Clash (The Arinthian Line Book 4)

by Sever Bronny

Augum squeezed her arm firmer. “There’s nothing bridging the gap! It’s a one-way trip to the bottom!”

  On the other side, Leera shook Bridget’s shoulder, tears falling freely now. “Bridge, you’re being stubborn and stupid and—”

  Augum saw Bridget’s jaw flex before she suddenly did something she had never done before—lash out arcanely at them. She made a savage throwing gesture at the ground, shouting “GRAU!” The air tore with the sound of a massive tree splintering, the loudest she had ever cast the spell, so loud that, even though Augum and Leera were used to her training with it, they flinched. Bridget used that flinch to twirl away from them, shoving violently at the air and shouting, “BAKA!” Augum and Leera were both sent flying.

  Augum got up just in time to see Bridget staring at them, before taking a step backward into the abyss.

  In Thyself

  Bridget’s face registered the shock Augum felt rippling through his body, for the step she had taken over a fathomless abyss did not see her plummet. Instead, she seemed to have stepped onto an invisible bridge! She took another step back, chest heaving, face ashen but firm. She didn’t look down. Her night-black hair and matching robe whipped around her, wind threatening to throw her into the depths of nothing.

  Yet she continued to walk backward, step by measured step. Augum and Leera watched speechless. Somewhere in the middle of the yawning abyss, Bridget turned around with a yelp, steadying herself, arms jutting out for balance.

  “Come on, Bridge, you can do it,” Augum whispered. He hurried over and felt for the bridge—but his hand fell right through—there was nothing there! Her sheer will, sheer belief was holding her up!

  Leera quickly joined him. “I don’t believe it,” she mumbled in a voice full of awe.

  Soon both of them were shouting encouragements at her, tears running down their faces.

  “Eyes straight and level!”

  “That’s it, Bridge, you’re doing it, you’re doing it—!”

  Bridget Burns strode confidently over the last few steps, making a final hop to the perch on the other side. She turned, raised her arms, and let out the most joyous, triumphant cry Augum had ever heard a person utter, before dropping to her knees and sobbing.

  Augum and Leera instantly hugged, jumping up and down and shouting celebratory cries. Bridget hadn’t died from that stupid tomb prophecy after all … which could only mean—

  Suddenly the pair stopped dancing and stared at each other’s eyes.

  “It didn’t come true,” Leera said, sniffing.

  “No, it didn’t.”

  She grabbed the back of his head and brought his lips to hers.

  Augum’s heart exploded with joy. They were back together. All was well again. The world had not ended. Their quest continues. But for now, he allowed himself the sweet pleasure of kissing the girl of his dreams.

  Bridget must have been feeling particularly generous, for she let them snog for some time before finally shouting, “Oh for the love of—anytime now, you two!” but she was smiling throughout.

  Augum and Leera stopped to giggle. He hugged her gently, wiped the tears from her freckled cheeks, and kissed her forehead, before turning toward the abyss.

  “Together?” he said.

  She nodded and smiled.

  They took a moment to harden themselves with belief. Then their hands clasped and they took the first heart-leaping step—and found solid, albeit invisible, ground. And while Bridget shouted encouragements from the other side, they walked hand-in-hand, together, over a black abyss. They did it confidently, without wavering, without falling, and without fear.

  Though, truth be told, Augum dared not look down, and he noticed neither did Leera; and his legs trembled and his stomach fluttered, though that might have been from regaining her once again.

  By the time the pair stepped onto the perch on the other side, Bridget was clapping and shouting. She enveloped them in a great big jumping hug, until she almost lost balance and took them all over the edge.

  When she let go, it was to wipe her face. She was staring into the black abyss, standing close to it.

  “I do believe Bridget may have conquered her fear of heights,” Leera said to Augum.

  “I’m going to sleep like a baby too,” Bridget said. “I know it.”

  “That’s great and all, but you’re kind of close to the edge. I mean, even I wouldn’t stand that close.”

  Augum agreed and gently grabbed Bridget’s sleeve, tugging her back toward the doors while keeping a hesitant eye on the chasm. “Enough staring down the abyss. You done beat it good,” he added in a country twang.

