by DM Fike
Guntram slumped over, an emotional weight so heavy on his shoulders that it manifested itself in physical form. I knew exactly how he felt. The whole reason I’d decided to help Rafe was out of the same sense of helplessness. I also mourned for Guntram, since both the eyases he’d tried to help only let him down.
Not today. I swallowed a lump in my throat and raised my fist. “Then let’s go do this!”
Guntram opened his mouth to further argue his point but sputtered when he realized I agreed with him. “Come again?”
“It sounds like a perfect plan, much better than just sitting around here. Right, Darby?”
Darby, clearly not used to so much bickering with her elders, fidgeted at having to join the conversation. “Yes?” she asked as a question to hedge her bets.
I wanted so much to tell Guntram everything about Rafe right then but couldn’t do it in front of Darby. We’d have plenty of time later. I slapped my hand on Guntram’s shoulder. “I’m sorry for keeping you waiting. Let’s go, Jichan.”
* * *
We made the trip to the Oregon coast at breakneck speed, Guntram setting a grueling pace that had even Darby panting. By the time we arrived on the outskirts of Florence, my heart pounded out a dubstep in my ears. After the snafu at Mercer Lake, he refused to split us up, and so we spent the vast majority of our afternoon searching Honeyman State Park for signs of golems. With summer sunshine bringing in tourists, we had to take extra precautions to stay hidden as we scoured the various nooks and crannies of Woahink Lake.
After hours of nothing to show for our efforts, Guntram had us wisp channel to the west of Sweet Creek Falls. Unlike Honeyman, not many tourists backpacked in these dense woods, especially far off the trail. The rolling hills of the Siuslaw National Forest surrounded us in all its ferny glory, nary an inch without botany. It took us a few minutes to find a relatively open area in a stand of mixed conifers. Guntram passed out dried fruit and said he’d give us fifteen minutes to rest before we’d start up again. He left to relieve himself while Darby and I plopped down uncomfortably against the knobby tree roots tickling our bare legs.
After a few minutes of chewing and extracting water out of the humidity for hydration, Darby asked, “Is this truly necessary?”
“Of course! Maybe you can prance around on your bare feet all day, but I can’t.”
“Not the respite,” Darby shooed that away with a flick of her wrist. “This quest for golems?”
I shrugged. “A fire golem appeared after the khalkotauroi. You were there, remember?”
“Yes, but Tabitha told me even then the search was futile. She seemed to think all resources should be diverted to Mt. Hood.”
“Why?”
“She believes chasing the enemy around Florence is like trying to find a drop of water in the ocean. Only guarding Mt. Hood can prevent a major catastrophe.”
I leaned in. “And you know what they’re guarding, right?”
Darby bit her lip. “I do, but I’m not sure I should tell you.”
I decided to show my cards a little. “It’s a lava dome.”
Darby shot me a conspiratorial smile. “So, you know that too, eh? Then why bother asking me?”
“Because I can’t figure out why the Oracle hasn’t summoned Guntram to defend it. She’s called Baot, Azar, Euchloe, and now even Tabitha. Why wouldn’t she ask the Talol Wilds’s most powerful augur for help too?”
“Second most powerful,” Darby corrected.
“Whatever.” I’d already thought this one through and concluded Guntram would win in a straight up fight against Tabitha.
“I hate to be disagreeable,” Darby said in a tone that contradicted her statement, “but has it ever occurred to you that you might be the reason for Guntram’s absence from Mt. Hood?”
“Me?”
She nodded. “You are a headstrong eyas with unchecked lightning powers. Perhaps the Oracle needs you under constant surveillance until you can get your attitude under control.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but nothing came out. Darby made a hurtful, yet interesting, point. The Oracle had told me to my face I was quite dangerous. Would she force Guntram to babysit me, even if golems attacked Mt. Hood?
I cursed under my breath as I popped in the last apple slice. “If that’s the case, the Oracle can shove it. She shouldn’t punish Guntram because of my actions.”
