The Curse (The Windore Series Book 2)

by Valya Boutenko

  Maddy Alamore made a scene of pulling out an object from within her robes. Bloom knew the item right away. It was the compass that Amelliea had given him before he left the Gator palace, only now it was a transparent, immaterial object that sat in the woman’s pale hand. The blue arrows spun around the face of the phantom compass, and Bloom knew there was no use in asking for it back, now that it did not belong to the material realm. He knew Maddy had wanted him to see it, so he would know what she was capable of.

  “Follow me!” grumbled Maddy, hastily putting away the compass and drifting forward into the fog.

  Bloom rushed after her. As they hurried through the dripping forest, the wizard knew that he could not sustain the pace the ghost had set, and he suspected that Maddy’s aim was to exhaust him. Bloom watched his footing, looking out for unexpected drops and pitfalls. The terrain was rough and wild. He worried that Maddy was leading him astray, slowly toying with his mind until he broke. The moment she no longer needed him, she would no doubt leave him to die. If he was to survive, he had to win her favor. They moved on through the wilderness, covering many leagues. In time, Bloom grew weary.

  “Maddy, I am but a mortal man, I need to rest,” he said.

  “You are no mortal man!” said Maddy, turning around to face him so abruptly that he almost stepped right through her. “In all my years I’ve never met at man like you. I have met monks, and priests, and nobles without a fraction of your will,” said Maddy. “Pray, tell me who you are?”

  “My name is Bloom, I am the pebble maker,” he answered, taking off his pack and sitting down on the damp ground with his staff across his lap.

  “That tells me nothing,” said Maddy.

  “Its all I have to tell you,” answered Bloom. “How long have you been watching me?” he asked, to detour her prying. He picked up a small boulder and examined it in his hands.

  “Since first you set foot in these Mountains,” replied Maddy, hovering nearby and folding her arms across her chest in annoyance.

  “We are not alone, are we?” he asked without looking up. Bloom reached into his pack and produced a chisel and a small silver mallet.

  “No,” confirmed Maddy.

  “I thought as much,” said Bloom, putting the chisel to the stone. As he struck the end of the chisel with the mallet, the enchanted instruments rapidly thundered out two words in deep-cut, uniform letters. Bloom blew the dust off of the newly engraved boulder. Neflehfate-youlaw, read the words.

  “What is that you’re doing?” asked Maddy.

  “Making a note in case I forget,” answered Bloom.

  “Forget what?” asked Maddy Alamore.

  “How to defend myself,” he replied, placing the boulder in a visible spot on the ground before rising and brushing himself off.

  “Why would you forget?” asked Maddy.

  “You know why,” said Bloom, giving her a stern look.

  “I know not,” said the ghost, playing innocent.

  “Thoughts, feelings, and memories are immaterial things,” he said, “and they are easy enough for someone like you to manipulate.”

  “I have done no such thing, if that’s what you’re implying,” said Maddy, sounding offended.

  “Perhaps you haven’t yet,” said Bloom, “but when my will is weakened by fatigue and hunger, who is to say that you won’t then take full advantage of my state?”

  “Please,” smiled Maddy Alamore, “I am a lady.” She batted her long eyelashes at him. “Won’t you read me some more?”

  “Not yet,” said Bloom.

  She scowled and led him onward. Again they hurried through the forest as before. Bloom felt his pulse racing in his temples with the effort of keeping up. Time and again he urged Maddy to slow down, and she pretended to oblige, only to gradually speed up to the same rapid rate. Each time they paused for Bloom to rest and catch his breath, the wizard carved another stone with the same inscription as before. He chiseled the words in big letters onto the sides of cliffs, and into boulders both large and small.

  “You’ll hardly need all these silly inscriptions,” said Maddy on one of the breaks. She looked down at him disapprovingly.

