“You say that as though you’ve dealt with your fair share,” Lev said.
Rae shook her head. “One is enough, although…” she trailed off, carried away by a memory. “Funny,” she said, returning to the present. “It has been nearly forty years to the day since another young man came here to ask me about curses. I had to turn him away.”
A searing pain throbbed through Lev’s skull, accompanied by a scream. The red dagger on his belt vibrated with the sound in his head. He knew then that Rae’s words were the key to a puzzle he’d been trying desperately to unlock.
“Child?” Rae said, placing her small hand on his arm.
“Rae, can one curse be used to end another?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Oh? How do you mean?”
The scream was still echoing in Lev’s head. He knew whose voice it was. “There is an older curse. The one who bears it…” he trailed off, trying to control the anger that came every time he pictured Emma’s face. The things she’d said on the dock were like hot, barbed nettles that dug deeper into his skin every time he relived them.
“The Flute Keeper,” Rae said, nodding. “You connected the thread.”
“Her curse,” Lev said, his voice shaky. “Would it be enough?”
Rae started to say something, but stopped. With a furrowed brow, she looked up at Lev. “That’s hardly the real question. It comes down to what you said before. Just because it can be done, does that mean it should be? You’re ignoring something quite vital here.”
“And that is?” Lev asked.
“There’s a war coming,” Rae said. “A dark energy has pervaded the atmosphere. Every living thing can feel it. All my children—the trees and the Dryads in them, the flowers, the ants and the fish in the sea—I sense their fear. Darkness is rising. You know this to be true because you’ve come to face its army. That is the ultimate goal of your journey, is it not?”
“Perhaps,” Lev said. “But what is there worth fighting for if I have nothing to give my people when we’re finished?”
Rae sighed. “Prophet or not, you’re a bit shortsighted. Who’s to say that any of us will survive what’s to come? It’s a war, young king—a war unlike any this world has ever seen.”
“So we will fight,” Lev said.
Rae shook her head. “With blades and spears you may make a dent, but there’s more to it than defeating the undead drones. In this war, there is only one soldier capable of defeating the real enemy, and that soldier isn’t you.”
Feeling slighted, Lev turned and headed for the door. “Thank you, Mother Rae.”
“You came here for the truth,” Rae called after him. “That is all I can give. You are not the one, young king. That dagger is not yours to wield, and the curse is not yours to bear.”
Lev paused with his hand on the door. “Then what do I do?”
“Be there for her.”
“She doesn’t need me,” he growled.
“Well, don’t hold that against her,” Rae said. “We most certainly need her.”
Cursing in Slaugh, Lev left the shrine. Rae stood in the doorway, watching his winged silhouette meld with the forest. The ship had to be at least an hour downriver because the water around the shrine was too shallow for safe passage.
“Oh, to be young and proud and stupid again,” Rae remarked to the bird perched outside the entrance.
“Chirp!” he agreed.
A breeze rustled through the grove, causing a few leaves to fall to the water’s surface. Rae watched the ripples spreading out to meet each other. “It’s going to be a hard winter. You’d best be tending to your nest, little one.”
Without a sound, the bird spread its wings and took off.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Just a few more nails!” I shouted.
We had been working all through the night. The rudder was taking shape below the observation deck. It jutted out from the back of the house like a giant, patchwork spatula. I helped Mr. Larue put pieces in place while everyone else searched for scrap wood and spare nails. Already we were able to turn the rudder to one side or the other using a tangled net of ropes. The only problem was that it took the floating house a long time to change its course. It was still much more under the control of the air currents than the rudder.
“Here!” Mrs. Larue said, handing me a leg from a dining room table that had already been given up to the cause. “Use that to brace the weak section near the bottom.”
I climbed down a length of knotted rope and jammed the table leg into place near some support braces. Mr. Larue’s wings appeared and he hovered beside me to drive a few nails into the brace. A violent updraft suddenly caught him, causing him to bang his head on the rudder. Cursing, he dropped the hammer. I reached out to grab it but I missed. It fell until it was a tiny speck below.
