by Kay L. Ling
“Wish us luck,” Serrom said as the trio headed out into the cold.
They returned sooner than Tyla expected. Serrom had a sack of food slung over his shoulder and two wooden cups stuffed in his pockets. Bentiz had a sack, too, and he was carrying the fialazza keg.
The group’s spirits lifted as they shared a meal and passed around the fialazza. Loud Mouth ate some bread, and Bounder had a portion of dried meat like everyone else. The only one who didn’t eat was Tabik who lay forgotten on the floor.
“If the storm doesn’t end by tomorrow, I don’t know what we’ll do,” Olissa said. “We have heat, thanks to Tyla, but the roof is leaking, and we have no way to repair it. We can melt snow for water. All we have for sanitary facilities is a broken crock in the closet.”
“How are the maraku doing?” Tyla asked.
“Well enough,” Serrom said. “They don’t mind the cold as much as we do.”
“We’ll never catch the gem masters now,” Arenia said. “When the storm ends, we may as well go home.”
“I’d like to go to the other hideout and see where Felith’s group lived. We might find something,” Tyla said.
Olissa nodded. “Tabik has to know where it is.”
Tyla glanced over at the gem master. “It’s about time he did something useful. We’ll make him take us there.”
Chapter 39
Tyla woke in the middle of the night, shivering on a bare wooden floor. For a moment she couldn’t remember where she was, and then it came to her. She was in the Emanicus hideout. The roof had developed another leak. Rain was dripping on her forehead, and the building was cold again. No wonder she’d been jolted from her sleep.
Moving to avoid the leak, she used her knife to bring the room back to a comfortable temperature. They had left one lightgem activated, and bluish light spilled over the team who slept peacefully despite their unpleasant surroundings. The wind had died down, and the snow had shifted to rain. Normally, its gentle patter would have been soothing, but not tonight. It was an annoying reminder that Emanicus gnomes had created this storm and were probably at their new hideouts by now, safe and warm. Eventually, Tyla fell back to sleep.
When morning came, there was no cheerful sunshine, only a cold gray light, and it was still raining.
“Won’t this cursed rain ever end?” Riven asked, frowning at the leaking ceiling.
“It’s not so windy now,” Loud Mouth said. “That’s a good sign.”
Olissa went to the door. “Let’s see if it’s warmed up any.”
Tyla expected a blast of cold air like the night before, but when Olissa opened the door, a warm breeze swept through. Tyla was encouraged until Olissa said, “We’ve got problems.”
“Now what,” Bentiz muttered and went to see for himself.
Tyla joined them at the door. “Oh no.” The stream had overflowed its banks, and water was coming this way. “We had better move the cart to higher ground.” She pictured the maraku in ankle-deep water, the cart up to its axles in mud.
“I’ll fly a few miles and check the weather,” Loud Mouth volunteered.
“That would be great. Thanks,” Tyla said. “We’ll have breakfast while you’re gone, but I’ll save you some.”
Olissa closed the door. “We’d better revive Tabik. He’ll die if we leave him immobilized too long.”
They had propped him in a corner so he’d be out of the way.
“Wait!” Tyla cried. “I have to tell you something. He thinks Loud Mouth and Bounder are gem masters.”
“What?” Olissa asked, laughing. “Why would he think that?”
“Because he’s never heard of a talking zek or a bird as intelligent as Loud Mouth.”
“Good thing Loud Mouth isn’t around to hear that,” Bounder said. “Compliments go to his head.”
“So, he thinks they’re transformed gnomes?” Arenia asked, still confused.
“Yes. That’s a natural conclusion when you don’t know about feridium powder,” Tyla said.
Arenia nodded. “I never thought about it, but I guess so.”
Everyone, including Bounder, gathered around Tabik.
Tyla said, “It’s in our best interests to let him think they’re gem masters, so I didn’t tell him the truth. He thinks I transformed them, using Dark gems.”
“You? Use Dark gems? That’s funny,” Arenia said. “Should I check you for witnesses?”
