by Jill Cooper
“What is it you have to say?”
His eyes lit up blue as he read the paper. “The Dark Lord Creighton will grant you mercy and a quick death if you surrender now. He’ll allow these people to keep their home and their life if you dispatch your army—come with us. If you don’t, he’ll burn everything inside those walls after your inevitable defeat.”
“Nothing is inevitable, Minister.” I pulled my staff free, my hands sliding along the metal and activating the runes. When I pointed it at him, his face glowed blue under the power of my remnant.
His face fell and his mouth opened wide. “Been so long… since I’ve seen it. I thought maybe—This is what you want to do? Go to war? Watch all your friends die?”
“It’s what we have to do.” I kicked the sole of my boot into my horse. We trotted backward and then made a u-turn so we could join our friends. “Tell Creighton thanks, but no thanks.”
Tell him I’ll see him burn in the hell he came from.
“Well?” Sebastian asked as I rejoined the group.
“He had an offer I couldn’t wait to refuse.”
The dark lord and his army marched toward us and began to pick up steam. I glanced up to the watch towers and gave my salute. It was now or never.
“May our friendship never steer us wrong,” Sebastian whispered as he pulled his sword clear, holding it and ready to charge. He’d been with me since the very beginning and I glanced over at him with appreciation and love, the kind a sister has for her brother.
“May we stand stalwart in the dark,” I swung my staff, spinning it out. The remnant cast a blue shine forward.
“Never shall we shrink from a fight!” The muse screamed, her blond hair wild as she pushed off on her horse, floating up into the air and I knew that was my sign. It was the beginning of the end, no matter what the outcome.
“Charge!” I screamed and then we did. The horses ran as fast as they could, I held onto the reigns tight, lifting up in my seat. The horse’s hooves tore through the dirt, I angled my head down as arrows flew and the sound of motorcycles charged.
I had one goal. One target. I had my eye on Creighton. He was mine.
Chapter: Sebastian
Sebastian readied his shot and the battle troll swung his giant stone hammer. His horse reared back, but got swiped across the jaw and Sebastian rolled down onto the battlefield. The sound of the horse’s hooves racing across the plains thundered like a rain storm. Sebastian pulled himself up, pulled his sword free and met the troll’s hammer in mid-air.
The troll’s strength was far superior and Sebastian was pushed back. He ducked as the troll swung again. Sebastian side-stepped, spinning a circle around the troll. Confused, the beast looked all around, bending at the knee to glance between its legs.
Sebastian used that moment of confusion to stab the troll in the back with his wide blade. The troll cried, standing fully erect and its arms drawn out to the side. It spun around, spinning its hammer wide and Sebastian leaped out of the way.
Someone called, “Sebastian!” He turned and caught a shield thrown toward him. Immediately he took the shield down and bashed the troll back. When the troll swung, he tossed himself down onto his knees and rolled away. Picking up a fallen spear, he plunged it upward at the troll and caught him in the eye.
The troll cried, dropping his hammer, and covered his face. He stumbled backward, tripping over a fallen horse and crashed down to the ground. Sebastian stepped up onto the troll and struck through the beast’s heart with his sword.
Further away, Sebastian heard the roar of motorcycle tires circling. The scavengers would hope to encircle them. Force them together so Creighton and his army could pick them off. Sebastian couldn’t let that happen, but then he saw a familiar sight on one of those motorcycles.
And she wore two long braids.
****
It had taken Ella longer to get her dirt bike going than she thought it would. Once it started and roared to life, she planted her feet on the gas and accelerated right out the back gate. Going around the wooden wall, Ella drifted to the side, leaning her head in tight to her bike, riding that turn hard as she could.
“Oh heavens,” she muttered to herself when she saw the size of Creighton’s army. Even more, the battle had started without her. Ella couldn’t make heads or tails about who was winning, but in the center of all of it, a woman spun, her golden staff lighting the way.
That’s where she needed to be.
