by J B Cantwell
Something inside me hurt to admit that.
“He’s the one who gave us most of the gold,” I went on. “And Cait. Cait’s not a normal kid. She’s got powers of her own. She can…see people. She understands what’s going on inside them. She wanted to bring him along with us, and I couldn’t deny her.”
The murmuring grew in volume. I caught only snippets of phrases.
“Just a child…” said one.
“…atrocity…” said another.
“I know it looks bad,” I said, raising my voice above the others. “But she’s been right every time. Anyway, I was hoping that if I brought him here, that he might, you know, get better.”
My cheeks flushed hot with shame at such a childish wish.
“What are you talking about, child?” It was one of the older wizards, and he scowled as he spoke. “There is nothing here to heal him. We can barely keep ourselves alive as it is.”
I tried to catch Kiron’s eye, but he averted his gaze.
“It happened to me,” I said. “When I first came to Aerit I was sick. Really sick. And almost as soon as I got here, I got better.”
Disbelief clouded the features of the men.
“Why is it so hard to believe?” I asked. “There are all kinds of magic here.”
“For the body, yes,” the old man went on. “But not for the mind. The mind is isolated, separate from the body. The mind makes up who we are, defines our truth, defends our spirit. But there is no healing a broken mind. If any one of us possessed the power to do that, our path would be so much easier, yes. But nobody does. Nobody ever has.”
Jade stared at the ground, her fingers trembling as they picked at her tattered robes.
My heart fell into my stomach.
So there really was no getting him back.
Unless … maybe … the balancing of the Fold…
I stared at Father, who looked from face to face as the wizards spoke. He was taking it all in, though he said nothing.
I thought hard. Cait had insisted that he come. Hadn’t she been the one to say that he was completely pure? Completely clean?
“We need him,” I said, trying to recover. “I don’t know why yet, but Cait chose him for a reason. Just like she chose Jade.”
Jade looked up at the sound of her name.
“I don’t see why we should be listening to the advice of a five-year-old,” one man grumbled.
“You don’t need to listen to her,” I snapped. “But I’ve followed that little girl all over the place, and I’m telling you she’s been right every time.”
I stared at the pile of gold that sat at my feet. For the first time since coming back to Aeso, the idea that these people needed me, even more than I needed them, began to form in my mind.
I stood up.
“You all need to listen to me,” I said, staring at the men around me in turn. “I’m going to balance the Fold, one way or another. I’m taking this gold and starting the journey … tomorrow.”
I hadn’t planned the start date of our trip, not until now. But suddenly I felt that there was no time to lose. I looked down at Father. If there was any chance of getting him back …
Some of the men looked shocked at my pronouncement. Some seemed like they were holding back laughter.
Heat crawled up the back of my neck.
My eyes sought Jade’s, but hers were still downcast, staring at her feet as though ashamed to even be forced to show her face.
And I made a decision.
“We found the Book of Leveling,” I snarled, staring at her. “We got rid of Cadoc. We’ve been fighting this whole time. We are going to do this. And he is coming with us.”
Jade looked up, stared at me in disbelief. Then, slowly, her eyes filled with tears. She broke away from Erod and ran to me, stopping just inches from me. Then she wrapped her arms around me so hard it practically knocked the breath out of me.
It took me a long moment, my heart beating hard and fast, half elated, half terrified. But eventually my arms encircled her, too. I found I was fighting back tears of my own.
Erod stood and moved in our direction. It seemed he was nervous being so far from Jade, even though he was only a few steps away. I wondered if they had been separated before, if her possession had taken hold of her once again when he had found himself too distant.
As I watched him approach, several things happened in quick succession. First, Jade’s grip on me faltered. Then, she screamed. And then I was thrown again, back on the ground, the clear blue eyes of my dad staring down at me as if I were the devil, himself.
“NO!”
Erod’s voice boomed across the valley, and he ripped Father from me, this time before he was able to encircle my neck with his hands.
And, suddenly, I got it. I understood what had happened, though I felt sure no one else in the circle did.
“No!” I shouted as Erod wrested Father from me, throwing him fifteen feet from me in a single toss. He crumpled against the stone like a pile of rags.
Erod stomped after him, ready to strike him again.
And I saw, just visible from this distance, Father’s eyes begin to change. They flickered back and forth, black, blue, black, blue. And the closer Erod got to him, the bluer they became.
“Stop, Erod!” I yelled. “Don’t get any closer to him!”
Erod paused, waiting, his body tensed for the fight.
Father’s body shuddered. It was like watching a television screen where the clarity was flickering in and out.
I ran for him, suddenly sure of what I needed to do. His eyes widened with every step I took, and he raised his hands in front of him, whether to push me away or try to harm me, I couldn’t tell.
But it didn’t matter. I reached him in a few long strides, my own power bursting through me, grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the group.
We didn’t need to go far. Within ten steps I could feel his body relax beneath my grasp. I stopped then, breathing hard, but out of exhilaration, not exertion. I turned to face him, and it was just as I had predicted.
Black eyes.
I smiled, elated and comforted by the fact that my prediction had been right.
Erod moved in our direction, Jade at his side now, her hand held firmly in his to keep her close.
