by Kay L. Ling
A series of forested hills formed a backdrop behind the village.
“So, this is where they found the artifact gems,” Raenihel said, shielding his eyes from the sun. “In a cave in those hills.”
Tyla followed his gaze. How many caves were there? The breghlin had found two, but there might be more. “It’s a wonder Ben and Tina Ann found the right cave, much less the crevice where the relics were hidden. And it’s a good thing they mentioned the stinging sensation to Jules, or he wouldn’t have gone to look.”
“Yes, I’ve thought about that,” Raenihel said quietly. He turned to look at her. “I think it was fate, don’t you?”
“Maybe so. The spell books told Lana the Focal Gem was hidden in a cave in this area, but that wasn’t much to go on, and the team found the gems without knowing they existed.”
“If we were destined to find them, does that mean our mission is destined to succeed?”
Tyla sighed. “I wish it worked that way, but the first team used the gems and made matters worse. We can’t rely on fate. We need to practice all we can and hope we’re ready when we arrive.”
Raenihel said nothing after that, and everyone else in the cart, who had surely overheard the conversation, kept silent.
As they left Corrustone behind, Tyla felt a nervous pang. They should reach the barrier zone tomorrow afternoon, and she didn’t feel ready.
Lant had Elias’s map. There was an “X” where Elias’s team had left the trail to follow breghlin guides, and Elias had drawn a line to show their cross-country route. Lant would leave the trail in the same spot. A few natural landmarks would help them stay on course.
Saturday morning, Tyla and the team ate breakfast with sober expressions. This was the last leg of their trip. They would infuse gems for strength, stamina, courage, and foresight as they rode so they’d be ready to work when they arrived.
Instead of sitting in back with the others today, Tyla decided to ride on the driver’s box with Lant. Since theirs was the lead cart, she would have a good view as they approached the barrier zone.
Lant folded a blanket for her to sit on and helped her into the cart. She was lucky she had such a wonderful mate. She thought back to her teens when she had fallen in love with him. She had always thought he was one of the more attractive males, but after his much-talked-about escape from breghlin scouts, she couldn’t get him out of her mind.
Three breghlin had captured him while he was hunting one day. He had fought his way free using his hunting knife and then outrun them, escaping inside a tree. But he hadn’t escaped unscathed. He had suffered a gash on his right arm and a collection of bruises, winning him attention from males and females alike. The females fussed over him for weeks. Few gnomes captured by breghlin ever returned to tell about it. Most were hauled away to mining camps.
Tyla had been pleased when she reached marriageable age and Lant showed an interest in her. Both sets of parents encouraged the match, but it took Lant over a year to “speak for her.”
Many couples had no youngones after years of marriage, so Tyla had been delighted to learn they were expecting after only a year. Eemie was bright and inquisitive, and not given to temper tantrums.
Tyla hoped, for Eemie’s sake, that she and Lant would survive this mission. Any number of things could go wrong as they tried to create the anomalous reaction.
Tyla pushed the troubling thoughts away.
Shortly after their morning break, as they drove over increasingly rocky terrain, she saw dark spots moving in the distance. The spots eventually resolved into three breghlin riding toward them on erum. This far from Elantoth, they were unlikely to encounter friendly breghlin. Some didn’t even know S had been defeated. Tyla’s stomach clenched.
“Breghlin,” Lant said, sounding worried. “Hopefully, they’re part of NE3’s group. Ben says they scout this area.”
Franklin, Ben, and Tina Ann had planned to meet up with NE3. Had they already spoken to him and asked him to be on the lookout for the team?
“Wasn’t he the one who came to tell us the barrier zone was unstable?” Raenihel asked from behind her.
“Yes. That was NE3,” one of the elders confirmed.
“Well, whoever they are, we’d better stop,” Lant said. “I’ll signal the carts behind us.”
Tyla watched nervously as the riders approached. They rode bareback, swords or daggers at their waists, and their clothing was filthy and tattered. The one on the gray erum lifted his hand, and the others slowed to a trot, then stopped completely and waited while he came to speak with Lant.
