My response was firm—automatic. I had been conditioned to protect the relic. However, my mind had taken a little fancy jaunt and had begun to give his words a second thought.
Get away from the Forest. See the world. Nobody had ever thought to offer me that before in exchange for the relic. Riches and treasures, surely yes. Freedom, never.
The commotion was getting closer and I could already hear the men shouting.
The boy cursed under his breath, watching the direction of the noise in dread.
“Do not worry. You still have time.” I maintained a calm tone. “The Forest will deceive he who does not know it and will lead them around in circles. More so now that it is nighttime. And if they try to come too close this way, the barrier will certainly destroy them first.”
“There’s got to be some kind of way out of this,” he mumbled, his stance at a get-ready-to-run.
I pointed north. “Head that way to escape. You should easily lose them in the thick Forest. The barrier does not reach that far.”
“Magenta.”
His voice had softened a slight and I met his gaze in expectation.
“I’m sorry but…could you possibly lead the way?” he asked, pleading in his eyes. “I’m afraid I’m going to get totally lost if I go on my own.”
I started to smile in relief. He was leaving! “I am here to guide,” I replied dutifully, stepping off my tree and drifting down to the ground beside him.
Unfortunately, three thousand years of immortality had somehow not cured naivety. As soon as I touched down, the boy snatched me up and over his shoulder like a sack.
“Thanks!” he exclaimed and instantly bolted toward the Mystic Lake.
“Hey—!” I protested, struggling against him to make him let me go. No such luck. I looked up even as I thudded against his back and I spotted torches within the Forest.
“Look! Over there!” I heard a shout and the torches moved in our direction.
Uh-oh. I pounded on his back in complaint. “Let me go! What do you think you are doing? You’re going to kill yourself!” I called out my warning.
All of a sudden, I felt something like a jolt within him as we passed through the invisible protective barrier and his pace slowed down.
“Go back! You’ll die!” I cried out loud. “You’ll never survive this magic!”
But he didn’t stop.
I furrowed my eyebrows as I watched several trees whiz by. We were still getting closer to the Lake. Anybody else would have fainted dead away at this point, much less a boy of his age. How was he still pushing on?
Then after a few moments, he jumped up to an incredible height and I felt the cool rush of air from the frozen Lake.
He had reached it! Impossible!
I heard a crash from behind me—in front of him—just before shards of ice went flying all around us.
The boy had broken through the ice around the Lake. And even still, he was still going.
I screamed aloud when we started to skid on the ice. He seemed to lose his balance and slid right down the center of the Lake. I tried to look behind me to see where we were headed.
Oh no.
We were headed straight for the iced relic dais.
I squeezed my eyes shut as the boy smashed into it with his feet before we continued to slide across the Lake. Then he lost hold of me and I toppled back toward the Lake’s edge.
“Whoa!” I tumbled onto my side, grimacing even though I felt little pain.
I shook my hair out of my eyes.
The boy was a few feet away, sprawled out, unconscious.
I looked up as I heard his pursuers charge closer with a loud cry, only for the sound to weaken. They were still unable to surpass the barrier.
I was going to sigh in relief when I looked back again and my eyes widened in horror as I saw the broken dais of the relic in the middle of the Mystic Lake and the hundreds of chunks of ice scattered across the glassy surface.
Oh no! I cursed inwardly. I had managed to screw up my one job in the entire world!
My eyes darted around the debris in search of the cylindrical container of the relic even as I was wondering how long it would take for the Great Aquarius to terminate me once he found out what had happened. But I couldn’t spot the relic in all of the wreckage.
I cried out a groan in frustration. I could have blasted this boy to the ends of Arcadia and beyond with an easy spell had I known that he would actually make it this far. I had been trained not to harm humans in the first instance, but in this case, I should have ignored my instincts and been more vigilant. What a colossal disaster!
I heard a soft moan and looked up.
He was still alive.
My jaw dropped. “What?” But I had to put my disbelief on hold for the moment. I had to decide whether to drag him out of the Lake or to simply leave him to his fate—which would be certain death against the powerful magic of the Mystic Lake. And I was well aware, the longer I delayed, the more certain the boy’s demise.
I huffed. It was his own fault in pursuing the relic. He had to die, I thought, starting to get up. But then I looked back at him again and scowled as I wavered. “Dammit!”
I couldn’t just leave him. It was my duty to protect the relic and the Lake and the people from it.
I tugged on his arms to sling them over my shoulders so I could carry him out of there. I took a deep breath as I touched off the ice to drift up into a nearby tree.
“Ohh—” I grunted out loud at the effort to drag him away but had resolved to take him all the way out to the limits of the protective barrier so that he could regain his strength.
I hopped from tree to tree even more carefully, headed away from the Mystic Lake, and when he stirred behind me as we left the realm of the protective barrier, I heaved a sigh of relief.
At least I saved a life today, I thought in consolation.
That’s when I heard, “There they are!”
I whirled around and saw that the men who were after him had gone around the Lake to the other side. They were still hot on his trail—damn, our trail!
