Aster Wood and the Lost Maps of Almara (Book 1)

by Cantwell, J. B.

  “I hope so, ma’am. I’ve been feeling a lot better since I met Kiron.”

  “Yeah,” Kiron said. “And this one came along with a few unexpected…quirks.” The corner of his mouth raised up in a secret grin. I smiled.

  “What do you mean, ‘feeling better’?”

  I told her about my heart and my unexplained recovery since arriving at Kiron’s homestead and eating his food.

  “Rubbish!” she boomed. “You think this old fraud is healing you with some sort of magic potion?”

  I didn’t know what to say. Kiron looked very uncomfortable.

  “I’m not a fraud, Lissa,” he began. “I been givin’ him Mother’s old brew mixed in with his soup for over a week and he’s—”

  “That old crone couldn’t have healed a paper cut with all the salve in the cosmos and you know it,” she said. Then she turned back to me and handed me a mug of hot tea. I hadn’t seen a kettle anywhere. “Reason you’re gettin’ better is you’re getttin’ closer to the center.”

  “The center?”

  “Center of the Fold.” She blew on her tea and sat back in her chair looking at me. I looked at Kiron.

  “You know that’s just a legend,” Kiron said to her.

  “What is?” I asked. She smirked.

  “You’re from Earth, that right?” she asked. I nodded. “That explains it then. The closer you get to the center of the Fold, the healthier you become. It’s always been that way.”

  “It hasn’t always been that way,” Kiron protested.

  “What do you know, brother?” she shot back. “You never made it farther than Aerit. Pa and I traveled all the way to Genopa and back, and I felt the power myself.”

  Kiron flushed a deep, angry crimson.

  “You mean, you’re a traveler, too?” I asked.

  “If Genopa was so grand, why didn’t you stay?” Kiron snarled.

  She ignored him. “Of course I’m a traveler. Our whole family was travelers. And the flying beasts of Genopa,” she glared at Kiron, “weren’t happy with a couple of humans trekkin’ about, I can tell you that. But my dear brother here has held the secret of interplanetary link creation since our Pa died eighty years ago, tucked deep away in the pages of that book. My book.”

  “You can make all the links you want here on Aerit,” Kiron spat. “One planet is enough for anyone, even you. Pa left that book to me, and he didn’t leave no instructions about sharing it. Besides, where you gonna get the gold to make a long link, anyways?”

  “You’re sharing it with me now, ain’t ya?” she boomed. “Anyways, Pa was mad as a hen by the time he died, wasn’t he? Anyone in their right mind would’ve known that I was the one who should’ve been waitin’ for Brendan.” She turned to me. “My pa and I traveled all around the Fold for ten years or more before this fool got involved. Thanks to him I haven’t left Aerit in eighty years. He’s kept that book close to his chest all that time, and without it I’d be hopeless to plot a long link on my own. He says Pa wanted it all kept a secret. But he don’t know. He don’t know what Pa and I had.” She looked at him. “And you don’t know what gold I do or don’t have. Pa made me promises, too. We talked about the trouble that was takin’ over the planets, the sickness in the fields.”

  “And the people? You know about them?” I asked. Kiron shot me a warning look. Don’t, it said. She didn’t pick up on my misstep.

  “Well, the people were upset, of course, but there wasn’t much a common man could do to fight what was happening to their lands. Good thing Almara set out when he did or everyone would’ve starved. You gotta live where you can stay alive, after all.”

  “But if you can’t make links, how do you get around on Aerit?” I asked. I couldn’t help but continue to question her despite Kiron’s discomfort. “I mean, we’re in the middle of nowhere up here. Where do you get your food?”

  “Oh, I can make links. Just not long links, links to other planets. Aerit, in all its mundane glory, is mine to travel. And I have other ways of getting what I need. You know, a woman needs a sliver of entertainment, too. Gotta keep life interesting.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Larissa here is a sailer,” Kiron said gruffly.

  “You mean, like on a boat?”

  They both looked at me, surprised, and then burst out laughing. Their humor irritated me. It had been a perfectly fair question.

