“Oh, it’s perfect,” Tabitha said, and Brinley turned to see her placing Miah the toad in the center of the swirling fountain. “You’ll love it here, Miah,” Tabitha said, and patted the toad on the head firmly, as if to reinforce the notion that it had arrived at its new home. “And you’ll love it even more after Unda un-confuses your fountain.”
Unda grinned.
“They’re here!” Belterras bellowed, and they hurried around to the front of the house. “They’re coming up the hill!”
“Positions everyone!” Tabitha called, herding people into the house. They had decided that everyone would wait out of sight, so as not to overwhelm Maggie with too many people at once.
Archibald entered the clearing, followed by Maggie and the Swelter Cat, who trotted happily beside her. She reached down with one hand to adjust one of her colorful socks, the other hand clutched tightly around the tin that held her treasures.
“And then when I was forty-nine,” she was saying to Tobias, “I met a cat so fat and blind, he couldn’t find his own behind.” The Swelter Cat purred appreciatively, nodding several times.
“Whose house have you brought me to, Archie?” Maggie said, peering suspiciously at the little dwelling. “Oh,” she said, flattening her dresses with her hand. “It’s Magemother Brinley.”
“Hello,” Brinley said. “I have a surprise for you, Maggie.”
“Oh?” Maggie said nervously. “No, thank you. I don’t like surprises.” She looked around. “Where is Apprentice Tabitha? I would like to play a game of War Hands with her. Just one, if she has the time. Best of three, you know.”
Brinley grinned. “She’s inside your house,” Brinley said, nodding at the little dwelling.
Maggie peered around Brinley suspiciously. “My house, you say? Where? That’s not my house.”
“It is now,” Brinley said. “We built it for you.” She put her hands on her hips firmly. “You need a warm place to sleep, Maggie, and space of your own, so that we can come and visit you.”
“But—” Maggie spluttered.
“And there’s a workshop in the back, if you want to start your own business, though I daresay Jaship will let you keep your job if that’s what you really want.”
Maggie said nothing, just stared blankly at the house.
“It’s nice and quiet here…” Brinley said softly, “and you’re not too far from the city. Do you like it?”
Maggie threw her arms around Brinley. “It’s wonderful!” she said. “What’s that on my door?” She marched up to the house and touched the little button. “Ah! See, I told you. A lucky button, indeed.” She threw the door open excitedly. “Luckiest button I ever—AAAHH!” She leapt back from the door, pointing at the inside of the house. “It’s full of people!”
“Just me, Maggie,” Tabitha said, stepping out of the doorway. “Me and all the mages, of course.” She stepped aside and they all filed out of the house after her.
“Oh my,” Maggie said. “All the mages, in my house! How wonderful!” She took Tabitha’s hand and led her back inside, slamming the door behind them. A second later, her voice came drifting out of the house, muffled slightly by the door. “I’m going let all of my street friends move in with me, Apprentice Tabitha, and that way we can all have a real house together, and we can make our own money in the workshop to buy food with. We’ll probably have to steal a few tools to get started, but not for long, and we’ll give them back once we have money to buy our own.”
Cannon slapped his face with the palm of his hand, shaking his head, and Belterras chuckled heartily. “Honest, isn’t she?”
“I think maybe I should make her a few tools before I leave today,” Cassis murmured thoughtfully.
Animus was looking at Brinley. She cleared her throat, and the mages all looked at her.
“Thank you,” she said. “I couldn’t have done this for her without all of your help.” She shuffled her feet nervously, then calmed, realizing what she wanted to tell them. “This is what we do,” she said, pointing at the house. The door opened a crack, and she thought she saw Maggie peeking out at her, but she continued. “This is who we are. You exist to serve this world, and I exist to serve you. There is much to be done, and none of it is easy, but we can do anything together.”
She paused, her eyes drifting to the cold black box that sat at the other end of the clearing. “In three day’s time, I will open the Panthion. By then we must be ready. We must return Shael to his prison after Hugo is free. I don’t know how, but we must do it. We must prepare the kingdom against an attack from the Ire. We will save Hugo. We will save my mother, and we will save the kingdom. I cannot do it alone, but we can do it together, as a family…”
She trailed off, feeling foolish. That was more or less what she had meant to say, but it had sounded much better in her head than it did out loud.
Maggie flung her door open and began to clap enthusiastically. “That was a very nice speech, Magemother Brinley,” she said. “Now, come inside, please, so that I can show you my house.”
Brinley and Tabitha sat on log stools across from Maggie’s little stone kitchen table, upon which she had proudly set her treasure tin. Brinley was watching the others through the window.
“It’s a lovely home,” Tabitha said, smiling pleasantly at Maggie.
“Thank you, dear. It was a gift from the Magemother, you know.”
Tabitha grinned. “I know.”
“Not the first gift I’ve been given from the Magemother, you know.”
“I know,” Tabitha said. “I remember.”
“Not the second gift either, dear.”
Brinley turned away from the window. “Really?” she asked. “Did my mother give you something? Did you know her?”