“Oh no!” I gasped and pounced from tree to tree as quickly as I could even with the heavy burden on my back, heading for the border of the Southern Forest. I waved my hand, summoning a scattered confusion spell so that our pursuers would lose their way in the mischievous Forest.
I was starting to get tired. I didn’t normally have this much prolonged physical strain in my everyday life and being away from the Lake was taking a lot out of me.
I was heaving when I touched down on the grass below a big tree at the end of the Forest. And even as I put him down as gently as I could, he still fell partway to the ground as I weakened.
I collapsed against the tree, hoping some of its energy would revive me.
I glanced over at the boy, all in an awkward heap on the ground, then I heaved a huge sigh and closed my eyes.
Chapter Three
Something cold was against my lips. “What…” was all I could get out.
“Shh,” a voice said. “You need to drink.”
It was a struggle to even open my eyes but the cool water slid down my throat.
Then I heard a low chuckle. “I think you did a little too much running around last night.”
Last night? I managed to pry my eyes open for a moment only to see what time of day it was.
The rays of the Great Star were streaming through the branches of the tall trees at the edge of the Forest.
It was midday. I was sure I had never slept so long in centuries. But my heavy eyelids were refusing to stay open for longer.
I tried to speak but he stopped me. “Shh, you sleep some more.”
Sure. That wasn’t hard.
When I woke up the next time, the sky was turning purple again. I sat up with a start. I no longer felt like an entire mountain was sitting on top of me, only I was still aching all over.
When I looked around, I saw the boy crouched in front of the fire with his back
to me.
And to his right, propped on top of a tree stump, lay a gleaming crystal cylinder…
My eyes widened in trepidation. The relic! He had taken the relic!
I grimaced as I stood, my legs still a little wobbly. I was planning to go and retrieve the relic but right then my stomach made a funny noise and he turned and noticed me awake.
“Hey.” He looked over with a smile. “Food’s almost ready.”
I shot him a suspicious look that must have looked so fierce, his expression blanked. Then our gazes both fell on the crystal cylinder. He met my gaze again, wide-eyed in wariness. I pursed my lips and made a dive for the relic.
But he was faster—and closer to it. He snatched up the cylinder and tucked it into his back pocket.
“Ugh.” I groaned as I hit the ground. I gritted my teeth and pushed up in a frenzy. “Give it back,” I ordered with a warning tone.
He gave me a mocking look. “No.”
“Give it back!” I repeated, standing up so I could get more height over him.
“Or you’ll what?” he prompted in ridicule.
Dumbfounded, I glared at him, irritated at myself for being so gullible.
Now he had the relic.
This boy now possessed the most powerful item in the whole of Arcadia. The object that I had been tasked to guard and make sure kept protected had fallen into the hands of a human.
I balled my fists at my sides, seething, silently calling upon all the powers of the Mystic Lake to summon the relentless fury of a raging ice tornado to freeze his deceitful mortal soul.
But nothing happened.
I let out a short breath, clenched my teeth, and tried again.
Only my head ached further.
But nothing else happened.
No ice tornado. No tidal wave. Not even a little gust of chilly wind.
I swallowed hard, starting to heave.
Damn! My powers must have been seriously drained last night if I couldn’t even conjure a simple elemental spell. I blinked back the tears stinging the back of my eyes at my helpless realization.
He frowned. “Sit down and shut up.” He handed me a piece of cooked meat. “Eat this.”
My scowl deepened, but for some reason, and probably for the first time, there was a desperate gnawing emptiness in the pit of my stomach triggered by the smell of the food that overrode my other senses.
Almost instinctively, I snatched the food from his hand before crawling back toward the tree. I fumed as I tore at the meat with my teeth.
He had deceived me. Twice! First, by making me get down from my tree so he could use me to get to the relic. Then hiding the relic so I would save him from the devastating clutches of the Mystic Lake.
I was such a complete and total failure. And there was nothing I could do to undo it.
“Hey,” he spoke again after a while.
I didn’t look up. I wanted to keep away from him as much as possible.
He frowned again but went on anyway. “I wanted to thank you for saving me back there. I owe you one.”
I didn’t move to acknowledge him. I kept my head down as I ate.
“And I also wanted to apologize,” he added. “I know I sort of tricked you but it was the only way I could think of to get the relic. I’m sorry you feel bad but I can’t give it back. Not yet.” He paused and took a deep breath. “Tell you what, if it’s really that important to you, I’ll make sure to return it after I use it. I promise. I’ll give it to you then. But not before and not now.”
Sort of tricked me? Give it back? Who was he kidding? I wanted to burst out in scorned laughter but I didn’t want to give him the luxury to see me get even more enraged.
“Look, I’m leaving tomorrow so you’ll never have to see me again. You can go back to your lake or wherever you want. You’re free now. Do you realize that?” he asked in an attempt to get me to respond.
I remained silent. I wasn’t going to oblige him anything. And we definitely weren’t allies just because he’d tricked me into saving his pitiful life. If he was indeed planning to leave tomorrow, he’d better not have been planning on getting any sleep tonight. Because the moment I caught him off-guard, I was going to snatch the relic and put it back where it belonged.
