by Logan Jacobs
"We're all fine," I assured her. "We got the ring and Professor Hayle gave us a lead on the knife." I held up the book, but Aerin wasn't going to be distracted so easily.
"What happened?" she asked firmly, her hazel eyes narrowed as she searched my face. "I can tell when people are lying, you know."
"I'm not lying."
"Well, you're hiding something, then," the elf replied. "If you won't tell me, I bet Dehn will."
I bet he would, too, and I realized I would rather Aerin hear about it from me.
"We led our guys out of town, and some other people followed them," I explained. "It was nothing we couldn't handle, though."
"What else?" Aerin pressed, and I felt my face heat up like I was being grilled by the principal in middle school for getting into a fight.
"There was an alchemist with them, and when I killed him, something he had on him kind of, uh, exploded."
"What?" Aerin's hands tightened like vices around my arms.
"We're all okay, really!" I insisted, but that didn't stop Aerin from dragging me off the couch to check every inch of me for injuries.
"Oh, Aerin, Lena, Yvaine, you're back," Maruk said as he came down the stairs with a towel wrapped around his head and a glass of wine in his hand. "Did you have any luck with your research? Aerin, what's going on?"
The elf stopped combing through my hair for a severe head wound long enough to throw the orc an accusing glare. "You go on one mission without me and you caused an explosion?"
"Uh..." Maruk's face paled, and he looked wide-eyed from me to Emeline. "What's this about an explosion?" he asked hesitantly. "First I'm hearing of it."
"Did everyone here just forget that I can read auras?" Aerin demanded.
"What's up?" Lavinia asked as she came down the stairs after Maruk. It only took the ladona woman a moment to read the room, however. "Oh."
"Oh?" Aerin repeated. "That's all you have to say? Gabriel could have been killed!"
"Your concern for your oldest friends is touching," Maruk said drily.
"Are we talking about the explosion?" Dehn asked loudly from the top of the stairs. The halfling practically flew down in his excitement to join the conversation, and he either didn't notice or elected to ignore the urgent looks the rest of us gave him. "It was amazing!" Dehn gushed. "It took out half the forest! My ears are still ringing and look at this!" He grabbed his wrist and yanked his arm, and his shoulder dislocated with a faint pop. "It's been doing that ever since we got back!" Dehn reported proudly as he rolled his shoulder back into its socket.
Aerin did not look impressed.
"Look, we all made it back alright," Lavinia argued. "And we know where we need to look next. Isn't that what we should be focusing on?" She raised her eyebrows at Aerin. "The mission that, when we complete it, will bring us unimaginable fame and fortune?"
Aerin tried to hold her glare, but despite her best efforts, her expression softened at the mention of unimaginable fortune.
"So, where are we going next?" Yvaine asked as she took a seat on the couch. "Shall we be splitting up again?"
"Absolutely not," Aerin said. "Clearly, I can't leave the rest of you alone without someone getting blown up."
"Professor Hayle told us about a lake to the west," I said quickly, before Aerin could really get going. "She thinks the knife is in the ruins of some ancient elven palace there, so we're going to go check it out."
"Ancient elven palace?" Lena asked. Her violet eyes sparkled. "The architecture of the ancient elven kingdoms was supposed to be amazing. They had charts to track the movements of the stars and planets that are even better than the instruments we use today. I wonder if we'll be able to find any of them."
"What lake did you say this was by?" Aerin asked. She didn't look as excited as Lena.
"Lake Geru," Emeline answered, and the healer's face went white as ash.
"We can't go there," Aerin said firmly. "Not because one old mage woman thinks so. That place is cursed."
"It's the only lead we have," I reminded her.
"We've been to plenty of cursed places," Lavinia added, "and for a lot less coin than we're gonna get if we do find all of the Shodra."
Aerin wasn't as easily swayed by the promise of money this time, however.
"You don't understand, no one comes back from there," she insisted. "Or did your Professor Hayle decide to leave that detail out? Going there is a death sentence."
