Zo pulled back. “All I remember is seeing that short woman and then I was floating in a void.” She stopped, her expression horrified. “I…” She looked at their packs lying next to the wall. With one hand she gestured and all three packs rose in the air at her silent command.
“It’s back. My magic is back.” She hugged Arkon in a fierce grip. “Why did they let us go? I thought they were determined to starve us to death?”
Arkon sighed with relief. “Let’s just get out of here. I’ll explain everything later.” He stood. Uncoiling the rope, he tied it to a bolt and walked to the far rock face. He threw the rope over as far as he could, but the bolt hit the wall and bounced back. He was too exhausted, Arkon realized. “I will climb up, and throw the rope down for you,” he said.
“Wait.” Zo stood. She walked over. Taking the rope from his hand, she ran a hand over the bolt. “Throw it now.”
Arkon threw the bolt. It flew straight and high, crossing the wall with ease. Arkon pulled. The bolt was stuck. “Come on. Up you go.” He tied the end around Zo’s waist and shoulders. “Pull yourself up, and throw the rope back. Leo will be next.”
“Let him go first.” Zo began to untie the rope.
He put his hand over hers. “You’re a bigger threat to them. We need to get you out first.”
Zo glanced at the cave openings. “Alright,” she agreed, a little reluctantly. She began the climb and within moments was over the top of the rock face. The rope came swirling down.
Arkon tied it around Leo’s waist and sent the boy up. Once the rope was back, he tied all three packs and watched as Leo and Zo pulled them. Casting one last look around to see if he had forgotten anything, Arkon seized the rope and pulled himself up.
It was a relief to be away from the ekeme homeland. Somehow, he didn’t think they would survive any more encounters with the strange creatures. It was good to be back on relatively safe ground, and it was certainly time to resume their journey.
They had wasted two days already, and it would take a great deal of effort to make up for that loss.
Chapter Eleven
Every muscle aching, Zo longed to flop down on the hard dusty floor once everyone was safely up the gorge. Instead, she forced herself to stay upright and looked around to scout their surrounding area. Having crossed the chasm at an angle, they were further along from the enemy camp than when they had entered the chasm. Ahead of them, at a mere distance of fifty feet was the immensely dense forest, the last obstacle to their hike up the lone mountain of Ibarjan.
She raised her head, and was able to feast her eyes on the ragged peak of the mountain as it towered over the surrounding forest, its jagged and naked edges in deep contrast to the lush green jungle that grew around it.
Arkon wiped the sweat off his brow. “The army is still here?”
“Why wouldn’t they be?” Zo wondered why she felt so exhausted, and hungry. Her stomach grumbled almost as if she hadn’t eaten in days. She tried to recall her last meal. Hadn’t it been just this morning before they entered the chasm?
Arkon narrowed his eyes as he glanced at her. “How long were we in that chasm?”
Zo frowned. What was wrong with him? “Well, it is afternoon now, and we entered in the morning.”
“It’s been three days.”
“What?”
Leo walked to stand beside her. “She made us sleep for three days?” he said.
“Who? What? You can’t mean…” Speechless, she stared at Arkon. Raising her head she looked around, almost as if anything would give her a clue as to whether he was telling the truth or not. “She made us stay there for that long? Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Arkon nodded. He placed a hand on Leo’s shoulder. “We need to get into the trees. I thought the army would have moved by now but they are still here. We can’t afford for anyone to see us. Someone could come to investigate.”
Zo took her pack from him. She’d been unconscious for three days. No wonder she felt so ravenous. Three days! It was quite hard to believe. The implications were enormous. They had lost so much precious time. If it wasn’t for the ekeme, they would have been on their way back by now. Every moment she lost brought her siblings closer to death. She cursed the ekeme queen. The mere thought of that little child-woman brought a shudder of repulse thundering through Zo’s body. How could one small creature be so powerful?
Something like this had never happened to Zo before. She wore her power with ease. To realize that it could be so easily stripped away, against her will, sent shock waves through her body.
