Enchantress (The Evermen Saga, Book One)

by James Maxwell

  She fell onto her back, catching her breath, realising how close she’d come to drowning. All because she hadn’t taken the time to run down the riverbank and see what lay ahead.

  "So stupid," Ella whispered to herself. "So stupid."

  She passed out.

  ~

  ELLA woke to a warm liquid being poured down her throat, redolent with the taste of herbs and some type of fungus. She coughed and sat up. She had a terrible headache.

  "What in the Skylord’s name are you giving me?"

  "It’s an elixir. You took water from the river into your lungs. It is probably fine but you need to take some herbs just in case."

  "In case of what? What are you talking about?"

  "In case bad spirits in the water affect your lungs and you grow sick, especially in your weakened state."

  Ella was utterly exhausted. She was still naked, two blankets covering her. It had grown dark.

  "Bad spirits in water?" she muttered, but her headache was starting to clear. "Thank you, Layla."

  The healer just grunted.

  "Can I have my dress?"

  "Here you go. I brought everything up here. I thought you said you could swim the river?"

  Ella was growing to know Layla enough now to understand her strange sense of humour. She still didn’t find it funny though.

  "I said I would try. I tried, and I failed."

  "Please don’t be angry."

  "I’m not angry," Ella took a deep breath. "I’m just frustrated. I’m not sure what to do next."

  "When we don’t know what to do, we pray to the Eternal."

  "The Eternal?"

  "It is the spirit of the land, the thing that binds us all together. We are all connected, by a strong force of attraction. When we give someone love, or hate, it affects it physically. This is the work of the Eternal."

  "Physically?"

  "Name when something good has come of hate in your life."

  Ella sat up. "What do you mean?"

  "Well, first think of something you have hated."

  Ella thought of the broken heatplate, back at home in Mallorin. The times she’d cursed it. "How about the heatplate in my home in Sarostar?"

  "That will do, it could be anything. How did your hate affect it? Did it respond well, did it give you what you needed?"

  Ella thought about it.

  "Well, no. It was always broken. That’s why I hated it."

  "Now think of how you could have given it love."

  Ella looked in the distance, pensive. She was an enchantress, yet she’d never renewed the heatplate, never even taken it in to be renewed. Why not?

  "I could have done a lot of things, I guess. But that’s just a heatplate. It’s not a person."

  "Trust me," said Layla. "With a person the effect is much greater. That is the Eternal at work."

  Ella remained doubtful. "Is that all?"

  "No, there is much more," Layla said. "Think of us, look around at this valley. Look at the animals, the trees. Then look deeper, at the way the trees reach for the light, their roots drink the water and eat from the soil. The land feeds the trees, the sun helps them grow. The trees provide the shelter and food source for the insects, the birds eat the insects. Do you see it?"

  Ella nodded.

  "Then answer me this. What if water, the water that falls from the sky, was poisonous? What would happen?"

  Ella sat for a moment. "There would be no trees."

  "No trees, no grass. No insects, no animals. No people."

  "But I don’t understand. Water isn’t a poison."

  "No, it is not. What I am trying to show you is that the land is in a delicate balance. One step in the wrong direction and we would not be here, in this beautiful valley. Who keeps this balance? What force is it that tells a motherless bird after hatching from its egg, to leap into the air and fly? What force tells a bee to move from flower to flower, sharing the flowers’ seed so they can breed? It is a fragile thing, this balance. It was put here by the Eternal, and it is our duty to maintain it."

  Ella recalled the lessons of the priests, the stories of the Evermen Cycles. It was a very different sermon she had grown up with, stories of battles and betrayal, and the origin of lore.

  "So will you pray?" Layla said.

  "I’m not sure."

  "Then I will pray for the both of us."

  ~

  THE next day Ella woke to the calls of the birds, Layla’s words still in her ears. It was so different. It didn’t sound like the worship of a deity — a man or woman being with incredible powers. It was instead a worship of the land, of nature itself. The message was simple, give love and you will receive love, keep the balance of nature that was so perfectly created for people to live in.

  Layla was already awake, staring into the river.

  "Did you pray?" Ella said. Somehow, the image of one of the Dunfolk on their knees making obeisance didn’t seem right.

  "Of course. I closed my eyes and slept. Did you?"

  "Well if that’s what it takes, then I suppose I did."

  "And what did you decide?"

  Ella realised she had made a decision after all. "We need to build a raft."

  ~

  SHE spoke as she worked, pulling one of her favourite dresses into strips. "It will take time to build the raft, most likely the entire day. We have already lost a few days and I’m concerned that Killian… I mean the man will be getting away from us."

  Layla nodded. "He knows where he is going. It will be difficult to catch up to him."

  "We have one advantage though. The river flows in the direction we need to go in." She gestured to the turbulent water. "And as we already know, it’s fast."

  Layla looked at Ella sceptically. "What do you need me to do?"

  "I need you to find me young trees. Preferably dead, but alive will do as well. They need to be of wood that is light, but hard; wood that will be resistant to water." She measured a diameter with her hands, about six inches. "I need about twenty of them."

