Angst Box Set 2

by David Pedersen

  “No,” Tarness said, firmly. “And we’re not going to.”

  “Of course.” Kitecor smiled, knowingly. “A foci created by an element is wrong. We created foci to stop elements. They cannot even touch our gifts without great pain.”

  “But Magic tried forcing a foci to bond with one of my friends,” Tarness said.

  The Mendahir looked at each other with concern.

  “That would have cost the element much,” Kitecor said. “And if it were even possible, curse the unfortunate person who bonded with that foci.”

  Tarness let out a low whistle.

  “Did it work?” Kitecor asked.

  “No,” Tarness said. “I think it has with others, but they all were pretty messed up as a result.”

  “That makes sense,” Kitecor said. “Bonding is a sacrifice. You agree to give a part of yourself to the foci, and the foci becomes a part of you. Terrible things can happen if it is forced.”

  “What about my friend?” Jintorich asked.

  “Did you agree to bond with the ring?” Kitecor asked.

  Tarness nodded as the guilt welled in his chest.

  “I’m sorry,” Kitecor said. “We cannot remove it and keep you alive.”

  “Isn’t there something you can do?” Jintorich pleaded. “Magic controls him with that ring. Angst needs his friend. We all do.”

  The Mendahir sang their beautiful song again as the council discussed. Tarness wanted to cry at the beauty of it and looked away. The city was gone, the trees were trees, and their light was dimming. It felt like last call at the Wizard’s Revenge.

  “In this form, we do not see time as you do,” Kitecor said. “While Angst has many paths, there are two that change everything. He could lead Ehrde to darkness or peace. His choice hinges on you, young wielder.”

  “Me?” Tarness asked. “Why me?”

  “You are his friend,” Kitecor said. “And you will decide for us all.”

  This didn’t help at all, and Tarness couldn’t have been more frustrated. That frustration became anger as power flowed through him. He stomped his foot, shaking the forest floor.

  “Much power, indeed,” the fading Mendahir said with a smile.

  “How do I help Angst? Tell me,” Tarness shouted. He reached out to grasp a handful of light. “I don’t even know how to get out of this stupid forest. We’re stuck here, surrounded by Dark Berfemmian, and have no chance of getting back to help Angst choose the right path. Can’t you do something?”

  “A portal would help us greatly,” Jintorich said.

  “There is one thing I can do,” Kitecor said with a nod. “If it still works.”

  “Still works?” Tarness asked.

  There was a loud pop, and Tarness screamed.

  31

  After three days of riding as fast as Angst could push, they finally crossed into Meldusia. Ivan had kept their pace slow so Magic had time to maneuver his chess pieces. Mocking that plan seemed to be a catalyst for their speed. Miraculously, Ivan’s horse no longer needed a sluggish pace or frequent rests. Angst did his best to nudge it along without putting the poor beast in its grave.

  There were no further signs of warbands, which was a worrisome relief. While it was nice not being hunted, the lack of attention made him wonder if they were going the right way.

  Two more days passed, and those concerns sweated out through his pores. The forest slowly became a jungle the likes of which Angst had never seen, and never wanted to see again. The vine-covered trees seemed to hover over their path, practically choking the life out of the very air. Even breathing was a chore as the humidity weighed on his lungs.

  The nights were almost worse than their days. Instead of the cool relief of a fall wind, it rained hard and nonstop. The evening storms imprisoned him in a tent with Alloria, who insisted on being naked for fear of getting overheated. She would laugh herself to sleep at his discomfort while he lay on his side, smacking bugs. Bugs. They only bit him, entirely avoiding Alloria and Ivan. When this was over, his life goal may just be to kill all of the bugs. Then he'd be the true hero of Ehrde.

  On day six, Ivan abruptly stopped.

  Angst reached out to the gamlin, but none were close. It made sense. The soppy ground and thick humidity would probably kill them. “What is it?” he asked.

  “A butterfly,” Ivan said, looking back with a sneer.

  “Where?” Alloria asked. “I love butterflies.”