Maggie nodded. “Oh, yes,” she said. “I’ve lived all over this world, you know. Met all sorts of people. All sorts of people, high and low, and almost everyone has met me.” She took the lid off the tin between them and motioned for Brinley. “It’s time for you to pick a gift again. Since you returned my last one.”
Brinley grinned sideways at Tabitha, who looked rather jealous. “Any advice?” she said, remembering what had happened last time.
“Yes, in fact,” Maggie said. “I think it’s time you took back the gift your mother gave me.” She reached into a corner of the tin and drew a rough-looking rock out from among the other odds and ends. Brinley remembered seeing it last time. It didn’t look like much, but if her mother had given it to Maggie…
“It is a ruby, I think,” Maggie said, handing it to her. “Uncut, of course, but someday it could make a beautiful piece. It’s the most valuable thing in the tin, but nobody ever wants it.”
Brinley’s eyes had gone wide.
“Ooo,” Tabitha said, pulling on the sleeve of Brinley’s shirt. “Ooo, Brinley!”
“I know,” Brinley said, holding the gem up to the light. She closed her eyes and reached into the stone with her mind. It was a vast, beautiful place, a palace, just as Cassis had described.
Chantra, she called.
And Chantra came.
A thin line of red, like molten metal or a thread of fire, fell from the stone onto the floor, becoming first a pair of feet, then legs, then the torso of a young girl, older than Brinley, but still vibrant with the strength of youth. Her hair was raven and her eyes were a warm brown, tinged at the edges with red. Her arms were folded tightly across her chest, and as soon as she had emerged from the stone she began to shake. Her eyes rolled backwards into her head, and she toppled over. Tabitha caught her just before she hit the floor.
“What’s wrong with her?” Tabitha said.
“Magemother?” It was Belterras. He stepped through the front door with Animus following behind. Chantra was convulsing now, legs twitching back and forth, eyes rolling back and forth. Brinley was propping her head up with Tabitha’s coat to prevent her from striking the floor. “Turn her on her side,” Belterras barked. “No! Don’t hold her down.”
“It’s the pain,” Animus said. “It’s too much for her. I feared this would happen. Magemother.” He shot Brinley a meaningful glance. “It is time.”
Brinley laid her hands on Chantra’s head and whispered in her ear, feeling once again the surge of power, the lifting of weight.
Chantra stilled at once, but she did not wake. Her eyes closed and her jaw slackened, and she would not respond to her name. Belterras opened one of her eyes and examined it.
“Well?” Animus said, leaning in to have a look for himself.
“I think that she is no longer in pain,” Belterras said. “But she is no longer with us.”
Brinley gasped. “Dead?”
“No,” Animus said, and Belterras nodded in agreement. “Not dead. But barely alive. Not asleep, not awake. She has…gone away. But she will return. Her body needs to rest. She will likely wake in a matter of hours. A day or two at the most, as long as she is well cared for.”
“She can stay right here,” Maggie said. “I’ll look after her.”
Belterras eyed her thoughtfully. “I will come and check her myself from time to time. And I may ask Habis to come and stay with her. She is good with remedies, or so the animals have told me.”
A swallowing sound made Brinley turn around. The Swelter Cat was sitting in the front doorway, preening himself. He must have come in when she wasn’t looking.
He cleared his throat when he saw her watching him. “This is no time to stand and glance,” he said loftily. “It’s time to go. It’s your last chance.”
“What is he talking about?” Animus said.
“My father,” Brinley said. “He’s in Inveress, and I have to go rescue him. I have to go now, I’m afraid. There is…something that I want to ask Cyus as well.”
“Inveress?” Animus said. He searched her face for a moment. “Very well,” he said. “I see that you have already decided. Will you allow me to accompany you?”
Brinley shook her head. “I need you here. There will be much to do in preparation for the war.”
“War?” Tabitha said, glancing up from Tobias. She had begun to pet him, and he was glaring at her.
“Yes,” Brinley said, bending to help Belterras lift Chantra onto the table. “Three day’s time, that’s what Shael said.”
Cannon, who was now leaning through the kitchen window, gave a low whistle. “Three days,” he said. “I’m not going to lie. I wouldn’t mind being somewhere else when Shael comes. No matter how ready we are, it’s not going to be pretty if he really can get his armies across the bridge. Can he?”
Animus nodded. “I think he can. I do not think we could stop him from doing at least that, even if we all attempted to overwhelm him the moment he emerged from the Panthion. I have no doubt that he will come out fighting. We cannot expect him to keep his half of the bargain. If you let him out, he will not go quietly back into the Ire. He will pick up right where he left off, and he will destroy this world.”
“What?” Brinley said.
Animus hesitated. “I said, if Shael gets out—”
“Not that,” Brinley said. “Cannon. What did you say?”
“Uh, me?” Cannon asked. “I said it won’t be pretty if Shael’s armies get across the bridge.”
“No,” Brinley shook her head. It had been something else. Something important, that nobody had noticed. “You said you wished you could be someplace else.”
Cannon flushed with embarrassment. “Well, I mean—You know I’m not one to run from a fight, Magemother. I was just saying—”
Brinley held up a hand. “Shh,” she whispered. “There is something in that. Something important.” She closed her eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of it. Someplace else. What if they could be somewhere else when Shael came. Out of reach. Safe…
She smiled. “I intend to be ready for Shael when he comes. I will wait until the last possible moment to release them, but in three day’s time, we must be ready.”