The air was becoming unstable the closer we got to the mountains. The big, black bumps that Harriet had spotted were now jagged peaks that blotted out the view ahead. Plagued by updrafts and chilly blasts, the house drifted ever closer to the peaks.
“It’s no use!” Mrs. Larue said. “Even if we can steer it, we’re still too low!”
“If only the updrafts could lift the house higher,” I said, wiping sweat from my face. I climbed up to the observation deck and watched the mountains getting closer.
“Keep adding to the rudder!” Bazzlejet shouted through a window. He was able to sit up now and he’d been watching our progress. “If we can get it to match the blueprint’s dimensions it should give us more control!”
Alice and Harriet were red from running around and getting materials. They slumped together against the deck rail.
“Look,” I said, leaning into the sitting room window, “Maybe Gremlins could build a full-sized rudder that fast, but we can’t. We’ve got to think of something else.”
Bazzlejet squinted at me through his puffy eyelids. “It was designed by Gremlins. I bought the blueprints from these blokes called Joyboy and Wimbleysminch. They’ve pioneered air designs for ships so I figured, why not a house, too? Guess it wasn’t such a good idea.”
I dragged my fingers through my hair and took a deep breath. I had an idea, but it was so reckless I didn’t want to say it out loud.
“What is it?” Bazzlejet asked weakly. “You look like you just swallowed a stinkshroom.”
“I have a plan,” I said through my fingers.
“Let me guess,” Bazzlejet said, trying to sit up straighter. “It’s very dangerous and likely to get us all killed.”
“Not quite,” I said. “But it does involve danger and destruction. See, the problem is that the house is too heavy.”
Bazzlejet craned his neck to look out of the scenic window on the other side of the room. The mountains were close enough that the lichens growing on the rocks were clearly visible. “Destruction is kind of a given if we don’t do something soon.”
“Your dad said that you guys are all good flyers,” I said. “Is that true?”
“I’m not in top form right now,” Bazzlejet said with a swollen grin. “But, yeah, we can all fly, even Beth.”
“Okay, here’s what needs to happen.” I climbed in through the window and began laying out my idea to Bazzlejet.
Suddenly there was a shout from Alice. “Lookie! Flying snakes!”
My blood ran cold. I went out to the patio. In the distance I spotted the unmistakable forms of wind drakes. There were four. Each carried two of the duke’s men.
Mrs. Larue hugged her daughters tightly to her. “They’re coming for us. We’re trapped!”
Mr. Larue was ashen. Watching him, I felt terribly guilty. Their lives and their home were in danger and I couldn’t help but think that it was all my fault.
“Do it,” Bazzlejet shouted. “Let’s try your plan!”
Mr. Larue asked, “What plan?”
“The house is too heavy,” I said. “Maybe if we could separate the observation deck from the rest of the house the updrafts would lift us over the mountai
ns.” I watched him carefully for signs of shock. It was asking a lot for him to destroy the home he’d so carefully built.
Mr. Larue acted neither shocked nor angry. He rubbed his chin and said, “That might just work. If we move some of the tethers to the observation deck and cut all the others…”
“You’d have to saw through the boards where the deck connects to the rest of the house,” I said. “Do you think there’s time?”
Mr. Larue flexed his fingers. “I can do it.” He turned to his wife. “Cecily, load up a couple of bags of food, water and clothes. Do it quickly. Girls, go help your mother.”
They ran inside the house, though Harriet had a hard time prying her eyes from the wind drakes. They were getting closer every second. The iridescent scales on the creatures’ backs shimmered in the early morning light. The men who rode them were big, burly, and mean-looking.
“What about them?” Mr. Larue asked in a low voice.
I tried my best to sound positive. “Cutting away the rest of the house should make us a lot faster. Wind drakes are fast, but they’re dealing with turbulence. They’ll have to slow down to make up for it.”
Mr. Larue clapped a hand on my shoulder. “I see now why my brother speaks so highly of you. You’re a quick thinker.”
