by Brandon Mull
“Who?” Jace asked.
“A former Grand Shaper,” Violet said.
“I have warning systems in place,” Kendo said. “An alarm just went off. I must go now. I refuse to lose another.” He paused, almost spoke, and halted again. “I could use help. Follow if you dare.”
Kendo Rattan stepped into the wayport and was gone.
CHAPTER
18
SERPENT
Do we go?” Cole asked.
“And confront the Perennial Serpent?” Violet asked in horror.
“He can handle it, right?” Twitch asked.
“Kendo Rattan lived to tell Lorenzo he would be here today,” Mira said.
“What if he lived because we helped him?” Cole asked.
“No way to know,” Violet said.
“Might be good practice,” Jace said. “We have worse than a snake in our future.”
“Does that mean we have to jump into every fight between now and then?” Twitch asked. “If we don’t go, Kendo must have survived without us.”
“We don’t have time to debate,” Jace said.
“He’s keeping the wayport open,” Violet said.
“We need his help,” Cole said. “Shouldn’t we help him?”
Jace held out his golden strand. “Charge me up.”
Cole touched the small rope and infused it with power.
“Nobody has to follow me,” Jace said as he lunged through the wayport.
Staring at the shimmering disturbance, Cole drew his Jumping Sword and pushed power into it. He could still feel his connection to the golden rope.
“We’re going?” Twitch asked.
“I am,” Cole said.
Violet and Twitch held out their hands, and Cole connected to their powers. Suddenly Twitch had grasshopper legs. Mira presented her Jumping Sword, and Cole quickly powered it up. Then he entered the wayport.
He stepped out onto a gentle, grassy slope. Higher up, the slope leveled off, and a wooden palisade enclosed a village. Low fences divided the surrounding fields into sections. At least a dozen cows were running in different directions—away from a giant snake.
Fangs bared, hood spread, a silver-and-white cobra reared up three or four times higher than the man and woman before it. The enormous serpent had a head the size of an anvil and a body as thick as a tree. Cole recognized Kendo as the man. Dressed as a Wayminder, the stocky woman looked well into her autumn years. A long scarf bundled her gray hair.
Jace landed to one side of the serpent, cushioning the impact with the rope. Cole had seen Jace use the rope to propel himself into battle many times. Despite the fearsome appearance of the serpent, Jace had not hesitated.
Pointing his Jumping Sword, Cole aimed for a spot in the field between Kendo and Jace and cried, “Away!” He sprang over the rippling pasture, stumbling as he landed, grass swishing against his shins.
Wielding his rope like a whip, Jace lashed the serpent in the face once, twice, three times. Seeming more annoyed than injured, the snake swiveled to face the new threat.
Mira landed beside Cole. Violet stepped through a wayport on his other side, followed by Twitch. Cole kept feeding all of them power, and his sword as well.
Jace lassoed the huge cobra’s mouth shut. The enormous serpent thrashed its head from side to side, then swept Jace’s legs out from under him with its tail. Jace lost hold of the rope, and it fell away from the serpent’s snout.
Coils writhing into a new position, the Perennial Serpent wheeled and struck at the Grand Shapers. Kendo raised both hands, and the strike slowed almost to stillness. Slender fangs gleaming, the cobra inched forward. Kendo trembled. Cole could sense a massive flood of power emanating from him as he somehow manipulated the speed of the great snake.
The slowness provided an opening.
Cole drew his Jumping Sword, pointed it just below the head of the enormous cobra, and shouted, “Away!” He sprang forward, air rushing over him as he zoomed toward his target. The sword might not have a long enough blade to whack the head clean off, but Cole figured he could deliver an ugly wound. He would plunge the blade deep and let his momentum rip it free. He would need to jump again when he landed to offset the impact. Cole squeezed the hilt tightly. If he lost hold of the sword, it would be an ugly fall.
As the tip of the Jumping Sword neared the silver-white scales, the serpent vanished. Instead of the expected impact, the sword struck nothing, and Cole sailed through empty space, taking a smaller jump to a nearby spot after landing. Cole saw Mira stagger to a halt some distance away—she had jumped at the snake as well.
