by D P Rowell
“Hey! Please don’t! I—I need that!”
They opened the backpack, throwing his belongings from it frantically. He violently fought to shake himself free of the tree bonds to no avail.
The stone! They’re looking for the Emerson Stone! They know I have it somehow. They must know I have it.
The branches tightened around his wrists and ankles until he, and all the tree goblins surrounding him, froze. For one of them had found the chest he hoped they wouldn’t. The goblin with the chest walked slowly to him, displaying it in his hand.
“What? That’s mine!” Ace said. The tree goblin pointed to the lock, and the others searched the backpack for the key. “The key isn’t in there,” Ace said. The goblin with the chest turned to him, steaming with anger. He pointed to the lock again and grunted.
“You want me to unlock it?”
The goblin pointed and grunted again.
“Then let me go!”
The goblin held the chest under his arm and signaled with his right hand. The bonds on Ace’s wrists were freed from the tree, but not from his wrists. The goblins pulled them tight together, so his wrists were now bound together. The crowd of goblins closed in on him. They picked him up and carried him like a herd of ants might carry a leaf.
“Stop! Where are you taking me?” The only response he received was the roaring march of the goblins beneath. The tree people carried the boy through the underground. The path took them from hills and valleys and over rickety bridges connected between the trees, to different heights of their village. Past all the tree huts up high and down low, until at once, they brought him down one more bridge to where a cluster of huts formed a crescent shape, with one particularly large hut in the middle. Once they arrived, they threw the boy down to the ground of tree branches and leaves. They backed away, leaving him a lone human surrounded by tree people.
One goblin stepped out of the large hut in the middle. The tallest of them all by far, reaching almost the same height as Ace. His hair grew in blades of grass, waving past his shoulders. In his right hand he held a long wooden staff, and a cape of rich green trailed behind him. At his approach, the tree people went silent. The caped goblin stepped close and glared at Ace with eyes of power and wonder.
“Unbelievable,” the goblin whispered. His voice sounded like a calm tide gently scraping a sandy shore.
“Excuse me, Mr.—uh—Tree—sir?” Ace said, “I don’t want any trouble. I promise I mean no harm to you or your village friends here.”
The caped goblin laughed a gentle laugh and stood tall. “Ishvi!” he said.
The goblin with the chest under his arm came to the caped leader. “Yes, Great King?”
Oh, great, now he speaks in common tongue.
“This is the human you saw in Throon High? You’re sure of it?” the King said.
The smaller goblin nodded. “Yes, My Lord.” He handed the King the chest. The King took it and inspected it with curiosity. “And we found this in his belongings.” Ace tried to wrestle his wrists free, but it didn’t work. His nerves jittered. Whatever these goblin creatures were, they couldn’t be allowed to have the stone.
“Please!” Ace said, “I didn’t know I was upsetting anyone by entering Shywater. I was just looking for a friend! But if you let me go, I won’t return, I promise.”
“Ah, yes!” the King said, “the fae!” He waved his hand, and to Ace’s surprise, Kareena stepped out of one of the tree huts.
“Kareena!” Ace yelled. The fae looked at him with the same emotionless face as she came to his side.
“Hey,” she said. “So, when were you planning on telling me?”
Ace looked at her with shaky eyes. “What’re you talking about?”
Kareena looked at the Tree King. “King Vinan, can’t we release him from his bonds? I don’t think they’re necessary.”
“What’s in this chest, human?” The Tree King said. Dismissing Kareena’s request. He held the chest before the boy.
Ace looked at the King and shrugged. “It was a gift from my grandpa before he passed away.”
The King kneeled before him and placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Hiding things from me is useless here, Evelander.”
Ace sneered at the Tree King. “I don’t even know where here is! I don’t have any idea who you people are or what you want with me!”
The King set the chest down, stood, and folded his arms. “How is it an elyrian doesn’t know of the sixth realm?”
Ace, taken aback by this statement, tried to stand, but soon remembered his ankles were still bound. “S—sixth realm?” Ace looked at Kareena. “We’re in the sixth realm?”
