The Circle of Six: Emily's Quest (Legends of Eostra)

by Sanders, Dan

  Xavier attacked Sabina. They became locked in an elemental battle between fire and water. Xavier’s body was completely engulfed in the flames of his fury, the Fire Lore of his birth. Sabina cooly wrapped herself in water, sucking the life out of the flames. She rose higher, a rolling tsunami, threatening to wash over him. But his new Melder training had given the young boy emerging powers of the other elements. In desperation Xavier held out his hands to the hovering light-stones and flicked them with his thought at Sabina. They showered Sabina with stony blows. She moaned and covered her face and released her surging water.

  Kato, Lupi and Daimon joined forces to concentrate the battle on Blade. Kato spewed fire, Lupi thunder-clapped air, and Daimon sliced beams of sapphire flames at the dark Melder. Blade jumped and weaved and parried all of their powers with flicks of his wrists, spoken words of ancient lore mixed with the darkness of the Zora Stone which he grasped in his hand. Although unable to penetrate his defences, they managed to press him against the wall.

  Emily watched from behind the tree with growing fear. The spring sun was on them. The sound began to sing in her head. So strong was nature’s song that she could not concentrate.

  The room was alight in a conflagration of elemental powers, by masters of their Lore. Emily felt the fabric of the room being undone. Kalen-Na, built in past millennia by Melders of Eostra, shook. It reminded her of the stories of the first Elementals, of when the world tore itself asunder.

  Emily had enough. In two great bounds she leapt into the chamber and screamed. Everybody looked at her. She realised she had exposed herself. She didn’t care. She had to end this.

  Blade laughed and held out a hand, freezing Emily, raising her into the air before she had a chance to move. Her footpads dangled helplessly.

  “Everybody freeze,” Blade said, “or I will rip the ears from her little rabbit body.”

  Emily squirmed at the invisible steel bands digging into her fur. The Melder pulled back his green hood, releasing his cream hair.

  Daimon and Bevan laid down their blades. Xavier ran and picked up his staff.

  “So it comes to this,” Blade laughed. “The prophecy was right. The Circle exists.”

  Bevan boomed across the room, “You cannot stop it now, Melder. The Chosen One is more powerful than you, than any of us.”

  “You are arrogant, young Prince. She will not reach her full power until she lays the egg.”

  “You lack the power to kill her,” Lupi said.

  “We don’t have to.” Xavier scowled. “We just have to stop her from laying the egg before the dawn of the sunrise.”

  Everybody gazed through the transparent ceiling of the Celestial Room. He was right. It had started. Emily felt the surging gasps of the morning trying to break through. The sky began to swirl, changing shapes between the grey starry sky above and another world that now faced down upon the centre of Annwyn.

  Emily tried to reach out to the mental bonds that held her but could not penetrate the black mind of the Melder.

  “Don’t you see what you are doing?” Emily choked through her bindings. “You are doing the same as the Elementals before you. We should not be tearing each other apart; we should be healing each other.”

  “You are not the way,” Xavier shouted. “Torek is the master. He wants to foster independent minds.”

  Lupi shot back, “By destroying the land.”

  “He said it has to be undone, so it can be rebuilt anew, under the new order of Gorgos.”

  Emily looked at Xavier. Dark rims surrounded his red eyes, the eyes of an animal. But she remembered the first time they met; the young boy hidden just beneath the surface of a man. She knew that boy was in there. She felt an overwhelming urge to heal him, to make him whole.

  She reached into his mind. The steel red door was surrounded by fire. He slammed it shut.

  “Not this time, Chosen One,” Xavier sniggered.

  Just then, an old man with silver red hair and a giant electric-blue wolf pounced into the room.

  Emily called out, “Professor, you made it.”

  Xavier looked suspiciously at Emily before turning back to the two beings before him. “Professor, Bardolf, why are you here? You must go.”

  Sashiel ran towards Xavier. Blade extended another hand and gripped Sashiel in an invisible cage. Bardolf crouched low, ready to pounce.

  “Do not move, old man,” Blade said. “You have no authority over him anymore.”

  “Let him go, Master,” Xavier yelled.

  “Do not listen to him,” Blade demanded.