"Then you babies stay here, and I'll go!" Dehn said as he smacked his chest. "No curse is gonna kill me!"
"We should all go," I said levelly. I turned to Aerin and took her hand. "Look, we have the elven goddess of luck on our side, that's got to count for something, right? Maybe Theira can help us."
Aerin frowned and was silent for a few moments, and then her shoulders sagged.
"If I say no, Lavinia's just going to suggest that you all sneak out without me, and then you'll really be in trouble," the healer muttered, and Lavinia shrugged as though she didn't think that was such a terrible idea. "Give me some time to pray about it, at least. I want to ask Theira and Evarun for protection."
"Of course," I nodded. "We'll wait."
"Yeah, you will," Aerin replied as she grabbed my wrist. "You're coming with me, 'cause they won't leave without you."
Lavinia tilted her head back and groaned, but after everything we'd been through so far, I understood Aerin's caution.
"Alright," I said to Aerin, then I turned back to the group. "Everyone get ready to go, gods willing."
While the others left to pack their gear, Aerin led me to the little alcove off the sitting room where she had constructed a small shrine to her patron gods, Theira, the Goddess of Luck, and Evarun, the God of Life. There was a small altar table lined with candles and gold coins, and on either side, Aerin had hung small tapestries that depicted the elven gods. I couldn't see any incense, but there was a faint aroma like cinnamon in the air.
Aerin didn't let go of my wrist as she knelt down before the altar, and I sat next to her as she lit the candles and closed her eyes. I wasn't sure if I should try to pray as well. I hadn't been particularly religious in my life back on Earth, but a lot of things had changed since then, and I had met Theira personally. I had her to thank for all of this, but it still felt strange to try to speak to someone I couldn't see or hear, and I didn't know if there were any specific rituals or rules I was supposed to adhere to.
In the end, I decided just to sit quietly while Aerin prayed, and I studied the neat stitches on the tapestries by the altar. I had never seen Evarun, who I figured was the elven god depicted on the tapestry on the right, but the likeness to Theira was perfect. The artist had woven silver threads in with the white for the goddess' hair which made it seem as though she was glowing, and in the flickering light from the candles, the stitches of her face seemed to move, changing her serene expression into a gentle smile.
Beside me, Aerin inhaled sharply and opened her eyes. It was difficult to read her expression as she sat back on her heels and turned to me, and I raised my eyebrows in silent question.
The healer pursed her lips and gave a tiny nod, then leaned forward to blow out the candles on the altar before she stood.
"I think we should go," she said, though she didn't sound as enthusiastic as she had about our first lead to the village.
"Is that, uh, what Theira said?" I asked.
"She doesn't just appear in front of anyone," Aerin replied with a wry smile. "You've spoken to her directly more times than I have. But... yes, I think she wants us to go to Lake Geru."
"We can handle whatever comes our way," I said quietly as I took Aerin's hands in mine. "We've done the impossible before."
"'Cause we had you," Aerin said, and she leaned up on her toes to kiss me.
I brushed back a lock of her red hair and pressed my fingers to the back of her neck as I deepened the kiss, and Aerin's body against mine was warm and comforting. When we broke apart, some of the nervousness had gone from the
elf's expression.
"Let's go round everyone up and get going," I said. "Fame and fortune awaits us."
Chapter 14
In less than twenty-four hours, we had reached the furthest section of the forest surrounding Lake Geru that anyone dared to enter. A rotting wooden sign was tacked to an oak tree on the side of the road. The paint was so faded, and the wood so bleached from the elements, that it was hard to make out what was on it, but after a moment I realized that it was a skull and crossbones. The universal warning of death for anyone foolish enough to venture farther through these woods. Goosebumps prickled along my arms, and I rubbed them away.
Aside from the sign and Professor Hayle's lingering warnings that had played on a loop in the back of my mind for the last mile or so, there was nothing about the surrounding forest that suggested a deadly curse lay upon the area. The tall pines all around us looked like any others, and their boughs swayed and dipped gently in the breeze that passed through the canopy. Birds sang to one another and flitted above our heads, and I even glimpsed a fox as it paused to regard us before it disappeared into the undergrowth again. It had a dark gray coat, and I decided to take it as a good omen for the Shadow Foxes.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Dehn demanded, and he spurred his patient little pony forward.
