The Map Maker's Choice

by Matthew J. Krengel

  This horrified Jane, and she looked at the elf in shock. “But, Eriunia! She just attacked us.”

  “Please wait, map maker,” Eriunia said loud enough for Coronia to hear. Immediately the mermaid’s struggles stopped, and she stared at Jane with interest.

  “Go on,” Coronia replied. She listened to the elf, but her eyes were fastened on Jane and Jacob.

  “I swear to you I didn’t know what the council was planning, or I would have fought it with every breath of my body,” Eriunia explained.

  “What happened?” Jane asked. She and Jacob were completely in the dark.

  “The Seeli Council decided about seventy years ago, when the Temple was rising in power, to avoid all appearance of conflicts,” Coronia said slowly. “They thought if they allowed the Temple to take the few things they were demanding, they would stop expanding and be satisfied.”

  “Sounds like the Nazis on our side,” Jacob stated. He had always loved reading the history of World War II. What the mermaid was describing sounded just like the lead-up to that great conflict. “All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,” Jacob muttered softly.

  “Who said that?” Eriunia asked quietly. She motioned for Bella to put Coronia down in the water and release her. The heated emotions had passed. Now cooler heads prevailed.

  “I think it was a man named Edmund Burke,” Jacob replied. “It’s a quote from a different time period than the Nazis, but it still fits ­exactly what most of the world did as they rose to power. People stood by and did nothing.”

  “And millions died,” Jane added softly.

  For many long seconds, the only sound in the chapel was the tinkling of the water falling into the pool. Each of them realized how much both sides mirrored one another; events they thought limited to their world seemed to have transcended the barriers of time and space.

  Coronia began to speak again. “The Seeli Council did nothing, and the Temple hunted down all of my people living near their borders. Most were killed. The rest were captured and sold into slavery.” Her eyes flashed with anger again, and she glared at Eriunia. Slowly the elf knelt before her at the edge of the pool, offering her sword to the mermaid.

  “I will not stop you if you wish to take out your rage against me for the actions of my people,” Eriunia said. “But you should know that the Temple forces are in full retreat. We have struck a heavy blow against them and freed thousands. We are not done by far.”

  “Why did you come here?” Coronia asked. “There is little I can do for you.”

  “The leader of our rebellion has been taken,” Eriunia explained. She glanced down at the sword still in her hands, then looked back at Coronia.

  “Oh, put it away,” Coronia exclaimed. She flopped about in the pool of water in irritation. “I’m not happy with you, but I’m over the anger. I fail to see how I could be of any help to you.”

  “As near as we can figure, he was taken by an assassin,” Eriunia explained, “a human I fought during one of the battles to stop the Temple. I nearly finished him, but he managed to escape. Since the kidnapping, things have begun to happen that lead us to believe someone is doing something to the Divide, or the machine which powers it. If the assassin has found his way to the device with Tasker’s help, he could set in motion events that would erase the Divide. If the Divide falls, it will kill more people than we can count. We were hoping you could lead us to the Lady of Woods Lake. She has intimate knowledge of the machine’s construction. Without Tasker, she is the only one who can help us.”

  “So that’s what this is about,” Coronia exclaimed. She shook her head and a sad look came over her face. “I wish I could help you, but I can’t . . . at least, not unless you help me first.”

  A confused look crossed Eriunia’s face. Coronia continued to ­explain.

  “I’m not here by my choice,” Coronia said in a quiet voice. She leaned toward them and motioned for them to get closer. “I came here to explore new lands and seek a way to restore my people. Revenge was all I thought about, but the satyrs that run this place trapped me. They closed off the underwater passages leading from this place in order to keep me from leaving. The only reason I am alive is this pool.”

  “What’s in the pool?” Jacob asked. He was still brushing the water from his shirt, finally giving up. He removed the shirt and wrung as much water from it as he could, then slipped it back on.

  “Sacrifices offered to some forgotten deity,” Coronia replied. “Coins, gems, and baubles. Hundreds of them scattered at the bottom, about two hundred feet down.”

  “So they trapped you here to bring up the treasure?” Eriunia said. “What happens when they’re done with you?”

  “I won’t live through the last day,” Coronia replied.

  “Eriunia, we have to help her,” Jane declared.

  * * * * *

  Puck walked out of the castle and looked around. He had slept late and figured the sun was already high in the sky over Isle Royale somewhere, though it was too overcast to know for certain. A light drizzle fell over the city. The tree that had suddenly appeared was still out front in the courtyard, but it was showing ill effects from the transition. The needles were falling. Aleady a circle of them covered the paving stones around the tree. The branches sagged almost to the ground, and the wood had taken on a sickly look. Thick black marks streaked across the bark, and when Puck looked at the needles, he noticed they were also covered with black marks.

  “Odd,” Puck muttered. He turned away and headed out the gates into the city, not sure where he was heading, but found his hooves taking him toward the city docks. They had survived both the battle and the blast that occurred when Eriunia had destroyed the power supplies for the war machines.

  Four ships were moored next to the piers, and crews of sailors from Duluth were repairing minor battle damage. The new ships had been fitted with engine upgrades, and Puck had gotten some of the rebellion’s brighter minds to examine them.

