by Joshua Cook
“Let me handle this. You’re powerful, Cendan, but this doesn’t require brute force. Guard the door.”
Cendan reluctantly nodded. Jasmine was his friend of course, but Heather knew far more about magic than he did. He had already searched through the saved patterns on the Key from Oakheart, and nothing seemed like it would help in this case.
“You think you can wake her up?”
Heather shrugged. “Truthfully? Not sure. I don’t really know what he did here. That being said, I have a lot more practice than you at magic. So the only way to know is to try.”
Cendan didn’t like it, but he knew that Heather was right.
“Just be careful, ok? Jasmine is… Jasmine is about the only ally we have here.” He wanted to say more, but the whole situation between him, Jasmine and Heather was nebulous at best. There may not even be anything there for all he knew, and even if there was, this wasn’t the time or place to get into it.
To her credit, Heather didn’t make any half snide comments. She simply closed her eyes, and lightly took her fetish in each hand, touching it with her fingertips only. Cendan watched with both professional and personal interest. He noted that Heather often held her fetish differently based on what she was doing; was that doing something? Or was it just personal preference? Heather drew the surrounding magic, spinning a pattern that seemed to intersect with each thread of light that connected Jasmine to the lair itself.
“Ok, if this works, I’ll break every connection at once. That, hopefully, will free her from this trance she’s in. There’s also a very good possibility that Marcus will know about this the moment I do it,” Heather said, her tone firm. “Oh, and Cendan, this is going to hurt. A lot.”
Cendan started to object when Heather ripped the pattern back, breaking each thread. The pattern around Jasmine fell apart instantly, and just as fast, Heather tensed up, her breath came in a sharp intake, and she collapsed hard on the floor.
“Heather!” Cendan moved towards her quickly, unsure of what he could do.
“Ow,” Heather mumbled. “That hurt like a son of a bitch.” Cendan helped her up as Heather winced and rubbed her temples. “Did the pattern break? My head hurts too much to use the sight,” Heather asked, as she sat on the edge of the bed.
“Yeah, it looks like it,” Cendan answered. “I know you said it wasn’t easy to break someone else’s pattern, but aside from the pain, it didn’t look too hard.”
Heather shook her head. “Normally it is harder. That pattern was, well, just odd. I can’t think of any other way to say it. And the pain is bad, my head still aches.”
Cendan checked on Jasmine again and Heather nursed the headache she had. He noticed immediately that her color was back, and she was breathing more deeply.
“She looks better. Do you think I should try to wake her up now?”
Heather just shrugged in response. She didn’t really know Jasmine, so she couldn’t say how she’d react, even if she did wake up now. Cendan, not getting an answer, let out a slow breath.
“Here goes nothing,” he whispered, and gently shook Jasmine. “Jasmine, can you hear me?”
Her reaction was swift and terrifying. Her body tensed up, then compressed into a ball, and a low moan escaped her.
“No no no no no,” was all Jasmine was saying, over and over again.
“Jasmine, it’s me, Cendan!” Cendan was shocked. What had Marcus done to her? “Jasmine, you’re safe…”
Jasmine’s eyes flickered to Cendan, then Heather.
“Cendan? What... How are you here? Where am I...? Marcus! Oh god, Marcus!” Her eyes snapped shut. “How did we get out of the headquarters?”
Cendan looked at Heather then sighed.
“We didn’t. We are still here. We are… locked in.”
Jasmine’s eyes shot open. “That means he can… Cendan we have to get out. You don’t understand. Marcus is, he can…” Tears appeared in her eyes. Cendan’s shock turned to deep worry. What in the hell was going on?
“Jasmine, we will do all we can to get out, but I need to know what happened. Heather and I both do.” Jasmine nodded slowly, trying to calm down.
“Ok... look...” She sniffed a bit, her tears stopping. “Look, Marcus is insane. Totally insane. He’s got something he calls the Keystone. It’s somehow part of this place, something only he can use as the leader of the Bridgefinders. He’s gone crazy. He hates you, Cendan, and with that Keystone he can... He can do things to your mind; things to your soul.”
