L.O.S.T. Trilogy Box Set

by R. S. Collins

  Everyone in the Sanctuary had completely lost his or her mind.

  I was about to draw my sword and shout “Stop!” at the same time Jazz raised her fingers to perform her ceasing spell when Aaron came tearing around from the training yards, holding the stone around his neck with pale fingers, a look of fear on his face. Aaron tripped and fell, and tried to scramble to his feet.

  Rol charged after him but came up short when Acaw planted himself in Rol’s way, his crow-brother shrieking his alarm. The stone around my neck chose that second to go nuts, humming and jumping and making me want to yell and throw up all at the same time. I grabbed the rock and pulled it away from my chest.

  The training master drew his sword. Before I had a chance to process what he was doing, Rol swung his blade at Acaw.

  The elf whipped out his dagger to parry the sword. It was too small. Rol’s blade was too long, too fast.

  He sliced open Acaw’s gut, nearly cutting him in two.

  Blood splattered Rol. Acaw slumped to the ground, more blood pouring from his body.

  His crow-brother screeched, then let out a mournful wailing caw.

  Everyone went silent in obvious shock.

  “No!” Jazz screamed and I raised my sword to charge after my once loyal friend.

  Rol swiped up Aaron and ran like hell.

  I shouted, “Stop!”

  Jazz screamed “Cease!”

  Everything froze except for Rol. The spell hadn’t affected him!

  The murderer kept running, Aaron under his arm.

  I charged after him.

  One of Jazz’s magic bolts sizzled past me and hit Rol as I heard her yell, “Reveal!”

  Rol began to change. Shorten to the size of a child. His bald head suddenly grew bushy red hair and his skin turned pasty white. And he laughed. Horrible, sickening laughter.

  “The Erlking!” Jazz and I shouted at the same time.

  Blood boiled through my body. My head was on fire. I charged after the fleeing Erlking who still had Aaron under his arm, his sword in his free hand. He was headed toward the Path.

  We had warded all of L.O.S.T. so nothing could get in, but we hadn’t warded it against anyone getting out.

  I doubled my speed.

  The Erlking seemed almost to fly the rest of the way to the Path. He slashed an opening and then disappeared into it without closing the Path behind him.

  Jazz and I reached it at the same time.

  I flung myself through the rent, and a rotten-milk stench slammed into me. For a moment I was disoriented and almost tripped on the moving floor. I raised my sword and silver light flashed around me, illuminating the Path. It had been darkened with some sort of rot. Almost like Shadows, but slimier and slithery.

  “Which way did he go?” Jazz shouted, fury and pain in her voice. Her teeth started to chatter.

  I clenched my fists, and my missing fingers ached as if they were still there. “I don’t know.”

  “You go that way. I’ll head down this direction,” she said, and before I knew it she was tearing away from me, gold light sparking from her fingers, driving back the snake-like mold.

  I didn’t want to leave Jazz, but I knew better than to doubt her abilities to protect herself, and we had to find the Erlking. I’d kill the monster.

  I bolted in the opposite direction from Jazz, running as fast as possible through the Path that was no longer clean, but filled with snake-rot. The nasty crap shrank back from the silver flare of my sword that lit up the place at least ten feet in front of me and ten feet in back.

  Adrenaline pumped through me, giving me the strength to run forward. At the same time I was constantly aware of the possibility that the Erlking was waiting for me around some curve in the Path.

  I ran and ran. My face grew hot and I had a coppery taste like blood in my mouth from running so far, so fast.

  I ran until I reached the end of the Path, slamming into the barrier with my shoulder as I came up short. I was facing the doorway to the Sacred Lands, the doorway Acaw had taken me through just a few short months ago. I tapped on it with the end of my sword like I’d seen Acaw do with his staff.

  Nothing.

  Nothing but a chirp from one of three sleepy harpy nestlings nearby that must have hatched right before the Erlking stole them to distract the harpies. They were so little I figured I could carry them back to L.O.S.T.

  But not yet.

  I clenched my teeth and tried to slice my own doorway open, but my sword didn’t make so much as a little tear. Not even a tiny one.

