by Davis Ashura
“Trust who?”
“The one you hum to all the time. “Gloria.” It’s your way of praying.”
For the second time that evening tears filled Serena’s eyes, and she wondered when she had become so weak. And when had she grown grateful for such weakness?
William handed out glasses of lemonade to Jason and Jake before taking a seat on the cushioned bench on Mr. Zeus’ front porch. “Here’s to this not being our last night on Arylyn,” he said.
“Don’t even think that,” Jake said. “You’ll jinx us.”
“You know what I mean,” William said.
“It won’t be our last night here,” Jason reassured. “We’re too pretty to die.”
William scoffed.
“Just telling it like it is,” Jason said with a crooked grin.
“Maybe about the two of us, but what about William?” Jake asked. “Pretty and him go together like masculine and Michael Jackson.”
“Kind of like you and intelligent,” William said to Jake.
“Better to be pretty and dumb than smart and ugly.”
“At least you got the dumb part right,” William said.
“I was referring to you,” Jake said.
Jason laughed. “He is pretty ugly.”
A hint of vanilla carried on the air as Mr. Zeus stepped outside. He’d sourced his lorethasra and lit the front porch lights with a thread of Fire.
“Can you dim them?” William asked him. “I want to be able to see the night sky.”
“You can’t see it much sitting under the porch,” Mr. Zeus noted.
“I still want it dark, though,” William said.
“Same here,” Jason agreed.
“Have it your way,” Mr. Zeus conceded.
The lights dimmed, and their conversation lapsed. They sat in silence, each of them apparently lost in their thoughts.
Shortly thereafter Serena and Selene stepped through the garden gate.
“Mind some company?” Serena asked.
“I don’t think any of us want to be alone tonight,” William said. He shifted, making room on the bench, and Serena sat next to him. Selene propped herself on the porch railing.
The garden gate swung open again. This time it was Daniel and Lien.
“I guess everyone’s already here,” Daniel noted.
“Mr. and Mrs. Karllson are still mad at you,” Lien said to William. “They only agreed to let us leave when we told them we were going whether they approved or not.”
Daniel nodded. “They said if we’re going, then they’re going, too. But, yeah, they’re mad.”
William winced. He didn’t like having Mr. and Mrs. Karllson upset with him. They were like a favorite aunt and uncle.
“They’ll get over it,” Daniel said. “As long as we make it back safe and sound, and this turns out to be worth it.”
“Most people I’ve spoken to feel the same way,” Jason said. “They support us, but they worry how much it will cost us in the end.”
“What does Jean-Paul think?” William asked Serena.
“He admires our courage but he thinks we’re being stupid,” Serena said. For once, she set aside her formality and drew herself up while twirling an imaginary mustache. “William and Jake are American, which is a byword for idiot,” she said, mimicking the Frenchman. She gestured to herself. “But since you are from Sinskrill, I would have thought you would be more cautious. More pragmatic.”
Her accent and impersonation was spot-on, and everyone laughed.
“Courage guided by caution will see us through,” Rukh said. “We should take care to remember those two principles.”
William startled. When the hell had Rukh arrived? The man was a ghost.
Jessira stood nearby as well. “Caution is certainly required,” she said to Rukh, “but it’s also something you tend to overlook in the heat of battle. Do you remember what I said when you unnecessarily risked yourself in order to save me in Ashoka?”
“Which time?” Rukh asked.
Jessira arched an eyebrow, and Rukh flushed. For once he appeared something other than a calm winter lake.
“What’s Ashoka?” Serena asked.
“The city of my birth,” Rukh said. “A world and a lifetime away. I’ll tell you about it when this is done.” He unslung a case William only now noticed and withdrew a mandolin. “Does anyone sing?”
“I do!” Lien enthused.
Jessira smiled at the Chinese girl. “You have a rare courage. You remind me of my cousin.”
“Then she must have been smart and beautiful,” Lien said.
Jessira smiled. “Sign was both of those things. Mostly, though, she was fearless.”
“Does any one else sing?” Rukh asked.
