by Jamie Hawke
Both Ebrill and Kordelia looked at her anxiously and with more than a little pity. When she realized they weren’t chanting with her, she frowned, glaring at me first, then back to them.
“What?” she asked.
“It’s not going to work that way,” Ebrill explained. “Avalon has changed. It was gone, but he,” she nodded my way, “brought it back.”
“Why should that change how it’s accessed?” I asked.
“It’s… complicated,” Aerona said, eyes narrowing as they roamed over me. “Who are you?”
“I explained,” Ebrill hissed. “You know who he is.”
“Yes, I understand. He is the man who came back to our time, and he was a lot of help back then. He has powers that allow him to alter his surroundings, in a sense—like an alchemy of life, but not exactly. I remember him from before, but… what I don’t understand is why one man should hold so much power.”
“It’s not like I’m that powerful,” I countered, and everyone in the room scoffed.
“Jericho…” Ebrill stepped over to me, taking my hand and expanding her wings slightly so that I wasn’t looking past her at the others, only at her. “You silly man. Do you realize what you’re capable of? If you would allow yourself, transmutation alone is… incredibly powerful. But more than that, you restored Avalon. You have the ability to reach into its vast stores of power. Of creating access points, of deciding who comes and goes. At least, for now.”
Not sure how to process all of that, I said, “For… now?”
“What she’s saying is,” Aerona cut in, “nothing lasts forever. It’s what I’m worried about, regarding my lead.” We turned to her, and she continued, “The longer we connect with Avalon, the more likely those others are to find the connection. It’s like, imagine you open a door and there’s light. The only way others will see the light is if they’re in the right place to do so, but stumble around blindly long enough, it’s likely they’ll find it.”
“You’re saying I create some sort of magical footprint,” I replied, trying to understand. “One they could, in theory, latch onto and use to access the powers of Avalon as well?”
“Even return to Avalon, yes,” Ebrill chimed in. “When Avalon was cut off from this world, the other side was expelled. It was… a major blow.”
“But the simple fact is,” Kordelia added, “that without access to Avalon, we can’t hope to find the rest of our team. We can’t hope to stand against the remaining nine, including Thiten. She’ll come for us, for you, there’s no doubt about it. You have to be ready.”
“And ready means…?”
“Have a team. Access Avalon only when absolutely necessary. In and out. Even accessing its magical boosts—keep it to a minimum.”
“Agreed,” I said, and then pulled the Liahona from my jacket pocket. Sometimes I felt like a doofus wearing my jacket around in the summer heat, but for the convenience of having a storage place for this magical item, it was worth it. At one point I had considered replacing the red jacket with something more subtle so as to not stand out, but then I remembered the company I kept. No point, really.
Closing my eyes, I focused on the magic of the Liahona, on creating a portal to Avalon. When I opened my eyes again, a shimmering purple and blue oval hovered in the middle of the room. With nods all around, we entered one by one, me last.
We emerged into the land of Avalon very much like I remembered it. Not from the chaos and destruction as we had left the place, but from the rolling hills and lush greens as I had first seen it.
I turned to the see the portal behind us. Aerona eyed it with worry, before saying, “It’ll stay, I’m afraid. Not exactly like this, but we’ve just created a new way for others to access this land.” I grunted, annoyed that she felt the need to remind us of this as if we had a choice. Catching on, she added, “Sorry.”
“Which way?” I asked.
“I was stone here until you brought me back, but not… dead.”
“You were conscious?” Ebrill asked in horror. “I wasn’t—maybe in a dream sense, but never aware of my surroundings or that I was a basically a statue.”
“Same,” Kordelia added, eyeing Aerona with skepticism.
“It was… different,” Aerona admitted. “But yes, I was aware at times. In and out. I imagine it was the magic of this place, but I was here all along, sensing the time passing, the flow of magic around me. I felt the moment you two were ripped away,” she made eye contact with Ebrill and Kordelia, “and it was later—some spell from the other world that pulled you from here.”
“My aunt—er, Gertrude?” I asked.
She nodded. “Maybe, or it could have been the enemy, but Gertrude intercepted. I wish she were here to ask. But the point is, I felt it, and there were others that I never felt leave. Such as Yennifer.”
“There weren’t many others,” I pointed out, racking my mind.
“Not in our little group,” she admitted. “But there were other groups, naturally. The ones with Pintras, Megha… the Princess Artian, they were all fighting, and remained. Or… kind of…”
For the first time in her little speech, Aerona’s eyes showed doubt.
“Kind of?” Ebrill asked.
“It was like some were with me, others half-there, half somewhere else. Maybe they weren’t there at all, but some sort of magical imprint? I can’t be sure, because I was stuck in the stone. But now we can find answers.”
“You still sense them?”
“I was here so long, I remember exactly where I felt them from. In which directions.”
“And… Rianne?” I asked. “She’s here?”
“We can find out.”
Setting out, we moved along the ridge, looking down over the waters that had receded and showed thick mists beyond. The wind blew but didn’t bring the smell of the sea as I expected, instead it was more of a flowery scent.
“I thought Avalon was back?” I said. “Back… where?”
