“Only two,” Jaklah said. “A lot of the people here think one of them used to lead out. But that one’s filled with rocks. Harbingers won’t let you near it anyway. The other, no one knows exactly what it is. But no one’s ever made it through. Vlaxson—he’s the oldest here—says that once, a quick fellow managed to make it to the end of that tunnel and back without getting caught. He shouted something about a locked door before the harbingers slit his throat.”
Marcus caught Kyja’s eye, and mouthed the word “jump.” She nodded. If you couldn’t go through the doors, it was the only way out. The idea of leaving the rest of these people trapped made her sick. But maybe, once she and Marcus had gathered all the elementals, they could figure out some way to save these people.
“I think Kyja and I need to talk alone for awhile,” Marcus said.
“Sure.” Jaklah started to leave but then turned back, his eyes on the ground. “If you don’t mind my asking, did you really jump into the pit?”
Kyja felt herself blushing. So that’s why he wouldn’t look at her. “It wasn’t any big thing. I’d probably have jumped back out as soon as I felt how hot it was.”
Riph Raph blinked his big yellow eyes. “Don’t let her fool you. She’d fight those harbingers hand-to-hand if she could see them. And I’d be right behind her.”
“Bravest thing I’ve ever heard of,” Jaklah said, his voice filled with admiration bordering on awe.
Marcus grinned. “You should have seen her take on a Summoner all by herself. Guess being a freak doesn’t make you useless after all, huh?”
“I, uh, no.” Jaklah looked as though he were about to burst into tears, and Kyja couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
“You entered the swamp even though you knew all about the harbingers,” she said. “That took a lot of courage too.”
“Nothing like you,” Jaklah said, but his chest seemed to swell a little anyway. Finally daring to look Kyja in the eye, he asked. “Would you mind telling me where you’re from? Just in case anyone asks.”
“Terra ne Staric,” Kyja said. “It’s in Westland, on the other side of the Windlash Mountains.”
“Terra ne Staric,” the boy repeated with something that sounded like fear in his voice. “It’s a good thing you’re not back there.”
“What do you mean?” Kyja bristled. “Terra ne Staric is a wonderful city.”
“Oh, no offense intended. It’s just . . . that’s where the zentan went.”
“Zentan?” Marcus asked. “What’s a zentan?”
“Not what,” the boy said, clasping his hands in front of his chest. “Who. Zentan Dolan is the leader of the Keepers of the Balance. He hardly ever leaves the sanctuary. But six months ago, he took a group of followers with him. Everyone said he was going to a place called Terra ne Staric.”
“Why?” Kyja asked. She’d never even heard of the Keepers of the Balance when she lived there. Was that the man she’d seen riding with the high lord?
Jaklah wrapped his arms around himself as if the temperate air had suddenly gone ice cold. “No one knows. Some people said it was to convert the Westlanders. Others said it was to raise an army. There was a rumor that he went to retrieve a powerful artifact. But whatever it was, I wouldn’t want to be there right now. The rest of the Keepers are bad enough. But the zentan is worse than all of them put together. He’s terrible. He started the Keepers hundreds of years ago, but he doesn’t even look old. Some people say he’s not human, that he’s some kind of monster. I don’t know about that, but I’d rather be here a hundred times over than be there when he arrives.”
Chapter 21
A Dirty Business
We’ve got to get back to Terra ne Staric,” Kyja said. “The zentan had to be the one I saw with High Lord Dinslith.”
Marcus couldn’t help smiling at how she never backed down from anything. “Great. I’ll call a taxi.”
“I’m serious,” Kyja said. “He’s been there for four months. Anything could have happened by now.”
“So what are you suggesting? That we give up on trying to find the land elementals? You said it yourself—he’s been there four months. It would take us at least another month to reach Terra ne Staric. And once we do—what then? Jaklah said Dolan is some kind of monster. By now he’s probably taken what he wanted and left.”
“So you just want to ignore the whole thing?”
“No.” Marcus rubbed his neck. He was already starting to feel the aches and pains that came from spending too much time on Farworld. “I want to get away from the harbingers and then figure out a plan.” He glanced toward the creatures patrolling slowly back and forth in front of the entrance, afraid that just discussing how to get out of this prison might draw attention.
“I hate to agree with the feeble-minded one,” Riph Raph said. “But I can’t even see those things, and still they give me the shivers. I vote for escaping, too.”
“All right,” Kyja agreed. “But once we’re out of here, we’re going to discuss a way to help Terra ne Staric. I think there’s more to the Keepers than we know. They’ve got to be working with the Dark Circle somehow.”
“Deal,” Marcus agreed. He looked to where Jaklah lay curled on his mat, and promised himself that somehow he would come back and free him. “Okay. Let’s jump.”
Closing his eyes, he waited for the tug that would push him back to Earth. He couldn’t wait to take a breath of fresh air and see a real sky. He didn’t care if it was cloudy, or rainy, or smoggy, or—
The twisting in his stomach came, and, with it, the falling sensation that didn’t even bother him anymore. “Thank goo—” he started to say, reaching for Riph Raph and Kyja. But everything was wrong. The words wouldn’t come out of his mouth. Weight pressed on him with unbearable force. When he tried to scream, something cold and gritty poured into his open mouth, covering his tongue, and forcing itself down his throat.
