by Kay L. Ling
“So it’s not lifeless after all!” Kaff said.
“When we both touch the rose gem, it gets brighter,” Jules said, touching it again to prove his point.
“A lot brighter!” Kaff said, leaning closer and touching Elias’s knee to steady himself. The light flared brighter still. He removed his hand and the intensity dropped. “Did you see that?” He touched Elias again, and the light intensified, so it hadn’t been a coincidence. “Now you let go, Jules, and I bet the light gets even dimmer.”
He was right. The light dropped to a soft pink beam.
Elias said, “Could this be how the gem masters combined their powers?”
Kaff said, “I told you! One gem that amplifies several gnomes’ powers!”
“Right idea, wrong gem,” Elias said, smiling. “The rose gem draws energy and converts it, but it can’t combine energy from multiple users. The white gem does that.”
Kaff shrugged that off. “Think about it—both of you were touching the gem, but I only touched you, and the light got brighter.”
“Apparently, all that’s necessary is physical contact among users,” Elias said, raising a brow. “We formed a circuit of energy.”
“Could the white gem combine other gems powers? Or does it only work with the rose gem?” Kaff asked.
“I don’t know, but we’ll find out,” Elias said. “The rose gem may be a unique catalyst. We’ll try it with each type of artifact gem.”
“You know what we should do?” Kaff asked excitedly. “Use it with all the artifact gems at once. Maybe that’s what my ancestors did.”
“Interesting idea,” Jules said, and Kaff’s face lit with pride. “Each gem user could hold a gem, and the white gem might link everyone’s gem powers as long as they’re in physical contact.” Jules handed the white gem back to Elias. “What do you think? Is that a reasonable theory?”
“Yes, I think it is. All of the artifact gems have exceptional energy levels, and several gem masters drawing and combining those powers simultaneously would be extraordinarily effective. If they didn’t use it that way, they should have. In my opinion, this white gem is more impressive than alamaria.”
“And unlike Kaff’s ancestors, we have both, which should be a great advantage,” Jules said.
Elias nodded. “The question is how can we use these gems to breach the barrier?”
Chapter 13
Lana was exhausted, but she wasn’t complaining, considering Franklin and the gnomes had been up all night thinking of a way to rescue her. Good thing she had such dedicated friends.
After breakfast, Franklin met her in Elias’s office as promised, looking haggard, but stubbornly insisting he had important things to do and couldn’t take time to sleep.
A server brought in a pot of coffee. Franklin downed a cup, which seemed to revive him, and then showed Lana a sample of weapons from the armory. She would examine the gems later and figure out what they did.
They were still looking at the weapons when Tyla, Raenihel, and a few others came in to move the new spell books to the library where there was more room to study them. Everyone but Raenihel left with the books.
“What an eventful day!” Raenihel said, sitting down beside Franklin.
“I’m still getting over my embarrassment,” Lana said, smiling sheepishly. The last time she had needed to be rescued, she had been in the dungeon. Raenihel had climbed through an air passageway with the rat-boys, but ultimately the escape plan had been her own.
“No need to be embarrassed,” Raenihel said kindly. “One must take risks to make discoveries.”
“That’s what I told myself,” Lana said, “but after getting trapped in the armory, I’m not so sure that’s a wise philosophy.”
“Folks say it’s best to get back on the horse right after you fall,” Franklin said. “Things will go better for you next time . . . you’ll see.”
“And now, after this weekend, you have a team to save me if they don’t.”
“All joking aside, it was quite an accomplishment to get into the armory,” Franklin said, then he asked Raenihel, “Are you going to tell S?”
Raenihel chuckled. “Imagine how angry she’d be to hear Lana got through the wards.”
“How is S doing these days?” Lana asked. “Getting used to solitary confinement?”
“She was bored in the library, but at least she heard conversations and news. Now, she has no entertainment. Sometimes when I come to feed her, she’s muttering phrases over and over that sound like spells. Maybe she just likes to hear herself talk, but more likely it’s her way of remembering them.”
