by Brindi Quinn
“Yeah, you said that before. So show me.”
“Hmmm.” He hooked his arm around my neck. Only the small something reacted. Nothing more. That was good. It really was easier to resist him now that we were back in our own realm, just as he’d said it would be. “Unfortunately, I can’t show you now. I can only show you under moon’s effulgence,” he said.
“Show me tonight, then.”
He nodded, and in the process, focused his eyes too intently on mine, so I looked away.
“By the way, where’s Rend?” I asked.
“She’s outside yet,” answered Grotts. “With Trib and Mikkan. He can’t come in here fer . . .” – he glanced uneasily at Kantú – “er . . . fer some reason. If he tries, the air around the place just pushes him back like there’s some kinda barrier spell or somethin’.”
“Trib?” I muttered.
“That’s right,” said Grotts.
She was still with us? I was glad and everything, but I was also surprised that she’d stuck around. Wasn’t there buried gold for her to find somewhere or something?
“Oh, excellent.” Ardette smiled to himself and started to nibble his lower lip.
I looked away again because now, not only was I glad and surprised, I was also a tiny bit jealous.
Go away. I don’t care.
“There’s no need for that, my cherry,” said Ardette, self-satisfied. “I wasn’t talking about her. I was referring to the fact that the swine can’t enter. However, I assure you your concern is appreciated.”
Stupid Ardette.
“Mikkan cannot enter?” asked Nyte. “What is the reason for this?”
“There are none of his kind that can enter this place,” said Ardette.
“Why not?” I asked. “Will you elaborate at all, or are you just starting another thing you can’t finish?”
“Now, now, don’t be nippy. The reason they can’t enter, my inquisitive pit, is because this is a special place.”
“Ooh! Special?” Kantú’s eyes grew wide with wonder. “How come?”
“Recall that this place was ‘cursed’?”
Kantú’s wonder turned to dread in an instant. “Grottsy! You told me that they were just kidding! You told me Mikkan was just messing with us!”
“Eh. Eh-eh. Well, I didn’t want ya all scared and whatnot.”
“GROTTSY!”
“And,” continued Ardette, ignoring them, “recall that Daems won’t usually enter for fear of the curse the fero carry? Well, there’s a bit more to it than that.”
Of course there was.
“More?” I said. My voice was dry even if the rest of me wasn’t. “Meaning . . . ?”
“The curse of the marsh is known as The Curse of the Dragon’s Wrath.”
“Dragon’s?!” I said “You mean-?!”
“Most Daems think this place is stained with a dragon’s fury. They won’t enter for fear of taking the weight of what happened here. They’re afraid they’ll be punished or some superstitious nonsense.”
Punished?
Suspicious, I narrowed my eyes. “What did happen here, Ardette? What spawned this so called ‘dragon’s curse’?”
“The Splitting.”
I wrinkled my brow in annoyance. He’d said it offhandedly – like I should’ve known what it was, but he of course knew that I didn’t have a clue.
“And that is . . .?” I said, even more annoyed that I was forced into playing his game.
“A secret.”
“Argh! I’ve had more than enough of your secrets!” I calmed myself down, though, because I knew that my annoyance would only bring him pleasure. “Okay, so what about the curse? Are we in danger?”
“No. It’s all a bunch of rubbish if you ask me.”
“And you aren’t afraid?”
“Of course not.” He smiled, but when he turned his attention away from me and onto Grotts, the smile turned stale. “By the by, I see you’ve failed to collect my brother. That’s just fantastic.”
“No, no!” Kantú hurried to correct the accusation. “We’ve got him! He’s with Rend and Trib and Mikkan!”
“Oh. All right, then.” Ardette’s hand drifted to the place on his chest where the whistle hid beneath his shirt. “Saves me the trouble. The rest of you should be grateful the angel can’t enter. It means Lusafael will be kept out as well. And the star?”
“It’s on his chest,” said Grotts.
On his chest? What did that mean?
