped off of him and in every sense a large bald eagle stood where he had been. The great-bird stretched its wings briefly then folded them and walked through the bars. He stepped off to the side furthest from the girls’ cell and shifted back into human form. Nanuk passed his uncle’s clothes through the cell bars and the Third Chief of Nome dressed once again.

“Follow me to the end of the hall. I will walk straight through the guard room visible. They will want to question me as they did not see me enter. I will not stop until I exit the far door. During that time, you must grab the keys and free yourselves. I will make an excuse that I was under orders from the chief and that I had forgotten I was invisible when I entered. That’s true, and they will believe me due to my reputation,” Atungitok said, looking a bit embarrassed.

“After you’re free, it should only be about thirty minutes before the next change of the guard, who will be bringing your breakfast. If you wait in the dark corners of these first two empty cells, it should be fairly simple to waylay them quietly and lock them up. Then, I believe we may have a chance since it is early. Gnomes are not morning folk so there will not be many out and about,” Atungitok said.

“You there, stop! Are you deaf, I said stop!” One of the little guards exclaimed as he and his companion rushed out the front door into the hallway to question Agungitok.

“Oh, you didn’t see me go into the cell block? I must have been invisible. Silly me. You know I do that sometimes. It was a mistake, I assure you.”

“Well, your reputation proceeds you Atungitok. What were you doing in there anyway?”

“Well the Chief ordered me to check on our guests and report back to him.”

The guards looked at one another and shrugged. “Very well, be on your way and don’t let it happen again.”

“Of course not, I will be more careful next time. I am sorry to have startled you.” Atungitok started to back away from them, bowing briefly before he tripped over his own feet and went down with a thump.

The guards laughed at him before turning and going back into their quarters. “Old Atungitok is always good for a laugh if for nothing else that is.”

Atungitok stood and brushed himself off, but he looked a bit sad at being mocked. He seemed to shrug off the feeling before quietly approaching the door. He placed one ear on its cold surface as he listened intently to the conversation within.

While the guards were questioning Atungitok, Uncle Tok slipped into the guardroom and grabbed the keys off the wall before moving down the hall and unlocked the cell doors. He quickly returned and placed the keys back on the hook and pulled the door shut behind him.

Atungitok went invisible when he heard the two new guards approaching from down the corridor. He stood across the hallway as they entered the guard room. After a brief exchange of information, the two small warriors who were at the end of the shift left the guardroom and made their way to the mead halls.

The humans hid in the darker corners of the two nearest cells and ambushed the new guards when they came to bring their breakfast.

Atungitok appeared through the open doorway as he turned visible.

Tok took the gnome swords which were little more than daggers to the humans. He kept one, and gave the other to Jonah. “My niece and nephew can take care of themselves without one of these.”

Jonah seemed to ponder over Uncle Tok’s words as he wolfed down some of the gnome food with Angelica.

Atungitok cautiously opened the guard room outer door and motioned them to follow him down a nearby stairwell. He called them close together and whispered, “I’ll lead, but will not go further ahead than where I can still see you. At each intersection, if it is clear, I’ll become visible, and motion you forward. Please try to stay quiet. The vault is two floors down, but on the level just below us is a kitchen for those who are on prison duty to use. We can stop there for some wine, which I will offer the guards near the vault. I’ll try and get them to play a game of Trip the Dwarf. While they are distracted, you must quietly subdue them. If they see you, they will turn invisible and run for help or in the least ring the alarm bell. Do you understand?”

They all nodded. Once they were down to the second level, they waited around the corner from the vault.

Atungitok whispered to the group as they gathered around him, “I will walk in and greet them with these bottles of wine and seat myself on the far side closest to the vault door. I will set one wine bottle on the chair next to me on the far side of the table and open the other. That way they will sit across from me with their backs facing you. Then you guys slip in and subdue them.”

They listened intently as Atungitok spoke cheerily to the guards. In front of a large iron door, two soldiers were seated at a rectangular table on stools facing one another. There were four of these elevated chairs, two on each side. Lanterns were located on the table and to either side of the door.

Atungitok was perspiring a little now and his eyes threatened to give him away, for he was struggling not to look towards the entrance. It gave him a wide-eyed, unnatural look as he used his peripheral vision to look towards the entryway, and his hands were trembling.

“What is wrong with you Atungitok? You seem nervous,” One guard asked as he stood up. The little gnome began to turn towards the entrance when his mouth, and that of his fellow were covered tightly by the large hands of Tok and Nanuk, who had crept up stealthily behind them.

At the same instant both gnomes disappeared. The two Inupiaq men did not release their struggling captives, who could be heard grunting over the scraping of the armored plates on the legs and arms. It was a challenge to tie the hands and feet of invisible gnomes but this was nothing compared to try and gag one while they were invisible. A brief squawk escaped ones mouth when Nanuk withdrew his hand briefly with a curse when his finger was bitten by invisible teeth. The stocky youth lost his temper at this point and hit his captive in the head with one fist. Immediately the limp body of the guard became visible and he was quickly gagged. The second gnome, seeing the fate of his comrade, seemed to decide to cooperate rather than be bashed by one of the giants from the outside world and became visible.