First, though, those scavengers.
They circled the group while riding their motorcycles, drawing everyone tighter together. Everyone knew it was easy to kill fish in a barrel and that’s what the scavengers wanted, but it wasn’t what Ella wanted. She wanted her friends to live. She didn’t want them to die.
She bent her motorcycle to the side, grabbing a spear as her fingers dredged through the dirt. Ella chased two motorcycles, coming up just behind them and stuck the spear through a set of tires.
BOOM! The motorcycle flipped over through the air and crashed down on another one. Ella smirked as she revved her handle bars and coasted faster coming up behind the next one. Two of six down, not so bad. Ella could do this all day.
Except she was out of spears, but she saw a shield laying on the ground and perfected her side maneuver. She picked up the shield and slipped her hand through the arm guard. Ella wasn’t sure about how to take out the next two motorcycles but when she saw a blue light streaking across the sky, she figured it out.
She stepped onto her motorcycle’s seat and balanced herself. The bike was slowing down and veering off course, so Ella jumped. Shield out and arms extended, she landed on a scavenger’s bike and smashed her shield into the side of his head.
Slipping behind him into a seated position, Ella grabbed him by the head and tossed him off the side. Smirking, Ella steered the bike to a hard right. “Hmm, handles better than mine,” Ella muttered.
Good thing, too, because the next bike was coming up.
She slid her googles down over her eyes, pursed her lips, and pushed the bike as hard as she could. A glint of light caught out her peripheral vision and Ella gasped as a motorcycle floored it into her rear tire. Ella spun out of control. She screamed, trying to right her bike with all of her might as it coasted through the dirt and built a deep trench.
Until the front tire hit a rock. Then Ella screamed as she went soaring and landed with a hard thump into a pile of rocks.
“Uhh,” Ella moaned and grabbed her head, hearing metal being drawn right overhead. She scooted back on her elbows as she gazed up at the familiar face of one of her scavengers. “Friends?” Ella asked.
“Never,” he sneered and lifted his sword. Ella screamed and squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, she saw Sebastian had run the scavenger through with his blade.
Ella laughed and her mouth fell open. “Sebastian, you have the best timing. Did I ever tell you that?”
“They’ll be time for you to tell me later. Abby needs you.”
Abby—Ella’s eyes searched for her through the battle. There were so many dead laying on the ground and so much blood, but Abby still stood tall. And she was fighting Creighton.
Oh no, was she too late? “Tarnish!” Ella screamed and ran, her feet kicked up dirt and pebbles. Pushing past skeleton soldiers, pushing back trolls, Ella had to get to Tarnish Rose.
She couldn’t be too late. She just couldn’t!
Chapter: Tarnish Rose
I charged off on my weary horse through the front lines of the battle with my eyes on Creighton. My staff shined a powerful gleaming light that caught his death hunters and his skeletons, turning them into nothing but smoke and ash.
Creighton’s back was to me but as I grew closer, I saw how much bigger he was than the last time I saw him. His black cloak, feet taller than me, his sword wider and thicker than my own body. There was no way I could withstand his blade if it struck me.
I had to be where he wasn’t. I had to avoid getting caught
by him. Easier said than done.
Soldiers and men came at me. I met their blows with my staff, pushing them back. Using the light of the remnant and the power of my books to push them away, blind them, while I made my way to Creighton.
I struck one in the chest with my boot, spun around and assaulted another with a powerful punch of light.
Creighton turned, his dark hood facing me. Sooo… you think it’ll be so easy to defeat me, Curator?
The evil in his voice caused me to shudder. I stood ten feet from the dark lord and held my staff lightly by my side. I couldn’t match him in strength. There just wasn’t a way.
“I think it’s been hard, but I think I was made to defeat you. I have everything I need.”
Creighton laughed. I don’t see a library. I don’t see any power. I see a scared little girl, playing with things she doesn’t understand.
“That’s because you don’t see.” The voice startled me and I looked to the left as Ella approached. “You don’t know what it is we have.”
