by H. L. Burke
“Yes.” Auric frowned. “Let’s hurry, though.”
They climbed the stairs together.
Hedward stood in his study, staring at the wall where Auric had etched the rift spell.
“It was foolish of me to think you’d stay here where it was safe rather than come after me,” he said. “I should’ve known you’d risk everything to ensure my safety.”
Auric’s chest warmed.
Hedward turned to face Jericho. “I am surprised you knew how to get to me, however. I intentionally never taught you any rift spells.”
Auric’s heart sank. Why had he let himself hope his father was addressing him?
“You didn’t, sir, but Auric knows them.” Jericho grasped Auric by the shoulder and pulled him front and center. “Honestly, I wouldn’t have gotten into the Fey Lands, let alone survived them, if not for him. He knows his way around a stylus.”
Auric gaped at his former rival.
Father eyed Auric. “Really? Do you want to do the honors?” He motioned towards the wall where the charred marks from the previous spell remained.
“If you want.” Auric strode forward, stylus in hand.
Hedward watched his son inscribe a few symbols before nodding and stepping back through the workshop door. “You do know what you’re doing. Excuse me. I’m going to grab a few more quires.”
Auric drew a deep breath. “Thank you, Jericho. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I like an even playing field.” The apprentice shrugged. “Plus we’re better off if your dad realizes that you’re able to pull your own weight. I don’t want to do all the heavy lifting by default.” He winked.
Auric chuckled. He stopped before finishing the last symbol. Turning, he caught sight of a scrap of white cloth sticking out of Jericho’s breast pocket. The apprentice still carried Rill’s embroidery. Auric’s stomach tightened. Well, if his choices were losing Rill to Jericho and losing her altogether, Jericho was by far the better of those two options. Though maybe it wouldn’t have to change too much. Perhaps there was room in Rill’s heart for the both of them, just in different ways.
“I’m getting used to the idea of you and Rill,” he said.
Jericho straightened his posture and cleared his throat. “It probably won’t happen anyway. Like I said, I’m the hired help, she’s the master’s daughter.”
“If I step aside, though, you’ll be the heir apparent,” Auric said. “I’d do that, maybe not for you, but for Rill, for her to be with the one she wants. That’s more important than me taking over the shop.”
Jericho dropped his gaze. “I couldn’t ask that of you.”
“You aren’t asking. I’m offering.” Auric forced a smile. “But let’s focus on rescuing her, then we can figure out the details.”
“That’s for the best.”
Father returned, carrying his own pack. “I’ve got everything. Let’s go.”
Auric’s stylus skated through the last symbol with practiced ease. The wall shimmered, and a wave of prickling energy swept over them. Jericho passed around a bottle of rosemary oil, which the men all applied.
Auric drew a deep breath. “All together?”
Jericho and Hedward nodded. As one, the three men stepped through the portal.
They stood exactly as before, in a misty landscape beside a chasm, though it wasn’t as broad as Auric remembered, perhaps a stone’s throw across. Ahead, however, the same golden bridge awaited them.
Hedward raised his eyebrows. “A bridge? Interesting. When I made the spell it manifested as a tunnel.”
“Did your tunnel include killer death crows?” Jericho snorted.
A ripple of displeasure crossed Hedward’s face. “No, bats. Large, unpleasant ones.”
Auric swallowed. “Styluses at ready, gentlemen.”
In spite of his nerves, Auric took the lead. He wondered if the Fey Lands created a bridge in response to his fear of heights. If so, did that mean his father was intimidated by dark or enclosed spaces? It was too easy to see Father as an unassailable mix of rules and disapproval. The idea that he was also a man with his own irrational fears somehow made the chasm appear shallow. In fact, it seemed to shrink with every step.
Jericho pulled a quire out from his pack. “If you two would proceed to the center of the bridge, I have an idea I’d like to try.”
Auric eyed him. “Care to let me in on it?”
