“Yes, I see you recognize the name,” Gabriel said. “Little is known about them, but everything we know is contained in here.” he tapped his head. “I’ve made it my life’s work to study them, and do you know what they’re for?”
Jak shook her head.
“I found this in an old book almost forgotten in a dusty storage room in Tradehall.” He stood and picked up a small piece of parchment where Gabriel had copied a single word. He handed it to Jak.
‘Worldbringers’ it read. Jak looked up at Gabriel. “I don’t understand.”
“The book referred to the Pillars of Eternity as worldbringers. It specifically mentioned a hero that would use the Pillars of Eternity to create a world of peace. At the time, I thought it was figurative. And it still could be. But you can imagine my surprise when I learned of a prophecy quite similar in your friend’s book.”
Jak swallowed. “Illadar, it’s a world of peace.”
I’ve kept track of that boy’s teachings since before I met you. We have both lived to see parts of it spring right off the pages into the real world. I imagine it won’t be long before we see more. It’s too much of a coincidence, Jak.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
Gabriel sighed, “Because as much as I hate to admit it, I believe you are an essential part of this. How I don’t know yet.”
The words of her dying father suddenly awoke in Jak’s mind. He fears you. She hadn’t thought about the phrase in a long time now, had all but forgotten it. She still had no idea who he was, but she suspected it was someone who controlled or otherwise led the demons, not unlike Kuldain had done but at an even greater scale. Someone who even Kuldain answered to. Could it be this Royal Priest, or did even he answer to someone?
“I... I don’t know if I have the strength to be the hero the Fae, and these people, need.” She said, opening up to Gabriel. “Aren’t there others better suited to this?”
“No one is born a hero,” Gabriel said quietly. “Heroes are forged, and the forge is always painful for the blade, yet without it, the blade could not exist.”
“Do you think I’m what Seph thinks I am?” she asked. “Am I the one to create this paradise of his?”
“I don’t know,” Gabriel’s eyes were sober. “I don’t know what part you will have to play. But I know we are on the brink of something big, I’m not sure any of us realize how big. But I am sure of one thing.” He paused, and Jak turned to meet his eyes. “I’m sure that you are a force of good. And I trust you to do what is necessary to help the Fae or anyone else in need.”
A few days ago, these words would have frightened Jak, made her want to hide and bury herself in her studies more. But for some reason, all they did was calm her.
“Thank you, Gabriel. I think you’ve helped me come to a decision.”
“Now don’t go doing anything foolish just because I said you might be a hero.”
Jak smiled and lied. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
She was ready, she thought. Ready to take action, even if it was ‘foolish’ as Gabriel said. But first, she had to know one thing.
Saying her goodbyes, she retreated from Gabriel’s room into the student quarters, eventually ending up outside her own room. Once inside, she shut and locked the door. In the corner of the room lay a long object wrapped in wool and covered in a light coating of dust. She hadn’t touched it since she arrived at the college, but it was one of the possessions that meant the most to her. She crossed the room to pick it up, unwrapping the cords that kept the wool in place.
Her father’s spear gleamed in the candlelight as she removed its covering. It was no ordinary spear. The shaft was gilded and carved with fine detail. Its blade barely needed sharpening. It was an old Watcher spear, from the time when her father had been one, long before Jak could remember. And it was hers now.
Wood chips weren’t enough, she realized. She needed to brand an object that meant something to her, something she could not lose. Feeling a bit more confident than she expected, she infused her spear with a Healing brand, not a perfect Healing brand, she didn’t want it to bloom into a living sapling, but enough so that any minor damage it took would slowly heal.
She took a deep breath. If Seph was right, she had to be confident in her destiny as a hero. She had to accept what it meant if she could successfully stick the second brand to her spear.
A part of her hesitated. Hadn’t she just tried this days ago? It hadn’t worked then. But what if it had, would she have been any more likely to embrace her destiny as an Oren? Would she have tried to be the hero that Seph said would come? Probably not.