Cendan just reached down and hugged her. “You don’t need to say what he did, Jasmine, it’s ok.”
“No! It’s not ok!” Jasmine yelled. “Marcus... He didn’t physically touch me, but… in my mind… Oh god...” Tears came again, and Cendan was silent this time. What could he say? Heather had opened her eyes by this time, and the look on her face was one of stony resolve.
“Cendan, if he’s got something that can control this place, then he knows where we are, and that lock on the door isn’t going to stop him.” Cendan felt his stomach drop. How bad could things get?
Jasmine’s voice, broken and hurt, cut in.
“It is worse. He’s watching us, right now. That Keystone lets him. I don’t know why, Cendan, but he wanted you back here. He wants something from you.”
Cendan swallowed in fear. “Do you have any idea what? Or why?”
Jasmine shook her head. “I just know he hates you. Hates you,” Jasmine whispered quietly, her body still huddled into a ball.
“Cendan, if he’s watching us right now, how are we going to get out of here?” Heather asked.
Cendan shook his head in response. He didn’t have a damn clue. What was this Keystone thing anyways? When he’d last seen Marcus, he’d been unhinged, but this was way past that. Sitting in silence still holding Jasmine, Cendan considered what few options they had. Sitting in his room here wasn’t going to get them anything if Marcus could see and hear everything they were doing. They could try to break out forcefully, but he doubted that would work. Even if Jasmine could be shown enough to help them, he wasn’t sure she was mentally up to the task at the moment.
There was one option, but he hated it.
“MARCUS!” he yelled out loud, startling both Heather and Jasmine. “I know you can hear me. Let Heather and Jasmine go, and I’ll stay. You wanted me anyways, right? I’ll stay.”
Heather started to say something and stopped herself, but her face, which moments before had been stone and calm, now showed her concern. Jasmine’s reaction was stronger.
“Cendan, you can’t stay! You don’t know what he can do. What he will do.”
Cendan nodded. “I know. But that gets you out of here, and Heather. Maybe with some help from the Shrouded, you all can get me out too, but I can’t think of anything else to do.”
Jasmine looked confused at the name of the Shrouded, but didn’t answer.
“I don’t like it, Cendan. You’re right, but I don’t like it,” Heather said. “How can we know he’s going to agree anyways?”
Cendan sighed in response, his shoulders slumped.
“I guess we go to the entrance and see. Staying here doesn’t get us anything. I hate it. I hate being powerless like this.”
Heather stood. “I hate it too, but you are not powerless, Cendan Key.” She slowly nodded to him. Cendan knew she was right, and why she wasn’t saying anything. The less the watching Marcus knew about what he’d learned already, the better.
Jasmine, however, didn’t know and showed it.
“There has to be a better way, Cendan. This is crazy! You don’t know what he’s become.”
Cendan felt his face fall. “I know. But look; before, you stayed to try to talk some sense into him. Now, I’m the one to stay to try to talk some sense into him. We trade positions that’s all.” Cracking a smile, Cendan tried to put a brave face on all of this. “I don’t know what else we can do. He wants me, so I’ll give him me. Too much other stuff going on, Jasmine. Heather will tell yo
u once you’re out.”
A glance exchanged between Jasmine and Heather made it clear they didn’t particularly trust each other. That was fine, they needed to get out.
“Marcus! We are heading to the exit. Let them out and I’ll stay,” Cendan yelled out again as they left his room and headed down the hall, Heather and Jasmine in the lead, and Cendan behind.
“Heather, if this works, take Jasmine back to my place. She can get cleaned up and eat something; fill her in on everything as well. I’ll do everything in my power to get out of here as well. Everything I can, at least.”
The entrance to the lair stood before them, the same solid wall. Once that seemed so normal. Now took on a somewhat sinister cast.
Jasmine broke her silence.
“My focus!” She patted herself down, and Heather reached into a pocket somewhere and pulled out the carved wooden flower.
“No worries. Here it is.”
Jasmine grabbed it and relaxed somewhat as soon as she had it.
“Ok Heather.” Cendan motioned at the door looking around.
“Cendan, she can’t…” Jasmine started to say before she cut off watching the exit with an expression of worry and surprise. “How did she do that?”