I watched the boy warily from my perch up in the tree.
He was going around fixing the campsite. A while ago, he had asked me to come down so I could rest on one of the blankets that he had. I had no idea where he’d gotten them. Somehow, he appeared to have brought a lot more things with him.
When I ignored him and didn’t come down, he arranged two sleeping places on opposite sides of the fire just in case. I huffed out a growl and pulled my knees up to my chest. I was used to resting in trees. I was used to doing everything in trees.
I was waiting for him to fall asleep so I could take the relic back but he didn’t seem to be tired at all despite what we’d just gone through.
I grumbled. It wasn’t fair. He could recover very well now, far away from the mystical barrier. I would not.
I needed the power of the Lake to heal. It was the only form of sustenance I’d ever known. I wasn’t even entirely sure how I was still surviving after over an entire day away from the Lake.
Looking out to the horizon, I could see nothing but stars against the black velvet of the sky. I was trying to keep still, hoping my energy would return and I could recover my powers faster.
It was strange. It had been centuries since I had last used my powers to their full strength, centuries since I had even needed it at all.
Once upon a time, I could summon the most monstrous tsunami in the entire world or conjure a perfectly daunting atmospheric electrical storm.
Today, I couldn’t even make ice.
Ice.
I closed my eyes and let the familiar breeze envelop me. But as hard as I tried, I could not ignore the larger implications of what had just happened.
Without the relic to guard, I would have no business at the Mystic Lake anymore. I could go anywhere I pleased. I could finally do what I’d been wanting to do for centuries.
See the world. To simply be away. Away from my tree, the Lake, the Forest.
I shook my head swiftly. No. My life was to guard the relic. It was literally my only purpose. What I had to do now was get the relic back and restore it to its rightful place within the Mystic Lake. Then I should continue to guard it every day so that no one could have it.
Why? The question popped in my head. Why even have an incredibly powerful relic around and simply keep it hidden? Why not use the relic for a good cause? Why not perhaps someone with noble intentions use the relic’s infinite power to make Arcadia a better world?
Shouldn’t there be a certain chosen person who can overcome the protective barrier? Surely, something as important as this must have an owner…
My thoughts surprised even myself for I had never once doubted my purpose in guarding the relic.
I shook my head again. The wisest sages of all time had always concluded that anyone, even one with the purest of souls, would be corrupted by such power if granted it for even a small period of time.
Things were better left as they were. The relic in its place within the Mystic Lake.
I stopped as I realized I didn’t even know what this all-powerful relic was able to do either. It had never occurred to me to ask. Not that there was anyone to ask. The legend had only ever said “incredible” things but nothing more specific.
For that matter, how could this boy know that this particular object could help him do whatever it was he wanted to do, such as going home?
I glanced back down at him. He was settling into one of the blankets he’d laid out.
What kind of home did he have to go back to if he needed the most powerful object in existence to get there? Why wouldn’t he just take the next ship that comes to port? Surely, all the places in Arcadia, even the smallest islands, could be reached by the ships.
He looked up and met my gaze
. “Sure you don’t want to come down here and sleep? I imagine it’s way more comfortable than it is up there.”
I shot him a dirty look and averted my gaze. Go on then. Sleep, I urged in my mind.
Maybe I would even be able to grab the relic and put it back in the Lake before anyone even realized it was ever gone.
I watched wisps of clouds sail by in the sky and counted the stars to pass the time.
About six hundred years ago I thought I had managed to count all the stars. Then about a century later, a learned mage told me that stars died and were born every day, as well as that apparently some stars were even too far away to see from Arcadia in the first place. Still, it provided enough amusement for a spell.
I squinted to see the tiny dot that was the red star, closest to Arcadia in the heavens. On clear nights, I’d also heard that one might even be able to see the one further on from the red star, the one closer to the Great Star. The blue one.
A breeze blew and I hissed, rubbing my hands over my arms. I hadn’t felt cold in a long time. Despite appearances, the power of the Lake had always kept me comfortable. It always made me feel safe. I shifted to try instead to arrange my hair around me for cover.
I glanced back down again. The boy was lying on the ground on his side, wrapped up in a thick blanket. He was no longer moving, possibly, hopefully, already sleeping soundly.
I straightened up, brushing my hair back, and took a deep breath before I touched off the tree branch to drift down to the grass as silently as I could.
I crept over to his side of the fire and peered at his face. His breathing was even. I nodded in approval before I cast my eyes down.
The crystal cylinder wasn’t in his back pocket.
I furrowed my eyebrows and looked around his body to spot where he might have hidden the relic.
He rolled over and I stifled a surprised gasp, looking up at his face in alarm. But he was still asleep.
Then out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the gleaming of the crystal. The encasing was inside the jacket he was wearing. I made a face, trying to figure out how to unhand him of it, and pursed my lips in a grimace as I tried to reach under the blanket and into his jacket to slip the relic out.
The Curse of the Arcadian Stone: Vol. 1 Stolen Oath (Nameless Fay) Page 2