“It gets better. He thinks some of us plan to use Dark gems against The Emanicus.”
“I’m glad you didn’t set him straight,” Olissa said. “Let him sweat.”
“I wish we didn’t have to restore him,” Riven said. “I know we outnumber him, but I still don’t like it.”
“Me neither, truth be told,” Serrom said. “If it were up to me, I would have left him outside.”
“He’ll die unless his heart and lungs can function normally for a while,” Olissa said. “I’ll immobilize him after breakfast.”
Bounder showed his teeth. “Do your stuff, Olissa. I’ll stand guard.”
“Do your stuff?” Olissa repeated, raising a brow.
“That’s slang for start gem-mastering,” Bounder explained.
Olissa grimaced. “You’ve been hanging around Franklin too long.”
When Tabik came to and found Bounder and the others watching him, he looked alarmed.
“Good morning. “How are you feeling today?” Olissa asked dryly.
Tabik wet his lips. “F-fine.”
“Too bad,” Bounder said.
“Your associates left and created a storm to make sure we couldn’t follow. It’s been raining and snowing for hours, and the stream is flooding.”
Tabik looked pleased to hear that. Tyla wished Olissa hadn’t told him, but he’d find out eventually unless they kept him immobilized all the time.
“Your roof leaks.” Bounder added. “But I bet you could fix it.”
“Good idea, Bounder. I bet he could,” Olissa agreed.
Tabik’s pleased look dissolved. “I’m sure you didn’t restore me to do household repairs.”
“No, but I must admit, I like the idea,” Olissa said. “You can start by taking out the trash.” Her gaze traveled to Pren. The charred corpse looked even worse by daylight. “You need a little physical activity,” Olissa said, hauling Tabik to his feet. She pushed him toward Pren.
“I—” Tabik said weakly, looking at the gem master who had presumably been his friend. “I can’t.”
“You can and you will,” Olissa said. “Riven, get the door. I’ll go with him and supervise the burial.”
“Burial!” Tabik cried. “I don’t have a shovel.”
“You can use this,” Serrom said, holding up a wooden slat.
“That won’t work,” Tabik said.
“Sure it will, but it will take awhile.”
“Look, you can leave him out in the rain, for all I care,” Olissa said. “He’s trash, as far as I’m concerned, so feel free to treat him as such.”
Tabik grabbed Pren by the ankles and started dragging him toward the door. He looked as if he might be sick at any moment.
Tyla and the others gathered to watch the spectacle of Tabik pulling Pren’s body through the mud. He dropped it off by a thorn bush, wiped his hands on his robe, and returned with Olissa and Bounder, looking completely unmoved. Tyla shook her head in disgust. Maybe he and Pren hadn’t been close, but even so, how could he be so cold?
With that out of the way, the group’s attention returned to breakfast. Olissa gave Tabik a small ration of bread. When he’d finished it, she said, “When the ground dries, you’ll take us to the other hideout.”
“But I don’t know where it is,” he protested.
“I’m referring to Felith’s former hideout,” she clarified. “You know where that is.”
“Well, yes, but what’s the point in going there?”
“To see if they left anything interesting behind.”
“Like they did here,” Bounder sa
id.
Tabik looked worried. “What did they leave?”
“Nothing you’re getting back,” Bounder said.
Olissa immobilized Tabik, and Serrom and Bentiz put him back in the corner.
“Let’s eat now,” Olissa said. “I’m starved.”
The team was just finishing when Tyla heard a tap-tap-tap at the window. Loud Mouth was back. She let him in, and he landed on the table.
“I’m back!” he said, ruffling his feathers.
“Yes, we can see that,” Olissa said. “What did you learn?”
“The rain should end before long. Ten miles from here, it’s clear. Also, I discovered something interesting. There’s a raft tied to a post not far from here.”
“I bet the gem masters used it to go between hideouts,” Olissa said.
“I think so,” Loud Mouth said. “I saw another post a few miles downstream, and there’s a path going up the bank.”