“She won’t be needing spells,” Franklin said with a chuckle. “Not with a life sentence as a beetle and no hope of rescue. Only a gnome could get her out of that tree, and they wouldn’t want to.”
“Even the breghlin have turned against her,” Lana said. “Some say she got off easy. She’s a beetle, but at least she’s alive.”
Raenihel frowned. “I’ve spent a few sleepless nights reflecting on the uncomfortable fact that despite what we’ve always believed, S isn’t the last of her kind.”
“But according to the books, woodspirits are peaceful,” Franklin reminded him. “If they knew how we punished S, they’d probably thank us. Turning her into a beetle was fitting justice.”
Lana said, “Their idea of justice might differ from ours, so it’s just as well they had no say in the matter.”
“They might in the future, if we restore the Amulet barrier,” Raenihel pointed out.
“You wouldn’t hand her over, would you?” Franklin asked. “I doubt they’d be foolish enough to free her or change her back to a woodspirit, but I certainly wouldn’t risk it.”
“She betrayed her own kind, not just gnomes. She won’t have many sympathizers even after generations,” Raenihel said, but he looked a bit worried.
A chill settled over Lana. Until now she had never given a passing thought to anyone restoring S to woodspirit form. “If I thought S would get another chance to repeat her crimes, I’d kill her myself,” she said, eyes flashing. “I’d squash her flat.”
“And start a conflict that could lead to another war,” Raenihel said. “Not an ideal beginning for our reunited world.”
Franklin rubbed his chin and frowned. “Better to claim she’s dead than let them extradite her.”
Lana shook her head. “Gnomes don’t lie, and besides, too many gnomes and breghlin know we’re holding her, and it’s bound to leak out.”
Raenihel threw up his hands. “This discussion is pointless. We may never reunite Ahmonell. If we do, it’s unlikely anyone would allow S to escape her punishment.”
After Franklin and Raenihel left, the conversation circled in Lana’s head and she had trouble concentrating on gems. Eventually, she identified a number of them, and they included ones for strength, courage, wisdom, foresight, and healing. She recorded her findings for Elias’s benefit. He would do a more thorough study when he returned.
By late afternoon, she was totally spent. She was about to see if someone could drive her to the portal when Tyla burst through the door.
“Lana! We found something important!”
Lana shot to her feet, her exhaustion forgotten. “What?”
“Runes about the Amulet and the gems that operate it. Come on! I’ll show you!”
Lana grabbed a notebook and pencil, and they started for the library.
Tyla said breathlessly, “We’ve never heard of most of the gems. We don’t know what they do.”
“Elias’s notebooks may have information.”
“I hope so,” Tyla said. “Basically, the Amulet is a ward powered by gems. It runs on its own—forever.”
“Forever,” Lana repeated skeptically.
“My ancestors chose gems to make the Amulet perform certain functions. Then, they created a spell so the Amulet would draw those gem powers from the ground. That’s how it can run forever.”
“Unless someone reverses the spell.�
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“That would be next to impossible. They set up protections so no one could do that, and it’s the most complicated spell ever devised. Gem masters worked on it for years.”
“So we have two options,” Lana said, as they went into the library. “We break the supposedly unbreakable spell, or we break through the barrier itself.”
“Yes, either way, it seems impossible.”
“On the bright side, we’ve already done the impossible,” Lana said. “We defeated S. Broke Jules’s wolfhound enchantment. Found staffs and shields hidden for centuries. Destroyed S’s monsters by burning her throne. And broke into the armory.”
Tyla was grinning now. “You’re right. All of those things seemed impossible.”
Gnomes were sitting around a table, talking animatedly. One of the spell books lay open in front of Arenia who was holding a cyanistone.
“You have to see this,” Arenia said, and the group stopped talking as she turned to a page of runes and offered Lana the blue translation gem. “Some translations are mostly mental concepts. This one is more visual than most.”