  The Professor’s hand reached out in supplication to Xavier and said, “This is not your life. The death of the land is not the answer. To take a life is not to create it. Your new master cannot give you a new land as he has promised.”

  Xavier hesitated and said, “It’s better than being controlled by the confederation and their deity. Gorgos is all-powerful.”

  A girl stepped forward from the shadows.

  “Sirakon, you can’t be here,” Xavier cried.

  She brushed back her wavy red hair and said, “Stop it Xavier. I beg you. Your father has been killed in battle for the cause of Torek. Too many have died for Torek’s lies.”

  Xavier’s mouth curled in derision. “You lie. You all lie.”

  Bardolf paced towards Xavier. He growled. “The girl does not lie, Xavier. I carried the Overlord’s body back.”

  Xavier’s eyes widened in disbelief. He said, “You forget, Professor, you taught me how to use my staff to connect with my father.” He stamped his staff on the stone floor and closed his eyes. Emily watched with sadness as his face went from derision to curiosity to concern, then his eyes opened with fear, and finally, anger.

  His face went white. He lifted his face and a thin laughed emerged from his young lips. His body burst into flames that licked the ceiling. “He must not die in vain.”

  Xavier held out his hands. Emily felt the power grow in him.

  Emily stared down at her friends and realised they were now powerful people in their own right. It had been foretold that they would come together. Sabina, a Water Sprite; Lupi, an Air-Elf. They must come together as one, as she had been told at the Gift-Giving. And the lost knowledge of the Order of Harmony struck her mind with ancient force. She knew what must happen.

  Although she could not speak with her choking throat, she yelled in Thoughtspeak, “Circle of Six, you must now take your positions next to your elements. Kato, go to the Gilga’s Kettle where the Fire Element symbol lies in the stone; Lupi you are the Air, Bevan, you are the Earth Lore, and Sabina, you are the Water.”

  They looked up at her slowly, not wanting to reveal their private communication to their captors.

  “But what about me?”Daimon Thoughtspoke in return.

  Emily looked around. Rupurt was bravely hiding with the Harp under a rock. Bevan was in the corner shaking himself awake.

  “Rupurt, brave Rupurt, when I say, you must deliver the Harp to Daimon. Daimon you must lay the Harp on the dais at the head of the star.”

  Emily looked into the ribbons of coloured light flicking across the heavens. It was Annwyn’s twin world, Earth, trying to take form. Emily remembered what her papa Bijou had told her. How special he said she was; that she was born on the dawn of the spring day. He spoke proudly of the sky of lights that danced at her birth. Were these the same lights her father and the elders talked about? This morning, of all mornings under the sun, was her birth morning.

  Emily Thoughtspoke the Circle, “Sabina, you must make the Melder release me now, or all will be for nothing.”

  Sabina panicked, and looked around. “Bevan, distract the Melder. Break his hold on Emily.”

  Bevan crawled across the back of his room, out of the Melder’s view.

  “How do you suggest I do it? He’s too powerful.”

  “Bevan,” Sabina said, “use the Rock Lore, all of your Rock Lore. I have seen it in you.”

  “But I do already. I am al
ready strong in the Rock Lore.”

  “You have not reached your potential. Reach deep inside. Don’t be afraid of what you will become.”

  She hurt him. Nobody had said that before. In desperation he closed his eyes and felt deep inside. At first he saw nothing different. He tried harder. In a dark corner of his mind, he saw a glowing stone hovering alone. He rushed over to it. He remembered seeing this stone before many times in his life when he connected into Rock Lore, but he had always ignored it. For some reason it scared him. It was too small and insignificant, yet he felt it meant more than what he saw but was scared he could not control it. He feared it would take over and ruin his life. Gingerly he reached out. When he was close he withdrew his hand as he had done many times.

  “Touch it,” a voice encouraged him. It was Sabina.

  Without daring to think he grabbed the stone in the corner of his mind. A light exploded. He was engulfed by a rush of power so enormous that he nearly dropped the stone.

  Her voice spoke over his own doubts, “Accept your true self.”

  He opened his heart and mind and felt the ancient power of the Rock Lore begin to choke him. He held his breath and let it flow through his entire being, into his arms, and legs and feet.

