“We wouldn’t have entered without permission if that little girl had let us in!” Kyja said.
“Little girl?” Cascade look at Raindrop, who shrugged her shoulders.
“You know.” Kyja held out her hand. “About this tall. With long, green hair. She watched us inside the wall, but she wouldn’t listen to us when we asked for help. Then we talked to her once we got inside. She was playing with gold beads.”
“Dew drops?” Cascade asked, his eyes widening. “That could only have been Dew.”
Tide growled. “How many times have I told her to stay away from the walls?”
Kyja blushed, remembering how she’d spoken to the girl. Who knew she was one of the city’s leaders?
Marcus frowned at Kyja and quickly stepped forward. “Look, we didn’t want to enter your city without permission. But we need your help with a problem. We’re really sorry, and—”
His words were cut off by Tide’s booming voice. “The penalty for entering Water Keep is death!”
* * *
“Death?” Riph Raph squeaked, flapping his wings.
Kyja’s face went white, and for a moment Marcus couldn’t find his voice. Finally he swallowed hard. “Death just for coming into your city?”
“That’s not fair!” Kyja said.
Raindrop nodded, blinking her big, damp eyes. “It does seem a little harsh.”
Mist leaned forward, peering through the sparkling cloud that surrounded her. “Didn’t the pinnois tell you that humans are not allowed to enter Water Keep?”
Kyja glanced guiltily toward Marcus. “Well, yes. But we needed your help.”
“Help with what?” Mist asked.
Marcus turned to Kyja. She nodded. Slowly he raised the sleeve of his shirt, revealing the brand on his shoulder. He turned so that each of the Fontasians could get a look at it.
“Does this mean anything to you?” he asked.
Tide leaned forward in his throne, staring at the mark before leaning back and eating another fish. “You are the child spoken of in the story the humans tell,” the Fontasian said carefully. “What does that have to do with us?”
Together Marcus and Kyja repeated the story Master Therapass had told them. They talked about the Dark Circle, told how the two of them had been switched as babies, and finally, what Master Therapass had told them about creating a drift.
When they finished, Tide rubbed his chins. “An interesting story. But I say again, what does that have to do with us?”
Marcus stared at the Fontasian, shocked by the big man’s question. “We can’t create a drift between our two worlds without all four of the elementals working together.”
Tide snapped another fish from the air and popped it into his mouth like a kernel of popcorn. “Most unfortunate,” he said.
Kyja stomped her foot, which would have launched her completely off the platform if Marcus hadn’t grabbed her. “Aren’t you listening?” she shouted. “We need a water elemental to come with us and join the other elementals so we can open a doorway between our worlds. The Scales of Balance have to be restored. That’s why we’re here—to ask one of you to come with us!”
For a moment there was stunned silence, then all of the Fontasians began shouting at once.
“Join you?”
“Help humans?”
“Outside!”
“Insane!”
Cascade waved his hands to calm of the room. “There must be some confusion,” he said, when the others had quieted. “Clearly, you’re not asking us to actually go with you, outside the city.”
“If you don’t join us, the Dark Circle will take over the world,” Marcus said.
“That’s a human problem,” Cascade said with a confused look. “It has nothing to do with us.”
“Don’t you care what happens to anyone else but yourselves?” Kyja asked.
“Care?” Mist pressed a thin, white finger against her cheek. “We are water elementals. We bring rain to the forests and snow to the mountains. We fill oceans and carve out canyons. This is who we are. It is not in our nature to care.”
Marcus recalled the words of Zhethar just before he flew away. Elementals do not think the same way as other creatures. They view the world in a way we can’t even comprehend.
So this is what the pinnois had meant. Elementals had no feelings. It didn’t matter to them whether the Dark Circle won or not. Olden had been right to laugh when Kyja suggested they ask the elementals for help. The quest had been hopeless all along.
“It’s pointless,” Marcus said to Kyja, his chin drooping to his chest.
