Eric smiled ruefully and replied, “It’s been a little rough. We badly need training. We were just talking about that before you knocked. Some of it is easy enough, like horseback riding or swordsmanship, but for Matt and Anna…”
Eriana offered, “I can help Anna, certainly.”
“Are you able to heal her now?” Jack asked, the images of Anna in the hospital hard to get out of his head. He didn’t want to wait until she was summoned, and he really wanted her here with the rest of them. She all alone over there, kind of like Eriana had been for two decades with her unknown truth. Maybe they had more in common than he had realized. “She really needs it.”
“I know. I can help, but not all the way. I’m not that strong yet.”
Jack offered, “I can take you to the hospital anytime. Her parents let me go in and I can get you in. The minute you’re ready.”
“Sure, I would be happy to. I would really like to meet her. One thing I wanted to assure all of you about, especially her, is that I don’t think you need to worry about her health long term. Once you are summoned again, the summoning spell will fully heal her.”
“We were talking about that earlier,” admitted Ryan. “Are you positive? There isn’t a limit on that? It even fixes paralysis?”
“Yes. As long as you’re still alive, it will completely heal you. The spells in the Quest Ring are powerful. I put the healing ones in there myself.”
Looking visibly relieved, Eric said, “Thank you. This is beyond great to know. We’ve all been so worried. What questions do you have for us that we haven’t answered?”
Eriana looked away for a few moments and then admitted, “I’m not sure you can answer some, but together we might figure out a few things, either now or as this continues.” She pursed her lips again. “I assume you know by now that your substitution appears to be consistent, possibly permanent. Ours was until a uniquely powerful spell and situation ended the cycle. I don’t know how you can get out of it. We didn’t know for a long time, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. Soliander was very determined and is the smartest, most resourceful person I’ve ever known, and even he couldn’t figure it out until the end. I’m sorry.”
“The worst part,” Ryan started, “is that based on what you’ve told us, we would need a spell to stop magic from working on Earth again, to once again break the cycle. I don’t suppose it’s in Soliander’s spell books?”
Matt shook his head. “Saw nothing like that, and it was Merlin’s spell, anyway. I don’t have Soliander’s spell books either. That raises a question for you, Eriana.”
“Sure.”
“We can never bring anything back with us, so I have been trying to memorize spells, then write them down here. We also never keep the items we’re wearing or using. Is that supposed to happen?”
She shook her head. “No. We could bring things back whether the Quest Ring’s spell sent us home or if Soliander personally brought us back. I don’t know why that is happening, but it might be related to the other, more pressing issue, the one that resulted in Anna’s hospitalization. You don’t have Home Rings, I’m assuming.”
“Home Rings?” Eric looked surprised, but Matt’s face registered sudden awareness.
Seeing his expression, Eriana offered, “Each of us had one at our home. The Quest Ring sent us back to our individual Home Ring every time. Since the four of you don’t have them, it appears to be returning you to where you were before being summoned.”
Groans of realization came from all but Matt, who said, “We need to figure out how to create these immediately. Otherwise, this is a consistent, huge problem. It almost got Anna killed and certainly isn’t great for the rest of us. We were just realizing we can never go anywhere in a car for fear of this happening.”
“Or a plane,” Ryan interjected.
Jack asked, “Was that spell in Soliander’s books? How to create a Home Ring?”
Matt sighed. “Don’t think so, but I feel like I understand parts of it. We need soclarin ore to make them.”
“Yes,” Eriana acknowledged. “You said Lorian took some on Honyn on your behalf. You should contact him when able and see if he can come here.”
“Still don’t know the spell really,” observed a nodding Eric.
Riana said, “Listen, I have a private investigator I trust, and he is the one who was able to find out you might be staying here. Ryan, when your attorney got you out of jail, we got his name and used it to look for credit card purchases, which led to this hotel. I’m sorry for snooping, but I had to find you guys, and you have been missing, whether you’ve been hiding from the police or press.”