“I can sometimes hit a passable tenor,” Jake said.
William shot him a look of surprise. “Since when?”
“Since always. Just because you’ve never heard me sing before doesn’t mean I can’t.”
“I don’t sing, but I can hum,” Serena said.
“And you remind me of my sister,” Rukh added. Fleeting but profound loss flitted across his face before he bent his head to pluck the mandolin’s strings.
May 1989
william’s closest friends—Ms. Sioned, Afa, and Ward Silver—turned out on the morning of his departure for Sinskrill. They stood with the entire Village Council and other well-wishers, like Sile Troy and Jean-Paul Bernard.
The Frenchman’s face was already streaked with tears. “You must return,” he implored Serena. “You must. Please stay safe. Do not take foolish risks.”
“I will,” Serena promised. “I mean, I’ll stay safe and I won’t take foolish risks.” She kissed Jean-Paul on the cheek.
“See her safely home,” Jean-Paul urged Mr. Zeus.
“I’ll do my best to see all of us safely home,” the old man promised.
Selene wore a fierce frown and lightly punched William in the arm. “You better all come back. If you don’t, I’ll—”
William cut off whatever she might have said and did what he knew she both hated and loved. He picked her up and slowly squeezed her until she yelped.
“Ouch! That hurt, you jerk,” she exclaimed in feigned outrage.
William set her down, kissed her on the forehead, and grinned unrepentantly at her outrage.
“You’re doing it all wrong,” Jake said, coming over to them. “This is how you hug Selene.”
“No!” she cried, pretending fear.
Jake picked her up and squeezed her as well until Selene yelped again.
Selene frowned fiercely, but a smile lit the corners of her lips. “You two are the worst,” she said. “It’s a wonder I put up with either of you.”
“We love you, too,” William said, ruffling Selene’s hair.
Selene’s irritation simmered down. “Come back home, and maybe I’ll forgive you.”
“Annoying those wishing you well, are you?” Ms. Sioned asked. Her eyes twinkled as she made her way to William and Jake.
“Only those who deserve it,” William replied with a grin.
Ms. Sioned smiled. “I’m fairly certain I don’t deserve it.”
Jake viewed Ms. Sioned through narrowed eyes. “I don’t know,” he mused.
“You do if you know what’s good for you,” Afa said, arriving then and rapping William on the leg with his cane.
“Ouch! I wasn’t going to squeeze Ms. Sioned. That was Jake.”
“Then it serves you right for squishing that poor girl.” Afa winked at Selene who grinned back at him.
Ms. Sioned took William’s head in her hands. “Return home,” she said. “Promise an old woman that you will.”
“I’ll come back.”
“And you,” she said to Jake.
“I’ll do my best.”
She gave a satisfied nod. “Then Godspeed to both of you. I offer my blessings and my prayers.”
“I won’t ask you to make such a promise,” Afa said. “Instead, I w
ill make you a promise. I will haunt your shades until the last sunrise if you don’t return.”
“Shouldn’t that be the other way around?” William asked. “If we die, shouldn’t we be the ones who haunt you?”
Afa smiled. “I’m a magus and a raha’asra. Who says I can’t haunt a shade?” He slapped William on the shoulder before shuffling off to talk to Mr. Zeus.
Ward lurked nearby, apparently waiting for a moment of privacy, and he moved to take Afa’s place. “I don’t have fine words of encouragement for you,” he said. “I will only remind you of what you’ve learned. Both of you have become adept at fighting with the Elements. Remain calm and trust your training.” He squeezed Jake’s shoulder. “Don’t panic, and you’ll be fine.”
“Yes, sir,” William and Jake said on top of one another.
Ward nodded to them, and moved on to speak to some of the others.
“You would be shrewd to remember his advice,” Jessira said. She had also been standing nearby. “A wise warrior fights with control and precision, not with passion and unfocused power.”
“How many battles have you been in?” Serena asked, apparently overhearing Jessira’s advice. An instant later, Serena held her hands up in surrender. “Don’t answer. I’m sure you’ll say something only you and Rukh would understand.”