Lant looked back at his passengers. “Remain calm and try to look friendly.” He didn’t look very calm, himself.
The breghlin arrived at the side of the cart. He stank, and his black hair was greasy and tangled. Tyla did her best not to look repulsed.
“You go to Fogland,” the breghlin said to Lant. It wasn’t a question. He eyed Lant without any sign of animosity, but Tyla was still worried. You go to Fogland. Parcune had said that was what breghlin from this region called the barrier zone.
“Yes, we’re on our way to the Amulet barrier.”
The breghlin nodded. “I lead you. I am NE3. I take gnomes there before.”
Tension visibly drained from Lant’s body. “We welcome your help. How are conditions there?”
The breghlin sighed deeply. “Not good. More earthquakes. The ground have cracks, deep ones, very wide. When the big winds come the sky be full of dirt an’ flyin’ stones. We lay down an’ cover our heads till it stop.”
Tyla’s mouth went dry. Suddenly the dangers felt much too real.
“What about the repelling force?” Lant asked.
“Stronger. We feel it push from farther away.”
Tyla glanced back at the other passengers. Their faces were pale and strained.
“It be less than half day ride,” NE3 said. “We go now.” He turned his erum around and rode off.
Lant turned and signaled the carts behind him to follow.
Tyla reached into her pocket for her gems. She felt a little calmer as she drew their powers, but there was a weight on her heart, and she couldn’t dispel it.
In a few hours, she and her teammates would pit their gem powers against the overzealous energy field that had divided Ahmonell for generations.
Chapter 34
Friday after work, Lana went through the portal, brooding about the Amulet Team. In a day or two they would reach the barrier, and they weren’t prepared. They couldn’t be. They had left far too soon.
Jules drove her to Strathweed, and once again he wasn’t very talkative, but that was fine because she wasn’t in the mood for conversation. She hadn’t slept well. Her dreams had been eerie and disconcerting.
In her dream, she stood on a hill overlooking a bleak terrain where little grew except scrub brush. Rocky outcroppings poked through like misshapen creatures emerging from the soil. The sun struggled vainly to emerge from a gloomy haze, and she realized the haze was airborne dirt. Wrapping a thin scarf around her face, she began to walk. Was the land beyond the next hill any more inviting?
It was not. Fissures split the dry land like knife wounds, and it was impossible to guess their depth. A twisted, partially uprooted tree hung over one fissure at a precarious angle as if arresting its own fall at the last moment.
The ground began to shake. Lana fell to her knees, her blood turning to ice. She looked up. Not far ahead a hill liquefied, and its soil cascaded down like a raging river. A cloud of dirt rose, expanding like a slow-motion explosion.
The maelstrom would reach her in seconds.
Heart hammering, she fell flat on her stomach and covered her head, and not a moment too soon. Dirt and stones pelted her. The ground shook harder than before. Why had she come to this forsaken place? This was it—she was going to die.
Then she had woken, gasping and covered in sweat, and she knew with a disconcerting certainty that what she had seen was the barrier zone.
Now
, hours later, she still wasn’t sure whether it had been foreknowledge or just a bad dream from worrying about the Amulet Team, and the uncertainty haunted her. Maybe she should tell Jules, but she had an irrational fear that repeating the dream would make it come true.
When they reached Strathweed, Elias was cheerful but seemed distracted.
“Have you seen Parcune lately?” she asked, pulling a chair closer and sitting beside him.
“Not since Tuesday. He’ll be busier than normal with so many away. Quite a few went with the Amulet Team.”
Busy or not, Lana found it hard to believe Parcune hadn’t been here by now. If he didn’t show up this weekend she’d be worried that something was wrong at Elantoth.
Elias asked about her family and the store, but she got the impression he was only half-listening to her answers, and Jules was no better. Like her, they were concerned about the Amulet Team and frustrated by the lack of news.
