by Garry Spoor
“What, ya mean like an animal?” Heaney asked.
“Sort of. But animals don’t usually shy away when I reach out to them. It’s not like they can detect me… detecting them. It’s hard to explain.”
Elmac mumbled something under his breath while stroking his beard. She was sure the mystic was going to dismiss her fears as Boraro had done countless times before. Yet another girl jumping at shadows.
Instead, he looked at her with a quizzical expression. “Are you saying there is something on this island that exists on the same level of consciousness as you?”
“Say what?”
The mystic sighed. “Is there something on this island that can detect you?”
“I never thought of it that way… but I guess… yeah.”
It only made sense. If something could avoid her, it had to know she was there. That was a scary thought.
“If that’s true,” Elmac addressed Heaney, “we must be on the right island.”
“Are ya sure, mystic?”
“If my research is accurate, then yes, I am positive.”
A grim expression crossed Heaney’s face as he stared into the forest. “Very well then. We must proceed with caution, and Kile, I must advise ya not to use ya Edge while we are on this island.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Just promise me ya will avoid using ya Edge.”
“Of course, yes,” she said, but it wasn’t that easy. Her Edge didn’t exactly work the way theirs did. It wasn’t something she could turn off or stop using on a whim. It was always on, always functioning. Didn’t talking to Vesper constitute using her Edge?
“Creech, I want ya to head for that cliff over yonder, see if ya can reach it. Ya should be able to get a better view of the island from there.”
“Sounds like a plan,” the Hunter said, grabbing his pack from the boat.
“Take Daniel with ya,” Heaney added.
“You sure about that?” Creech asked.
“Sir, I can wait here for Master Boraro…”
“It’ll be fine, Danny. Mystic Elmac will wait for Master Boraro. Ya go with Master Creech.”
“Come on, Kid.” Creech grinned. “Maybe you’ll learn something.”
Daniel looked to Kile for help, but there wasn’t much she could do.
“Galan, Darfin, why don’t ya two head down the beach.” Heaney pointed in the opposite direction he sent Creech. “See what you can see, but don’t go too far. If the Alva ever made it to this island, they may have left some signs.”
“As you wish,” Galan said with a slight bow.
Darfin said nothing.
Kile watched the Alva follow the coastline east while Daniel and Creech headed west. She might have been able to convince Heaney to bring her to the island, but it didn’t look as if she was going to leave the beach.
“You’ll be all right here?” Heaney asked Elmac. The mystic was already unloading supplies from the boat.
“Of course I will.”
“Master Boraro and Durra Squad should be along shortly. Have them set up camp here. It’s as good a place as any. Let Garret know what’s happening, but have him stay put. I don’t want us spread all over the island, especially when we don’t know what we’re up against.”
“Yes, of course, but watch your back, Heaney. If what she says is true…”
“I understand.” He grabbed his pack from the boat and started walking inland. Before he reached the edge of the forest, he turned around. “Well, aren’t ya coming?” he asked Kile.
“Me?”
“Ya see anybody else? Unless ya have someplace else to go.”
“No, sir.” Grabbing her own pack out of the boat, she ran to catch up to Heaney.
~~~***~~~
The forest was as dark and grim as it looked from the beach, only now it was all around them. The strange feeling Kile had was even stronger, and it seemed to radiate from the trees as if they were trying to expel the malady that poisoned them.
Heaney stopped every few feet to read the earth, but it was pointless since the readings were always the same. Nothing passed this way for quite some time. Dusting the earth from his hands, he stood up and stared out into the forest.
“Something not right,” he said.
“It’s too quiet,” Kile replied.
“Yeah, it is, isn’t it?”
“There aren’t any animals. No birds, no insects. Nothing. Even the wastelands back home weren’t this bad.”
“Ya didn’t…”
“No, I don’t have to use my Edge. I’ve been in the wild long enough to know what it’s supposed to feel like, and this feels… dead.”
“We should probably head back. Master Boraro will have base camp set up by now.”
“We haven’t been out all that long.”
“It’s no use, Kile. Without any direction, we’re wasting our time. We should go back and regroup. Maybe Creech caught sight of something from the cliff, assuming he reached it.”
“There is one thing I can try, sir.”
“Ya not to use ya Edge. Is that clear? If something can detect ya, it’s probably not a good idea to let it know we’re here.”
“I’m afraid it already knows.”
“That may be, but still…”
“Sir, my Edge doesn’t work like yours. For starters, I can’t just stop using it, but I might be able to use it in a way that can’t be detected.”
“And how’s that?”
“Well, on myself… kinda.”
“I don’t know, Kile. It could be dangerous.”
“Coming to this island was dangerous.”
Heaney laughed. “Ya got a point there.” He hesitated for a moment. “Okay, what do ya have to do?”
“Let myself go,” she said, closing her eyes.