Marcus had kept his side of the bargain, apparently, to Cendan’s apparent relief.
“It’s still barred to you, Cendan. Are you sure you want to do this?” Heather asked. “I and Rivenwood have a lot riding on you. This is a distraction from the true threat.”
Nodding, Cendan reached into his pocket and held his focus.
“I know. But I can’t think of anything else at the moment. It’s better to get you all out and maybe think of something. You know what I can do.” Cendan flashed a smile at Heather. In all actuality, Heather only knew a tiny bit of what he could do. Oakheart’s stored patterns would, he hoped, give him an edge on all this. “Besides, if I can stop Marcus, maybe I can undo anything he did to EVA. And in the larger fight, EVA will be useful; very useful.”
Jasmine knew there was more not being said than was being said, but kept her mouth shut.
“Let’s go, Jasmine,” Heather said and walked through the transition point. Jasmine turned to Cendan.
“Be careful. Marcus Wheeldon is not the same person he once was. Whatever that Keystone thing is, it’s warped him. He’s….” Trailing off, Jasmine gave Cendan a hug. “Stay safe.”
And she turned, following Heather to the outside, to freedom.
“Yeah, stay safe,” Cendan mumbled to himself. He turned towards the long hall in front of him. Opening himself up to the sight, Cendan quickly ran through the stored patterns. He worked the patterns he thought that might help quickly. Even ones he wasn’t totally sure what they did. He copied the one Heather had worked before, the one that protected against a physical attack, adding to it ones he thought, maybe, might disrupt a spell or two that Marcus might throw his way.
He needed to get to the Maker wing. If he was going to find anything out about this Keystone thing that would be the place to start. Holding his focus tight, he headed that way, avoiding the larger rooms where maybe Marcus could attack him easier. The only sound he heard was his own footsteps. All else was still, silent. Even the barrier room door, as he passed it by, showed nothing. All the lights were out.
For a split second he debated entering that room and seeing if Marcus was there. It had always been one of his favorite places. Finding out about the Keystone was more important though. Cendan needed information. Information on what he was dealing with, and why Marcus had gone off the deep end.
The Maker wing was in a state when Cendan arrived. Books thrown all over the place, torn pages, and store rooms where things had been knocked off shelves.
“Great. A mess!” Cendan grumbled. He started searching through the books, looking for anything that mentioned the Keystone. He figured that Marcus must have found out about it here. There wasn’t any mention of it before Cendan had opened this area up.
Finally, thirty minutes into his search, he found it. As he read, he knew what had happened, and why. The Keystone had been created to be a focus. A focus ‘plus’, Cendan liked to think of it as. The plus part being its ability to control the headquarters, completely. And anything and everything in it. It allowed the user to work the magic that made up the place, and reuse that magic to any endeavor the wielder saw fit.
But its power was flawed. If the user still was ‘bound’ to another focus, the Keystone’s power wasn’t fully synced with the other person. And the imbalance would warp the holder, change them. Cendan paused and reread the last words. The Keystone would change him, permanently. Due to this, the Keystone had been locked up and away. Locked up from anyone trying to use it.
So that explained it. Marcus was till bound to his ring. The Keystone had to be used by itself, or it would warp and change the wielder. All their darkest thoughts and desires would be released; all those demons would surface. The jealousy that Marcus felt about Cendan had become overarching hate. The desire that he felt for Jasmine had become a dark craving to hurt her, to express power over her.
A madman with a magic stone that gave him total control over the place where Cendan was locked up. A madman who hated Cendan now with every part of his very soul. And a madman who, very likely, was watching and waiting to make his move. But why did he want me here Cendan wondered? While the information on the Keystone answered a great many questions, some it didn’t. What was it that made Marcus want him here, besides hate? If it was as simple as that, Marcus would have attacked him and Heather as soon as they walked in.
No, there was something else going on. A growling stomach reminded Cendan that he hadn’t eaten anything in hours. He was hungry, tired, and more than a little stressed out. He grabbed a journal for reading material, and headed towards the kitchen, keeping a grip on his focus the whole time. He was three corners away from the kitchen when Marcus stepped around the corner.
