Solana strode forward, all dark and smooth. Her irresistible charm deeply disturbed Van. She wasn’t fooled by the girl’s beauty; Solana reeked of danger.
As if sensing Van’s scrutiny, Solana stopped, turning her sharp, sun-gold gaze in Van’s direction.
Van gasped, feeling like a field mouse caught by a feral cat. She shifted her body behind the man in front of her, to block Solana’s line of sight.
“The Sanctus Novus tells us creatures of evil will rise from the mud!” Solana bellowed. “Seeking to swallow the sun, to consume all Light!” She dramatically subdued her voice. “Until nothing remains . . . but Darkness.”
She paused with her head down, as if allowing the audience time to fully appreciate her words.
The audience mumbled.
Solana looked up solemnly. “Sadly, I must concede that evil now infects our peaceful world. Solmor, the time of Darkness prophesied in our revered Sanctus Novus, has fallen upon us.” Solana theatrically paused again, then said, “Evidence of this is clearly demonstrated by the murder of my beloved brother, Prince Devon, by demons.”
Solana’s tone grew strong and confident. “Death of a royal twin is a bad omen! It signals the start of great troubled times ahead. Terrigen-created demons are destined to ascend from their world and conquer ours. It is the job of the Lodians’ Grigori to prevent this from happening. Yet the Grigori are no longer capable of protecting our world. They allowed demons here, bringing Solmor upon us!”
The crowd angrily muttered. One man cried out, “Justice!”
“I have been called here to deliver justice to this man.” She extended her arm toward the trembling man strapped to a post.
“I am innocent!” he cried.
Solana scowled at the man. “This man was caught in possession of Manik’s text!” she said. “He is the thief, the reason my brother was in the woods the night of the demon attack. He is responsible for killing my brother and my mother!”
Van felt confused. Solana had made some kind of mistake. Manik’s text was in her backpack. They should let the man go.
The crowd muttered in support and glared at the hapless man.
Solana seemed pleased and continued. “People! The Light of the Creator that is within our king, my father, is at risk from the dark forces harboring in our land. In the king’s name, I have the right to gather, confiscate, and destroy any weapons, lands, or traitors necessary. I will fight evil in order to protect our king’s position and to protect his subjects.”
The crowd cheered.
Solana breathed deeply through her nose, gaining energy from the riled crowd. “This man consorted with Darkness. It is the only way he could have survived the demon attack on my brother. And now he must pay!”
The crowd roared their approval.
A shriveled hand roughly grabbed Van’s arm. “This here’s no place for girls or children,” said a repulsive old man. “You best be collectin’ your friends and headin’ on outta here.”
“Hands off, pal.” Brux appeared, shoving the old man away from Van.
The old man held Brux in his stare. “There’s nothing here for marketier’s scouts, son. Best you be movin’ on.”
Brux scanned the crowd and stiffened, realizing what the old man had told him. He nodded his thanks and then grabbed Van’s arm. “Come on, let’s go. You, too, Paley.”
“Shouldn’t we get Jor—”
“No!” Brux snapped. “And stop wandering away!”
Van had no clue why Brux was in such a rush, until she took a closer look at the mob—made up only of men! She shuddered. “W-What’s going on? Where are all the women and children?”
“They’re in their houses,” Brux said, dragging Van. “We’re leaving town.”
Paley hung onto Van’s backpack, following them.
“We’ll rendezvous with Jorie and the rest of the team at the border of Agerorsa,” Brux said.
“How will they know where we are?” Van asked.
“Standard warrior protocol,” Brux said. After a heavy pause he said, “If they don’t meet up with us, I’ll head back and get them. I need to keep you safe.”
Paley tsked.
“Sorry. To keep you both safe,” Brux added.
“Since when is my safety your priority?” Van scoffed.
“It’s my job as your teammate,” Brux said. “I hope Daisy’s team does the same for her.”
“Halt!” A Balish solider had appeared from an alley between houses, blocking their path.
