by Ember Lane
“Maybe that’s it? Maybe you have to look farther than Irydia. Maybe you have to look at the other lands—where Aezal comes from, or even Star—she said that not every Thameerian wants to fight with ShadowDancer.”
Lincoln pointed to his wall and slouched. “Maybe I’ll just build that up and be done with it and hide behind it,” he grunted, but I knew that wasn’t the real him speaking. “Maybe my luck’s run out.” I looked at the wall, swearing it had grown since this morning, but knowing it probably hadn’t. “Trouble is,” Lincoln continued, “I need more of everything. Take stone masons—the bots are fine, but they just can’t…can’t finesse it. You tell them you want a wall and a wall you get. A mason though—he’ll see where a drain point is needed. He’ll spot a prime place for an arrowslit or an efficient spot for steps.”
I looked along the bridge and saw Cronis and Jin waving us forward, and so I pulled Lincoln off the rope balustrade and tried to coax him out of his melancholy. “I think you’ve done more that you could have hoped for.”
He laughed at that. “Don’t mind me—just feeling the pressure. I should have just stuck with Joan’s Creek and accepted I might be a bit short on lumber.”
“Heck, you got your heroes.”
Lincoln nodded toward Cronis. “Though they’re not quite what I was expecting…not quite your knights in shining armor, eh?”
I was my turn to chuckle. “That they’re not.”
As soon as they saw us coming, Jin and Cronis forged away. I didn’t know exactly what to expect—having never been on the roof of a hidden castle the size of a stubby skyscraper, but what I saw took my breath away. It was truly impossible.
A quadrant of flat land spread out in front of me. It extended south until the sky took over—the buttress’s end then angled sharply toward me and along the gorge. Its curve was the ever-rising mountain and the sheer cliffs, crags, and the occasional split of a clinging wood or the shelf of a plateau, and I realized this place had been carved out of the mountain’s shoulder. Farms spread out in Lincoln-style uniformity, perhaps a dozen this side of a river that spilled over its southern edge. It was a vivid contrast of vibrant colors of crops, hedges, and even the red gravel roadway in front of us, and the drab grays and blacks of the mountain. It was peaceful; so very peaceful with just the odd chink of a hoe or the grate of a turning cartwheel.
“When I first saw it,” Lincoln said. “I wondered how it could be possible, but then I brought Aezal up here, and he merely shrugged and told me there were stranger things in the land.”
“I’ve seen a bridge to nowhere,” I replied. “And I’ve seen a castle with five keeps and a tower that reached up and near touched the sky. I’ve seen a star explode and a wall of tumbling, twisting, turning mists, but this still takes my breath away.”
Ahead, Jin had commandeered a cart and was waving us forward. Cronis was already sitting on its front bench, his hood up against the cold breeze that was coming off the mountain. Lincoln and I got in the back and sat opposite each other, but I soon scooted around and looked across the farms and fields at the daunting mountain. It was like everything else was insignificant.
Cronis was silent, his gaze fixed forward. He radiated anxiety, even trepidation, as if he truly dreaded what was to come. The cart crossed the small river, no more than a collection of streams from the mountain, and then turned and trundled up its bankside and straight toward the mountain itself. It was then I realized that the land wasn’t flat like I’d thought but tapered toward the sheer rock sides of the buttress.
“Why no village?” I asked.
Lincoln shrugged. “If we built even the smallest hamlet up here, the folk who tend the farms wouldn’t bother leaving. Then slowly, they’d be alienated from Sanctuary, start having their own customs, their own squabbles. Eventually, they’d resent the food they produced being swallowed by the warehouses below. Could cause a problem if war comes.”
We arrived at the end of the fields, and Jin drew the cart to a halt. I got that same queasy feeling in my stomach that I’d had last time I’d been this close to the mountain—the feeling of insignificance and dread mixed together. I wondered what waited for me this time.
Jin marched straight along the riverbank, picking out a path that weaved up and then became no more than stepping-stones in the falling streams. We gradually crossed it and came to a steep upward track, more than likely a goat trail—hopefully a goat trail. I wondered if there were any bears around. Definitely a goat trail, I reassured myself.