“Behind you!” Jace shouted.
Cole turned to find that the enormous serpent had materialized behind him and was rearing up, jaws agape. “Away!” Cole shouted as he jumped back toward Violet and Twitch. In his haste he leaped higher than was necessary—another jump would definitely be needed upon landing.
As Cole reached the apex of his flight, the Perennial Serpent appeared in his landing zone, head turned upward to greet him. Jace had recovered his rope, but the tail of the snake hurled him to the ground again. Cole plunged downward, and the cobra surged up to greet him.
And then Twitch collided with Cole, abruptly changing the course of his descent, insectile wings fluttering. The striking snake missed. With Twitch’s arms around him, Cole landed softly.
Twitch dove in front of Cole as the serpent struck again. Sharp fangs plunged into Twitch’s thigh, and he disappeared.
The snake tried to come at Cole again, but the golden rope encircled the base of its hood. Moving like a ribbon in a windstorm, the Perennial Serpent thrashed and corkscrewed, but the rope held, and the other end of the rope began to entangle the tail. Jace had lengthened the rope farther than Cole had seen it stretch, allowing him to attack from a greater distance away.
Despite his proximity to the dangerously flailing cobra, Cole looked around for Twitch but could not see his friend anywhere. Cole realized he could no longer feel Twitch’s power. What had happened to him? Where had the bite sent him?
Cole saw Mira pointing her Jumping Sword at the serpent and cut power to her weapon. Her mouth formed the word “away” before she took a small, unaided hop forward. He couldn’t let her risk an attack!
The snake vanished again.
Still lending power to Violet and the golden rope, Cole aimed his sword at Kendo Rattan and sprang to the Grand Shaper’s side. Cole laid a hand on the man’s wrist and felt the power blazing within him.
“Stop the snake,” Cole said, forcing a massive amount of power into Kendo.
The Perennial Serpent reappeared near Jace, ready to strike. A wayport appeared beside him, and Jace dove through to emerge behind the serpent. Kendo raised both hands, and the serpent moved in slow motion and began to shrink. Jace lassoed the cobra just below the hood again, and Cole could see the rope digging into the scales as it squeezed.
The snake vanished.
Kendo dropped his hands to his knees, panting.
“Stay ready,” Cole said.
“It’s gone,” Kendo said. “Really gone this time.”
“Dead?” Cole asked.
“No,” Kendo replied. “But it fled through time.”
“Should we follow it?” Cole asked.
Kendo shook his head. “I can’t track it. And, mind you, I can track almost anything that moves through space or time. Not the Perennial Serpent. My oldest foe here in Creon.”
“What about Twitch?” Cole asked. “The snake bit him and he disappeared.”
Kendo regarded Cole with sad eyes. “I’m unsure. Your comrade could be no more. He could be far removed across space or time. I can’t sense what that serpent does, or really comprehend how, and believe me, I try.”
Cole squeezed the Jumping Sword hard. He wanted to throw it. He screwed one heel into the ground by pivoting it back and forth.
“I’m sorry,” Kendo said.
“What can we do?” Cole asked, trying to resist grinding his t
eeth.
“We can hope,” Kendo said.
“What now?” the female Wayminder asked.
“Flee to your safest stronghold,” Kendo said. “We’re no longer trapped here.”
Violet, Jace, and Mira had approached.
“The two of you were stuck here?” Violet asked.
“The fight did not begin here for Charlotte,” Kendo said. “The serpent chased her across many locations before corralling her here and blocking all escape. It shielded us from opening wayports to other destinations.”
Cole was trying to listen, trying to be interested. He had recruited Twitch for this. And now Twitch was gone. Maybe not for good. Maybe he was all right somewhere.
“I’ve never felt so helpless,” Charlotte said. “My powers utterly failed.”
“You did well lasting long enough for me to reach you,” Kendo said. “That serpent is so strong. It countered most of the actions I tried to take as well. We would have both fallen had these children not come to our aid.”