Jules made herb tea, and they drank it while discussing plans to expand the garden. Lana offered to bring seedlings from home. Elias already had hearty staples like potatoes, carrots, and turnips, but lettuces and other vegetables would probably grow now that Ahmonell got more rain.
When they finished their tea, they began meal preparations, and that kept them busy for a while. Dinner conversation revolved around memorable events from the first Amulet mission, like finding the wooden relics and Parcune discovering they held gems.
After dinner, Elias poured fialazza and they all chose a book to read, but everyone kept stealing glances at the doorway, and Lana found herself reading the same paragraph several times. Sometime later, nodding off from boredom, Lana heard footsteps and Parcune appeared in the doorway.
Elias leapt from his chair, unsteady after sitting so long. “Come in! Come in!” He gestured toward an empty chair. “We’re having fialazza, would you like some?”
“That would hit the spot. Thank you.”
Lana studied Parcune’s expression as he sat down and Jules poured him a drink. He looked a little nervous. “We’re dying for news,” she told him.
He took a sip and rested the goblet on his leg. “It’s been a hectic few days. Last night while I was on duty I got a message from Aberell.”
“Aberell! Not Mierek?” Jules asked in surprise.
“Aberell,” Parcune repeated. The look in his eyes promised an interesting tale. “I work in the off hours when we never get messages, so when the gem lit I was too startled to move. But I collected my wits and went over and touched the gem. It was a curious experience.”
“Why did they contact you?” Lana asked impatiently.
“Aberell is closest to the barrier, and Commander Finnack is monitoring conditions. The news isn’t good—earthquakes, landslides, uprooted trees, and dust storms that blacken the sky.”
“How far away can they feel the quakes?” Elias asked.
“An hour’s ride or more.”
“What?” Jules cried in alarm. “That far?”
Elias frowned. “Why didn’t they ask Mierek to relay this information since they contact you daily.”
“Aberell wanted to speak to us themselves and, er, state their concerns.” His expression hinted at a deeper subtext. “Apparently, there’s dissension between Aberell and Mierek. Even though Aberell’s location puts them at greater risk than the other fortresses they have no say in policy decisions.”
“That’s a shocker. Join the club,” Lana muttered.
“The Amulet Team is on the way. There’s nothing more anyone can do,” Jules said.
“I’m not so sure about that,” Parcune said cryptically. He took a sip of his drink, leaving them hanging.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lana asked.
“Just that Aberell isn’t concerned about Elias’s history with dark powers.”
Elias raised a brow. “You’re saying they want me to help somehow?”
“Officially, no,” Parcune said, and cleared his throat.
Jules smiled. “Unlike Mierek, they don’t think you’re dangerous, Elias.”
“In any case, you’re less dangerous than unprepared gnomes,” Lana said.
“Begging your pardon for asking,” Parcune said hesitantly, “but could vestiges of infused dark powers influence gem reactions?”
“No,” Elias said without hesitation.
Parcune looked satisfied with that answer. “Aberell agrees despite Mierek’s claim to the contrary.”
“If it worked that way I’d have noticed long before now,” Elias assured him.
“They’re just trying to discredit Elias,” Lana said in disgust.
Jules rubbed his chin. “I’m surprised Aberell is going behind Mierek’s back.”
“So am I, but thank goodness they have enough sense to look after themselves,” Parcune said, shaking his head.
“Did you tell anyone at Elantoth that Aberell would like my help?”
Parcune sighed. “I did, and even though gnomes rarely lie, some thought I made it up.”
“They should know you better than that,” Lana said.
“You’d think so, but they know I’m loyal to Elias. I told them if they didn’t believe me they were welcome to ask Commander Finnack. That shut them up.”
“I hope this gives them second thoughts about human involvement,” Jules said. “Did Finnack say what he hoped Elias would do?”
“No. But he said Elias should have gone with the team, as a consultant if not a participant, and maybe he could have protected them while they worked.”