Kyja turned to each of the Fontasians one by one until her gaze at last rested on Cascade. “You know what caring is,” she said. “But you only care about yourselves. The whole world is in danger and you’re afraid to go out of your city because then you might have to meet others. You might actually have to do something for someone else. You must live terrible lives. It must feel so sad to be that selfish.”
Cascade looked away as a guard-fish hurried into the room. The guard whispered something to Cascade, and the Fontasian’s eyes went wide.
He turned to Tide. “An army of the Dark Circle has gathered outside the city.”
Tide’s eyes glittered as he waved his fat hand in the air. “It’s nothing to us. They cannot get through our walls.”
Cascade ran a hand across his lips. “They have a Summoner with them.”
Marcus turned to Kyja and a cold finger of fear ran down his back. Was this the same army that attacked Master Therapass?
“Even such a powerful creature of evil cannot pass our defenses,” Tide said.
Cascade swallowed. He turned his eyes to Kyja and Marcus before looking quickly away. “They have captured Dew. They are holding her hostage until we give them the humans.”
Chapter 57
The Verdict
Tide burst from his chair with surprising speed for such a large man. “How is that possible?” he roared.
The rest of the Fontasians looked uncomfortably at one another.
“She’s been exploring outside the city walls again, hasn’t she?” Tide pounded his fist on top of his golden chair. The fish around his head scattered. “I told her not to go out. It isn’t safe. But she didn’t listen.”
He pinched his sagging chins between his thumb and forefinger and studied Kyja and Marcus with cold, calculating eyes. “Very well then, the decision is made for us. Cascade, give the humans to the Summoner.”
Kyja’s mouth dried up. “You can’t do this!” she shouted at Tide. “They’ll kill us.”
“My decision is final,” Tide said. He rubbed his palms together in front of his fat belly. “You will be turned over to the Dark Circle. What they do with you is none of my concern.”
The room grew dim again, and the platform lowered. One by one the Fontasians disappeared, until only Cascade and the guard-fish were left.
“We have to escape,” Kyja whispered to Marcus as the guard-fish came for them. She expected Marcus to come up with a plan, but he looked completely defeated.
“What’s the point? Without the water elementals’ help, it’s hopeless anyway.”
The guard-fish took them by the arms and led them out of the room, down a long corridor. Marcus was right. It was hopeless. Even if they somehow managed to escape from the Dark Circle what could they do?
Even if they could convince the land, air, and fire elementals to join them, they needed all four to open a drift. And without the drift, they could never return to their own worlds. Besides, the other elementals were probably just as stubborn as these.
As the guard-fish led Kyja and Marcus down the hallway, Cascade hurried to walk beside Kyja. “What you said back there about being selfish? What did you mean?”
Kyja didn’t bother looking at him. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“I’m trying to,” the Fontasian persisted. “But it doesn’t make any sense. Why would you expect us to risk our lives for something that doe
sn’t benefit us?”
Kyja knew it was pointless to explain an emotion these creatures didn’t seem to have, but she found herself trying anyway. “I was orphaned when I was a baby. But a family named the Goodnuffs let me live with them on their farm. They gave me food and clothing and a place to stay. Mrs. Goodnuff sang to me when I was afraid, and Mr. Goodnuff taught me to ride a horse and to hunt. Why do you think they did that?”
“They wanted someone else to help with chores around the farm?” Cascade suggested.
“No,” Kyja scolded, tears filling her eyes as she remembered she would never see them again. “They did it out of the kindness of their hearts. Because it was the right thing to do.”
“The right thing to do,” Cascade repeated. “What makes it right?”
Kyja looked away, rubbing her face. Explaining anything to this creature was impossible. He didn’t have the first clue what she was talking about. “Haven’t you ever done something for someone else?”
“Of course,” Cascade said. His sea-green eyes lit up. “I think I understand now. You humans do things for others so they will owe you a service in return. One day the Goodnuffs will grow old and come to live with you as repayment.”
