by Jada Fisher
“Mother?” she asked softly.
But she wasn’t there, and neither was the voice. Eist tried hard to choke back the disappointment, but she could feel tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She breathed deeply through her nose, trying to cut it off, before remembering that she had been following a golden ribbon.
Right. Forcing herself back to the task, she searched for it again. It wasn’t hard to find, streaking across the dark floor until it ended in the middle of another shelf. There, an entire book glowed brilliantly in her sight.
“Thank you, I guess,” Eist muttered, trying not to let her voice crack as she grabbed the book and walked back to her friends.
Strange, they had been dead for so many years, but when she had heard that voice, she’d really thought… Oh well. It didn’t matter what she thought. She had clearly been wrong.
She met her friends halfway to where they had walked in. “I think this is important,” she said curtly, handing the book to Dille.
“Are you alright?” her friend said, paying almost no attention to the tome at first. “Did you see anything.”
“No, nothing,” Eist answered with a sigh. “Not even a ghost.”
“I’ve got it!”
Eist shot up from where she had fallen asleep bent over a book, her drool across its hide cover. It was impossible to know what time it was since there were no windows in the archive, but she had a feeling in her bones that she had been passed out for quite a while.
“You’ve got what?” Ain groaned, sitting up from the floor. “A cure to the stupid love triangle my best friend is caught in?”
“What’s a love tr-tr-tria—”
“Nothing you have to worry about, big guy.”
“No, I found a way to cut the ties the Blight has to this realm. And any realm, really. It’ll be slingshot through…whatever it is that makes planes of existence, until it’s back from whence it came.”
“Did you really?” Eist said, wiping the drool from her mouth and staggering over to her friend. Leaning over the book, she indeed saw runes that seemed to glow gold, blue, and green in her sight. She recognized a couple of them from all of the reading she and Yacrist had done on their own along with the hours and hours of research she had done back when her grandfather was sick and she had no idea just how real magic was.
“Yeah, I did. This book is all about how the Three came over and wrested the celestial power from the old spirits of my people.”
“Your people?” Ain questioned, an eyebrow raised.
“Yeah, uh, this body—M’baya—which is me, but…you know, also not me, was the last in a line of Margaidian witches that used to belong to tribes of worship.”
“Ah. I see.”
“So, what all do we have to do?” Eist asked.
“Well, it seems like we’re going to take a literal trip down memory lane,” Dille answered, her lips pursing in displeasure.
“What do you mean?”
“We’re going to have to go back to where I first fell into the portal…or maybe the second time.” When the group blinked at her uncertainly, she cleared her throat. “Uh, the place where M’baya fell into a portal after cutting off Valatos’s hand and got thrown through time for what felt like centuries until she ended up in the first world.”
“Oh. That should be easy enough.”
“You’d think that,” Dille said before flopping backwards. “Except I have no idea where it is in this timeline.”
A rush of whispering sounds curled around Eist’s head. She hadn’t been able to hear a true whisper in years, so her spine prickled with apprehension. Suddenly, she saw flashes of images in front of her eyes, abstract portraits that all layered on top of each other to tell a story.
She could see her parents. She could see a shadow looming over the land. She could see M’baya fighting, then falling, Valatos and his severed hand tumbling after her. When the visions stopped, she nearly stumbled forward and would have collided with the table if Athar hadn’t caught her about her waist.
“Actually,” Eist said with a gasp. “I think I know exactly where we need to go.”
7
Déjà Vu
It felt so strange to be away from battle for the first time in over a month. Although Eist’s body had been exhausted and she had been certain she was about to fall to pieces from all the stress and strain, she’d grown used to the clockwork violence that came with fighting the Blight.
But the moment they had told Elspeth that they had a plan and a way to banish the dark creature, they had been tasked with gathering their supplies and brewing exactly what they needed.
All of the extra hands and wounded folk had been removed from the archive, lest they find out just how far into forbidden magic Eist and her friends were tapping into and cause a riot or some other scene. And honestly, that was how Eist liked it. She didn’t want everyone to know that Dille was a multi-lived witch from another era, but also from theirs. She didn’t want people to know that she could see things that no young girl was supposed to be able to see. She didn’t want them to know that the now last surviving family of the Lord of the House knew how to use runes and chants that worked for even those without magic. All of those were secrets between her and the people she cared about.
Nobody else.
It hadn’t taken long to gather everything, and it had only taken two days for them to gear up and leave. Now Eist found herself following another golden path cutting across the land—Ain, Athar, Yacrist, and Dille with her.
She had wanted Ale’a to come, but the battlefront couldn’t really spare any more resources and the redhead was definitely a valuable resource. Whether she was prowling the camps or in the sky, she more than held her own. Eist didn’t think she’d ever seen a dragon eat so many of the abominations, but Pernicia seemed to like them just fine.
“There!” she said, pointing into the distance. “I can see the entrance.”
“We’re going to want to land in the woods,” Dille said slowly, her eyes glassy as who-knew-what flew through her head. “I need to see if there are any old enchantments lying around that could mess us up.”