“Stop!” I yelled, holding up my hands. “It’s you!”
Confused faces surrounded me.
“Erod, it’s your power that’s making him do this!” I went on. “Don’t you all see? Erod’s power makes it so the Corentin can’t control Jade. It’s doing the same thing with Father! And every time Father’s eyes turn clear, every time whoever’s doing this to him loses control, he—”
“He attacks you,” Kiron breathed. The truth of my words dawned on his face. “Get away, then, boy!” he commanded. He seemed ready to spring, himself, just as Erod did, to save me if needed.
I turned, not questioning his command, grabbed Father’s arm and moved further away from the group. Another ten paces out, I stopped.
Kiron relaxed. Everyone else still looked confused, but the proof was standing beside me. Father did not make another attempt to attack. Instead, he looked placidly down at me.
“What happened?” he asked, perplexed.
“You—he—came after me again,” I said.
His eyes widened in alarm.
“It’s ok,” I said. “You’re safe now. You won’t attack me when you’re like this, when you’re Father.”
He fidgeted, clearly uncomfortable by our close proximity.
“Erod, move away,” I called. “I need to bring him back with me.”
Erod did as I said, but not without sending concerned glances my way. He took Jade’s hand and led her from the circle.
“Come on,” I said, taking a few steps back toward the group.
Father followed me, worry outlining his features. We took the distance a few steps at a time, and when we were halfway there he seemed relieved that he had managed to control himself. By
the time we reached the group, he was staring around sheepishly, clearly apologetic for what he had almost become.
“He’ll need to come with us,” I said.
Leaving Father behind seemed like a bad option. And compared to the danger I had been in around Jade when she was under Corentin control, traveling with Father seemed like it would be a breeze.
“You understand,” Kiron began, “that bringing him along will mean you are unable to travel with Jade.”
I nodded, teeth gritted. Jade dropped her head, defeated by my rejection. But it was the right decision, I knew it.
“As far as the others in the company,” he said, looking around, “I think it best that Finian, Donnally, Tristan, and Elidor be the ones to join us.”
Grumbles ripped across the group.
“Zacharias, Dillion,” he said, “you know that your health is fragile at best.”
Dillion had been the first wizard attacked by an impostor, and the young scars on his arms and neck, along with his stilted gait, were proof that Kiron was right. Zacharias, the oldest of all the wizards, simply seemed too ancient to accompany us. He was good for his counsel and his detailed knowledge about the myths of these lands. But I doubted his body would survive a quest as long and difficult as ours was surely to be.
“You two will hinder the progress of the group and do more good here. And Eghan, I will need you here, too, to mind the disbursement of food, when there is any. The three of you will stand and protect the group. You will need to take missions in turn to gather food from the fields which Aster speaks of.”
He began taking the necklace of stone links from around his neck. Choosing two, one a thin shard of stone, another fat and round, he handed them to Zacharias and Eghan.
“You’ll need these to get in and out of the range. Bring as many as you can with you to collect the fruits and any other food you can find. As many as are willing, that is. But be careful. Travel becomes difficult with more than a handful of men jumping at one time. And bring only the strongest. You can see on Aster’s and the others’ faces what travel through the storm can do.”
My hand automatically went up to my chin, where one of the gashes in my skin was beginning to itch as it healed.
“And Cait,” I said.
Groans erupted.
“We’ll need her help,” I said. “You’ll just have to trust me on this one. No one will be able to guide us like she can.”
In the distance, just out of earshot of the wizards’ circle, Cait sat in Larissa’s lap, talking animatedly to her about something that looked to be entertaining to both of them.
“As helpful as she may be,” Kiron said, “she is still just a child. She cannot last the entire journey. You know this.”
“I don’t,” I argued. “Cait has been through plenty already.” And I knew it was true. A stab of guilt throbbed in my chest. But I didn’t see any other way. To travel without her would mean that the journey could take months, maybe even years. Much longer than if we had her powers to guide us.
Kiron considered, inspecting the resolve on my face, trying to decide.
“I will take care of the girl,” Father said, stepping up to stand beside me.
“You’ll do no such thing,” Kiron said, grimacing. “Larissa will go.” He nodded toward the duo in the distance. “She is attached to her. I think it would be cruel to expect her to travel any further without her.”
I nodded in agreement.
“We’d better get planning then,” he said.
He picked up the big, ancient book he had left on the ground near the fire circle. The Book of Leveling. Within it was written the instructions, the recipe, for leveling the Fold. The planets, the amount of gold needed, the location where to replace what had been taken by Jared, the wizard driven mad with greed, millennia ago.
As I watched Kiron, the new truth of my situation solidified in my mind. My dad could not be healed by any potion Kiron could make. His mind would be untouchable. But if we were to succeed in leveling the planets in the Fold, it should result in the health slowly returning to the earth, slowly returning to the people. And in the end, I knew, the leveling would not be enough to guarantee our safety. We would need to destroy the Corentin, the one responsible for all of this suffering. Only in destroying him would I really have a chance to get my dad back.
I fingered the chunk of gold I had kept in my pocket since finding Father in the deep mines of Earth. It was finally time to put our treasure to use.