“Well, it’s too late now,” said Lana bitterly. “They should have told you this a few days ago.”
A tense silence hung in the air. Finally, Parcune said, “If the team fails and they have to try again, I hope you’ll go, Elias.”
“With conditions getting worse every day, there may be no second chance.”
“Lana’s right,” Elias said grimly.
“Maybe you should go now,” she said. “Why wait if this is the last chance?”
“I wouldn’t arrive for four or five days, so it seems rather pointless.”
Parcune’s brow furrowed. “I have an idea. Raenihel is wearing one of the pendants so he can communicate with Elantoth. That means we can reach him.”
“You’d like me to contact him?”
“I’m ashamed to ask after the way we treated you.”
“Don’t worry about that. There’s not much I can do to help, but I suppose I could offer advice.”
“Even if you just offered to camp out in the communications room so they could reach you, it would put their minds at ease,” Parcune said, looking greatly relieved.
“If you think folks at Elantoth won’t object, I’ll come.”
“No one will say a word. They’ll be sorry if they do.”
“I’ll arrive sometime tomorrow morning. Lana and Jules will come too.”
“Good. They’re more than welcome,” Parcune said.
Despite the gravity of the situation, Lana almost shouted for joy. Now they would get news immediately instead of waiting here for Parcune.
Parcune drank the rest of his fialazza and stood. “Thank you, Elias. It’s a relief to know you’re coming back.”
After he was gone, Lana said, “Well, that’s quite a surprise—sensible gnomes at Aberell.”
Elias didn’t seem to hear her. He was staring blankly, with an odd expression.
“Elias, is something wrong?” she asked.
“Hmm? No,” he murmured. “Just thinking. What do you suppose would happen if I contacted Raenihel while he and the others were linked through the Focal Gem?”
“Whoa,” Lana said. “Interesting idea.”
“As long as the pendant links you to someone in the group, you should have access to all of their minds,” Jules said.
Elias nodded. “I believe it would work that way. I would know everything that was happening, and I could transmit my thoughts to them. First things first. I need to explain to Raenihel why I’
m at Elantoth, and if he wants my help, we’ll go from there. I suggest we get some sleep. We’re in for a busy day.”
Lana dragged a rug over to the pile of corrustone. The heat was soothing, and despite being excited about tomorrow, she went to sleep immediately and woke in the morning to the sound of clattering pots and Elias and Jules talking.
After breakfast, they began packing. They planned to stay at Elantoth until the mission was over. Lana could hardly wait for Elias to contact Raenihel and hear how the team was doing. They should be nearing the barrier zone by now.
She was about to go outside when she heard a bird screech, and it sounded like it was in the cave. She gave a startled cry as a huge, black bird hopped toward her.
“Good morning,” Franklin said meekly. “I guess Elias didn’t tell you.”
“Franklin! Why are you a bird again?”
Elias said from behind her, “You’re back early. Is something wrong?”
Franklin rustled his wings. “Conditions are rapidly declining. NE3’s scouts report daily quakes, some severe. The barrier zone is widening several feet per hour, and the repelling force is much stronger. In a few days, the team won’t be able to get anywhere near the barrier.”
“Where are they now?” Jules asked breathlessly.
“Well beyond Last Hope as of yesterday afternoon. They’re following your map, Elias, so I told the scouts where to look for them.”
“Good,” Elias said, sounding relieved.
“So, Ben and Tina Ann are on their own now?” Jules asked.
“Yes. They’re several hours ahead of the team, so they may be at the barrier zone right now with a few of NE3’s clan. They’ll be fine.”
Lana followed this conversation in amazement, trying to piece everything together. “So, you’re some kind of scout? Keeping track of the team?”
“That’s about the size of it. Scout and messenger. As a bird, I can reach the barrier in less than a day. It’s two or three days by erum and four days minimum by maraku cart.”
“But turning a man into a bird takes dark gem powers,” she protested.
Elias sighed. “Now Mierek has a genuine complaint against me.”