  Bloom blew the lettering clear on the face of a huge rock. The grey dust plumed in the air forming a small cloud that quickly began to settle. “This venture is not dangerous for you Maddy,” he said, “since you are already dead.”

  “How dare you?” screeched Maddy Alamore. “I’m helping you and yet you treat me so—”

  “I meant no disrespect,” rushed Bloom. “Forgive me, Maddy. Come, let me read to you the rest of Henry’s letter.” Bloom read to her the second half of the first letter, and Maddy spun around him in ecstasy, chilling him to the bone. Bloom noted that she seemed a fraction more transparent than before.

  “I miss him so!” cried Maddy. “Oh my sweet Henry! I never knew!”

  “Maddy, are you alright?” Bloom asked.

  “Never better,” she sighed, positioning herself as though Bloom held her in his arms even though his arms were at his sides and she floated in front of him entirely on her own. She interlaced her icy ethereal fingers behind his neck.

  “You seem… different,” said Bloom.

  “I remember it well, the feeling of love,” she smiled.

  “That’s not entirely what I meant,” answered Bloom, stepping away from her, and looking around. They were in a small gully where the grassy earth was more or less level. “I shall break camp here tonight,” he determined, feeling thoroughly exhausted.

  “So be it,” said Maddy Alamore.

  Bloom began to unpack his belongings. His arms felt heavy as he set up his tent and fixed his dinner. When at last he lay down on his mat and pulled the blanket over his cold and aching body, Maddy appeared inside his tent and hovered above him. He could see her well enough even in the fading light. Her ghostly figure blurred at the edges, and her long hair trailed behind her in flowing coils.

  “I’ve come to like you,” said Maddy, as if making up her mind. She looked intently at his face. “Are you sure you don’t want to die here and haunt the Wanderers Mountains alongside me?”

  “It’s nothing personal,” replied Bloom, “But I would rather not.”

  “Why not?” pouted Maddy.

  Bloom sighed, “I have lived a long life and when I die, I wish to be at peace.”

  “That’s too bad,” whispered Maddy. She lay beside him as though they were lovers. “Especially since you’ll probably die here anyway,” she sighed.

  “I know,” answered Bloom. “Goodnight.” He turned away onto his side. Maddy flew outside straight through the canvas fabric of the tent. Bloom closed his eyes and instantly drifted off to sleep. He dreamed of rivers converging and then breaking away, gushing across the lifeless red desert. In the dead of night, he awoke to the sound of voices as he had several times before. He ripped open the tent door and ran outside in his nightshirt. Hundreds of ghosts were gathered in the gully. The fog itself seemed to be made out of them. They stared at him without alarm, no longer bothering to mask their presence.

  “Maddy?” cried Bloom.

  “Yes, my sweet?” replied Maddy Alamore appearing beside him.

  “Have they been here all along?”

  “I think you know the answer,” she replied, attempting to brush his hair from his forehead. Her cold fingers only went through it.

  Bloom swallowed hard, “I’m ready to go on,” he said, no longer in the mood for sleep. He rushed to dress and pack his things. A ghost child sat upon his tied-up pack, and Bloom had to politely ask him to move before shouldering his bundle of provisions.

  “His life—are you going to take his life?” asked one of the ghosts, drifting forward. He had the look of an explorer.

  “No,” said Maddy Alamore. “What good is it to me? I rather like being dead.”

  “Then can I have it?” asked the ghost. “I do so miss being alive!” He looked hungrily at Bloom.

  Maddy grabbed the explorer by the la
pels of his transparent jacket, “Listen hear, you rotten, good-for-nothing, thieving scum! He is mine alone, until I tell you otherwise!”

  The ghost nodded aggressively and she released him.

