by D P Rowell
“Let’s go! C’mon!” Ace said. They darted to their mounts, and the specks of light zipped faster.
“We have to find Rio!” Cameron said. Ace and Cameron climbed on their mounts, and the Peppercorns on theirs. Luckily Ace didn’t need to worry about The Peppercorns’ riding abilities. They took off past the Halders before Cameron could get his first kick in on the wolf’s ribs. In seconds, they bolted down the path. Ace looked behind, quickly wishing he hadn’t. The bright lights flooded the path behind them by the thousands, illuminating the rainforest, and they were catching up. Too bad they didn’t have magic wolves. Ace pulled free his hand blaster, doing the only thing he could think of. He fired a few shots, and the magic lights scattered for a second, but returned to formation and zoomed even faster along the path
“Can’t this thing go any faster?” Ace said.
“I’m trying!” Cameron said as he kicked the wolf repeatedly.
Ace panted and fired at will. It was no use, the lights swarmed them. Two of them grabbed Cameron and yanked him from the wolf mount to the ground. It knocked Ace off and he tumbled along the path in a cloud of dirt. Pain jabbed at his body. He gathered himself and jumped to his feet, ignoring the aches he felt everywhere. The lights pinned his brother to a tree, and a witch came forth from the forest shadows. Then another. They manipulated the balls of light with their hands. The other lights surrounded Ace but didn’t attack him. They went straight for the Peppercorns, who had stopped ahead to make sure Cameron was alright.
“Just go! I’ll help Cameron!” Ace said. But the lights got them. Julie and Tamara were yanked from the wolf and drug violently along the road. The lights pulled them to their feet and pinned them against the tree next to Cameron. Their bodies were frozen under some magic spell.
Five or more witches emerged from the shadows. Moments ago no one had stood there, but the witches just appeared from nothing where the shadows were strongest. They stepped from the darkness and surrounded them in a circle. The boy smelled something burning as he watched black smoke wisp through the air. What was he to do now? One blaster wouldn’t save them all. He looked around, but no ideas came to mind. There was no hope. They were surrounded. The witches were a mix of drakes, jags, and Evelanders, all seeping black smoke.
“Thiss?” A witch said. Ace couldn’t tell which one, because none of their mouths were moving. Only voices echoing in a slithery ambience.
“Thiss is the one who captured our witch?” Another said.
“No matter. Prodigy or not, he will learn his lessson tonight. To defy the council, is to bring death and destruction.” Another said.
“His friends,” Another said, “Strike them down.”
“No!” Ace said. He fired his AMHB at one of the witches. It caught one of them and wrapped it in the cocoon of orange light. But another thing happened he did not expect. More tiny suns rained from the sky and caught two or three more of the witches. The rest of the witches scattered about the rainforest, screeching and shrieking. The balls of white light holding Cameron and the Peppercorns disappeared, and they fell limp to the ground, choking and catching their breath. What was going on? He turned around.
“Rio!” He said as a smile stretched across his face. The drake ran after them, the chrome hunter’s rifle in his hand. But he wasn’t alone. A water drake to his left, a jag to his right, all with hunter’s rifles. An X shape vest wrapped around their torsos with pouches holding weapons and orange ammo.
“Let’s go, we don’t have much time,” Rio said. Ace nodded. The jag and water drake grabbed Tamara and Cameron, and Ace grabbed Julie. It was then he realized they had all been unconscious. No time to wake them, as Rio had already begun marching along the path, both hands holding his rifle forward. The other two hung their large rifles on their backs, holding an AMHB in the hand not being used to hold the children over their shoulders.
They trotted along the path. Not too fast. Not too slow. Rio told them running had no benefit, being impossible to outrun a witch’s magic, even on a mount. Instead, a confident walk with their weapons forward let the witches know they meant business. Ace combed the forest with his eyes, twitching at every slight movement, expecting the worst.
