Everflame: The Complete Series

by Dylan Lee Peters

  “I’m okay,” assured Annie. “I’m just a little sore. I’ll figure it out. We have a much bigger problem anyway.”

  “You saw something,” said Iolana. “Was it falling rocks and lightning again?”

  “Yes,” confirmed Annie, “but much more… much more this time. We have to go back to Gray Mountain.”

  “Gray Mountain?” said Evercloud, confused.

  “The lightning strikes Gray Mountain. The falling rocks are Gray Mountain. We have to warn everyone.”

  “We’ll leave now,” said Evercloud, conviction flashing hot in his eyes. “Let’s go.”

  “No,” said Iolana. “We have to continue and find the other daughters. We must pass the tests. Tallulah told me that we must continue this quest.”

  “But–” began Evercloud.

  “I will go to Gray Mountain,” continued Iolana. “I will warn them. The two of you must continue the quest. It has to be so.”

  Iolana looked at Evercloud and Annie and could see that the idea had left them crestfallen.

  “What if you fall upon danger?” asked Evercloud quietly.

  “I have the Everlife, remember. I am not afraid.” Evercloud nodded, but it was apparent that he was still uncomfortable with the idea. “I will leave now. Don’t worry, everyone will be safe.”

  “Iolana,” began Evercloud.

  “Yes.”

  “I… I want to tell you…” Evercloud wanted so badly to say what he was feeling for Iolana, but he could not force the words from his mouth. “Thank you.”

  Iolana smiled at him, and then, nodded her goodbye. She flew into the air, leaving Evercloud and Annie alone upon the western shore of Ephanlarea.

  “Does she know that you love her?” asked Annie, turning toward the forlorn man.

  “No. Maybe. I don’t know.”

  “C’mon,” said Annie, extending her hand to Evercloud. “Let’s find the next spirit. Everything will work out. You’ll see.”

  Evercloud smiled and felt foolish for letting himself become so emotional. “You’re right.”

  “Life goes on,” said Annie.

  “Life goes on,” echoed Evercloud.

  •••

  When Iolana reached the forests that surround Gray Mountain, she decided to make the rest of her journey on foot. She remembered that the Kingdom had enhanced their security, and though she would be welcome on the mountain, she might cause a great deal of chaos by flying in without warning. She felt that walking in would give time for the appropriate recognition necessary to prevent any panic. As Iolana walked, she took in her surroundings in a way that she had not done since the last time she was in this forest. She felt comfortable, somehow at home with her surroundings. She listened to the wind through the trees and felt peace. The sunlight filtering through the forest canopy gave the forest a gentle glow she found to be enchanting.

  After Iolana had walked for sometime, she decided to reach out with her senses, so she would not be surprised by who was guarding the mountain. Sensing where these guards might be would also give her the opportunity to announce herself and prevent any confusion. As she extended her perception far in front of her, she found one solitary being near the base of Gray Mountain.

  Only one this time, she thought. That’s odd.

  Iolana continued to walk through the forest, and before long, came within sight of whom she had felt at the base of Gray Mountain. The being was facing the mountain as if they were looking at it and thinking. Because of their size and form, Iolana assumed it was a man. The figure was draped in a dirty robe that may, at one time, have been a brighter color, but was now a dingy gray. A hood was pulled over the person’s head, so Iolana thought it best to announce her approach.

  “Hello,” she called. “Hello.” But the person did not turn around at her call. They continued to stand, looking up at the mountain. “My name is Iolana. I’m a friend of the King.” As Iolana reached the unmoving person, she stopped a few yards away. She could feel that something was wrong. “Hello,” she said again, more tentatively.

  “I’m looking for Evercloud,” said the man. Fear and elation entered Iolana’s heart and collided with each other, the way the moon and sun had in her dream. The man turned around and pulled his hood back from his coal-black hair. “Is he with you?”

  “Densa,” breathed Iolana. “It’s you.”