“Run for it!” shouted Paley, as she turned and bolted away.
Although Van had thought of simply talking to the solider, it was too late.
She and Brux dashed off.
Van heard a wobbly zwoop, and a nearby house exploded, blasting fragments close to her head. Bits of wood and dust covered her hair. The soldier had used a short rod with a wire pyramid on the tip to fire rays at them.
“Damn!” Brux cried, dodging blasts. “He’s using a DEW! Curse the Balish and their technology!”
“What’s a DEW?” Van asked, brushing debris from her hair.
“Directed-energy weapon,” he replied, leading them through alleyways back toward the outskirts. “They’re really expensive, not many around.”
“I think he means we’re screwed,” Paley said, trembling.
More soldiers joined in on the pursuit. They were closing in.
“This way,” Brux said.
The three rushed around a corner and came to a dead end.
“Dammit!” Brux pounded his fists against the shingles of the building blocking their path, as if he could knock it down by sheer will.
Van and Paley jiggled the handles on numerous doors in the alley. They were all locked.
“Paley’s right! We’re screwed!” Van cried.
Then one of the doors opened. Behind it stood Ares’s mother.
“Get inside, quickly.” She led them through the basement and down a bulkhead that opened into a secret underground passageway.
She introduced herself as Hertha, and the three thanked her profusely.
“You helped me, helped my family,” Hertha said. “I pay you back by helping you escape.”
“How did you get here?” Brux asked kindly. “We’re not quite in the outskirts where you live.”
“I am part of a secret group who resist Balish occupancy, Balish law,” Hertha said. “We use the underground tunnels to help protect ancient documents from the Balish. Others in our movement took your friends to the secret room in the town’s library.”
They passed through the tunnels, under the outskirts of Agerorsa, and exited the passageway into a wooded area on the edge of town.
“You be safe here,” Hertha said, turning to head back. “I see what I can do to help your friends.”
“Why would our friends need help?” Brux called after Hertha, as she disappeared back down into the tunnels.
Van changed the subject, in the hope that talking would calm her nerves. “I know Dishora from my childhood story book. But what was Solana talking about—the Sanctus Novus? Solmor?”
“The Sanctus Novus is the book of Balish beliefs.” Worried, Brux kept an eye on the dirt road for their teammates.
Paley let loose with a giddy laugh, full of nerves. “Sounds like a book that would make Jorie throw you up against a tree.”
“The Balish think humanity will cause the downfall of the Living World,” Brux said with a sneer. “Ridiculous.” He shook his head in disgust.
“Uh, isn’t that what we—um, Lodians believe?” Van asked, confused.
Brux shook his head. “The Victus Opuseulus tells of a time when the two principles of good and evil rise up and oppose each other. It’s a natural phenomenon where Darkness absorbs all Light, canceling itself and everything else out of existence, including the Light of the moon, which is a reflection of the Creator—a time when all is destroyed and then recreated. An event called Dishora.”
Brux nervously chattered on, which Van ass
umed was his way of staying calm. “This is nature’s way of testing our existence. There is a seven-year period called the Escalation before Dishora gets here. Seven years is the amount of time our Anchoress needs to build enough strength to defeat the Darkness created by nature, allowing us to rebuild a future that continues to be governed by the Light.”
“Who is the Creator?” Paley asked.
“The Creator of All Things,” Brux replied. “The Light of our world reflects the Creator’s presence. The Creator made the Elementals, and they are the highest reflection of Her Light.”
“That sounds like the same thing Solana was talking about,” Van said.
“No, no. Not at all,” Brux said. “Lodians believe there is a constant fight against the Darkness that seeks to consume the Light. That’s why we worship the moon, whose Light fights against the darkness of night, every night. If there is even one sparkle of Light left in the world, from it can come all good. Light can multiply from itself. Just as evil breeds evil, Light can breed Light.”
“I’m not sure I get the difference,” Paley said. “Then what do the Balish believe?”