  Layla set off. Ella continued tearing strips until she thought she had enough. She carefully enchanted each strip to be strong yet flexible and to resist the water, a simple enough matrix.

  Ella then took Layla’s hunting knife and placed it on the tree stump in front of her. She took more care with her enchantment this time — the knife would need to be both sharp, and tough enough to cut through wood. She added some extra runes and then decided she was finished.

  Layla returned. "I have found the trees."

  "Good," said Ella. "Perfect timing."

  She put some things in the pocket of her dress, the rest of her tools away in her satchel, and followed Layla to a sparse forest.

  "I could not find dead trees, I had to find live ones," said Layla.

  It wasn’t as good but it would have to do, and the trees were the right size.

  "What are you going to do?" Layla said.

  "The cultivators of Vezna use their lore on trees and plants," said Ella. She took the vial of essence from a pocket in her dress. "The problem is, because lore can not be used on living things, the essence inevitably kills the trees."

  She carefully dipped the scrill in essence and touched it to the skin of the first tree. She then moved along the trees, touching a tiny amount of black liquid to each tree in turn.

  "Is something supposed to happen?" Layla said.

  Ella took Layla’s hand and led her to the first tree she had touched. "Watch," she said.

  It took some time for there to be any noticeable effect. Then Ella pointed at the leaves of the tree. They had turned a darker shade of green, sickly veins sprouting along them. Some of the leaves began to curl slightly.

  "It will take quite a while longer, I should think. We’ll return after a meal and see how they are going."

  They periodically checked on the saplings as they prepared themselves for the river. By the evening the trees had lost their leaves completely and the branches were now like skeletons
, as dry as bone. Ella still wasn’t happy, and the trees were still not ready when they went to sleep. She cursed every moment they were delayed.

  ~

  IN the early hours of the morning Ella was woken by a series of mighty thumps. At first she shot up, fearful and suddenly wide-awake. The sun was just beginning to rise. The morning air was still and cool.

  "Good, you are awake," Layla said, standing at the edge of the camp. "The trees, I think they are ready for us to make them into a raft."

  The saplings had fallen down under their own weight. Their bark was dry and hard, they were completely dead.

  Ella set to work with the hunting knife, which she had enchanted to cut through wood like butter.

  "Tu-mah," Ella spoke the activation rune. The knife lit with a satisfying glow.

  She first trimmed the branches and roots, then took off the remaining knobs and points, until she was left with twenty fairly straight lengths of wood.

  One by one they took the logs to the riverbank. Layla knew some strong knots, and the logs were soon tied in a row, one to the other. Ella then made some quick rune sequences on the joints to give them added strength.

  Ella looked at Layla, taking a slow breath. They regarded the raft.

  It was simple — just a platform of logs, really — but it looked strong, and with Ella’s added enchantments she thought it would serve their purpose. There was enough space for the two girls, their possessions and little else.

  "I think we’re ready," said Ella.

  "I think we may have missed something," said Layla.

  Ella looked over the raft. She checked each joint, each connection. "What?"

  Layla reached over to where she had something tucked away, something made of wood.

  "I made these," she said. She withdrew two carved paddles.

  "Oh," said Ella. How could she have forgotten paddles! She had grown up on the river! "Well done, Layla."

  Layla just smiled.

  They were ready.

  ~

  ONE of their main problems was that the current wanted to carry the raft off before they were ready. They pulled the raft to the shore, with half of it in the water and the other half on the bank. The river pushed at the wooden logs, pooling in places, running up through the spaces in between. Ella quickly put her satchel over her shoulder, Layla already had hers.

  "You go first," Ella said.

  Layla jumped onto the raft. Her weight made the raft sink onto the bank.

  Ella pushed. The raft moved only slightly. She pushed harder. It began to move, faster as the river caught it. She quickly gave it a big push and then jumped on. For a second her extra weight slowed the motion of the raft. Then suddenly they were in the river. They were away.

  The first of the hazards to negotiate were the jagged rocks that had almost caught Ella previously. They paddled furiously. The raft tended to plunge into the water at the front so the girls tried to keep their weight on the back, Ella paddling on the right side and Layla paddling on the left.

  There was a sudden horrible scratching sound as they went over a rock. Ella held her breath. Fortunately the raft stayed strong.

  They headed straight for a huge sharp stone the size of a man. Ella paddled furiously to turn them to the left. Then she realised Layla was doing the same, cancelling out her own strokes.

  "Paddle backward!" she yelled.

  Layla just looked at her blankly. Ella had no choice, she began to paddle backward. They turned to the right. Too late. The raft smashed against the side of the rock, scraping against it. Layla was nearly knocked off the raft. Ella reached for her, the raft tilting dangerously until Layla regained her position.

  Then they entered calmer, deeper water. They were past the danger for the time being.

  The river still flowed with speed. Ella judged them to be going faster than a running man. They continued to paddle, increasing their speed still further. They were regaining the time they had lost.