  Chapter 36: Aella

  Evercloud set himself and Annie down amid the rolling plains of Ephanlarea. He had tried to locate their position as close to the mark on Strongback’s journal as he could. The sun was beginning its descent, back toward the horizon, and Evercloud inhaled the air as it moved across the grass. He preferred this air to that of the lands and waters they had traveled. It somehow seemed more pleasant to him.

  “I’m not sure how we’re going to find the next spirit,” said Evercloud. “Strongback’s journal suggests that it would be Aella that we would find here in the grasslands. But how? What test must we pass? I don’t know.”

  “Maybe something will appear as we walk,” speculated Annie. “Sort of how things happened with Nivalia. I don’t really know what else to do.”

  Evercloud nodded and accepted that he and Annie weren’t going to come to an easy answer. And so they walked, with no direction in mind at all. They were guided by nothing but hope. They walked for an hour and no test was revealed to them; no trial presented itself. The plains changed in no way, with the exception of the passing of time and the occasional breeze.

  “Evercloud,” began Annie.

  “I don’t get it,” said Evercloud in frustration. “What do they expect us to do? Sometimes, I feel like the spirits are just toying with us. Why can’t they just present their tests, if this is the way it must be? I really hope Riverpaw, Ben and Tomas are faring better than we are right now.”

  “Evercloud,” repeated Annie.

  “Yes,” answered Evercloud as he turned to look at Annie. He quickly realized that something was amiss, and his eyes narrowed as he stared at the young woman. Annie was reluctant to meet his eyes, and instead, was looking down at her hands as she played with the hem of her shirt. “What’s wrong?” asked the man with suspicion.

  “There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now… but I don’t know how to say it. Well, I know how to say it, but I’m afraid of what you’ll do when you hear it.”

  Evercloud stopped walking and glared at Annie. He had been very curious about Annie’s story, and even more curious once he had found out that she possessed the Eversense. Fear welled inside of him as the girl stared at her feet, shuffling in the grass.

  “It’s about the Eversense, isn’t it?” asked Evercloud.

  “Please, promise you won’t get mad.”

  “Tell me, Annie. This isn’t a game.”

  Annie looked up at Evercloud and she had the beginnings of tears in her eyes. “When Harena told us of the Wind; when she told us that the Eversense was given to Andor the eagle…”

  “Yes,” prodded Evercloud.

  “I… know him…”

  “What?!” yelled Evercloud.

  “Well, I did. I mean, I haven’t… it was a long time ago.”

  “Annie,” said Evercloud, doing what he could to master his temper, “you need to tell me everything you’ve been keeping secret… right now.”

  “I didn’t lie about everything,” she said. “I never knew my parents. I don’t know where I come from. My first memories of being a very small child are in the presence of Andor. He was my friend; he watched over me. He was all I knew, and then, one day, he was gone. I found myself in an orphanage in Nefas. I was still very young, and I knew nothing of how anything had transpired. All I knew was that Andor was gone, and all I had of him were the eagle feathers I wear in my ears. The woman who ran the orphanage said they were with me when she found me on her steps. When I heard Harena’s story, I knew that my visions were the Eversense she spoke of.”

  “Annie, if you had told us this from the beginning, we
wouldn’t have had to split up. You could have learned to use the Eversense and we could have gone from there. You’ve cost us a great deal of time, and that’s assuming Ben, Tomas and Riverpaw are all right. Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “I was afraid!” yelled Annie with tears running down her face. “I’m sorry… I’ve tried to call Andor back to me so many times I can’t count. I don’t want to know why he wouldn’t come back to me. I don’t want to know why he left me all alone… I’ve always been alone.”

  Annie brought her hands to her face and cried hard. Evercloud’s anger melted away and he closed the gap between him and Annie and embraced her.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I understand what it’s like to wonder why someone would leave you, but I also know that you don’t have to be alone. You can trust me, Annie. You can trust all of us. We are your friends now. We can be your family… if you let us. You don’t have to be alone.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Annie and hugged the man as he consoled her.

  “I am sorry as well,” said a deep voice.

  Evercloud and Annie quickly broke their embrace, and spun to see a large eagle, taller than Evercloud, standing before them.

  “Andor?” asked Annie, unbelieving.