  “I’m sure you’ll find plenty here in Garathou, the Meldusian jungle,” Ivan said, sounding frustrated. “I’m assuming Angst will want to stop and make peace with them.”

  “What are you talking about?” Angst asked.

  “You didn’t kill the Berfemmian, you kissed her,” Ivan said. “You didn’t destroy the war band of tribesmen, you befriended them…and the merpeople. You’re a fool.”

  “He’s a hero,” Alloria shouted, defensively. Her voice became dreamy. “He’s my hero.”

  “Of course I tried to befriend them,” Angst said. “Why do you think that’s bad?”

  “Because you’ve let your guard down. Because you’ve shown your weakness,” Ivan said. “You’ll soon be at war with all of them at Prendere as they fight for the prize.”

  “Most of them want the same thing. A safe Ehrde,” he said. “Why fight, when we can work together?”

  “You think they’ll help you win the prize?” Ivan asked. “They all want it, and will kill you to win it, which makes you an idiot.”

  “Just do your job, and take us to Prendere,” Angst snapped.

  “It’s not that simple,” Ivan said. “To enter, you will need the key.”

  “Fine,” Angst said, rolling his eyes. “Then take us to the key.”

  “We’re already here,” Ivan said.

  Angst followed him through an opening in the jungle and gasped. A vast sea of vines covered the ground like a pit of snakes, reaching for miles beyond his vision. This gardener’s nightmare coalesced into a mound the size of a city, reaching high into the sky, arcing in the shape of a dome.

  “Is this…” Angst looked around, taking it all in. “Is this a mage city?”

  “Welcome to Gyldorane,” Ivan said. “The richest of all mage cities.”

  “Ooh,” Alloria said, leaning forward.

  “No,” Angst said, his shoulders barely able to hold up his armor.

  “Is something wrong?” Alloria asked.

  “I was expecting Prendere.” He struggled to keep the defeat out of his voice. The hope that had driven him to this point, past the warbands, and through that awful jungle was gone. “I thought I was close to seeing my family, not this.”

  “I’m sure we’re just passing through,” Alloria said, her voice still filled with hope.

  “I’m sure we’re not,” Angst said, with a deep sigh. “Why are we here?”

  “At the end of the last war, an Al’eyrn cast a spell. She created an impenetrable shield around that beam of light,” Ivan said. “The foci she used to create that shield is in this mage city.”

  “A shield that elements can’t get through?” Angst asked.

  “You aren’t the only fool to utter the words, ‘at all cost’,” Ivan said.

  “That would work,” Angst said with a shudder.

  “That foci is the key to taking down that barrier,” Ivan said. “All you need to do is find it. It’s a—”

  “Horn,” Angst said.

  “How did you know?” Ivan asked, his eyes wide.

  “Some friends told me,” Angst said. The twins had been looking for the horn foci, and it only made sense that it was in this mess of a mage city. He sighed.

  “This is the last step, hero.” Ivan’s voice, his demeanor, became unnaturally respectful. “Your journey is almost complete.”

  Angst gathered what was left of his reserves. There weren’t many, but what choice did he have? “Lead the way.”

  It wasn’t the lengthy trek through the vine maze that Angst had expected. The dead knigh
t led them flawlessly along the tops of thick vines. All the while, Angst’s frustration grew. Where was this helpful tracker when they’d skirted the warbands? Where was this respectful leader when he’d made peace with his enemies? Suddenly, Ivan was adept, kind, and even useful.

  “Is that our way in?” Angst asked.

  A wide, almost welcoming, stone pathway was mostly free of vines. It led to a large doorway that looked more like a mouth than a mage city entrance.

  “We could go that way, but it’s a complicated entrance,” Ivan warned.

  “I want to see,” Angst said.

  “As you wish,” Ivan said.

  Angst and Alloria immediately dismounted when they arrived. The limestone road was well kept and refreshingly sturdy underfoot. Sets of stairways and plateaus led to enormous double doors, also carved from stone. It would take magic to open those doors. There was probably a puzzle here that Dallow would’ve loved to solve. His intelligent friend had translated Acratic to enter Gressmore. He longed for his friends to be here; he needed them now more than ever.