  He went on board the first ship, an older Ironship called the Black Sail. Despite the scars of former battles and weathered paint on the wooden railings, the ship was lakeworthy, and the new captain assured Puck it would be ready for action if needed.

  Deep inside the engine room, Puck slipped around the tangled mass of steam pipes and valves that fed steam power to the propellers. Two of his goblins followed a human and a dwarf around the room, learning the ropes. They were two of his kin he knew he could trust with more sensitive operations. He listened for a time, then climbed the stairs to the deck of the ship and crossed back to the dock. Actur was standing on the dock looking around when Puck arrived, and he waved to the massive minotaur.

  “Find anything?” Puck asked. He had asked Actur to take a couple patrols and sweep the remains of the mines on an off chance that one of the power sources for the war machines might have survived the explosion.

  “You are in luck,” Actur rumbled. The big warrior reached into a leather pack and pulled out one of the orbs. “There were two of them on the edge of the blast zone. They were protected by an outcropping of stone.” He handed one of the orbs to Puck and watched as the goblin turned it over and over, searching for the key to the device.

  Puck rubbed his hands together greedily. This was something that could make him a fortune. Oh, he was all in for getting rid of the Temple and their ways, but his goal still remained. He wanted to be the richest goblin ever to walk the face of the earth. He would not abandon his friends, but if he could work on his goal of becoming filthy rich while helping them, why not? It was perfectly logical in his mind.

  “There were a couple suits on board the supply vessel, I think,” Puck said thoughtfully. “Why don’t you get a couple of squads to move them here, and we will learn how to use them.”

  “Here?” Actur said questioningly. He looked around and raised a heavy eyebrow
as he took in the blasted hole in the ground.

  “Sure, why not?” Puck replied. “It’s not like there’s anything else here to ruin.” Actur nodded and turned to walk away. Puck watched as he waved a couple of soldiers over, and then headed toward the docks. Once the minotaur was out of sight, Puck turned and walked back to the castle. The fortress contained a fully stocked workshop where the men and women serving the Temple experimented with all sorts of gadgets. He was no slouch when it came to mechanical things, so he decided to give the power orb a once over and see what he could learn.

  10: Duluth Abandoned

  Carvin and Jackie left Isle Royale and arrived in Duluth about a day later. Without the services of an expert who knew the underpaths, they were forced to travel by ship. Luckily, one of the rebel ships was steaming back to Duluth to pick up a load of supplies for those on Isle Royale, and they hitched a ride with the massive steamship. The coast slipped by slowly, and Carvin paced the deck, his mind stuck on the odd appearance of the pine tree and the disappearance of the rebel soldier. Such things were impossible.

  “I don’t know why it’s bugging you so badly,” Jackie said with a shrug. “What’s the big deal? There were bound to be glitches with any machine or system. I understand the need for precise measurements in architecture, but things always tend to break down, don’t they?”

  “This does not . . . no, strike that,” Carvin said passionately. “It can’t happen. If the Divide were to fail, the two worlds would slam together in a gigantic cataclysm worse than . . . worse than the great flood. Millions would die on both sides. Think of our two worlds as the same but slightly out of sync with each other. That’s why things on one side tend to have a double on the other. If those two worlds came back together, the buildings on each side would come together, try to occupy the same space. They would collapse in waves of destruction.” He paused a moment to let the realization of what they had witnessed sink into Jackie’s mind. “I don’t even know what would happen if the machine that powers the Divide was damaged in some way. Would a massive wave of dark power sweep across the world? It’s possible that it could wipe out life completely.”

  A sailor coiling rope on the deck glanced up at Carvin with a shocked look. He understood the importance of what Carvin was saying.

  Carvin took Jackie’s arm and they walked to a more private area on the deck. The last thing they wanted was to start a panic that would paralyze the rebellion before they completed their goals of freeing those in the new world from the Temple’s grasp.

  “We’ll look around in Duluth on this side and send out some scouts to see if anything else odd has happened in the last few days,” Carvin said. “I’d like to start preparing to abandon the city if we must.”

  “You truly believe it could get that bad?” Jackie asked.

  “I do,” Carvin replied. Suddenly he grinned and looked at her. “I kind of thought it’d be different when I said those words to you.”

  Jackie laughed and blushed. “Those don’t count.” She hugged him close and took a deep breath. She didn’t know what he used as cologne, but it smelled so good to her. When she hugged him, it felt like everything in the world was right. Nothing else mattered but his strong arms circling her waist.

  They stood on the bow silently for almost an hour, watching the coast slide by. They sailed a couple of hundred yards out from the shore, and the tree-lined mainland was silent. Now and then a bird would flit out from a tree and wing its way inland. A light breeze drifted around the ship, bringing with it the smell of rain.