“Ah. I see. Still there, huh? I’d assumed he’d gotten rid of it somehow. Suppose it’s for the best. It means you didn’t have to search for it, at least. Well, let’s go greet my brother, shall we? Nyte, would you mind carrying Dar- Oh, waaaaait.” Ardette flashed another glowing smile. “You’ll get worn out before we even pass to the outside of the marsh. Pity, really.”
“I would not be so certain, Daem.” Nyte pointed to the horizon where the western moon was starting to appear.
Ardette sniffled and gestured to Darch. “Well, what are you waiting for, then? Chop. Chop. After all, we’ve only got one day before ad’ai.”
~
“Cheers, Brother,” said Ardette, squatting. Sowpa was bound on the ground near the wind buggy. “And why, might I ask, is he in this subdued state?”
Rend, the person who was surely responsible for his ‘subdued state’, stepped forward. “His tongue is even fouler than yours, vile Daem! His disrespect could not be tolerated!”
“So . . . you mean he was annoying you?”
“Ardetto . . .” Darch was awake now, and according to him, his head was ‘feeling really not great’. He wasn’t in the mood for Ardette’s antics. “Don’t provoke her,” he said under his breath.
But it was too late. Rend was already provoked.
“Argh! ‘Annoy’ does not come close to the level of-”
“Okay, kids!” said Trib. Completely ignoring the rant, she squatted to Ardette’s level and saluted him. “What’s the plan, old man?”
“The plan, my pet?” said Ardette. He glanced up. “Well, Aura’s to choose what to do with her Song, isn’t she? Tomorrow night is ad’ai.”
The western moon was now high in the sky, and it was an obvious reminder of the coming event. It made my stomach turn. I still didn’t know what I was going to choose, but Trib was right. The natural next step was to plan what we were going to do. We’d already filled the rest in on everything that had happened since we’d parted ways.
Well, almost everything, that is.
“We should ask the feather man!” offered Kantú. “He hasn’t been around lately, but I’m sure that if I call to him, he’ll . . . What? Why are you looking at me like that, Aura?”
“Kantú, there’s something you should know.”
I delivered the news as gently as I could, but it did little to lessen the blow of the loss of her ‘pet’.
“He’s . . . he’s . . . he’s gone?! I mean, we were fighting, but now he’s just-?! HE DIED?!”
I could see the devastation setting in, so I hurried to recover.
“No! Kantú, he wasn’t alive to begin with, so for him to die-”
“Waaaah!”
It was no use, she was already wailing dramatically.
“Come now, Kantoo.” Grotts tried his hand at consoling her. “He did it ta help ya, ya know. He did it ta help all o’ us.”
“But still! We were friends, and . . . and . . . Waaaah!”
Er, friends? Since when had they been something like that?
“Listen, Kantú,” said Darch. “It’ll all be okay. Okay? I promise. The feather man’s gone, sure, but he’s happy now. He knows we’ve got what it takes to win this. Ah!” He rubbed his temples with the base of his palms.
“Yo!” yelled Trib. “Are you sure you don’t need some kind of help?!”
I, too, had been thinking the same thing. Unfortunately, both Darch and Ardette had insisted I save my corras for ad’ai. Darch had a theory that if I lacked too many of them when I attem
pted the Song of Salvation, I’d be killed by the backfiring of its release. Thus, as an added precaution, they’d forbidden me to sing. Again I was without song.
Ardette chewed his pinky nail. “It would help, darling Trib, if you’d be a titch quieter. Isn’t that right, Darchy?”
“Ugh.” Darch nodded.
“Right-o! I’ll just head back to that swamp and start setting up the tents! How does that sound?!”
Since she was probably not going to get any quieter, it seemed like the best option.
Darch nodded again, and Trib obliged by slinging three packs over her shoulder and tromping away to the marsh.
“Eh-” Darch huffed. “So that’s why we’ve got to do our best for the feather man. Okay, Kantú? We’ve got to try even harder to win.”
“To win?” I repeated. Obviously, that was what we wanted, but I still didn’t know what to do. I still hadn’t figured it out. “What’s this other way, Ardette? I need to know, so that I can decide. Time’s running out.”
He shook his head. “I can’t tell you. Not until I show you.”
