by J B Cantwell
"What is it you want from me, then?" Bevyn said. "I've come at your call."
Their conversation was audible, but I was far enough into the rocks that I couldn't see anything in front of me at all. I imagined Phalen must've been sneering.
"I want the book,” he said. "Father has been asking for it. He needs to know who is next on his list."
"And you do everything Torin commands now?" Bevyn asked.
Panic sent prickles all over my skin, and I considered continuing through the rock maze on my own. But something kept me standing there.
"I am, of course, his favorite," Phalen said, and suddenly a bolt of sickly green light shot upward into the clouds, lighting up the whole mountain range that towered above us.
"Your power outstrips my own," Bevyn said. "Of that, there is no question. But I have no book. You have come to the wrong place."
"Oh, I doubt that very much."
The next thing I heard wasn't words but a muffled scream. I could only imagine what was happening to Bevyn at that moment, and I almost started out of the rocks to save him, a total stranger.
A son of Torin's.
"Give it to me," Phalen said. "Father will reward you. I am sure of it."
"The only rewards I've ever received from Torin have taken the shape of the scars upon my back," Bevyn said. "He has nothing for me. Nothing that I want."
"Would you have rather had those scars on your face? Might he have removed, say, a nose? I would count myself lucky if I were you."
I heard the sound of someone spitting, followed by a curse and a howl of pain. I desperately wanted to go to Bevyn's side, to help him as he had helped me hide. But I knew that anything I did would only make his punishment worse, and it would probably result in my own death.
"You will give up the book in the end," Phalen said. "You may not have it now, but I will find where you hide it before this is all through.”
A body falling to the ground and a grunt.
"Stay safe, brother," Phalen said.
The green light slowly diminished as he moved away from the clearing.
I dared to move, careful not to make a single sound. The threat seemed to have passed, and though I could barely see, I felt certain Bevyn needed help, help that only I could give.
I felt my way back through the passage of stone until I saw a figure in the dark lying on the ground. He wasn't all the way out into the clearing, and I counted myself lucky for having stayed put. Phalen had been closer than I'd imagined, and if I'd made my presence known, I could only guess at the danger I would've found myself in.
I reached for Bevyn's hands, but he flinched at my touch. The breeze was gone now, though the tiny cuts still burned.
"It's me," I whispered quietly. "Come with me. I can heal you."
He didn't stand, seemingly couldn't stand. I looked around, but there was no light anywhere, no sign that Phalen was still in this valley. I turned back to Bevyn and put my hands gently on his back, then sent a pulse of power through him, healing his wounds. They were not deadly, but within him, I could feel his weakness, the brittleness of the bones that kept him upright.
"Thank you," he said quietly, pushing up onto his knees. "Phalen is not… kind with his punishments.
Here he was, the third son of Torin. And yet I was tempted to trust him. He was weak compared to his brothers, and I had a decision to make.
Should I kill him or make an alliance?
I thought back to Malcolm, who had told me I would meet a man within these mountains who could help me. Was this him?
A son of Torin? To help me?
"Quickly now," he said. "We must go and hide. I know a place not too far from here. We will both need to wash the blood from our skin; then he will not be able to find us so easily."
"We can do that right here," I said.
"What are you talking about?"
"I can pull water from the ground."
He scoffed.
"Not in this cursed place," he said. "That is a fallacy."
I sighed, irritated. I quickly dug a small hole in the dirt, then put my hands over the ground. Soon there was a muddy pool beneath them. I took his hand and put it into the mud basin.
He seemed almost alarmed.
"You… you are a person of great magic." He splashed some water on his arms and face, and I followed suit. "He isn’t a good man, my brother. He’s taken many lives and ruined many more. He serves a tyrant. You're lucky you stayed away while he was here. If you'd come out from behind the rocks, we'd probably both be dead by now, even with your powers to protect us."
I made my decision, dangerous as it was to trust in this world; I trusted him.
"Come on then," I said, standing. "I think we should get out of here, don't you?"
He took a deep breath, then let me pull him to his feet. I was surprised that my magic hadn't had a greater effect on him. He was still so frail and stiff.
But he was alive.
"Let's go," he said. "Hold onto my hand. I daresay you are not familiar with traveling in the dark."
"No," I said, surprised. "Are you?"
"One learns. I have spent many years in these mountains. I know each rock and path in this valley, even with my eyes closed. But time has allowed me to see."
He took my hand in his, and together we started off, back in the direction I'd come.
I wanted to ask him everything. I had so many questions, but the truth was I was tired from healing him, and the strength of the Light had finally drained away. My skin still hurt where the shards of wind had pierced it.
In fact, I wondered if I should have saved him at all. I'd been told there were villains in this place, but Bevyn had just saved my life. I didn't think he would've done that if he wasn't on my side.
He led me far down the valley, and we walked in silence. His feet were as quiet as they were before, as if he were waiting to be attacked at any moment. It made me wonder what other dangers lurked in the dark.
"Where are you taking me?" I whispered.
