by J. F. Penn
15
As Finn sketched a map on the ground of how they might travel to the city of air, Ekon reached for Mila’s hand and led her to the corner of the cave.
“You could stay.” His voice was soft, tentative. “You’ve only just arrived and I know we’ve just met, but … I want more time and I know you do, too. Imagine what we could discover about our magic together.”
His words echoed deep inside Mila, calling to a part of her that longed for home. Perhaps home was not a place, after all, but a person. Someone who understood her dual self, someone who saw beyond her magic to the woman beneath.
Part of her longed to say yes, to give in to this heady feeling, but if she stayed, if she used her magic the way Ekon did, she would soon be lost in shadow. They would be together, but they would also change into who knew what. The Waterwalkers had all but disappeared, living beneath the waves perhaps, or lost down there in the deep. Was it worth the risk for such a short time together?
“Mila, what do you think of this?” Sienna called over, frowning as she saw how close her friend stood to Ekon, how she could barely tear her eyes from the young man.
She looked at Finn that way sometimes, although he could barely look at her at the moment. He was hiding something, but she still didn’t know what.
Mila turned, her fingers still entwined with Ekon’s. “What is it?”
Sienna pointed down at Finn’s rough map showing Ganvié surrounded by water and then the trader city, the approximate location of the library and a mountain further east. “Does this look like any of the maps you’ve seen back at the Ministry?”
Mila walked over and bent closer. “The distances are more spaced out on our version but it looks about right. Is it enough for you to travel through?”
Sienna gazed at the rough lines, letting her magic probe at the edges of it as she imagined the map as three-dimensional, a world she could walk upon, a land she could travel across — or fly over.
Mapwalking was still a mystery, but with every journey she learned more. She had sketched a map like this in the abandoned asylum of Poveglia and traveled through it, but she had been alone, and it was only a short journey. This was some heavy lifting and the more magic she used, the more the shadow entwined within her — and she was beginning to hear it call her name. The sound was a long way off but when she traveled it became louder, as if the shadow flew beside her. The drops of darkness in her blood expanded like the headiness of alcohol, as if she was intoxicated by it and all she needed to do was let it wash over her and she would be free.
“Sienna?” Mila’s voice broke into her thoughts.
“Yes.” Sienna nodded. “It’s enough. I can take us through, I’m sure of it.”
Finn and Jari gathered up the packs while Perry carefully wrapped the box to take with them. Sienna slipped the pieces of the map inside her jacket and pulled out her ritual knife. She cut into the still-healing wound on her palm, letting her blood drip onto the stones and mingle with the salt water. She placed her hand on the sketched map, becoming one with the contours of the earth.
She reached out her other hand for the others.
Finn, Perry and Jari gathered around, laying their palms on top but Mila stood apart. She stepped closer to Ekon and wrapped her arms around him. He pulled her into an embrace and for a moment, they clung to each other.
Then Mila stepped away. “I’m sorry. I have to go, but I’ll come back. I promise.”
Ekon nodded, disappointment in his eyes. “Travel safe, Mila Waterwalker.” He turned and dived back into the pool, disappearing into the deep blue, leaving only ripples in his wake.
Mila took a step toward the pool as if she would follow him down there, her fists clenched. She sighed and turned back to the team, reaching out a hand to place it on top of theirs.
Before she could change her mind, Sienna closed her eyes and leaned into the map, pulling the others with her. A second later, she was flying above the floating city of Ganvié, the silhouettes of sharks circling below. As she rose higher, she could see the shimmering border and then the plains of the Borderlands stretching away before her, mountains in the distance.
She focused on the city of air that Finn had drawn for her on the ground and described for them all. A place built high above a tropical forest, with soaring pinnacles of rock. Her focus changed and the passage of time and space below shifted.
Suddenly, the air chilled around her.
