“Yes!” All three faeries shouted at once. Luckily, the alley, while now having businesses, was not busy. There were plenty of areas that weren’t used to having faeries roaming around.
“That’s too much to think about right now.” Alric was watching the businesses carefully, but kept his hand off his sword. “Can you find your friends? Our friends?”
Dusk was falling faster than I’d expected, and while I did see some mage lights flicker to life, I didn’t think we wanted to be roaming around after dark. At least not until we figured out what had been changed.
“This way.” Garbage took off, but Leaf and Crusty spaced themselves so we could follow.
They flew back out of the alley, and toward the outskirts of town. Right where the compound of buildings had been where Flarinen and Kelm had been held. Only it was the original house, no weird add-ons. And the houses nearby, while small, looked to be in good condition and not overrun by evil people.
I called Leaf back as Garbage was too far ahead. “You’re sure this is right? This is where we are supposed to be, where all of us are supposed to be?” There were so many changes.
Before Leaf could answer, the door of the house flew open and Covey came running out. She looked normal. And she grabbed me in a hug which was part of her new normal.
Padraig was right behind her, followed by Lorcan. Padraig clasped Alric and Lorcan waited until one of us was free, then he hugged each of us.
Looking closer at the house, I saw Flarinen, in armor no less, standing guard on the top floor. This timeline might be better, at least for Null, than when we left, but obviously it wasn’t completely safe.
“The other faeries told us what happened after you vanished,” Lorcan said. “It took quite a while to get the full story, but as soon as I understood, I locked us in a spell bubble. I don’t recall seeing either of you in my past, but judging by the changes to Null, something happened,”
I looked to Alric. At least we knew Siabiane’s forget spell had worked on him.
Padraig kept smiling. “I wondered if we’d ever see any of you again. Time can be far too tricky to be playing around with. Lorcan’s spell bubble kept our original memories intact, but judging by the changes to Null, some things are different.”
“A spell was set to erase our visit after we left the past, but yes, obviously it wasn’t completely effective.” Alric turned and nodded to the city behind them.
Garbage had been swarming with the rest of her faeries, but zoomed back to us. “Did what supposed to. Is right.”
“The faeries say whatever changed was putting things back the way they should be, and that things were wrong before,” I said.
Lorcan nodded. “The ones that stayed with us were saying the same. Bunky and the gargoyle stayed near the faeries the entire time you were gone.”
I felt relief at hearing that. My friends out here all looked the same. I’d feel awful if anything changed about the two constructs.
I turned to Lorcan as we walked to the house. “Did you ever know a man named Nasif? Or Dueble?”
Lorcan smiled. “Nasif, that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time. A very long time. He was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Crazy as well.” His smiled dropped. “He vanished right as the battle against the Dark began. Some of the survivors said he was one of the Dark, but I knew better. I can’t say I’ve heard of an elf named Dueble though—that’s a non-elvish name.”
My heart broke. They must not have made it out of the explosion when we left. I knew there was a chance of that—Alric didn’t know Nasif from growing up in the enclave—but it was still sad.
“Dueble wasn’t an elf, he was a syclarion,” I said. “A gentle syclarion. He might have died making sure Alric and I made it back to this time.”
Lorcan nodded and patted my shoulder.
We’d reached the doorway to the house and the door swung open as we approached. Kelm wasn’t wearing his armor, but his sword was at his side. He looked to Padraig and at his nod, stepped aside for us to enter.
“You aren’t just on guard against the locals, are you?” Alric kept his eyes on Kelm.
Padraig answered, “No. We weren’t sure who would be coming back—if you came back. You’ve been gone over two months, not a few days. We had to go out and get supplies, with Lorcan and I alternating, one with the house, the other with whoever went out, to keep the bubble in place. We saw the changes, but you never came back.”
I had been about to sit down on one of the comfortable looking sofas—it might have been a thousand years and a few months, but my body was pretty sure it hadn’t slept since waking up in Siabiane’s guest rooms with Alric missing. Parts hurt that I didn’t even know I had. Still, Padraig’s words stopped me mid-sit.
“Two months?” Alric shook his head. “I understand there could be some slippage. When we went back there was a difference between us in arrival. But once Taryn arrived, we were only there a few days, and I had only been there for two weeks before her.” Alric nodded to me and sat down, at which point, I finished sitting down. “I really wish Nasif and Dueble had survived and were around. I have no idea how or why we’re that far off, or if it even matters.”
Lorcan smiled. “So Nasif was right with his time theories? He was always trying to explain them to me—could be deadly focused when he wanted to be—but flighty as one of the faeries other times. He could also throw a mean fireball spell. Once took out a secondary kitchen when he got too excited about showing it off.”
A burst of high-pitched giggling came from behind us. I looked over to the large table near the kitchen. As soon as we came in all three faeries darted to their winged friends and were all hugging and talking at once. Bunky and the gargoyle watched the reunion like pleased parents.
“His talent was a fireball?” I pulled myself back to the conversation. “That was the last thing we saw before we went through the time wave. Dueble was directing us through, Nasif was holding back attackers. Then everything exploded.”
