by J B Cantwell
I put my hands over my chest reflexively, and a shiver ran down my spine.
All at once, the scattered puzzle pieces of my world seemed to arrange themselves into an order I never could have expected. Cadoc, an arm of the Corentin, bent on sucking the hope from the spirits of everyone he came in contact with. The brothers Cadoc has spoken of, the other pillars of the Corentin’s base of power. Almara, twitchy as a cornered animal, defending himself violently against foes only he could see.
And, maybe, my father, long since driven mad by the voices only he could hear.
But that was too wild, too unlikely, too much to hope that the insanity my father wrestled with was anything but his own doing.
“Why won’t he take the pills?” I had sobbed to my mother eight years earlier.
“I’m so sorry,” she said through thick tears. “I’m so sorry I can’t make him.” The side of her face was swollen; a welt had risen from the place on her cheek where he had struck her.
“Doesn’t he love us?” I asked. My fear at hearing the answer pushed down on my chest like the weight of a thousand hands, suffocating me.
“Yes,” she said softly. “Yes, he loves us, but—Aster?”
The tightening in my chest was increasing, and I stiffened at the effort to breathe. I tried to talk, but no sound came.
“Aster? What’s wrong, baby?” She was alarmed. In an instant she was at the door to the bedroom. “Jack!” she screamed. “Jack! Call an ambulance!”
I slumped down onto the bed, torn between the panic I felt and the fear of my father. Would he hear her? Would he come to help? I didn’t want him to. I didn’t want him anywhere near me after what I had just seen.
“Jack!” she yelled again, but no answer came. Then, her voice from the other room, “Yes, my son can’t breathe. Send an ambulance. His lips are blue! What do I do? What do—”
“How is it that a boy,” Druce’s voice tore me from the scene in my memory, “from, of all places, Earth can keep his heart pure against such power? Maybe you’re here to fool us all. You’ve worked your words on our Erod here.”
I felt dizzy. For a moment I thought I would fall from the tree stump, but somehow I managed to keep my footing. My mind raced as I tried to understand.
“I—I don’t know,” I said, dazed.
“You do not know,” he sneered. “You have your story,” he said, straightening up and squinting at me. “You’ve heard what no one else across the ages has heard. So tell us now, Aster Wood. What say you?”
I stood, trying to blink away my confusion. Erod stood close by, still pulsing with blue flashes. What could I do now? What remained? Was it possible, what this ogre of a man was telling me? Was it possible to “level” the Fold?
“Where is it?” I finally asked.
Druce laughed, a furious, mean sound. “I’ve told you the story of Jared, an’ all you can think to say in response is, ‘Where is it?’”
His laughter continued for a moment, but when his people didn’t follow his lead, he stopped abruptly.
“The book,” I choked. “Where is it now?”
“I ain’t telling’ no stranger the location of the book,” he said. “You ain’t got no right to it, or the means to use it, even if you were able to breach the gates into its tomb.”
The crowd grumbled, in my defense or his I couldn’t tell.
Erod stepped towards Druce.
“This boy is the only one, over seven thousand years, who has had the right or the means to use it. He alone has taken life from the one who destroys all life. Will you sit on its location and watch the Great Evil continue to spread over our lands, spread to the planets beyond the Triaden, until we have all fallen hopelessly to its power?”
Druce’s gaze drifted to the fire.
Erod continued, addressing the crowd now.
“Will you, my Solitaries, follow this lead to your graves and the graves of all? For you know as well as I that if the Fold is not leveled that we will all soon perish. And those who do not perish will be forced to serve those who benefit from the imbalance. But you deny the boy with the power to do it. Why?”
Druce mumbled for a moment, so quiet that I couldn’t hear him. Erod continued.
“Ah!” he said. “As I suspected! You are fearful of further thievery? You think that this boy intends to exploit the power as well.”
Druce found his voice and stood up tall.
“Traitors before now have come before us with the slightness of this boy. They’ve seemed unthreatening, truthful. But have we given in to them before now? No. The boy carries gold, you say, but who’s to say that it’s true gold? Who’s to say he—”
“Enough!” Erod growled through the still night. He stomped his foot to the ground, and from it a dome of blue power radiated out. Several people stumbled to the ground. The light traveled through the village and up the sides of the mountains that surrounded it, finally dissipating into a mist of sparkling crystals.
My mouth hung stupidly open. I had seen such a thing once before, months ago on a desolate, snowy planet. It had been a powerful defense put forth by the wolf who protected me from a pack of snarling monsters. Jade had told me that the wolf had been a member of the White Guard. She said that to see one, much less be aided by one, was exceedingly rare.
Erod?
“I will show you its truth,” Erod said. He thrust his hands towards me, and I felt the gold chain sliding from my fingertips and into his palm. I grasped for it, falling from the trunk as I did so and nearly tumbling into the fire. But the chain was already hovering over the topmost flame, and it spun around and around above the heat, right where Erod had tossed it into the blaze. His fingers pulsed as his power held it in place, until suddenly the medallion exploded with light. Everyone fell to the ground, covering their eyes from the glare. Muffled noises made it to my ears, and I realized that a fight was taking place next to me, though I was blind to see between whom. A deep yelp came from the scuffle, and the sound stopped.
