Jack Staples and the Ring of Time

by Mark Batterson

  As they neared the center of the bridge, Jack realized he was holding his breath. Surely the entire thing was about to collapse. He was so intent on the bridge that he nearly ran into Wild, who was approaching from the opposite direction.

  “It’s good to see you awake, Jack.” Wild grinned. “No one was sure how long you’d be out. But I know Mrs. Dumphry wanted you to stay in bed until you have your strength back.”

  Jack offered Wild a tight smile. “I’m not going to sit around and do nothing. We’re on our way to see Mrs. Dumphry.”

  “She’s meeting with the Council, and they won’t let you in,” Wild told Jack. “They don’t like to be interrupted. Besides, when they hear you’re awake, I’m sure they’ll come to your chamber soon enough.”

  “We aren’t going to wait, Wild. I don’t care what they want.” Jack tried his best to make his voice hard. He was frantic. How could I have been sleeping for three months?

  After a moment, Wild nodded. “All right, I suppose I’ll come along as well, then.”

  All four children began walking down the other side of the bridge. Jack lost count of how many bridges they crossed over. Each bridge led to a very different type of chamber. Sometimes they walked directly through a chamber to a bridge on the other side, and other times there was a walkway around the outside, leading to another bridge. Jack was interested to see men, women, and children walking along the bridges and going about their daily business. When he saw the animals, he gasped.

  “The Awakened call them Clear Eyes,” Arthur said excitedly. “The animals are just like us. Well, like the rest of us, not like you and Alexia, I suppose. But when they are born, animals also have scales over their eyes. And when the scales fall off, they are awakened to the real world. They’re not tame and they don’t let you pet them, but I’ve heard it said that they will fight the Shadow Souled as fiercely as any human!”

  Jack could barely believe it. There were almost as many animals as there were humans. He searched the surrounding bridges to see three bears, two rhinos, an elephant, and a moose. He noticed that most of the people steered clear of the animals, but they didn’t seem particularly afraid of them. The underground city was a magical place, and at any other time Jack would have been desperate to explore it. But right now all he wanted was to talk to Mrs. Dumphry.

  Some of the chambers contained shops, while others held gardens, though every chamber was only a single room. Every person they passed stopped to stare at them.

  “Why are they staring like that?” Jack asked in a whisper.

  “They think we are special.” Alexia shook her head irritably. “They’ve been staring at me since I arrived, but I don’t think they believed you existed until now. It doesn’t matter what you say, or if you yell at them, they just keep staring and whispering.”

  “They think one of you is evil,” Arthur added. “They say one of you will try to destroy the Awakened and the other will try to save them, but they don’t know who will do what, so they are all rather confused about it. I think that’s what the Council’s been meeting about since we got here.”

  Alexia and Jack stopped as Arthur and Wild kept walking. After a moment, it seemed Arthur realized his friends weren’t with him. When he turned back and saw the looks on their faces, he raised his hands. “I didn’t say I believed them! But I’ve been talking to some of them, and that’s what they’re saying.”

  “You need to stop talking to them.” Alexia had a dangerous look in her eyes.

  “Don’t get mad at me. I’m on your side, remember?” Arthur replied.

  “What else do they say?” Jack didn’t like the idea of everyone in this city thinking they knew something about him.

  “That’s it, I swear,” Arthur said. “And I’ve told them they’re wrong, but they’ve got a bloomin’ prophecy, so they won’t listen.”

  “Let’s go.” Jack was growing more frustrated by the second, and his leg was beginning to stiffen. Besides that, he was starting to get hungry again. He barely noticed his surroundings as they crossed over several more bridges and through many more chambers. The longer they walked, the darker his thoughts became.

  Over an hour later they were standing in front of a large door and Jack was breathing heavily. The bridge leading to the Council Chamber was the widest they’d crossed, wide enough for ten horses to walk side by side. Lying next to the door were a number of impressive-looking weapons: two large, half-mooned axes, a long sword, two short swords, a staff, some sort of barbed pole, and a sling.