Kyja threw her hands up in despair. “That’s not it at all. We don’t help others just so they’ll do things for us. We help them because they need it. Because we can. Because if we didn’t, the world wouldn’t be a very nice place to live.”
The corridor sloped upward, and Kyja realized they were actually under the lake. Faintly through the ceiling, she could see fish swimming above them. But the water was not deep, and they would soon be back to the shore.
Cascade ran his fingers through his spiky hair. “So you didn’t take Rhaidnan from the unmakers’ cell because you thought he could help you escape?”
“How could you possibly know about that?” Kyja asked.
Now it was Cascade’s turn to look surprised. “I’m a water elemental. I can see things anywhere there is water—rains, clouds, puddles, ice.”
Kyja shrugged. “A lot of good it does you. We helped Rhaidnan because if we didn’t, no one else would. The unmakers would have killed him. If you really can see everything, I’d think you’d understand that.”
Cascade looked across at Marcus. “And the boy? You didn’t bring him here because you thought he could help you get back to your world?”
They were out of the lake now. The wall wouldn’t be far—and beyond it were the Summoner and the army of the Dark Circle.
“I brought Marcus here because he was about to be killed. He would have done the same for me.” She turned to Cascade. “If we weren’t here, wouldn’t you find a way to go outside the city and save Morning Dew?”
“No,” Cascade said at once. “It’s far too dangerous to leave the city. Our powers are weaker outside, and we are more vulnerable. Dew should have known better.”
Kyja shook her head sadly. “Then I wouldn’t want your help even if you offered it.”
The fish-guards pulled Marcus and Kyja to a halt in front of a large, blue blob. “We are here,” the guard on the right said.
The guard on the left touched the blob, and its surface became transparent. Kyja and Marcus sucked in their breath. Standing in front of them was an army of Fallen Ones at least as big as the one that had attacked them with Master Therapass. In front of the ranks was a huge, blood-red Summoner. On the ground beside it—locked inside a cramped, iron cage—was Dew.
Marcus turned suddenly to Cascade. “You don’t have to give them both of us, do you? Let Kyja go. They only care about me.”
Before the Fontasian could answer, Kyja planted her fists on her hips. “I’m not going anywhere without you. We’re in this together.”
Cascade tilted his head and scratched his spiky, white hair. “You’re right,” he said. “I don’t understand you at all.”
He turned to the fish-guards. “You may leave now.”
The guards looked at him questioningly, but he waved them away. “Go on,” he said. “I’ll turn them over to the Summoner.”
As the fish-guards glided away, Kyja allowed herself the tiniest ray of hope. Was he going to set them free after all? Maybe something she’d said had gotten through to Cascade. Maybe he really had found a way to care about others.
“You’re not going to give us to the—” she began, but before she could finish her sentence, Cascade put his hand on her back. Resting his other hand on the blob, he shoved her, and she went flying through.
Chapter 58
Outside the Walls
Marcus watched in horror as Kyja tumbled into the blob.
“No!” he screamed.
A second later, Cascade pushed him through the blob as well, with Riph Raph close behind.
He was already gathering his magic as he collapsed to his knees on the wet ground outside the city. He might not be able to hold off the Dark Circle, but he was determined to fight as long as he still had breath.
Riph Raph flapped his wings, caught air, and wheeled protectively over Kyja with a cry of fury. Kyja had landed by the edge of a small stream. She jumped to her feet, raising her fists as though she intended to fight the Summoner with her bare hands.
Disoriented, Marcus was not sure from which direction the army would strike. Pushing himself to his feet with his staff, he looked right and left before realizing the Dark Circle must be gathered behind him. He spun around, already beginning to cast a protection spell and saw . . . nothing.
Across from him, Kyja was looking around too. “Where are they?” she shouted, pivoting back and forth.
Riph Raph circled overhead, craned his neck, and pointed his beak. “There,” he said in a shocked tone of voice.