Jessira chuckled. “You’re learning,” she said. She stepped over to Rukh’s side, and they stood as an island of tranquility amidst the raucousness all around them. The two of them spoke softly to one another, but their gazes flitted about as if assessing for lurking peril.
“You go into danger for reasons we respect and understand,” Mayor Care said to Mr. Zeus. “Know that you have our full support and our prayers. May the Lord of Light see you succeed.”
“Thank you, Lilian,” Mr. Zeus said with a brief bow.
“We’ll leave you to settle the last of your plans then,” Mayor Care said. She gestured, and those not traveling to the Far Beyond stepped back and quieted.
Mr. Zeus clapped his hands and called for attention. “I want to go over the plan one more time,” he said. “We all have synchronized watches, and each team has two satellite phones.” He held up one of them. “They’ll allow us to coordinate our actions.”
“A wise decision to have purchased those devices,” Mr. Karllson said.
“Right,” Mr. Zeus said with a sharp nod. “William, Serena, Julius, Rukh, Jessira, and I will go to Sinskrill. We—” he indicated himself and Julius, “—will pretend to capture Fiona, but we’ll let her go before the necklace can choke her. The Servitor will hopefully then remove it.”
“If the Servitor doesn’t remove the necklace, she won’t be able to leave the island,” Rukh said. “Can we not clip it?”
“Trying something like that might trigger the necklace to kill her,” Serena said.
“Regardless, we need to ask her what she wishes,” Rukh replied. “If the Servitor doesn’t remove the necklace, Fiona either stays on Sinskrill or accepts the risk of us trying to remove it by force.”
Mr. Zeus cleared his throat. “At any rate, if the Servitor removes the necklace, Fiona will stay with Travail. Then we’ll—”
“Telling us our roles isn’t good enough,” Rukh said, interrupting Mr. Zeus. He strode to the front of the group and stared about with an intense gaze.
Beneath that penetrating stare, William felt the need to stand up straighter.
“I want to make sure each of you knows your role and those of your brother warriors.” Rukh focused his attention on Serena. “Which beach do we go to on Sinskrill?”
“Barrier Bay,” she answered.
“And failing that? William?” Rukh asked.
William mentally gaped. Rukh had taken control of the meeting from Mr. Zeus without raising his voice. How? Mr. Zeus had a personality like a force of nature.
“William,” Rukh repeated, his tone sharp.
William’s attention snapped to the here and now. “Holy Shield, sir. We disembark either at Barrier Bay or Holy Shield.” His words spilled out in a rapid-fire cadence as if he faced a drill sergeant.
“All of us?” Rukh pressed.
“No, sir,” William said. “Julius and Mr. Zeus will stay aboard and take the boat to Village White Sun on the southern coast of Sinskrill. Fiona should be there.”
“How will she know to wait for them?”
“Because I’ll dream her the instructions,” Serena answered.
“After Mr. Zeus and I let Fiona free, we’ll reboard the boat and wait offshore, past the horizon,” Julius said. “We’ll stay there in case something goes wrong with the onshore crew and they need an emergency pick up.”
Rukh nodded. “Good.” He focused on Daniel’s family. “What about your role?” he asked.
Daniel answered. “We’ll enter the saha’asra after you give us the go ahead. The mahavans will come our way through the open anchor line.”
Rukh’s brows lifted. “And?”
“And I’ll drain the lorasra so we can easily defeat them.”
“And if they have nomasras?” Rukh asked.
“We fight and defend until you arrive,” Mr. Karllson said.
Rukh continued with his questions, going over everything in detail and forcing them to think and respond. Minutes later, he finally appeared satisfied with the answers he’d received and gave a sharp nod. “Now we’re ready. Let’s roll.”
The last of those heading to Sinskrill left, and Jake’s group readied themselves. Jake checked his pistol one last time, making sure the safety was on. While pistols wouldn’t work on Sinskrill, maybe they would in the saha’asra in Australia.
“Here we go,” Lien murmured.