“Do you really think that’s a risk?”
“I… I’m not sure. I was ripped from the world before I could find out what happened with your parents. But, considering you’re here, I’m guessing they made it out just fine.”
“Yeah,” Eist said. “Too bad they never told me about it.”
“I’m sure they had their reasons.”
“See,” Ain said, leaning over Gaius with his typical smirk in place. “Nobody likes secrets.”
“We get it,” Eist said with a sigh. “And I think we can say there hasn’t been a single secret in weeks.”
“Yeah, only because we’ve been in a war lately.”
“So let’s end th-this war,” Athar said, Ethella surging up between them, causing Gaius to snort in irritation and drift farther back.
It was the tiniest moment of frivolity, but it was refreshing. Eist clung to that as they slowly began to land.
“If it helps, I don’t see anything magical,” she said once they were on the ground.
“I know,” Dille said, pacing with her palms raised toward the sky. “It doesn’t feel like there’s anything here either. But I want to check to be sure. I mean, as far as I know, there could be a five-hundred-year-old portal just waiting for us to stumble on it.”
“Fair enough. After you.”
They followed her through the trees, bit by bit, until they came to a caved-in bit of ground. Clearly something had been there before, a tunnel or passage, something that had gone underground, but now there was just boulders and rubble.
“Wait a minute, this isn’t right,” Dille said, her brow furrowed. “There should be a staircase here.”
“Maybe it collapsed under the force of the portal,” Yacrist offered. “After all, the one that summoned the Blight brought down the entire Rothaichian castle.”
“That sounds like a re
asonable guess to me.”
“Then what do we do?” Eist sighed.
Athar moved past them, reaching the biggest bolder and lifting it with a grunt before throwing it to the side. Eist felt appreciation and surprise well up through her, but she managed to not say anything stupid.
“As impressive as that is,” Dille said, her mirth evident in her tone. “I have an idea.”
“I don’t know,” Eist said, unable to help herself. “I’m kind of enjoying the show.”
“You two do realize there’s a literal apocalypse going on around us, right?” Yacrist asked tersely.
But Dille just rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, it’s the apocalypse you’re worried about.” Before he could respond, she sat on the ground and crossed her legs. Slowly, she began whispering while pulling things from her belt.
She made specific hand gestures, pouring out certain contents in neat little piles on the ground in front of her before drawing her finger through them. Eist watched, fascinated, as she continued setting the entire thing up.
Eist could feel the air changing around them, moving in a way that it wasn’t supposed to. Almost…backwards. That sensation only intensified as Dille clapped her hands, bowing as she whispered words that had long since been forgotten.
“By the Three…” Ain whispered.
Eist looked away from her friend to see the stones in front of them shaking, like something was rumbling them from below. She could feel the ground shaking as well, then the sound finally reached her ears.
The sound increased bit by bit until, suddenly, the rubble all sank into the ground like water. Eist watched, enraptured, as a stairwell rebuilt itself right in front of her.
“Is…is she reversing time?” Athar asked, seemingly too shocked to even stutter.
“You’ll have to ask her when she’s done,” Eist murmured, her mind taking a few moments to figure out how to talk after watching such a display.
Only a few moments later, a deep, deep staircase hewn directly out of the rock stretched out in front of them, disappearing into the darkness of the earth. Dille stood, wiping sweat from her brow and stumbling a little.
“Whoa, are you alright there?” Eist asked, catching her before she completely lost her balance.
“Yeah. I’m fine. It’s just that magic’s different here.” She grimaced and wiped her hand on her tunic. “It’s a lot harder to access and kind of…stings? I guess?”
“I’ve never noticed that,” Yacrist remarked casually, investigating the opening of the stair.
“That’s because you’ve never felt what it’s like to live in a world that isn’t starved of its own life energy. But that’s neither here nor there.” She summoned a small ball of light to her hand. “Who wants to go down into the dark, scary place with me?”
“Lead the way,” Eist said with a grin, drawing her sword.
“By the way, this will be too small for all of our dragons except for Fior and Gaius. Sorry, girls.”
Veralda, Dille’s new dragon, and Ethella let out very disgruntled sounds, but Dille soothed hers by blowing kisses and Athar gave his large dragon a pat. Gaius just preened like he was something special for being a smaller dragon, while Fior carefully stalked forward.
Dille and Eist stepped forward first, although she was sure that Yacrist no doubt wanted to lead the way, but he wasn’t the one with the enchanted light. Before any of them could step in, however, Dille’s new dragon rushed in front of them, blocking the entire path.
“Whoa, J’byll, you’re a bit in the way there.” Dille tried to playfully shove her massive dragon aside, but the mount snapped at her, teeth flashing. “By the Three! What’s wrong?!” Dille looked to the rest of their group with embarrassment clear on her face. “She’s not normally like this.”
Eist looked up at the large dragon, and in her charcoal eyes, she saw fear. “I think…” She cleared her throat, tearing her gaze away from the pained expression. “You were here before, you said? Didn’t you go in and then never come out?”