Sienna shivered as dark clouds gathered, obscuring the land below. Wind buffeted from all sides and she lost her sense of direction. Panic rose within and her breath came fast. If she traveled accidentally over the border, Finn and Jari would be lost into the mists between the worlds, a place that no one returned from.
She spun around, desperately trying to see through the gathered fog, but all she could see were shadows twisting through the grey, black streaks that drew closer every second.
Then the voice called her name, the one she feared above all else because she longed for it.
Sienna.
The mist swirled clear in one direction, opening a path to the Castle of the Shadow below. Its twisted turrets spiraled high into the sky and at the top of one, a ruby light glowed like a welcoming hearth or a drop of blood.
She could dive down there right now.
Sienna wanted to and if she had been on her own, perhaps she would have gone. But the weight of the others pressed down upon her and Sienna knew she had to take them as far from here as she could. The Castle of the Shadow offered only death for them, or perhaps something worse.
She turned away and the mist closed around her again, cutting off the route down, leaving behind a sense of desolation, that she had missed a chance for something just beyond her reach. The voice grew softer as Sienna dived down through the mist, unsure as to whether she was falling or flying until suddenly the world around her was all shades of green and the shadows withdrew.
Pillars of limestone rose up toward the sky, rope bridges swung between them and on the edge of one pillar, hanging out over the forest, Sienna saw the ruins of a temple that Finn had suggested as their landing point. She dived down toward it and as her feet touched rock, she let the others go and collapsed to the ground, sinking into the welcoming darkness.
As the world stopped spinning, Perry opened his eyes. He couldn’t focus at first, vertigo and nausea making him dizzy, his stomach clenching in protest at the rough trip. Something had happened as they traveled. Following Sienna through a map was usually like stepping through a waterfall, briefly violent and then another place, but that journey — Perry took a deep breath — that journey was like standing under the drowning water and being hammered into rock.
Shades of vibrant green shimmered and slowly came into focus as he sat up. The others lay around him on a stone platform, some kind of ritual circle on the edge of a cliff. Towering pinnacles of rock rose around them with trees growing on different levels, thick foliage obscuring what looked like cave dwellings. Mist gathered in the spaces between the pinnacles, obscuring how far up they must be. A strange cry echoed through the mist, the call of a predator hunting.
A groan then retching sounds behind him. Perry turned to see Finn on his hands and knees coughing and Jari beside him, both almost green with nausea but otherwise okay. Mila leaned against a huge stone statue of an eagle taking flight, rubbing her forehead as she tried to breathe deeply, the fastest way to get through the travel sickness.
Where was Sienna?
Perry stood on shaky legs, turning slowly, heart pounding as he remembered a voice in the mist calling for her. Could she have possibly—
Then he saw her, lying prone behind what looked like an altar on the very edge of the cliff. He stumbled over and knelt by her side.
“Sienna!” He shook her shoulder, turned her over and couldn’t help the gasp that escaped his lips. Beneath the skin of her neck and up onto her face, tendrils of black wound through her veins, evidence of the shadow. But Perry had never seen it
this bad, except on those who lay in the wards of the Ministry, lost in a shadow coma until they passed beyond the edges of the world.
He pulled up her right sleeve, then the left. Darkness coiled through her skin, whorls of blood corrupted with shadow. He had to tell Mila. They had to get her back to the Ministry.
He began to rise but Sienna gripped his arm, her eyes now wide open.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “Wait a moment.”
As Perry watched, the black marks faded away and moments later, only her pale skin remained.
“How did you do that?”
Sienna shook her head. “I don’t really know—” Her eyes widened in fear. “Down!”
She pulled Perry toward her as huge talons swooshed over his head, the cry of a giant eagle echoing around the pinnacle as it swooped back up to the sky above. A sky that was suddenly filled with a convocation of giant birds.
They dived, one after another, talons as large and sharp as scythes.
Perry and Sienna pulled themselves flat against the altar, using the stone to shield themselves against the plunging birds. Perry peered around the edge to check on the others.
