The Keeper Chronicles: The Complete Trilogy

by JA Andrews

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Take her to the wizard. Douglon led the way through the forests heading north. No one spoke much and Alaric found his mind wandering.

  Gustav had a dragon. He would reach the Shade Seekers’ valley in a matter of hours. Crossing the hills and valleys like they would have to do was going to take more than a day. By the time they reached him, it would be too late. And even with Ayda, Alaric didn’t think they stood much of a chance against Mallon once he was raised.

  All of them were drooping in their saddles when Alaric finally called a halt. Ayda looked at him stonily and dismounted.

  As the camp lay quiet, Alaric stared at the sky. The stars above him twinkled peacefully. The stars always seemed more unattainable when he was unsettled. He took a deep breath trying to draw in their serenity. He waited for the soothing sense he got from the night sky to settle in, but it refused.

  There was no way they were going to reach Sidion before Gustav revived Mallon. No way. He was probably preparing right now. Tonight might be the last night of peace that Queensland would know.

  He let his gaze wander through the sky. If only he could look at the stars long enough, his mind would calm. Their light was so constant, so emotionless. No, not emotionless, serene. They burned with a serene hope because they burned so purely. And if there could be that much purity in the universe, maybe it outweighed all the mess down here.

  Alaric’s eyes scanned west and his chest tightened. The starred sky outlined a deep V in the mountains to their west. Kollman Pass.

  Through that pass, a half-day’s journey would take him to her. She was lying there, only hours away from him.

  He wanted to go, to gather his things and slip off to the west. To stop this futile hunt for a wizard who kept beating him.

  His eyes lingered on Kollman Pass.

  He could go to her. He could see her again. If he followed Gustav, if he found the Rivor awake, there was no way they would survive it. Not even with Ayda.

  Not even if Ayda would go back to being Ayda and stop growing darker and darker. He didn’t need the Wellstone to see the darkness in her, and the thought of bringing her closer to Mallon was terrifying.

  They were on a hopeless journey. Five eclectic travelers stood no chance against Mallon. This journey would be their death.

  But he could be with Evangeline by dawn. He could hold her again.

  The familiar ache flared up inside of him. That could not last, either. She had been in so much pain, how could he wake her again without the antidote? Could he sit with her and let her die?

  Not that it mattered any longer. Even if he could cure her, he would bring her back to a world enslaved to Mallon.

  Alaric sighed and closed his eyes against the Pass. No, he would see this to its inevitable finish. Perhaps between himself and Ayda, they could… wound Mallon. Slow him down. Give the world time for…

  What?

  Still he would go. He would try.

  A humorless smile twisted his face. How Keeperish of him. Perhaps there was more Keeper left in him than he thought. Reading Kordan’s journal had reminded Alaric of what true Keepers valued. Their ideas had regained that ring of truth.

  Alaric rolled onto his side, turning his back on Kollman Pass. He was going to need some sleep. This journey to his death was bound to be exhausting.

  Before dawn, Ayda was up again, commanding the others into their saddles.

  Alaric called for everyone’s attention. “This evening, we’ll be nearing Sidion, and we’re going to meet some trouble.” They were all looking at him: Brandson and Milly attentively, Douglon nodding, and Ayda looking scornful. “The Shade Seekers have a particular way of dealing with their enemies. They capture them, almost kill them, then revive them by putting them into an animal. It creates something new. Something monstrous.”

  Milly’s eyes were wide.

  “I’ve encountered some of them,” Alaric said, “and they are dangerous. Some of them look human, some of them look like animals, but most are some sort of combination. The Shade Seekers use them to protect their valley. I’m not positive that there will be any other Shade Seekers there, but Gustav will be, and I think it’s safe to say that whatever creatures are there will be doing what he wants. We may encounter them as early as this afternoon, so we should be cautious.”

  “We’re not going to catch up with Gustav, are we?” Brandson asked.

  Alaric shook his head. “I don’t think so. It wouldn’t take very long to get to Sidion on a dragon.”