Something was different now. With the Water, Fae caught up in the queen’s palace somewhere, and with people like Seph being persecuted for what they believed, she knew that she couldn’t just expect someone else to be the hero. If she was in a position to help, well then, she had to do it.
She closed her eyes and focused. In her mind, she summoned another brand, Toughness. When Naem had been hurt, these were the two brands she had given him. It felt appropriate that she would try to use the same brands now.
Light poured out of her Gifter brand, though Jak kept her eyes shut, trying her best to concentrate. Toughness was similar to Healing, in that it required little more than just imagining the brand in its solid state. There was no need to imagine it dancing like fire, or any of the other necessary perceptions needed for other brands. So, she imagined each line in the complex, triangle shape of the Toughness brand, and willed it to become part of her spear.
The light faded from her hand, and it took a moment before Jak dared to open her eyes. Finally, she did.
The spear was still whole in her hands. It had not disintegrated like the wood chip had over a week before.
Feeling excitement build in her, she grabbed a small knife she kept by her nightstand and scratched just a small sliver off the spear. It resisted, and Jak had to apply as much pressure as she dared before a tiny splinter flew off. Then she looked at it carefully.
The spear, almost immediately, healed itself. The wood grew in the space left behind by the splinter. It had worked! The healing power of her brand was still working! And given the resistance she had felt in trying to chip away at the spear, it would seem the Toughness brand worked as well.
Jak cheered, not caring if anyone heard her. She had done it! She had successfully performed a double branding. She now held what most scholars would call a true Relic, one that contained multiple abilities. No soldier in the entire kingdom held a spear as powerful as what Jak held in her hands. But that was not the true benefit of what Jak had done. Inside, she knew what she had denied for months. She was special, and it was up to her to do something about it.
She had work to do.
14
The next day, Jak quickly sought out Amelia during their Physicality class. The girl hesitated when she saw Jak approach.
“Hey,” Jak said.
“Hey,” Amelia replied, looking uncertain.
“Listen, I’m really sorry for avoiding you. It was a horrible thing for a friend to do. I hope you can forgive me.”
“Did Seph talk to you?” Amelia asked.
Jak smiled. “He did, and it helped. You were smart to get him to come to talk to me.”
Amelia half smiled. “I hope he knocked some sense into that head of yours.”
“You know very well no one can knock anything into this thick skull.”
“It’s so thick, you should really have that checked.”
Jak’s smile widened, and she embraced Amelia with everything she had. “I’m so sorry. I’ll make it up to you.”
“You had better,” Amelia said, breaking the embrace with a wink.
“When classes are over,” Jak lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I have something you’re going to want to see.”
Whatever hesitation Amelia felt, it was gone in a flash, and it was all they could both do to keep themselves from faking illness and asking to be ex
cused. It was a long day of classes, but they finally got through it, and Jak led Amelia to her room.
Pulling out her father’s spear, she let Amelia stare at it for a while.
“So that’s what you’ve had in the corner, I never did ask. Oh, and it’s branded…” she broke off. Jak smiled as Amelia’s eyes widened. She looked up at Jak, then back at the spear, then back at Jak again. “It’s...did you...how did…” She couldn’t put a coherent sentence together.
Jak found herself laughing. “Careful, you might choke!”
“You did this?” Amelia barely got the words out.
Jak nodded. “It can be done.”
“But how, you realize that no one has ever managed to perform a second, stable brand. Like, ever! People have been trying for decades, more like centuries probably. Tell me what you did differently.” Amelia broke off her words and wrung her hands together as she waited for a response.
Jak grimaced, “Yeah, I’m not sure it has anything to do with the technique. But more with the person who actually gives the brands.”
Amelia’s mouth formed an “o” of understanding. “So, you’re saying only you can do it? Well, that’s not exactly fair.” Her face scrunched up in annoyance.