“Thank you,” Charlotte said earnestly. “I’m so sorry about your friend.”
Cole gave a nod. Mira squeezed his shoulder from behind.
“Go, Charlotte,” Kendo said. “I’ll see to the children.”
“I’m not sure I can,” Charlotte said. “I’m drained.”
Kendo glanced at Cole. “Would you mind?”
Cole tried to suppress his feelings. Currently he was needed. Mourning might have to come later. He took Charlotte’s hand. Her power was steady and strong but not nearly as dazzling as Kendo’s. He lent power to her, and a wayport opened behind her.
“Extraordinary,” Charlotte said, gazing at Cole with startled eyes. “Thank you again.”
She retreated into the wayport, and it closed.
Kendo absently waved a hand, and a new wayport opened. “Come. Let’s converse in a safer place.”
“What about Twitch?” Jace asked.
“Kendo isn’t sure what happened,” Cole said. “The serpent might have sent him far away. Or he could be gone.”
“Can’t you feel where he went?” Violet asked Kendo, then lowered her eyes. “With respect.”
“Ordinarily I could,” Kendo said. “This serpent is stealthy. It’s like nothing else I’ve ever encountered, and has been a thorn in my side practically since Creon began.”
“Does it always make people vanish?” Mira asked.
“Sometimes,” Kendo said. “We have also found corpses. Over the years the Perennial Serpent has slain two active Grand Shapers and dozens of Wayminders, along with many other citizens.”
“Were the people who vanished ever found?” Cole asked.
Kendo paused. “Not yet.”
“And lots have vanished?” Jace asked. “Some of them a long time ago?”
“The Perennial Serpent has been making people disappear with its bite for hundreds of years,” Kendo said.
Growling, Jace picked up a stone and threw it as far as he could. “I’m going to find that snake and tie it into knots!”
Mira approached Jace and hugged him. He embraced her fiercely.
Cole wiped tears from his eyes. He wanted to speak. He wanted to say maybe Twitch was alive and safe someplace far away. Or at worst he was in the echolands. They would all get there eventually. Maybe Twitch had met up with Zig in the Hall of Glory.
No words would come.
Once again Twitch had saved him. And now Twitch was gone.
“We don’t know where Twitch went,” Mira said. “We can hope for the best.”
“Yeah,” Jace said. “It seemed like such a nice snake. It probably sent him on a fancy holiday.”
“We should adjourn to my hideaway,” Kendo said, gesturing toward the wayport.
Violet entered. Mira followed. Cole stepped through after her into a smallish room filled with walls of clear, overlapping crystals. The smooth floor and ceiling were composed of crystal as well. Trying to stare into the distance gave Cole eyestrain as prism after prism warped and fragmented the view.
Jace came through the wayport with Kendo behind him. The wayport closed.
“I feel like I’m inside a kaleidoscope,” Cole said.
“An apt description,” Kendo agreed. “Difficult for the eyes. My apologies. Hardly a pleasant room for entertaining guests. Except that it is extremely well shielded against any crooked Wayminders who might wish to visit unexpectedly or spy.”
“Have you figured out what the serpent wants?” Mira asked. “Besides killing people?”
“The Perennial Serpent is the oldest unsolved mystery in Creon,” Kendo said. “I don’t know if it wants anything. For all I know it could have no agenda. It might simply be a predator attracted to strong sources of shaping power. Sometimes it appears with a mysterious figure known as the Ancient One. The relationship between the two is not understood. The serpent has historically attacked Wayminders. Other citizens tend to perish as collateral damage. It will go decades without an appearance, then attack multiple times in a matter of months.”
“It has powers,” Cole said.
“Strong powers,” Kendo agreed. “It shapes in ways I have never seen in Creon. I believe it changes size by some form of spatial manipulation. Or maybe it incorporates elements of shaping from other kingdoms. I try to send it elsewhere, and it blocks me or comes right back.”
“It vanished when I jumped at it,” Cole said. “I didn’t see a wayport.”
“Some of what the serpent can do is beyond my understanding,” Kendo said.