  Everybody watched in awe as Bevan grew before them. The ground creaked beneath the giant Prince. Small stones fell from his arms as they flexed. As large as a Reven he towered over his enemies. He stepped and the walls shook. Emily feared he would demolish the building.

  He withdrew his Reven blade. Casting a shadow as it swept through the air, Bevan sliced off the Melder’s right arm. The pulsing Zora Stone tinkled as it dropped to the floor. The Melder screamed in painful fury as blood flowed out of the stump.

  Emily felt the mental grip release. She dropped from the air and landed on her paws.

  Sabina screamed out, “Now Emily, the Egg.”

  Lupi flew across the room, caught Emily, and dropped her next to the still silent Zane.

  Emily touched Zane’s cool, smooth body and said, “Zane Siok, I am Eama, rightful possessor of the Egg of Eostra. Your life’s duty has been filled. Release the Egg to me.”

  Zane turned his black eyes to Emily, reached into his belly and pulled out a large crystal egg. Emily touched the Egg.

  And it all happened in slow motion for her. She saw the other members of the Circle dive for their places at each point in the star.

  Bevan shrank back to size. He massaged earth and leaves and flowers in his hands and laid them into the Kettle. A golden glow poured from the Kettle and enveloped him.

  Lupi pulled and stretched the air, and pushed the swirling wind into her Kettle. A golden glow poured from the Kettle and enveloped her.

  Sabina’s fingers danced in the air and water poured into her Kettle. A golden glow poured from the Kettle and enveloped her.

  Kato opened her mouth and spewed forth fire into her Kettle. A golden glow poured from her Kettle and enveloped her.

  Emily’s heart soared. The power of the Earth was protecting the Six. Suddenly, the elements grew in size, trying to pour out of the Kettle. They wanted freedom. And they were threatening their representatives in the Circle to get it. Emily saw the worried looks on the faces of her friends.

  “Do it, Daimon,” Emily cried out.

  Daimon held the Harp high and placed it on the dais on the topmost point of the star. Nothing happened.

  Sashiel and Sirakon ran to Xavier. His flames had died down. Hunched over he cried into Sirakon’s shoulders.

  Zane’s spoken voice rang across the sounds of the raging elements. “You must harmonise the elements before laying the Egg.”

  Sabina yelled, “Daimon, play the Harp.”

  Daimon scrambled with the Harp strings, but no sound came.

  “It’s not working,” he said.

  “Try again,” Emily soothed.

  Daimon tried strumming more gently, trying to make a sound, speaking softly to the Artefact of Harmony. The gold and crystal Harp remained silent.

  Emily held the Egg between her paws. The roar of nature was deafening, as if her head was shoved under rushing waves. She looked at the anguished Daimon and remembered Aldrick’s rejoining ceremony.

  “Sing, Daimon, sing,” Emily screamed.

  “Sing,” Sabina shouted, realising Emily’s plan.

  Daimon held the gleaming Harp close to his mouth, took a deep breath and began to sing. Starting low and slow, Daimon’s voice swept across the room. Instantly the Harp came alive, responding in perfect harmony to Daimon’s magical voice. Together they swelled in natural tones, majestically engulfing the Elements in the Celestial Room. The lilting notes rose and fell in cajoling tones to the raw power rising in the room. The music rose to a crescendo and in the final climax the wave burst and the Elements boomed into submission. Silence. And for that perfect moment nature was in harmony. Four golden streams of light poured across the room and into Emily’s Kettle at the centre of the circle, at the centre of the pentagram.

  “Now, Emily.” Sabina was barely audible.

  “You will not lay the Egg.” Blade’s angry voice rang across the room. He grabbed the sliver of Zora Stone off the floor and with all of his remaining force the Melder threw a combined Elemental blast of energy that seared the air as it hurtled towards Emily’s furry chest.

  Kato’s honeyed voice roared, “No, Chosen One.”

  Her Giant Tiger form left the safety of her Kettle and with the speed of an orange light burst into the oncoming path of destruction. The last of the Exotic tigers received the discharge squarely in her majestic chest. She detonated in a shower of orange sparks, splitting the maze of circles on her skin. Burnt flesh popped out, pink sinew on bone. Red tendrils tore and blackened her sleek form. The deharmonised remains of her colossal body flopped to the shaken floor. The pads on her paws were visible as she lay on her side.