“Tell me this is a goat trail,” I shouted back to Lincoln. He shrugged.
“Never been up this way before.”
It twisted into a rocky cleft, and I saw it led up to craggy cave.
“Recognize anything, old man?” Jin asked, but Cronis just grunted in reply.
“Stone is stone. There are places like this in every mountain.”
“Not like this,” Jin pointed out, as he clambered onto a ledge just in front of the cave’s entrance. We all squashed onto it, reluctant to step inside its darkness. “Now,” Jin said. “If everything went to Sakina’s plan, Alexa should have the key to activate this little place.”
“Eh?” I said.
“Your sack? The glowstone?”
“Sakina’s glowstone? I took that for Rioan—for him to remember her by.”
“Rioan does not need a bauble to remember Sakina by. Give him the damn stone,” Cronis growled, clearly still ill at ease with what he suspected was to come.
Taking out my sack, I thought of the glowstone, expecting it to just hover by my palm, but it rose out to head height, stopped there briefly, and then darted into the cave. A bright, pale blue light then erupted inside, washing us all in its brilliance as it spilled out.
“There,” said Jin. “No going back now, old man.” He skipped aside to give Cronis a way into the cave.
“I have enough trouble going forward,” Cronis muttered, and barged through.
I looked at Lincoln, and he shrugged. It seemed to be his go-to reflex at the minute. Jin followed hot on Cronis’ heels. Hesitating, I took a breath and entered the place.
Bathed in blue, it was like I’d imagine the inside of an igloo—without the ice. At its highest, I guessed it was twenty feet, and about the same wide. Its rock floor was a smooth, flat stone, and in its center, the glowsphere sat atop a simple pedestal that emerged from a craggy stone table. Walking up to it, I saw it had indents, pools in the rock that were glazed in what felt like a sheet of ice. Circling the table, I counted nine pools and looked at Lincoln, expecting a shrug. He, however, had his back turned to me, and was plunging his hand straight into the cave’s wall.
“Some kind of hidden way here,” he said, and vanished into it as the stone swallowed him up.
Cronis grunted, and followed. Jin was beaming from ear to ear. “So, Alexa, what do you think the table is?”
I had no clue. I tried using my perception on it.
You do not have the required skill level to identify this item.
“Use your mind, not your skill. Me? I haven’t a clue. It looks relatively new though—this whole place does.” He too vanished through the wall.
I lingered there for a while, tracing the edge of one of the pools, jerking my finger away and taking a sharp breath when I felt a mild tingle coming from it, like a warning bite. The air around me misted, and I noticed the temperature had dropped sharply. I crept toward the wall, reaching out but not feeling anything but…thicker air.
Ducking through, I entered another stone chamber where the blue light was more subdued, as though it only just managed to filter through from the glowsphere. It appeared to be some kind of dwelling and had a stone shelf on one side that was the size of a single bed and small alcoves carved into the walls. Lincoln, Cronis, and Jin were all staring at the wall opposite me. It was then that I saw her.
A shock of black hair cascaded around her pale face—full, distinct layers, glistening, glimmering—almost a shade of electric blue. Th
ough captivating, it was her eyes I was truly drawn to. Sapphire irises stared out at me, with a kaleidoscope of deep, blazing silver and emerald flecks, surrounding wide midnight pupils. Heavy streaks of black paint fled from the corners of her eyes like smoke trails from a breeze-blown torch. She was magical, majestic, and I knew it was Poleyna’s image. The pale stone behind her began to darken until it looked like a starry night sky, and a silver aura framed her.
“Cronis, my favorite son. Your time has come. The crimson mage must rise again. It is time to wake Starellion. It is time for Darwainic’s banner to fly true.”
Cronis knelt and nodded.
Her gaze swept the room and landed on Lincoln. “The Builder; your arrival at this auspicious moment is no coincidence. You are charged with a precious quest.”