She nodded.
“Wait. Hold on a minute,” Ace said. He turned to the Tree King, “an elyrian? You think I’m an elyrian?”
The goblin whom the King called Ishvi stepped forward and pointed at Ace. “I know you are! I saw you light that torch with my own two eyes!”
“What? I never lit anything!”
“He’s lying, My Lord!” The goblin said, turning to the King, “He’s found Throon High twice now! He speaks the language of The Light! His elyr flickered as would an elyrian’s who speaks lies! We ought to hang him before he becomes a sorcerer!”
“Enough!” The King’s roar made Rio’s look childish.
Ace stared blankly at the Tree King. Did he light the torch? Was he an elyrian somehow? But how could it be? He was a human! Weren’t only faes elyrians?
“Why were you looking for this fae?” The King said, pointing at Kareena.
Ace looked at her. “Because she showed me Shywater.” He looked back at the King. “She brought me there. When I saw Shywater in Gathara, I thought she had returned, and I needed her.”
“What would you need her for?” the King said.
Ace paused, unsure what he should tell an entire race of people he didn’t know. “I need her. . . abilities. My realm is in danger, and the elyr may be the only thing that can save us.”
“So, you do know of the elyr?”
“I know of it. But only because Kareena showed me. I’m not an elyrian!”
“My servant here seems to disagree. He says he saw you use The Light. Are you calling him a liar?”
Ace paused for a moment before he responded. “I—” he stammered, “I know the torch was lit. But I didn’t light it.”
“Then, who did?”
“I don’t know! I thought it was Kareena at first. I thought she had brought Shywater to me.”
The King used his staff to take a few steps toward the fae. “Why did you show this Evelander Shywater?”
Kareena lifted her head. “I had taken some time alone in the mountains to meditate on the Light when Shywater appeared to me. I went in, meditating further, when a word came to me. It wasn’t audible, but I could sense it.
“‘Bring here the one who follows you,’ the word came.
“I wasn’t sure what it meant until I’d finished and followed the path out of Shywater and it brought me to Gathara. Dressed in my silver robes, and having just come from Shywater, I was concerned the guards might catch me and suspect me of practicing the elyr and accuse me of sorcery. I was looking for a way out of the city and this boy here followed me. I knew, then, this is what the voice meant.”
“Look,” Ace said, his face long and wide with shock, “could somebody please tell me what’s going on?”
The Tree King stood again and leaned close to Ace. His large eyes struck the boy with an odd mix of fear and awe. “Tell me what’s in that chest, and I will give you all the answers you seek.”
Ace’s eyes widened. “What exactly do you mean by ‘answers I seek?’”
“I guess that depends on what’s in the chest, doesn’t it?” The Tree King said.
Ace looked around at the goblins, anticipating his response. As he looked back into the Tree King’s eyes he saw honesty. This king knew. He absolutely knew what was in the chest. Ace’s heart spoke to him. He looked at Kareena and knew th
is Tree King could be trusted. But even if he couldn’t, it seemed the boy had not much choice.
“A stone,” Ace said. The crowd of goblins gasped. Not a gasp of fright, but of joy. The air hummed with their murmurs and whispers, and the Tree King smiled. Kareena jerked her head to him. Her demeanor drifted slowly from emotionless to wonder.
“A stone?” The King said. “Be a little more specific, will you?”
Ace held his bound hands forward, as if to ask to be freed. “How about I show you?” The King grinned, and with a wave of his hand, the branches loosened from his ankles and wrists and fell. The boy reached in his right pocket, where he’d kept the watch. He grabbed the chest. The boy turned the watch and placed his thumb on its glass face. The lights flickered, the tumbler thunked open, and the door swung free.
Ace’s heart grew full. The stone being even more beautiful than he remembered. Viewing its beauty did stir sadness in the boy, for it reminded him of the first time he’d seen it, when Grandpa had shown it to him. He reached in the chest and pulled out the stone. Beams of radiant violet, red, and white burst from inside the stone and flooded the whole Tree World.
