She had a point. We hadn’t traveled far in the Dimension. It had taken us this long to cover less than a mile of possible hiding places with no luck. It would take years to search the entire Dimension.
I turned to Regina. “Can’t you just use the Leather Book to find its location?”
She shook her head. “It can’t locate other Legendary Objects.”
Samantha groaned. “Well, that’s helpful,” she said sarcastically.
“Hey, guys,” Selene started. “What if—”
“Not now, Robbins!” Tom interrupted. “We need to find the Brass Compass.”
“But, Tom—”
“No.”
“It’s not exact, but—”
“We can come back to that,” Tom told her. “The sooner we find the Brass Compass, the better.” He started brainstorming aloud with the others.
Selene threw his hands in the air in frustration. “Forget it. You aren’t going to listen to me anyway. I’ll just search there myself.”
She started to storm off, but Steven asked, “Y-you think y-you…you know w-where the…where the B-brass Compass is?”
Selene stopped in her tracks and said, “Duh!”
Tom was still talking and hadn’t heard. I tapped him on the shoulder. “Tom, Selene thinks she knows where the Brass Compass is.”
Tom stopped mid-sentence. “Why didn’t she say so?” he demanded.
“You wouldn’t listen. You were too busy overthinking things,” Selene said bitterly.
“That was an unnecessary comment,” Tom responded. “No need to be rude.”
“I’m not rude,” Selene retorted, crossing her arms, “I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking. And if you get offended by something as small as that, you should hear the opinions I keep to myself.”
Tom flushed red with anger. Regina slow-clapped. In unison, Felix and I yelled, “BURN!”
“You act like you want me to run this sword through your ribcage,” Tom remarked, resting a hand on his sword.
Selene smirked. “You act like you wouldn’t mind a rock to the head.”
Two throwing knives, thrown in quick succession, interrupted their argument. Both hit the ground just inches next the each of them.
“Play nice,” Samantha warned. “Be glad I gave you warning shots.”
That shut them up in a millisecond.
Regina took charge. “Let’s follow Selene’s lead to the Brass Compass. That is what we came for, after all.”
With an angry glare directed at Selene, Tom reluctantly agreed. “Fine.”
Selene presented her idea. “The Brass Compass was entrusted to King Bryan, also known as the Werewolf King, during Tom’s father’s quest to hide the Legendary Objects in his possession. The Werewolf King’s palace would be the ideal place to hide the Brass Compass, especially considering the many secret passages, rooms, and wall openings there.”
“The Palace of the Moon is famous for that reason, but isn’t it also famous for being one of the most massive palaces in the Dimensions?” Regina asked. “It would take ages to search it! Especially after being destroyed with the rest of Lythacan.”
Gabrielle sighed. “I guess we’d better get started then.”
Chapter 29
The Palace of the Moon—although in ruins—was still impressive.
The stones, now in chunks, that had been used to create the palace, reflected the moonlight beautifully. The scattered scraps of fabric from previously massive tapestries and curtains still held stitches from beautiful designs. The tapestries that had somewhat survived the destruction were covered in dirt and torn in places, but the designs of the moon and wolves were still recognizable. They were breathtaking.
Knowing that we had to find the Brass Compass as soon as possible, I knelt down—I couldn’t care less about getting dirty at this point—and started sifting through the rubble. The others soon followed suit.
“You aren’t going to find it,” a familiar voice said in a bored tone.
Selene sprang to her feet, whipped around, and smacked the speaker across the face. William staggered backward, his hand shooting up to touch the red spot where Selene had slapped him. Selene grabbed him by the shirt and put her dagger to his throat.
“What is a rat like you doing here?” she snarled.
“Saving you some time,” he responded without so much as a trembling lip. “The Brass Compass isn’t here. Not anymore.”
“Where is it?” Selene’s eyes were cold and unforgiving.
“In Mallum’s possession,” William answered. He didn’t appear the slightest bit scared of the dagger at his throat or Selene’s murderous facial expression.