Lana closed her eyes, felt the gem turn warm, and opened her mind. An image formed—a group of gnomes, six males and three females sitting around a table made of polished gray stone. They wore their hair in more elaborate styles than gnomes did today. The females’ hair was long, with multiple braided sections arranged in intricate designs. The males wore theirs shoulder-length and had short, neatly trimmed beards. From what Lana could see of their clothing, everyone wore robes of lustrous material that reminded her of silk.
One of the males, a young fellow with light brown hair, was studying a parchment with the heading: Amulet Gems. A list of gem names followed. Most weren’t familiar, but she recognized two, since she had just read about them in Elias’s notes. Gem images flashed through her mind. Then her point of view shifted. An elderly gnome with white hair and watery blue eyes began speaking about the Amulet spell and its safeguards, but the others kept interrupting him, and the discussion became heated. One of the younger males got up and left. A few minutes later, the meeting ended and the entire group rose. They hadn’t finalized the spell, but they were making progress, and Lana was happy to have the list of gems.
She opened her eyes and Arenia said, “We’ve written down all the gem names. Have you heard of any of them?”
“Only two and it makes sense they were included. One is an insight gem; the other an anti-deception gem. Those are logical choices for the Amulet since they’d be able to tell whether you’re a native or an outsider, and if you hid your identity by assuming a different form, they’d detect the deception.”
The gnomes murmured approvingly among themselves.
“I can’t imagine knowing enough about gems to create something as complicated as the Amulet,” Tyla said, shaking her head.
Arenia nodded. “Or devising a spell to make it work forever.”
“They used gems to distinguish between locals and outsiders, gems to produce the repelling force, and gems that could basically vaporize people or objects that weren’t allowed through,” Lana said. “Whoever created the Fair Lands Amulet came up with a similar system, and it’s remarkably effective. After Elias used Dark gems and changed noticeably, it viewed him as an outsider and wouldn’t let him go home.”
“Your Amulet may be more advance than ours,” Tyla said. “It’s interesting that it detected his deformities.”
“Maybe even read his character,” Lana said as she stood. “I wish I could stay and look through the spell books, but I have to get home. If you find anything else important, tell Franklin.”
“We will,” Tyla promised as she walked Lana to the door. “Is Franklin driving you back to the portal?”
Lana laughed. “I hope not. He’s as tired as I am. I want a driver who wasn’t up all night finding a way to rescue me.”
Chapter 14
Jules knew the team was nearing the barrier when a strange pressure began to bear down on him. It grew stronger the deeper they drove into Fogland. The fog was gone now, of course, revealing a barren landscape of stony hills punctuated with scraggly trees and thorny scrub brush. The inhospitable land had a forlorn appearance.
After a few more miles, the scouts reined their erum to a halt and dismounted.
The team stopped. Ben climbed down from his cart and went to speak to them, and Jules and Elias followed.
“We stop here. The pushing get worse,” NE3 said, scowling at the land ahead. “Want us to wait for you?”
Ben glanced at Elias, turning the decision over to him.
“We hadn’t expected you to wait, but we’d be grateful if you did.”
“Have you ever gone farther than this?” Jules asked.
“Yes,” one of the scouts said. “That hill with three trees on top.”
“The push be very strong so we turn back,” NE3 said.
“We may not return until this time tomorrow,” Elias advised.
“We wait,” NE3 assured him.
A tense silence followed as Elias stood regarding the land. “If we don’t return by midday tomorrow it means something is wrong. I don’t expect you to look for us, but perhaps you could send a messenger to Shadowglade.”
NE3 said, “I ride there myself. Good luck.” He turned to Ben. “Be safe.”
Ben went back to the supply cart, and Elias and Jules returned to the passenger cart and shared the scouts’ comments with Parcune and Kaff.
“That hill in the distance with the dead trees on top is the farthest any of the scouts have been, and the repelling force is very strong there. They’ll wait for us here,” Elias said.