“Right, but— Oh.” Dille’s tone softened as she reached up to stroke the snout of her old friend. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think. You had to wait a long time for me to come out of that portal, didn’t you?”
The dragon wuffled, pressing the side of its huge head against Dille’s torso. The two hugged for a moment, and Eist tried to let it last as long as it could, but she was beginning to feel apprehension pricking up her spine. She cleared her throat, and thankfully, Dille caught on.
“It’s gonna be okay, my big girl. I promise that I’ll come back this time.”
The great beast seemed to understand and slowly slid out of the way. Fior trotted over to her quickly, nuzzling the underside of her jaw, which made her let out several short snorts that Eist guessed was its version of a laugh.
Finally, they were ready to proceed. Eist just hoped that their plan worked and somehow Dille really would come back out this time.
They proceeded down the stairs cautiously, as if they hadn’t just resurrected the structure moments earlier. But still, they had no idea if Dille’s spell had awakened things that had long since been buried under the destruction. In the month since she had first popped back into battle, Dille had remembered more fine details of her first fall into the portal. It was still confusing how she had lived two lives in two different bodies with three different dragons—one of those being Fior—but Eist’s mind seemed to understand it the more Dille remembered things.
When the witch had first been in the underground temple, it had been guarded by dozens of mercenaries and followers of the Blight. There had apparently been a real fight that involved most of those minions dying. What if her spell had somehow reanimated their corpses? It seemed like something a spell might do, considering their literal nature and how often they turned things on their head in legends.
They had walked a considerable distance down the steps when Dille began to sway, holding her palm to her forehead. Eist caught her again, pulling her friend close to her side.
“Hey, are you alright?”
Dille looked down at her—somehow Eist was still getting used to how tall she was now—and smiled gratefully.
“Yeah. It’s all just a little weird. I never left this place, and yet I’m walking back into it. Its messing with my head a little. It’s like my body is trying to get back into the same state it was in the middle of that battle.”
“Yeah. That sounds pretty confusing. Why don’t you just hold onto me until the feeling passes?”
“Thanks.” Dille did, her long fingers grasping Eist’s arm about her waist and her other arm draping over the shorter girl’s shoulders. “You know, your mother was solid like you. Shorter, though.”
“Shorter than me?” Eist asked dubiously. The last she remembered, her mother had been taller than her. All soft smiles and twinkling eyes.
“Yeah. She basically was kid height her entire life. I mean, she filled out like you did, but she was a bitty thing.”
Eist felt herself blush. “Guess that runs in the family too.”
“I assure you, no one is complaining about that,” Ain said from behind them, his bow already out and an arrow in his other hand. “You’ve got to have something to counter that grating personality of yours.”
“Ain,” Athar warned, and Eist didn’t even have to look to know that his face was a burning crimson.
“What? She knows I’m kidding. Besides, you stare at ‘em en—”
“We’re almost there,” Dille cut in, giving Eist a wink. She had a feeling that they weren’t almost there at all, but rather that the witch was looking out for their giant of a friend. What a group they were. An orphan, a deaf girl, a witch, a giant, and a very pretty cad. Eist had never heard of a legend with characters like that, but she guessed real life always turned out a bit differently than the myths they grew up with.
A few moments later, they finally stepped onto a sort of balcony overlooking the rest of the chamber, which actually looked
a lot like an ancient temple.
“What is this place?” Eist asked, walking to the edge of the balcony, which was lined with a stone bannister carved with delicate filigree. There were wide stairs leading out from either side of the balcony, clinging close to the wall so that they went in a sort of half-circle before both faded into the ground on the other side of the chamber. Huge, meticulously-carved pillars stood in what would have been the corners of the room if it wasn’t a circle, and Eist could see the crumbled remains of the floor below.
The ground reminded her of a delicate ceramic pot that someone had shattered then painstakingly tried to put back together. Although it was whole again, the cracks were all still there.
“That’s where I fell,” Dille murmured, leaning beside Eist and looking down. “Your mother managed to grab a handhold, but Valatos caught her leg and tried to drag her in.” Dille closed her eyes, as if seeing the scene play in front of her. “I was standing right here, fighting off the remaining minions. Your father was trying to hold onto her, but the pull of the portal plus the weight of Valatos was too much. I somehow saw what would happen if I let them be yanked away.
“Back then, we didn’t know that the portal was anything beyond death. But I can’t explain how I saw that letting them disappear would ruin everything. The world would turn to ash as the Blight devoured us all.”
Eist shuttered at the thought. Both at her parents disappearing through time, but also at the thought of a vision suddenly taking her over in the middle of a battle. It was bad enough to have them in her dreams, it was another thing entirely to have them set on her while she was awake.
“So, I did what I had to. I jumped over the side and grabbed onto Valatos. For a moment I thought I was going to pull all of us in, but Pravik had really braced himself. I knew I didn’t have a lot of time, so I took out my dagger and…well. If Valatos wasn’t going to let go, then I figured I just had to separate him from his hand. It worked out pretty well. I just wished that I remembered I had done that when we met him in the castle.”
