by Sever Bronny
So did it mean the orb was ‘off’?
Trusting his instincts, he tiptoed up to it. It appeared cold and dead. He poked it, yet no eye opened from within. Finally, he picked it up. It was stone heavy. He carried it back to the girls, who almost jumped out of their skin.
“Augum Stone, have you completely lost all sense?” Bridget asked.
“You sound like Nana.” He thought he’d have some fun and shook it.
The girls gasped.
“I think its link with Erika is broken or something.” He put his ear to it. “Can’t hear anything.”
“What if it’s only turned off for now?”
He hadn’t thought about that part. “Um, well, don’t think it is, but I suppose that’s possible.”
Even Leera, who usually had his back in these kinds of things, was looking at him as if he had lost his mind.
He groaned. “Fine, I’ll go put it back …”
“Wait—” Bridget ran both hands through her hair. “Maybe … maybe we could use it. If we can figure out how to tap into its power somehow, it could be useful.”
“I think it’s worth trying,” he said. “And honestly, I don’t think it’s off temporarily or anything like that.”
Leera took it from him. “I command you to, um, to meld with me.”
He raised his brows. “ ‘Meld with me’?”
She ignored him. “I command you to be my eyes—”
“Oh, give me that—” Bridget said. She gave the orb a hug, to which both Augum and Leera had to hold back from laughing. It just looked so weird. After she tried a bunch of different variations, all to do with hugging for some reason, she gave up and returned it to him.
He watched it, grimacing.
“Trying to win a staring contest?” Leera asked.
“No … I’m thinking. Just give me a moment.”
She folded her arms and sat back to watch, a smug look on her face.
He thought he’d try something neither of the girls had—arcanery. Although his head still hurt from earlier, he was nonetheless able to perform the spells at a basic level. First, he tried the Unconceal spell, though that didn’t do a thing, the globe looking as dull as ever. Next, he tried Telekinesis, bobbing it up and down in the air, which also didn’t do anything except maybe make his head hurt more and widen Leera’s smirk. Then he tried Repair, but as Bridget casually pointed out, “It doesn’t look broken to me …”
“Only one possible one left. Shyneo.” He placed his lit palm directly onto the globe—and it instantly lit up. On top of that, he was able to see through it for a moment, though the glimpse was as brief as blinking.
“Whoa—” Bridget edged away from it. “You did that, right? I thought I saw an eye open for a moment there.”
“I think that was me, yeah.” He extinguished his palm. Now, how to see through it?
A genuine smile replaced Leera’s smirk. “All right, you win. Good job.” She picked it up. “Hey, why isn’t it locked in place?”
“I think I have to lock it down or something.”
She revolved it in her hands. “It should come with a parchment of instructions. Can you see through it now?”
“Nope.”
Bridget shivered and drew her robe tighter. “Maybe it needs some kind of command word.”
“Again, instructions …”
Although it was warmer than the day before due to the sun, they were slowly freezing, and the only real alternative to Mrs. Stone miraculously showing up out of the blue to snatch them to safety (as Leera hoped would happen) was to descend the stairs and somehow sneak by the guards.
When he peeked over the edge of the tower earlier, there were a slew of Black Guards searching for them. He peeked again, this time hoping to catch a glimpse of Mya, whom he was still planning on rescuing. Only about a dozen milled below now, chatting idly as if taking a break. A little ways off in the forest, he spotted men on horseback searching the ground.
He retreated from the edge, disappointed he had not seen Mya. “They’re still there.”
Bridget blew on her hands. “We’re freezing. I say we go down.”
He grabbed the globe. “I’m ready.”
They followed him to the stairway door just below their former prison room. He placed his hand on the handle and his ear against the door, hearing nothing. Was there no one left in the tower? There were three rooms below this level—Erika’s dining room, Erika’s bedroom, and that burned-out room, but it was possible someone could be in any of them without him hearing. There could even be guards on the other side of this very door. If that was the case, they were most likely doomed.