Strong hands rested on my shoulders and pulled me up from the ground. Erod, though I couldn’t see him, was holding me aloft, whispering hoarsely into my ear.
“I have taken it from him. Your key. My patience with this is at an end. Take it and go. You must run, Aster. Run back to the castle, save your people if you can. Then follow this to the book.” He placed something hard and heavy in one of my hands that he pried away from my eyes. My eyes watered with the pain of the brightness being let through by only one hand. “It lies deep in the Fire Mountains, though without this, entry to the mountain is impossible. I will move you now, point you in the right direction. When I give the command, you must run. Do you understand? They will be immediately upon you. Do not forget the speed of my people. You will have little time.”
I nodded, squinting hard.
“What about you?” I said. “They’ll attack you. They’ll—”
“He was not to be convinced. I gave the fool the chance, but I see no other way. Do not worry for me. I will prepare them for the battle to come,” he said. “Stay here a moment. When the light goes out, and you feel the chain in your hand, run.”
His hands released my shoulders. I held the object in my left and kept my right hand over my eyes. Despite his assurances, my whole body rattled with worry over Erod. What would they do to him after such a betrayal?
Then, everything went black, my hand was wrested from my eyes, and the chain was dropped into it.
“Go now!” Erod shouted into my ear.
I didn’t need telling twice. With my eyes completely blind to the night, I ran.
Chapter 10
In moments I had made it to the top of the closest hill. I turned back just long enough to see the chaos I had left behind. Erod, glowing brightly with his strange power, was fighting off Druce, who had taken his ax and was trying to butcher him with it. Few seemed to realize that I was gone, and only those on the outskirts of the group were looking around, trying to see which direction I had headed. I turned
and ran over the precipice, barreling down the other side towards Riverstone.
What had I just agreed to?
The day-long trek took me maybe twenty minutes. I was banking on the hope that the other villagers couldn’t run like Erod could. But I couldn’t take too many chances. I had maybe an hour to spare comfortably. I had to move.
But as my feet flew over the dark, rocky fields, panic filled me for a different reason.
I had gone to Erod’s village to get answers about why Almara had gone mad. But instead of answers, I had been given a task. An impossible task that not even talented wizards had been able to complete. Almara’s task. To level the Fold.
The tall stone gates hovered over me in the moonlight as I sped towards the city. Everything was quiet. Jade and Almara, if they were still here, weren’t making their presence known.
I stopped, looking behind me. Occasional blue flashes burst up from behind the mountains that surrounded the Solitary village. The battle between Erod and his people still raged. But some had broken away. Barely visible at such a distance, like a cloud of tiny fireflies falling from the sky, the faint flickering of torches streamed down the steep hillsides on the outskirts of the village.
They were coming.
My stomach dropped. Their speed, while not so fast as Erod, meant that we didn’t have much time, not even the hour I had hoped for. I bolted, careening towards the castle at top speed.
When I burst through the entry, I didn’t dare shout out for them. The last thing I needed was for Almara to launch a Torrensai now, when I, we, were being pursued by a horde of angry villagers.
“Jade?” I hissed into the open, empty space. “Jade? Are you here?”
There was no answer. I bolted up the staircase and into the room where I had last seen her.
“Jade?”
Empty.
I crept down the dark hallway, carefully pushing open door after door, whispering to her.
Finally, in the grand mosaic room, I found her. She stood still as a statue, looking out the empty window frame at the sea below.
“Jade!” I said, relief flooding through me.
She turned her head at the sound, and then looked back out the window.
“Where’ve you been?” she asked cooly. She sounded mad.
“Jade, I’m sorry I had to go. But you were exhausted, and I had to take the opportunity.”
She turned and glared at me, her arms folded over her chest.
“And was it worth it?” she asked. “To rain evil down on our heads in exchange for a meal at the enemy’s house?”
“They’re not our enemies,” I said, already frustrated. “Not exactly.”
Her eyes narrowed angrily.
“Listen,” I said. “This Corentin. It’s not what we thought. Jade, Cadoc wasn’t the Corentin. Or at least, not the only one. Do you remember what he said? About his brothers? The Corentin is still after us. We have to get out of here.”
“What?” she asked, taking a step backward.
“Erod gave me this,” I said, holding out what I now saw was a stone. I hadn’t even stopped since the Solitaries to examine Erod’s gift. Now, as we both looked down at it, I wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Almara’s symbol…no, Jared’s symbol, glowing up at me from deep grooves carved into the face.
“What is that?” she asked, alarmed. “What happened?”
“We have to move,” I said. “Where is Almara?”
“But—wait—what is it?” she asked again, entranced. “It looks so familiar.” The light from the stone reflected up into her face, casting ribbons of gold across her skin.
“Erod took it from the village leader. I think it might be a link. It’s supposed to lead us to some book. They’ll be coming for it soon. Look, it’s sort of a long story. Can we get moving and I’ll tell you on the way?”
She tore her eyes away from the symbol and looked up at me, confused.