“I’m sorry,” Jak said, putting an arm on Amelia’s shoulder. “I wish I could teach other people how to do it, but I’m not sure I can. But I honestly don’t know much more about how this works than you do.”
“I don’t understand though,” Amelia tapped her lips with one finger. “Did you just decide to try it and it worked? What even gave you the idea?”
Jak found herself grimacing again. “There’s actually something I haven’t told you.”
Then she began to tell Amelia about Naem, and the time when he almost died, the time when Jak had somehow branded him with Toughness and Healing to save his life. As she went on, Amelia’s eyes grew wider and wider. When Jak finished, she was all but speechless. “All along, Naem had more than one brand. All this time! I... wow!” For once, Amelia seemed at a loss for words.
Jak continued. “He’s not the only one. Remember Kuldain? Well, he somehow had multiple brands as well, and they worked. I’m pretty sure some of them were brands we’ve never seen before, though I only got a glimpse of them.”
Amelia’s brow knitted. “So, you’re saying…”
“That if only a few people can Gift multiple brands, then I’m not the only one. Someone out there is doing the same thing.”
“But what if Kuldain just branded himself?”
Jak shook her head. “I don’t think so. He implied that he answered to someone higher than him. I don’t know who, but I have an idea.”
Amelia said nothing but listened closely.
“I think the Royal Priest is behind everything. Think about it, he’s the most powerful man in the nation, he has access to basically every Relic we know about, he keeps his own brand secret, he’s taken the Fae away to do Adam knows what with them. Plus, he’s in the best position to manipulate the queen. It all makes sense!”
Amelia nodded her head. “There’s definitely something going on. If he’s not the boss person that Kuldain talked about, maybe he’s in league with them.”
“Definitely!” Jak was glad Amelia saw the same irregularities. “I’ll bet he’s a demon like Kuldain, or something worse.”
Amelia looked almost excited, but then her face fell. “But what can we do about it? We’re just students, and I know Gabriel and Semwei have some pull with the queen, but even they can’t touch the Priest. Especially if he is what you say he is.”
Jak nodded. “I know, I’ve been thinking it through a lot. I didn’t like the thought before, but I think I have some kind of destiny to help the Fae.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Well, all this. My experiences, being able to give multiple brands. Even my dad, right before he died, told me that someone fears me. Like he already knew I was special. I’ve was putting it off before, but I don’t think I can any longer.”
“This is so cool!” Amelia repositioned herself on Jak’s bed. “I’m friends with an actual legendary hero!”
Jak slapped her on the shoulder. “Whatever happens I do not want you saying something like that again.”
“Right, we don’t want this going to your head. Could end badly. Apologies oh worthless, lazy, inconsiderate—yikes!” She rolled away as Jak aimed another punch at her arm.
They both broke into giggles for a moment before Amelia put on her serious face again. “Okay, so you still haven’t told me what we’re going to do about this.”
Jak nodded. “I need to arrange a meeting with Naem and Seph. You can come if you want, though you’d probably be safer staying out of it.”
“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”
And so, a few hours later, Jak and Amelia found themselves down at the coast. Seph was already there, clearly having received the message that Jak sent through one of his followers that she regularly saw in the streets outside of the college.
“Jak, and Lady Amelia. I’m so glad to see you both.”
Amelia tried to hide her giggles at Seph’s cordiality, but Jak heard them anyway. “Thanks for agreeing to meet.”
“Not at all. I’m glad to see something being done, now that I can no longer meet with my followers.”
“Me too,” a voice called from behind them.
Jak turned to see Naem approaching on horseback. Good, he had received her message as well. “I’m always glad to be doing something.”
He gave the briefest nod to Seph as he approached. The two didn’t know each other well, and Jak was worried that Naem still held feelings of jealousy towards Seph. Completely unfounded feelings of course, but men were strange that way. Naem dismounted and joined their small circle. They stood that way for a few seconds before Jak realized they were all waiting on her.