Darby sniffed, her nose tilted upwards. “It is not ours to question the decisions of the Oracle,” she parroted Tabitha. “It is our duty to respect the ways of Nasci, and to protect…”
When she didn’t finish, I asked, “What’s wrong, Darby? Brain fart?” I glanced back at her.
Darby had lost her air of self-righteousness. Instead, she had spread her arms and legs out in front of her, a reclining sigil stance. She must have sensed something in the woods around us. It was only then that I noticed the animals of the forest, even the ravens, had gone very still.
“Do you feel that?” Darby whispered.
No, but clearly Guntram’s kidama did. They erupted into a cawing mess, flapping so violently to launch into the sky that black feathers fell in small clumps around us.
Darby and I jumped to our feet, each pulling pith into our hands. We would have looked pretty formidable if the ground hadn’t started shaking beneath our feet. I immediately lost my balance and tumbled straight into a chasm that had opened underneath my boots. Fortunately, it was only a couple of feet deep, but then something cool clamped me from the waist down. It all went down so fast, it took me a second to realize the forest floor had pinned me, hands useless in the dirt at my sides.
“Ina!”
I couldn’t quite see Darby, but I did notice the open chasm where she had been just a second before.
“Are you okay?” I called behind my shoulder.
“I dodged out of the way.” Darby tiptoed into view, hands up. Her bare feet waltzed right past me.
“Hey!” I yelled. “Little help here?”
She didn’t bother to turn around, scanning for any threat. “Just let your earth pith settle inside your body, like sand falling through a jar of stones. Then use that flow to force the soil away from your fingers and write a sigil to open the earth.”
A new bit of advice to unbury myself. I tried my best to follow, relaxing and willing earth pith to settle into my core. Nothing. I changed tactics, attempting to force my earth pith where I wanted it to go. Still nothing. All it made me do was curse.
Darby snorted in irritation. “You really can’t get yourself out?”
I hated admitting any sort of weakness but gritted my teeth and said, “No.”
Darby faced me. “Really, Ina, you should devote yourself to training.” Her hands scribbled squares in front of her. “If you don’t—”
But I never found out what horrible consequence would befall my lack of discipline. A blur of fur and tusks came rolling down the mountain, crashing sideways into Darby. She let out a blood-curdling scream as the monster flung her somewhere behind me.
“Darby!” I yelled, attempting to view her attacker, but I could only hear her shrieks mingling with the terrified squeals of the vaettur.
“Get! Off! Me!” After that, Darby’s voice became muffled, so I had no idea what was happening to her.
Desperate to escape, I yanked both arms, willing them free from my earthen prison, but to no avail. Whatever magic the vaettur had cast held strong bonds, the earth heavy as concrete around me. I tried to recall Guntram’s hints at how to get out of the earth mound, but in my panicked state, nothing seemed to work.
A sudden gust of wind burst through the narrow clearing, blowing bits of plant debris into my lashes. Unable to shield them with my bound hands, I could only shut my eyelids and hope a stick didn’t poke anything out.
“By Nasci’s blood!” a deep male voice yelled.
An unholy howl pierced my ears, then zipped past me, creating a strange Doppler effect of noise as it faded away. A set of footsteps went afte
r it, and then silence as the wind died down as quickly as it had appeared.
Blinking, I saw a heaving Darby crawling toward me.
“What happened?”
“Vaettur,” she gasped, struggling to reach me. The beast had cut her in several places, defensive wounds on her hands and arms. One eye looked like it had swollen shut. But her worst injury was the slash running across her calf, blood oozing down to the disheveled brush beneath her.
“You need help!” I cried.
She inhaled a deep breath. “No…” she blew out with an exhale, her hands scribbling sigils.
The dirt around me loosened, slowly at first, as if reluctant to let me go. Once I freed my dominant right hand, however, I aided Darby’s efforts, and in no time, the earth peeled away like pliable putty, arcing away from my body. We created space until I could crawl out of the cavity.