"We should be careful," I told the halfling as I nudged my horse onward again. "Even if not for the curse, these woods have been abandoned by people for centuries, we'll need to be on the lookout for other dangers, like trolls or manticores."
"Manticores," Merlin agreed in a chirping voice from his place on the saddle in front of me.
"So keep your eyes open," I finished, and I gave the puca a scratch behind the ears.
"I used to have a coat made out of manticore fur," Yvaine said. The marchioness' voice had a nervous lilt, though I could tell she was trying to sound casual. "I had to give it away, though. It turns out I was allergic."
"Oh, no," Maruk said sympathetically. "That's terrible."
“Actually,” Lena commented, “Many people are allergic to manticore fur. Manticore’s produce an oil that helps protect their skin against the cold, but it can cause itching and red welts when it gets on the skin of other creatures. You can treat the fur to remove the oil.”
“And does the fur survive?” Lavinia asked suspiciously.
“Well, it does require more care,” Lena replied. “And you can’t wear it in the rain.”
“There’s a place near the Tower that sells manticore fur hats,” Maruk pondered. “I wonder if those are any safer?”
“You should test it first,” Yvaine replied. “Trust me, you don’t want to end up with an itchy scalp. It took me nearly a week to recover.”
“Oh, I think I have something that would help,” Lena added. “It would work a lot faster than one week.”
“If it doesn’t kill you first,” Lavinia snorted.
“Or turn you purple,” Aerin laughed.
“Well,” Lena hedged.
“What?” Aerin pressed. “Does it turn you purple?”
“Not purple,” Lena replied. “Sort of blue, actually.”
Dehn and Aerin burst into laughter, and Maruk goggled at Lena.
“I don’t want to be blue,” Maruk moaned.
“Oh, I’m sure it wouldn’t be that obvious with your skin tone,” Lena quickly assured him. “And it only lasts for a few days.”
“Or months,” Lavinia muttered.
“Damn vines,” Dehn complained as he chopped at the brush. He turned towards me and said, “Can’t you make it disappear or something?”
“I’ll see if I can find a spell for that,” I assured him.
We rode on, past a small clearing, where several deer had gathered. They watched us ride past with curious eyes, then returned to their meal of grass and berries.
"Wouldn't the curse keep other beasts away, too, not just people?" Yvaine asked as a thrush darted out of our path.
"The book Professor Hayle gave us doesn't say," Emeline replied. "I mean, maybe. Aerin, Lena, what do you know about it?"
The healer’s anxiety returned full force. She scowled at Emeline for a moment, then turned towards Yvaine.
"I know that no one's even gone all the way to the lake and come back," Aerin answered. Her grip on the reins was so tight that her knuckles were white.
“It’s true,” Lena agreed with a nod. “Even in Morelia, we’ve heard of the curse on Lake Geru. It’s pretty well known among the elves. In fact, about a decade after the city fell, a party of elves set out to see if there were any survivors. They never came back.”
"Even elves?" Lavinia asked, shocked by Lena’s story. "I mean, it's an elven curse, right? So wouldn't you be exempt or something?"
"No one," Aerin insisted grimly. "No one comes back, and no one knows what exactly happened to them, except that, you know, they died horribly."
"Theira wouldn't send us here to die," Maruk pointed out. Then, with less confidence, he added, "Right?"
Aerin didn't answer.
“They were desperate,” Lena finally said, a note of sadness in her voice. “And I’m sure there were elves who rode with the human invaders. The elves had their own private wars back then, you know. Someone would have seen this human invasion as a way to take out their enemies.”
“War can be a terrible thing,” Maruk agreed. “So much is destroyed.”
“But Leander argued that it was necessary,” Yvaine mused. She still had a nervous quaver in her voice, but she held herself straight and strong in the saddle.