“Ah, the Balish,” Brux said. “They believe that evil lies within humanity. Terrigens are a danger and so are the Lodians for protecting them. They know terrigens generate demons, and because of this, terrigens are demons. They don’t believe in the Escalation or Dishora. They think the Light of the Creator is reflected in the sun.” Brux stopped. He thought he heard something in the woods.
Convinced it was nothing, he continued. “The Balish believe the bloodline of the royal family carries a piece of the sun.” Brux gave a derisive snort. “That’s why the Moors and most Balish royals have gold eyes. It’s a piece of the sun or a reflection of the Light of the Creator in their blood. The Moors blather about the Lodians causing Solmor, another reason why they want to take us over. They’re afraid the terrigens put their kingdom at risk. That the terrigens will become one with demons, and both will find the portal, come here, murder the royal family, and take over the Balish Kingdom. They call this Solmor, a time when evil extinguishes the Light of the royal family.”
“So each book has its own belief system,” Van said. “Lodians in Salus Valde believe in the teachings of the Victus Opuseulus, and the Balish, who are from Aduro but occupy and rule just about everywhere, believe in the Sanctus Novus.”
Brux nodded. “Both of the ancient books help their respective people understand the world—but they’re so different from each other.” Brux shrugged as if it were no big deal, though Van knew it was—to him and to the people here.
“The originals are written in the Language of the Ancients,” Brux said, “to prevent the lower classes from having access to the information. Many translated copies exist—sanctioned by the Balish—but I’d love to get my hands on the originals. People have shed a lot of blood in the name of these books, each group claiming their own is the one true way of the Creator. Tribes, towns, species were destroyed. Wars fought, including the Great War.”
Van saw a black cloud rise from the town’s center, then caught the acrid odor of something burning.
Jorie, Trey, and Elmot hustled down the road.
Brux popped out from the brush and flagged them down. He sighed in relief, then patted Jorie on the shoulder and nodded at Trey and Elmot. “Glad you made it.”
“They’re destroying their own town,” Jorie said, catching her breath.
It was the first time Van had seen Jorie flustered.
“Solana convinced them that to prevent Solmor, the town must be cleansed of demoniacal influence,” Trey said. “By fire.”
He and Elmot had smudges of soot on their faces and clothes, making them look as though they belonged in the outskirts of Agerorsa.
“Jorie met up with us in the library,” Elmot said, brushing off his clothes. “We barely made it out alive.”
“Solana’s goons caught us rifling through the documents in the secret room,” Trey said.
“They let the prisoner go, though, right?” Van asked.
“We managed to escape.” Trey stretched out his hand, showing bloodied knuckles. “Jorie’s training session came in handy.”
Brux told them about Hertha.
“If it wasn’t for her underground friends showing us the way out,” Jorie said, “we’d be dead now, too.”
“Just like that townsman tied to the post,” Trey added, finally answering Van’s question.
“What!” Paley screeched. “He’s dead?”
“It’s about the Coin,” Van murmured, shocked. Solana and her father had sacrificed an innocent man to get rid of the library. They both would have known for certain that the townsman didn’t have the real text. Solana and her father had used the man as a scapegoat. They didn’t want anyone else to research the Coin.
Peaked and agitated, Brux said, “It was a stoning. I didn’t want to tell you before. I was hoping to spare you the details. That’s why there were no women or children in the square.”
“It’s the Balish way,” Trey said, with a grim expression. “Their justice system.”
“Balish beliefs.” Jorie shook her head sadly. “So different from ours.”
Van’s insides felt jammed up. The crowd had stoned a man to death for having a text she actually had in her backpack. If Van got caught with Manik’s text, then next time, it would be her! Her knees wobbled. She closed her eyes to steady herself.
Paley stood motionless, also stunned.
“Solana’s out of control,” Jorie said. “She’s gathering supporters to help her take over Salus Valde.”