  I did everything I could think of to open that door. Pounded on the Path’s wall, hit it with the butt of my sword, shouted at it, hacked at it, hammered on it with my fist.

  Nothing.

  Finally, I slumped down the side of the Path, across from where the doorway was hidden, right next to the harpy nestlings, who woke up long enough to snap at me. My breathing was heavy, my arms and legs shaking with the force of my anger.

  My thoughts wrenched back to Acaw. The fierce little elf. I rubbed my gut right where he’d taken the blade. That had to be a mortal wound. I doubted if any magic could save him—but I had to hope.

  I pushed myself to my feet. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe the wound wasn’t as bad as I thought. Maybe he had special elf-healing ability, or something, and we’d get back to L.O.S.T. to find him waiting for us. Maybe he’d appear on the Path and point me toward the Erlking.

  Once again I tried to open the doorway to the Sacred Lands, and once again nothing happened. When I was sure I had no other choice, I picked up the harpy nestlings and held them mouth away from me to protect my skin, and I jogged back down the Path. Despite my growling, tooth-gnashing cargo, I looked for tears in the Path at each doorway that led to a Sanctuary, but didn’t see any clues. For all I knew the Erlking could have taken Aaron into any Sanctuary.

  I paused where the entrance to my mother’s—Nire’s—Sanctuary would have been if hadn’t sliced it and pushed it away from the Path with my magic. I placed my free hand against the rubbery surface and closed my eyes. An ache gripped my heart and the pain of loss ripped at my gut.

  If only…

  No, it did no good to wish for things that couldn’t be changed. Nire would always be evil. I had lost the woman who had been my mother for seventeen years, until I found out who she really was. I clenched my fist and turned away from the doorway. I remembered the words scrawled in blood across my shed, could picture them in my mind.

  Light the fires. Nire comes!

  Nire could be coming back, and if she did, I might have to kill her.

  The image of Acaw, slack-faced and bleeding out his life in the dirt filled up my mind. So much blood. Why did it always have to come to blood and people dying?

  When I finally reached L.O.S.T., my steps were leaden as I strode to the oldeTowne section where the healers’ huts were. I handed off the baby harpies to a nearby hag, who set off to return them to their mother. When I turned back toward the healer’s section and got a little closer, I realized there was a huge crowd around one of the huts. Jazz must have returned and lifted her ceasing spell, and Acaw had been taken to the healers.

  I pushed my way through the crowd of hags and witches. When I reached the door of the hut, I sucked in a breath and entered.

  The sight brought a sharp pain behind my eyes. Acaw lay on a bed, the black sheets covering him and beneath him were soaked in blood. My legs didn’t want to move, but I forced them to take me across the floor to stand beside Jazz who had her hand over her mouth, choking back sobs. Two healers stood nearby, quiet, heads down, hands folded.

  When I looked to the bed, I heard Acaw’s crow-brother making soft sounds as he nuzzled the elf’s cheek. I swore I saw tears in the crow-brother’s tiny black eyes.

  Acaw’s eyelids lifted as if they were so heavy he had to force them open. He looked directly at me. His voice was hoarse and raspy when he spoke. “Promise…you will not try to find me…in Talamadden.”

  I co
uldn’t say a word.

  “Promise!” he forced out between his lips that had begun to look blue and cold. “Let me join my kin…who have…gone before me.”

  I paused, and at the look on his face, I knew I had to say it. “I promise.”

  “Take…care…of Queen Jasmina,” he said, as his eyelids appeared to grow heavier. “And remember…things are not always…as they seem.”

  With that his entire body shuddered. His head lolled to the side, his eyes wide and staring at me as if to remind me of my promise.

  Jazz started muttering prayers to the Goddess and sobbed harder.

  A glittering white light rose from Acaw’s chest and hovered above him. It stayed there for a moment, then simply vanished, just like the elf used to do. Only this time he wasn’t coming back. His spirit had traveled on to Talamadden in Summerland.

  Acaw’s crow-brother gave a long, heartbreaking cry. I half expected the bird to vanish, but it didn’t. The way it looked at me made me swallow hard, like a piece of Acaw was still right there, staring at me.