“Don’t look for them,” Rio whispered. “Looking for them shows weakness and fear. And trust me, you will find exactly what you look for. Keep your eyes ahead and focus on getting to your destination.”
Ace nodded, although being painfully aware his confidence lacked. He found himself jerking his head back to the road constantly. Every time he heard a noise he would flinch and point his blaster. The water drake or jag would slap his arm.
Eyes ahead. Eyes ahead.
Flickers of white lights surrounded either side of the forest again, following them as they marched along. Ace’s heartbeat quickened. Everyone else kept their eyes forward and didn’t react, so he bit his frightened tongue and mimicked them. His palms shook at the itch to pull the trigger. But he couldn’t give into fear. He couldn’t panic.
Rio gave a hand signal behind his back, the jag and water drake nodded. Quietly, they pulled some orange ball from their pouches, and dropped them on each side of the forest. The white lights scattered away with the sound of several shrieks, and seconds later, the balls exploded into a bright orange powder.
Although shaking on the inside, Ace did as instructed, keeping his eyes ahead and ignoring the explosions and white lights following them. But they weren’t following them anymore. From the corners of his eyes the forest showed only darkness.
* * *
The hike finished without another disturbance from a witch. Whatever Rio and the others did scared them off for good. Rio took them to a place on the beach where Myrka was long ended; a wide-open beach with nothing around but the sound of crashing waves. The moonlight glistened over a ship of finished metal parked on the bare sand, away from the tide. The ship shone like it might under a spotlight as the clouds brushed under the moon.
The cockpit arched over in smooth glass, and the entire body of the ship looked more like a jet than anything else. Only a wider body and no wings. It was a standard hovercraft, meaning it hovered above the surface of the water. It didn’t fly. The glass covering the cockpit opened. Rio and Ace sat Cameron and the Peppercorns inside and buckled them in. He grew worried. For Julie, Tamara, and Cameron remained unconscious. How powerful was a witch’s magic? And what had they done to his family?
“I can’t thank you enough for this, Hurug. I will return your hovercraft as soon as I can,” Rio said.
“Anything for a fellow Indie,” the jag responded.
“Get that boy trained,” the water drake said. “Tonight, he passed a great test. I’m certain he will prove to be a great leader, and a powerful hunter.”
Rio nodded. “Thank you, Omnali. See you soon.”
Ace climbed in and buckled himself in the co-pilot’s seat, and Rio climbed in the pilot’s seat. The glass cover lowered till it sealed shut. The engine roared, its pitch climbing high and heavy. The surrounding ocean water seemed a blur as the hovercraft zipped away. The boy took a deep breath. He glanced behind at his family. Though they hand not woken, their faces seemed peaceful. His heart finally began to slow down. They were safe now and making their way to Gathara, Heorg. Jag country.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The Council of Warlocks
Ace fixed his eyes on the endless ocean outside the hovercraft. Surrounded by nothing but the open sea again, he sighed. It reminded him of Grandpa and Grandma and their vacations. What would happen to Grandpa’s beloved pirate ship now? What had Grandpa whispered in Damion’s ear? Did the witches get him? He didn’t want to think about it. He laid back in his seat and let his thoughts drift elsewhere.
The clouds cleared as he looked through the glass roof of the cockpit. Stars dotted the sky by the billions. They clustered together in an explosion of lime green, violet, blue, and yellow. Swirling, colliding, and illuminating the dark blanket over the sky.
“Nothin
g compares to the beauty of the open sea under a cloudless night,” Rio said.
“I’ll say,” Ace whispered, head tilted, and eyes fixed above. He glanced behind at his family again to find them still asleep.
“Don’t worry,” Rio said, “the witches just snatched their memory from them. They will wake by sunrise.”
Ace’s head jerked to Rio. “What? How much of their memory?”
“Just the past few hours. When we arrived and fired our weapons, the witches casted a spell on your family out of panic. Their magic was neutralized before the curse could have spread beyond memory loss. But, whenever a spell is cast, with some exceptions, memory is the first to go. It might be the only thing working to our advantage right now. Keeping the witches a secret from your family is important to our survival. It’s imperative we don’t tell them what happened when they wake. Good thing for us witches want to be forgotten.”