  Bridget placed her hands on each of their shoulders. She glanced between the two of them and gave a firm nod. “I’m proud of us. And, uh, sorry about that back there—”

  “It’s fine,” Augum and Leera blurted simultaneously, laughing.

  “We deserved it,” Augum said.

  “For not believing in you,” Leera added. She looked at Augum. “For not believing in each other.”

  He nodded in agreement, never feeling so happy to have these two wonderful people as friends.

  But boy was he glad to be with Leera again!

  “Stop grinning like that,” she said. “You look like a fool.”

  “What, I’m grinning cause you’re grinning!”

  “Pshaw.”

  They turned toward the massive doors. Bridget placed her lit palm on a gargoyle etching. “Entarro.” The door swung inwards, revealing a dark and spacious hall with a dusty marble floor.

  Bridget’s arms shot out, blocking Augum and Leera from stepping in too far. “Something’s over there,” she whispered.

  “What? I don’t—” but Augum was cut off by a loud hiss, followed by a series of all too familiar clacking noises.

  “Shyneo,” Augum and Leera said at the same time, adding their lights to Bridget’s.

  Up ahead in the hall stood a looming wraith encircled by six walkers. Every one of the walkers was clacking its jaws. They held rusty swords and wore old beaten chest plates. But it was the wraith that made the trio freeze—a monstrously disfigured giant skeleton stinking of rot and decay. Wet rags hung in strips from gnarled limbs too large for its body. Black goop drooled from its gaping and hissing maw.

  The wraith inclined its head and made a single loud clack. The walkers immediately bolted at the trio, who instantaneously slammed their wrists together, shouting, “ANNIHILO!”

  Unfortunately, they all aimed at the same walker, blowing it into thousands of bony pieces that slid across the polished floor.

  The other five charged on.

  Augum shoved the air before him. “BAKA!” sending one flying back toward the wraith that was now advancing.

  Leera made a rapid twisting gesture with her palm. “Disablo!” One of the walker’s swords spun out of its hands.

  Bridget carefully drew the figure of a small creature. “Summano elementus minimus—” and a waist-high earth elemental rumbled to life. She pointed at the walkers. “Elementus, attack!” The creature charged ahead, bowling over one of the walkers with its small but mighty bulk.

  Three walkers rabidly charged on, and there was only enough time to make one more attack before they would be upon them.

  Augum slammed his wrists together. “ANNIHILO!” obliterating one in a lightning crackle.

  Leera shoved at the air before her. “BAKA!” Another walker was sent flying back to the wraith, which finally began making its way toward them.

  Bridget summoned her leaf and twig shield and ducked as the walker that had been disarmed slammed into her. It twirled right over her shield, through the gaping door, and into the abyss, clacking the entire way. Augum barely had time to note that it did not hit the invisible bridge, but rather fell through it.

  There was a crunch as Bridget’s elemental smashed its powerful little fist through a walker’s skull. The walker feebly fought on, but its rabid attacks were no match for the elemental’s supernatural strengt
h. Meanwhile, the walker Augum first shoved back was almost upon them again. This time, Leera made a low yanking gesture and its leg flipped out from under it. It slammed into the ground and slid. The trio just managed to jump out of the way as it careened through the door and fell into the abyss.

  The last intact walker sprang to its feet after being shoved, but instead of charging again, merely skulked near the wraith like a chick around its mother hen. Meanwhile, the wraith had slowed to a hissing prowl, maintaining a low attack profile, its oversized limbs sweeping back and forth.

  Augum, who had jumped left of the door, was forced to back away along the wall, while the girls, who had jumped right, backed away on the other side.

  “We’ve got to send it into the abyss!” Augum shouted, taking measured steps, arms poised. He estimated he could only use his First Offensive once more, twice if he needed to stretch it, but the latter would mean he’d drain the rest of his arcane stamina. Problem was he didn’t know if the spell would even be effective against such a monstrosity.