“Easier to show than to tell.” Jericho shrugged. “My bet is that the defensive spell will trigger when you’re midway over again. I have an idea to combat it.”
“The bridge collapsed last time, remember?” Auric said. “Don’t get yourself stranded trying to be clever.”
“I’ve got it covered.”
Auric and Hedward strode onto the bridge. It swayed beneath them, but Auric focused on the far side and kept his breath steady. He paused at the midway point and glanced back. Jericho waved him on.
“Look!” Hedward pointed into the clouds beneath them.
Glints of obsidian black sparkled in the white mist. Auric set his jaw.
They were coming.
With cackling cries the death crows burst from the clouds. Auric ducked. The crows collided into an invisible wall with a series of sickening crunches. The air glistened, revealing a barrier of magical energy. The crows cawed, shrieked, and twitched madly, like flies caught on a glue trap.
Jericho jogged across the bridge to Auric and Hedward. “Won’t hold them long. Let’s get to the other side.”
“What did you use?” Auric frowned.
“Basic anti-mosquito spell, but I took advantage of the energy here to increase the proportions,” Jericho explained. “I wanted to do it from a safe place. Couldn’t have the distraction of those things flying at my head while trying to write something that complex.”
They made solid ground again. Jericho turned and scratched out several more symbols on his quire. The wall of energy folded in on itself, collapsing around the death crows like a piece of wadded up paper. When they were all contained in a tight, black, screaming mass, they dropped into the abyss. Jericho’s eyes shone darkly.
Auric swallowed. “You sure you’re all right?”
“Never better. Looking forward to meeting your uncle.” Jericho gave Auric what could only be described as a deadly smile.
A chill shot through Auric. “Remind me never to get on your bad side again.”
“Enough chatter!” Hedward called out, already at the treeline. “We have a lot of distance to cover and little time.”
They pushed into the forest. This time there were no glowing footprints to follow, but Hedward kept a quick pace.
“Where are we going?” Auric asked. “Last time we traced you to a palace in the mountains. Is that where this Janus has taken Rill?”
“It’s hard to explain. Yes, no, maybe all at once.” Hedward glanced over his shoulder at his son. “Space isn’t exactly a solid factor in the Fey Lands. It can bend and reshape itself at the will of its masters.”
“It certainly takes a long time to walk across for something that isn’t a solid factor.” Jericho picked his way over a fallen tree.
“Yes, well, it’s in the interest of the Fey to prevent mortals from penetrating too deeply into their realm. This particular area belongs to Janus by birthright. It’s considered the ‘gateway,’ the borderlands, as it were, but all that really means is that no matter where you enter these realms, you have to pass him first. Janus’s palace is the threshold of the proper Fey Lands.” Hedward focused on their indiscernible path again. “Inside the palace is a special chamber, the heart of his energy. From there he can touch all the rifts that span our two worlds like a boy running his fingers over a globe, one finger in our beloved Republic, the other in the dark jungles of some strange and exotic land, but all the fingers on the same hand. If he’s still the Fey I remember, he won’t wish to be far from that lair. That is what gives him his power, how he can tell that we’ve entered his domain, for like my war
ds, his sanctum alerts him to any new rifts, their size and power.”
“But what does he want with Rill?” Auric asked.
“I’m not sure. Same thing he wanted with your mother, I imagine. Possibly just to make her, and by extension me, suffer.” Hedward wiped his hand across his brow. “Let us hurry. He will most likely have noted our entrance into the Fey Lands. Rill’s time could be short.”
Auric’s heart jolted. He hurried after Father. Poor, helpless, little Rill, alone and terrified in the hands of a cruel Fey captor.
Chapter Nineteen
Rill drew in quick gasps. The bubbles in the air burst with increased frequency. Once pleasant, they now prickled with a frantic, angry energy that mirrored the struggle for breath beneath her ribs.
“Now will you listen to me?” her kidnapper said.