Mila huddled behind the statue, but Finn and Jari were out in the open, still on the ground. Finn rolled to his front as one dived for him. The creature couldn’t pierce his protective leather coat and flew away.
As another dived for Jari, she rose, twin swords in her hands, shouting at the sky. “Come get me, you bastards!”
An eagle dived for her, talons aimed at her eyes.
She slashed at it, swords tangling in its feathers as she went down under the weight of the creature. It pecked and slashed at her and she screamed as a warrior in battle as they rolled across the flagstones toward the edge of the cliff.
16
Finn grabbed Jari’s boot, pulling her back, even as she fought the creature on top of her.
Another eagle dived for Finn, its cry that of a predator who knows it has won. As the talons struck him, he was driven away from Jari, fighting his own battle even as she struggled under the weight of the eagle as it dragged her toward the rim of the sacred area where mist obscured the drop below.
“Enough.” Perry stood up and raised his hands.
The black tendrils in Sienna’s flesh reminded him of the cost of their magic, but Finn — and even Jari — were part of the team now and they had only mortal weapons to defend themselves. He didn’t have to like them, but he did have to save them.
He summoned fire from within, the burning sensation rising inside until it burst out of his palms into white hot balls of flame.
Perry ran toward the warrior woman, catching her outstretched hand and pulling her away from the edge even as he threw the fireball into the side of the eagle. It caught fire, its feathers burning as it shrieked in pain, freeing its talons from Jari’s clothes. It tumbled off the edge of the cliff, a three-meter-wide fiery death.
He spun around and hurled another fireball at the eagle attacking Finn, the blow driving the creature off its prey momentarily. Finn rolled away and ran quickly back to Jari, huddling over her as Perry stood protecting them both, hands raised to the sky, palms burning with almost blue flame.
The gigantic eagles circled above, wary now. Perry watched them, turning as he noted the passage of the largest. It dived once more, then another came from the opposite direction.
Perry waited, his muscles taut as he held himself in check, waiting, waiting …
When he could feel the wind of their descent on his face, he spun around, whipping his flames into a burning pillar then thrusting his arms out wide, creating a towering vortex of fire. The second eagle burned up almost immediately, plunging down to dash onto the stone beneath.
For a moment the largest eagle appeared more like a phoenix, its whole body alive with flame, its beak open to tear apart its prey. Then it too dropped to the flagstones, feathers burned and body roasted, the smell of scorched flesh in the air.
As the flames died down and the smoke from their bodies swept over the side to join the mists below, Perry stood once more, arms raised to the sky, challenging the flying eagles above. Those that were left, circled and then flew away, their cries echoing across the pinnacled valley until it was quiet again.
Perry dropped his arms and sat down heavily on the flagstones, a wave of exhaustion flooding him as the magic dissipated, leaving an emptiness that almost brought tears to his eyes. His shoulders slumped, his mind whirled. He would have fought on until he had been consumed by the flames. Part of him wished the eagles would come back, just so he could feel that surge of power again. In that moment, he understood why Xander had chosen the shadow side.
“Come on, Jari.” Finn’s voice was desperate.
Perry turned to see him wiping blood from the warrior woman’s face, but her wounds were deep, gouges from the talons across her chest, through her armor, along her arms. Her eyelids fluttered and she tried to get up, hand reaching for her sword.
“Rest now. It’s okay. They’re gone.” Finn calmed her and Jari lay back, her breathing a harsh rattle.
“We need medical help.” Mila walked over from behind the statue. As she reached them, she squeezed Perry’s hand, gratitude in her eyes.
Sienna stumbled over from the altar and sat down next to Perry. They were weakened, but they were still together.
The sound of a slow clap echoed across the sacred ground.
Perry tried to stand but his legs were too frail. The others could barely move either. They were helpless.
The slow clap grew louder and an old man stepped out onto the sacred ground, his face grim and set in craggy features. He wore a feathered cloak that dragged along the stones as he walked toward them. Behind him, a group of soldiers emerged from the trees, each one wearing a helmet in the shape of an eagle’s head with a cruel beak spiking from the front.