“The Emerson Stone,” Ace said. The Tree King’s eyes were even wider than Ace thought possible. The tree people stood speechless, as well as The King.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
King Vinan
The Tree King invited Ace and Kareena to sit with him and his servant, Ishvi. Inside the King’s hut, chairs interwoven from the branches surrounded a wooden table. Draped in a lime green robe and holding a tray of wooden cups, a tree goblin entered from a separate room. He set one cup before each member at the round table. The small table had Ace pinching his elbows to his ribs to avoid being in Kareena’s way, who sat just beside him. The King sat before him, and Ishvi sat to the King’s left. The cups were tiny and filled with a dark liquid. Ace wasn’t sure what drinks from a different realm tasted like, but his mind was too focused on other things to try it. One thought had bothered him since he’d been free: What if Rio had noticed he was gone at this point? How would he explain this to the drake? He needed to find a way to get back to Yutara.
“Thank you, Shem,” the Tree King said as the servant left. He turned to the others at the table, a welcoming grin on his face. “Shem is the finest brewer in the Tree Kingdom.”
Ace smiled nervously. “Great. Look, I don’t mean to be rude, and I have so many questions for you, but I’m afraid I should be getting back to my realm. People will wonder about me.”
The King smiled, and his tree bark skin crackled. “Don’t you worry about the time. Elyrians who enter the Tree Kingdom from another realm may return to whichever realm they came, at the very moment they left.”
Ace smirked. “You’re saying I could stay here for years, and when I came back it would be as if I never left?”
The King tipped his head. “Precisely. You don’t know much about that stone you possess, do you?”
Ace shook his head. “I know it’s been a great help to me. That’s about it.”
Kareena turned to Ace with frustrated eyes. “Where did you find it? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you had the Emerson Stone.”
“My Grandpa gave it to me and he told me to keep it secret. He said the more people that knew I had it, the more dangerous it was for me. Why does it matter to you?”
The fae went to respond, but King Vinan spoke first. “Your grandpa was wise. That stone has been sought by the council for ages. Its existence has only been known in myth and legend since its first possessor.” He sipped from his wooden cup.
“You know about the council?” Ace said.
Ishvi and The King laughed. “Of course! Why do you think we live underground?”
“But you all have crazy powers! Why don’t you fight them?” Ace said.
All joy drained from the King’s face. “We are dangerously outnumbered, and the council have become far too powerful for us now, human. Lucky for us, our existence has become all but forgotten in Yutara. I’m not so sure the council even remembers us, otherwise they might try to come here and wipe us out.”
Ace wanted to stand, but he was afraid his head might hit the roof of The King’s hut. “But you can’t just sit by! Yutara is about to lose the only safe city it has left. Once it’s gone, the council will have all of Yutara under its control!” No one responded for a moment, but instead looked at him as if he were crazy.
“Ace,” Kareena said, “what safe city are you talking about?”
“Gathara, of course!”
The King hunched over the table, fingers interlocked. “What makes you think that city is safe?”
“They’re the only one that’s fighting the council,” Ace said.
“No, no,” the King said, waving his hand and shaking his head, “They’re the only ones who are pretending to fight the council. Gathara will be crawling with witches before long. It’s only a matter of time.”
“What are you talking about?” Ace said.
Kareena nudged him gently with the touch of her hand. He looked at her and she said, “The council has deceived the city into believing the Indies are working against the council. But it’s a fabricated war. Some think they’re doing good, but they’ve outlawed the only true power against the council.”
“Yeah, but that’s why I was looking for you in Shywater. If we can use the elyr to discover who the mole is, we can stop him and save Gathara.”
Kareena spoke again, “Gathara was lost when they made the elyr criminal. It’s a steady progression in the council’s favor. The same way they’ve taken every city in Yutara.”
“Well, what would any of you know about it?” Ace said, “You’ve been living underground!”
“We’ve been forced underground!” The King said. “We were once a part of Yutara, Evelander. We are no longer welcome there.”