  When they grew tired of watching the shore, they turned and walked back down the long deck until they reached the far side. There, a set of stairs led to the upper deck at the stern of the vessel. Next to the stairs was a door that opened into a hallway and another set of stairs. Carvin led the way down into the interior of the ship, the passage too narrow for them to walk side by side, so he released his grip on Jackie’s hand. Passages led to the right and left. The left was lined with cabin doors and lit with smokeless lights. The lanterns swung back and forth with the movements of the ship, making shadows dance on the walls. They went to the end of the hallway, to the stateroom at the end. If they had walked to the right, they would have reached the crew’s cabins and at the captain’s quarters.

  The cabin they were using was twice as large as any other cabin in the ship and must have been used to transport important people at one time. The walls were lined with deeply stained oak panels, and there was a long shelf of books on one wall. The cabin also had two single beds and two chairs bolted to the floor. Jackie snuggled into one of the bunks for a nap while Carvin walked to the bookshelf to look through the selection. Finally he picked one called Ring of Fire by an author of some renown on this side of the Divide named Matthew Krengel. It was a rousing adventure about creatures from another world that crash-landed on earth and attempted to set off the volcano below a place called Yellowstone Forest.

  When he grew tired of reading, Carvin slipped into the other bunk and drifted off to sleep.

  Early the next morning, they awoke as the ship pulled into the harbor in Duluth. They decided to wait until they reached Tasker’s house to clean up, so quickly packed their bags and headed up top.

  “Something’s definitely wrong here,” Carvin muttered. He looked out over the city. A dark pall hung over the city, but he could not put his finger on the exact problem.

  “I feel it, too,” Jackie whispered. Her sharp eyes scanned the shore but failed to turn up anything. They watched the sailors tie off the vessel. Suddenly a frantic soldier rushed over and looked up at them.

  “Thank the stars you’re back,” he shouted. “You must come see this right away.” He waved toward the hill and Lookout Tower.

  Carvin looked where the man was pointing and spotted the issue immediately. The place where the tower had been was a pulsing ball of inky blackness. It was like the Divide had bulged out and was getting ready to rupture.

  “Spread the word,” Carvin said to the man. “We must abandon the city as soon as we can.”

  The man’s face turned pale, but he nodded and turned away to find the rebel leaders still in the city.

  11: Black Robes Everywhere

  A hub of frantic activity greeted Carvin and Jackie in the area surrounding the black bubble. Patrols of soldiers went door to door just below the tower spot warning people to pack their things.

  “Is that a car?” Jackie asked. She pointed out the vehicle down the hill. Bent and twisted, the wreck had smashed against the edge of a stone wall that supported a section of a house. It was an older model Chevrolet, still smoking a little from the impact. “Was anyone in the vehicle?”

  “No, it was empty,” someone called out.

  “We’re going to need to move people away from the city,” Carvin said. He pointed down. “Look at the ground. The darkness is corrupting everything it touches.”

  Jackie looked down. The grass looked sickly, and the rocks were streaked with black. Slowly but steadily, the blight was spreading across the land from the cloud and heading toward the city.

  “What happens if it touches a person?” Jackie asked.

  “Watch,” Carvin said. He pointed to where a small chipmunk was skirting the edge of the darkness, looking for bits of bread someone had tossed to it. Carvin picked up a piece and tossed it to where the darkness was covering the ground near the animal. The chipmunk noticed the piece of bread immediately and scurried toward it. The moment it touched the darkness, it froze and emitted a high-pitched scream. A moment later, it vanished with a puff of darkness.

  “Where did it go?” Jackie asked. She shuddered as she looked to where the animal had been only moments ago.

  “If it was lucky, to your side of the Divide,” Carvin said. “If not, it was torn to shreds by the forces that maintain the separation between our worlds.”

  “H
ow could such a thing happen?” Jackie asked again, still not completely understanding.

  “I’m starting to think someone’s found the machine that powers the Divide and is making changes to it,” Carvin said in a quiet voice. The faces of those around them turned pale. Many hurried off to pack what they could. “At the rate it’s spreading, the city will be overtaken in a couple of weeks.”

  Carvin and Jackie walked down the hill to Tasker’s dwelling and took half an hour to clean up. They had already spoken with the rebel military commanders, and the orders to prepare for evacuation were given.

  Jackie dried her long hair and picked a brush out of her small travel case to run through it. She had never believed her wedding would be interrupted by the threat of the world coming to an end. It was almost too much to believe. At a light knock on the door, she leaned over and pulled it open.

  “Hey there, my love,” Jackie said. She forced a smile and motioned with her brush. “I’m almost done packing.”

  “I didn’t have much here, so I have my things sitting by the front door already,” Carvin commented. He looked around the room and wondered if they were about to lose the city once again.

  Jackie finished brushing her hair and slid the brush back into her pack. She had already put her clothes inside the pack, so she pulled the zipper shut. “Shall we?”

  “I was talking to a couple of the commanders,” Carvin said, moving to sit on end of the bed. “We’re going to move all our forces to Madeline Island and Isle Royale. We should be able to defend those areas. If either spot looks like it’s close to being overrun, we can flee to the mainland and vanish into the forests.”

  “Can Isle Royale support that large of a population?” Jackie asked. She wanted badly to talk to Carvin about their delayed wedding, but he seemed so worried about those in the city. Throwing her frustrations on top of him at this moment seemed cruel.