  “Then we’ll be too late?” Milly asked.

  “Possibly.”

  She looked uncertainly around the group. “But… if we’re too late, won’t he have raised the Rivor by the time we get there?”

  Douglon looked grim. Ayda glared toward the north.

  “That’s possible, too.” Alaric looked around the group. “We’re not far from the road back to the capital. Anyone who’s not interested in going to what’s most likely a death trap is free to leave.” He looked at Milly closely. “In fact, we should let the queen know what’s going on. You and Brandson could get there by tomorrow morning and—”

  “Are you ever going to stop trying to send me home?” Milly demanded.

  “I’ve only tried it once before. And it’s an even better idea now than it was then.”

  “Don’t make her get a frying pan,” Douglon said with a grin. Then he prodded his horse forward, and the others followed.

  Alaric held Beast back. His eyes found Kollman Pass again. It stood clear against the pale morning sky. In the dawn light, it looked close enough to touch.

  He cast out, trying to feel her life. But it was too far. He felt vibrant sparks of birds and creatures, but even if he could reach all the way to her, he wouldn’t find that. He would find only the dimmest flicker, barely surviving.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

  For what? For not being able to save her? For putting her near the poison in the first place? For the fact that he was about to follow the others into the trees instead of going back to her?

  He closed his eyes and sighed and released Beast to follow the group, bringing them back into view.

  It was only hours after lunch when the first creature attacked. Douglon, who had been riding in the lead, was bowled off his horse by a shaggy creature approximately the size of a wolf. Brandson was there in a moment, his knife out and through the creature almost before they were on the ground.

  Brandson heaved it off the dwarf revealing a vaguely wolf-like face over a misshapen body. Ayda came up and knelt down beside the creature. She set her hand on its head and closed her eyes for a moment.

  “This was a man once. Long ago. So long ago, the memory of it has almost left him.”

  She looked at the rest of them. “We can’t kill any more of these.”

  “Can’t kill them?” Douglon said. “Wait until one jumps on you.”

  “No,” she said firmly. “These aren’t evil. We can’t kill any more unless they are too far gone to save.”

  “If we can’t kill them, what exactly would you like us to do?” Douglon demanded.

  “I’ll take care of them,” Ayda said. “You just make sure you don’t kill them. But keep Milly and the others safe.”

  “Sure,” Douglon grunted. “We’ll just play with them ‘til you take care of it.”

  She ignored him and remounted her horse.

  It was several hours before they encountered the next monster. They turned a corner, and there in the path was a lion. A lion with wickedly intelligent eyes. It hunched before them, growling slightly. The group froze, the horses shifting in fear. Ayda walked forward. As she got close, the lion crouched lower.

  “It’s going to attack,” Douglon warned, his voice low. He slid to the ground and pulled out his axe as he moved over as far to the side as the trail would allow.

  “It’s fine,” Ayda said.

  She took one more step, and the lion lunged toward her. She flicked her ha
nd, and a shimmery blue net appeared in front of the lion. It roared once and the net flickered out. Then the lion hit Ayda and drove her to the ground. Douglon cried out and rushed forward.

  Milly screamed from the back of the group. Alaric whipped around to see a huge ape hanging down out of the tree, pulling Milly up out of her saddle. Brandson was racing toward her, his knife out.

  Alaric dropped to the ground and grabbed a moss-covered rock. He thrust some energy into it, igniting the moss, and threw it at the ape. The rock hit the creature in the shoulder, and it dropped Milly back into her saddle. She spurred her horse away as the ape dropped to the ground to face Brandson. Alaric gathered energy, looking from Brandson to Ayda, who was pinned beneath the lion, holding it back with one hand.

  “Don’t kill it!” Ayda yelled at Brandson.

  Douglon rushed forward, but a swipe of the lion’s paw threw him against a tree.

  “Sleep,” Ayda commanded, setting her hand on the lion’s forehead. The beast stumbled slightly then toppled to the side.

  Ayda shoved its legs off of her and raced back to Brandson.