  “No, no,” Kiron said, snorting. After a few moments he composed himself. “Larissa can fly.”

  “You can fly? How?”

  “Like this.” She pushed back from the table and stood up.

  “Lissa, not here,” Kiron protested, pushing his own chair back, suddenly alarmed. “Stop showing off. You’ll burn the place to the ground.”

  The air began to boil around her boots, and a moment later she hovered two feet off the floor. My jaw dropped.

  “Now, now, big brother,” she sang, “don’t you worry. Things have changed a little bit since we were young.” Kiron pressed his body to the wall, staying as far from her as he could in the tiny room. “The fire of my youth has waned somewhat, but the power is still strong.” She gently floated back to the ground and took her seat again.

  “How did you do that?” I asked.

  “Oh, it’s just a matter of a little bending around my edges. Anyone close to the fold can do it if they practice for long enough. But even I’ll admit that I have somewhat of a gift for it.” She smoothed out her long, wool skirt with mock modesty.

  “Hogwash, Lissa,” Kiron said. “Don’t make the boy think anyone can fly. You know it ain’t true.” He took a long draw from his mug.

  “That’s all you know,” she said. “Flying can come in awful handy, you know. If you ever get yourself into a spot of trouble, say, with a villager when a spell goes awry… Awful handy.” She produced a large plate of muffins from next to the fire and set it onto the table. It had seemed to appear from nowhere; I was almost certain it hadn’t been there a moment ago. Crane’s mouth dropped open and drool began to pool at the end of his tongue. She tore off a large chunk of one and fed it to him under the table.

  “Can you take people with you?” I asked.

  Kiron said “No,” and Larissa said, “Sure,” at the same time.

  “Wanna go out for a sail?” she asked.

  “No, he doesn’t,” Kiron said pointedly, as much to me as to her. “Seems to me I recall hearing of a little problem with a flight of yours from the folks down in Larshur Village. Something about you dropping that poor blacksmith as you flew over Round Pond.”

  “I didn’t drop him. The idiot let go.”

  “You still took the payment from him though, didn’t you? Broken leg from what I heard,” he said. “And lucky he didn’t drown.”

  “Of course I took the payment, fool!” she barked, her good humor evaporating.

  “Um,” I said. “Maybe next time. Seeing as how we’re just starting out today and everything, I should probably keep my feet on the ground.”

  “Suit yourself,” she said. “Anyways, looks like my days ahead will be filled with jumping now, not flying. The spell has been hidden away in that book for almost a century. Imagine if Pa knew that you finally gave it up…for a dog.” Kiron kept his eyes on his mug.

  “Where will you go?” I asked. “Back to Genopa?”

  “Nah, I wanna go farther in than that. Towards the center.” Her eyes gleamed with excitement and unmistakable greed. “Been planning it my whole life. Just been waiting for you to finally croak so I could claim my birthright.” She nodded at Kiron.

  “Charming,” he said.

  “What’s in the center?” I asked.

  “No one knows,” she said. “But I’m gonna find out.”

  “There ain’t no center,” Kiron said. “Space don’t have a center. It’s impossible.”

  “But the Fold does,” she snarked at him. Then she looked at me conspiratorially and leaned closer. “And in the center, power like none of us can even imagine. You
wanna fly? You find the center and you’ll do it and more. You wanna eat? A never ending feast awaits you. Knowledge? You’ll learn everything there ever was to learn about on any world and beyond. Health? Find the center and you’ll be reborn, clean and strong.”

  I was entranced by her words and couldn’t tear my eyes away from hers. I imagined my frail body, newly made and pulsing with energy, not unlike it was now. Only forever, with no lingering worry about when my luck might run out.

  But Kiron wasn’t impressed. “Oh, sure,” he said. “Find the center, which doesn’t exist, by the way, and you’ll be all powerful. Ain’t that right, Lissa?”

  “You don’t know squat,” she said, sitting back in her chair. I shook my head, breaking her spell. “Where are you headed, then?” she asked.

  “How would I know, Lissa?” he said. “It’s Almara’s link, not mine. I don’t know where it’ll take us.”