He went with his instincts again and twisted the handle.
The passage was clear.
They descended quietly. When he was sure the dining room was just around the bend, he stopped and listened.
Nothing.
He took his first step toward the dining room when the screech of a chair had them freeze to the spot.
“Ugh, I’m so sick of waiting for the search party.” It was Robin’s voice. “I’m telling you, we should be out there practicing our craft. It’s so stupid that we have to sit here with nothing better to do than stare at each other.”
“What, am I not pretty enough to look at?”
And that was Haylee’s voice!
The trio exchanged looks. Haylee Tennyson had been their enemy back in Sparrow’s Perch. Her grandfather had been the central figure in orchestrating the whole raid by the Legion in the first place, a raid that took the lives of Bridget and Leera’s families and friends.
Augum remembered Haylee well—long-haired blonde with cold blue eyes and a small pointed nose, walking around the village like she owned the place, a clique of girls and boys (Robin included) always in tow.
“You know what I meant,” Robin said.
Haylee breathed an exasperated sigh. “Better to be warm in here than freeze out there.”
“Guard, what say you?” Robin said. “Think we can go soon? Obviously the lowborn rats have escaped.”
“I do not know, my lord, but we have orders to keep you here until relieved by the commander.”
Robin drummed the table.
“Stop that already—” Haylee said. “You’ve been driving us crazy with that for hours now.”
He stopped, making a sound like he was sucking on his teeth.
“Really, Robin, you can be so crass sometimes. Anyway, you were supposed to be teaching me about the fundamentals of being a necrophyte. I mean, that’s why I’m here, right? Practical experience in the field and all that?”
“Yeah yeah, I don’t feel like it right now, okay? Maybe later.”
Haylee sighed loudly. A chair screeched as someone rose. “Ugh, this place is so gross, how did your Aunt survive living alone in these … conditions?”
When Robin didn’t bother responding, there was the sound of pacing. “So you think she was telling the truth? Were they really here?”
Robin smacked the table. “I told you I don’t know! Auntie Erika was a black sheep in the family.”
“Oh? Why was that?”
“Well, for one, she was almost expelled from the academy when she was our age.”
“For what?”
“Theft. They said she stole some ancient artifact. It was a real scandal. The family leaned on the council and they reinstated her, not that they had any real proof she stole it. Anyway, she wasn’t here alone all this time, she’s had that nasty little pet of hers to keep her company.”
“Not hers anymore.”
“Whatever, I don’t care. If the gutterborns were ever here, they’re long gone now. The hounds will track them down eventually. The Legion always gets its way, and I’m learning from the best when it comes to the art of the question. Did you know I questioned five people over the last few days? Five.”
“Five whole people,” Haylee said, sounding bored.
“Yeah, seriously. First there was that idiot trapper, who had to be p
ut down for desertion and impudence—so what if I accidentally lit his mutt on fire? It was only a stupid dog—”
Augum exchanged another look with the girls. So that’s what happened to poor Frankie the Trapper and his loveable hound!
“Don’t be harming any more animals, Robin Scarson.”
“Are you deaf? I told you it was an accident—”
“And the kitten at the academy?”
“That wasn’t my fault! Anyway, then there was that foul stinking rat that doesn’t deserve to be our great lord’s son—can’t wait to get my hands on him again. Next time I’ll make him suffer so much his dead mother will hear the screams.
“Then I had the pleasure of putting my new healer to the question. I assure you she won’t be trying to escape. Should have seen her bawl. Easier to break than a twig—”
Augum felt his blood boil. Even imagining Mya in that iron room with Robin made him want to rush in there and deliver a Dap-style beating. Almost as if knowing his thoughts, he felt Leera’s hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.
“Then I trained a little on this complete moron farmer that supposedly freed all the prisoners, though how he could have done that is beyond me. Man was as thick as an oak. Probably did it by accident if anything. The only reason he still lives is his sons have signed up to the cause.” He paused. “How many is that now?”