Chapter 8
“I’m sorry,” Jade said after the meeting had dispersed. We sat side by side away from the rest of the group. Erod, though, stood nearby, ever watchful, making sure that Jade didn’t stray too far. “I’m so sorry. I couldn’t stop it. He was inside my head. He had control over my body and everything I did.”
“I know,” I said. “I’m just sorry I couldn’t get you out of there. And you … I mean, he … tried to kill me. You understand why I had to leave, right?”
Tears streamed down her dirty cheeks.
“Yes,” she said. “I probably would have done the same thing if I were you.”
“So what happened?” I asked. “After I left, I mean.”
“It was more of the same,” she said. “He had the giants slaving in the city, bringing me every type of stone imaginable. And then he would force me to destroy them. You remember what happened when I threw the stones at you?”
I nodded. The stones had burst into dust with the force of her power.
“Well, imagine that times a thousand,” she said.
She shuddered with the memory. All of Jade’s power was tied to stone. Destroying the very elements that she had worked with so intimately for so long must have been torture.
“How did you get out?” I asked. “I mean, I understand that Erod saved you, but I don’t get how you got away from the Corentin.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “It’s hard to explain. It’s like Erod is like water, washing away the evil. When he’s near me, the Corentin can’t get in. Erod’s power is like the sea. Stronger than the sea. Every time the Corentin tries to take me again, he’s just washed away.”
We sat for several long moments, remembering all that had gone on between us, all that had happened during our time apart.
“What happened to your hair, anyways?” I finally asked. I gave her a half-hearted smile.
Jade had always had long, flowing hair the color of light straw. Now, only a mop of unevenly cut strands stuck out from her head.
I had meant the question almost as a joke, but her face clouded.
“We were fleeing,” she said, swallowing hard. “And one of them, one of the gliders, grabbed me by the hair at the last second. I cut myself free to escape.”
I tried to imagine that, what it was like to be so close to freedom from his possession, and then to be snatched away from that freedom at the last moment.
It seemed that none of us were free of him, not yet.
“I don’t have any power,” she said. “You should know that. When Erod is with me, my power disappears.” She clamped her hands firmly together in her lap, squeezing them as if doing so could somehow relieve her of the stress she felt. “It’s worth it, though. I would rather be this way and not have him in my head.”
“So you can’t do anything?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “I’m completely human, completely powerless. I can’t even use the Kinstone.”
The Kinstone. I had forgotten about it entirely. Of course she would still have it. Now, with the knowledge that its power was lost to us, my breath caught in my chest.
The Kinstone was a link, a ticket to anywhere in the cosmos that you could imagine. It had been passed down to Jade over generations. She, the oldest Wood in our family line, was the only one who could wield its power. Even though I hadn’t considered using the Kinstone to help us in our quest before now, the loss of it hit me hard in the chest.
“Wow,” I said, sucking in my breath. “No power.�
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I couldn’t decide if Jade’s loss of her ability to manipulate stones was a hinderance or a blessing. On the one hand, she was no longer a danger to me. But on the other, without her power she was just a girl. An ordinary girl that might’ve been born anyplace, anytime. No longer the mystical princess who had survived centuries, her power enabling her to live far longer than any normal human. How could she help the resistance now?
“Well, at least we have plenty of gold now,” I said.
“And the book,” she said. “I’ve been studying it while you’ve been away. I’ve made a sort of road map for you based on my knowledge of the planets. I told you before that I studied the cosmos when I was a young girl. I know which planets are the most hospitable, the most likely to result in your successes.”
“To get our feet wet, you mean,” I said.
She frowned, not quite getting the metaphor.
“Easy places to start,” I explained. “So that we don’t all get killed the first time out.”
Her frown intensified, this time for a different reason.
“There will be danger on every planet you travel to,” she said. “There are guardians in the places where the gold was removed, though what they guard now, I do not know. And every planet seems to be teeming with monsters of some sort. Or inhospitable terrain. It won’t be easy.”
I didn’t expect it to be easy. And yet I was excited to get moving again. It seemed as though everything had been leading up to this point, that my knowledge of the Fold, my discovery of my own power, and my slowly attracting a party of powerful wizards to help in the quest.
She produced from within her robes a large, folded piece of parchment. When she unfolded it, I gasped. It was full from corner to corner with notes about the worlds we were about to embark upon. I saw, with a strange sort of relief, that the three of the planets I knew already, Aeso, Aerit and Aria. We were on Aeso now. Aerit was where Kiron made his home. And Aria, that was where Jade was from, where the great castle of Riverstone, overrun by possessed giants, no doubt, would be awaiting us.
There was, of course, much more to these planets than just the places I had personally been to. Of them all, I had seen the most of Aeso. We had found this very book deep within the Fire Mountains that stretched across to the east from where we now stood. I had traveled for months on my own after losing Jade to her madness, to her possession, until I had finally stumbled across an army readying itself for attack. There, I had found Rhainn, the young slave to the warrior men, and learned of the imprisonment of his little sister, Cait. And, of course, Stonemore lay just to the south of us. All were places and experiences full of a richness of memory that I had never known before coming to the Fold.