“What do you mean, you’re not welcome?”
“How does the stone’s keeper know such little of Yutara’s past?” King Vinan asked, his gaze on Kareena. The fae shrugged.
“Ace, do you know how your grandfather found that stone?” Kareena asked.
He shook his head. “No. In fact, until a month or so ago, I didn’t even know he had it. He just gave it to me and said that one day I will abolish the seventh realm with a greater . . . power” Before he’d finished his sentence, it dawned on him what Grandpa had actually meant. Greater power? He must have been talking about the elyr! Ace was an elyrian! But . . . how could it be? Everyone’s eyes widened, and Kareena gasped faintly. The King rose from his chair. Ishvi followed.
“I knew it!” King Vinan said with a smile. “I knew it the moment I saw you and Ishvi said you were an elyrian!”
“Oh, what a wonderful day this is!” Ishvi said, leaping with the King.
The Tree King leaned close to Ace. “What’s wrong with you, boy? Don’t you know how great this news is?”
“King Vinan,” Kareena said, “he doesn’t know of the seventh realm. He doesn’t seem to know much of anything about this.”
The King calmly took his seat. Ishvi followed once again. “Do you know why your grandfather told you that you will abolish the seventh realm?”
Ace shrugged. “No. I’ve already told you everything I know. He said the map is ‘within me,’ or something like that. He said once I heard the map, I might not even realize it, but then the stone would be mine. I think the map was in some poem in a story he told me. But I can’t for the life of me remember it.” He rubbed his forehead as if it might somehow jog his memory.
The King and the fae looked at one another with wide smiles, then the King looked back at Ace. “Then, I shall educate you,” Vinan said. “If it’s true, what you say about your task to fight the seventh realm, then there is much you need to know.”
Ishvi sighed and leaned back in his chair, sipping his beverage, “You might want to get comfortable, Evelander. This will take some time.”
The King dismissed his servant’s remark and began h
is story. He squinted and leaned his head in. He spoke with words like a sharp whisper, able to penetrate the dullest moment with grandeur. “From six realms Yutara as we know it was formed. First, three realms of the spiritual, then three realms of the physical. The three physical are those of humans, from Earth; drakes, from Grol; and jags, from Morlog. The spiritual are those of faes, from Breen; Inglings,” Vinan pointed to himself with his thumb, “from the Tree Kingdom; and then there’s The Realm Unknown. It is said that The Realm Unknown is what began the first realms. Something of a stirring of spiritual forces caused them into being. But in this stirring was a tension of which no one was prepared. Good and evil, light and dark,” the King shot a sly glance at the boy, “Magic and the elyr . . .”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Purpose
By now, Ace had forgotten any of his worries. They had been consumed by Vinan’s story.
King Vinan continued, “Within the Realm Unknown the war on evil was waged. And for ages beyond our understanding, the Light overcame the dark. With each battle won, a realm sprung forth. The first was Breen. The second was the Tree Kingdom.”
“And for ages to come, the three realms existed together in peace. Faes had been woken, and the Light was powerful within them, so they understood how to make use of it. From the elyr they formed their world. It was soon thereafter; the Light guided the faes into the life of their world: The trees. And by the Light they found the path to the Tree Realm. It was here they felt a source of life so powerful, they knew it must be woken. And so, they came together, and spoke to the Light, asking it to wake the life here. And so, it was, the Inglings had woken. Together, they increased in number; growing the Light to a power beyond what the darkness could bear. The more elyrians, the weaker the darkness.
“Faes and Inglings traveled through the trees between realms, guided by The Light; until one day, a realm was discovered that had not been before. Through one of the trees, an ingling stumbled from the spiritual, to the physical. He gathered his fellow elyrians and brought them to this new realm. Life was felt like had not been before. A different type of life. Of course, the faes and inglings had known only the spiritual, and had not realized what the physical was. But it was so, they came into the realm of Morlog, and saw the jags living with no knowledge of the elyr.