“You opened the connection again,” Aerona said. “Brought it back to the point of being accessible. But back like it once was, actually part of your world? Rianne had never intended that. It’s too… dangerous, in a sense.”
“I see.”
At a point where the rocks and grassy slopes converged below, I saw what had once been the Heart of the Mountain—the spot where we had been led into a curse. Where I had taken the Liahona, left this land and time for mine, and in so doing exiled the dark forces that had been aligned against us.
Now, it was nothing more than a mound of rocks with a lone tree growing from the top, moss and patches of grass on one side, the other bare. Beyond, the hills rose high in jagged formations, wisps of clouds swirling over them and a lake at their base.
“It’s more beautiful than I remember,” I noted, watching the clouds move gently toward us.
“It can never be as beautiful as I remember,” Ebrill replied, voice deep with sorrow. Her fellow gargoyles’ expressions conveyed that same emotion.
“Come,” Aerona said, leading the way down toward the Heart. We descended the rocky hillside, finally coming to the end and pausing to look around again. I sensed it now, too, the reason for their sorrow. This place was like a graveyard to them. While some had made it and others, like them, had been turned into gargoyles, many had been lost. The enemy, who one could always hope might come over to your side in the end if left alive long enough, had suffered a large defeat that day.
We found that the ground had been carved up in patterns that spiraled outward from the center where I had been. Maybe from the water, or perhaps it was the magic that had caused the deep grooves in the stone. Walking among them, we came to a spot where Aerona knelt, indicating clawed footprints in the stone.
“Some sort of…” I started.
“Animal?” She grinned, looking up at me. I had already realized my mistake halfway through the sentence, which is why I had stopped. With a shake of her head, she let it go. “Only if you consider me one. This was my spot. Whic
h means,” she stood, eyes scouring the surrounding area. “Come.”
Going along the channel and turning right, we crossed several more before finding a spot that dipped into a cavern below, the water lapping at slick stone. The gargoyles couldn’t fit in there with their wings, but I lowered myself, almost falling in.
“Do you see anyone?” Ebrill asked, face appearing in the opening above. “Anything?”
“No,” I said, eyes moving along the stone wall, the way it curved down and then broke off into the water. Nothing else. Kneeling at the stone’s edge, I looked over to see if it was any different down there.
Turquoise water, dark. Movement like a shadow… then eyes flashing red and robes flowing. I stumbled back, landing on my ass and cursing. When I looked again, though, it was gone.
“What was it?” Ebrill asked.
“I thought I saw something, but… it’s gone.”
“Might not be,” Aerona’s voice chimed in. “In the water?”
“That’s right.”
“This was one of the energies that I felt but in a disconnected way.” She appeared now, nudging Ebrill aside. “Can you… make contact?”
“You mean go into the water?”
“Touch it, at any rate.”
I groaned. “You’re saying there’s something in the water… and you want me to put my hand in there to see what happens?”
“Magic works in specific ways. If you can make a connection, you might be able to channel some energy that lets you communicate with whoever it is or—”
“Okay, okay.” I sighed, hating that I had to get wet by lying down on the rocks to do this. A moment later though, I had my hand over the side, reaching to feel the water. Warm, pleasant. At first. A surge of cold ran through it and then up my arm, which I withdrew immediately.
“I await your visit,” a voice said in a whisper, the chill leaving me.
“It’s gone,” Aerona said. “What’d you do?”
“A voice,” I told her, repeating the words.
She growled, then moved out of the way so Kordelia could help me back up.
“What do you make of it?” Ebrill asked Aerona.
“Part of someone stayed behind, but they moved on,” Aerona said. “Might be like splitting a soul, or might be that they knew something was summoning them, so left only a small part in hopes of us coming along and using that as a clue. I don’t know.”
The other locations where Aerona had felt a presence were empty, not even offering us as much as whatever it was that had been in the water. At least one more stone set of footprints had been there, meaning another gargoyle had been pulled from this place, although we didn’t know where he or she would be or whether the enemy had managed to wake it.
About to give up on this idea, I felt a warmth in my heart. It lingered a moment, then pulled, so I followed. The others asked what was going on, but I motioned them along and they followed. A moment later we were cresting a nearby ridge and there was a light coming our way.
“Rianne,” Aerona said, and bowed her head. The rest of us followed her lead, and when we looked up Rianne was there, light fading until she looked almost as she had when we last saw her.
“You’ve accomplished much,” she said, eyeing me with pride. “But there is much left to do.”
“I’m ready,” I said.
“How can I help you?” She turned to each of us, eyeing Steph with curiosity, but lastly turning to Aerona. “Ah, I see that you felt the connection.”
“We’d hoped returning here would lead us to the others,” Aerona said.
“If they hadn’t been taken already, it would have,” Rianne replied. “Alas, you are too late. The enemy has been hard at work, although I am happy to see that Gertrude managed to bring two of you to her before they could.”
“And me?” Aerona asked. “Why didn’t I end up somewhere else?”
“You have always had the strongest connection to Avalon. That is, until he used the Liahona.” She nodded at me. “You have it now?”