I felt myself blushing. “Commander Larue says nice things about me?”
Mr. Larue didn’t hear me. He put Beth to work tightening the ropes between the balloons and the observation deck while he surveyed all the woodwork that would have to be cut.
Bazzlejet leaned out of the window and shook his fist at the duke’s men. “Look at those cretins! Let me at em!”
Mrs. Larue appeared behind him and pulled him back inside. “Sit down! You’ll aggravate your injuries!” she pushed him into an armchair and snapped her fingers. Her source crystal flashed and the chair started walking upstairs. Alice and Harriet followed behind. They lugged bags that were bursting at the seams with supplies.
I kept a close watch on the duke’s men. My main worry was that they would have bows and arrows. As they drew closer I saw that they did not. They would have to get close to us to do any kind of damage. For once, I had the advantage.
“Surrender now and we’ll spare your lives!” shouted one of the men.
“Emma!” called Mr. Larue. “We’re ready! Go up to the deck!”
“Hurry!” Mrs. Larue shouted. She and the girls were huddled around their supplies. Bazzlejet and his armchair were wrapped in ropes and tied to the railing. Alice and Harriet did not look scared, but they stayed close to their mother. Beth had tied herself down to the supplies. She shook like a leaf.
A purple glow came from Mr. Larue’s wings. He offered me a hand. “Come on. I’ll carry you up to the others.”
“No thanks,” I said, glaring at the duke’s men. “I’m going to buy you a little more time.”
“But you can’t fly!” Mr. Larue said. “How will you get to us after I separate the house?”
“Don’t worry about me,” I said, patting my sword. “I have a way to escape.”
“But—”
“Duck!” I shouted.
A wind drake swooped low, buzzing Mr. Larue’s head. One of the men on its back reached for Mr. Larue. I hurled a pulse of energy at him, causing him to miss.
“GO!” I shouted.
Mr. Larue flew up to the observation deck. The nearest wind drake chased him. I cast another pulse of energy at it. The startled wind drake thrashed about in the air, causing the men to slide. They nearly fell off, but saved themselves by grabbing the wind drake’s tail.
“It’s the other fugitive!” shouted one of the men to his partner. “The one that went over the waterfall!”
“Impossible!” shouted another.
I cast barriers to keep the other wind drakes from getting too close to the Larues. “Hey!” I shouted. “You want me? You’re going to have to come get me!” I took off running across the patio.
There was a brilliant flash as Mr. Larue made the first cut. His lightning bolt shattered the support beams between the kitchen and the observation deck. The kitchen lurched to one side.
Two of the wind drakes chased me. The other two closed in on the Larues. I tried casting a barrier but it was hard to make it precise while I was moving.
Alice and Harriet pulled pans from the supply bags and threw them at the men on the wind drakes’ backs.
“Take that!” Alice shouted as a frying pan hit one of the men squarely on the head.
“You’re not taking my brother!” Harriet yelled. She threw forks. None of them hit their target but they did force the men to wriggle and reposition themselves.
There was another flash. The kitchen groaned and then fell away completely. What was left of the house teetered precariously to one side. The observation deck, still partially attached, also shifted. Beth and Mrs. Larue screamed.
Two of the wind drakes bore down on me. I could feel their hot breath on my back. As a last resort I threw myself to the patio floor. The wind drakes zoomed over my head and then whipped their long bodies around, spurred on by the men riding them. I took a deep breath and focused on my magic.
“Nowhere to go now!” shouted one of the guards as the wind drakes closed in on me.
The words had barely left his mouth when I knocked the men off their mounts with an invisible barrier. They fell to the patio in a stunned tangle of arms and legs. The freed wind drakes kept flying, abandoning their riders.
“Come back!” shouted one of the men who had managed to untangle himself.
Mr. Larue cast another bolt of lightning. The magical bolt struck close to one of the remaining wind drakes, grazing the scales near its head. It bellowed and gave up the chase even though the two men on its back yelled at it to keep going.