“She’s already the heir to the Balish Kingdom. They control everything!” Van cried, her body trembling. “Why does she want more?”
“Greed is like a burning flame,” Trey said flatly. “It’s all-consuming, suffocating everything in its path until nothing remains.”
Van bent to calm her dizziness and gagged.
Brux rubbed her back. “It’s okay if you want to throw up on my boots again.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Day 3 into Day 4: Living World
Before Solana had the townspeople burn down their own town, Trey and Elmot had managed to do some digging at the library. Based on the writings in the ancient documents, they both agreed a town called Dricreek was their best bet to find more information about the Coin. Just one problem—the town was too small to appear on any of Elmot’s maps.
“I only packed detailed maps of the southern regions,” Elmot said sadly.
Van took out her map and handed it to Elmot. “Maybe this will help.”
Elmot perused the map, then his face lit up. “Here it is! I can get us there. Thanks, Van!”
“Ho-yeah!” Jorie yelped. “Good work, guys.”
“What made you pack that particular map?” Brux asked inquisitively. “Especially after Uxa told us the Coin was located in the south.”
Van shrugged. She knew Manik’s text showed the general location of the Coin to be in a northern region called Fomalhaut. She just couldn’t tell anyone without revealing she was Michael Cross’s daughter.
With that, they headed northwest toward the Kezef-Fomalhaut border. Van felt relieved to see Agerorsa fade into the distance.
All during the trek, Jorie would blurt out, “Tick tock!” even when no one trailed behind. This irritated Van to no end—along with her skin, which had improved but still felt sore from the sand crab bites and the resulting rash. Her feet were killing her, and her back ached. But instead of focusing on how miserable she felt, she began to obsess over using the Twin Gemstones to magically transport her and Paley back to her comfy bedroom at Mt. Hope Manor.
Just after dusk Jorie announced, “We’re losing light. The moon is not strong tonight. We camp here.”
Van felt thankful the moon wasn’t “strong.” Otherwise, Jorie would certainly force them to keep going, and Van felt like she couldn’t survive another step.
Paley appeared clammy with dark circles under
her eyes, her hair limp with grime, and a coating of dust covered her body. She looked like a walking corpse, but Van couldn’t spare the energy to say so.
“We’re still two days away,” Elmot said, holding the map up to the moonlight.
Van and Paley both groaned.
Itching to flex his archery skills, Trey wanted to hunt for food, but Jorie told him, “No. Unknown terrain is too dangerous.”
Trey begrudgingly agreed. They could eat from their meager supplies, which consisted of dried meats.
“Um,” Paley said, scanning their options. “Van, there’s only dried meat.”
“I’m too hungry to care,” Van said, ditching her stance on vegetarianism. She grabbed several strips.
Exhausted, she and Paley dropped to the ground and gnawed on the auroch, paying no heed to the others.
Elmot, Trey, Brux, and Jorie rolled up logs for seats, collected dry sticks, arranged stones in a circle, and started a campfire. Soothing smells of cedar wood filled the air.
“I’m still hungry,” Paley whispered to Van. They watched the others settle in and begin eating their rations.
Van’s stomach rumbled; her share hadn’t been nearly enough, either.
“If they hadn’t given my boundless bowl away to that kid, we wouldn’t be suffering right now,” Van fumed.
“Yeah, but then we would all be dead,” Paley said. “None of us would have escaped Agerorsa without Hertha’s help.”
“Humph,” Van said, feeling grumpy. “All I want to do is go home—back to my bedroom. This whole mission is a waste of time. We don’t even know where the Coin is.” Though Van knew. Which reminded her—she had to show Manik’s text to Brux. Doing so would end this torture.
Around the campfire, Elmot revealed more about the information he and Trey had uncovered in the library. “We confirmed that Goustav used the Coin to create his weapon. We didn’t have enough time to find out why Amaryl handed it over to Goustav, though.”
Shock of Fate: A Young Adult Fantasy Adventure (Anchoress Series Book 1) Page 18