Ryan waved her off. “It’s fine. But if you found us, someone else could.”
“Yes,” she admitted, “that’s what I’m getting at. Now, my guy did some illegal things to achieve this and the police wouldn’t be able to without a good reason, but you guys cannot stay here indefinitely. Check out sooner, even tonight. I could get a room for all of you within walking distance. It would not be traceable to any of you.”
She saw encouraged expressions and Eric said, “That’s an excellent idea.”
“I can repay you,” Ryan began, but she waved him off.
“Don’t worry about it. I purposely married a wealthy banker who lets me do what I want, more or less.”
“You’re married?” Jack asked in disappointment. He hadn’t meant to react that way, and her broad smile made him blush. “I just assumed… well, I don’t know what. I guess you’ve been here long enough with little hope of your old life returning that you moved on? Settled down.”
She conceded he was right. “No one wants to be alone forever.”
Eric asked, “I assume your husband doesn’t know the truth about you?”
“No. Not yet. Will cross that bridge when I come to it, probably relatively soon.”
“Before you got here,” Ryan began, “we were talking about setting up a long-term base where we can train, and not be bothered. Is this something you can help with? I mean, we don’t know about buying estates and we were thinking my attorney can help. My family has the money, but I can’t really arrange it if I’m disappearing all the time.”
She nodded. “Absolutely. It’s another thing that can be done in my name. If you like, you can always be a kind of silent partner where you name is not recorded on the deed or a mortgage, and no funds from you are involved in any way that can be traced, but you are an owner.”
“Yes, something like that.”
“There’s always my apartment in the meantime,” Jack offered. “It’s not really big enough, but it can work before we get somewhere bigger. That way you’re not in a hotel, which is kind of busy. Lots of traffic.”
“I think that is a good idea,” agreed Eriana. “Why don’t you switch rooms tonight, and tomorrow you’ll all go to his apartment. We can start planning a base for you. And I can go visit Anna with Jack.”
No one disagreed with this and they set things in motion, their minds too full for more revelations. Eriana got them a hotel suite across the road and, with Jack’s help, took over all of their suitcases so that they could essentially sneak in a side door, climb the stairs, and head inside while drawing fewer eyes. They walked over to do this to minimize the risk of being in a moving car when summoned, so Jack moved their cars. Then Eriana left for her own hotel.
In the morning, Jack loaded their bags into his trunk, Eriana arrived to check them out, and then she followed Jack as he drove the guys to his apartment. The twenty-minute trip made everyone nervous, but they weren’t summoned along the way and finally relaxed once inside. They spent some time hooking up Eriana’s phones to their new numbers and otherwise making some plans on what to do when they all disappeared again.
Now it was time to see what Eriana could do for Anna. She wouldn’t predict the amount of healing that would come, remarking that her strength with it seemed to ebb and flow like a tide as magic slowly returned to Earth. The hope was to get Anna out of any rem
aining danger, but it relieved them to discover on arrival that she had improved overnight, enough that the hospital began considering if they should remove her from ICU. Jack hoped Eriana would ensure this happened today. He felt grateful even before they reached Anna’s room, her parents not having arrived yet, which Jack knew because he’d talked to them this morning. He purposely made it here first to minimize explanations about who Eriana was. They planned to do their thing and then the priestess, at least, would leave so that Jack could talk with Anna’s parents. For now, he intended to claim ignorance about where Matt, Eric, and Ryan were. There were just too many things to explain.
“Let me go in first,” Jack whispered to Eriana, who was peeking around the door at Anna. She nodded and Jack slipped inside the familiar room, with its whirring and beeping machines, various wires and tubes like an IV attached to the patient. A TV high on one wall, and which he hadn’t noticed before, quietly played a movie that Anna didn’t appear to be watching, her gaze far away until she noticed Jack, when she smiled a moment. He knew concern likely shone from his face but, with an effort, he forced it away, because the woman he’d brought with him had brought hope with her.