“He stole it?”
“Yes,” I said, starting to get frustrated. “He said it belongs to me anyways. I don’t know what he was talking about, but his whole village is on the move, and they’re coming here to get this back.”
“But this isn’t yours. This belongs to my house, to my father’s house. It has his symbol. What did he mean?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I snarled. “We are related, after all, so it’s my house, too, if you think about it.” I took her arm and started dragging her towards the door. “And I also found something out: it’s not Almara’s symbol. This symbol originated from someone else, someone named Jared.”
“But,” she slipped her arm from beneath my grasp and stopped moving, “if this symbol isn’t the symbol of my father, then why didn’t he ever tell me?”
I spun around, my patience evaporating.
“Jade, you were a little kid the last time you saw your dad. Do you think he was eager to tell you every terrifying detail of what he knew? He didn’t know you would be separated, so why would he think to tell you about the symbol? All I know is that the Solitaries are coming now. We have to go. Now come on.” I stepped behind her and pushed her with both hands through the open doorway.
She didn’t argue further as we raced down the hallway to Almara’s study. Sure enough, the old man was awake and batty as ever. I didn’t waste a moment.
“Father!” I shouted down the corridor. I was guessing that, chances were, he hadn’t made a miraculous recovery in my absence. He would still think I was Brendan.
He looked around from where he was standing, apparently talking in deep thought to a patch of wall in need of his council.
“Brendan?” he squinted in our direction in the dim light.
“We have to go,” I said, crossing the room to him.
“Is that you? My boy! Did you find it? Did you—”
“Yes, I found it,” I lied quickly. “But now we have to go. We’re in danger here. We must jump away from here, and quickly. Do you need any of your things?” I looked around the disheveled room, not sure what was junk and what was useful. If being in the Triaden had taught me one thing, it was that sometimes extraordinary items looked anything but.
“Jump?” he asked, looking confused. Then his eyes fell onto the stone in my hand. “Ah! I see you have found the Kinstone! It has been many years since I’ve seen it!”
“What, this?” I asked, looking down at the rock. “What’s a Kinstone?”
He looked confused.
“I think too much time on Earth has played with your mind, my boy,” he said. “Give it here.” Before I could stop him, he snatched the stone from my hand and held it up above his head.
In the split second between the rock leaving my hand, and Almara’s mouth opening to give the command, I realized his intentions.
“Jade!” I screamed. “Now!” I reached out both hands, one to Jade, one to Almara, and we barely held on as he spoke the word and pulled us behind him into a jump.
As the fabric of space circled our rocketing forms, I realized three things in quick succession. First, Almara and Jade both had recognized the stone. Second, Almara knew how to use it. And third, I had to get it back from him. This man who had been talking earnestly to a wall a moment ago was not the best one for us to be following into interstellar jumps.
We landed on soft sand in the stark light of day. Almara leapt away from us before I could grasp his robes.
“Jade!” I shouted as I scrambled after him. “Stay with me!” I held out my hand to her and she didn’t argue. Together we ran.
In a split second his hands were above his head again, his mouth forming the word I couldn’t hear him command. I grabbed him.
We spun. This wasn’t going to work. If he kept jumping, we would lose him for sure, and then where would we be?
I readied myself for the landing, and this time when it came I tackled Almara to the ground. Morning light trickled through trees as I pressed the tiny man into damp forest earth. I held both of his hands down, squeezing the one that held the stone.<
br />
“You must release it,” I said, trying to sound calm. “Give me the stone. You are not well.”
He spit out a mouthful of twigs and leaves.
“What could you possibly do with the Kinstone?” he asked. “It won’t work for you. You are confused!”
“No, I’m not. Please let it go and give me a chance to explain.” I felt his hand loosen its grip ever so slightly, and I took the opportunity. I released both of his hands and grasped the stone. When I had it, I stuffed it deep into the side pocket of my pants. Slowly, I released Almara up from the bed of leaves, not sure if he would attack me.
Luck was on my side. He hadn’t yet forgotten again who I was, or who he thought I was. He sat on the ground and looked up at me.
“Please trust me,” I said. “There is something wrong with the stone.” It was a lie. I didn’t know anything at all about the stone. All I knew is that if I let it fall back into his hands, we’d lose him again, probably forever.
“Something wrong?” he asked. “But how can it be? There cannot be anything wrong with the Kinstone.
“In blood and fire the stars await
To lead us—”
“Beyond Jared’s gates,” Jade finished.
We both turned to look at her. She stood over the two of us, her green eyes wide with recognition and amazement.
“What?” I said.
She looked dazed.
“I remember it now,” she said. “The stone was kept in the castle when I was a young child. In the mosaic room.”
“What wickedness is this?” Almara spat, his long, bony finger pointing up at Jade. “How do you know such things?”
She looked down at him, forcibly reminded that he still didn’t recognize her, and then turned, taking several steps away from us.
I stood up and followed.
“What is it?” I asked quietly, so Almara couldn’t hear me.
“It’s a link,” she said, staring blankly into the trees. “It’s a link that only works for the head of the family. For us, that’s him. He’s the only one who can command it.”