The man stopped clapping. “No one has killed three of our sacred birds at one time for a generation. No one has ever killed the alpha male.” He pointed at the still smoldering body of the biggest bird. “These are Haast’s eagles, extinct many centuries ago on Earthside. There are a few left here.” He looked pointedly at Perry. “Even fewer now.”
Mila stood and faced the man. “They attacked us. We only defended ourselves.”
The man pointed at Perry. “No, he defended you all.”
Perry noted a strange look in the man’s eyes, the look of someone starving who had finally found a good meal.
The man smiled, the stony expression on his face dissolving into friendship. He held his arms out wide. “Welcome to Aetofolia, the eagle’s nest. I am Aguila, ruler of this eyrie. You have passed the test of entry even before you were challenged, so come inside. Rest.” Aguila nodded toward Jari. “We have medical help for your friend.” He gestured for the soldiers to come forward.
Perry felt Finn tense beside him, a coiled spring ready to explode into action, but there was nowhere for them to go. In one direction there was only sky and mist. In the other, soldiers and perhaps help. Perry noticed the way Aguila looked over at his hands, scanned his body for evidence of magic, and he knew a reckoning must come. He glanced over at Sienna who had shrunk behind Mila. As long as they didn’t realize what magic she had, they might be alright. At least for a while.
As Finn relaxed behind him, opening his hands in a sign of surrender, Perry nodded. “Thank you. We gladly accept your help.”
Sienna watched Perry walk forward and clasp Aguila’s hand, assuming leadership of the team with the natural confidence she had seen before in his father. But then she noticed the slight delay in his step, a halting stride that spoke of the weakness that came after using magic.
They were all fragile right now.
Jari and Finn were both wounded by the giant birds, Mila was exhausted after Ganvié, and her own mapwalking sucked the energy from her. Sienna knew she faced a challenge ahead, too. Somehow she had managed to dampen down the shadow inside, but Perry had seen the black lines on her
skin. He would have to tell Bridget and her father, and she needed him to, because she couldn’t do it herself. It might mean the end of her mapwalking before it had even really begun and she wouldn’t give up the heady experience easily. But something was different with her. Somehow the shadow leached inside her at a faster rate than the others. Sienna remembered the voice in the mist that wanted to keep her inside the map.
Perhaps that had been its goal all along.
She pulled her sleeves further down over her hands, praying that the black lines would not re-emerge.
Mila took her arm. “You okay?” she whispered, as they walked behind Perry and Aguila toward the rock face carved with a giant eagle. The soldiers jogged behind, one carrying Jari and two others flanking Finn with careful respect, instinctively noting his ability to fight even when injured.
Sienna nodded. “Just a little fatigued after traveling.” But as she took another step, she felt the world spin, her stomach clench with something like vertigo and her vision begin to narrow.
As Perry and Aguila stepped up to the rock face, the carving of the eagle split open revealing stone steps leading down into darkness. Sienna thought she saw the mist of the shadow curling out from the depths, undulating toward her with the head of a serpent. Panic rose inside, her breath coming faster and faster as she tried to control the dread rising inside.
They could not go down there.
The world turned to mist and Sienna fell to her knees as the serpent reached her, jaws gaping, fangs bared, swallowing her into the dark.
Sienna sat bolt upright, heart pounding as she imagined the jaws of the snake closing around her throat. But she found herself sitting up in a soft bed, luxuriant covers around her, a lamp casting a golden glow around the room.
“It’s okay. You’re safe.”
His voice was soft, gentle and Sienna turned to see Finn sitting in a padded chair by her side. He wore a new shirt, no longer ripped and stained with blood. He had a dressing across his right collarbone, just visible as it wound up his neck. Sienna was suddenly aware of how close he was, how his lips were only inches from her own, how she just wanted to be in his arms. But there was so much unsaid between them now.