Land Keep

by J. Scott Savage

  Every day was a learning experience. Some things she learned the easy way—like jumping rope with Dhala and Bethany, two friendly girls, outside a Whataburger in Abilene, Texas. Other things she learned the hard way—like nearly being flattened by a fast-moving semi before figuring out how stoplights worked. She saw everything from Earth that she could, from a group of men and women line dancing in Seminole, Texas, to a brief tour of the Carlsbad Caverns.

  She constantly made sure Marcus got enough rest and ate well. It was good to see him gaining weight again, and by the second day, his fever was almost completely gone. She never forgot why she was going to Terra ne Staric or stopped worrying about Master Therapass. But that didn’t keep her from absorbing every experience she could in a world that didn’t shun you because you had no magic. And it didn’t stop her from thinking about what the Augur Well had said—especially the part about one of their families looking for them.

  After the first few minutes of watching Kyja drive the old motorcycle, Riph Raph disappeared into the sidecar and spent most of his time hidden inside his turtle shell.

  By the end of the third day, she and Marcus were camped outside Lordsburg, New Mexico, a small town near the Arizona border. Kyja sat beside a fire several hundred feet off the side of the road, while Marcus rested in a sleeping bag. The night sky was perfectly clear and filled with millions of stars, none of which glittered above Farworld. She wondered what it would be like to live under this sky all the time.

  “How close are we?” Marcus asked.

  “We’ll be in Phoenix tomorrow.” Kyja added a few more sticks to the fire. The sun had gone down, so the desert air had quickly developed a chill. “Are you hungry? I’ve got apples, half of a beef sandwich, and these really yummy black crackers with white cream between them called aureas.”

  “Oreos,” Marcus corrected. “I’m fine. But I’d get rid of the sandwich. They go bad pretty quick in the heat.”

  “Bad?” Kyja asked, picturing the sandwich growing teeth and attacking people.

  “It’ll make you sick. There aren’t any preservatives in a sub sandwich like there are in the cookies.”

  “I’ll take an apple,” Riph Raph said, poking his head out of his shell. “And an Oreo. And another Slim Jim if you have any left.”

  “Oink, oink.” Marcus pushed up the tip of his nose.

  Riph Raph blinked his leathery eyelids. “Try carrying your house around on your back. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Besides, I haven’t spent the whole trip sleeping like you.”

  “That’s right. You’ve only slept nine-tenths of it,” Kyja said, handing over the food. She studied Marcus in the fire’s flickering illumination. “You know, I haven’t heard you moaning in your sleep once since we got here.”

  Marcus looked silently back at her.

  “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. I just thought you’d want to know that you only seem to have the nightmare in Farworld.”

  Marcus pulled the sleeping bag back up around his shoulders as he sat looking into the fire. “If we’re going to Terra ne Staric, I guess it’s time to talk about it. It’s just—I don’t understand it myself, and I guess I’m afraid of what it might mean.”

  Marcus pulled a small branch from the fire, drawing patterns in the night with the glowing end. “Did I ever tell you I used to dream about you—before we ever met?”

  “Warn me before you start that kind of talk, so I can throw up,” Riph Raph said, pulling his head back into his shell.

  Kyja felt blood rush to her face and was grateful for the darkness. “You might have said something like that just after I pulled you to Farworld the first time. But I was so surprised by your being there, I don’t think I paid much attention to what you said.”

  “Well, it’s not like it sounds. It’s just . . . I was so unhappy with my life. I had no family, no friends. I guess you can understand that. The rest of the kids in the schools I went to either felt sorry for me, were afraid of me, or wanted to beat me up. I think the ones who wanted to beat me up were the easiest to deal with. At least they said what they were thinking.”

  Kyja understood far too well.

  “Anyway,” he continued, poking the stick into the fire again, “whenever I got feeling really lonely or sad, I’d pretend there was a world I could go to. A world where no one cared what I looked like.” He waved a hand out at the barren desert landscape. “I imagined a world different from all of this, where everything was green—where trees talked, and fish flew, and cows told jokes.”