  I didn’t know what to do next, what to say, where to go. The healers didn’t move. Jazz just cried beside me. I put my arm around her. Burial. Yeah. We had to think about a funeral and a burial. Something.

  A few elf women and men appeared suddenly, out of nowhere. Their features and the sadness on their pointed little faces let me know that this was Acaw’s family. How they knew he’d passed on to Talamadden, I had no idea.

  One of the women spoke to Jazz in a language I didn’t recognize.

  She answered, sobbed, then held up her hand and turned to me. “They want to take his body back to the Sacred Lands. It’s their custom, but they’ve asked our leave.”

  “Does it have to be now?” I cleared my throat because my voice didn’t want to work. “Right now?”

  Jazz nodded, tears glistening in the corners of both eyes. “It’s better this way. He’ll be with his own kind, in one of his favorite places.”

  Not wanting to, I looked back at the elf. His stern face had relaxed, and he seemed completely at peace. And totally, totally gone. I knew I should give him to his family, but part of me wanted to yell and refuse and bury him in L.O.S.T., with us.

  Time to be a king. Time to be tough. “Tell them they have my leave.” For good measure, I nodded to Acaw’s family.

  Jazz told them what I said.

  I put my arm around Jazz’s shoulders and held her to me as we watched the elves magically clean Acaw, and make him whole again. They spelled away the soiled sheets, then lifted him from the bed. Two of them carried Acaw in their arms, walking side by side.

  When they reached the door of the hut, the crowd outside parted for the tiny procession. Jazz and I followed them out, then walked slowly behind them as they carried Acaw toward the Path. My father and Dame Corey fell in with us, but they didn’t say anything.

  Time to be king. Yeah. And for Jazz, time to be queen. I sort of wished I could be a little kid and throw a fit, but that wouldn’t have honored Acaw. Nothing would honor him except sending him home and keeping my promise not to follow him. His crow-brother flapped along just above the elf’s body, as if keeping watch on me as much as his former friend.

  After a few steps, I glanced behind us. The crowd stretched as far as I could see. It seemed like everyone in the Sanctuary had turned out to see Acaw’s last walk through L.O.S.T.

  We came to the Path in silence, except for the rustling of feet and clothing, and the occasional distant cry of a bird. One of the elves spoke, and a round door opened in the Path.

  I shook my head.

  They had such power, Acaw and his people. How they opened the Path so easily, it was a mystery to me, and probably always would be.

  Without looking back, the small procession stepped through and the door closed behind them, sealing the Path once more.

  Just like that, he was gone. Acaw was gone.

  My head felt heavy. I wanted to draw my sword and hack up something, or work some magic to bring him back. But I had promised him when he was dying. I had promised. Jazz squeezed my arm and leaned into me, both of us staring at the smooth spot on the Path where that door had been.

  A screech made me look up in a hurry, and I realized Acaw’s crow-brother hadn’t left with the elves. The bird sailed toward me and landed on my shoulder, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. He gave a loud caw and stared in the direction the elves had just gone.

  Well, then. Guess he was staying.

  In a weird way, I thought I understood what his cry meant. That he couldn’t leave yet. That he had some things to do, that Acaw would have wanted him to stay and look after me.

  For a long time we stood there, Jazz, me, and the crow-brother, looking at the Path. Finally I looked down at Jazz. Her makeup was smudged, letting her golden glitter shine through. Her hair was mussed and her clothing covered in dust. She glanced up and her eyes darted from the crow-brother to me. She looked like she was about to say something when a hag cleared her voice behind us.

  I released Jazz and we both turned to face Dralz, a klatchKeeper, Helden, Quinn, and a harpy. The hag’s snake-like spirit hissed and the crow on my shoulder flapped his wings, his black feathers brushing my ear. I tried to swat him away, but he only clenched my shirt tighter in his talons.

  Helden put her hand on the hag’s arm, stilling her, then stepped forward. “We have made temporary peace between witch, hag, klatch, Dana’Kell, and beasts.” She glanced to those still standing behind her, all with their gazes fixed on me as if avoiding eye contact with each other.