“I’ve got the anchor line,” Mr. Karllson said, and a rainbow bridge split the air in front of him. “I’ll keep it open while everyone else crosses.”
“I’ll go first,” Jake said. “I’m already tethered to it.” He braced himself, preparing for that first horrible step. He hated this part. He took a deep breath, as if about to plunge into an ice-cold lake.
“Hurry up,” Lien said.
Jake shot her a glare. One last, deep breath, and he stepped onto the anchor line.
His body stretched like playdough. He frayed. Colors and sounds screamed past him. A white light opened. The destination neared, and he readied himself.
His essence collapsed together, and he exited the anchor line, entering the saha’asra in Australia. He immediately stepped aside to leave room for the others.
While he waited, he examined the saha’asra. It was every bit as bleak and empty as previously reported. Cold, too. Stark cliffs rose like red towers from the canyon’s floor, and boulders littered the ground. A few scattered trees broke up the harsh orange and red landscape, and Jake found himself already longing for the cool blues and greens of Arylyn. A lonely wind scraped a tumbleweed along the bare dirt, a perfect counterpoint to the harsh cry of a Tasmanian raven.
Jake lifted his head and inhaled sharply when he noticed the scent of precipitation on the cold air. Weird. He would have expected the desert to be hot, not cold enough to need a fire and feeling like rain was on the way.
A second later, Daniel exited the anchor line. Next came Jason, Lien, and Mrs. Karllson. Mr. Karllson was the last to arrive.
“The Jackaroo’s over here,” Daniel said after the anchor line closed. He led them to a cave a half-mile away where the sport utility vehicle had been stashed.
Jake had the keys, and he unlocked the vehicle. When he climbed into the driver’s seat, his breath frosted. The interior was as cold as the desert outside.
“Wait,” Mr. Karllson ordered.
Jake sensed him source his lorethasra when the smell of woodsmoke briefly filled the Jackaroo’s cabin. A whistling sound echoed through the cave.
“I had to undo the braid preserving the Jackaroo,” Mr. Karllson explained before he settled into the passenger seat. He or Mrs. Karllson would probably take the wheel later on, but not the others. F
or some reason, magi didn’t like to drive.
Jake started the engine, slowly backed out of the cave, and eased forward, taking it slow on the rugged canyon floor. He didn’t want to break something or flatten a tire on the rough terrain. The vehicle’s springs and frame squeaked and barked as he drove, and once the engine warmed he cranked up the heat.
“Thank you,” Mrs. Karllson said, reaching her hands for the air vents in the rear. “My Ethiopian blood wasn’t made for this cold weather.”
An hour slowly crawled by before they reached the highway. With a sigh of relief, Jake slipped the Jackaroo onto the road. The vehicle lurched when its wheels hit the pavement, and he shifted through the gears. Bit by bit, the underpowered vehicle picked up speed, and the outback sped past the windows, a blur of red, brown, and occasional green.
By now the interior had grown warm, and Jake dialed down the heat.
“Is there any music?” Lien asked. “If I’m going to be stuck in a car for ten hours, I don’t want to sit around staring at the scenery. I want to sing.”
Jake smirked. “I heard staring at the scenery might be better than—”
Daniel nudged him in the back of his head, a clear signal to shut up.
Jake stifled what he’d been about to say: your singing.
“Better than what?” Lien asked.
“Better than the pop music you like,” Jake said. “I only brought Rush.”
“Boy music,” Lien declared, sounding disgusted. “No Madonna?”
“Absolutely no Madonna,” Jake said.
“We’ll have to purchase another vehicle when we come across a town,” Mr. Karllson said.
“Preferably a bus,” Jake said. “After all, Travail’s at least ten feet tall. He won’t fit in anything smaller.”
“I’ll drive the second vehicle,” Mr. Karllson said.
“We’ll only need the other vehicle if the plan works,” Lien said.
“Don’t say that,” Jake told her. “You’ll jinx it.”
Lien scoffed. “Don’t tell me you believe in jinxes. You know it’s not real, right?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t believe in magic,” Jake scoffed back. “You know it’s not real, right?”