“Why bother telling us about it?” Selene demanded. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to just let us search for something that isn’t even there? Wouldn’t that buy you time?”
“That takes the fun out of the game, doesn’t it?” William smirked. He was acting arrogant and villainous, two traits that I’d never seen in him before. I clearly didn’t know him as well as I thought I did. “It isn’t much of a show, watching a group of wannabe heroes dig through rubble for something they’ll never find. This is going to be much more entertaining.”
“So we’re being watched?” I inferred.
“We are pretty entertaining,” Felix acknowledged.
“Well,” William said, “if Selene would chill on the dagger stuff, maybe I could actually deliver the message I was sent to give you.”
Selene glared at him, but let her hand with the dagger return to her side. Her hand was still tense, ready to strike if necessary. William reached into the pocket on the inside of his black Attacker-issued cloak and pulled out a note. He handed it to me.
“A little clue to help you on your way, Magenta Valida,” he said.
He pressed the button on his watch, and he was gone.
When I unfolded the note, another paper dropped out of it. I picked it up, but read the first one aloud first.
Magenta Valida Smith, the time has come. I, Mallum Alkayo Frond, officially challenge you, as the traditions of the past so dictate. We duel on the battlefield on Ayaklo Half-Season. If you fail to show up to the Great Valley in Saviena on the aforementioned date, you will forfeit all aid from the other Dimensions. Choose your allies wisely.
“Why would we duel on a battlefield?” I questioned. “I still don't think a duel requires the background noise of a battle.”
“It's tradition,” Selene said by way of explanation. “I'm not entirely sure why, but that is how it has been for a very long time.”
“When or what is Ayaklo Half-Season, anyway?” I inquired.
“It's a date on the Elven Calendar,” Regina responded. “April fifteenth on the calendar used in the United States.”
Tom gaped at her. “How did you know that?”
Regina held up the Leather Book. “I have help.”
Tom rolled his eyes and muttered, “Nerd.”
“At least I have a brain,” she retorted.
“Amala kyeli!” Selene exclaimed, frustrated. “You two bicker more than children over a lollipop! GROW UP!”
Both Tom and Regina fell into an awkward silence with the rest of us. I waited until Selene’s breathing went back to normal, then read the second note aloud.
Legendary Keepers, I can’t explain everything I want to on this note. Formalities aside, here is what you need to do: recruit the Eikosi Tessera agents, find and speak with the remaining Rebels of Emparadroy (as many as you can; after all, they have had experience with this sort of thing), and retrieve an object called the Link from Earth. I wish you the best of luck.
—The Classified Comrade
“‘The Classified Comrade’?” Felix repeated. “That sounds like a superhero name or something.”
“That’s why he picked it,” I remembered aloud from my encounter with the Classified Comrade in the dungeon where I rescued my parents. “I’ve met him before.”
“Who exactly is this Classified
Comrade person though?” Selene asked, scrutinizing the note from over my shoulder. “And more importantly, can we trust him?”
“It could be a trap,” Regina said, flipping through the pages of the Leather Book. “The Leather Book isn’t revealing anything useful.”
“A lot of good that does us,” Tom grumbled.
“Like your flying boots are any better,” Regina snapped back.
Samantha casually twirled one of her knives. “Do you really want to discuss that now?”
One look at her knife, and they closed their mouths.
“That’s what I thought,” she said. “Now let’s move on.”
“What if the Classified Comrade is right?” I asked. “Last time I trusted him, things worked out. Besides, we could use all the help we can get.”
“It is really risky,” Regina told us. “Especially with going to Earth, of all places. The last thing we need is the countries of Earth trying to colonize other Dimensions.”
“And all that before Ayaklo Half-Season?” Tom shook his head. “No way. Not counting today, that is in five days. Less than a week! It isn’t possible!”
“We’re the Legendary Keepers,” Selene declared. “If this is what it takes, this is what we’ll do. We aren’t going down without a fight!”
“We can’t let anywhere else end up like this place,” Samantha put in, a fiery determination in her eyes. “I’m in.”