  Emily was blind with pain. She hopped to Kato and bent over her. Shallow breaths sped through the giant rubber nostrils. “Why, Kato? Why?”

  “A life without beauty is no life,” she wheezed. “The land can have beauty now. My life now has meaning.”

  The tiger’s white whiskers curled and her eyes closed for the final time and her head bounced onto the sandstone floor.

  Zane spoke firmly to Emily, “Eama, the dawn is here.”

  Choking through blinding tears Emily looked at the sky. He was right. The first sliver of the spring sun pencilled the horizon.

  She shut her mouth, and held the sobs in her chest.

  Emily looked at the circle. Standing in their glow three elements were held in harmony. Fire rocked the Kettle in battle. Emily dropped her head. She was beaten.

  “Wait, there is an answer,” Professor Sashiel shouted. “Xavier, you are of the Fire Lore. Stand in the Circle.”

  “Me?” Xavier said. “I have done too much harm. I cannot.”

  Emily cried out, sobbing between words, “You can… I have seen… good in you…”

  And Daimon yelled out to him, “Remember, Xavier. We are the sum of our choices.”

  Emily pulled herself together and rushed the final words, “You can make a choice and save the world. Do you hear that, save the world.”

  Xavier’s dark red eyes searched the room for answers. His master lay dead on the floor. Without a member of the Circle the rising Fire Element in the Kettle threatened to engulf the room. He looked down and saw he was twisting a small flame in his hands. He looked up at Sirakon whose eyes pleaded through tears. He whispered. “I am of the Fire Lore.”

  He ran to the Fire Element in the circle and gripped the flames of fire in his hands, spoke in hushed rapid sentences and cajoled the flames back into the Kettle. His red hair was aglow in the golden light that arched across the room and into Emily’s circle. A tear ran past his lip.

  With paws outstretched, Emily held the Egg above her head and laid it in Gilga’s Kettle. The beam of golden light that joined the elements to Eostra’s Egg grew and surged into t
he sky above, joining the Twin Worlds. And the light was her and she was the light. The minds of the Circle of Six were with her and their joy rang as the symbol of spring, the power of all that was good and right had prevailed.

  On a wave of golden glory the Circle held hands, and united as one, flying as friends under Emily’s new power, the air; they bonded in the victory of rebirth. They looked across at each other, Emily in the middle, and smiled sober smiles.

  And Emily pushed the light across Annwyn, in the earth and the sea and trees, in the blackened and dead; she healed that which was harmed. And the land sang praises to her name, of her love and connection with all things. She felt the people and the places and their tears of joy; and the unity of mind engulfed her. People across Annwyn stopped, raised their hands, and joined the land in their songs of rapture.

  With her red paw outstretched, and her flaming ears and earthy tail and ocean eyes, Emily reached the Abandoned Lands. The black castle was her last threat. She drew strength from her friends at her side, stood tall on a cloud, slapped her paws together and watched as a thunderclap of golden light struck Gorgos with healing love. They watched as the green cats-eye of the Dissonant One vanished in screeching agony.

  And then there was nothing. The song that had roared in her head was gone in a wave of silent explosion.

  Spring had arrived.

  Chapter 51

  The Egg Workshop

  HAVENDEL–Eostra’s City

  ANNWYN

  Bevan lay on the grassy bank next to the lake. He stretched his arms above his head and let his hands flop onto the sloping grass.

  The late sun warmed the turquoise water and cast yellow shadows across Havendel. The great wall loomed across the other side of the lake.

  Three confederation soldiers reverently carried one of their comrades that had been left on the plains. One of his arms dangled awkwardly.

  Bevan threw white petals into the breeze. He thought of the men that were no longer, and of the mothers who had raised sons, never to see them grow old. He thought of the life partners who would have no fathers for their children, and nobody to protect them. Their loss hurt him. He thought of his father and understood him better. He lifted his hands and let them fall onto the grass again, and enjoyed the feeling they made when they thudded on the earth.