“Don’t know.”
“Oh yeah, and now would you believe I’ve had to put my own aunt to the question? Huh?”
“Huh,” Haylee echoed in dull tones, still pacing the room.
Robin chuckled. “Truthfully though it was kind of fun. I don’t really feel sorry for her. She’s always been stingy with presents.”
“The commander says your aunt’s lying, you know. I think he’s planning on having her flayed or something.”
“Yeah well the Blade of Sorrows thinks everyone is lying half the time …”
“Careful what you say, people might get the wrong impression.”
“You threatening me—?”
“Don’t be paranoid.”
Robin sighed. “Haven’t been seeing much success with raising walkers yet, and I don’t want to return to the academy without spawning at least one wraith.”
“That’s way beyond your degree.”
“We’ll see. All I’ve managed to do was raise a bunch of old fogeys at some cemetery, and they were useless, running off almost immediately. One day though, one day I’ll raise them like Lord Sparkstone does.”
Augum wondered if it was one of Robin’s walkers he had run into by the trapper’s cabin.
“The great lord himself is going to instruct you when he gets back from capturing the crone. You should feel honored.”
“Mind your tone.”
Haylee stopped pacing. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me, girl.”
“I’m not your ‘girl’, nor am I one of your slaves, Robin Scarson. I’m a highborn—”
“Why don’t you just shut up—”
“How dare—”
“You heard me. Shut. Up.”
A tense silence passed as the trio exchanged looks.
“I suppose you’re right,” Robin continued as if nothing had happened, “he did reward me with my own healer after all. I’m going to drag her back to the academy and make her carry all my books. Wish I brought her along today, she could have made me lunch. Probably better company too.” He cackled like a vulture.
Augum felt queasy. Robin had left Mya behind in Tornvale. Worse still, she was going to be his personal slave.
Suddenly there was the sound of boots on the stairs, ascending quickly. He and the girls barely had time to meld back in the shadows, hoping the soldiers did not advance beyond the room.
“My lord, Commander Tridian found some tracks he thinks might belong to the fugitives. You are instructed to come at once.”
“Finally! Come on, Hayles, let’s get out of this miserable dump.” The sound of movement. “Well, you coming, girl? Silent treatment, huh? Whatever, you can stay here and rot for all I care.”
He blew by with a gang of guards. At last, Haylee followed, sniffling quietly.
The Chase
“Here—have one of these.” Leera handed Augum a piece of buttered bread, the remains of the food the Legion had not confiscated or eaten.
He took it and stared at it dully, envisioning sweeping back to Tornvale and rescuing Mya from the Legion’s clutches.
“How are you feeling, Aug, ready to press on?” Bridget asked, riffling through a cupboard. The girls had been searching the kitchen trying to find anything they could take for the coming journey. So far they had found two loaves of journey bread, raisins, nuts, sunflower seeds, dried cherries, two winter apples, and some dried strips of salmon. All he had done was slump in one of the ebony chairs.
Bridget sat down across from him, leaning forward while he played with the chunk of bread. “Aug, I’m really sorry about Mya, I really am, but you know we can’t go back. We have to find Mrs. Stone. Don’t be sad. Now come help us find food for the journey.” She gave Leera a look.
Leera strode over and slapped him on the back. “Come on, you warlock, we could use your help here.”
He sighed and took a bite of the bread, knowing the girls were right. They couldn’t go back to get Mya, it’d be foolish and dangerous, not to mention it’d send them even further away from Mrs. Stone, and if there was anyone who could save Mya now, it was Nana.
He finished his bread and half-heartedly helped search the place. After some more rummaging, the trio found flint and steel, but nothing else of use. Bridget and Leera then tried using Unconceal. Strangely, both were guided to the same spot underneath the table.
Leera dropped to her knees and crawled under. “Oh, it’s just one of Erika’s earrings …”
“Maybe it’s valuable and we can sell or trade it,” he said.