  “Farworld,” Kyja whispered.

  Marcus nodded. “Farworld. Only I didn’t know I was seeing a real place. I thought it was all in my head. It’s funny—I called it Farworld because it was as far away from my life as I could picture. But I’ve never asked why it’s really named Farworld. What is it far from?”

  “I don’t know,” Kyja said. “I’ve never really thought about it. Maybe we could ask Master Therapass if—I mean when—we free him.”

  “Well, that’s the thing. I was pretty out of it there at the end. But according to Rhaidnan, Master Therapass is in the dungeon, right?”

  “Yes, under the tower. It was never used much when I was there. But Rhaidnan says it’s practically overflowing now.” Kyja unzipped her sleeping bag and wrapped it around herself like a blanket. She didn’t know whether it was the thought of her home being controlled by the Keepers of the Balance or the cold night air, but goose bumps covered her arms.

  Marcus went on. “The last dream I had about Farworld—right before I met Bonesplinter for the first time—was about the tower,” Marcus said, his voice so soft that Kyja had to lean forward to hear him. “I was standing on the balcony of the tower, listening to the dawn chimes singing, looking at a crystal-clear river.”

  Kyja had spent many hours standing on the tower balcony, looking down at the Two Prong River, wondering what she would do with her life.

  “In the dream, everything was perfect. You were there watching it all with me, although I thought I was imagining you at the time. But then it all went wrong. Thick, dark clouds covered the sky. The flowers sank to the ground. Even the huge trees of the Westland Woods wrapped their branches around themselves as if they wished they could run away from whatever was on the tower.” Marcus closed his eyes for a moment before going on.

  “I turned to find you. But Bonesplinter was there instead. He was the one who’d caused the change. He lifted me up and threw me off the tower. Then I woke up and saw him right there in the school. It was the most terrifying dream I’d ever had.”

  A cold breeze whipped at the fire. In the distance, a coyote howled, and another answered. “Are you having that dream again?” Kyja asked.

  “No, it’s worse.” Marcus shrank within his bag, almost disappearing inside it like a caterpillar enclosing itself in a dark blue cocoon. “I’m climbing the tower stairs, trying to reach something on the balcony. My legs ache, and I keep stumbling, but I know I’m going to be too late. I know someone else is looking for the same thing I am. They’re ahead of me, and I have no chance to get there first.

  “When I finally reach the balcony, the weather is clear. The flowers are singing. And I think, maybe I’m not too late after all. But as I step out onto the white stone tiles, it happens all over again. The flowers disappear. The trees cower away. The sky turns black, and rain begins to fall so hard I can barely see a thing. I turn around, knowing the person they fear is right behind me. He’s been waiting all along.”

  “Who is it?” Kyja asked.

  Marcus swallowed. “Me. It’s me they’re afraid of. When I turn around, I realize I’m the only one there. I’m dressed in a black cloak. Blue fire crackles across my staff. I’ve found whatever it is I’m looking for, and all of Farworld knows what I’m going to do with it. I’m not there to save the world—I’m there to destroy it. Somewhere in the distance I hear laughing. It’s the Dark Circle. They know I’m about to do their work for them.”

  “Tha
t’s crazy!” Kyja said. Her voice was far too loud in the quiet desert night, but she didn’t care. This is what had been eating at him—what he’d been afraid to tell her. Had he really convinced himself that he was part of the Dark Circle’s plan? “You’d never betray Farworld. It’s just the Dark Circle trying to confuse you. Why would you believe that for a second?”

  “It’s not the Dark Circle,” Marcus said, his voice muffled from inside his sleeping bag.

  “Of course it is,” Kyja said. “Who else would want you to think something like that?”

  “There’s something I’ve haven’t told you,” Marcus said. “Do you remember the morning we left Water Keep? When we listened to the dawn chimes?”

  “I guess.” She vaguely remembered pausing just before they got on the sailboat.

  “At first I could only hear the song. But the more I concentrated, the more I could make out something else. Hidden deep within the chimes’ song, it was as if I could hear another voice calling to me. I thought I recognized the voice. It sounded like . . . Master Therapass.”

