by Sever Bronny
“No …”
“Together work Magua and Lord of Legion. Scions he not have, he find with rod.”
“But surely Lividius knows he will be destroyed should he actually come to possess all seven—”
“This problem Magua help fix. Magua only witch ever receive Leyan invite. Evil she is. Fool Leyans she did—fool all but one.”
“Krakatos …” Mrs. Stone gaped at Oba as if all her plans had fallen apart, looking old and beaten.
Augum had never seen his great-grandmother afraid before. It made his skin crawl.
“Destroy last portal Anna Stone must,” Oba continued. “To Castle Arinthian Anna Stone go.”
She glanced to the foursome lying around the fire. “If Lividius can track the scion, he will be on his way here this very moment …”
“Anna Stone must hurry—”
“No, Oba, there has to be another way—”
“Other way there is not. Anna Stone’s scion Legion may find, portal to Ley they must not. Destroy it Anna Stone must.”
“Oba, the Lord of the Legion can still get to Ley,” Mrs. Stone said in a quiet voice. “There is a recipe hidden in Bahbell Occulus was working on, a recipe to make a portal to Ley without a scion. We are on the way there now to retrieve it before the Legion does.”
Oba’s jaw flexed. “Know this Oba did not.” He bowed his great head and sighed. “Then destroyed recipe must be.”
Mrs. Stone turned to the trio. Augum swallowed hard, knowing exactly what she was going to ask of them.
A Sudden Goodbye
“Mrs. Stone, don’t leave us, please!” Haylee said.
“I am afraid I must—you are in great danger in my company. Lividius will be tracking me this very moment with this divining rod. He will teleport to the closest location he has been to and ride the rest of the way with his entourage. I will have to constantly teleport to get away, but eventually I will simply run out of luck. You must find Bahbell on your own and destroy the recipe. If I go with you, he will know exactly where to find you—and the castle. All is not lost, however—we can continue to communicate using the Orb of Orion if you give me the pearl.”
Augum immediately gave up the engraved control pearl.
“I will counsel you and continue to train you when possible.” She turned to Oba. “It would be best for us to walk until I have fully recuperated my arcane strength. When my energies return, I shall teleport us to Castle Arinthian and destroy the portal. Of course, Lividius has been there before, so we must expect him to try and stop us. If we are successful, I shall then teleport you to Nodia.”
“It be so, Anna Stone.” Wrinkles had already appeared under Oba’s eyes and on his forehead.
Augum gave his great-grandmother a warm hug. “Good luck, Nana. Please be safe.”
“You must keep away from your father until you are ready. And I shall do my best to prepare you.”
“I’ll try, Nana.”
“We’ll miss you so much, Mrs. Stone,” Bridget said, also hugging her.
Leera stepped forward. “Thank you for saving us from the avalanche … and mentoring us … and stuff.”
Haylee swallowed hard. “Mrs. Stone …” but she couldn’t finish.
“It is all right. You will all do fine. Take care of each other and continue to study hard. I will watch over you from afar. Be wary of death, for it is real. Keep on the move—do not stay near here overnight, it is too dangerous.”
“Yes, Mrs. Stone,” they chorused reflexively.
Augum suddenly realized he’d never see the big warrior again. “Thank you, Oba—for everything.”
“Oba see Augum in great beyond, land of the warrior. Oba tell Thomas Stone Augum say hello.”
“Thank you,” Augum choked out.
“Let us make haste, Oba,” Mrs. Stone said.
The foursome slowly waved as Anna Atticus Stone disappeared into the night, the doomed Leyan alongside.
A hollow feeling settled over Augum’s heart. It was so sudden, so quick. He had been preparing to spend a lot of time with his great-grandmother, learning and training with her … and now she was gone. He exchanged the same slack expression of disbelief with the girls.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said at last, realizing he had no idea which direction they were supposed to go.