It was liberating to release her feral side. Sort of like donning an impenetrable armor of protection, only this armor exposed her to the world around her. The first thing she noticed was the air. It was dry and stale, there was no life, no scent, other than the lingering smell of death and the rather pungent odor of the vir behind her. The only sounds she heard were those of the wind as it whispered through the decaying trees. That, and of course, the heavy breathing of the vir behind her.
He was distracting.
As she gave herself over to her feral side, she wanted to shed her vir trappings and run free through the forest. Unfortunately, she didn’t think Master Heaney would understand. A little more control, she thought.
“Are you okay, Kile?” Heaney asked from a safe distance.
She held her hand up to silence him before slowly turning around. She wasn’t turning to look at him but to listen to the wind. There was a slight change in the tone. It was a hollow sound, like the sound of someone blowing over the open mouth of a bottle, only this was a very large bottle.
“This way,” she said but didn’t wait to see if he would follow. She simply took off through the forest.
It was great to run again as she nimbly maneuvered between the trees. How she missed the open spaces and the freedom of the wild. It had been hard being cooped up on that ship over the last few weeks. She knew she had to get back on it, if only to get home, but for now, she was free.
Pausing for a moment, she listened to the wind before adjusting her course. The vir behind her was losing ground. She considered stopping and waiting for him to catch up, but there wasn’t any point since she was nearing the source of the strange sound.
It was a big hole in the side of a small hill, large enough for two men to enter side by side. Angled down, the path beyond descended deep into the earth. The opening was almost a perfect circle edged with interlocking stones, similar to the ones she had seen in the wastelands. Kile stepped through the opening, and although she couldn’t see far in the dark, she could make out the same interlocking stone pattern on the walls, as well as the floor.
“What do you think, Vesper? Do they look familiar?”
-Still don’t like,- the y
arrow said, and in his words, she saw shifting shadows and the strange shapes moving beyond them.
“Can you sense something?”
-Don’t know. Something here.-
“For crying out loud, did ya have to run all the way?” Heaney braced himself against the entrance to the tunnel. The Hunter was doubled over, trying to catch his breath.
“I thought a seasoned Hunter such as yourself would be in better shape,” she said.
“Ya could at least pretend to be winded.”
“When you catch your breath, take a look at this.”
Heaney stepped into the tunnel and ran his hands along the wall. “I don’t need my Edge to tell this isn’t natural.”
“When we were in the wastelands last year, we had to pass through an underground aqueduct. The stonework was similar to this.”
“Ya think there’s a connection?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Kile said, starting down the tunnel.
Heaney grabbed her arm. “Hold on there, Hunter. Let’s not be too hasty.”
“But this must be the place.”
“It may be, but we can’t go running off like empty-headed cadets. We go back and we regroup.”
Kile looked down into the dark of the tunnel. There was something down there, something she had to know, but Heaney was right. If they ran into any trouble, there would be no help. Nobody else knew where they were. How long would it take for someone else to find the opening?
“I suppose you’re right,” she reluctantly agreed.
“Of course I am. I’m a seasoned Hunter, remember? Besides, the cave isn’t going anywhere.”
Kile moved away from the entrance. She suddenly stopped and turned back to listen.
“What’s the matter?” Heaney asked.
She stared into the darkness. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“You didn’t just hear someone laughing?”
“Laughing? No, I didn’t hear anything. Maybe it was the wind.”
“Yeah… yeah, I guess that’s what it was.”
~~~***~~~
When Kile and Heaney finally got back to the beach, it was a full-blown base camp. Tents were pitched and campfires were lit. Sailors sat around laughing and drinking while Lothran cooked up one of his stews.
Boraro was the first to get up when he saw them approach. “We were about the send out a search party, but we didn’t want to interrupt anything.” He grinned mischievously.
“Stow it, Garret,” Heaney said. Clearly he was not in the mood for the Hunter’s jokes. “The fact is, we found the temple.”
Elmac jumped to his feet. “You found it? Where?”
“It’s only about a mile in.” Heaney jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Hard to find, unless ya knew what you were looking for.”
“I didn’t see anything,” Creech said from where he was sitting beside the fire. “We made it all the way to the cliff’s face, and I didn’t see anything on the island that even remotely resembled a temple.”
“Ya wouldn’t have,” Heaney said. “It’s underground.”
Boraro gave him a sideways glance. “Underground? Like what, it fell into a large hole? Are we going to have to dig for this artifact?”
“Not likely,” Heaney said. “There’s an opening on the far side of the island. It leads down into the earth, and by the feel of it, quite some distance. Completely man-made.”
“Are you sure?” Elmac asked. His mood, since arriving on the island, seemed to have improved.
“Positive.” Heaney set his pack down and took a seat beside the fire.
Galan joined him. “It would appear you were more successful in your mission than we were in ours.”
“So, ya found nothing along the beach?”
“As if there was anything for us to find,” Darfin said.
Galan looked up at his companion. “I’m sure Master Heaney has no intention of wasting our time. He clearly believed we could find some of the answers we seek.”