Jonah nervously peered into the hallway due to the ruckus, but quickly returned whispering that he saw nor heard any sign of other guards.

Atungitok made sure the gnomes could breathe before turning his attention to the vault door. “I am sorry, but the Chief has endangered us all. The anerwerk have commanded that the staff be turned over to these humans, but Aternerk Sangliak has refused. He risks bringing ruin on our people by doing so.”

A pained expression etched the little face of their new-found ally as he stood up from where he had knelt by the gaged and bound soldier. After looking at the group, Atungitok gave a sigh and motioned the others to the sealed door of the treasure room.

The entrance to the vault had symbols above it and a series of five levers protruded from the wall off to the left side.

Atungitok said, “The levers have to be pulled in the correct sequence for the door to open. If they are pulled in the wrong order, an inner slab of stone will slide into place. It will block the doorway and create quite a noise. We will have a thousand angry gnomes on us if that happens.”

Above the entry, from left to right, were symbols caved into the stone: a triangle like a hollow pyramid, then a square. Next, was a capital letter B, a five pointed star with a single point facing upwards, a vertical line and a period.

The group looked at Atungitok, and he realized they expected to him to interpret the symbols so he exclaimed, “Don’t look at me giants, only the Chief and his Vice Regent know the sequence of the levers and the meaning of the symbols.”

Uncle Tok, Nanuk and Lorne all said they had no clue. Jonah reached in his jacket, and pulled out the small Bible. Its pages were filled with notes and symbols which he had learned from his father and through his own studies.

“Well, fortunately these symbols are fairly straightforward, unless a gnome would interpret them differently. Many images have hidden meanings. For instance the triangle represents the number three, so, if that’s correct, and if gnomes read left to right… is that correct Atungitok?”

The gnome nodded.

Jonah continued, “If the symbols are meant to be read starting from the left to right, then the first lever to be pulled should be the third from the left. The square typically means the number four with its four sides, so the second lever we would pull would be the fourth from the left.” But I’m stumped about the letter B however.

Angelica murmured something to herself, and they turned towards her.

Angelica said, “A capital B can mean two! I remember Dad showing me some Greek and that the capital B meant two, so that must be the second lever, which we would pull third.” Her face was split by a wide grin as she smiled at her older brother.

“Yes, that’s it! Wow, Angelica, your head’s not just full of cotton after all!” Jonah exclaimed.

“Hey, watch it, Mr. Know-it-all. How does it feel to be outsmarted by your little sister this time?” Angelica said with a smug grin.

“Well, I’ll give you this one, Sis. I always hated the Greek parts of Dad’s lessons,” Jonah smiled and winked at his sister.

He looked up at the symbols again before speaking aloud. “A vertical line is fairly universal for one or the first lever from the left. The five pointed star with a single ray pointing up should be the fifth to pull.”

“What about the dot?” Lorne asked.

“That usually means finished. Of course we are dealing with Gnome here. I cannot think of a better translation of the symbols,” Jonah said.

Since the professor was the one who felt he knew the answer to the riddle, he should be the one to pull the small handles. With each shift of the little rods, there was a notable click on the other side of the door. Even in the cool of the caves, he was perspiring.

Atungitok was wringing his hands and trembled.

Nanuk stood guard at the entryway near the hall and looked back from the corner as Jonah pulled the levers apprehensively.

As he pulled the final lever, there were metal clunks as gears retracted from the wall into the door. As the door slowly swung open, there was a deep groan from the hinges as they carried the weight of the thick iron door. They peered through the doorway, but none seemed willing to be the first to enter.

Uncle Tok carefully positioned one of the chairs in the opening, just in case the door might close behind them.

There guards tied up near the table grunted their dissatisfaction, as they prepared to enter.

“Don’t forget that gnome gold is cursed, humans,” Atungitok reminded them.

The gnome was cautious as he entered the vault. He glanced around the room before motioning for Uncle Tok to follow him. “It’s clear.”

Once inside they noticed that this was a large room illuminated by a mix of red and gold light. The red luminescence shone through a finely woven cloth that seemed to be covering a round object, about the size of a softball that sat on a pedestal placed in the center of the room. Carved into the floor around the small pillar, were the reliefs of twelve tridents evenly spaced, pointing outward. Between each pair of tridents, were rays plated in gold. It gave the appearance of a sun. There were arches carved into the stone throughout the chamber, providing additional support to the ceiling above.

On the wall opposite the thick iron door was a window that was shuttered and barred from the inside with iron coverings. When the large metal cross bar was removed, and the latches holding the shutters in place were pulled back, the rectangular enclosures slid along metal tracks out to the sides. Once the window was opened, they could see iron bars like those of the cells they had been placed in earlier. As they took turns looking out the opening, they were impressed with a view of the Great Divide far below. From this vantage point, the group could see a bridge crossing a rift in the cavern floor. The deep crevice ran lengthwise across the floor of an enormous cavern. The stone causeway was covered in ice, and the far side of the chamber was shrouded in mist, barely visible. Gnome guards patrolled the near side of the bridge and the flats of the cavern floor. An orange glow came up from the depths of the Great Divide.