  “I’m sorry, Annie, but I did what I had to.” The eagle walked over to the woman and nuzzled his beak against the side of her head. “Can you ever forgive me?”

  “Why?” asked Annie. “Why did you have to leave me?”

  Andor took two steps back and sat his large body upon the ground. “If you will sit with me for a moment, I will tell you,” said the eagle. Evercloud and Annie took a seat in the soft grass of the plains and listened as Andor told his story. “When you were just a baby, Annie, that is when I first found you upon the very grass where we sit now. You were alone and crying in the tall grass, next to a caravan that had been looted and burned. There was a man and a woman there, but they had been killed. I assumed that they were your parents, and that thieves had murdered them during their travels. I couldn’t leave you there, you would not have survived, so I brought you to my home, where I live in the clouds with Aella, daughter of the Earth and Sun. You spent some time with me there, and I grew to love you, as you grew to love me. But I realized, as time passed, that I could not provide a full life for a human child. It broke my heart, but I realized that I could not keep you with me. I gave to you the Eversense because I knew it would help protect you, and I gave to you two feathers so you would remember me, and I swore to Aella that I would not return to you until you had achieved a full, human life. I knew that you would have no chance of that if I were around.

  “Today you fulfilled my promise, Annie. You revealed yourself, fully, to another. You accepted who you were and opened your heart without restraint. I am so sorry for the solitude that you had to suffer, but you could not have grown if you had stayed with me.” A tear dropped from the great eagle’s eye onto the grass of the plains. “Can you ever forgive me?”

  Annie moved forward and embraced Andor around his neck. “Yes, Andor. I can forgive you.”

  “I am very sorry, Annie. I wanted to do what was right.”

  “I understand.”

  Andor and Annie parted and smiled at each other, wiping the tears from their eyes.

  “As for you,” said Andor, looking at Evercloud. “Aella is pleased that you were able to show kindness in place of anger, I believe you will find what you are looking for just above your head.”

  Evercloud looked up and an eagle feather floated down, slowly through the air. He reached up and grabbed it, and as he did, a cool breeze cut the plains and laid the grasses flat. A thousand butterflies of a thousand different colors appeared all around him and fluttered so slowly, he wondered if they were a dream. All of the butterflies moved together, obscuring Evercloud’s vision, and then, faded from the earth as if they had never existed at all. In their place, she stood, majestic. Her long, black hair billowed in the cool breeze like a ship’s flag on the sea. Her eyes were soft and brown, and she wore a white dress that rippled with the wind against her chestnut skin. She was the vastness of the plains; the exhilarating fear of wide-open land. She was the dance of the wind with the grass; the ancient kiss the earth gives to the sky. She was Aella, daughter of the Earth and Sun, spirit of the rolling plains.

  “Aella,” said Evercloud, still caressing the feather in his hands.

  “Yes, Brother, it is I. It is good to know you have passed another test.”

  Evercloud rose to his feet and walked toward the spirit. “I have passed your test, Aella. It would seem we have passed many tests. It seems as if we take tests for the sake of the tests themselves. Why, Aella? Why are we being asked to do this?”

  “You are angry, Brother?” asked Aella, narrowing her eyes and pursing her lips.

  “No,” replied Evercloud. “I wish for understanding. My companions have set out to find you, and your sisters, in hope of receiving help in fighting the Great Tyrant. That is our goal, but it seems that we have become a part of the goals of others. I wish to know what those goals are. I wish to know why we are being tested. Please, help me to understand.”

  Aella considered Evercloud for a moment, and then, gave him her answer. “You and your companions quest to undo that which she has done, and because of this, you must pass our tests, which are her tests. All of your companions proved that they possess virtue in courage, and so you met Harena. One of your men proved that he understands the practice of restraint, and so he met Dendrata. The young woman exhibited grasp of intellect, and so she met Nivalia. Yet another of your men was diligent enough to meet Lithlillian. Humility helped Chera meet Tallulah and patience led the bear to meet Selva. Your kindness has brought you before me, and that leaves one sister and one test remaining. If that test is passed, you will be granted an audience with her.”