“Do you truly believe that, brother?” the white-haired Alva asked.
“I do. Don’t you?”
Darfin said nothing and simply turned and walked away.
“I am sorry, Master Heaney, you must forgive my kin.”
“There is nothing to forgive, Galan. We have all been through a lot and now that the journey may be halfway over, I can understand Darfin wishing to see it completed.”
“Yes, the Alva have prayed for this day for many years. To think we are on the verge of reclaiming that which was once ours.”
“I would not be so quick to celebrate,” Elmac remarked when he joined them. “We do not have the Heart of Nilak yet, and there are still many things we need to know about.”
“I understand your skepticism, Mystic. But you will understand when you see it,” Galan said. “That will have to wait until tomorrow when we are better prepared,” Heaney added.
Kile listened to the exchange for as long as she could. When they started getting into the details about what they would do when they got it home and how they would turn a wasteland into a thriving forest, she had to walk away. As her father would say, you cannot harvest what you don’t sow. They didn’t even have the Heart of Nilak, and yet they were discussing the best way to use it. They weren’t even sure it was on the island, although Elmac seemed pretty positive.
It shouldn’t bother her, what they did with it. As far as she was concerned, her contract with the crown ended on their return. She would go as far as accompanying them to the Guild Hall in Littenbeck, where she would request payment and officially resign. She was sure of it now—it was the best thing for her. After that, well, things got a little fuzzy. She told Daniel she might visit Balaa, but the truth was, she had no interest in going there. She thought about returning home to see her brother one last time, even though it wasn’t her home anymore. It would be nice to see the only family she had left, before, maybe, possibly, attempting to cross the wastelands. Of course, that left several loose ends, especially the one named Roland.
“You all right?”
Daniel was sitting in front of one of the tents, going through the contents of his medical bag when she nearly walked past him. He had all his vials, ointments, herbs, and bandages laid out in neat little rows as he took an inventory of his stock.
“Are you all right?” he asked again. “You look a little dazed.”
“No, I’m fine. I was just thinking.”
“Well, thinking like that usually gets you into trouble.”
“Tell me about it.”
He laughed and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I hope you don’t mind. We’re sharing a tent.”
“Oh, well, yeah, I guess that’s okay.”
Looking at the small tent behind him, she was uneasy. It wasn’t the first time they shared close sleeping quarters. Although she had to admit he was acting a little strange lately. Grim’s comment about him being jealous kept moving itself to the front of her mind. She never thought of Daniel as anything but a close friend yet didn’t know what he thought of her.
Normally she would have gone off by herself, thrown a blanket on the ground, and slept outside under the stars, but the forests of Shenataesi weren’t terribly inviting.
“So, did I hear right? You actually found a temple?” Daniel asked.
“Well, I wouldn’t go as far as calling it a temple. It was more like an artificial cave.”
“Are you sure it’s artificial?”
“It had the same interlocking stones as the aqueduct we used to pass under the city in the wastelands.”
“And you think there’s a connection?”
“There has to be, although I don’t know what. It seems the more I think about it, the more questions I come up with.”
Daniel put the vials, ointments, herbs, and bandages back into his pack. “I wouldn’t waste too much time worrying about it.”
“Why’s that?”
“Come on, Ki. It doesn’t concern u
s now, does it? I mean, there are more experienced people, farther up the ladder, who handle those sorts of problems.”
“Yeah, I guess, but doesn’t any of this bother you?”
“Like what?”
“Well, like who put the Heart of Nilak here, and why here, and if this artifact can transform the wastelands into a lush green forest, why is this place so dead?”
“I don’t know.” Daniel shrugged, closing his pack. “As I said, it doesn’t concern us.”
“Doesn’t it? Haven’t you even wondered why we’re here?”
“We were summoned to help find the Heart. What else is there?”
“Yeah, but why you, why me?”
Daniel looked up at her and laughed. “What do you mean, why you? Kile, you were the one who got the ship through the storm, and you were the one who led us to this island, and it was you and Heaney who found the temple. How can you still question your attachment to the expedition?”
“That’s just it. Everything I did, I wasn’t supposed to do.”
“Say what?”
“Don’t you remember? Elmac didn’t want my help during the storm and he didn’t want me up in the crow’s nest guiding the ship. As for finding the temple, I was specifically told not to use my Edge. Every time I tried to help, I was told not to. The fact I could help at all was because the original plans kind of fell through. It seems like everything from finding a way through the storm, to finding the island, to finding the temple brought me to this exact place, almost as if… I’m supposed to be here.”
“That’s what I said, you were supposed to be in the company.”
“That’s not what I mean, Danny. It’s like something other than the expedition led me to this island.”
“What, like the Heart of Nilak is calling out to you?” His voice held sarcasm.
“No, of course not.”
“Look, Ki, you’re overthinking things again. The world is not as complicated as you keep making it out to be. It’s simple. We are here. We will retrieve the Heart tomorrow, and we will be gone.”