“Will people die?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s not an option.”
“It is an option.”
“Ugh. Can you tell me anything?”
“No. I’m afraid that’s part of the deal.”
“Then how can I make my choice? I can’t commit to it if I don’t even know what it’s about, and besides, magic is so sacred, and-”
“Ah!” Nyte stiffened enough to catch even the wailing Kantú’s eye.
“W-what is it, Nytie?” she asked between sniffles.
He said nothing. We waited. Another few moments passed, but still, he remained silent.
Nyte?
It was taking him too long to answer, and I didn’t like the strange mixture of emotions passing over his face. There was startledom and sorrow and joy and resolve and too many other quickly shifting things for me to read them all.
Nyte? . . . . Nyte?! It can’t be THAT can it?!
“Cousin?!” Rend was also worried.
At last he said, “Aura’s decision has been made.”
“What?!” I’d suspected, but I’d been so strongly willing myself to be wrong! “No! No it hasn’t!”
“I do not know how it will come to pass, but I will become your sacrifice.” He smiled. “I am glad it is my life and not yours.”
But that was impossible! I hadn’t truly decided, had I?
“Now wait just a minute. Yer sayin’ ya feel the pact thing or whatever? Well, how can we be sure it’s even gonna happen like we think. How do we know yer not just gonna get hit by lighnin’ or somethin’?”
Wide-eyed and suspicious, Ardette studied Nyte. “A more accurate question would be: How do we know you’re telling the truth, greeny?”
“Do not dare accuse me of taking this choice from Aura! I am only telling you what I feel! If she has made the decision to live, then I will gladly die in her-”
“No! I haven’t made any decision yet! Just cool it! Nyte, you aren’t allowed to move from that spot!”
There was some mistake. This feeling he was getting was just an accident. A curable accident that I could heal. If he died, I’d heal him again like I’d done that time. I wouldn’t let him die. I’d do everything I could to make sure my captor didn’t become a martyr!
I’d have Ardette show me the other way without another second’s delay!
“Ardette, show me now!”
I’d find the out the alternative, and it would be better, and I’d choose it, and everything would be made right!
But it wouldn’t come to pass as I’d hoped. Little did I know, our night of effulgence would be wholly consumed by an unforeseen threat that was nearly upon us. A threat that was moving as fast as the wind. A threat that was coming to steal away one of our number.
Darch was the harbinger of that threat.
“Darch!?” Scardo suddenly cried out in a panic, tearing me from the heartache I’d been allowing to overtake me. “Darch! Someone! P-p-please, help him!”
“What?” I tore my eyes from their resting place of normal horizon and brought them to Darch’s slumped figure.
He’d been quietly rubbing his temples since waking up, but he was now clutching his ears and screaming. We hadn’t noticed, though, because there was no sound coming out from his open, crying mouth.
What the-?!
“Darch?” Ardette was at his side in a flash. “What is it? You aren’t happy unless you’re getting into some sort of trouble, are you? Here, let me-” He flickered his hand, but Nyte let out a yell that stopped him.
“There is not time! Lusafael is near!”
“What?!” Grotts gave out a roar. “Whaddaya mean he’s-”
“What else can it be?! Is it not the same as when we reached the crossing? And look! It is hard to see in this night light, but does it not appear to have fogged over a bit?”
Ardette formed his hand back to flesh and helped the tormented Darch to sit up. “It’s sickening, but you might have a point, Elf. Ask the angel what it thinks.”
“Mikkan?” called Nyte.
There was no answer.
“Where is Mikkan?! Cousin . . . is he not here?!”
Rend was . . . embarrassed? Or something similar. She answered, “He is not.” Then she put a hand to her arm, and to the sky, ordered, “Come, Mikkan!”
“As you wish, holder of the pact,” said Mikkan. His voice was there, but then, it wasn’t really there. There was something off about it. I’d definitely heard it, and so had the others, but something told me that its sound waves didn’t actually resonate within the space around us.
The shining being didn’t arrive on the clouds in the same way Lusafael had at the fortress. He simply appeared before us, looking different than when I’d seen him at Célesteen. He wasn’t solid. Rather, he was sort of wispy.