“Hey,” Jack began gently, gripping her hand, the one that wasn’t part of a broken arm. Her fingers didn’t react, and he wondered if she even felt it. “How are you doing?”
“Not great,” she admitted, eyes going to their hands together. She met his gaze with a sad resignation, and he knew she didn’t feel it.
“Well, I’m not going to waste any time with my announcement, because it’s very important to me and the others that you feel hopeful about your future.”
“I could use some good news,” she admitted. “How are the boys?”
“Great, except they’re worried about you, but we have reason to be excited. There’s someone very special I want you to meet. We met her last night, and she’s a game changer.” He looked back to see Eriana coming in to the other side of the bed. With any luck, that benevolent radiance exuding from her would work on his friend like it did on him, even before a healing spell. “Remember when you asked me to bring you a priest? Well, I found a better one.”
“Hello Anna.” Eriana gripped her other hand, smiling fondly at her. “It’s so very nice to meet you.”
“Who are you?”
“On this world, I’m known as Erin Jennings. But on my own and many others, I go by many names. The Lady Hope. The Blessed One. The Light Bringer. I am Eriana of Coreth, one of the Ellorian Champions that you and your friends have been impersonating without meaning to.” As Anna stared up at her in a mixture of disbelief and curiosity, Eriana pulled the gold scarf from around her neck to reveal the Amulet of Corethian. “I understand you wear a copy of my amulet when you are summoned. And I’m sure you wear it well. I know you must have many questions, but your parents will have more if they see me in here, and so Jack and I have come before they arrive in a short while.”
Anna’s eyes went to Jack, who grinned at her and answered the question he assumed she wanted to ask. “Yes, it’s really her. We’ve learned a ton last night, but right now, it’s important for her to heal you before your parents get here.” He saw sudden hope appear in her eyes, which went to Eriana with a desperation that hurt to see.
“Can you really heal me?”
“Yes,” Eriana replied, “enough to get you out of ICU, anyway. For the rest of your injuries, you will need to wait until you are summoned again. I want to assure you, as I did your friends, that the Quest Rings will fully heal you. Anna, you will not be paralyzed for long.”
Tears sprang into Anna’s eyes and down her cheeks.
“We all forgot about that,” Jack confessed. “And I think you might have, too.” She nodded wordlessly, still crying, Eriana wiping her tears away.
“Thank you,” Anna whispered, overcome. “Thank you. It is so nice to meet you.”
“Rest a moment and I will do what I can to improve your health. Just close your eyes, sweet one.”
Anna did as she was told, her breathing deep from emotion. They heard whispered words to a God Anna had never believed in, longer than what Eriana had said to heal Eric’s hand the night before. The soft glow surrounded her as Jack watched in amazement, thinking he’d never tire of seeing this. The superficial wounds on Anna’s face slowly faded, her complexion bore more color, and the fingers Jack held onto flinched, then curled around his. He squeezed in excitement and looked at Eriana, full of wonder. She had healed at least some of the paralysis, despite her earlier cautions. He wanted to ask Anna to wiggle her toes, but as he looked back at her, it was apparent that she had fallen asleep.
“Rest, Anna,” whispered Eriana. “We will meet again soon. You are not alone and have much help.”
Jack beamed at the healer and mouthed a thank you. She smiled in return and excused herself, leaving him alone with Anna, whose parents arrived ten minutes later to find him still standing there. They noticed the missing cuts on her forehead, but he quickly distracted them by observing that she had squeezed his hand. Her mother didn’t seem to believe it until Jack replaced his hand with hers, and a sleeping Anna closed her fingers around it. Her parents hugged each other in relief and he gave them privacy and quit while he was ahead, so he left. He’d return later to fill her in on everything they’d learned.