“Oh, uh... yes. The reason I’ve called you all here.” Naem cracked a smile at her as she blustered on. “I want to rescue the Water Fae from the palace.”
Naem and Seph looked at her for a moment. Then Seph slowly began to nod, putting one hand to his chin. Naem, on the other hand, frowned. “Do we really know they need rescuing?”
“Of course, they do. You’ve seen the queen and the Royal Priest. They don’t understand the Fae like we do.”
“Well certainly, but that doesn’t mean they pose a definite threat. They could just be trying to learn more.”
Jak pursed her lips. “You weren’t there the other day when I spoke to the Royal Priest. I assure you that he doesn’t have their best interests at heart. Plus, they hurt Gabriel and stole the Relic. There’s no way their intentions are honorable here.”
“Okay, so what exactly do you want us to do?” Naem went on. “We can’t exactly march up to the palace gates and ask to be let in. And we can’t sneak by, it’s one of the most heavily guarded fortresses for hundreds of miles. And then there’s the issue of how we get them out. They don’t have proper legs, so we’d have to carry them, slowing us down considerably.”
“Actually, I believe I can help with that,” Seph cut in.
Jak looked at him with surprise, as did Amelia and Naem.
“You see, I lived in the palace for a short while. I learned a few of its secrets while doing my best to stay away from the queen. There’s an underground escape passage that leads down the cliffs to the ocean, not far from here. It’s cleverly hidden, but I could get us in.”
Jak felt her excitement rise. This was more than she hoped. To be honest, she hadn’t really thought much about how they were going to get into the palace.”
“Where does it lead, specifically?” Naem asked, intrigued.
“To the kitchens. The cooks use part of it as a storage vault, but I found that it continues on for a while until it reaches the cliff bottom. I warn you though, it’s a seemingly endless set of stairs.”
“Okay, I’m familiar with the kitchens,” Naem said. He looked like h
e was about to go on but caught himself. Lowering his head, he sighed, then looked at Jak. “You’re sure you want to do this?”
Jak met his eyes and nodded. There would be no convincing her otherwise, especially not after Seph’s revelation. “We need to help the Fae.”
Naem pressed his lips together. “Very well. Once we’re inside, I think I can find the Water Fae for you.” He picked up a stick and began drawing in the sand. “The kitchens are here.” He drew a small rectangle within a larger one. “My guess is the Water Fae are being held here.” He indicated another area of his makeshift map. “They have a kind of lab there. They took me there for a while to test me for…eh, to see if I was still fit for duty after my journey.”
Jak exchanged a knowing glance with Amelia, who had stayed uncharacteristically silent this whole time. Choosing to listen instead.
“Okay, that sounds like a good bet,” Jak said. “And if they’re not there?”
“Then they’re probably in the dungeons, but we’ll have no luck getting in there. It’s much farther away, and there are three sets of guards we’d have to pass.”
“You’re a Watcher though,” Amelia spoke for the first time. “Couldn’t you take out the guards or something like that?” Jak could hear the sub-text under Amelia’s question. Now knowing that Naem had multiple brands, she was wondering if that would help him overpower the guards.
“I’m good, but even I wouldn’t risk my chances against the guards inside the palace. For one, there are a lot of them, but more importantly, they are some of the best of the best. Even better than most Watchers. The queen would have it no other way.”
“Okay, so we just hope that they’re in the lab. But we’ll have to assume they're heavily guarded.” Seph pointed out. “Perhaps even more than the dungeons.”
Naem bit his lip and stared at the makeshift map for a while. “That’s true. And I’m not sure what we would do if they are. We can’t take them all.”
Jak blinked at Naem. Why was he so unhelpful all of a sudden? “We can do what we did at Foothold.”
Growing Ripples: An Epic YA Fantasy Adventure (Roots of Creation Book 2) Page 13