  “Therapass?” Kyja sat up straight. “Master Therapass has been trying to contact us, and you never told me? How could you let me think . . . that he was dead?” After everything she’d done to help Marcus, why wouldn’t he tell her that the person she loved most in the world was still alive? It felt like a betrayal.

  Marcus stayed quiet so long, she thought he wasn’t going to answer. When he finally did, the words sounded as if they were being pried painfully out of his throat one at a time. “At first I couldn’t understand what Master Therapass was saying—or if it was really his voice at all. I didn’t want to get your hopes up for no reason. Then, once I could understand . . .”

  He sighed long and deep. “The reason I didn’t tell you is the same reason I didn’t tell you about the dream. Haven’t you figured it out by now? Why I only have the nightmare when the dawn chimes sing? It’s Therapass. He’s the one—the one who’s telling me I’m going to destroy Farworld.”

  Chapter 41

  Tankum Heartstrong

  Marcus refused to talk about his dream anymore that night, or even the next day—focusing instead on getting back to Farworld. It took them three tries before they’d located a place on Earth that jumped them to within walking distance of Terra ne Staric. He wasn’t surprised at all to find the final spot was in the Southern Arizona desert—less than five miles from Saint Demetrius’ Monastery where he’d been found as a baby.

  “This is it,” Kyja said after they’d walked about twenty minutes.

  For a moment, as Marcus studied the knee-high grass, randomly scattered boulders, and lack of any buildings, he thought they’d stopped in the middle of an empty field. It wasn’t until he looked carefully around that he noticed broken boards strewn among the weeds, shattered trees, and a deep crater that looked like a bomb had gone off.

  Kyja led him to a partially collapsed stone wall—the only thing still standing. “This is where they lived. Mr. and Mrs. Goodnuff and . . .”—she swallowed—“and the baby, Timton.”

  Even Riph Raph seemed sad. Although he was probably just hungry again.

  “Maybe we should go somewhere else,” Marcus suggested, noting a farm not too far away.

  “No.” Kyja wiped a hand across her eyes. “I’m all right. It’s just seeing it like this for the first time since I left. It brings back memories.”

  Crouching beside the ruined house, he looked up at the walls surrounding Terra ne Staric and beyond them, the tower. At the sight of the imposing white building, his heart began to pound. “Maybe I should stay here.”

  “Brawk, brawk,” Riph Raph said, flapping his wings and strutting around the ground like a chicken.

  Kyja studied Marcus. The night had begun clear, but dark clouds were blowing in from the east, and the air felt as if it would rain soon. For a quick moment, two of the three moons showed through an opening in the overcast sky, and Kyja could see the worry on his face. “Whatever Master Therapass is trying to tell you, it’s not that you’re a traitor.”

  “How do you know?” Marcus met Kyja’s eyes for a moment before returning them to the tower reaching toward the gray sky like an accusing finger. She hadn’t had the dream—hadn’t felt an entire world loathing and fearing her.

  He couldn’t imagine any circumstances under which he’d ever lay a hand on this place he’d dreamed about since he was a child. But why else would the wizard send him that message? Why would the Dark Circle not send Thrathkin S’Bae to pursue him? “The Augur Well said betrayal would find us. That one of us is a thief and a liar. It had to be talking about me. It’s the only answer that makes sense.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense at all,” Kyja insisted. She ran a hand along the cold stone of the ruined wall. “But I think I know who the betrayer might be.”

  “Who?” he asked as a drop of cold rain spattered on the back of his hand.

  “In the swamp, when I was looking for you, Cascade warned me to be careful of Screech. He said Screech had hidden reasons for helping us.”

  Of course Screech had hidden reasons. He wouldn’t have tracked them down just to say hello. “I knew we shouldn’t have trusted him.”

  “Trusted whom?” asked a voice.

  Marcus turned to see Lanctros-Darnoc standing behind him. It was the first time he’d seen the land elementals since he passed out. Even without the fever raging in his head, he still thought the creature was an imposing sight.