With a shriek, Rill whirled to face him. Her foot slammed into the tile floor, her hands pushed forward to keep him away, and the bubbles in the air exploded. A blast of energy threw the man across the room into the wall. He slid to the ground, staring wide-eyed at her.
Rill screamed and stumbled. Her hands shook. What had just happened? What had she done? And how?
The bubbles swirled about her, invisible but tangible. Somehow she knew them now. They were magic, but not in the tame form she was familiar with, obedient to a stylus’s commands, passively awaiting instructions. No, these were alive, and they called to her, wanting to interact with her, wishing her to interact with them. They’d obeyed not her orders but her desires. She hugged herself, quivering.
“What have you done to me?” she whispered.
“Nothing.” The man peeled himself from the wall, rubbing his arms. “Please listen—”
“No, I will not!” The magic rushed to her, and she swallowed her rage, afraid it would escape from her again. “You have my mother in a cage. You’ve done something to me, changed me. What did you do?”
“Trillium?”
Rill stiffened. The voice dredged up memories: warmth, lullabies, laughter. This couldn’t be real. She refused to turn and look at the woman who couldn’t really be her mother. No, it was some cruel trick.
“I didn’t do anything,” the man said again. “You haven’t changed. The world has. Here in the Fey Lands the magical energies are stronger than you’re used to is all.”
“The Fey Lands?” Of course, why hadn’t she seen that right away? How else could everything be so strange?
“Trillium, it is you, isn’t it? You’ve grown so much.”
Rill shrank into herself, torn between joy and terror. “This can’t be real. Please let me go home.” Hot tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Oh, Janus, why did you bring her here?” her mother said, her tone filled with reproach.
The man’s face pinched. “I’m so sorry, Iris. It was the only way. She’s the only one who can take your place.”
“Trillium, please, look at me.”
Rill squeezed her eyes shut. It couldn’t be her mother. The awful man was trying to trick her.
“Oh, my little flower, please, let me see your eyes.”
Her throat tightening, Rill faced the woman in the web.
The strands of energy held her in place, her face drawn as if in pain, but so familiar. Rill’s bottom lip shook. It really was her.
“Mother, what happened? Are you all right?” She reached towards her, but Janus darted forward and grabbed her wrist.
“No, not yet!” He angled himself between mother and daughter. “If the energy gets a hold of you, it could start to draw from your Fey essence.”
“My Fey essence?” Rill swallowed. “Please, let her go! You can’t hold her like this any longer. Can’t you see she’s in pain?”
“Trillium, darling, he’s not holding me.” Mother smiled sadly. “I know this looks awful, but I came here willingly.”
Rill’s mouth dropped open. “But why? Why did you leave us?”
“Because if I hadn’t, I would’ve lost you anyway.” Mother’s chin fell towards her chest though her arms still remained outstretched, held in place by the web of magic.
“I don’t understand.” Rill dabbed away a tear.
A ripple cut through the bubbles in the air.
Janus scowled. “A new rift, and a large one. It’s that fool man of yours again. Blast it.” He reached up then drew his hands down as if pulling an invisible curtain. A field of blue light crisscrossed with brighter, jagged lines of pink light descended from the skylight. “I need to stop him before he gets any closer. The idiot could ruin everything.”
“Please, Janus, you can’t hurt him!” Iris gasped.
He grimaced. “For you, I will do my best to avoid it, but I have to push him to the other side. Please, explain things to your daughter. We don’t have much time.” He touched one of the pink lines. The light swelled around him then blinked out. Janus was gone.
“You’ve grown into such a beautiful woman.” Mother leaned forward still caught in the energy, but straining closer to her daughter. “I wish I could hold you again.”
“Are you in pain?” Rill asked. Lines deepened about her mother’s eyes and mouth. Her once flaxen hair now flowed stark white against the glowing magic.
“Not significantly. Your father and brother? Have they been well?”
Rill hesitated. It was hard to sum up a decade of highs and lows, fighting and laughing, into the answer to one simplistic question. “Yes.” She chose the more pleasant part of the half truth. She forced a smile. “Auric has a beard now. It’s ridiculous.”