Lorcan nodded. “That would be Nasif. As attached as you are to your push spell, he was to his fireball. And that could have thrown off your timing. The force of the fireball could have pushed you forward.”
Everyone had sat by then except Kelm, who stayed by the door, and Flarinen who hadn’t come down from his lookout. They might have been on guard against people pretending to be us, but there was more to their vigilance than that. Null might have changed, but it still wasn’t a warm and cuddly place.
“I think we need to hear about your trip, especially the time leading up to the trip back. Maybe we can figure out where the impact occurred. Things did change here, as I’m sure you saw, but we have no idea how far the change goes,” Lorcan said.
“Is right now,” Garbage said, as she fluttered over and sat on Lorcan’s leg. “Was wrong before. Right now.”
“According to her, the way it was before wasn’t how it was supposed to be.”
“They messed it up, we fix.” She smiled, patted Lorcan on the cheek, and flew back to her friends.
“They messed it up? Who?” I asked, but Garbage had given us what she felt like giving. She was now climbing into an ale bottle.
“The syclarions?” Alric asked. “We don’t know from where in the timeline they originally came from.”
Padraig held up his hand. “I think Lorcan is right, it might have been a short time, but obviously a lot went on. We can’t even guess at the wider changes in this time unless we know what happened in the past.”
Alric and I filled them in, alternating, as we each saw different points. Alric didn’t mention seeing the fallen Padraig, and neither of us mentioned Lorcan almost dying. At first Covey kept asking for descriptions of the rooms, the palace, and the city. Quickly however, the intrigue of the time jumping syclarions and their theory about the Ancients causing massive harm to the syclarion race, grabbed her attention.
Lorcan held off from asking questions, but his face darkened as first Siabiane, then Nasif fell behin
d to get us through the time wave.
“Siabiane made it back to the city before the true fighting started, but she couldn’t really explain where she’d been. She’d been essential in saving the queen, but then vanished. She returned a few hours later, on foot, looking bloody and with little memory.”
“She cast a forget spell to try and cover our being there. It was supposed to target her as well.” Alric ran his fingers through his hair. “Nasif and Dueble definitely didn’t survive the fireball then, even if Nasif cast it. Siabiane wouldn’t have left without them.” He leaned forward. “I know it wasn’t my time, but had there always been an attack on the queen before the battle?”
“Yes. But it hadn’t been as serious as you describe and I’m not sure why I don’t recall it better.”
I had a feeling I knew why. He’d been recovering from almost dying and Siabiane’s direct spell on him. He might have even ended up with a double hit of the forget spell.
“What have been the changes? It appears Null is farther over from where it was, the gorges are no longer there, or at least not like they were. And the people seem less…” Alric waved his hand as he searched for the right word. They weren’t cheery now, nor, judging by the large cemetery, were they a lot less violent. But they were more normal now. More like a seedy little town that ended up catching the debris from normal society. But no longer psychotic.
“Those have been most of them,” Padraig said. “And I agree, it’s hard to explain, but the people are less depressed. Still a bit bloodthirsty.”
“And the spell? Maybe it’s because we’ve only been back a short time, but I don’t feel like I can’t leave here.”
Lorcan had got up to get some tea for everyone, but turned at that. “Spell? There wasn’t a spell here.”
27
Alric and I shared a look which Padraig noticed and nodded to Lorcan.
“I’d say even with your spell bubble in place and all of our precautions, something changed for us as well. I certainly don’t recall a spell on the town.”
That wasn’t good. I’d hoped that Lorcan’s spell had protected my friends from all changes, but it looked like something slipped through. “The spell was insidious, and you all knew about it. Just a lack of motivation to do much of anything. Even the faeries felt it.” I got up and went to the table where the faery party was happening. They’d brought out five ale bottles from their magic pockets and were taking turns diving into them.
“Leaf? Honey, do you remember the spell that was here before?” Garbage would have been my go to and she had been the most vocal about saying the time before had been wrong. But she was doing a good job of staying in her bottle.
Leaf had been cheering her on, but turned at my question. “Spell? Is always spells, lots of spells. You spell.” She tried to poke me but since she was a good foot away she ended up spinning and landing on her face.
“No, the spell that was here. The one that made all of you want to sleep. Remember when Garbage threw you all out of the loft in the stable?”
“You are spell! Spell fell in the dell.” Leaf stayed lying on the table and rolled around laughing at her own joke. Which started all of the faeries not currently in a bottle laughing hysterically.
A soft gronk came next to me. The gargoyle bumped my hand for a pet, and Bunky seemed to be bobbing his head. As far as I’d been able to tell at the time, neither construct had been affected by the spell.
Alric came to the table and spoke to Bunky. “You remember it, don’t you?” Bunky gave a series of gronks that Alric nodded at and the faeries laughed even harder.
“He says he recalls it and so does the gargoyle.”
It annoyed me that a number of my friends, and all of the faeries, could understand Bunky—yet I couldn’t. I pulled my shirt to cover my hand and petted him. I’d been knocked on my ass enough lately that I didn’t want to risk the flash of disturbing images I’d be deluged with if I touched him barehanded.