“And you can’t track it?” Violet asked.
“No,” Kendo said. “I have set up methods to detect its appearance. And I have given some Wayminders procedures to contact me if it appears. But I can’t block an appearance. I can’t sense where it goes when it leaves. And I can’t tell what it does to the victims it sends away.”
“Why not?” Violet asked.
“The shaping it uses is too raw,” Kendo said. “I believe it shapes by pure instinct. And it sometimes flouts the laws we established. I’m so sorry about your friend. I wish I could do more.”
“Could it be Elegance’s power?” Violet asked. “Wouldn’t that fit?”
“It’s been around so long,” Jace said.
“In a world where time travel is possible,” Violet replied. “Made of power that allows time travel to happen.”
Everyone was silent.
“It fits,” Cole said.
“Tell me more,” Kendo urged.
Mira and Cole explained how Owandell had been schooled by Ramarro, how he had taken the shaping power from Mira and her sisters, and what it had looked like as they reclaimed the renegade shaping powers across four of the five kingdoms.
“It’s a compelling theory,” Kendo said when they finished. “I had not given serious consideration to the Perennial Serpent originating far in the future. But it now sounds plausible, perhaps even probable.”
“And we also have the problem of Ramarro,” Cole said.
Kendo sighed. “When the torivors first appeared, I knew the seeds of our destruction had been planted. I wish we could have defeated them. Instead we delayed the problem by locking them away. We left an awful catastrophe for future generations to inherit.”
“We have to beat Ramarro,” Cole said. “Just give us a way.”
“I know when you are from,” Kendo said. “Allow me twenty years. Have your friend Lorenzo send you to this same location twenty years from today. I will spend the intervening time learning what I can. Hopefully, I can give you better answers after some serious research and experimentation.”
“Okay,” Cole said.
“For you this is a brief delay,” Kendo said. “With your power to help Lorenzo, you will be talking to me again in a few minutes. Shall I send you back and get to work? If I hurry, I can still go catch the dedication ceremony.”
“I forgot all about the ceremony,” Mira said.
“I want to support my student,” Kendo said with a sad smile. “
I leave them on their own far too much. So much to do, so little time.”
“That’s funny coming from a guy who doesn’t age,” Cole said.
Kendo cocked his head. “Anything finite is over in a blink. No matter how long. Only eternity endures. Trust me—I have investigated thoroughly.”
“I have one other question,” Cole said. “Maybe it can wait.”
“What is it?” Kendo asked.
Cole braced himself. This was it—if Kendo couldn’t help him, he doubted anyone could. “I’m from Outside. I hope to get home to stay someday. And to help some of my friends do the same.”
“Yes, I see,” Kendo said. “The nature of this realm, even before we engineered it to accommodate living mortals, was to accept beings from elsewhere and prepare them to move on. It’s a place of transition. This realm separates you from your previous life, your previous world. Distances you. People are not meant to go back from here. They are supposed to journey on toward eternity.”
“So a return is impossible?” Cole asked.
“Perhaps not impossible,” Kendo said. “But extremely difficult. And contrary to the nature of this place. Among the Grand Shapers of Creon there is talk about the Pilgrim Path—a way back to our home world. By coming to the Outskirts, I gained certain powers and led an interesting life. And I cheated myself out of a truly mortal experience. The longer I live, the more I hope to finish my days with a return to regular mortality.”
There it was again, mention of the Pilgrim Path—perhaps a real possibility. Cole didn’t trust his voice but had to ask. “Then you might be able to send me home?”
“I’m not sure,” Kendo said. “It should not be possible. But many believed it would not be possible to create a place for mortals in this realm. I have defied what is possible before. Allow me more time to work on this as well.”
“It’s the best news I’ve gotten,” Cole said.
Kendo considered him. “Do you hope to flee before Ramarro gets free?”
Cole shook his head. “I have friends here. No, I just hope there is a way home after we stop him.”
Kendo placed a hand on Cole’s shoulder. “Quite a boy. I’ll work on it. For now—give Lorenzo my regards.”