  Alaric lit another rock and hurled it at the ape.

  The ape bellowed at Brandson and swung an arm out at him. Brandson fell back, letting out a cry as the ape’s nails dragged across his calf.

  Ayda rushed past him to stand in front of the beast. It bellowed at her as she reached out and placed her hand between its eyes.

  “Sleep,” she commanded quietly.

  The ape leaned closer, his mouth open, breathing fury into her face. She stood calmly before him for a moment before he blinked then sank to the ground.

  Brandson was leaning heavily against a tree with blood dripping down his leg.

  Ayda walked up to him and touched his leg gently. Then she stood and walked over to where Douglon still lay stunned.

  Brandson’s eyes widened, and he stood, gingerly putting weight on his leg. Then he pulled his tattered pants to the side and looked at his leg, which held only a dark red scar.

  “A scar?” he said dumbly.

  “I can heal it,” Ayda answered tartly. “I can’t make it so that it never happened.”

  “No, I didn’t mean—” Brandson protested. “It’s wonderful!”

  Ayda smiled slightly.

  Douglon stood slowly, shaking his head to clear it. “How long are these things going to sleep?”

  Ayda looked at them sadly. “The rest of the day. They’re terribly sad, aren’t they?”

  Milly looked at her as though she were crazy. “That thing was going to carry me off into the trees!”

  “That ape used to be a farmer. I could see it in his mind. He refused to give a Shade Seeker his only pig. They took him and did this.” She paused. “He had a wife and a tiny baby.”

  Milly’s brow crinkled. “Can you… put him back to normal?”

  “No,” Ayda answered. “There’s not enough of him left in there.”

  Milly looked at the ape sadly, then tentatively reached out her hand to stroke his head.

  “Is there nothing you can do?” she asked, looking at Ayda, then Alaric.

  Alaric looked at the two creatures and shook his head. What was there to be done? They couldn’t be restored to what they once were. They were too changed.

  Ayda cocked her head to the side and crouched down before the ape. Placing both hands on the sides of his head, she closed her eyes for a long moment. Finally, she opened them and shook her head.

  “I thought that maybe I could cut the Shade Seeker’s hold on him. But he’s too much monster now for it to make a difference. He can do nothing but hunt and kill. What was a man has been long forgotten.”

  “Of course it has,” Milly said softly. She reached out to take the ape’s enormous hand in her own, avoiding its long, red nails. “How could it not be? We become what we act like, don’t we. And after so much time, what would be the point of remembering?”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Alaric watched Milly, her words echoing through his mind. We become what we act like.

  Kordan shouldn’t have made his own Stronghold. He should have come here, to the Shade Seekers. It was a Shade Seeker Kordan had ended up acting like, not a Keeper.

  Alaric reached up and rubbed the ruby at his neck. And where, he thought, should he go himself?

  Light from the setting sun stretched out across the path.

  “We need to keep moving,” he said.

  Quietly, the group remounted and, skirting the sleeping lion, continued into the valley of the monsters.

  The sun sank lower as they went. Ayda rode in the center of the group with Milly so the elf could get to the front or back of the line easily. Alaric and Brandson led, and Douglon took the rear. Every few minutes, Alaric cast out, looking for monsters, but found the forest near them empty. But far off in the woods, he caught glimpses of large creatures.

  “We might want to find a place to camp before it gets dark,” Brandson said, looking warily around him. “Somewhere that might be defensible.”

  A few minutes later, the trail went by a cluster of large boulders with a small clearing inside of it. There was only one way into the rocks making it the most protected place they’d seen all day. The group set up camp in the fading light.

  “How much farther?” Ayda demanded.

  “Only an hour or two,” Alaric said. “But we can’t do it at night with all the creatures here. We need to stay someplace we can defend. Tomorrow, at first light, we’ll go to the keep.”

  Ayda glared at him. “We’re wasting time,” she hissed as she walked away.

  They set a fire at the entrance to the clearing to light their camp as well as hold off any but the bravest beasts.