Another girl? What did I do to deserve so much fun in one day?
He turned toward Ella and the sun caught the blue medallion he wore around his neck. It shimmered, a beam of blue shooting out toward us. In that moment, Ella glanced at me and I knew she was thinking exactly what I was.
We were ready to strike.
But where was Muse? Why hadn’t she joined us yet?
Creighton lifted his arms to the sky and his hushed voice filled my head as he chanted in a language I didn’t understand. With a thunderous crash and a boom, a portal opened above us and the death hunters flew down into the world. They shrieked as they swarmed low, flying across the battle field and toward the walls of the homestead.
Now was the time.
I thrust my staff up and then slammed it down into the ground. The remnant called out in a powerful hum, a thoughtful wail, as the blue light shined bright, destroying the death hunters it caught in its wake.
Some would get away, some escaped and they would kill those they came in contact with.
Creighton’s laughter turned way to horror as I caught him in the blue light. I held the staff with both hands, advancing on him and intensifying the power of the crystal remnant.
Is this it? Is this what I have feared? A little bit of light?
He pushed back on it with his skeletal hands and I felt the power rushing back at me. My feet lost their hold on the ground and I started to slide backward. “Tarnish!” Sebastian screamed and he pushed against my waist, helping to anchor me in place.
“Now, Ella!” I called.
The light intensified as she threw out her hands and joined me in surrounding Creighton with her power.
Creighton thrust his hands out to the side, but the power only grew. He shrieked as the medallion around his neck began to float up toward Ella.
No!
But it wasn’t enough. He was still here. Our joined power strained to keep him contained. Fiercely he pushed and strained, drawing our light back out toward us. When suddenly, a blue dress streaked through the sky. It turned into a sunburst and exploded out across the sunset, turning the sky blue and purple. Glitter shimmered down as shards of music rained down. The notes fell around us as horns played, a saxophone, a harp, the pluck of a guitar string.
Then came the rain of color and portraits of faces and landscapes lit the sky up as if we were witnessing fireworks for the first time.
“Push!” I screamed and gritted my teeth. “Give it all you have!”
Ella grunted and together we thrust our power out in a burst. Creighton shrieked and began to peel away. His robes cracked like stone, falling away one at a time. Black and gray smoke flew from him and circled Ella.
Her eyes widened with fear as they searched for me. “Tarnish!”
“I’m here! I won’t leave you, Ella. I promise!”
She took a deep breath and the smoke filtered into her nose, swirling around her body. A moment later, Ella’s eyes widened and she screamed. Her finger stretched for mine. “Help!” She cried and she was consumed by a great light. It grew in intensity until the light turned red and exploded out like a dying star.
“No!”
Ella, oh dear Ella. In a split second, I was besieged with grief.
Rocks and dirt rained down onto us. I turned my head away, and ran to where she stood just a few moments ago. Now there was nothing but a burn mark where she once was.
Creighton was defeated, but my friend was gone.
Sobs wailed from me before I even realized it and I fell to my knees beside her. Sebastian knelt beside me and I heard his cry as he gripped my shoulders.
“She’s dead,” I cried where her body should’ve been and my soul shuddered. “Our friend is gone.”
****
Gone but never forgotten.
I’d write her name in my books and journals. I would recant her stories. I’d make sure everyone knew how brave she had been. How Ella came when I needed her the most and how she sacrificed everything she had, just when she found what she wanted the most.
Friendship. Belonging.
She pushed me, always guiding, always making me question if I was doing the right thing.
I knew now I was.
Creighton’s body lay on the wreckage of the rocks and I went over to him. His robes gone, now all that was left was an old man. Human—just like me. Just like my friends. A man wrinkled and gasping for breath as he arched his back, dying quickly without the ancient relic that had possessed his body.
“You saved me,” he gasped and shuddered. “Thank you.”