“That is worrisome.” Lorcan loaded a tray with teacups and a pot and brought it over from the small kitchen. “I have no recollection, and I assume none of you did either?” All of them, even Kelm standing near the door shook their heads. “We must believe we were impacted by the changes, just not at the same level, hopefully, that we would have been. It is truly too bad that Nasif didn’t survive. He was a good man, and had he been able to advance his studies of time travel, maybe we’d understand better what happened.” A brief shadow of sadness passed his face at the loss of his friend. It might have occurred a thousand years ago, but the reminder of the loss was fresh.
Padraig poured tea. “As for the changes that happened here, that we know of, you mentioned most of them. People come and go, something that didn’t seem to happen before from what you’re saying.”
“If people can come and go, then how did we get here?” Not that the two were connected, but I was now going to see what other changes I could find. Locating them now was better than at a point where they could become crucial.
“We were tracking Nivinal and Reginald through the desert to get to the Spheres and fell into a trap. You defeated the syclarions, but we ended up here.” Covey said.
“Are Nivinal and Reginald still here?” I asked.
“Yes, annoyingly. We haven’t been able to find them, but we think Reginald is in the body of the dwarf. Your dwarf ghost friend is around, but he’s getting fainter. He doesn’t have magic so hanging on is going to be harder.”
“And the relics?” Alric was looking into his tea, but I knew what he was doing. If that spell blocking anyone from wanting to leave wasn’t remembered, there was no way we knew for certain what else had been changed.
“Still looking for them,” Padraig said with a smile. “The gargoyle, chimera, and dragon are missing, and our theory is that Nivinal doesn’t have them at this point anymore. At least not all of them, which might have led to the falling out between the two of them. And also explains why he’s staying here, since the spell against leaving is gone. The manticore is right there.” He nodded to me and I felt a coldness hit my cheek. He must have triggered it, as I hadn’t noticed any reaction from it for a while.
“It’s showing, I assume?” I put my hand on the cold spot and got a jolt.
“Yes, but I didn’t do it. Your glamour should be hiding it.” Padraig moved closer and touched my cheek. He pulled back quickly as he got the same jolt I had.
“Did we figure out what this one did?” I wasn’t sure that panicking was going to help, but I was leaning that way. The coldness in my face was increasing—slowly, but enough to notice. There was no way that was going to be good.
“Not completely. It’s the shield from what I can tell, but the scrolls we have really didn’t help much.” Covey moved to where the pile of scrolls and books from our wagon were collected.
“We do know what the final two pieces are: a basilisk made of gold and a sphinx made from of a giant diamond—but we don’t know what they do. The gargoyle balances time and dimension, the chimera acts as a magic amplifier, the dragon seems to increase greed—I’m not sure how that was part of a weapon. But the manticore seems to shield and protect.” Padraig rocked back a bit as he looked at me. “And it’s growing.”
The entire right side of my face had gone numb and I felt something building inside of me. “I think there is something wrong with it. I feel like I need to release something.” The other two times this had happened we were under attack from Nivinal as it turned out. “I think Nivinal might have found us.” My mouth was dry.
Flarinen yelled from the roof and the walls shook under an impact.
“Stay here,” Kelm yelled, then darted outside.
Alric and Covey were fighters, and Padraig could definitely hold his own. Staying here wasn’t an option.
Alric and Padraig had their swords out and Covey grabbed hers from the table. Mine was with me, so I figured I might as well join in.
Then the chill from the manticore sent a cold force down my
right arm. My hand shook and I was ready to drop my sword, when the weapon turned blue. “Please tell me this isn’t bad?” I held my sword up to Lorcan.
His eyes widened, which didn’t match the reassuring look he tried to give me. “No…okay, I’m not sure.” He tried to touch my arm, but pulled back immediately and shook his hand. “Can you move it?”
The coldness engulfed my side, but a tendril of warmth started out from where Lorcan had almost touched me.
“I think I can,” I said as I tentatively moved the sword. Blue was an odd color for a weapon, but it felt lighter than it had before. Spirit sword and a weird Ancient artifact—who knew what was normal for these two things?
Yelling came from outside and another rattle shook the walls.
“I need to go outside with the others.” I ran for the door.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but the yelling increased and didn’t sound like our people. The area in front of our house was now a battle zone. Our people were fighting off a bunch of short figures who were yelling some sort of chant. My heart went as cold as my arm. Rakasa. We’d done our best to eradicate the small, toothy monsters during the final battle in the enclave, but obviously some had survived. Or they were a larger population than we thought.
Covey let loose a blood-curdling yell as her sword got stuck in the chest of a rakasa. She couldn’t get it out but ran forward and ripped the creature’s head off.
Trellians had a history of going berserk. It had been a dark part of their history and they’d thought it had been repressed. A year ago Covey found out she could tap into that. She’d saved many of us, including me, but had gone into solitary meditation to resolve that within herself. Regardless of our battles since then, she’d not gone berserker.
That changed before my eyes. The first time she’d changed she’d fought it. Kept herself hidden as much as she could and the change took a while to progress.
The Golden Basilisk (The Lost Ancients Book 5) Page 21