“Ready?” Cassis said. “To face a full-scale invasion of the Wizard’s Ire led by Shael himself? We will need more than three days to prepare for that!”
“Then we had better get started,” Brinley said. She laid a hand on Chantra’s chest. “Belterras, you will care for her?”
“Not just him,” Maggie said. “I’m going to make up the most comfortable bed a person could ask for, and that’s where she’ll stay until she has mended.”
“Good.” Brinley took Tabitha’s hand and stepped to the door. She paused on the threshold to address Animus again. “How long would it take you to gather every king in the land and meet me in Ninebridge?”
“With the help of the others,” he said, “three hours. Maybe less.”
“Good,” she said. “Do it.”
“They will not all like being summoned like this,” Animus said. “What shall I tell them?”
Brinley thought for a moment, trying to think of something impressive. Eventually she settled on the truth. “Tell them that we have a world to save, and three days in which to do it.” She hesitated. “And tell them that I have a plan.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”
She took the little silver summoning bell from her pocket and twirled it thoughtfully. An idea was forming in her mind. A crazy idea. If it worked, it would not be because of her alone, she would need everyone’s help. “Maybe…” she said. “Maybe when the fight arrives we can all be somewhere else.” She replaced the bell in her pocket and took a step towards the door. “I have to go speak with someone now. Gather the kings for me, Animus. Bring them to Ninebridge, and meet me at the Bridge to Nowhere.”
Epilogue
In which there is darkness
Hugo pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, rubbing them gingerly. They had been torn by the rough stone floor from his fall. How far had he fallen? It was hard to tell, but it had felt like several feet, and his legs were definitely going to bruise. He took his eyes from the rough gray floor and felt his stomach turn over. He had never liked heights much, or darkness, for that matter, but the space he was in had plenty of both.
The tiny gray platform he had landed on was one of many, sticking up out of the immense blackness like odd bubbles rising from a bottomless glass. Long, narrow staircases led up and down from each platform, long lengths of steeply angled steps, leading into darkness. The other platforms were empty. He couldn’t imagine what they were for, except perhaps for catching people when they fell in, but he didn’t think that happened very often.
Someone spoke his name, someone very far away, by the sounds of it. He crawled to the edge of the platform and peered into the darkness below him, straining to see the man he knew would be there. Shael. He was locked in here with a madman. Hugo wondered if he was really going to use him as bait to force the prison door open, or if he had simply been lured here to die. It didn’t matter. He didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. If he had it to do over, he would let Lignumis go every time.
“Hello?” Hugo called into the darkness. “Who’s there?” Stupid question. He knew the answer. Who else could it be?
Pain lanced against the inside of his head, forcing a moan from him.
We’re here! Molad cried in jubilation. We’re here at last!
Hugo bit his tongue, focusing on the pain, forcing that into the center of his attention, drawing the power of his mind away from Molad. It wouldn’t do to give up just yet. Maybe he would get lucky. Maybe this wouldn’t end as badly as it was promising to.
“Hugo.”
His name echoed out of the depths again, mixed with the sound of dripping water, as though there were a great tangle of pipes just out of sight somewhere in the darkness. Hugo forced himself to his feet, eyeing the stairs with reluctance. It had to be a great dark palace of floating stone balconies and rickety stairs with no rails, of course. A nice warm room with bars on the windows and a plushy armchair or two would have been too much to ask of a legendary magical prison box. Well, at least it was spacious.
“Hugo
,” the voice floated up again.
“Yes,” Hugo mumbled. “I’m coming.”
He started down the stairs, hoping beyond hope that he might find something in the darkness below him other than the stuff of nightmares.
End of Book Two
Book Three
The Bridge to Nowhere
by Austin J. Bailey
Chapter One
In which there is evil on the wind
The Mage of Wind rose on the cold morning air, the edges of his cloak flapping against a gray sky. He peered into the deep ravine beneath him and exhaled softly, unwilling to disturb the place with the sound of his breath.
The Rift. A deep, impassable cleft that separated the mainland of Aberdeen from the evil forest known as the Wizard’s Ire. If there was a bottom to that canyon, only the lost souls who perished there had ever found it. He suspected there was no end to it, that it went down past dirt and rock into the void, where nothing could exist for long.
His skin prickled. He scanned the Rift from top to bottom, but it was black and empty as far as the eye could see. And yet…someone was watching him. He curled into a wisp of smoke and glided away, hoping to spy whoever it was when they moved to follow.
No one did.
He caught an updraft and allowed the wind to pull him in lazy circles while he hunted for a sign of his observer. Finding nothing, he let his body solidify, and he hurtled to the ground. The air caught him at the last moment, setting him down lightly on his feet, and he took off at a brisk pace. Even his sudden appearance did not lure the watcher out of hiding, but he could feel their eyes again. After a few minutes he gave up trying to lure the watcher out and twisted into the wind once more, determined to lose his pursuer if he could not reveal him. He shot skyward, speeding back toward the mountain city of Calderon.
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