  “You say there’s an easier way in?” Angst asked.

  “Yes,” Ivan said. “We aren’t far.”

  “Let’s go,” Angst said with a nod. “But I’d like to spend a private moment with Alloria. This is a special place, and I’d like to make it memorable.”

  “Uh, sure,” Ivan said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Ride along the biggest vine over there. I’ll wait for you out of earshot.”

  She frowned and squeezed her hands several times nervously as if she’d lost control of their sexual tension. Her sexual tension. He wanted to laugh but didn’t know how she’d react, so he held it in. Alloria looked ready to say something. He set a finger against his lips until Ivan was gone.

  “Go ahead,” he said.

  “You’re not going to ask me to leave,” she said. “Are you?”

  “No way. We’re in this together,” Angst said.

  Her shoulders dropped. “Memorable, huh?” she asked, licking her lips. And the sexual tension was hers once again.

  “Not like that,” he said. “I have a favor to ask.”

  The jungle nightmare ended at a vast field of thick vines reaching farther than they could see. At the distant center of the growth was an unfathomably large dome of vines. Dallow referred to it as the mage city Gyldorane. According to her visions, it was time to face Angst. She paced through her anxiety, looking for words that would inspire the exhaustion out of everyone, but found only curses as she stumbled over spongy vines.

  “This doesn’t make me feel better about that jungle,” Rose said, looking over the field.

  “At least there are no bugs,” Nikkola said.

  “Or animals,” Simon said. “According to Sean.”

  “So, what do we do?” Nikkola asked.

  “We save Ehrde,” Victoria said. She pointed toward Gyldorane. “This is where it happens. I’ve seen it. He could be waiting for us at the entrance, or inside the city, but there will be a battle here.”

  “I’m ready,” Rose said with determination.

  The others nodded in agreement. It wasn’t exactly a pep talk, but she would accept any form of encouragement, even the little ones.

  “Do we have to kill him?” Dallow asked.

  “I don’t know,” Victoria said, swallowing hard. “We’ll do what we have to. What’s the best way through this, Captain?”

  “We ride along the tops of the largest vines,” she said. “He’ll be able to see us from a distance, so we’ll have to ride fast. Listen to my commands when we get there. Mount up.”

  “Dallow needs to lead the way,” Victoria said. “He knows exactly where we’re going.”

  They all looked at her quizzically, but she provided no further explanation. Dallow mounted his polished, hardwood gazelle and bounded to a great vine taller than him. Waving for them to follow, he rode forward at an incredible speed.

  Victoria was acutely aware of her pounding heart, gasping breath, and time as she followed Dallow’s lead. They were close, but it was already taking too long to get there, and her mind raced the swifen to Gyldorane. Would Dallow’s swifen stumble over a vine, forcing them all to crash in a heap? Would they have to dodge Angst’s attacks while preparing their own? Did she have it in her heart to order his death?

  As they reached a wide limestone patio, all fears and concerns were lost to a new problem.

  “Where is he?” Jaden asked.

  Victoria dismounted her unicorn and knelt to pick up Alloria’s tiara. She handed it to Dallow, who took it with a sigh.

  “Well,” Dallow said. “It got us this far.”

  “I don’t understand,” Jaden said.

  “We discovered a memndus when visiting Gressmore Towers,” Dallow said. “It was a giant glass map of Ehrde that you could use to view people. It was unfinished, and when Angst pushed it a little too hard, the memndus shattered. We learned that you could use the memndus shards to track other shards, one of which is in this tiara Alloria’s been wearing.”

  “I didn’t think magic could be used to track magic,” Jaden said.

  “I know,” Dallow said with a smile.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Mirim asked, frowning irritably.

  “Angst and I used to speak to each other through stone,” Victoria said. “That stopped when Earth was destroyed, but Dallow and I were concerned he could still listen in.”

  “He left the tiara here for us to find,” Dallow said. “He must’ve figured it out.”

  “Yes, a while ago,” Victoria said.

  “I find that hard to believe,” Rose said with a sniff.