  “Who do you not trust?” Darnoc, the boar, asked.

  “Go ahead,” Marcus said, when Kyja hesitated. “If they’re going to help us, they should know.”

  “It might not be anything,” Kyja said. “Cascade warned me to be careful of Screech, but I don’t think Screech would do anything to hurt me.”

  Lanctrus nodded slowly. “The water elemental again. Perhaps it is wise to be wary of others. But be careful of rushing to judgment.” The fox looked directly at Marcus. “Be especially careful of how you judge yourself.”

  Marcus thought that was interesting advice considering how the land and water elementals seemed to distrust each other. His focus quickly changed when the land elementals waved their wings and a ball of tiny glowing insects appeared in the air, lighting the night like a lantern.

  “Cool,” Marcus said, his attention diverted from the tower. “How’d you do that?”

  “Simple land magic,” the boar said. He showed Marcus how to do it until Marcus was able to summon a lantern of his own. Darnoc was right. It was easy.

  “There is much more we can teach you if you’re willing to study,” Lanctrus and Darnoc said together. “Land magic is the magic of teaching. We would be honored to share our knowledge.”

  “That would be great,” Marcus said.

  “Put out those lights!” Rhaidnan appeared like a ghost.

  “How long have you been there?” Kyja asked as Lanctrus-Darnoc dispelled the lanterns of insects.

  “Long enough to make sure you weren’t followed. Things have gotten worse since we last talked. A dozen more Keepers have arrived, and the guards are actively searching for anyone plotting against Zentan Dolan.” Even in the darkness, the stress on the hunter’s face was clear. “And long enough to hear your concerns about the trulloch.”

  “It’s probably nothing,” Kyja said.

  “In the last three days, four of my men have disappeared,” Rhaidnan’s eyes roamed from the city walls to the nearby farm, across the empty field, and back again. “Four more are too scared to help us any longer. I’m afraid to let my family leave the house. There are traitors everywhere. If you have suspicions about someone, I need to know it.”

  Kyja nodded. “I understand.” Rhaidnan whistled softly. Five more men rose from the grass less than fifteen feet away. “Have any of you seen the trulloch?” he whispered.

  “He hasn’t arrived,” said a fat man with a thick moustache.

  “Tall thing like that would be hard to miss,” said Breslek Broomhe
ad, the man who lived at the next farm over.

  “What about the water elemental?” Rhaidnan asked.

  “He could be anywhere,” Lanctrus-Darnoc said.

  “Or he could be right behind you,” Cascade replied.

  The land elementals spun around, clearly annoyed at being surprised.

  “I’ve been scouting the city,” the water elemental said. “Not playing tricks with bugs. There are at least forty Keepers in and around the tower.”

  “And three unmakers,” said a tall figure that materialized just behind Breslek. Screech gave the man a black-toothed grin. “I’m harder to miss than you might think.”

  Rhaidnan snorted in disgust. “Apparently.” He motioned to his bewildered hunter, who stared at the trulloch as though suspecting he was some kind of illusion. “We’re all here. Gather the rest of the men. There’s no telling how long this cloud cover will continue, and we need every bit of help we can get. Meet us just outside the west gate.”

  He turned to Marcus and Kyja. “We’ll stay off the road until we reach the gates. Two of my men are on guard duty. They’ll let us inside while your friends access the underground river. According to my reports, Therapass is still alive. But he won’t be much longer. Tonight might be our last chance to rescue him.”

  Marcus glanced toward Kyja before planting his staff in the tall grass. “It might be better if I stay here.”

  “No,” Kyja said.

  Not far away, thunder shook the night. Rhaidnan scowled. “Marcus, what are you talking about?”

  “I think I should stay away from the tower,” Marcus said, not wanting to explain why. “Besides, I’d just slow you down. And I don’t . . . I don’t have anything that could help you.”

  “Not true,” the hunter said. “I have very limited man power. I can barely guard both of you together. Separate, there’s not a chance.”

  “You have to come,” Kyja said. “Master Therapass would want you there. I want you there.”