  “Not yours and a good thing, too,” she said. “How’d it feel, Aster, traveling by link made by my brother’s clumsy hand?”

  “That’s enough,” he spat. “We’re going.” He pushed back from the table and raised his traveling pack. “I wouldn’t leave him with you if I had any other choice. Just promise me you won’t cook him up. Or turn him into one of your experiments.” He looked at Crane, who had risen to follow him.

  “Nah,” she said, and she seemed to melt a little. She reached down and scratched Crane behind the ears. He licked his lips and sniffed in her direction, looking for another mouthful of muffin. “Gets lonely up here anyhow. If it wasn’t for Reynold I’d go crazy for sure.”

  “Who’s Reynold?” I asked.

  A loud squawk came from a bird in the corner of the room that definitely hadn’t been there a minute ago.

  Kiron looked at her and his face softened, too. “Thanks, sister.”

  “No big trouble,” she said and then turned to me. “Keep your wits about you, kid. I expect you’ll be seein’ some things you ain’t never seen before. Just remember, where there’s smoke, flame follows close behind. You smell smoke, you run the other direction. Yeah?”

  “Yeah, ok,” I said automatically as I eyed the bird. His beak was large and yellow, and I shuddered to think of how it would feel sinking into my flesh.

  We walked to the door and Kiron stooped down to pat Crane. He didn’t speak to him, but looked him deep in the eyes before he turned and left the house. Crane whined, but did not follow. I gave him a scratch under his chin before heading out the door.

  “Aster,” Larissa called after me and I turned. Her face had slackened and the folds of her skin knit together over the bridge of her nose with worry. “Take care of my brother, eh?” I nodded, and then followed Kiron out onto the rocky bluff.

  He was already several paces away from the house, walking swiftly towards the spot we had landed. I jogged to catch up with him.

  “Come on,” he panted, “before she notices.”

  “Notices what?” But no sooner was the question out of my mouth than Larissa’s shrieking was audible from inside the house.

  “Get the link!” Kiron boomed. “Now!”

  I scrambled for the map, stuffed deep into my pants pocket. Kiron gripped my arms with both of his hands and looked me in the eyes.

  “You better get on with it before she gets out here,” he said impatiently.

  “Kiron, you stinking goat of a human being—” she yelled over the wind, which had picked up again. She was barreling towards us over the rock, Crane barking at her feet.

  “Now’s the time!” Kiron yelled, “unless you want to be one of her experiments, too!”

  I didn’t need to be told twice. I thrust the map up above my head and hollered, “Go!”

  The force of the jump knocked both Larissa and Crane to the ground, and Kiron and I escaped into the black of space.

  CHAPTER NINE

  As we spun away from the mountaintop, flashes of light blinked behind my tightly closed eyelids. I tried to pry my eyes open against the whirlpool of air that twirled me like a child’s toy, but a wave of nausea forced me to squeeze them shut again. I hunched over, clutching at my stomach. The jump was unpleasant, but Almara’s link wasn’t painful like Kiron’s had been.

  When we landed, it was on hard cobblestone. I stayed crouched down, and my hands pressed into the cold, dirty stone of the street. I was gasping, and a sweat broke out all over my body as I tried to force down the large lump that threatened in my throat. I sat down on the stone, and found the air was cool, helping me regain my head. Whatever there was to see during the jumps, I wasn’t sure if it was worth it trying to look again.

  Kiron sat back against a stone wall opposite me. We were in a long, narrow alleyway.

  “What happened?” I asked. “What did you do?”

  He smiled between gasps, his eyes closed as he rested his head back against the stone. From beneath his coat he produced a thin, crumpled page. It was from the book.

  “You took the spell,” I said slowly. “Why?” No wonder she had come after us.

  “Lissa was never meant to continue past Aerit,” he panted. “Pa was clear as crystal on that fact.”

  “You tricked her.” I was impressed despite my concern.

  “Lissa has more power than me, that’s for sure. But she’s arrogant. Arrogance breeds ignorance. I’ve always been the brains of the family.”

  After we both caught our breath, I asked, “What about Crane? She’s sure to do something horrible, isn’t she?”