"Somewhere safe. Somewhere my brother can't find us. This place is riddled with places to hide."
"I've seen that, myself," I said, thinking about how easy it had been for me to find caves to sleep in. Though there were dangers here, the caves had made it possible to survive. And I was guessing this man, this brother, might be able to help, too.
Possibly he was a villain like Phalen. I'd been told that Torin had three sons, all of them evil like him. But was this really true? I considered.
He seemed dangerous.
But weren't we all dangerous? Every person in the world who carried magic could be. Even I had found myself wanting to attack when I was in danger.
None of us were innocent. Not anymore.
"Does your brother know of this place you're taking me to?"
"No, not that I know of."
"And are there dangers there, too?" I asked, hanging back a bit.
"We best be quiet now," he said.
Trust him. You don't have a choice.
After about ten minutes of walking, I found I was better able to see the valley as my eyes slowly adjusted. It had become a narrow trail, and I noticed he stayed away from the riverbed. Maybe he was anxious now about making too much noise, about me making too much noise.
I was, too.
Soon, he found the place he was looking for and guided me to the edge of one of the rock faces. He flipped back his hood, revealing long, knotted, gray hair. Then he pulled up his cloak and began to climb. I was surprised by how agile he was considering his frailty, but I supposed after living in danger for so many years, he had honed his skills at keeping himself alive.
I scrambled up the rocks behind him, the vials of light clinking around in my pack.
"How much farther?" I whispered.
He didn't answer me. I was nervous, and though I thought he could save me from certain death, I was still cautious about where he was leading me now. Would it benefit him? If he were to turn me in, to turn me ove
r to Phalen or Torin, what would become of me? Would they make me into a weapon as they had done with the Wicks? I tried to imagine the world through the eyes of a slave. Not a slave in the field, but a slave in the mind. I wondered if those who followed Torin knew somehow that their bodies had been taken over. Did they mourn their loss of a free life? Were they able to understand what their bodies were doing from deep inside their minds?
Maybe there was strength in them yet.
Soon, the rocks leveled out, and we found ourselves walking along a narrow pathway.
"It's right up here," Bevyn whispered. And he turned and led me through the entrance to a cave. Only when we were hidden did he light his staff again, and I saw how a man who lived in the Shadow Mountains managed himself in the dark alone.
"You live here?" I asked.
"Only sometimes," he said. "Mostly, I travel from peak to peak, trying to avoid my brother and the Wicks."
"What do you eat?" I asked. I may not have been hungry in that moment, but the many days I had been walking through these mountains, I had never seen food, never seen any animals at all. It was a lonely place, full of death.
"I grow my food."
He raised his staff and directed it to add a small pile beneath a muslin blanket. As I watched, the blanket grew, and whatever was hidden beneath it did as well.
"It has always been this way," he said, walking over to the pile. "This was the one good thing my father taught me before I left him. I have been living on the same loaf of bread for the last nine-hundred years."
My eyes widened. Nine-hundred years? I shouldn't have been surprised. I knew Torin was of great age, knew that he had been plaguing this world with his sinister magic for thousands of years. But for some reason, it had never occurred to me how long his children might've been alive for. If anything, I wondered why this man was only nine-hundred years old.
"I would have expected you to be older," I said.
"Older? Do you think that a near-millennium is young? Believe me, child, I have lived hundreds of lives."
"You must be very wise," I said.
He laughed, and it made me wonder how often he'd had occasion to do so. His voice was hoarse, though it was very different from Regan's laugh I had heard near the last Keeper we'd come across in the Wild Lands. Hers had been innocent, new, and other-worldly. But Bevyn's, his was old and jaded. Mocking.
“Tell me your name,” he said. “You already know mine.”
I took a step back, frowning and suddenly nervous. But I had little choice if I wanted to stay hidden from Phalen.
“Bree,” I said. “Bree of Eagleview.”
Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and for a moment, I thought I saw tears shining in them.
"You are no stranger to me," he said quietly.”I have been waiting for someone like you for many lifetimes. There is a prophecy about a person such as yourself coming to rid these lands of Torin."
"A prophecy?"
"Stand up straight, child," he said harshly. "If you are to fight in the wars to come, you must learn confidence. My powers to multiply bread are nothing compared to what you can do."
"But how do you know?" I asked. "I could just be any kid walking through these valleys. You don't know anything about me."
"All I need to know is that no one with a brain would ever risk a journey through these mountains if it were not a matter of life and death."
Was it? Would I die if I chose to abandon those who were opposed to Torin? What would happen if I left the Shadow Mountains right now? I could be on my way to Zemira, and nobody would be the wiser. Maybe they could fight the war without me, and I could hide. Would that be so terrible?
Yes, it would be. Of course, it would be. It would make me a coward, and I didn't watch my best friend, Oriana, die so that I could waste my life running away.
"I will teach you what I know," Bevyn said. "But I fear you may already know all I have to offer you."
"If you can teach me how to make bread from thin air, it will be the biggest gift you could give," I said.