There was only one wind drake left. The four men I had knocked down jumped and waved their arms to get the riders’ attention. The last of the connections to the deck were almost broken. The patio heaved and buckled. Portions of the house fell away, sending debris crashing to the rocks below. A sheer mountain face rose ahead. Capped with patches of sparkling snow, it waited to be witness to the crash.
The last few beams holding the house to the observation deck gave way. There was a deafening crack and suddenly the deck flew free. Now dwarfed by the huge balloon, the deck hovered in the breeze like a piece of paper. I caught glimpse of the Larue family’s faces. Mrs. Larue screamed my name, but the scream was drowned out by a gust of wind. The updraft caught the balloon and swept them up and over the mountain peak.
The Larues were safe. The same could not be said for me. The patio and the bits of house still attached to it were in a free fall. The four men screamed like babies. They waved their arms in hysterics. The two men on the remaining wind drake swept alongside the patio. They reached out to their comrades but the wind drake couldn’t keep up with the falling house.
So what if I didn’t have my own wings? I had a magical thunderbird at my beck and call. I couldn’t wait to see Alice and Harriet’s faces when I caught up to them riding the magnificent golden bird.
“It’s been fun, guys, but I’m out of here,” I said, reaching for my sword.
All of a sudden, the house collided with an escarpment on the mountainside. The patio disintegrated. I squeezed the sword tight in my hand as I was thrown forward onto a slab of the broken floor. Flowerpots fell and shattered all around me. The other men and the wind drake vanished among the debris.
I lay flat on my stomach, clutching the little piece of floor. It hit a large rock. The blow jarred my bones and caused even more chunks of the patio to fly off and shatter on the mountain. A snow-covered slope lay below. My unlikely sled bounced along the first little bit and then skidded across the snow. I saw a fissure in the rock, bounded by a field of boulders.
There was an explosion of wreckage and snow. My body flew free. I pitched end over end until my head struck something hard.
I did not black out. I wished I would. Pain humm
ed up and down my body like an electric current. My vision was cloudy. There was a dripping noise by my ear that I suspected was blood. With the pain came nausea. I turned my head to retch. The small movement made the pain increase tenfold.
The cold of the snow seeped through my pants, making my legs prickle. That was good. At least I could still feel them. I attempted to get my bearings and sit up.
Bad move. It felt like my own ribs were stabbing me. I screamed and then bit my lip so hard that I tasted blood. My vision went even blurrier. All I could see was the white glare of the snow. The sword was still in my hand. I felt its smooth shape resting against my palm.
A sudden noise made me grip the sword tight. It was the sound of footsteps crunching towards me. With rising panic I tried to see who it was. Had one of the duke’s men survived?
My struggling only made things worse. I screamed again, overcome by the pain in my chest. The footsteps paused. I sensed a shadow falling across me. Squinting through the haze, I could just make out a tall, dark figure studying me.
The person leaned over. I got the impression of a milk-white face and black hair. There was a voice as well, but it was muffled and distorted by the waves of pain in my head.
“I’m sorry I have to do this,” came the slow, warped words.
Strong hands reached under my armpits. They pulled me up. The pain was too much. The last thing I saw was two dark eyes looking down at me.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I slept for what felt like a very long time. Occasionally I would wake up and get the impression of a smoky fire or scratchy sheets, but my eyelids felt so heavy that it was much easier to go on sleeping. My brain was sluggish. I could barely feel my arms. My legs were splinted up and stuck out past the end of the short bed I lay in.
One time I woke up and saw a person staring at me. I fought my drowsiness to get a closer look because the black hair, the white skin and the strong jaw were terribly familiar. My heart rate sped up. Was it him? Had he come back?
It was one scattered thought lost among the tumble of pain-dimmed drowsiness. Time lost meaning. My memories were broken and strung together wrong so that sometimes I thought I was back in the human world while in others I was re-living the last terrible seconds before my blackout.
The Flute Keeper's Promise (The Flute Keeper Saga) Page 20