  He began distancing himself from the wall, luring the walker while the wraith stalked the girls. He kept circling around, until the walker was lined up with the giant open doors, then he shoved at the air as hard as he could. “BAKA!” The walker flew through the doors. There was a sickening crack as its skull smacked the door frame, silencing its clacking whilst twirling its body into the abyss.

  The wraith looked back and hissed its discontent. Behind it, Bridget’s elemental disappeared, leaving a walker with a mangled skull to feebly crawl toward Augum.

  Augum concentrated and began drawing a shape, envisioning his own lightning elemental while following the proper mental procedures. “Summano elementus minimus.” A lightning elemental crackled to life. It was not as powerful as a first-of-the-day casting, but would certainly finish off the last walker. As the elemental ran at the slithering skeleton, the wraith charged at the girls who simultaneously summoned their shields, barely blocking a wide swipe that sent them reeling across the polished floor in a cloud of dust.

  Augum considered casting Centarro, but worried his arcane stamina would limit the spell strength. Instead, he picked up a bone and chucked it, making sure to guide the bone with Telekinesis, until it clonked off the wraith’s head. The monster hissed, turning its attention on him.

  Augum waved his arms. “That’s it, you stupid bag of bones, this way—!” Now for the tricky part. He needed to position himself in a spot where he and the girls could shove it into the chasm. An idea came to him—he ran for the open doors, shouting, “Get ready to shove it—!” but the wraith, which began charging at him, stopped short, somehow able to sense his plan, perhaps because it had seen its children flung into the gaping maw.

  “We have to blow its head off!” Leera shouted. “It has to be at the same time!”

  That meant Augum had to get to the girls. He’d have to try something crazy, something he only saw Leera do under the influence of Centarro. He sprinted at the beast, and it sprinted for him, roaring with a wide swipe of its giant clawed hand. Augum summoned his hard lightning shield while dropping to his knees. The blow glanced off as he slid through its legs.

  “Baka!” the girls shouted at the same time, knocking the wraith off balance long enough for Augum to scramble to them.

  “On the count of three we hit its head,” he said, panting. “Ready?” They nodded. But the wraith began to charge and Augum had to hurry the count. “One two three—!” He and the girls slammed their wrists together. “ANNIHILO!” A fat vine combined with a bolt of lightning and a sharp jet of water smashed into the monster’s head, obliterating it into mush. It slammed into the ground, bowling them over in the process.

  “Ewwww,” Leera moaned, untangling herself from the goopy wreckage.

  Bridget rolled clear but remained on the ground, prostrate and gasping. “Close one. Good teamwork.”

  “And a good fight,” Augum said, slowly freeing himself of the corpse. He went over and closed the doors, plunging the hall into silence. Then the girls joined him in exploring the vast hall, one end of which seemed to go on and on. The walls were the same as before the abyss—exquisitely carved marble shelves, complete with carved-in books and scrolls. The marble here was blacker and shinier, but still caked with dust and mildew. The occasional tapestry hung in framed squares.

  They soon discovered polished marble steps as wide as the hall, steps that climbed for many stories. They climbed them just to see what they led to. At the end loomed two familiar massive black doors.

  “These are the ones in the library hall,” Bridget said. “Where we met that weird old man by the gargoyle statue.”

  “We got through then,” Augum said with a proud nod.

  “I’m surprised the guards on the other side didn’t hear the fight,” Leera added. “Then again, since it’s the middle of the night, there’s probably a wraith there instead, or walkers.”

  Augum placed a hand on the massive doors. They were bound with ornate strips of iron and studded with giant bolts. “They’re way too thick anyway. Probably arcanely sealed too.”

  They descended the stairs, returning to the hall where they had battled the wraith and walkers.

  “And here are the doors we want.” Bridget led them to the wall opposite the doors to the abyss, embedded with sets of towering doors, doors so tall they went all the way to the distant ceiling, making them appear stretched. They were carved with minutely detailed scrollwork and had no handles. Before each set of doors stood a muscled statue of a gargoyle with its palm outstretched, wings folded neatly behind. They numbered on into the darkness identically, as if mirrored. Above each gargoyle was an inscription.