“No use putting them in danger too,” Parcune said, looking at the hill.
“Since when are you worried about breghlin?” Kaff sneered.
“Hush,” Elias hissed. The scouts had led their erum to a nearby tree, one of the few in the immediate area. “They were kind enough to bring us here, and if something goes wrong and we don’t return, they’ve agreed to take a message to Shadowglade.”
Kaff gave him a blank look. “Go wrong? You said we probably wouldn’t breach the barrier, but the worst that can happens is, um . . . nothing, right?”
Elias said sternly, “The Amulet was sealed shut by an energy blast. It may have been altered in other ways.”
“It may defend the barrier more aggressively now, and from farther away,” Jules said. “We discussed this before we left. Remember?”
“I guess so,” Kaff mumbled. He looked away, unaccountably interested in what the scouts were doing.
Jules glanced at Elias who shrugged, apparently resigned to the fact that Kaff only heard things related to adventure and glory.
Parcune said, “Don’t worry, Kaff. If there’s enough of you left to bury, we’ll lay you out in your green robe and give you a gem master’s funeral.”
As they drove to the hill, Jules got a better look at the dead trees. Their trunks leaned backward as if bent by strong winds, and their leafless branches looked like flailing arms trying to grasp something beyond reach.
Parcune stopped the cart near the trees, and Ben pulled up alongside him. Both maraku stamped their feet and bellowed in fright. Jules couldn’t blame them. The repelling force was strong here. The air felt charged with energy and bore an inexplicable acrid tang. The leaning trees looked spooky.
Parcune and the breghlin tended to the maraku, and Jules and Elias set out to see the land beyond the trees.
Walking took a great deal of effort. The repelling force felt like a strong wind trying to press them backward, and Jules was tired before they had gone very far.
“We’re missing young Kaff,” Elias observed drily, glancing behind them. “I suppose he wants to see if we disintegrate before venturing out.”
Jules laughed. It was probably true. Kaff had been taking an unnecessary last-minute inventory of his gems when Elias and Jules had left the cart.
They paused to rest. The land sloped away for two
or three miles, completely devoid of greenery. Then, as if someone had drawn a line, the land became grassy, and Jules saw a huge statue on a massive base surrounded by hedges. A few miles beyond, he saw a forest.
“A memorial?” Elias asked reverently.
“That’s my guess. It looks like a gnome, but I can’t make out any details.”
“I suspect it’s on the other side of the barrier.”
“I think so, too. It’s on healthy land outside the Amulet, and someone must come to tend the hedges.”
“A statue!” cried a voice behind them, making Jules and Elias jump.
They turned to find Kaff staring in wonder.
“There you are at last,” Elias said rather peevishly. “I have a job for you.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Gather stones.”
Kaff’s face fell. “What? You’re kidding. What kind of job is that?”
“A very important one, as you will see if you do as I ask.”
Muttering under his breath, Kaff began picking up stones, holding his robe in such a way that it formed a carrying pouch.
Elias called, “That will do. We only need a few.”
Kaff returned, looking put-upon. “Now what?”
Elias took one of the smaller stones and hurled it toward the boundary. Jules was surprised it didn’t go very far.
“Your turn, Jules. You’re stronger than I am.”
Jules chose a fist-sized stone and threw it as hard as he could. It traveled farther than Elias’s, but not by much. He dusted off his hands. “Well, we learned two things from that test, didn’t we?” He looked at Kaff.
Having no idea what his response should be, Kaff waited for Elias to answer.
Elias said, “Yes, now we know the strength of the repelling force, and since the stones didn’t disintegrate, it’s safe to walk as far as they traveled.”
Jules and Elias started down the hill, and Kaff trailed after them with the stones.
The farther they went the more effort it took. Jules found himself leaning forward to compensate for the force pushing him back. He stopped a moment, breathing heavily, and looked back. Ben, Tina Ann, and Parcune stood at the top of the hill, watching them.