Marcus looked in the direction Riph Raph had pointed. For a moment he saw nothing. Then, in the distance, he saw the shimmering wall of the city. Lined up in front of it—so far off it was little more than a blur—was the army of the Dark Circle. Cascade had sent Marcus, Kyja, and Riph Raph at least three miles past where the Summoner was waiting for them.
Slowly Kyja lowered her fists. “I don’t understand.”
Marcus brushed his hair out of his eyes. “Maybe he made a mistake.”
“It was no mistake,” came a voice from the direction of the stream. Marcus moved cautiously toward the running water, then stepped back as he saw a blurry face looking up at him.
“Cascade?” he asked, studying the reflection that rippled with the movement of the stream.
Kyja joined Marcus, leaning over the clear-running water. “Is that really you?” she asked.
“It’s me,” the face said. Marcus found himself looking up from the brook for the source of the reflection even though he knew Cascade wasn’t there.
“You’re letting us go?” Kyja said.
“I couldn’t send you in Dew’s place. You were wrong to enter the city, but she was just as wrong to leave. There is no reason you should be forced to pay for her crime.”
“What will Tide say when he finds out what you’ve done?” Marcus asked, still unable to believe they weren’t in the hands of the Dark Circle.
“He will be angry,” Cascade said, his voice burbling like the stream. “But he does not rule over the rest of us, even if he does control the seas.”
“You do care then,” Kyja said, beaming. But Cascade shook his head.
“I still do not understand what you call caring. I do not do this out of any affection for you. I do it because it is just.”
Marcus rolled his eyes. At least they were free.
“Go now,” Cascade said. “Before the Dark Circle realizes what I have done. The Summoner will come for you when it discovers you have escaped.”
“What about Dew?” Kyja asked. “What will happen to her?”
“She will live with the consequences of her actions—or die. That, too, is just.”
Marcus studied the land around them. To the north was Lake Aeternus and Water Keep, along with the Dark Circle. Somewhere out of s
ight to the west were the Windlash Mountains. To the east was vast open plain. The only cover was to the south where the distant rolling hills were peppered with small trees and brush. “Come on,” Marcus said. “We should be able to make those hills before dark.”
“You can’t just leave Dew with the Dark Circle,” Kyja shouted at the stream. But Cascade’s face in the water was gone. She began to follow Marcus, then stopped and turned back toward Water Keep.
Seeing the look in her green eyes, it was easy enough for Marcus to guess what she was thinking. “I want to help her too,” he said. “But she’s surrounded by an entire army of Fallen Ones—not to mention a Summoner. We wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“They’ll kill her,” Kyja said.
Marcus shook his head in frustration. “They’d kill us before we could get anywhere near her. And they’d probably kill her anyway.” It was only a matter of time before the Summoner realized it had been tricked. If that happened while they were still in sight of the Dark Circle, Dew wouldn’t be the only one to die. Marcus tugged on Kyja’s fingers. Even Riph Raph seemed anxious to be away from the Fallen Ones.
Kyja pulled her hand free. Her mouth set in a stubborn line. “Go if you want to. But I’m not leaving. Don’t you see? If we leave her to the Dark Circle, we’d be just like the Fontasians. How could we live with ourselves if we didn’t even try to help?”
Marcus was torn by two emotions. On the one hand, he knew they could never succeed if they tried to take on the Dark Circle. He remembered all too well the sight of Master Therapass falling to the ground as the Summoner struck him with its unimaginably powerful magic. The idea of voluntarily returning to face such a creature was crazy. Fear closed around his heart like an icy glove at the thought.
On the other hand, the look in Kyja’s eyes did something strange to his insides. It was the same look she’d had when she took the money and the cloaks to the woman in the car. The look she’d worn when she’d sent Marcus back to Earth, even though she thought she would die at the hands of the Thrathkin S’Bae. It was a look that made absolutely no sense at a time like this. And yet, it was a look that made his chest swell with pride.
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