  “This way,” said Maddy, and the company followed her in the dark, as though a dense fog rapidly moving through the trees. Bloom made an effort to stay beside Maddy, not trusting the other ghosts that glared at him with hunger in their eyes. By the time it was fully light, Bloom’s head buzzed with a painful headache. He felt suddenly unclear about his destination, as though he were removed a great distance from his goal. A strange indifference settled over him, and Bloom worked hard to fight it. The day wore on and the wizard forced himself to press on, overcoming exhaustion time and again. A swarm of pale white ghosts surrounded him from every side.

  “Is it far?” he asked Maddy.

  “Is what far?” she asked with a smile.

  “It?” said Bloom vaguely, unable to recall exactly what he sought.

  Maddy laughed at this, “No, Pebble Maker, it is not far now. Why don’t you take a rest and read me another letter?”

  Bloom read aloud the second letter. When he was finished, he found a smooth stone that attracted him for some reason. He held it for a moment in his hand, trying to recall what he had wanted it for, but was unable to remember.

  “Leave the stone,” said Maddy “and read me the letter as you promised!”

  “But I’ve already read it, haven’t I?” replied Bloom, rubbing his temple.

  The ghosts around him all shook their transparent heads in unanimous agreement that he hadn’t, so Bloom reached into his pack and read Maddy another of Henry’s letters. The ghosts gathered around him, listening with interest.

  When Bloom had finished reading, the child ghost drifted over to Maddy in a hurry, moving straight through the trees instead of bothering to go around them. “It’s the Wolf Baron!” said the little boy in his angelic voice. “He waits in the bog, and urgently wishes to speak with you!”

  “Can’t you see I’m busy?” snapped Maddy, indicating to Bloom, who picked up his staff and used it to push himself to standing.

  “We have to go now,” said Bloom numbly. “I must find the Map of Inquisition!” He was pleased with himself for remembering what it was he was after.

  “He is taking longer than the others,” noticed the ghost of the explorer.

  “Silence, you fool!” snapped Maddy. She took on a sweet tone once again, “This way, we are almost there.” she beckoned to Bloom, and he stiffly followed her down the slope. Before the scenery had time to change, they broke to rest again and Bloom read Maddy several more letters. They traveled in this fashion until but one single letter remained.

  “The map!” moaned Bloom, grabbing his head with his hands. “I need to find the map!”

  “I will give it to you!” promised Maddy, her voice like sugar, “Just read me this last letter, and the map will be all yours!”

  Bloom reached into his pocket and fished out the letter with the burnt edges. “No,” he said weakly, holding it in his hands.

  “Come now,” smiled Maddy. “The letter is for me, is it not?”

  Bloom nodded and opened the folded parchment. A single line was written on the page. So tired was he, that the wizard struggled to hold the letter in his hand. Bloom read the line to himself and then closed his eyes, attempting to keep the world from spinning around him. The world went dark as if disappearing from existence altogether, and Bloom fell on the cold earth, losing consciousness from fatigue. He did not even feel the impact as he crashed onto the ground. The letter lay open on the dirt a few inches from his hand. Maddy Alamore moved to read the few words.

  “Don’t read it Maddy!” cried the ghost of the little boy. “For reading it will surely cross you over!”

  “I must! It is what’s left of my unfinished business!” cried Maddy.

  At this moment, a giant wolf leapt from the trees behind them and tore the parchment to shreds with his powerful claws.

  “Wolf Baron, what have you done? You’ve cursed me to haunt these woods for eternity!” screamed Maddy.

  “I saved your life!” roared the Woolf in a rumbling human voice. His black fur was wet and dirty as though he had been running a great distance. “I kept you from the other side!”

  Weeping, Maddy reached a trembling hand toward a piece of the parchment.

  “Its time to bury these childish things!” growled the Wolf, transforming into the form of a man. He had a hunched, animal-like posture even as a man. His eyes had a carnivorous glint, and his unshaved chin jutted forward, leaving the impression of a rash and impatient character. The werewolf had messy, shoulder-length hair and broken fingernails. A deep wrinkle had formed between his eyebrows, as though an angry snarl was his most frequent expression. He wore a rough shirt and jacket that had both seen better days, and dirty, worn out slacks. “I need your help in leading my army,” he said. “For my soldiers are hard to control, but they are ever so willing to do what you say!”