In the meantime, he went home, where Eriana and the boys were jointly looking up real estate listings on a laptop hooked to his TV as a big monitor. They found several estates for sale north of Darnestown in a rural area that was still only minutes away from shopping centers. Some were better suited to their needs than others. One was especially nice, with an old house, a newer one, and a large indoor riding ring attached to a barn that had several apartments. There were riding trails and several open fields, one of which was out of sight behind a line of trees. That would make for a good archery range. The land had some forest on it, as well.
With Eric, Matt, and Ryan leery of going anywhere in case they were summoned or seen, Eriana and Jack called the realtor to see up a visit while they brainstormed things they needed to consider in a property. They also video-called Quincy and Daniel to introduce Eriana to get their “Earth team,” as Eric called them, working together more. They made rough plans for a moving truck to grab all the gear at the guest house.
Just when it seemed like everything was moving in the right direction, Matt excused himself to the bathroom, and no sooner did the toilet flush than Eric and Ryan, who were seated neck to Jack, began to softly glow and then vanish. Jack sighed, then remembered that Anna should have just been healed all the way. He went to the bathroom to find the sink running and a soap bottle knocked over. As expected, Matt was gone, the toilet still refilling. He returned to the couch and sat.
Jack looked at Eriana and joked, “Does the summoning spell wash your hands, too?”
Darron felt uneasy. He had watched enough TV since arriving that he understood this world treated children with a far softer touch than anywhere else. Not being the fatherly type, he had no kids of his own and never intended to change this. Sure, he might father a brat or two, and probably already had, but they would be on their own, unless their mothers looked after them. He had no sense of how to handle a child and could not have cared less about it.
And so he stood on the edge of the park where children were playing on various metal bars, plastic slides, and a wide lawn, their parents standing idly by or slouched on benches, chatting together. He counted two dozen of the little monsters and amused himself with thoughts of which spells he could cast on them. The sleep spell was the more benevolent and therefore only brought a frown to his dark face, but fiery darts, a wall of flames, or making the Earth swallow them whole all cheered him. The thought of summoning creatures to chase and devour them made him laugh, the sinister sound chilling even a few adults nearby.
They were watching him, he knew. There seemed to be no help for that. Unless he had a child of his own to watch, he seemed to attract attention.
Observation suggested no adults were here without one, and this had resulted in him being singled out. Why did these parents care? Something called an Amber Alert had been issued that morning, raising his awareness of kidnapping and worse. Where he came from, a missing child had typically been eaten by something. A missing kid on Earth hardly seemed worth getting upset over.
Maybe these parents could tell he wanted to do something to their brats. People were too sensitive. He wasn’t going to actually do anything, of course. Zoran would’ve killed him for attracting any attention. And yet he was somehow doing that, anyway.
But he wasn’t leaving. He had a job to do, and overprotective parents ranked last on any list of dangers he had faced over the years. The thought made him laugh again. They were like arrogant children if they thought they posed a threat to anyone, least of all him or those with whom he kept company. They knew nothing of being in genuine danger, and yet they had enough sense to be afraid of him. Exuding menace was a trait he had used to keep people in line before, but now it seemed likely to cause problems and he resented having to stifle his natural inclination for these people.
Darron turned his attention back to the apartment building across the two-lane street from the park. He and Zoran had now visited the homes of Ryan, Anna, Eric, and Matt, but not gone inside. Each time Zoran arrived at a location, the memories of Matt in his head coalesced into something more understandable, making entering unnecessary. From news reports, Darron now knew what the four looked like. His time lurking at the hospital had resulted in seeing a young man and middle-aged blonde woman exiting Anna’s room separately. Not knowing their identities, he had followed the man for a time, turning himself into a raven once outside to more easily track his car from above. On describing the man to Zoran, his master unceremoniously cast the Mind Trust spell on him long enough to see for himself, announcing the identity of Jack.
“What of the woman?” Darron had asked.
Zoran waved him off. “I didn’t look. A middle-aged woman is of no importance to me.”
The Light Bringer: An Epic Fantasy Adventure Novel (The Dragon Gate Series Book 2) Page 24