I imagined myself eating a feast every day. While I supposed eating nothing but bread for a thousand years would get old, better to have my belly full and not need to drink the Light, which was so hard to come by.
Bevyn reached down and pulled away the blanket. Beneath it were several loaves. He picked one up and handed it to me. I paused, unsure.
"Take it, Bree."
He beckoned for me to join him at the back of the cave, but I was wary. I lit my hands and looked around more closely.
"How many of these hiding places do you have?"
"Many," he said, breaking open one of the loaves and stuffing a handful in his mouth.
"How many?"
"Four, if you're talking about places I could hide for longer than a week," he said thickly. "Seven, if you're talking about places I could hide for a day. There are also many places to look out from, many places to watch what happens down below. I know you're special because you're the first person I have seen walking through these mountains in ten years."
"And who was the last one?" I asked.
"A special sort of Wick. But come here and take the bread. I imagine you must be very hungry."
I wasn't sure how much I could trust him, but when he took another bite of his own, I at least knew that he wasn't trying to poison me. I didn't want him to know about the Light I carried, so I broke apart the bread and did as he did.
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either.
"Is this all you eat?" I asked.
He looked up at me, irritated.
I backtracked. "That's not what I mean. I mean, have you eaten the same loaf of bread for nine-hundred years?"
"Mostly, yes."
"Why do you stay here?"
His face grew even more irritated. I wondered how to get myself out of the situation. Did he have powers I was unaware of?
"I stay," he snarled, "because I've been waiting for you."
I paused, unsure.
"But why?" I asked. "For how long?"
"Long enough," he said. "Enough talking. You will learn more as we go along, and the sound of your voice angers me."
"I'm sorry," I said. “I’ll leave my questions for later."
He sighed heavily. Then he walked over to a corner of the cave and sat down against the wall. He extinguished his staff, but I did not extinguish my hands. I was still nervous, and despite the gift of the bread, I worried that he would attack me.
I moved toward the entrance of the cave and sat down there instead. He called out from behind me.
"If you are going to stay in direct sight of our enemies, I will go somewhere else. But if you are to stay with me, it would be wise for you to come back inside."
I looked back at him in the dim light that my hands cast in the cave. His guard was up again as if he were waiting to hear my final answer before deciding whether or not to attack me. But even though I knew I was in danger by staying, his eyes soon turned weary, and he laid down on his back.
"Do as you will," he said. "I'll find you nonetheless. If the enemy doesn't find you first."
I shuddered at this thought, at the thought of not knowing whom I was up against. For all I knew, these ranges had eyes watching my every step. Perhaps Bevyn had been doing the same. In fact, I was sure he had.
So I stood up and walked to the back of the cave where he lay, sitting down alongside him.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I don't… I don't always know how to be around people."
"You needn't explain that to me."
I lay down on the hard floor, resigning myself to spend the night. But I did not remove my pack from my back, just in case.
Chapter 4
I woke up cold, having left my blanket in my pack all night. When I opened my eyes, it was still dark, but my sight adjusted a little, enough so I could see that Bevyn was gone. Somehow, I knew he would be back, though. If I was as important as he thought, as he said, he would not abandon me.
The evide
nce was beginning to stack up, and I worried that those who were pushing me were right, that I was chosen to defeat Torin. I had defeated Zahn, but maybe if his intent had been to kill me, I might've lost. Now, it seemed I was going to be up against one of the greatest sorcerers of all time. At least of this world.
I sat up and looked around, lighting my hands. The bread still lay beneath the blanket, and I helped myself, taking several loaves and loading up my pack. Who knew when I would have another opportunity to find food? This could be the last of it before I made it through the mountains. If I was going to fight in some war, I would need to find a way to survive. In the past few weeks, I'd come into the mountains thinking that the most important thing was for me to get to the other side. Now, with Phalen in the way, my journey was in danger.
By the time I'd finished eating a loaf of the hard bread, Bevyn had returned, his staff lit with fire.
"Do not light your hands again," he said, breathless from the climb. "If you are going to survive this journey, it would be wise of you to hide in the dark."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that the fastest way for you to get caught by Phalen is for you to keep showing yourself. I could see you from down in the valley. Extinguish them now."
My stomach dropped.
"What about you?" I asked defensively. "You're walking around with your staff alight. Doesn't that put you in danger as well?"
"I'm a fixture in these mountains. Anybody waiting here watching me knows I know my way around these valleys better than anybody else. Possibly, there may be others who have spent as much time here as I, but they’ve never let themselves be known to me. Now, we must ready ourselves for what is to come."
"I am ready," I said, standing up.
He laughed again, but this time it sounded a little bit more natural than before. Like he was laughing at my stupidity. This angered me, and I headed for the exit, intending to leave. If I were to be treated this way, I might be better off alone.
"Where do you think you're going? You will die out there on your own."
"I've made it this far," I said. "I think I can handle a few more weeks."
"Perhaps you can. I see that you’ve stolen several loaves of my bread. Let's just hope you make it to the other side. But, if I’m not mistaken, you are in need of training."