I pulled it out, holding it in my hand for her to see.
“Very good.” She nodded. “Continue to keep it safe. It will be the key to accessing the power of this world, you will see soon enough. But… now that the connection is open, I have a secret way of helping you with its security.”
With a wave of her hand, the Liahona vanished. I opened my mouth, confused, but she held up her hands to stop me. “Don’t worry. Whenever you want it, think the thought and it will appear for you. Want it gone? Same. The connection between you and the Liahona is strong enough to transcend worlds. It will be ready for action.”
“And you?” I asked. “Will you be… joining us?”
I hadn’t meant for that last part to sound off, but as the words left my lips I realized what ‘joining us’ could mean, considering the nature of our group and how the others were all either with me or considering being with me, in that special way.
She offered me a pleasant smile. “Alas, I cannot. My place is here.”
“You can’t leave… can you?” Ebrill asked.
“No, dear, I cannot.” She motioned to the land around her. “As much as I would love to join you all, in the final moments that led to me helping you all reach the Heart, I made a sacrifice that tied my energy to this place. I will be here when you need solace or more, but cannot join in your fight in the other world.”
I nodded in understanding, words not coming.
“One moment, if you would,” Rianne said, gesturing to Aerona, and the two started walking, discussing something that I assumed related to our quest and I would learn about in time.
“We need to go soon,” Ebrill reminded us. “Too much time has passed already.”
“But we don’t have much more than we did before we started,” Kordelia pointed out.
“We know someone was involved,” I said. “Maybe Aerona’s connection she felt here will work back there? If we’re close enough… maybe?”
“Agreed,” Aerona said, walking back over. “It’s worth trying. Back at the house, we have much to figure out. Keep the magical connection open, but it’s too much if we stay here.”
“Be safe,” Rianne said. “I look forward to hearing about your progress.”
We thanked her and wished her well, then we joined hands and were whisked out of there, and back to the house.
103
“At least Rianne is still around,” I said, stepping into the room. My hand instinctively went to my jacket to check for the Liahona, only then remembering that it wasn’t there. Testing, I held out my hand and willed the Liahona to come to me—it appeared in my hand, a rush of energy surging through my body. When I dismissed it, the energy went, too. “Whoa.”
“I sensed it,” Aerona said. “Like bringing it here flooded you with Avalon magic. Could be damn useful, when the gamble is right.”
“What use is Rianne if she’s not here helping?” Steph asked.
“Excuse me?” Kordelia turned on her, the others also jerking their heads around to glare.
“Steph,” I said, stepping between them, back to the others. “You don’t know Rianne like they do, or even I do. Actually, do you even know who Rianne is?”
“No.”
“Ah…” I chuckled, glancing back at the others. “See?”
“Someone important, clearly,” Steph said. “In her own right, and to each of you.”
Aerona grunted. “That’s right. Very important.”
When they started to back down, I wrapped an arm around Steph’s waist. “She is the magical leader of their group. If she was gone, I don’t know—I barely knew her at all, but I’d feel like Avalon had lost its soul.”
“Exactly,” Ebrill agreed.
I told Steph a brief version of the story, of my interactions with Rianne, and her eyes went wide, taking it in. When I was done, she looked at the others. “I’m sorry.”
“We’ve all suffered losses,” Ebrill replied, and put a hand on Steph’s shoulder. But,
as she did so there was a spark like static electricity, only it ended in a trailing red light.
“The connection,” Aerona said. “You still have it open, right?”
I nodded.
“Well, there you go. As long as you have us connected, it’s like our powers are on overdrive.”
“But…” Ebrill looked at me, head cocked. “To be clear, Jericho is the only one who can open the way to Avalon, but…”
“Others might be able to use the portals, too, if they find them,” Aerona explained. “This is all in theory. But yes, the risk is contained for now… until someone with powerful enough magic is able to find these lights in the dark. Finding them should be less difficult with more frequent or prolonged use. When the Liahona is in Avalon, it’s worse.”
“That’s heavy,” I said, trying to process it. “Is the risk…?”
“Worth it?” Aerona scrunched her nose as she debated, then shrugged. “I don’t suppose there’s any other way.”
Damn, the way she looked when scrunching her nose was cute. I kind of wanted to say something else, find another way to get her to scrunch her nose again.
“But to be as ready as we can, to move fast…” She looked around, then to the door. “Is there a room here we can mess up? Get in some training?”
Damn, opportunity for scrunched nose Aerona missed, for now.
I put my hand on the wall, rearranging the old family room. “There is now.”
She laughed. “Perfect. We should try it out. Know what we’re capable of, so when it’s time to use this connection, we’ll be ready.”
“But I shouldn’t keep it open long, right?”
“Just long enough for us to see how this works.”
Steph gave me a curious glance, then held out her hand while we headed for the door. Suddenly, she burst into flames—her entire body! She yelped and then put it out, but not before it spread to the rug. I was there with my ice blasts, which luckily did the trick of putting out the fire.
“Shit,” Steph said, and then laughed. “I like this extra power deal!”
“Keep it under control, please.”
“Sure thing.”