“Whatever it takes,” I agreed, holding out my arm, my palm facing down.
Selene silently put her hand on top of mine with a nod of her head. The other Legendary Keepers—and Samantha, of course—soon followed suit.
“Whatever it takes,” we said in unison as our hands shot upward.
“Let’s win this thing!” Felix said enthusiastically. “The Attackers won’t see us coming!”
“I have some favors I could call in,” Selene offered. “It would be wise to bring backup, though. It isn’t the safest place.”
“I’ve got your back, Selene,” Samantha volunteered, patting the hilts of the knives on her belt.
Gabrielle brought out her pen and clicked the top. “This is L.K. Gabrielle Lynn. Agent Lambda, do you copy?” she asked.
“Copy that,” came the static response. “Over.”
“Mallum Frond has officially challenged Magenta Valida,” Gabrielle reported. “The battle is set for Ayaklo Half-Season in the Great Valley in Saviena. We need allies. Over.”
“I can talk to Alpha, but he isn’t the most agreeable person,” Lambda offered. “Taking sides during an official challenge? He’ll probably think it’s too risky. And risky isn’t his style.”
“Is there anywhere we can meet up with the rest of the Eikosi Tessera agents?” Gabrielle asked.
“Outside the Palace of the Moon in Lythacan would be a good spot,” Lambda said. “Beautiful place; you’ll love it.”
“We’re there,” Gabrielle informed him sorrowfully, “but, um, it isn’t here anymore. The Attackers destroyed it with the rest of Lythacan.”
“I’m...I’m sorry to hear that. In that case, meet us at your headquarters in Destiny Forest tomorrow at noon. Do you copy?”
“Copy that,” Gabrielle said. “We’ll be there. Over and out.”
She clicked the top again and pocketed the pen. “As for the rest of us,” she announced. “We will be recruiting the Eikosi Tessera agents. We will meet up again on Ayaklo Half-Season in the Great Valley. I wish you all luck.”
“Likewise,” the Legendary Keepers returned in unison.
Portals were opened and used; the Legendary Keepers had departed on their missions. I took one last look at the ruins of Lythacan, then joined them.
I was the Magenta, the chosen hero, the one with the power to stop the destruction. I was the one the Dimensions depended on to keep them safe.
That was when I decided that I would stop the Attackers from destroying the Dimensions if it was the last thing I ever did.
Challenge accepted.
Chapter 30
In the middle of the night, I woke to Felix shaking me. “Psst, Miss Magenta, wake up!”
I moaned, but sat up. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. “What are you doing, Potato Brain? Why aren’t you asleep?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” he answered, his eyes wild, “but that isn’t the problem. She isn’t here. Regina. She isn’t here at headquarters. I saw her come with us and go to bed, but when I came to ask her a few questions, she wasn’t here. Her bed is empty. Something isn’t right.”
“She probably just went for a walk to clear her head or something,” I suggested.
“Regina isn’t dumb enough to walk around Destiny Forest at night! Please,” he begged me, “I know something is wrong. Can you come with me? If she ends up in trouble, I’m going to need backup to help her.”
I stretched, then got out of bed. I was glad I’d changed into the fresh change of clothes Regina had given me before I’d gone to bed. I pulled on my shoes and grabbed my sword, hooking the sheath around my waist. “Okay, let’s go. Should we wake the others?”
“Maybe Gabrielle,” Felix said, “but not Tom. That guy is extremely cranky when people wake him up in the middle of the night. I speak from experience.”
“Okay.”
We looked over at Gabrielle’s bed. She was gone, too.
“Maybe they’re together?” I suggested. “They are cousins, after all.”
It wasn’t long after we left headquarters that we found them. Felix had tracked them by the footprints left in the mud. It had been raining when we’d arrived, and the mud was slow to dry.
Gabrielle wielded the Gilded Sword against a massive manticore that stood near her and Regina. Gabrielle’s green eyes held the eyes of the manticore in an intense staring contest.