  “An audience with who?” asked Evercloud.

  “Our mother,” said Aella, unblinking. “Earth.”

  Without warning, Aella burst into a thousand butterflies that flew away upon the wind. Evercloud and Annie were left speechless.

  Undo that which she has done, he thought. Gain an audience with… the Earth.

  “Please,” said Andor. “If the two of you will kindly take a place upon my back. I will take you to Amber.”

  “Where is Amber?” asked Annie.

  “Well,” said Andor. “She is in the clouds.”

  WEST

  Chapter 37: Heavy Metal

  They escaped, he thought. At least they escaped.

  Steven Everheart had ushered Cherice Foster’s husband and daughter into the garbage chute, and had given them the same instructions he had given Cherice. They had departed quickly, and then, Steven Everheart had turned to head back into Nefas. He exited the building and ran out into the alley, but immediately found his path hindered by something that struck horror deep within his heart. Twenty men stood in front of him, as well as twenty men behind, but they were not men. Their eyes glowed purple with an eerie light, and their flesh was shiny and hard. They were men made completely of metal. They advanced upon Steven, their feet clanking and clinking against the alley floor. Everheart had nowhere to run; he was trapped. Hard, vice-like hands closed upon his arms and legs, and with unnatural speed, had carried him away from the alley.

  At least they escaped, he thought.

  A large crowd was now amassed in front of Steven Everheart; a crowd so large that he could not see where it ended. In fact, the crowd that stood in front of Steven Everheart was every last person in the Kingdom of Nefas. Callderwallder’s metal army had forced them from their homes by order of the Queen. She wanted everyone in the public square to see the man who had defied her. She wanted them to see what became of those who would dare to defy the Queen.

  Upon the greatest stage in Nefas, erected at the southern end of the kingdom’s largest square, stood the captured Steven Everheart. Behind him stood five of Callderwallder’s machines. Standing in front, and brandishing a b
lade that shimmered in the sunlight, paced the Queen of Nefas. She shot a malicious glare across the crowd, and then, toward Everheart. Her jaw clenched, and her blue irises were framed with the blood-red veins of rage. She turned back upon the crowd, breathing heavy like a beast.

  “Today,” yelled the Queen out to her kingdom. “You have all disappointed me. You have all stained the fair name of Nefas. And today, you must be taught a lesson.”

  Two more metal men ascended the stage, ushering a small, struggling boy who cried loudly for his parents.

  “NO!” yelled Everheart, but before he could do a thing, a metal fist came down upon his back, knocking him to the floor of the large stage.

  “For the people’s crime of spilling blood upon the fair stones of my kingdom, and for bringing needless destruction to my streets, the penalty is blood!”

  Faedra lunged toward the struggling boy like a viper, and stabbed the boy through his heart. The crowd roared with anger and disgust, and the army of metal soldiers attacked any and all who did not remain still. The citizens of Nefas were no match for Callderwallder’s machines, and many of the dissenters found their ends at the metal hands of cruelty. But fear no longer controlled the citizens, and they threw themselves, continuously, against Callderwallder’s army. Everheart writhed and kicked with all the strength he had. He again tried to attack the Queen, but was held firm by the machines that had captured him.

  “Never give in!” Steven screamed to the crowd. With everything he had, he kicked at the machines that held him, and finally, broke free. He lunged at the Queen, and wrenched the sword from her hands. Faedra fell back in terror as Everheart dove into the crowd. “Find the Everflame!” he screamed to the people as he bashed his blade against any metal foe he could find. “Find the man named Evercloud! Leave this kingdom! Find the Everflame!”

  Callderwallder’s army converged upon him and he swung and kicked at them, his body dripping with sweat as he pounded his arms and legs against hard steel. The hands of the machines tore at his shirt and it fell from his body, and then, their fists found his ribs. Steven Everheart fell in pain to the stones of the square. Metal boots came down upon his legs and arms, and Steven moaned in agony as the machines set to breaking his body. Seeing Everheart fall broke the spirits of the crowd. They had lost their brief battle. They were helpless but to watch the evil machines destroy a man in front of them.