On the wall to their right was a throne where the Gnome Chief might sit and admire his wealth.

The vault was surprisingly organized. Elaborate containers had been formed along each wall and were covered in images of gnome kings: Each container held unique riches. The most common were gold coins, but some contained weapons, goblets, or various gems, each sorted by type. Most of the coins were gnome made, but there was a container full of other coins that were larger. They bore the image of a trident and a gem with what appeared to be rays of light shooting out in all directions.

“What type of coins are those there?” Jonah asked Atungitok as he pointed to the nearest container.

“Those? Those are filthy, rotten, stinking, smelly dwarf coins!” Atungitok stomped past the dwarven bin of coins as he cursed under his breath, kicking a gold plated archway. He then cried out, as he had hurt his foot. He hopped around, cursing in Gnome on one foot for a minute before continuing. He limped towards the pedestal in the middle of the room.

Angelica and Lorne giggled, putting their hands over their mouths so that the little man might not notice.

Angelica approached Atungitok and placed her hand on his small shoulder. “Are you ok?” She hesitated for a moment before continuing. “We haven’t said so, but we really appreciate what you’re doing. You’re risking everything to help us, and we are very grateful.”

He appeared shocked as he looked up at the human woman, “No one has ever said they appreciated anything about me.” He placed his little hand on top of Angelica’s and smiled.

The small group gathered around the pedestal in the center of the room. Atungitok reached up to remove the finely embroidered cloth covering.

When the fabric was removed, the party was temporarily blinded by vibrant red light that was emanating from the largest ruby that any of them had ever seen. The facets of the stone were perfect. Not a flaw could be seen in the red gem. Deep within the stone, the light seemed to begin to swirl, causing the red rays to dance around the room.

Atungitok spoke with both awe and disbelief. “The Gnome King’s Heart! It was rumored by the Chief that the gem was lost in the Great Divide when he used the Rod of God, but it has been found! I will take this as a bargaining chip if the need arises.”

He carefully wrapped the cloth back around the great stone and placed it in his backpack. The rest of the party began to search the room for the Rod of God. Atungitok began trying on armor and equipped himself with a beautiful short sword and a small shield. Then he noticed a small jewelry box. He looked around to check that no one was watching him.

He unclasped the latch. Inside the ornately decorated container of silver was a single, large, gold coin. He lifted it out carefully. On one side was the image of two hands reaching for one another with a coin in the air in between them. On the opposite side, the same two hands were there, only no coin was visible. He did not know what the significance of the coin was, but he decided since he was a gnome that there should be no harm if he took it. Atungitok placed the treasure in his pocket for safe keeping.

Jonah commented as he searched the chamber, “Legends say that a large ruby was placed atop of The Temple of the Holy Grail by King Arthur, so that his knights could be guided to the temple in the dark.”

He pondered over this for a moment and then followed the others as they armed themselves with the larger swords which must have been dwarven, along with a few spears and shields. Although the mortals seemed to question the origins of the larger weapons, none dared ask Atungitok for confirmation for fear of another outburst.

The shields were small for the humans, but better than nothing. The spears were about the size of crossbow bolts, too small to be of much use to any but gnomes for anything other than as a hand held stabbing implement. There was some chain mail which they surmised had originally belonged to dwarves that fit each of them under their parkas.

In one corner of the room was an elaborate glass case that was covered in gnome characters and runes. A red cloth stitched with gold thread covered the inside of the enclosure. Standing tall within was a staff that had leaves growing from small branches near the top. ‘The Rod of God.’ It was the only object in the room that would fit the description of the biblical walking staff of Moses and Aaron.

Jonah approached the case and opened the door. He reached for the staff and as his hand closed over it, a thousand images flashed through his mind. He saw events of bygone eras and of former wielders of the staff. Moses, Aaron, even Aternerk Sangliak and the acts performed with the rod were fresh in his mind. Overwhelmed he staggered back, nearly falling.

“Are you ok?” Angelica asked as she rushed over to support him.

“I am not totally sure what I just saw, but I think I had a vision when I touched the staff. I saw people using it over millennia. Some of the images seemed to show the miracles performed by what must have been Aaron and Moses, the prophets of the Biblical Exodus. I did recognize Aternerk Sangliak in the last image when he used it to form the Great Divide.”

As Jonah continued to hold the staff, he began running his hands and eyes up and down its length. He started to feel warmth emanate from the rod into his outstretched arms.

Atungitok interrupted the others, “Humans, we need to leave quickly! Patrols could show up here any moment. From here it is several levels up before we can reach the stairwell to the top of Enukin Ingik. More gnomes will begin waking up and opening their shops and going to work in the mines soon. Our chances of passing undetected are quickly dwindling.”

Jonah took one last look around thinking, Just maybe this could be the same ruby mentioned in the King Arthur stories, and if it is, then the Holy Grail might be…