  Strange birds and animals could occasionally be seen on the banks. A tall bird with thick legs ducked its entire head under the water then kept it there for a good amount of time before reappearing with a fish in its beak. A capering, cat-sized animal with brown fur and small horns danced in the tree tops.

  Butterflies twisted and turned in a growing breeze, the rushing sound of the river combining with the buzz of insects to create a general background hum, the song of nature.

  As the morning moved into midday, the sun came out in force, dispelling the chill of the night. Ella even started to feel hot, working up a sweat with the constant paddling.

  The river grew wider, slowing its frantic pace. It looked like a good spot to break their fast on some cold rabbit and wild mushrooms.

  "I miss my people," said Layla suddenly.

  Ella sighed. She had wondered when this would be coming. Layla had proved to be an invaluable tracker and travelling companion. She might even call her a friend.

  "When we come to the road, and we have confirmed that he is still going in the same direction, you can go home then," Ella said.

  Layla nodded. "I will go home then."

  "I… I want to thank you for helping me," Ella said.

  "You have given me a gift."

  "Is that the only reason you’re helping me, because I gave you something in return?"

  Layla seemed pensive for a moment. "It has been good to come to understand you a little; your people, your ways. You are different. I think you still have a lot to learn about the world."

  "I guess we all do." Ella paused, watching the bank roll by. "Layla, do you think I could call you my friend?"

  Ella wasn’t sure what answer she could expect. She realised then, that after Miro and Amber, she didn’t really have any other friends. Even though Layla was so different, it was good to have someone to talk to.

  She turned and met Layla’s eyes. Dunfolk eyes. "We are friends Ella. Of course we are. Did you think we weren’t?"

  Ella smiled.

  ~

  ELLA was pleased with the progress they made as the day progressed. The river had narrowed again, and with it came a corresponding increase in speed. At one stage they passed through a great canyon, its sides made of shiny black volcanic glass. At other places the bank was wide and marshy, with tall tufted grass and host to a myriad of wildlife. The sun sank in the sky and as the last vestiges of a vermillion sunset disappeared into darkness Ella took out the rock she had made into a nightlamp.

  "Tish-tassine," the warm glow of the runes lit up the raft.

  It was fortunate she had done so, for shortly after a broad shape could be outlined against the clouded night sky. A bridge.

  "The road!" Ella exclaimed.

  "Yes, the road," Layla echoed.

  "Quick, we need to stop."

  Ella began to paddle towards the narrow bank. The raft moved ponderously; they were in the middle of a wide part in the river here but the flow was still fast. Surprisingly fast. A sound could be heard carried on the breeze.

  "What’s that sound?" Ella stopped paddling.

  It grew louder, until it became a gentle roar. It sounded like heavy rain, or a furious wind.

  Layla stopped also. They were still far from the bank. The current grew rapid, swifter than ever before. The raft bobbed along, caught in the inevitable surge.

  "Paddle!" cried Ella. "It’s a waterfall!"

  She paddled to the utmost of her strength. The raft slowly pulled across as the bank sped by.

  Ella heard a shriek. She turned. It was Layla, staring, transfixed, her hand across her mouth. Then Ella saw it too.

  Just ahead river fell away into nothingness. There was no chance. They would never make it.

  Ella’s mind went blank. She thought of nothing, just gazed at her impending doom.

  The raft flew on the swift water.

  They went over.

  Ella screamed as she fell. She lost contact with the raft immediately. The nightlamp was lost. Everything was in darkness. She
could see nothing, hear nothing, except for the great roar of the cascading water. Her body twisted one way, then another, as she plummeted through the air.

  Then she hit. The water churned itself into froth. For a heartbeat she was floating on the foam before being slammed deep underwater, pummelled mercilessly with the strength of a thousand hammers into the cavity created by the action of thousands of years.

  Her vision turned black, then white. Her ears hummed and shrieked, her head felt like it would explode. Her lungs were groaning with the lack of air, desperately trying to convince her she should open her mouth and suck in whatever she might find. Some sensible part of Ella held fast.

  She was rolled over again and again, losing all sense of up and down. Suddenly the pressure eased, and she knew she was away from the base of the waterfall.

  Still underwater, Ella opened her eyes but could see only shadows. Her lungs screaming, she picked a direction and swam. Her head smashed into a rock. She almost blacked out, taking in a big mouthful of water. With her arms in front of her head she tried again. Her head broke free from the surface and she gasped in the sweet air.

  Coughing and choking, she gathered herself and looked around. Where was Layla? Where was the raft?

  There were shapes pointing their heads out of the water, many of them. Ella peered into the dark, then realised what they were. Rocks. She had to get out of the water.

  She tried to swim and her arm tangled in something. Her satchel. She’d somehow kept it. She untangled herself, her dress dragging her down, her satchel making it difficult to move her arms for fear of losing it. With a great effort she made the distance to the rocky bank without cutting herself on the sharp stones.

  Where was Layla?

  She fell into darkness.

  32

  What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.