Ace tilted his head, “Why is that? I was—" Ace shivered as he finished his thought, “terrified when I had to face them. Don’t they want that?”
The autopilot button glowed blue as Rio pushed it with his first finger. His seat rotated to face Ace. “Fear is only used after a witch has been caught and her disguise breaks free. Once they reveal themselves, they rely on fear and magic to control the situation.”
“About that. What’s with the weird little light balls that dragged Julie through the forest? In stories, witches turned kids to pigs and chickens and things like that.”
“Those are stories, kid.” The drake said with a hint of anger in his tone. He took a breath and calmed himself before he spoke again. “All witches don’t have the same magic. I’m not exactly sure how all of it works, but some use their magic in different ways. There’ve been rumors of witches making water and trees and the wind obey their spells. I’ve never seen it though.”
“Well, that sounds pretty intimidating. Why not use that? Seems like they could gain an awful lot of control with fear and magic.”
Rio shook his head. “Deception.”
Ace tilted his head with question.
“A witch’s most powerful tool isn’t magic, it’s deception,” Rio continued. “Witches and parcels have manipulated their way into power in Yutara for the past few millennia. And they’ve been doing it right under our noses.” The wind howled as it grazed the slick surface of the hovercraft, and a familiar chill crawled up Ace’s spine.
“Right. Parcel . . . What’s that?”
“Parcels are male witches.”
“If parcels are male witches, what does that make a warlock?”
The drake’s face turned cold and dark. “What do you know about warlocks?”
Ace shrugged. “Just stories.”
“Warlocks are who witches and parcels report to. They started out as parcels and worked their way into becoming the most powerful sorcerers. They’re so skilled with deception, one has never been seen before. We only know about them because witches speak of them often. They call them the council of warlocks.” Rio leaned close and his voice darkened, “Witches say they have magic powerful enough to call fire, bring down buildings, and even cause earthquakes and storms. They say they can’t be found or seen because they work in the shadows.”
Ace’s skin crawled. He shuddered and said, “So, you’ve never caught a warlock?”
The drake shook his head. “Never even seen one.”
“What about a parcel?”
“I never have. Most hunters haven’t, but it’s happened only a few times before. Parcels are more difficult to catch than a witch. Most of the time it’s just a witch controlling someone else’s body, tricking a hunter into thinking they have the parcel, so the real parcel can get away.”
Ace nodded timidly. He folded his arms and his brow wrinkled as a million thoughts buzzed in his head like a furious bee. “A witch captured Julie before you and your friends arrived. She told me I should give up and walk away, and if I ‘defy the council,’ they will never stop hunting me. Is that what she was talking about? Are there warlocks after me?”
Rio’s webbed ears pinned back. He rattled his tongue a few times and leaned close, elbow on his knee, chin in his hand. “I doubt a warlock is after you.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because, kid, they don’t want to be seen. Parcels take witches as their slaves and have them do their dirty work. By the time they’re warlocks, all witches and parcels work for them. They stay in the shadows and rule by the hands of their slaves.”
Ace’s ears perked. Hearing Rio speak of shadows reminded him of a line in Grandpa’s story. The inscription above the Emerson Stone when Oliver found it.
Eldest will the keeper be
‘Till shadow clouds all truth
Did the stone have something to do with finding this council? He couldn’t remember the rest of it. How important was the story Grandpa told him before he disappeared? His brain racked his skull as he recalled bits and pieces of the story. He had to remember the poem. He had to remember the story somehow!
He faced Rio. “But don’t the Indies want to destroy the council then? If so, then, eventually we will have to find these warlocks and destroy them, right?”