  “Well, here we are,” Wild said, looking around nervously.

  “I’ve walked in twice now,” Alexia growled. “The first time, they just forced me out. The second time …,” she trailed off, blushing slightly. Both Wild and Arthur blushed as well, being sure not to look at Alexia. Whatever happened, she was clearly both furious and embarrassed about it.

  “If you are really going in, you should leave your sword here,” Wild told them. “Weapons aren’t allowed in the Council Chamber.”

  Jack ignored Wild. Keeping a tight grip on the sword, he took a deep breath, stepped forward, and shoved open the doors.

  Chapter 21

  THE BEZELS MAR

  Six faces turned to look as Jack, Alexia, and Arthur stalked into the Council Chamber. Wild had stayed outside, not wanting to be on the receiving end of the Council’s wrath.

  From the outside, the chamber looked no different from the others Jack had seen. Yet as he walked in, his eyes immediately darted to the walls. Every inch from floor to ceiling was covered in tapestries unlike any Jack had seen before. They were impossibly intricate, and as he walked across the chamber, Jack felt as if the pictures were moving with him, showing different scenes depending on where he stood. On the opposite side of the chamber was a large silvery structure of interlocking rings. It reached almost as high as the ceiling and made a sphere of sorts.

  Seven Council members were seated on cushions around a pool of blue light in the center of the chamber. The light bubbled like water, and every time a bubble popped, a tiny burst of colored light exploded outward. Jack immediately recognized Mrs. Dumphry and Aias in the ring of people, but it was the others who drew his eye.

  Next to Mrs. Dumphry was a giant. He was half again larger than any man Jack had ever seen. He had long, braided hair and a very thick beard. The hair on the top of his head was so red it was almost orange, while his beard was the color of pitch. “That’s Andreal,” Arthur whispered. Andreal wore a thick leather coat and a black kilt with gray trim. Jack could barely believe his eyes. He’d never believed giants were real. They’d just been characters in fairy tales and bedtime stories!

  Next to Andreal was a girl who didn’t look to be much older than Jack. She had auburn hair and eyes the shape and color of almonds. She wore loose-fitting trousers tucked in at the tops of her boots, which laced up to the knees. “That’s Sage,” Arthur whispered as he pointed to the girl. “Next to her is Miel, then Honi. Miel is the one who healed you.”

  Miel had olive skin and was quite beautiful. Her cloak was covered in so much golden threadwork it might as well have been made of solid gold. Honi was an old man with a thick gray beard that hung below his belt. He wore a plain brown cloak and had piercing eyes.

  “And the one in the middle is Elion,” Arthur breathed.

  The seventh member of the council was smaller than the rest and had her back to the door. At first, Jack struggled to see her. All he could see was her long golden hair, which seemed to be floating in midair. As he looked closer, he realized she was wearing a cloak of some sort. The cloak somehow matched the color of the chamber.

  Jack found his eyes wanting to slide past the woman, and he had to concentrate to keep them focused. Elion was the only one who didn’t turn to look as Jack and the others walked in.

  “Child, it is good to see you awake,” Mrs. Dumphry said. “But you cannot be he
re. We will come to your chamber soon enough. As for the two of you”—she fixed Alexia and Arthur with a cold stare—“rest assured we will speak of this later. Perseverance and stupidity may attend the same ball, but wisdom only dances with one. You may all leave, now.”

  Jack broke his eyes away from the cloaked woman and turned to meet Mrs. Dumphry’s gaze.

  “No,” Jack said calmly. He didn’t scream, and he didn’t feel like crying. A cold rage burned inside him. He had come to deliver a message, and nothing else mattered.

  “Young Mr. Staples,” Mrs. Dumphry chided, “you will listen or—”

  “I’m done listening.” Jack’s voice was cold steel. “It’s time for you to listen. You are going to answer our questions, and then we are leaving this city. If you won’t take us back to Ballylesson, we’ll go on our own, but we’re not staying here.”