Bridget kicked some snow on the dwindling fire. “We can follow Mrs. Stone’s original tracks back to the rock then follow the map from there.”
“Shyneo,” Augum said, removing his right mitt. His hand sputtered to life, lighting the area in cool electric blue.
“Shyneo,” echoed the others.
“Please let us stay away from those things,” Haylee whispered, searching the dark trees, drawing her long coat tighter.
“I can’t believe what just happened,” Leera muttered as they strode quickly along Mrs. Stone’s original tracks. “I can’t believe it …”
Augum kept up the rear, the food bag slung over his back, the rucksack digging into his shoulder. “At first I thought it had something to do with those harpies—”
“Yeah, me too—” Leera said. “Now all of a sudden we’re supposed to do this on our own? What makes her think we can even succeed?”
No one answered the question.
The wind kept up a steady pace as clouds shot overhead, so close they sometimes skirted along the ground. Augum still shivered a little from being frozen, but he worried about the harpies the most. What if they came back? How would they protect themselves? His eyes incessantly searched the darkness, ears focused on picking up the sound of beaks clicking,
The news they had heard rolled around his brain like frozen tumbleweed. His father now had the ability to track down the remaining scions while Magua worked on a way for him to be able to possess all seven without destroying himself, bypassing the only Leyan safeguard.
He hoped his great-grandmother could keep away from his father long enough … but long enough for what? Who could stop him now? Their sorry foursome?
The situation felt bleak. To compound it all, if his father tracked Nana down and she gave up the scion, she’d die! The thought was so unbearable he shoved it out of his mind.
He glanced ahead at the girls, fighting the wind. It was just them now. Sure, Nana could be reached through the Orb of Orion, but it wouldn’t be the same …
“This is it,” Bridget said, stopping.
Augum caught up to a gaping maw in the snow. It shot down alongside the face of the giant rock they had camped under. Haylee kept staring into that abyss. “I don’t like being back here.”
“Can’t even see the bottom,” Leera said. “Could have easily been our final resting place.”
“Grim,” Augum said. “Let’s move on.”
Bridget turned her back to the wind and brought out the map. “I don’t know about this—if we continue on from this point, we’ll have to start climbing the mountain.”
“In the middle of the night?” Haylee asked. “In this? We’d have to be out of our minds!”
Bridget nodded. “I agree, we need to get away from here, but climbing in this weather is suicide.”
“We should hide somewhere safe and sleep,” Augum said. “Somewhere away from the trail.”
They looked about. The only for-sure location with trees was back the way they came, but that was far too dangerous. After all, there was a harpy’s body there. Suddenly he realized whichever direction they went, if someone stumbled across their path, all they had to do was follow their footprints. Unless—
“We have to follow this plateau for a while,” he said. “The wind will erase our tracks. Then we can find trees to camp amongst.”
Nobody else had a better idea so Augum led the way, keeping a quick pace but constantly checking behind him. The wind bullied their backs, the gusts so strong they’d often trip. Suddenly he caught a putrid whiff. The girls noticed it too, for they all turned around at the same time, searching the night. He expected a harpy to come hurtling out of the
dark any moment now. What was merely a nuisance for Mrs. Stone could easily be the end of them …
The girls extinguished their hands one after another.
“Won’t help us, they can see in the dark,” he said, remembering those twisted hag faces surrounding their camp. Except this time, there weren’t any protective enchantments to keep them back. “Come on.”
They increased their pace. Once in a while, there’d be the unmistakable scent of death and decay, making everyone run. Somewhere upwind, the harpies were searching for them.
They skipped over rocks and wound their way around giant mountain boulders, until he heard the sound of trees rustling in the wind. They veered off the plateau, finding stubby but wide evergreens.
They searched the slight incline, looking for a suitable candidate to camp under.
“No, this won’t work,” Augum said when Haylee suggested a dying hemlock. “Have to find somewhere more sheltered.”