I saw Lincoln stiffen and knew he was assimilating it, understanding just what she’d charged him with. He remained silent for a moment but then said, “It will be done.”
“Alexa Drey,” Poleyna said. “You already have your task, and have passed the first test. Your way is hard, and night will steal the day. The Thief will reveal himself, but you must be there, ready.”
“How?” I asked. “How will I even know where The Thief will be?”
She smiled briefly, like a mother would to a child. “Both of you will be linked soon. You will sense his presence as he will yours. Let him show you the way until you grasp it all. You must make your own footsteps from now on in, such is the nature of these things. Release the book to one that will better understand the ways of things but not before you’ve read of my world. I will grant you a boon that will aid you and The Thief.”
I wanted to ask her so much but nodded, accepting her words and somehow understanding that her time was short. Poleyna then looked at Jin. “You know your path,” she told him, and then she faded until nothing but a pale gray wall was left.
Lincoln spun around and marched out. I wondered what price he’d been asked to pay. Jin rushed out after him. Cronis turned to me. He indicated the stone slab, and I backed toward it and sat. He sat next to me, brought out his holding sack and the black book was soon in his hand.
“Here,” he said, handing it to me. “It’s your task to find its rightful owner. In the meantime, it’ll automatically open to the page you need. You must understand all this. Once you’ve read it, you’ll be awarded the skill that will link you to The Thief. I’ll hold that in abeyance until your done—it’s quite the odd feeling.” He patted me on my knee. “I’ll see you back at the tavern—the one in Joan’s Creek.” I nodded, and Cronis left. Taking a deep breath, I opened the book.
13
Tall Ships
We sat on a hillock, and we watched the mists crash down. Shylan was by my side, Sakina on the other, and Flip was leaning against a tree behind us. The roiling wall of gray, black, and white was truly impressive, fearsome, and impenetrable.
"Now we are truly isolated," Shylan muttered, and those were the only words any of us said. Flip set camp, and we all retired to our tents. Sleep did not evade me; I’d seen worse, and it was only exile—only designed to return us to an age of barbarism. I soon dreamed, but it was the strangest dream I’d ever had.
I was on a small hill, much like where we’d just witnessed the mists falling. An icy feeling, a touch, jerked me to consciousness within my dream, and I turned and saw Poleyna. She was wearing a gray cloak, its hood drawn over her billowing, black hair. Her skin was pale, far too pale, and black paint radiated from her eyes in wisps of darkness. She’d stained her lips black too. It was like her whole self was in mourning. She turned to me with a nervous look and then lowered her eyes.
The air around me grew blisteringly hot. Wind howled through me, buffeting me, scorching my skin. I heard a cracking, a hideous groaning, and understood the very rock we were sitting on was splitting apart. Barely audible, she whispered, "I’m sorry."
The hot wind whipped around me like a maelstrom of searing destruction and sweat ran riot all over me. I felt my robe fragment, just give up as the heat disintegrated it, but was I was helpless. I could do nothing. Poleyna smiled as she looked out at the destruction around us.
"This is my world," she said, her voice, husky. "It is dying, well, it’s dead. The atmosphere is gone, and soon the sun will explode. It was my city, those were beautiful marbled buildings, academies, museums, and my streets were filled with artisans. Screams now fill those halls, those streets, where once poems were recited. Scholars die, progress stops, and everything ends. It stops now. Cronis. I tell you this, I was against coming to your world. I decided to die here, but my brothers and sisters fled, and now they have meddled in your world. So I’ve left all my children here…to die, yet I can’t die with them. I must help you."
She fell silent. The wind cooled. Poleyna raised her hand and swiped at a new scene. A bright blue sky dotted with fluffy, white clouds. Birds nattered in the air, ensconced in the day’s gossip. Trees creaked as they reached for the sun’s warm rays, and below, the bustle of a big city floated to my ears. Laughter, dispute, and study filled the air. I saw tall ships docking, and others riding white-crested waves. I felt the anger of a betrayed spouse, the joy of a newfound love, and I sensed despair and then elation. Above all else, I smelled an alluring aroma, that of vitality, that of life, but then Poleyna swiped her hand and drew another scene.