I didn’t do it for him. I did it for all the people he tortured and killed. “You let this all happen. You practically begged for it to happen when you burned those books. When you eradicated art. Education. You’re a fool. A murderous fool.”
He shook his head, intent to argue with me. “I was trying to… Forgive me.”
I had no forgiveness for him. Not yet. Maybe I never would.
Stretching down, I plucked the medallion off his necklace and crushed it with my hands. The gem was destroyed. The last remains of his power gone and behind me the stones all around us started to crumble.
They cracked. Those still with me on the battlefield screamed and ran. My own balance was off and I fell to my knees. “Tarnish,” Sebastian reached me and helped me stand. We started running back toward the walls of the McGee homestead and I saw the gate had been beaten down, but I hoped everyone inside would be okay. I hoped all our booby traps and defenses did the job.
Sebastian and I fell as the earth started to split open. I rolled over onto my stomach and pushed up, but paused. I saw the most impressive thing. The most beautiful thing growing out of the rocks where my tower had been.
A grand building with marble steps and lion statues outside had grown up from the rocks and attached itself to my tower. It gleamed in the sun and was at least four stories tall. The green roof was arched and a set of oak doors out front swung open. Was it what I thought it was? I’m pretty sure my heart stopped beating in that moment.
“The library?” Sebastian whispered, his eyes growing larger. “The library!”
We wasted no time in running across the field and up the stairs of the library. “Sebastian, look. Look!” I pointed at the golden sign near the door that said, All who seek knowledge are welcome here. “It’s from my dreams. I saw this sign in my dreams.”
I rushed inside and Sebastian never left me. I stood in the same foyer I had seen in my dreams. A set of stairs wound upward toward the living quarters and the ones that spiraled down further into the library were filled with books.
Taking Sebastian’s hand, I ran down the steps into the grand hall. Shelves and bookcases as far as the eye could see stretched in all directions—filled with books of all imaginable colors. Sebastian gasped and covered his mouth, tears streaming down his face.
“It’s so beautiful. Oh my… Abby…”
I cried, too, pulling him further into the
library. I came to the same fireplace that I had seen in my vision with Ella and I pushed on the emerald lion head at either side. The fireplace swept open, just as I knew it would. “This way is secret. Let me show you.”
“Abby…” Sebastian whispered and he refused to move when I tugged him.
“What? Don’t you want to see? There’s so much more to show—” I followed where he pointed and saw a woman standing by a row of tables. A beautiful blond woman wearing… braids?
I walked toward her as she walked toward us. She wore a form fitting brown dress and a pair of glasses on her face. “Ella?” I whispered and reached a hand out to her.
She ignored my hand. “I’m caretaker of this library. The last library.”
Crying out, I hugged her. So glad to see her. So glad to have her back. I wrapped my arms around her and just buried my face in her hair. Her arms came around me and then Sebastian wrapped his hands around hers.
“Well…” Ella gasped. “A librarian never received so much love before, I’m sure of that.”
Didn’t she remember us? Didn’t she know? I pulled back to gaze at her. “What’s my name? Tell me you know it?”
“Don’t tell me, Tarnish Rose, that you’ve forgotten who you are? That’d be the royal pits if that’s true. I didn’t die, or whatever it is I did, just to have you forget.”
I laughed and then Sebastian laughed, too. We both hugged her tight and Ella squealed. “Would either of you like to check out a book? We have over one million volumes and I’m pretty sure I can tell you about every single one of them.”
“Yes,” I beamed as I stared around at the walls of the library. “I think we’d very much love to check out a book or two.”
Ella grinned. “Let me tell you a little bit about the Dewey Decimal System. You’re going to… well, knowing you, you’ll love it. But believe me when I tell you, it’s the absolute pits.”
Chapter: Dani
The minister’s estate in town was plush, exquisite as promised with servants and guards. The walls were impressive gray and white bead board and candle chandeliers hung from each room. Silver trays with the finest drinks and medicine were available at their beck and call.