  Maddy smiled at this flattering statement. “You know I am always on your side, Baron,” she bowed. “Besides, I owe you my ethereal life!”

  “And what of the wanderer?” asked the ghost of the explorer eagerly.

  “Do with him what you will, he is no longer of use to me!” said Maddy.

  “Shall we save you a sip of his life?” asked the explorer hungrily.

  “There is no need, she will feast at the upcoming battle!” replied the Wolf Baron. “For we have a city to take over, and when we succeed, there shall be plenty for all!”

  Bloom came to his senses, only to catch a glimpse of Maddy drifting rapidly after a barefoot man in tattered clothing who raced away through the forest, and then the wizard was surrounded by white. He felt cold. Too weak to rise, Bloom pressed up onto one of his elbows. Ghosts swirled around him so thickly he could not see passed them. A golden light was streaming from his body right through his clothes. The light poured from each of the crolackrolite stones in his many pockets. The ghosts drank in the light, diving down at him to steal his life force. Bloom could not remember the incantation for crossing over a ghost. He wracked his brain in desperation, but the memory of the spell was gone without a trace. He felt his will to live grow fainter and fainter with each passing moment, and could not resist his life force being drained by the ghosts. Bloom collapsed and lay with his cheek against the cold dirt, barely able to move. Was there something he needed to remember? What was it? Something important dangled just outside of his minds reach. He thought of Henry’s last words. I’ll wait for you on the other side, the letter had said, just as Ausra had written Bloom before she died. Ausra! He closed his eyes, surrendering to the darkness when suddenly, his hand touched an engraved stone. Bloom felt the cut-out letters with his fingers. He concentrated with all his might to lift his head off the ground and strained to see the words on the stone. “Neflehfate-youlaw,” he murmured hoarsely, his neck muscles trembling with the effort of holding up his head.

  “What?” sneered one of the ghosts hovering over Bloom’s face.

  With difficulty, Bloom forced himself over onto his back. “Neflehfate-youlaw!” he whispered with his last breath, closing his fist around the new crolackrolite stone that had formed in his hand.

  “Wait—no!” screamed the ghost, his eyes bulging with fear as he was yanked violently upwards. There was a small burst of light and then his voice was cut off as he disappeared without a trace. The others drew back and fled the scene. They screeched in fear as they tore away from the wizard. Bloom clutched the stone in his hand, and as the ghosts retreated his memory began to gradually return to him. The Map of Inquisition is what he had been after! Though it was clearly time to give up that hopeless search before it killed him. Maddy Alamore had misled him! He had carved the incantation into the stone himself, which meant she’d taken him in a circle! Bloom understood then that Maddy was never planning to take him to the Map! His head swam, and his memories and though
ts went in and out of focus, as though he could not entirely grasp the whole situation without losing sight of one important piece or another. Looking to his left and then his right, Bloom noticed that the ground around him was trampled with tracks that were not his own. Since ghosts did not leave tracks, Bloom wondered whom they belonged to. Could it have been the man he’d glimpsed with Maddy? He dimly recalled hearing a masculine voice speaking with the piratess about a coming battle. An object began to glow and buzz right over his heart. Bloom reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the enchanted mirror. It was Amelliea checking in on him from the Gator palace. Bloom took a moment to collect himself before opening the mirror.

  Chapter 35

  Challenge Accepted

  The sandstorm had ended in the early hours of the morning and both waking from hunger, Amelliea and Galvan set out on their way at first light. They made it back to the palace in the early afternoon. When they walked into the great hall, Gabriellen broke away from the training session to run to the Prince and embrace him. It seemed her leg was feeling much better already, and by the look of the nearly healed scratches that remained on her calf, she no longer needed to wear bandages.