They continued on, hunting for anything large enough to hide behind and dense enough not to be seen from the air. At long last, they found a crop of fat pines, the trunks surrounded by thick winter bush.
“Perfect,” he mumbled, plowing through the snowdrift that stood guard like a wall. Only ankle deep snow lay behind.
He kept his hand lit while they setup the larger of the two tents, the top of which dug into the evergreen. As soon as it was erected, they tumbled inside, too exhausted to do anything except cover themselves with blankets. There was only enough room for them to lie on their sides.
“Well this is awkward,” Leera said, trying to push Haylee aside.
“Hey, I got nowhere to go!” Haylee cried.
“Then face Bridget, not me!”
“Stop it, Leera,” Bridget said.
“Fine, I’ll shove over this way.” Leera pressed against Augum’s back. His face suddenly prickled with heat.
“Think those things will find us here?” Haylee asked with a slight tremor.
“Only if the wind changes,” Augum replied.
“I’d have slept better not knowing that,” Leera said.
They listened to the wind and the shwooming trees.
“I can’t believe it’s just us,” Haylee whispered eventually.
“Same here,” Bridget said.
Leera sighed. “Tomorrow we have to find the Occi and somehow not get eaten. Then, to make things even more interesting, we have to get them to tell us where Bahbell is. After that, we have to get inside the place and destroy this so-called recipe—oh, and before the Legion finds it.”
Augum dimmed his hand. “It does sound crazy when you put it like that.” He wondered if she could feel the heat from his body. He tried not to think about dancing with her, and how they had almost kissed.
“Maybe we should just go back to Milham and sit around a fire,” Leera added.
“Think of Leland though,” Bridget countered. “He’s blind and helpless and totally reliant on his father. The Legion has no place for a boy like that. What if they wanted to take Mr. Goss away?”
“They do—but probably only to use him as a hostage to get the scion,” Leera said. “Not that they need hostages for that anymore …”
“All right, now what if we had the power to stop them from getting Leland and Mr. Goss? What if we could save others out there, the faceless ones, people we haven’t even met?”
They pondered that for a while.
Leera snorted. “Sometimes, Bridge, you sound like someone much older.”
“Well sometimes I feel that old …”
Suddenly Augum felt a hand squeeze in underneath his arm and wind around his chest.
“Do you mind? I’m cold,” Leera whispered nonchalantly.
He swallowed and shook his head, thinking she must surely feel the walloping of his heart.
“When I was training to become a necromancer,” Haylee began quietly, “I saw things that cannot be unseen, things coming out of the ground that should have stayed dead. I was told not to let it bother me, that it was normal, that it was all for the ‘Great Quest’—because in the end, those that were loyal to Lord Sparkstone would get to live forever. Forever … like in those stories about Leyans. Forever, like the Nodians think about the great beyond, or the southern priests and the Unnameables …”
She paused a moment. “My grandfather did wrong by handing over Sparrow’s Perch—”
Leera shifted uncomfortably at this.
“—it wasn’t his plan to have everyone murdered though. He was greedy—he just wanted to get his estates and titles back in Blackhaven. When the Lord of the Legion rewarded him and then murdered all those people, my grandfather—you wouldn’t think it now—but he suffered for that. He used to be so strong and mean and sharp, but after that, he kind of shrank and sat at home and withdrew and just … looked out a window.
“One day he put me on his knee like he used to when I was younger, and he said, ‘Haylee my sweet grandchild, I want you to learn from the worst mistake I ever made. Never allow ambition to override your heart. Look at what I have done. I have misjudged the Legion and killed so many … for nothing but gold and empty titles.’ When he told me that, that’s when I started to lose myself. And then Robin and I were on a training excursion and we found you, and I just couldn’t take it anymore …”
She took a deep breath before continuing. “There’s something I haven’t told you about my time hanging in that cell waiting to die. After Robin killed my parents and my grandfather, he … he raised them as the undead to torture me.”