  “Let him speak.” The golden-haired woman stood and turned to face Jack and the others. As she turned, she pushed her dizzying cloak back so it hung behind her. She was slim, only a little taller than Jack, and she was definitely not human. Her ears were pointed, and her milky white skin sparkled when she moved. Her eyes were large and astonishingly bright and seemed to gather the light of the room, changing color even as she looked at him. Human or not, Jack thought she was absolutely stunning.

  “It’s you,” Jack exclaimed in awe. “You were in my dream! I saw you standing next to my mother.”

  “I wondered how much you would remember.” Her voice was melodic and had a dreamlike quality to it. Stepping forward, she bowed her head. “Yes, Jack, I was there. My name is Elion, and I am pleased to meet you for the second time.” She smiled warmly.

  “But … how? It was a dream. I don’t understand.”

  “I think you do,” she responded.

  Jack opened his mouth to tell her he didn’t know what she was talking about, but instead he said, “It wasn’t a dream. It was real.”

  Elion nodded her affirmation. “Yes, it was real.”

  “But how?”

  “The question is not how, Jack, but when? When were you there?”

  Jack blinked in confusion.

  “When I first met you, on the night you arrived in the room that would someday become your bedroom, you announced yourself by name. Both your mother and I were as confused as you. You see, back then you had not yet been born. In a way, it was quite amusing.” Elion chuckled, her laugh sounding like a beautiful song. “It was you who told your mother what to name you.”

  Jack wanted to sit. He shook his head slightly but knew she was right. His mother hadn’t recognized him, and it had been far too real to be a dream.

  “Although I don’t fully understand it,” Elion continued, “you have the ability, at least in a small way, to walk through time.”

  Even if Jack hadn’t believed her, his clothing and the sword in his hand were proof enough.

  “Time has given you different rules than the rest of us. I will do my best to help you learn those rules, but it will take … time.” Elion smiled yet again.

  Jack didn’t know what to think. There was simply too much to take in.

  Elion stepped forward and placed her hands on Jack’s shoulders, and as she did, her eyes gathered even more light. “Jack, I am happy to tell you all I know. I will answer every question you have, so long as I know the answer. But first, I need you to tell me something. Will you do that for me?”

  Jack nodded.

  “I need you to tell me what you saw when you looked at the Masc Tinneas”

  “What is a Masc Tinneas?” he asked numbly.

  “When you looked at the papers that were on my desk, child, the map,” Mrs. Dumphry prompted. “Tell us what you saw.”

  Suddenly wary, Jack stepped back, breaking from Elion’s grip. The question scared him. He’d tried to forget what happened in the schoolhouse that night. But as he looked into Elion’s eyes, he remembered his mother’s words. They had been standing outside in the deep snow and howling wind. She’d held him close and told him that he would soon meet Elion and that he could “trust her above all.”

  “I saw someone who looked a little like you,” Jack said, addressing Elion, “except he was much taller and so bright I could barely look at him. But he had your eyes and ears, and his skin sparkled like yours. He was standing on the side of a great mountain.” Jack trembled as he remembered. “I heard him talking to someone, or maybe he was talking to himself, but I couldn’t see because he was too bright. He said his name was Belial, and he was planning to attack someone. He said”—Jack shuddered at the memory—“he said he would unseat the Author. And when he started to sing, the whole world shook.”

  Elion’s eyes widened, gathering even more light and shifting to a transparent white. “Until now,” Elion said, “there were very few in this world who would know that name. I am one of them.” Elion turned to address the other Council members, and as she did, her body vanished to Jack’s eyes as the strange cloak reflected the room.

  “Today, Belial goes by another name. You know him as the Assassin.”

  The room surged into motion as all but Mrs. Dumphry and Aias leaped to their feet and reached for weapons that were not there. And all but Mrs. Dumphry and Aias looked at Jack as if he had been transformed into a rabid wolf.

  “It be the boy! He be the one who’ll destroy us!” the giant shouted.

  “The Author will protect us,” Miel whispered.

  Even Arthur and Alexia seemed uncertain.

  “Sit down.” Elion didn’t scream or speak loudly, but one by one the Council sat, looking slightly embarrassed; all except Andreal.