“True,” Maruk mused. “But only as a means toward eliminating evil.”
“Like we do,” Dehn chimed in.
“Exactly,” Maruk acknowledged with a nod to the halfling.
After about a mile, the road before us became little more than a deer track, and we were forced to ride in single file. I scanned the trees around us for any signs of danger, curse-related or otherwise, but even as we ventured farther, the woods still seemed perfectly normal, and I wondered if the elven goddess was keeping us safe. She'd helped us in the Shadow Delves, after all, so why not?
At last, the trees began to thin, and I glimpsed the lake ahead. It had grown overcast as we'd made our way through the forest, and the sky and the water were a matching slate gray. Cautious, I slowed my horse to a walk as we entered the clearing where the lake sat. There was something strangely static about the place, more than the humidity or the eerie quiet, and I had the singular feeling of standing in the midst of a terrible storm about to break, and I realized that I could no longer hear the birds singing or see any animals around.
Even Dehn seemed to have felt it, and for once the halfling had nothing cocky to say about our situation.
As the others dismounted, I turned toward the water. It stretched so far that the trees on the opposite shore were nothing more than dark greenish smudges in the distance, and the gray water was as still as glass. There was hardly even a ripple where it met the shore as if the whole place was frozen in time. Strange as it was, that wasn't what grabbed my attention. In the center of the lake about two hundred meters from where I stood was the island and the ancient elven castle.
It was exactly as it appeared in the book we had gotten from Hayle. Delicate, icicle spires and towers rose up from the rocks, their architecture so organic it seemed as though the palace had grown there rather than been built. The walls shone even without sunlight, and I tried to figure out what they could have been made from if not the purest glass. It was perfect, preserved over the centuries by ancient elven magic, and it seemed to be waiting for us.
All at once, I felt certain that the knife, the second of the Shodra, lay within those walls. It was the same sort of connection I had to the gemstone. I couldn't explain it, but I knew it was true.
Aerin came up on my right, and the wind whipped her red hair around her face as she stared out at the palace as well. She linked her fingers in mine and squeezed my hand.
"You still
have that pendant I gave you?" the elf asked quietly. "The holy symbol of Evarun?"
I nodded and pulled it out from beneath my shirt collar to show her. "Always."
"Good," she breathed. "I think we're gonna need it."
Then Lavinia's voice broke through our hushed whispers. "There's no boat."
"What?" Aerin asked with a frown.
The ladona ranger marched along the pebbly shore and spread her hands. "There's no dock, no boat. How are we supposed to get over there?" She gestured to the palace with none of the reverence Aerin had shown.
"Well, frankly, we're not supposed to 'get over there,'" the elf replied testily as she walked down to the shore after Lavinia. "That's the whole point of the curse."
"The curse is that there isn't a dock?" Maruk asked.
"No," Lena said, "I think the curse is that there isn't a boat."
"Maybe it's a gigantic lake monster that eats anyone who tries to sail across its territory!" Dehn supplied.
"That's not the curse!" Aerin shouted. "And get away from the water!" She grabbed Lavinia by the arm and hauled her further up the shore. "You might, I don't know, trigger something."
"We do have to get across somehow," Emeline said gently. "I guess we could swim." The panthera woman looked nervously out at the water.
"Merlin could do something useful and turn into a dragon to fly us all across," Lavinia suggested. The puca hissed at her, and she hissed back mockingly.
"Let's see if the book says anything about it," I said as I pulled the old tome out of my pack. "Maybe Hayle has some notes about crossing."
I handed the book to Emeline so that she could decipher the professor's handwriting, and I looked over her shoulder as she flipped through the pages.
"Here's something," Emeline said as she scanned the page. "It looks like some sort of magical bridge." She pointed to an illustration of the lake that showed a spectral path that led across the water to the island.
"Does it say anything about how to activate it?" I asked.
"Hayle has a note about petitioners, but I'm not sure what that's--" The rest of Emeline's sentence was cut off by a mighty tearing sound as the ground shook beneath our feet.