“We’ll go tomorrow, once the rain has stopped,” Olissa said. “We can probably find the hideout on our own, but I’ll bring Tabik along. I’d rather not leave him behind, anyway.”
The next morning, the ground was still soggy, but the floodwaters had receded. The sun was shining, and it promised to be a pleasant day.
Olissa restored Tabik. He walked around the room, eating his ration of bread and complaining about how mistreated he was.
“You’re lucky to be alive,” Tyla told him.
“All right, everybody,” Olissa said. “Let’s go.”
Serrom and Bentiz marched Tabik down to the raft, and Olissa immobilized him once he was onboard, taking no chance he’d jump overboard and try to escape. Bounder sat at his feet and kept an eye on him.
“I’ll look for the mooring post I saw yesterday. Back in a minute,” Loud Mouth said and flew away.
Tyla had never been on a raft. She’d heard Kaff say he found them disconcerting, and when Serrom pushed off with the pole, she could see why. There was nothing to hang onto. She and Arenia clung to each other. After a few minutes they got their balance, and Tyla began to enjoy the ride.
Loud Mouth returned. “You’re almost there.” He flew ahead of them the rest of the way.
Once they had secured the raft, Olissa told the group, “Wait here. Tyla and I will see where the path leads, and if we find the cave, we’ll come back for you.”
“Can I come?” Bounder asked. “I can follow scents and find the cave.”
“Good idea,” Olissa said. The zek leapt from the raft.
“I’m coming, too,” Loud Mouth said. “After all, I found this place.”
When they reached the top of the bank, they saw wheel marks. Someone had been here recently. The path continued through stony land whose greenery was mostly weeds and scrub brush. Soon, they reached what appeared to be a corrustone pit. Olissa stopped to examine it.
“They took the corrustone with them, but I see some small stones in the dirt.”
Tyla looked around. The cave couldn’t be far away. “Is that a cave mouth?”
Olissa looked where Tyla was pointing. “I think so.” She activated a light gem.
As they approached the opening, Tyla unsheathed her knife. This had to be the second hideout. A thrill of anticipation ran through her as they stepped inside.
Olissa’s lightgem revealed a cave about forty feet wide and at least a hundred twenty feet deep. The rear of the cave was swallowed up in darkness, making it hard to tell how far it extended. Abandoned items littered the floor—rusty tools, battered cookware, broken pottery, and a few kegs and empty crates.
“Stop!” Bounder called. “I hear something—footsteps. Coming this way.”
A tall figure holding a lightgem emerged from the darkness.
Tyla gasped. “What are you doing here?”
Marrid smiled. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”
Chapter 40
“I didn’t see your carriage outside,” Tyla said, disconcerted to find the woodspirit at an Emanicus hideout.
“You wouldn’t. I left it a couple miles from here, warded and invisible.” Marrid’s eyes dropped to Loud Mouth and Bounder. Before she could ask why Tyla was traveling with a zek and a bird, Olissa asked in an accusatory tone, “How did you know about this place?”
The woodspirit smiled, unruffled by the question. “We have a lot to talk about.” She looked behind her. “Have you been back there?”
“No, this is the first time we’ve been here,” Tyla said.
“Same here. I got here a couple hours ago, and the gem masters were gone. Come take a look at the cage.”
“They left that?” Tyla asked.
Marrid led them to a lower-ceilinged area behind the main room, and there stood the cage, about four feet square, its door open.
“This is troubling,” Olissa said. “Why didn’t they take it with them?”
“I’ll explain my theory later,” Marrid said as they returned to the front of the cave.
“I brought a small team, hoping to capture S and the gem masters, but things went wrong and they got away,” Tyla said.
“All but one. Tyla took a captive—one of their leaders.” The note of pride in Olissa’s voice surprised Tyla.
“I hope you didn’t lose any of your team,” Marrid said.
“No, and I’m thankful for that, but it wasn’t easy to find the hideouts, and it’s frustrating to have to hunt for the gem masters all over again.”
“Everyone’s waiting for us,” Olissa reminded Tyla.
“You’re right. We should go back to the raft and get the others.”