Rio nodded. “Well, that would be great. But it’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Nobody knows where or how in Eathelyn Summers you find them, kid. It’s hopeless. They’re far too powerful. The Indies exist to protect the peoples of Yutara from the evils of the council. But destroying it will never happen,” Rio said sharply. Ace sat back in his chair, not wanting to hear the drake any further. He was dissatisfied with his response. Grandpa wouldn’t have settled. If there were such a council, Grandpa would want it gone. It must have had something to do with the stone. Did destroying the seventh realm mean destroying the council? He needed time alone to sit down, consider the story, and look for the clues he needed to accomplish the task given to him by Grandpa Marty.
After the questions bothered him long enough, he couldn’t resist the urge to speak again. “One more question,” The drake nodded and rattled his tongue. “Why did the witches attack my family, but not me? Why didn’t the witch just curse me and force me to give up? Instead she held Julie hostage and threatened me.” Of course, he knew the Emerson Stone kept him protected. He just wanted to make sure Rio didn’t know.
The drake sighed. “Don’t know. I was as shocked as you when I arrived, but the witches hadn’t done anything to you. It does bring some things to light though.”
“Like what?” Ace leaned closer in.
“Why your grandfather chose you. He had that same gift with witches.”
“What do you mean?”
“Marty, your grandfather. Witches never tried to cast spells on him. He had the most unique ability to pick out a witch and capture them without the slightest chance of one resorting to magic. He faced countless of them, but they never so much as tried to curse or harm him.”
Ace’s eyes widened, his mouth agape. Eldest will the keeper be . . .
The stone protected him from the witches’ power. But only the descendants of the keeper. The one who possessed the stone. It all came together. When Grandpa gave the stone away, he gave away his protection. But not just his protection. All his children and grandchildren. Cameron, Julie, Tamara, and all their parents. Of all the Halders left in the world, to Ace belonged the only protection from the evil after them. Which begged a deeper, more pressing question. One he feared he’d never find an answer for: Why did Grandpa choose him? Had he chosen his father, Colton Halder, all Grandpa’s descendants would still be protected!
“I im—” Ace stuttered, “I imagine this means the witches wanted my grandfather dead.”
Rio nodded. “Yes. Your grandfather founded the Indies. His extraordinary abilities began to expose the deception of witches in countries across Yutara. Many civilians were persuaded by Grandpa, and eventually joined him. Witch after witch, your grandfather was a machine. He started a revolution. They became infuri
ated, not understanding why your grandfather was immune to their magic. They have wanted nothing more than to see him gone.”
Ace’s heart fell. The peaceful feeling of being safe fled once again. “And n—now that Grandpa is gone?”
Rio lifted his head, staring the boy directly in the eye. “I don’t know. Honestly, when I first received the letter, I wasn’t sure what to think. I still don’t, actually.” Rio scratched his head, sighed, and leaned back in his chair. “Many Yutarians thought your grandfather would discover this council the witches and parcels speak of. They thought he would bring an end to the evils that have taken hold of Yutara for so long. Now that he’s gone, we realize that was a foolish dream. The council’s hold is simply too strong in Yutara. Our only hope now is to fend off as many witches as we can and keep the Indies movement alive. But without Marty . . .” Rio paused and gave Ace a look of uncertainty. Ace returned the same look. Rio sighed, and he whispered hoarsely. “let’s just hope you have what it takes to be the next Marty Halder.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Marg
The sun poked its head above the horizon, glimmering across the surface of the purple ocean. Ace spent most of the night trying to remember the rest of the poem in the story with no luck, but eventually drifted into sleep. He woke to the sound of Rio’s snoring bouncing off the metal walls of the ship. What about his brother and cousins? He looked back to them again. Still asleep. How much would they forget when they woke? Would Cameron still want to train as a witch hunter? A faint beep came from the cockpit interface. He sat straight. A square button flashed with a yellow light behind words reading “Land.”
Rio snarled as he woke. The sound of a male voice came robotically from a speaker on the dash of the cockpit.
Approaching Southeast Beach, Heorg. Approaching Southeast Beach, Heorg