She tossed it to Bridget, who raised it to the light of the candelabra.
Augum, who at that moment happened to glance at Erika’s seeing orb resting on a chair, saw an eye open within. He recoiled away. “I think Erika just saw us …”
“Oh no …” Leera whispered.
“Wait a moment,” Bridget said. “I just saw you, Aug, but from down low, almost as if I was looking through the orb.”
“Well, I just saw an eye open in the orb …”
There was a communal sigh of relief.
“The earring must be the key then!” Leera said. “She must have hidden it so the Legion wouldn’t confiscate it. She probably thought she could get it back later!”
“It’s kind of easy to use too. Here, you try it.” Bridget handed the pearl earring over to Leera. A moment later, an eye opened inside the orb.
Leera inspected the earring closer. She popped the pearl out of its clipping. “Hey, look at that—she had it mounted on an earring to conceal it. Clever …”
“Now all we have to do is figure out how to see through it without the eye showing up in the orb,” Bridget said.
“And how to lock it into place,” he said, receiving it from Leera. It was finely engraved, much like ivory carvings he had seen at the village market. He practiced watching through the orb. It was bizarre to see from a wholly different location that had nothing to do with his body. The actual visual was kind of like closing one eye and viewing through curved glass. He couldn’t look through his own eyes and the orb at the same time either—it had to be one or the other, which explained why Erika had not checked in on them. She was too busy paying attention to her questioning.
Then he realized something. “We just have to remember that when we use the orb to snoop, someone can listen in on us.”
Bridget began gathering the supplies into a tablecloth. “We’ll just have to be careful then.”
Leera covered her eyes with her hand. “Okay, I can’t watch your eye anymore, Aug. It’s kind of freaky.”
“How about now?”
“That’s better, it’s
gone.”
“But I can still see you!” He said, thinking he may have just figured out one of the mysteries.
“What? How?” She inspected the orb.
“Hi!” he yelled, opening his eye at the same time.
She shrieked. “Ugh, you foul—” and punched him hard on the shoulder.
“Come on, it was funny,” he said, rubbing his arm.
“Anyway, how did you do it?”
“Best way I can describe it is I just thought the word ‘hide’ while still watching through the orb.”
“Oh, that’s all? So I suppose in order to lock it you just have to think the word ‘lock’?”
“Let’s find out. Try and pick it up.” While peering through the pearl, he thought of the orb being locked.
She groaned trying to pick it up. “Locked. Hmm, I wonder if …” She kicked the chair out from underneath. The orb hung in mid-air, unmovable.
Bridget stopped gathering supplies. “Good job, you two. Now I hate to spoil the fun, but we should probably get going. The Legion will be back when they realize whatever tracks they’re following aren’t ours.”
Augum and Leera agreed. It was afternoon already and they had to put some distance between themselves and the Legion before nightfall, preferably without being followed.
“Let’s hope they didn’t find our stuff,” he said, grateful he had hidden the rucksack.
They wandered downstairs, briefly listening at the ground level door before walking through.
“Of course they took the horses …” he muttered upon spotting the empty spot where their palfreys had been.
His father would surely get to Mrs. Stone first now.
Losing the horses was one thing, but what about the rucksack? He searched for it while Bridget and Leera went for the barrels of blankets and biscuit beef.
“Found it,” he said, immediately checking the contents. Luckily, everything was still there—the Dreadnought dagger Blackbite, Tridian’s sheepskin map, a small leather bag of coins, Mrs. Stone’s blue book on arcaneology, and the yellow book on elements. Additionally, he packed in the orb and the supplies Bridget had wrapped in a tablecloth.
The girls rescued nine Dramask blankets and enough linen-wrapped biscuit beef to last them at least seven days. They turned him around and stuffed the beef chunks and three blankets into the rucksack. It bulged, straps already digging into his shoulders, exacerbating the pain in his chest.