Chapter 22
Marcus. He looked terrible to Cendan’s eyes. Thinner, approaching skeletal. His skin pulled tight against his bones. Scraggly patchy hair grew in around his face, his hair limp and greasy looking in the flickering light. He said nothing, starting at Cendan with a maniacal grin.
“Marcus. Nice to see you,” Cendan said trying to stay calm. “I know what you have, Marcus. The Keystone. You need to understand; it’s twisted you, it’s unsafe…”
Marcus’s hand shot forth holding a small stone sphere; the Keystone.
“Mine.” Marcus growled and attacked. Cendan could see the torrents of magic flow off the Keystone and towards him. He pulled as much as he could into the wards he had set and steadied himself. He felt as if a giant wave had come and tried to knock him over. He stumbled, but didn’t fall. Gasping for breath, Cendan held up a hand.
“Wait... Marcus...” Anger crossed the crazed face of Marcus. Why hadn’t Cendan collapsed? Marcus struck again, and then again... Cendan didn’t fall.
Cendan, for his part was barely holding on. Each wave seemed to come from everywhere, and he was having a hard time keeping his wards up. The only blessing he had was the fact that Marcus didn’t really understand the power he had, or that he was using. Cendan was buffering his wards with the very same magic Marcus was using to attack him with! But being how Marcus didn’t understand, and couldn’t see the magic, he didn’t know that.
It did not, however, make withstanding the attacks any easier. Each time Marcus tried to overwhelm him with magic, he had to fight, even scrabble to stay above it. He knew Marcus was trying to knock him out, and that was something he was not about to let happen. Each attack made Marcus angrier, however. As each one failed, the rage got closer to the surface.
“FALL!” Marcus screamed, as he threw the biggest attack yet.
Cendan stumbled to his knees, but still didn’t fall. All his concentration kept on keeping his wards up. Finally, with an incoherent scream, Marcus charged him and swung the stone at his head. A sound like a bell went off as t
he sphere impacted on his last ward. Cendan fell at that, curling up into a fetal position on the floor. Marcus, however, felt like his head was being torn in two; one part the old Marcus, the other this new violent monster.
“Wha…” was all he could say for a second.
Staring at Cendan, his face retook the rictus of hate and he screamed before running away down the hall. Cendan sat up and pulled as much magic as he could into the wards. He didn’t have a clue what to do about any of this, but at least he’d survived the initial attack. He hoped that fact would give Marcus pause and delay the next attempt, hopefully giving Heather and Jasmine the time they would need to get help.
________
Jasmine dried her hair as she stood in Cendan’s living room, showered and full. Now, if she could only forget what Marcus had done to her. How had her oldest friend gone so crazy? Those thoughts, dreams... Jasmine shuddered at her memories. He’d never physically touched her, for that she was grateful, but things he had sent into her mind were worse than anything he could have done physically. All to get to Cendan, or get revenge on Cendan. Why did he want Cendan back so badly?
And now, here she was. Out. Away, and with Heather, the witch. Heather stood looking out the window, her hand turning that twisted wooden circle that she used. She turned to Jasmine, flashing her a fake smile.
“Jasmine, I… need to apologize. For the store, I mean. Before.”
Jasmine simply nodded. That was nice at least.
“So what has happened since I was put under by Marcus?” Jasmine asked, keeping an eye on Heather. “I mean, it’s obvious things have. And then we need to think about how we can help Cendan. Marcus is a crazy man. I won’t leave Cendan there powerless.”
Heather gave a real smile at that. “Oh, Cendan isn’t powerless. In fact, Marcus is going to find it far harder to do anything to him than he expects. As for what’s been going on, let me fill you in.”
Jasmine listened in silence as Heather gave her a synopsis of everything that had happened with the Shrouded, only interrupting to make sure she had everything straight. So, Cendan had been getting a crash course in magical training, had nearly been betrayed by this Gardener person, and had to run from these Shrouded people. Shrouded. She had a hard time believing there was a whole secret group of people that the Bridgefinders didn’t know about that could use magic.