Iris laughed. “Your father had one when we met. He was so proud of it.”
“We’ve missed you.” Rill examined the web. With Janus gone, could she find a way to free her mother and flee? “Father, especially. I think he’s been trying to find you.”
Mother’s eyes squeezed shut. “Oh, Hedward. Perhaps I should’ve explained but there was no time, and I feared he wouldn’t accept it. I didn’t want Janus to bring you here, little flower. Yes, I’m growing weaker, but I still have enough strength to fill the gap. He shouldn’t have brought you here.”
“The gap? Mother, please, we need to find a way to escape and bring you home. That man is insane. Look what he’s done to you!” Rill swept her arm at the web of magic.
“That man is my brother and your uncle, and he didn’t do this to me. I created this web. I created it and stepped into it.” A faint smile returned to Mother’s face. “I did it for you, and your father and brother … for all in the mortal realms, truthfully, but especially for you three.”
“What does it do?” Rill tilted her head, trying to see the top of the net, but it continued through the skylight and seemed to blend with the starry sky above. The sky here was different, each star bright pink rather than the cold white of the mortal realm’s firmament. More lines of jagged pink crossed the emptiness between the stars.
“My brother and I are gatekeepers by birthright, sworn to watch over the rifts that open between the Fey and mortal realms. The energy of the Fey realms builds over time until it becomes too much for this world to bear. When that happens, natural rifts open in the barrier, allowing a release of magic into the mortal realms. However, in the time since your birth, something has changed.” Iris sighed. “Mortal magicians, desperate for power, have learned how to open artificial rifts from their side. They’ve created so many that the boundaries between our worlds have weakened. Like cracks in a dam, these rifts threaten to send magical energy sweeping from one realm into the other. Janus’s powers include the opening and closing of such doorways, but soon even he became powerless to keep up with the fractures. That was when he came to me, begged me to return and help him.”
“Help him close the portals?” Unease rippled through Rill. In spite of her mother’s assurances, the way she’d been brought here did not bode well for her own or her mother’s safety.
“At first that was our intent, but it swiftly became apparent that we couldn’t work fast enough. It was the hard
est choice of my life, for at the time I thought it meant never seeing you again, little flower.” Her mother lowered her eyes. “But as a rift keeper with ties to both sides of the barrier, I had the ability to place myself in the nexus, to control the flow of energy, and that is why I am here, in this place, rather than with you, your father, and brother as my heart longs to be.”
Rill’s heart twisted. “So if you leave that web?”
“The Fey energy that has built up over the last decade will begin to seep through the rifts, eventually poisoning the mortal realms.” Iris sighed. “I wish there had been another way, but no other Fey existed with a foot in both realms … no other but you, and I’m afraid that is why your uncle has brought you here.”
A chill coursed through Rill. “You … you mean I can do what you do?”
“Yes, as the daughter of a Fey woman and a mortal man, you have magic of both human and Fey natures, as you exhibited with your attack on my foolish brother.” Iris chuckled before growing grave again. “I am weakening, my dear. Janus worries that if I do not step from this web soon, my life will be forfeit and has been seeking a replacement. I told him to leave you out of it—”
“But I’m the only match,” Rill whispered.
“The only one he has found so far,” Iris corrected, her voice sharpening. “He will find another.”
“And if he can’t? Will you die? And when you die, who will hold the net in place? What will happen to all the people?” Rill’s heart pounded painfully. She couldn’t give herself to this. If she did, she’d never see her family again, never see Jericho again. Memory of his kiss warmed her lips, and an ache swelled within her. No, she had to get home … but if she didn’t do it, what would the cost be?
“Oh, Rill, please don’t cry. We’ll fix this, all right? I promise.” Her mother’s countenance flickered like a candle’s flame.
“You are weakening, aren’t you?” Rill asked. “Janus is right.”