Slowly, they moved away from the gaping maw of the chasm and towards the big boulder where they had decided to meet Erob. As they walked, she rummaged through her pack and was surprised to find it devoid of any food. Her water skin was also empty.
“I ate everything in the chasm,” Arkon said, a sheepish look on his face. “I’m sure we’ll find some fruit or berries in the woods.”
“You’ll have to tell us the whole story about our time in the gorge,” Zo decided. How could she have slept for three days? It was frightening to know that someone could steal time away from her with such little effort. It was an impossible fact for her to admit; but she had been defeated. Someone stripped her of her gift, her power, and she had been helpless as a newborn babe, unable to defend herself or even offer any resistance. Such a thing had never happened before. She had always had her magic. It was like the blood that ran in her veins. She recalled the feeling of utter blankness, of floating in a void, and shuddered with disgust.
Never again did she ever want to experience that state of incapacitation.
They stopped near the boulder. It screened them from any prying eyes that might be looking in their direction from the army camp. There was no sign of their guide.
“Where’s Erob?” Leo.
Arkon and Zo exchanged a glance. He was supposed to meet them here days ago. Where was he?
“Perhaps he waited for us, and left,” Zo speculated.
Arkon pursed his lips in a thin disapproving line. “He has deserted us.”
Suddenly Leo dropped his pack, and held his head with both hands. A low moan escaped his mouth.
“What?” Zo clutched the child’s shoulder. Was he under attack by the ekeme again? Did their power extend this far from the chasm?
Leo shook his head. Tears shone in his eyes. He wiped them away with a dirty hand. “He’s in there.” He pointed inside the forest.
“Who’s there?” Zo dropped her pack, her hands at the ready. Could it be enemy mages?
“Erob. He’s in the forest.”
Arkon and Zo exchanged a glance. What was the child talking about? Zo picked up her pack, and Arkon gripped Leo’s, perhaps realizing the boy was in no condition to haul it as yet. They walked into the cool depths of the forest. Right inside the edge of the forest, under a large oak tree, laid the corpse of a badly burnt man.
Zo approached with slow, cautious steps. Arkon put down their bags, and unsheathed his sword, holding it ready.
Zo weaved a spell, checking for the presence of mages, or other humans. Nothing stirred in the shadows of the tall trees that guarded the secret of the mysterious corpse. “No one is here.”
Zo stared the dead body. It lay face down, slumped against the trunk. The fire that consumed it had to have been of magical nature because nothing else had been scorched in the vicinity. The whole body, from head to toe, was as black as coal. Zo stepped closer. Kneeling, she surveyed it. The entire skin, right inside to the bone, had been burned with a fierce intensity. If she touched the body, she knew, it would crumble into weightless ashes.
“No one mage can do this,” she muttered. “This…I can’t imagine how anyone can be so badly burned. The fire has gone right through his bones, searing his organs…almost as if he was lit up from the inside.”
“How can that be done?”
Zo shook her head. She had never seen, heard, or read of such a phenomenon. She touched the corpse. The entire cad
aver crumpled into a mass of black ashes.
“That is Erob’s pack.” Leo pointed out in a trembling voice.
“We can’t be sure it was Erob,” said Arkon.
“Look.” They turned to face Leo who was rummaging through the pack. He pulled out clothes that they had seen on the spy, as well as a small tin pot and cup he carried with him. “These are his things. It was him.”
Zo pressed her fingers to her temple. Could someone have murdered Erob with such ruthlessness? Who could have done this? No ordinary mage was capable of such an incredible feat of magic? Even if it wasn’t Erob, this person had been killed with a brutality that shocked her. Grief overwhelmed her heart. If this was Erob, he hadn’t deserved to die in this manner. The man was brash and crude, but he had hopes and dreams, just like another human being, and no one had the right to end his life.
She took a fistful of ashes in her hand. “I promise if I ever find out who was responsible for subjecting you to this death, I will do my best to deliver to them the same treatment.” She raised her hand, and opened her fingers. The ashes flew in the wind, scattering through the underbrush. “We need to move on. Whoever did this could be back.” She stood. This wasn’t the time to sit there and speculate on this macabre situation. The steely look in her eyes brooked no arguments.