Darby didn’t stop helping until my boots hit the forest floor. Once I was free, she nodded in satisfaction, then slumped over. For a horrifying second, I thought she had passed out, but she continued drawing circles with rounded corners in the mud. The defensive sigils would protect her if the vaettur came back.
I kneeled beside her. “I can get you to the nearest wisp channel.”
She shook her head. “Something’s wrong… with the vaettur. You must aid… Guntram.”
I glanced down at her necklace, noting her defensive charm completely smashed by the previous attack. “But your charms—”
She shoved me weakly. “Go.”
Stubborn as I was, I might have ignored her, except for the unmistakable screech of ravens not far away. I hadn’t even gotten a good look at the little creep, but it had taken Darby down like a twig. She was right.
I had to help Guntram.
But I couldn’t leave Darby like this. I ripped off my own necklace so hard, the clasp broke. I shoved it into Darby’s hands before she knew what I’d done, then dashed off.
“Ina!” I heard her call after me.
It was reckless to approach such a powerful vaettur without my charm necklace, but I couldn’t leave Darby sitting wounded out in the open. I drew temporary defensive sigils on my exposed arms as I ran, hoping it would keep me from getting torn to shreds in a pinch.
I raced up and down rolling hills, the uproar of Guntram’s ravens a homing beacon ahead. I wish we hadn’t taken our break in such thick brush. It felt like running a sadistic obstacle course—walls of vines, fanning ferns, and thick bushes constantly got in my way. I couldn’t even see a few feet past some of the foliage.
And then it led me straight out into thin air.
I’d been so focused on listening for the ravens that I failed to hear the increasing sound of rushing water that indicated Sweet Creek up ahead. I darted so suddenly out of the brush that one foot failed to find any ground to stand on. Horrified, I fell forward into a ravine toward the rapids below.
If instinct hadn’t kicked in, I probably would have fallen to my death. But as my left hand slapped against stone, my right hand drew a hasty square with a triangle in the middle. The sigil made my skin adhere like glue to the earth, and although it didn’t stop my descent completely, my left hand slowed it enough that my boots found leverage against a ledge of rock. I halted, hands stuck to rock, clinging for dear life. Hyperventilating, I glanced downslope, thankful I’d managed to stop before plunging a hundred feet below.
Unfortunately, my sense of relief had a very short half-life.
“Caw! Caw!”
Fechin swooped toward me, nearly raking me with his sharp nails. I threw an arm over my face to ward him off.
“Hey!” I cried, barely maintaining my balance on the narrow ledge. When he persisted on flapping around me, I drew a second sideways S to blow him away. He screeched as he skittered halfway across the ravine.
“What is your problem?” I demanded.
Fechin gave out a screeching caw, then shot upward and out of sight. That’s when I saw what had gotten his avian undies in a twist.
The vaettur that had tried to bury me alive defied basic physics by standing upright twenty feet above my head. This beast had clearly won the World Series of Hideous. It resembled a wild boar with a rounded snout and tusks but with long, stringy fur draped over its sides more like a hairy cow. As it shifted its weight between cloven hooves, I realized it wasn’t magic keeping it level on the cliffside but asymmetry. The creepy bugger had longer legs on its left side but shorter stubby ones on the right. This allowed it to lean into the cliff at just the right angle to keep itself from toppling down on top of me.
But that didn’t mean it would stay that way. It swayed to and fro like a drunk frat boy, listing dangerously close to me. I panicked when I thought it might crash on top of me, sending us both to our doom.
“Hey!” I yelled. “Get a grip, Wilbur!”
But no matter how much I yelled, the vaettur wouldn’t glance at me. It kept its weird equilibrium as it stumble-slid downward. It sniffed the air, disoriented like all the other vaetturs that had come through the weirdo breaches.
What could I do? I could attempt to banish the little creep, but if I picked the wrong element, it would dive off the cliffside, smack into me, and then game over. I couldn’t straight up attack it for the same reason.
I needed to get out from under it.