  “I’m sure the animals know we’re here already,” Alaric told them. “But we can try to dissuade them from bothering us.”

  They took shifts on watch, two at a time, while the others attempted to sleep. Milly and Brandson took first watch, and Alaric lay wide-awake. He was exhausted, but he couldn’t sleep. Every few minutes, he could hear rustling outside the ring of boulders. There were creatures out there. Whether the fire would hold them off or not, he didn’t know. There were enough people here and the fire, so they might be held at bay, but Gustav certainly wouldn’t want to be disturbed, and since things seemed to work out the way Gustav wanted…

  Alaric must have dozed off eventually, because he woke to a scream by Milly. He sat up and saw her pointing into the darkness, but he could see nothing. Then the shadow on the top of the largest boulder slithered, and a head lifted off the rock. Its eyes glinted back firelight, but its body was all shadows.

  Brandson stepped in front of Milly and drew his knife. Douglon leapt up and held his axe, but backed slowly away from the boulder. Alaric stood, too, and stepped back as a black lizard slithered down the rock to the ground. Ayda stepped forward. The beast snapped its head toward her and dropped low. It hissed deep in its throat, causing lines of molten red to glow beneath the dark scales of its neck.

  A fire lizard. Alaric’s breath caught and his palms began to sweat. This one was larger than the one he’d fought when Evangeline was poisoned. That one had been sleek and fast. This one was thick with strength. Its head, slithering smoothly on a thick neck, was almost as high as Alaric’s waist. Alaric began to gather energy from the trees and grass around him.

  Ayda stepped forward purposefully and held out her hand toward the beast.

  The lizard crouched down, ready to spring.

  “Ayda,” Alaric whispered, “please be careful. That’s a fire lizard.”

  “You’re not a lizard,” she said softly. “Do you remember who you are?”

  The beast paused and cocked its head. Then it crept closer. The lizard’s snout was inches from Ayda’s hand. Ayda knelt down and leaned forward, reaching out her hand slowly. Its eyes slimmed to slits and it drew in a breath.

  “Ayda—” Alaric whispered in warning.

  But the elf pushed her hand forward an
d closed her eyes. She set her hand on its snout.

  The lizard’s eyes snapped open wide and a deep growl began in its chest.

  “Can you remember?” Her voice melted through the air.

  The growl stopped. The creature blinked. It sniffed Ayda’s hand several times, then sank back onto its haunches.

  I remember, elf, a voice rang out in Alaric’s mind.

  Milly, Brandson, and Douglon started and looked at the lizard in amazement. He must be speaking into all of their minds.

  Ayda smiled warmly. “I’m Ayda. May I?” she asked, reaching for its head.

  The lizard, which had drawn back, gave a stuttered nod and closed its eyes.

  Ayda place her hands on either side of its enormous head. She closed her eyes as well, and the two stayed like that for several breaths. When the creature finally opened its eyes, they were clearer.

  Ayda stepped back and gestured around the circle. “This is Keeper Alaric, Douglon, Brandson, and Milly.”

  No one relaxed, but Milly peeked around Brandson. “What is your name?” she asked, her voice a little higher than normal.

  The lizard shook its head.

  “It has been too long,” Ayda said quietly. “He has been changed for so long that he can’t remember who he was before.” She looked at the others. “It’s been a very long time. Maybe a hundred years.”

  The creature’s eyes were wary. A hundred years. A hundred years trapped in the body of an animal. Most of the Shade Seekers’ monsters were crossbreeds of humans and common animals. They had normal sorts of lifespans. But to cross someone with a fire lizard? Fire lizards were a relative of dragons. They lived for centuries.

  The creature lifted its head and looked directly at Alaric.

  A Keeper, his voice rang out slowly in Alaric’s mind again. It has been a long time since I saw a Keeper.

  Alaric stepped forward. He could find nothing to say.

  Do you know my name?

  Ayda and the others were watching expectantly. The creature looked at him desperately.

  “Ayda would know more than I would,” Alaric answered. “She can enter your mind easily. I don’t know if I can.”