Leo took out a half-loaf of bread from Erob’s pack. “We’ll need it.” He snapped the pack close.
After casting one last glance at the unfortunate soul who met his end in this grisly manner, Zo set off. Arkon and Leo followed. Leo tore the bread in three pieces, and passed one each to both of them. Their progress was slow; the entangled bushes and vines choked the forest to a degree that it was difficult to see a path. Everywhere they turned, they needed to push past branches and skirt around thick trunks. Soon, the warm rays of dappled sunlight crisscrossing through the leaves dwindled to thin silvery beams that did little to illuminate the way ahead.
Zo stopped. She was barely able to stand on her feet. “Isn’t that a stream we hear?” The faint gurgling sound of water rushing over slippery stones was unmistakable.
As fast as possible, they made their way in the direction of the stream. Finally, they found a clearing, no wider than seven feet. A gurgling brook ran though, its water clean and cold. Zo fell on her knees and drank the sweet nectar, gulping it down in big gulps. Beside her, she felt Leo and Arkon doing the same. A while later, their thirst sated, the three of them stood.
“We’ll have to find some food. You two stay here,” Arkon said and disappeared into the forest.
If she hadn’t been tired and trembling from hunger, Zo would have taken exception at his commanding tone. As it was, she was grateful to lie down on the grass and look overhead at the thick tree branches, laden with dark green and gold leaves. Somewhere, an excited monkey chattered to its companions.
“I could even eat a monkey,” said Leo as he craned his neck to find the noisy creature. “I’m so hungry.”
A movement in the undergrowth startled her. Someone tripped over something and muttered an oath. It was Arkon. Moments later, he appeared, holding a cloth bag full of fruits. “This was all I could find,” he said.
The three of them wolfed down the fare as if it was the most sumptuous meal they had in their entire lives. While eating, Arkon recounted the entire story of their stay in the chasm. He brushed over his attempts to move them, or his fight with the python. Leo’s eyes widened as Arkon described the jewels the ekeme offered.
After the tale was finished, silence reigned in the clearing. It was worse than Zo had imagined. The ekeme' magic had held her captive. She’d been lost in her thoughts, unable to hear, see or touch anything and even unable to eat or drink. If Arkon hadn’t saved them, they would have died of starvation.
It was a sobering thought.
“Thank you,” she said, after a while. “If it hadn’t been for you…”
Bright crimson spot appeared on his cheeks. “It was my duty,” he cut her off in a gruff voice. Zo wasn't finished yet. "I believe I owe you an apology, commander. I underestimated your skills. And perhaps," she grimaced, "my faith in my own abilities was misplaced."
"You've proven your ability many times," he said. "This was an exception. Who could've imagined creatures like the ekeme existed."
"And yet they do exist. And if you hadn't saved us, Leo and I would've died at their hands."
"I was just doing my duty," he repeated.
He’d done more than his duty. If he wanted, he could have saved his own life, and left as a rich man but instead he stuck by their side.
“Well, I know Alicia’s decision to send you along was right. I shall go back and thank my sister.” She met his eyes. They both knew what it cost for her to admit her mistake. If he hadn’t been with her, she would not have escaped that chasm. He’d saved her life and Leo’s with an act of courage that humbled her.
“It was nothing,” he said, looking away.
She knew any gushing platitudes would only embarrass him further. For now, she let it go. Walking over to the stream, she did her best to wipe the filth of the last three days off her body. Behind a tree, she changed her clothes and stuffed the dirty ones back in her pack. There wasn’t enough time to wash them. She returned. Taking advantage of her absence, both Arkon and Leo had changed into clean clothes. That night, they slept by the bubbling stream. In the morning, Zo took a bath, and filled their water skins. There was nothing left to eat so they drank water, and set off.
Finding a path was impossible in the dense jungle but as long as they kept going north-west, they would be sure to emerge at the opposite end of the forest, at the base of the mountain.
“Do you think Erob tried to find us?” said Leo.