He couldn’t move; he couldn’t breathe. He tried to open his eyes, but everything was dark. Help! he screamed inside his head. Bring me back. Bring me back!
The tugging sensation returned, and he found himself lying on the cold stone floor, coughing and gagging.
“What happened?” Kyja shouted. “What is that all over you?”
Marcus opened his eyelids; something scratched beneath them like grains of sand. For a moment he couldn’t see at all. When his blurry vision returned, he went stiff with fear.
“Don’t move,” he whispered.
Kyja looked around. “What is it?”
“Harbingers.” They were everywhere, circling around him, staring at him with their black, empty eye sockets. They waved their long claws dangerously close, their gumless teeth clacking together as they sang.
Piercing the dirt,
There comes a scream,
From the souls
Imprisoned there.
Eternity spent ’neath
The deep black sod,
Their sins from life
To bear.
Eyes that will never
See light again,
Stare through
The ghastly must.
Bodies that once
In the sun would bask,
Now gather dirt
And dust.
Marcus pressed his hands to his ears, trying to block out the song, but it seemed to be coming from inside his head.
Join us. Become one with us. Become one with the land. We can take you. We want to take you.
“N-n-o-o.” Forcing the word from his mouth was like trying to push his finger through a keyhole. But once Marcus spoke, the harbingers drifted away. Except for one. It stood above him and raised its arms, starlight glinting off its long, curved talons. He waited for the blades to slice through him. Then it whirled away and joined the others and went back to patrolling the entrance to the cavern.
“Oh, that was close,” he breathed.
Kyja looked left and right, trying to see the danger, while Riph Raph hunched with his wings pu
lled up around his head.
“Are they gone?”
Marcus nodded. “I think they knew I was up to something, but not what. They were warning me. If they’d known I was trying to escape . . . I’d be over there with rest of the skeletons.”
“What happened on Earth?” Kyja asked, brushing away the fine, brown substance that covered Marcus’s clothes, staff, and body.
He coughed and spit a brown stream onto the floor. “We forgot where we are. When you pushed me, I must have landed a couple hundred feet—”
“Underground,” Kyja finished. “I sent you underground. I didn’t even think of that!”
“Neither of us did,” Marcus said, shaking dirt out of his robe and combing it out of his hair with his fingers.
“But then how do we get you out of here?”
Marcus hung his head. “I don’t think we can.”
Kyja stared at him as if he’d just insulted her. “I’m not going to leave you here.”
“I don’t think you have any choice. You heard Jaklah. There’s no way out.”
“But if you don’t get back to Earth, you’ll die. What if you close your eyes and I lead you out? Maybe if you can’t see them, they can’t hurt you.”
“I don’t think it works that way.” Marcus took out the ribbon they’d purchased in Aster’s Bay and watched the light flicker off the tiny silver charm as it swung back and forth. “Someone’s bound to have tried that by now. Besides, even with my eyes closed, I can hear them singing.”
“Then cover your ears,” Kyja said. “You cover your ears and close your eyes, and I’ll lead you up the stairs.”
“I’d never make it without my staff, and you can’t carry me. Besides, I can hear their song even when I cover my ears.” He didn’t like to give up, but he didn’t see any other option. “Even if we made it part way up the stairs we couldn’t be sure we’d be above ground on Earth.”
This adventure had been crazy anyway. Whoever came up with the idea that two kids could save their worlds against a force as strong as the Dark Circle deserved whatever fate they ended up with.
“What about the door?” Kyja said suddenly.
“What door?”
“The one Jaklah told us about. He said there was a tunnel filled with rocks, and another with a door.”
Riph Raph flapped his ears. “You mean that one that was locked and guarded by bloodthirsty creatures with fingernails that could turn us all into dog food?”
Riph Raph had a way of putting things into perspective, even if he was a flying lizard.
Marcus shook his head. “Jaklah also said the person who made it to the door was fast. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly quick on my feet. The harbingers would be on me before I got ten steps.”
“Then we’ll just have to find a way to get you past them,” Kyja said.
“Well, let me know when you figure it out.” Marcus started to put the ribbon back in his pocket. But Kyja grabbed his wrist.
“That’s it! That’s how we’ll get you by the harbingers.”
Marcus stared at her confused, but she snatched the ribbon out of his hand.
“We’ll use the charm.”
Chapter 22
Finding a Reason
This is crazy,” Marcus said, looking at the charm. “Even the shopkeeper said she wasn’t sure how many times it would work, or how long the effects would last. Besides, what makes you think a dog would be anything other than a smaller target?”
“They haven’t bothered Riph Raph, have they?” Kyja asked. “The harbingers aren’t looking for animals. They’re looking for people. If Riph Raph and I can’t even see them, maybe they can’t see us either.”
Marcus took the ribbon from Kyja and looked at the small silver charm. Did he really want to stake his life on a piece of magic jewelry he’d picked up in some store? There was still so much they didn’t understand about the harbingers. For instance, if he’d really lost his magic, why could he still see them when Kyja couldn’t? And how did the Keepers control them?