“When you get back, I’ll explain how I found this place, but I’ll need to reveal things you may not have told your team.”
Tyla had no secrets aside from the true nature of the Guardian. “That’s fine. The only one who shouldn’t hear confidential information is Tabik—the gem master I captured. It seemed risky to leave him behind, so we brought him.”
“Don’t worry. He can’t hear anything while he’s immobilized.” Olissa assured Tyla.
“I’d like to question him,” Marrid said.
Tyla expected Olissa to protest, but after a brief hesitation, Olissa nodded. “You may be able to get more out of him than we could.”
“You guys stay here,” Bounder said. “I’ll get the others.”
Marrid gasped when the zek spoke, and Tyla tried not to laugh at her shocked expression.
Bounder trotted out of cave, and Loud Mouth followed, calling, “Back in a jiffy!”
Marrid shook her head. “I see a lot has been happening at Elantoth.”
“More than you know,” Tyla said. “Our biggest news is that we got rid of our Watcher—turned it back into a snake.”
Marrid looked suitably impressed.
“The spell book told us how to do it,” Olissa said. “We had no idea it was possible.”
“Bounder and Loud Mouth ate feridium powder to become more intelligent, and Ertz linked minds with Bounder and used a spell to give him the power of speech.”
“Amazing,” Marrid said. “I’ve never heard of animals ingesting feridium.”
“Franklin, our human friend, started experimenting with feridium powder, and we learned more about its effects on animals when The Emanicus turned Ben and Tina Ann into lizards.”
Loud Mouth flew in. “They’re coming.”
Bounder and the rest of the team arrived a couple minutes later, and no one looked surprised to see Marrid, so the zek must have filled them in.
Bentiz and Serrom set Tabik on the floor and everyone looked around the cave.
“Looks like they were in a hurry and left anything behind they could do without,” Adin said.
Some of the group sat on kegs. The rest sat on the floor, including Marrid. “I want to hear your story, but I’ll go first. You must be curious how I found this place.”
“Yes,” Tyla admitted. “You’re the last person I expected to find here.”
“Awhile ago, I told you An
atta was using oracular gems and saw Outcast gem masters in a cave, presumably Emanicus gnomes.”
Tyla nodded.
“Later, when I asked her about the vision, she didn’t know what I was talking about. You told me you thought The Emanicus had removed some of her memories. I didn’t want to believe that, but I believe it now, and so does Anatta.”
Tyla blinked. “Really?”
“We had a long talk, and I brought up the vision she’d shared with me. She still didn’t remember the vision or that she’d told me about it, so she used a memory retrieval gem. It didn’t work. The memory isn’t buried, it’s gone.”
“There’s no telling what other memories they removed,” Tyla said.
“Is there any way to keep them from doing that again?” Arenia asked.
“Anatta is using stronger personal wards now, but it may not be possible to block Emanicus gnomes armed with the Focal Gem. I told Zeetha about Anatta’s vision, and she said Anatta must have broken through the mist ward and seen their hideout. Zeetha decided to try, and she saw a Watcher land in a desolate area near a river. A black-robed gnome with a number of witnesses came out to meet it. They spoke briefly and the creature flew away. Since there was no house in sight, Zeetha concluded the gnome had come from the cave Anatta had seen, and if we could find the river, we might find the hideout. I’m not as proficient with oracular gems as Zeetha, but I am good at breaking wards. If Anatta and Zeetha had broken through, however briefly, I felt I should be able to. After several tries, I saw the cave, a group of Emanicus gnomes, and Sheamathan in a cage.”
“Was she a beetle?” Tyla asked.
“Yes. That was a relief! The gem masters seemed to be having an argument. Hoping to learn what it was about, I linked minds with one, but I was afraid he’d sense my presence, so I didn’t stay long.”
“I bet we were the problem,” Tyla said. “You’ll understand why when I tell our story. So, then what did you do?”
“I talked to Anatta again and told her I’d seen Sheamathan. If Anatta could break through their ward again and detect S’s tracking spell, we could use it to find the cave.”