At once, he started in. “Rend! You must be prepared! Lusafael is sending his army of lost souls to this place! Take your guard and leave here now! You may die only by my hand, but the rest of your comrades are not safe!”
The fog was more apparent now. It was harder to spot in the dimness of night, but it was there, nonetheless. I could taste it.
“Why have you not come with your full self?” asked Rend. “Can you even aid us in that form?!”
“I have sent only a figment, for the Feirgh would alert Lusafael to my arrival if I were to appear before you.”
“How many are there?!” asked Scardo, white. Mikkan’s answer only turned him whiter:
“All of them.”
“WHAT?!” Grotts gave out his second roar of the night.
“ARGH!” Ardette jumped to his feet and unsheathed his saber. It caught the moon’s light and glowed pink. “Why didn’t you warn us, you pompous, traitorous, smug-”
“Rend told him to get lost, so he had to stay away!” cried Kantú.
Everyone fell silent. Now I understood her embarrassment.
“Cousin?!” reproached Nyte. “How could you do something so foolish?!”
“How was I to know he would come to this place?! Why is it that he has found us now?! Have you been singing, Havoc?!”
“Of course I haven’t! Why would I do something so dumb?!”
“Because you are an imbecilic Sape!”
“The reason for his approach,” said Mikkan, “is not because of the Heart. It is because he can sense that the moon has been unlocked. He can also sense where the moon’s corra stream is strongest. That place is here.” Mikkan turned to me. “It is possible that he seeks to separate you from your emulator before ad’ai.”
“You mean he’s coming for Nyte? Then, we’ll retreat into the marsh!”
“That won’t work, my pit,” said Ardette. “The swine may not be able to enter, but there’s nothing to stop his minions from coming in.”
Shoot. That was true. Why couldn’t the curse’s restrictions also apply to the Feirgh?! The fog was all around u
s now. It was quickly getting thicker and so was its sadness – that unmistakable sorrow of the Feirgh.
“Well, what can we do?!” I petitioned the others. “We can’t run, right? Can we take on all of the Feirgh? How many are there?!”
“Thousands,” answered Mikkan.
“We could try the approach we used at the crossing . . . but Lusafael’s right behind them, isn’t he? He’ll hear me if I sing! But I guess we could retreat into the marsh after that? What do you guys think? Can we go up against thousands of Feirgh?”
“The energy within you is not enough,” said Mikkan. “I apologize that I must be the one to tell you. You cannot defeat them.”
“So yer sayin’ it’s hopeless?! Well, hell, there’s gotta be some way, aint there?!”
“Shall we call upon witchy moon once again?” Ardette drew his eyes disdainfully to the pink orb. “Her bargains are always so fair.”
“Mikkan,” said Rend. “What can be done? Is there not a way?”
“There is a way,” he answered. “Because I have not fallen, there are things I cannot do for you. I cannot defeat my brethren. I cannot kill Lusafael. I cannot interfere with the course of things. I am still a risen angel; therefore, I cannot stray from the Creator’s plan. However, there is something that I can do for you. I can grant you light. That light that you cast, Heart, is angel’s light. It is the only thing that can truly kill a twisted soul. I can save you. I can eliminate the Feirgh from this place.”
“You can give us the same luminosity that’s in the Pure Heart’s lightsong?” asked Scardo.
Mikkan tipped his head. “This is something that I can do for you. However, this is only something that I can do from Célesteen, for if I were to bear full light here, any souls within range of my presence would perish from its intensity.”
“Like what happened at Druelca with Lusafael?” I asked. “You can do that?”
“I have not fallen, and therefore, my light is brighter than the light of Lusafael. There is not time for you to move out of range before they attack, for my full light would flood the entirety of the marsh and beyond. Thus, I must do it from Célesteen to lessen the potency by using the void between our realms as a filter. That is where we encounter a problem.”
“Ah. I see,” said Ardette. “Because you can’t go back there while you’re in a pact with Rend, can you? Well then, I suppose you’ve no choice but to kill her, don’t you?”