  “Nah,” he said, getting to his feet and brushing the dirt from his clothes. “Lissa’s soft spot has always been animals. No matter how much she hates me, she’d never hurt Crane. Though, after this, I suspect he won’t be mine anymore. She’ll keep him from me, just outta spite. No matter. That mutt will have a great life with her. She adores dogs.”

  “But why do we need the spell?” I asked. “Aren’t we supposed to use Almara’s links? We won’t need to be making more, will we?” My stomach squirmed at the painful memory of the jump from Kiron’s farm to the mountaintop.

  “I needed something to convince her to take Crane. Without an offering, and a good one, she woulda said no, just to punish me. The book was the only way. But I couldn’t let her have the spell. We have it now, in case we ever need it. Here.” He handed it out to me.

  I stared blankly at the paper and then at him. “But— why are you giving it to me?”

  “It was always meant for you,” he said. “You’re the one meant to be on this quest, not me. I’m just along for the ride.” He shook his outstretched hand impatiently.

  I took the thin paper and folded it carefully, putting it in my pocket. Then I took his hand and heaved myself upright.

  As my breathing slowed, distant sounds found their way to my brain through the ringing in my ears. I was thankful for the cover of a deserted passage. We must have been far enough away from the people of this place that they hadn’t heard us land. Beyond the shadows, the sounds of men and horses, wagons and commerce came to me. I steadied myself against a stone wall, and held up this most recent link. We both peered at the page.

  The outline of a city had appeared. A perfect square was outlined into the center with several streets lining the perimeter. From each corner a wide lane cut through the streets diagonally to the square. In the center a golden ring twinkled at me.

  “Where are we?” I asked, handing him the map.

  Kiron studied the map. “Aeso, I believe.” He looked at the buildings on either side of us and ran his free hand over the stone walls. “Probably in the city of Stonemore.”

  I looked down the alley towards the street beyond.

  “But how do you know?”

  “I don’t,” he said. “But I’ve seen a schematic like this before. It is likely.” He held the page close to his face, examining each line. “That’s where the next link hides,” he said, pointing at the circle.

  I began to brush the dirt from my own clothes, but he stopped me.

  “No
, stay dirty. Your clothes are already unusual. You’ll blend in better with a little dirt on ‘em. Ready?”

  I folded the map, tucking it into my pocket next to the spell page, and we began to cautiously make our way out to the city beyond. We stayed back, hidden in the shadows, just close enough to observe the bustling lane before joining the foot traffic. This was a busy place. Women walked past the alley carrying bushels of wheat and fruit, children skipping along in their wake. The hooves of enormous horses clacked against the stone; some drew smart coaches, some open carriages carrying items for trade. It looked like a town on Earth from a thousand years ago.

  Aside from the nerves I felt at being in a strange place, again, I was mostly relieved at what I saw. These people were busy going about the daily chores of life. Women chased small children that went astray, scooping them up out of harm’s way whenever a horse passed by. Men and women alike hauled provisions through the streets, some headed for the market, some for home. Shopkeepers with empty shops stood in their doorways watching the crowds amble by, waiting for business. Hopefully nobody would notice our presence here at all. We might be able to slip right through this place, none being the wiser.

  Kiron lead me out into the lane and I resisted the impulse to keep my hand on the blade of the ax. I was a stranger, yes, but would they notice? As I walked I found that, for the most part, they seemed not to. Kiron pretended he knew exactly where he was going, so all I really had to do was keep up and try not to draw attention to myself. I tried to keep my pace at the same time casual and purposeful. If I ran, they would see me. If I gawked, they would see me. If I kept the pace, as they did, I would be, hopefully, invisible.

  Well, almost invisible. The occasional child stopped and pointed in my direction, tugging at the skirt of his mother to look. What was it? I looked down at myself, and back up at the passersby. My clothes? My boots? My hair? That had to be it. Most of the people here had dark hair; the lightest I saw was a medium brown. And here I was with a mop of white-blond, bursting through like a flashlight in the dark. The adults didn’t seem to notice or care, though, so I continued forward and made a note to rub some dirt into it at the earliest opportunity.