“It might not last long enough to make it up the stairs,” Kyja said. “But I’ll bet we can make it to the end of the tunnel.”
“Do you have any ideas about how to get through the locked door if and when we manage to reach it?”
“We’ll figure that out once we get there.”
Marcus closed the charm in his hand. His options were pretty limited. “Let’s say we do manage to get through the door. How do we know we’d be safe on the other side? Maybe it’s locked for a reason. Maybe there’s even more harbingers behind it. Maybe it’s like a harbinger dinner party, and we’re the main course.”
“Or maybe it’s the entrance to Land Keep.”
Marcus hadn’t considered that, and the thought made him sick to his stomach. “You think this whole thing is about keeping people away from the land elementals? You think the harbingers are their creations? I don’t think I’d want the help of someone who could do all this.”
“So what are you going to do?” Kyja threw her arms wide. “Sit here and wait to die?”
Marcus bit his lip. Kyja’s plan went way beyond risky, but what choice did he have? “Let’s go then.” He picked up his staff and got to his feet, trying to ignore the pain that raged through his leg. “If we’re going to try this, I’d like to do it before everyone wakes up and draws attention to us.”
And before I lose my nerve, he thought.
Together, they crossed the cavern, passing several large gardens and the stream that provided the cavern with water. Near the mouth of the stream, they found the closed-off tunnel Jaklah had described. Boulders filled the entrance from floor to ceiling as if an earthquake had piled stones in the tunnel. As they passed by, the harbingers watched them closely but made no move to interfere.
“There it is,” Kyja whispered, pointing to a large archway a little farther down. Marcus craned his neck to look at the entrance. The opening was bigger than both the tunnel Kyja had come through and the one that was barricaded. Matching symbols curved up each side of the arch and met at the top in a pair of intersecting circles.
“Do those markings mean anything to you?” Marcus asked.
“No.”
As Jaklah had warned, there were plenty of harbingers protecting the entrance. “Well, here goes,” Marcus said, taking the charm from his robe pocket. “If this doesn’t work, tell the shopkeeper I want my money back.”
Kyja looked like she was about to say something, then closed her mouth. She gestured for Riph Raph to scout ahead and the skyte disappeared into the tunnel.
A moment after Marcus wrapped the ribbon around his neck and tied it, he was looking up at Kyja and sniffing the air. “I can’t see them anymore,” he whispered.
“Don’t say anything until we get through the entrance,” Kyja said. “Just in case.”
She didn’t need to worry about that; Marcus was too scared to speak. His mouth felt so dry he couldn’t even swallow. As they approached the tunnel, he kept waiting for the harbingers to reappear. But as they made it through the archway and nothing happened, his heart slowed back to normal.
“It worked,” Kyja whispered.
“You didn’t expect it to?” Marcus asked.
Kyja shrugged. “Let’s just say it’s good to be right,” she said with a nervous laugh.
After a few minutes of walking, Riph Raph returned. “Get a move on,” he said. “It’s a long tunnel ending in a pair of big stone doors.”
“Are they locked?” Marcus asked.
Riph Raph rolled his eyes. “Do I look like a locksmith to you? I don’t even have hands. How should I know?”
“Let’s go,” Kyja said, breaking into a trot.
Following her, Marcus wondered what would happen if he started to change back before they got through the doors. Would he have enough warning to make it out in time? The tunnel sloped slightly downward, curving left and then right. Along the walls were images. Some were maps, others diagrams of the
musculature of animals, or the structures of plant life. The beauty of the images didn’t seem to jibe with the harbingers, or the things he’d seen outside. How could creatures that seemed to take such an interest in life forms of all types trap and kill people so easily?
Finally, the tunnel turned a corner and they came to the stone doors Riph Raph had described. “Look,” Kyja said, pointing to the symbol inlayed in glittering gold in the center of each of the smooth stone slabs. Marcus recognized the symbol at once—a loop on one end and a square within a square on the other—the symbol for land magic.
“See the Lords of Land,” Kyja murmured. “Beneath the ground they sleep. This is it. This is Land Keep.”
“Open the door,” Marcus said. “I want to talk to these guys.”
Kyja pushed against the slab. “It won’t budge.” She shoved against the other one with her shoulder, but it wouldn’t move either.
“Look for some kind of secret latch,” Marcus said. He began sniffing along the walls and up each door, but the smells were all so old, he couldn’t make anything out. He’d have sworn that no one had come this way for years and years.
“Maybe there’s a secret word,” he said, and began trying all the secret words he’d ever heard of. “Open sesame. Abracadabra. Hocus pocus. Friend. Open up.”
“Rotten cabbage,” Riph Raph added. “Fried fish. Thirty-seven.”
“What kind of magic words are those?” Marcus asked.
Riph Raph flipped his tail. “You try your words; I’ll stick with mine.”
“What if we knock?” Kyja suggested.
Marcus and Riph Raph shared an exasperated look.
“It couldn’t hurt,” Marcus said, although he seriously doubted it would be that easy. But time was passing, and he didn’t have any better idea.
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