  “It doesn’t matter. He’s here, and so are we,” Jaden said in disbelief. “What do we do now?”

  “We figure out how to open that door,” Victoria said.

  32

  “Here we are,” Ivan said.

  The three of them stood on a weatherworn, stone terrace easily the size of his small house. Angst stared at the alcove of vine walls before him in confusion. A thick drapery of leaves hung from drooping branches and vines wider than his legs. The few openings were windows into darkness and shadow, the natural habitat for everything that crawled, slithered, and bit. This wasn’t the doorway he’d expected. It was as welcoming as coming home at 2am from a late night of drinking, smelling like someone else’s perfume. That door usually ended up in his face.

  “Gosh,” Angst said. “Thanks for bringing us nowhere. How did you even become a knight? Do you just suck at everything?”

  “Oooh,” Alloria said, her eyes darting back and forth. “Fight!”

  “It’s here, Angst,” Ivan said, still polite. “All you have to do is push through.”

  “Or this is a trap,” Alloria said, studying a fingernail.

  With a growl, Angst grabbed Ivan by the breastplate, spun him around, and shoved the knight against the vine wall covering the mage city.

  “No, wait,” Ivan said, arms flailing. “You don’t know what you’re—”

  The explosion blasted them to the terrace edge. Angst landed on his back, rolled over his shoulder to stand, and drew both swords. Alloria applauded his quick recovery. Part of him wanted to bow, the other part wanted his vision to clear.

  “No,” Ivan moaned, gripping his stomach, his face locked in a grimace. The man lay on his side, gray smoke rising from him like he’d just been taken off the grill. Ivan melted, slowly reforming into the shape of a tall, awkward-looking bald man Angst knew too well.

  “Magic,” Angst shouted, rushing over to the element.

  “Hi,” Magic wheezed, trying to push himself up.

  Both foci buzzed with power. Blue and red lightning crashed around him, sparking noisily on the stone floor. They sang in his mind, a rare harmony that said very clearly, “Destroy the element.”

  “You’ll never save your family if you end me,” Magic said, turning his head to look at Angst.

  “I should destroy you for what you did to Tarness,” A
ngst said. “For what you’ve done to Alloria.”

  “Would you rather they were dead?” Magic asked. “This is a poor way to thank me.”

  “Then Marisha,” Angst said. “Whatever you did to her—”

  “To all Berfemmian,” Magic said nonchalantly. “Faeoris’s golden feather is a foci. I’m surprised you hadn’t figured that out. It’s different than your swords. When she bonded with it, all Berfemmian got their wings of light. When I forced the foci to bond with Marisha…well, needless to say, I need a little more practice.”

  “Monster,” Angst shouted.

  “Your wife and children…or me?” Magic asked. “Without me, you’ll never find Prendere, and you won’t be able to save any of them.”

  The swords were practically begging, so loud in his mind that his hands shook. Lightning bit at Magic’s arms and legs, making the element jerk with every strike. Angst’s foci wanted this more than anything. This is what they were made for. Their hunger, their songs, were almost uncontrollable. He had to mentally shush them to consider.

  This could be it: the death of the last element. Angst would win. Everyone on Ehrde would be safe for another two thousand years, and he could just walk away a hero. The hero they all needed, the hero everyone wanted, the hero he had longed to be.

  But then there was the plan. His crazy plan to save his family and friends. If there was a chance, even the smallest chance he could keep this war from ever happening, wasn’t that his responsibility? And what if his plan failed, letting Magic win and leaving Ehrde in chaos?

  “Do it, baby,” Alloria said. “Kill him. Please.”

  It was the wrong sort of encouragement, and with a deep sigh, he said, “No.”

  The swords went silent so suddenly it was if he’d gone deaf. The impressive pyrotechnic display of lightning stopped abruptly as well. Alloria sighed. Magic laughed.

  “When I end you,” Angst said with a forced calm, “it won’t be out of petty revenge. I’ll do it with my family at my side, and I’ll be saving everyone I love.”

  “Sure,” Magic said in a coddling tone, pushing himself up to a sitting position.