The ledge I stood on didn’t extend much, but I scooted over as far as I dared, my left hand glued to the wall. Once at the edge, I took a deep breath, not knowing if my next move would work but not having much choice. Shaking, I concentrated all of my earth pith through both hands, then redrew a proper triangle inside a square and eased out from the ledge. As I had hoped, my palms remained just adhesive enough that they stuck like an insect’s legs to the cliffside. I leveraged my boots to take some of the weight off my hands but couldn’t get the pith to run through the soles of my boots. I pushed aside memories of the many times Guntram told me I should go barefoot.
I’d mostly maneuvered out from underneath the fugly vaettur when it suddenly gave out an ear-shattering squeal. Its neck snapped toward me. I couldn’t see the vaettur’s eyes through its clumpy hair, but as it focused on me, it had presumably decided that now, dangling from the cliff with little support, I looked like something worth its attention.
We froze in this precarious stand-off. I had no idea what to do. I couldn’t perform any sort of banishment in this position. I had to keep absorbing earth pith, and the only way to do that was to keep as much skin contact with the earth as possible. Even if I wanted to move my hands, doing so could send me on the world’s shortest sky dive. I prayed the vaettur would eventually go back to swaying and stumbling around, forgetting I even existed.
No such luck.
The vaettur sprung toward me without warning, bellowing an unmistakable war cry. I had a split second before the boar skewered me with its protruding tusks.
Maybe I’d been fighting the golems for way too long, but I reacted on pure instinct. I threw one hand out and attempted to absorb earth pith directly from the vaettur.
I might as well have signed my death warrant.
The vaettur’s awful energy hit my already crowded pithways, sending mind-numbing pain throughout my entire body. I needed to redirect that earth pith to the cliffside to keep from slipping, but it hurt too much. The vaettur’s earth pith was incredibly thick, like glue in my veins. It coated my insides, not flowing where I directed it. I managed to hold onto the cliffside by my fingernails, using up the last of Nasci’s natural pith.
I couldn’t keep this up for long.
“Begone!”
Guntram’s shout of triumph cut through my fog of pain. A colossal whirlwind hit the vaettur straight on, pushing it back toward the top of the cliff. The boar swirled around before a second blast struck it squarely in the chest. This time, after a solid banishment, it dissipated into smoke.
But even with it gone, I no longer had any earth pith to keep me adhered to the rocks. With my pithways still coated with vaettur sl
udge, I couldn’t access my other pith.
I tumbled downward.
Something fell fast past me, then slammed into my shoulder. A burst of air blasted into my face. Strong arms snatched me and we shot upward. I knew Guntram had saved me when I heard the massive murder of crows cawing around us in a frenzy.
“Ina!” Guntram leaned over me. “Are you all right?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but instead of words, a cough forced its way out of my lungs. To my horror, blackish mud slid out of my throat, splashing across my splayed fingers and burning one of my knuckles.
The remnants of the vaettur’s earth ichor.
“Ina!” Guntram gasped. “What have you done?”
As more black ooze dripped from my mouth and nose, I couldn’t answer.
I thought for sure I would choke on it. The earth pith coated every square inch inside me, painting me with its vile fluidity. It was worse than golem pith, not that I had time to give it an academic review.
But then the earth pith lurched, not via its own power but from somewhere outside of me. The nasty stuff retreated from my throat and face, back into my core, and from there, oozed out of my fingertips, the way it entered. It hurt like one large sticky bandage being pulled through my innards, but wherever it left, my natural pith reformed like a soothing balm in its wake.
As the last of it drained from my fingers and outside of my body, I collapsed in a heap on the ground. Someone called out to me, but I didn’t have the energy to reply as the world slowly faded into a soft hum, lapping like waves in my ears.
CHAPTER 14
IN THE MOVIES, when someone passes out due to some traumatic event, loved ones tend to the victim, concerned for their safety. In the chaos of the moment, no one berates the fallen for any prior acts before their downfall. That could come later, when calmer heads prevail.