I saw death, evil, greed, avarice, betrayal, duplicity, gluttony, pride, and so much more. It was as if my worst fears were laid bare before me. Roiling red demons, faces twisted in anger, blood, guts, and death. Poleyna turned to me.
“Meet my family.”
I closed the book, horrified, and set it aside. Taking a moment, I tried to calm my racing heart. Was this what it was all about? Did Pique represent our Earth…what we’d done to it? Why else was I being shown these things? Hadn’t Lincoln once told me that the whole point of this game was to teach us what we needed for our future lives? Was it teaching us how to avoid destroying the next planet we were settling? I slumped forward, my head in my hands, knowing I was missing some piece of the puzzle.
Then my head began to pulse. It was faint at first like a heartbeat in my mind, but it grew until it was a splitting headache, and then it grew again until I slumped on the floor, writhing in pain, clenching my skull to stop my head splitting in two. I kicked out. I screamed, howled in pain as the spears lanced my mind. It was like someone was stitching something into my brain.
Danger! Your health is plummeting!
I felt my mind begin to shut down, and my vision blanked to a deep, deep blue. The pain slowly faded away, like water dripping through cupped hands. I swam in that blue, at peace for a moment. Florescent yellow letters swirled around me, and I saw the blue lighten as though I was reaching its surface. That surface began to ripple with silver diamonds. A shadow fell over it, and I thought I recognized Shylan, his long hair draping toward me. Just as I was about to reach the surface, I sank deeper. Shylan receded, the diamonds grew smaller, and the golden letters became regimented like lines of code until they floated up and away from me. I plummeted farther, and the blue became black.
“What the hell was that?” I muttered to myself. I was lying on the chamber’s cold, stone floor. I knew right away that something had altered, that The Thief was inside my head. A prompt came up in my mind’s eye.
You have a new map filed under the navigation menu. Do you wish to access it? Y/N
I chose yes.
A small map appeared in my mind. I could clearly see the castle, the gorge, and beyond the volcano shape of Lincoln’s vale. A small green blip pulsed over the castle. I assumed it represented me. Zooming out, I saw the thick belt of treacherous forest that surrounded us. I saw its cuts, its sharp valleys, and then its rolling hills. Roaming farther, I came to the southernmost edge of the trees and to rolling downs, but there the map ended. I tried moving farther away from it—if that makes sense—as if I was scrolling out with my mind.
My map was circular, and its
extension was the surrounding ten miles, judging by a luminous, green scale line that ran both horizontally and vertically, much like a rifle’s crosshairs.
Congratulations, you have opened up the skill Navigation. You are level 1. As you increase your levels, so the range and detail of your map will increase. Your current range is 10 miles. Your detail is terrible. You have 1 active target allocation spot and three passive target allocation spots. The active target allocation spot is filled. Do you wish to track your target? Y/N
Naturally, I chose yes. A small red arrow blinked into existence. It pointed west-northwest. I sat up. At least I had a clue how I’d find this thief. I took a deep breath.
Hovering my hand over my sack, I inspected its contents—not a hint of food or water. If there was a skill for not being prepared, I’d be level 100 at the least. Running my fingers through my hair, I let it slump down, pulling the bangs over my eyes. “Alexa, you best get cracking,” I muttered to no one, dropped the book in my sack, and jumped up.
It took me until dusk to get to the bridge, and night had fallen by the time I’d made my way through the tunnel and into Lincoln’s vale. While I had a fair idea where Joan’s Creek was, I decided to test something. Pulling my new map up, I zoomed in on its circular rock formation and saw my little green blip. I tried thinking about Joan’s Creek, hoping that it would come up on the map, but nothing changed, so I said “Lincoln Hart.”
No active target slots available. Reach level 5 to accommodate 2 targets.
I thought about dismissing the other target, but didn’t want to risk losing The Thief forever. Zooming in a little farther, until my blip was on the map’s westernmost periphery, I clearly saw the lake. Smiling, I headed toward it.