“If he peeked inside he would have seen us in the chasm,” said Zo as she consulted the map, and satisfied, stuffed it back in the pouch around her belt.
“Maybe he couldn’t see us,” said Leo.
Zo swept aside his comment with a wave of her hand. “Of course he could see us. All he had to do was glance down and…”
She saw Arkon halt. He opened his mouth, and closed it again.
“What?” she said.
His eyes took on a glazed look. “The ekeme must have some magic in place to avoid detection in the chasm. It’s not possible for them to escape human notice for centuries.”
“You mean like a shield that prevents anyone from peeping into the chasm and seeing them?”
It wasn’t an impossible notion. A number of basic spells could achieve the same results, but to keep the spell in place for decades, perhaps centuries, it would take a great source of continuous energy.
Unless the ekeme had magic Zo couldn’t conceive of. Certainly the spell they had used on her and Leo had been unusual. Up until now, she had never realized her power could actually be taken away from her. It had been a humbling experience. And a terrifying one, too.
“I think that’s entirely possible,” said Arkon. “How else can they roam around in the chasm and not be seen by anyone. Perhaps, Erob peeked in, didn’t see us, and waited by the boulder as we had decided.”
Zo chewed on her bottom lip. Erob’s death was forever burned in her memory. That corpse was him. She had tried to deny the realization but it was of no use. His pack was there. He was supposed to meet them there. Who else could it have been but their luckless guide?
Subdued by the sad memory, Zo battled her way through the impenetrable undergrowth in the general direction of the mountain. They had lost a lot of time, but if they acted with haste, they would still be able to save her brother and sister.
Erob’s absence would cause more delay. He’d professed to know the shortest way through the forest towards the mountain path they needed to take, but now…well, Zo was relying on her own sense of direction to keep them on the right track. The three of them ploughed on, battling the thick, suffocating underbelly of the forest, stepping over rotten logs and crashing through the brush where it was too entangled to allow t
hem passage.
“Princess?” Arkon slowed down to walk along her.
“Zo,” she corrected.
“Zo.” He smiled sheepishly. “When we came across Erob’s corpse, you said no ordinary mage could do that. What did you mean? I have seen you set things to fire with a mere gesture.”
Pushing a branch out of her way, Zo fought through the underbrush. “It’s possible for any fire mage to burn living or non-living things. I could do it easily, perhaps even in my sleep. If I make a fireball and hurl it at you, you would burn. The magical fire would sear your body until one of your organs failed. You would die from the aftereffects of the fire. But it’s another matter to burn something to such a degree that it would cease to hold its shape. The fire that was set on Erob’s body ate through his bones.”
Arkon swatted at a fly. “If you burnt someone and focused on that spell for long, would you not achieve the same result?”
Zo licked her bottom lip. Sweat tricked down her forehead. “Mages use a particular element to weave spells but the energy that sustains the spell comes from within our own body. I have never seen anyone being able to maintain a fire spell for so long. It would require an enormous source of energy, and why would anyone even bother to waste so much effort?”
“Maybe it wasn’t such an effort for whoever weaved that spell?”
Zo stopped to stare at Arkon. “It that’s the case, that mage would be incredibly powerful.”
She resumed walking.
“Maybe it was more than one person?”
“It’s possible, but even if it were two people or more, why would they sustain a spell for so long. He was dead long before the fire turned his bones to ashes.”
“Maybe it was someone who just likes to kill,” observed Leo.
Arkon and Zo stared at each other. If the boy was right, they and the entire world were in a heap of trouble.
As they walked, Leo pointed out several ripe, exotic fruits but since Zo and Arkon had never seen these varieties before, they refrained from picking them, much to the disappointment of the young boy. He did insist on picking a melon-type fruit which he claimed to have eaten before. To Zo’s delight, once they peeled the hard skin, the inside of the fruit was sweet, juicy, and fulfilling. There wasn’t any time to stop and forage for anything else. The forest was teaming with wild life, but hunting would take quite some time – and that was something they couldn’t afford to lose any more.
The Demon Mages (The Power of Three Book 1) Page 14