  “ ‘Pay thy toll of five and gain entry forever thus’,” Augum read. “Guess we give it the gargoyle gold to get in.”

  “Well spotted, Captain Obvious,” Leera said with a wry grin. She craned her neck at the oaken doors and stretched out her palm. Her light barely made it to the ceiling. “But what’s inside this room?”

  Bridget was about to place her shining palm on the statue when a crimson inscription and a coiled symbol appeared on its chest, one that seemed sensitive to her palm light being near. “ ‘Healing arts’,” she read. “And that coiled snake symbol means healing venom, which corresponds with the art.” She paced over to another gargoyle statue. The inscription and a lightning symbol lit up for her as she drew her palm close. “ ‘Lightning arts’.” Augum and Leera followed as she read out all the main elements. The hall seemed to stretch on forever. Then came the degrees—the 1st all the way to the 10th, a room for each, followed by History, Archives, Philosophy, Cartography, Kingdoms, Luminaries, Folklore, Planes, Monstrosities, Restricted (which made them share curious looks, especially because it appeared that the sign had been recently changed), Tongues (which they guessed meant languages), and at long last—

  “ ‘Artifacts’,” Bridget read with a nod. “Finally. This is what we came to Antioc for.” She withdrew five golden coins from her pouch and placed them in the gargoyle’s palm. It closed its fist, inclined its head, and stepped aside, its great stone bulk making a grinding noise as it moved. Bridget pushed hard on the doors and they slowly opened. “They’re heavy,” she said.

  “Let us help.” Augum came near but was suddenly blocked by a muscled arm. The gargoyle was looking at him with blank stone eyes.

  “It’s just as I feared,” Bridget said. “We each have to pay five gold for entry. That means—”

  “We’ll have to be picky,” Leera concluded.

  Bridget rooted through her pouch. “Now that I paid, we have nineteen coins left, which will get us into three other rooms.”

  “I need to find information on my father,” Augum blurted. As much as he wanted to read up on the Agonex, he needed to know about his father, needed to find a weakness. Besides, Bridget was more than capable of researching the Agonex on her own.

  The girls stared at him.

  “Right, of course.” Bridget han
ded him five gold. “Then you want to go to the room marked ‘Luminaries’.” She turned to Leera. “Did you want to come help me or—”

  “Restricted—” Leera immediately said. “I want to see what’s in there. What, don’t look at me like that, you know I find this research stuff about as exciting as taking a nap.”

  “You like napping,” Augum said.

  “Shush, you!”

  Bridget held back the coins. “I don’t think going to the Restricted Room on your own is a good idea. There could be an arcane guard in there or something, or a trap.”

  “I agree,” Augum said. “It’s too risky. Either we all go in or no one does.”

  Leera flipped her palms. “There could be a guard inside every room though—”

  “That’s why I’ll check mine first and report back,” Bridget said. “But still, restricted means restricted, so I don’t want you going in there.”

  Leera crossed her arms. “You two are infinitely fun. Fine, I’ll explore my element then.” She stuck out an open palm. “Gimme, gimme.”

  Bridget handed her five coins. “We meet out here in about two hours, all right? That should give us enough time to get out of here. Now wait for me while I check to make sure there aren’t any nasty surprises inside.” She slipped into the room as they waited, peeking out a short time later.

  “Everything all right?” Augum asked.

  “All clear. Good luck, you two,” and disappeared back inside. The gargoyle soon resumed its post before the door, a silent stone sentinel.

  Leera followed Augum to the Luminaries room. He paid the toll, watched the gargoyle step aside, and entered through the heavy doors, soon poking back out to let her know all was well.

  “You going to be all right?” he asked.

  “I can handle myself. Go on, have fun and good luck,” she said, waving and winking as he slipped inside.

  Lividius Stone

  The first room beyond the towering doors was a vestibule, with another smaller set of golden doors ahead. Augum shone his blue light around, taking everything in. Marble statues of historical figures marked the corners. The walls were lined with tapestries reaching all the way to the high vaulted ceiling. There were hooks for coats and a clean brass tray for boots. A small empty booth sat near the doors. He imagined past attendants greeting visitors with a smile.