“Leave my cousin alone,” Gabrielle ordered.
Regina’s sword was drawn and held at ready. “This is my fight, Gabrielle,” she told her cousin. “It’s me he was tracking. Don’t get yourself hurt for me.”
Gabrielle ignored her. “Why do you track Regina?”
The creature gave no response. It lunged at Gabrielle.
Now wide-awake, I acted fast. Flames shot up from the ground, burning the manticore’s paw. It roared. Gabrielle and Regina scrambled away and watched as the flames extinguished just as fast as they had been lit.
“We’ve got your back,” I told them, motioning to Felix. “Let’s take this thing down.”
The manticore roared and charged. I summoned more fire, but the manticore was ready for it. The creature jumped over it with grace. It threw Gabrielle to the side; she hit a tree trunk with a thud. It grabbed Regina and threw her toward the flames, which I promptly extinguished before Regina could get roasted.
Regina got back on her feet, scraped up and bruised, and growled, still holding her sword, “I’m done running. Nobody—and I mean nobody—hurts my cousin and survives!”
“Regina, don’t!” Felix shouted, running forward and summoning the Copper Shield. “It’ll kill you!”
With a fierce battle cry, she charged the manticore. There was nothing we could do to stop her. She was out of the Copper Shield’s range.
“NO!” Gabrielle screamed.
The manticore paid her no mind as it sank its teeth into Regina’s arm while she attacked, stabbing at its legs with her sword. She screamed, dropping her sword, as it dragged her by the arm into the dense forest.
“REGINA!” all three of us screamed.
Her bloodcurdling scream continued. Felix and I tried to follow it to wherever the manticore was taking her. We had to find her, to rescue her...
But it was too late. Mid-scream, Regina Parker fell silent.
◆◆◆
Gabrielle was inconsolable. Regina was all the family she’d had left, and now she was gone. She sank to her knees and sobbed for what seemed like an eternity. With tears still pouring from her eyes, she unsheathed her dagger from within her cloak.
“Goodbye, cousin,” she chok
ed out.
She grabbed her long red hair and, with a single slash, sliced it so it was just above her shoulders. The discarded part of the once-long hair gently fell to the ground as Gabrielle's fist opened.
We remained there about half an hour after Gabrielle chopped off most of her hair, which, as she told me later, was a tradition of mourning where she came from.
After we returned to headquarters, we mourned in silence until Tom woke.
“Why so melancholy?” he asked.
“Regina is dead,” Felix answered. “A manticore killed her last night. We tried to save her, but it wasn’t enough.”
Fresh tears streamed down Gabrielle’s face. Tom froze and stared at us, shocked.
“Parker...dead?” Tom’s face fell. “I...I can’t...it’s impossible! Isn’t it?”
Felix shook his head. “She’s gone, Tom. There isn’t any way she could have survived that.”
“No,” Tom straightened, his eyes screaming defiance. “No! She’s Regina Amea Parker, she has to have survived!”
I shook my head, tears filling my eyes as well as Tom’s. No words were exchanged between us, but he got the message.
He didn’t take it well.
He grabbed Felix by the shirt and slammed him against the wall, pinning him there with an arm. “You could have saved her,” he growled. “You could have used the Copper Shield!”
“She was too far,” he responded. “I couldn’t get close enough to use the Copper Shield. I tried, Tom, I really tried!”
“This isn’t a game, Felix,” Tom snarled, slamming Felix against the cave wall again and letting him crumple to the ground. Felix’s breathing became more labored. The backs of his arms were cut and bleeding. “Parker is dead. If you don’t figure that out soon, the rest of us will be, too.”
“I know it isn’t a game,” Felix choked out, shakily returning to his feet and facing Tom, who was a full three inches or so taller than him. His face was covered with small cuts from the rocky ground. “I know I’m not a good swordsman. I know I’m a bad strategist. But at least I’m a good friend. At least I’m trying to help the team.”
The Magenta (The Legendary Keepers Book 1) Page 13