“Haylee …” Bridget whispered. “That’s … that’s horrifying. I’m so very sorry …”
“I know, and I’m sorry about your parents, I really, really am. When I was in that cell and Robin let my parents and my grandfather wander in there in their new form … well, I knew then what the Legion really meant by eternal life. It … it broke me, and I haven’t been able to put the pieces back together since.”
For a time, they listened to the wind as it moved the trees and pushed around the snow. Augum thought of everything Haylee must have gone through. She must have suffered terribly. And maybe she was right too—maybe being undead really was what his father meant by eternal life. He let that thought simmer.
“Haylee,” Bridget at last began, voice croaking with weariness, “I didn’t know there was so much to you …”
Haylee made a tired laugh. “I didn’t either … once I was popular and clever and witty and smart and rich—I mean, I made songs about people in school and had the class sing them—”
“—and I haven’t forgiven you for that,” Leera chimed in. “But after what you said …” Her voice faltered. “I think I can learn to.”
Augum was proud of Leera for saying that. He pressed his hand over hers and squeezed. She squeezed back.
“I hope you will.” Haylee sighed. “But now … now I don’t know who I am …”
“I know who you are,” Bridget said. “You’re a survivor.”
The Ridge
Augum dreamed of pacing a great steed in a quiet spring forest. Birds sang, deer danced, and trees bloomed with color. The scent of linden, cedar and orange blossom filled his nose. Sunshine warmed his face. Leera held his waist, head resting on his shoulder.
Then the forest began to decay and darken. The trees thinned and lost their leaves. Snow started falling and a harsh wind picked up. The birds rotted before his eyes, falling to the ground dead. Deer, rabbit and squirrel became fleshy carcasses. Flies buzzed. He tried to warn Leera that something was wrong but she remained blissfully asleep on his shoulder.
Suddenly all the dead animals began to struggle to their feet. It was then he realized he could see through the ribcage of the great stallion beneath them. It slowly turned its ugly head to look at him, eyes glowing crimson.
He startled awake, soaked in cold sweat. Leera groaned softly, arm still around his chest, his hand entwined with hers.
It was just a dream, a bad dream, that’s all …
He turned away suddenly. What was he doing? It was a curse to like her that way. He’d only doom her, like he had doomed Mya. Death followed him wherever he went, even into his dreams …
Yet they were walking towards death. Bahbell … even the name sounded like pain and fear. This wasn’t like before either, when they were running from something. This time, they knowingly headed into danger—without the help of Mrs. Stone. Every bone in his body told him it was a bad idea and they should turn back right away, turn back and run to Milham as fast as they could.
He sighed, knowing full well he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he turned back.
Heart heavy, he stuck his head out of the tent. It was a sunny but windy morning, the sky vast and azure. He stretched and spent some time clearing the entrance that had built up snowdrift, thoughts in turmoil.
Soon the girls stirred awake and readied breakfast without a fire, constantly on alert for harpies. He tried communicating with Mrs. Stone through the Orb of Orion, but there was no response. Everyone wondered whether she had been successful destroying the Arinthian portal to Ley, and if Oba Sassone was in a Nodian village, breathing his last as an old man.
“Maybe you three should turn back,” he blurted in the midst of being served journey bread and Solian cheese.
Leera gave him a look. “Did you take a knock to the head yesterday? We already talked about this, a lot, and with Mrs. Stone too. Pretty sure everyone here knows what they’re getting into. Stop trying to talk us out if it, it’s annoying and insulting.”
Bridget nodded. “Have to agree, Aug, it’s insulting.”
He glanced at Haylee.
She smirked. “Nothing to lose.”
“You do have something to lose though,” he said. “Your lives.” He looked at each of them in turn, gaze finishing on Leera. “What happened to Mya can’t happen to any of you.”
She gave a pained smile. “Then we better do our damnedest to make sure it doesn’t. Now eat something!”