  “Ye hear the boy, Elion,” the giant rumbled. “He be condemning heself with he own words!” His accent was strange, and Jack had trouble understanding him. “It be clear, he be the child who’ll destroy us!”

  Elion took a step toward him. “I also know the name Belial. Does that make me your enemy?” Her eyes blazed a translucent red. “Would you condemn me?”

  “It be far different, and ye know it!” the giant boomed.

  Elion didn’t bother to answer but turned to face Jack. “What you witnessed happened before Time was born. Belial was once the greatest being ever created. He was named the Lord of Harmony, and when he sang, all creation stopped to listen. In the end, it was his pride that was his downfall. He believed he could unseat the Author.” Elion stepped closer. “Jack, I believe what you witnessed was the start of the war—the very birth of evil.”

  Jack didn’t know how to respond. When he looked at Arthur and Alexia, both were staring as if they’d never seen him before.

  “But tell me,” Elion continued, “what happened next? There is something you are keeping from me; I can feel it.”

  Jack’s throat caught.

  “Do not fear. I am a friend, and I will protect you with my life.”

  After a moment Jack nodded. “When I touched the desk, something happened. I don’t know, but I think I was somehow on the mountain with him.”

  As he spoke, an uncertain look entered Elion’s eyes.

  “He … he spoke to me. He said that … that he had great plans for me.” This was the hardest part for Jack to say, because it was this that scared him more than anything. “And then he touched me, here.” Jack’s hand went to his heart.

  “Jack.” Elion tensed. “Let me see exactly where he touched you.”

  Jack slowly pulled his shirt down to reveal a half-moon scar. “It wasn’t there before,” he said numbly. “It’s what woke me up just a little while earlier. My chest started to burn, and then this appeared.”

  Elion turned to the Council. “Sage, sound the alarm and rally the Awakened! The city is under siege!”

  Sage looked at Elion in confusion.

  “Go, now!” Elion’s eyes blazed a fiery orange.

  “Yes, Elion,” Sage said
as she dashed from the chamber.

  The rest of the Council looked as confused as Jack felt. Even Mrs. Dumphry seemed uncertain.

  “The Assassin has marked Jack.” Elion’s face was stone, her eyes a stormy blue.

  “But the boy has been here for months now,” Mrs. Dumphry said. “How is it the Assassin is only coming now?”

  “The mark on Jack’s chest is a Beezles Mar. I have not seen one since time before time. A Beezles Mar can stay invisible for long periods. Yet once it appears, the one who gave the mark can follow it like a beacon. It can remove it, but right now we must prepare for battle. Have no doubt; the Assassin will be leading this army. If he is not here already, he will be in Agartha within the hour.”

  From somewhere outside a bell began to toll.

  “NO,” Andreal screamed, jumping to his feet once again. “The boy, he must die! Can ye no see it, Elion? It be he who’ll destroy us! The prophecy be clear! If we kill him now, maybe we blind the Assassin before it be too late!”

  From outside the Council Chamber, many more bells began to sound as Elion turned toward Andreal. “I warn you,” she said, her eyes turning an icy blue, “if you touch a hair on this boy’s head, it will be you who loses your life!”

  “But he be bringing the Assassin! Ye must see it! What more do ye need to be hearing?”

  “Tell me.” Elion was angry now. “What are the other names for the Assassin? Is he not also the Father of Lies, the Deceiver, the Imposter? Yes, he followed Jack here, but the boy did not lead him!”

  “But the prophecy!”

  “Enough!” Elion’s eyes turned black, and as she stepped toward Andreal, her golden hair began to shine and rise from her shoulders. “I have warned you, Andreal. Do not cross me,” she said dangerously.

  The giant lifted his hands in surrender, taking a step back and paling slightly.

  When she turned to Jack, Elion’s hair was back to normal and her eyes settled to a deep green. “Jack, when we have more time, I will answer every question you have. You have my word. But I need you to tell me one last thing right now. Before you walk through time, do you hear music? Do you hear the ringing of bells?”