  I wasn’t sure where this was leading, so I didn’t say anything. Jazz stayed quiet, too.

  “We believe Rol is still alive, somewhere in L.OST.” Helden looked agitated as she fingered the coarse material of her black robes. “The hochkonigin have scried it in their cauldrons. But they don’t know where he is. They only know that wherever he’s being kept, he’s in chains.”

  My heart rate picked up and a sense of urgency nearly overwhelmed me. “We’ve got to start looking. We can split up.” I glanced around us, then began pointing in different directions as I gave out orders. “Witches take the modern section of town. Hags search all of oldeTowne. Keeper, the klatchKovens can take a look around Todd’s zoo while the Dana’Kell check out the area around the temple. Harpies take the barns and the slither day-lairs.” I sucked in air, trying to catch my breath from talking so fast. “Jazz and I will search the restaurant on the hill, the training yards, and the glen.”

  To my surprise no one argued with me. It was then that I realized how much Acaw had meant to the whole of L.O.S.T.

  We all took off in our different directions. All the hochkonigin got together, the Dana’Kell in their bunch, the Keepers and their klatches ran off without even singing, and the harpies were soon flying around. Someone had apparently managed to round up all the shims, probably when Jazz released the ceasing spell after she returned from trying to chase down the Erlking.

  When Jazz and I reached the training yards, we searched everywhere, starting with Rol’s forge. Acaw’s crow-brother hung around, insisting on riding on my shoulder half the time, and circling in the air the other half. He seemed just as intent on finding Rol as we were.

  It was late afternoon by the time we reached the glen. Apparently no one had found a sign of Rol or they would have let us know somehow.

  There wasn’t much to look at around the glen but the pond, trees, and bushes. Rol could be hidden anywhere. The crow-brother was riding my shoulder as I started to head toward the trees when I came up close to the pond.

  The stone around my neck began to warm to my skin, through my shirt. When I walked by the water, the stone burned hot enough to make me flinch, but the heat lessened as I headed away from the pond and toward the trees.

  I stopped. Walked back to the pond. The stone grew almost fire-hot again and I reached up to clasp it in my hand. It was so hot I dropped it almost immediately.

  The crow-brother flappe
d his wings, pushed off from my shoulder and took to the sky. He circled the pond, around and around, and let out a series of long, sharp cries.

  “Jazz!” I motioned for her to come toward me.

  Her face was still smudged and her clothing dirty. She’d been so grief-stricken about Acaw, and so intent on finding Rol, that she hadn’t even spelled herself clean. “What?” she asked as she hurried from looking behind a clump of bushes.

  When she reached my side I swallowed and looked toward the water. “I think Rol’s in there.”

  ***

  Chapter Ten

  My eyes ached from crying, but I stared at the bright ripples of the pond as Acaw’s crow-brother shrieked above us. “You think Rol’s in the pond under the water?”

  “My stone’s acting funny.” Bren took my hand and rubbed it against the smooth surface of the sardonyx. Sure enough, the rock seemed hot and alive with a distant but very real hum.

  I pulled back my hand and flexed my fingers. My thoughts jumbled together, but I made myself breathe and focus on the problem at hand. “If we levitate the pond, it won’t work. The water will sweep up everything inside.”

  “Then I’m going in.” Bren shucked his boots and sword before the words left his mouth. I started to protest, but could think of nothing better.

  Bren dove into the pond with force and determination. The water churned and turned murky as he went deeper and deeper beneath the blue-black surface. My stomach tied itself in knots. Acaw was dead. Rol in danger. Now Bren had left my sight, too. I couldn’t stop shaking. Everything felt dangerous and unfriendly.

  Acaw’s crow-brother darted down from the sky and swooped over the pond, cawing miserably at the dense water before taking to the sky once more.

  “Bren?” I tried to yell his name, but it came out a squeak. Nothing answered me but air bubbles and ripples. I stood at the pond’s very edge. “Bren!”

  He broke the surface with a roar and curse. “He’s down there, Jazz. On the bottom, in some kind of bubble. And he’s all chained up. I couldn’t get through the bubble to free him.”

  Think, Jasmina. Think, think, think!